Network Security Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

Network Security Engineer
UK > England

The median Network Security Engineer daily rate in England is £488, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 April 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 509 419 495
Rank change year-on-year -90 +76 +83
Contract jobs requiring a Network Security Engineer 78 53 50
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.20% 0.22% 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.21% 0.23% 0.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 32 33 21
10th Percentile £375 £325 £413
25th Percentile £409 £382 £468
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £450 £513
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% -12.20% -2.38%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £556
90th Percentile £630 £568 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £450 £506
% change year-on-year +8.33% -11.11% -3.34%

All Contract IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title 36,606 22,740 34,322
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.35% 92.70% 92.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,935 15,170 22,849
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £409 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £644
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £515 £525
% change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,477 874 2,387
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.33 £12.92
25th Percentile £20.79 £19.21 £16.25
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -7.14% -22.22%
75th Percentile £67.50 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £76.25 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £42.25 £30.20 £35.00
% change year-on-year +39.90% -13.71% -22.22%

Network Security Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Network Security Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Network Security Engineer job vacancy trend in England

Network Security Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Security Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Security Engineer job vacancies in England

Network Security Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Security Engineer in England over the 6 months to 22 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Security Engineer in England

Network Security Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Security Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Security Engineer job vacancies in England

Network Security Engineer
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Network Security Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 22 April 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North of England -39 34 £500 -4.76% 8
West Midlands - 33 £375 - 2
Midlands - 33 £375 - 3
North West -15 32 £500 -4.76% 6
London -55 24 £550 +4.76% 13
South West -39 4 £538 +30.30% 2
South East -56 4 £400 -3.61% 8
Yorkshire - 2 - - 1
East of England -32 1 £475 +43.94% 4
Network Security Engineer
UK

Network Security Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 22 April 2026, Network Security Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Network Security Engineer in the job title.

1 55 (70.51%) Cisco
2 45 (57.69%) VPN
3 43 (55.13%) F5
4 42 (53.85%) Network Security
5 38 (48.72%) DNS
5 38 (48.72%) Firewall
6 37 (47.44%) BGP
7 34 (43.59%) Load Balancing
8 29 (37.18%) Multicast
9 28 (35.90%) DMZ
10 24 (30.77%) Palo Alto
11 19 (24.36%) Fortinet
12 12 (15.38%) WAN
13 11 (14.10%) SC Cleared
13 11 (14.10%) Security Cleared
14 10 (12.82%) Azure
14 10 (12.82%) SD-WAN
15 9 (11.54%) CCNP
15 9 (11.54%) Cisco Certification
16 8 (10.26%) AWS
16 8 (10.26%) CheckPoint
16 8 (10.26%) Python
16 8 (10.26%) Validation
16 8 (10.26%) Zero Trust
17 7 (8.97%) Juniper
17 7 (8.97%) NGFW
17 7 (8.97%) OSPF
17 7 (8.97%) SSL
17 7 (8.97%) Stakeholder Management
17 7 (8.97%) TCP/IP

Network Security Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Applications
1 1 (1.28%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 10 (12.82%) Azure
2 8 (10.26%) AWS
3 3 (3.85%) Entra ID
3 3 (3.85%) GCP
4 2 (2.56%) Microsoft 365
4 2 (2.56%) Mimecast
5 1 (1.28%) Azure DevOps
5 1 (1.28%) OCI
5 1 (1.28%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 45 (57.69%) VPN
2 42 (53.85%) Network Security
3 38 (48.72%) DNS
3 38 (48.72%) Firewall
4 37 (47.44%) BGP
5 29 (37.18%) Multicast
6 28 (35.90%) DMZ
7 12 (15.38%) WAN
8 10 (12.82%) SD-WAN
9 7 (8.97%) NGFW
9 7 (8.97%) OSPF
9 7 (8.97%) SSL
9 7 (8.97%) TCP/IP
9 7 (8.97%) VLAN
10 6 (7.69%) Wireless
11 5 (6.41%) LAN
12 4 (5.13%) DHCP
12 4 (5.13%) Internet
12 4 (5.13%) IPsec
12 4 (5.13%) TACACS
Development Applications
1 2 (2.56%) JIRA
2 1 (1.28%) Browser DevTools
General
1 16 (20.51%) Banking
2 15 (19.23%) Investment Banking
3 9 (11.54%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (8.97%) Social Skills
5 5 (6.41%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (5.13%) Finance
7 2 (2.56%) Pharmaceutical
7 2 (2.56%) Telecoms
8 1 (1.28%) Financial Institution
8 1 (1.28%) Legal
8 1 (1.28%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (3.85%) 802.1X
2 2 (2.56%) LDAP
3 1 (1.28%) CSS
3 1 (1.28%) HTML
3 1 (1.28%) JSON
3 1 (1.28%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (11.54%) Data Centre
2 4 (5.13%) Security Posture
3 3 (3.85%) Hybrid Cloud
3 3 (3.85%) Operational Technology
4 1 (1.28%) Cloud Security Posture
4 1 (1.28%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (1.28%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (1.28%) Management Information System
4 1 (1.28%) PKI
4 1 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 2 (2.56%) Linux
1 2 (2.56%) Windows
2 1 (1.28%) Mac OS
2 1 (1.28%) Ubuntu
2 1 (1.28%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 34 (43.59%) Load Balancing
2 8 (10.26%) Validation
2 8 (10.26%) Zero Trust
3 7 (8.97%) Stakeholder Management
4 6 (7.69%) Incident Management
5 5 (6.41%) Cloud Security
5 5 (6.41%) Migration
5 5 (6.41%) Network Segmentation
5 5 (6.41%) SIEM
6 4 (5.13%) Change Management
6 4 (5.13%) Continuous Improvement
6 4 (5.13%) ITSM
6 4 (5.13%) Problem-Solving
6 4 (5.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 3 (3.85%) ITIL
7 3 (3.85%) Network Load Balancing
7 3 (3.85%) Project Delivery
7 3 (3.85%) Remediation Plan
7 3 (3.85%) Root Cause Analysis
7 3 (3.85%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 8 (10.26%) Python
2 2 (2.56%) Bash
2 2 (2.56%) PowerShell
3 1 (1.28%) JavaScript
3 1 (1.28%) PHP
Qualifications
1 11 (14.10%) SC Cleared
1 11 (14.10%) Security Cleared
2 9 (11.54%) CCNP
2 9 (11.54%) Cisco Certification
3 3 (3.85%) CCIE
4 2 (2.56%) CompTIA Security+
4 2 (2.56%) DV Cleared
5 1 (1.28%) APMG
5 1 (1.28%) Azure Certification
5 1 (1.28%) CCIE Data Center
5 1 (1.28%) CCNA
5 1 (1.28%) CISSP
5 1 (1.28%) Degree
5 1 (1.28%) GIAC
5 1 (1.28%) MCSA
5 1 (1.28%) MCSE
5 1 (1.28%) Microsoft Certification
5 1 (1.28%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (6.41%) NIST
2 4 (5.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (5.13%) PCI DSS
3 3 (3.85%) Actionable Recommendations
3 3 (3.85%) GDPR
3 3 (3.85%) GRC
4 1 (1.28%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (1.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (1.28%) HMG Security Policy Framework
4 1 (1.28%) SLA
System Software
1 3 (3.85%) Active Directory
2 2 (2.56%) Virtual Servers
3 1 (1.28%) Firmware
3 1 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (1.28%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.28%) VMware NSX
3 1 (1.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 5 (6.41%) FortiGate
2 4 (5.13%) Ansible
2 4 (5.13%) Terraform
3 2 (2.56%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (1.28%) CASB
4 1 (1.28%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (1.28%) Nessus
4 1 (1.28%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 55 (70.51%) Cisco
2 43 (55.13%) F5
3 24 (30.77%) Palo Alto
4 19 (24.36%) Fortinet
5 8 (10.26%) CheckPoint
6 7 (8.97%) Juniper
6 7 (8.97%) Zscaler
7 5 (6.41%) Blue Coat
7 5 (6.41%) Meraki
8 4 (5.13%) Microsoft
9 3 (3.85%) Infoblox
10 2 (2.56%) Tenable
10 2 (2.56%) VMware
11 1 (1.28%) Citrix
11 1 (1.28%) CyberArk
11 1 (1.28%) Dell
11 1 (1.28%) Ekahau
11 1 (1.28%) Netskope
11 1 (1.28%) ServiceNow
11 1 (1.28%) Splunk