Network Security Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

Network Security Engineer
UK > England

The median Network Security Engineer daily rate in England is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 May 2026.

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

6 months to
22 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 491 417 497
Rank change year-on-year -74 +80 +58
Contract jobs requiring a Network Security Engineer 87 50 45
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.21% 0.21% 0.12%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.23% 0.23% 0.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 37 31 14
10th Percentile £358 £325 £278
25th Percentile £419 £382 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £494
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.86% +1.28%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £536
90th Percentile £648 £575 £546
UK median daily rate £500 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +11.11% -5.26% -6.86%

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 38,122 22,159 33,732
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.41% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,649 14,727 22,390
10th Percentile £320 £293 £282
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.15% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £642
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +0.49% -2.86% -3.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,628 898 2,440
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £36.65
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% -18.14% -18.13%
75th Percentile £67.50 £62.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.75
UK median hourly rate £42.69 £28.15 £36.50
% change year-on-year +51.63% -22.88% -18.89%

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 May 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 May 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 -36 38 £500 -4.76% 8
Midlands - 37 £375 - 4
West Midlands - 37 £375 - 3
North West -11 36 £500 -4.76% 7
London -58 31 £513 -2.38% 5
South West -29 4 £538 +30.30% 3
South East -61 2 £438 +17.45% 8
East of England -29 1 £475 +43.94%
Yorkshire - 1 - - 1
North East - 1 - -
Network Security Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 22 May 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 59 (67.82%) Cisco
2 51 (58.62%) VPN
3 49 (56.32%) F5
4 47 (54.02%) Network Security
5 42 (48.28%) DNS
6 41 (47.13%) Firewall
7 39 (44.83%) BGP
7 39 (44.83%) Load Balancing
8 34 (39.08%) DMZ
9 33 (37.93%) Multicast
10 28 (32.18%) Palo Alto
11 20 (22.99%) Fortinet
12 17 (19.54%) Azure
13 12 (13.79%) SC Cleared
13 12 (13.79%) Security Cleared
13 12 (13.79%) WAN
14 11 (12.64%) SD-WAN
14 11 (12.64%) Zero Trust
15 10 (11.49%) CCNP
15 10 (11.49%) Cisco Certification
15 10 (11.49%) Python
16 9 (10.34%) AWS
16 9 (10.34%) CheckPoint
16 9 (10.34%) NGFW
16 9 (10.34%) SSL
16 9 (10.34%) TCP/IP
16 9 (10.34%) Zscaler
17 8 (9.20%) Cloud Security
17 8 (9.20%) Validation
18 7 (8.05%) Blue Coat

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 (1.15%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 17 (19.54%) Azure
2 9 (10.34%) AWS
3 4 (4.60%) Microsoft 365
3 4 (4.60%) Mimecast
4 3 (3.45%) Entra ID
4 3 (3.45%) GCP
5 2 (2.30%) SaaS
6 1 (1.15%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (1.15%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 51 (58.62%) VPN
2 47 (54.02%) Network Security
3 42 (48.28%) DNS
4 41 (47.13%) Firewall
5 39 (44.83%) BGP
6 34 (39.08%) DMZ
7 33 (37.93%) Multicast
8 12 (13.79%) WAN
9 11 (12.64%) SD-WAN
10 9 (10.34%) NGFW
10 9 (10.34%) SSL
10 9 (10.34%) TCP/IP
11 7 (8.05%) VLAN
11 7 (8.05%) Wireless
12 5 (5.75%) Cisco ISE
12 5 (5.75%) LAN
12 5 (5.75%) OSPF
13 4 (4.60%) Cisco Nexus
13 4 (4.60%) DHCP
13 4 (4.60%) MPLS
Development Applications
1 4 (4.60%) JIRA
2 1 (1.15%) Browser DevTools
General
1 20 (22.99%) Banking
2 19 (21.84%) Investment Banking
3 10 (11.49%) Social Skills
4 9 (10.34%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (8.05%) Finance
6 6 (6.90%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (2.30%) Presentation Skills
7 2 (2.30%) Public Sector
7 2 (2.30%) Telecoms
8 1 (1.15%) Legal
8 1 (1.15%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (3.45%) 802.1X
2 2 (2.30%) LDAP
3 1 (1.15%) CSS
3 1 (1.15%) HTML
3 1 (1.15%) JSON
3 1 (1.15%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 12 (13.79%) Data Centre
2 5 (5.75%) Security Posture
3 3 (3.45%) Hybrid Cloud
3 3 (3.45%) Operational Technology
4 2 (2.30%) Cyber Threat
4 2 (2.30%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 1 (1.15%) Cloud Security Posture
5 1 (1.15%) Data Protection Act
5 1 (1.15%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (1.15%) Management Information System
5 1 (1.15%) PKI
5 1 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 2 (2.30%) Linux
1 2 (2.30%) Windows
2 1 (1.15%) Mac OS
2 1 (1.15%) Ubuntu
2 1 (1.15%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 39 (44.83%) Load Balancing
2 11 (12.64%) Zero Trust
3 8 (9.20%) Cloud Security
3 8 (9.20%) Validation
4 7 (8.05%) Stakeholder Management
5 6 (6.90%) Agile
5 6 (6.90%) SIEM
6 5 (5.75%) Continuous Improvement
6 5 (5.75%) Incident Management
6 5 (5.75%) Incident Response
6 5 (5.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 5 (5.75%) Vulnerability Management
7 4 (4.60%) Asset Management
7 4 (4.60%) Network Segmentation
7 4 (4.60%) Problem-Solving
7 4 (4.60%) Project Delivery
7 4 (4.60%) Remediation Plan
7 4 (4.60%) Scaled Agile Framework
7 4 (4.60%) Scrum
7 4 (4.60%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 10 (11.49%) Python
2 3 (3.45%) Bash
2 3 (3.45%) PowerShell
3 1 (1.15%) JavaScript
3 1 (1.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 12 (13.79%) SC Cleared
1 12 (13.79%) Security Cleared
2 10 (11.49%) CCNP
2 10 (11.49%) Cisco Certification
3 3 (3.45%) CISSP
4 2 (2.30%) CCIE
4 2 (2.30%) CompTIA Security+
4 2 (2.30%) DV Cleared
5 1 (1.15%) APMG
5 1 (1.15%) Azure Certification
5 1 (1.15%) CCNA
5 1 (1.15%) Degree
5 1 (1.15%) GIAC
5 1 (1.15%) MCSA
5 1 (1.15%) MCSE
5 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Certification
5 1 (1.15%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (6.90%) NIST
2 4 (4.60%) GRC
2 4 (4.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (4.60%) PCI DSS
3 3 (3.45%) Actionable Recommendations
3 3 (3.45%) GDPR
4 1 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (1.15%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 3 (3.45%) Active Directory
2 2 (2.30%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (2.30%) Virtual Servers
3 1 (1.15%) Firmware
3 1 (1.15%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.15%) VMware NSX
3 1 (1.15%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 4 (4.60%) FortiGate
1 4 (4.60%) Terraform
2 3 (3.45%) Ansible
3 2 (2.30%) CASB
3 2 (2.30%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (1.15%) Nessus
4 1 (1.15%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 59 (67.82%) Cisco
2 49 (56.32%) F5
3 28 (32.18%) Palo Alto
4 20 (22.99%) Fortinet
5 9 (10.34%) CheckPoint
5 9 (10.34%) Zscaler
6 7 (8.05%) Blue Coat
7 6 (6.90%) Juniper
8 4 (4.60%) Meraki
8 4 (4.60%) Microsoft
8 4 (4.60%) Tenable
9 3 (3.45%) Infoblox
9 3 (3.45%) Netskope
10 2 (2.30%) Arista
10 2 (2.30%) LogicMonitor
10 2 (2.30%) VMware
11 1 (1.15%) Aruba
11 1 (1.15%) CyberArk
11 1 (1.15%) Ekahau
11 1 (1.15%) NetApp