Network Security Contract Job Trends in England

Network Security
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Network Security skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 169 132 154
Rank change year-on-year -37 +22 +105
Contract jobs citing Network Security 535 511 610
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.66% 1.92% 1.65%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.88% 14.92% 11.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 329 325 434
10th Percentile £340 £357 £413
25th Percentile £413 £450 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £576 £626 £650
90th Percentile £690 £733 £744
UK median daily rate £500 £509 £550
% change year-on-year -1.72% -7.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 6 11
10th Percentile £36.00 £17.38 £7.43
25th Percentile £52.63 £22.63 £25.75
Median hourly rate £66.00 £38.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +73.68% -5.00% +6.67%
75th Percentile £79.38 £46.00 £76.25
90th Percentile £93.75 £48.75 -
UK median hourly rate £66.00 £41.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year +60.98% -13.68% +26.67%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
England

Network Security falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 3,369 3,424 5,189
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.43% 12.85% 14.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,192 1,979 3,189
10th Percentile £204 £220 £206
25th Percentile £355 £368 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £491 £500 £493
Median % change year-on-year -1.80% +1.52% -5.29%
75th Percentile £588 £604 £600
90th Percentile £680 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 154 104 346
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.06 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.28 £23.34
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -36.36% +150.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £74.11 £70.88 £75.34
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year -14.29% -36.36% +158.82%

Network Security
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Network Security job vacancy trend in England

Network Security
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Security.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Security

Network Security
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Security in England over the 6 months to 21 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Security in England

Network Security
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Security.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Security

Network Security
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Security in England over the 6 months to 21 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in England

Network Security
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 within the England region over the 6 months to 21 January 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
London -21 235 £539 -1.91% 82
North of England -33 102 £474 -5.20% 45
South East -16 71 £430 -19.25% 89
North West -6 69 £475 -5.00% 24
Midlands -29 60 £500 -14.24% 33
West Midlands -11 54 £500 -14.24% 20
Yorkshire -45 44 £205 -59.00% 15
South West -19 26 £533 +1.43% 41
East of England -23 23 £475 -14.80% 36
East Midlands -37 6 £544 +79.75% 13
North East -14 2 £475 -41.72% 6
South Coast - 2 - -
Network Security
UK

Network Security
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:

Application Platforms
1 11 (2.06%) Confluence
2 8 (1.50%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.75%) Apache
5 1 (0.19%) IIS
5 1 (0.19%) nginx
5 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (3.18%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (2.43%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.19%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 153 (28.60%) Azure
2 114 (21.31%) AWS
3 47 (8.79%) GCP
4 33 (6.17%) Entra ID
5 27 (5.05%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 24 (4.49%) Amazon S3
7 23 (4.30%) GitHub
8 22 (4.11%) Microsoft 365
9 21 (3.93%) GitHub Actions
10 20 (3.74%) Amazon EC2
10 20 (3.74%) Azure DevOps
11 18 (3.36%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 16 (2.99%) Amazon ELB
13 15 (2.80%) Azure Key Vault
14 14 (2.62%) Azure Sentinel
15 13 (2.43%) Serverless
16 11 (2.06%) Google Workspace
17 10 (1.87%) Azure Monitor
18 9 (1.68%) AWS CloudFormation
18 9 (1.68%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 267 (49.91%) Firewall
2 119 (22.24%) VPN
3 88 (16.45%) WAN
4 85 (15.89%) DNS
5 65 (12.15%) LAN
6 58 (10.84%) BGP
7 57 (10.65%) TCP/IP
8 48 (8.97%) SSL
9 46 (8.60%) VLAN
10 42 (7.85%) OSPF
11 39 (7.29%) SD-WAN
12 35 (6.54%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 32 (5.98%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 30 (5.61%) DMZ
14 30 (5.61%) Wireless
15 21 (3.93%) Internet
16 18 (3.36%) Cisco ASA
16 18 (3.36%) Intrusion Detection
17 17 (3.18%) Wi-Fi
18 16 (2.99%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.75%) Amazon RDS
1 4 (0.75%) InfluxDB
1 4 (0.75%) Relational Database
2 3 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.37%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.37%) Power BI
3 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.19%) Amazon Athena
4 1 (0.19%) Redis
4 1 (0.19%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 30 (5.61%) Jenkins
2 22 (4.11%) GitLab
3 21 (3.93%) Git
4 8 (1.50%) JIRA
5 2 (0.37%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.19%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.19%) Subversion
General
1 155 (28.97%) Social Skills
2 87 (16.26%) Analytical Skills
3 62 (11.59%) Finance
4 46 (8.60%) Public Sector
5 33 (6.17%) Banking
6 25 (4.67%) Telecoms
7 19 (3.55%) Documentation Skills
8 14 (2.62%) Investment Banking
9 13 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.50%) Military
10 8 (1.50%) Pharmaceutical
11 7 (1.31%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.12%) Legal
13 5 (0.93%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.93%) Manufacturing
14 4 (0.75%) Local Government
14 4 (0.75%) Marketing
14 4 (0.75%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.56%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 116 (21.68%) Network Engineer
2 92 (17.20%) Architect
3 83 (15.51%) Security Engineer
4 54 (10.09%) Security Architect
5 46 (8.60%) Senior
6 42 (7.85%) Network Architect
7 35 (6.54%) Network Security Engineer
8 30 (5.61%) Analyst
9 23 (4.30%) Network Security Architect
10 19 (3.55%) Administrator
10 19 (3.55%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 18 (3.36%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 18 (3.36%) Security Analyst
12 16 (2.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 16 (2.99%) Lead
12 16 (2.99%) Operations Engineer
12 16 (2.99%) SIEM Engineer
13 15 (2.80%) Cloud Engineer
13 15 (2.80%) IT Support
13 15 (2.80%) Wintel Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (2.99%) 802.1X
2 10 (1.87%) LDAP
3 8 (1.50%) .NET
3 8 (1.50%) Node.js
4 7 (1.31%) SAML
5 5 (0.93%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.93%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.93%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.93%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.93%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.93%) React
5 5 (0.93%) TensorFlow
6 4 (0.75%) ARM Templates
7 3 (0.56%) HTML
7 3 (0.56%) OAuth
7 3 (0.56%) OAuth2
7 3 (0.56%) OpenID
8 2 (0.37%) AWS CDK
8 2 (0.37%) CSS
8 2 (0.37%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 63 (11.78%) Data Centre
2 33 (6.17%) Security Posture
3 32 (5.98%) Hybrid Cloud
4 31 (5.79%) Management Information System
5 30 (5.61%) PKI
6 27 (5.05%) Cloud Native
7 18 (3.36%) Public Cloud
8 16 (2.99%) Onboarding
9 15 (2.80%) Cyber Security Posture
9 15 (2.80%) Cyber Threat
10 14 (2.62%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (2.62%) Security Operations Centre
11 13 (2.43%) Operational Technology
12 10 (1.87%) IoT
12 10 (1.87%) Virtual Team
13 8 (1.50%) Cloud Security Posture
13 8 (1.50%) CSOC
13 8 (1.50%) Data Protection Act
13 8 (1.50%) SCADA
14 7 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 83 (15.51%) Windows
2 63 (11.78%) Linux
3 28 (5.23%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.50%) VMS
5 6 (1.12%) Unix
6 4 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.75%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.56%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.19%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.19%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (23.93%) Cybersecurity
2 102 (19.07%) Problem-Solving
3 100 (18.69%) SIEM
4 85 (15.89%) Incident Response
5 82 (15.33%) CI/CD
6 77 (14.39%) Cloud Security
7 75 (14.02%) DevOps
7 75 (14.02%) Infrastructure as Code
8 70 (13.08%) Zero Trust
9 64 (11.96%) Security Architecture
10 60 (11.21%) Migration
11 59 (11.03%) Change Management
12 51 (9.53%) Identity Access Management
13 47 (8.79%) Infrastructure Automation
14 46 (8.60%) Load Balancing
14 46 (8.60%) Security Operations
15 45 (8.41%) Continuous Improvement
15 45 (8.41%) High Availability
16 42 (7.85%) Network Architecture
16 42 (7.85%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 111 (20.75%) Python
2 68 (12.71%) PowerShell
3 36 (6.73%) Bash
4 17 (3.18%) SQL
5 14 (2.62%) Bicep
5 14 (2.62%) Kusto Query Language
6 12 (2.24%) JavaScript
7 10 (1.87%) Java
8 7 (1.31%) Go
9 5 (0.93%) C
9 5 (0.93%) C#
9 5 (0.93%) C++
10 4 (0.75%) Perl
10 4 (0.75%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.19%) C-shell
11 1 (0.19%) Korn
11 1 (0.19%) PHP
11 1 (0.19%) Rust
11 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 183 (34.21%) Security Cleared
2 133 (24.86%) SC Cleared
3 101 (18.88%) Cisco Certification
4 77 (14.39%) CCNP
5 73 (13.64%) CISSP
6 56 (10.47%) DV Cleared
7 41 (7.66%) Degree
8 32 (5.98%) CCNA
9 30 (5.61%) CISM
10 26 (4.86%) CCIE
10 26 (4.86%) GIAC
11 25 (4.67%) CEH
12 20 (3.74%) Azure Certification
13 17 (3.18%) CompTIA Security+
14 15 (2.80%) AWS Certification
15 14 (2.62%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (2.24%) CCSP
17 11 (2.06%) (ISC)2 CCSP
18 10 (1.87%) CCSE
18 10 (1.87%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (11.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 55 (10.28%) NIST
3 41 (7.66%) GDPR
4 27 (5.05%) PCI DSS
5 17 (3.18%) Cyber Essentials
6 13 (2.43%) NCSC
7 7 (1.31%) GRC
7 7 (1.31%) HIPAA
8 6 (1.12%) SLA
8 6 (1.12%) SOC 2
9 5 (0.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (0.93%) PSD2
9 5 (0.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.75%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.56%) PMO
11 3 (0.56%) RMADS
12 2 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.37%) GxP
12 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 43 (8.04%) VMware Infrastructure
2 42 (7.85%) Active Directory
3 37 (6.92%) Docker
4 12 (2.24%) VMware NSX
5 9 (1.68%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.50%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.75%) ProxySG
7 4 (0.75%) vSphere
8 3 (0.56%) Firmware
8 3 (0.56%) Virtual Servers
8 3 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.37%) KVM
9 2 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.19%) RHEV
10 1 (0.19%) Xen
10 1 (0.19%) XenApp
10 1 (0.19%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 100 (18.69%) Terraform
2 63 (11.78%) Ansible
3 38 (7.10%) Kubernetes
4 20 (3.74%) FortiGate
5 13 (2.43%) Kibana
5 13 (2.43%) Nagios
6 10 (1.87%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.68%) QRadar
8 7 (1.31%) Grafana
8 7 (1.31%) Prometheus
8 7 (1.31%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (1.12%) Microsoft Clustering
10 4 (0.75%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.75%) Puppet
10 4 (0.75%) vCenter Server
11 3 (0.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 3 (0.56%) CASB
11 3 (0.56%) Icinga
11 3 (0.56%) SCCM
12 2 (0.37%) Istio
Vendors
1 141 (26.36%) Cisco
2 110 (20.56%) Palo Alto
3 91 (17.01%) Microsoft
4 82 (15.33%) F5
5 57 (10.65%) CheckPoint
6 50 (9.35%) VMware
7 44 (8.22%) Juniper
8 40 (7.48%) Zscaler
9 38 (7.10%) Fortinet
10 28 (5.23%) Splunk
11 23 (4.30%) Google
11 23 (4.30%) SolarWinds
12 21 (3.93%) Meraki
13 18 (3.36%) ServiceNow
14 13 (2.43%) FireEye
14 13 (2.43%) Tanium
15 12 (2.24%) Blue Coat
15 12 (2.24%) CrowdStrike
15 12 (2.24%) Databricks
15 12 (2.24%) Tenable