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 15 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 152 144 180
Rank change year-on-year -8 +36 -10
Contract jobs citing Network Security 784 511 497
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.75% 1.88% 1.36%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.45% 14.88% 10.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 542 315 336
10th Percentile £398 £375 £363
25th Percentile £446 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £536 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.10% -4.55% -1.79%
75th Percentile £638 £619 £663
90th Percentile £725 £713 £738
UK median daily rate £535 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +2.88% -5.45% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 16 16
10th Percentile £25.05 £50.00 -
25th Percentile £40.53 £66.37 £7.43
Median hourly rate £73.00 £81.01 £16.25
Median % change year-on-year -9.89% +398.54% -74.61%
75th Percentile £74.00 £84.25 £41.25
90th Percentile £74.03 £92.50 £50.00
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £81.01 £21.00
% change year-on-year -9.89% +285.77% -68.18%

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 4,250 3,433 4,760
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.50% 12.65% 12.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,623 2,122 2,833
10th Percentile £250 £235 £215
25th Percentile £400 £370 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £492 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.63% -1.60% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £483 £500
% change year-on-year +3.63% -3.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 307 158 385
10th Percentile £16.04 £14.99 £13.87
25th Percentile £20.41 £25.04 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.72 £43.75 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.93% +1.74% +39.84%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £84.30 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.44 £47.50 £43.00
% change year-on-year -44.34% +10.47% +39.84%

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 15 July 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 15 July 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 15 July 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 -2 333 £550 - 79
North of England +13 191 £528 +7.87% 66
South East -22 120 £542 +10.57% 78
North West -2 100 £535 +12.63% 43
Yorkshire +4 89 £500 +2.04% 19
Midlands -49 55 £500 -13.04% 34
West Midlands -78 33 £450 -21.74% 13
East of England -18 32 £525 -2.78% 26
South West -31 32 £550 -8.33% 28
East Midlands +7 21 £569 - 21
North East -38 2 £675 +8.00% 5
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 16 (2.04%) Confluence
2 12 (1.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.15%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.26%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 18 (2.30%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (1.15%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.77%) Oracle ERP
1 6 (0.77%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 233 (29.72%) Azure
2 176 (22.45%) AWS
3 104 (13.27%) GCP
4 75 (9.57%) Entra ID
5 27 (3.44%) Azure DevOps
5 27 (3.44%) GitHub
6 26 (3.32%) Microsoft 365
7 24 (3.06%) SaaS
7 24 (3.06%) Serverless
8 23 (2.93%) Azure Sentinel
9 21 (2.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 19 (2.42%) Azure Monitor
10 19 (2.42%) GitHub Actions
11 17 (2.17%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 17 (2.17%) OCI
12 16 (2.04%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 16 (2.04%) Azure Key Vault
13 15 (1.91%) AWS CloudFormation
13 15 (1.91%) Azure AKS
14 14 (1.79%) Akamai
Communications & Networking
1 360 (45.92%) Firewall
2 175 (22.32%) VPN
3 161 (20.54%) WAN
4 114 (14.54%) DNS
5 110 (14.03%) LAN
6 97 (12.37%) BGP
7 87 (11.10%) Wireless
8 78 (9.95%) TCP/IP
9 76 (9.69%) SD-WAN
10 74 (9.44%) OSPF
11 69 (8.80%) VLAN
12 55 (7.02%) DHCP
13 48 (6.12%) MPLS
14 42 (5.36%) Cisco ASA
14 42 (5.36%) Cisco ISE
14 42 (5.36%) SSL
15 36 (4.59%) IPsec
16 35 (4.46%) NGFW
17 30 (3.83%) Internet
18 29 (3.70%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.15%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.77%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.51%) Data Lake
3 4 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.51%) Neo4j
3 4 (0.51%) Power BI
4 3 (0.38%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.13%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.13%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.13%) Delta Lake
6 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.13%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.13%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 40 (5.10%) JIRA
2 31 (3.95%) Git
3 21 (2.68%) GitLab
4 16 (2.04%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.89%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.77%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.51%) MSBuild
7 4 (0.51%) Snyk
7 4 (0.51%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.51%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.38%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 192 (24.49%) Social Skills
2 135 (17.22%) Finance
3 69 (8.80%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (7.78%) Banking
5 57 (7.27%) Public Sector
6 34 (4.34%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (3.19%) Financial Institution
8 16 (2.04%) Telecoms
9 13 (1.66%) Legal
9 13 (1.66%) Retail
10 11 (1.40%) Manufacturing
11 10 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 10 (1.28%) Influencing Skills
11 10 (1.28%) Organisational Skills
12 8 (1.02%) Police
13 6 (0.77%) Law
14 5 (0.64%) Local Government
15 3 (0.38%) Aerospace
15 3 (0.38%) Military
15 3 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 207 (26.40%) Network Engineer
2 169 (21.56%) Architect
3 107 (13.65%) Security Engineer
4 83 (10.59%) Senior
5 78 (9.95%) Security Architect
6 62 (7.91%) Network Security Engineer
7 60 (7.65%) Network Architect
8 42 (5.36%) Consultant
9 40 (5.10%) Project Manager
10 34 (4.34%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 34 (4.34%) Lead
11 31 (3.95%) Senior Network Engineer
12 26 (3.32%) Cloud Engineer
13 22 (2.81%) Network Manager
13 22 (2.81%) Network Security Architect
14 21 (2.68%) Solutions Architect
15 19 (2.42%) Security Consultant
15 19 (2.42%) Senior Architect
16 18 (2.30%) Azure Architect
16 18 (2.30%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (4.46%) 802.1X
2 18 (2.30%) SAML
3 11 (1.40%) REST
4 9 (1.15%) Kafka
5 8 (1.02%) LDAP
6 7 (0.89%) ARM Templates
6 7 (0.89%) OAuth
6 7 (0.89%) OpenID
7 5 (0.64%) .NET
7 5 (0.64%) CSS
7 5 (0.64%) OAuth2
8 4 (0.51%) gRPC
8 4 (0.51%) HTML
8 4 (0.51%) JSON
8 4 (0.51%) Keycloak
8 4 (0.51%) NETCONF
8 4 (0.51%) Protocol Buffers
8 4 (0.51%) RESTful
9 3 (0.38%) Plotly
9 3 (0.38%) SLSA
Miscellaneous
1 93 (11.86%) Data Centre
2 64 (8.16%) Security Posture
3 46 (5.87%) Cloud Native
4 39 (4.97%) Hybrid Cloud
5 32 (4.08%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 27 (3.44%) Operational Technology
7 23 (2.93%) Onboarding
8 20 (2.55%) Cyber Threat
8 20 (2.55%) Data Protection Act
8 20 (2.55%) PKI
9 19 (2.42%) Management Information System
9 19 (2.42%) Product Ownership
9 19 (2.42%) Public Cloud
10 17 (2.17%) Security Operations Centre
11 15 (1.91%) IoT
11 15 (1.91%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (1.40%) Linux Command Line
13 10 (1.28%) Enterprise Software
14 9 (1.15%) Enterprise Cloud
14 9 (1.15%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 67 (8.55%) Linux
2 60 (7.65%) Windows
3 19 (2.42%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.02%) Ubuntu
5 8 (1.02%) Unix
6 6 (0.77%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.64%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.38%) Android
8 3 (0.38%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.38%) SUSE
8 3 (0.38%) VMS
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 167 (21.30%) Cybersecurity
2 136 (17.35%) Cloud Security
3 123 (15.69%) Zero Trust
4 111 (14.16%) CI/CD
5 109 (13.90%) SIEM
6 104 (13.27%) DevOps
7 102 (13.01%) Continuous Improvement
8 100 (12.76%) Infrastructure as Code
9 99 (12.63%) Migration
9 99 (12.63%) Security Architecture
10 93 (11.86%) Stakeholder Management
11 88 (11.22%) Problem-Solving
12 84 (10.71%) Change Management
13 79 (10.08%) Agile
14 77 (9.82%) Application Security
15 75 (9.57%) Data Protection
15 75 (9.57%) High Availability
15 75 (9.57%) Identity Access Management
15 75 (9.57%) Network Segmentation
16 74 (9.44%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 101 (12.88%) Python
2 56 (7.14%) PowerShell
3 43 (5.48%) Bash
4 27 (3.44%) Bicep
5 20 (2.55%) SQL
6 17 (2.17%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.02%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.77%) Java
9 4 (0.51%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.51%) Perl
9 4 (0.51%) PHP
9 4 (0.51%) Rust
10 2 (0.26%) Ruby
11 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
11 1 (0.13%) C
11 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 222 (28.32%) Security Cleared
2 153 (19.52%) SC Cleared
3 137 (17.47%) Cisco Certification
4 91 (11.61%) CISSP
5 81 (10.33%) CCNP
6 78 (9.95%) DV Cleared
7 62 (7.91%) Degree
8 54 (6.89%) CISM
9 53 (6.76%) CCNA
10 37 (4.72%) CCSP
11 36 (4.59%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 29 (3.70%) Azure Certification
13 20 (2.55%) AWS Certification
14 19 (2.42%) CCIE
15 15 (1.91%) CompTIA Security+
15 15 (1.91%) Computer Science Degree
16 14 (1.79%) GIAC
17 12 (1.53%) BPSS Clearance
18 11 (1.40%) CEH
19 9 (1.15%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (9.95%) NIST
2 65 (8.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (4.34%) GDPR
4 26 (3.32%) PCI DSS
5 25 (3.19%) NCSC
6 18 (2.30%) GRC
7 14 (1.79%) Cyber Essentials
8 11 (1.40%) QA
8 11 (1.40%) SLA
9 8 (1.02%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 8 (1.02%) NIST 800
10 7 (0.89%) Actionable Recommendations
10 7 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 7 (0.89%) SOC 2
11 6 (0.77%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.38%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.38%) ISA99
12 3 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.38%) PMO
13 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
System Software
1 66 (8.42%) Active Directory
2 57 (7.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (3.06%) Docker
3 24 (3.06%) VMware NSX
4 22 (2.81%) Virtual Machines
5 13 (1.66%) VMware ESXi
6 10 (1.28%) vSphere
7 9 (1.15%) Hyper-V
8 6 (0.77%) Firmware
9 5 (0.64%) Squid
10 4 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.38%) NFS
12 2 (0.26%) Postfix
12 2 (0.26%) Sendmail
12 2 (0.26%) Varnish
12 2 (0.26%) VMware Workstation
13 1 (0.13%) OpenSSH
13 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.13%) Samba
13 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 106 (13.52%) Terraform
2 71 (9.06%) Ansible
3 67 (8.55%) Kubernetes
4 41 (5.23%) FortiGate
5 19 (2.42%) Single Sign-On
6 18 (2.30%) Grafana
7 13 (1.66%) vCenter Server
8 12 (1.53%) Microsoft Intune
9 11 (1.40%) Prometheus
10 8 (1.02%) CASB
11 7 (0.89%) Puppet
12 6 (0.77%) QRadar
13 5 (0.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (0.64%) Cisco CUCM
13 5 (0.64%) Suricata
13 5 (0.64%) WSUS
14 4 (0.51%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.51%) Podman
14 4 (0.51%) SCCM
14 4 (0.51%) SCOM
Vendors
1 227 (28.95%) Cisco
2 122 (15.56%) Microsoft
3 118 (15.05%) Palo Alto
4 70 (8.93%) Fortinet
5 69 (8.80%) VMware
6 67 (8.55%) F5
7 57 (7.27%) CheckPoint
8 50 (6.38%) Zscaler
9 48 (6.12%) Juniper
10 33 (4.21%) ServiceNow
11 31 (3.95%) Splunk
12 25 (3.19%) SolarWinds
13 24 (3.06%) Citrix
14 22 (2.81%) Google
15 19 (2.42%) ForeScout
16 17 (2.17%) Aruba
16 17 (2.17%) Tenable
17 13 (1.66%) Infoblox
18 12 (1.53%) CyberArk
18 12 (1.53%) Meraki