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 17 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 171 134 148
Rank change year-on-year -37 +14 +105
Contract jobs citing Network Security 529 521 616
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.66% 1.94% 1.68%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.84% 15.08% 11.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 319 328 442
10th Percentile £340 £356 £408
25th Percentile £413 £437 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £576 £625 £650
90th Percentile £690 £729 £744
UK median daily rate £500 £508 £560
% change year-on-year -1.48% -9.38% +1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 7 6
10th Percentile £36.90 £17.60 £50.63
25th Percentile £48.94 £26.75 £64.06
Median hourly rate £65.50 £41.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.76% -43.45% +93.33%
75th Percentile £77.19 £48.75 £76.25
90th Percentile £92.75 £53.50 -
UK median hourly rate £65.50 £41.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +59.76% -43.45% +93.33%

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 3,340 3,455 5,166
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.45% 12.84% 14.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,168 2,011 3,200
10th Percentile £204 £220 £206
25th Percentile £356 £375 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% - -3.15%
75th Percentile £588 £601 £600
90th Percentile £688 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 149 106 332
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £18.93
25th Percentile £18.87 £20.93 £24.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -38.04% +132.95%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £74.26 £70.63 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -14.29% -38.04% +134.16%

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 17 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 17 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 17 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 -18 231 £540 -1.55% 79
North of England -40 104 £474 -5.20% 52
North West 0 70 £475 -5.00% 32
South East -16 68 £430 -21.82% 80
Midlands -19 62 £500 -14.24% 30
West Midlands -7 56 £500 -14.24% 18
Yorkshire -44 46 £205 -59.00% 16
East of England -21 25 £475 -14.80% 25
South West -23 23 £533 +1.43% 33
East Midlands -36 6 £544 +79.75% 12
North East -11 2 £475 -41.72% 4
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 8 (1.51%) Confluence
2 6 (1.13%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.76%) Apache
5 1 (0.19%) IIS
5 1 (0.19%) nginx
5 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (3.21%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.08%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.19%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 155 (29.30%) Azure
2 115 (21.74%) AWS
3 50 (9.45%) GCP
4 32 (6.05%) Entra ID
5 25 (4.73%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 23 (4.35%) GitHub
7 22 (4.16%) Amazon S3
7 22 (4.16%) Microsoft 365
8 21 (3.97%) GitHub Actions
9 20 (3.78%) Amazon EC2
9 20 (3.78%) Azure DevOps
10 16 (3.02%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 16 (3.02%) Amazon ELB
10 16 (3.02%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (2.65%) Azure Key Vault
12 13 (2.46%) Serverless
13 11 (2.08%) Google Workspace
14 10 (1.89%) Azure Monitor
14 10 (1.89%) IaaS
15 8 (1.51%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 262 (49.53%) Firewall
2 115 (21.74%) VPN
3 85 (16.07%) DNS
3 85 (16.07%) WAN
4 63 (11.91%) LAN
5 55 (10.40%) TCP/IP
6 54 (10.21%) BGP
7 51 (9.64%) SSL
8 46 (8.70%) VLAN
9 38 (7.18%) OSPF
10 36 (6.81%) SD-WAN
11 34 (6.43%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 31 (5.86%) DMZ
12 31 (5.86%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 28 (5.29%) Wireless
14 21 (3.97%) Internet
15 18 (3.40%) Cisco ASA
15 18 (3.40%) Intrusion Detection
16 17 (3.21%) Wi-Fi
17 16 (3.02%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.76%) Amazon RDS
1 4 (0.76%) InfluxDB
1 4 (0.76%) Relational Database
2 3 (0.57%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.38%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.38%) Power BI
3 2 (0.38%) 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 (5.67%) Jenkins
2 22 (4.16%) GitLab
3 21 (3.97%) Git
4 7 (1.32%) JIRA
5 2 (0.38%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.19%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.19%) Subversion
General
1 155 (29.30%) Social Skills
2 83 (15.69%) Analytical Skills
3 59 (11.15%) Finance
4 45 (8.51%) Public Sector
5 32 (6.05%) Banking
6 25 (4.73%) Telecoms
7 19 (3.59%) Documentation Skills
8 15 (2.84%) Investment Banking
9 13 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.51%) Military
10 8 (1.51%) Pharmaceutical
11 7 (1.32%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.13%) Legal
12 6 (1.13%) Manufacturing
13 5 (0.95%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.95%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.76%) Local Government
14 4 (0.76%) Marketing
14 4 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.57%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 115 (21.74%) Network Engineer
2 88 (16.64%) Architect
3 83 (15.69%) Security Engineer
4 56 (10.59%) Security Architect
5 46 (8.70%) Senior
6 41 (7.75%) Network Architect
7 35 (6.62%) Network Security Engineer
8 32 (6.05%) Analyst
9 23 (4.35%) Network Security Architect
10 19 (3.59%) Administrator
10 19 (3.59%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 18 (3.40%) Security Analyst
12 17 (3.21%) Operations Engineer
12 17 (3.21%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 16 (3.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 16 (3.02%) Lead
14 15 (2.84%) IT Support
14 15 (2.84%) Systems Administrator
14 15 (2.84%) Systems Manager
14 15 (2.84%) Wintel Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.65%) 802.1X
2 12 (2.27%) LDAP
3 8 (1.51%) .NET
3 8 (1.51%) Node.js
4 7 (1.32%) SAML
5 5 (0.95%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.95%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.95%) ARM Templates
5 5 (0.95%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.95%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.95%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.95%) React
5 5 (0.95%) TensorFlow
6 3 (0.57%) HTML
6 3 (0.57%) OAuth
6 3 (0.57%) OAuth2
6 3 (0.57%) OpenID
7 2 (0.38%) CSS
7 2 (0.38%) REST
8 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 61 (11.53%) Data Centre
2 35 (6.62%) Management Information System
2 35 (6.62%) Security Posture
3 33 (6.24%) Hybrid Cloud
4 30 (5.67%) PKI
5 28 (5.29%) Cloud Native
6 18 (3.40%) Public Cloud
7 17 (3.21%) Cyber Threat
8 16 (3.02%) Analytical Mindset
8 16 (3.02%) Onboarding
8 16 (3.02%) Security Operations Centre
9 14 (2.65%) Operational Technology
10 12 (2.27%) Cyber Security Posture
11 10 (1.89%) CSOC
11 10 (1.89%) Virtual Team
12 9 (1.70%) Cloud Security Posture
13 8 (1.51%) Cyberattack
13 8 (1.51%) Data Protection Act
13 8 (1.51%) IoT
14 7 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 80 (15.12%) Windows
2 60 (11.34%) Linux
3 25 (4.73%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.51%) VMS
5 6 (1.13%) Unix
6 4 (0.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.76%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.57%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.19%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.19%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (23.82%) Cybersecurity
2 102 (19.28%) SIEM
3 97 (18.34%) Problem-Solving
4 89 (16.82%) Incident Response
5 81 (15.31%) CI/CD
6 80 (15.12%) Cloud Security
7 75 (14.18%) DevOps
8 72 (13.61%) Infrastructure as Code
9 66 (12.48%) Zero Trust
10 59 (11.15%) Change Management
11 58 (10.96%) Migration
12 56 (10.59%) Security Architecture
13 48 (9.07%) Identity Access Management
14 47 (8.88%) Continuous Improvement
14 47 (8.88%) Load Balancing
14 47 (8.88%) Security Operations
15 45 (8.51%) Infrastructure Automation
16 44 (8.32%) Threat Modelling
17 43 (8.13%) Network Architecture
18 41 (7.75%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 110 (20.79%) Python
2 68 (12.85%) PowerShell
3 36 (6.81%) Bash
4 17 (3.21%) SQL
5 15 (2.84%) Bicep
6 12 (2.27%) JavaScript
6 12 (2.27%) Kusto Query Language
7 10 (1.89%) Java
8 7 (1.32%) Go
9 5 (0.95%) C
9 5 (0.95%) C#
9 5 (0.95%) C++
10 4 (0.76%) Perl
10 4 (0.76%) 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
1 174 (32.89%) Security Cleared
2 127 (24.01%) SC Cleared
3 101 (19.09%) Cisco Certification
4 76 (14.37%) CCNP
5 71 (13.42%) CISSP
6 54 (10.21%) DV Cleared
7 40 (7.56%) Degree
8 32 (6.05%) CCNA
9 31 (5.86%) CISM
10 25 (4.73%) CCIE
11 23 (4.35%) GIAC
12 22 (4.16%) CEH
13 19 (3.59%) Azure Certification
14 17 (3.21%) CompTIA Security+
15 13 (2.46%) AWS Certification
15 13 (2.46%) CCSP
15 13 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (2.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
17 9 (1.70%) CCSE
17 9 (1.70%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (11.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 56 (10.59%) NIST
3 41 (7.75%) GDPR
4 27 (5.10%) PCI DSS
5 17 (3.21%) Cyber Essentials
6 14 (2.65%) NCSC
7 7 (1.32%) GRC
7 7 (1.32%) HIPAA
8 6 (1.13%) SLA
8 6 (1.13%) SOC 2
9 5 (0.95%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (0.95%) JSP 440
9 5 (0.95%) PSD2
9 5 (0.95%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.57%) PMO
10 3 (0.57%) RMADS
11 2 (0.38%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.38%) GxP
11 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 41 (7.75%) VMware Infrastructure
2 38 (7.18%) Active Directory
3 37 (6.99%) Docker
4 9 (1.70%) Hyper-V
4 9 (1.70%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (1.70%) VMware NSX
5 4 (0.76%) ProxySG
5 4 (0.76%) vSphere
6 3 (0.57%) Firmware
6 3 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
6 3 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.38%) KVM
7 2 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.19%) RHEV
8 1 (0.19%) Xen
8 1 (0.19%) XenApp
8 1 (0.19%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 97 (18.34%) Terraform
2 61 (11.53%) Ansible
3 37 (6.99%) Kubernetes
4 20 (3.78%) FortiGate
5 13 (2.46%) Nagios
6 10 (1.89%) Kibana
6 10 (1.89%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.70%) QRadar
8 7 (1.32%) Grafana
8 7 (1.32%) Prometheus
8 7 (1.32%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (1.13%) Microsoft Clustering
10 4 (0.76%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.76%) vCenter Server
11 3 (0.57%) CASB
11 3 (0.57%) Icinga
11 3 (0.57%) Puppet
11 3 (0.57%) SCCM
12 2 (0.38%) Istio
12 2 (0.38%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 140 (26.47%) Cisco
2 110 (20.79%) Palo Alto
3 93 (17.58%) Microsoft
4 80 (15.12%) F5
5 55 (10.40%) CheckPoint
6 48 (9.07%) VMware
7 43 (8.13%) Juniper
8 38 (7.18%) Fortinet
8 38 (7.18%) Zscaler
9 28 (5.29%) Splunk
10 25 (4.73%) Google
11 23 (4.35%) SolarWinds
12 21 (3.97%) Meraki
13 16 (3.02%) ServiceNow
14 14 (2.65%) CrowdStrike
15 12 (2.27%) Blue Coat
15 12 (2.27%) Tenable
16 10 (1.89%) Aruba
16 10 (1.89%) FireEye
16 10 (1.89%) Tanium