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 29 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 168 140 146
Rank change year-on-year -28 +6 +111
Contract jobs citing Network Security 516 551 671
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.68% 1.78% 1.72%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.15% 14.51% 12.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 352 463
10th Percentile £346 £363 £400
25th Percentile £411 £450 £474
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £588 £631 £649
90th Percentile £688 £736 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 9 5
10th Percentile £41.40 £18.05 £65.00
25th Percentile £45.00 £35.00 £68.75
Median hourly rate £70.16 £45.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.91% -37.93% +61.11%
75th Percentile £85.00 £58.75 £76.25
90th Percentile £97.00 £70.77 -
UK median hourly rate £70.16 £41.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +71.12% -43.45% +61.11%

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 3,406 3,797 5,524
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.09% 12.26% 14.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,199 2,193 3,434
10th Percentile £206 £232 £210
25th Percentile £358 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £588 £608 £609
90th Percentile £680 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 180 133 328
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.71 £18.82
25th Percentile £20.42 £23.10 £23.07
Median hourly rate £31.39 £48.56 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -35.37% -14.04% +26.38%
75th Percentile £65.00 £67.50 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £41.00 £56.40
% change year-on-year -17.07% -27.30% +35.09%

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 29 November 2025.

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 29 November 2025.

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 29 November 2025. 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 +5 232 £515 -2.04% 74
North of England -35 99 £475 -5.00% 30
Midlands -22 70 £500 -14.24% 20
West Midlands 0 66 £500 -21.26% 13
North West -6 66 £492 -6.29% 19
South East -23 63 £425 -19.05% 91
Yorkshire -23 47 £238 -52.50% 9
South West +8 28 £620 +18.10% 19
East of England -13 23 £488 +44.44% 10
East Midlands -25 4 £650 +73.33% 6
South Coast - 2 - -
North East -8 1 £550 -32.52% 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 5 (0.97%) Confluence
2 4 (0.78%) Apache
2 4 (0.78%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.58%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.19%) IIS
4 1 (0.19%) nginx
4 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (2.91%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.78%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.19%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 133 (25.78%) Azure
2 109 (21.12%) AWS
3 43 (8.33%) GCP
4 27 (5.23%) Microsoft 365
5 26 (5.04%) Entra ID
6 22 (4.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 21 (4.07%) Amazon S3
7 21 (4.07%) Azure DevOps
8 19 (3.68%) Amazon EC2
9 16 (3.10%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 16 (3.10%) Amazon ELB
10 15 (2.91%) Azure Key Vault
10 15 (2.91%) Azure Monitor
11 14 (2.71%) GitHub
12 12 (2.33%) Azure Logic Apps
12 12 (2.33%) Azure Sentinel
12 12 (2.33%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (2.13%) Google Workspace
13 11 (2.13%) Serverless
14 10 (1.94%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 242 (46.90%) Firewall
2 99 (19.19%) DNS
3 97 (18.80%) VPN
4 77 (14.92%) WAN
5 60 (11.63%) SSL
6 54 (10.47%) BGP
6 54 (10.47%) TCP/IP
7 49 (9.50%) LAN
8 46 (8.91%) SD-WAN
9 38 (7.36%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 38 (7.36%) OSPF
10 36 (6.98%) Wireless
11 35 (6.78%) VLAN
12 32 (6.20%) DMZ
13 31 (6.01%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 23 (4.46%) HTTP
15 22 (4.26%) Internet
15 22 (4.26%) Intrusion Detection
16 19 (3.68%) IPsec
16 19 (3.68%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
1 3 (0.58%) InfluxDB
1 3 (0.58%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.39%) Data Lake
2 2 (0.39%) Power BI
3 1 (0.19%) Amazon Athena
3 1 (0.19%) GIS
3 1 (0.19%) MySQL
3 1 (0.19%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.19%) Redis
3 1 (0.19%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 24 (4.65%) Jenkins
2 22 (4.26%) GitLab
3 20 (3.88%) Git
4 7 (1.36%) JIRA
5 1 (0.19%) Burp Suite
5 1 (0.19%) Metasploit
5 1 (0.19%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.19%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.19%) Subversion
General
1 160 (31.01%) Social Skills
2 86 (16.67%) Analytical Skills
3 53 (10.27%) Finance
4 40 (7.75%) Public Sector
5 36 (6.98%) Banking
6 20 (3.88%) Telecoms
7 18 (3.49%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (3.10%) Investment Banking
9 11 (2.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 10 (1.94%) Law
10 10 (1.94%) Pharmaceutical
11 9 (1.74%) Legal
12 7 (1.36%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.16%) Financial Institution
13 6 (1.16%) Military
14 5 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.97%) Manufacturing
15 4 (0.78%) Aerospace
15 4 (0.78%) Organisational Skills
16 2 (0.39%) German Language
Job Titles
1 106 (20.54%) Network Engineer
2 101 (19.57%) Security Engineer
3 85 (16.47%) Architect
4 55 (10.66%) Network Security Engineer
5 52 (10.08%) Security Architect
6 49 (9.50%) Senior
7 40 (7.75%) Analyst
8 35 (6.78%) Network Architect
9 23 (4.46%) Consultant
10 20 (3.88%) Administrator
11 18 (3.49%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 18 (3.49%) Network Security Architect
11 18 (3.49%) Security Analyst
11 18 (3.49%) SOC Analyst
12 17 (3.29%) Operations Engineer
13 15 (2.91%) IT Engineer
13 15 (2.91%) Lead
14 14 (2.71%) Platform Manager
14 14 (2.71%) Wintel Administrator
14 14 (2.71%) Wintel Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.71%) LDAP
2 12 (2.33%) 802.1X
3 10 (1.94%) ARM Templates
4 7 (1.36%) .NET
4 7 (1.36%) YAML
5 6 (1.16%) ADO
5 6 (1.16%) SAML
6 5 (0.97%) Node.js
7 4 (0.78%) .NET Core
7 4 (0.78%) AngularJS
7 4 (0.78%) PyTorch
7 4 (0.78%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.78%) React
7 4 (0.78%) TensorFlow
8 3 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
8 3 (0.58%) SailPoint
9 2 (0.39%) OAuth
9 2 (0.39%) OAuth2
9 2 (0.39%) OpenID
10 1 (0.19%) Lambda Expressions
Miscellaneous
1 40 (7.75%) Data Centre
1 40 (7.75%) Management Information System
1 40 (7.75%) Security Posture
2 27 (5.23%) Hybrid Cloud
3 22 (4.26%) Cloud Native
4 18 (3.49%) Onboarding
4 18 (3.49%) PKI
4 18 (3.49%) Security Operations Centre
5 17 (3.29%) Cyber Threat
6 16 (3.10%) Analytical Mindset
6 16 (3.10%) Operational Technology
7 13 (2.52%) Virtual Team
8 12 (2.33%) Public Cloud
9 11 (2.13%) Cloud Security Posture
9 11 (2.13%) Cyberattack
10 10 (1.94%) CSOC
10 10 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
11 9 (1.74%) SCADA
12 8 (1.55%) Cyber Security Posture
12 8 (1.55%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 76 (14.73%) Windows
2 62 (12.02%) Linux
3 17 (3.29%) Windows Server
4 6 (1.16%) Unix
5 5 (0.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.78%) VMS
7 3 (0.58%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.19%) CentOS
9 1 (0.19%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.19%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.19%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.19%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (24.03%) Cybersecurity
2 105 (20.35%) Problem-Solving
3 101 (19.57%) Incident Response
4 95 (18.41%) SIEM
5 79 (15.31%) Cloud Security
6 70 (13.57%) Infrastructure as Code
7 68 (13.18%) CI/CD
8 67 (12.98%) DevOps
9 60 (11.63%) Change Management
10 53 (10.27%) Identity Access Management
11 50 (9.69%) Security Operations
12 47 (9.11%) Security Architecture
13 46 (8.91%) Migration
13 46 (8.91%) Vulnerability Management
14 44 (8.53%) Infrastructure Automation
14 44 (8.53%) Load Balancing
15 43 (8.33%) Agile
15 43 (8.33%) Network Architecture
16 41 (7.95%) Continuous Improvement
16 41 (7.95%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 106 (20.54%) Python
2 63 (12.21%) PowerShell
3 39 (7.56%) Bash
4 20 (3.88%) Bicep
5 14 (2.71%) SQL
6 10 (1.94%) Kusto Query Language
7 7 (1.36%) JavaScript
8 6 (1.16%) Java
8 6 (1.16%) Perl
9 4 (0.78%) C#
10 3 (0.58%) Go
10 3 (0.58%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.39%) C
11 2 (0.39%) C++
12 1 (0.19%) Rust
12 1 (0.19%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 143 (27.71%) Security Cleared
2 95 (18.41%) SC Cleared
3 81 (15.70%) Cisco Certification
4 69 (13.37%) CISSP
5 60 (11.63%) CCNP
6 45 (8.72%) DV Cleared
7 40 (7.75%) Degree
8 37 (7.17%) CISM
9 23 (4.46%) CCIE
10 22 (4.26%) CEH
10 22 (4.26%) GIAC
11 18 (3.49%) CompTIA Security+
12 15 (2.91%) Computer Science Degree
13 13 (2.52%) CCNA
13 13 (2.52%) CCSA
13 13 (2.52%) CCSP
14 12 (2.33%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 12 (2.33%) AWS Certification
14 12 (2.33%) Azure Certification
15 8 (1.55%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 66 (12.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 56 (10.85%) NIST
3 48 (9.30%) GDPR
4 31 (6.01%) PCI DSS
5 14 (2.71%) NCSC
6 12 (2.33%) Cyber Essentials
6 12 (2.33%) GRC
7 11 (2.13%) HIPAA
8 6 (1.16%) SLA
9 5 (0.97%) PSD2
9 5 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 5 (0.97%) SOC 2
10 4 (0.78%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.58%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.58%) JSP 440
12 2 (0.39%) GxP
12 2 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.39%) PMO
12 2 (0.39%) QA
13 1 (0.19%) NIST 800
System Software
1 37 (7.17%) Docker
2 34 (6.59%) Active Directory
2 34 (6.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (2.13%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (1.74%) Firmware
5 5 (0.97%) VMware NSX
6 4 (0.78%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.78%) ProxySG
7 3 (0.58%) Virtual Servers
7 3 (0.58%) vSphere
8 1 (0.19%) KVM
8 1 (0.19%) XenApp
8 1 (0.19%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 74 (14.34%) Terraform
2 46 (8.91%) Ansible
3 29 (5.62%) Kubernetes
4 20 (3.88%) FortiGate
5 10 (1.94%) QRadar
6 7 (1.36%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (1.16%) CASB
7 6 (1.16%) Grafana
7 6 (1.16%) Prometheus
7 6 (1.16%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.97%) Kibana
9 4 (0.78%) CA Spectrum
10 3 (0.58%) Progress Chef
10 3 (0.58%) SCCM
11 2 (0.39%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.39%) Nessus
11 2 (0.39%) Puppet
12 1 (0.19%) Fluentd
12 1 (0.19%) HP Fortify
12 1 (0.19%) Icinga
Vendors
1 120 (23.26%) Cisco
2 94 (18.22%) Palo Alto
3 89 (17.25%) F5
3 89 (17.25%) Microsoft
4 55 (10.66%) CheckPoint
5 44 (8.53%) VMware
6 43 (8.33%) Juniper
7 42 (8.14%) Zscaler
8 41 (7.95%) Fortinet
9 30 (5.81%) Splunk
10 23 (4.46%) Meraki
11 22 (4.26%) CrowdStrike
11 22 (4.26%) Google
12 19 (3.68%) SolarWinds
13 14 (2.71%) Tenable
14 12 (2.33%) Blue Coat
15 11 (2.13%) Forcepoint
15 11 (2.13%) Qualys
15 11 (2.13%) ServiceNow
16 9 (1.74%) ArcSight