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 23 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 152 147 186
Rank change year-on-year -5 +39 +8
Contract jobs citing Network Security 708 463 466
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.70% 1.94% 1.28%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.96% 14.89% 9.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 491 282 323
10th Percentile £398 £381 £363
25th Percentile £438 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £528 £563
Median % change year-on-year -0.47% -6.22% -2.17%
75th Percentile £616 £625 £675
90th Percentile £700 £711 £775
UK median daily rate £523 £523 £575
% change year-on-year - -9.13% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 7 15
10th Percentile £27.20 £55.60 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £80.34 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.10% +502.59% -74.10%
75th Percentile £74.00 £81.73 £41.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.86 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £81.01 £19.00
% change year-on-year -19.77% +326.38% -64.53%

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 3,941 3,110 4,777
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.49% 13.05% 13.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,446 1,947 2,874
10th Percentile £263 £215 £210
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £495
Median % change year-on-year - +1.01% -5.71%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £699
UK median daily rate £500 £488 £488
% change year-on-year +2.56% - -5.34%
Number of hourly rates quoted 244 112 387
10th Percentile £16.50 £14.20 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.31 £15.41 £16.30
Median hourly rate £35.52 £36.57 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.88% -8.57% +128.57%
75th Percentile £65.22 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £81.32 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £37.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -13.33% -6.25% +116.22%

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 23 May 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 23 May 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 23 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
London -9 307 £550 -4.35% 102
North of England -2 156 £493 -1.35% 56
South East -36 97 £500 +2.04% 67
North West +7 90 £489 -4.12% 36
Yorkshire -25 63 £500 +1.83% 15
Midlands -51 51 £475 -9.52% 24
East of England -20 36 £515 -8.44% 17
South West -28 32 £545 +3.81% 16
West Midlands -60 32 £435 -17.14% 16
East Midlands -14 18 £638 - 8
North East -24 3 £538 -14.00% 6
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 15 (2.12%) Confluence
2 11 (1.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.71%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.28%) Apache
Applications
1 14 (1.98%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.55%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 212 (29.94%) Azure
2 149 (21.05%) AWS
3 90 (12.71%) GCP
4 56 (7.91%) Entra ID
5 26 (3.67%) Azure Sentinel
6 24 (3.39%) GitHub
7 23 (3.25%) Azure DevOps
8 20 (2.82%) GitHub Actions
9 18 (2.54%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 17 (2.40%) Azure Key Vault
10 17 (2.40%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 16 (2.26%) Microsoft 365
12 15 (2.12%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 14 (1.98%) Akamai
14 13 (1.84%) Azure AKS
14 13 (1.84%) Azure Monitor
14 13 (1.84%) SaaS
15 12 (1.69%) AWS CloudFormation
16 11 (1.55%) Serverless
17 10 (1.41%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 327 (46.19%) Firewall
2 141 (19.92%) VPN
3 129 (18.22%) WAN
4 98 (13.84%) LAN
5 90 (12.71%) DNS
6 86 (12.15%) BGP
7 74 (10.45%) OSPF
8 71 (10.03%) VLAN
9 63 (8.90%) SD-WAN
9 63 (8.90%) TCP/IP
10 60 (8.47%) Wireless
11 43 (6.07%) MPLS
12 42 (5.93%) DHCP
13 35 (4.94%) SSL
14 33 (4.66%) Cisco ISE
15 29 (4.10%) Cisco ASA
16 28 (3.95%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 25 (3.53%) HTTP
17 25 (3.53%) NGFW
18 24 (3.39%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
1 5 (0.71%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.56%) Neo4j
3 3 (0.42%) Amazon Athena
3 3 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.42%) Power BI
4 2 (0.28%) Data Lake
4 2 (0.28%) InfluxDB
4 2 (0.28%) Oracle Database
4 2 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.28%) Relational Database
4 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.14%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.14%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 31 (4.38%) JIRA
2 16 (2.26%) GitLab
2 16 (2.26%) Jenkins
3 15 (2.12%) Git
4 5 (0.71%) Browser DevTools
5 4 (0.56%) Snyk
5 4 (0.56%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.42%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.14%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.14%) Postman
7 1 (0.14%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
General
1 161 (22.74%) Social Skills
2 108 (15.25%) Finance
3 66 (9.32%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (7.06%) Public Sector
5 43 (6.07%) Banking
6 31 (4.38%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.39%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.82%) Financial Institution
9 10 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (1.27%) Legal
11 8 (1.13%) Retail
12 7 (0.99%) Manufacturing
13 6 (0.85%) Law
13 6 (0.85%) Military
14 5 (0.71%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.71%) Local Government
14 5 (0.71%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.71%) Police
15 3 (0.42%) Electronics
15 3 (0.42%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 173 (24.44%) Network Engineer
2 150 (21.19%) Architect
3 95 (13.42%) Security Engineer
4 70 (9.89%) Security Architect
5 64 (9.04%) Senior
6 53 (7.49%) Network Architect
7 47 (6.64%) Network Security Engineer
8 28 (3.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 28 (3.95%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 27 (3.81%) Consultant
9 27 (3.81%) Project Manager
10 26 (3.67%) Lead
11 24 (3.39%) Cloud Engineer
12 22 (3.11%) Analyst
12 22 (3.11%) Network Security Architect
13 20 (2.82%) Cloud Architect
14 19 (2.68%) Azure Architect
14 19 (2.68%) Solutions Architect
15 18 (2.54%) Senior Architect
16 17 (2.40%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (3.95%) 802.1X
2 13 (1.84%) LDAP
3 11 (1.55%) SAML
4 6 (0.85%) Kafka
5 5 (0.71%) Node.js
5 5 (0.71%) OAuth
5 5 (0.71%) REST
6 4 (0.56%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.56%) CSS
6 4 (0.56%) HTML
6 4 (0.56%) OpenID
7 3 (0.42%) .NET
7 3 (0.42%) Elastic Stack
7 3 (0.42%) JSON
7 3 (0.42%) Lambda Expressions
7 3 (0.42%) OAuth2
7 3 (0.42%) Plotly
7 3 (0.42%) SLSA
8 2 (0.28%) AWS CDK
8 2 (0.28%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 100 (14.12%) Data Centre
2 44 (6.21%) Security Posture
3 39 (5.51%) Cloud Native
4 38 (5.37%) Hybrid Cloud
5 26 (3.67%) PKI
6 25 (3.53%) Onboarding
7 22 (3.11%) Cyber Threat
8 20 (2.82%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 20 (2.82%) IoT
9 19 (2.68%) Public Cloud
10 18 (2.54%) Operational Technology
11 17 (2.40%) Management Information System
12 16 (2.26%) Data Protection Act
13 15 (2.12%) Product Ownership
14 14 (1.98%) Security Operations Centre
15 12 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
16 11 (1.55%) Cyber Security Posture
17 10 (1.41%) Analytical Mindset
17 10 (1.41%) Replication
18 9 (1.27%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 64 (9.04%) Windows
2 50 (7.06%) Linux
3 26 (3.67%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (0.99%) VMS
5 6 (0.85%) Ubuntu
5 6 (0.85%) Unix
6 5 (0.71%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.56%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.42%) SUSE
9 1 (0.14%) Android
9 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (21.05%) Cybersecurity
2 115 (16.24%) Zero Trust
3 114 (16.10%) Cloud Security
4 96 (13.56%) Security Architecture
5 95 (13.42%) SIEM
6 94 (13.28%) CI/CD
7 90 (12.71%) Migration
8 89 (12.57%) DevOps
9 83 (11.72%) Infrastructure as Code
10 78 (11.02%) Continuous Improvement
11 77 (10.88%) Problem-Solving
12 71 (10.03%) Network Segmentation
13 64 (9.04%) Application Security
13 64 (9.04%) Threat Modelling
14 63 (8.90%) High Availability
15 62 (8.76%) Agile
15 62 (8.76%) Incident Response
15 62 (8.76%) Stakeholder Management
16 61 (8.62%) Change Management
17 60 (8.47%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 92 (12.99%) Python
2 59 (8.33%) PowerShell
3 29 (4.10%) Bash
4 22 (3.11%) JavaScript
5 21 (2.97%) Bicep
6 16 (2.26%) SQL
7 9 (1.27%) Kusto Query Language
8 6 (0.85%) Shell Script
9 5 (0.71%) Java
10 4 (0.56%) C
10 4 (0.56%) Go
10 4 (0.56%) PHP
11 3 (0.42%) C++
12 2 (0.28%) C#
12 2 (0.28%) Ruby
13 1 (0.14%) ActionScript
13 1 (0.14%) C-shell
13 1 (0.14%) Korn
13 1 (0.14%) Perl
13 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 218 (30.79%) Security Cleared
2 159 (22.46%) SC Cleared
3 137 (19.35%) Cisco Certification
4 93 (13.14%) CCNP
5 81 (11.44%) CISSP
6 70 (9.89%) DV Cleared
7 55 (7.77%) CCNA
8 48 (6.78%) Degree
9 45 (6.36%) CISM
10 28 (3.95%) CCSP
11 27 (3.81%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 27 (3.81%) Azure Certification
12 17 (2.40%) CCIE
12 17 (2.40%) GIAC
13 14 (1.98%) AWS Certification
13 14 (1.98%) CEH
13 14 (1.98%) CompTIA Security+
14 11 (1.55%) JNCIS
15 10 (1.41%) BPSS Clearance
15 10 (1.41%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 66 (9.32%) NIST
2 52 (7.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 32 (4.52%) GDPR
4 23 (3.25%) PCI DSS
5 16 (2.26%) GRC
6 15 (2.12%) NCSC
7 13 (1.84%) Cyber Essentials
8 10 (1.41%) QA
8 10 (1.41%) SLA
9 8 (1.13%) Actionable Recommendations
9 8 (1.13%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 8 (1.13%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.85%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 5 (0.71%) PMO
12 4 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 4 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 4 (0.56%) RMADS
13 3 (0.42%) ISA99
14 2 (0.28%) JSP 440
15 1 (0.14%) HIPAA
System Software
1 51 (7.20%) VMware Infrastructure
2 50 (7.06%) Active Directory
3 20 (2.82%) Virtual Machines
3 20 (2.82%) VMware NSX
4 17 (2.40%) Docker
5 14 (1.98%) Hyper-V
6 11 (1.55%) VMware ESXi
7 9 (1.27%) vSphere
8 5 (0.71%) Firmware
8 5 (0.71%) Squid
9 4 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.28%) NFS
10 2 (0.28%) Postfix
10 2 (0.28%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.28%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.28%) Varnish
10 2 (0.28%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.14%) KVM
11 1 (0.14%) RHEV
11 1 (0.14%) Xen
Systems Management
1 101 (14.27%) Terraform
2 65 (9.18%) Ansible
3 55 (7.77%) Kubernetes
4 37 (5.23%) FortiGate
5 16 (2.26%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (1.98%) Nagios
7 12 (1.69%) Grafana
8 11 (1.55%) vCenter Server
9 10 (1.41%) Microsoft Intune
10 9 (1.27%) Microsoft Clustering
11 8 (1.13%) Kibana
12 5 (0.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.71%) CASB
12 5 (0.71%) QRadar
12 5 (0.71%) WSUS
13 4 (0.56%) Istio
13 4 (0.56%) Kustomize
13 4 (0.56%) Prometheus
13 4 (0.56%) Suricata
14 3 (0.42%) Failover Clustering
Vendors
1 207 (29.24%) Cisco
2 117 (16.53%) Palo Alto
3 101 (14.27%) Microsoft
4 65 (9.18%) VMware
5 64 (9.04%) F5
6 54 (7.63%) Fortinet
7 52 (7.34%) Juniper
8 47 (6.64%) CheckPoint
9 46 (6.50%) Zscaler
10 31 (4.38%) ServiceNow
11 25 (3.53%) Splunk
12 21 (2.97%) SolarWinds
13 20 (2.82%) Google
14 19 (2.68%) ForeScout
15 17 (2.40%) Aruba
16 16 (2.26%) Citrix
17 13 (1.84%) Tenable
18 11 (1.55%) Meraki
18 11 (1.55%) Okta
18 11 (1.55%) SAP