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 14 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 170 154 164
Rank change year-on-year -16 +10 +8
Contract jobs citing Network Security 752 503 488
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.63% 1.83% 1.49%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.57% 15.35% 12.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 493 297 335
10th Percentile £400 £375 £363
25th Percentile £456 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £650 £630 £650
90th Percentile £735 £743 £733
UK median daily rate £550 £530 £550
% change year-on-year +3.77% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 14 6
10th Percentile £26.60 £45.00 £30.50
25th Percentile £56.47 £55.00 £44.38
Median hourly rate £73.00 £70.16 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year +4.05% +30.53% -24.30%
75th Percentile £74.00 £84.09 £58.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £95.50 £88.81
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £70.16 £50.00
% change year-on-year +4.05% +40.32% -25.65%

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 4,281 3,277 3,946
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.31% 11.89% 12.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,550 2,044 2,325
10th Percentile £250 £235 £248
25th Percentile £400 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £510
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% -3.92% +2.00%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £614
90th Percentile £676 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £480 £505
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.95% +1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 364 165 224
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.36
25th Percentile £19.96 £25.00 £22.66
Median hourly rate £32.50 £41.45 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -21.59% -27.72% +1.52%
75th Percentile £67.47 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.42 £78.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.72 £42.50 £51.50
% change year-on-year -37.13% -17.48% -8.83%

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 14 September 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 14 September 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 14 September 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 -6 329 £550 - 397
North of England +3 195 £537 +9.65% 80
North West -14 107 £536 +12.84% 50
South East -27 95 £559 +24.30% 111
Yorkshire +15 84 £539 +9.50% 25
Midlands -60 49 £450 -14.29% 55
East of England -9 41 £525 +10.53% 36
West Midlands -72 34 £450 -14.29% 36
South West -59 21 £600 -3.23% 38
East Midlands -6 14 £500 - 19
North East - 3 £678 - 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 19 (2.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 14 (1.86%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.46%) Confluence
4 3 (0.40%) Apache
4 3 (0.40%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 20 (2.66%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (0.80%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (0.80%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 259 (34.44%) Azure
2 175 (23.27%) AWS
3 92 (12.23%) GCP
4 79 (10.51%) Entra ID
5 44 (5.85%) Microsoft 365
6 35 (4.65%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (4.39%) GitHub
8 30 (3.99%) Azure Monitor
9 27 (3.59%) Serverless
10 23 (3.06%) SaaS
11 20 (2.66%) Azure Sentinel
12 19 (2.53%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 18 (2.39%) GitHub Actions
14 16 (2.13%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 15 (1.99%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 15 (1.99%) Amazon EKS
15 15 (1.99%) OCI
16 14 (1.86%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 13 (1.73%) Azure AKS
17 13 (1.73%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 347 (46.14%) Firewall
2 178 (23.67%) VPN
3 162 (21.54%) WAN
4 124 (16.49%) DNS
5 101 (13.43%) LAN
6 96 (12.77%) Wireless
7 78 (10.37%) BGP
7 78 (10.37%) TCP/IP
8 69 (9.18%) DHCP
9 67 (8.91%) VLAN
10 65 (8.64%) SD-WAN
11 52 (6.91%) OSPF
11 52 (6.91%) SSL
12 41 (5.45%) MPLS
13 39 (5.19%) Cisco ISE
14 38 (5.05%) IPsec
15 37 (4.92%) Wi-Fi
16 33 (4.39%) Cisco ASA
17 32 (4.26%) Internet
18 27 (3.59%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.73%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.66%) BigQuery
3 4 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.53%) Neo4j
4 3 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
4 3 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.27%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.27%) Delta Lake
5 2 (0.27%) Power BI
6 1 (0.13%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.13%) Qlik Sense
6 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.13%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.13%) Star Schema
6 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 36 (4.79%) Git
2 29 (3.86%) GitLab
3 28 (3.72%) JIRA
4 24 (3.19%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.80%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.53%) MSBuild
6 4 (0.53%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.53%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.40%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
8 2 (0.27%) IBM UrbanCode
9 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 207 (27.53%) Social Skills
2 133 (17.69%) Finance
3 75 (9.97%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (7.98%) Banking
5 37 (4.92%) Public Sector
6 31 (4.12%) Documentation Skills
7 23 (3.06%) Telecoms
8 21 (2.79%) Legal
9 17 (2.26%) Financial Institution
10 14 (1.86%) Retail
11 13 (1.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 13 (1.73%) Influencing Skills
11 13 (1.73%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (1.06%) Police
13 8 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
14 6 (0.80%) Automotive
14 6 (0.80%) Local Government
14 6 (0.80%) Military
15 5 (0.66%) Law
Job Titles
1 210 (27.93%) Network Engineer
2 129 (17.15%) Architect
3 104 (13.83%) Security Engineer
4 96 (12.77%) Senior
5 67 (8.91%) Security Architect
6 60 (7.98%) Network Security Engineer
7 55 (7.31%) Consultant
8 50 (6.65%) Network Architect
9 44 (5.85%) Project Manager
10 42 (5.59%) Senior Network Engineer
11 40 (5.32%) Cloud Engineer
12 39 (5.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 29 (3.86%) Lead
14 27 (3.59%) Security Consultant
15 24 (3.19%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
16 22 (2.93%) Analyst
16 22 (2.93%) Network Manager
17 21 (2.79%) DevSecOps Consultant
17 21 (2.79%) Network Security Architect
18 20 (2.66%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 111 (14.76%) Terraform
2 33 (4.39%) 802.1X
3 17 (2.26%) REST
4 14 (1.86%) ARM Templates
5 13 (1.73%) SAML
6 11 (1.46%) Kafka
7 8 (1.06%) NETCONF
8 6 (0.80%) gRPC
8 6 (0.80%) JSON
8 6 (0.80%) Keycloak
9 5 (0.66%) Azure Blueprints
9 5 (0.66%) OpenID
9 5 (0.66%) SLSA
10 4 (0.53%) .NET
10 4 (0.53%) CSS
10 4 (0.53%) LDAP
10 4 (0.53%) OAuth
10 4 (0.53%) RESTful
10 4 (0.53%) XML
10 4 (0.53%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 94 (12.50%) Data Centre
2 69 (9.18%) Security Posture
3 41 (5.45%) Cloud Native
4 40 (5.32%) Onboarding
5 39 (5.19%) Hybrid Cloud
6 38 (5.05%) Management Information System
7 30 (3.99%) Cyber Threat
8 29 (3.86%) Operational Technology
9 27 (3.59%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 25 (3.32%) PKI
11 19 (2.53%) Cloud Security Posture
12 18 (2.39%) Security Operations Centre
13 17 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
14 14 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
14 14 (1.86%) Public Cloud
15 13 (1.73%) Enterprise Software
15 13 (1.73%) Linux Command Line
16 11 (1.46%) Replication
17 9 (1.20%) SCADA
18 8 (1.06%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 84 (11.17%) Windows
2 71 (9.44%) Linux
3 35 (4.65%) Windows Server
4 15 (1.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.06%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.93%) Unix
7 6 (0.80%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.66%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.40%) Check Point GAiA
9 3 (0.40%) SUSE
9 3 (0.40%) VMS
10 2 (0.27%) Android
10 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.27%) zOS
11 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.13%) Rocky
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 152 (20.21%) Cybersecurity
2 148 (19.68%) Cloud Security
3 127 (16.89%) Stakeholder Management
4 118 (15.69%) CI/CD
5 111 (14.76%) Zero Trust
6 107 (14.23%) Continuous Improvement
7 106 (14.10%) Incident Response
8 103 (13.70%) Infrastructure as Code
9 102 (13.56%) Change Management
9 102 (13.56%) DevOps
10 101 (13.43%) Migration
11 98 (13.03%) SIEM
12 88 (11.70%) Problem-Solving
13 81 (10.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 80 (10.64%) Security Architecture
15 77 (10.24%) Identity Access Management
16 76 (10.11%) Security Operations
17 74 (9.84%) Agile
18 73 (9.71%) Application Security
18 73 (9.71%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 128 (17.02%) Python
2 79 (10.51%) PowerShell
3 66 (8.78%) Bash
4 30 (3.99%) Bicep
5 23 (3.06%) SQL
6 12 (1.60%) Go
7 9 (1.20%) Java
8 7 (0.93%) Search Processing Language
9 6 (0.80%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.66%) Kusto Query Language
11 4 (0.53%) Rust
12 3 (0.40%) JavaScript
12 3 (0.40%) Perl
12 3 (0.40%) VBScript
13 2 (0.27%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.13%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 214 (28.46%) Security Cleared
2 153 (20.35%) SC Cleared
3 149 (19.81%) Cisco Certification
4 98 (13.03%) CISSP
5 85 (11.30%) CCNP
6 66 (8.78%) DV Cleared
7 63 (8.38%) Degree
8 45 (5.98%) CCSP
9 43 (5.72%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 43 (5.72%) CCNA
9 43 (5.72%) CISM
10 32 (4.26%) Azure Certification
11 28 (3.72%) CCIE
12 26 (3.46%) AWS Certification
13 16 (2.13%) Computer Science Degree
14 12 (1.60%) PMP
15 11 (1.46%) GIAC
15 11 (1.46%) PMI Certification
16 10 (1.33%) CEH
17 9 (1.20%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (7.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 57 (7.58%) NIST
3 27 (3.59%) GDPR
4 25 (3.32%) NCSC
5 21 (2.79%) PCI DSS
6 12 (1.60%) GRC
7 11 (1.46%) Cyber Essentials
8 9 (1.20%) NIST 800
9 8 (1.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 8 (1.06%) SLA
10 6 (0.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 6 (0.80%) QA
11 4 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.40%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.40%) ISA99
12 3 (0.40%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.27%) JSP 440
14 1 (0.13%) GxP
System Software
1 70 (9.31%) Active Directory
2 53 (7.05%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (3.59%) Docker
4 20 (2.66%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (2.13%) VMware NSX
6 11 (1.46%) Hyper-V
7 10 (1.33%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (1.33%) vSphere
8 8 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (0.66%) Firmware
9 5 (0.66%) Squid
10 3 (0.40%) FreeRADIUS
10 3 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.27%) NFS
11 2 (0.27%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.13%) OpenSSH
12 1 (0.13%) Postfix
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) Samba
12 1 (0.13%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 87 (11.57%) Ansible
2 71 (9.44%) Kubernetes
3 43 (5.72%) FortiGate
4 24 (3.19%) Microsoft Intune
5 21 (2.79%) Grafana
6 14 (1.86%) Progress Chef
6 14 (1.86%) Prometheus
7 13 (1.73%) SCCM
8 12 (1.60%) Single Sign-On
9 10 (1.33%) CASB
10 8 (1.06%) QRadar
11 7 (0.93%) Puppet
11 7 (0.93%) vCenter Server
12 6 (0.80%) Cisco CUCM
13 5 (0.66%) Suricata
13 5 (0.66%) VxRail
13 5 (0.66%) WSUS
14 4 (0.53%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.53%) Nagios
14 4 (0.53%) Podman
Vendors
1 222 (29.52%) Cisco
2 145 (19.28%) Microsoft
3 135 (17.95%) Palo Alto
4 79 (10.51%) Fortinet
5 68 (9.04%) VMware
6 64 (8.51%) F5
7 57 (7.58%) Zscaler
8 49 (6.52%) CheckPoint
9 44 (5.85%) Juniper
10 29 (3.86%) Splunk
11 27 (3.59%) SolarWinds
12 26 (3.46%) Google
13 23 (3.06%) ServiceNow
14 21 (2.79%) Aruba
15 19 (2.53%) Citrix
16 14 (1.86%) Meraki
17 13 (1.73%) Blue Coat
17 13 (1.73%) Tenable
18 12 (1.60%) CyberArk
19 11 (1.46%) ForeScout