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 20 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 162 143 170
Rank change year-on-year -19 +27 -3
Contract jobs citing Network Security 776 529 462
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.70% 1.92% 1.39%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.97% 15.67% 11.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 533 313 321
10th Percentile £400 £375 £363
25th Percentile £463 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £648 £613 £669
90th Percentile £738 £723 £738
UK median daily rate £550 £525 £550
% change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 19 6
10th Percentile £26.00 £45.00 £20.75
25th Percentile £42.13 £60.38 £29.75
Median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year -9.51% +50.09% -12.96%
75th Percentile £74.00 £83.05 £58.75
90th Percentile - £88.00 £88.81
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £50.00
% change year-on-year -9.51% +61.35% -24.24%

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 4,318 3,375 4,170
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.46% 12.23% 12.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,611 2,088 2,554
10th Percentile £263 £250 £243
25th Percentile £400 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £492 £505
Median % change year-on-year +1.63% -2.57% +1.00%
75th Percentile £590 £600 £613
90th Percentile £688 £680 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 338 170 278
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.24
25th Percentile £19.38 £25.15 £20.69
Median hourly rate £26.72 £43.75 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -38.93% -20.27% -0.52%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £84.10 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £49.50
% change year-on-year -43.78% -6.57% -10.00%

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 20 August 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 20 August 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 20 August 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 -7 338 £550 - 79
North of England +18 200 £528 +8.36% 33
South East -14 115 £560 +14.29% 65
North West +3 113 £537 +13.05% 22
Yorkshire +13 84 £500 +0.81% 9
Midlands -59 49 £500 -4.76% 29
East of England -13 37 £525 -4.55% 15
West Midlands -74 30 £413 -21.43% 19
East Midlands -2 18 £638 - 10
South West -56 16 £550 -14.06% 21
North East -37 2 £675 +8.00% 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 17 (2.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (1.55%) Confluence
2 12 (1.55%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.39%) Apache
4 2 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 20 (2.58%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (0.77%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.77%) Oracle ERP
1 6 (0.77%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 275 (35.44%) Azure
2 187 (24.10%) AWS
3 102 (13.14%) GCP
4 85 (10.95%) Entra ID
5 41 (5.28%) Microsoft 365
6 36 (4.64%) Azure DevOps
7 30 (3.87%) GitHub
8 29 (3.74%) Azure Monitor
9 27 (3.48%) Azure Sentinel
10 26 (3.35%) SaaS
10 26 (3.35%) Serverless
11 21 (2.71%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 20 (2.58%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 18 (2.32%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 18 (2.32%) GitHub Actions
14 15 (1.93%) Azure AKS
14 15 (1.93%) OCI
15 14 (1.80%) Akamai
15 14 (1.80%) Amazon EKS
16 13 (1.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 354 (45.62%) Firewall
2 171 (22.04%) VPN
3 165 (21.26%) WAN
4 124 (15.98%) DNS
5 112 (14.43%) LAN
6 92 (11.86%) Wireless
7 87 (11.21%) TCP/IP
8 82 (10.57%) BGP
9 70 (9.02%) SD-WAN
10 69 (8.89%) DHCP
11 67 (8.63%) VLAN
12 63 (8.12%) OSPF
13 42 (5.41%) MPLS
13 42 (5.41%) SSL
14 40 (5.15%) Cisco ISE
15 37 (4.77%) IPsec
15 37 (4.77%) Wi-Fi
16 36 (4.64%) Cisco ASA
17 29 (3.74%) HTTP
17 29 (3.74%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.68%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.77%) Azure SQL Database
3 5 (0.64%) BigQuery
4 4 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.52%) Neo4j
4 4 (0.52%) Power BI
5 3 (0.39%) Data Lake
5 3 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.26%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
7 1 (0.13%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.13%) Qlik Sense
7 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.13%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.13%) Star Schema
7 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 36 (4.64%) Git
2 32 (4.12%) JIRA
3 28 (3.61%) GitLab
4 22 (2.84%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.77%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.52%) MSBuild
7 4 (0.52%) Snyk
7 4 (0.52%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.52%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
9 2 (0.26%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.13%) Postman
10 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 198 (25.52%) Social Skills
2 144 (18.56%) Finance
3 72 (9.28%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (7.60%) Banking
5 47 (6.06%) Public Sector
6 32 (4.12%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.09%) Financial Institution
8 18 (2.32%) Legal
8 18 (2.32%) Telecoms
9 14 (1.80%) Retail
10 12 (1.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (1.55%) Manufacturing
11 10 (1.29%) Influencing Skills
11 10 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
12 8 (1.03%) Police
13 6 (0.77%) Automotive
13 6 (0.77%) Local Government
14 5 (0.64%) Front Office
14 5 (0.64%) Law
14 5 (0.64%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 206 (26.55%) Network Engineer
2 144 (18.56%) Architect
3 100 (12.89%) Senior
4 93 (11.98%) Security Engineer
5 70 (9.02%) Security Architect
6 54 (6.96%) Network Architect
7 52 (6.70%) Network Security Engineer
8 49 (6.31%) Consultant
9 44 (5.67%) Senior Network Engineer
10 42 (5.41%) Project Manager
11 39 (5.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 37 (4.77%) Cloud Engineer
13 35 (4.51%) Lead
14 25 (3.22%) Analyst
15 23 (2.96%) Security Consultant
16 22 (2.84%) Network Manager
17 18 (2.32%) Azure Engineer
17 18 (2.32%) Network Security Architect
17 18 (2.32%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 18 (2.32%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 110 (14.18%) Terraform
2 35 (4.51%) 802.1X
3 14 (1.80%) REST
4 13 (1.68%) ARM Templates
4 13 (1.68%) SAML
5 9 (1.16%) Kafka
6 6 (0.77%) NETCONF
7 5 (0.64%) .NET
7 5 (0.64%) JSON
7 5 (0.64%) OpenID
8 4 (0.52%) Azure Blueprints
8 4 (0.52%) CSS
8 4 (0.52%) gRPC
8 4 (0.52%) Keycloak
8 4 (0.52%) OAuth
8 4 (0.52%) Protocol Buffers
8 4 (0.52%) RESTful
8 4 (0.52%) SLSA
8 4 (0.52%) XML
9 3 (0.39%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 83 (10.70%) Data Centre
2 71 (9.15%) Security Posture
3 48 (6.19%) Cloud Native
4 43 (5.54%) Hybrid Cloud
5 34 (4.38%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 34 (4.38%) Management Information System
6 33 (4.25%) Onboarding
7 27 (3.48%) Cyber Threat
8 25 (3.22%) Operational Technology
9 22 (2.84%) PKI
10 19 (2.45%) Public Cloud
11 18 (2.32%) Data Protection Act
11 18 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (2.19%) Cloud Security Posture
12 17 (2.19%) Security Operations Centre
13 13 (1.68%) Linux Command Line
13 13 (1.68%) Product Ownership
14 12 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
15 9 (1.16%) Enterprise Cloud
15 9 (1.16%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 74 (9.54%) Windows
2 65 (8.38%) Linux
3 26 (3.35%) Windows Server
4 14 (1.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.03%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.90%) Unix
7 6 (0.77%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.77%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.39%) Android
8 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.39%) SUSE
8 3 (0.39%) VMS
9 2 (0.26%) zOS
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.13%) Rocky
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (21.01%) Cybersecurity
2 154 (19.85%) Cloud Security
3 120 (15.46%) Stakeholder Management
3 120 (15.46%) Zero Trust
4 119 (15.34%) CI/CD
5 112 (14.43%) Continuous Improvement
6 105 (13.53%) Infrastructure as Code
7 104 (13.40%) DevOps
8 102 (13.14%) Change Management
9 99 (12.76%) SIEM
10 98 (12.63%) Migration
11 91 (11.73%) Incident Response
11 91 (11.73%) Problem-Solving
12 83 (10.70%) Security Operations
13 82 (10.57%) Identity Access Management
14 81 (10.44%) ITIL
15 80 (10.31%) DevSecOps
16 79 (10.18%) Security Architecture
17 78 (10.05%) Agile
17 78 (10.05%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 113 (14.56%) Python
2 75 (9.66%) PowerShell
3 61 (7.86%) Bash
4 34 (4.38%) Bicep
5 27 (3.48%) SQL
6 12 (1.55%) JavaScript
7 9 (1.16%) Go
8 8 (1.03%) Java
9 7 (0.90%) Search Processing Language
9 7 (0.90%) Shell Script
10 6 (0.77%) Kusto Query Language
11 4 (0.52%) Rust
12 3 (0.39%) Perl
12 3 (0.39%) VBScript
13 2 (0.26%) Ruby
14 1 (0.13%) C
Qualifications
1 203 (26.16%) Security Cleared
2 141 (18.17%) Cisco Certification
2 141 (18.17%) SC Cleared
3 97 (12.50%) CISSP
4 84 (10.82%) CCNP
5 69 (8.89%) Degree
6 65 (8.38%) DV Cleared
7 52 (6.70%) CISM
8 50 (6.44%) CCNA
9 41 (5.28%) CCSP
10 39 (5.03%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 34 (4.38%) Azure Certification
12 22 (2.84%) AWS Certification
13 21 (2.71%) CCIE
14 16 (2.06%) Computer Science Degree
15 11 (1.42%) PMP
16 9 (1.16%) CompTIA Security+
16 9 (1.16%) GIAC
16 9 (1.16%) JNCIS
17 8 (1.03%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (9.02%) NIST
2 65 (8.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 39 (5.03%) GDPR
4 28 (3.61%) NCSC
4 28 (3.61%) PCI DSS
5 15 (1.93%) GRC
6 14 (1.80%) SLA
7 12 (1.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 11 (1.42%) QA
9 8 (1.03%) Cyber Essentials
9 8 (1.03%) NIST 800
10 5 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 5 (0.64%) SOC 2
11 4 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.39%) ISA99
12 3 (0.39%) PMO
13 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
System Software
1 74 (9.54%) Active Directory
2 55 (7.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (3.22%) Docker
4 20 (2.58%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (2.45%) VMware NSX
6 12 (1.55%) Hyper-V
7 11 (1.42%) vSphere
8 8 (1.03%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (1.03%) VMware ESXi
9 6 (0.77%) Firmware
10 5 (0.64%) Squid
11 3 (0.39%) NFS
12 2 (0.26%) FreeRADIUS
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
Systems Management
1 79 (10.18%) Ansible
2 69 (8.89%) Kubernetes
3 44 (5.67%) FortiGate
4 24 (3.09%) Microsoft Intune
5 20 (2.58%) Grafana
6 16 (2.06%) Single Sign-On
7 12 (1.55%) CASB
7 12 (1.55%) Progress Chef
7 12 (1.55%) SCCM
8 11 (1.42%) Prometheus
9 7 (0.90%) Puppet
9 7 (0.90%) vCenter Server
10 6 (0.77%) Cisco CUCM
10 6 (0.77%) QRadar
11 5 (0.64%) Suricata
11 5 (0.64%) WSUS
12 4 (0.52%) Cisco Prime
12 4 (0.52%) Kustomize
12 4 (0.52%) Podman
12 4 (0.52%) systemd
Vendors
1 217 (27.96%) Cisco
2 146 (18.81%) Microsoft
3 123 (15.85%) Palo Alto
4 70 (9.02%) Fortinet
5 69 (8.89%) VMware
6 62 (7.99%) F5
7 53 (6.83%) Zscaler
8 49 (6.31%) CheckPoint
9 41 (5.28%) Juniper
10 34 (4.38%) Splunk
11 31 (3.99%) ServiceNow
12 27 (3.48%) SolarWinds
13 26 (3.35%) Google
14 19 (2.45%) Aruba
14 19 (2.45%) Citrix
15 16 (2.06%) Tenable
16 14 (1.80%) ForeScout
16 14 (1.80%) Meraki
17 13 (1.68%) Infoblox
18 12 (1.55%) CyberArk