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 30 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 149 152 184
Rank change year-on-year +3 +32 -15
Contract jobs citing Network Security 773 476 489
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.77% 1.87% 1.32%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.65% 14.64% 10.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 537 295 331
10th Percentile £400 £375 £363
25th Percentile £447 £450 £461
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £534 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.64% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £666
90th Percentile £725 £733 £738
UK median daily rate £528 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +1.54% -5.45% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 10 16
10th Percentile £21.25 £70.16 -
25th Percentile £33.81 £80.34 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £16.25
Median % change year-on-year -20.10% +400.62% -69.66%
75th Percentile £74.00 £83.53 £41.25
90th Percentile - £100.55 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £21.00
% change year-on-year -20.10% +287.38% -67.19%

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 4,144 3,252 4,798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.47% 12.75% 12.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,563 2,010 2,855
10th Percentile £250 £235 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £493 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.42% -1.40% -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -1.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 283 139 396
10th Percentile £16.02 £14.69 £13.87
25th Percentile £21.25 £20.16 £17.69
Median hourly rate £27.88 £41.00 £46.69
Median % change year-on-year -32.00% -12.19% +125.50%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £81.50 £74.00
UK median hourly rate £26.69 £45.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -40.69% - +113.17%

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 30 June 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 30 June 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 30 June 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 +2 336 £550 -3.68% 63
North of England +11 184 £525 +6.92% 42
South East -26 110 £525 +7.14% 59
North West -1 97 £527 +10.29% 27
Yorkshire +7 85 £500 +1.83% 14
Midlands -51 55 £500 -13.98% 20
West Midlands -64 34 £435 -25.16% 9
East of England -15 32 £525 -0.94% 17
South West -28 30 £550 -8.33% 18
East Midlands +1 20 £569 - 11
North East -33 2 £675 +8.00% 1
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 (2.20%) Confluence
2 13 (1.68%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.16%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.26%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 17 (2.20%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.42%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
5 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.78%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.65%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 232 (30.01%) Azure
2 176 (22.77%) AWS
3 106 (13.71%) GCP
4 70 (9.06%) Entra ID
5 29 (3.75%) GitHub
6 25 (3.23%) Azure DevOps
6 25 (3.23%) Azure Sentinel
7 24 (3.10%) GitHub Actions
8 23 (2.98%) Microsoft 365
8 23 (2.98%) SaaS
8 23 (2.98%) Serverless
9 21 (2.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 17 (2.20%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 16 (2.07%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 16 (2.07%) Azure Key Vault
11 16 (2.07%) OCI
12 14 (1.81%) Akamai
12 14 (1.81%) AWS CloudFormation
12 14 (1.81%) Azure AKS
12 14 (1.81%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 350 (45.28%) Firewall
2 161 (20.83%) VPN
3 150 (19.40%) WAN
4 107 (13.84%) LAN
5 105 (13.58%) DNS
6 92 (11.90%) BGP
7 83 (10.74%) Wireless
8 75 (9.70%) SD-WAN
9 73 (9.44%) OSPF
10 72 (9.31%) TCP/IP
11 68 (8.80%) VLAN
12 50 (6.47%) DHCP
13 48 (6.21%) MPLS
14 39 (5.05%) SSL
15 38 (4.92%) Cisco ISE
16 35 (4.53%) IPsec
17 33 (4.27%) Cisco ASA
18 32 (4.14%) NGFW
19 30 (3.88%) Internet
20 28 (3.62%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.03%) SQL Server
2 7 (0.91%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.52%) Data Lake
3 4 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.52%) Neo4j
3 4 (0.52%) Power BI
4 3 (0.39%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.13%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.13%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.13%) Delta Lake
6 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.13%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.13%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 37 (4.79%) JIRA
2 25 (3.23%) Git
3 21 (2.72%) GitLab
4 18 (2.33%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.78%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.65%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.52%) Snyk
7 4 (0.52%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
8 3 (0.39%) MSBuild
8 3 (0.39%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
General
1 184 (23.80%) Social Skills
2 133 (17.21%) Finance
3 65 (8.41%) Analytical Skills
4 58 (7.50%) Public Sector
5 57 (7.37%) Banking
6 30 (3.88%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.10%) Financial Institution
8 20 (2.59%) Telecoms
9 12 (1.55%) Retail
10 11 (1.42%) Legal
11 10 (1.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 10 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.16%) Influencing Skills
12 9 (1.16%) Police
13 7 (0.91%) Local Government
13 7 (0.91%) Manufacturing
14 6 (0.78%) Law
15 5 (0.65%) Military
16 3 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
17 2 (0.26%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 194 (25.10%) Network Engineer
2 173 (22.38%) Architect
3 103 (13.32%) Security Engineer
4 81 (10.48%) Security Architect
5 77 (9.96%) Senior
6 63 (8.15%) Network Architect
7 56 (7.24%) Network Security Engineer
8 39 (5.05%) Project Manager
9 37 (4.79%) Consultant
10 32 (4.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 30 (3.88%) Lead
12 27 (3.49%) Cloud Engineer
13 26 (3.36%) Network Security Architect
14 23 (2.98%) Senior Network Engineer
15 22 (2.85%) Network Manager
15 22 (2.85%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
15 22 (2.85%) Solutions Architect
16 21 (2.72%) Senior Architect
17 20 (2.59%) Cloud Architect
18 18 (2.33%) Azure Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (4.53%) 802.1X
2 14 (1.81%) SAML
3 9 (1.16%) Kafka
3 9 (1.16%) REST
4 8 (1.03%) LDAP
5 7 (0.91%) ARM Templates
5 7 (0.91%) OAuth
5 7 (0.91%) OpenID
6 6 (0.78%) CSS
7 5 (0.65%) HTML
7 5 (0.65%) OAuth2
8 4 (0.52%) .NET
8 4 (0.52%) gRPC
8 4 (0.52%) Keycloak
8 4 (0.52%) Protocol Buffers
8 4 (0.52%) RESTful
9 3 (0.39%) JSON
9 3 (0.39%) Lambda Expressions
9 3 (0.39%) ModSecurity
9 3 (0.39%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 91 (11.77%) Data Centre
2 62 (8.02%) Security Posture
3 45 (5.82%) Cloud Native
4 42 (5.43%) Hybrid Cloud
5 32 (4.14%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 24 (3.10%) PKI
7 23 (2.98%) Onboarding
7 23 (2.98%) Operational Technology
8 20 (2.59%) Cyber Threat
8 20 (2.59%) Public Cloud
9 19 (2.46%) Data Protection Act
9 19 (2.46%) Product Ownership
10 18 (2.33%) Management Information System
11 17 (2.20%) IoT
12 16 (2.07%) Security Operations Centre
13 13 (1.68%) Self-Motivation
14 9 (1.16%) Enterprise Cloud
14 9 (1.16%) Replication
14 9 (1.16%) Virtual Team
15 8 (1.03%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 60 (7.76%) Linux
2 57 (7.37%) Windows
3 22 (2.85%) Windows Server
4 10 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.03%) Unix
6 7 (0.91%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.65%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.65%) VMS
7 5 (0.65%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.39%) Android
8 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.39%) SUSE
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (20.83%) Cybersecurity
2 131 (16.95%) Cloud Security
3 127 (16.43%) Zero Trust
4 112 (14.49%) CI/CD
5 106 (13.71%) SIEM
6 103 (13.32%) DevOps
7 102 (13.20%) Security Architecture
8 100 (12.94%) Continuous Improvement
8 100 (12.94%) Migration
9 97 (12.55%) Infrastructure as Code
10 89 (11.51%) Stakeholder Management
11 83 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
12 77 (9.96%) Application Security
12 77 (9.96%) Network Segmentation
13 76 (9.83%) Agile
14 74 (9.57%) High Availability
14 74 (9.57%) Threat Modelling
15 73 (9.44%) Load Balancing
16 72 (9.31%) Change Management
16 72 (9.31%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 95 (12.29%) Python
2 49 (6.34%) PowerShell
3 35 (4.53%) Bash
4 25 (3.23%) Bicep
5 21 (2.72%) SQL
6 18 (2.33%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.03%) Shell Script
8 5 (0.65%) Java
9 4 (0.52%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.52%) Perl
9 4 (0.52%) PHP
9 4 (0.52%) Rust
10 3 (0.39%) C
11 2 (0.26%) C++
11 2 (0.26%) Ruby
12 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
12 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 223 (28.85%) Security Cleared
2 157 (20.31%) SC Cleared
3 145 (18.76%) Cisco Certification
4 88 (11.38%) CISSP
5 85 (11.00%) CCNP
6 75 (9.70%) DV Cleared
7 62 (8.02%) Degree
8 58 (7.50%) CCNA
9 52 (6.73%) CISM
10 37 (4.79%) CCSP
11 36 (4.66%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 27 (3.49%) Azure Certification
13 21 (2.72%) CCIE
14 19 (2.46%) AWS Certification
15 15 (1.94%) CompTIA Security+
15 15 (1.94%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
16 12 (1.55%) GIAC
17 9 (1.16%) PMP
18 8 (1.03%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (10.09%) NIST
2 62 (8.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (4.40%) GDPR
4 26 (3.36%) PCI DSS
5 25 (3.23%) NCSC
6 19 (2.46%) GRC
7 14 (1.81%) Cyber Essentials
8 11 (1.42%) QA
9 10 (1.29%) SLA
10 8 (1.03%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (1.03%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 8 (1.03%) NIST 800
10 8 (1.03%) SOC 2
11 6 (0.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 4 (0.52%) PMO
14 3 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (0.39%) ISA99
14 3 (0.39%) JSP 440
14 3 (0.39%) RMADS
System Software
1 60 (7.76%) Active Directory
2 51 (6.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (2.85%) Docker
3 22 (2.85%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (2.59%) VMware NSX
5 11 (1.42%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (1.03%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.03%) vSphere
7 6 (0.78%) Firmware
8 5 (0.65%) Squid
9 3 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.26%) NFS
10 2 (0.26%) Postfix
10 2 (0.26%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.26%) Varnish
10 2 (0.26%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 101 (13.07%) Terraform
2 66 (8.54%) Ansible
2 66 (8.54%) Kubernetes
3 40 (5.17%) FortiGate
4 18 (2.33%) Grafana
4 18 (2.33%) Single Sign-On
5 11 (1.42%) Microsoft Intune
5 11 (1.42%) vCenter Server
6 10 (1.29%) Prometheus
7 8 (1.03%) CASB
8 6 (0.78%) QRadar
9 5 (0.65%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (0.65%) Puppet
9 5 (0.65%) Suricata
9 5 (0.65%) WSUS
10 4 (0.52%) Istio
10 4 (0.52%) Kustomize
10 4 (0.52%) Podman
11 3 (0.39%) Failover Clustering
11 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 218 (28.20%) Cisco
2 117 (15.14%) Microsoft
3 116 (15.01%) Palo Alto
4 66 (8.54%) Fortinet
5 63 (8.15%) VMware
6 62 (8.02%) F5
7 54 (6.99%) CheckPoint
8 49 (6.34%) Zscaler
9 47 (6.08%) Juniper
10 34 (4.40%) ServiceNow
11 30 (3.88%) Splunk
12 24 (3.10%) Google
13 21 (2.72%) Citrix
14 20 (2.59%) SolarWinds
15 18 (2.33%) Aruba
15 18 (2.33%) ForeScout
16 15 (1.94%) Tenable
17 12 (1.55%) Infoblox
18 11 (1.42%) Blue Coat
18 11 (1.42%) Okta