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 12 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 153 153 185
Rank change year-on-year 0 +32 -12
Contract jobs citing Network Security 787 517 497
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.75% 1.90% 1.35%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.39% 14.98% 10.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 539 321 336
10th Percentile £385 £375 £363
25th Percentile £435 £450 £462
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £534 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.64% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £628 £625 £666
90th Percentile £725 £713 £738
UK median daily rate £531 £518 £550
% change year-on-year +2.51% -5.82% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 15 16
10th Percentile £24.10 £55.00 -
25th Percentile £38.94 £70.16 £7.43
Median hourly rate £73.00 £81.35 £16.25
Median % change year-on-year -10.26% +400.62% -72.69%
75th Percentile £74.00 £84.50 £41.25
90th Percentile £74.05 £94.00 £50.00
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £81.01 £21.00
% change year-on-year -9.89% +285.77% -68.18%

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 4,279 3,451 4,773
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.49% 12.65% 12.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,640 2,143 2,844
10th Percentile £250 £235 £215
25th Percentile £400 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £492 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.63% -1.60% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £607
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £482 £500
% change year-on-year +3.79% -3.65% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 303 155 384
10th Percentile £16.04 £14.99 £13.87
25th Percentile £20.41 £23.99 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.66 £42.50 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year -37.27% +2.41% +50.91%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £83.60 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £40.00
% change year-on-year -43.78% +15.63% +45.45%

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 12 July 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 12 July 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 12 July 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 -4 332 £550 - 95
North of England +8 191 £528 +7.87% 50
South East -27 119 £525 +7.14% 71
North West -3 99 £536 +12.84% 36
Yorkshire +8 90 £500 +2.04% 13
Midlands -38 57 £475 -17.39% 23
West Midlands -72 35 £420 -26.96% 9
East of England -18 33 £525 -2.78% 14
South West -34 32 £550 -8.33% 18
East Midlands +3 21 £569 - 14
North East -34 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 16 (2.03%) Confluence
2 12 (1.52%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.02%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.25%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 17 (2.16%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (1.14%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.76%) Oracle ERP
1 6 (0.76%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 234 (29.73%) Azure
2 177 (22.49%) AWS
3 105 (13.34%) GCP
4 72 (9.15%) Entra ID
5 29 (3.68%) GitHub
6 27 (3.43%) Azure DevOps
7 25 (3.18%) Microsoft 365
8 24 (3.05%) Azure Sentinel
8 24 (3.05%) SaaS
9 23 (2.92%) Serverless
10 21 (2.67%) GitHub Actions
10 21 (2.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 18 (2.29%) Azure Monitor
12 17 (2.16%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 17 (2.16%) OCI
13 16 (2.03%) Azure AKS
13 16 (2.03%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 16 (2.03%) Azure Key Vault
14 14 (1.78%) Akamai
14 14 (1.78%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 358 (45.49%) Firewall
2 170 (21.60%) VPN
3 161 (20.46%) WAN
4 111 (14.10%) DNS
5 110 (13.98%) LAN
6 96 (12.20%) BGP
7 87 (11.05%) Wireless
8 78 (9.91%) SD-WAN
9 77 (9.78%) TCP/IP
10 74 (9.40%) OSPF
11 68 (8.64%) VLAN
12 52 (6.61%) DHCP
13 49 (6.23%) MPLS
14 41 (5.21%) Cisco ISE
15 40 (5.08%) SSL
16 39 (4.96%) Cisco ASA
17 35 (4.45%) IPsec
18 34 (4.32%) NGFW
19 31 (3.94%) Internet
20 29 (3.68%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.14%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.76%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.51%) Data Lake
3 4 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.51%) Neo4j
3 4 (0.51%) Power BI
4 3 (0.38%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.25%) 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%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 39 (4.96%) JIRA
2 30 (3.81%) Git
3 21 (2.67%) GitLab
4 17 (2.16%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.89%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.76%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.51%) MSBuild
7 4 (0.51%) Snyk
7 4 (0.51%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.51%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.38%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 195 (24.78%) Social Skills
2 133 (16.90%) Finance
3 68 (8.64%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (7.62%) Banking
5 58 (7.37%) Public Sector
6 33 (4.19%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (3.18%) Financial Institution
8 18 (2.29%) Telecoms
9 13 (1.65%) Retail
10 12 (1.52%) Legal
11 11 (1.40%) Manufacturing
12 10 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 10 (1.27%) Influencing Skills
12 10 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (1.02%) Police
14 6 (0.76%) Law
15 5 (0.64%) Local Government
16 4 (0.51%) Military
17 3 (0.38%) Aerospace
17 3 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 205 (26.05%) Network Engineer
2 172 (21.86%) Architect
3 106 (13.47%) Security Engineer
4 81 (10.29%) Senior
5 80 (10.17%) Security Architect
6 61 (7.75%) Network Architect
6 61 (7.75%) Network Security Engineer
7 41 (5.21%) Consultant
8 40 (5.08%) Project Manager
9 33 (4.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 33 (4.19%) Lead
10 27 (3.43%) Senior Network Engineer
11 25 (3.18%) Cloud Engineer
12 23 (2.92%) Network Security Architect
13 22 (2.80%) Network Manager
13 22 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
14 21 (2.67%) Senior Architect
15 19 (2.41%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
16 18 (2.29%) Azure Architect
16 18 (2.29%) Cloud Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (4.32%) 802.1X
2 18 (2.29%) SAML
3 11 (1.40%) REST
4 9 (1.14%) Kafka
5 8 (1.02%) LDAP
6 7 (0.89%) ARM Templates
6 7 (0.89%) OAuth
6 7 (0.89%) OpenID
7 5 (0.64%) .NET
7 5 (0.64%) CSS
7 5 (0.64%) OAuth2
8 4 (0.51%) gRPC
8 4 (0.51%) HTML
8 4 (0.51%) JSON
8 4 (0.51%) Keycloak
8 4 (0.51%) Protocol Buffers
8 4 (0.51%) RESTful
9 3 (0.38%) Lambda Expressions
9 3 (0.38%) ModSecurity
9 3 (0.38%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 92 (11.69%) Data Centre
2 64 (8.13%) Security Posture
3 45 (5.72%) Cloud Native
4 40 (5.08%) Hybrid Cloud
5 32 (4.07%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 27 (3.43%) Operational Technology
7 25 (3.18%) Onboarding
8 22 (2.80%) Cyber Threat
9 21 (2.67%) Data Protection Act
10 20 (2.54%) PKI
11 19 (2.41%) Management Information System
11 19 (2.41%) Product Ownership
12 18 (2.29%) Public Cloud
13 17 (2.16%) Security Operations Centre
14 15 (1.91%) IoT
14 15 (1.91%) Self-Motivation
15 10 (1.27%) Enterprise Software
15 10 (1.27%) Linux Command Line
16 9 (1.14%) Enterprise Cloud
16 9 (1.14%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 63 (8.01%) Linux
2 56 (7.12%) Windows
3 19 (2.41%) Windows Server
4 10 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.02%) Unix
6 7 (0.89%) Ubuntu
7 6 (0.76%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.64%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.38%) Android
9 3 (0.38%) Check Point GAiA
9 3 (0.38%) SUSE
9 3 (0.38%) VMS
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 167 (21.22%) Cybersecurity
2 135 (17.15%) Cloud Security
3 126 (16.01%) Zero Trust
4 112 (14.23%) CI/CD
5 110 (13.98%) SIEM
6 104 (13.21%) Continuous Improvement
7 103 (13.09%) DevOps
8 101 (12.83%) Security Architecture
9 100 (12.71%) Infrastructure as Code
10 97 (12.33%) Migration
11 93 (11.82%) Stakeholder Management
12 88 (11.18%) Problem-Solving
13 80 (10.17%) Change Management
14 78 (9.91%) Agile
14 78 (9.91%) Application Security
15 75 (9.53%) Data Protection
15 75 (9.53%) Network Segmentation
16 74 (9.40%) DevSecOps
16 74 (9.40%) High Availability
16 74 (9.40%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 100 (12.71%) Python
2 55 (6.99%) PowerShell
3 41 (5.21%) Bash
4 27 (3.43%) Bicep
5 20 (2.54%) SQL
6 17 (2.16%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.02%) Shell Script
8 5 (0.64%) Java
9 4 (0.51%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.51%) Perl
9 4 (0.51%) PHP
9 4 (0.51%) Rust
10 2 (0.25%) Ruby
11 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
11 1 (0.13%) C
11 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 226 (28.72%) Security Cleared
2 158 (20.08%) SC Cleared
3 141 (17.92%) Cisco Certification
4 92 (11.69%) CISSP
5 80 (10.17%) CCNP
6 78 (9.91%) DV Cleared
7 62 (7.88%) Degree
8 56 (7.12%) CCNA
9 55 (6.99%) CISM
10 37 (4.70%) CCSP
11 36 (4.57%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 28 (3.56%) Azure Certification
13 21 (2.67%) CCIE
14 19 (2.41%) AWS Certification
15 15 (1.91%) CompTIA Security+
15 15 (1.91%) Computer Science Degree
16 14 (1.78%) GIAC
17 12 (1.52%) BPSS Clearance
18 11 (1.40%) CEH
19 9 (1.14%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (9.91%) NIST
2 66 (8.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 35 (4.45%) GDPR
4 28 (3.56%) NCSC
5 27 (3.43%) PCI DSS
6 19 (2.41%) GRC
7 14 (1.78%) Cyber Essentials
8 11 (1.40%) QA
9 10 (1.27%) SLA
10 8 (1.02%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (1.02%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 8 (1.02%) NIST 800
10 8 (1.02%) SOC 2
11 7 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 6 (0.76%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 4 (0.51%) PMO
14 3 (0.38%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (0.38%) ISA99
14 3 (0.38%) JSP 440
14 3 (0.38%) RMADS
System Software
1 61 (7.75%) Active Directory
2 55 (6.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (2.92%) Docker
4 22 (2.80%) VMware NSX
5 21 (2.67%) Virtual Machines
6 13 (1.65%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (1.27%) vSphere
8 9 (1.14%) Hyper-V
9 6 (0.76%) Firmware
10 5 (0.64%) Squid
11 3 (0.38%) NFS
11 3 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.25%) Postfix
12 2 (0.25%) Sendmail
12 2 (0.25%) Varnish
12 2 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
13 1 (0.13%) OpenSSH
13 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.13%) Samba
13 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 106 (13.47%) Terraform
2 69 (8.77%) Ansible
3 67 (8.51%) Kubernetes
4 41 (5.21%) FortiGate
5 19 (2.41%) Single Sign-On
6 18 (2.29%) Grafana
7 13 (1.65%) vCenter Server
8 11 (1.40%) Prometheus
9 10 (1.27%) Microsoft Intune
10 8 (1.02%) CASB
11 7 (0.89%) Puppet
12 6 (0.76%) QRadar
13 5 (0.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (0.64%) Suricata
13 5 (0.64%) WSUS
14 4 (0.51%) Istio
14 4 (0.51%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.51%) Podman
14 4 (0.51%) SCCM
14 4 (0.51%) SCOM
Vendors
1 224 (28.46%) Cisco
2 118 (14.99%) Microsoft
2 118 (14.99%) Palo Alto
3 71 (9.02%) Fortinet
4 67 (8.51%) F5
4 67 (8.51%) VMware
5 56 (7.12%) CheckPoint
6 50 (6.35%) Zscaler
7 48 (6.10%) Juniper
8 32 (4.07%) ServiceNow
9 31 (3.94%) Splunk
10 24 (3.05%) Citrix
10 24 (3.05%) SolarWinds
11 22 (2.80%) Google
12 19 (2.41%) ForeScout
13 17 (2.16%) Aruba
13 17 (2.16%) Tenable
14 13 (1.65%) Infoblox
15 12 (1.52%) CyberArk
15 12 (1.52%) Meraki