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

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 137 178
Rank change year-on-year -23 +41 +18
Contract jobs citing Network Security 678 483 476
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.66% 2.00% 1.31%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.64% 15.29% 9.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 473 293 330
10th Percentile £394 £382 £360
25th Percentile £438 £458 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £534 £569
Median % change year-on-year -2.53% -6.20% -1.09%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £675
90th Percentile £700 £700 £775
UK median daily rate £519 £525 £575
% change year-on-year -1.14% -8.70% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 8 15
10th Percentile £32.65 £17.83 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £64.88 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.01 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year -19.77% +500.09% -74.10%
75th Percentile £74.00 £81.54 £41.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.67 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £80.68 £19.00
% change year-on-year -19.43% +324.61% -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 3,843 3,158 4,808
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.44% 13.05% 13.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,404 1,963 2,893
10th Percentile £250 £220 £207
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 £700
UK median daily rate £495 £488 £490
% change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -5.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 225 117 389
10th Percentile £16.59 £14.20 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.33 £15.44 £16.30
Median hourly rate £41.94 £29.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +44.62% -27.50% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.15 £70.13
UK median hourly rate £39.02 £31.79 £40.00
% change year-on-year +22.74% -20.53% +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 15 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 15 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 15 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 -18 291 £550 -4.35% 97
North of England -4 145 £489 -2.20% 53
South East -28 97 £500 +2.04% 61
North West +9 89 £489 -2.30% 32
Midlands -44 54 £500 -9.09% 24
Yorkshire -29 53 £500 +2.56% 17
East of England -22 36 £515 -10.43% 15
West Midlands -55 34 £475 -9.52% 19
South West -32 29 £545 -0.91% 13
East Midlands -13 19 £638 -1.92% 5
North East -17 3 £538 -14.00% 5
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 13 (1.92%) Confluence
2 10 (1.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.59%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.44%) Apache
Applications
1 15 (2.21%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.62%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.74%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 205 (30.24%) Azure
2 142 (20.94%) AWS
3 82 (12.09%) GCP
4 50 (7.37%) Entra ID
5 25 (3.69%) GitHub
6 24 (3.54%) Azure Sentinel
7 23 (3.39%) Azure DevOps
8 22 (3.24%) GitHub Actions
9 18 (2.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 17 (2.51%) Azure Key Vault
11 15 (2.21%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 14 (2.06%) Azure AKS
12 14 (2.06%) Microsoft 365
13 13 (1.92%) AWS CloudFormation
13 13 (1.92%) Azure Monitor
13 13 (1.92%) SaaS
14 12 (1.77%) Akamai
14 12 (1.77%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 11 (1.62%) Amazon S3
16 10 (1.47%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 320 (47.20%) Firewall
2 133 (19.62%) VPN
3 124 (18.29%) WAN
4 94 (13.86%) LAN
5 85 (12.54%) DNS
6 83 (12.24%) BGP
7 72 (10.62%) OSPF
8 69 (10.18%) VLAN
9 62 (9.14%) SD-WAN
10 58 (8.55%) TCP/IP
11 55 (8.11%) Wireless
12 42 (6.19%) MPLS
13 38 (5.60%) DHCP
14 31 (4.57%) Cisco ISE
15 30 (4.42%) Cisco ASA
15 30 (4.42%) SSL
16 28 (4.13%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 24 (3.54%) NGFW
17 24 (3.54%) Wi-Fi
18 23 (3.39%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.74%) Amazon RDS
1 5 (0.74%) Azure SQL Database
1 5 (0.74%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.59%) InfluxDB
2 4 (0.59%) Relational Database
3 3 (0.44%) Amazon Athena
3 3 (0.44%) Power BI
4 2 (0.29%) Data Lake
4 2 (0.29%) Oracle Database
4 2 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 26 (3.83%) JIRA
2 17 (2.51%) Jenkins
3 16 (2.36%) GitLab
4 13 (1.92%) Git
5 5 (0.74%) Browser DevTools
6 4 (0.59%) Snyk
6 4 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.44%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.15%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.15%) Postman
8 1 (0.15%) SoapUI
General
1 155 (22.86%) Social Skills
2 103 (15.19%) Finance
3 63 (9.29%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (7.08%) Public Sector
5 39 (5.75%) Banking
6 26 (3.83%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.54%) Telecoms
8 21 (3.10%) Financial Institution
9 9 (1.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.18%) Legal
11 6 (0.88%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (0.74%) Law
12 5 (0.74%) Local Government
12 5 (0.74%) Military
12 5 (0.74%) Retail
13 4 (0.59%) Manufacturing
13 4 (0.59%) Police
14 3 (0.44%) Electronics
14 3 (0.44%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.29%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 167 (24.63%) Network Engineer
2 146 (21.53%) Architect
3 87 (12.83%) Security Engineer
4 71 (10.47%) Security Architect
5 62 (9.14%) Senior
6 51 (7.52%) Network Architect
7 44 (6.49%) Network Security Engineer
8 26 (3.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 26 (3.83%) Lead
8 26 (3.83%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 24 (3.54%) Consultant
9 24 (3.54%) Project Manager
10 22 (3.24%) Analyst
10 22 (3.24%) Cloud Engineer
10 22 (3.24%) Network Security Architect
11 18 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
12 17 (2.51%) Senior Architect
12 17 (2.51%) Senior Network Engineer
13 16 (2.36%) Azure Architect
13 16 (2.36%) Cloud Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (3.69%) 802.1X
2 14 (2.06%) LDAP
3 10 (1.47%) SAML
4 5 (0.74%) Node.js
4 5 (0.74%) OAuth
5 4 (0.59%) HTML
5 4 (0.59%) OpenID
5 4 (0.59%) RabbitMQ
5 4 (0.59%) REST
6 3 (0.44%) .NET
6 3 (0.44%) CSS
6 3 (0.44%) Elastic Stack
6 3 (0.44%) JSON
6 3 (0.44%) Lambda Expressions
6 3 (0.44%) OAuth2
6 3 (0.44%) Plotly
6 3 (0.44%) SLSA
7 2 (0.29%) .NET Core
7 2 (0.29%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.29%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 94 (13.86%) Data Centre
2 39 (5.75%) Security Posture
3 38 (5.60%) Hybrid Cloud
4 34 (5.01%) Cloud Native
5 26 (3.83%) PKI
6 23 (3.39%) Onboarding
7 21 (3.10%) Cyber Threat
8 20 (2.95%) IoT
8 20 (2.95%) Public Cloud
9 17 (2.51%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 16 (2.36%) Data Protection Act
10 16 (2.36%) Management Information System
10 16 (2.36%) Operational Technology
11 15 (2.21%) Product Ownership
12 13 (1.92%) Security Operations Centre
13 11 (1.62%) Cyber Security Posture
14 10 (1.47%) Analytical Mindset
14 10 (1.47%) Replication
14 10 (1.47%) Virtual Team
15 9 (1.33%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 62 (9.14%) Windows
2 51 (7.52%) Linux
3 24 (3.54%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.03%) Unix
4 7 (1.03%) VMS
5 6 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (0.88%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.74%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.59%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.44%) SUSE
9 1 (0.15%) Android
9 1 (0.15%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (21.09%) Cybersecurity
2 111 (16.37%) Cloud Security
3 106 (15.63%) Zero Trust
4 95 (14.01%) Security Architecture
5 92 (13.57%) SIEM
6 91 (13.42%) CI/CD
7 89 (13.13%) Migration
8 87 (12.83%) DevOps
9 76 (11.21%) Infrastructure as Code
9 76 (11.21%) Problem-Solving
10 71 (10.47%) Continuous Improvement
11 68 (10.03%) Network Segmentation
12 63 (9.29%) Stakeholder Management
12 63 (9.29%) Threat Modelling
13 59 (8.70%) High Availability
14 58 (8.55%) ITIL
14 58 (8.55%) Security Operations
15 57 (8.41%) Incident Response
16 56 (8.26%) Application Security
17 55 (8.11%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 89 (13.13%) Python
2 58 (8.55%) PowerShell
3 27 (3.98%) Bash
4 22 (3.24%) JavaScript
5 19 (2.80%) SQL
6 18 (2.65%) Bicep
7 9 (1.33%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (1.03%) Java
8 7 (1.03%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.88%) Go
10 4 (0.59%) C
10 4 (0.59%) PHP
11 3 (0.44%) C++
12 2 (0.29%) C#
12 2 (0.29%) Ruby
13 1 (0.15%) ActionScript
13 1 (0.15%) C-shell
13 1 (0.15%) Korn
13 1 (0.15%) Perl
13 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 211 (31.12%) Security Cleared
2 153 (22.57%) SC Cleared
3 133 (19.62%) Cisco Certification
4 91 (13.42%) CCNP
5 77 (11.36%) CISSP
6 66 (9.73%) DV Cleared
7 52 (7.67%) CCNA
8 43 (6.34%) Degree
9 42 (6.19%) CISM
10 27 (3.98%) Azure Certification
10 27 (3.98%) CCSP
11 26 (3.83%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 17 (2.51%) CCIE
12 17 (2.51%) GIAC
13 15 (2.21%) AWS Certification
14 14 (2.06%) CEH
14 14 (2.06%) CompTIA Security+
15 10 (1.47%) BPSS Clearance
16 9 (1.33%) Network+ Certification
17 7 (1.03%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 66 (9.73%) NIST
2 54 (7.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 33 (4.87%) GDPR
4 24 (3.54%) PCI DSS
5 16 (2.36%) GRC
6 15 (2.21%) NCSC
7 14 (2.06%) Cyber Essentials
8 10 (1.47%) QA
8 10 (1.47%) SLA
9 8 (1.18%) Actionable Recommendations
9 8 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 8 (1.18%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.88%) PMO
10 6 (0.88%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 5 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 4 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 4 (0.59%) RMADS
13 3 (0.44%) ISA99
14 2 (0.29%) JSP 440
15 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
System Software
1 47 (6.93%) VMware Infrastructure
2 46 (6.78%) Active Directory
3 19 (2.80%) Virtual Machines
4 18 (2.65%) VMware NSX
5 13 (1.92%) Docker
6 12 (1.77%) Hyper-V
7 10 (1.47%) VMware ESXi
8 7 (1.03%) vSphere
9 5 (0.74%) Firmware
9 5 (0.74%) Squid
10 4 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.29%) NFS
11 2 (0.29%) Postfix
11 2 (0.29%) Sendmail
11 2 (0.29%) Varnish
12 1 (0.15%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.15%) RHEV
12 1 (0.15%) Xen
12 1 (0.15%) XenApp
12 1 (0.15%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 96 (14.16%) Terraform
2 58 (8.55%) Ansible
3 50 (7.37%) Kubernetes
4 31 (4.57%) FortiGate
5 15 (2.21%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (2.06%) Nagios
7 11 (1.62%) Grafana
7 11 (1.62%) vCenter Server
8 9 (1.33%) Microsoft Clustering
8 9 (1.33%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (1.18%) Kibana
10 5 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 5 (0.74%) Prometheus
10 5 (0.74%) QRadar
10 5 (0.74%) WSUS
11 4 (0.59%) CASB
11 4 (0.59%) Istio
11 4 (0.59%) Progress Chef
11 4 (0.59%) Suricata
12 3 (0.44%) Icinga
Vendors
1 197 (29.06%) Cisco
2 113 (16.67%) Palo Alto
3 100 (14.75%) Microsoft
4 62 (9.14%) F5
4 62 (9.14%) VMware
5 48 (7.08%) Fortinet
6 47 (6.93%) Juniper
7 46 (6.78%) CheckPoint
8 43 (6.34%) Zscaler
9 31 (4.57%) ServiceNow
10 25 (3.69%) Splunk
11 20 (2.95%) Google
11 20 (2.95%) SolarWinds
12 19 (2.80%) ForeScout
13 17 (2.51%) Citrix
14 14 (2.06%) Aruba
15 12 (1.77%) Meraki
16 11 (1.62%) Okta
16 11 (1.62%) SAP
16 11 (1.62%) Tenable