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 8 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 171 168 160
Rank change year-on-year -3 -8 +3
Contract jobs citing Network Security 778 481 501
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.68% 1.72% 1.55%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.11% 14.65% 12.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 511 281 321
10th Percentile £400 £380 £363
25th Percentile £463 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £533 £538
Median % change year-on-year +3.29% -1.02% -2.18%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £738 £738
UK median daily rate £550 £538 £527
% change year-on-year +2.33% +2.09% -4.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 16 7
10th Percentile £26.80 £45.00 £28.40
25th Percentile £67.50 £52.50 £38.75
Median hourly rate £72.50 £70.16 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.34% +40.32% -31.03%
75th Percentile £74.00 £85.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £97.50 £82.79
UK median hourly rate £72.50 £70.16 £45.00
% change year-on-year +3.34% +55.91% -37.93%

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 4,297 3,283 3,905
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.29% 11.73% 12.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,536 2,084 2,245
10th Percentile £259 £219 £240
25th Percentile £400 £360 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £599 £608
90th Percentile £688 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 391 172 161
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £16.30
25th Percentile £21.33 £20.81 £26.25
Median hourly rate £38.72 £35.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.63% -39.13% +1.79%
75th Percentile £68.75 £65.00 £67.02
90th Percentile £92.53 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £40.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year -19.75% -19.00% -11.49%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 October 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 -2 335 £550 - 368
North of England +20 206 £540 +10.83% 74
North West 0 112 £545 +14.74% 38
South East -29 92 £559 +24.30% 119
Yorkshire +17 90 £540 +9.76% 29
Midlands -60 54 £475 -9.52% 57
West Midlands -64 42 £450 -14.29% 31
East of England -16 39 £525 -8.70% 32
South West -40 30 £675 +5.47% 39
East Midlands -4 12 £500 - 26
North East - 3 £680 - 7
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 16 (2.06%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.54%) Confluence
4 4 (0.51%) Apache
4 4 (0.51%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.26%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.26%) nginx
6 1 (0.13%) CMS
6 1 (0.13%) IIS
6 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 17 (2.19%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (0.77%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 6 (0.77%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 267 (34.32%) Azure
2 185 (23.78%) AWS
3 100 (12.85%) GCP
4 95 (12.21%) Entra ID
5 51 (6.56%) Microsoft 365
6 43 (5.53%) GitHub
7 38 (4.88%) Azure DevOps
8 36 (4.63%) Azure Monitor
9 32 (4.11%) Serverless
10 24 (3.08%) Azure Sentinel
10 24 (3.08%) SaaS
11 20 (2.57%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 18 (2.31%) GitHub Actions
12 18 (2.31%) OCI
13 17 (2.19%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 17 (2.19%) Amazon EKS
13 17 (2.19%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 17 (2.19%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 16 (2.06%) Azure AKS
15 15 (1.93%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 364 (46.79%) Firewall
2 184 (23.65%) VPN
3 167 (21.47%) WAN
4 136 (17.48%) DNS
5 110 (14.14%) LAN
6 94 (12.08%) Wireless
7 89 (11.44%) TCP/IP
8 85 (10.93%) BGP
9 70 (9.00%) DHCP
10 62 (7.97%) SD-WAN
10 62 (7.97%) VLAN
11 58 (7.46%) OSPF
12 53 (6.81%) SSL
13 44 (5.66%) MPLS
14 37 (4.76%) Cisco ISE
15 35 (4.50%) Cisco ASA
16 34 (4.37%) IPsec
17 31 (3.98%) Wi-Fi
18 29 (3.73%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 29 (3.73%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.41%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
3 6 (0.77%) BigQuery
4 5 (0.64%) Delta Lake
4 5 (0.64%) Elasticsearch
5 4 (0.51%) Neo4j
5 4 (0.51%) Power BI
6 3 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
6 3 (0.39%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.26%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.13%) Big Data
8 1 (0.13%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
8 1 (0.13%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.13%) Qlik Sense
8 1 (0.13%) SAP Data Services
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 39 (5.01%) Git
2 31 (3.98%) GitLab
3 30 (3.86%) Jenkins
4 25 (3.21%) JIRA
5 7 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.51%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.51%) MSBuild
6 4 (0.51%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.51%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.26%) IBM UrbanCode
9 1 (0.13%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.13%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 229 (29.43%) Social Skills
2 156 (20.05%) Finance
3 84 (10.80%) Analytical Skills
4 65 (8.35%) Banking
5 42 (5.40%) Public Sector
6 36 (4.63%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.34%) Legal
8 22 (2.83%) Telecoms
9 18 (2.31%) Financial Institution
10 15 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
11 14 (1.80%) Retail
12 13 (1.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 13 (1.67%) Manufacturing
13 11 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
14 9 (1.16%) Organisational Skills
15 8 (1.03%) Local Government
16 7 (0.90%) Military
17 6 (0.77%) Automotive
17 6 (0.77%) Pharmaceutical
17 6 (0.77%) Police
Job Titles
1 211 (27.12%) Network Engineer
2 131 (16.84%) Architect
3 110 (14.14%) Security Engineer
4 95 (12.21%) Senior
5 68 (8.74%) Security Architect
6 62 (7.97%) Consultant
6 62 (7.97%) Network Security Engineer
7 54 (6.94%) Network Architect
8 44 (5.66%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 43 (5.53%) Cloud Engineer
10 41 (5.27%) Senior Network Engineer
11 40 (5.14%) Project Manager
12 32 (4.11%) Lead
13 30 (3.86%) Security Consultant
14 28 (3.60%) Network Security Architect
15 24 (3.08%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
16 23 (2.96%) Analyst
17 21 (2.70%) Network Manager
18 20 (2.57%) DevSecOps Consultant
18 20 (2.57%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 139 (17.87%) Terraform
2 37 (4.76%) 802.1X
3 22 (2.83%) REST
4 16 (2.06%) ARM Templates
5 13 (1.67%) Kafka
5 13 (1.67%) SAML
6 8 (1.03%) NETCONF
7 7 (0.90%) JSON
7 7 (0.90%) LDAP
8 6 (0.77%) gRPC
8 6 (0.77%) Keycloak
8 6 (0.77%) OAuth
8 6 (0.77%) OpenID
8 6 (0.77%) Software Packaging
8 6 (0.77%) YAML
9 5 (0.64%) Azure Blueprints
9 5 (0.64%) SLSA
10 4 (0.51%) Protocol Buffers
10 4 (0.51%) RESTful
10 4 (0.51%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 105 (13.50%) Data Centre
2 74 (9.51%) Security Posture
3 52 (6.68%) Onboarding
4 46 (5.91%) Cloud Native
5 39 (5.01%) Hybrid Cloud
5 39 (5.01%) Management Information System
6 34 (4.37%) Cyber Threat
7 32 (4.11%) Operational Technology
8 26 (3.34%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 24 (3.08%) PKI
10 21 (2.70%) Self-Motivation
11 20 (2.57%) Public Cloud
12 19 (2.44%) Cloud Security Posture
12 19 (2.44%) Security Operations Centre
13 17 (2.19%) Data Protection Act
14 13 (1.67%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.41%) Linux Command Line
15 11 (1.41%) Replication
16 10 (1.29%) Video Conferencing
17 9 (1.16%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 99 (12.72%) Windows
2 83 (10.67%) Linux
3 45 (5.78%) Windows Server
4 19 (2.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (1.54%) Unix
6 9 (1.16%) Windows 10
7 7 (0.90%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.39%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.26%) Android
9 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.26%) Rocky
9 2 (0.26%) SUSE
9 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.26%) zOS
10 1 (0.13%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 176 (22.62%) Cybersecurity
2 163 (20.95%) Cloud Security
3 141 (18.12%) CI/CD
4 139 (17.87%) Stakeholder Management
5 129 (16.58%) Zero Trust
6 126 (16.20%) Infrastructure as Code
7 116 (14.91%) Continuous Improvement
8 113 (14.52%) DevOps
9 112 (14.40%) Incident Response
10 111 (14.27%) Migration
11 108 (13.88%) SIEM
12 105 (13.50%) Problem-Solving
13 102 (13.11%) Change Management
14 93 (11.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 89 (11.44%) Security Architecture
16 86 (11.05%) Identity Access Management
17 84 (10.80%) Vulnerability Management
18 82 (10.54%) Agile
18 82 (10.54%) Security Operations
19 79 (10.15%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 155 (19.92%) Python
2 91 (11.70%) PowerShell
3 74 (9.51%) Bash
4 35 (4.50%) Bicep
5 29 (3.73%) SQL
6 14 (1.80%) Go
7 12 (1.54%) Java
8 7 (0.90%) ActionScript
8 7 (0.90%) Search Processing Language
8 7 (0.90%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.77%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (0.51%) Rust
11 3 (0.39%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.39%) Perl
11 3 (0.39%) VBScript
12 1 (0.13%) C#
12 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 226 (29.05%) Security Cleared
2 157 (20.18%) Cisco Certification
3 154 (19.79%) SC Cleared
4 100 (12.85%) CISSP
5 91 (11.70%) CCNP
6 77 (9.90%) DV Cleared
7 62 (7.97%) Degree
8 47 (6.04%) CCSP
9 45 (5.78%) CCNA
10 44 (5.66%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 42 (5.40%) CISM
12 34 (4.37%) CCIE
13 26 (3.34%) Azure Certification
14 24 (3.08%) AWS Certification
15 17 (2.19%) Computer Science Degree
16 11 (1.41%) BPSS Clearance
16 11 (1.41%) JNCIP
16 11 (1.41%) PMI Certification
16 11 (1.41%) PMP
17 10 (1.29%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (8.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (8.10%) NIST
3 33 (4.24%) GDPR
4 30 (3.86%) PCI DSS
5 27 (3.47%) NCSC
6 16 (2.06%) Cyber Essentials
7 14 (1.80%) GRC
8 11 (1.41%) NIST 800
9 9 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 7 (0.90%) SLA
11 6 (0.77%) QA
11 6 (0.77%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.51%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 4 (0.51%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.39%) Data Quality
13 3 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.39%) SOC 2
14 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
15 1 (0.13%) Def Stans
15 1 (0.13%) Government Security Classifications
System Software
1 86 (11.05%) Active Directory
2 55 (7.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (4.24%) Docker
4 15 (1.93%) Virtual Machines
4 15 (1.93%) VMware NSX
5 13 (1.67%) vSphere
6 10 (1.29%) Hyper-V
7 8 (1.03%) Virtual Desktop
7 8 (1.03%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.64%) Squid
8 5 (0.64%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (0.51%) FreeRADIUS
10 3 (0.39%) Firmware
11 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 2 (0.26%) NFS
11 2 (0.26%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.13%) OpenSSH
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) Samba
Systems Management
1 97 (12.47%) Ansible
2 76 (9.77%) Kubernetes
3 44 (5.66%) FortiGate
4 32 (4.11%) Microsoft Intune
5 29 (3.73%) Grafana
6 20 (2.57%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.31%) Progress Chef
8 15 (1.93%) SCCM
9 11 (1.41%) CASB
9 11 (1.41%) Single Sign-On
10 9 (1.16%) Nagios
11 8 (1.03%) QRadar
12 7 (0.90%) Cisco CUCM
12 7 (0.90%) Puppet
13 5 (0.64%) Suricata
14 4 (0.51%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.51%) Podman
14 4 (0.51%) systemd
14 4 (0.51%) VxRail
15 3 (0.39%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 233 (29.95%) Cisco
2 161 (20.69%) Microsoft
3 146 (18.77%) Palo Alto
4 83 (10.67%) Fortinet
5 70 (9.00%) VMware
6 69 (8.87%) F5
7 60 (7.71%) Zscaler
8 51 (6.56%) CheckPoint
9 41 (5.27%) Juniper
10 33 (4.24%) SolarWinds
11 31 (3.98%) Google
11 31 (3.98%) Splunk
12 25 (3.21%) ServiceNow
13 23 (2.96%) Aruba
14 16 (2.06%) Meraki
15 14 (1.80%) Citrix
16 13 (1.67%) Blue Coat
17 12 (1.54%) AlgoSec
17 12 (1.54%) Oracle
17 12 (1.54%) Tenable