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 24 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 155 137 151
Rank change year-on-year -18 +14 +71
Contract jobs citing Network Security 660 472 595
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.76% 1.94% 1.58%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.68% 14.55% 11.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 447 301 414
10th Percentile £350 £370 £382
25th Percentile £425 £438 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £530 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.66% -3.64% -2.22%
75th Percentile £597 £625 £650
90th Percentile £688 £700 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £513 £550
% change year-on-year -2.44% -6.82% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 9 16
10th Percentile £24.10 £18.05 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £35.00 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £80.68 £18.25
Median % change year-on-year -19.43% +342.05% -60.42%
75th Percentile £75.00 £81.35 £41.25
90th Percentile £90.75 £82.48 £51.88
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £41.00 £23.00
% change year-on-year +58.54% +78.26% -50.11%

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 3,734 3,244 5,236
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.97% 13.34% 13.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,399 2,020 3,162
10th Percentile £213 £213 £205
25th Percentile £375 £369 £338
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK median daily rate £490 £490 £475
% change year-on-year - +3.16% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 177 117 374
10th Percentile £15.62 £14.99 £13.90
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £37.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +7.69% +71.05%
75th Percentile £66.00 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.01 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +7.14% +7.69% +71.05%

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 24 March 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 24 March 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 24 March 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 -15 273 £525 -4.42% 73
North of England -17 130 £480 -4.00% 31
South East -13 107 £500 -6.10% 49
North West +3 83 £492 -1.60% 24
Midlands -27 68 £500 -14.02% 20
West Midlands -27 54 £500 -14.02% 14
Yorkshire -32 53 £335 -31.63% 6
East of England -20 32 £500 -14.89% 22
South West -28 31 £539 -2.05% 19
East Midlands -26 13 £638 +50.00% 6
North East -17 2 £475 -24.00% 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 13 (1.97%) Confluence
2 5 (0.76%) Apache
2 5 (0.76%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (0.76%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.15%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 19 (2.88%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.52%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.15%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (0.76%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 198 (30.00%) Azure
2 139 (21.06%) AWS
3 77 (11.67%) GCP
4 50 (7.58%) Entra ID
5 30 (4.55%) GitHub
6 27 (4.09%) GitHub Actions
7 24 (3.64%) Azure DevOps
8 23 (3.48%) Azure Sentinel
9 21 (3.18%) Azure Key Vault
10 19 (2.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 16 (2.42%) Microsoft 365
12 15 (2.27%) Amazon S3
13 14 (2.12%) AWS CloudFormation
14 13 (1.97%) Serverless
15 12 (1.82%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 12 (1.82%) Azure Monitor
15 12 (1.82%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 12 (1.82%) Power Platform
16 11 (1.67%) Azure AKS
16 11 (1.67%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 322 (48.79%) Firewall
2 130 (19.70%) VPN
3 117 (17.73%) WAN
4 90 (13.64%) BGP
4 90 (13.64%) LAN
5 81 (12.27%) DNS
6 75 (11.36%) OSPF
7 62 (9.39%) VLAN
8 58 (8.79%) SD-WAN
9 54 (8.18%) TCP/IP
10 43 (6.52%) Wireless
11 39 (5.91%) MPLS
12 38 (5.76%) Cisco ASA
13 35 (5.30%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 29 (4.39%) DHCP
14 29 (4.39%) SSL
15 28 (4.24%) Wi-Fi
16 27 (4.09%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 25 (3.79%) NGFW
18 24 (3.64%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
1 6 (0.91%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.76%) InfluxDB
2 5 (0.76%) Power BI
2 5 (0.76%) Relational Database
3 3 (0.45%) Amazon Athena
3 3 (0.45%) Data Lake
4 2 (0.30%) Oracle Database
4 2 (0.30%) SQL Server
4 2 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.15%) Redis
Development Applications
1 22 (3.33%) JIRA
2 20 (3.03%) Jenkins
3 16 (2.42%) GitLab
4 11 (1.67%) Git
5 4 (0.61%) Snyk
5 4 (0.61%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.45%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.15%) Metasploit
General
1 175 (26.52%) Social Skills
2 96 (14.55%) Finance
3 87 (13.18%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (8.33%) Public Sector
5 34 (5.15%) Banking
6 25 (3.79%) Documentation Skills
6 25 (3.79%) Telecoms
7 21 (3.18%) Financial Institution
8 10 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 8 (1.21%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.06%) Legal
10 7 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
11 5 (0.76%) Local Government
11 5 (0.76%) Manufacturing
11 5 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (0.76%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (0.61%) Military
13 3 (0.45%) Electronics
13 3 (0.45%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 145 (21.97%) Architect
2 144 (21.82%) Network Engineer
3 80 (12.12%) Security Engineer
4 73 (11.06%) Security Architect
5 54 (8.18%) Network Architect
6 51 (7.73%) Senior
7 36 (5.45%) Network Security Engineer
8 30 (4.55%) Analyst
9 25 (3.79%) Network Security Architect
10 22 (3.33%) Lead
11 19 (2.88%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 18 (2.73%) Cloud Architect
12 18 (2.73%) Cloud Engineer
13 17 (2.58%) Administrator
13 17 (2.58%) Azure Architect
13 17 (2.58%) Consultant
13 17 (2.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 17 (2.58%) Security Analyst
14 16 (2.42%) Solutions Architect
15 15 (2.27%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.33%) 802.1X
2 13 (1.97%) LDAP
3 8 (1.21%) .NET
3 8 (1.21%) Node.js
3 8 (1.21%) SAML
4 6 (0.91%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.76%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.76%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.76%) OAuth
5 5 (0.76%) OAuth2
5 5 (0.76%) OpenID
5 5 (0.76%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.76%) React
5 5 (0.76%) TensorFlow
6 4 (0.61%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
7 3 (0.45%) HTML
7 3 (0.45%) Lambda Expressions
7 3 (0.45%) Plotly
7 3 (0.45%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 85 (12.88%) Data Centre
2 42 (6.36%) Hybrid Cloud
2 42 (6.36%) Security Posture
3 37 (5.61%) Cloud Native
4 29 (4.39%) PKI
5 28 (4.24%) Management Information System
6 23 (3.48%) Public Cloud
7 19 (2.88%) Onboarding
7 19 (2.88%) Operational Technology
8 18 (2.73%) Cyber Threat
8 18 (2.73%) Product Ownership
9 17 (2.58%) IoT
10 16 (2.42%) Analytical Mindset
11 15 (2.27%) Security Operations Centre
12 12 (1.82%) Data Protection Act
12 12 (1.82%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 11 (1.67%) Cyber Security Posture
14 9 (1.36%) Virtual Team
15 8 (1.21%) BYOD
15 8 (1.21%) CSOC
Operating Systems
1 72 (10.91%) Windows
2 58 (8.79%) Linux
3 26 (3.94%) Windows Server
4 9 (1.36%) Unix
5 7 (1.06%) Ubuntu
6 6 (0.91%) VMS
7 4 (0.61%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.30%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.15%) Android
9 1 (0.15%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 154 (23.33%) Cybersecurity
2 107 (16.21%) Problem-Solving
3 101 (15.30%) Cloud Security
4 98 (14.85%) SIEM
5 96 (14.55%) Zero Trust
6 93 (14.09%) Security Architecture
7 86 (13.03%) CI/CD
7 86 (13.03%) DevOps
8 84 (12.73%) Migration
9 81 (12.27%) Infrastructure as Code
10 72 (10.91%) Incident Response
11 71 (10.76%) Continuous Improvement
12 67 (10.15%) Network Segmentation
13 66 (10.00%) Change Management
14 65 (9.85%) Security Operations
15 57 (8.64%) Agile
16 56 (8.48%) Identity Access Management
17 55 (8.33%) Load Balancing
18 54 (8.18%) Threat Modelling
19 52 (7.88%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 95 (14.39%) Python
2 59 (8.94%) PowerShell
3 24 (3.64%) JavaScript
4 23 (3.48%) Bash
4 23 (3.48%) SQL
5 22 (3.33%) Bicep
6 14 (2.12%) Kusto Query Language
7 9 (1.36%) Java
8 7 (1.06%) Go
8 7 (1.06%) Shell Script
9 5 (0.76%) C#
10 4 (0.61%) C
10 4 (0.61%) PHP
11 3 (0.45%) C++
12 1 (0.15%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.15%) C-shell
12 1 (0.15%) Korn
12 1 (0.15%) Perl
12 1 (0.15%) Ruby
12 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 212 (32.12%) Security Cleared
2 146 (22.12%) SC Cleared
3 113 (17.12%) Cisco Certification
4 87 (13.18%) CCNP
5 84 (12.73%) CISSP
6 76 (11.52%) DV Cleared
7 42 (6.36%) CCNA
7 42 (6.36%) CISM
7 42 (6.36%) Degree
8 25 (3.79%) CCIE
8 25 (3.79%) GIAC
9 23 (3.48%) Azure Certification
10 20 (3.03%) CEH
11 18 (2.73%) AWS Certification
11 18 (2.73%) CompTIA Security+
12 16 (2.42%) CCSP
13 15 (2.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 11 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
14 11 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
15 10 (1.52%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (11.21%) NIST
2 69 (10.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 48 (7.27%) GDPR
4 35 (5.30%) PCI DSS
5 20 (3.03%) Cyber Essentials
6 17 (2.58%) NCSC
7 15 (2.27%) GRC
8 13 (1.97%) SLA
9 10 (1.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 9 (1.36%) SOC 2
11 8 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 7 (1.06%) Actionable Recommendations
12 7 (1.06%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 6 (0.91%) QA
14 5 (0.76%) PMO
15 4 (0.61%) HIPAA
15 4 (0.61%) JSP 440
15 4 (0.61%) RMADS
16 2 (0.30%) GxP
16 2 (0.30%) PSD2
System Software
1 47 (7.12%) VMware Infrastructure
2 42 (6.36%) Active Directory
3 26 (3.94%) Docker
4 19 (2.88%) VMware NSX
5 9 (1.36%) Virtual Machines
6 7 (1.06%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (0.91%) vSphere
8 5 (0.76%) Firmware
9 4 (0.61%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.15%) KVM
11 1 (0.15%) NFS
11 1 (0.15%) Postfix
11 1 (0.15%) RHEV
11 1 (0.15%) Sendmail
11 1 (0.15%) Varnish
11 1 (0.15%) Xen
11 1 (0.15%) XenApp
11 1 (0.15%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 103 (15.61%) Terraform
2 59 (8.94%) Ansible
3 51 (7.73%) Kubernetes
4 25 (3.79%) FortiGate
5 14 (2.12%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (2.12%) Nagios
5 14 (2.12%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (1.82%) Kibana
7 9 (1.36%) Grafana
8 8 (1.21%) Prometheus
9 7 (1.06%) vCenter Server
10 6 (0.91%) Microsoft Clustering
11 5 (0.76%) CASB
11 5 (0.76%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.61%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 4 (0.61%) Puppet
13 3 (0.45%) Docker Swarm
13 3 (0.45%) Istio
13 3 (0.45%) SCCM
13 3 (0.45%) SCOM
Vendors
1 182 (27.58%) Cisco
2 117 (17.73%) Microsoft
3 106 (16.06%) Palo Alto
4 75 (11.36%) F5
5 60 (9.09%) VMware
6 52 (7.88%) Juniper
7 47 (7.12%) Fortinet
8 44 (6.67%) CheckPoint
9 37 (5.61%) Zscaler
10 29 (4.39%) Splunk
11 28 (4.24%) Google
12 27 (4.09%) ServiceNow
13 18 (2.73%) SolarWinds
14 17 (2.58%) Meraki
15 16 (2.42%) Tenable
16 15 (2.27%) Aruba
17 14 (2.12%) Databricks
17 14 (2.12%) Okta
18 12 (1.82%) ForeScout
18 12 (1.82%) SAP