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

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 153 146 181
Rank change year-on-year -7 +35 0
Contract jobs citing Network Security 729 466 478
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.71% 1.90% 1.28%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.02% 14.76% 9.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 514 286 332
10th Percentile £400 £375 £363
25th Percentile £447 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -3.51%
75th Percentile £624 £625 £672
90th Percentile £711 £700 £774
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +0.96% -5.45% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 8 16
10th Percentile £26.40 £77.28 -
25th Percentile £35.75 £80.34 £7.43
Median hourly rate £73.00 £81.35 £16.25
Median % change year-on-year -10.26% +400.62% -68.83%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.58 £41.25
90th Percentile - £88.80 -
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £81.35 £21.00
% change year-on-year -10.26% +287.38% -61.82%

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 4,045 3,158 4,838
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.50% 12.91% 12.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,509 1,978 2,892
10th Percentile £263 £225 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -3.85%
75th Percentile £590 £600 £601
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £485 £498
% change year-on-year +3.09% -2.51% -2.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 266 123 390
10th Percentile £16.50 £14.30 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.33 £16.30 £16.44
Median hourly rate £30.77 £39.32 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.74% -1.70% +122.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £81.95 £72.54
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £44.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -37.50% +10.00% +113.73%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -2 323 £550 -4.35% 73
North of England -1 164 £500 - 53
South East -26 100 £520 +6.12% 62
North West -2 89 £500 -1.96% 39
Yorkshire -6 73 £500 +2.04% 12
Midlands -55 48 £449 -18.45% 22
South West -21 32 £550 -2.22% 25
East of England -20 31 £525 -8.70% 16
West Midlands -64 29 £420 -23.64% 11
East Midlands -13 18 £638 - 11
North East -27 2 £675 +8.00% 3
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 (2.19%) Confluence
2 13 (1.78%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.10%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.27%) Apache
5 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 15 (2.06%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.51%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.14%) InfoPath
5 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.82%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.41%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 219 (30.04%) Azure
2 161 (22.09%) AWS
3 97 (13.31%) GCP
4 62 (8.50%) Entra ID
5 25 (3.43%) GitHub
6 24 (3.29%) Azure Sentinel
7 22 (3.02%) Azure DevOps
8 21 (2.88%) GitHub Actions
8 21 (2.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 19 (2.61%) Microsoft 365
10 18 (2.47%) SaaS
11 17 (2.33%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 16 (2.19%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 16 (2.19%) Azure Key Vault
12 16 (2.19%) Serverless
13 14 (1.92%) Akamai
13 14 (1.92%) AWS CloudFormation
14 12 (1.65%) Amazon EKS
14 12 (1.65%) AWS Direct Connect
14 12 (1.65%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 332 (45.54%) Firewall
2 138 (18.93%) VPN
3 132 (18.11%) WAN
4 98 (13.44%) LAN
5 90 (12.35%) DNS
6 86 (11.80%) BGP
7 72 (9.88%) OSPF
7 72 (9.88%) VLAN
8 67 (9.19%) SD-WAN
9 66 (9.05%) Wireless
10 57 (7.82%) TCP/IP
11 46 (6.31%) MPLS
12 44 (6.04%) DHCP
13 38 (5.21%) SSL
14 36 (4.94%) Cisco ISE
15 31 (4.25%) Cisco ASA
15 31 (4.25%) IPsec
16 27 (3.70%) HTTP
16 27 (3.70%) NGFW
17 25 (3.43%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.69%) SQL Server
3 4 (0.55%) Neo4j
4 3 (0.41%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.41%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.41%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.41%) Power BI
5 2 (0.27%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.14%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.14%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.14%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.14%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 33 (4.53%) JIRA
2 19 (2.61%) GitLab
3 18 (2.47%) Git
4 16 (2.19%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.69%) Browser DevTools
6 4 (0.55%) Snyk
6 4 (0.55%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.41%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.41%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.14%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.14%) Postman
8 1 (0.14%) SoapUI
General
1 160 (21.95%) Social Skills
2 118 (16.19%) Finance
3 54 (7.41%) Analytical Skills
4 53 (7.27%) Public Sector
5 46 (6.31%) Banking
6 28 (3.84%) Documentation Skills
7 21 (2.88%) Financial Institution
7 21 (2.88%) Telecoms
8 11 (1.51%) Legal
8 11 (1.51%) Retail
9 10 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.10%) Police
11 6 (0.82%) Law
11 6 (0.82%) Local Government
11 6 (0.82%) Manufacturing
11 6 (0.82%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (0.69%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (0.69%) Military
13 3 (0.41%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.27%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 181 (24.83%) Network Engineer
2 160 (21.95%) Architect
3 98 (13.44%) Security Engineer
4 76 (10.43%) Security Architect
5 72 (9.88%) Senior
6 55 (7.54%) Network Architect
7 51 (7.00%) Network Security Engineer
8 37 (5.08%) Project Manager
9 33 (4.53%) Consultant
10 29 (3.98%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 27 (3.70%) Lead
12 26 (3.57%) Cloud Engineer
13 25 (3.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 23 (3.16%) Network Security Architect
15 21 (2.88%) Senior Network Engineer
16 20 (2.74%) Cloud Architect
16 20 (2.74%) Senior Architect
16 20 (2.74%) Solutions Architect
17 18 (2.47%) Azure Architect
17 18 (2.47%) Network Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (4.53%) 802.1X
2 13 (1.78%) SAML
3 9 (1.23%) REST
4 8 (1.10%) Kafka
4 8 (1.10%) LDAP
5 7 (0.96%) CSS
5 7 (0.96%) OAuth
6 6 (0.82%) HTML
6 6 (0.82%) OpenID
7 5 (0.69%) ARM Templates
7 5 (0.69%) OAuth2
8 3 (0.41%) gRPC
8 3 (0.41%) Keycloak
8 3 (0.41%) Lambda Expressions
8 3 (0.41%) Plotly
8 3 (0.41%) Protocol Buffers
8 3 (0.41%) RESTful
8 3 (0.41%) SailPoint
8 3 (0.41%) SLSA
9 2 (0.27%) AWS CDK
Miscellaneous
1 98 (13.44%) Data Centre
2 52 (7.13%) Security Posture
3 44 (6.04%) Cloud Native
4 39 (5.35%) Hybrid Cloud
5 28 (3.84%) PKI
6 27 (3.70%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 24 (3.29%) Onboarding
8 21 (2.88%) Operational Technology
8 21 (2.88%) Public Cloud
9 18 (2.47%) Product Ownership
10 17 (2.33%) Cyber Threat
10 17 (2.33%) Data Protection Act
10 17 (2.33%) IoT
11 15 (2.06%) Security Operations Centre
12 14 (1.92%) Management Information System
13 12 (1.65%) Self-Motivation
14 9 (1.23%) Replication
15 8 (1.10%) Cyber Security Posture
15 8 (1.10%) Virtual Team
16 7 (0.96%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 57 (7.82%) Linux
1 57 (7.82%) Windows
2 24 (3.29%) Windows Server
3 8 (1.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (0.96%) VMS
5 6 (0.82%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.69%) Unix
6 5 (0.69%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.55%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.41%) SUSE
9 2 (0.27%) Android
10 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 154 (21.12%) Cybersecurity
2 123 (16.87%) Zero Trust
3 121 (16.60%) Cloud Security
4 101 (13.85%) CI/CD
5 100 (13.72%) Security Architecture
6 97 (13.31%) DevOps
7 96 (13.17%) Migration
8 95 (13.03%) SIEM
9 90 (12.35%) Infrastructure as Code
10 82 (11.25%) Continuous Improvement
11 74 (10.15%) Network Segmentation
12 73 (10.01%) Application Security
13 72 (9.88%) Problem-Solving
14 71 (9.74%) Stakeholder Management
15 68 (9.33%) High Availability
16 67 (9.19%) Threat Modelling
17 66 (9.05%) Agile
17 66 (9.05%) Data Protection
18 62 (8.50%) Change Management
18 62 (8.50%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 81 (11.11%) Python
2 41 (5.62%) PowerShell
3 29 (3.98%) Bash
4 21 (2.88%) Bicep
5 19 (2.61%) JavaScript
6 17 (2.33%) SQL
7 7 (0.96%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.82%) Java
9 5 (0.69%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (0.55%) C
10 4 (0.55%) PHP
11 3 (0.41%) C++
11 3 (0.41%) Rust
12 2 (0.27%) Perl
12 2 (0.27%) Ruby
13 1 (0.14%) ActionScript
13 1 (0.14%) Search Processing Language
13 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 217 (29.77%) Security Cleared
2 158 (21.67%) SC Cleared
3 133 (18.24%) Cisco Certification
4 83 (11.39%) CCNP
4 83 (11.39%) CISSP
5 70 (9.60%) DV Cleared
6 53 (7.27%) CCNA
6 53 (7.27%) Degree
7 48 (6.58%) CISM
8 33 (4.53%) CCSP
9 32 (4.39%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 27 (3.70%) Azure Certification
11 18 (2.47%) AWS Certification
12 16 (2.19%) CCIE
13 14 (1.92%) CompTIA Security+
14 13 (1.78%) GIAC
15 12 (1.65%) Computer Science Degree
16 11 (1.51%) BPSS Clearance
17 9 (1.23%) CEH
17 9 (1.23%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 76 (10.43%) NIST
2 60 (8.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 32 (4.39%) GDPR
4 26 (3.57%) PCI DSS
5 20 (2.74%) NCSC
6 18 (2.47%) GRC
7 16 (2.19%) Cyber Essentials
8 11 (1.51%) QA
9 10 (1.37%) SLA
10 8 (1.10%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (1.10%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 8 (1.10%) SOC 2
11 6 (0.82%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 4 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 4 (0.55%) NIST 800
13 4 (0.55%) PMO
13 4 (0.55%) RMADS
14 3 (0.41%) ISA99
15 2 (0.27%) JSP 440
System Software
1 52 (7.13%) Active Directory
2 51 (7.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.88%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (2.74%) VMware NSX
5 18 (2.47%) Docker
6 11 (1.51%) VMware ESXi
7 8 (1.10%) Hyper-V
7 8 (1.10%) vSphere
8 5 (0.69%) Firmware
8 5 (0.69%) Squid
9 4 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.27%) NFS
10 2 (0.27%) Postfix
10 2 (0.27%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.27%) Varnish
10 2 (0.27%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.14%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 98 (13.44%) Terraform
2 63 (8.64%) Ansible
3 60 (8.23%) Kubernetes
4 39 (5.35%) FortiGate
5 16 (2.19%) Single Sign-On
6 15 (2.06%) Grafana
7 11 (1.51%) vCenter Server
8 10 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (0.96%) Prometheus
10 6 (0.82%) QRadar
11 5 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.69%) CASB
11 5 (0.69%) Suricata
11 5 (0.69%) WSUS
12 4 (0.55%) Istio
12 4 (0.55%) Kibana
12 4 (0.55%) Kustomize
12 4 (0.55%) Puppet
13 3 (0.41%) Failover Clustering
13 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 210 (28.81%) Cisco
2 119 (16.32%) Palo Alto
3 106 (14.54%) Microsoft
4 63 (8.64%) VMware
5 60 (8.23%) F5
5 60 (8.23%) Fortinet
6 49 (6.72%) CheckPoint
7 47 (6.45%) Zscaler
8 44 (6.04%) Juniper
9 33 (4.53%) ServiceNow
10 28 (3.84%) Splunk
11 20 (2.74%) Google
12 19 (2.61%) Aruba
12 19 (2.61%) Citrix
13 18 (2.47%) ForeScout
14 17 (2.33%) SolarWinds
15 14 (1.92%) Tenable
16 11 (1.51%) Blue Coat
16 11 (1.51%) Okta
16 11 (1.51%) SAP