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

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 130 145
Rank change year-on-year -33 +15 +115
Contract jobs citing Network Security 518 521 613
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.66% 1.93% 1.68%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.74% 15.16% 12.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 306 330 436
10th Percentile £350 £356 £413
25th Percentile £413 £450 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £526 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.90% -4.41% -
75th Percentile £576 £626 £650
90th Percentile £694 £726 £743
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £550
% change year-on-year -3.85% -5.45% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 8 6
10th Percentile £38.70 £17.83 £50.63
25th Percentile £46.31 £30.88 £64.06
Median hourly rate £65.50 £43.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.33% -40.69% +93.33%
75th Percentile £81.56 £52.19 £76.25
90th Percentile £91.13 £76.78 -
UK median hourly rate £65.50 £41.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +59.76% -43.45% +93.33%

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 3,291 3,436 5,084
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.57% 12.75% 13.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,119 2,003 3,151
10th Percentile £204 £220 £206
25th Percentile £356 £375 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% - -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £606 £600
90th Percentile £681 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 100 315
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £18.93
25th Percentile £19.75 £20.30 £24.00
Median hourly rate £35.50 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% -38.04% +125.96%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £75.50
UK median hourly rate £35.50 £32.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year +9.23% -42.47% +125.96%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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 -7 234 £538 -0.09% 66
North of England -27 100 £464 -7.25% 54
North West +3 70 £475 -4.52% 32
South East -9 68 £445 -19.09% 80
Midlands -22 59 £500 -14.24% 36
West Midlands -3 54 £500 -16.87% 20
Yorkshire -46 42 £205 -59.00% 16
East of England -21 24 £475 -14.80% 43
South West -26 20 £533 +1.43% 36
East Midlands -30 5 £650 +114.88% 16
North East -9 2 £475 -41.72% 6
South Coast - 2 - -
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 7 (1.35%) Confluence
2 6 (1.16%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.97%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.77%) Apache
5 1 (0.19%) IIS
5 1 (0.19%) nginx
5 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (3.09%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.93%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.19%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 148 (28.57%) Azure
2 112 (21.62%) AWS
3 46 (8.88%) GCP
4 31 (5.98%) Entra ID
5 25 (4.83%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 22 (4.25%) Amazon S3
6 22 (4.25%) Microsoft 365
7 20 (3.86%) Amazon EC2
7 20 (3.86%) GitHub
8 19 (3.67%) Azure DevOps
9 18 (3.47%) GitHub Actions
10 16 (3.09%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 16 (3.09%) Amazon ELB
11 14 (2.70%) Azure Key Vault
12 13 (2.51%) Azure Sentinel
12 13 (2.51%) Serverless
13 11 (2.12%) Azure Monitor
13 11 (2.12%) Google Workspace
14 10 (1.93%) IaaS
15 8 (1.54%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 265 (51.16%) Firewall
2 113 (21.81%) VPN
3 89 (17.18%) DNS
4 85 (16.41%) WAN
5 59 (11.39%) LAN
6 58 (11.20%) TCP/IP
7 55 (10.62%) SSL
8 53 (10.23%) BGP
9 49 (9.46%) VLAN
10 40 (7.72%) OSPF
11 38 (7.34%) SD-WAN
12 35 (6.76%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 34 (6.56%) DMZ
14 33 (6.37%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
15 29 (5.60%) Wireless
16 21 (4.05%) Internet
17 18 (3.47%) HTTP
17 18 (3.47%) Intrusion Detection
18 17 (3.28%) Wi-Fi
19 16 (3.09%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.77%) Amazon RDS
1 4 (0.77%) InfluxDB
1 4 (0.77%) Relational Database
2 3 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.39%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.39%) Power BI
3 2 (0.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.19%) Amazon Athena
4 1 (0.19%) Redis
4 1 (0.19%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (5.41%) Jenkins
2 22 (4.25%) GitLab
3 21 (4.05%) Git
4 5 (0.97%) JIRA
5 1 (0.19%) Metasploit
5 1 (0.19%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.19%) Subversion
General
1 156 (30.12%) Social Skills
2 87 (16.80%) Analytical Skills
3 57 (11.00%) Finance
4 43 (8.30%) Public Sector
5 33 (6.37%) Banking
6 22 (4.25%) Telecoms
7 19 (3.67%) Documentation Skills
8 15 (2.90%) Investment Banking
9 13 (2.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.54%) Pharmaceutical
11 7 (1.35%) Military
11 7 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.16%) Legal
12 6 (1.16%) Manufacturing
13 5 (0.97%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.77%) Marketing
14 4 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.58%) Electronics
15 3 (0.58%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 111 (21.43%) Network Engineer
2 85 (16.41%) Architect
3 83 (16.02%) Security Engineer
4 53 (10.23%) Security Architect
5 42 (8.11%) Network Architect
5 42 (8.11%) Senior
6 39 (7.53%) Network Security Engineer
7 36 (6.95%) Analyst
8 22 (4.25%) Network Security Architect
9 19 (3.67%) Administrator
9 19 (3.67%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 19 (3.67%) Security Analyst
10 16 (3.09%) Operations Engineer
10 16 (3.09%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 15 (2.90%) Cloud Engineer
11 15 (2.90%) IT Support
11 15 (2.90%) Lead
11 15 (2.90%) Platform Manager
11 15 (2.90%) Wintel Administrator
11 15 (2.90%) Wintel Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.70%) 802.1X
2 12 (2.32%) LDAP
3 8 (1.54%) .NET
3 8 (1.54%) Node.js
4 6 (1.16%) SAML
5 5 (0.97%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.97%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.97%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.97%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.97%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.97%) React
5 5 (0.97%) TensorFlow
6 4 (0.77%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.39%) HTML
7 2 (0.39%) OAuth
7 2 (0.39%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.39%) OpenID
7 2 (0.39%) REST
8 1 (0.19%) CSS
8 1 (0.19%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 60 (11.58%) Data Centre
2 39 (7.53%) Management Information System
3 34 (6.56%) Hybrid Cloud
4 33 (6.37%) Security Posture
5 26 (5.02%) Cloud Native
6 23 (4.44%) PKI
7 19 (3.67%) Analytical Mindset
7 19 (3.67%) Security Operations Centre
8 18 (3.47%) Cyber Threat
9 17 (3.28%) Public Cloud
10 15 (2.90%) Operational Technology
11 14 (2.70%) Onboarding
12 13 (2.51%) CSOC
13 12 (2.32%) Cyber Security Posture
14 11 (2.12%) Cyberattack
15 10 (1.93%) Virtual Team
16 9 (1.74%) Cloud Security Posture
17 8 (1.54%) IoT
18 7 (1.35%) Clustering
18 7 (1.35%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 80 (15.44%) Windows
2 57 (11.00%) Linux
3 24 (4.63%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.54%) VMS
5 6 (1.16%) Unix
6 4 (0.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.58%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.19%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.19%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.19%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (23.75%) Cybersecurity
2 102 (19.69%) SIEM
3 99 (19.11%) Problem-Solving
4 91 (17.57%) Incident Response
5 79 (15.25%) Cloud Security
6 76 (14.67%) CI/CD
7 71 (13.71%) DevOps
8 69 (13.32%) Infrastructure as Code
9 61 (11.78%) Zero Trust
10 60 (11.58%) Change Management
11 55 (10.62%) Migration
12 53 (10.23%) Security Architecture
13 49 (9.46%) Load Balancing
14 48 (9.27%) Security Operations
15 46 (8.88%) Continuous Improvement
16 45 (8.69%) Identity Access Management
16 45 (8.69%) Network Architecture
17 43 (8.30%) Infrastructure Automation
17 43 (8.30%) Threat Modelling
18 41 (7.92%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 108 (20.85%) Python
2 69 (13.32%) PowerShell
3 34 (6.56%) Bash
4 17 (3.28%) SQL
5 13 (2.51%) Bicep
6 12 (2.32%) Kusto Query Language
7 11 (2.12%) JavaScript
8 10 (1.93%) Java
9 7 (1.35%) Go
10 5 (0.97%) C
10 5 (0.97%) C#
10 5 (0.97%) C++
11 4 (0.77%) Perl
11 4 (0.77%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.19%) C-shell
12 1 (0.19%) Korn
12 1 (0.19%) Rust
12 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 167 (32.24%) Security Cleared
2 122 (23.55%) SC Cleared
3 96 (18.53%) Cisco Certification
4 74 (14.29%) CCNP
5 68 (13.13%) CISSP
6 51 (9.85%) DV Cleared
7 37 (7.14%) Degree
8 28 (5.41%) CCNA
9 27 (5.21%) CISM
10 25 (4.83%) CCIE
11 23 (4.44%) CEH
12 22 (4.25%) GIAC
13 19 (3.67%) Azure Certification
14 16 (3.09%) CompTIA Security+
15 13 (2.51%) AWS Certification
15 13 (2.51%) CCSP
16 12 (2.32%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 12 (2.32%) Computer Science Degree
17 9 (1.74%) JNCIP
18 8 (1.54%) CCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 58 (11.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 52 (10.04%) NIST
3 39 (7.53%) GDPR
4 26 (5.02%) PCI DSS
5 16 (3.09%) Cyber Essentials
6 11 (2.12%) NCSC
7 7 (1.35%) HIPAA
8 6 (1.16%) GRC
8 6 (1.16%) SLA
9 5 (0.97%) PSD2
9 5 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.77%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 4 (0.77%) JSP 440
10 4 (0.77%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.39%) GxP
11 2 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 2 (0.39%) PMO
12 1 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.19%) RMADS
System Software
1 39 (7.53%) VMware Infrastructure
2 37 (7.14%) Active Directory
2 37 (7.14%) Docker
3 10 (1.93%) VMware NSX
4 9 (1.74%) Hyper-V
5 8 (1.54%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.77%) Firmware
6 4 (0.77%) ProxySG
6 4 (0.77%) vSphere
7 3 (0.58%) Virtual Servers
8 2 (0.39%) KVM
8 2 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.19%) RHEV
9 1 (0.19%) Xen
9 1 (0.19%) XenApp
9 1 (0.19%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 93 (17.95%) Terraform
2 63 (12.16%) Ansible
3 34 (6.56%) Kubernetes
4 21 (4.05%) FortiGate
5 13 (2.51%) Nagios
6 10 (1.93%) Kibana
7 9 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.74%) QRadar
8 7 (1.35%) Grafana
8 7 (1.35%) Prometheus
9 6 (1.16%) Microsoft Clustering
9 6 (1.16%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.77%) CASB
10 4 (0.77%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.58%) Icinga
11 3 (0.58%) Puppet
11 3 (0.58%) SCCM
12 2 (0.39%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.39%) Jamf Pro
13 1 (0.19%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 133 (25.68%) Cisco
2 109 (21.04%) Palo Alto
3 88 (16.99%) Microsoft
4 82 (15.83%) F5
5 53 (10.23%) CheckPoint
6 47 (9.07%) VMware
7 45 (8.69%) Juniper
8 40 (7.72%) Fortinet
9 38 (7.34%) Zscaler
10 27 (5.21%) Splunk
11 23 (4.44%) Google
12 22 (4.25%) SolarWinds
13 20 (3.86%) Meraki
14 16 (3.09%) ServiceNow
15 15 (2.90%) CrowdStrike
16 13 (2.51%) Tenable
17 12 (2.32%) Blue Coat
18 10 (1.93%) FireEye
18 10 (1.93%) Forcepoint
18 10 (1.93%) Qualys