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 20 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 175 155 153
Rank change year-on-year -20 -2 +84
Contract jobs citing Network Security 468 510 675
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.66% 1.61% 1.65%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.25% 13.30% 11.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 277 330 454
10th Percentile £363 £363 £407
25th Percentile £425 £450 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £536 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% -2.50% +4.76%
75th Percentile £630 £635 £650
90th Percentile £738 £725 £743
UK median daily rate £530 £525 £550
% change year-on-year +0.95% -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 7 6
10th Percentile £45.00 £28.40 £40.50
25th Percentile £52.50 £38.75 £64.06
Median hourly rate £70.16 £50.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +40.32% -31.03% +61.11%
75th Percentile £87.19 £58.75 £76.25
90th Percentile £97.50 £82.79 -
UK median hourly rate £70.16 £45.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +55.91% -37.93% +51.40%

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 3,284 3,834 5,642
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.66% 12.14% 13.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,101 2,205 3,548
10th Percentile £213 £237 £215
25th Percentile £358 £381 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.00% - -0.84%
75th Percentile £588 £608 £610
90th Percentile £688 £686 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 174 141 310
10th Percentile £15.50 £18.50 £17.30
25th Percentile £20.00 £26.25 £23.00
Median hourly rate £33.39 £57.25 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -41.69% +1.35% +36.12%
75th Percentile £65.00 £67.50 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £48.56 £56.40
% change year-on-year -29.98% -13.90% +39.99%

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 20 October 2025.

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 20 October 2025.

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 20 October 2025. 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 +10 201 £550 +2.33% 75
North of England -18 90 £485 -3.00% 44
Midlands -20 62 £515 -8.44% 28
North West +1 61 £475 -13.64% 12
West Midlands +3 58 £515 -18.90% 17
South East -25 54 £460 -16.42% 89
Yorkshire -27 39 £491 -1.85% 24
South West +21 33 £640 +9.78% 21
East of England 0 21 £500 +81.82% 21
East Midlands -26 4 - - 8
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 5 (1.07%) Confluence
2 4 (0.85%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.21%) IIS
4 1 (0.21%) nginx
Applications
1 4 (0.85%) Microsoft Office
1 4 (0.85%) MS Visio
2 2 (0.43%) Chatbot
2 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.21%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 116 (24.79%) Azure
2 96 (20.51%) AWS
3 40 (8.55%) GCP
4 27 (5.77%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (4.70%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 18 (3.85%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 18 (3.85%) Amazon S3
7 16 (3.42%) Amazon EC2
7 16 (3.42%) Amazon ELB
7 16 (3.42%) Azure DevOps
7 16 (3.42%) Entra ID
8 13 (2.78%) Azure Key Vault
8 13 (2.78%) Azure Sentinel
9 11 (2.35%) GitHub
10 10 (2.14%) AWS CloudFormation
10 10 (2.14%) Azure Monitor
11 9 (1.92%) Akamai
11 9 (1.92%) GitHub Actions
11 9 (1.92%) IaaS
12 7 (1.50%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 221 (47.22%) Firewall
2 107 (22.86%) VPN
3 101 (21.58%) DNS
4 76 (16.24%) WAN
5 66 (14.10%) TCP/IP
6 62 (13.25%) SSL
7 58 (12.39%) BGP
8 47 (10.04%) LAN
9 42 (8.97%) OSPF
10 40 (8.55%) SD-WAN
11 38 (8.12%) Wireless
12 34 (7.26%) VLAN
13 33 (7.05%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 27 (5.77%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
15 26 (5.56%) DHCP
16 23 (4.91%) Cisco ISE
16 23 (4.91%) DMZ
16 23 (4.91%) Intrusion Detection
17 22 (4.70%) IPsec
18 20 (4.27%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.64%) GIS
2 2 (0.43%) Amazon RDS
2 2 (0.43%) DynamoDB
2 2 (0.43%) Power BI
3 1 (0.21%) Amazon Athena
3 1 (0.21%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.21%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.21%) MySQL
3 1 (0.21%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.21%) Redis
3 1 (0.21%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.21%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 27 (5.77%) Jenkins
2 24 (5.13%) GitLab
3 21 (4.49%) Git
4 11 (2.35%) JIRA
5 4 (0.85%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.21%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.21%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.21%) Subversion
General
1 134 (28.63%) Social Skills
2 66 (14.10%) Analytical Skills
3 47 (10.04%) Finance
4 34 (7.26%) Public Sector
5 31 (6.62%) Banking
6 23 (4.91%) Telecoms
7 14 (2.99%) Documentation Skills
8 12 (2.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (2.56%) Investment Banking
9 10 (2.14%) Law
9 10 (2.14%) Legal
10 8 (1.71%) Pharmaceutical
11 6 (1.28%) Military
12 5 (1.07%) Financial Institution
13 4 (0.85%) Aerospace
13 4 (0.85%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.64%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.43%) Aviation
15 2 (0.43%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.43%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 101 (21.58%) Network Engineer
2 91 (19.44%) Security Engineer
3 83 (17.74%) Architect
4 57 (12.18%) Senior
5 52 (11.11%) Security Architect
6 49 (10.47%) Network Security Engineer
7 33 (7.05%) Analyst
7 33 (7.05%) Network Architect
8 21 (4.49%) Consultant
8 21 (4.49%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 20 (4.27%) Administrator
10 17 (3.63%) Network Security Architect
10 17 (3.63%) SOC Analyst
11 16 (3.42%) Cybersecurity Engineer
12 15 (3.21%) Azure Engineer
12 15 (3.21%) Platform Manager
12 15 (3.21%) Systems Administrator
12 15 (3.21%) Systems Manager
12 15 (3.21%) Wintel Administrator
12 15 (3.21%) Wintel Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (2.78%) LDAP
2 11 (2.35%) 802.1X
3 9 (1.92%) ARM Templates
4 7 (1.50%) YAML
5 6 (1.28%) ADO
5 6 (1.28%) SAML
6 4 (0.85%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.85%) SailPoint
7 3 (0.64%) .NET
7 3 (0.64%) OAuth
8 2 (0.43%) OAuth2
8 2 (0.43%) OpenID
9 1 (0.21%) gRPC
9 1 (0.21%) HTML
9 1 (0.21%) Lambda Expressions
9 1 (0.21%) OpenTelemetry
9 1 (0.21%) Plotly
9 1 (0.21%) RabbitMQ
9 1 (0.21%) web3js
Miscellaneous
1 38 (8.12%) Management Information System
2 36 (7.69%) Data Centre
3 35 (7.48%) Security Posture
4 26 (5.56%) Hybrid Cloud
5 21 (4.49%) PKI
5 21 (4.49%) Security Operations Centre
6 16 (3.42%) Operational Technology
7 14 (2.99%) Cloud Native
7 14 (2.99%) Onboarding
8 12 (2.56%) Analytical Mindset
8 12 (2.56%) Cyber Threat
8 12 (2.56%) Data Protection Act
9 11 (2.35%) SCADA
10 10 (2.14%) Cyberattack
11 9 (1.92%) CSOC
12 8 (1.71%) Cloud Security Posture
12 8 (1.71%) Product Ownership
12 8 (1.71%) Self-Motivation
13 7 (1.50%) Public Cloud
13 7 (1.50%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 64 (13.68%) Windows
2 47 (10.04%) Linux
3 13 (2.78%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (0.64%) Check Point GAiA
5 3 (0.64%) VMS
6 2 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.21%) CentOS
7 1 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.21%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.21%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.21%) Unix
7 1 (0.21%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 109 (23.29%) Cybersecurity
2 89 (19.02%) SIEM
3 87 (18.59%) Incident Response
4 76 (16.24%) Problem-Solving
5 73 (15.60%) Cloud Security
6 64 (13.68%) Infrastructure as Code
7 63 (13.46%) DevOps
8 54 (11.54%) CI/CD
9 48 (10.26%) Change Management
9 48 (10.26%) Security Operations
10 47 (10.04%) Identity Access Management
11 45 (9.62%) High Availability
12 43 (9.19%) Security Architecture
12 43 (9.19%) Vulnerability Management
13 42 (8.97%) Infrastructure Automation
14 41 (8.76%) DevSecOps
15 40 (8.55%) Load Balancing
16 39 (8.33%) Agile
16 39 (8.33%) Network Architecture
16 39 (8.33%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 100 (21.37%) Python
2 57 (12.18%) PowerShell
3 38 (8.12%) Bash
4 14 (2.99%) Bicep
5 8 (1.71%) Kusto Query Language
5 8 (1.71%) Perl
6 5 (1.07%) SQL
7 3 (0.64%) Java
8 2 (0.43%) C
8 2 (0.43%) C++
8 2 (0.43%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.43%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.21%) Rust
9 1 (0.21%) T-SQL
9 1 (0.21%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 134 (28.63%) Security Cleared
2 89 (19.02%) SC Cleared
3 79 (16.88%) Cisco Certification
4 58 (12.39%) CCNP
5 53 (11.32%) CISSP
6 44 (9.40%) Degree
7 38 (8.12%) DV Cleared
8 33 (7.05%) CISM
9 21 (4.49%) CCIE
10 19 (4.06%) Computer Science Degree
11 15 (3.21%) CCSA
12 14 (2.99%) GIAC
13 12 (2.56%) CCNA
13 12 (2.56%) CCSE
13 12 (2.56%) CEH
14 10 (2.14%) AWS Certification
14 10 (2.14%) CCSP
15 9 (1.92%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 9 (1.92%) CompTIA Security+
16 8 (1.71%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (13.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 57 (12.18%) NIST
3 45 (9.62%) GDPR
4 28 (5.98%) PCI DSS
5 16 (3.42%) HIPAA
5 16 (3.42%) NCSC
6 14 (2.99%) GRC
7 9 (1.92%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (1.50%) SOC 2
9 5 (1.07%) SLA
10 4 (0.85%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.64%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.64%) PSD2
12 2 (0.43%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.43%) GxP
12 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.43%) JSP 440
12 2 (0.43%) QA
13 1 (0.21%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 33 (7.05%) Active Directory
1 33 (7.05%) Docker
2 26 (5.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (1.92%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (1.71%) Firmware
5 4 (0.85%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.85%) VMware NSX
6 3 (0.64%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.21%) KVM
7 1 (0.21%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 59 (12.61%) Terraform
2 52 (11.11%) Ansible
3 20 (4.27%) FortiGate
3 20 (4.27%) Kubernetes
4 11 (2.35%) QRadar
5 6 (1.28%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.07%) CASB
6 5 (1.07%) Grafana
6 5 (1.07%) Nessus
6 5 (1.07%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.85%) CA Spectrum
7 4 (0.85%) HP Fortify
7 4 (0.85%) OpenView
8 3 (0.64%) Microsoft Intune
8 3 (0.64%) SCCM
9 2 (0.43%) Backup Exec
9 2 (0.43%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.43%) Kustomize
9 2 (0.43%) Puppet
9 2 (0.43%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 127 (27.14%) Cisco
2 91 (19.44%) F5
3 87 (18.59%) Palo Alto
4 75 (16.03%) Microsoft
5 63 (13.46%) CheckPoint
6 48 (10.26%) Fortinet
7 42 (8.97%) Juniper
7 42 (8.97%) Zscaler
8 40 (8.55%) VMware
9 31 (6.62%) Splunk
10 26 (5.56%) SolarWinds
11 24 (5.13%) CrowdStrike
12 19 (4.06%) Meraki
13 16 (3.42%) Google
14 12 (2.56%) Qualys
14 12 (2.56%) ServiceNow
15 10 (2.14%) Forcepoint
16 9 (1.92%) ArcSight
16 9 (1.92%) Tenable
17 8 (1.71%) CyberArk