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

6 months to
17 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 162 145 180
Rank change year-on-year -17 +35 -12
Contract jobs citing Network Security 766 539 467
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.68% 1.94% 1.41%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.80% 15.83% 11.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 529 318 328
10th Percentile £399 £375 £382
25th Percentile £460 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £648 £622 £669
90th Percentile £738 £729 £738
UK median daily rate £550 £525 £550
% change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 19 6
10th Percentile £26.00 £45.00 £20.75
25th Percentile £42.13 £60.38 £29.75
Median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year -9.51% +50.09% -12.96%
75th Percentile £74.00 £83.05 £58.75
90th Percentile - £88.00 £88.81
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £50.00
% change year-on-year -9.51% +61.35% -24.24%

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 4,303 3,404 4,164
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.42% 12.25% 12.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,605 2,100 2,576
10th Percentile £263 £250 £250
25th Percentile £401 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £492 £503
Median % change year-on-year +1.63% -2.24% +0.65%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £613
90th Percentile £680 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £486 £500
% change year-on-year +2.83% -2.75% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 337 170 279
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.25
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £27.50 £43.75 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -37.14% -20.27% -0.23%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £85.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £49.00
% change year-on-year -43.48% -5.61% -10.91%

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 17 August 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 17 August 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 17 August 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 -8 339 £550 - 82
North of England -2 187 £530 +9.18% 36
South East -26 118 £559 +13.98% 71
North West -4 104 £537 +13.05% 25
Yorkshire +10 80 £500 +1.63% 8
Midlands -50 50 £463 -11.90% 36
East of England -14 37 £525 -4.55% 15
West Midlands -72 31 £406 -22.62% 21
East Midlands -1 18 £638 - 15
South West -60 15 £563 -12.11% 18
North East -41 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 (2.09%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (1.57%) Confluence
3 11 (1.44%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.39%) Apache
5 2 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 20 (2.61%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (0.78%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.13%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.78%) Oracle ERP
1 6 (0.78%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 271 (35.38%) Azure
2 185 (24.15%) AWS
3 101 (13.19%) GCP
4 87 (11.36%) Entra ID
5 37 (4.83%) Microsoft 365
6 34 (4.44%) Azure DevOps
7 30 (3.92%) GitHub
8 27 (3.52%) Azure Sentinel
8 27 (3.52%) SaaS
9 26 (3.39%) Azure Monitor
10 25 (3.26%) Serverless
11 20 (2.61%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 20 (2.61%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 20 (2.61%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 18 (2.35%) GitHub Actions
13 15 (1.96%) Azure AKS
13 15 (1.96%) OCI
14 14 (1.83%) Akamai
15 13 (1.70%) Amazon EKS
15 13 (1.70%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 346 (45.17%) Firewall
2 170 (22.19%) VPN
3 163 (21.28%) WAN
4 121 (15.80%) DNS
5 110 (14.36%) LAN
6 91 (11.88%) Wireless
7 85 (11.10%) TCP/IP
8 79 (10.31%) BGP
9 71 (9.27%) SD-WAN
10 65 (8.49%) VLAN
11 64 (8.36%) DHCP
12 60 (7.83%) OSPF
13 44 (5.74%) SSL
14 42 (5.48%) MPLS
15 39 (5.09%) Cisco ISE
16 38 (4.96%) IPsec
17 34 (4.44%) Wi-Fi
18 33 (4.31%) Cisco ASA
19 31 (4.05%) NGFW
20 29 (3.79%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.70%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.78%) Azure SQL Database
3 5 (0.65%) BigQuery
3 5 (0.65%) Power BI
4 4 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.52%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.52%) Neo4j
5 3 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.26%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
7 1 (0.13%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.13%) Qlik Sense
7 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.13%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.13%) Star Schema
7 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 36 (4.70%) Git
2 32 (4.18%) JIRA
3 27 (3.52%) GitLab
4 21 (2.74%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.78%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.52%) MSBuild
7 4 (0.52%) Snyk
7 4 (0.52%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.52%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
9 2 (0.26%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.13%) Postman
10 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 196 (25.59%) Social Skills
2 140 (18.28%) Finance
3 70 (9.14%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (7.31%) Banking
5 47 (6.14%) Public Sector
6 32 (4.18%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (3.26%) Financial Institution
8 19 (2.48%) Telecoms
9 17 (2.22%) Legal
10 14 (1.83%) Retail
11 12 (1.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 11 (1.44%) Manufacturing
13 10 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
13 10 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (1.04%) Police
15 6 (0.78%) Automotive
15 6 (0.78%) Law
15 6 (0.78%) Local Government
16 5 (0.65%) Front Office
16 5 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 200 (26.11%) Network Engineer
2 145 (18.93%) Architect
3 95 (12.40%) Senior
4 88 (11.49%) Security Engineer
5 70 (9.14%) Security Architect
6 54 (7.05%) Network Architect
7 49 (6.40%) Consultant
7 49 (6.40%) Network Security Engineer
8 42 (5.48%) Project Manager
9 40 (5.22%) Senior Network Engineer
10 38 (4.96%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 36 (4.70%) Lead
12 35 (4.57%) Cloud Engineer
13 25 (3.26%) Analyst
14 22 (2.87%) Network Manager
14 22 (2.87%) Security Consultant
15 18 (2.35%) Azure Engineer
15 18 (2.35%) DevSecOps Consultant
15 18 (2.35%) Network Security Architect
15 18 (2.35%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (4.83%) 802.1X
2 15 (1.96%) SAML
3 13 (1.70%) REST
4 11 (1.44%) ARM Templates
5 9 (1.17%) Kafka
6 6 (0.78%) NETCONF
7 5 (0.65%) .NET
7 5 (0.65%) JSON
7 5 (0.65%) OpenID
8 4 (0.52%) CSS
8 4 (0.52%) gRPC
8 4 (0.52%) Keycloak
8 4 (0.52%) OAuth
8 4 (0.52%) Protocol Buffers
8 4 (0.52%) RESTful
8 4 (0.52%) SLSA
8 4 (0.52%) XML
9 3 (0.39%) Azure Blueprints
9 3 (0.39%) ModSecurity
9 3 (0.39%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 78 (10.18%) Data Centre
2 69 (9.01%) Security Posture
3 48 (6.27%) Cloud Native
4 42 (5.48%) Hybrid Cloud
5 34 (4.44%) Onboarding
6 33 (4.31%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 32 (4.18%) Management Information System
8 26 (3.39%) Cyber Threat
9 24 (3.13%) Operational Technology
10 20 (2.61%) PKI
11 19 (2.48%) Public Cloud
12 18 (2.35%) Data Protection Act
12 18 (2.35%) Self-Motivation
13 17 (2.22%) Security Operations Centre
14 16 (2.09%) Cloud Security Posture
15 13 (1.70%) Linux Command Line
15 13 (1.70%) Product Ownership
16 12 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
17 9 (1.17%) IoT
17 9 (1.17%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 69 (9.01%) Windows
2 62 (8.09%) Linux
3 22 (2.87%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.04%) Unix
5 8 (1.04%) Windows 10
6 6 (0.78%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.78%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.39%) Android
7 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
7 3 (0.39%) SUSE
7 3 (0.39%) VMS
8 2 (0.26%) zOS
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.13%) Rocky
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 159 (20.76%) Cybersecurity
2 153 (19.97%) Cloud Security
3 118 (15.40%) CI/CD
4 115 (15.01%) Stakeholder Management
5 113 (14.75%) Zero Trust
6 110 (14.36%) Continuous Improvement
7 104 (13.58%) Infrastructure as Code
8 103 (13.45%) DevOps
9 101 (13.19%) SIEM
10 100 (13.05%) Change Management
11 97 (12.66%) Migration
12 90 (11.75%) Incident Response
13 87 (11.36%) Problem-Solving
14 81 (10.57%) Security Architecture
15 80 (10.44%) DevSecOps
15 80 (10.44%) Identity Access Management
16 79 (10.31%) Data Protection
17 78 (10.18%) ITIL
17 78 (10.18%) Security Operations
18 77 (10.05%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 110 (14.36%) Python
2 71 (9.27%) PowerShell
3 57 (7.44%) Bash
4 31 (4.05%) Bicep
5 28 (3.66%) SQL
6 12 (1.57%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.04%) Go
8 7 (0.91%) Java
8 7 (0.91%) Search Processing Language
8 7 (0.91%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.78%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (0.52%) Rust
11 3 (0.39%) Perl
11 3 (0.39%) VBScript
12 2 (0.26%) Ruby
13 1 (0.13%) C
Qualifications
1 201 (26.24%) Security Cleared
2 139 (18.15%) SC Cleared
3 134 (17.49%) Cisco Certification
4 90 (11.75%) CISSP
5 77 (10.05%) CCNP
6 67 (8.75%) Degree
7 64 (8.36%) DV Cleared
8 52 (6.79%) CISM
9 51 (6.66%) CCNA
10 39 (5.09%) CCSP
11 38 (4.96%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 32 (4.18%) Azure Certification
13 19 (2.48%) AWS Certification
13 19 (2.48%) CCIE
14 16 (2.09%) Computer Science Degree
15 11 (1.44%) PMP
16 9 (1.17%) CompTIA Security+
16 9 (1.17%) JNCIS
17 8 (1.04%) CEH
17 8 (1.04%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (8.88%) NIST
2 63 (8.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 40 (5.22%) GDPR
4 28 (3.66%) NCSC
5 27 (3.52%) PCI DSS
6 15 (1.96%) GRC
6 15 (1.96%) SLA
7 12 (1.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 11 (1.44%) QA
9 8 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
9 8 (1.04%) NIST 800
10 5 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 5 (0.65%) SOC 2
11 4 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.39%) ISA99
12 3 (0.39%) PMO
13 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
System Software
1 72 (9.40%) Active Directory
2 53 (6.92%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (3.00%) Docker
4 20 (2.61%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (2.48%) VMware NSX
6 11 (1.44%) Hyper-V
6 11 (1.44%) vSphere
7 8 (1.04%) Virtual Desktop
7 8 (1.04%) VMware ESXi
8 6 (0.78%) Firmware
9 5 (0.65%) Squid
10 3 (0.39%) NFS
11 2 (0.26%) FreeRADIUS
11 2 (0.26%) Postfix
11 2 (0.26%) Sendmail
11 2 (0.26%) Varnish
11 2 (0.26%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.13%) OpenSSH
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 107 (13.97%) Terraform
2 79 (10.31%) Ansible
3 68 (8.88%) Kubernetes
4 44 (5.74%) FortiGate
5 24 (3.13%) Microsoft Intune
6 21 (2.74%) Grafana
7 17 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
8 12 (1.57%) CASB
9 11 (1.44%) Prometheus
9 11 (1.44%) SCCM
10 10 (1.31%) Progress Chef
11 7 (0.91%) Puppet
11 7 (0.91%) vCenter Server
12 6 (0.78%) Cisco CUCM
12 6 (0.78%) QRadar
13 5 (0.65%) Suricata
13 5 (0.65%) WSUS
14 4 (0.52%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.52%) Podman
14 4 (0.52%) systemd
Vendors
1 219 (28.59%) Cisco
2 140 (18.28%) Microsoft
3 121 (15.80%) Palo Alto
4 68 (8.88%) Fortinet
5 66 (8.62%) VMware
6 63 (8.22%) F5
7 53 (6.92%) Zscaler
8 47 (6.14%) CheckPoint
8 47 (6.14%) Juniper
9 34 (4.44%) Splunk
10 32 (4.18%) ServiceNow
11 27 (3.52%) SolarWinds
12 25 (3.26%) Google
13 20 (2.61%) Aruba
14 19 (2.48%) Citrix
15 16 (2.09%) Tenable
16 14 (1.83%) ForeScout
17 13 (1.70%) Infoblox
17 13 (1.70%) Meraki
18 12 (1.57%) CyberArk