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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 158 148 177
Rank change year-on-year -10 +29 -7
Contract jobs citing Network Security 777 521 486
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.73% 1.90% 1.39%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.27% 15.09% 10.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 538 319 327
10th Percentile £400 £375 £363
25th Percentile £451 £450 £461
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £650 £619 £660
90th Percentile £736 £715 £738
UK median daily rate £540 £525 £550
% change year-on-year +2.86% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 18 10
10th Percentile £26.00 £45.00 £7.43
25th Percentile £42.13 £58.79 £14.19
Median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year -9.51% +156.11% -48.99%
75th Percentile £74.00 £83.53 £54.38
90th Percentile - £89.50 £64.76
UK median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £23.00
% change year-on-year -9.51% +250.76% -65.15%

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 4,252 3,453 4,483
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.46% 12.62% 12.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,603 2,150 2,724
10th Percentile £263 £235 £225
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £489 £500
% change year-on-year +2.25% -2.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 312 161 332
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.15 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.72 £45.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -40.62% -5.26% -4.04%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £87.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.22 £47.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -44.80% +5.56% -10.00%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 -10 334 £550 - 118
North of England +17 187 £535 +9.30% 40
South East -13 128 £560 +14.29% 68
North West +4 102 £537 +13.05% 25
Yorkshire +5 83 £507 +3.05% 13
Midlands -49 52 £500 -13.04% 26
East of England -17 33 £525 -4.55% 17
West Midlands -75 32 £416 -27.61% 11
South West -53 22 £550 -8.33% 17
East Midlands +6 19 £638 - 15
North East -34 2 £675 +8.00% 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 15 (1.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (1.67%) Confluence
3 10 (1.29%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.39%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 19 (2.45%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.64%) 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 (0.77%) Oracle ERP
1 6 (0.77%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 247 (31.79%) Azure
2 178 (22.91%) AWS
3 103 (13.26%) GCP
4 82 (10.55%) Entra ID
5 31 (3.99%) Azure DevOps
6 29 (3.73%) Microsoft 365
7 28 (3.60%) GitHub
8 25 (3.22%) Azure Sentinel
8 25 (3.22%) Serverless
9 23 (2.96%) Azure Monitor
10 22 (2.83%) SaaS
11 20 (2.57%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 19 (2.45%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 19 (2.45%) GitHub Actions
13 17 (2.19%) OCI
14 16 (2.06%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 15 (1.93%) Azure Key Vault
16 14 (1.80%) Azure AKS
17 13 (1.67%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 13 (1.67%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 356 (45.82%) Firewall
2 175 (22.52%) VPN
3 162 (20.85%) WAN
4 116 (14.93%) DNS
5 111 (14.29%) LAN
6 90 (11.58%) BGP
7 88 (11.33%) Wireless
8 82 (10.55%) TCP/IP
9 69 (8.88%) OSPF
9 69 (8.88%) SD-WAN
9 69 (8.88%) VLAN
10 60 (7.72%) DHCP
11 44 (5.66%) MPLS
11 44 (5.66%) SSL
12 41 (5.28%) Cisco ISE
13 39 (5.02%) Cisco ASA
13 39 (5.02%) IPsec
14 35 (4.50%) NGFW
15 33 (4.25%) Wi-Fi
16 31 (3.99%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.54%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.77%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.51%) Data Lake
3 4 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.51%) Neo4j
3 4 (0.51%) Power BI
4 3 (0.39%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.26%) Delta Lake
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.13%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.13%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.13%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.13%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.13%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 36 (4.63%) JIRA
2 34 (4.38%) Git
3 23 (2.96%) GitLab
4 15 (1.93%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.77%) Browser DevTools
5 6 (0.77%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.51%) MSBuild
6 4 (0.51%) Snyk
6 4 (0.51%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.51%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) IBM UrbanCode
8 1 (0.13%) Postman
8 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 191 (24.58%) Social Skills
2 130 (16.73%) Finance
3 63 (8.11%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (7.59%) Banking
5 55 (7.08%) Public Sector
6 34 (4.38%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.09%) Financial Institution
8 19 (2.45%) Telecoms
9 15 (1.93%) Legal
10 13 (1.67%) Retail
11 12 (1.54%) Manufacturing
12 11 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 11 (1.42%) Influencing Skills
13 10 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (1.03%) Police
15 6 (0.77%) Law
15 6 (0.77%) Local Government
16 5 (0.64%) Military
17 4 (0.51%) Automotive
17 4 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 208 (26.77%) Network Engineer
2 166 (21.36%) Architect
3 103 (13.26%) Security Engineer
4 93 (11.97%) Senior
5 81 (10.42%) Security Architect
6 63 (8.11%) Network Architect
7 61 (7.85%) Network Security Engineer
8 44 (5.66%) Consultant
9 41 (5.28%) Project Manager
10 37 (4.76%) Senior Network Engineer
11 36 (4.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 34 (4.38%) Lead
13 27 (3.47%) Cloud Engineer
14 25 (3.22%) Network Security Architect
15 23 (2.96%) Network Manager
16 21 (2.70%) Solutions Architect
17 20 (2.57%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 20 (2.57%) Senior Architect
18 19 (2.45%) Analyst
18 19 (2.45%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.63%) 802.1X
2 16 (2.06%) SAML
3 12 (1.54%) REST
4 11 (1.42%) ARM Templates
5 9 (1.16%) Kafka
6 5 (0.64%) .NET
6 5 (0.64%) CSS
6 5 (0.64%) JSON
6 5 (0.64%) LDAP
6 5 (0.64%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.64%) OAuth
6 5 (0.64%) OpenID
7 4 (0.51%) gRPC
7 4 (0.51%) HTML
7 4 (0.51%) Keycloak
7 4 (0.51%) Protocol Buffers
7 4 (0.51%) RESTful
8 3 (0.39%) Lambda Expressions
8 3 (0.39%) ModSecurity
8 3 (0.39%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 90 (11.58%) Data Centre
2 65 (8.37%) Security Posture
3 45 (5.79%) Cloud Native
4 43 (5.53%) Hybrid Cloud
5 32 (4.12%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 29 (3.73%) Onboarding
7 26 (3.35%) Operational Technology
8 23 (2.96%) Management Information System
9 21 (2.70%) Cyber Threat
10 20 (2.57%) PKI
11 18 (2.32%) Data Protection Act
12 17 (2.19%) Public Cloud
12 17 (2.19%) Security Operations Centre
13 16 (2.06%) Product Ownership
13 16 (2.06%) Self-Motivation
14 13 (1.67%) Linux Command Line
15 12 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
15 12 (1.54%) IoT
16 9 (1.16%) Enterprise Cloud
16 9 (1.16%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 67 (8.62%) Linux
2 64 (8.24%) Windows
3 22 (2.83%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (1.16%) Unix
6 7 (0.90%) Ubuntu
7 6 (0.77%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.64%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.39%) Android
9 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
9 3 (0.39%) SUSE
9 3 (0.39%) VMS
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.13%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 156 (20.08%) Cybersecurity
2 140 (18.02%) Cloud Security
3 122 (15.70%) Zero Trust
4 112 (14.41%) CI/CD
5 109 (14.03%) DevOps
6 106 (13.64%) Continuous Improvement
7 104 (13.38%) SIEM
8 98 (12.61%) Infrastructure as Code
9 97 (12.48%) Migration
9 97 (12.48%) Stakeholder Management
10 90 (11.58%) Change Management
11 89 (11.45%) Security Architecture
12 84 (10.81%) Problem-Solving
13 80 (10.30%) Agile
14 77 (9.91%) Identity Access Management
15 76 (9.78%) Incident Response
16 75 (9.65%) Security Operations
17 74 (9.52%) DevSecOps
17 74 (9.52%) Threat Modelling
18 73 (9.40%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 94 (12.10%) Python
2 58 (7.46%) PowerShell
3 49 (6.31%) Bash
4 30 (3.86%) Bicep
5 19 (2.45%) SQL
6 17 (2.19%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.03%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.90%) Java
9 4 (0.51%) Perl
9 4 (0.51%) Rust
10 3 (0.39%) PHP
11 2 (0.26%) Go
11 2 (0.26%) Ruby
12 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.13%) C
12 1 (0.13%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
12 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 216 (27.80%) Security Cleared
2 147 (18.92%) SC Cleared
3 136 (17.50%) Cisco Certification
4 87 (11.20%) CISSP
5 80 (10.30%) CCNP
6 76 (9.78%) DV Cleared
7 62 (7.98%) Degree
8 52 (6.69%) CISM
9 51 (6.56%) CCNA
10 37 (4.76%) CCSP
11 36 (4.63%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 31 (3.99%) Azure Certification
13 19 (2.45%) AWS Certification
14 18 (2.32%) CCIE
15 14 (1.80%) CompTIA Security+
16 13 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
17 11 (1.42%) PMP
18 9 (1.16%) GIAC
19 8 (1.03%) CEH
19 8 (1.03%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (9.27%) NIST
2 62 (7.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (4.38%) GDPR
4 25 (3.22%) NCSC
5 24 (3.09%) PCI DSS
6 19 (2.45%) GRC
7 14 (1.80%) SLA
8 13 (1.67%) Cyber Essentials
9 11 (1.42%) QA
10 8 (1.03%) NIST 800
11 7 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 6 (0.77%) Actionable Recommendations
12 6 (0.77%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 6 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 6 (0.77%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.39%) ISA99
13 3 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.39%) PMO
14 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
System Software
1 70 (9.01%) Active Directory
2 52 (6.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 26 (3.35%) Docker
4 22 (2.83%) VMware NSX
5 20 (2.57%) Virtual Machines
6 10 (1.29%) VMware ESXi
6 10 (1.29%) vSphere
7 9 (1.16%) Hyper-V
8 6 (0.77%) Firmware
9 5 (0.64%) Squid
10 4 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.39%) NFS
12 2 (0.26%) Postfix
12 2 (0.26%) Sendmail
12 2 (0.26%) Varnish
12 2 (0.26%) VMware Workstation
13 1 (0.13%) FreeRADIUS
13 1 (0.13%) OpenSSH
13 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.13%) Samba
Systems Management
1 102 (13.13%) Terraform
2 72 (9.27%) Ansible
3 65 (8.37%) Kubernetes
4 41 (5.28%) FortiGate
5 19 (2.45%) Grafana
6 17 (2.19%) Microsoft Intune
6 17 (2.19%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (1.42%) Prometheus
8 10 (1.29%) vCenter Server
9 8 (1.03%) CASB
9 8 (1.03%) SCCM
10 7 (0.90%) Puppet
11 6 (0.77%) Cisco CUCM
11 6 (0.77%) QRadar
12 5 (0.64%) Suricata
12 5 (0.64%) WSUS
13 4 (0.51%) Kustomize
13 4 (0.51%) Podman
13 4 (0.51%) Progress Chef
14 3 (0.39%) VxRail
Vendors
1 225 (28.96%) Cisco
2 125 (16.09%) Microsoft
2 125 (16.09%) Palo Alto
3 68 (8.75%) Fortinet
4 66 (8.49%) VMware
5 64 (8.24%) F5
6 56 (7.21%) Zscaler
7 54 (6.95%) CheckPoint
8 51 (6.56%) Juniper
9 30 (3.86%) ServiceNow
9 30 (3.86%) Splunk
10 26 (3.35%) SolarWinds
11 23 (2.96%) Citrix
12 20 (2.57%) Google
13 19 (2.45%) Aruba
14 17 (2.19%) Tenable
15 16 (2.06%) ForeScout
16 14 (1.80%) Infoblox
17 13 (1.67%) Blue Coat
17 13 (1.67%) CyberArk