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

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 157 150 180
Rank change year-on-year -7 +30 -14
Contract jobs citing Network Security 781 520 491
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.74% 1.91% 1.39%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 18.31% 15.19% 10.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 536 319 331
10th Percentile £398 £375 £363
25th Percentile £447 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £539 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.62% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £650 £625 £663
90th Percentile £733 £725 £738
UK median daily rate £537 £525 £550
% change year-on-year +2.33% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 17 12
10th Percentile £25.05 £45.00 -
25th Percentile £40.53 £55.00 £7.43
Median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -9.51% +284.17% -65.99%
75th Percentile £74.00 £84.00 £45.63
90th Percentile £74.03 £91.00 £58.75
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 4,265 3,423 4,557
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.51% 12.56% 12.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,614 2,119 2,750
10th Percentile £250 £235 £220
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 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 308 161 346
10th Percentile £16.03 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.00 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.72 £44.00 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.27% - -2.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £87.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.22 £46.25 £40.00
% change year-on-year -43.31% +15.63% -16.52%

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 21 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 21 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 21 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 -4 335 £550 - 113
North of England +15 191 £531 +8.37% 41
South East -20 127 £559 +13.98% 63
North West -1 103 £537 +13.05% 31
Yorkshire +1 86 £500 +1.63% 10
Midlands -45 52 £450 -21.74% 25
East of England -21 32 £525 -4.55% 16
West Midlands -70 31 £413 -28.26% 12
South West -47 23 £550 -8.33% 14
East Midlands +6 20 £638 - 13
North East -41 2 £675 +8.00% 1
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 14 (1.79%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (1.66%) Confluence
3 9 (1.15%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.26%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 19 (2.43%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (0.77%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.38%) 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
1 242 (30.99%) Azure
2 176 (22.54%) AWS
3 106 (13.57%) GCP
4 81 (10.37%) Entra ID
5 29 (3.71%) GitHub
6 28 (3.59%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.59%) Microsoft 365
7 25 (3.20%) Azure Sentinel
7 25 (3.20%) Serverless
8 24 (3.07%) Azure Monitor
9 22 (2.82%) SaaS
10 20 (2.56%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (2.43%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 18 (2.30%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 17 (2.18%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 16 (2.05%) OCI
15 15 (1.92%) Akamai
15 15 (1.92%) Azure Key Vault
16 14 (1.79%) Azure AKS
17 13 (1.66%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 360 (46.09%) Firewall
2 175 (22.41%) VPN
3 162 (20.74%) WAN
4 119 (15.24%) DNS
5 111 (14.21%) LAN
6 91 (11.65%) BGP
7 89 (11.40%) Wireless
8 82 (10.50%) TCP/IP
9 71 (9.09%) OSPF
10 70 (8.96%) SD-WAN
11 69 (8.83%) VLAN
12 59 (7.55%) DHCP
13 45 (5.76%) MPLS
13 45 (5.76%) SSL
14 41 (5.25%) Cisco ISE
15 40 (5.12%) Cisco ASA
16 39 (4.99%) IPsec
17 36 (4.61%) NGFW
18 33 (4.23%) Wi-Fi
19 31 (3.97%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.41%) 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 (0.38%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
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%) Delta Lake
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 (4.61%) JIRA
2 32 (4.10%) Git
3 21 (2.69%) GitLab
4 15 (1.92%) 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 (0.38%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Postman
8 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 190 (24.33%) Social Skills
2 132 (16.90%) Finance
3 63 (8.07%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (7.55%) Banking
5 54 (6.91%) Public Sector
6 35 (4.48%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (3.20%) Financial Institution
8 19 (2.43%) Telecoms
9 14 (1.79%) Legal
10 13 (1.66%) Retail
11 12 (1.54%) Manufacturing
12 11 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.28%) Influencing Skills
13 10 (1.28%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (1.02%) Police
15 6 (0.77%) Law
16 5 (0.64%) Local Government
16 5 (0.64%) Military
17 4 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
18 3 (0.38%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 206 (26.38%) Network Engineer
2 166 (21.25%) Architect
3 105 (13.44%) Security Engineer
4 89 (11.40%) Senior
5 80 (10.24%) Security Architect
6 63 (8.07%) Network Security Engineer
7 60 (7.68%) Network Architect
8 44 (5.63%) Consultant
9 40 (5.12%) Project Manager
10 36 (4.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 34 (4.35%) Senior Network Engineer
12 33 (4.23%) Lead
13 28 (3.59%) Cloud Engineer
14 23 (2.94%) Network Manager
14 23 (2.94%) Network Security Architect
15 22 (2.82%) Solutions Architect
16 19 (2.43%) Analyst
16 19 (2.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
16 19 (2.43%) Security Consultant
16 19 (2.43%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.61%) 802.1X
2 17 (2.18%) SAML
3 11 (1.41%) ARM Templates
3 11 (1.41%) REST
4 9 (1.15%) Kafka
5 6 (0.77%) OAuth
5 6 (0.77%) OpenID
6 5 (0.64%) .NET
6 5 (0.64%) CSS
6 5 (0.64%) LDAP
7 4 (0.51%) gRPC
7 4 (0.51%) HTML
7 4 (0.51%) JSON
7 4 (0.51%) Keycloak
7 4 (0.51%) NETCONF
7 4 (0.51%) OAuth2
7 4 (0.51%) Protocol Buffers
7 4 (0.51%) RESTful
8 3 (0.38%) Azure Blueprints
8 3 (0.38%) SLSA
Miscellaneous
1 91 (11.65%) Data Centre
2 66 (8.45%) Security Posture
3 45 (5.76%) Cloud Native
4 42 (5.38%) Hybrid Cloud
5 32 (4.10%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 28 (3.59%) Onboarding
7 26 (3.33%) Operational Technology
8 23 (2.94%) Management Information System
9 21 (2.69%) Cyber Threat
10 19 (2.43%) Data Protection Act
10 19 (2.43%) PKI
10 19 (2.43%) Public Cloud
11 18 (2.30%) Product Ownership
12 17 (2.18%) Security Operations Centre
13 15 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
14 13 (1.66%) IoT
15 12 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
15 12 (1.54%) Linux Command Line
16 9 (1.15%) Enterprise Cloud
16 9 (1.15%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 65 (8.32%) Linux
2 63 (8.07%) Windows
3 20 (2.56%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.02%) Unix
6 6 (0.77%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.77%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.64%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.38%) Android
8 3 (0.38%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.38%) SUSE
8 3 (0.38%) VMS
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 160 (20.49%) Cybersecurity
2 137 (17.54%) Cloud Security
3 122 (15.62%) Zero Trust
4 113 (14.47%) CI/CD
5 107 (13.70%) Continuous Improvement
6 106 (13.57%) DevOps
6 106 (13.57%) SIEM
7 98 (12.55%) Infrastructure as Code
8 97 (12.42%) Migration
9 96 (12.29%) Stakeholder Management
10 90 (11.52%) Change Management
10 90 (11.52%) Security Architecture
11 85 (10.88%) Problem-Solving
12 79 (10.12%) Agile
13 76 (9.73%) Identity Access Management
13 76 (9.73%) Incident Response
13 76 (9.73%) Security Operations
14 74 (9.48%) Application Security
14 74 (9.48%) Load Balancing
15 73 (9.35%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 96 (12.29%) Python
2 57 (7.30%) PowerShell
3 47 (6.02%) Bash
4 31 (3.97%) Bicep
5 20 (2.56%) SQL
6 17 (2.18%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.02%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.90%) Java
9 4 (0.51%) Perl
9 4 (0.51%) Rust
10 3 (0.38%) 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 (27.66%) Security Cleared
2 146 (18.69%) SC Cleared
3 136 (17.41%) Cisco Certification
4 87 (11.14%) CISSP
5 80 (10.24%) CCNP
6 77 (9.86%) DV Cleared
7 62 (7.94%) Degree
8 52 (6.66%) CCNA
8 52 (6.66%) CISM
9 37 (4.74%) CCSP
10 36 (4.61%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 29 (3.71%) Azure Certification
12 19 (2.43%) AWS Certification
13 18 (2.30%) CCIE
14 14 (1.79%) CompTIA Security+
15 13 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
16 10 (1.28%) GIAC
16 10 (1.28%) PMP
17 9 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
18 8 (1.02%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (9.22%) NIST
2 62 (7.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (4.35%) GDPR
4 26 (3.33%) NCSC
5 25 (3.20%) PCI DSS
6 19 (2.43%) GRC
7 13 (1.66%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (1.66%) SLA
8 11 (1.41%) QA
9 8 (1.02%) NIST 800
10 7 (0.90%) Actionable Recommendations
10 7 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 7 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 7 (0.90%) SOC 2
11 6 (0.77%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.38%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.38%) ISA99
12 3 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.38%) PMO
13 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
System Software
1 69 (8.83%) Active Directory
2 52 (6.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (3.20%) Docker
4 22 (2.82%) VMware NSX
5 21 (2.69%) Virtual Machines
6 10 (1.28%) VMware ESXi
6 10 (1.28%) vSphere
7 9 (1.15%) Hyper-V
8 6 (0.77%) Firmware
9 5 (0.64%) Squid
10 4 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.38%) 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%) OpenSSH
13 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.13%) Samba
13 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 104 (13.32%) Terraform
2 72 (9.22%) Ansible
3 65 (8.32%) Kubernetes
4 41 (5.25%) FortiGate
5 19 (2.43%) Grafana
6 18 (2.30%) Single Sign-On
7 16 (2.05%) Microsoft Intune
8 11 (1.41%) Prometheus
9 10 (1.28%) vCenter Server
10 8 (1.02%) CASB
10 8 (1.02%) SCCM
11 6 (0.77%) Cisco CUCM
11 6 (0.77%) Puppet
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
14 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Clustering
14 3 (0.38%) VxRail
Vendors
1 226 (28.94%) Cisco
2 125 (16.01%) Palo Alto
3 123 (15.75%) Microsoft
4 70 (8.96%) Fortinet
5 66 (8.45%) F5
5 66 (8.45%) VMware
6 56 (7.17%) CheckPoint
7 54 (6.91%) Zscaler
8 51 (6.53%) Juniper
9 32 (4.10%) ServiceNow
10 31 (3.97%) Splunk
11 26 (3.33%) SolarWinds
12 24 (3.07%) Citrix
13 23 (2.94%) Google
14 18 (2.30%) Aruba
15 17 (2.18%) ForeScout
15 17 (2.18%) Tenable
16 14 (1.79%) Infoblox
17 13 (1.66%) Blue Coat
17 13 (1.66%) CyberArk