Firewall Contract Job Trends in the North West

Firewall
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Firewall skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 32 38
Rank change year-on-year -1 +6 -5
Contract jobs citing Firewall 187 114 115
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.22% 5.56% 4.16%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 39.37% 37.01% 34.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 71 77
10th Percentile £375 £358 £378
25th Percentile £450 £410 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £470 £600
Median % change year-on-year +12.34% -21.67% +33.33%
75th Percentile £608 £584 £850
90th Percentile £636 £650 -
England median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 1
10th Percentile £31.59 - -
25th Percentile £35.47 - £46.25
Median hourly rate £41.94 - £47.50
75th Percentile £58.10 - £48.75
90th Percentile £67.80 - -
England median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +86.67% -50.00% -4.08%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
North West

Firewall 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 the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 475 308 332
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.26% 15.02% 12.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 305 183 232
10th Percentile £295 £187 £210
25th Percentile £375 £350 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +7.33% -10.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £669
90th Percentile £633 £638 £825
England median daily rate £500 £492 £500
% change year-on-year +1.63% -1.60% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 2 14
10th Percentile £15.40 £27.70 £21.28
25th Percentile £16.88 £34.78 £26.06
Median hourly rate £18.00 £47.37 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -62.00% +3.25% +66.84%
75th Percentile £39.55 £59.17 £50.44
90th Percentile £74.26 £65.76 £51.91
England median hourly rate £26.72 £41.23 £45.88
% change year-on-year -35.18% -10.15% +121.59%

Firewall
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Firewall relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Firewall job vacancy trend in the North West

Firewall
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Firewall.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Firewall

Firewall
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Firewall in the North West over the 6 months to 1 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Firewall in the North West

Firewall
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Firewall.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Firewall

Firewall
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Firewall in the North West over the 6 months to 1 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Firewall in the North West

Firewall
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Firewall within the North West region over the 6 months to 1 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
Manchester -5 63 £500 +11.11% 30
Cheshire +13 48 £565 +18.95% 9
Cumbria -2 48 £525 +2.44% 4
Lancashire +14 25 £500 - 3
Merseyside -21 2 - - 2
Firewall
England

Firewall
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 9 (4.81%) CICS
2 3 (1.60%) SAS
3 2 (1.07%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (3.74%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.14%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.53%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 69 (36.90%) Azure
2 44 (23.53%) AWS
3 21 (11.23%) GCP
4 17 (9.09%) Entra ID
5 14 (7.49%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 13 (6.95%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (5.88%) OCI
7 11 (5.88%) SaaS
8 7 (3.74%) Azure AI
8 7 (3.74%) IBM Watson
9 6 (3.21%) Azure Sentinel
9 6 (3.21%) Vertex AI
10 5 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (2.67%) Azure Key Vault
10 5 (2.67%) GitHub
10 5 (2.67%) Microsoft 365
11 4 (2.14%) IaaS
12 3 (1.60%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (1.60%) Microsoft Purview
13 2 (1.07%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 61 (32.62%) Network Security
2 50 (26.74%) Wireless
3 45 (24.06%) VPN
4 44 (23.53%) WAN
5 34 (18.18%) DNS
6 33 (17.65%) BGP
7 32 (17.11%) VLAN
8 30 (16.04%) OSPF
9 23 (12.30%) LAN
10 20 (10.70%) Wi-Fi
11 19 (10.16%) Cisco IOS
11 19 (10.16%) SD-WAN
11 19 (10.16%) Structured Cabling
12 18 (9.63%) TCP/IP
13 17 (9.09%) DHCP
13 17 (9.09%) NX-OS
14 16 (8.56%) NAS
14 16 (8.56%) SAN
15 14 (7.49%) Ethernet VPN
16 13 (6.95%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.81%) DataStage
2 2 (1.07%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.53%) Redis
Development Applications
1 9 (4.81%) GitLab
1 9 (4.81%) JIRA
2 3 (1.60%) Git
2 3 (1.60%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.07%) Burp Suite
3 2 (1.07%) Cucumber
3 2 (1.07%) Gatling
3 2 (1.07%) Gradle
3 2 (1.07%) LoadRunner
3 2 (1.07%) REST Assured
3 2 (1.07%) SonarQube
3 2 (1.07%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 38 (20.32%) Social Skills
2 37 (19.79%) Finance
3 15 (8.02%) Public Sector
4 13 (6.95%) Documentation Skills
5 12 (6.42%) Analytical Skills
5 12 (6.42%) Banking
6 9 (4.81%) Influencing Skills
7 5 (2.67%) Legal
8 3 (1.60%) Military
9 2 (1.07%) Retail
10 1 (0.53%) Advertising
10 1 (0.53%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.53%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.53%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.53%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 63 (33.69%) Network Engineer
2 32 (17.11%) Architect
3 28 (14.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 24 (12.83%) Security Engineer
5 20 (10.70%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
5 20 (10.70%) Senior
6 12 (6.42%) Network Architect
7 11 (5.88%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 10 (5.35%) Cloud Engineer
8 10 (5.35%) Designer
9 9 (4.81%) Infrastructure Designer
10 7 (3.74%) Technical Architect
11 6 (3.21%) Security Architect
11 6 (3.21%) Senior Network Engineer
12 5 (2.67%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 5 (2.67%) Consultant
12 5 (2.67%) Infrastructure Architect
13 4 (2.14%) Azure Architect
13 4 (2.14%) Cloud Security Engineer
13 4 (2.14%) GCP Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.42%) LDAP
2 11 (5.88%) 802.1X
3 10 (5.35%) Middleware
4 9 (4.81%) LangChain
4 9 (4.81%) PyTorch
4 9 (4.81%) scikit-learn
5 2 (1.07%) Node.js
5 2 (1.07%) Playwright
5 2 (1.07%) Quarkus
5 2 (1.07%) React
5 2 (1.07%) Spring
5 2 (1.07%) Spring Boot
6 1 (0.53%) ARM Templates
6 1 (0.53%) Azure Blueprints
6 1 (0.53%) JSON
6 1 (0.53%) ModSecurity
6 1 (0.53%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 55 (29.41%) Data Centre
2 38 (20.32%) Cloud Native
3 29 (15.51%) Security Posture
4 13 (6.95%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (4.81%) BYOD
5 9 (4.81%) Mainframe
5 9 (4.81%) Management Information System
5 9 (4.81%) VSAM
6 5 (2.67%) Cloud Security Posture
6 5 (2.67%) Product Ownership
7 4 (2.14%) Onboarding
7 4 (2.14%) PKI
7 4 (2.14%) Public Cloud
8 3 (1.60%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (1.07%) Private Cloud
10 1 (0.53%) Cyber Defence
10 1 (0.53%) Cyber Threat
10 1 (0.53%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 1 (0.53%) Enterprise Cloud
10 1 (0.53%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 33 (17.65%) Linux
2 27 (14.44%) Windows
3 14 (7.49%) Unix
4 12 (6.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (4.81%) AIX
5 9 (4.81%) Solaris
6 6 (3.21%) Windows Server
7 2 (1.07%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (1.07%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.53%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.53%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (24.06%) Load Balancing
2 40 (21.39%) CI/CD
3 37 (19.79%) Change Management
4 34 (18.18%) DevOps
5 33 (17.65%) Network Segmentation
6 32 (17.11%) Roadmaps
7 31 (16.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 30 (16.04%) ITIL
8 30 (16.04%) SIEM
9 27 (14.44%) Project Delivery
10 24 (12.83%) Cybersecurity
11 23 (12.30%) Cloud Security
11 23 (12.30%) Zero Trust
12 22 (11.76%) Infrastructure as Code
13 20 (10.70%) Agile
13 20 (10.70%) High Availability
14 19 (10.16%) ITSM
15 18 (9.63%) Network Architecture
15 18 (9.63%) Network Design
15 18 (9.63%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 46 (24.60%) Python
2 26 (13.90%) PowerShell
3 17 (9.09%) Bash
4 12 (6.42%) Java
5 9 (4.81%) COBOL
6 8 (4.28%) Bicep
7 3 (1.60%) Perl
8 1 (0.53%) ActionScript
8 1 (0.53%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.53%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 68 (36.36%) Security Cleared
2 62 (33.16%) Cisco Certification
3 57 (30.48%) SC Cleared
4 50 (26.74%) CCNA
5 47 (25.13%) CCNP
6 24 (12.83%) Degree
7 19 (10.16%) CISSP
8 15 (8.02%) Network+ Certification
8 15 (8.02%) Server+ Certification
9 14 (7.49%) AWS Certification
9 14 (7.49%) Azure Certification
10 6 (3.21%) CompTIA Security+
10 6 (3.21%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (2.67%) CCIE
11 5 (2.67%) MCSA
11 5 (2.67%) MCSE
12 4 (2.14%) Computer Science Degree
13 3 (1.60%) BPSS Clearance
13 3 (1.60%) DV Cleared
14 1 (0.53%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (3.74%) NIST
2 5 (2.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.60%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.60%) PCI DSS
4 2 (1.07%) GDPR
4 2 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
4 2 (1.07%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.53%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.53%) SLA
System Software
1 19 (10.16%) Active Directory
2 16 (8.56%) Docker
3 7 (3.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.60%) Firmware
4 3 (1.60%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.60%) vSphere
5 2 (1.07%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.53%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.53%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 37 (19.79%) Terraform
2 23 (12.30%) Ansible
3 19 (10.16%) Kubernetes
4 12 (6.42%) Progress Chef
5 10 (5.35%) CASB
6 6 (3.21%) Nessus
7 3 (1.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (1.60%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (1.60%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (1.07%) Grafana
8 2 (1.07%) Istio
8 2 (1.07%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (1.07%) Prometheus
8 2 (1.07%) SCCM
9 1 (0.53%) Packer
Vendors
1 72 (38.50%) Cisco
2 37 (19.79%) Palo Alto
3 22 (11.76%) F5
4 21 (11.23%) Microsoft
4 21 (11.23%) ServiceNow
5 20 (10.70%) Google
6 18 (9.63%) Aruba
7 16 (8.56%) Arista
7 16 (8.56%) IBM
8 15 (8.02%) CheckPoint
8 15 (8.02%) Fortinet
9 14 (7.49%) Red Hat
9 14 (7.49%) VMware
10 12 (6.42%) Splunk
11 8 (4.28%) CyberArk
12 7 (3.74%) Juniper
12 7 (3.74%) Meraki
13 6 (3.21%) Zscaler
14 5 (2.67%) Ekahau
14 5 (2.67%) ForeScout