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

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 30 38
Rank change year-on-year -4 +8 -2
Contract jobs citing Firewall 189 119 118
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.15% 5.53% 4.37%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 39.29% 37.42% 35.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 73 80
10th Percentile £388 £363 £411
25th Percentile £450 £413 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £475 £600
Median % change year-on-year +13.05% -20.83% +33.33%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £831
90th Percentile £638 £650 £850
England median daily rate £500 £500 £514
% change year-on-year - -2.68% -2.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 1
10th Percentile £33.53 - -
25th Percentile £40.32 - £46.25
Median hourly rate £52.13 - £47.50
75th Percentile £63.45 - £48.75
90th Percentile £69.93 - -
England median hourly rate £63.75 £30.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +112.50% -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 481 318 331
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.12% 14.78% 12.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 309 187 231
10th Percentile £250 £157 £210
25th Percentile £367 £325 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +7.90% -10.00% +10.50%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £669
90th Percentile £635 £641 £825
England median daily rate £500 £492 £500
% change year-on-year +1.63% -1.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 1 15
10th Percentile £15.71 - £19.12
25th Percentile £17.06 - £24.25
Median hourly rate £17.75 £70.16 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -74.70% +52.92% +172.12%
75th Percentile £32.54 - £49.88
90th Percentile £74.26 - £51.91
England median hourly rate £26.72 £45.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -40.62% +12.50% +18.52%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -11 64 £500 +6.38% 26
Cheshire +16 54 £565 +18.95% 12
Cumbria -2 44 £530 +3.41% 3
Lancashire +14 24 £500 - 7
Merseyside -22 2 - - 3
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 (4.76%) CICS
2 3 (1.59%) SAS
3 2 (1.06%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (3.70%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.12%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.53%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 71 (37.57%) Azure
2 46 (24.34%) AWS
3 23 (12.17%) GCP
4 18 (9.52%) Entra ID
5 15 (7.94%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 13 (6.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (5.82%) OCI
7 11 (5.82%) SaaS
8 7 (3.70%) Azure AI
8 7 (3.70%) IBM Watson
9 6 (3.17%) Azure DevOps
9 6 (3.17%) Azure Sentinel
9 6 (3.17%) Vertex AI
10 5 (2.65%) Azure Key Vault
10 5 (2.65%) GitHub
10 5 (2.65%) Microsoft 365
11 4 (2.12%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (2.12%) IaaS
12 3 (1.59%) Microsoft Purview
13 2 (1.06%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 63 (33.33%) Network Security
2 50 (26.46%) Wireless
3 49 (25.93%) VPN
4 45 (23.81%) WAN
5 34 (17.99%) BGP
5 34 (17.99%) DNS
6 31 (16.40%) OSPF
7 28 (14.81%) VLAN
8 25 (13.23%) LAN
9 20 (10.58%) Wi-Fi
10 19 (10.05%) Cisco IOS
10 19 (10.05%) Structured Cabling
11 18 (9.52%) SD-WAN
11 18 (9.52%) TCP/IP
12 17 (8.99%) DHCP
12 17 (8.99%) NX-OS
13 16 (8.47%) NAS
13 16 (8.47%) SAN
14 13 (6.88%) Ethernet VPN
14 13 (6.88%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.76%) DataStage
2 2 (1.06%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.53%) Redis
Development Applications
1 9 (4.76%) GitLab
1 9 (4.76%) JIRA
2 3 (1.59%) Git
2 3 (1.59%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.06%) Burp Suite
3 2 (1.06%) Cucumber
3 2 (1.06%) Gatling
3 2 (1.06%) Gradle
3 2 (1.06%) LoadRunner
3 2 (1.06%) REST Assured
3 2 (1.06%) SonarQube
3 2 (1.06%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 41 (21.69%) Finance
1 41 (21.69%) Social Skills
2 15 (7.94%) Public Sector
3 14 (7.41%) Documentation Skills
4 13 (6.88%) Banking
5 12 (6.35%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (4.76%) Influencing Skills
7 5 (2.65%) Legal
8 3 (1.59%) Financial Institution
8 3 (1.59%) Military
9 2 (1.06%) Retail
10 1 (0.53%) Advertising
10 1 (0.53%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.53%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.53%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 61 (32.28%) Network Engineer
2 32 (16.93%) Architect
3 28 (14.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 26 (13.76%) Security Engineer
5 21 (11.11%) Senior
6 17 (8.99%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 12 (6.35%) Network Architect
8 11 (5.82%) Cloud Engineer
8 11 (5.82%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 10 (5.29%) Designer
10 9 (4.76%) Infrastructure Designer
11 8 (4.23%) Senior Network Engineer
12 7 (3.70%) Technical Architect
13 6 (3.17%) Consultant
13 6 (3.17%) Security Architect
14 5 (2.65%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
14 5 (2.65%) Cloud Security Engineer
14 5 (2.65%) Infrastructure Architect
15 4 (2.12%) Azure Architect
15 4 (2.12%) GCP Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.35%) LDAP
2 10 (5.29%) 802.1X
2 10 (5.29%) Middleware
3 9 (4.76%) LangChain
3 9 (4.76%) PyTorch
3 9 (4.76%) scikit-learn
4 2 (1.06%) ARM Templates
4 2 (1.06%) Azure Blueprints
4 2 (1.06%) Node.js
4 2 (1.06%) Playwright
4 2 (1.06%) Quarkus
4 2 (1.06%) React
4 2 (1.06%) Spring
4 2 (1.06%) Spring Boot
5 1 (0.53%) JSON
5 1 (0.53%) ModSecurity
5 1 (0.53%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 51 (26.98%) Data Centre
2 39 (20.63%) Cloud Native
3 30 (15.87%) Security Posture
4 13 (6.88%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (4.76%) BYOD
5 9 (4.76%) Mainframe
5 9 (4.76%) Management Information System
5 9 (4.76%) VSAM
6 5 (2.65%) Cloud Security Posture
6 5 (2.65%) Product Ownership
7 4 (2.12%) PKI
7 4 (2.12%) Public Cloud
8 3 (1.59%) Linux Command Line
8 3 (1.59%) Onboarding
9 2 (1.06%) Private Cloud
10 1 (0.53%) Cyber Defence
10 1 (0.53%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 1 (0.53%) Enterprise Cloud
10 1 (0.53%) Operational Technology
10 1 (0.53%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 33 (17.46%) Linux
2 27 (14.29%) Windows
3 14 (7.41%) Unix
4 13 (6.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (4.76%) AIX
5 9 (4.76%) Solaris
6 5 (2.65%) Windows Server
7 2 (1.06%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (1.06%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.53%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.53%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (24.87%) Load Balancing
2 41 (21.69%) Change Management
2 41 (21.69%) CI/CD
3 35 (18.52%) DevOps
4 33 (17.46%) Network Segmentation
5 32 (16.93%) Roadmaps
6 31 (16.40%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 30 (15.87%) ITIL
7 30 (15.87%) SIEM
8 27 (14.29%) Project Delivery
9 24 (12.70%) Cloud Security
10 23 (12.17%) Cybersecurity
10 23 (12.17%) Infrastructure as Code
10 23 (12.17%) Zero Trust
11 21 (11.11%) Agile
11 21 (11.11%) High Availability
12 19 (10.05%) ITSM
12 19 (10.05%) Problem-Solving
13 18 (9.52%) Network Architecture
13 18 (9.52%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 48 (25.40%) Python
2 27 (14.29%) PowerShell
3 18 (9.52%) Bash
4 13 (6.88%) Java
5 9 (4.76%) Bicep
5 9 (4.76%) COBOL
6 3 (1.59%) Perl
7 1 (0.53%) ActionScript
7 1 (0.53%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.53%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 64 (33.86%) Security Cleared
2 59 (31.22%) Cisco Certification
3 53 (28.04%) SC Cleared
4 47 (24.87%) CCNA
5 44 (23.28%) CCNP
6 24 (12.70%) Degree
7 18 (9.52%) CISSP
8 15 (7.94%) AWS Certification
8 15 (7.94%) Azure Certification
8 15 (7.94%) Network+ Certification
8 15 (7.94%) Server+ Certification
9 6 (3.17%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (2.65%) CCIE
10 5 (2.65%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (2.65%) MCSA
10 5 (2.65%) MCSE
11 4 (2.12%) Computer Science Degree
12 3 (1.59%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (1.59%) DV Cleared
13 1 (0.53%) RHCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (3.70%) NIST
2 5 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.59%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.59%) PCI DSS
4 2 (1.06%) GDPR
4 2 (1.06%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
4 2 (1.06%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.53%) Data Quality
System Software
1 19 (10.05%) Active Directory
2 17 (8.99%) Docker
3 7 (3.70%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.59%) Firmware
4 3 (1.59%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.59%) vSphere
5 2 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.53%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.53%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 38 (20.11%) Terraform
2 24 (12.70%) Ansible
3 20 (10.58%) Kubernetes
4 13 (6.88%) Progress Chef
5 10 (5.29%) CASB
6 6 (3.17%) Nessus
7 3 (1.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (1.59%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (1.59%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (1.06%) Grafana
8 2 (1.06%) Istio
8 2 (1.06%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (1.06%) Prometheus
8 2 (1.06%) SCCM
9 1 (0.53%) Nagios
9 1 (0.53%) Packer
Vendors
1 72 (38.10%) Cisco
2 34 (17.99%) Palo Alto
3 22 (11.64%) F5
3 22 (11.64%) Microsoft
4 21 (11.11%) Google
4 21 (11.11%) ServiceNow
5 19 (10.05%) Aruba
6 16 (8.47%) Arista
6 16 (8.47%) Fortinet
6 16 (8.47%) IBM
7 15 (7.94%) CheckPoint
7 15 (7.94%) Red Hat
8 14 (7.41%) VMware
9 12 (6.35%) Splunk
10 8 (4.23%) CyberArk
10 8 (4.23%) Juniper
11 7 (3.70%) Meraki
12 6 (3.17%) Zscaler
13 5 (2.65%) Ekahau
13 5 (2.65%) ForeScout