Network Security Contract Job Trends in the North West

Network Security
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Network Security skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 23 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 75 85 56
Rank change year-on-year +10 -29 +75
Contract jobs citing Network Security 73 35 85
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 2.90% 1.64% 3.24%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.39% 10.77% 19.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 37 27 76
10th Percentile £332 £404 £443
25th Percentile £413 £421 £493
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £625
Median % change year-on-year - -24.00% +20.19%
75th Percentile £550 £572 £672
90th Percentile £743 £638 £675
England median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £65.75 - -
Median hourly rate £66.50 - -
75th Percentile £67.25 - -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £65.50 £43.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +52.33% -40.69% +93.33%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
North West

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 the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 358 325 432
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 14.20% 15.22% 16.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 168 316
10th Percentile £170 £180 £302
25th Percentile £330 £350 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £461 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.55% -7.85% +2.56%
75th Percentile £550 £550 £627
90th Percentile £678 £620 £672
England median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 7 13
10th Percentile £15.50 £18.76 -
25th Percentile £17.75 £22.01 £15.75
Median hourly rate £23.50 £48.56 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -51.61% +174.04% -10.87%
75th Percentile £69.00 £51.91 £46.88
90th Percentile £74.26 £52.14 £49.38
England median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -2.86% -38.04% +25.53%

Network Security
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Network Security job vacancy trend in the North West

Network Security
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Network Security
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Security in the North West over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Network Security in the North West

Network Security
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Network Security
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 Network Security within the North West region over the 6 months to 23 December 2025. 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
Cheshire +11 34 £456 -20.70% 14
Merseyside - 17 £275 - 6
Manchester -16 13 £521 +6.06% 35
Cumbria -1 5 £475 +2.43% 5
Lancashire -7 4 £550 +23.94% 12
Network Security
England

Network Security
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 4 (5.48%) Apache
Cloud Services
1 6 (8.22%) Azure
2 2 (2.74%) AWS
2 2 (2.74%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (1.37%) Amazon CloudWatch
3 1 (1.37%) Amazon EC2
3 1 (1.37%) Amazon ELB
3 1 (1.37%) Amazon S3
3 1 (1.37%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 30 (41.10%) Firewall
2 27 (36.99%) DNS
3 25 (34.25%) DMZ
3 25 (34.25%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
3 25 (34.25%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
4 8 (10.96%) VLAN
5 6 (8.22%) BGP
5 6 (8.22%) Internet
5 6 (8.22%) TCP/IP
5 6 (8.22%) WAN
6 5 (6.85%) Intrusion Detection
6 5 (6.85%) LAN
7 4 (5.48%) HTTP
7 4 (5.48%) WLAN
8 3 (4.11%) Cisco IOS
8 3 (4.11%) NX-OS
8 3 (4.11%) Software-Defined Networking
9 2 (2.74%) MPLS
9 2 (2.74%) SD-WAN
9 2 (2.74%) SSL
Development Applications
1 2 (2.74%) Jenkins
2 1 (1.37%) Git
2 1 (1.37%) GitLab
General
1 21 (28.77%) Social Skills
2 15 (20.55%) Analytical Skills
2 15 (20.55%) Banking
3 14 (19.18%) Investment Banking
4 11 (15.07%) Finance
5 3 (4.11%) Pharmaceutical
5 3 (4.11%) Public Sector
6 1 (1.37%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 20 (27.40%) Network Engineer
2 14 (19.18%) Operations Engineer
3 7 (9.59%) Security Engineer
4 6 (8.22%) Network Security Engineer
4 6 (8.22%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
4 6 (8.22%) Server Engineer
5 5 (6.85%) Architect
5 5 (6.85%) Automation Engineer
5 5 (6.85%) Network Architect
6 4 (5.48%) Lead
6 4 (5.48%) Senior
7 3 (4.11%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 3 (4.11%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 3 (4.11%) Lead Network Engineer
7 3 (4.11%) Network Security Architect
7 3 (4.11%) Platform Engineer
7 3 (4.11%) Security Architect
7 3 (4.11%) Software Engineer
8 2 (2.74%) Network Consultant
8 2 (2.74%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.37%) 802.1X
1 1 (1.37%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 18 (24.66%) Management Information System
2 7 (9.59%) Data Centre
3 6 (8.22%) Clustering
4 3 (4.11%) Analytical Mindset
4 3 (4.11%) Product Ownership
5 2 (2.74%) Onboarding
5 2 (2.74%) Security Posture
6 1 (1.37%) Cloud Security Posture
6 1 (1.37%) CMDB
6 1 (1.37%) Enterprise Storage
6 1 (1.37%) Hybrid Cloud
6 1 (1.37%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 14 (19.18%) Windows
2 9 (12.33%) Linux
3 5 (6.85%) Unix
3 5 (6.85%) Windows Server
4 3 (4.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 26 (35.62%) Load Balancing
2 20 (27.40%) Business Strategy
3 15 (20.55%) Problem-Solving
4 14 (19.18%) Design Patterns
4 14 (19.18%) Infrastructure Automation
5 13 (17.81%) Cybersecurity
6 10 (13.70%) Incident Response
7 9 (12.33%) Change Management
7 9 (12.33%) Disaster Recovery
8 7 (9.59%) SIEM
8 7 (9.59%) Zero Trust
9 5 (6.85%) Network Monitoring
9 5 (6.85%) Project Delivery
9 5 (6.85%) Task Automation
10 4 (5.48%) CI/CD
10 4 (5.48%) Containerisation
10 4 (5.48%) Network Architecture
10 4 (5.48%) Observability
10 4 (5.48%) Performance Optimisation
10 4 (5.48%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 10 (13.70%) PowerShell
2 6 (8.22%) Python
3 5 (6.85%) Bash
4 3 (4.11%) Perl
5 1 (1.37%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 17 (23.29%) Cisco Certification
2 15 (20.55%) CCNP
3 14 (19.18%) Security Cleared
4 12 (16.44%) SC Cleared
5 7 (9.59%) CISSP
6 5 (6.85%) CISM
6 5 (6.85%) Degree
7 4 (5.48%) CCNA
7 4 (5.48%) CCSA
8 3 (4.11%) CCDP
8 3 (4.11%) CISA
8 3 (4.11%) GSEC
9 2 (2.74%) CCIE
9 2 (2.74%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (1.37%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (1.37%) CCNA CyberOps
10 1 (1.37%) Check Point Certification
10 1 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (1.37%) MCSE
10 1 (1.37%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (6.85%) GDPR
2 3 (4.11%) HIPAA
2 3 (4.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (4.11%) NIST
2 3 (4.11%) PCI DSS
3 2 (2.74%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 20 (27.40%) VMware Infrastructure
2 7 (9.59%) Active Directory
3 6 (8.22%) Hyper-V
4 5 (6.85%) VMware NSX
5 4 (5.48%) Docker
Systems Management
1 8 (10.96%) Terraform
2 7 (9.59%) Ansible
3 6 (8.22%) Microsoft Clustering
3 6 (8.22%) Nagios
4 3 (4.11%) Kubernetes
4 3 (4.11%) QRadar
5 1 (1.37%) CASB
5 1 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (1.37%) Nessus
Vendors
1 31 (42.47%) F5
2 25 (34.25%) VMware
3 20 (27.40%) Palo Alto
4 16 (21.92%) Cisco
5 9 (12.33%) Microsoft
5 9 (12.33%) SolarWinds
5 9 (12.33%) Zscaler
6 6 (8.22%) Meraki
7 5 (6.85%) Computacenter
8 4 (5.48%) Splunk
9 3 (4.11%) ArcSight
9 3 (4.11%) CheckPoint
9 3 (4.11%) Red Hat
10 1 (1.37%) Apple
10 1 (1.37%) CyberArk
10 1 (1.37%) McAfee
10 1 (1.37%) Remedy
10 1 (1.37%) SAP
10 1 (1.37%) Tenable