Network Security Contract Job Trends in Reading

Network Security
Berkshire > Reading

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Reading requiring Network Security skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 5 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 71 45 69
Rank change year-on-year -26 +24 +4
Contract jobs citing Network Security 21 18 22
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 1.84% 3.02% 1.95%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.79% 26.87% 11.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 17 14 5
10th Percentile £361 £423 £428
25th Percentile £400 - £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -10.00% -16.67%
75th Percentile £564 £513 £588
90th Percentile £647 £550 £625
Berkshire median daily rate £462 £450 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -10.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £56.25
Median hourly rate - - £57.50
75th Percentile - - £58.75
90th Percentile - - -
Berkshire median hourly rate £42.25 - £57.50
% change year-on-year - - +202.63%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
Reading

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 Reading.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 142 67 197
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 12.47% 11.22% 17.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 61 37 85
10th Percentile £325 £227 £339
25th Percentile £400 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £583
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -22.81% +15.16%
75th Percentile £600 £500 £608
90th Percentile £660 £570 £645
Berkshire median daily rate £450 £450 £541
% change year-on-year - -16.86% +20.28%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 1 9
10th Percentile £16.01 - £56.25
25th Percentile £19.34 - £76.99
Median hourly rate £28.75 £55.00 £87.46
Median % change year-on-year -47.73% -37.11% +18.99%
75th Percentile £49.31 - -
90th Percentile £66.80 - £87.47
Berkshire median hourly rate £32.50 £72.50 £83.77
% change year-on-year -55.17% -13.45% +20.67%

Network Security
Job Vacancy Trend in Reading

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

Network Security job vacancy trend in Reading

Network Security
Daily Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Network Security.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Network Security

Network Security
Daily Rate Histogram in Reading

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Security in Reading over the 6 months to 5 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Security in Reading

Network Security
Hourly Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Network Security.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Network Security

Network Security
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Reading 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 1 (4.76%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (4.76%) InfoPath
1 1 (4.76%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (4.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 4 (19.05%) Azure
2 2 (9.52%) AWS
2 2 (9.52%) Azure DevOps
2 2 (9.52%) GCP
2 2 (9.52%) SaaS
2 2 (9.52%) Serverless
3 1 (4.76%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 11 (52.38%) Firewall
2 4 (19.05%) VPN
3 3 (14.29%) Cisco ASA
3 3 (14.29%) DNS
3 3 (14.29%) Intrusion Detection
3 3 (14.29%) SSL
3 3 (14.29%) WAN
3 3 (14.29%) Wireless
4 2 (9.52%) DMVPN
4 2 (9.52%) IPsec
4 2 (9.52%) Junos
5 1 (4.76%) BIG-IP
5 1 (4.76%) Cisco Nexus
5 1 (4.76%) DHCP
5 1 (4.76%) Internet
5 1 (4.76%) LAN
5 1 (4.76%) Modbus
5 1 (4.76%) MPLS
5 1 (4.76%) TCP/IP
5 1 (4.76%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (4.76%) Data Mining
General
1 8 (38.10%) Social Skills
2 2 (9.52%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (9.52%) Telecoms
3 1 (4.76%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (4.76%) Manufacturing
3 1 (4.76%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 8 (38.10%) Security Engineer
2 6 (28.57%) Network Engineer
3 5 (23.81%) Network Security Engineer
4 4 (19.05%) Architect
4 4 (19.05%) Project Manager
5 2 (9.52%) Analyst
5 2 (9.52%) Business Analyst
5 2 (9.52%) Cloud Architect
5 2 (9.52%) Cloud Security Architect
5 2 (9.52%) Cybersecurity Analyst
5 2 (9.52%) Implementation Engineer
5 2 (9.52%) Network Implementation Engineer
5 2 (9.52%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
5 2 (9.52%) Security Analyst
5 2 (9.52%) Security Architect
5 2 (9.52%) Security Manager
5 2 (9.52%) Security Project Manager
5 2 (9.52%) Senior Manager
5 2 (9.52%) Senior Project Manager
5 2 (9.52%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (14.29%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 3 (14.29%) Cyber Threat
1 3 (14.29%) Data Protection Act
1 3 (14.29%) Operational Technology
1 3 (14.29%) Security Posture
2 2 (9.52%) Hybrid Cloud
3 1 (4.76%) Data Centre
3 1 (4.76%) Management Information System
3 1 (4.76%) Onboarding
3 1 (4.76%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 1 (4.76%) Linux
1 1 (4.76%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (47.62%) Cybersecurity
2 9 (42.86%) Data Protection
3 5 (23.81%) Change Management
3 5 (23.81%) Continuous Improvement
3 5 (23.81%) Stakeholder Management
4 4 (19.05%) Data Loss Prevention
4 4 (19.05%) DevOps
4 4 (19.05%) Incident Response
4 4 (19.05%) Security Operations
4 4 (19.05%) SIEM
5 3 (14.29%) Agile
5 3 (14.29%) Network Architecture
5 3 (14.29%) Network Monitoring
5 3 (14.29%) Network Segmentation
5 3 (14.29%) Privileged Access Management
5 3 (14.29%) Project Management
5 3 (14.29%) Vulnerability Management
6 2 (9.52%) Network Design
6 2 (9.52%) Scrum
6 2 (9.52%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 3 (14.29%) Bash
1 3 (14.29%) PowerShell
2 2 (9.52%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 6 (28.57%) SC Cleared
3 3 (14.29%) CISSP
4 2 (9.52%) (ISC)2 CCSP
4 2 (9.52%) CCSP
4 2 (9.52%) Cisco Certification
4 2 (9.52%) Degree
5 1 (4.76%) AWS Certification
5 1 (4.76%) Azure Certification
5 1 (4.76%) CISM
5 1 (4.76%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (4.76%) DV Cleared
5 1 (4.76%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (14.29%) GRC
1 3 (14.29%) NIST
2 1 (4.76%) NCSC
System Software
1 1 (4.76%) Active Directory
1 1 (4.76%) Hyper-V
1 1 (4.76%) Virtual Servers
1 1 (4.76%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 3 (14.29%) CASB
2 2 (9.52%) Kubernetes
3 1 (4.76%) FortiGate
3 1 (4.76%) NetBackup
3 1 (4.76%) SCCM
3 1 (4.76%) SCOM
Vendors
1 8 (38.10%) Cisco
2 5 (23.81%) CheckPoint
2 5 (23.81%) F5
2 5 (23.81%) Juniper
3 4 (19.05%) Palo Alto
4 2 (9.52%) Blue Coat
4 2 (9.52%) Fortinet
4 2 (9.52%) Google
4 2 (9.52%) Tufin
4 2 (9.52%) Zscaler
5 1 (4.76%) Aruba
5 1 (4.76%) Citrix
5 1 (4.76%) CyberArk
5 1 (4.76%) Infoblox
5 1 (4.76%) Microsoft
5 1 (4.76%) SolarWinds
5 1 (4.76%) Splunk
5 1 (4.76%) VMware