Cisco Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Cisco
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London requiring knowledge or experience of Cisco products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Cisco over the 6 months leading up to 23 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within Cisco Systems, Inc.

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 64 43 37
Rank change year-on-year -21 -6 +30
Contract jobs citing Cisco 666 664 982
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.64% 4.50% 5.05%
As % of the Vendors category 7.78% 9.76% 10.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 456 384 569
10th Percentile £250 £290 £261
25th Percentile £352 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £481 £460
Median % change year-on-year -1.30% +4.62% +2.22%
75th Percentile £550 £560 £575
90th Percentile £600 £614 £663
UK median daily rate £474 £500 £486
% change year-on-year -5.20% +2.88% +2.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 23 73
10th Percentile £20.75 £18.13 £14.16
25th Percentile £48.68 £20.00 £23.63
Median hourly rate £74.26 £30.40 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year +144.28% -30.75% +72.16%
75th Percentile £88.57 £74.38 £65.98
90th Percentile £95.00 £75.00 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £51.86 £34.20 £38.04
% change year-on-year +51.64% -10.09% +47.96%

All Vendors
UK excluding London

Cisco falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 8,559 6,803 9,184
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 46.78% 46.06% 47.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,552 4,065 5,805
10th Percentile £220 £213 £208
25th Percentile £375 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 670 363 513
10th Percentile £14.75 £15.22 £14.36
25th Percentile £17.49 £16.58 £18.00
Median hourly rate £21.72 £26.13 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -16.87% -43.06% +103.91%
75th Percentile £43.75 £61.38 £62.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £74.38
UK median hourly rate £23.75 £28.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year -15.18% -38.97% +78.45%

Cisco
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cisco relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Cisco job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Cisco
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cisco.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cisco

Cisco
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cisco in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Cisco in the UK excluding London

Cisco
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cisco.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cisco

Cisco
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cisco in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Cisco in the UK excluding London

Cisco
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cisco within the UK excluding London 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
South East -3 203 £500 -0.50% 195
Midlands +10 154 £380 -13.14% 130
North of England -51 135 £476 +0.26% 151
West Midlands +19 132 £380 -20.00% 81
North West -26 99 £487 +0.85% 84
Scotland +37 75 £425 +9.68% 31
South West -37 49 £550 +16.40% 80
East of England -22 31 £445 -13.17% 89
Yorkshire -75 27 £450 +5.88% 53
East Midlands -19 21 £158 -58.00% 45
Wales 0 17 £170 -56.13% 24
Northern Ireland +4 11 £475 - 9
North East -4 11 £175 -64.10% 15
South Coast - 3 £575 -
Cisco
UK

Cisco
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 35 (5.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 34 (5.11%) SharePoint
3 15 (2.25%) Apache
4 14 (2.10%) Skype for Business
5 13 (1.95%) Confluence
5 13 (1.95%) WebLogic
6 7 (1.05%) Mattermost
7 6 (0.90%) OpenStack
8 5 (0.75%) SharePoint Server
9 2 (0.30%) Appian
9 2 (0.30%) CICS
9 2 (0.30%) IIS
9 2 (0.30%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.30%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 58 (8.71%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (3.90%) MS Visio
3 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Excel
4 6 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.15%) Acrobat
Business Applications
1 13 (1.95%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.15%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 105 (15.77%) AWS
2 90 (13.51%) Azure
3 52 (7.81%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (2.55%) Entra ID
5 16 (2.40%) GCP
6 14 (2.10%) Datadog
6 14 (2.10%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 13 (1.95%) Azure Monitor
8 8 (1.20%) OpenShift
9 7 (1.05%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 6 (0.90%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 5 (0.75%) Amazon EventBridge
11 5 (0.75%) Amazon Kinesis
11 5 (0.75%) AWS CloudFormation
11 5 (0.75%) AWS Lambda
11 5 (0.75%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (0.75%) SaaS
11 5 (0.75%) Serverless
12 4 (0.60%) Nutanix
12 4 (0.60%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 256 (38.44%) Firewall
2 154 (23.12%) WAN
3 123 (18.47%) LAN
4 118 (17.72%) VPN
5 102 (15.32%) BGP
6 97 (14.56%) Wireless
7 79 (11.86%) Network Security
8 78 (11.71%) DNS
9 68 (10.21%) OSPF
10 65 (9.76%) Cisco ISE
10 65 (9.76%) MPLS
11 62 (9.31%) Cisco IOS
12 61 (9.16%) SD-WAN
12 61 (9.16%) VLAN
13 44 (6.61%) TCP/IP
14 43 (6.46%) DHCP
15 42 (6.31%) Cisco ASA
15 42 (6.31%) Wi-Fi
16 41 (6.16%) IPsec
17 34 (5.11%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.35%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.75%) DynamoDB
3 3 (0.45%) Amazon Athena
4 2 (0.30%) MariaDB
4 2 (0.30%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 13 (1.95%) JIRA
2 6 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
3 3 (0.45%) GitLab
3 3 (0.45%) Robot Framework
4 2 (0.30%) Cucumber
4 2 (0.30%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.30%) Rational DOORS
4 2 (0.30%) Selenium
4 2 (0.30%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.15%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.15%) Hudson
General
1 165 (24.77%) Social Skills
2 136 (20.42%) Public Sector
3 80 (12.01%) Telecoms
4 71 (10.66%) Finance
5 47 (7.06%) Analytical Skills
6 42 (6.31%) Manufacturing
7 35 (5.26%) Documentation Skills
8 31 (4.65%) Electronics
9 30 (4.50%) Marketing
10 21 (3.15%) Legal
11 14 (2.10%) Banking
12 12 (1.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (1.80%) Organisational Skills
13 11 (1.65%) Aerospace
14 8 (1.20%) Investment Banking
14 8 (1.20%) Presentation Skills
15 7 (1.05%) Military
16 6 (0.90%) Games
17 5 (0.75%) Influencing Skills
18 2 (0.30%) Police
Job Titles
1 248 (37.24%) Network Engineer
2 69 (10.36%) Architect
3 53 (7.96%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
4 50 (7.51%) Analyst
5 48 (7.21%) Consultant
6 43 (6.46%) Network Consultant
7 41 (6.16%) Network Architect
8 39 (5.86%) Cisco Engineer
8 39 (5.86%) Senior
9 36 (5.41%) Support Engineer
10 32 (4.80%) Cisco Network Engineer
10 32 (4.80%) IT Support
11 31 (4.65%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 30 (4.50%) Platform Engineer
13 28 (4.20%) Security Engineer
14 27 (4.05%) Desktop Support
15 26 (3.90%) 3rd Line Engineer
16 24 (3.60%) Infrastructure Analyst
17 22 (3.30%) Senior Network Engineer
18 21 (3.15%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (4.35%) 802.1X
2 12 (1.80%) Flash
3 11 (1.65%) XMPP
4 10 (1.50%) RFC 2544
5 8 (1.20%) LDAP
6 6 (0.90%) Node.js
7 4 (0.60%) NETCONF
7 4 (0.60%) YANG
8 3 (0.45%) Jinja
8 3 (0.45%) JSON
8 3 (0.45%) SAML
9 2 (0.30%) Middleware
9 2 (0.30%) OpenConfig
9 2 (0.30%) RESTCONF
9 2 (0.30%) XML
10 1 (0.15%) gRPC
10 1 (0.15%) Java RMI
10 1 (0.15%) JFC
10 1 (0.15%) Regular Expression
Miscellaneous
1 145 (21.77%) Data Centre
2 27 (4.05%) Linux Command Line
2 27 (4.05%) PKI
3 25 (3.75%) Replication
4 19 (2.85%) Data Protection Act
5 16 (2.40%) Operational Technology
6 15 (2.25%) Hybrid Cloud
7 13 (1.95%) Cloud Native
8 12 (1.80%) NHS
9 11 (1.65%) Onboarding
10 10 (1.50%) Driving Licence
10 10 (1.50%) Product Ownership
10 10 (1.50%) Self-Motivation
10 10 (1.50%) Video Conferencing
11 9 (1.35%) Clustering
11 9 (1.35%) Fibre Optics
12 8 (1.20%) Mobile App
13 7 (1.05%) Security Posture
14 6 (0.90%) Management Information System
15 5 (0.75%) IVR
Operating Systems
1 134 (20.12%) Windows
2 96 (14.41%) Linux
3 54 (8.11%) Windows Server
4 38 (5.71%) Mac OS
5 34 (5.11%) Android
6 24 (3.60%) Windows 10
7 18 (2.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 18 (2.70%) Unix
8 5 (0.75%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.45%) Solaris
9 3 (0.45%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.45%) Windows 8
9 3 (0.45%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.30%) CatOS
10 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.30%) zOS
11 1 (0.15%) CentOS
11 1 (0.15%) MVS
11 1 (0.15%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (12.01%) Migration
1 80 (12.01%) Service Management
2 78 (11.71%) Problem-Solving
3 61 (9.16%) Roadmaps
4 57 (8.56%) ITSM
5 56 (8.41%) ITIL
6 55 (8.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 54 (8.11%) Network Design
8 53 (7.96%) Project Delivery
9 49 (7.36%) Agile
10 48 (7.21%) Collaborative Working
11 47 (7.06%) Business Intelligence
12 45 (6.76%) Continuous Improvement
12 45 (6.76%) High Availability
13 44 (6.61%) Cybersecurity
14 41 (6.16%) Incident Response
14 41 (6.16%) Performance Monitoring
15 36 (5.41%) Load Balancing
16 34 (5.11%) Disaster Recovery
16 34 (5.11%) Network Management
Programming Languages
1 62 (9.31%) Python
2 48 (7.21%) PowerShell
3 30 (4.50%) SQL
4 21 (3.15%) Bash
5 16 (2.40%) Perl
6 8 (1.20%) Lisp
7 2 (0.30%) Java
7 2 (0.30%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.15%) Ruby
8 1 (0.15%) VB
Qualifications
1 340 (51.05%) Security Cleared
2 255 (38.29%) SC Cleared
3 175 (26.28%) Cisco Certification
4 136 (20.42%) CCNP
5 78 (11.71%) DV Cleared
6 75 (11.26%) CCNA
7 55 (8.26%) Degree
8 39 (5.86%) CCIE
9 23 (3.45%) ITIL Certification
10 21 (3.15%) BPSS Clearance
11 19 (2.85%) Microsoft Certification
12 16 (2.40%) AWS Certification
13 13 (1.95%) CCDP
14 11 (1.65%) MCSE
15 10 (1.50%) Computer Science Degree
15 10 (1.50%) JNCIE
15 10 (1.50%) JNCIS
16 9 (1.35%) CISSP
17 8 (1.20%) JNCIA
17 8 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.75%) SLA
2 21 (3.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (2.40%) GDPR
4 13 (1.95%) PCI DSS
5 12 (1.80%) Cyber Essentials
6 9 (1.35%) NIST
7 5 (0.75%) NCSC
7 5 (0.75%) PMO
8 3 (0.45%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.30%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.30%) QA
10 1 (0.15%) COBIT
10 1 (0.15%) Def Stans
10 1 (0.15%) ISO 22301
10 1 (0.15%) JSP 440
System Software
1 108 (16.22%) Active Directory
2 101 (15.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 51 (7.66%) VMware NSX
4 36 (5.41%) vSphere
5 23 (3.45%) VMware ESXi
6 14 (2.10%) Virtual Machines
7 13 (1.95%) NFS
8 12 (1.80%) GPFS
9 10 (1.50%) Firmware
10 9 (1.35%) Hyper-V
11 7 (1.05%) Docker
11 7 (1.05%) Virtual Servers
12 5 (0.75%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 4 (0.60%) KVM
14 3 (0.45%) BitLocker
15 2 (0.30%) Xen
16 1 (0.15%) Snort
16 1 (0.15%) SRDF
16 1 (0.15%) Terminal Services
16 1 (0.15%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 48 (7.21%) Ansible
2 42 (6.31%) vCenter Server
3 35 (5.26%) FortiGate
4 28 (4.20%) vRealize
5 25 (3.75%) Terraform
6 20 (3.00%) SCCM
7 15 (2.25%) Cisco CUCM
7 15 (2.25%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (2.10%) VxRail
9 11 (1.65%) WSUS
10 10 (1.50%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 8 (1.20%) SCOM
12 7 (1.05%) HP SiteScope
13 6 (0.90%) EMC NetWorker
13 6 (0.90%) EMC VPLEX
13 6 (0.90%) Nagios
14 5 (0.75%) Check_MK
14 5 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
15 3 (0.45%) Iperf
15 3 (0.45%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 134 (20.12%) Microsoft
2 130 (19.52%) Juniper
2 130 (19.52%) Palo Alto
3 127 (19.07%) VMware
4 85 (12.76%) SolarWinds
5 68 (10.21%) Fortinet
6 67 (10.06%) F5
7 62 (9.31%) Meraki
8 60 (9.01%) CheckPoint
9 58 (8.71%) Aruba
10 47 (7.06%) Dell
11 44 (6.61%) Splunk
12 36 (5.41%) ServiceNow
13 35 (5.26%) HP
14 33 (4.95%) AppDynamics
15 32 (4.80%) SAP
16 31 (4.65%) Oracle
17 30 (4.50%) IBM
18 22 (3.30%) Citrix
19 21 (3.15%) Remedy