Firewall Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Firewall
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Firewall skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 72 41 43
Rank change year-on-year -31 +2 -7
Contract jobs citing Firewall 779 654 849
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.02% 4.88% 3.96%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.10% 31.98% 25.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 517 381 537
10th Percentile £337 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% +2.88%
75th Percentile £580 £585 £608
90th Percentile £638 £638 £748
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 21 32
10th Percentile £18.53 - £23.92
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £26.25
Median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £83.63
Median % change year-on-year +86.67% -64.13% +33.71%
75th Percentile £70.00 £41.25 £87.46
90th Percentile £73.35 £45.00 £87.53
UK 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
UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 2,772 2,045 3,300
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.76% 15.26% 15.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,628 1,255 1,855
10th Percentile £225 £200 £205
25th Percentile £375 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £470 £488
Median % change year-on-year +2.13% -3.59% +2.63%
75th Percentile £581 £575 £600
90th Percentile £653 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 250 127 360
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.67 £13.48
25th Percentile £21.25 £16.80 £16.30
Median hourly rate £28.00 £31.08 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -9.91% -34.57% +150.46%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £81.65 £73.78
UK median hourly rate £27.88 £44.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -36.64% +10.00% +110.53%

Firewall
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Firewall job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Firewall
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Firewall
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Firewall in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 18 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Firewall in the UK excluding London

Firewall
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Firewall
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Firewall in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 18 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Firewall in the UK excluding London

Firewall
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 Firewall within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 18 June 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
North of England -19 273 £500 +5.26% 103
South East -23 213 £500 - 173
North West 0 175 £535 +12.63% 60
Yorkshire -43 83 £434 -11.39% 29
Midlands -60 76 £425 -13.62% 68
East of England -8 72 £505 -3.81% 40
Scotland +15 66 £450 +2.86% 21
West Midlands -46 64 £420 -16.00% 41
South West -42 60 £525 +8.25% 58
Wales -19 25 £425 +30.77% 6
North East -17 21 £625 +25.00% 15
East Midlands -42 9 £500 +1.63% 27
Northern Ireland -5 2 £385 - 22
Firewall
UK

Firewall
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 11 (1.41%) Confluence
2 9 (1.16%) CICS
2 9 (1.16%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.03%) Apache
4 6 (0.77%) IIS
4 6 (0.77%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.51%) nginx
6 3 (0.39%) Skype for Business
6 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.26%) Apache Pulsar
7 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.26%) CMS
7 2 (0.26%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.26%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.26%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 19 (2.44%) MS Visio
2 17 (2.18%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.28%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 244 (31.32%) Azure
2 139 (17.84%) AWS
3 61 (7.83%) Entra ID
4 53 (6.80%) GCP
5 48 (6.16%) Microsoft 365
6 34 (4.36%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (3.98%) GitHub
8 30 (3.85%) OCI
9 26 (3.34%) IaaS
10 25 (3.21%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 24 (3.08%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 22 (2.82%) Azure Sentinel
13 21 (2.70%) SaaS
14 16 (2.05%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 15 (1.93%) Azure Monitor
16 13 (1.67%) Microsoft Purview
17 12 (1.54%) GitHub Actions
17 12 (1.54%) PaaS
18 11 (1.41%) Nutanix
18 11 (1.41%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 244 (31.32%) WAN
2 212 (27.21%) Network Security
3 198 (25.42%) LAN
4 174 (22.34%) VPN
5 157 (20.15%) DNS
6 135 (17.33%) BGP
7 125 (16.05%) OSPF
8 110 (14.12%) Wireless
9 108 (13.86%) VLAN
10 96 (12.32%) DHCP
10 96 (12.32%) SD-WAN
11 81 (10.40%) Wi-Fi
12 74 (9.50%) TCP/IP
13 73 (9.37%) BIG-IP
14 70 (8.99%) VXLAN
15 64 (8.22%) Ethernet VPN
16 63 (8.09%) IPsec
17 51 (6.55%) Cisco ISE
17 51 (6.55%) MPLS
18 47 (6.03%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.16%) DataStage
1 9 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
1 9 (1.16%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.77%) Power BI
2 6 (0.77%) Relational Database
3 4 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.51%) Azure SQL Database
3 4 (0.51%) Data Lake
3 4 (0.51%) MySQL
3 4 (0.51%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.39%) Delta Lake
4 3 (0.39%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
5 1 (0.13%) Amazon QuickSight
5 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.13%) Metadata
5 1 (0.13%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.13%) Redis
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.13%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 62 (7.96%) JIRA
2 34 (4.36%) GitLab
3 31 (3.98%) Jenkins
4 19 (2.44%) Git
5 10 (1.28%) Burp Suite
5 10 (1.28%) Sonatype Nexus
6 8 (1.03%) Metasploit
7 7 (0.90%) Jaeger
8 4 (0.51%) Browser DevTools
9 3 (0.39%) Chocolatey
10 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
10 2 (0.26%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.26%) Gatling
10 2 (0.26%) Gradle
10 2 (0.26%) Introscope
10 2 (0.26%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.26%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.26%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.13%) MSI
General
1 169 (21.69%) Social Skills
2 78 (10.01%) Finance
3 61 (7.83%) Public Sector
4 56 (7.19%) Analytical Skills
5 42 (5.39%) Documentation Skills
6 22 (2.82%) Banking
7 18 (2.31%) Legal
7 18 (2.31%) Telecoms
8 16 (2.05%) Manufacturing
9 14 (1.80%) Military
10 11 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
11 8 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (0.90%) Financial Institution
12 7 (0.90%) Retail
13 6 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.64%) Law
15 3 (0.39%) Aerospace
15 3 (0.39%) Police
16 2 (0.26%) Back Office
16 2 (0.26%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 269 (34.53%) Network Engineer
2 98 (12.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 96 (12.32%) Senior
4 95 (12.20%) Architect
5 59 (7.57%) Security Engineer
6 44 (5.65%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 43 (5.52%) Network Architect
8 41 (5.26%) Senior Network Engineer
9 31 (3.98%) Cloud Engineer
10 29 (3.72%) Cisco Engineer
11 27 (3.47%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 26 (3.34%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 26 (3.34%) Lead
13 21 (2.70%) Designer
14 20 (2.57%) Technical Architect
15 19 (2.44%) Consultant
15 19 (2.44%) Network Specialist
16 18 (2.31%) Firewall Specialist
17 17 (2.18%) Network Security Engineer
18 16 (2.05%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 61 (7.83%) 802.1X
2 21 (2.70%) LDAP
3 18 (2.31%) Middleware
4 14 (1.80%) Kafka
5 13 (1.67%) SAML
6 10 (1.28%) OpenTelemetry
7 9 (1.16%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.77%) LangChain
8 6 (0.77%) OAuth
8 6 (0.77%) OAuth2
8 6 (0.77%) PyTorch
8 6 (0.77%) scikit-learn
8 6 (0.77%) YAML
9 5 (0.64%) React
9 5 (0.64%) SailPoint
10 4 (0.51%) ARM Templates
10 4 (0.51%) OpenID
10 4 (0.51%) Redfish
11 3 (0.39%) .NET
11 3 (0.39%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 215 (27.60%) Data Centre
2 59 (7.57%) Cloud Native
3 52 (6.68%) Security Posture
4 41 (5.26%) Hybrid Cloud
5 40 (5.13%) PKI
6 30 (3.85%) Onboarding
7 29 (3.72%) Operational Technology
8 28 (3.59%) Clustering
9 20 (2.57%) Management Information System
10 18 (2.31%) Public Cloud
11 17 (2.18%) IoT
12 16 (2.05%) Data Protection Act
12 16 (2.05%) SCADA
13 15 (1.93%) Enterprise Storage
14 14 (1.80%) BYOD
15 13 (1.67%) Self-Motivation
16 12 (1.54%) NHS
17 11 (1.41%) Cyber Threat
17 11 (1.41%) Driving Licence
18 10 (1.28%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 196 (25.16%) Windows
2 121 (15.53%) Linux
3 71 (9.11%) Windows Server
4 26 (3.34%) Unix
5 19 (2.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.28%) Solaris
7 9 (1.16%) AIX
8 8 (1.03%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.77%) Ubuntu
10 5 (0.64%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.64%) VMS
10 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.51%) CentOS
12 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
12 3 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
13 2 (0.26%) CatOS
13 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.26%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.26%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (16.69%) DevOps
2 126 (16.17%) Load Balancing
3 124 (15.92%) CI/CD
3 124 (15.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 113 (14.51%) High Availability
5 100 (12.84%) Infrastructure as Code
6 99 (12.71%) ITIL
7 98 (12.58%) Cybersecurity
8 89 (11.42%) Problem-Solving
9 84 (10.78%) Agile
10 82 (10.53%) Zero Trust
11 79 (10.14%) Migration
12 74 (9.50%) Network Segmentation
12 74 (9.50%) Observability
13 72 (9.24%) Change Management
14 64 (8.22%) Roadmaps
15 60 (7.70%) Network Design
15 60 (7.70%) SIEM
16 59 (7.57%) Project Delivery
16 59 (7.57%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 112 (14.38%) Python
2 64 (8.22%) PowerShell
3 38 (4.88%) Bash
4 28 (3.59%) SQL
5 26 (3.34%) Bicep
5 26 (3.34%) Java
6 9 (1.16%) ActionScript
6 9 (1.16%) COBOL
7 6 (0.77%) Rust
8 5 (0.64%) Perl
9 3 (0.39%) Go
9 3 (0.39%) JavaScript
9 3 (0.39%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.26%) C++
10 2 (0.26%) Groovy
10 2 (0.26%) Jython
11 1 (0.13%) C
11 1 (0.13%) Korn
11 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 290 (37.23%) Security Cleared
2 200 (25.67%) SC Cleared
3 187 (24.01%) Cisco Certification
4 130 (16.69%) CCNP
5 103 (13.22%) CCNA
6 67 (8.60%) Degree
6 67 (8.60%) DV Cleared
7 35 (4.49%) CISSP
8 26 (3.34%) AWS Certification
9 25 (3.21%) Azure Certification
10 18 (2.31%) Network+ Certification
11 17 (2.18%) Microsoft Certification
12 16 (2.05%) CCIE
12 16 (2.05%) JNCIS
13 15 (1.93%) CISM
13 15 (1.93%) Server+ Certification
14 14 (1.80%) JNCIA
15 13 (1.67%) PMP
16 11 (1.41%) BPSS Clearance
17 10 (1.28%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (6.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (3.98%) NIST
3 26 (3.34%) GDPR
4 19 (2.44%) PCI DSS
5 18 (2.31%) NCSC
5 18 (2.31%) QA
6 17 (2.18%) Cyber Essentials
7 14 (1.80%) SLA
8 8 (1.03%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.77%) Data Quality
9 6 (0.77%) PMO
10 4 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 4 (0.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.51%) SOC 2
11 3 (0.39%) ISA99
11 3 (0.39%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.39%) RMADS
12 2 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 2 (0.26%) GxP
System Software
1 132 (16.94%) Active Directory
2 93 (11.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (4.24%) Docker
4 31 (3.98%) vSphere
5 30 (3.85%) VMware NSX
6 19 (2.44%) Firmware
7 16 (2.05%) Hyper-V
7 16 (2.05%) VMware ESXi
8 12 (1.54%) Virtual Machines
9 10 (1.28%) Virtual Desktop
10 3 (0.39%) BitLocker
10 3 (0.39%) DFS Replication
10 3 (0.39%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.39%) Postfix
11 2 (0.26%) Squid
11 2 (0.26%) VirtualBox
12 1 (0.13%) FreeRADIUS
12 1 (0.13%) iptables
12 1 (0.13%) KVM
12 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 113 (14.51%) Terraform
2 80 (10.27%) Ansible
3 54 (6.93%) FortiGate
4 49 (6.29%) Kubernetes
5 24 (3.08%) Grafana
6 22 (2.82%) Microsoft Intune
7 20 (2.57%) Prometheus
8 16 (2.05%) Single Sign-On
9 14 (1.80%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 12 (1.54%) CASB
10 12 (1.54%) Progress Chef
11 10 (1.28%) Nmap
11 10 (1.28%) vCenter Server
12 8 (1.03%) Cisco Prime
12 8 (1.03%) SCCM
13 7 (0.90%) Kiali
14 6 (0.77%) Nagios
14 6 (0.77%) Nessus
14 6 (0.77%) VxRail
15 5 (0.64%) Argo
Vendors
1 301 (38.64%) Cisco
2 149 (19.13%) Palo Alto
3 143 (18.36%) Microsoft
4 124 (15.92%) VMware
5 119 (15.28%) F5
6 100 (12.84%) Juniper
7 72 (9.24%) Fortinet
8 65 (8.34%) Aruba
9 63 (8.09%) CheckPoint
10 60 (7.70%) SolarWinds
11 58 (7.45%) Splunk
12 52 (6.68%) ServiceNow
13 33 (4.24%) Google
14 32 (4.11%) Arista
15 27 (3.47%) Extreme Networks
16 23 (2.95%) Red Hat
17 20 (2.57%) Meraki
18 19 (2.44%) Veeam
19 17 (2.18%) Zscaler
20 15 (1.93%) IBM