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 14 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 52 40
Rank change year-on-year -36 -12 -8
Contract jobs citing Firewall 746 666 744
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.67% 4.34% 4.16%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 25.55% 32.28% 29.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 479 400 455
10th Percentile £348 £300 £300
25th Percentile £414 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £515
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -5.34% +8.42%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £650 £683
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 24 25
10th Percentile £29.45 £14.20 £20.00
25th Percentile £44.86 £17.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £65.45 £30.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +118.17% -36.84% -28.03%
75th Percentile £79.78 £49.25 £85.25
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £87.46
UK median hourly rate £67.24 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +124.12% -14.29% -46.97%

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 2,920 2,063 2,564
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.45% 13.45% 14.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,615 1,285 1,431
10th Percentile £210 £200 £210
25th Percentile £350 £325 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £455 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.40% -9.00% +9.89%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £642 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £480 £505
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.95% +1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 339 133 227
10th Percentile £14.10 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.63 £18.50 £21.37
Median hourly rate £26.14 £42.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -38.49% -25.89% -0.11%
75th Percentile £65.88 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £84.60 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.72 £42.50 £51.50
% change year-on-year -37.13% -17.48% -8.83%

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 14 September 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 14 September 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 14 September 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 -8 273 £500 +4.17% 127
South East -46 167 £523 +4.50% 208
North West +2 162 £503 +5.79% 80
Yorkshire -27 90 £475 -2.96% 31
South West -17 86 £556 +14.34% 72
Midlands -75 80 £463 -2.63% 92
East of England -4 74 £530 +9.84% 47
Scotland -14 60 £400 -11.11% 45
West Midlands -82 58 £440 -7.37% 61
North East -15 27 £500 -13.04% 17
East Midlands -12 20 £500 +1.63% 31
Wales -14 10 £425 +112.50% 11
Channel Islands -7 2 £600 -17.24% 1
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 13
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 24 (3.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 18 (2.41%) Confluence
3 13 (1.74%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.34%) Apache
5 9 (1.21%) nginx
6 8 (1.07%) SAS
7 4 (0.54%) FactoryTalk
7 4 (0.54%) IIS
8 3 (0.40%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.27%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.27%) CMS
9 2 (0.27%) Umbraco
10 1 (0.13%) CICS
10 1 (0.13%) IBM HTTP Server
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 20 (2.68%) MS Visio
2 11 (1.47%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.67%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (0.54%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.67%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.40%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.27%) Dynamics GP
3 2 (0.27%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 265 (35.52%) Azure
2 160 (21.45%) AWS
3 80 (10.72%) Entra ID
4 69 (9.25%) Microsoft 365
5 59 (7.91%) GCP
6 39 (5.23%) IaaS
7 36 (4.83%) Azure DevOps
7 36 (4.83%) SaaS
8 33 (4.42%) Azure Monitor
9 31 (4.16%) OCI
10 29 (3.89%) GitHub
11 23 (3.08%) Azure Sentinel
11 23 (3.08%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 20 (2.68%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 17 (2.28%) PaaS
13 17 (2.28%) Serverless
13 17 (2.28%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 15 (2.01%) AWS CloudFormation
15 14 (1.88%) Amazon EKS
15 14 (1.88%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 217 (29.09%) DNS
2 214 (28.69%) VPN
3 209 (28.02%) Network Security
4 203 (27.21%) WAN
5 166 (22.25%) LAN
6 140 (18.77%) DHCP
7 127 (17.02%) BGP
8 123 (16.49%) TCP/IP
9 113 (15.15%) Wireless
10 110 (14.75%) OSPF
11 106 (14.21%) VLAN
12 85 (11.39%) Wi-Fi
13 82 (10.99%) SD-WAN
14 57 (7.64%) BIG-IP
15 56 (7.51%) Cisco ASA
16 55 (7.37%) IPsec
17 49 (6.57%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 47 (6.30%) SSL
19 45 (6.03%) Cisco Nexus
19 45 (6.03%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.28%) SQL Server
2 12 (1.61%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.34%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (1.21%) Data Lake
5 8 (1.07%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.54%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.40%) EDRMS
7 3 (0.40%) MySQL
7 3 (0.40%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.27%) Delta Lake
8 2 (0.27%) Power BI
8 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.13%) DataStage
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.13%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 66 (8.85%) JIRA
2 36 (4.83%) GitLab
3 32 (4.29%) Jenkins
4 15 (2.01%) Git
5 9 (1.21%) Bitbucket
5 9 (1.21%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.80%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.54%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
8 3 (0.40%) Maven
9 2 (0.27%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.27%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.27%) Gatling
9 2 (0.27%) Gradle
9 2 (0.27%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.27%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.27%) Team Foundation Server
10 1 (0.13%) MSI
10 1 (0.13%) Postman
General
1 169 (22.65%) Social Skills
2 82 (10.99%) Analytical Skills
3 77 (10.32%) Finance
4 55 (7.37%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.96%) Banking
6 29 (3.89%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.49%) Telecoms
8 25 (3.35%) Manufacturing
9 16 (2.14%) Legal
10 14 (1.88%) Military
11 10 (1.34%) Aerospace
12 9 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 9 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (1.07%) Police
14 6 (0.80%) Retail
15 5 (0.67%) Law
16 4 (0.54%) Financial Institution
16 4 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
17 3 (0.40%) Advertising
17 3 (0.40%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 231 (30.97%) Network Engineer
2 117 (15.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 117 (15.68%) Senior
3 76 (10.19%) Architect
4 53 (7.10%) Security Engineer
5 50 (6.70%) Senior Network Engineer
6 41 (5.50%) Cloud Engineer
7 36 (4.83%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 36 (4.83%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 33 (4.42%) Lead
9 26 (3.49%) Platform Engineer
10 24 (3.22%) Network Architect
10 24 (3.22%) Network Security Engineer
11 22 (2.95%) Consultant
12 20 (2.68%) Solutions Architect
13 19 (2.55%) Azure Engineer
14 18 (2.41%) Technical Architect
15 16 (2.14%) Developer
16 15 (2.01%) Support Engineer
17 14 (1.88%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 164 (21.98%) Terraform
2 23 (3.08%) 802.1X
3 21 (2.82%) ARM Templates
4 15 (2.01%) SAML
5 10 (1.34%) React
6 8 (1.07%) YAML
7 7 (0.94%) Kafka
7 7 (0.94%) OAuth
7 7 (0.94%) OpenID
8 6 (0.80%) LDAP
8 6 (0.80%) OAuth2
8 6 (0.80%) REST
8 6 (0.80%) SailPoint
9 5 (0.67%) Azure Blueprints
9 5 (0.67%) gRPC
9 5 (0.67%) Middleware
9 5 (0.67%) ModSecurity
9 5 (0.67%) OpenTelemetry
10 4 (0.54%) Redfish
10 4 (0.54%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 166 (22.25%) Data Centre
2 64 (8.58%) Hybrid Cloud
3 55 (7.37%) PKI
4 50 (6.70%) Cloud Native
5 32 (4.29%) Operational Technology
5 32 (4.29%) Security Posture
6 24 (3.22%) Management Information System
7 22 (2.95%) Public Cloud
7 22 (2.95%) SCADA
8 21 (2.82%) Onboarding
9 19 (2.55%) Driving Licence
10 17 (2.28%) Data Protection Act
11 16 (2.14%) Enterprise Storage
11 16 (2.14%) Self-Motivation
12 14 (1.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 13 (1.74%) Linux Command Line
14 12 (1.61%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.47%) Private Cloud
15 11 (1.47%) Replication
16 9 (1.21%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 208 (27.88%) Windows
2 147 (19.71%) Linux
3 98 (13.14%) Windows Server
4 28 (3.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (2.14%) Unix
6 13 (1.74%) CentOS
7 12 (1.61%) Ubuntu
8 11 (1.47%) Mac OS
9 10 (1.34%) VMS
10 7 (0.94%) Rocky
10 7 (0.94%) Windows 10
11 5 (0.67%) Android
11 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.54%) Apple iOS
13 3 (0.40%) Check Point GAiA
14 2 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
14 2 (0.27%) Solaris
14 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2003
15 1 (0.13%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (21.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 150 (20.11%) CI/CD
2 150 (20.11%) Infrastructure as Code
3 134 (17.96%) DevOps
4 126 (16.89%) Load Balancing
5 123 (16.49%) Problem-Solving
6 122 (16.35%) Cybersecurity
7 101 (13.54%) ITIL
8 98 (13.14%) Agile
9 89 (11.93%) Migration
10 86 (11.53%) High Availability
11 78 (10.46%) Zero Trust
12 74 (9.92%) SIEM
12 74 (9.92%) Technical Leadership
13 73 (9.79%) Change Management
14 69 (9.25%) Project Delivery
15 66 (8.85%) Validation
16 62 (8.31%) Continuous Improvement
16 62 (8.31%) Stakeholder Management
17 59 (7.91%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 155 (20.78%) Python
2 131 (17.56%) PowerShell
3 79 (10.59%) Bash
4 32 (4.29%) Bicep
5 29 (3.89%) Java
6 28 (3.75%) SQL
7 12 (1.61%) ActionScript
8 5 (0.67%) Go
8 5 (0.67%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.67%) Search Processing Language
9 4 (0.54%) Groovy
9 4 (0.54%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.54%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.54%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.40%) Perl
10 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.27%) C
11 2 (0.27%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.13%) C++
12 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 294 (39.41%) Security Cleared
2 194 (26.01%) SC Cleared
3 146 (19.57%) Cisco Certification
4 101 (13.54%) CCNP
5 88 (11.80%) DV Cleared
6 66 (8.85%) CCNA
7 60 (8.04%) Degree
8 45 (6.03%) CISSP
9 37 (4.96%) AWS Certification
10 33 (4.42%) Azure Certification
11 20 (2.68%) CCIE
12 19 (2.55%) Microsoft Certification
13 16 (2.14%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 14 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
15 12 (1.61%) CISM
15 12 (1.61%) VCAP
16 11 (1.47%) Server+ Certification
17 10 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
18 9 (1.21%) CEH
19 8 (1.07%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (5.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 30 (4.02%) NIST
3 20 (2.68%) GDPR
3 20 (2.68%) NCSC
4 15 (2.01%) QA
5 12 (1.61%) PCI DSS
6 9 (1.21%) Cyber Essentials
6 9 (1.21%) JSP 440
6 9 (1.21%) SLA
7 8 (1.07%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 7 (0.94%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.80%) Data Quality
10 5 (0.67%) NIST 800
11 4 (0.54%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.54%) GxP
11 4 (0.54%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.40%) ISA99
13 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 144 (19.30%) Active Directory
2 134 (17.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 57 (7.64%) Hyper-V
4 50 (6.70%) VMware NSX
5 45 (6.03%) Docker
6 39 (5.23%) vSphere
7 30 (4.02%) VMware ESXi
8 22 (2.95%) Virtual Machines
9 18 (2.41%) Firmware
10 7 (0.94%) Virtual Desktop
11 6 (0.80%) Virtual Servers
12 4 (0.54%) FreeRADIUS
13 3 (0.40%) Dovecot
13 3 (0.40%) Postfix
13 3 (0.40%) VirtualBox
14 2 (0.27%) BitLocker
14 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 2 (0.27%) Squid
15 1 (0.13%) iptables
15 1 (0.13%) KVM
Systems Management
1 131 (17.56%) Ansible
2 83 (11.13%) Kubernetes
3 35 (4.69%) FortiGate
4 29 (3.89%) Microsoft Intune
5 24 (3.22%) Progress Chef
6 20 (2.68%) Grafana
7 18 (2.41%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.41%) Single Sign-On
8 15 (2.01%) VxRail
9 14 (1.88%) SCCM
9 14 (1.88%) vCenter Server
10 12 (1.61%) CASB
11 9 (1.21%) Argo
12 8 (1.07%) Istio
13 7 (0.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.94%) NetBackup
13 7 (0.94%) Packer
14 6 (0.80%) Cisco Prime
15 4 (0.54%) Cisco CUCM
15 4 (0.54%) Kustomize
Vendors
1 275 (36.86%) Cisco
2 187 (25.07%) Microsoft
3 164 (21.98%) VMware
4 156 (20.91%) Palo Alto
5 106 (14.21%) F5
6 74 (9.92%) Juniper
7 73 (9.79%) Fortinet
8 67 (8.98%) CheckPoint
9 40 (5.36%) Aruba
9 40 (5.36%) SolarWinds
10 39 (5.23%) ServiceNow
11 36 (4.83%) Splunk
12 33 (4.42%) Google
13 28 (3.75%) Arista
13 28 (3.75%) Meraki
14 23 (3.08%) Zscaler
15 22 (2.95%) Red Hat
16 19 (2.55%) Veeam
17 16 (2.14%) CyberArk
18 15 (2.01%) Infoblox