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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 49 42
Rank change year-on-year -28 -7 -8
Contract jobs citing Firewall 777 671 738
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.81% 4.40% 4.13%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 26.47% 32.32% 28.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 503 400 461
10th Percentile £350 £305 £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 £598 £588 £608
90th Percentile £674 £646 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 24 23
10th Percentile £29.47 £14.20 £20.04
25th Percentile £47.24 £15.28 £23.92
Median hourly rate £65.57 £30.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +118.57% -36.84% -28.01%
75th Percentile £80.41 £49.25 £85.45
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £87.46
UK median hourly rate £65.69 £30.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +118.97% +9.09% -58.32%

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 2,935 2,076 2,596
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.63% 13.61% 14.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,647 1,276 1,474
10th Percentile £210 £204 £213
25th Percentile £356 £325 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £469 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.31% -6.16% +10.19%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £640 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 320 136 248
10th Percentile £14.79 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.69 £19.63 £21.37
Median hourly rate £25.92 £42.50 £56.87
Median % change year-on-year -39.01% -25.27% +0.67%
75th Percentile £65.88 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £85.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £50.25
% change year-on-year -42.22% -10.45% -8.64%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -5 278 £500 +5.26% 114
South East -40 193 £523 +4.50% 177
North West +7 172 £500 +5.82% 63
South West -15 87 £556 +12.61% 71
Yorkshire -30 85 £463 -5.08% 32
East of England +1 78 £525 -2.78% 49
Midlands -76 75 £472 -0.74% 99
Scotland -10 63 £400 -11.11% 38
West Midlands -79 55 £450 -5.26% 67
North East -18 27 £500 -13.04% 21
East Midlands -17 18 £500 +1.63% 32
Wales -17 11 £425 +112.50% 8
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 19
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 23 (2.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 16 (2.06%) Confluence
3 13 (1.67%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.29%) Apache
5 9 (1.16%) nginx
6 8 (1.03%) SAS
7 4 (0.51%) FactoryTalk
7 4 (0.51%) IIS
8 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.26%) CMS
9 2 (0.26%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.26%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.26%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
9 2 (0.26%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.13%) CICS
Applications
1 21 (2.70%) MS Visio
2 12 (1.54%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (0.64%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (0.64%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.26%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.26%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.26%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 279 (35.91%) Azure
2 170 (21.88%) AWS
3 85 (10.94%) Entra ID
4 68 (8.75%) Microsoft 365
5 60 (7.72%) GCP
6 41 (5.28%) Azure DevOps
7 35 (4.50%) SaaS
8 32 (4.12%) Azure Monitor
8 32 (4.12%) IaaS
9 31 (3.99%) OCI
10 30 (3.86%) GitHub
11 26 (3.35%) Azure Sentinel
12 24 (3.09%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 20 (2.57%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 20 (2.57%) Serverless
14 18 (2.32%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 17 (2.19%) GitHub Actions
16 16 (2.06%) Amazon EKS
16 16 (2.06%) AWS CloudFormation
17 15 (1.93%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 219 (28.19%) DNS
1 219 (28.19%) Network Security
1 219 (28.19%) VPN
2 216 (27.80%) WAN
3 178 (22.91%) LAN
4 143 (18.40%) DHCP
5 136 (17.50%) BGP
6 130 (16.73%) TCP/IP
7 120 (15.44%) OSPF
8 115 (14.80%) Wireless
9 108 (13.90%) VLAN
10 90 (11.58%) SD-WAN
11 89 (11.45%) Wi-Fi
12 63 (8.11%) BIG-IP
13 61 (7.85%) Cisco ASA
14 60 (7.72%) IPsec
15 51 (6.56%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 49 (6.31%) Cisco Firepower
17 48 (6.18%) MPLS
17 48 (6.18%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.06%) SQL Server
2 12 (1.54%) Relational Database
3 11 (1.42%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (1.16%) NoSQL
5 8 (1.03%) Data Lake
6 7 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.64%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.64%) Power BI
8 4 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.51%) Delta Lake
9 3 (0.39%) EDRMS
9 3 (0.39%) MySQL
10 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 1 (0.13%) DataStage
11 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.13%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 65 (8.37%) JIRA
2 39 (5.02%) GitLab
3 33 (4.25%) Jenkins
4 16 (2.06%) Git
5 9 (1.16%) Bitbucket
5 9 (1.16%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.77%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (0.64%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.51%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.39%) Burp Suite
9 3 (0.39%) Maven
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%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.13%) Postman
General
1 172 (22.14%) Social Skills
2 85 (10.94%) Analytical Skills
3 78 (10.04%) Finance
4 63 (8.11%) Public Sector
5 35 (4.50%) Banking
6 28 (3.60%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.35%) Telecoms
8 24 (3.09%) Manufacturing
9 14 (1.80%) Legal
9 14 (1.80%) Military
10 10 (1.29%) Aerospace
11 9 (1.16%) Organisational Skills
12 8 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 8 (1.03%) Police
13 6 (0.77%) Retail
14 5 (0.64%) Law
15 4 (0.51%) Financial Institution
15 4 (0.51%) Pharmaceutical
16 3 (0.39%) Advertising
16 3 (0.39%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 241 (31.02%) Network Engineer
2 120 (15.44%) Senior
3 116 (14.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 90 (11.58%) Architect
5 52 (6.69%) Security Engineer
5 52 (6.69%) Senior Network Engineer
6 43 (5.53%) Cloud Engineer
7 36 (4.63%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 36 (4.63%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 34 (4.38%) Lead
9 28 (3.60%) Network Architect
10 26 (3.35%) Platform Engineer
11 23 (2.96%) Network Security Engineer
12 22 (2.83%) Consultant
12 22 (2.83%) Solutions Architect
13 18 (2.32%) Azure Engineer
13 18 (2.32%) Technical Architect
14 15 (1.93%) Developer
15 14 (1.80%) Analyst
15 14 (1.80%) Cisco Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 171 (22.01%) Terraform
2 26 (3.35%) 802.1X
3 20 (2.57%) ARM Templates
4 17 (2.19%) SAML
5 10 (1.29%) Kafka
5 10 (1.29%) React
6 7 (0.90%) LDAP
6 7 (0.90%) OAuth
6 7 (0.90%) OpenID
6 7 (0.90%) YAML
7 6 (0.77%) Middleware
7 6 (0.77%) OAuth2
7 6 (0.77%) REST
7 6 (0.77%) SailPoint
8 5 (0.64%) Azure Blueprints
8 5 (0.64%) gRPC
8 5 (0.64%) ModSecurity
8 5 (0.64%) OpenTelemetry
9 4 (0.51%) Redfish
9 4 (0.51%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 170 (21.88%) Data Centre
2 65 (8.37%) Hybrid Cloud
3 58 (7.46%) PKI
4 57 (7.34%) Cloud Native
5 32 (4.12%) Security Posture
6 31 (3.99%) Operational Technology
7 24 (3.09%) Management Information System
8 22 (2.83%) SCADA
9 21 (2.70%) Onboarding
10 20 (2.57%) Driving Licence
11 18 (2.32%) Public Cloud
11 18 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
12 16 (2.06%) Data Protection Act
12 16 (2.06%) Enterprise Storage
13 14 (1.80%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 14 (1.80%) IoT
14 13 (1.67%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.42%) Linux Command Line
15 11 (1.42%) Private Cloud
15 11 (1.42%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 216 (27.80%) Windows
2 148 (19.05%) Linux
3 97 (12.48%) Windows Server
4 29 (3.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (2.19%) Unix
6 12 (1.54%) CentOS
7 11 (1.42%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.42%) Ubuntu
8 10 (1.29%) VMS
9 7 (0.90%) Rocky
10 6 (0.77%) Windows 10
11 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.51%) Android
13 3 (0.39%) Apple iOS
13 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
14 2 (0.26%) Data ONTAP
14 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
14 2 (0.26%) Solaris
14 2 (0.26%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 158 (20.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 152 (19.56%) CI/CD
3 150 (19.31%) Infrastructure as Code
4 144 (18.53%) DevOps
5 135 (17.37%) Load Balancing
6 120 (15.44%) Problem-Solving
7 119 (15.32%) Cybersecurity
8 114 (14.67%) ITIL
9 100 (12.87%) High Availability
10 99 (12.74%) Agile
11 94 (12.10%) Migration
12 88 (11.33%) Zero Trust
13 80 (10.30%) Technical Leadership
14 78 (10.04%) Change Management
15 74 (9.52%) SIEM
16 71 (9.14%) Validation
17 70 (9.01%) Project Delivery
18 68 (8.75%) Network Segmentation
18 68 (8.75%) Stakeholder Management
19 63 (8.11%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 154 (19.82%) Python
2 128 (16.47%) PowerShell
3 82 (10.55%) Bash
4 38 (4.89%) Bicep
5 34 (4.38%) SQL
6 29 (3.73%) Java
7 9 (1.16%) ActionScript
8 5 (0.64%) Go
8 5 (0.64%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.64%) Search Processing Language
9 4 (0.51%) Groovy
9 4 (0.51%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.51%) Perl
9 4 (0.51%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.51%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.39%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.26%) Jython
11 2 (0.26%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.13%) C
12 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 313 (40.28%) Security Cleared
2 204 (26.25%) SC Cleared
3 150 (19.31%) Cisco Certification
4 103 (13.26%) CCNP
5 95 (12.23%) DV Cleared
6 70 (9.01%) CCNA
7 63 (8.11%) Degree
8 45 (5.79%) CISSP
9 38 (4.89%) AWS Certification
10 33 (4.25%) Azure Certification
11 19 (2.45%) CCIE
11 19 (2.45%) Microsoft Certification
12 16 (2.06%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 14 (1.80%) Network+ Certification
14 12 (1.54%) CISM
14 12 (1.54%) VCAP
15 11 (1.42%) Server+ Certification
16 10 (1.29%) Computer Science Degree
17 9 (1.16%) CEH
17 9 (1.16%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (5.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 34 (4.38%) NIST
3 23 (2.96%) GDPR
4 22 (2.83%) NCSC
5 15 (1.93%) QA
6 13 (1.67%) PCI DSS
7 9 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
7 9 (1.16%) JSP 440
7 9 (1.16%) SLA
8 8 (1.03%) Data Quality
8 8 (1.03%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 7 (0.90%) Disclosure Scotland
10 5 (0.64%) GxP
11 4 (0.51%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.51%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.51%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.39%) ISA99
12 3 (0.39%) RMADS
13 2 (0.26%) Government Security Classifications
System Software
1 148 (19.05%) Active Directory
2 140 (18.02%) VMware Infrastructure
3 57 (7.34%) Hyper-V
4 51 (6.56%) VMware NSX
5 46 (5.92%) Docker
6 39 (5.02%) vSphere
7 27 (3.47%) VMware ESXi
8 20 (2.57%) Virtual Machines
9 19 (2.45%) Firmware
10 7 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
11 5 (0.64%) Virtual Servers
12 3 (0.39%) Dovecot
12 3 (0.39%) FreeRADIUS
12 3 (0.39%) Postfix
12 3 (0.39%) VirtualBox
13 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
13 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 2 (0.26%) Squid
14 1 (0.13%) iptables
14 1 (0.13%) KVM
Systems Management
1 132 (16.99%) Ansible
2 84 (10.81%) Kubernetes
3 38 (4.89%) FortiGate
4 30 (3.86%) Microsoft Intune
5 24 (3.09%) Progress Chef
6 22 (2.83%) Single Sign-On
7 21 (2.70%) Grafana
8 19 (2.45%) Prometheus
9 14 (1.80%) SCCM
9 14 (1.80%) VxRail
10 13 (1.67%) CASB
10 13 (1.67%) vCenter Server
11 9 (1.16%) Argo
12 8 (1.03%) Istio
13 7 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.90%) NetBackup
13 7 (0.90%) Packer
14 6 (0.77%) Cisco Prime
15 4 (0.51%) Cisco CUCM
15 4 (0.51%) Kustomize
Vendors
1 280 (36.04%) Cisco
2 189 (24.32%) Microsoft
3 170 (21.88%) VMware
4 157 (20.21%) Palo Alto
5 109 (14.03%) F5
6 76 (9.78%) Juniper
7 68 (8.75%) Fortinet
8 67 (8.62%) CheckPoint
9 44 (5.66%) ServiceNow
9 44 (5.66%) SolarWinds
10 41 (5.28%) Aruba
11 39 (5.02%) Splunk
12 34 (4.38%) Google
13 28 (3.60%) Arista
13 28 (3.60%) Meraki
14 24 (3.09%) Red Hat
15 23 (2.96%) Zscaler
16 18 (2.32%) Veeam
17 17 (2.19%) Citrix
18 16 (2.06%) CyberArk