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 23 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 60 40 35
Rank change year-on-year -20 -5 +20
Contract jobs citing Firewall 680 692 1,007
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.72% 4.69% 5.18%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.09% 29.25% 29.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 445 396 658
10th Percentile £306 £280 £309
25th Percentile £400 £389 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £580 £613
90th Percentile £650 £638 £676
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 15 45
10th Percentile £23.23 - £40.63
25th Percentile £40.52 £20.00 £62.50
Median hourly rate £70.38 £27.50 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +155.93% -58.32% +60.81%
75th Percentile £86.38 £38.13 £76.25
90th Percentile £89.63 £52.60 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £35.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year +39.20% -46.95% +101.47%

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 2,260 2,366 3,471
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 12.35% 16.02% 17.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,500 1,334 2,077
10th Percentile £200 £192 £205
25th Percentile £300 £314 £340
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £564 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £650 £683
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 133 119 268
10th Percentile £15.36 £15.22 £17.58
25th Percentile £17.60 £21.36 £24.19
Median hourly rate £42.50 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +21.43% -38.04% +25.53%
75th Percentile £68.00 £63.13 £65.98
90th Percentile £83.60 £72.75 £75.38
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £55.70
% change year-on-year -2.86% -37.16% +35.75%

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 23 December 2025.

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 23 December 2025.

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 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
North of England -23 193 £519 +7.06% 185
South East +3 183 £490 -2.05% 275
Midlands -18 130 £475 -5.00% 130
West Midlands +1 120 £475 -5.00% 88
North West -21 104 £525 +5.53% 99
Yorkshire -19 84 £455 +7.06% 69
Scotland -19 59 £425 -15.00% 33
South West -22 55 £540 +13.68% 102
East of England -29 41 £475 -9.52% 106
Wales -16 11 £293 -22.00% 33
East Midlands -45 9 £475 -21.52% 38
North East -9 8 £550 - 19
Northern Ireland - 8 £500 - 13
South Coast - 4 £600 -
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 35 (5.15%) Confluence
2 16 (2.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.76%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.62%) nginx
5 7 (1.03%) Apache
6 5 (0.74%) OpenStack
7 4 (0.59%) IIS
8 3 (0.44%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.29%) CICS
9 2 (0.29%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.15%) CMS
10 1 (0.15%) JBoss
10 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 30 (4.41%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.76%) MS Visio
3 11 (1.62%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (1.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.47%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.15%) Finacle
1 1 (0.15%) Pegasus Opera
1 1 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 194 (28.53%) AWS
2 185 (27.21%) Azure
3 77 (11.32%) GCP
4 55 (8.09%) Microsoft 365
5 52 (7.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 45 (6.62%) Amazon EC2
7 36 (5.29%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 34 (5.00%) Amazon S3
9 29 (4.26%) Amazon ELB
10 27 (3.97%) Entra ID
11 24 (3.53%) Amazon ECS
12 23 (3.38%) Azure Sentinel
13 22 (3.24%) AWS KMS
14 20 (2.94%) AWS CloudFormation
14 20 (2.94%) Serverless
15 17 (2.50%) IaaS
16 16 (2.35%) AWS Lambda
16 16 (2.35%) PaaS
17 14 (2.06%) Akamai
17 14 (2.06%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 160 (23.53%) Network Security
2 150 (22.06%) VPN
3 147 (21.62%) DNS
4 121 (17.79%) WAN
5 90 (13.24%) TCP/IP
6 84 (12.35%) LAN
7 80 (11.76%) BGP
8 78 (11.47%) Wireless
9 71 (10.44%) VLAN
10 66 (9.71%) OSPF
11 58 (8.53%) DHCP
12 48 (7.06%) SD-WAN
13 39 (5.74%) Cisco ASA
13 39 (5.74%) SSL
14 38 (5.59%) Wi-Fi
15 35 (5.15%) Cisco ISE
16 34 (5.00%) MPLS
17 31 (4.56%) HTTP
17 31 (4.56%) IPsec
18 27 (3.97%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (5.00%) Amazon RDS
2 24 (3.53%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.94%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (1.47%) Amazon Aurora
5 3 (0.44%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.44%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.44%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
6 2 (0.29%) MariaDB
6 2 (0.29%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.29%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.15%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.15%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.15%) BusinessObjects
7 1 (0.15%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7 1 (0.15%) Metadata
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.15%) Redis
7 1 (0.15%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 58 (8.53%) Jenkins
2 56 (8.24%) JIRA
3 52 (7.65%) Git
4 35 (5.15%) GitLab
5 18 (2.65%) Vagrant
6 16 (2.35%) Sonatype Nexus
7 10 (1.47%) Bitbucket
8 8 (1.18%) Burp Suite
8 8 (1.18%) Metasploit
9 4 (0.59%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.44%) Jaeger
11 2 (0.29%) Postman
12 1 (0.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.15%) Eclipse
12 1 (0.15%) MSI
12 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
12 1 (0.15%) Subversion
12 1 (0.15%) Travis CI
General
1 205 (30.15%) Social Skills
2 88 (12.94%) Analytical Skills
3 86 (12.65%) Public Sector
4 61 (8.97%) Finance
5 44 (6.47%) Documentation Skills
6 31 (4.56%) Banking
7 28 (4.12%) Telecoms
8 22 (3.24%) Legal
9 19 (2.79%) Manufacturing
10 16 (2.35%) Presentation Skills
11 10 (1.47%) Military
12 8 (1.18%) Law
12 8 (1.18%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (1.03%) Aerospace
13 7 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (1.03%) Retail
14 6 (0.88%) Games
15 5 (0.74%) Financial Institution
15 5 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
16 4 (0.59%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 178 (26.18%) Network Engineer
2 90 (13.24%) Architect
3 62 (9.12%) Senior
4 59 (8.68%) Security Engineer
5 46 (6.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 41 (6.03%) Platform Engineer
7 38 (5.59%) DevOps Engineer
7 38 (5.59%) Network Architect
7 38 (5.59%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 32 (4.71%) Analyst
9 25 (3.68%) AWS Engineer
10 24 (3.53%) Security Architect
11 23 (3.38%) IT Engineer
12 22 (3.24%) Support Engineer
13 21 (3.09%) IT Support
14 20 (2.94%) Cloud Platform Engineer
15 19 (2.79%) AWS DevOps
15 19 (2.79%) Consultant
15 19 (2.79%) Firewall Engineer
15 19 (2.79%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.12%) 802.1X
2 22 (3.24%) LDAP
3 16 (2.35%) SAML
4 13 (1.91%) OAuth
4 13 (1.91%) OAuth2
4 13 (1.91%) OpenID
5 12 (1.76%) Middleware
6 11 (1.62%) Node.js
7 10 (1.47%) JSON
7 10 (1.47%) RFC 2544
8 8 (1.18%) REST
9 7 (1.03%) Kafka
10 4 (0.59%) XML
11 3 (0.44%) Elastic Stack
11 3 (0.44%) Lambda Expressions
11 3 (0.44%) Microsoft Graph
11 3 (0.44%) OpenTelemetry
11 3 (0.44%) Spring Boot
12 2 (0.29%) CSS
12 2 (0.29%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 117 (17.21%) Data Centre
2 51 (7.50%) Security Posture
3 38 (5.59%) PKI
4 32 (4.71%) Operational Technology
4 32 (4.71%) Replication
5 30 (4.41%) Hybrid Cloud
6 21 (3.09%) Onboarding
7 15 (2.21%) Cloud Native
7 15 (2.21%) Cyber Threat
7 15 (2.21%) Data Protection Act
8 13 (1.91%) Security Operations Centre
9 12 (1.76%) Management Information System
10 11 (1.62%) Cyber Defence
11 10 (1.47%) Fat Client
11 10 (1.47%) Private Cloud
11 10 (1.47%) Thin Client
12 9 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
12 9 (1.32%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (1.32%) Product Ownership
12 9 (1.32%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 199 (29.26%) Windows
2 148 (21.76%) Linux
3 74 (10.88%) Windows Server
4 27 (3.97%) VMS
5 22 (3.24%) Unix
6 21 (3.09%) Amazon Linux
7 17 (2.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 14 (2.06%) Ubuntu
9 13 (1.91%) Mac OS
10 11 (1.62%) Windows 10
11 10 (1.47%) Windows 7
12 9 (1.32%) Android
12 9 (1.32%) Windows Server 2019
13 7 (1.03%) Windows Server 2012
13 7 (1.03%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.44%) Apple iOS
14 3 (0.44%) CentOS
14 3 (0.44%) Solaris
15 2 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.29%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (19.71%) Cybersecurity
2 118 (17.35%) Problem-Solving
3 100 (14.71%) DevOps
4 87 (12.79%) Incident Response
5 86 (12.65%) CI/CD
6 83 (12.21%) SIEM
7 74 (10.88%) Cloud Security
8 70 (10.29%) Infrastructure as Code
9 68 (10.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 65 (9.56%) ITIL
11 62 (9.12%) Migration
12 60 (8.82%) High Availability
13 59 (8.68%) Agile
13 59 (8.68%) Containerisation
14 57 (8.38%) Change Management
14 57 (8.38%) Load Balancing
15 53 (7.79%) Network Design
16 51 (7.50%) Zero Trust
17 48 (7.06%) Disaster Recovery
18 47 (6.91%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 145 (21.32%) Python
2 126 (18.53%) PowerShell
3 68 (10.00%) Bash
4 36 (5.29%) SQL
5 35 (5.15%) Java
5 35 (5.15%) Perl
6 18 (2.65%) Groovy
7 10 (1.47%) Ruby
8 9 (1.32%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.88%) Bicep
9 6 (0.88%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (0.59%) C#
11 3 (0.44%) Go
11 3 (0.44%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.44%) Rust
12 2 (0.29%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.15%) C++
13 1 (0.15%) Korn
13 1 (0.15%) Lisp
13 1 (0.15%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 270 (39.71%) Security Cleared
2 185 (27.21%) SC Cleared
3 129 (18.97%) Cisco Certification
4 104 (15.29%) CCNP
5 67 (9.85%) Degree
6 65 (9.56%) DV Cleared
7 53 (7.79%) CISSP
8 49 (7.21%) CCNA
9 37 (5.44%) AWS Certification
10 33 (4.85%) Microsoft Certification
11 32 (4.71%) Azure Certification
12 27 (3.97%) CCIE
13 25 (3.68%) CISM
14 13 (1.91%) CEH
14 13 (1.91%) CompTIA Security+
14 13 (1.91%) Computer Science Degree
15 12 (1.76%) Network+ Certification
16 11 (1.62%) GIAC
17 9 (1.32%) (ISC)2 CCSP
17 9 (1.32%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 56 (8.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 52 (7.65%) NIST
3 42 (6.18%) GDPR
4 29 (4.26%) PCI DSS
5 14 (2.06%) SLA
6 13 (1.91%) NCSC
6 13 (1.91%) QA
7 11 (1.62%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (1.03%) COBIT
9 6 (0.88%) PMO
10 5 (0.74%) PSD2
11 4 (0.59%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.44%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.29%) Disclosure Scotland
13 2 (0.29%) GRC
13 2 (0.29%) GxP
13 2 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.29%) JSP 440
14 1 (0.15%) GAMP
14 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 127 (18.68%) Active Directory
2 107 (15.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 90 (13.24%) Docker
4 33 (4.85%) Hyper-V
5 23 (3.38%) VMware NSX
6 22 (3.24%) vSphere
7 21 (3.09%) DFS Replication
8 11 (1.62%) Virtual Machines
8 11 (1.62%) VMware ESXi
9 10 (1.47%) Dovecot
9 10 (1.47%) Postfix
9 10 (1.47%) Squid
10 6 (0.88%) Firmware
10 6 (0.88%) Terminal Services
10 6 (0.88%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.74%) KVM
12 2 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.29%) Xen
12 2 (0.29%) XenApp
13 1 (0.15%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 98 (14.41%) Terraform
2 74 (10.88%) Ansible
3 63 (9.26%) Kubernetes
4 28 (4.12%) FortiGate
4 28 (4.12%) Grafana
5 24 (3.53%) Microsoft Intune
6 23 (3.38%) Prometheus
7 21 (3.09%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 20 (2.94%) SCCM
8 20 (2.94%) vCenter Server
9 19 (2.79%) Single Sign-On
10 16 (2.35%) Nessus
11 11 (1.62%) Nmap
11 11 (1.62%) Proxmox
12 10 (1.47%) CSIRT
12 10 (1.47%) WMI
13 8 (1.18%) Fluentd
13 8 (1.18%) Nagios
14 7 (1.03%) NetBackup
14 7 (1.03%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 256 (37.65%) Cisco
2 167 (24.56%) Microsoft
3 151 (22.21%) Palo Alto
4 131 (19.26%) VMware
5 97 (14.26%) F5
6 80 (11.76%) CheckPoint
7 65 (9.56%) Fortinet
8 59 (8.68%) Splunk
9 53 (7.79%) Juniper
10 45 (6.62%) Meraki
11 37 (5.44%) Oracle
12 36 (5.29%) SolarWinds
13 33 (4.85%) Google
14 32 (4.71%) ServiceNow
15 28 (4.12%) Aruba
15 28 (4.12%) Citrix
16 20 (2.94%) Zscaler
17 17 (2.50%) Red Hat
18 16 (2.35%) Dell
19 11 (1.62%) Blue Coat