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

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 41 35
Rank change year-on-year -18 -6 +16
Contract jobs citing Firewall 674 631 957
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.68% 4.57% 4.95%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.66% 28.22% 28.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 450 357 636
10th Percentile £308 £259 £303
25th Percentile £400 £369 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £495 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.52% -1.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £569 £575 £608
90th Percentile £650 £632 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 18 43
10th Percentile £35.50 £20.00 £47.91
25th Percentile £37.25 £20.05 £62.50
Median hourly rate £56.00 £35.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +60.00% -46.95% +77.06%
75th Percentile £85.00 £41.25 £76.25
90th Percentile £89.63 £64.13 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £41.94 £35.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year +19.83% -46.95% +106.19%

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 2,198 2,236 3,384
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 12.00% 16.19% 17.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,456 1,262 2,015
10th Percentile £200 £185 £205
25th Percentile £300 £300 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.26% -1.05% +3.26%
75th Percentile £563 £580 £595
90th Percentile £650 £650 £682
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 122 109 265
10th Percentile £15.28 £15.22 £17.72
25th Percentile £16.06 £20.75 £27.50
Median hourly rate £42.22 £31.08 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +35.84% -48.20% +172.73%
75th Percentile £66.94 £61.50 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.25 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £32.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year +4.62% -42.47% +125.96%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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
South East +13 193 £500 - 179
North of England -25 187 £500 +5.26% 111
Midlands -19 122 £475 -6.91% 52
West Midlands -2 113 £475 +7.04% 36
North West -22 101 £519 +9.16% 58
Yorkshire -17 82 £463 +8.82% 38
Scotland -13 62 £425 -15.00% 30
South West -38 54 £550 +15.79% 61
East of England -20 39 £475 -9.52% 64
Wales -23 10 £293 -19.86% 17
East Midlands -50 8 £500 -23.14% 15
North East -12 7 £550 - 17
Northern Ireland - 7 £500 - 7
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 31 (4.60%) Confluence
2 12 (1.78%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.48%) Apache
3 10 (1.48%) nginx
3 10 (1.48%) SharePoint
4 7 (1.04%) IIS
5 5 (0.74%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.45%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.30%) CICS
7 2 (0.30%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.15%) CMS
8 1 (0.15%) JBoss
8 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 30 (4.45%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (2.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (2.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 14 (2.08%) MS Visio
4 9 (1.34%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 1 (0.15%) 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
1 190 (28.19%) AWS
2 182 (27.00%) Azure
3 72 (10.68%) GCP
4 48 (7.12%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 42 (6.23%) Amazon EC2
5 42 (6.23%) Microsoft 365
6 33 (4.90%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 31 (4.60%) Amazon S3
8 30 (4.45%) Entra ID
9 26 (3.86%) Amazon ELB
10 23 (3.41%) Amazon ECS
11 20 (2.97%) AWS CloudFormation
11 20 (2.97%) Serverless
12 19 (2.82%) AWS KMS
12 19 (2.82%) Azure Sentinel
13 18 (2.67%) IaaS
14 17 (2.52%) PaaS
15 16 (2.37%) AWS Lambda
15 16 (2.37%) Azure Monitor
16 14 (2.08%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 162 (24.04%) Network Security
2 151 (22.40%) VPN
3 134 (19.88%) DNS
4 132 (19.58%) WAN
5 92 (13.65%) LAN
6 86 (12.76%) BGP
7 84 (12.46%) TCP/IP
8 83 (12.31%) VLAN
9 82 (12.17%) Wireless
10 72 (10.68%) OSPF
11 54 (8.01%) DHCP
12 52 (7.72%) SD-WAN
13 41 (6.08%) IPsec
14 39 (5.79%) MPLS
15 38 (5.64%) Cisco ASA
16 36 (5.34%) SSL
16 36 (5.34%) Wi-Fi
17 35 (5.19%) Cisco ISE
18 30 (4.45%) Cisco Nexus
19 29 (4.30%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (4.60%) Amazon RDS
2 23 (3.41%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.97%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (1.34%) Amazon Aurora
5 4 (0.59%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.59%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
7 2 (0.30%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.30%) MariaDB
7 2 (0.30%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.15%) Amazon QuickSight
8 1 (0.15%) BusinessObjects
8 1 (0.15%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.15%) Metadata
8 1 (0.15%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.15%) Redis
8 1 (0.15%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 54 (8.01%) JIRA
2 53 (7.86%) Jenkins
3 47 (6.97%) Git
4 33 (4.90%) GitLab
5 16 (2.37%) Sonatype Nexus
6 15 (2.23%) Vagrant
7 14 (2.08%) Burp Suite
7 14 (2.08%) Metasploit
8 10 (1.48%) Bitbucket
9 6 (0.89%) Jaeger
10 4 (0.59%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.30%) Postman
12 1 (0.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.15%) Chocolatey
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
1 201 (29.82%) Social Skills
2 84 (12.46%) Analytical Skills
3 79 (11.72%) Public Sector
4 59 (8.75%) Finance
5 49 (7.27%) Documentation Skills
6 31 (4.60%) Banking
7 28 (4.15%) Telecoms
8 23 (3.41%) Legal
9 21 (3.12%) Manufacturing
10 15 (2.23%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (1.04%) Aerospace
11 7 (1.04%) Financial Institution
11 7 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.04%) Law
11 7 (1.04%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (1.04%) Retail
12 6 (0.89%) Military
13 5 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.59%) Retail Banking
15 3 (0.45%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 191 (28.34%) Network Engineer
2 91 (13.50%) Architect
3 68 (10.09%) Senior
4 50 (7.42%) Security Engineer
5 45 (6.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 44 (6.53%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 37 (5.49%) Network Architect
8 36 (5.34%) Platform Engineer
9 33 (4.90%) DevOps Engineer
10 30 (4.45%) Analyst
11 23 (3.41%) Security Architect
12 22 (3.26%) AWS Engineer
12 22 (3.26%) IT Engineer
12 22 (3.26%) Support Engineer
13 21 (3.12%) Cloud Platform Engineer
13 21 (3.12%) IT Support
14 18 (2.67%) Cisco Engineer
14 18 (2.67%) Consultant
15 17 (2.52%) Network Security Engineer
15 17 (2.52%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (4.60%) 802.1X
2 19 (2.82%) LDAP
2 19 (2.82%) SAML
3 15 (2.23%) OAuth
3 15 (2.23%) OAuth2
3 15 (2.23%) OpenID
4 12 (1.78%) Middleware
5 11 (1.63%) Node.js
6 10 (1.48%) Kafka
7 9 (1.34%) JSON
8 8 (1.19%) REST
9 7 (1.04%) RFC 2544
10 6 (0.89%) OpenTelemetry
10 6 (0.89%) Spring Boot
11 4 (0.59%) ARM Templates
11 4 (0.59%) XML
12 3 (0.45%) Elastic Stack
12 3 (0.45%) Lambda Expressions
12 3 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
13 2 (0.30%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 126 (18.69%) Data Centre
2 54 (8.01%) Security Posture
3 35 (5.19%) PKI
4 29 (4.30%) Replication
5 26 (3.86%) Operational Technology
6 25 (3.71%) Hybrid Cloud
6 25 (3.71%) Onboarding
7 15 (2.23%) Cloud Native
7 15 (2.23%) Cyber Threat
7 15 (2.23%) Data Protection Act
8 13 (1.93%) Security Operations Centre
9 12 (1.78%) Management Information System
9 12 (1.78%) Private Cloud
10 11 (1.63%) Fat Client
10 11 (1.63%) Thin Client
11 10 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
12 9 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (1.34%) NHS
12 9 (1.34%) Product Ownership
12 9 (1.34%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 193 (28.64%) Windows
2 146 (21.66%) Linux
3 75 (11.13%) Windows Server
4 21 (3.12%) VMS
5 20 (2.97%) Unix
6 18 (2.67%) Amazon Linux
7 16 (2.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (1.78%) Ubuntu
9 11 (1.63%) Windows 7
10 9 (1.34%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (1.19%) Windows 10
12 6 (0.89%) Mac OS
13 4 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
13 4 (0.59%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.45%) Android
14 3 (0.45%) Apple iOS
14 3 (0.45%) CentOS
14 3 (0.45%) Solaris
15 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.30%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (19.58%) Cybersecurity
2 106 (15.73%) Problem-Solving
3 101 (14.99%) DevOps
4 89 (13.20%) CI/CD
5 83 (12.31%) Incident Response
6 78 (11.57%) SIEM
7 71 (10.53%) Infrastructure as Code
7 71 (10.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 64 (9.50%) Cloud Security
9 61 (9.05%) Agile
9 61 (9.05%) ITIL
9 61 (9.05%) Load Balancing
10 60 (8.90%) High Availability
11 58 (8.61%) Containerisation
12 52 (7.72%) Change Management
12 52 (7.72%) Migration
12 52 (7.72%) Network Design
13 50 (7.42%) Mentoring
14 48 (7.12%) Zero Trust
15 47 (6.97%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 134 (19.88%) Python
2 108 (16.02%) PowerShell
3 65 (9.64%) Bash
4 37 (5.49%) SQL
5 35 (5.19%) Java
6 33 (4.90%) Perl
7 15 (2.23%) Groovy
8 10 (1.48%) Ruby
9 9 (1.34%) Bicep
10 7 (1.04%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.89%) Rust
12 4 (0.59%) C#
12 4 (0.59%) Kusto Query Language
13 3 (0.45%) Go
14 1 (0.15%) C++
14 1 (0.15%) JavaScript
14 1 (0.15%) Korn
14 1 (0.15%) Lisp
14 1 (0.15%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 291 (43.18%) Security Cleared
2 200 (29.67%) SC Cleared
3 134 (19.88%) Cisco Certification
4 110 (16.32%) CCNP
5 71 (10.53%) DV Cleared
6 68 (10.09%) Degree
7 57 (8.46%) CCNA
8 46 (6.82%) CISSP
9 35 (5.19%) AWS Certification
10 32 (4.75%) Azure Certification
11 31 (4.60%) Microsoft Certification
12 26 (3.86%) CCIE
13 22 (3.26%) CISM
14 14 (2.08%) CHECK Team Member
15 12 (1.78%) CREST Certified
15 12 (1.78%) Cyber Scheme
16 11 (1.63%) CompTIA Security+
16 11 (1.63%) Computer Science Degree
16 11 (1.63%) Postgraduate
17 10 (1.48%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (8.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 49 (7.27%) NIST
3 41 (6.08%) GDPR
4 32 (4.75%) PCI DSS
5 19 (2.82%) SLA
6 15 (2.23%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (1.93%) NCSC
7 13 (1.93%) QA
8 10 (1.48%) PMO
9 7 (1.04%) COBIT
10 5 (0.74%) PSD2
11 4 (0.59%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.45%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.30%) Disclosure Scotland
13 2 (0.30%) GRC
13 2 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.30%) JSP 440
14 1 (0.15%) GAMP
14 1 (0.15%) GxP
14 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
System Software
1 114 (16.91%) Active Directory
2 103 (15.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 89 (13.20%) Docker
4 30 (4.45%) Hyper-V
5 23 (3.41%) vSphere
6 21 (3.12%) VMware NSX
7 18 (2.67%) DFS Replication
8 14 (2.08%) VMware ESXi
9 9 (1.34%) Dovecot
9 9 (1.34%) Postfix
9 9 (1.34%) Squid
10 8 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
11 6 (0.89%) Firmware
11 6 (0.89%) Virtual Servers
12 5 (0.74%) KVM
13 3 (0.45%) Terminal Services
14 2 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
14 2 (0.30%) Xen
15 1 (0.15%) ProxySG
15 1 (0.15%) RHEV
Systems Management
1 95 (14.09%) Terraform
2 73 (10.83%) Ansible
3 66 (9.79%) Kubernetes
4 27 (4.01%) FortiGate
4 27 (4.01%) Grafana
5 23 (3.41%) Prometheus
6 22 (3.26%) Single Sign-On
7 21 (3.12%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 20 (2.97%) vCenter Server
9 19 (2.82%) Microsoft Intune
10 17 (2.52%) Nmap
11 14 (2.08%) SCCM
12 12 (1.78%) Nessus
13 11 (1.63%) WMI
14 10 (1.48%) CSIRT
14 10 (1.48%) Proxmox
15 9 (1.34%) Nagios
16 8 (1.19%) Fluentd
17 6 (0.89%) Kiali
17 6 (0.89%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 260 (38.58%) Cisco
2 164 (24.33%) Palo Alto
3 148 (21.96%) Microsoft
4 128 (18.99%) VMware
5 94 (13.95%) F5
6 81 (12.02%) CheckPoint
7 57 (8.46%) Fortinet
8 49 (7.27%) Juniper
9 48 (7.12%) Splunk
10 43 (6.38%) SolarWinds
11 42 (6.23%) Meraki
12 38 (5.64%) Aruba
13 36 (5.34%) Oracle
14 33 (4.90%) ServiceNow
15 30 (4.45%) Google
16 23 (3.41%) Citrix
17 20 (2.97%) Dell
18 17 (2.52%) Zscaler
19 16 (2.37%) Red Hat
20 12 (1.78%) Veeam