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

6 months to
14 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 68 46 37
Rank change year-on-year -22 -9 +3
Contract jobs citing Firewall 743 564 866
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.07% 4.43% 4.25%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.37% 28.70% 26.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 491 336 563
10th Percentile £318 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £392 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% +2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £584 £608
90th Percentile £638 £638 £768
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £514
% change year-on-year - -2.68% -2.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 17 30
10th Percentile £19.04 - £23.37
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £49.79
Median hourly rate £56.00 £25.00 £83.77
Median % change year-on-year +124.00% -70.15% +35.10%
75th Percentile £72.00 £41.25 £87.46
90th Percentile £85.20 £56.50 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £52.36 £26.25 £66.75
% change year-on-year +99.47% -60.67% +7.66%

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 2,619 1,965 3,302
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.81% 15.44% 16.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,553 1,206 1,881
10th Percentile £225 £198 £203
25th Percentile £363 £300 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £653 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £495 £488 £490
% change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -4.99%
Number of hourly rates quoted 207 128 357
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.20 £13.40
25th Percentile £21.25 £16.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £24.71 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +72.00% -46.14% +148.47%
75th Percentile £65.88 £62.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.01 £70.66
UK median hourly rate £40.54 £34.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +17.51% -13.75% +116.22%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 -1 238 £500 - 134
North of England -19 216 £500 +5.26% 142
North West -13 142 £539 +13.42% 81
Midlands -50 83 £425 -22.73% 69
West Midlands -32 70 £420 -20.00% 39
East of England -11 67 £500 -2.44% 47
Yorkshire -35 62 £425 -12.37% 41
South West -49 56 £538 +4.88% 50
Scotland +24 55 £450 +7.14% 24
Wales -16 29 £425 +16.44% 16
North East -6 14 £625 +13.64% 21
East Midlands -47 9 £488 -14.10% 30
Northern Ireland -1 2 £385 - 1
South Coast - 2 £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 13 (1.75%) Confluence
2 9 (1.21%) CICS
3 8 (1.08%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.94%) Apache
5 5 (0.67%) IIS
6 3 (0.40%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.40%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
7 2 (0.27%) CMS
7 2 (0.27%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.27%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.13%) CloudStack
8 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 24 (3.23%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (2.29%) MS Visio
3 13 (1.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 218 (29.34%) Azure
2 128 (17.23%) AWS
3 49 (6.59%) Entra ID
4 44 (5.92%) GCP
5 38 (5.11%) Microsoft 365
6 30 (4.04%) Azure DevOps
7 22 (2.96%) GitHub
8 20 (2.69%) Azure Sentinel
9 19 (2.56%) OCI
9 19 (2.56%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 18 (2.42%) Azure Monitor
10 18 (2.42%) IaaS
11 15 (2.02%) Nutanix
11 15 (2.02%) PaaS
12 13 (1.75%) GitHub Actions
12 13 (1.75%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 13 (1.75%) SaaS
13 12 (1.62%) AWS CloudFormation
13 12 (1.62%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 11 (1.48%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 228 (30.69%) WAN
2 193 (25.98%) Network Security
3 191 (25.71%) LAN
4 164 (22.07%) VPN
5 154 (20.73%) DNS
6 130 (17.50%) BGP
7 126 (16.96%) OSPF
8 100 (13.46%) VLAN
9 99 (13.32%) DHCP
10 98 (13.19%) Wireless
11 81 (10.90%) SD-WAN
12 79 (10.63%) TCP/IP
13 70 (9.42%) Wi-Fi
14 67 (9.02%) IPsec
15 60 (8.08%) Ethernet VPN
15 60 (8.08%) VXLAN
16 56 (7.54%) BIG-IP
17 55 (7.40%) Cisco ISE
18 46 (6.19%) MPLS
19 45 (6.06%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.62%) SQL Server
2 11 (1.48%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (1.21%) DataStage
4 6 (0.81%) Power BI
5 4 (0.54%) Azure SQL Database
5 4 (0.54%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.54%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.54%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.54%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.40%) Delta Lake
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.13%) EDRMS
8 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.13%) Redis
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 53 (7.13%) JIRA
2 31 (4.17%) GitLab
3 22 (2.96%) Jenkins
4 20 (2.69%) Git
5 16 (2.15%) Burp Suite
5 16 (2.15%) Metasploit
6 10 (1.35%) Sonatype Nexus
7 9 (1.21%) Jaeger
8 4 (0.54%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.54%) CircleCI
9 3 (0.40%) Chocolatey
10 2 (0.27%) Bitbucket
10 2 (0.27%) Introscope
10 2 (0.27%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.13%) Postman
11 1 (0.13%) Travis CI
General
1 181 (24.36%) Social Skills
2 73 (9.83%) Finance
3 66 (8.88%) Public Sector
4 57 (7.67%) Analytical Skills
5 49 (6.59%) Documentation Skills
6 20 (2.69%) Banking
7 19 (2.56%) Manufacturing
8 17 (2.29%) Telecoms
9 15 (2.02%) Military
10 12 (1.62%) Influencing Skills
10 12 (1.62%) Legal
11 10 (1.35%) Financial Institution
12 8 (1.08%) Law
12 8 (1.08%) Retail
13 7 (0.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 6 (0.81%) Aerospace
14 6 (0.81%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.40%) Back Office
15 3 (0.40%) Police
16 2 (0.27%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 260 (34.99%) Network Engineer
2 97 (13.06%) Architect
3 90 (12.11%) Senior
4 78 (10.50%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 48 (6.46%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 47 (6.33%) Network Architect
6 47 (6.33%) Security Engineer
7 36 (4.85%) Senior Network Engineer
8 28 (3.77%) Cisco Engineer
9 25 (3.36%) Cisco Network Engineer
10 24 (3.23%) Cloud Engineer
11 23 (3.10%) Lead
11 23 (3.10%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 22 (2.96%) Designer
13 18 (2.42%) IT Support
13 18 (2.42%) Network Specialist
14 17 (2.29%) Penetration Tester
15 16 (2.15%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
15 16 (2.15%) Firewall Specialist
15 16 (2.15%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (7.94%) 802.1X
2 27 (3.63%) LDAP
3 20 (2.69%) Middleware
4 18 (2.42%) Kafka
5 17 (2.29%) SAML
6 11 (1.48%) OpenTelemetry
7 9 (1.21%) Spring Boot
8 7 (0.94%) OAuth
8 7 (0.94%) OAuth2
9 6 (0.81%) LangChain
9 6 (0.81%) PyTorch
9 6 (0.81%) scikit-learn
10 5 (0.67%) OpenID
11 4 (0.54%) Elastic Stack
11 4 (0.54%) JSON
11 4 (0.54%) REST
11 4 (0.54%) YAML
12 3 (0.40%) .NET
12 3 (0.40%) ARM Templates
13 2 (0.27%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 201 (27.05%) Data Centre
2 44 (5.92%) Security Posture
3 43 (5.79%) Cloud Native
4 40 (5.38%) PKI
5 34 (4.58%) Hybrid Cloud
6 28 (3.77%) Clustering
6 28 (3.77%) Operational Technology
7 23 (3.10%) Onboarding
8 18 (2.42%) IoT
9 16 (2.15%) Public Cloud
9 16 (2.15%) SCADA
10 15 (2.02%) Management Information System
10 15 (2.02%) Self-Motivation
11 13 (1.75%) BYOD
11 13 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
12 12 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
12 12 (1.62%) NHS
13 11 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
13 11 (1.48%) Driving Licence
14 10 (1.35%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 196 (26.38%) Windows
2 114 (15.34%) Linux
3 70 (9.42%) Windows Server
4 25 (3.36%) Unix
5 15 (2.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.35%) Solaris
7 9 (1.21%) AIX
8 7 (0.94%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.81%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.67%) Mac OS
11 4 (0.54%) CatOS
11 4 (0.54%) Windows 7
11 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.40%) VMS
13 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.27%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.27%) Ubuntu
13 2 (0.27%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.13%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (15.07%) Cybersecurity
1 112 (15.07%) DevOps
2 109 (14.67%) Load Balancing
3 104 (14.00%) High Availability
4 103 (13.86%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 102 (13.73%) CI/CD
6 96 (12.92%) Problem-Solving
7 95 (12.79%) ITIL
8 86 (11.57%) Infrastructure as Code
9 77 (10.36%) Zero Trust
10 65 (8.75%) Agile
10 65 (8.75%) Migration
11 63 (8.48%) Change Management
11 63 (8.48%) Observability
12 62 (8.34%) Network Segmentation
13 61 (8.21%) Technical Leadership
14 55 (7.40%) Identity Access Management
14 55 (7.40%) SIEM
15 54 (7.27%) Network Monitoring
15 54 (7.27%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 89 (11.98%) Python
2 66 (8.88%) PowerShell
3 37 (4.98%) SQL
4 35 (4.71%) Bash
5 28 (3.77%) Bicep
6 22 (2.96%) Java
7 9 (1.21%) COBOL
8 8 (1.08%) Rust
9 5 (0.67%) Perl
10 4 (0.54%) C#
10 4 (0.54%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.40%) Go
11 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.40%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.27%) C++
12 2 (0.27%) Jython
12 2 (0.27%) Ruby
13 1 (0.13%) C
13 1 (0.13%) Groovy
13 1 (0.13%) Korn
Qualifications
1 312 (41.99%) Security Cleared
2 218 (29.34%) SC Cleared
3 174 (23.42%) Cisco Certification
4 131 (17.63%) CCNP
5 88 (11.84%) CCNA
6 75 (10.09%) DV Cleared
7 69 (9.29%) Degree
8 29 (3.90%) CISSP
9 20 (2.69%) AWS Certification
10 19 (2.56%) Azure Certification
11 17 (2.29%) Network+ Certification
12 16 (2.15%) CHECK Team Member
13 15 (2.02%) CCIE
13 15 (2.02%) CISM
13 15 (2.02%) JNCIS
14 14 (1.88%) CREST Certified
14 14 (1.88%) Cyber Scheme
15 13 (1.75%) Microsoft Certification
15 13 (1.75%) Postgraduate
16 12 (1.62%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (6.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.31%) GDPR
3 26 (3.50%) NIST
4 25 (3.36%) PCI DSS
5 19 (2.56%) QA
6 18 (2.42%) NCSC
7 17 (2.29%) Cyber Essentials
8 16 (2.15%) SLA
9 12 (1.62%) PMO
10 7 (0.94%) Disclosure Scotland
11 6 (0.81%) Data Quality
12 4 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.54%) JSP 440
12 4 (0.54%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.40%) ISA99
13 3 (0.40%) RMADS
14 2 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
14 2 (0.27%) GRC
14 2 (0.27%) GxP
15 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 132 (17.77%) Active Directory
2 100 (13.46%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (5.11%) Docker
4 37 (4.98%) VMware NSX
5 27 (3.63%) vSphere
6 21 (2.83%) Hyper-V
7 15 (2.02%) Firmware
8 14 (1.88%) VMware ESXi
9 13 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
10 8 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.40%) DFS Replication
12 2 (0.27%) KVM
13 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
13 1 (0.13%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 1 (0.13%) iptables
13 1 (0.13%) RHEV
13 1 (0.13%) Squid
13 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.13%) Xen
13 1 (0.13%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 98 (13.19%) Terraform
2 79 (10.63%) Ansible
3 48 (6.46%) FortiGate
4 47 (6.33%) Kubernetes
5 25 (3.36%) Grafana
6 18 (2.42%) Nmap
6 18 (2.42%) Prometheus
6 18 (2.42%) Single Sign-On
7 15 (2.02%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (2.02%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.88%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 12 (1.62%) Nagios
10 11 (1.48%) CASB
11 9 (1.21%) Cisco Prime
11 9 (1.21%) Kiali
12 8 (1.08%) Nessus
12 8 (1.08%) SCCM
13 7 (0.94%) VxRail
14 6 (0.81%) Progress Chef
15 5 (0.67%) Endace
Vendors
1 300 (40.38%) Cisco
2 161 (21.67%) Palo Alto
3 136 (18.30%) VMware
4 133 (17.90%) Microsoft
5 102 (13.73%) F5
6 91 (12.25%) Juniper
7 73 (9.83%) Fortinet
8 72 (9.69%) CheckPoint
9 65 (8.75%) Aruba
10 63 (8.48%) SolarWinds
10 63 (8.48%) Splunk
11 43 (5.79%) ServiceNow
12 28 (3.77%) Google
13 26 (3.50%) Extreme Networks
13 26 (3.50%) Meraki
14 23 (3.10%) Arista
15 20 (2.69%) Veeam
16 17 (2.29%) Oracle
17 16 (2.15%) Citrix
17 16 (2.15%) Red Hat