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

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 52 43
Rank change year-on-year -36 -9 -12
Contract jobs citing Firewall 758 664 752
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.69% 4.31% 4.30%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 25.62% 32.20% 29.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 483 402 437
10th Percentile £350 £293 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% +2.88%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £606
90th Percentile £675 £650 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 23 22
10th Percentile £31.25 £15.17 £20.00
25th Percentile £48.93 £27.00 £20.05
Median hourly rate £66.35 £30.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +121.15% +9.09% -58.32%
75th Percentile £71.22 £55.25 £70.94
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £76.82
UK median hourly rate £67.47 £30.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +124.90% +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 2,959 2,062 2,523
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.49% 13.38% 14.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,623 1,310 1,373
10th Percentile £213 £200 £205
25th Percentile £355 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £488
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -7.69% +5.41%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £640 £663
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 352 133 179
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.36 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.50 £22.33
Median hourly rate £28.50 £42.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -32.94% -25.89% -0.26%
75th Percentile £66.28 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £81.08 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £34.28 £42.50 £50.50
% change year-on-year -19.34% -15.84% -10.53%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 -1 281 £500 +5.26% 121
North West +10 162 £511 +7.47% 75
South East -58 162 £519 +3.75% 167
Yorkshire -25 97 £490 +0.10% 34
South West -7 90 £556 +15.73% 91
Midlands -65 88 £475 - 91
East of England -4 74 £593 +14.13% 49
West Midlands -75 66 £450 -5.26% 60
Scotland -20 63 £400 -13.51% 30
North East -14 29 £500 -13.04% 14
East Midlands -11 21 £500 +6.16% 31
Wales -21 4 £608 +203.75% 9
Channel Islands -5 2 £600 -17.24% 1
Northern Ireland -11 1 - - 17
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 26 (3.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 21 (2.77%) Confluence
3 15 (1.98%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.32%) Apache
5 9 (1.19%) nginx
6 8 (1.06%) SAS
7 4 (0.53%) FactoryTalk
7 4 (0.53%) IIS
8 3 (0.40%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.26%) CMS
9 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
10 1 (0.13%) CICS
Applications
1 20 (2.64%) MS Visio
2 8 (1.06%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.66%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (0.66%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.26%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.26%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 270 (35.62%) Azure
2 165 (21.77%) AWS
3 88 (11.61%) Entra ID
4 70 (9.23%) Microsoft 365
5 68 (8.97%) GCP
6 46 (6.07%) IaaS
7 39 (5.15%) SaaS
8 38 (5.01%) Azure DevOps
9 35 (4.62%) GitHub
10 34 (4.49%) Azure Monitor
10 34 (4.49%) OCI
11 23 (3.03%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 22 (2.90%) Azure Sentinel
13 21 (2.77%) PaaS
14 19 (2.51%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 15 (1.98%) Azure AKS
15 15 (1.98%) Serverless
15 15 (1.98%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 14 (1.85%) Amazon EKS
16 14 (1.85%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 229 (30.21%) DNS
2 219 (28.89%) VPN
3 218 (28.76%) Network Security
4 198 (26.12%) WAN
5 167 (22.03%) LAN
6 147 (19.39%) DHCP
7 131 (17.28%) TCP/IP
8 128 (16.89%) BGP
9 118 (15.57%) Wireless
10 113 (14.91%) VLAN
11 108 (14.25%) OSPF
12 81 (10.69%) Wi-Fi
13 80 (10.55%) SD-WAN
14 60 (7.92%) BIG-IP
15 54 (7.12%) Cisco ASA
16 52 (6.86%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 50 (6.60%) IPsec
18 48 (6.33%) SSL
19 46 (6.07%) Cisco Nexus
20 44 (5.80%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.24%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.72%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.32%) Data Lake
4 9 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
5 8 (1.06%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.53%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.40%) EDRMS
7 3 (0.40%) MySQL
8 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.13%) DataStage
9 1 (0.13%) Delta Lake
9 1 (0.13%) Power BI
9 1 (0.13%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 62 (8.18%) JIRA
2 36 (4.75%) Jenkins
3 35 (4.62%) GitLab
4 16 (2.11%) Git
5 9 (1.19%) Bitbucket
5 9 (1.19%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.79%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.53%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
8 3 (0.40%) Maven
9 2 (0.26%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.26%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.26%) Gatling
9 2 (0.26%) Gradle
9 2 (0.26%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.26%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
10 1 (0.13%) Postman
10 1 (0.13%) Snyk
General
1 182 (24.01%) Social Skills
2 86 (11.35%) Analytical Skills
3 83 (10.95%) Finance
4 53 (6.99%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.88%) Banking
6 30 (3.96%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.56%) Manufacturing
8 26 (3.43%) Telecoms
9 16 (2.11%) Legal
10 14 (1.85%) Military
11 11 (1.45%) Aerospace
11 11 (1.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 8 (1.06%) Retail
13 7 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (0.92%) Police
14 4 (0.53%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.53%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.53%) Law
14 4 (0.53%) Pharmaceutical
15 3 (0.40%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 239 (31.53%) Network Engineer
2 124 (16.36%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 115 (15.17%) Senior
4 76 (10.03%) Architect
5 59 (7.78%) Security Engineer
6 50 (6.60%) Senior Network Engineer
7 42 (5.54%) Cloud Engineer
8 36 (4.75%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 35 (4.62%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 28 (3.69%) Lead
11 27 (3.56%) Network Security Engineer
12 26 (3.43%) Platform Engineer
13 24 (3.17%) Network Architect
14 22 (2.90%) Azure Engineer
15 21 (2.77%) Consultant
16 20 (2.64%) Solutions Architect
17 19 (2.51%) Technical Architect
18 17 (2.24%) Developer
19 16 (2.11%) DevOps Engineer
19 16 (2.11%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 169 (22.30%) Terraform
2 24 (3.17%) 802.1X
3 21 (2.77%) ARM Templates
4 15 (1.98%) SAML
5 11 (1.45%) YAML
6 10 (1.32%) React
7 9 (1.19%) REST
8 7 (0.92%) ModSecurity
8 7 (0.92%) OAuth
8 7 (0.92%) OpenID
9 6 (0.79%) LDAP
9 6 (0.79%) OAuth2
9 6 (0.79%) SailPoint
10 5 (0.66%) Azure Blueprints
10 5 (0.66%) gRPC
10 5 (0.66%) Kafka
10 5 (0.66%) OpenTelemetry
11 4 (0.53%) HTML
11 4 (0.53%) Redfish
11 4 (0.53%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 174 (22.96%) Data Centre
2 63 (8.31%) Hybrid Cloud
3 55 (7.26%) PKI
4 50 (6.60%) Cloud Native
5 39 (5.15%) Security Posture
6 33 (4.35%) Operational Technology
7 28 (3.69%) Public Cloud
8 26 (3.43%) Management Information System
8 26 (3.43%) Onboarding
9 23 (3.03%) Self-Motivation
10 20 (2.64%) Driving Licence
11 18 (2.37%) SCADA
12 17 (2.24%) Data Protection Act
13 16 (2.11%) Enterprise Storage
14 15 (1.98%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
15 13 (1.72%) Linux Command Line
16 12 (1.58%) Enterprise Software
17 11 (1.45%) Cyber Threat
17 11 (1.45%) Replication
18 9 (1.19%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 215 (28.36%) Windows
2 149 (19.66%) Linux
3 103 (13.59%) Windows Server
4 33 (4.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (1.98%) Unix
6 13 (1.72%) CentOS
7 12 (1.58%) Mac OS
7 12 (1.58%) Ubuntu
8 10 (1.32%) VMS
9 9 (1.19%) Windows 10
10 7 (0.92%) Rocky
11 5 (0.66%) Android
11 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.53%) Apple iOS
13 3 (0.40%) Check Point GAiA
14 2 (0.26%) SUSE
14 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2003
15 1 (0.13%) AIX
15 1 (0.13%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 175 (23.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 165 (21.77%) CI/CD
3 160 (21.11%) Infrastructure as Code
4 142 (18.73%) DevOps
5 136 (17.94%) Cybersecurity
6 132 (17.41%) Problem-Solving
7 127 (16.75%) Load Balancing
8 101 (13.32%) Agile
9 98 (12.93%) ITIL
10 91 (12.01%) Migration
11 81 (10.69%) Zero Trust
12 80 (10.55%) High Availability
12 80 (10.55%) SIEM
13 75 (9.89%) Technical Leadership
14 73 (9.63%) Stakeholder Management
15 71 (9.37%) Project Delivery
16 67 (8.84%) Continuous Improvement
16 67 (8.84%) Validation
17 65 (8.58%) Change Management
18 63 (8.31%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 162 (21.37%) Python
2 138 (18.21%) PowerShell
3 81 (10.69%) Bash
4 31 (4.09%) Bicep
5 30 (3.96%) Java
6 25 (3.30%) SQL
7 17 (2.24%) ActionScript
8 5 (0.66%) Go
8 5 (0.66%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.66%) Search Processing Language
8 5 (0.66%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.53%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.53%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.40%) Groovy
11 2 (0.26%) C
11 2 (0.26%) Perl
11 2 (0.26%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.13%) C++
12 1 (0.13%) COBOL
12 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 299 (39.45%) Security Cleared
2 189 (24.93%) SC Cleared
3 145 (19.13%) Cisco Certification
4 101 (13.32%) CCNP
5 100 (13.19%) DV Cleared
6 65 (8.58%) CCNA
7 57 (7.52%) Degree
8 44 (5.80%) CISSP
9 36 (4.75%) AWS Certification
10 34 (4.49%) Azure Certification
11 20 (2.64%) CCIE
12 19 (2.51%) Microsoft Certification
13 14 (1.85%) Network+ Certification
13 14 (1.85%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 12 (1.58%) VCAP
15 11 (1.45%) CISM
15 11 (1.45%) Server+ Certification
16 10 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
17 9 (1.19%) CEH
18 7 (0.92%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (5.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 37 (4.88%) NIST
3 22 (2.90%) NCSC
4 20 (2.64%) GDPR
5 16 (2.11%) PCI DSS
6 15 (1.98%) QA
7 9 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
7 9 (1.19%) JSP 440
7 9 (1.19%) SLA
8 8 (1.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 6 (0.79%) NIST 800
10 5 (0.66%) Data Quality
10 5 (0.66%) Disclosure Scotland
11 4 (0.53%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.53%) GxP
11 4 (0.53%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 2 (0.26%) GRC
13 2 (0.26%) SOC 2
14 1 (0.13%) ITGC
System Software
1 148 (19.53%) Active Directory
2 137 (18.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 60 (7.92%) Hyper-V
4 47 (6.20%) VMware NSX
4 47 (6.20%) vSphere
5 46 (6.07%) Docker
6 32 (4.22%) VMware ESXi
7 19 (2.51%) Virtual Machines
8 17 (2.24%) Firmware
9 8 (1.06%) Virtual Servers
10 7 (0.92%) Virtual Desktop
11 5 (0.66%) FreeRADIUS
12 3 (0.40%) Dovecot
12 3 (0.40%) Postfix
12 3 (0.40%) VirtualBox
13 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
13 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 1 (0.13%) iptables
14 1 (0.13%) KVM
14 1 (0.13%) Squid
Systems Management
1 133 (17.55%) Ansible
2 85 (11.21%) Kubernetes
3 33 (4.35%) FortiGate
4 31 (4.09%) Microsoft Intune
5 27 (3.56%) Progress Chef
6 21 (2.77%) Grafana
7 20 (2.64%) Single Sign-On
8 19 (2.51%) Prometheus
9 18 (2.37%) VxRail
10 14 (1.85%) SCCM
11 13 (1.72%) vCenter Server
12 12 (1.58%) CASB
13 9 (1.19%) Argo
14 8 (1.06%) Istio
15 7 (0.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 7 (0.92%) Nagios
15 7 (0.92%) NetBackup
15 7 (0.92%) Packer
16 4 (0.53%) Dell DRAC
16 4 (0.53%) Nessus
Vendors
1 274 (36.15%) Cisco
2 199 (26.25%) Microsoft
3 168 (22.16%) VMware
4 161 (21.24%) Palo Alto
5 106 (13.98%) F5
6 70 (9.23%) Fortinet
6 70 (9.23%) Juniper
7 66 (8.71%) CheckPoint
8 43 (5.67%) SolarWinds
9 41 (5.41%) Aruba
10 38 (5.01%) ServiceNow
11 36 (4.75%) Google
12 33 (4.35%) Splunk
13 32 (4.22%) Meraki
14 29 (3.83%) Arista
15 23 (3.03%) Red Hat
15 23 (3.03%) Veeam
15 23 (3.03%) Zscaler
16 16 (2.11%) NetApp
17 15 (1.98%) Citrix