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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 78 49 41
Rank change year-on-year -29 -8 -5
Contract jobs citing Firewall 803 696 758
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.92% 4.54% 4.17%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 27.29% 32.89% 27.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 517 406 476
10th Percentile £350 £322 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £513
Median % change year-on-year +2.15% -4.49% +7.89%
75th Percentile £595 £588 £608
90th Percentile £651 £641 £725
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 26 23
10th Percentile £28.90 £14.20 £19.28
25th Percentile £44.86 £15.18 £23.92
Median hourly rate £65.57 £30.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +118.57% -36.84% -28.03%
75th Percentile £82.04 £61.25 £85.45
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £87.46
UK median hourly rate £65.45 £30.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +118.17% +9.09% -58.33%

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 2,943 2,116 2,779
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.69% 13.81% 15.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,652 1,278 1,623
10th Percentile £213 £204 £207
25th Percentile £363 £325 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.68% -5.00% +9.89%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £640 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 313 139 270
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.50 £20.38 £21.28
Median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -42.22% -18.00% -2.86%
75th Percentile £65.00 £66.13 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £87.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £49.50
% change year-on-year -43.78% -6.57% -10.00%

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 20 August 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 20 August 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 20 August 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 -7 287 £500 +3.09% 63
South East -38 208 £520 +4.00% 141
North West +7 185 £525 +10.53% 32
South West -24 85 £550 +8.64% 39
Yorkshire -38 83 £450 -7.22% 19
East of England -2 78 £525 -4.55% 38
Midlands -80 72 £468 -1.47% 67
Scotland +2 63 £400 -13.51% 11
West Midlands -82 55 £450 -5.26% 46
North East -16 25 £563 -2.17% 14
Wales -15 17 £425 +61.90% 6
East Midlands -21 15 £500 +6.16% 21
Northern Ireland -4 1 - - 1
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 21 (2.62%) Microsoft Exchange
2 16 (1.99%) Confluence
3 11 (1.37%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.25%) Apache
5 9 (1.12%) nginx
6 8 (1.00%) SAS
7 4 (0.50%) FactoryTalk
7 4 (0.50%) IIS
8 3 (0.37%) CICS
8 3 (0.37%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.37%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.25%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.25%) CMS
9 2 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.25%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.25%) Umbraco
9 2 (0.25%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.25%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.25%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 21 (2.62%) MS Visio
2 11 (1.37%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (0.87%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.62%) Spreadsheet
5 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.25%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.25%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.12%) Oracle Retail
3 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 287 (35.74%) Azure
2 179 (22.29%) AWS
3 80 (9.96%) Entra ID
4 63 (7.85%) Microsoft 365
5 62 (7.72%) GCP
6 40 (4.98%) Azure DevOps
7 32 (3.99%) GitHub
7 32 (3.99%) OCI
7 32 (3.99%) SaaS
8 31 (3.86%) Azure Monitor
9 30 (3.74%) IaaS
10 25 (3.11%) Azure Sentinel
10 25 (3.11%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 25 (3.11%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 23 (2.86%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 18 (2.24%) GitHub Actions
12 18 (2.24%) Serverless
13 16 (1.99%) Amazon EKS
14 15 (1.87%) AWS CloudFormation
14 15 (1.87%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 229 (28.52%) WAN
2 220 (27.40%) DNS
2 220 (27.40%) Network Security
2 220 (27.40%) VPN
3 194 (24.16%) LAN
4 146 (18.18%) DHCP
5 144 (17.93%) BGP
6 134 (16.69%) TCP/IP
7 127 (15.82%) OSPF
8 116 (14.45%) VLAN
9 115 (14.32%) Wireless
10 92 (11.46%) SD-WAN
10 92 (11.46%) Wi-Fi
11 66 (8.22%) BIG-IP
12 61 (7.60%) IPsec
13 56 (6.97%) Cisco ASA
14 53 (6.60%) MPLS
15 50 (6.23%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 50 (6.23%) VXLAN
16 48 (5.98%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (1.74%) SQL Server
2 12 (1.49%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (1.25%) Relational Database
4 7 (0.87%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (0.75%) Data Lake
5 6 (0.75%) NoSQL
5 6 (0.75%) Power BI
6 5 (0.62%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.50%) Delta Lake
7 4 (0.50%) MySQL
8 3 (0.37%) DataStage
9 2 (0.25%) EDRMS
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
10 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.12%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 68 (8.47%) JIRA
2 39 (4.86%) GitLab
3 32 (3.99%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.99%) Git
5 9 (1.12%) Bitbucket
6 8 (1.00%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (0.75%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.62%) Browser DevTools
9 3 (0.37%) Burp Suite
10 2 (0.25%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.25%) Gatling
10 2 (0.25%) Gradle
10 2 (0.25%) Introscope
10 2 (0.25%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.25%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.25%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.25%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.12%) Ant
11 1 (0.12%) MSI
General
1 176 (21.92%) Social Skills
2 85 (10.59%) Analytical Skills
3 81 (10.09%) Finance
4 70 (8.72%) Public Sector
5 34 (4.23%) Banking
6 29 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (2.99%) Telecoms
8 21 (2.62%) Manufacturing
9 14 (1.74%) Military
10 13 (1.62%) Legal
11 10 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 8 (1.00%) Aerospace
13 8 (1.00%) Police
13 8 (1.00%) Retail
14 5 (0.62%) Financial Institution
14 5 (0.62%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.62%) Law
15 4 (0.50%) Pharmaceutical
16 3 (0.37%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 254 (31.63%) Network Engineer
2 118 (14.69%) Senior
3 111 (13.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 94 (11.71%) Architect
5 55 (6.85%) Security Engineer
6 52 (6.48%) Senior Network Engineer
7 42 (5.23%) Cloud Engineer
8 38 (4.73%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 35 (4.36%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 32 (3.99%) Lead
10 32 (3.99%) Network Architect
11 25 (3.11%) Platform Engineer
12 22 (2.74%) Consultant
13 21 (2.62%) Network Security Engineer
14 20 (2.49%) Technical Architect
15 18 (2.24%) Solutions Architect
16 17 (2.12%) Azure Engineer
17 16 (1.99%) Cisco Engineer
18 15 (1.87%) Cisco Network Engineer
18 15 (1.87%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 171 (21.30%) Terraform
2 36 (4.48%) 802.1X
3 18 (2.24%) ARM Templates
4 17 (2.12%) SAML
5 10 (1.25%) Kafka
5 10 (1.25%) React
6 9 (1.12%) YAML
7 8 (1.00%) Middleware
8 7 (0.87%) LDAP
8 7 (0.87%) OAuth
8 7 (0.87%) OpenID
9 6 (0.75%) LangChain
9 6 (0.75%) OAuth2
9 6 (0.75%) PyTorch
9 6 (0.75%) SailPoint
9 6 (0.75%) scikit-learn
10 5 (0.62%) ModSecurity
10 5 (0.62%) OpenTelemetry
10 5 (0.62%) REST
11 4 (0.50%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 182 (22.67%) Data Centre
2 62 (7.72%) Cloud Native
2 62 (7.72%) PKI
3 61 (7.60%) Hybrid Cloud
4 36 (4.48%) Security Posture
5 34 (4.23%) Operational Technology
6 24 (2.99%) SCADA
7 22 (2.74%) Management Information System
8 21 (2.62%) Onboarding
9 20 (2.49%) Driving Licence
10 19 (2.37%) Enterprise Storage
11 18 (2.24%) Data Protection Act
11 18 (2.24%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (2.12%) Public Cloud
13 15 (1.87%) Clustering
13 15 (1.87%) IoT
14 14 (1.74%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
15 12 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
16 11 (1.37%) Private Cloud
16 11 (1.37%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 221 (27.52%) Windows
2 147 (18.31%) Linux
3 95 (11.83%) Windows Server
4 31 (3.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (1.99%) Unix
6 11 (1.37%) CentOS
6 11 (1.37%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.25%) Ubuntu
8 8 (1.00%) VMS
9 7 (0.87%) Rocky
10 6 (0.75%) Windows 10
11 5 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.50%) Android
12 4 (0.50%) Solaris
12 4 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.37%) AIX
13 3 (0.37%) Apple iOS
13 3 (0.37%) Check Point GAiA
13 3 (0.37%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 152 (18.93%) CI/CD
2 151 (18.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 145 (18.06%) Infrastructure as Code
4 141 (17.56%) DevOps
5 135 (16.81%) Load Balancing
6 128 (15.94%) Cybersecurity
7 123 (15.32%) Problem-Solving
8 115 (14.32%) ITIL
9 107 (13.33%) High Availability
10 98 (12.20%) Agile
11 88 (10.96%) Zero Trust
12 85 (10.59%) Migration
13 83 (10.34%) SIEM
14 79 (9.84%) Technical Leadership
15 77 (9.59%) Change Management
16 71 (8.84%) Network Segmentation
17 69 (8.59%) Project Delivery
17 69 (8.59%) Validation
18 68 (8.47%) Observability
19 66 (8.22%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 157 (19.55%) Python
2 130 (16.19%) PowerShell
3 82 (10.21%) Bash
4 36 (4.48%) Bicep
5 31 (3.86%) SQL
6 25 (3.11%) Java
7 9 (1.12%) ActionScript
8 5 (0.62%) Go
8 5 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.62%) Search Processing Language
9 4 (0.50%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.50%) Perl
9 4 (0.50%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.37%) COBOL
10 3 (0.37%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.25%) Groovy
11 2 (0.25%) Jython
11 2 (0.25%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.25%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.12%) Korn
Qualifications
1 314 (39.10%) Security Cleared
2 202 (25.16%) SC Cleared
3 162 (20.17%) Cisco Certification
4 112 (13.95%) CCNP
5 95 (11.83%) DV Cleared
6 82 (10.21%) CCNA
7 66 (8.22%) Degree
8 47 (5.85%) CISSP
9 42 (5.23%) AWS Certification
10 34 (4.23%) Azure Certification
11 18 (2.24%) CCIE
11 18 (2.24%) Network+ Certification
12 17 (2.12%) Microsoft Certification
13 15 (1.87%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 14 (1.74%) Server+ Certification
15 12 (1.49%) CISM
15 12 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
15 12 (1.49%) VCAP
16 10 (1.25%) JNCIS
16 10 (1.25%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (5.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 35 (4.36%) NIST
3 26 (3.24%) GDPR
4 23 (2.86%) NCSC
5 15 (1.87%) PCI DSS
5 15 (1.87%) QA
6 10 (1.25%) JSP 440
7 9 (1.12%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.00%) Data Quality
8 8 (1.00%) Disclosure Scotland
8 8 (1.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 7 (0.87%) SLA
10 5 (0.62%) GxP
11 4 (0.50%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.50%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 4 (0.50%) SOC 2
12 3 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.37%) ISA99
12 3 (0.37%) NIST 800
System Software
1 152 (18.93%) Active Directory
2 137 (17.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 53 (6.60%) Hyper-V
3 53 (6.60%) VMware NSX
4 45 (5.60%) Docker
5 39 (4.86%) vSphere
6 25 (3.11%) VMware ESXi
7 19 (2.37%) Firmware
8 18 (2.24%) Virtual Machines
9 7 (0.87%) Virtual Desktop
10 4 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
11 3 (0.37%) Dovecot
11 3 (0.37%) FreeRADIUS
11 3 (0.37%) Postfix
11 3 (0.37%) VirtualBox
12 2 (0.25%) BitLocker
12 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 2 (0.25%) Squid
13 1 (0.12%) iptables
13 1 (0.12%) KVM
Systems Management
1 127 (15.82%) Ansible
2 80 (9.96%) Kubernetes
3 42 (5.23%) FortiGate
4 31 (3.86%) Microsoft Intune
5 24 (2.99%) Progress Chef
6 21 (2.62%) Single Sign-On
7 19 (2.37%) Grafana
8 18 (2.24%) Prometheus
9 14 (1.74%) CASB
9 14 (1.74%) VxRail
10 13 (1.62%) vCenter Server
11 12 (1.49%) SCCM
12 9 (1.12%) Argo
13 7 (0.87%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.87%) Istio
13 7 (0.87%) NetBackup
13 7 (0.87%) Packer
14 6 (0.75%) Cisco Prime
15 4 (0.50%) Cisco CUCM
15 4 (0.50%) Nagios
Vendors
1 287 (35.74%) Cisco
2 191 (23.79%) Microsoft
3 170 (21.17%) VMware
4 156 (19.43%) Palo Alto
5 109 (13.57%) F5
6 80 (9.96%) Juniper
7 69 (8.59%) CheckPoint
7 69 (8.59%) Fortinet
8 48 (5.98%) Aruba
8 48 (5.98%) ServiceNow
8 48 (5.98%) SolarWinds
9 44 (5.48%) Splunk
10 39 (4.86%) Google
11 28 (3.49%) Arista
12 25 (3.11%) Red Hat
13 24 (2.99%) Meraki
14 22 (2.74%) Zscaler
15 18 (2.24%) Veeam
16 17 (2.12%) Infoblox
17 16 (1.99%) CyberArk