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

6 months to
19 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 62 39 37
Rank change year-on-year -23 -2 +9
Contract jobs citing Firewall 746 625 936
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.43% 4.92% 4.45%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 29.94% 29.22% 25.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 511 359 588
10th Percentile £313 £300 £286
25th Percentile £411 £396 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £575 £580 £608
90th Percentile £638 £650 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £515 £509
% change year-on-year -2.91% +1.28% -3.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 15 32
10th Percentile £36.35 £14.20 £23.92
25th Percentile £38.27 £22.38 £55.47
Median hourly rate £52.36 £36.65 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +42.88% -49.46% +31.06%
75th Percentile £74.26 £41.74 £85.65
90th Percentile £85.90 £62.25 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £42.71 £36.82 £64.00
% change year-on-year +15.98% -42.46% +15.69%

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 2,492 2,139 3,659
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.46% 16.85% 17.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,595 1,287 2,125
10th Percentile £203 £190 £203
25th Percentile £350 £313 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £473 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -
75th Percentile £575 £580 £588
90th Percentile £657 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £489 £495 £475
% change year-on-year -1.21% +4.21% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 149 120 321
10th Percentile £15.45 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £16.25 £21.00 £17.72
Median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +29.05% -29.16% +148.00%
75th Percentile £66.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.66
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year -2.86% +7.69% +71.05%

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 19 March 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 19 March 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 19 March 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 -26 236 £508 +6.84% 102
South East +8 228 £500 +2.04% 162
North West -14 156 £528 +11.16% 62
Midlands -45 94 £425 -22.73% 59
West Midlands -22 84 £425 -15.00% 29
Yorkshire -22 78 £440 -20.00% 28
South West -42 57 £550 +0.92% 39
Scotland -8 53 £438 - 21
East of England -16 52 £475 -13.64% 59
Wales -19 25 £425 +11.48% 18
East Midlands -56 7 £475 -19.83% 30
North East -12 5 £548 +9.50% 12
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 3
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 15 (2.01%) Confluence
2 10 (1.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.21%) Apache
4 8 (1.07%) CICS
5 6 (0.80%) IIS
5 6 (0.80%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.54%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
7 2 (0.27%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.13%) IBM HTTP Server
8 1 (0.13%) nginx
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 30 (4.02%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (2.28%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (2.01%) MS Visio
4 13 (1.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 214 (28.69%) Azure
2 159 (21.31%) AWS
3 61 (8.18%) GCP
4 55 (7.37%) Entra ID
5 41 (5.50%) Microsoft 365
6 35 (4.69%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 26 (3.49%) GitHub
8 25 (3.35%) Serverless
9 23 (3.08%) AWS CloudFormation
9 23 (3.08%) IaaS
10 22 (2.95%) Azure DevOps
11 21 (2.82%) AWS Lambda
11 21 (2.82%) Azure Sentinel
11 21 (2.82%) PaaS
12 20 (2.68%) Amazon EC2
13 19 (2.55%) Azure Monitor
14 16 (2.14%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 15 (2.01%) Amazon EKS
16 14 (1.88%) Amazon ECS
16 14 (1.88%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 195 (26.14%) Network Security
2 187 (25.07%) WAN
3 165 (22.12%) VPN
4 151 (20.24%) LAN
5 146 (19.57%) DNS
6 125 (16.76%) BGP
7 113 (15.15%) OSPF
8 97 (13.00%) VLAN
9 88 (11.80%) Wireless
10 85 (11.39%) DHCP
11 78 (10.46%) TCP/IP
12 62 (8.31%) SD-WAN
13 60 (8.04%) Cisco ISE
14 54 (7.24%) IPsec
15 51 (6.84%) Wi-Fi
16 48 (6.43%) MPLS
17 44 (5.90%) VXLAN
18 41 (5.50%) Ethernet VPN
19 38 (5.09%) Cisco ASA
20 35 (4.69%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.14%) Amazon RDS
2 12 (1.61%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (1.61%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.07%) DataStage
4 6 (0.80%) 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%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.27%) Amazon QuickSight
7 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.13%) Redis
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 49 (6.57%) JIRA
2 36 (4.83%) Jenkins
3 31 (4.16%) GitLab
4 29 (3.89%) Git
5 20 (2.68%) Sonatype Nexus
6 16 (2.14%) Burp Suite
6 16 (2.14%) Metasploit
7 11 (1.47%) Bitbucket
8 8 (1.07%) Jaeger
9 4 (0.54%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.40%) Chocolatey
11 2 (0.27%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.13%) Introscope
12 1 (0.13%) MSI
12 1 (0.13%) Subversion
12 1 (0.13%) Travis CI
General
1 210 (28.15%) Social Skills
2 85 (11.39%) Finance
3 70 (9.38%) Public Sector
4 68 (9.12%) Analytical Skills
5 57 (7.64%) Documentation Skills
6 27 (3.62%) Banking
7 19 (2.55%) Manufacturing
8 18 (2.41%) Legal
8 18 (2.41%) Telecoms
9 15 (2.01%) Influencing Skills
10 10 (1.34%) Financial Institution
11 9 (1.21%) Military
12 8 (1.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (0.94%) Aerospace
13 7 (0.94%) Law
14 6 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
15 5 (0.67%) Organisational Skills
15 5 (0.67%) Retail
16 3 (0.40%) Electronics
16 3 (0.40%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 237 (31.77%) Network Engineer
2 116 (15.55%) Architect
3 74 (9.92%) Senior
4 57 (7.64%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 56 (7.51%) Security Engineer
6 50 (6.70%) Network Architect
7 42 (5.63%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 29 (3.89%) Senior Network Engineer
9 26 (3.49%) Cloud Engineer
10 25 (3.35%) Analyst
10 25 (3.35%) IT Support
11 24 (3.22%) Cisco Engineer
11 24 (3.22%) Platform Engineer
12 23 (3.08%) Security Architect
13 21 (2.82%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 21 (2.82%) IT Engineer
14 20 (2.68%) DevOps Engineer
14 20 (2.68%) Solutions Architect
15 19 (2.55%) Network Specialist
15 19 (2.55%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (8.04%) 802.1X
2 22 (2.95%) LDAP
2 22 (2.95%) SAML
3 19 (2.55%) Middleware
4 17 (2.28%) Kafka
4 17 (2.28%) OAuth
4 17 (2.28%) OAuth2
5 15 (2.01%) OpenID
6 10 (1.34%) Node.js
6 10 (1.34%) OpenTelemetry
7 8 (1.07%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.80%) JSON
8 6 (0.80%) LangChain
8 6 (0.80%) PyTorch
8 6 (0.80%) scikit-learn
9 5 (0.67%) REST
9 5 (0.67%) YAML
10 4 (0.54%) ARM Templates
11 3 (0.40%) Lambda Expressions
11 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 175 (23.46%) Data Centre
2 56 (7.51%) Security Posture
3 49 (6.57%) PKI
4 39 (5.23%) Cloud Native
5 27 (3.62%) Operational Technology
6 24 (3.22%) Hybrid Cloud
6 24 (3.22%) Onboarding
7 23 (3.08%) Clustering
8 18 (2.41%) NHS
9 17 (2.28%) IoT
10 15 (2.01%) Management Information System
11 14 (1.88%) Security Operations Centre
12 13 (1.74%) Product Ownership
13 12 (1.61%) BYOD
13 12 (1.61%) Private Cloud
13 12 (1.61%) Public Cloud
13 12 (1.61%) SCADA
14 11 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
15 10 (1.34%) Cyber Threat
15 10 (1.34%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 219 (29.36%) Windows
2 146 (19.57%) Linux
3 87 (11.66%) Windows Server
4 24 (3.22%) Unix
5 21 (2.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (1.21%) Solaris
6 9 (1.21%) Windows 7
7 8 (1.07%) AIX
8 7 (0.94%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.67%) VMS
9 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.40%) Amazon Linux
11 3 (0.40%) CatOS
11 3 (0.40%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.27%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.13%) Apple iOS
13 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
13 1 (0.13%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (18.36%) Cybersecurity
2 117 (15.68%) Problem-Solving
3 107 (14.34%) DevOps
4 97 (13.00%) CI/CD
5 93 (12.47%) Load Balancing
6 91 (12.20%) High Availability
7 89 (11.93%) ITIL
8 87 (11.66%) Infrastructure as Code
9 80 (10.72%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 66 (8.85%) SIEM
10 66 (8.85%) Zero Trust
11 64 (8.58%) Agile
12 63 (8.45%) Identity Access Management
13 62 (8.31%) Change Management
13 62 (8.31%) Cloud Security
14 61 (8.18%) Network Segmentation
14 61 (8.18%) Observability
15 59 (7.91%) Technical Leadership
16 58 (7.77%) Incident Response
16 58 (7.77%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 117 (15.68%) Python
2 107 (14.34%) PowerShell
3 58 (7.77%) Bash
4 32 (4.29%) SQL
5 28 (3.75%) Java
6 24 (3.22%) Bicep
7 22 (2.95%) Perl
8 10 (1.34%) Ruby
9 8 (1.07%) COBOL
9 8 (1.07%) Rust
10 4 (0.54%) C#
11 3 (0.40%) Go
11 3 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.40%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.27%) C++
12 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.13%) Jython
13 1 (0.13%) Korn
13 1 (0.13%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 310 (41.55%) Security Cleared
2 198 (26.54%) SC Cleared
3 157 (21.05%) Cisco Certification
4 127 (17.02%) CCNP
5 91 (12.20%) DV Cleared
6 78 (10.46%) CCNA
7 69 (9.25%) Degree
8 42 (5.63%) CISSP
9 33 (4.42%) AWS Certification
10 29 (3.89%) Microsoft Certification
11 24 (3.22%) Azure Certification
12 21 (2.82%) CCIE
13 20 (2.68%) CISM
14 17 (2.28%) JNCIS
15 16 (2.14%) CHECK Team Member
16 14 (1.88%) CREST Certified
16 14 (1.88%) Cyber Scheme
16 14 (1.88%) JNCIA
16 14 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
17 13 (1.74%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 66 (8.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 46 (6.17%) NIST
3 41 (5.50%) GDPR
4 34 (4.56%) PCI DSS
5 22 (2.95%) NCSC
6 21 (2.82%) Cyber Essentials
7 15 (2.01%) QA
7 15 (2.01%) SLA
8 12 (1.61%) PMO
9 4 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 4 (0.54%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.40%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.40%) GRC
11 2 (0.27%) COBIT
11 2 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.27%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.27%) PSD2
11 2 (0.27%) RMADS
11 2 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 150 (20.11%) Active Directory
2 111 (14.88%) VMware Infrastructure
3 68 (9.12%) Docker
4 33 (4.42%) VMware NSX
4 33 (4.42%) vSphere
5 24 (3.22%) Hyper-V
6 12 (1.61%) VMware ESXi
7 11 (1.47%) Firmware
8 8 (1.07%) Virtual Desktop
9 7 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
10 6 (0.80%) Virtual Servers
11 3 (0.40%) DFS Replication
12 1 (0.13%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.13%) KVM
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) RHEV
12 1 (0.13%) UAG
12 1 (0.13%) Xen
12 1 (0.13%) XenApp
12 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 104 (13.94%) Terraform
2 71 (9.52%) Kubernetes
3 66 (8.85%) Ansible
4 42 (5.63%) FortiGate
5 27 (3.62%) Single Sign-On
6 25 (3.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 24 (3.22%) Microsoft Intune
8 22 (2.95%) Grafana
9 20 (2.68%) vCenter Server
10 18 (2.41%) Nmap
11 16 (2.14%) Prometheus
12 12 (1.61%) SCCM
13 10 (1.34%) Nagios
14 9 (1.21%) CASB
14 9 (1.21%) WMI
15 8 (1.07%) Kiali
15 8 (1.07%) Nessus
16 7 (0.94%) VxRail
17 6 (0.80%) Cisco Prime
18 5 (0.67%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 276 (37.00%) Cisco
2 160 (21.45%) Microsoft
3 152 (20.38%) Palo Alto
4 145 (19.44%) VMware
5 84 (11.26%) Juniper
6 82 (10.99%) F5
7 68 (9.12%) CheckPoint
8 65 (8.71%) Fortinet
9 61 (8.18%) Splunk
10 58 (7.77%) SolarWinds
11 55 (7.37%) Aruba
12 40 (5.36%) Google
13 39 (5.23%) Meraki
14 32 (4.29%) ServiceNow
15 24 (3.22%) Red Hat
16 22 (2.95%) Oracle
17 21 (2.82%) Extreme Networks
18 19 (2.55%) Citrix
19 15 (2.01%) Veeam
20 13 (1.74%) IBM