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

6 months to
2 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 75 41 41
Rank change year-on-year -34 0 -5
Contract jobs citing Firewall 813 718 770
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.98% 4.71% 4.16%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 27.96% 33.26% 27.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 532 409 480
10th Percentile £350 £302 £300
25th Percentile £413 £406 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -7.14% +9.31%
75th Percentile £594 £585 £613
90th Percentile £650 £639 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 25 25
10th Percentile £28.50 £14.20 £20.06
25th Percentile £39.44 £15.13 £23.92
Median hourly rate £65.23 £30.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +117.42% -50.00% -6.96%
75th Percentile £79.14 £43.25 £85.65
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £87.46
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £30.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +116.67% +9.09% -57.36%

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 2,908 2,159 2,790
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.67% 14.16% 15.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,641 1,301 1,640
10th Percentile £225 £200 £205
25th Percentile £373 £325 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +8.70%
75th Percentile £586 £575 £607
90th Percentile £650 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 294 136 284
10th Percentile £15.83 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £19.45 £18.27
Median hourly rate £26.69 £45.00 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -40.69% -18.00% -4.57%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.17 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £87.75 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.66 £50.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -46.68% +5.26% -5.00%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 -14 287 £500 +5.26% 91
South East -30 225 £520 +4.00% 148
North West -4 186 £525 +10.53% 46
Yorkshire -40 85 £450 -7.22% 36
South West -38 76 £550 +11.39% 55
Midlands -70 76 £459 -3.37% 65
East of England -1 73 £525 -2.78% 27
Scotland +13 66 £413 -13.16% 21
West Midlands -76 60 £450 -5.26% 39
North East -18 22 £625 - 13
Wales -17 17 £425 +17.24% 10
East Midlands -22 13 £488 -0.91% 26
Northern Ireland -6 1 - - 8
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 16 (1.97%) Microsoft Exchange
2 15 (1.85%) Confluence
3 9 (1.11%) Apache
3 9 (1.11%) SharePoint
4 8 (0.98%) CICS
4 8 (0.98%) nginx
5 4 (0.49%) FactoryTalk
6 3 (0.37%) IIS
6 3 (0.37%) SAS
6 3 (0.37%) Skype for Business
6 3 (0.37%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.25%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.25%) CMS
7 2 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.25%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.25%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.25%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.25%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.25%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Pulsar
Applications
1 20 (2.46%) MS Visio
2 14 (1.72%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (0.86%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.25%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.25%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.12%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 271 (33.33%) Azure
2 168 (20.66%) AWS
3 73 (8.98%) Entra ID
4 64 (7.87%) GCP
5 57 (7.01%) Microsoft 365
6 37 (4.55%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (4.06%) GitHub
8 31 (3.81%) OCI
9 28 (3.44%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 27 (3.32%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 27 (3.32%) SaaS
11 26 (3.20%) IaaS
12 24 (2.95%) Azure Monitor
12 24 (2.95%) Azure Sentinel
13 20 (2.46%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 16 (1.97%) GitHub Actions
15 15 (1.85%) AWS CloudFormation
15 15 (1.85%) Serverless
16 13 (1.60%) Azure AKS
17 12 (1.48%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 242 (29.77%) WAN
2 218 (26.81%) VPN
3 214 (26.32%) Network Security
4 208 (25.58%) DNS
5 205 (25.22%) LAN
6 154 (18.94%) BGP
7 136 (16.73%) OSPF
8 134 (16.48%) DHCP
9 122 (15.01%) TCP/IP
10 119 (14.64%) Wireless
11 116 (14.27%) VLAN
12 93 (11.44%) SD-WAN
13 88 (10.82%) Wi-Fi
14 79 (9.72%) BIG-IP
15 64 (7.87%) IPsec
15 64 (7.87%) VXLAN
16 58 (7.13%) MPLS
17 57 (7.01%) Ethernet VPN
18 55 (6.77%) SSL
19 53 (6.52%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.60%) SQL Server
2 12 (1.48%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (1.11%) Relational Database
4 8 (0.98%) DataStage
5 7 (0.86%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (0.74%) Power BI
7 5 (0.62%) Data Lake
7 5 (0.62%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.49%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.49%) Delta Lake
8 4 (0.49%) MySQL
8 4 (0.49%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.12%) EDRMS
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.12%) Redis
9 1 (0.12%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 68 (8.36%) JIRA
2 32 (3.94%) GitLab
3 31 (3.81%) Jenkins
4 17 (2.09%) Git
5 10 (1.23%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (0.86%) Bitbucket
7 5 (0.62%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (0.62%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.49%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.25%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.25%) Gatling
9 2 (0.25%) Gradle
9 2 (0.25%) Introscope
9 2 (0.25%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.25%) Metasploit
9 2 (0.25%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.25%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.25%) Team Foundation Server
10 1 (0.12%) Ant
General
1 171 (21.03%) Social Skills
2 81 (9.96%) Finance
3 74 (9.10%) Analytical Skills
4 69 (8.49%) Public Sector
5 33 (4.06%) Documentation Skills
6 28 (3.44%) Banking
7 25 (3.08%) Telecoms
8 19 (2.34%) Manufacturing
9 18 (2.21%) Military
10 14 (1.72%) Legal
11 11 (1.35%) Influencing Skills
12 10 (1.23%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (0.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.86%) Police
14 7 (0.86%) Retail
15 6 (0.74%) Law
16 4 (0.49%) Financial Institution
16 4 (0.49%) Pharmaceutical
17 3 (0.37%) Advertising
17 3 (0.37%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 264 (32.47%) Network Engineer
2 114 (14.02%) Senior
3 106 (13.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 98 (12.05%) Architect
5 61 (7.50%) Security Engineer
6 53 (6.52%) Senior Network Engineer
7 41 (5.04%) Cloud Engineer
8 38 (4.67%) Network Architect
8 38 (4.67%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 32 (3.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 31 (3.81%) Lead
11 24 (2.95%) Consultant
12 23 (2.83%) Network Security Engineer
13 20 (2.46%) Platform Engineer
13 20 (2.46%) Technical Architect
14 19 (2.34%) Designer
14 19 (2.34%) Network Specialist
15 18 (2.21%) Firewall Specialist
16 17 (2.09%) Analyst
16 17 (2.09%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (6.64%) 802.1X
2 16 (1.97%) SAML
3 15 (1.85%) ARM Templates
4 12 (1.48%) LDAP
5 11 (1.35%) Middleware
6 10 (1.23%) Kafka
7 9 (1.11%) LangChain
7 9 (1.11%) PyTorch
7 9 (1.11%) React
7 9 (1.11%) scikit-learn
8 7 (0.86%) OAuth
8 7 (0.86%) YAML
9 6 (0.74%) OAuth2
9 6 (0.74%) SailPoint
10 5 (0.62%) OpenID
10 5 (0.62%) OpenTelemetry
11 4 (0.49%) CSS
11 4 (0.49%) HTML
11 4 (0.49%) ModSecurity
11 4 (0.49%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 200 (24.60%) Data Centre
2 68 (8.36%) Cloud Native
3 67 (8.24%) PKI
4 57 (7.01%) Hybrid Cloud
5 46 (5.66%) Security Posture
6 37 (4.55%) Operational Technology
7 29 (3.57%) Clustering
8 23 (2.83%) SCADA
9 22 (2.71%) Management Information System
9 22 (2.71%) Onboarding
10 19 (2.34%) Enterprise Storage
11 17 (2.09%) Public Cloud
12 16 (1.97%) Driving Licence
12 16 (1.97%) IoT
13 15 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
13 15 (1.85%) Self-Motivation
14 13 (1.60%) BYOD
15 11 (1.35%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
15 11 (1.35%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.35%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 226 (27.80%) Windows
2 145 (17.84%) Linux
3 82 (10.09%) Windows Server
4 33 (4.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 24 (2.95%) Unix
6 10 (1.23%) CentOS
7 9 (1.11%) Mac OS
7 9 (1.11%) Solaris
7 9 (1.11%) Ubuntu
7 9 (1.11%) VMS
8 8 (0.98%) AIX
9 7 (0.86%) Rocky
10 5 (0.62%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.37%) Check Point GAiA
12 3 (0.37%) Data ONTAP
13 2 (0.25%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.25%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 148 (18.20%) CI/CD
2 143 (17.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 139 (17.10%) Load Balancing
4 136 (16.73%) DevOps
5 128 (15.74%) Infrastructure as Code
6 123 (15.13%) Problem-Solving
7 120 (14.76%) Cybersecurity
8 118 (14.51%) High Availability
9 111 (13.65%) ITIL
10 96 (11.81%) Agile
11 84 (10.33%) SIEM
11 84 (10.33%) Zero Trust
12 82 (10.09%) Migration
13 78 (9.59%) Observability
14 76 (9.35%) Change Management
15 70 (8.61%) Roadmaps
15 70 (8.61%) Technical Leadership
15 70 (8.61%) Validation
16 68 (8.36%) Project Delivery
17 65 (8.00%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 146 (17.96%) Python
2 104 (12.79%) PowerShell
3 72 (8.86%) Bash
4 34 (4.18%) Bicep
5 26 (3.20%) SQL
6 25 (3.08%) Java
7 9 (1.11%) ActionScript
8 8 (0.98%) COBOL
9 5 (0.62%) Go
9 5 (0.62%) JavaScript
9 5 (0.62%) Perl
10 3 (0.37%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.37%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.25%) C++
11 2 (0.25%) Groovy
11 2 (0.25%) Jython
11 2 (0.25%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.12%) C
12 1 (0.12%) Korn
12 1 (0.12%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 321 (39.48%) Security Cleared
2 201 (24.72%) SC Cleared
3 174 (21.40%) Cisco Certification
4 116 (14.27%) CCNP
5 99 (12.18%) DV Cleared
6 91 (11.19%) CCNA
7 67 (8.24%) Degree
8 43 (5.29%) CISSP
9 36 (4.43%) AWS Certification
10 29 (3.57%) Azure Certification
11 21 (2.58%) Microsoft Certification
12 20 (2.46%) Network+ Certification
13 17 (2.09%) CCIE
14 15 (1.85%) JNCIS
14 15 (1.85%) Server+ Certification
15 14 (1.72%) CISM
16 13 (1.60%) JNCIA
16 13 (1.60%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
17 12 (1.48%) PMP
18 11 (1.35%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (5.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 33 (4.06%) NIST
3 25 (3.08%) NCSC
4 23 (2.83%) GDPR
5 14 (1.72%) QA
6 13 (1.60%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (1.48%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.98%) Data Quality
8 8 (0.98%) Disclosure Scotland
9 7 (0.86%) JSP 440
10 6 (0.74%) GxP
11 5 (0.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.49%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 4 (0.49%) HIPAA
12 4 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.49%) SLA
12 4 (0.49%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.37%) ISA99
13 3 (0.37%) NIST 800
System Software
1 148 (18.20%) Active Directory
2 124 (15.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 52 (6.40%) VMware NSX
4 41 (5.04%) Hyper-V
5 40 (4.92%) Docker
6 33 (4.06%) vSphere
7 22 (2.71%) VMware ESXi
8 19 (2.34%) Firmware
9 17 (2.09%) Virtual Machines
10 6 (0.74%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.37%) Dovecot
11 3 (0.37%) Postfix
12 2 (0.25%) BitLocker
12 2 (0.25%) FreeRADIUS
12 2 (0.25%) Squid
12 2 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
12 2 (0.25%) VirtualBox
13 1 (0.12%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 1 (0.12%) iptables
13 1 (0.12%) KVM
Systems Management
1 159 (19.56%) Terraform
2 110 (13.53%) Ansible
3 65 (8.00%) Kubernetes
4 54 (6.64%) FortiGate
5 27 (3.32%) Microsoft Intune
6 17 (2.09%) Single Sign-On
7 16 (1.97%) CASB
7 16 (1.97%) Progress Chef
8 15 (1.85%) Grafana
9 14 (1.72%) Prometheus
10 13 (1.60%) VxRail
11 12 (1.48%) SCCM
12 11 (1.35%) vCenter Server
13 8 (0.98%) Argo
13 8 (0.98%) Cisco Prime
14 7 (0.86%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 7 (0.86%) NetBackup
14 7 (0.86%) Packer
15 6 (0.74%) Nessus
16 5 (0.62%) Nagios
Vendors
1 300 (36.90%) Cisco
2 176 (21.65%) Microsoft
3 161 (19.80%) VMware
4 148 (18.20%) Palo Alto
5 122 (15.01%) F5
6 101 (12.42%) Juniper
7 71 (8.73%) Fortinet
8 64 (7.87%) CheckPoint
9 63 (7.75%) SolarWinds
10 56 (6.89%) Splunk
11 55 (6.77%) Aruba
12 52 (6.40%) ServiceNow
13 47 (5.78%) Google
14 29 (3.57%) Arista
15 27 (3.32%) Red Hat
16 25 (3.08%) Extreme Networks
17 24 (2.95%) Zscaler
18 23 (2.83%) Meraki
19 19 (2.34%) Veeam
20 17 (2.09%) Infoblox