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

6 months to
16 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 40 35
Rank change year-on-year -27 -5 +12
Contract jobs citing Firewall 682 636 1,006
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.43% 4.74% 4.80%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 29.46% 28.55% 27.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 461 358 639
10th Percentile £300 £275 £275
25th Percentile £400 £387 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% - -
75th Percentile £569 £575 £608
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £523 £520
% change year-on-year -4.31% +0.48% -0.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 20 49
10th Percentile £35.13 £20.00 £52.47
25th Percentile £37.25 £20.14 £62.50
Median hourly rate £45.33 £35.00 £67.27
Median % change year-on-year +29.51% -47.97% +29.03%
75th Percentile £74.26 £41.62 £76.53
90th Percentile £85.90 £61.38 £87.11
UK median hourly rate £41.94 £35.82 £65.98
% change year-on-year +17.08% -45.71% +46.86%

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 2,315 2,228 3,616
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.64% 16.61% 17.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,520 1,290 2,077
10th Percentile £190 £188 £205
25th Percentile £301 £300 £335
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.26% -1.05% +1.06%
75th Percentile £563 £580 £588
90th Percentile £653 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £483
% change year-on-year -5.00% +3.63% -7.21%
Number of hourly rates quoted 124 103 327
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.44 £14.27
25th Percentile £16.00 £20.88 £21.25
Median hourly rate £40.54 £26.00 £52.21
Median % change year-on-year +55.92% -50.20% +161.03%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.78 £71.00 £75.50
UK median hourly rate £28.38 £32.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year -12.68% -31.58% +138.93%

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 16 February 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 16 February 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 16 February 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 -27 208 £500 +5.26% 117
South East +11 185 £500 - 201
North West -21 119 £519 +9.32% 75
Midlands -30 108 £440 -17.80% 57
West Midlands -11 98 £439 -1.96% 41
Yorkshire -17 87 £465 +9.41% 27
South West -39 61 £550 +4.76% 54
Scotland -14 54 £425 -2.86% 29
East of England -26 40 £445 -15.24% 73
Wales -16 20 £425 +16.44% 14
East Midlands -49 8 £500 -23.14% 16
Northern Ireland - 7 £500 - 1
North East -17 5 £548 -0.45% 17
South Coast - 3 £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 23 (3.37%) Confluence
2 10 (1.47%) Apache
3 9 (1.32%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (1.03%) IIS
4 7 (1.03%) SharePoint
5 6 (0.88%) CICS
5 6 (0.88%) nginx
6 4 (0.59%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.29%) Apache Pulsar
8 1 (0.15%) CMS
8 1 (0.15%) JBoss
Applications
1 32 (4.69%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (2.35%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (2.35%) MS Visio
3 15 (2.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.59%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.15%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 187 (27.42%) Azure
2 164 (24.05%) AWS
3 67 (9.82%) GCP
4 42 (6.16%) Microsoft 365
5 41 (6.01%) Entra ID
6 39 (5.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 32 (4.69%) Amazon EC2
8 24 (3.52%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 22 (3.23%) AWS CloudFormation
9 22 (3.23%) Azure Sentinel
10 21 (3.08%) Amazon S3
10 21 (3.08%) IaaS
10 21 (3.08%) Serverless
11 20 (2.93%) PaaS
12 19 (2.79%) Azure Monitor
13 18 (2.64%) Amazon ECS
14 17 (2.49%) AWS Lambda
15 16 (2.35%) Amazon ELB
15 16 (2.35%) GitHub
16 13 (1.91%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 166 (24.34%) Network Security
2 144 (21.11%) VPN
3 134 (19.65%) WAN
4 130 (19.06%) DNS
5 105 (15.40%) LAN
6 93 (13.64%) BGP
7 83 (12.17%) VLAN
8 81 (11.88%) OSPF
8 81 (11.88%) Wireless
9 75 (11.00%) TCP/IP
10 61 (8.94%) DHCP
11 50 (7.33%) SD-WAN
12 43 (6.30%) MPLS
13 40 (5.87%) IPsec
14 38 (5.57%) Cisco ASA
14 38 (5.57%) Cisco ISE
15 37 (5.43%) Wi-Fi
16 36 (5.28%) Cisco Nexus
17 32 (4.69%) SSL
18 24 (3.52%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.23%) Amazon RDS
2 21 (3.08%) SQL Server
3 14 (2.05%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (0.88%) DataStage
5 4 (0.59%) Amazon Aurora
5 4 (0.59%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.59%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.44%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.44%) DynamoDB
7 2 (0.29%) Amazon QuickSight
7 2 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.29%) MariaDB
7 2 (0.29%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.15%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.15%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.15%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.15%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.15%) Power BI
8 1 (0.15%) Redis
8 1 (0.15%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 46 (6.74%) JIRA
2 42 (6.16%) Jenkins
3 36 (5.28%) Git
3 36 (5.28%) GitLab
4 20 (2.93%) Sonatype Nexus
5 15 (2.20%) Burp Suite
5 15 (2.20%) Metasploit
6 11 (1.61%) Bitbucket
7 8 (1.17%) Jaeger
8 6 (0.88%) Vagrant
9 4 (0.59%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.44%) Chocolatey
11 1 (0.15%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.15%) MSI
11 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
11 1 (0.15%) Subversion
11 1 (0.15%) Travis CI
General
1 205 (30.06%) Social Skills
2 78 (11.44%) Analytical Skills
3 74 (10.85%) Finance
4 66 (9.68%) Public Sector
5 58 (8.50%) Documentation Skills
6 28 (4.11%) Banking
6 28 (4.11%) Telecoms
7 21 (3.08%) Legal
8 19 (2.79%) Manufacturing
9 13 (1.91%) Influencing Skills
10 10 (1.47%) Presentation Skills
11 9 (1.32%) Financial Institution
11 9 (1.32%) Military
12 7 (1.03%) Aerospace
13 6 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 5 (0.73%) Law
14 5 (0.73%) Retail
15 4 (0.59%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.59%) Retail Banking
16 3 (0.44%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 194 (28.45%) Network Engineer
2 94 (13.78%) Architect
3 65 (9.53%) Senior
4 52 (7.62%) Security Engineer
5 51 (7.48%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 41 (6.01%) Network Architect
7 36 (5.28%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 30 (4.40%) Analyst
8 30 (4.40%) Platform Engineer
9 29 (4.25%) DevOps Engineer
10 23 (3.37%) IT Engineer
11 22 (3.23%) IT Support
12 21 (3.08%) Cisco Engineer
12 21 (3.08%) Support Engineer
13 20 (2.93%) Security Architect
14 18 (2.64%) Azure Engineer
14 18 (2.64%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 18 (2.64%) Solutions Architect
15 17 (2.49%) Consultant
15 17 (2.49%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (4.55%) 802.1X
2 23 (3.37%) LDAP
3 20 (2.93%) SAML
4 17 (2.49%) Middleware
4 17 (2.49%) OAuth
4 17 (2.49%) OAuth2
5 15 (2.20%) OpenID
6 14 (2.05%) Kafka
7 10 (1.47%) Node.js
7 10 (1.47%) OpenTelemetry
8 9 (1.32%) JSON
9 8 (1.17%) Spring Boot
10 7 (1.03%) REST
11 6 (0.88%) RFC 2544
12 4 (0.59%) ARM Templates
12 4 (0.59%) Microsoft Graph
12 4 (0.59%) XML
13 3 (0.44%) Elastic Stack
13 3 (0.44%) Lambda Expressions
14 2 (0.29%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 145 (21.26%) Data Centre
2 53 (7.77%) Security Posture
3 35 (5.13%) PKI
4 26 (3.81%) Onboarding
5 25 (3.67%) Operational Technology
6 24 (3.52%) Hybrid Cloud
7 18 (2.64%) Replication
8 17 (2.49%) NHS
9 15 (2.20%) Management Information System
9 15 (2.20%) Security Operations Centre
10 14 (2.05%) Cyber Threat
10 14 (2.05%) Data Protection Act
11 13 (1.91%) Cloud Native
12 12 (1.76%) Private Cloud
13 11 (1.61%) Fat Client
13 11 (1.61%) Thin Client
14 10 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
14 10 (1.47%) Product Ownership
15 9 (1.32%) IoT
16 8 (1.17%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 196 (28.74%) Windows
2 148 (21.70%) Linux
3 79 (11.58%) Windows Server
4 22 (3.23%) Unix
5 16 (2.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 13 (1.91%) VMS
7 11 (1.61%) Windows 7
8 9 (1.32%) Amazon Linux
9 7 (1.03%) Solaris
9 7 (1.03%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.88%) AIX
10 6 (0.88%) Ubuntu
11 5 (0.73%) Windows 10
12 4 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.44%) Android
13 3 (0.44%) Apple iOS
13 3 (0.44%) CatOS
13 3 (0.44%) Mac OS
14 2 (0.29%) CentOS
14 2 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (20.23%) Cybersecurity
2 107 (15.69%) Problem-Solving
3 101 (14.81%) DevOps
4 86 (12.61%) CI/CD
5 81 (11.88%) Infrastructure as Code
6 77 (11.29%) Incident Response
7 76 (11.14%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 63 (9.24%) SIEM
9 61 (8.94%) Agile
9 61 (8.94%) Containerisation
9 61 (8.94%) ITIL
10 59 (8.65%) Cloud Security
10 59 (8.65%) High Availability
10 59 (8.65%) Load Balancing
11 57 (8.36%) Mentoring
12 53 (7.77%) Zero Trust
13 52 (7.62%) Continuous Improvement
14 51 (7.48%) Migration
15 50 (7.33%) Change Management
16 48 (7.04%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 129 (18.91%) Python
2 111 (16.28%) PowerShell
3 64 (9.38%) Bash
4 30 (4.40%) Java
4 30 (4.40%) SQL
5 27 (3.96%) Perl
6 14 (2.05%) Bicep
7 10 (1.47%) Ruby
8 8 (1.17%) Rust
9 6 (0.88%) COBOL
9 6 (0.88%) Groovy
10 4 (0.59%) C#
10 4 (0.59%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (0.59%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.44%) Go
12 2 (0.29%) JavaScript
13 1 (0.15%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 283 (41.50%) Security Cleared
2 184 (26.98%) SC Cleared
3 137 (20.09%) Cisco Certification
4 118 (17.30%) CCNP
5 79 (11.58%) DV Cleared
6 69 (10.12%) Degree
7 66 (9.68%) CCNA
8 45 (6.60%) CISSP
9 30 (4.40%) Microsoft Certification
10 28 (4.11%) AWS Certification
11 26 (3.81%) CCIE
12 25 (3.67%) CISM
13 22 (3.23%) Azure Certification
14 15 (2.20%) CHECK Team Member
15 14 (2.05%) CompTIA Security+
16 13 (1.91%) CREST Certified
16 13 (1.91%) Cyber Scheme
16 13 (1.91%) Postgraduate
17 10 (1.47%) Computer Science Degree
17 10 (1.47%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (9.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 48 (7.04%) NIST
3 34 (4.99%) GDPR
4 32 (4.69%) PCI DSS
5 20 (2.93%) Cyber Essentials
6 18 (2.64%) SLA
7 16 (2.35%) NCSC
8 15 (2.20%) QA
9 11 (1.61%) PMO
10 5 (0.73%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.59%) COBIT
12 3 (0.44%) GRC
12 3 (0.44%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.29%) JSP 440
13 2 (0.29%) PSD2
14 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 1 (0.15%) GxP
14 1 (0.15%) ISO 20022
14 1 (0.15%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.15%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 136 (19.94%) Active Directory
2 108 (15.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 80 (11.73%) Docker
4 31 (4.55%) vSphere
5 29 (4.25%) VMware NSX
6 25 (3.67%) Hyper-V
7 14 (2.05%) VMware ESXi
8 9 (1.32%) DFS Replication
9 8 (1.17%) Virtual Desktop
10 7 (1.03%) Firmware
11 6 (0.88%) Virtual Machines
11 6 (0.88%) Virtual Servers
12 4 (0.59%) Dovecot
12 4 (0.59%) Postfix
12 4 (0.59%) Squid
13 3 (0.44%) KVM
14 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
14 1 (0.15%) ProxySG
14 1 (0.15%) RHEV
14 1 (0.15%) Xen
Systems Management
1 95 (13.93%) Terraform
2 76 (11.14%) Ansible
3 67 (9.82%) Kubernetes
4 26 (3.81%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 25 (3.67%) Grafana
6 24 (3.52%) FortiGate
7 23 (3.37%) Microsoft Intune
7 23 (3.37%) Single Sign-On
8 20 (2.93%) Prometheus
9 19 (2.79%) Nmap
9 19 (2.79%) vCenter Server
10 14 (2.05%) SCCM
11 11 (1.61%) Nessus
11 11 (1.61%) WMI
12 9 (1.32%) Fluentd
12 9 (1.32%) Nagios
13 8 (1.17%) Kiali
14 7 (1.03%) VxRail
15 6 (0.88%) NetBackup
15 6 (0.88%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 251 (36.80%) Cisco
2 153 (22.43%) Palo Alto
3 146 (21.41%) Microsoft
4 141 (20.67%) VMware
5 83 (12.17%) CheckPoint
6 71 (10.41%) F5
7 59 (8.65%) Fortinet
8 57 (8.36%) Juniper
9 48 (7.04%) Splunk
10 46 (6.74%) Aruba
11 44 (6.45%) SolarWinds
12 38 (5.57%) Meraki
13 30 (4.40%) Google
13 30 (4.40%) Oracle
14 25 (3.67%) ServiceNow
15 19 (2.79%) Dell
16 18 (2.64%) Citrix
16 18 (2.64%) Red Hat
17 16 (2.35%) Veeam
18 14 (2.05%) Zscaler