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 18 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 52 43 32
Rank change year-on-year -9 -11 +21
Contract jobs citing Firewall 731 725 1,152
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 4.21% 4.43% 5.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 32.30% 29.56% 30.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 468 404 748
10th Percentile £293 £275 £300
25th Percentile £400 £399 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £585 £600
90th Percentile £647 £643 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 18 58
10th Percentile £22.20 £20.00 £38.94
25th Percentile £29.00 £20.05 £62.50
Median hourly rate £35.00 £27.50 £66.62
Median % change year-on-year +27.27% -58.72% +62.38%
75th Percentile £74.26 £35.00 £75.67
90th Percentile £89.63 £52.13 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £33.39 £27.50 £65.98
% change year-on-year +21.40% -58.32% +77.27%

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 2,263 2,453 3,731
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 13.04% 14.98% 17.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,489 1,352 2,242
10th Percentile £191 £200 £205
25th Percentile £300 £350 £338
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £575 £582 £594
90th Percentile £646 £662 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 145 130 282
10th Percentile £15.50 £19.85 £17.72
25th Percentile £18.50 £26.25 £24.38
Median hourly rate £42.50 £50.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% -11.49% +25.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £69.69 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £75.63
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £47.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year -26.32% -13.64% +31.74%

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 18 November 2025.

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 18 November 2025.

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 18 November 2025. 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 -15 211 £492 -1.60% 95
South East 0 178 £500 - 252
Midlands -8 152 £475 -5.00% 84
West Midlands +9 137 £475 -5.00% 63
Yorkshire -1 109 £488 +14.71% 32
North West -26 98 £520 +4.00% 51
Scotland -14 61 £450 -5.26% 35
East of England -13 54 £483 -8.10% 56
South West -23 54 £540 +13.68% 60
East Midlands -37 15 £492 -4.00% 21
Wales -3 13 £225 -40.98% 19
Northern Ireland - 12 £500 - 10
North East -7 7 £550 +57.14% 12
Channel Islands - 4 £725 -
South Coast - 2 - -
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 38 (5.20%) Confluence
2 35 (4.79%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (2.33%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.50%) nginx
5 9 (1.23%) Apache
5 9 (1.23%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.55%) JBoss
6 4 (0.55%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.27%) CICS
7 2 (0.27%) IIS
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.14%) CMS
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 28 (3.83%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.37%) Mozilla Thunderbird
3 6 (0.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.82%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.27%) Dynamics GP
2 1 (0.14%) Finacle
2 1 (0.14%) Pegasus Opera
2 1 (0.14%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 188 (25.72%) AWS
2 183 (25.03%) Azure
3 87 (11.90%) Microsoft 365
4 76 (10.40%) GCP
5 56 (7.66%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 48 (6.57%) Amazon EC2
7 42 (5.75%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 38 (5.20%) Amazon S3
9 33 (4.51%) Amazon ELB
10 31 (4.24%) Entra ID
11 27 (3.69%) Azure Sentinel
12 25 (3.42%) Amazon ECS
13 24 (3.28%) AWS KMS
14 18 (2.46%) Serverless
15 16 (2.19%) AWS Lambda
15 16 (2.19%) IaaS
16 15 (2.05%) Akamai
17 14 (1.92%) PaaS
18 13 (1.78%) AWS CloudFormation
18 13 (1.78%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 155 (21.20%) Network Security
2 145 (19.84%) DNS
3 139 (19.02%) VPN
4 111 (15.18%) WAN
5 93 (12.72%) TCP/IP
6 87 (11.90%) Wireless
7 74 (10.12%) BGP
8 69 (9.44%) VLAN
9 66 (9.03%) LAN
10 62 (8.48%) DHCP
11 60 (8.21%) OSPF
12 53 (7.25%) SD-WAN
13 49 (6.70%) Cisco IOS
14 41 (5.61%) Cisco ISE
15 38 (5.20%) Cisco ASA
16 37 (5.06%) SSL
17 35 (4.79%) HTTP
17 35 (4.79%) Wi-Fi
18 32 (4.38%) MPLS
19 28 (3.83%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (5.20%) Amazon RDS
2 24 (3.28%) SQL Server
3 16 (2.19%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (1.37%) Amazon Aurora
4 10 (1.37%) Relational Database
5 5 (0.68%) MySQL
6 4 (0.55%) DB2
6 4 (0.55%) DynamoDB
6 4 (0.55%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.14%) Amazon QuickSight
8 1 (0.14%) BusinessObjects
8 1 (0.14%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8 1 (0.14%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.14%) Redis
Development Applications
1 73 (9.99%) Jenkins
2 61 (8.34%) Git
3 58 (7.93%) JIRA
4 30 (4.10%) GitLab
5 22 (3.01%) Vagrant
6 16 (2.19%) Postman
7 15 (2.05%) Sonatype Nexus
8 10 (1.37%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.14%) Eclipse
9 1 (0.14%) Maven
9 1 (0.14%) MSI
9 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.14%) Subversion
General
1 185 (25.31%) Social Skills
2 85 (11.63%) Public Sector
3 83 (11.35%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (9.30%) Finance
5 32 (4.38%) Telecoms
6 31 (4.24%) Banking
7 30 (4.10%) Documentation Skills
8 27 (3.69%) Manufacturing
9 24 (3.28%) Games
9 24 (3.28%) Legal
10 16 (2.19%) Presentation Skills
11 9 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 8 (1.09%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (0.96%) Military
14 6 (0.82%) Local Government
14 6 (0.82%) Retail
15 5 (0.68%) Influencing Skills
15 5 (0.68%) Law
16 4 (0.55%) Aerospace
16 4 (0.55%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 168 (22.98%) Network Engineer
2 89 (12.18%) Architect
3 68 (9.30%) Security Engineer
4 62 (8.48%) Senior
5 57 (7.80%) Platform Engineer
6 55 (7.52%) Analyst
7 45 (6.16%) DevOps Engineer
8 38 (5.20%) Network Architect
9 36 (4.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 31 (4.24%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 30 (4.10%) Support Engineer
12 26 (3.56%) IT Engineer
13 25 (3.42%) AWS Engineer
14 23 (3.15%) Network Security Engineer
14 23 (3.15%) Security Architect
15 21 (2.87%) IT Support
16 20 (2.74%) Cloud Platform Engineer
16 20 (2.74%) Consultant
16 20 (2.74%) Security Analyst
17 19 (2.60%) AWS DevOps
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.28%) 802.1X
2 18 (2.46%) LDAP
3 17 (2.33%) RFC 2544
4 12 (1.64%) REST
5 11 (1.50%) OAuth
5 11 (1.50%) OAuth2
5 11 (1.50%) OpenID
5 11 (1.50%) SAML
6 10 (1.37%) JSON
7 9 (1.23%) Node.js
8 8 (1.09%) Middleware
9 6 (0.82%) Elastic Stack
10 5 (0.68%) XML
11 4 (0.55%) Kafka
12 3 (0.41%) CSS
12 3 (0.41%) HTML
12 3 (0.41%) JBoss Seam
12 3 (0.41%) Lambda Expressions
12 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Graph
13 2 (0.27%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 105 (14.36%) Data Centre
2 50 (6.84%) Security Posture
3 40 (5.47%) Operational Technology
4 37 (5.06%) PKI
5 36 (4.92%) Hybrid Cloud
5 36 (4.92%) Replication
6 24 (3.28%) Onboarding
7 19 (2.60%) Data Protection Act
7 19 (2.60%) Management Information System
8 16 (2.19%) Cyber Threat
9 15 (2.05%) Cloud Native
10 13 (1.78%) Fibre Optics
11 12 (1.64%) Cyber Defence
12 11 (1.50%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (1.50%) Virtual Team
13 10 (1.37%) Security Operations Centre
14 9 (1.23%) Private Cloud
14 9 (1.23%) Product Ownership
14 9 (1.23%) Public Cloud
14 9 (1.23%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 205 (28.04%) Windows
2 146 (19.97%) Linux
3 68 (9.30%) Windows Server
4 31 (4.24%) VMS
5 30 (4.10%) Mac OS
6 28 (3.83%) Android
7 27 (3.69%) Unix
8 25 (3.42%) Amazon Linux
9 20 (2.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 15 (2.05%) Ubuntu
11 11 (1.50%) Windows 10
12 8 (1.09%) Windows 7
13 6 (0.82%) Solaris
13 6 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
14 5 (0.68%) CentOS
14 5 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
14 5 (0.68%) Windows Server 2019
15 3 (0.41%) AIX
15 3 (0.41%) Apple iOS
15 3 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (18.06%) Cybersecurity
2 113 (15.46%) DevOps
3 105 (14.36%) Problem-Solving
4 94 (12.86%) Cloud Security
5 91 (12.45%) Incident Response
6 81 (11.08%) SIEM
7 77 (10.53%) CI/CD
8 74 (10.12%) ITIL
9 73 (9.99%) Migration
10 69 (9.44%) Agile
11 63 (8.62%) High Availability
12 61 (8.34%) Change Management
13 60 (8.21%) Infrastructure as Code
14 55 (7.52%) Configuration Management
14 55 (7.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 52 (7.11%) Load Balancing
15 52 (7.11%) Security Operations
16 51 (6.98%) Containerisation
17 50 (6.84%) Network Design
18 47 (6.43%) Network Architecture
Programming Languages
1 163 (22.30%) Python
2 138 (18.88%) PowerShell
3 64 (8.76%) Bash
4 41 (5.61%) Perl
5 34 (4.65%) Java
6 28 (3.83%) SQL
7 22 (3.01%) Groovy
8 8 (1.09%) Kusto Query Language
8 8 (1.09%) Ruby
8 8 (1.09%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.41%) Bicep
9 3 (0.41%) JavaScript
9 3 (0.41%) Kotlin
10 2 (0.27%) C#
11 1 (0.14%) C++
11 1 (0.14%) Go
11 1 (0.14%) Korn
11 1 (0.14%) Lisp
11 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 241 (32.97%) Security Cleared
2 159 (21.75%) SC Cleared
3 131 (17.92%) Cisco Certification
4 96 (13.13%) CCNP
5 64 (8.76%) DV Cleared
6 63 (8.62%) Degree
7 54 (7.39%) CCNA
8 53 (7.25%) CISSP
9 36 (4.92%) AWS Certification
9 36 (4.92%) Azure Certification
10 34 (4.65%) Microsoft Certification
11 31 (4.24%) CCIE
12 25 (3.42%) CISM
13 20 (2.74%) Computer Science Degree
14 12 (1.64%) CEH
15 11 (1.50%) GIAC
16 10 (1.37%) CISMP
16 10 (1.37%) CompTIA Security+
16 10 (1.37%) GSEC
17 9 (1.23%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (7.80%) NIST
2 51 (6.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 45 (6.16%) GDPR
4 21 (2.87%) PCI DSS
5 14 (1.92%) NCSC
5 14 (1.92%) QA
6 13 (1.78%) SLA
7 7 (0.96%) COBIT
7 7 (0.96%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
8 5 (0.68%) PSD2
9 4 (0.55%) GRC
9 4 (0.55%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.41%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.41%) GxP
10 3 (0.41%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 133 (18.19%) Active Directory
2 103 (14.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 86 (11.76%) Docker
4 25 (3.42%) DFS Replication
5 23 (3.15%) Hyper-V
6 19 (2.60%) vSphere
7 16 (2.19%) VMware NSX
8 10 (1.37%) Dovecot
8 10 (1.37%) Postfix
8 10 (1.37%) Squid
9 9 (1.23%) VMware ESXi
10 8 (1.09%) Virtual Machines
11 7 (0.96%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 6 (0.82%) Firmware
12 6 (0.82%) Terminal Services
12 6 (0.82%) Virtual Servers
13 4 (0.55%) KVM
14 1 (0.14%) NDS
14 1 (0.14%) NFS
14 1 (0.14%) UAG
Systems Management
1 88 (12.04%) Terraform
2 83 (11.35%) Ansible
3 53 (7.25%) Kubernetes
4 47 (6.43%) Microsoft Intune
5 41 (5.61%) SCCM
6 28 (3.83%) FortiGate
7 27 (3.69%) Grafana
8 25 (3.42%) Prometheus
9 22 (3.01%) Puppet
10 17 (2.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 17 (2.33%) vCenter Server
11 14 (1.92%) Nessus
11 14 (1.92%) Single Sign-On
12 11 (1.50%) CSIRT
13 10 (1.37%) Microsoft Clustering
13 10 (1.37%) Proxmox
14 8 (1.09%) Fluentd
14 8 (1.09%) WMI
15 7 (0.96%) NetBackup
15 7 (0.96%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 276 (37.76%) Cisco
2 208 (28.45%) Microsoft
3 121 (16.55%) Palo Alto
3 121 (16.55%) VMware
4 105 (14.36%) F5
5 70 (9.58%) CheckPoint
6 66 (9.03%) Splunk
7 63 (8.62%) Fortinet
8 61 (8.34%) Meraki
9 47 (6.43%) Juniper
10 44 (6.02%) SolarWinds
11 42 (5.75%) Oracle
12 34 (4.65%) ServiceNow
13 31 (4.24%) Google
14 25 (3.42%) Citrix
15 24 (3.28%) Zscaler
16 20 (2.74%) Dell
17 19 (2.60%) Red Hat
18 17 (2.33%) MuleSoft
19 16 (2.19%) Aruba