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

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 63 38 37
Rank change year-on-year -25 -1 +9
Contract jobs citing Firewall 728 645 975
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.42% 5.06% 4.59%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.03% 29.43% 26.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 493 368 606
10th Percentile £313 £300 £294
25th Percentile £406 £392 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £575 £580 £608
90th Percentile £638 £650 £683
UK median daily rate £500 £519 £510
% change year-on-year -3.57% +1.67% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 18 41
10th Percentile £36.45 £17.21 £23.92
25th Percentile £39.30 £27.52 £60.00
Median hourly rate £48.72 £37.07 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +31.42% -48.87% +31.06%
75th Percentile £74.26 £44.24 £84.40
90th Percentile £85.80 £73.75 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £42.71 £37.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year +15.42% -43.92% +22.81%

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 2,424 2,192 3,721
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.38% 17.19% 17.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,551 1,316 2,156
10th Percentile £200 £186 £203
25th Percentile £325 £303 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £473 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% -0.53% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £669 £644 £675
UK median daily rate £481 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -3.75% +5.26% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 137 120 323
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.20 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.12 £21.00 £19.98
Median hourly rate £42.25 £33.75 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +25.19% -28.95% +151.19%
75th Percentile £67.25 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK median hourly rate £40.02 £35.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +14.34% -12.50% +110.53%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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
South East +10 224 £500 - 167
North of England -25 222 £516 +8.68% 109
North West -16 141 £539 +10.51% 73
Midlands -52 95 £425 -22.73% 55
West Midlands -24 86 £425 -15.00% 31
Yorkshire -29 79 £441 +6.90% 25
South West -36 56 £550 +0.92% 33
Scotland -5 54 £425 -2.86% 15
East of England -23 48 £473 -7.80% 63
Wales -15 26 £425 +9.68% 17
East Midlands -61 7 £475 -26.92% 24
North East -17 5 £548 -0.45% 11
Northern Ireland - 5 £500 - 2
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 16 (2.20%) Confluence
2 10 (1.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.24%) Apache
4 8 (1.10%) CICS
5 7 (0.96%) SharePoint
6 6 (0.82%) IIS
7 4 (0.55%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
8 2 (0.27%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.14%) IBM HTTP Server
9 1 (0.14%) nginx
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 30 (4.12%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (2.34%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (2.20%) MS Visio
4 14 (1.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.14%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 198 (27.20%) Azure
2 154 (21.15%) AWS
3 66 (9.07%) GCP
4 48 (6.59%) Entra ID
5 39 (5.36%) Microsoft 365
6 34 (4.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 24 (3.30%) Serverless
8 23 (3.16%) GitHub
8 23 (3.16%) IaaS
9 22 (3.02%) AWS CloudFormation
10 21 (2.88%) PaaS
11 20 (2.75%) Amazon EC2
11 20 (2.75%) AWS Lambda
11 20 (2.75%) Azure DevOps
12 19 (2.61%) Azure Monitor
13 18 (2.47%) Azure Sentinel
14 14 (1.92%) Amazon ECS
14 14 (1.92%) Amazon EKS
14 14 (1.92%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 13 (1.79%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 178 (24.45%) Network Security
2 177 (24.31%) WAN
3 150 (20.60%) VPN
4 143 (19.64%) DNS
4 143 (19.64%) LAN
5 119 (16.35%) BGP
6 106 (14.56%) OSPF
7 97 (13.32%) VLAN
8 89 (12.23%) Wireless
9 84 (11.54%) DHCP
10 78 (10.71%) TCP/IP
11 55 (7.55%) SD-WAN
12 54 (7.42%) Cisco ISE
13 51 (7.01%) Wi-Fi
14 49 (6.73%) IPsec
14 49 (6.73%) MPLS
15 43 (5.91%) VXLAN
16 40 (5.49%) Ethernet VPN
17 38 (5.22%) Cisco Nexus
18 34 (4.67%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.20%) Amazon RDS
2 15 (2.06%) SQL Server
3 11 (1.51%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (1.10%) DataStage
5 4 (0.55%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.55%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.55%) Oracle Database
5 4 (0.55%) Power BI
5 4 (0.55%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.41%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.41%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.27%) Amazon QuickSight
7 2 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.27%) Delta Lake
7 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
8 1 (0.14%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.14%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.14%) Metadata
8 1 (0.14%) Redis
8 1 (0.14%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 46 (6.32%) JIRA
2 34 (4.67%) Jenkins
3 30 (4.12%) GitLab
4 27 (3.71%) Git
5 21 (2.88%) Sonatype Nexus
6 15 (2.06%) Burp Suite
6 15 (2.06%) Metasploit
7 11 (1.51%) Bitbucket
8 8 (1.10%) Jaeger
9 4 (0.55%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.41%) Chocolatey
11 2 (0.27%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.14%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.14%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.14%) Introscope
12 1 (0.14%) MSI
12 1 (0.14%) Subversion
12 1 (0.14%) Travis CI
General
1 204 (28.02%) Social Skills
2 85 (11.68%) Finance
3 73 (10.03%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (9.34%) Public Sector
5 58 (7.97%) Documentation Skills
6 26 (3.57%) Banking
7 23 (3.16%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.75%) Legal
9 19 (2.61%) Manufacturing
10 15 (2.06%) Influencing Skills
11 10 (1.37%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.24%) Military
13 8 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.96%) Aerospace
15 6 (0.82%) Law
15 6 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.82%) Retail
16 4 (0.55%) Organisational Skills
17 3 (0.41%) Local Government
17 3 (0.41%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 231 (31.73%) Network Engineer
2 101 (13.87%) Architect
3 72 (9.89%) Senior
4 56 (7.69%) Security Engineer
5 52 (7.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 47 (6.46%) Network Architect
7 41 (5.63%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 27 (3.71%) Analyst
8 27 (3.71%) Senior Network Engineer
9 26 (3.57%) IT Support
10 24 (3.30%) Cisco Engineer
11 23 (3.16%) Platform Engineer
12 22 (3.02%) Cloud Engineer
12 22 (3.02%) IT Engineer
13 21 (2.88%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 20 (2.75%) DevOps Engineer
14 20 (2.75%) Solutions Architect
14 20 (2.75%) Support Engineer
15 19 (2.61%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
15 19 (2.61%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (8.52%) 802.1X
2 22 (3.02%) LDAP
2 22 (3.02%) SAML
3 19 (2.61%) Middleware
4 17 (2.34%) OAuth
4 17 (2.34%) OAuth2
5 16 (2.20%) Kafka
6 15 (2.06%) OpenID
7 10 (1.37%) Node.js
7 10 (1.37%) OpenTelemetry
8 8 (1.10%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.82%) JSON
9 6 (0.82%) LangChain
9 6 (0.82%) PyTorch
9 6 (0.82%) scikit-learn
10 5 (0.69%) REST
10 5 (0.69%) RFC 2544
10 5 (0.69%) YAML
11 4 (0.55%) ARM Templates
12 3 (0.41%) Lambda Expressions
Miscellaneous
1 173 (23.76%) Data Centre
2 58 (7.97%) Security Posture
3 45 (6.18%) PKI
4 30 (4.12%) Cloud Native
5 27 (3.71%) Operational Technology
6 25 (3.43%) Onboarding
7 24 (3.30%) Hybrid Cloud
8 22 (3.02%) Clustering
9 18 (2.47%) NHS
10 15 (2.06%) Data Protection Act
10 15 (2.06%) Management Information System
10 15 (2.06%) Security Operations Centre
11 14 (1.92%) IoT
12 13 (1.79%) Product Ownership
13 12 (1.65%) BYOD
13 12 (1.65%) Cyber Threat
13 12 (1.65%) Private Cloud
14 11 (1.51%) Public Cloud
15 10 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
15 10 (1.37%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 218 (29.95%) Windows
2 147 (20.19%) Linux
3 86 (11.81%) Windows Server
4 26 (3.57%) Unix
5 21 (2.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (1.24%) Solaris
6 9 (1.24%) Windows 7
7 8 (1.10%) AIX
8 7 (0.96%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.69%) VMS
9 5 (0.69%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.41%) Amazon Linux
11 3 (0.41%) CatOS
11 3 (0.41%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.27%) CentOS
12 2 (0.27%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.27%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.14%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (19.37%) Cybersecurity
2 115 (15.80%) Problem-Solving
3 100 (13.74%) DevOps
4 94 (12.91%) CI/CD
5 84 (11.54%) Load Balancing
6 83 (11.40%) ITIL
7 82 (11.26%) Infrastructure as Code
8 77 (10.58%) High Availability
8 77 (10.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 71 (9.75%) SIEM
10 61 (8.38%) Agile
10 61 (8.38%) Incident Response
11 60 (8.24%) Cloud Security
12 59 (8.10%) Mentoring
13 58 (7.97%) Identity Access Management
14 57 (7.83%) Containerisation
15 56 (7.69%) Observability
16 54 (7.42%) Technical Leadership
16 54 (7.42%) Zero Trust
17 53 (7.28%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 123 (16.90%) Python
2 109 (14.97%) PowerShell
3 61 (8.38%) Bash
4 29 (3.98%) Java
5 28 (3.85%) SQL
6 24 (3.30%) Perl
7 17 (2.34%) Bicep
8 10 (1.37%) Ruby
9 8 (1.10%) COBOL
9 8 (1.10%) Rust
10 4 (0.55%) C#
10 4 (0.55%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.41%) Go
11 3 (0.41%) Kusto Query Language
12 2 (0.27%) C++
12 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
13 1 (0.14%) Jython
13 1 (0.14%) Korn
13 1 (0.14%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 299 (41.07%) Security Cleared
2 191 (26.24%) SC Cleared
3 156 (21.43%) Cisco Certification
4 125 (17.17%) CCNP
5 87 (11.95%) DV Cleared
6 75 (10.30%) CCNA
7 70 (9.62%) Degree
8 42 (5.77%) CISSP
9 31 (4.26%) AWS Certification
10 29 (3.98%) Microsoft Certification
11 23 (3.16%) Azure Certification
12 22 (3.02%) CCIE
13 20 (2.75%) CISM
14 15 (2.06%) CHECK Team Member
14 15 (2.06%) CompTIA Security+
14 15 (2.06%) JNCIS
15 14 (1.92%) Network+ Certification
16 13 (1.79%) CREST Certified
16 13 (1.79%) Cyber Scheme
16 13 (1.79%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (8.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 43 (5.91%) NIST
3 39 (5.36%) GDPR
4 34 (4.67%) PCI DSS
5 21 (2.88%) Cyber Essentials
6 18 (2.47%) NCSC
7 16 (2.20%) QA
7 16 (2.20%) SLA
8 12 (1.65%) PMO
9 5 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.55%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.41%) COBIT
11 3 (0.41%) GRC
11 3 (0.41%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.27%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
12 2 (0.27%) GxP
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.27%) PSD2
12 2 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 147 (20.19%) Active Directory
2 103 (14.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 70 (9.62%) Docker
4 32 (4.40%) VMware NSX
5 31 (4.26%) vSphere
6 23 (3.16%) Hyper-V
7 13 (1.79%) VMware ESXi
8 10 (1.37%) Firmware
9 8 (1.10%) Virtual Desktop
10 6 (0.82%) Virtual Servers
11 4 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
12 3 (0.41%) DFS Replication
12 3 (0.41%) KVM
13 1 (0.14%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 1 (0.14%) NDS
13 1 (0.14%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 1 (0.14%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.14%) Xen
13 1 (0.14%) XenApp
13 1 (0.14%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 95 (13.05%) Terraform
2 70 (9.62%) Kubernetes
3 67 (9.20%) Ansible
4 43 (5.91%) FortiGate
5 25 (3.43%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 25 (3.43%) Single Sign-On
6 23 (3.16%) Microsoft Intune
7 20 (2.75%) Grafana
7 20 (2.75%) vCenter Server
8 17 (2.34%) Nmap
9 14 (1.92%) Prometheus
10 12 (1.65%) SCCM
11 10 (1.37%) Nagios
12 9 (1.24%) WMI
13 8 (1.10%) CASB
13 8 (1.10%) Kiali
13 8 (1.10%) Nessus
14 7 (0.96%) Progress Chef
14 7 (0.96%) VxRail
15 6 (0.82%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 277 (38.05%) Cisco
2 151 (20.74%) Microsoft
3 149 (20.47%) Palo Alto
4 137 (18.82%) VMware
5 83 (11.40%) F5
5 83 (11.40%) Juniper
6 71 (9.75%) CheckPoint
7 62 (8.52%) Splunk
8 61 (8.38%) Fortinet
9 58 (7.97%) SolarWinds
10 56 (7.69%) Aruba
11 41 (5.63%) Google
12 39 (5.36%) Meraki
13 28 (3.85%) ServiceNow
14 25 (3.43%) Oracle
15 24 (3.30%) Red Hat
16 22 (3.02%) Extreme Networks
17 17 (2.34%) Citrix
18 15 (2.06%) Veeam
18 15 (2.06%) Zscaler