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 26 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 89 53 42
Rank change year-on-year -36 -11 -11
Contract jobs citing Firewall 758 673 762
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.68% 4.31% 4.29%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 25.57% 32.34% 29.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 481 408 450
10th Percentile £350 £293 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% +2.88%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £650 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 23 23
10th Percentile £30.58 £15.17 £20.00
25th Percentile £46.56 £27.00 £20.09
Median hourly rate £66.35 £30.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +121.15% +9.09% -58.32%
75th Percentile £73.20 £55.25 £74.50
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £85.37
UK median hourly rate £67.47 £30.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +124.90% +9.09% -58.32%

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 2,964 2,081 2,575
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.46% 13.34% 14.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,628 1,314 1,403
10th Percentile £212 £200 £203
25th Percentile £353 £314 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £490
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -8.16% +5.95%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £640 £665
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 352 134 191
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.38 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.50 £22.33
Median hourly rate £28.50 £42.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -32.94% -25.89% -0.26%
75th Percentile £67.47 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £84.80 £80.95 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £33.00 £42.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year -22.35% -15.00% -11.49%

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 26 September 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 26 September 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 26 September 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 -1 279 £500 +3.09% 147
South East -56 163 £523 +4.50% 246
North West +8 161 £510 +7.37% 90
Yorkshire -25 96 £483 -1.43% 41
South West -10 92 £556 +14.64% 96
Midlands -74 85 £465 -2.05% 112
East of England -11 76 £572 +14.06% 59
West Midlands -76 63 £450 -5.26% 77
Scotland -20 62 £400 -11.11% 40
North East -13 29 £500 -13.04% 18
East Midlands -9 21 £500 +6.16% 35
Wales -17 5 £608 +203.75% 10
Channel Islands -6 2 £600 -17.24% 1
Northern Ireland -13 1 - - 25
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 26 (3.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 21 (2.77%) Confluence
3 15 (1.98%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.32%) Apache
5 9 (1.19%) nginx
6 8 (1.06%) SAS
7 4 (0.53%) FactoryTalk
7 4 (0.53%) IIS
8 3 (0.40%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.26%) CMS
9 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
10 1 (0.13%) CICS
Applications
1 20 (2.64%) MS Visio
2 8 (1.06%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.66%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (0.66%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.26%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.26%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 273 (36.02%) Azure
2 164 (21.64%) AWS
3 88 (11.61%) Entra ID
4 71 (9.37%) Microsoft 365
5 65 (8.58%) GCP
6 45 (5.94%) IaaS
7 39 (5.15%) SaaS
8 38 (5.01%) Azure DevOps
9 34 (4.49%) Azure Monitor
9 34 (4.49%) GitHub
10 32 (4.22%) OCI
11 23 (3.03%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 22 (2.90%) Azure Sentinel
13 21 (2.77%) PaaS
14 19 (2.51%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 16 (2.11%) Serverless
15 16 (2.11%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 15 (1.98%) AWS CloudFormation
16 15 (1.98%) Azure AKS
17 14 (1.85%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 228 (30.08%) DNS
2 220 (29.02%) VPN
3 213 (28.10%) Network Security
4 199 (26.25%) WAN
5 168 (22.16%) LAN
6 146 (19.26%) DHCP
7 131 (17.28%) TCP/IP
8 127 (16.75%) BGP
9 115 (15.17%) Wireless
10 114 (15.04%) VLAN
11 108 (14.25%) OSPF
12 82 (10.82%) Wi-Fi
13 81 (10.69%) SD-WAN
14 59 (7.78%) BIG-IP
15 54 (7.12%) Cisco ASA
16 51 (6.73%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 51 (6.73%) IPsec
17 49 (6.46%) SSL
18 46 (6.07%) Cisco Nexus
19 44 (5.80%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.24%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.72%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.32%) Data Lake
4 9 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
5 8 (1.06%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.53%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.40%) EDRMS
7 3 (0.40%) MySQL
8 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.13%) DataStage
9 1 (0.13%) Delta Lake
9 1 (0.13%) Power BI
9 1 (0.13%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 63 (8.31%) JIRA
2 35 (4.62%) GitLab
2 35 (4.62%) Jenkins
3 17 (2.24%) Git
4 9 (1.19%) Bitbucket
4 9 (1.19%) Sonatype Nexus
5 6 (0.79%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.53%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
7 3 (0.40%) Maven
8 2 (0.26%) Burp Suite
8 2 (0.26%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.26%) Gatling
8 2 (0.26%) Gradle
8 2 (0.26%) LoadRunner
8 2 (0.26%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) Snyk
General
1 181 (23.88%) Social Skills
2 86 (11.35%) Analytical Skills
3 82 (10.82%) Finance
4 53 (6.99%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.88%) Banking
6 31 (4.09%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.56%) Manufacturing
8 26 (3.43%) Telecoms
9 17 (2.24%) Legal
10 14 (1.85%) Military
11 11 (1.45%) Aerospace
11 11 (1.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 8 (1.06%) Retail
13 7 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (0.92%) Police
14 4 (0.53%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.53%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.53%) Law
14 4 (0.53%) Pharmaceutical
15 3 (0.40%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 236 (31.13%) Network Engineer
2 124 (16.36%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 116 (15.30%) Senior
4 77 (10.16%) Architect
5 57 (7.52%) Security Engineer
6 50 (6.60%) Senior Network Engineer
7 41 (5.41%) Cloud Engineer
8 36 (4.75%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 36 (4.75%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 29 (3.83%) Lead
10 27 (3.56%) Network Security Engineer
11 26 (3.43%) Platform Engineer
12 24 (3.17%) Network Architect
13 22 (2.90%) Azure Engineer
14 21 (2.77%) Consultant
14 21 (2.77%) Solutions Architect
15 19 (2.51%) Technical Architect
16 17 (2.24%) Developer
17 16 (2.11%) DevOps Engineer
17 16 (2.11%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 168 (22.16%) Terraform
2 23 (3.03%) 802.1X
3 21 (2.77%) ARM Templates
4 15 (1.98%) SAML
5 11 (1.45%) YAML
6 10 (1.32%) React
7 9 (1.19%) REST
8 7 (0.92%) ModSecurity
8 7 (0.92%) OAuth
8 7 (0.92%) OpenID
9 6 (0.79%) LDAP
9 6 (0.79%) OAuth2
9 6 (0.79%) SailPoint
10 5 (0.66%) Azure Blueprints
10 5 (0.66%) gRPC
10 5 (0.66%) Kafka
10 5 (0.66%) OpenTelemetry
11 4 (0.53%) HTML
11 4 (0.53%) Redfish
11 4 (0.53%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 174 (22.96%) Data Centre
2 64 (8.44%) Hybrid Cloud
3 55 (7.26%) PKI
4 50 (6.60%) Cloud Native
5 39 (5.15%) Security Posture
6 33 (4.35%) Operational Technology
7 27 (3.56%) Public Cloud
8 26 (3.43%) Management Information System
9 25 (3.30%) Onboarding
10 22 (2.90%) Self-Motivation
11 21 (2.77%) Driving Licence
12 18 (2.37%) SCADA
13 17 (2.24%) Data Protection Act
14 16 (2.11%) Enterprise Storage
15 15 (1.98%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
16 13 (1.72%) Linux Command Line
17 12 (1.58%) Enterprise Software
17 12 (1.58%) Replication
18 11 (1.45%) Cyber Threat
18 11 (1.45%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 215 (28.36%) Windows
2 150 (19.79%) Linux
3 104 (13.72%) Windows Server
4 33 (4.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (1.98%) Unix
6 13 (1.72%) CentOS
7 12 (1.58%) Mac OS
7 12 (1.58%) Ubuntu
8 10 (1.32%) VMS
9 9 (1.19%) Windows 10
10 7 (0.92%) Rocky
11 5 (0.66%) Android
11 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.53%) Apple iOS
13 3 (0.40%) Check Point GAiA
14 2 (0.26%) Data ONTAP
14 2 (0.26%) SUSE
14 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2003
15 1 (0.13%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 176 (23.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 164 (21.64%) CI/CD
3 160 (21.11%) Infrastructure as Code
4 143 (18.87%) DevOps
5 134 (17.68%) Cybersecurity
6 130 (17.15%) Problem-Solving
7 126 (16.62%) Load Balancing
8 101 (13.32%) Agile
9 99 (13.06%) ITIL
10 92 (12.14%) Migration
11 81 (10.69%) High Availability
12 80 (10.55%) Zero Trust
13 79 (10.42%) SIEM
14 75 (9.89%) Technical Leadership
15 73 (9.63%) Stakeholder Management
16 72 (9.50%) Project Delivery
17 68 (8.97%) Validation
18 67 (8.84%) Continuous Improvement
19 65 (8.58%) Change Management
20 63 (8.31%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 161 (21.24%) Python
2 139 (18.34%) PowerShell
3 82 (10.82%) Bash
4 31 (4.09%) Bicep
5 30 (3.96%) Java
6 25 (3.30%) SQL
7 16 (2.11%) ActionScript
8 5 (0.66%) Go
8 5 (0.66%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.66%) Search Processing Language
8 5 (0.66%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.53%) Groovy
9 4 (0.53%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.53%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.26%) C
10 2 (0.26%) Perl
10 2 (0.26%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.13%) C++
11 1 (0.13%) COBOL
11 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 301 (39.71%) Security Cleared
2 190 (25.07%) SC Cleared
3 146 (19.26%) Cisco Certification
4 102 (13.46%) CCNP
5 101 (13.32%) DV Cleared
6 65 (8.58%) CCNA
7 57 (7.52%) Degree
8 44 (5.80%) CISSP
9 36 (4.75%) AWS Certification
10 34 (4.49%) Azure Certification
11 20 (2.64%) CCIE
12 19 (2.51%) Microsoft Certification
13 16 (2.11%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 14 (1.85%) Network+ Certification
15 12 (1.58%) VCAP
16 11 (1.45%) CISM
16 11 (1.45%) Server+ Certification
17 10 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
18 9 (1.19%) CEH
19 7 (0.92%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (5.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 35 (4.62%) NIST
3 22 (2.90%) NCSC
4 20 (2.64%) GDPR
5 16 (2.11%) QA
6 14 (1.85%) PCI DSS
7 9 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
7 9 (1.19%) JSP 440
7 9 (1.19%) SLA
8 8 (1.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 6 (0.79%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.79%) NIST 800
10 5 (0.66%) Data Quality
11 4 (0.53%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.53%) GxP
11 4 (0.53%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 2 (0.26%) GRC
13 2 (0.26%) SOC 2
14 1 (0.13%) ITGC
System Software
1 148 (19.53%) Active Directory
2 140 (18.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 60 (7.92%) Hyper-V
4 49 (6.46%) VMware NSX
5 48 (6.33%) vSphere
6 46 (6.07%) Docker
7 35 (4.62%) VMware ESXi
8 19 (2.51%) Virtual Machines
9 18 (2.37%) Firmware
10 8 (1.06%) Virtual Servers
11 7 (0.92%) Virtual Desktop
12 5 (0.66%) FreeRADIUS
13 3 (0.40%) Dovecot
13 3 (0.40%) Postfix
13 3 (0.40%) VirtualBox
14 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
14 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 2 (0.26%) Squid
15 1 (0.13%) iptables
15 1 (0.13%) KVM
Systems Management
1 132 (17.41%) Ansible
2 85 (11.21%) Kubernetes
3 33 (4.35%) FortiGate
4 31 (4.09%) Microsoft Intune
5 27 (3.56%) Progress Chef
6 20 (2.64%) Grafana
6 20 (2.64%) Single Sign-On
7 18 (2.37%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.37%) VxRail
8 15 (1.98%) vCenter Server
9 14 (1.85%) SCCM
10 12 (1.58%) CASB
11 9 (1.19%) Argo
12 8 (1.06%) Istio
13 7 (0.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.92%) Nagios
13 7 (0.92%) NetBackup
13 7 (0.92%) Packer
14 4 (0.53%) Dell DRAC
14 4 (0.53%) Nessus
Vendors
1 272 (35.88%) Cisco
2 198 (26.12%) Microsoft
3 171 (22.56%) VMware
4 158 (20.84%) Palo Alto
5 105 (13.85%) F5
6 70 (9.23%) Juniper
7 69 (9.10%) Fortinet
8 65 (8.58%) CheckPoint
9 43 (5.67%) SolarWinds
10 41 (5.41%) Aruba
11 36 (4.75%) Google
11 36 (4.75%) ServiceNow
12 31 (4.09%) Meraki
12 31 (4.09%) Splunk
13 28 (3.69%) Arista
14 23 (3.03%) Red Hat
14 23 (3.03%) Veeam
14 23 (3.03%) Zscaler
15 18 (2.37%) NetApp
16 15 (1.98%) Citrix