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 14 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 91 54 43
Rank change year-on-year -37 -11 -12
Contract jobs citing Firewall 761 661 730
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.67% 4.15% 4.24%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 25.79% 31.11% 28.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 486 401 406
10th Percentile £350 £293 £295
25th Percentile £425 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.53% -5.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £650 £638
UK median daily rate £505 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +1.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 22 19
10th Percentile £21.08 £18.51 £19.70
25th Percentile £33.70 £29.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £65.69 £31.39 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +109.30% +14.13% -58.72%
75th Percentile £70.59 £69.31 £41.88
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £64.75
UK median hourly rate £67.47 £30.00 £25.84
% change year-on-year +124.90% +16.10% -61.21%

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 2,951 2,125 2,519
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.36% 13.35% 14.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,624 1,376 1,376
10th Percentile £213 £191 £200
25th Percentile £352 £300 £338
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £480
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -6.25% +3.23%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £585
90th Percentile £650 £641 £651
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 362 132 147
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £16.08
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.32 £26.25
Median hourly rate £26.07 £41.72 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -37.51% -24.15% -4.21%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £81.22 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £34.00 £48.56
% change year-on-year -4.41% -29.98% -14.04%

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 14 October 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 14 October 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 14 October 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 -3 281 £500 +5.26% 133
North West +12 164 £510 +13.33% 88
South East -47 164 £518 +3.50% 177
Yorkshire -25 95 £500 +2.56% 30
Midlands -71 95 £472 -0.74% 87
South West -3 94 £560 +16.67% 84
West Midlands -73 71 £450 -5.26% 59
East of England -10 69 £600 +24.35% 46
Scotland -18 60 £400 -20.00% 48
North East -15 29 £500 -13.04% 16
East Midlands -8 24 £500 +6.16% 28
Wales -22 3 £608 +203.75% 14
Channel Islands -6 2 £600 -17.24% 1
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 18
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 29 (3.81%) Microsoft Exchange
2 21 (2.76%) Confluence
3 17 (2.23%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.45%) Apache
5 9 (1.18%) nginx
6 8 (1.05%) SAS
7 5 (0.66%) FactoryTalk
7 5 (0.66%) IIS
8 3 (0.39%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.26%) CMS
9 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
Applications
1 20 (2.63%) MS Visio
2 12 (1.58%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.66%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.79%) Remedy ITSM
2 5 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.26%) Dynamics GP
3 2 (0.26%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 278 (36.53%) Azure
2 164 (21.55%) AWS
3 93 (12.22%) Entra ID
4 71 (9.33%) Microsoft 365
5 68 (8.94%) GCP
6 48 (6.31%) IaaS
7 41 (5.39%) Azure Monitor
7 41 (5.39%) SaaS
8 39 (5.12%) Azure DevOps
9 37 (4.86%) GitHub
10 35 (4.60%) OCI
11 27 (3.55%) Azure Sentinel
12 22 (2.89%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 22 (2.89%) PaaS
13 21 (2.76%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 17 (2.23%) Azure AKS
14 17 (2.23%) Serverless
15 14 (1.84%) Amazon EKS
15 14 (1.84%) AWS CloudFormation
15 14 (1.84%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 241 (31.67%) DNS
2 220 (28.91%) Network Security
3 219 (28.78%) VPN
4 189 (24.84%) WAN
5 158 (20.76%) LAN
6 156 (20.50%) DHCP
7 145 (19.05%) TCP/IP
8 127 (16.69%) BGP
9 121 (15.90%) VLAN
9 121 (15.90%) Wireless
10 108 (14.19%) OSPF
11 78 (10.25%) Wi-Fi
12 76 (9.99%) SD-WAN
13 58 (7.62%) BIG-IP
14 54 (7.10%) Cisco ASA
15 50 (6.57%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 50 (6.57%) IPsec
16 47 (6.18%) SSL
17 46 (6.04%) Cisco Nexus
18 45 (5.91%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.23%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.71%) Relational Database
3 12 (1.58%) Data Lake
4 10 (1.31%) NoSQL
5 9 (1.18%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.53%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.39%) EDRMS
7 3 (0.39%) MySQL
8 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.13%) Delta Lake
9 1 (0.13%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 59 (7.75%) JIRA
2 38 (4.99%) Jenkins
3 34 (4.47%) GitLab
4 18 (2.37%) Git
5 10 (1.31%) Sonatype Nexus
6 9 (1.18%) Bitbucket
7 6 (0.79%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.53%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.39%) Maven
10 2 (0.26%) Burp Suite
10 2 (0.26%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.26%) Gatling
10 2 (0.26%) Gradle
10 2 (0.26%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.26%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.13%) Ant
11 1 (0.13%) MSI
11 1 (0.13%) Postman
General
1 183 (24.05%) Social Skills
2 86 (11.30%) Analytical Skills
3 82 (10.78%) Finance
4 54 (7.10%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.86%) Banking
6 34 (4.47%) Documentation Skills
7 28 (3.68%) Manufacturing
8 27 (3.55%) Telecoms
9 18 (2.37%) Legal
10 15 (1.97%) Military
11 11 (1.45%) Aerospace
12 10 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (0.79%) Police
14 6 (0.79%) Retail
15 5 (0.66%) Pharmaceutical
16 4 (0.53%) Financial Institution
17 3 (0.39%) Advertising
17 3 (0.39%) Law
17 3 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 232 (30.49%) Network Engineer
2 131 (17.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 115 (15.11%) Senior
4 72 (9.46%) Architect
5 58 (7.62%) Security Engineer
6 46 (6.04%) Cloud Engineer
7 45 (5.91%) Senior Network Engineer
8 40 (5.26%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 34 (4.47%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 27 (3.55%) Azure Engineer
10 27 (3.55%) Platform Engineer
11 26 (3.42%) Lead
12 24 (3.15%) Network Security Engineer
13 21 (2.76%) Consultant
13 21 (2.76%) Network Architect
14 20 (2.63%) Solutions Architect
15 19 (2.50%) DevOps Engineer
16 16 (2.10%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
16 16 (2.10%) Project Engineer
16 16 (2.10%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 175 (23.00%) Terraform
2 26 (3.42%) ARM Templates
3 21 (2.76%) 802.1X
4 14 (1.84%) YAML
5 13 (1.71%) SAML
6 9 (1.18%) ModSecurity
7 8 (1.05%) OAuth
7 8 (1.05%) OpenID
7 8 (1.05%) React
7 8 (1.05%) REST
8 7 (0.92%) SailPoint
9 6 (0.79%) LDAP
9 6 (0.79%) OAuth2
10 5 (0.66%) Azure Blueprints
10 5 (0.66%) gRPC
10 5 (0.66%) Kafka
11 4 (0.53%) JSON
11 4 (0.53%) OpenTelemetry
11 4 (0.53%) Redfish
11 4 (0.53%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 163 (21.42%) Data Centre
2 63 (8.28%) Hybrid Cloud
3 54 (7.10%) PKI
4 52 (6.83%) Cloud Native
5 38 (4.99%) Security Posture
6 33 (4.34%) Operational Technology
7 31 (4.07%) Onboarding
8 28 (3.68%) Management Information System
9 25 (3.29%) Public Cloud
10 23 (3.02%) Self-Motivation
11 22 (2.89%) Driving Licence
12 18 (2.37%) SCADA
13 16 (2.10%) Data Protection Act
14 15 (1.97%) Enterprise Storage
15 14 (1.84%) Linux Command Line
16 13 (1.71%) Cyber Threat
16 13 (1.71%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
17 11 (1.45%) Replication
18 10 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
19 8 (1.05%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 224 (29.43%) Windows
2 158 (20.76%) Linux
3 109 (14.32%) Windows Server
4 35 (4.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (1.97%) Unix
6 13 (1.71%) CentOS
6 13 (1.71%) Ubuntu
7 11 (1.45%) VMS
7 11 (1.45%) Windows 10
8 10 (1.31%) macOS
9 9 (1.18%) Windows Server 2019
10 8 (1.05%) Android
11 7 (0.92%) Rocky
12 6 (0.79%) Apple iOS
13 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
14 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
15 3 (0.39%) Check Point GAiA
16 2 (0.26%) SUSE
16 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2003
17 1 (0.13%) CatOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (23.78%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 173 (22.73%) CI/CD
3 167 (21.94%) Infrastructure as Code
4 148 (19.45%) Cybersecurity
5 142 (18.66%) DevOps
6 134 (17.61%) Problem-Solving
7 125 (16.43%) Load Balancing
8 101 (13.27%) Agile
9 98 (12.88%) ITIL
10 91 (11.96%) Migration
11 80 (10.51%) Stakeholder Management
12 79 (10.38%) SIEM
12 79 (10.38%) Zero Trust
13 77 (10.12%) Project Delivery
14 76 (9.99%) Technical Leadership
15 75 (9.86%) High Availability
16 67 (8.80%) Change Management
16 67 (8.80%) Validation
17 64 (8.41%) Network Segmentation
18 63 (8.28%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 165 (21.68%) Python
2 154 (20.24%) PowerShell
3 89 (11.70%) Bash
4 34 (4.47%) Bicep
5 30 (3.94%) Java
6 28 (3.68%) SQL
7 18 (2.37%) 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%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.39%) Groovy
11 2 (0.26%) JavaScript
11 2 (0.26%) Perl
11 2 (0.26%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.13%) C
12 1 (0.13%) C++
12 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 306 (40.21%) Security Cleared
2 188 (24.70%) SC Cleared
3 140 (18.40%) Cisco Certification
4 106 (13.93%) DV Cleared
5 98 (12.88%) CCNP
6 65 (8.54%) CCNA
7 56 (7.36%) Degree
8 42 (5.52%) CISSP
9 36 (4.73%) AWS Certification
10 34 (4.47%) Azure Certification
11 20 (2.63%) CCIE
11 20 (2.63%) Microsoft Certification
12 13 (1.71%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 12 (1.58%) Network+ Certification
13 12 (1.58%) VCAP
14 9 (1.18%) CEH
14 9 (1.18%) CISM
14 9 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
14 9 (1.18%) Server+ Certification
15 7 (0.92%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (5.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 38 (4.99%) NIST
3 22 (2.89%) NCSC
4 20 (2.63%) GDPR
5 18 (2.37%) QA
6 16 (2.10%) PCI DSS
7 10 (1.31%) Cyber Essentials
8 9 (1.18%) JSP 440
8 9 (1.18%) SLA
9 8 (1.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 6 (0.79%) NIST 800
11 5 (0.66%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 5 (0.66%) Data Quality
11 5 (0.66%) Disclosure Scotland
11 5 (0.66%) GxP
12 4 (0.53%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.26%) GRC
14 2 (0.26%) SOC 2
15 1 (0.13%) ITGC
System Software
1 153 (20.11%) Active Directory
2 137 (18.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 60 (7.88%) Hyper-V
4 51 (6.70%) vSphere
5 50 (6.57%) Docker
6 44 (5.78%) VMware NSX
7 36 (4.73%) VMware ESXi
8 19 (2.50%) Virtual Machines
9 17 (2.23%) Firmware
10 7 (0.92%) Virtual Desktop
10 7 (0.92%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.66%) FreeRADIUS
12 4 (0.53%) VirtualBox
13 3 (0.39%) Dovecot
13 3 (0.39%) Postfix
14 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
14 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 1 (0.13%) KVM
15 1 (0.13%) NFS
15 1 (0.13%) Squid
Systems Management
1 139 (18.27%) Ansible
2 88 (11.56%) Kubernetes
3 36 (4.73%) Microsoft Intune
4 33 (4.34%) FortiGate
5 26 (3.42%) Progress Chef
6 20 (2.63%) Grafana
7 19 (2.50%) SCCM
8 18 (2.37%) Prometheus
8 18 (2.37%) Single Sign-On
8 18 (2.37%) VxRail
9 15 (1.97%) vCenter Server
10 13 (1.71%) CASB
11 8 (1.05%) Argo
11 8 (1.05%) Istio
12 7 (0.92%) Nagios
12 7 (0.92%) NetBackup
12 7 (0.92%) Packer
13 6 (0.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 4 (0.53%) Dell DRAC
14 4 (0.53%) Nessus
Vendors
1 267 (35.09%) Cisco
2 211 (27.73%) Microsoft
3 170 (22.34%) VMware
4 163 (21.42%) Palo Alto
5 102 (13.40%) F5
6 73 (9.59%) Fortinet
7 66 (8.67%) CheckPoint
7 66 (8.67%) Juniper
8 42 (5.52%) Aruba
8 42 (5.52%) SolarWinds
9 37 (4.86%) ServiceNow
10 36 (4.73%) Google
11 33 (4.34%) Meraki
11 33 (4.34%) Splunk
12 30 (3.94%) Arista
13 24 (3.15%) Veeam
14 23 (3.02%) Red Hat
15 21 (2.76%) Zscaler
16 18 (2.37%) NetApp
17 17 (2.23%) Databricks