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

6 months to
14 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 42 43
Rank change year-on-year -28 +1 -7
Contract jobs citing Firewall 764 638 853
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.99% 4.78% 4.00%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 27.77% 31.34% 25.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 510 370 541
10th Percentile £335 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% +2.72%
75th Percentile £576 £585 £608
90th Percentile £638 £638 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 21 32
10th Percentile £18.53 - £23.92
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £26.25
Median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £83.63
Median % change year-on-year +86.67% -64.13% +34.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £41.25 £87.46
90th Percentile £73.35 £45.00 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +86.67% -50.00% -4.08%

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 2,751 2,036 3,294
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.76% 15.24% 15.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,616 1,251 1,853
10th Percentile £231 £200 £203
25th Percentile £375 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £470 £485
Median % change year-on-year +2.13% -3.09% +2.11%
75th Percentile £581 £575 £600
90th Percentile £653 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £485 £495
% change year-on-year +3.09% -2.02% -3.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 248 126 358
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.60 £13.43
25th Percentile £21.25 £16.55 £16.30
Median hourly rate £30.25 £31.79 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -4.84% -33.07% +150.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £81.73 £73.83
UK median hourly rate £27.69 £41.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -33.28% +3.75% +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 14 June 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 June 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 June 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 -15 264 £500 +5.26% 103
South East -19 212 £500 - 157
North West -2 165 £537 +13.11% 59
Yorkshire -26 84 £434 -11.84% 30
Midlands -59 75 £425 -19.05% 67
East of England -12 70 £505 -0.98% 40
West Midlands -45 64 £420 -20.00% 41
Scotland +4 63 £450 +5.88% 24
South West -40 61 £525 +7.97% 48
Wales -21 25 £425 +25.93% 9
North East -14 21 £625 +25.00% 15
East Midlands -44 8 £500 -4.03% 26
Northern Ireland -4 2 £385 - 7
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 10 (1.31%) Confluence
1 10 (1.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (1.18%) CICS
3 8 (1.05%) Apache
4 6 (0.79%) IIS
4 6 (0.79%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.52%) nginx
6 3 (0.39%) Skype for Business
6 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.26%) Apache Pulsar
7 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.26%) CMS
7 2 (0.26%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.26%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.26%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 18 (2.36%) MS Visio
2 16 (2.09%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.31%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 241 (31.54%) Azure
2 138 (18.06%) AWS
3 58 (7.59%) Entra ID
4 54 (7.07%) GCP
5 45 (5.89%) Microsoft 365
6 33 (4.32%) Azure DevOps
6 33 (4.32%) GitHub
7 30 (3.93%) OCI
8 26 (3.40%) IaaS
9 25 (3.27%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 24 (3.14%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 22 (2.88%) Azure Sentinel
12 20 (2.62%) SaaS
13 16 (2.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 16 (2.09%) Azure Monitor
14 15 (1.96%) GitHub Actions
15 13 (1.70%) Microsoft Purview
15 13 (1.70%) PaaS
16 11 (1.44%) Nutanix
16 11 (1.44%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 235 (30.76%) WAN
2 205 (26.83%) Network Security
3 191 (25.00%) LAN
4 166 (21.73%) VPN
5 157 (20.55%) DNS
6 133 (17.41%) BGP
7 125 (16.36%) OSPF
8 107 (14.01%) VLAN
9 103 (13.48%) Wireless
10 97 (12.70%) DHCP
11 95 (12.43%) SD-WAN
12 80 (10.47%) Wi-Fi
13 71 (9.29%) BIG-IP
13 71 (9.29%) TCP/IP
14 68 (8.90%) VXLAN
15 65 (8.51%) Ethernet VPN
16 62 (8.12%) IPsec
17 51 (6.68%) Cisco ISE
18 50 (6.54%) MPLS
19 46 (6.02%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.44%) PostgreSQL
1 11 (1.44%) SQL Server
2 9 (1.18%) DataStage
3 6 (0.79%) Power BI
3 6 (0.79%) Relational Database
4 4 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
4 4 (0.52%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.52%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.52%) MySQL
4 4 (0.52%) NoSQL
5 3 (0.39%) Delta Lake
5 3 (0.39%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.26%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
7 1 (0.13%) EDRMS
7 1 (0.13%) Redis
7 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.13%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 62 (8.12%) JIRA
2 38 (4.97%) GitLab
3 34 (4.45%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.88%) Git
5 12 (1.57%) Sonatype Nexus
6 10 (1.31%) Burp Suite
7 8 (1.05%) Metasploit
8 7 (0.92%) Jaeger
9 4 (0.52%) Browser DevTools
10 3 (0.39%) Chocolatey
10 3 (0.39%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.26%) Cucumber
11 2 (0.26%) Gatling
11 2 (0.26%) Gradle
11 2 (0.26%) Introscope
11 2 (0.26%) LoadRunner
11 2 (0.26%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.26%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 166 (21.73%) Social Skills
2 79 (10.34%) Finance
3 62 (8.12%) Public Sector
4 57 (7.46%) Analytical Skills
5 40 (5.24%) Documentation Skills
6 25 (3.27%) Banking
7 18 (2.36%) Legal
8 17 (2.23%) Telecoms
9 16 (2.09%) Manufacturing
10 14 (1.83%) Military
11 11 (1.44%) Influencing Skills
12 8 (1.05%) Law
13 7 (0.92%) Financial Institution
13 7 (0.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (0.92%) Retail
14 5 (0.65%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.39%) Aerospace
15 3 (0.39%) Back Office
15 3 (0.39%) Police
16 2 (0.26%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 260 (34.03%) Network Engineer
2 95 (12.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 95 (12.43%) Senior
3 93 (12.17%) Architect
4 58 (7.59%) Security Engineer
5 44 (5.76%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 43 (5.63%) Network Architect
7 40 (5.24%) Senior Network Engineer
8 31 (4.06%) Cloud Engineer
9 29 (3.80%) Cisco Engineer
10 27 (3.53%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 26 (3.40%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 25 (3.27%) Lead
13 21 (2.75%) Designer
14 19 (2.49%) Network Specialist
14 19 (2.49%) Technical Architect
15 17 (2.23%) Consultant
15 17 (2.23%) Network Security Engineer
16 16 (2.09%) Firewall Specialist
16 16 (2.09%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (7.85%) 802.1X
2 21 (2.75%) LDAP
3 19 (2.49%) Middleware
4 16 (2.09%) Kafka
5 12 (1.57%) SAML
6 9 (1.18%) OpenTelemetry
6 9 (1.18%) Spring Boot
7 6 (0.79%) LangChain
7 6 (0.79%) PyTorch
7 6 (0.79%) scikit-learn
7 6 (0.79%) YAML
8 5 (0.65%) OAuth
8 5 (0.65%) OAuth2
9 4 (0.52%) ARM Templates
9 4 (0.52%) React
9 4 (0.52%) Redfish
10 3 (0.39%) LEMP Stack
10 3 (0.39%) Node.js
10 3 (0.39%) REST
10 3 (0.39%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 216 (28.27%) Data Centre
2 57 (7.46%) Cloud Native
3 50 (6.54%) Security Posture
4 40 (5.24%) Hybrid Cloud
4 40 (5.24%) PKI
5 30 (3.93%) Onboarding
6 28 (3.66%) Clustering
7 27 (3.53%) Operational Technology
8 18 (2.36%) Management Information System
8 18 (2.36%) Public Cloud
9 17 (2.23%) IoT
10 15 (1.96%) Data Protection Act
10 15 (1.96%) Enterprise Storage
11 14 (1.83%) BYOD
11 14 (1.83%) SCADA
12 13 (1.70%) Self-Motivation
13 12 (1.57%) Cyber Threat
13 12 (1.57%) NHS
14 11 (1.44%) Driving Licence
15 10 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 196 (25.65%) Windows
2 127 (16.62%) Linux
3 71 (9.29%) Windows Server
4 27 (3.53%) Unix
5 19 (2.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.31%) Solaris
7 9 (1.18%) AIX
8 8 (1.05%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.79%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.65%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.65%) VMS
10 5 (0.65%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.52%) CentOS
12 3 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
13 2 (0.26%) Android
13 2 (0.26%) CatOS
13 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.26%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.26%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (17.28%) DevOps
2 124 (16.23%) CI/CD
3 123 (16.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 119 (15.58%) Load Balancing
5 113 (14.79%) High Availability
6 101 (13.22%) Infrastructure as Code
7 99 (12.96%) ITIL
8 98 (12.83%) Cybersecurity
9 89 (11.65%) Problem-Solving
10 84 (10.99%) Agile
10 84 (10.99%) Zero Trust
11 75 (9.82%) Migration
12 74 (9.69%) Observability
13 72 (9.42%) Network Segmentation
14 69 (9.03%) Change Management
15 62 (8.12%) Roadmaps
16 58 (7.59%) SIEM
16 58 (7.59%) Technical Leadership
17 57 (7.46%) Project Delivery
18 56 (7.33%) Network Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 112 (14.66%) Python
2 65 (8.51%) PowerShell
3 40 (5.24%) Bash
4 31 (4.06%) SQL
5 30 (3.93%) Java
6 27 (3.53%) Bicep
7 9 (1.18%) COBOL
8 8 (1.05%) ActionScript
9 6 (0.79%) Go
9 6 (0.79%) Rust
10 5 (0.65%) Perl
11 3 (0.39%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.39%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.39%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.26%) C++
12 2 (0.26%) Groovy
12 2 (0.26%) Jython
13 1 (0.13%) C
13 1 (0.13%) Korn
13 1 (0.13%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 293 (38.35%) Security Cleared
2 202 (26.44%) SC Cleared
3 179 (23.43%) Cisco Certification
4 129 (16.88%) CCNP
5 96 (12.57%) CCNA
6 67 (8.77%) DV Cleared
7 61 (7.98%) Degree
8 34 (4.45%) CISSP
9 25 (3.27%) AWS Certification
9 25 (3.27%) Azure Certification
10 18 (2.36%) Network+ Certification
11 16 (2.09%) JNCIS
11 16 (2.09%) Microsoft Certification
12 15 (1.96%) CCIE
12 15 (1.96%) CISM
12 15 (1.96%) Server+ Certification
13 14 (1.83%) JNCIA
14 13 (1.70%) PMP
15 10 (1.31%) BPSS Clearance
15 10 (1.31%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (6.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.19%) NIST
3 25 (3.27%) GDPR
4 20 (2.62%) PCI DSS
5 18 (2.36%) NCSC
5 18 (2.36%) QA
6 17 (2.23%) Cyber Essentials
6 17 (2.23%) SLA
7 8 (1.05%) Disclosure Scotland
8 6 (0.79%) Data Quality
8 6 (0.79%) PMO
9 4 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 4 (0.52%) SOC 2
10 3 (0.39%) ISA99
10 3 (0.39%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.39%) RMADS
10 3 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.26%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.26%) GRC
11 2 (0.26%) GxP
System Software
1 130 (17.02%) Active Directory
2 93 (12.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 36 (4.71%) Docker
4 29 (3.80%) VMware NSX
4 29 (3.80%) vSphere
5 19 (2.49%) Firmware
6 17 (2.23%) Hyper-V
7 15 (1.96%) VMware ESXi
8 14 (1.83%) Virtual Machines
9 9 (1.18%) Virtual Desktop
10 3 (0.39%) DFS Replication
10 3 (0.39%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.39%) Postfix
11 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
11 2 (0.26%) Squid
11 2 (0.26%) VirtualBox
12 1 (0.13%) FreeRADIUS
12 1 (0.13%) iptables
12 1 (0.13%) KVM
12 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 116 (15.18%) Terraform
2 84 (10.99%) Ansible
3 54 (7.07%) FortiGate
4 51 (6.68%) Kubernetes
5 26 (3.40%) Grafana
6 20 (2.62%) Microsoft Intune
7 19 (2.49%) Prometheus
8 15 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
9 14 (1.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 12 (1.57%) CASB
11 11 (1.44%) Progress Chef
12 10 (1.31%) Nmap
12 10 (1.31%) vCenter Server
13 9 (1.18%) SCCM
14 8 (1.05%) Cisco Prime
15 7 (0.92%) Kiali
16 6 (0.79%) Nagios
16 6 (0.79%) Nessus
16 6 (0.79%) VxRail
17 4 (0.52%) Dell DRAC
Vendors
1 292 (38.22%) Cisco
2 149 (19.50%) Palo Alto
3 140 (18.32%) Microsoft
4 123 (16.10%) VMware
5 118 (15.45%) F5
6 98 (12.83%) Juniper
7 70 (9.16%) Fortinet
8 64 (8.38%) Aruba
9 61 (7.98%) CheckPoint
9 61 (7.98%) SolarWinds
10 58 (7.59%) Splunk
11 53 (6.94%) ServiceNow
12 32 (4.19%) Google
13 29 (3.80%) Arista
14 27 (3.53%) Extreme Networks
15 22 (2.88%) Red Hat
16 21 (2.75%) Meraki
17 20 (2.62%) Veeam
18 17 (2.23%) Oracle
19 16 (2.09%) Zscaler