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

6 months to
20 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 63 46 39
Rank change year-on-year -17 -7 +1
Contract jobs citing Firewall 749 569 849
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.05% 4.42% 4.19%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.08% 28.66% 25.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 340 548
10th Percentile £325 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £392 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £498 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.05% -2.50% +2.72%
75th Percentile £575 £585 £608
90th Percentile £638 £639 £775
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £510
% change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 17 31
10th Percentile £17.33 - £23.92
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £51.95
Median hourly rate £48.72 £25.00 £83.77
Median % change year-on-year +94.88% -70.15% +35.10%
75th Percentile £70.29 £41.25 £87.46
90th Percentile £82.63 £56.50 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £26.25 £60.00
% change year-on-year +85.60% -56.25% -3.23%

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 2,667 1,985 3,274
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.86% 15.40% 16.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,578 1,229 1,856
10th Percentile £230 £199 £203
25th Percentile £368 £300 £349
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £455 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.40% -4.21% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £653 £625 £675
UK median daily rate £495 £485 £490
% change year-on-year +2.06% -1.02% -5.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 219 124 359
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.20 £13.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £16.29 £16.30
Median hourly rate £41.94 £26.25 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +59.77% -42.79% +151.88%
75th Percentile £65.88 £62.81 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £81.01 £70.66
UK median hourly rate £35.52 £36.57 £40.00
% change year-on-year -2.88% -8.57% +116.22%

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 20 May 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 20 May 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 20 May 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 -4 237 £500 - 138
North of England -18 228 £508 +6.84% 110
North West -7 150 £540 +13.68% 60
Midlands -54 80 £423 -23.87% 65
West Midlands -29 68 £413 -21.43% 40
East of England -6 66 £500 -2.44% 27
Yorkshire -33 65 £424 -12.63% 37
South West -51 58 £525 +5.00% 42
Scotland +6 54 £450 +4.35% 25
Wales -16 28 £425 +16.44% 14
North East -11 15 £625 +13.64% 15
East Midlands -47 8 £488 -14.10% 25
Northern Ireland -5 2 £385 - 1
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 13 (1.74%) Confluence
2 9 (1.20%) CICS
3 8 (1.07%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.67%) Apache
5 3 (0.40%) IIS
5 3 (0.40%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.40%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
6 2 (0.27%) CloudStack
6 2 (0.27%) CMS
6 2 (0.27%) IBM HTTP Server
6 2 (0.27%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 2 (0.27%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.27%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.27%) WebSphere Application Server
6 2 (0.27%) WebSphere Portal
7 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 23 (3.07%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (2.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (2.27%) MS Visio
3 13 (1.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 220 (29.37%) Azure
2 130 (17.36%) AWS
3 47 (6.28%) Entra ID
4 45 (6.01%) GCP
5 38 (5.07%) Microsoft 365
6 32 (4.27%) Azure DevOps
7 24 (3.20%) GitHub
8 22 (2.94%) OCI
9 20 (2.67%) Azure Sentinel
9 20 (2.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 19 (2.54%) IaaS
11 16 (2.14%) Azure Monitor
12 15 (2.00%) PaaS
13 14 (1.87%) GitHub Actions
13 14 (1.87%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 14 (1.87%) Nutanix
13 14 (1.87%) SaaS
14 12 (1.60%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 11 (1.47%) Microsoft Purview
16 10 (1.34%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 237 (31.64%) WAN
2 197 (26.30%) LAN
3 195 (26.03%) Network Security
4 171 (22.83%) VPN
5 153 (20.43%) DNS
6 135 (18.02%) BGP
7 131 (17.49%) OSPF
8 106 (14.15%) VLAN
9 104 (13.89%) Wireless
10 98 (13.08%) DHCP
11 86 (11.48%) SD-WAN
12 76 (10.15%) TCP/IP
13 73 (9.75%) Wi-Fi
14 67 (8.95%) IPsec
15 65 (8.68%) VXLAN
16 63 (8.41%) Ethernet VPN
17 58 (7.74%) BIG-IP
18 54 (7.21%) Cisco ISE
19 46 (6.14%) MPLS
20 45 (6.01%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.60%) SQL Server
2 11 (1.47%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (1.20%) DataStage
4 6 (0.80%) Power BI
5 4 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
5 4 (0.53%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.53%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.53%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.53%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.40%) Delta Lake
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon QuickSight
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.13%) EDRMS
8 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 55 (7.34%) JIRA
2 33 (4.41%) GitLab
3 25 (3.34%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.94%) Git
5 17 (2.27%) Burp Suite
6 16 (2.14%) Metasploit
7 11 (1.47%) Sonatype Nexus
8 9 (1.20%) Jaeger
9 4 (0.53%) Browser DevTools
9 4 (0.53%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.40%) Chocolatey
11 2 (0.27%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.27%) Introscope
11 2 (0.27%) Team Foundation Server
12 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.13%) Cucumber
12 1 (0.13%) Gradle
12 1 (0.13%) Postman
12 1 (0.13%) REST Assured
General
1 179 (23.90%) Social Skills
2 75 (10.01%) Finance
3 65 (8.68%) Public Sector
4 59 (7.88%) Analytical Skills
5 50 (6.68%) Documentation Skills
6 23 (3.07%) Banking
7 19 (2.54%) Manufacturing
8 17 (2.27%) Telecoms
9 16 (2.14%) Military
10 13 (1.74%) Legal
11 12 (1.60%) Influencing Skills
12 10 (1.34%) Financial Institution
13 8 (1.07%) Law
13 8 (1.07%) Retail
14 7 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.93%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.53%) Aerospace
16 3 (0.40%) Back Office
16 3 (0.40%) Police
17 2 (0.27%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 265 (35.38%) Network Engineer
2 95 (12.68%) Architect
3 89 (11.88%) Senior
4 78 (10.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 52 (6.94%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 49 (6.54%) Security Engineer
7 46 (6.14%) Network Architect
8 37 (4.94%) Senior Network Engineer
9 30 (4.01%) Cisco Engineer
10 27 (3.60%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 24 (3.20%) Cloud Engineer
12 23 (3.07%) Lead
13 22 (2.94%) Designer
13 22 (2.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 18 (2.40%) Analyst
14 18 (2.40%) Network Specialist
14 18 (2.40%) Technical Architect
15 17 (2.27%) IT Support
15 17 (2.27%) Penetration Tester
16 16 (2.14%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (7.88%) 802.1X
2 27 (3.60%) LDAP
3 21 (2.80%) Middleware
4 18 (2.40%) Kafka
5 16 (2.14%) SAML
6 11 (1.47%) OpenTelemetry
7 10 (1.34%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.80%) LangChain
8 6 (0.80%) OAuth
8 6 (0.80%) OAuth2
8 6 (0.80%) PyTorch
8 6 (0.80%) scikit-learn
9 5 (0.67%) Elastic Stack
10 4 (0.53%) JSON
10 4 (0.53%) OpenID
10 4 (0.53%) REST
10 4 (0.53%) YAML
11 3 (0.40%) .NET
11 3 (0.40%) Node.js
11 3 (0.40%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 211 (28.17%) Data Centre
2 48 (6.41%) Security Posture
3 39 (5.21%) Cloud Native
4 37 (4.94%) Hybrid Cloud
5 35 (4.67%) PKI
6 28 (3.74%) Clustering
7 27 (3.60%) Operational Technology
8 23 (3.07%) Onboarding
9 17 (2.27%) IoT
9 17 (2.27%) Public Cloud
10 15 (2.00%) Management Information System
11 14 (1.87%) SCADA
12 13 (1.74%) BYOD
12 13 (1.74%) Data Protection Act
12 13 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
13 12 (1.60%) NHS
14 11 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
14 11 (1.47%) Driving Licence
14 11 (1.47%) Enterprise Storage
15 10 (1.34%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 192 (25.63%) Windows
2 115 (15.35%) Linux
3 69 (9.21%) Windows Server
4 25 (3.34%) Unix
5 16 (2.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.34%) Solaris
7 9 (1.20%) AIX
8 7 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.80%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.67%) Mac OS
11 4 (0.53%) CatOS
11 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.40%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.40%) VMS
12 3 (0.40%) Windows 7
13 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.27%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.27%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (15.22%) DevOps
2 112 (14.95%) Load Balancing
3 108 (14.42%) Cybersecurity
4 107 (14.29%) High Availability
5 105 (14.02%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 102 (13.62%) CI/CD
7 93 (12.42%) ITIL
8 90 (12.02%) Problem-Solving
9 87 (11.62%) Infrastructure as Code
10 80 (10.68%) Zero Trust
11 67 (8.95%) Network Segmentation
12 65 (8.68%) Agile
12 65 (8.68%) Observability
13 64 (8.54%) Migration
14 61 (8.14%) Change Management
15 58 (7.74%) Technical Leadership
16 55 (7.34%) Network Design
16 55 (7.34%) Network Monitoring
17 54 (7.21%) Identity Access Management
18 53 (7.08%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 88 (11.75%) Python
2 62 (8.28%) PowerShell
3 37 (4.94%) SQL
4 34 (4.54%) Bash
5 28 (3.74%) Bicep
6 23 (3.07%) Java
7 9 (1.20%) COBOL
8 8 (1.07%) Rust
9 5 (0.67%) Perl
10 4 (0.53%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.40%) Go
11 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.40%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.27%) C#
12 2 (0.27%) C++
12 2 (0.27%) Groovy
12 2 (0.27%) Jython
12 2 (0.27%) Ruby
13 1 (0.13%) C
13 1 (0.13%) Korn
Qualifications
1 312 (41.66%) Security Cleared
2 219 (29.24%) SC Cleared
3 181 (24.17%) Cisco Certification
4 136 (18.16%) CCNP
5 93 (12.42%) CCNA
6 75 (10.01%) DV Cleared
7 69 (9.21%) Degree
8 28 (3.74%) CISSP
9 21 (2.80%) Azure Certification
10 19 (2.54%) Network+ Certification
11 18 (2.40%) AWS Certification
11 18 (2.40%) JNCIS
12 16 (2.14%) CHECK Team Member
13 15 (2.00%) CCIE
13 15 (2.00%) JNCIA
14 14 (1.87%) CISM
14 14 (1.87%) CREST Certified
14 14 (1.87%) Cyber Scheme
15 13 (1.74%) Postgraduate
16 12 (1.60%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (6.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.27%) GDPR
3 27 (3.60%) NIST
4 25 (3.34%) PCI DSS
5 20 (2.67%) QA
6 18 (2.40%) NCSC
7 17 (2.27%) Cyber Essentials
8 16 (2.14%) SLA
9 12 (1.60%) PMO
10 7 (0.93%) Disclosure Scotland
11 6 (0.80%) Data Quality
12 4 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.53%) JSP 440
12 4 (0.53%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.40%) ISA99
13 3 (0.40%) RMADS
14 2 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
14 2 (0.27%) GRC
14 2 (0.27%) GxP
15 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 124 (16.56%) Active Directory
2 95 (12.68%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (4.54%) Docker
4 32 (4.27%) VMware NSX
5 30 (4.01%) vSphere
6 16 (2.14%) Firmware
6 16 (2.14%) Hyper-V
7 15 (2.00%) Virtual Machines
7 15 (2.00%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (1.07%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.40%) DFS Replication
10 2 (0.27%) KVM
10 2 (0.27%) Squid
11 1 (0.13%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.13%) NFS
11 1 (0.13%) RHEV
11 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.13%) Xen
11 1 (0.13%) XenApp
11 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 99 (13.22%) Terraform
2 77 (10.28%) Ansible
3 49 (6.54%) FortiGate
4 45 (6.01%) Kubernetes
5 26 (3.47%) Grafana
6 19 (2.54%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.40%) Nmap
8 17 (2.27%) Single Sign-On
9 15 (2.00%) Microsoft Intune
10 14 (1.87%) vCenter Server
11 13 (1.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 12 (1.60%) CASB
12 12 (1.60%) Nagios
13 9 (1.20%) Kiali
14 8 (1.07%) Cisco Prime
14 8 (1.07%) Nessus
14 8 (1.07%) SCCM
15 7 (0.93%) VxRail
16 6 (0.80%) Progress Chef
17 5 (0.67%) Endace
Vendors
1 303 (40.45%) Cisco
2 162 (21.63%) Palo Alto
3 130 (17.36%) VMware
4 126 (16.82%) Microsoft
5 105 (14.02%) F5
6 94 (12.55%) Juniper
7 77 (10.28%) Fortinet
8 71 (9.48%) CheckPoint
9 68 (9.08%) Aruba
10 63 (8.41%) Splunk
11 61 (8.14%) SolarWinds
12 47 (6.28%) ServiceNow
13 26 (3.47%) Extreme Networks
13 26 (3.47%) Google
13 26 (3.47%) Meraki
14 25 (3.34%) Arista
15 22 (2.94%) Veeam
16 17 (2.27%) Oracle
16 17 (2.27%) Red Hat
17 15 (2.00%) IBM