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

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 60 38 39
Rank change year-on-year -22 +1 +7
Contract jobs citing Firewall 754 648 940
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.48% 5.07% 4.45%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.29% 29.70% 25.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 512 371 584
10th Percentile £313 £300 £292
25th Percentile £410 £396 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £575 £582 £600
90th Percentile £638 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £517 £507
% change year-on-year -3.29% +1.97% -3.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 16 34
10th Percentile £36.45 £16.35 £23.92
25th Percentile £39.30 £24.69 £58.88
Median hourly rate £48.72 £37.07 £69.24
Median % change year-on-year +31.42% -46.46% +25.16%
75th Percentile £74.26 £42.73 £85.65
90th Percentile £85.80 £73.75 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £42.32 £37.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +14.39% -43.08% +17.50%

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 2,489 2,182 3,691
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.50% 17.07% 17.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,594 1,309 2,139
10th Percentile £200 £188 £203
25th Percentile £331 £303 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.06% -1.05% -
75th Percentile £575 £580 £588
90th Percentile £664 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £487 £496 £475
% change year-on-year -1.86% +4.46% -8.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 141 118 319
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £16.73 £21.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -29.16% +145.87%
75th Percentile £67.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £72.90
UK median hourly rate £39.50 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +12.86% +7.69% +71.05%

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 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 14 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 14 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 +13 235 £500 - 165
North of England -23 233 £515 +8.42% 104
North West -12 151 £528 +8.31% 66
Midlands -42 94 £425 -23.42% 52
West Midlands -29 85 £425 -11.23% 26
Yorkshire -24 80 £441 +3.82% 27
Scotland -4 57 £438 - 18
South West -49 57 £550 +0.92% 35
East of England -26 50 £475 -10.38% 56
Wales -17 25 £425 +9.68% 16
East Midlands -55 7 £475 -24.00% 26
North East -18 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 (2.12%) Confluence
2 11 (1.46%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.19%) Apache
4 8 (1.06%) CICS
5 7 (0.93%) SharePoint
6 6 (0.80%) IIS
7 4 (0.53%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
8 2 (0.27%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.13%) IBM HTTP Server
9 1 (0.13%) nginx
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 30 (3.98%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (2.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (2.12%) MS Visio
4 14 (1.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 213 (28.25%) Azure
2 164 (21.75%) AWS
3 68 (9.02%) GCP
4 55 (7.29%) Entra ID
5 40 (5.31%) Microsoft 365
6 35 (4.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 26 (3.45%) GitHub
8 24 (3.18%) Serverless
9 23 (3.05%) AWS CloudFormation
9 23 (3.05%) IaaS
10 22 (2.92%) Azure DevOps
11 21 (2.79%) Azure Sentinel
11 21 (2.79%) PaaS
12 20 (2.65%) Amazon EC2
12 20 (2.65%) AWS Lambda
13 19 (2.52%) Azure Monitor
14 15 (1.99%) Amazon EKS
15 14 (1.86%) Amazon ECS
15 14 (1.86%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 14 (1.86%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 188 (24.93%) Network Security
2 184 (24.40%) WAN
3 158 (20.95%) VPN
4 150 (19.89%) LAN
5 147 (19.50%) DNS
6 124 (16.45%) BGP
7 112 (14.85%) OSPF
8 97 (12.86%) VLAN
9 92 (12.20%) Wireless
10 87 (11.54%) DHCP
11 81 (10.74%) TCP/IP
12 60 (7.96%) SD-WAN
13 58 (7.69%) Cisco ISE
14 53 (7.03%) Wi-Fi
15 52 (6.90%) IPsec
16 50 (6.63%) MPLS
17 44 (5.84%) VXLAN
18 41 (5.44%) Ethernet VPN
19 38 (5.04%) Cisco Nexus
20 37 (4.91%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.12%) Amazon RDS
2 15 (1.99%) SQL Server
3 12 (1.59%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (1.06%) DataStage
5 5 (0.66%) Power BI
6 4 (0.53%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.53%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.53%) Relational Database
7 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.40%) DynamoDB
7 3 (0.40%) NoSQL
7 3 (0.40%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.27%) Amazon QuickSight
8 2 (0.27%) Delta Lake
8 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
9 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
9 1 (0.13%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.13%) Metadata
9 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 47 (6.23%) JIRA
2 36 (4.77%) Jenkins
3 31 (4.11%) GitLab
4 29 (3.85%) Git
5 21 (2.79%) Sonatype Nexus
6 16 (2.12%) Burp Suite
6 16 (2.12%) Metasploit
7 11 (1.46%) Bitbucket
8 8 (1.06%) Jaeger
9 4 (0.53%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.40%) Chocolatey
11 2 (0.27%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.13%) Introscope
12 1 (0.13%) MSI
12 1 (0.13%) Subversion
12 1 (0.13%) Travis CI
General
1 212 (28.12%) Social Skills
2 85 (11.27%) Finance
3 75 (9.95%) Analytical Skills
4 72 (9.55%) Public Sector
5 58 (7.69%) Documentation Skills
6 27 (3.58%) Banking
7 21 (2.79%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.65%) Legal
9 19 (2.52%) Manufacturing
10 15 (1.99%) Influencing Skills
11 10 (1.33%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.19%) Military
13 8 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.93%) Aerospace
15 6 (0.80%) Law
15 6 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.80%) Retail
16 4 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
17 3 (0.40%) Local Government
17 3 (0.40%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 238 (31.56%) Network Engineer
2 112 (14.85%) Architect
3 76 (10.08%) Senior
4 56 (7.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 54 (7.16%) Security Engineer
6 50 (6.63%) Network Architect
7 41 (5.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 30 (3.98%) Senior Network Engineer
9 27 (3.58%) Analyst
10 25 (3.32%) Cloud Engineer
10 25 (3.32%) IT Support
11 24 (3.18%) Cisco Engineer
12 23 (3.05%) Platform Engineer
13 22 (2.92%) Security Architect
14 21 (2.79%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 21 (2.79%) DevOps Engineer
14 21 (2.79%) IT Engineer
15 20 (2.65%) Network Specialist
15 20 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
16 19 (2.52%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 61 (8.09%) 802.1X
2 22 (2.92%) LDAP
2 22 (2.92%) SAML
3 19 (2.52%) Middleware
4 17 (2.25%) OAuth
4 17 (2.25%) OAuth2
5 16 (2.12%) Kafka
6 15 (1.99%) OpenID
7 10 (1.33%) Node.js
7 10 (1.33%) OpenTelemetry
8 8 (1.06%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.80%) JSON
9 6 (0.80%) LangChain
9 6 (0.80%) PyTorch
9 6 (0.80%) scikit-learn
10 5 (0.66%) REST
10 5 (0.66%) YAML
11 4 (0.53%) ARM Templates
11 4 (0.53%) RFC 2544
12 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 178 (23.61%) Data Centre
2 58 (7.69%) Security Posture
3 47 (6.23%) PKI
4 36 (4.77%) Cloud Native
5 26 (3.45%) Operational Technology
6 25 (3.32%) Onboarding
7 23 (3.05%) Clustering
7 23 (3.05%) Hybrid Cloud
8 18 (2.39%) NHS
9 15 (1.99%) IoT
9 15 (1.99%) Management Information System
9 15 (1.99%) Security Operations Centre
10 14 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
11 13 (1.72%) Product Ownership
12 12 (1.59%) BYOD
12 12 (1.59%) Cyber Threat
12 12 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
12 12 (1.59%) Private Cloud
13 11 (1.46%) Public Cloud
14 10 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 222 (29.44%) Windows
2 149 (19.76%) Linux
3 88 (11.67%) Windows Server
4 26 (3.45%) Unix
5 21 (2.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (1.19%) Solaris
6 9 (1.19%) Windows 7
7 8 (1.06%) AIX
8 7 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.66%) VMS
9 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.40%) Amazon Linux
11 3 (0.40%) CatOS
11 3 (0.40%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.27%) CentOS
12 2 (0.27%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.27%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.13%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (18.97%) Cybersecurity
2 120 (15.92%) Problem-Solving
3 106 (14.06%) DevOps
4 98 (13.00%) CI/CD
5 91 (12.07%) Load Balancing
6 90 (11.94%) ITIL
7 87 (11.54%) High Availability
8 85 (11.27%) Infrastructure as Code
9 81 (10.74%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 71 (9.42%) SIEM
11 64 (8.49%) Agile
11 64 (8.49%) Cloud Security
12 62 (8.22%) Incident Response
12 62 (8.22%) Zero Trust
13 61 (8.09%) Identity Access Management
14 60 (7.96%) Network Segmentation
15 59 (7.82%) Mentoring
15 59 (7.82%) Technical Leadership
16 58 (7.69%) Change Management
16 58 (7.69%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 124 (16.45%) Python
2 110 (14.59%) PowerShell
3 62 (8.22%) Bash
4 31 (4.11%) SQL
5 29 (3.85%) Java
6 24 (3.18%) Perl
7 22 (2.92%) Bicep
8 10 (1.33%) Ruby
9 8 (1.06%) COBOL
9 8 (1.06%) Rust
10 4 (0.53%) C#
10 4 (0.53%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.40%) Go
11 3 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
12 2 (0.27%) C++
12 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
13 1 (0.13%) Jython
13 1 (0.13%) Korn
13 1 (0.13%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 309 (40.98%) Security Cleared
2 195 (25.86%) SC Cleared
3 160 (21.22%) Cisco Certification
4 129 (17.11%) CCNP
5 91 (12.07%) DV Cleared
6 77 (10.21%) CCNA
7 71 (9.42%) Degree
8 42 (5.57%) CISSP
9 32 (4.24%) AWS Certification
10 29 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
11 23 (3.05%) Azure Certification
11 23 (3.05%) CCIE
12 20 (2.65%) CISM
13 16 (2.12%) CHECK Team Member
13 16 (2.12%) JNCIS
14 15 (1.99%) CompTIA Security+
15 14 (1.86%) CREST Certified
15 14 (1.86%) Cyber Scheme
15 14 (1.86%) Network+ Certification
16 13 (1.72%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 66 (8.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 48 (6.37%) NIST
3 41 (5.44%) GDPR
4 35 (4.64%) PCI DSS
5 21 (2.79%) Cyber Essentials
6 20 (2.65%) NCSC
7 16 (2.12%) QA
7 16 (2.12%) SLA
8 12 (1.59%) PMO
9 5 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.53%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.40%) COBIT
11 3 (0.40%) GRC
11 3 (0.40%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.27%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
12 2 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.27%) PSD2
12 2 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 150 (19.89%) Active Directory
2 110 (14.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 72 (9.55%) Docker
4 33 (4.38%) vSphere
5 32 (4.24%) VMware NSX
6 25 (3.32%) Hyper-V
7 12 (1.59%) VMware ESXi
8 10 (1.33%) Firmware
9 8 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
10 6 (0.80%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.66%) Virtual Machines
12 3 (0.40%) DFS Replication
12 3 (0.40%) KVM
13 1 (0.13%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 1 (0.13%) NDS
13 1 (0.13%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.13%) Xen
13 1 (0.13%) XenApp
13 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 102 (13.53%) Terraform
2 73 (9.68%) Kubernetes
3 68 (9.02%) Ansible
4 44 (5.84%) FortiGate
5 27 (3.58%) Single Sign-On
6 25 (3.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 24 (3.18%) Microsoft Intune
8 21 (2.79%) Grafana
9 20 (2.65%) vCenter Server
10 18 (2.39%) Nmap
11 15 (1.99%) Prometheus
12 12 (1.59%) SCCM
13 10 (1.33%) Nagios
14 9 (1.19%) CASB
14 9 (1.19%) WMI
15 8 (1.06%) Kiali
15 8 (1.06%) Nessus
16 7 (0.93%) Progress Chef
16 7 (0.93%) VxRail
17 6 (0.80%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 280 (37.14%) Cisco
2 156 (20.69%) Microsoft
3 152 (20.16%) Palo Alto
4 144 (19.10%) VMware
5 85 (11.27%) F5
6 83 (11.01%) Juniper
7 69 (9.15%) CheckPoint
8 63 (8.36%) Splunk
9 61 (8.09%) Fortinet
10 59 (7.82%) SolarWinds
11 57 (7.56%) Aruba
12 43 (5.70%) Google
13 39 (5.17%) Meraki
14 31 (4.11%) ServiceNow
15 25 (3.32%) Red Hat
16 24 (3.18%) Oracle
17 23 (3.05%) Extreme Networks
18 19 (2.52%) Citrix
19 15 (1.99%) Veeam
19 15 (1.99%) Zscaler