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

6 months to
23 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 66 42 40
Rank change year-on-year -24 -2 0
Contract jobs citing Firewall 764 564 844
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.09% 4.45% 4.17%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.21% 28.83% 25.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 510 335 542
10th Percentile £330 £307 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% +2.88%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £608
90th Percentile £638 £645 £724
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £508
% change year-on-year - -1.48% -3.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 18 32
10th Percentile £17.33 - £23.92
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £41.36
Median hourly rate £48.72 £22.00 £83.63
Median % change year-on-year +121.45% -73.69% +34.89%
75th Percentile £70.29 £41.25 £87.46
90th Percentile £82.63 £53.63 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £22.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +121.45% -63.33% -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 2,708 1,956 3,251
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 10.94% 15.43% 16.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,594 1,223 1,848
10th Percentile £231 £200 £202
25th Percentile £375 £306 £335
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £598
90th Percentile £653 £630 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £488 £488
% change year-on-year +2.56% - -5.34%
Number of hourly rates quoted 228 115 355
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.20 £13.25
25th Percentile £21.13 £16.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £39.02 £28.00 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +39.36% -38.97% +154.89%
75th Percentile £65.22 £63.13 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £81.22 £70.40
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £37.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -13.33% -6.25% +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 23 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 23 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 23 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 -7 237 £500 - 162
North of England -17 237 £515 +8.42% 119
North West -5 154 £540 +13.68% 71
Midlands -61 80 £420 -21.86% 74
Yorkshire -36 68 £424 -12.63% 34
West Midlands -44 68 £413 -21.43% 48
East of England -7 67 £502 -4.48% 28
South West -45 59 £525 +5.00% 46
Scotland +16 58 £450 +2.86% 28
Wales -16 28 £425 +21.43% 14
North East -11 17 £625 +25.00% 16
East Midlands -47 8 £488 -12.16% 26
Northern Ireland -3 2 £385 - 11
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 (1.70%) Confluence
2 9 (1.18%) CICS
2 9 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (0.79%) Apache
4 4 (0.52%) IIS
4 4 (0.52%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.39%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.26%) Apache Pulsar
6 2 (0.26%) CloudStack
6 2 (0.26%) CMS
6 2 (0.26%) IBM HTTP Server
6 2 (0.26%) nginx
6 2 (0.26%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 2 (0.26%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.26%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Application Server
6 2 (0.26%) WebSphere Portal
7 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 24 (3.14%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (2.36%) MS Visio
3 17 (2.23%) Microsoft Excel
4 13 (1.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.52%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 226 (29.58%) Azure
2 133 (17.41%) AWS
3 52 (6.81%) Entra ID
4 47 (6.15%) GCP
5 42 (5.50%) Microsoft 365
6 32 (4.19%) Azure DevOps
7 27 (3.53%) GitHub
8 23 (3.01%) IaaS
8 23 (3.01%) OCI
9 21 (2.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 20 (2.62%) Azure Sentinel
11 15 (1.96%) Azure Monitor
11 15 (1.96%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 15 (1.96%) PaaS
12 14 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
12 14 (1.83%) Nutanix
12 14 (1.83%) SaaS
13 12 (1.57%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 11 (1.44%) Microsoft Purview
14 11 (1.44%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 239 (31.28%) WAN
2 199 (26.05%) LAN
3 197 (25.79%) Network Security
4 173 (22.64%) VPN
5 156 (20.42%) DNS
6 136 (17.80%) BGP
7 132 (17.28%) OSPF
8 106 (13.87%) VLAN
8 106 (13.87%) Wireless
9 98 (12.83%) DHCP
10 87 (11.39%) SD-WAN
11 74 (9.69%) TCP/IP
12 73 (9.55%) Wi-Fi
13 68 (8.90%) IPsec
14 66 (8.64%) VXLAN
15 64 (8.38%) Ethernet VPN
16 63 (8.25%) BIG-IP
17 54 (7.07%) Cisco ISE
18 47 (6.15%) MPLS
19 45 (5.89%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.70%) SQL Server
2 11 (1.44%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (1.18%) DataStage
4 6 (0.79%) Power BI
5 5 (0.65%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
6 4 (0.52%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.52%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.52%) NoSQL
7 3 (0.39%) Delta Lake
7 3 (0.39%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.26%) MariaDB
8 2 (0.26%) MySQL
8 2 (0.26%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.13%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.13%) EDRMS
9 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.13%) Redis
9 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
9 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 58 (7.59%) JIRA
2 34 (4.45%) GitLab
3 28 (3.66%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.88%) Git
5 17 (2.23%) Burp Suite
6 16 (2.09%) Metasploit
7 11 (1.44%) Sonatype Nexus
8 9 (1.18%) Jaeger
9 4 (0.52%) Browser DevTools
9 4 (0.52%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.39%) Chocolatey
11 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.26%) Introscope
11 2 (0.26%) 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%) LoadRunner
12 1 (0.13%) MSI
General
1 182 (23.82%) Social Skills
2 77 (10.08%) Finance
3 68 (8.90%) Public Sector
4 60 (7.85%) Analytical Skills
5 51 (6.68%) Documentation Skills
6 24 (3.14%) Banking
7 20 (2.62%) Manufacturing
8 18 (2.36%) Telecoms
9 16 (2.09%) Military
10 13 (1.70%) Legal
11 12 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
12 9 (1.18%) Financial Institution
13 8 (1.05%) Law
13 8 (1.05%) Retail
14 7 (0.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 6 (0.79%) Organisational Skills
16 4 (0.52%) Aerospace
17 3 (0.39%) Back Office
17 3 (0.39%) Police
18 2 (0.26%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 267 (34.95%) Network Engineer
2 95 (12.43%) Architect
3 91 (11.91%) Senior
4 81 (10.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 53 (6.94%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 50 (6.54%) Security Engineer
7 47 (6.15%) Network Architect
8 37 (4.84%) Senior Network Engineer
9 30 (3.93%) Cisco Engineer
10 27 (3.53%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 25 (3.27%) Cloud Engineer
12 24 (3.14%) Lead
12 24 (3.14%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 22 (2.88%) Designer
14 18 (2.36%) Analyst
14 18 (2.36%) Network Specialist
14 18 (2.36%) Technical Architect
15 17 (2.23%) IT Support
15 17 (2.23%) Penetration Tester
16 16 (2.09%) Firewall Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (7.72%) 802.1X
2 26 (3.40%) LDAP
3 21 (2.75%) Middleware
4 18 (2.36%) Kafka
5 16 (2.09%) SAML
6 11 (1.44%) OpenTelemetry
7 10 (1.31%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.79%) LangChain
8 6 (0.79%) OAuth
8 6 (0.79%) OAuth2
8 6 (0.79%) PyTorch
8 6 (0.79%) scikit-learn
9 5 (0.65%) Elastic Stack
9 5 (0.65%) YAML
10 4 (0.52%) JSON
10 4 (0.52%) OpenID
10 4 (0.52%) REST
11 3 (0.39%) .NET
11 3 (0.39%) Node.js
11 3 (0.39%) React
Miscellaneous
1 218 (28.53%) Data Centre
2 49 (6.41%) Security Posture
3 40 (5.24%) Cloud Native
4 38 (4.97%) Hybrid Cloud
5 37 (4.84%) PKI
6 28 (3.66%) Clustering
7 27 (3.53%) Operational Technology
8 23 (3.01%) Onboarding
9 18 (2.36%) Public Cloud
10 17 (2.23%) IoT
11 15 (1.96%) Management Information System
12 14 (1.83%) BYOD
12 14 (1.83%) SCADA
13 13 (1.70%) Data Protection Act
13 13 (1.70%) NHS
13 13 (1.70%) Self-Motivation
14 12 (1.57%) Cyber Threat
15 11 (1.44%) Distributed Systems
15 11 (1.44%) Driving Licence
15 11 (1.44%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 197 (25.79%) Windows
2 118 (15.45%) Linux
3 73 (9.55%) Windows Server
4 25 (3.27%) Unix
5 16 (2.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.31%) Solaris
7 9 (1.18%) AIX
8 7 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.79%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.52%) CatOS
10 4 (0.52%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.52%) VMS
10 4 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
12 2 (0.26%) CentOS
12 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.26%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.26%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.26%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (15.18%) DevOps
2 115 (15.05%) Load Balancing
3 112 (14.66%) Cybersecurity
4 109 (14.27%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 108 (14.14%) High Availability
6 107 (14.01%) CI/CD
7 95 (12.43%) ITIL
8 91 (11.91%) Problem-Solving
9 90 (11.78%) Infrastructure as Code
10 82 (10.73%) Zero Trust
11 71 (9.29%) Agile
12 68 (8.90%) Network Segmentation
13 66 (8.64%) Migration
13 66 (8.64%) Observability
14 62 (8.12%) Change Management
15 58 (7.59%) Technical Leadership
16 55 (7.20%) Identity Access Management
16 55 (7.20%) Network Design
16 55 (7.20%) Network Monitoring
16 55 (7.20%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 92 (12.04%) Python
2 64 (8.38%) PowerShell
3 37 (4.84%) SQL
4 35 (4.58%) Bash
5 28 (3.66%) Bicep
6 24 (3.14%) Java
7 9 (1.18%) COBOL
8 8 (1.05%) Rust
9 4 (0.52%) Go
9 4 (0.52%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.52%) Perl
10 3 (0.39%) ActionScript
10 3 (0.39%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.39%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.26%) C++
11 2 (0.26%) Groovy
11 2 (0.26%) Jython
12 1 (0.13%) C
12 1 (0.13%) Korn
12 1 (0.13%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 317 (41.49%) Security Cleared
2 224 (29.32%) SC Cleared
3 185 (24.21%) Cisco Certification
4 138 (18.06%) CCNP
5 96 (12.57%) CCNA
6 74 (9.69%) DV Cleared
7 70 (9.16%) Degree
8 28 (3.66%) CISSP
9 21 (2.75%) Azure Certification
10 20 (2.62%) Network+ Certification
11 19 (2.49%) AWS Certification
11 19 (2.49%) JNCIS
12 16 (2.09%) CHECK Team Member
12 16 (2.09%) JNCIA
13 15 (1.96%) CCIE
13 15 (1.96%) Microsoft Certification
14 14 (1.83%) CISM
14 14 (1.83%) CREST Certified
14 14 (1.83%) Cyber Scheme
15 13 (1.70%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (6.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (4.06%) GDPR
3 27 (3.53%) NIST
4 25 (3.27%) PCI DSS
5 21 (2.75%) QA
6 18 (2.36%) NCSC
7 17 (2.23%) Cyber Essentials
8 16 (2.09%) SLA
9 12 (1.57%) PMO
10 7 (0.92%) Disclosure Scotland
11 6 (0.79%) Data Quality
12 4 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.52%) JSP 440
12 4 (0.52%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.39%) ISA99
13 3 (0.39%) RMADS
14 2 (0.26%) Government Security Classifications
14 2 (0.26%) GRC
14 2 (0.26%) GxP
15 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 129 (16.88%) Active Directory
2 94 (12.30%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (4.45%) Docker
4 32 (4.19%) VMware NSX
5 30 (3.93%) vSphere
6 19 (2.49%) Hyper-V
7 16 (2.09%) Firmware
8 15 (1.96%) Virtual Machines
8 15 (1.96%) VMware ESXi
9 8 (1.05%) Virtual Desktop
10 3 (0.39%) DFS Replication
11 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
11 2 (0.26%) KVM
11 2 (0.26%) Squid
12 1 (0.13%) Dovecot
12 1 (0.13%) FreeRADIUS
12 1 (0.13%) iptables
12 1 (0.13%) Postfix
12 1 (0.13%) RHEV
12 1 (0.13%) VirtualBox
Systems Management
1 102 (13.35%) Terraform
2 78 (10.21%) Ansible
3 50 (6.54%) FortiGate
4 46 (6.02%) Kubernetes
5 27 (3.53%) Grafana
6 20 (2.62%) Microsoft Intune
6 20 (2.62%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.36%) Nmap
7 18 (2.36%) Single Sign-On
8 14 (1.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 14 (1.83%) vCenter Server
9 12 (1.57%) CASB
9 12 (1.57%) Nagios
10 11 (1.44%) SCCM
11 9 (1.18%) Kiali
12 8 (1.05%) Cisco Prime
12 8 (1.05%) Nessus
13 7 (0.92%) VxRail
14 6 (0.79%) Progress Chef
15 5 (0.65%) Endace
Vendors
1 309 (40.45%) Cisco
2 163 (21.34%) Palo Alto
3 133 (17.41%) Microsoft
4 129 (16.88%) VMware
5 110 (14.40%) F5
6 96 (12.57%) Juniper
7 78 (10.21%) Fortinet
8 71 (9.29%) CheckPoint
9 69 (9.03%) Aruba
10 63 (8.25%) Splunk
11 61 (7.98%) SolarWinds
12 48 (6.28%) ServiceNow
13 26 (3.40%) Extreme Networks
13 26 (3.40%) Google
13 26 (3.40%) Meraki
14 25 (3.27%) Arista
15 22 (2.88%) Veeam
16 18 (2.36%) Red Hat
17 17 (2.23%) Oracle
18 15 (1.96%) IBM