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

6 months to
25 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 44 38
Rank change year-on-year -23 -6 +8
Contract jobs citing Firewall 753 598 919
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.42% 4.75% 4.37%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 29.81% 28.71% 25.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 513 351 578
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £411 £385 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £495
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% -1.01% -1.00%
75th Percentile £575 £580 £608
90th Percentile £638 £650 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £509 £500
% change year-on-year -1.72% +1.75% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 16 33
10th Percentile £26.95 £14.20 £23.92
25th Percentile £37.25 £17.43 £58.50
Median hourly rate £48.72 £35.82 £76.53
Median % change year-on-year +36.00% -53.19% +38.33%
75th Percentile £74.26 £41.62 £85.65
90th Percentile £85.60 £59.38 £87.53
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £36.65 £65.00
% change year-on-year +32.95% -43.62% +10.80%

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 2,526 2,083 3,635
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.46% 16.54% 17.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,608 1,272 2,113
10th Percentile £203 £193 £200
25th Percentile £350 £308 £330
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £473 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -
75th Percentile £575 £580 £594
90th Percentile £655 £638 £686
UK median daily rate £490 £488 £475
% change year-on-year +0.51% +2.63% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 153 124 329
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £16.50 £20.96 £17.69
Median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -27.78% +137.97%
75th Percentile £67.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.66
UK median hourly rate £39.50 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +12.86% +7.69% +69.71%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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
North of England -17 234 £508 +6.84% 103
South East +8 232 £500 +2.30% 133
North West -9 154 £528 +11.16% 65
Midlands -47 95 £425 -24.11% 64
West Midlands -18 85 £425 -18.35% 38
Yorkshire -23 78 £433 -15.61% 27
East of England -21 56 £475 -12.04% 53
South West -45 56 £550 +0.92% 43
Scotland -2 52 £425 -2.86% 22
Wales -16 27 £425 +9.68% 13
East Midlands -56 7 £475 -19.83% 26
North East -15 5 £548 +9.50% 12
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 5
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 9 (1.20%) Apache
2 9 (1.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.06%) CICS
4 6 (0.80%) IIS
5 5 (0.66%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.53%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
7 2 (0.27%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.27%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.27%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 30 (3.98%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (2.26%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.86%) MS Visio
4 13 (1.73%) 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
1 210 (27.89%) Azure
2 156 (20.72%) AWS
3 58 (7.70%) GCP
4 55 (7.30%) Entra ID
5 40 (5.31%) Microsoft 365
6 35 (4.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 26 (3.45%) GitHub
8 25 (3.32%) Serverless
9 23 (3.05%) AWS CloudFormation
10 22 (2.92%) Azure DevOps
10 22 (2.92%) IaaS
11 21 (2.79%) AWS Lambda
11 21 (2.79%) Azure Sentinel
12 20 (2.66%) Amazon EC2
12 20 (2.66%) PaaS
13 19 (2.52%) Azure Monitor
14 15 (1.99%) Amazon EKS
14 15 (1.99%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 14 (1.86%) Amazon ECS
15 14 (1.86%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 197 (26.16%) Network Security
2 192 (25.50%) WAN
3 163 (21.65%) VPN
4 160 (21.25%) LAN
5 151 (20.05%) DNS
6 126 (16.73%) BGP
7 116 (15.41%) OSPF
8 98 (13.01%) VLAN
9 89 (11.82%) DHCP
10 87 (11.55%) Wireless
11 80 (10.62%) TCP/IP
12 60 (7.97%) SD-WAN
13 59 (7.84%) Cisco ISE
14 55 (7.30%) IPsec
14 55 (7.30%) Wi-Fi
15 47 (6.24%) MPLS
16 44 (5.84%) VXLAN
17 42 (5.58%) Ethernet VPN
18 38 (5.05%) Cisco ASA
19 33 (4.38%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.12%) Amazon RDS
2 12 (1.59%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (1.59%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.06%) 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%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.27%) Amazon QuickSight
7 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.13%) MySQL
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 51 (6.77%) JIRA
2 37 (4.91%) Jenkins
3 32 (4.25%) GitLab
4 29 (3.85%) Git
5 19 (2.52%) 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
11 2 (0.27%) Introscope
12 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.13%) MSI
12 1 (0.13%) Subversion
12 1 (0.13%) Travis CI
General
1 210 (27.89%) Social Skills
2 83 (11.02%) Finance
3 69 (9.16%) Public Sector
4 68 (9.03%) Analytical Skills
5 56 (7.44%) Documentation Skills
6 27 (3.59%) Banking
7 19 (2.52%) Manufacturing
8 18 (2.39%) Legal
9 17 (2.26%) Telecoms
10 15 (1.99%) Influencing Skills
11 10 (1.33%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.20%) Military
13 8 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.93%) Aerospace
14 7 (0.93%) Law
15 6 (0.80%) Organisational Skills
15 6 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
16 5 (0.66%) Retail
17 3 (0.40%) Electronics
17 3 (0.40%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 240 (31.87%) Network Engineer
2 117 (15.54%) Architect
3 74 (9.83%) Senior
4 56 (7.44%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 55 (7.30%) Security Engineer
6 51 (6.77%) Network Architect
7 42 (5.58%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 27 (3.59%) Senior Network Engineer
9 25 (3.32%) Cloud Engineer
10 24 (3.19%) Analyst
10 24 (3.19%) Cisco Engineer
10 24 (3.19%) IT Support
10 24 (3.19%) Platform Engineer
11 23 (3.05%) Security Architect
12 21 (2.79%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 21 (2.79%) IT Engineer
12 21 (2.79%) Network Specialist
13 20 (2.66%) DevOps Engineer
13 20 (2.66%) Solutions Architect
14 19 (2.52%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (7.84%) 802.1X
2 22 (2.92%) LDAP
2 22 (2.92%) SAML
3 20 (2.66%) Middleware
4 18 (2.39%) Kafka
5 17 (2.26%) OAuth
5 17 (2.26%) OAuth2
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
12 3 (0.40%) Lambda Expressions
13 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 174 (23.11%) Data Centre
2 53 (7.04%) Security Posture
3 50 (6.64%) PKI
4 39 (5.18%) Cloud Native
5 27 (3.59%) Operational Technology
6 25 (3.32%) Clustering
6 25 (3.32%) Hybrid Cloud
7 23 (3.05%) Onboarding
8 19 (2.52%) NHS
9 18 (2.39%) IoT
10 15 (1.99%) Management Information System
11 14 (1.86%) Security Operations Centre
12 13 (1.73%) Product Ownership
13 12 (1.59%) BYOD
13 12 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
13 12 (1.59%) Private Cloud
13 12 (1.59%) Public Cloud
13 12 (1.59%) SCADA
14 10 (1.33%) Data Protection Act
14 10 (1.33%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 223 (29.61%) Windows
2 150 (19.92%) Linux
3 88 (11.69%) Windows Server
4 26 (3.45%) Unix
5 22 (2.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.33%) Solaris
7 9 (1.20%) Windows 7
8 8 (1.06%) AIX
9 7 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.66%) VMS
10 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.40%) Amazon Linux
12 3 (0.40%) CatOS
12 3 (0.40%) Mac OS
13 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.27%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.27%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.13%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (17.80%) Cybersecurity
2 119 (15.80%) Problem-Solving
3 109 (14.48%) DevOps
4 98 (13.01%) CI/CD
5 97 (12.88%) Load Balancing
6 94 (12.48%) High Availability
7 92 (12.22%) ITIL
8 87 (11.55%) Infrastructure as Code
9 80 (10.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 66 (8.76%) Zero Trust
11 65 (8.63%) Agile
12 64 (8.50%) SIEM
13 63 (8.37%) Change Management
13 63 (8.37%) Observability
14 62 (8.23%) Identity Access Management
15 61 (8.10%) Network Segmentation
16 60 (7.97%) Cloud Security
16 60 (7.97%) Technical Leadership
17 58 (7.70%) Mentoring
18 56 (7.44%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 116 (15.41%) Python
2 107 (14.21%) PowerShell
3 59 (7.84%) Bash
4 32 (4.25%) SQL
5 27 (3.59%) Java
6 24 (3.19%) Bicep
7 22 (2.92%) Perl
8 10 (1.33%) Ruby
9 8 (1.06%) COBOL
9 8 (1.06%) Rust
10 4 (0.53%) C#
11 3 (0.40%) Go
11 3 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.40%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.27%) C++
12 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.27%) Jython
12 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.13%) Korn
Qualifications
1 317 (42.10%) Security Cleared
2 202 (26.83%) SC Cleared
3 155 (20.58%) Cisco Certification
4 124 (16.47%) CCNP
5 92 (12.22%) DV Cleared
6 78 (10.36%) CCNA
7 69 (9.16%) Degree
8 40 (5.31%) CISSP
9 33 (4.38%) AWS Certification
10 29 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
11 24 (3.19%) Azure Certification
12 20 (2.66%) CCIE
13 18 (2.39%) CISM
14 17 (2.26%) JNCIS
15 16 (2.12%) CHECK Team Member
16 14 (1.86%) CREST Certified
16 14 (1.86%) Cyber Scheme
16 14 (1.86%) JNCIA
16 14 (1.86%) Network+ Certification
17 13 (1.73%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (8.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 44 (5.84%) NIST
3 39 (5.18%) GDPR
4 33 (4.38%) PCI DSS
5 22 (2.92%) NCSC
6 21 (2.79%) Cyber Essentials
7 15 (1.99%) QA
8 14 (1.86%) SLA
9 12 (1.59%) PMO
10 5 (0.66%) JSP 440
11 4 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 3 (0.40%) Data Quality
12 3 (0.40%) GRC
13 2 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.27%) COBIT
13 2 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
13 2 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.27%) PSD2
13 2 (0.27%) RMADS
13 2 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 151 (20.05%) Active Directory
2 112 (14.87%) VMware Infrastructure
3 68 (9.03%) Docker
4 34 (4.52%) VMware NSX
5 33 (4.38%) vSphere
6 24 (3.19%) Hyper-V
7 12 (1.59%) Firmware
7 12 (1.59%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
9 7 (0.93%) Virtual Machines
10 6 (0.80%) Virtual Servers
11 3 (0.40%) DFS Replication
12 1 (0.13%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.13%) KVM
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) RHEV
12 1 (0.13%) UAG
12 1 (0.13%) Xen
12 1 (0.13%) XenApp
12 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 104 (13.81%) Terraform
2 71 (9.43%) Kubernetes
3 66 (8.76%) Ansible
4 44 (5.84%) FortiGate
5 27 (3.59%) Single Sign-On
6 25 (3.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 23 (3.05%) Microsoft Intune
8 22 (2.92%) Grafana
9 20 (2.66%) vCenter Server
10 18 (2.39%) Nmap
11 16 (2.12%) Prometheus
12 12 (1.59%) SCCM
13 10 (1.33%) Nagios
14 9 (1.20%) CASB
14 9 (1.20%) WMI
15 8 (1.06%) Kiali
15 8 (1.06%) Nessus
16 7 (0.93%) VxRail
17 6 (0.80%) Cisco Prime
18 5 (0.66%) QRadar
Vendors
1 278 (36.92%) Cisco
2 159 (21.12%) Microsoft
3 149 (19.79%) Palo Alto
4 146 (19.39%) VMware
5 85 (11.29%) Juniper
6 82 (10.89%) F5
7 68 (9.03%) CheckPoint
7 68 (9.03%) Fortinet
8 64 (8.50%) Splunk
9 60 (7.97%) SolarWinds
10 56 (7.44%) Aruba
11 40 (5.31%) Google
12 37 (4.91%) Meraki
13 32 (4.25%) ServiceNow
14 25 (3.32%) Red Hat
15 24 (3.19%) Oracle
16 23 (3.05%) Extreme Networks
17 19 (2.52%) Citrix
18 15 (1.99%) Veeam
19 14 (1.86%) IBM