BGP Contract Job Trends

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring BGP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 317 228 225
Rank change year-on-year -89 -3 +142
Contract jobs citing BGP 348 343 460
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.78% 1.18% 1.04%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.81% 9.05% 7.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 198 214 270
10th Percentile £300 £336 £313
25th Percentile £400 £414 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £488
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +2.56% -2.50%
75th Percentile £550 £600 £575
90th Percentile £623 £750 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% -9.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 10
10th Percentile £53.08 £19.78 £24.15
25th Percentile £70.67 £21.69 £24.44
Median hourly rate £74.26 £25.75 £46.25
Median % change year-on-year +188.39% -44.32% -40.32%
75th Percentile - £30.19 £69.38
90th Percentile - £32.33 £71.33
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £19.00 £44.00
% change year-on-year +290.84% -56.82% +31.34%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

BGP 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,458 3,791 5,920
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.03% 13.05% 13.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,857 2,353 3,563
10th Percentile £224 £211 £205
25th Percentile £375 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% +2.63% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +1.06% -1.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 196 146 402
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £13.87
25th Percentile £18.78 £21.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £38.50 £35.00 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -7.89% +96.89%
75th Percentile £67.58 £63.63 £63.44
90th Percentile £77.00 £75.00 £69.86
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year +30.00% -27.78% +136.84%

BGP
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing BGP relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

BGP job vacancy trend in the UK

BGP
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP

BGP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing BGP over the 6 months to 28 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for BGP in the UK

BGP
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP

BGP
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing BGP over the 6 months to 28 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for BGP in the UK

BGP
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing BGP within the UK over the 6 months to 28 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
England -82 309 £450 -10.00% 75
UK excluding London -51 204 £450 -10.00% 65
Work from Home -41 103 £443 -14.70% 37
London -67 102 £450 -10.00% 25
South East 0 100 £445 -25.83% 28
Midlands -39 53 £400 +23.08% 9
North of England -73 52 £550 +4.76% 12
West Midlands -20 51 £400 +23.08% 7
North West -46 48 £550 +4.76% 5
South West -40 13 £519 +3.75% 4
Scotland +2 9 £425 -2.86% 5
Wales -18 4 £425 -5.56% 4
Yorkshire -51 4 £545 +9.00% 5
North East -8 3 £550 - 2
East of England -33 1 - - 4
East Midlands -35 1 - - 2

BGP
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 9 (2.59%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.15%) Confluence
3 2 (0.57%) OpenStack
Applications
1 14 (4.02%) MS Visio
2 8 (2.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.72%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.44%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 59 (16.95%) AWS
2 54 (15.52%) Azure
3 26 (7.47%) GCP
4 19 (5.46%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 11 (3.16%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 9 (2.59%) AWS Direct Connect
7 8 (2.30%) Route 53
8 6 (1.72%) SaaS
9 5 (1.44%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 4 (1.15%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.15%) Amazon S3
10 4 (1.15%) Azure Sentinel
10 4 (1.15%) IaaS
10 4 (1.15%) PaaS
11 3 (0.86%) Catchpoint
11 3 (0.86%) GitHub
11 3 (0.86%) Nutanix
12 2 (0.57%) AWS Control Tower
12 2 (0.57%) Microsoft 365
12 2 (0.57%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 236 (67.82%) OSPF
2 221 (63.51%) Firewall
3 198 (56.90%) WAN
4 139 (39.94%) LAN
5 119 (34.20%) VPN
6 99 (28.45%) MPLS
7 98 (28.16%) Network Security
8 78 (22.41%) VXLAN
9 75 (21.55%) DNS
9 75 (21.55%) VLAN
10 64 (18.39%) SD-WAN
11 59 (16.95%) IPsec
12 58 (16.67%) Ethernet VPN
13 54 (15.52%) Cisco ASA
13 54 (15.52%) Multicast
14 48 (13.79%) Wireless
15 47 (13.51%) Cisco ISE
15 47 (13.51%) TCP/IP
16 46 (13.22%) DHCP
17 41 (11.78%) EIGRP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.29%) Redis
1 1 (0.29%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 15 (4.31%) Git
2 8 (2.30%) Sonatype Nexus
3 5 (1.44%) GitLab
4 4 (1.15%) JIRA
5 3 (0.86%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.29%) AppScan
6 1 (0.29%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.29%) Metasploit
General
1 60 (17.24%) Social Skills
2 38 (10.92%) Analytical Skills
2 38 (10.92%) Documentation Skills
3 34 (9.77%) Finance
3 34 (9.77%) Public Sector
4 25 (7.18%) Banking
5 21 (6.03%) Telecoms
6 17 (4.89%) Investment Banking
7 16 (4.60%) Financial Institution
8 15 (4.31%) Manufacturing
9 13 (3.74%) Military
10 6 (1.72%) Legal
10 6 (1.72%) Marketing
11 5 (1.44%) Retail
12 4 (1.15%) French Language
12 4 (1.15%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.86%) Electronics
14 2 (0.57%) Pharmaceutical
14 2 (0.57%) Police
14 2 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 206 (59.20%) Network Engineer
2 49 (14.08%) Cisco Engineer
3 45 (12.93%) Cisco Network Engineer
4 40 (11.49%) Architect
4 40 (11.49%) Senior
5 34 (9.77%) Security Engineer
6 29 (8.33%) Network Security Engineer
7 28 (8.05%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 27 (7.76%) Data Network Engineer
8 27 (7.76%) Network Architect
9 26 (7.47%) Senior Network Engineer
10 22 (6.32%) Cisco Security Engineer
10 22 (6.32%) Data Engineer
11 17 (4.89%) Network Specialist
12 14 (4.02%) Juniper Engineer
13 12 (3.45%) Design Engineer
14 11 (3.16%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
14 11 (3.16%) Firewall Specialist
14 11 (3.16%) Operations Engineer
15 10 (2.87%) WAN Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (10.63%) 802.1X
2 8 (2.30%) NETCONF
2 8 (2.30%) REST
2 8 (2.30%) YANG
3 6 (1.72%) LDAP
4 5 (1.44%) OpenConfig
5 4 (1.15%) Jinja
5 4 (1.15%) RESTCONF
5 4 (1.15%) VML
6 2 (0.57%) AWS CDK
6 2 (0.57%) CSS
6 2 (0.57%) HTML
6 2 (0.57%) JSON
6 2 (0.57%) RFC 2544
6 2 (0.57%) XML
7 1 (0.29%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.29%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 146 (41.95%) Data Centre
2 45 (12.93%) PKI
3 22 (6.32%) Clustering
4 15 (4.31%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (2.59%) Product Ownership
6 8 (2.30%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (1.72%) Cloud Native
7 6 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
7 6 (1.72%) Onboarding
7 6 (1.72%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.44%) NHS
9 4 (1.15%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.15%) SCADA
10 3 (0.86%) CESG
10 3 (0.86%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (0.86%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (0.86%) Operational Technology
10 3 (0.86%) Private Cloud
10 3 (0.86%) Security Posture
10 3 (0.86%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 41 (11.78%) Windows
2 24 (6.90%) Linux
3 10 (2.87%) Windows Server
4 7 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (2.01%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.29%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.29%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (22.99%) Load Balancing
2 54 (15.52%) Problem-Solving
3 51 (14.66%) High Availability
4 43 (12.36%) Network Design
5 38 (10.92%) Migration
6 33 (9.48%) ITIL
7 32 (9.20%) Change Management
8 30 (8.62%) Cybersecurity
9 29 (8.33%) Network Monitoring
9 29 (8.33%) Observability
10 27 (7.76%) Stakeholder Management
11 26 (7.47%) Project Delivery
11 26 (7.47%) Zero Trust
12 23 (6.61%) Identity Access Management
12 23 (6.61%) Network Segmentation
13 22 (6.32%) Infrastructure as Code
13 22 (6.32%) Root Cause Analysis
14 20 (5.75%) ITSM
15 19 (5.46%) Agile
15 19 (5.46%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 74 (21.26%) Python
2 12 (3.45%) Bash
3 10 (2.87%) PowerShell
4 7 (2.01%) Perl
5 6 (1.72%) Lisp
6 4 (1.15%) PHP
7 3 (0.86%) SQL
8 2 (0.57%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 155 (44.54%) Cisco Certification
2 148 (42.53%) Security Cleared
3 121 (34.77%) CCNP
4 113 (32.47%) SC Cleared
5 51 (14.66%) CCIE
6 42 (12.07%) DV Cleared
7 30 (8.62%) CCNA
7 30 (8.62%) Degree
8 19 (5.46%) JNCIP
8 19 (5.46%) JNCIS
9 14 (4.02%) JNCIA
10 12 (3.45%) JNCIE
11 11 (3.16%) AWS Certification
11 11 (3.16%) CISSP
12 8 (2.30%) Azure Certification
12 8 (2.30%) CCDP
13 7 (2.01%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (2.01%) GIAC
14 5 (1.44%) CompTIA Security+
14 5 (1.44%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 15 (4.31%) NIST
2 11 (3.16%) NCSC
3 10 (2.87%) SLA
4 7 (2.01%) PCI DSS
5 6 (1.72%) GDPR
6 4 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (0.86%) RMADS
8 2 (0.57%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.57%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.29%) COBIT
9 1 (0.29%) GRC
9 1 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.29%) QA
System Software
1 31 (8.91%) VMware Infrastructure
2 15 (4.31%) VMware NSX
3 11 (3.16%) Active Directory
4 8 (2.30%) VMware ESXi
5 6 (1.72%) Docker
6 3 (0.86%) Firmware
6 3 (0.86%) vSphere
7 2 (0.57%) vCloud
8 1 (0.29%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.29%) KVM
8 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 70 (20.11%) Ansible
2 53 (15.23%) FortiGate
3 36 (10.34%) Terraform
4 16 (4.60%) Grafana
5 14 (4.02%) Prometheus
6 8 (2.30%) Kubernetes
7 6 (1.72%) vCenter Server
8 5 (1.44%) Nagios
9 3 (0.86%) SCOM
10 2 (0.57%) CASB
10 2 (0.57%) Cisco Prime
10 2 (0.57%) Iperf
10 2 (0.57%) Nmap
10 2 (0.57%) VxRail
11 1 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.29%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Intune
11 1 (0.29%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.29%) QRadar
11 1 (0.29%) vRealize
Vendors
1 260 (74.71%) Cisco
2 108 (31.03%) F5
3 103 (29.60%) Palo Alto
4 96 (27.59%) Juniper
5 58 (16.67%) Fortinet
6 52 (14.94%) CheckPoint
7 41 (11.78%) Aruba
8 40 (11.49%) Arista
9 37 (10.63%) SolarWinds
10 36 (10.34%) VMware
11 27 (7.76%) Meraki
12 26 (7.47%) Splunk
13 24 (6.90%) Extreme Networks
14 18 (5.17%) Zscaler
15 15 (4.31%) Nokia
16 12 (3.45%) ServiceNow
17 11 (3.16%) Microsoft
18 10 (2.87%) Ekahau
19 9 (2.59%) Remedy
20 7 (2.01%) Red Hat