BIG-IP Contract Job Trends

F5 Networks BIG-IP
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring BIG-IP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 530 501 576
Rank change year-on-year -29 +75 +73
Contract jobs citing BIG-IP 53 25 36
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.14% 0.079% 0.083%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 1.34% 0.62% 0.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 19 19 22
10th Percentile £263 £415 £303
25th Percentile £302 £463 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £360 £525 £588
Median % change year-on-year -31.43% -10.64% +6.82%
75th Percentile £469 £588 £618
90th Percentile £725 £608 £648
UK excluding London median daily rate £340 £525 £613
% change year-on-year -35.24% -14.29% +11.36%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

BIG-IP 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 3,945 4,062 5,921
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.47% 12.90% 13.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,602 2,363 3,623
10th Percentile £204 £213 £208
25th Percentile £356 £363 £359
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.91%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £468 £475
% change year-on-year -3.74% -1.58% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 164 138 364
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.95 £17.39
25th Percentile £18.97 £21.46 £23.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -36.36% +158.82%
75th Percentile £65.00 £56.56 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £57.50
% change year-on-year +29.05% -43.48% +204.07%

BIG-IP
Job Vacancy Trend

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

BIG-IP job vacancy trend in the UK

BIG-IP
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BIG-IP.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BIG-IP

BIG-IP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing BIG-IP over the 6 months to 21 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for BIG-IP in the UK

BIG-IP
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BIG-IP.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BIG-IP

BIG-IP
Top 10 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing BIG-IP within the UK over the 6 months to 21 January 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 -36 49 £340 -35.24% 9
UK excluding London -42 37 £340 -35.24% 6
North of England -23 28 £700 +18.64% 1
North West -8 26 - -
Midlands - 22 £308 - 2
West Midlands - 22 £308 - 2
Work from Home -7 12 £370 -24.10% 5
London -26 8 £308 -41.43% 6
South East -27 3 £738 +47.50% 2
Yorkshire - 2 £700 - 1

BIG-IP
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 (16.98%) SharePoint
2 6 (11.32%) Confluence
Applications
1 14 (26.42%) MS Visio
2 6 (11.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 3 (5.66%) Azure
2 2 (3.77%) Entra ID
2 2 (3.77%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (3.77%) OpenShift
3 1 (1.89%) AWS
3 1 (1.89%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 37 (69.81%) DNS
2 33 (62.26%) HTTP
2 33 (62.26%) SSL
3 30 (56.60%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
3 30 (56.60%) Wireshark
4 28 (52.83%) TCP/IP
5 27 (50.94%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
6 19 (35.85%) Firewall
7 16 (30.19%) LAN
7 16 (30.19%) WAN
8 12 (22.64%) VPN
9 11 (20.75%) BGP
9 11 (20.75%) OSPF
10 10 (18.87%) Network Security
11 9 (16.98%) SD-WAN
12 8 (15.09%) IPsec
13 7 (13.21%) Cisco ASA
13 7 (13.21%) Cisco Nexus
13 7 (13.21%) Wireless
14 6 (11.32%) Ethereal
Development Applications
1 24 (45.28%) Fiddler
2 1 (1.89%) JIRA
General
1 17 (32.08%) Banking
2 16 (30.19%) Investment Banking
3 5 (9.43%) Social Skills
4 4 (7.55%) Documentation Skills
4 4 (7.55%) Public Sector
4 4 (7.55%) Telecoms
5 1 (1.89%) Analytical Skills
5 1 (1.89%) Billing
5 1 (1.89%) Finance
5 1 (1.89%) Influencing Skills
5 1 (1.89%) Military
5 1 (1.89%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 32 (60.38%) Network Engineer
2 22 (41.51%) Web Engineer
3 12 (22.64%) Architect
3 12 (22.64%) Blue Coat Engineer
3 12 (22.64%) IP Network Engineer
3 12 (22.64%) Junior
4 11 (20.75%) Junior Network Engineer
5 5 (9.43%) Network Architect
6 4 (7.55%) Automation Engineer
6 4 (7.55%) Python Engineer
6 4 (7.55%) Solutions Architect
7 3 (5.66%) Security Architect
7 3 (5.66%) Technical Architect
8 2 (3.77%) Consultant
8 2 (3.77%) Enterprise Architect
8 2 (3.77%) Infrastructure Architect
8 2 (3.77%) Lead Architect
8 2 (3.77%) Migration Engineer
8 2 (3.77%) Network Security Architect
8 2 (3.77%) Technical Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (11.32%) LDAP
1 6 (11.32%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (30.19%) Management Information System
2 6 (11.32%) Onboarding
3 2 (3.77%) Algorithms
3 2 (3.77%) CESG
3 2 (3.77%) PKI
4 1 (1.89%) Data Centre
4 1 (1.89%) iSeries
4 1 (1.89%) RSA SecurID
4 1 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 6 (11.32%) Windows
2 4 (7.55%) CatOS
3 2 (3.77%) Windows Server
3 2 (3.77%) Windows Server 2012
3 2 (3.77%) Windows Server 2016
3 2 (3.77%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (56.60%) Load Balancing
2 21 (39.62%) Data Loss Prevention
3 20 (37.74%) Malware Detection/Protection
4 18 (33.96%) Migration
5 10 (18.87%) Security Architecture
6 8 (15.09%) TOGAF
7 7 (13.21%) Cybersecurity
7 7 (13.21%) ITIL
7 7 (13.21%) Network Segmentation
8 6 (11.32%) Change Management
8 6 (11.32%) Project Delivery
8 6 (11.32%) Runbook
9 5 (9.43%) Workshop Facilitation
10 4 (7.55%) Acceptance Criteria
10 4 (7.55%) Business Intelligence
10 4 (7.55%) High Availability
10 4 (7.55%) Technical Leadership
11 3 (5.66%) Enterprise Architecture
11 3 (5.66%) Requirements Gathering
11 3 (5.66%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 20 (37.74%) Python
Qualifications
1 9 (16.98%) Cisco Certification
2 8 (15.09%) CCIE
3 7 (13.21%) CCNP
3 7 (13.21%) SC Cleared
3 7 (13.21%) Security Cleared
4 6 (11.32%) CCSE
4 6 (11.32%) JNCIE
4 6 (11.32%) JNCIP
5 2 (3.77%) CCDP
5 2 (3.77%) CCIE Security
5 2 (3.77%) CESG Certified Professional
5 2 (3.77%) CHECK Team Leader
5 2 (3.77%) CREST Certified
5 2 (3.77%) DV Cleared
6 1 (1.89%) Degree
6 1 (1.89%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (3.77%) JSP 440
1 2 (3.77%) NCSC
1 2 (3.77%) RMADS
System Software
1 23 (43.40%) VMware Infrastructure
2 17 (32.08%) VMware NSX
3 12 (22.64%) Firmware
4 8 (15.09%) Active Directory
5 2 (3.77%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (1.89%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 22 (41.51%) Ansible
2 8 (15.09%) Single Sign-On
2 8 (15.09%) Terraform
3 2 (3.77%) FortiGate
3 2 (3.77%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (3.77%) SCCM
4 1 (1.89%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 53 (100.00%) F5
2 31 (58.49%) VMware
3 26 (49.06%) Blue Coat
3 26 (49.06%) McAfee
4 20 (37.74%) Cisco
5 17 (32.08%) NetApp
6 13 (24.53%) CheckPoint
7 10 (18.87%) Palo Alto
8 9 (16.98%) Juniper
8 9 (16.98%) Zscaler
9 8 (15.09%) Microsoft
9 8 (15.09%) ServiceNow
10 7 (13.21%) Remedy
11 2 (3.77%) Fortinet
11 2 (3.77%) Infoblox
11 2 (3.77%) NetScout
11 2 (3.77%) Netskope
11 2 (3.77%) Red Hat
11 2 (3.77%) SevOne
11 2 (3.77%) SolarWinds