Cisco Contract Job Trends

Cisco
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of Cisco products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Cisco over the 6 months leading up to 4 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within Cisco Systems, Inc.

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 65 62
Rank change year-on-year -37 -3 +11
Contract jobs citing Cisco 1,118 1,051 1,424
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.48% 3.60% 3.23%
As % of the Vendors category 5.72% 7.62% 7.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 757 672 864
10th Percentile £270 £310 £263
25th Percentile £400 £406 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +5.26% -2.56%
75th Percentile £560 £588 £588
90th Percentile £625 £650 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +1.32% - +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 19 47
10th Percentile £21.27 £17.55 £13.29
25th Percentile £36.25 £21.58 £17.48
Median hourly rate £68.17 £37.50 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +81.77% +50.00% -50.00%
75th Percentile £74.26 £66.88 £41.25
90th Percentile £91.13 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £33.52 £24.25
% change year-on-year +121.52% +38.24% -50.26%

All Vendors
UK

Cisco falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 19,561 13,792 18,822
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 43.31% 47.19% 42.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,564 8,713 11,765
10th Percentile £313 £293 £258
25th Percentile £413 £406 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £514
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% +0.19% -2.10%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £625
90th Percentile £700 £713 £732
UK excluding London median daily rate £493 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 969 497 1,044
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.25 £12.05
25th Percentile £18.50 £19.00 £14.46
Median hourly rate £27.00 £28.60 £22.73
Median % change year-on-year -5.59% +25.85% -44.01%
75th Percentile £60.00 £61.50 £57.33
90th Percentile £78.35 £80.65 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £26.50 £21.50
% change year-on-year -5.66% +23.26% -42.67%

Cisco
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Cisco job vacancy trend in the UK

Cisco
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Cisco
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cisco over the 6 months to 4 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cisco in the UK

Cisco
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Cisco
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cisco over the 6 months to 4 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cisco in the UK

Cisco
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cisco within the UK over the 6 months to 4 April 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 -40 928 £496 -0.86% 542
UK excluding London -25 714 £481 +1.32% 503
Work from Home -22 293 £450 -10.00% 112
London -62 274 £500 - 126
South East +1 223 £500 -4.76% 139
North of England -50 183 £481 -3.75% 121
North West -12 151 £481 -1.79% 58
Midlands -23 151 £373 -17.11% 92
West Midlands +1 136 £350 -17.65% 46
Scotland +29 70 £425 +13.33% 25
East of England -5 44 £475 - 60
South West -70 41 £519 -5.68% 58
Yorkshire -84 28 £464 -11.62% 43
Wales -15 25 £425 +1.49% 18
East Midlands -46 11 £413 -19.51% 46
Northern Ireland - 7 £493 - 8
North East -15 6 £175 -46.15% 20

Cisco
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 39 (3.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 37 (3.31%) SharePoint
3 16 (1.43%) Confluence
4 7 (0.63%) Apache
5 5 (0.45%) IIS
6 4 (0.36%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.18%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.089%) JBoss
8 1 (0.089%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.089%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.089%) WebSphere
Applications
1 53 (4.74%) Microsoft Office
2 40 (3.58%) MS Visio
3 18 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
4 13 (1.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.45%) Acrobat
6 3 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.089%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 17 (1.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.089%) Actimize
Cloud Services
1 193 (17.26%) Azure
2 158 (14.13%) AWS
3 94 (8.41%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (3.85%) Entra ID
5 36 (3.22%) GCP
6 17 (1.52%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 16 (1.43%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 14 (1.25%) Datadog
8 14 (1.25%) OpenShift
9 12 (1.07%) Nutanix
10 10 (0.89%) SaaS
11 9 (0.81%) Azure Sentinel
12 8 (0.72%) AWS CloudFormation
13 7 (0.63%) AWS Lambda
13 7 (0.63%) Azure DevOps
13 7 (0.63%) Microsoft Purview
13 7 (0.63%) OneDrive
13 7 (0.63%) Power Platform
13 7 (0.63%) Serverless
14 6 (0.54%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 467 (41.77%) Firewall
2 348 (31.13%) WAN
3 268 (23.97%) BGP
4 256 (22.90%) LAN
5 238 (21.29%) VPN
6 204 (18.25%) Network Security
7 196 (17.53%) OSPF
8 149 (13.33%) Wireless
9 144 (12.88%) SD-WAN
10 134 (11.99%) DNS
11 123 (11.00%) VLAN
12 112 (10.02%) MPLS
13 105 (9.39%) Cisco ISE
14 83 (7.42%) Cisco Nexus
15 82 (7.33%) Cisco ASA
15 82 (7.33%) Wi-Fi
16 79 (7.07%) VXLAN
17 76 (6.80%) Cisco IOS
18 74 (6.62%) DHCP
18 74 (6.62%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.45%) DynamoDB
1 5 (0.45%) Power BI
2 4 (0.36%) SQL Server
3 3 (0.27%) Amazon Athena
4 2 (0.18%) MariaDB
5 1 (0.089%) Big Data
5 1 (0.089%) Metadata
5 1 (0.089%) MySQL
5 1 (0.089%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.089%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 23 (2.06%) JIRA
2 14 (1.25%) Sonatype Nexus
3 9 (0.81%) Git
4 7 (0.63%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.45%) GitLab
6 1 (0.089%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.089%) Rational DOORS
General
1 235 (21.02%) Social Skills
2 146 (13.06%) Finance
3 140 (12.52%) Public Sector
4 90 (8.05%) Telecoms
5 66 (5.90%) Analytical Skills
6 60 (5.37%) Banking
7 54 (4.83%) Legal
8 52 (4.65%) Documentation Skills
9 50 (4.47%) Manufacturing
10 34 (3.04%) Marketing
11 31 (2.77%) Electronics
12 17 (1.52%) Investment Banking
13 16 (1.43%) Financial Institution
13 16 (1.43%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (1.34%) Organisational Skills
15 14 (1.25%) Law
16 11 (0.98%) Retail
17 9 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 8 (0.72%) Influencing Skills
19 7 (0.63%) Military
Job Titles
1 450 (40.25%) Network Engineer
2 142 (12.70%) Architect
3 103 (9.21%) Cisco Engineer
4 97 (8.68%) Senior
5 92 (8.23%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 85 (7.60%) Network Architect
7 72 (6.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 68 (6.08%) Security Engineer
9 52 (4.65%) Analyst
10 47 (4.20%) Senior Network Engineer
11 45 (4.03%) Network Security Engineer
12 43 (3.85%) Consultant
13 41 (3.67%) Network Consultant
14 38 (3.40%) Data Network Engineer
15 37 (3.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 37 (3.31%) IT Support
16 33 (2.95%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
16 33 (2.95%) Solutions Architect
17 29 (2.59%) Data Engineer
17 29 (2.59%) Infrastructure Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 64 (5.72%) 802.1X
2 17 (1.52%) LDAP
3 16 (1.43%) Flash
4 14 (1.25%) XMPP
5 10 (0.89%) SAML
6 8 (0.72%) REST
7 7 (0.63%) NETCONF
8 6 (0.54%) YANG
9 5 (0.45%) Jinja
9 5 (0.45%) Node.js
9 5 (0.45%) OpenConfig
10 4 (0.36%) HTML
10 4 (0.36%) RESTCONF
10 4 (0.36%) VML
11 3 (0.27%) JSON
12 2 (0.18%) ADO
12 2 (0.18%) CSS
12 2 (0.18%) Django
12 2 (0.18%) Middleware
12 2 (0.18%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 287 (25.67%) Data Centre
2 52 (4.65%) PKI
3 36 (3.22%) Replication
4 31 (2.77%) Clustering
4 31 (2.77%) Hybrid Cloud
4 31 (2.77%) Linux Command Line
4 31 (2.77%) Onboarding
5 30 (2.68%) Data Protection Act
6 28 (2.50%) Cloud Native
7 26 (2.33%) Operational Technology
8 25 (2.24%) Driving Licence
9 18 (1.61%) Product Ownership
10 17 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.34%) Enterprise Storage
11 15 (1.34%) Security Posture
12 14 (1.25%) Video Conferencing
13 13 (1.16%) NHS
13 13 (1.16%) SCADA
14 12 (1.07%) CMDB
14 12 (1.07%) EMC VMAX
Operating Systems
1 184 (16.46%) Windows
2 109 (9.75%) Linux
3 62 (5.55%) Windows Server
4 36 (3.22%) Android
5 34 (3.04%) Mac OS
6 27 (2.42%) Windows 10
7 22 (1.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 16 (1.43%) Unix
9 7 (0.63%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.45%) VMS
11 5 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.36%) CatOS
12 4 (0.36%) Solaris
13 2 (0.18%) AIX
13 2 (0.18%) CentOS
13 2 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.089%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.089%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (15.83%) Migration
2 128 (11.45%) Problem-Solving
3 114 (10.20%) Load Balancing
4 100 (8.94%) High Availability
5 98 (8.77%) Network Design
6 97 (8.68%) ITIL
7 85 (7.60%) Agile
8 82 (7.33%) ITSM
9 80 (7.16%) Roadmaps
10 73 (6.53%) Cybersecurity
11 71 (6.35%) Change Management
12 67 (5.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 62 (5.55%) Collaborative Working
14 58 (5.19%) Project Delivery
15 54 (4.83%) Continuous Improvement
15 54 (4.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 54 (4.83%) Service Management
16 53 (4.74%) Network Monitoring
17 52 (4.65%) Network Architecture
17 52 (4.65%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 124 (11.09%) Python
2 54 (4.83%) PowerShell
3 29 (2.59%) Bash
4 15 (1.34%) Perl
5 8 (0.72%) SQL
6 5 (0.45%) JavaScript
7 4 (0.36%) C
7 4 (0.36%) Lisp
7 4 (0.36%) PHP
8 2 (0.18%) ActionScript
8 2 (0.18%) Korn
8 2 (0.18%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.18%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.089%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 433 (38.73%) Security Cleared
2 336 (30.05%) SC Cleared
3 302 (27.01%) Cisco Certification
4 241 (21.56%) CCNP
5 110 (9.84%) DV Cleared
6 108 (9.66%) CCNA
7 81 (7.25%) Degree
8 76 (6.80%) CCIE
9 23 (2.06%) BPSS Clearance
10 22 (1.97%) JNCIS
11 20 (1.79%) Azure Certification
11 20 (1.79%) Microsoft Certification
12 17 (1.52%) JNCIP
12 17 (1.52%) Network+ Certification
13 16 (1.43%) CISSP
13 16 (1.43%) JNCIA
14 14 (1.25%) AWS Certification
14 14 (1.25%) CCSE
15 13 (1.16%) MCSE
16 12 (1.07%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (3.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 34 (3.04%) NIST
3 32 (2.86%) SLA
4 23 (2.06%) Cyber Essentials
5 18 (1.61%) GDPR
6 16 (1.43%) NCSC
6 16 (1.43%) PMO
7 13 (1.16%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (0.45%) QA
9 4 (0.36%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
10 3 (0.27%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 3 (0.27%) RMADS
11 2 (0.18%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 2 (0.18%) ISA99
12 1 (0.089%) Accessibility
12 1 (0.089%) GRC
12 1 (0.089%) NIST 800
System Software
1 148 (13.24%) VMware Infrastructure
2 96 (8.59%) Active Directory
3 65 (5.81%) VMware NSX
4 57 (5.10%) vSphere
5 42 (3.76%) VMware ESXi
6 20 (1.79%) Firmware
7 18 (1.61%) NFS
8 16 (1.43%) GPFS
9 14 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
10 13 (1.16%) Hyper-V
11 10 (0.89%) Docker
12 8 (0.72%) SRDF
13 4 (0.36%) Snort
13 4 (0.36%) vCloud
13 4 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
14 2 (0.18%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 2 (0.18%) KVM
14 2 (0.18%) Squid
14 2 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
15 1 (0.089%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 107 (9.57%) Ansible
2 96 (8.59%) FortiGate
3 44 (3.94%) Terraform
4 36 (3.22%) vRealize
5 35 (3.13%) vCenter Server
6 22 (1.97%) Grafana
6 22 (1.97%) SCCM
7 19 (1.70%) Microsoft Intune
7 19 (1.70%) VxRail
8 16 (1.43%) Kubernetes
8 16 (1.43%) Prometheus
9 13 (1.16%) Cisco Prime
10 10 (0.89%) Single Sign-On
11 9 (0.81%) Nagios
12 8 (0.72%) Cisco CUCM
13 7 (0.63%) Nessus
14 6 (0.54%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 6 (0.54%) EMC TimeFinder
14 6 (0.54%) SCOM
14 6 (0.54%) WSUS
Vendors
1 286 (25.58%) Palo Alto
2 189 (16.91%) VMware
3 181 (16.19%) Microsoft
4 179 (16.01%) Juniper
5 173 (15.47%) F5
6 143 (12.79%) Aruba
7 127 (11.36%) Fortinet
8 115 (10.29%) CheckPoint
9 98 (8.77%) ServiceNow
9 98 (8.77%) SolarWinds
10 96 (8.59%) Meraki
11 69 (6.17%) Dell
12 63 (5.64%) Arista
13 56 (5.01%) Splunk
14 51 (4.56%) HP
15 48 (4.29%) IBM
16 42 (3.76%) Zscaler
17 31 (2.77%) SAP
18 29 (2.59%) Citrix
18 29 (2.59%) EMC