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 23 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
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 100 66 66
Rank change year-on-year -34 0 0
Contract jobs citing Cisco 1,098 1,049 1,361
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.37% 3.55% 3.11%
As % of the Vendors category 5.59% 7.48% 7.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 743 668 828
10th Percentile £300 £302 £255
25th Percentile £400 £406 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £487
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +2.72% +1.41%
75th Percentile £560 £588 £591
90th Percentile £638 £650 £706
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £490 £475
% change year-on-year -1.79% +3.16% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 19 45
10th Percentile £21.27 £17.55 £13.57
25th Percentile £30.06 £21.58 £23.63
Median hourly rate £54.86 £37.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +46.29% +25.00% -43.77%
75th Percentile £74.26 £66.88 £41.25
90th Percentile £88.25 £75.00 £73.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £33.52 £30.00
% change year-on-year +121.52% +11.74% -45.77%

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 19,659 14,020 18,575
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 42.35% 47.47% 42.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,561 8,809 11,569
10th Percentile £313 £293 £260
25th Percentile £413 £406 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £514 £515
Median % change year-on-year -2.72% -0.19% -1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £630
90th Percentile £700 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £496 £500
% change year-on-year -0.82% -0.79% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 987 551 1,078
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.99 £12.01
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.50 £14.36
Median hourly rate £30.49 £27.35 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +11.48% +21.56% -48.86%
75th Percentile £60.00 £58.75 £57.33
90th Percentile £78.75 £77.19 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.00 £24.66 £21.46
% change year-on-year +9.49% +14.91% -46.35%

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 23 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 23 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 23 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 -45 913 £484 -5.36% 442
UK excluding London -29 694 £481 -1.79% 419
Work from Home -20 284 £450 -10.00% 85
London -59 275 £500 -0.99% 124
South East -6 212 £500 - 119
North of England -42 186 £481 -3.75% 94
North West -9 149 £481 -1.79% 41
Midlands -20 135 £380 -15.56% 70
West Midlands -6 122 £371 -15.20% 41
Scotland +25 65 £450 +12.78% 28
South West -64 48 £510 -7.27% 39
East of England -1 42 £495 +4.21% 52
Yorkshire -69 36 £450 -14.29% 39
Wales -8 27 £425 - 18
Northern Ireland +11 9 £385 - 9
East Midlands -51 9 £415 -12.63% 29
North East -24 4 £550 +69.23% 15

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 37 (3.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (2.91%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.18%) Confluence
4 7 (0.64%) Apache
5 5 (0.46%) IIS
5 5 (0.46%) OpenStack
6 2 (0.18%) Skype for Business
7 1 (0.091%) CMS
7 1 (0.091%) JBoss
7 1 (0.091%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.091%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.091%) WebSphere
Applications
1 45 (4.10%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.28%) MS Visio
3 16 (1.46%) Microsoft Excel
4 12 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.46%) Acrobat
6 2 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.091%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 17 (1.55%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.091%) Actimize
Cloud Services
1 188 (17.12%) Azure
2 147 (13.39%) AWS
3 84 (7.65%) Microsoft 365
4 40 (3.64%) Entra ID
5 30 (2.73%) GCP
6 15 (1.37%) OpenShift
7 14 (1.28%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 13 (1.18%) Nutanix
9 12 (1.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 12 (1.09%) SaaS
10 10 (0.91%) GitHub
11 9 (0.82%) Azure Sentinel
12 8 (0.73%) Datadog
13 7 (0.64%) Azure DevOps
14 6 (0.55%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 6 (0.55%) Amazon Kinesis
14 6 (0.55%) AWS CloudFormation
14 6 (0.55%) Mimecast
15 5 (0.46%) IaaS
15 5 (0.46%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 475 (43.26%) Firewall
2 351 (31.97%) WAN
3 277 (25.23%) BGP
4 261 (23.77%) LAN
5 238 (21.68%) VPN
6 215 (19.58%) Network Security
7 200 (18.21%) OSPF
8 155 (14.12%) SD-WAN
9 148 (13.48%) DNS
10 147 (13.39%) Wireless
11 140 (12.75%) VLAN
12 102 (9.29%) MPLS
13 98 (8.93%) Cisco ISE
14 97 (8.83%) Cisco Nexus
15 91 (8.29%) VXLAN
16 81 (7.38%) Wi-Fi
17 76 (6.92%) DHCP
18 75 (6.83%) IPsec
19 73 (6.65%) Cisco ASA
20 72 (6.56%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.46%) DynamoDB
1 5 (0.46%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.27%) Amazon Athena
2 3 (0.27%) Power BI
3 2 (0.18%) MariaDB
4 1 (0.091%) Big Data
4 1 (0.091%) Metadata
4 1 (0.091%) MySQL
4 1 (0.091%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.091%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 23 (2.09%) JIRA
2 15 (1.37%) Sonatype Nexus
3 10 (0.91%) Git
4 8 (0.73%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.55%) GitLab
6 1 (0.091%) Bitbucket
General
1 235 (21.40%) Social Skills
2 126 (11.48%) Finance
3 108 (9.84%) Public Sector
4 77 (7.01%) Telecoms
5 68 (6.19%) Analytical Skills
6 60 (5.46%) Legal
7 59 (5.37%) Banking
8 53 (4.83%) Documentation Skills
9 38 (3.46%) Manufacturing
10 24 (2.19%) Marketing
11 19 (1.73%) Electronics
12 17 (1.55%) Investment Banking
13 15 (1.37%) Financial Institution
13 15 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
14 14 (1.28%) Law
14 14 (1.28%) Retail
15 12 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
16 7 (0.64%) Aerospace
16 7 (0.64%) Military
17 6 (0.55%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 474 (43.17%) Network Engineer
2 134 (12.20%) Architect
3 103 (9.38%) Cisco Engineer
4 98 (8.93%) Senior
5 96 (8.74%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 80 (7.29%) Network Architect
7 79 (7.19%) Security Engineer
8 71 (6.47%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 57 (5.19%) Network Security Engineer
10 50 (4.55%) Senior Network Engineer
11 44 (4.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 42 (3.83%) Data Network Engineer
13 40 (3.64%) Analyst
14 33 (3.01%) Data Engineer
15 32 (2.91%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
16 30 (2.73%) Cisco Security Engineer
17 27 (2.46%) Consultant
18 25 (2.28%) Network Consultant
19 24 (2.19%) IT Support
19 24 (2.19%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (5.65%) 802.1X
2 17 (1.55%) LDAP
3 14 (1.28%) Flash
3 14 (1.28%) XMPP
4 11 (1.00%) SAML
5 9 (0.82%) REST
6 7 (0.64%) NETCONF
7 6 (0.55%) Jinja
7 6 (0.55%) YANG
8 5 (0.46%) Node.js
8 5 (0.46%) OpenConfig
9 4 (0.36%) HTML
9 4 (0.36%) JSON
9 4 (0.36%) RESTCONF
9 4 (0.36%) VML
10 2 (0.18%) ADO
10 2 (0.18%) CSS
10 2 (0.18%) Django
10 2 (0.18%) Middleware
10 2 (0.18%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 291 (26.50%) Data Centre
2 49 (4.46%) PKI
3 43 (3.92%) Replication
4 39 (3.55%) Clustering
5 33 (3.01%) Hybrid Cloud
6 32 (2.91%) Data Protection Act
7 31 (2.82%) Operational Technology
8 30 (2.73%) Cloud Native
8 30 (2.73%) Onboarding
9 22 (2.00%) Linux Command Line
10 21 (1.91%) Driving Licence
11 18 (1.64%) Product Ownership
12 17 (1.55%) Enterprise Storage
12 17 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
13 15 (1.37%) SCADA
13 15 (1.37%) Security Posture
14 14 (1.28%) EMC VMAX
14 14 (1.28%) Video Conferencing
15 12 (1.09%) NHS
16 11 (1.00%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 201 (18.31%) Windows
2 110 (10.02%) Linux
3 75 (6.83%) Windows Server
4 26 (2.37%) Mac OS
4 26 (2.37%) Windows 10
5 25 (2.28%) Android
6 23 (2.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 19 (1.73%) Unix
8 8 (0.73%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.64%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.46%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.36%) CatOS
11 4 (0.36%) Solaris
12 3 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.27%) VMS
13 2 (0.18%) AIX
13 2 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.091%) CentOS
14 1 (0.091%) Debian
14 1 (0.091%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 168 (15.30%) Migration
2 134 (12.20%) Problem-Solving
3 112 (10.20%) High Availability
4 109 (9.93%) Load Balancing
5 97 (8.83%) ITIL
6 95 (8.65%) Network Design
7 85 (7.74%) ITSM
8 74 (6.74%) Agile
9 72 (6.56%) Change Management
10 68 (6.19%) Cybersecurity
11 67 (6.10%) Continuous Improvement
11 67 (6.10%) Roadmaps
12 65 (5.92%) Disaster Recovery
13 62 (5.65%) Project Delivery
14 61 (5.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 54 (4.92%) Network Monitoring
16 53 (4.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 52 (4.74%) Service Management
17 52 (4.74%) Technical Leadership
18 51 (4.64%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 126 (11.48%) Python
2 60 (5.46%) PowerShell
3 27 (2.46%) Bash
4 11 (1.00%) Perl
5 10 (0.91%) SQL
6 8 (0.73%) C
7 4 (0.36%) PHP
8 3 (0.27%) C++
8 3 (0.27%) Java
8 3 (0.27%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.27%) Lisp
9 2 (0.18%) ActionScript
9 2 (0.18%) Korn
9 2 (0.18%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.091%) Bicep
10 1 (0.091%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.091%) Ladder Logic
10 1 (0.091%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 402 (36.61%) Security Cleared
2 310 (28.23%) Cisco Certification
3 308 (28.05%) SC Cleared
4 244 (22.22%) CCNP
5 116 (10.56%) CCNA
6 108 (9.84%) DV Cleared
7 78 (7.10%) Degree
8 72 (6.56%) CCIE
9 27 (2.46%) Microsoft Certification
10 23 (2.09%) BPSS Clearance
11 21 (1.91%) JNCIS
12 20 (1.82%) MCSE
12 20 (1.82%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 18 (1.64%) Azure Certification
13 18 (1.64%) Network+ Certification
14 15 (1.37%) JNCIA
14 15 (1.37%) JNCIP
14 15 (1.37%) VCAP
15 14 (1.28%) CCSE
15 14 (1.28%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (2.82%) SLA
3 27 (2.46%) NIST
4 23 (2.09%) Cyber Essentials
5 17 (1.55%) NCSC
6 15 (1.37%) PMO
7 12 (1.09%) GDPR
8 10 (0.91%) QA
9 8 (0.73%) PCI DSS
10 5 (0.46%) Disclosure Scotland
11 4 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (0.36%) JSP 440
12 3 (0.27%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 3 (0.27%) RMADS
13 2 (0.18%) ISA99
13 2 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 2 (0.18%) NIST 800
14 1 (0.091%) GRC
14 1 (0.091%) MiFID
System Software
1 147 (13.39%) VMware Infrastructure
2 94 (8.56%) Active Directory
3 59 (5.37%) VMware NSX
4 57 (5.19%) vSphere
5 52 (4.74%) VMware ESXi
6 23 (2.09%) Virtual Machines
7 20 (1.82%) Firmware
8 18 (1.64%) Hyper-V
9 17 (1.55%) NFS
10 14 (1.28%) GPFS
11 9 (0.82%) SRDF
12 7 (0.64%) Docker
13 6 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
14 4 (0.36%) vCloud
14 4 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
15 3 (0.27%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.27%) KVM
15 3 (0.27%) Snort
15 3 (0.27%) UAG
16 1 (0.091%) Squid
Systems Management
1 118 (10.75%) Ansible
2 103 (9.38%) FortiGate
3 50 (4.55%) Terraform
4 40 (3.64%) vCenter Server
5 27 (2.46%) vRealize
6 24 (2.19%) Grafana
7 20 (1.82%) Microsoft Intune
7 20 (1.82%) SCCM
8 18 (1.64%) Prometheus
9 16 (1.46%) Kubernetes
10 14 (1.28%) VxRail
11 13 (1.18%) Cisco Prime
12 10 (0.91%) Nagios
12 10 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
13 7 (0.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.64%) EMC NetWorker
13 7 (0.64%) EMC VPLEX
13 7 (0.64%) SCOM
14 6 (0.55%) Cisco CUCM
14 6 (0.55%) EMC TimeFinder
Vendors
1 285 (25.96%) Palo Alto
2 192 (17.49%) F5
3 187 (17.03%) VMware
4 184 (16.76%) Microsoft
5 166 (15.12%) Juniper
6 140 (12.75%) Fortinet
7 130 (11.84%) Aruba
8 122 (11.11%) CheckPoint
9 93 (8.47%) Meraki
10 91 (8.29%) ServiceNow
11 86 (7.83%) SolarWinds
12 62 (5.65%) Arista
13 59 (5.37%) Dell
14 54 (4.92%) Splunk
15 44 (4.01%) Zscaler
16 38 (3.46%) HP
16 38 (3.46%) IBM
17 31 (2.82%) EMC
18 29 (2.64%) Citrix
19 27 (2.46%) Extreme Networks