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 21 December 2025, 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
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 90 59 56
Rank change year-on-year -31 -3 +36
Contract jobs citing Cisco 1,028 1,208 1,624
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.80% 3.56% 3.71%
As % of the Vendors category 5.93% 7.78% 8.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 686 729 979
10th Percentile £263 £275 £253
25th Percentile £363 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £464 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -7.13% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £552 £575 £588
90th Percentile £600 £649 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £450
% change year-on-year - +5.56% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 26 89
10th Percentile £21.46 £16.68 £14.43
25th Percentile £25.15 £20.00 £24.00
Median hourly rate £43.11 £34.20 £38.04
Median % change year-on-year +26.05% -10.09% +47.96%
75th Percentile £74.26 £71.56 £65.98
90th Percentile £91.88 £75.00 £76.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.13 £30.40 £43.90
% change year-on-year +140.56% -30.75% +72.09%

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 17,343 15,525 19,803
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.21% 45.72% 45.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,031 9,252 12,570
10th Percentile £293 £284 £252
25th Percentile £408 £410 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.42%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £721 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £499 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -0.20% - +0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 862 460 658
10th Percentile £15.22 £15.60 £14.50
25th Percentile £18.00 £19.28 £20.00
Median hourly rate £23.83 £27.75 £45.21
Median % change year-on-year -14.14% -38.62% +75.85%
75th Percentile £44.01 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.21 £75.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.97 £25.86 £45.21
% change year-on-year -15.06% -42.79% +100.93%

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 21 December 2025.

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 21 December 2025.

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 21 December 2025. 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 -35 860 £496 -0.76% 370
UK excluding London -20 660 £475 - 338
London -51 280 £450 -11.76% 108
Work from Home -32 265 £450 -10.00% 110
South East -7 200 £500 -0.50% 127
Midlands +14 156 £380 -13.14% 57
West Midlands +19 134 £380 -20.00% 47
North of England -51 132 £475 - 76
North West -27 95 £496 +2.84% 45
Scotland +37 73 £425 +9.68% 18
South West -45 49 £550 +16.40% 27
East of England -21 31 £445 -13.17% 31
Yorkshire -76 28 £450 +5.88% 24
East Midlands -20 21 £158 -58.00% 10
Wales 0 17 £170 -56.13% 13
Northern Ireland +1 11 £475 - 2
North East 0 11 £175 -64.10% 8

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 48 (4.67%) SharePoint
2 46 (4.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 20 (1.95%) Confluence
4 17 (1.65%) Apache
5 14 (1.36%) Skype for Business
5 14 (1.36%) WebLogic
6 9 (0.88%) OpenStack
7 7 (0.68%) Appian
7 7 (0.68%) Mattermost
8 5 (0.49%) SharePoint Server
9 3 (0.29%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.19%) CICS
10 2 (0.19%) IIS
10 2 (0.19%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.097%) Exchange Server 2010
11 1 (0.097%) Exchange Server 2013
11 1 (0.097%) JBoss
11 1 (0.097%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 85 (8.27%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.50%) MS Visio
3 20 (1.95%) Microsoft Excel
4 14 (1.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.097%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.097%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.097%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 18 (1.75%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.39%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.097%) Actimize
3 1 (0.097%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 164 (15.95%) Azure
2 156 (15.18%) AWS
3 99 (9.63%) Microsoft 365
4 44 (4.28%) GCP
5 32 (3.11%) Entra ID
6 18 (1.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 15 (1.46%) Azure Monitor
8 14 (1.36%) Datadog
9 13 (1.26%) Azure Sentinel
10 12 (1.17%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 11 (1.07%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (1.07%) OpenShift
12 10 (0.97%) AWS Lambda
12 10 (0.97%) Serverless
13 8 (0.78%) Akamai
13 8 (0.78%) Nutanix
13 8 (0.78%) Power Platform
13 8 (0.78%) SaaS
14 7 (0.68%) GitHub
14 7 (0.68%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 426 (41.44%) Firewall
2 251 (24.42%) WAN
3 210 (20.43%) LAN
4 194 (18.87%) VPN
5 173 (16.83%) BGP
6 169 (16.44%) Wireless
7 146 (14.20%) Network Security
8 141 (13.72%) SD-WAN
9 132 (12.84%) OSPF
10 113 (10.99%) DNS
11 97 (9.44%) Wi-Fi
12 90 (8.75%) Cisco Nexus
12 90 (8.75%) MPLS
13 89 (8.66%) Cisco ISE
14 80 (7.78%) VLAN
15 79 (7.68%) Cisco IOS
16 67 (6.52%) DHCP
17 63 (6.13%) IPsec
18 61 (5.93%) TCP/IP
19 55 (5.35%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.17%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.49%) DynamoDB
2 5 (0.49%) Power BI
3 3 (0.29%) Amazon Athena
3 3 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.19%) MariaDB
4 2 (0.19%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.097%) Metadata
5 1 (0.097%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 20 (1.95%) JIRA
2 15 (1.46%) GitLab
3 14 (1.36%) Sonatype Nexus
4 9 (0.88%) Git
4 9 (0.88%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.78%) Robot Framework
6 7 (0.68%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.68%) Selenium
6 7 (0.68%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.19%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.097%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.097%) Hudson
8 1 (0.097%) Snyk
General
1 235 (22.86%) Social Skills
2 178 (17.32%) Public Sector
3 134 (13.04%) Telecoms
4 124 (12.06%) Finance
5 79 (7.68%) Analytical Skills
6 62 (6.03%) Manufacturing
7 47 (4.57%) Documentation Skills
8 43 (4.18%) Banking
8 43 (4.18%) Electronics
8 43 (4.18%) Marketing
9 25 (2.43%) Legal
10 19 (1.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 13 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
11 13 (1.26%) Presentation Skills
12 11 (1.07%) Aerospace
13 9 (0.88%) Investment Banking
13 9 (0.88%) Military
14 7 (0.68%) Games
14 7 (0.68%) Retail
15 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 361 (35.12%) Network Engineer
2 126 (12.26%) Architect
3 86 (8.37%) Network Architect
4 69 (6.71%) Cisco Engineer
5 63 (6.13%) Analyst
5 63 (6.13%) Senior
6 61 (5.93%) Consultant
7 58 (5.64%) Cisco Network Engineer
8 56 (5.45%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 52 (5.06%) IT Support
10 50 (4.86%) Support Engineer
11 49 (4.77%) Security Engineer
12 48 (4.67%) Network Consultant
13 38 (3.70%) Desktop Support
14 33 (3.21%) Network Security Engineer
15 32 (3.11%) Senior Network Engineer
16 31 (3.02%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
16 31 (3.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 31 (3.02%) Platform Engineer
17 27 (2.63%) 3rd Line Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (3.40%) 802.1X
2 15 (1.46%) XMPP
3 12 (1.17%) Flash
3 12 (1.17%) Jinja
3 12 (1.17%) RFC 2544
4 11 (1.07%) JSON
4 11 (1.07%) NETCONF
4 11 (1.07%) YANG
5 9 (0.88%) XML
6 8 (0.78%) LDAP
7 6 (0.58%) Node.js
8 4 (0.39%) HTML
8 4 (0.39%) REST
8 4 (0.39%) VML
9 3 (0.29%) OpenConfig
9 3 (0.29%) SAML
10 2 (0.19%) Kafka
10 2 (0.19%) Middleware
10 2 (0.19%) Regular Expression
10 2 (0.19%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 247 (24.03%) Data Centre
2 38 (3.70%) PKI
3 29 (2.82%) Data Protection Act
4 28 (2.72%) Linux Command Line
5 27 (2.63%) Cloud Native
6 26 (2.53%) Driving Licence
7 25 (2.43%) Hybrid Cloud
7 25 (2.43%) Replication
8 23 (2.24%) Operational Technology
9 22 (2.14%) Onboarding
10 16 (1.56%) Video Conferencing
11 14 (1.36%) NHS
12 13 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
13 12 (1.17%) Fibre Optics
13 12 (1.17%) Management Information System
13 12 (1.17%) Product Ownership
14 11 (1.07%) Security Posture
15 10 (0.97%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.88%) Clustering
16 9 (0.88%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 177 (17.22%) Windows
2 109 (10.60%) Linux
3 72 (7.00%) Mac OS
4 69 (6.71%) Windows Server
5 67 (6.52%) Android
6 35 (3.40%) Windows 10
7 20 (1.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 19 (1.85%) Unix
9 7 (0.68%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.29%) VMS
12 3 (0.29%) Windows 7
12 3 (0.29%) Windows 8
13 2 (0.19%) CatOS
13 2 (0.19%) CentOS
13 2 (0.19%) Solaris
13 2 (0.19%) zOS
14 1 (0.097%) Oracle Linux
14 1 (0.097%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (12.45%) Problem-Solving
2 121 (11.77%) Migration
3 87 (8.46%) Service Management
4 85 (8.27%) Network Design
5 79 (7.68%) Roadmaps
6 76 (7.39%) ITIL
7 73 (7.10%) Agile
8 68 (6.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 67 (6.52%) Project Delivery
10 66 (6.42%) ITSM
11 63 (6.13%) Business Intelligence
12 62 (6.03%) Network Architecture
13 60 (5.84%) High Availability
14 59 (5.74%) Cybersecurity
15 58 (5.64%) Change Management
15 58 (5.64%) Incident Response
16 54 (5.25%) Collaborative Working
16 54 (5.25%) Load Balancing
17 51 (4.96%) Continuous Improvement
18 50 (4.86%) Network Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 124 (12.06%) Python
2 72 (7.00%) PowerShell
3 40 (3.89%) Bash
4 32 (3.11%) SQL
5 23 (2.24%) Perl
6 15 (1.46%) JavaScript
7 8 (0.78%) Lisp
8 6 (0.58%) C++
8 6 (0.58%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.39%) C
9 4 (0.39%) Java
10 1 (0.097%) Go
10 1 (0.097%) Ruby
10 1 (0.097%) VB
10 1 (0.097%) VBA
Qualifications
1 442 (43.00%) Security Cleared
2 347 (33.75%) SC Cleared
3 272 (26.46%) Cisco Certification
4 213 (20.72%) CCNP
5 105 (10.21%) DV Cleared
6 97 (9.44%) CCNA
7 78 (7.59%) Degree
8 73 (7.10%) CCIE
9 26 (2.53%) Microsoft Certification
10 25 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
10 25 (2.43%) ITIL Certification
11 19 (1.85%) CISSP
12 18 (1.75%) AWS Certification
12 18 (1.75%) Azure Certification
12 18 (1.75%) Computer Science Degree
12 18 (1.75%) JNCIE
13 15 (1.46%) CCDP
14 14 (1.36%) JNCIA
14 14 (1.36%) JNCIS
15 12 (1.17%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (3.79%) SLA
2 32 (3.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 21 (2.04%) GDPR
4 19 (1.85%) NIST
5 17 (1.65%) PCI DSS
6 15 (1.46%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (1.26%) PMO
8 7 (0.68%) NCSC
9 4 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.29%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.29%) QA
11 2 (0.19%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.19%) Disclosure Scotland
11 2 (0.19%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.097%) Data Quality
12 1 (0.097%) Def Stans
12 1 (0.097%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.097%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.097%) JTAG
12 1 (0.097%) RMADS
System Software
1 137 (13.33%) Active Directory
2 129 (12.55%) VMware Infrastructure
3 64 (6.23%) VMware NSX
4 41 (3.99%) vSphere
5 25 (2.43%) VMware ESXi
6 24 (2.33%) Firmware
7 19 (1.85%) Docker
8 15 (1.46%) Hyper-V
8 15 (1.46%) Virtual Machines
9 13 (1.26%) NFS
10 12 (1.17%) GPFS
11 7 (0.68%) Snort
11 7 (0.68%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.58%) KVM
13 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 5 (0.49%) Squid
14 3 (0.29%) BitLocker
15 2 (0.19%) Terminal Services
15 2 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
15 2 (0.19%) Xen
Systems Management
1 93 (9.05%) Ansible
2 61 (5.93%) FortiGate
3 48 (4.67%) vCenter Server
4 47 (4.57%) Terraform
5 38 (3.70%) SCCM
6 28 (2.72%) vRealize
7 25 (2.43%) Microsoft Intune
8 21 (2.04%) Kubernetes
9 16 (1.56%) Cisco CUCM
10 14 (1.36%) VxRail
11 11 (1.07%) WSUS
12 10 (0.97%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 10 (0.97%) Nessus
13 9 (0.88%) EMC NetWorker
14 8 (0.78%) SCOM
15 7 (0.68%) EMC VPLEX
15 7 (0.68%) HP SiteScope
15 7 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
16 5 (0.49%) Check_MK
16 5 (0.49%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 194 (18.87%) Palo Alto
2 192 (18.68%) Microsoft
3 189 (18.39%) Juniper
4 161 (15.66%) VMware
5 142 (13.81%) Fortinet
6 110 (10.70%) SolarWinds
7 109 (10.60%) F5
8 101 (9.82%) Meraki
9 100 (9.73%) CheckPoint
10 82 (7.98%) Aruba
10 82 (7.98%) Dell
11 68 (6.61%) HP
12 65 (6.32%) ServiceNow
13 63 (6.13%) Splunk
14 52 (5.06%) Apple
15 44 (4.28%) SAP
16 38 (3.70%) Zscaler
17 36 (3.50%) AppDynamics
18 35 (3.40%) IBM
19 32 (3.11%) Oracle