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 13 September 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
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 116 79 68
Rank change year-on-year -37 -11 -14
Contract jobs citing Cisco 1,223 1,001 1,220
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.25% 3.04% 3.17%
As % of the Vendors category 5.38% 6.45% 7.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 804 629 735
10th Percentile £285 £300 £250
25th Percentile £400 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £492 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.46% -1.60% +8.11%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £581
90th Percentile £652 £649 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £492 £500
% change year-on-year -5.49% -1.60% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 41 36
10th Percentile £26.85 - £19.25
25th Percentile £38.19 £25.15 £21.06
Median hourly rate £53.75 £30.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +79.17% +9.09% -42.11%
75th Percentile £67.84 £58.75 £56.25
90th Percentile £78.75 £83.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £43.75
% change year-on-year +69.23% -25.71% -7.89%

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 22,742 15,523 17,042
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.83% 47.16% 44.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,950 9,507 10,289
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £700 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £476 £500
% change year-on-year +5.04% -4.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,256 789 693
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.68 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.72 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £27.44 £25.15 £31.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.11% -18.87% -27.06%
75th Percentile £62.13 £43.21 £63.75
90th Percentile £81.25 £67.60 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £21.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year +24.48% -30.00% -25.00%

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 13 September 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 13 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cisco in the UK

Cisco
Top 18 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 13 September 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 -46 1,018 £500 - 961
UK excluding London -35 716 £465 -5.49% 721
London -41 387 £500 - 371
Work from Home -20 295 £476 +1.41% 392
North of England +5 245 £488 +2.63% 140
North West +11 169 £483 +1.68% 59
South East -69 140 £463 -11.06% 180
Midlands -33 128 £425 -8.11% 92
West Midlands -26 121 £425 -10.53% 50
Scotland +20 98 £413 -2.94% 43
Yorkshire -19 69 £500 +1.63% 55
South West -40 63 £525 -4.55% 121
East of England -17 35 £465 -3.63% 114
Wales +8 29 £390 +95.00% 29
Northern Ireland +2 8 £115 -71.25% 19
North East -37 8 £375 -31.82% 28
East Midlands -29 4 £525 +20.00% 42
Channel Islands -4 3 £600 -17.24%

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 (3.19%) SharePoint
2 35 (2.86%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.06%) Confluence
4 9 (0.74%) OpenStack
5 8 (0.65%) SAS
6 7 (0.57%) Apache
7 6 (0.49%) IIS
7 6 (0.49%) JBoss
8 4 (0.33%) nginx
9 3 (0.25%) CloudStack
9 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.16%) CMS
10 2 (0.16%) Skype for Business
11 1 (0.082%) Apache Spark
11 1 (0.082%) FactoryTalk
11 1 (0.082%) Mendix
11 1 (0.082%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 49 (4.01%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (2.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 22 (1.80%) MS Visio
4 7 (0.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.25%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.082%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.082%) Monis
1 1 (0.082%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.082%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 250 (20.44%) Azure
2 157 (12.84%) AWS
3 103 (8.42%) Microsoft 365
4 65 (5.31%) Entra ID
5 33 (2.70%) GitHub
6 30 (2.45%) OneDrive
7 26 (2.13%) GCP
8 19 (1.55%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 18 (1.47%) OpenShift
10 17 (1.39%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 14 (1.14%) Power Platform
12 13 (1.06%) Nutanix
13 12 (0.98%) SaaS
14 9 (0.74%) Azure Sentinel
15 8 (0.65%) Azure DevOps
15 8 (0.65%) GitHub Actions
16 7 (0.57%) AWS Direct Connect
16 7 (0.57%) IaaS
17 6 (0.49%) Cloudflare
17 6 (0.49%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 515 (42.11%) Firewall
2 361 (29.52%) WAN
3 303 (24.78%) BGP
4 276 (22.57%) LAN
5 269 (22.00%) VPN
6 254 (20.77%) Network Security
7 213 (17.42%) Wireless
8 192 (15.70%) OSPF
8 192 (15.70%) VLAN
9 186 (15.21%) DNS
10 149 (12.18%) SD-WAN
11 139 (11.37%) Wi-Fi
12 127 (10.38%) MPLS
13 118 (9.65%) Cisco Nexus
14 106 (8.67%) DHCP
15 95 (7.77%) TCP/IP
16 91 (7.44%) Cisco ISE
17 88 (7.20%) Cisco ASA
18 86 (7.03%) VXLAN
19 85 (6.95%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (2.21%) SQL Server
2 7 (0.57%) Power BI
3 6 (0.49%) Big Data
3 6 (0.49%) Hadoop
4 4 (0.33%) Amazon RDS
5 3 (0.25%) MySQL
6 2 (0.16%) Metadata
6 2 (0.16%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.16%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.082%) Apache Hive
7 1 (0.082%) ClickHouse
Development Applications
1 30 (2.45%) Git
2 20 (1.64%) JIRA
3 12 (0.98%) GitLab
3 12 (0.98%) Sonatype Nexus
4 8 (0.65%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.16%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.082%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.082%) Tricentis qTest
6 1 (0.082%) Zephyr
General
1 287 (23.47%) Social Skills
2 124 (10.14%) Finance
3 121 (9.89%) Telecoms
4 99 (8.09%) Analytical Skills
5 63 (5.15%) Banking
6 61 (4.99%) Public Sector
7 59 (4.82%) Documentation Skills
8 40 (3.27%) Legal
9 22 (1.80%) Organisational Skills
10 19 (1.55%) Investment Banking
10 19 (1.55%) Retail
11 17 (1.39%) Financial Institution
12 14 (1.14%) Law
13 13 (1.06%) Military
14 11 (0.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 11 (0.90%) Police
15 10 (0.82%) Manufacturing
16 9 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
17 6 (0.49%) Marketing
18 5 (0.41%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 611 (49.96%) Network Engineer
2 181 (14.80%) Senior
3 151 (12.35%) Architect
4 144 (11.77%) Cisco Engineer
5 128 (10.47%) Cisco Network Engineer
5 128 (10.47%) Senior Network Engineer
6 89 (7.28%) Security Engineer
7 79 (6.46%) Network Architect
8 67 (5.48%) Network Security Engineer
9 60 (4.91%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 52 (4.25%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 42 (3.43%) Field Engineer
12 38 (3.11%) Analyst
12 38 (3.11%) Support Engineer
13 36 (2.94%) Lead
14 35 (2.86%) Data Network Engineer
14 35 (2.86%) Telecoms Engineer
15 34 (2.78%) Solutions Architect
16 29 (2.37%) Consultant
17 28 (2.29%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 84 (6.87%) Terraform
2 57 (4.66%) 802.1X
3 30 (2.45%) REST
4 16 (1.31%) YAML
5 14 (1.14%) JSON
6 12 (0.98%) NETCONF
6 12 (0.98%) SAML
7 8 (0.65%) YANG
8 7 (0.57%) Microsoft Graph
8 7 (0.57%) RESTCONF
8 7 (0.57%) XMPP
9 6 (0.49%) Flash
10 5 (0.41%) OpenConfig
11 3 (0.25%) .NET
11 3 (0.25%) Elastic Stack
11 3 (0.25%) Java RMI
11 3 (0.25%) LDAP
11 3 (0.25%) Middleware
11 3 (0.25%) OpenID
11 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 296 (24.20%) Data Centre
2 52 (4.25%) Hybrid Cloud
3 51 (4.17%) Onboarding
4 47 (3.84%) PKI
5 43 (3.52%) Driving Licence
6 37 (3.03%) Data Protection Act
7 34 (2.78%) Operational Technology
8 28 (2.29%) Video Conferencing
9 25 (2.04%) Replication
10 23 (1.88%) Cloud Native
10 23 (1.88%) Clustering
11 22 (1.80%) Public Cloud
12 20 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
12 20 (1.64%) Management Information System
13 18 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
14 17 (1.39%) Enterprise Storage
14 17 (1.39%) Private Cloud
15 16 (1.31%) Linux Command Line
16 14 (1.14%) IoT
16 14 (1.14%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 228 (18.64%) Windows
2 123 (10.06%) Linux
3 90 (7.36%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.64%) Mac OS
5 18 (1.47%) Ubuntu
6 17 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.39%) Windows 10
7 11 (0.90%) Android
8 9 (0.74%) Unix
8 9 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
9 8 (0.65%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.57%) AIX
10 7 (0.57%) Data ONTAP
11 6 (0.49%) CentOS
12 4 (0.33%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.25%) VMS
14 1 (0.082%) Check Point GAiA
14 1 (0.082%) Debian
14 1 (0.082%) Windows 7
14 1 (0.082%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (15.70%) Migration
2 154 (12.59%) Project Delivery
3 136 (11.12%) ITIL
4 133 (10.87%) Problem-Solving
5 113 (9.24%) High Availability
6 109 (8.91%) Load Balancing
7 98 (8.01%) Change Management
8 97 (7.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 95 (7.77%) Stakeholder Management
10 91 (7.44%) Network Design
11 85 (6.95%) Infrastructure as Code
12 83 (6.79%) Validation
13 81 (6.62%) Continuous Improvement
14 73 (5.97%) Technical Leadership
15 67 (5.48%) Data Protection
16 66 (5.40%) Zero Trust
17 64 (5.23%) ITSM
18 61 (4.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 60 (4.91%) CI/CD
19 60 (4.91%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 143 (11.69%) Python
2 62 (5.07%) PowerShell
3 32 (2.62%) Bash
4 27 (2.21%) SQL
5 5 (0.41%) Java
6 4 (0.33%) C
6 4 (0.33%) C++
7 3 (0.25%) Lisp
7 3 (0.25%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.16%) Go
8 2 (0.16%) Perl
9 1 (0.082%) Bicep
9 1 (0.082%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.082%) Ladder Logic
9 1 (0.082%) R
Qualifications
1 329 (26.90%) Cisco Certification
2 299 (24.45%) Security Cleared
3 233 (19.05%) CCNP
4 222 (18.15%) SC Cleared
5 130 (10.63%) CCNA
6 78 (6.38%) DV Cleared
7 72 (5.89%) Degree
8 63 (5.15%) CCIE
9 27 (2.21%) Microsoft Certification
10 23 (1.88%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 19 (1.55%) MCSE
12 16 (1.31%) AWS Certification
12 16 (1.31%) Azure Certification
13 15 (1.23%) CISSP
14 14 (1.14%) Network+ Certification
15 13 (1.06%) CCSE
15 13 (1.06%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (0.98%) BPSS Clearance
17 11 (0.90%) ISTQB
17 11 (0.90%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (3.19%) SLA
2 27 (2.21%) NIST
3 22 (1.80%) QA
4 21 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (1.31%) Cyber Essentials
6 11 (0.90%) NCSC
7 10 (0.82%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.65%) GDPR
9 5 (0.41%) Disclosure Scotland
9 5 (0.41%) JSP 440
9 5 (0.41%) PMO
10 4 (0.33%) Data Quality
10 4 (0.33%) GRC
11 3 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.25%) ISO 31000
11 3 (0.25%) ISO 9001
11 3 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.16%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.16%) ISA99
System Software
1 142 (11.61%) VMware Infrastructure
2 121 (9.89%) Active Directory
3 43 (3.52%) vSphere
4 42 (3.43%) VMware NSX
5 39 (3.19%) VMware ESXi
6 36 (2.94%) Hyper-V
7 31 (2.53%) Firmware
8 29 (2.37%) Virtual Machines
9 16 (1.31%) Docker
10 10 (0.82%) NFS
11 6 (0.49%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 6 (0.49%) GPFS
12 5 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
13 4 (0.33%) FreeRADIUS
13 4 (0.33%) SRDF
13 4 (0.33%) Virtual Servers
14 3 (0.25%) Dovecot
14 3 (0.25%) ISA Server
14 3 (0.25%) Postfix
15 2 (0.16%) UAG
Systems Management
1 145 (11.86%) Ansible
2 76 (6.21%) FortiGate
3 32 (2.62%) Kubernetes
3 32 (2.62%) Microsoft Intune
4 22 (1.80%) Cisco CUCM
5 21 (1.72%) Cisco Prime
5 21 (1.72%) SCCM
5 21 (1.72%) vCenter Server
6 10 (0.82%) Grafana
6 10 (0.82%) Prometheus
7 8 (0.65%) Failover Clustering
7 8 (0.65%) Puppet
7 8 (0.65%) WMI
7 8 (0.65%) WSUS
8 7 (0.57%) EMC VPLEX
8 7 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (0.49%) Red Hat Satellite
9 6 (0.49%) vRealize
10 5 (0.41%) Avamar
10 5 (0.41%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 266 (21.75%) Palo Alto
2 239 (19.54%) Microsoft
3 208 (17.01%) Fortinet
4 198 (16.19%) VMware
5 192 (15.70%) F5
6 129 (10.55%) Juniper
7 124 (10.14%) Meraki
8 112 (9.16%) CheckPoint
9 91 (7.44%) Aruba
10 83 (6.79%) ServiceNow
11 76 (6.21%) SolarWinds
12 74 (6.05%) Arista
13 53 (4.33%) Zscaler
14 40 (3.27%) Splunk
15 37 (3.03%) Red Hat
16 36 (2.94%) Dell
17 29 (2.37%) Nokia
18 28 (2.29%) NetApp
19 22 (1.80%) Citrix
20 21 (1.72%) EMC