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 29 November 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
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 85 62 57
Rank change year-on-year -23 -5 +32
Contract jobs citing Cisco 1,067 1,229 1,700
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.96% 3.37% 3.70%
As % of the Vendors category 6.23% 7.48% 8.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 711 725 1,030
10th Percentile £263 £286 £263
25th Percentile £374 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £609 £650 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £450
% change year-on-year +5.26% +5.56% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 31 84
10th Percentile £24.41 £18.19 £18.29
25th Percentile £25.15 £20.00 £24.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £43.83
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -37.25% +70.46%
75th Percentile £74.26 £57.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £90.75 £75.00 £77.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £69.25 £37.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year +84.67% -21.05% +42.86%

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 17,118 16,435 20,817
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.49% 45.09% 45.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,841 9,661 13,305
10th Percentile £288 £295 £256
25th Percentile £406 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -1.87%
75th Percentile £612 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £723 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.60% - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 857 523 675
10th Percentile £15.32 £15.52 £15.25
25th Percentile £18.22 £19.62 £20.00
Median hourly rate £25.00 £30.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% -32.58% +73.08%
75th Percentile £43.75 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £73.95 £75.00 £76.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.04 £27.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -19.85% -38.20% +96.97%

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 29 November 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 29 November 2025.

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 29 November 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 -25 901 £500 - 333
UK excluding London -13 677 £500 +5.26% 337
London -30 306 £450 -11.76% 90
Work from Home -39 256 £450 -10.00% 105
South East +1 212 £500 - 148
Midlands +15 158 £413 -6.52% 43
West Midlands +29 137 £450 -10.00% 25
North of England -52 131 £486 +2.37% 57
North West -36 81 £492 +3.58% 35
Scotland +25 69 £425 +6.25% 30
South West -27 51 £550 +18.92% 27
Yorkshire -46 41 £488 -2.50% 18
East of England -14 37 £445 -13.17% 25
East Midlands -14 21 £158 -58.00% 16
Wales +3 17 £170 -56.13% 16
Northern Ireland +4 11 £475 -
North East 0 11 £175 -64.10% 4
Channel Islands - 2 £725 -

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 67 (6.28%) Microsoft Exchange
2 46 (4.31%) SharePoint
3 21 (1.97%) Confluence
4 17 (1.59%) Apache
5 15 (1.41%) Skype for Business
6 14 (1.31%) WebLogic
7 8 (0.75%) OpenStack
8 7 (0.66%) Appian
8 7 (0.66%) Mattermost
9 5 (0.47%) SharePoint Server
10 3 (0.28%) WebSphere
11 2 (0.19%) CICS
11 2 (0.19%) IIS
11 2 (0.19%) nginx
11 2 (0.19%) Tomcat
12 1 (0.094%) Exchange Server 2010
12 1 (0.094%) Exchange Server 2013
12 1 (0.094%) Gunicorn
12 1 (0.094%) JBoss
12 1 (0.094%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 94 (8.81%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (2.72%) MS Visio
3 21 (1.97%) Microsoft Excel
4 13 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.47%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.094%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.094%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.094%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.094%) OmniGraffle
6 1 (0.094%) Revit
Business Applications
1 14 (1.31%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.094%) Actimize
3 1 (0.094%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 169 (15.84%) Azure
2 143 (13.40%) AWS
3 119 (11.15%) Microsoft 365
4 42 (3.94%) GCP
5 37 (3.47%) Entra ID
6 15 (1.41%) Azure Monitor
6 15 (1.41%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (1.31%) Azure Sentinel
8 12 (1.12%) Akamai
8 12 (1.12%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 11 (1.03%) AWS CloudFormation
9 11 (1.03%) Datadog
9 11 (1.03%) GitHub
10 10 (0.94%) AWS Lambda
10 10 (0.94%) OpenShift
10 10 (0.94%) SaaS
10 10 (0.94%) Serverless
11 9 (0.84%) Power Platform
12 8 (0.75%) Azure DevOps
12 8 (0.75%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 436 (40.86%) Firewall
2 237 (22.21%) WAN
3 197 (18.46%) LAN
4 183 (17.15%) Wireless
5 172 (16.12%) VPN
6 171 (16.03%) BGP
7 139 (13.03%) Network Security
8 135 (12.65%) SD-WAN
9 127 (11.90%) DNS
10 123 (11.53%) OSPF
11 104 (9.75%) Cisco IOS
12 99 (9.28%) Cisco ISE
13 94 (8.81%) Cisco Nexus
14 91 (8.53%) MPLS
15 88 (8.25%) Wi-Fi
16 79 (7.40%) DHCP
17 77 (7.22%) VLAN
18 63 (5.90%) IPsec
19 58 (5.44%) TCP/IP
20 55 (5.15%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.03%) SQL Server
2 6 (0.56%) Power BI
3 5 (0.47%) DynamoDB
4 4 (0.37%) NoSQL
5 3 (0.28%) Amazon Athena
5 3 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.094%) MariaDB
7 1 (0.094%) Metadata
7 1 (0.094%) MySQL
7 1 (0.094%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 24 (2.25%) JIRA
2 19 (1.78%) GitLab
3 14 (1.31%) Sonatype Nexus
4 13 (1.22%) Git
5 9 (0.84%) Jenkins
6 8 (0.75%) Robot Framework
7 7 (0.66%) Cucumber
7 7 (0.66%) Selenium
7 7 (0.66%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.28%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.19%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (0.19%) Snyk
9 2 (0.19%) Subversion
10 1 (0.094%) Hudson
10 1 (0.094%) Mercurial
General
1 236 (22.12%) Social Skills
2 175 (16.40%) Public Sector
3 134 (12.56%) Telecoms
4 131 (12.28%) Finance
5 80 (7.50%) Analytical Skills
6 67 (6.28%) Manufacturing
7 43 (4.03%) Electronics
7 43 (4.03%) Marketing
8 41 (3.84%) Banking
8 41 (3.84%) Documentation Skills
9 27 (2.53%) Legal
10 22 (2.06%) Games
11 21 (1.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (1.12%) Presentation Skills
13 10 (0.94%) Aerospace
13 10 (0.94%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (0.75%) Investment Banking
14 8 (0.75%) Military
15 6 (0.56%) Local Government
15 6 (0.56%) Retail
Job Titles
1 371 (34.77%) Network Engineer
2 126 (11.81%) Architect
3 83 (7.78%) Cisco Engineer
4 82 (7.69%) Network Architect
5 69 (6.47%) Analyst
6 68 (6.37%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 67 (6.28%) Consultant
8 65 (6.09%) Senior
9 56 (5.25%) Support Engineer
10 54 (5.06%) Security Engineer
11 52 (4.87%) IT Support
12 51 (4.78%) Network Consultant
13 47 (4.40%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 46 (4.31%) Platform Engineer
15 38 (3.56%) Desktop Support
16 37 (3.47%) Network Security Engineer
17 32 (3.00%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
18 31 (2.91%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 31 (2.91%) Juniper Engineer
19 29 (2.72%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (3.19%) 802.1X
2 18 (1.69%) RFC 2544
2 18 (1.69%) XMPP
3 17 (1.59%) NETCONF
4 14 (1.31%) Jinja
5 13 (1.22%) JSON
5 13 (1.22%) YANG
6 11 (1.03%) Flash
6 11 (1.03%) XML
7 9 (0.84%) RESTCONF
8 8 (0.75%) REST
9 7 (0.66%) Node.js
10 4 (0.37%) LDAP
11 3 (0.28%) OpenConfig
12 2 (0.19%) HTML
12 2 (0.19%) Kafka
12 2 (0.19%) Regular Expression
12 2 (0.19%) SOAP
12 2 (0.19%) VML
12 2 (0.19%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 244 (22.87%) Data Centre
2 40 (3.75%) PKI
3 30 (2.81%) Driving Licence
3 30 (2.81%) Onboarding
4 27 (2.53%) Data Protection Act
5 24 (2.25%) Cloud Native
5 24 (2.25%) Linux Command Line
6 23 (2.16%) Hybrid Cloud
7 21 (1.97%) Replication
8 20 (1.87%) Operational Technology
9 19 (1.78%) Video Conferencing
10 17 (1.59%) Fibre Optics
11 13 (1.22%) Management Information System
11 13 (1.22%) NHS
11 13 (1.22%) Security Posture
11 13 (1.22%) Virtual Team
12 12 (1.12%) Product Ownership
12 12 (1.12%) Self-Motivation
13 11 (1.03%) Enterprise Storage
13 11 (1.03%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 185 (17.34%) Windows
2 111 (10.40%) Linux
3 87 (8.15%) Mac OS
4 83 (7.78%) Android
5 64 (6.00%) Windows Server
6 30 (2.81%) Windows 10
7 22 (2.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 20 (1.87%) Unix
9 7 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.47%) CentOS
10 5 (0.47%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.28%) VMS
12 3 (0.28%) Windows 7
12 3 (0.28%) Windows 8
13 2 (0.19%) Solaris
13 2 (0.19%) zOS
14 1 (0.094%) MVS
14 1 (0.094%) Windows Server 2003
14 1 (0.094%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (11.72%) Problem-Solving
2 117 (10.97%) Migration
3 99 (9.28%) Service Management
4 88 (8.25%) Network Design
5 80 (7.50%) ITIL
6 74 (6.94%) Roadmaps
7 73 (6.84%) Agile
8 70 (6.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 65 (6.09%) Collaborative Working
10 63 (5.90%) Business Intelligence
11 62 (5.81%) Change Management
11 62 (5.81%) ITSM
12 60 (5.62%) Project Delivery
13 58 (5.44%) Cybersecurity
13 58 (5.44%) Incident Response
13 58 (5.44%) Network Architecture
14 53 (4.97%) Continuous Improvement
14 53 (4.97%) High Availability
15 52 (4.87%) Load Balancing
16 50 (4.69%) Performance Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 140 (13.12%) Python
2 85 (7.97%) PowerShell
3 41 (3.84%) Bash
4 33 (3.09%) SQL
5 25 (2.34%) Perl
6 13 (1.22%) JavaScript
7 9 (0.84%) C++
8 8 (0.75%) Lisp
9 6 (0.56%) Java
9 6 (0.56%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (0.37%) Go
11 3 (0.28%) C
11 3 (0.28%) VB
12 2 (0.19%) PHP
13 1 (0.094%) Ruby
13 1 (0.094%) VBA
Qualifications
1 445 (41.71%) Security Cleared
2 338 (31.68%) SC Cleared
3 274 (25.68%) Cisco Certification
4 204 (19.12%) CCNP
5 117 (10.97%) DV Cleared
6 103 (9.65%) CCNA
7 82 (7.69%) Degree
8 70 (6.56%) CCIE
9 26 (2.44%) Computer Science Degree
10 24 (2.25%) ITIL Certification
11 23 (2.16%) BPSS Clearance
12 22 (2.06%) CISSP
13 21 (1.97%) Microsoft Certification
14 18 (1.69%) AWS Certification
14 18 (1.69%) Azure Certification
14 18 (1.69%) JNCIE
15 15 (1.41%) JNCIA
16 14 (1.31%) JNCIS
17 13 (1.22%) CCDP
18 11 (1.03%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.03%) SLA
2 33 (3.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (2.16%) GDPR
4 20 (1.87%) NIST
5 16 (1.50%) PCI DSS
6 14 (1.31%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (1.12%) PMO
8 7 (0.66%) NCSC
9 4 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.28%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.28%) QA
11 2 (0.19%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.19%) Def Stans
11 2 (0.19%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.094%) COBIT
12 1 (0.094%) Data Quality
12 1 (0.094%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.094%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.094%) JTAG
12 1 (0.094%) NIST 800
System Software
1 160 (15.00%) Active Directory
2 120 (11.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 54 (5.06%) VMware NSX
4 32 (3.00%) vSphere
5 28 (2.62%) VMware ESXi
6 27 (2.53%) Firmware
7 22 (2.06%) Docker
8 16 (1.50%) Hyper-V
9 12 (1.12%) NFS
10 11 (1.03%) GPFS
10 11 (1.03%) Virtual Machines
11 7 (0.66%) Snort
11 7 (0.66%) Virtual Servers
12 5 (0.47%) KVM
12 5 (0.47%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 5 (0.47%) Squid
13 3 (0.28%) BitLocker
14 2 (0.19%) Terminal Services
14 2 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
14 2 (0.19%) Xen
Systems Management
1 100 (9.37%) Ansible
2 61 (5.72%) FortiGate
3 53 (4.97%) SCCM
4 48 (4.50%) Terraform
5 44 (4.12%) vCenter Server
6 43 (4.03%) Microsoft Intune
7 23 (2.16%) Kubernetes
7 23 (2.16%) vRealize
8 17 (1.59%) Cisco CUCM
9 11 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 11 (1.03%) VxRail
10 9 (0.84%) EMC NetWorker
10 9 (0.84%) Nessus
10 9 (0.84%) WSUS
11 7 (0.66%) EMC VPLEX
11 7 (0.66%) HP SiteScope
11 7 (0.66%) SCOM
12 6 (0.56%) NetBackup
13 5 (0.47%) Cisco Prime
13 5 (0.47%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 219 (20.52%) Microsoft
2 196 (18.37%) Juniper
3 171 (16.03%) Palo Alto
4 154 (14.43%) VMware
5 136 (12.75%) Fortinet
6 117 (10.97%) SolarWinds
7 113 (10.59%) Meraki
8 112 (10.50%) F5
9 87 (8.15%) Dell
10 83 (7.78%) CheckPoint
11 80 (7.50%) Splunk
12 69 (6.47%) HP
13 67 (6.28%) Aruba
14 62 (5.81%) ServiceNow
15 54 (5.06%) Apple
16 45 (4.22%) SAP
17 38 (3.56%) Zscaler
18 33 (3.09%) AppDynamics
18 33 (3.09%) Oracle
19 30 (2.81%) IBM