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 16 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
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 118 82 70
Rank change year-on-year -36 -12 -16
Contract jobs citing Cisco 1,214 997 1,204
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.24% 3.03% 3.15%
As % of the Vendors category 5.35% 6.40% 7.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 795 627 719
10th Percentile £278 £300 £250
25th Percentile £400 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.96% -2.10% +8.11%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £582
90th Percentile £650 £642 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £491 £500
% change year-on-year -5.80% -1.80% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 41 37
10th Percentile £26.72 - £19.40
25th Percentile £44.00 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £55.00 £30.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +83.33% +9.09% -42.11%
75th Percentile £67.84 £58.75 £55.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £83.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year +69.23% -13.33% -21.60%

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 22,712 15,566 16,911
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.85% 47.26% 44.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,926 9,545 10,148
10th Percentile £313 £275 £285
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 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,251 789 677
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.69 £14.26
25th Percentile £16.72 £17.44 £15.62
Median hourly rate £27.00 £25.15 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +7.36% -16.17% -31.56%
75th Percentile £63.00 £43.25 £63.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £21.19 £30.00
% change year-on-year +23.36% -29.37% -27.71%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -43 1,006 £500 - 1,378
UK excluding London -35 703 £463 -5.80% 930
London -35 385 £500 - 569
Work from Home -18 294 £475 +2.70% 345
North of England 0 244 £488 +2.63% 193
North West +12 167 £484 +1.89% 94
South East -69 135 £450 -10.00% 239
Midlands -34 127 £425 -8.11% 125
West Midlands -26 120 £425 -10.53% 70
Scotland +15 97 £413 -2.94% 51
Yorkshire -25 70 £500 +1.63% 71
South West -46 62 £525 -4.55% 146
East of England -22 31 £453 -6.22% 137
Wales +11 29 £390 +95.00% 31
Northern Ireland +2 8 £115 -73.71% 26
North East -35 8 £375 -31.82% 30
East Midlands -23 4 £525 +20.00% 55
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 (3.21%) SharePoint
2 35 (2.88%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.07%) Confluence
4 9 (0.74%) OpenStack
5 8 (0.66%) SAS
6 7 (0.58%) 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 (4.04%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (2.14%) Microsoft Excel
3 22 (1.81%) MS Visio
4 7 (0.58%) 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
1 253 (20.84%) Azure
2 159 (13.10%) AWS
3 103 (8.48%) Microsoft 365
4 65 (5.35%) Entra ID
5 35 (2.88%) GitHub
6 30 (2.47%) OneDrive
7 27 (2.22%) GCP
8 18 (1.48%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 18 (1.48%) OpenShift
9 17 (1.40%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 14 (1.15%) Power Platform
11 13 (1.07%) Nutanix
12 12 (0.99%) SaaS
13 9 (0.74%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (0.66%) Azure DevOps
14 8 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
15 7 (0.58%) AWS Direct Connect
15 7 (0.58%) IaaS
16 6 (0.49%) Cloudflare
16 6 (0.49%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 510 (42.01%) Firewall
2 358 (29.49%) WAN
3 300 (24.71%) BGP
4 271 (22.32%) LAN
5 267 (21.99%) VPN
6 253 (20.84%) Network Security
7 211 (17.38%) Wireless
8 190 (15.65%) VLAN
9 188 (15.49%) OSPF
10 185 (15.24%) DNS
11 146 (12.03%) SD-WAN
12 138 (11.37%) Wi-Fi
13 126 (10.38%) MPLS
14 118 (9.72%) Cisco Nexus
15 106 (8.73%) DHCP
16 96 (7.91%) TCP/IP
17 89 (7.33%) Cisco ISE
18 87 (7.17%) Cisco ASA
19 86 (7.08%) Cisco IOS
19 86 (7.08%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (2.22%) SQL Server
2 7 (0.58%) 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 32 (2.64%) Git
2 20 (1.65%) JIRA
3 13 (1.07%) Sonatype Nexus
4 12 (0.99%) GitLab
5 8 (0.66%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.16%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.082%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.082%) Tricentis qTest
7 1 (0.082%) Zephyr
General
1 283 (23.31%) Social Skills
2 125 (10.30%) Finance
3 123 (10.13%) Telecoms
4 100 (8.24%) Analytical Skills
5 64 (5.27%) Banking
5 64 (5.27%) Public Sector
6 60 (4.94%) Documentation Skills
7 42 (3.46%) Legal
8 22 (1.81%) Organisational Skills
9 20 (1.65%) Investment Banking
10 19 (1.57%) Retail
11 16 (1.32%) Financial Institution
12 14 (1.15%) Law
12 14 (1.15%) Military
13 11 (0.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 10 (0.82%) Manufacturing
14 10 (0.82%) Police
15 9 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
16 6 (0.49%) Marketing
17 5 (0.41%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 604 (49.75%) Network Engineer
2 179 (14.74%) Senior
3 149 (12.27%) Architect
4 143 (11.78%) Cisco Engineer
5 128 (10.54%) Senior Network Engineer
6 127 (10.46%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 86 (7.08%) Security Engineer
8 76 (6.26%) Network Architect
9 66 (5.44%) Network Security Engineer
10 62 (5.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 51 (4.20%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 43 (3.54%) Field Engineer
13 38 (3.13%) Analyst
13 38 (3.13%) Support Engineer
14 37 (3.05%) Lead
15 35 (2.88%) Data Network Engineer
15 35 (2.88%) Telecoms Engineer
16 34 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
17 30 (2.47%) Consultant
18 28 (2.31%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 85 (7.00%) Terraform
2 58 (4.78%) 802.1X
3 29 (2.39%) REST
4 18 (1.48%) YAML
5 16 (1.32%) JSON
6 12 (0.99%) NETCONF
6 12 (0.99%) SAML
7 8 (0.66%) YANG
8 7 (0.58%) Microsoft Graph
8 7 (0.58%) RESTCONF
8 7 (0.58%) XMPP
9 6 (0.49%) Flash
10 5 (0.41%) OpenConfig
11 3 (0.25%) .NET
11 3 (0.25%) Java RMI
11 3 (0.25%) LAMP
11 3 (0.25%) LDAP
11 3 (0.25%) Middleware
11 3 (0.25%) OpenID
11 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 298 (24.55%) Data Centre
2 55 (4.53%) Hybrid Cloud
3 51 (4.20%) Onboarding
4 45 (3.71%) PKI
5 44 (3.62%) Driving Licence
6 35 (2.88%) Data Protection Act
7 33 (2.72%) Operational Technology
8 28 (2.31%) Video Conferencing
9 25 (2.06%) Replication
10 23 (1.89%) Cloud Native
10 23 (1.89%) Clustering
11 21 (1.73%) Management Information System
11 21 (1.73%) Public Cloud
12 20 (1.65%) Analytical Mindset
13 18 (1.48%) Self-Motivation
14 17 (1.40%) Enterprise Storage
14 17 (1.40%) Private Cloud
15 16 (1.32%) Linux Command Line
16 14 (1.15%) IoT
17 13 (1.07%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 230 (18.95%) Windows
2 121 (9.97%) Linux
3 90 (7.41%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.65%) Mac OS
5 18 (1.48%) Ubuntu
6 17 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.40%) Windows 10
7 11 (0.91%) Android
8 9 (0.74%) Unix
8 9 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
9 8 (0.66%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.58%) AIX
10 7 (0.58%) 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
1 195 (16.06%) Migration
2 155 (12.77%) Project Delivery
3 135 (11.12%) ITIL
4 134 (11.04%) Problem-Solving
5 112 (9.23%) High Availability
6 109 (8.98%) Load Balancing
7 99 (8.15%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 98 (8.07%) Change Management
9 95 (7.83%) Stakeholder Management
10 90 (7.41%) Network Design
11 86 (7.08%) Infrastructure as Code
12 83 (6.84%) Validation
13 81 (6.67%) Continuous Improvement
14 72 (5.93%) Technical Leadership
15 68 (5.60%) Zero Trust
16 67 (5.52%) Data Protection
17 65 (5.35%) ITSM
18 61 (5.02%) CI/CD
18 61 (5.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 59 (4.86%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 143 (11.78%) Python
2 60 (4.94%) PowerShell
3 32 (2.64%) Bash
4 27 (2.22%) 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
1 326 (26.85%) Cisco Certification
2 292 (24.05%) Security Cleared
3 231 (19.03%) CCNP
4 219 (18.04%) SC Cleared
5 129 (10.63%) CCNA
6 74 (6.10%) DV Cleared
7 73 (6.01%) Degree
8 61 (5.02%) CCIE
9 27 (2.22%) Microsoft Certification
10 23 (1.89%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 19 (1.57%) MCSE
12 16 (1.32%) AWS Certification
12 16 (1.32%) Azure Certification
13 15 (1.24%) CISSP
14 14 (1.15%) Computer Science Degree
14 14 (1.15%) Network+ Certification
15 13 (1.07%) CCSE
16 12 (0.99%) BPSS Clearance
17 11 (0.91%) ISTQB
17 11 (0.91%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (3.21%) SLA
2 27 (2.22%) NIST
3 22 (1.81%) QA
4 19 (1.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
6 10 (0.82%) PCI DSS
7 9 (0.74%) NCSC
8 8 (0.66%) 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%) Government Security Classifications
System Software
1 138 (11.37%) VMware Infrastructure
2 121 (9.97%) Active Directory
3 43 (3.54%) vSphere
4 42 (3.46%) VMware NSX
5 39 (3.21%) VMware ESXi
6 36 (2.97%) Hyper-V
7 30 (2.47%) Firmware
8 29 (2.39%) Virtual Machines
9 16 (1.32%) 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
1 146 (12.03%) Ansible
2 76 (6.26%) FortiGate
3 32 (2.64%) Kubernetes
3 32 (2.64%) Microsoft Intune
4 22 (1.81%) Cisco CUCM
5 21 (1.73%) Cisco Prime
5 21 (1.73%) SCCM
5 21 (1.73%) vCenter Server
6 10 (0.82%) Grafana
6 10 (0.82%) Prometheus
7 8 (0.66%) Failover Clustering
7 8 (0.66%) Puppet
7 8 (0.66%) WMI
7 8 (0.66%) WSUS
8 7 (0.58%) EMC VPLEX
8 7 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (0.49%) Red Hat Satellite
9 6 (0.49%) vRealize
10 5 (0.41%) Jamf Pro
10 5 (0.41%) Nagios
Vendors
1 264 (21.75%) Palo Alto
2 238 (19.60%) Microsoft
3 208 (17.13%) Fortinet
4 193 (15.90%) VMware
5 190 (15.65%) F5
6 127 (10.46%) Juniper
6 127 (10.46%) Meraki
7 109 (8.98%) CheckPoint
8 88 (7.25%) Aruba
9 83 (6.84%) ServiceNow
10 77 (6.34%) SolarWinds
11 75 (6.18%) Arista
12 56 (4.61%) Zscaler
13 40 (3.29%) Splunk
14 37 (3.05%) Red Hat
15 35 (2.88%) Dell
16 29 (2.39%) NetApp
16 29 (2.39%) Nokia
17 22 (1.81%) Citrix
18 20 (1.65%) EMC