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 8 January 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
8 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 93 60 58
Rank change year-on-year -33 -2 +34
Contract jobs citing Cisco 995 1,137 1,531
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.70% 3.52% 3.61%
As % of the Vendors category 5.82% 7.70% 8.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 676 688 910
10th Percentile £263 £296 £255
25th Percentile £361 £403 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £467 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.58% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £553 £580 £595
90th Percentile £611 £650 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £489 £475
% change year-on-year -2.81% +2.89% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 24 90
10th Percentile £21.46 £16.09 £14.16
25th Percentile £25.15 £19.63 £23.16
Median hourly rate £65.00 £23.58 £33.72
Median % change year-on-year +175.64% -30.07% +31.16%
75th Percentile £78.63 £61.25 £65.98
90th Percentile £91.50 £75.00 £76.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £21.44 £43.90
% change year-on-year +246.40% -51.17% +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 17,105 14,765 18,767
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 46.35% 45.75% 44.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,975 8,766 11,900
10th Percentile £300 £285 £253
25th Percentile £410 £409 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.33%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £715 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 808 432 657
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.62 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.96 £19.44 £18.93
Median hourly rate £23.83 £27.24 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.53% -38.79% +61.82%
75th Percentile £47.00 £60.19 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £79.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.48 £25.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year -14.08% -45.51% +91.17%

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 8 January 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 8 January 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 8 January 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 -40 822 £481 -3.75% 821
UK excluding London -18 668 £475 -2.81% 814
Work from Home -24 268 £448 -10.50% 186
London -67 242 £464 -9.51% 99
South East -6 200 £500 -0.99% 225
Midlands +8 149 £380 -15.08% 135
North of England -51 144 £475 -0.11% 162
West Midlands +10 128 £390 -17.89% 50
North West -20 107 £481 -1.79% 65
Scotland +41 80 £425 +9.68% 30
South West -44 47 £550 +16.40% 105
East of England -16 30 £445 +11.25% 126
Yorkshire -73 29 £450 +5.88% 75
East Midlands -25 20 £158 -58.00% 80
Wales +2 17 £170 -56.83% 38
Northern Ireland +3 12 £475 - 18
North East -7 10 £175 -64.10% 23

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 50 (5.03%) SharePoint
2 41 (4.12%) Microsoft Exchange
3 20 (2.01%) Apache
3 20 (2.01%) Confluence
4 14 (1.41%) Skype for Business
4 14 (1.41%) WebLogic
5 8 (0.80%) OpenStack
6 7 (0.70%) Appian
6 7 (0.70%) Mattermost
7 5 (0.50%) IIS
7 5 (0.50%) SharePoint Server
8 3 (0.30%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.20%) CICS
9 2 (0.20%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.10%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.10%) Exchange Server 2013
10 1 (0.10%) JBoss
10 1 (0.10%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 77 (7.74%) Microsoft Office
2 37 (3.72%) MS Visio
3 19 (1.91%) Microsoft Excel
4 14 (1.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.50%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.50%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.10%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.10%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 20 (2.01%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.10%) Actimize
3 1 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 173 (17.39%) Azure
2 149 (14.97%) AWS
3 95 (9.55%) Microsoft 365
4 42 (4.22%) GCP
5 34 (3.42%) Entra ID
6 19 (1.91%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 15 (1.51%) Azure Monitor
8 14 (1.41%) Datadog
9 12 (1.21%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 12 (1.21%) Azure Sentinel
10 11 (1.11%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (1.01%) AWS Lambda
11 10 (1.01%) OpenShift
11 10 (1.01%) SaaS
11 10 (1.01%) Serverless
12 8 (0.80%) Nutanix
13 7 (0.70%) Mimecast
13 7 (0.70%) OneDrive
13 7 (0.70%) Power Platform
13 7 (0.70%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 392 (39.40%) Firewall
2 266 (26.73%) WAN
3 197 (19.80%) VPN
4 189 (18.99%) LAN
5 163 (16.38%) BGP
6 153 (15.38%) Wireless
7 147 (14.77%) Network Security
8 133 (13.37%) SD-WAN
9 121 (12.16%) OSPF
10 104 (10.45%) DNS
11 90 (9.05%) MPLS
12 83 (8.34%) VLAN
13 79 (7.94%) Cisco ISE
14 76 (7.64%) Wi-Fi
15 70 (7.04%) Cisco IOS
16 68 (6.83%) IPsec
17 66 (6.63%) Cisco Nexus
18 65 (6.53%) TCP/IP
19 57 (5.73%) DHCP
20 50 (5.03%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.11%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.50%) DynamoDB
2 5 (0.50%) Power BI
3 3 (0.30%) Amazon Athena
3 3 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.20%) MariaDB
4 2 (0.20%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.10%) Metadata
5 1 (0.10%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 24 (2.41%) JIRA
2 16 (1.61%) GitLab
3 12 (1.21%) Sonatype Nexus
4 9 (0.90%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.80%) Git
5 8 (0.80%) Robot Framework
6 7 (0.70%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.70%) Selenium
6 7 (0.70%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.20%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.10%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.10%) Hudson
General
1 231 (23.22%) Social Skills
2 168 (16.88%) Public Sector
3 134 (13.47%) Finance
4 123 (12.36%) Telecoms
5 76 (7.64%) Analytical Skills
6 61 (6.13%) Manufacturing
7 52 (5.23%) Documentation Skills
8 43 (4.32%) Electronics
8 43 (4.32%) Marketing
9 42 (4.22%) Banking
10 38 (3.82%) Legal
11 15 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 15 (1.51%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.31%) Presentation Skills
13 11 (1.11%) Aerospace
13 11 (1.11%) Investment Banking
14 6 (0.60%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (0.60%) Law
14 6 (0.60%) Military
15 5 (0.50%) Retail
Job Titles
1 352 (35.38%) Network Engineer
2 121 (12.16%) Architect
3 80 (8.04%) Network Architect
4 77 (7.74%) Cisco Engineer
5 65 (6.53%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 62 (6.23%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 59 (5.93%) Senior
8 58 (5.83%) Consultant
9 56 (5.63%) Analyst
10 53 (5.33%) IT Support
11 49 (4.92%) Support Engineer
12 47 (4.72%) Network Consultant
13 44 (4.42%) Security Engineer
14 38 (3.82%) Desktop Support
15 34 (3.42%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
16 31 (3.12%) Senior Network Engineer
17 30 (3.02%) Network Security Engineer
17 30 (3.02%) Solutions Architect
18 28 (2.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
19 27 (2.71%) 3rd Line Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (3.82%) 802.1X
2 17 (1.71%) XMPP
3 14 (1.41%) Flash
4 12 (1.21%) Jinja
5 11 (1.11%) JSON
5 11 (1.11%) NETCONF
5 11 (1.11%) YANG
6 10 (1.01%) RFC 2544
7 9 (0.90%) XML
8 8 (0.80%) LDAP
9 6 (0.60%) Node.js
10 4 (0.40%) REST
10 4 (0.40%) VML
11 3 (0.30%) HTML
11 3 (0.30%) OpenConfig
11 3 (0.30%) SAML
12 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Graph
12 2 (0.20%) Middleware
12 2 (0.20%) Regular Expression
12 2 (0.20%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 250 (25.13%) Data Centre
2 36 (3.62%) PKI
3 30 (3.02%) Linux Command Line
4 27 (2.71%) Data Protection Act
4 27 (2.71%) Onboarding
4 27 (2.71%) Replication
5 26 (2.61%) Cloud Native
5 26 (2.61%) Hybrid Cloud
6 24 (2.41%) Driving Licence
7 23 (2.31%) Operational Technology
8 16 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
9 13 (1.31%) NHS
9 13 (1.31%) Security Posture
10 12 (1.21%) CMDB
10 12 (1.21%) Fibre Optics
10 12 (1.21%) Product Ownership
10 12 (1.21%) Video Conferencing
11 10 (1.01%) Management Information System
12 9 (0.90%) Clustering
12 9 (0.90%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 182 (18.29%) Windows
2 111 (11.16%) Linux
3 74 (7.44%) Windows Server
4 62 (6.23%) Mac OS
5 57 (5.73%) Android
6 36 (3.62%) Windows 10
7 22 (2.21%) Unix
8 20 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 6 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.50%) Solaris
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.30%) VMS
12 3 (0.30%) Windows 7
12 3 (0.30%) Windows 8
12 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
13 2 (0.20%) CatOS
13 2 (0.20%) CentOS
13 2 (0.20%) zOS
14 1 (0.10%) MVS
14 1 (0.10%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (12.96%) Problem-Solving
2 125 (12.56%) Migration
3 83 (8.34%) Network Design
4 82 (8.24%) Service Management
5 79 (7.94%) ITIL
6 78 (7.84%) Agile
7 77 (7.74%) Roadmaps
8 74 (7.44%) ITSM
9 73 (7.34%) Project Delivery
10 66 (6.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 63 (6.33%) Business Intelligence
12 61 (6.13%) High Availability
13 60 (6.03%) Network Architecture
14 59 (5.93%) Cybersecurity
15 58 (5.83%) Change Management
16 54 (5.43%) Collaborative Working
17 53 (5.33%) Continuous Improvement
17 53 (5.33%) Incident Response
17 53 (5.33%) Load Balancing
18 50 (5.03%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 117 (11.76%) Python
2 64 (6.43%) PowerShell
3 39 (3.92%) Bash
4 32 (3.22%) SQL
5 23 (2.31%) Perl
6 14 (1.41%) JavaScript
7 8 (0.80%) Lisp
8 6 (0.60%) C++
9 5 (0.50%) Kusto Query Language
10 3 (0.30%) Java
11 2 (0.20%) C
12 1 (0.10%) Go
12 1 (0.10%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 431 (43.32%) Security Cleared
2 343 (34.47%) SC Cleared
3 252 (25.33%) Cisco Certification
4 203 (20.40%) CCNP
5 99 (9.95%) DV Cleared
6 93 (9.35%) CCNA
7 74 (7.44%) Degree
8 68 (6.83%) CCIE
9 25 (2.51%) ITIL Certification
9 25 (2.51%) Microsoft Certification
10 23 (2.31%) BPSS Clearance
11 18 (1.81%) AWS Certification
11 18 (1.81%) Azure Certification
12 16 (1.61%) JNCIE
13 15 (1.51%) CISSP
13 15 (1.51%) JNCIS
14 14 (1.41%) CCDP
15 13 (1.31%) Computer Science Degree
15 13 (1.31%) JNCIA
16 12 (1.21%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.72%) SLA
2 30 (3.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (2.21%) GDPR
4 19 (1.91%) NIST
5 17 (1.71%) Cyber Essentials
6 16 (1.61%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.31%) PMO
8 4 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (0.40%) NCSC
9 3 (0.30%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.30%) QA
10 2 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.20%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.10%) COBIT
11 1 (0.10%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.10%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.10%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.10%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.10%) JTAG
11 1 (0.10%) RMADS
System Software
1 133 (13.37%) VMware Infrastructure
2 126 (12.66%) Active Directory
3 65 (6.53%) VMware NSX
4 44 (4.42%) vSphere
5 26 (2.61%) VMware ESXi
6 20 (2.01%) Firmware
7 18 (1.81%) Docker
8 16 (1.61%) Hyper-V
9 15 (1.51%) NFS
9 15 (1.51%) Virtual Machines
10 14 (1.41%) GPFS
11 7 (0.70%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.60%) KVM
12 6 (0.60%) Snort
13 5 (0.50%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 4 (0.40%) Squid
15 3 (0.30%) BitLocker
16 2 (0.20%) Terminal Services
16 2 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
16 2 (0.20%) Xen
Systems Management
1 86 (8.64%) Ansible
2 66 (6.63%) FortiGate
3 48 (4.82%) vCenter Server
4 44 (4.42%) Terraform
5 30 (3.02%) SCCM
5 30 (3.02%) vRealize
6 21 (2.11%) Microsoft Intune
7 18 (1.81%) Kubernetes
8 15 (1.51%) Cisco CUCM
9 14 (1.41%) VxRail
10 11 (1.11%) WSUS
11 10 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 9 (0.90%) EMC NetWorker
12 9 (0.90%) Nessus
13 8 (0.80%) SCOM
14 7 (0.70%) EMC VPLEX
14 7 (0.70%) HP SiteScope
15 6 (0.60%) Nagios
15 6 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
16 5 (0.50%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 219 (22.01%) Palo Alto
2 182 (18.29%) Microsoft
3 167 (16.78%) Juniper
4 163 (16.38%) VMware
5 108 (10.85%) Fortinet
6 105 (10.55%) SolarWinds
7 103 (10.35%) Aruba
8 99 (9.95%) F5
9 94 (9.45%) Meraki
10 93 (9.35%) CheckPoint
11 76 (7.64%) Dell
12 71 (7.14%) ServiceNow
13 66 (6.63%) HP
14 50 (5.03%) Splunk
15 48 (4.82%) Apple
16 44 (4.42%) SAP
17 37 (3.72%) IBM
17 37 (3.72%) Oracle
17 37 (3.72%) Zscaler
18 36 (3.62%) AppDynamics