F5 Contract Job Trends

F5
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of F5 products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited F5 over the 6 months leading up to 16 August 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 F5 Networks, Inc.

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 350 321 252
Rank change year-on-year -29 -69 +135
Contract jobs citing F5 358 242 363
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.67% 0.73% 0.94%
As % of the Vendors category 1.60% 1.55% 2.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 161 136 244
10th Percentile £380 £380 £364
25th Percentile £425 £411 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £488 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.59% -7.14% -
75th Percentile £588 £602 £585
90th Percentile £675 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £490 £550
% change year-on-year +7.25% -11.00% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 3
10th Percentile £44.28 - -
25th Percentile £48.68 £65.75 -
Median hourly rate £57.02 £66.50 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -14.26% +179.41% -66.00%
75th Percentile £65.01 £67.25 -
90th Percentile £69.20 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £57.02 £66.50 -
% change year-on-year -14.26% - -

All Vendors
UK

F5 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 22,423 15,637 16,983
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.76% 47.26% 43.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,895 9,559 10,605
10th Percentile £313 £277 £288
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £610 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £700 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £479 £500
% change year-on-year +4.41% -4.23% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,146 809 839
10th Percentile £14.58 £14.62 £13.68
25th Percentile £18.00 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% -10.18% -30.71%
75th Percentile £65.00 £47.50 £61.52
90th Percentile £85.00 £67.60 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.71 £21.39 £27.50
% change year-on-year +48.26% -22.22% -17.22%

F5
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing F5 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

F5 job vacancy trend in the UK

F5
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing F5.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing F5

F5
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing F5 over the 6 months to 16 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for F5 in the UK

F5
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing F5.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing F5

F5
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing F5 over the 6 months to 16 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for F5 in the UK

F5
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing F5 within the UK over the 6 months to 16 August 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 -38 316 £523 +7.18% 22
UK excluding London -3 247 £525 +7.25% 21
North of England -12 118 £575 +21.05% 10
Work from Home -28 94 £550 +22.22% 11
North West +16 85 £575 +21.05% 10
Midlands 0 78 £573 +27.33% 2
West Midlands -6 78 £573 +28.76% 2
London -85 74 £500 +8.11% 7
South East -34 64 £520 -0.95% 3
Yorkshire -43 26 £488 -0.41%
Scotland -3 21 £419 -20.24% 4
South West -55 17 £495 -10.00% 2
North East -28 13 £650 +18.18%
East of England -20 5 £530 +24.71%

F5
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 7 (1.96%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.40%) nginx
2 5 (1.40%) OpenStack
3 3 (0.84%) Apache
3 3 (0.84%) Confluence
3 3 (0.84%) IIS
3 3 (0.84%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.84%) Tomcat
4 1 (0.28%) CMS
Applications
1 9 (2.51%) Microsoft Excel
1 9 (2.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 9 (2.51%) MS Visio
2 6 (1.68%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 61 (17.04%) Azure
2 51 (14.25%) AWS
3 23 (6.42%) OCI
4 20 (5.59%) GitHub
5 15 (4.19%) SaaS
6 10 (2.79%) IaaS
7 9 (2.51%) GCP
8 8 (2.23%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 7 (1.96%) OpenShift
9 7 (1.96%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 6 (1.68%) Cloudflare
11 5 (1.40%) Entra ID
12 4 (1.12%) Microsoft 365
13 3 (0.84%) Mimecast
13 3 (0.84%) OneDrive
14 1 (0.28%) AWS CloudFormation
14 1 (0.28%) Azure DevOps
14 1 (0.28%) CloudBees
14 1 (0.28%) Google Ads
14 1 (0.28%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 194 (54.19%) Firewall
2 163 (45.53%) BGP
3 145 (40.50%) DNS
4 134 (37.43%) BIG-IP
5 120 (33.52%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 116 (32.40%) WAN
7 112 (31.28%) OSPF
8 106 (29.61%) VPN
9 85 (23.74%) LAN
10 80 (22.35%) Network Security
11 79 (22.07%) VXLAN
12 71 (19.83%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 63 (17.60%) TCP/IP
14 57 (15.92%) Cisco Nexus
15 55 (15.36%) Multicast
16 53 (14.80%) Ethernet VPN
17 50 (13.97%) DHCP
18 49 (13.69%) SSL
19 48 (13.41%) SD-WAN
20 44 (12.29%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.12%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.84%) MySQL
3 1 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 25 (6.98%) JIRA
2 20 (5.59%) GitLab
3 17 (4.75%) Fiddler
4 13 (3.63%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.23%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (1.12%) Git
7 1 (0.28%) MSI
7 1 (0.28%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.28%) Visual Studio
General
1 51 (14.25%) Social Skills
2 45 (12.57%) Banking
3 43 (12.01%) Finance
4 33 (9.22%) Investment Banking
5 28 (7.82%) Analytical Skills
6 22 (6.15%) Public Sector
7 19 (5.31%) Telecoms
8 9 (2.51%) Financial Institution
9 7 (1.96%) Retail
10 6 (1.68%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (1.68%) Legal
11 4 (1.12%) Military
12 3 (0.84%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.56%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.28%) Law
14 1 (0.28%) Police
14 1 (0.28%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 187 (52.23%) Network Engineer
2 63 (17.60%) Senior
3 61 (17.04%) Security Engineer
4 54 (15.08%) Network Security Engineer
5 43 (12.01%) Cisco Engineer
6 41 (11.45%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 36 (10.06%) Data Network Engineer
8 35 (9.78%) Architect
9 33 (9.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 32 (8.94%) Data Engineer
10 32 (8.94%) Web Engineer
11 31 (8.66%) Cisco Security Engineer
11 31 (8.66%) Senior Network Engineer
12 21 (5.87%) IP Network Engineer
13 20 (5.59%) Network Architect
14 19 (5.31%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 18 (5.03%) Network Specialist
16 16 (4.47%) Blue Coat Engineer
17 13 (3.63%) Firewall Specialist
17 13 (3.63%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (10.61%) 802.1X
2 10 (2.79%) YAML
3 8 (2.23%) JSON
4 7 (1.96%) SAML
5 6 (1.68%) NETCONF
5 6 (1.68%) OpenConfig
5 6 (1.68%) RESTCONF
5 6 (1.68%) YANG
6 5 (1.40%) REST
7 4 (1.12%) LDAP
8 3 (0.84%) LAMP
8 3 (0.84%) LEMP Stack
9 2 (0.56%) eBPF
10 1 (0.28%) .NET
10 1 (0.28%) .NET Framework
10 1 (0.28%) Bun
10 1 (0.28%) Elastic Stack
10 1 (0.28%) JWT
10 1 (0.28%) OpenID
10 1 (0.28%) React
Miscellaneous
1 115 (32.12%) Data Centre
2 42 (11.73%) Hybrid Cloud
3 26 (7.26%) PKI
4 24 (6.70%) Clustering
5 22 (6.15%) Management Information System
6 21 (5.87%) Cloud Native
7 16 (4.47%) Data Protection Act
8 13 (3.63%) Onboarding
9 8 (2.23%) Private Cloud
9 8 (2.23%) Public Cloud
10 7 (1.96%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 6 (1.68%) Analytical Mindset
11 6 (1.68%) Distributed Applications
12 4 (1.12%) Digital Signage
12 4 (1.12%) Self-Motivation
13 3 (0.84%) Algorithms
13 3 (0.84%) Legacy Systems
13 3 (0.84%) Linux Command Line
14 2 (0.56%) Operational Technology
15 1 (0.28%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 55 (15.36%) Windows
2 40 (11.17%) Linux
3 9 (2.51%) Unix
4 4 (1.12%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.84%) CentOS
5 3 (0.84%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.84%) Windows Server 2012
5 3 (0.84%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.28%) CatOS
6 1 (0.28%) Check Point GAiA
6 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 174 (48.60%) Load Balancing
2 70 (19.55%) High Availability
3 52 (14.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 47 (13.13%) CI/CD
5 46 (12.85%) Migration
6 45 (12.57%) Zero Trust
7 42 (11.73%) Network Design
8 40 (11.17%) Project Delivery
9 36 (10.06%) Problem-Solving
10 31 (8.66%) Change Management
10 31 (8.66%) Stakeholder Management
11 30 (8.38%) Agile
12 29 (8.10%) ITIL
13 28 (7.82%) Infrastructure as Code
13 28 (7.82%) Observability
14 27 (7.54%) Network Architecture
14 27 (7.54%) Roadmaps
15 25 (6.98%) Identity Access Management
16 23 (6.42%) DevOps
17 22 (6.15%) Network Management
Programming Languages
1 91 (25.42%) Python
2 13 (3.63%) SQL
3 12 (3.35%) ActionScript
4 10 (2.79%) JavaScript
5 9 (2.51%) Bash
6 8 (2.23%) PowerShell
7 7 (1.96%) Perl
7 7 (1.96%) VBA
8 3 (0.84%) C++
8 3 (0.84%) Lisp
8 3 (0.84%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.28%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.28%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 96 (26.82%) Security Cleared
2 69 (19.27%) Cisco Certification
3 56 (15.64%) SC Cleared
4 33 (9.22%) CCNP
5 26 (7.26%) DV Cleared
6 20 (5.59%) CCIE
7 16 (4.47%) Degree
8 7 (1.96%) CCNA
8 7 (1.96%) JNCIA
8 7 (1.96%) JNCIP
8 7 (1.96%) JNCIS
9 6 (1.68%) JNCIE
10 4 (1.12%) CCIE Security
10 4 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.84%) CEH
11 3 (0.84%) CISSP
11 3 (0.84%) GIAC
11 3 (0.84%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 2 (0.56%) Azure Certification
12 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.51%) QA
2 6 (1.68%) Disclosure Scotland
3 5 (1.40%) NCSC
4 3 (0.84%) NIST
4 3 (0.84%) SLA
5 2 (0.56%) GDPR
5 2 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.56%) JSP 440
6 1 (0.28%) GRC
System Software
1 47 (13.13%) VMware Infrastructure
2 23 (6.42%) VMware NSX
3 19 (5.31%) Firmware
4 15 (4.19%) Active Directory
5 5 (1.40%) Virtual Servers
6 3 (0.84%) Docker
6 3 (0.84%) Dovecot
6 3 (0.84%) Postfix
6 3 (0.84%) vSphere
7 1 (0.28%) IAG
7 1 (0.28%) KVM
7 1 (0.28%) ProxySG
7 1 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 79 (22.07%) Ansible
2 50 (13.97%) FortiGate
3 45 (12.57%) Terraform
4 8 (2.23%) WMI
5 7 (1.96%) Cisco Prime
6 6 (1.68%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (1.40%) Grafana
7 5 (1.40%) Kubernetes
7 5 (1.40%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.12%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.84%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.84%) HAProxy
10 2 (0.56%) Avamar
10 2 (0.56%) Puppet
10 2 (0.56%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.28%) Istio
11 1 (0.28%) NetBackup
11 1 (0.28%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.28%) SCCM
11 1 (0.28%) vRealize
Vendors
1 225 (62.85%) Cisco
2 131 (36.59%) Palo Alto
3 73 (20.39%) Fortinet
4 69 (19.27%) Juniper
5 60 (16.76%) VMware
6 48 (13.41%) CheckPoint
7 47 (13.13%) SolarWinds
8 42 (11.73%) Arista
9 35 (9.78%) Splunk
10 31 (8.66%) Aruba
11 29 (8.10%) Microsoft
12 25 (6.98%) Blue Coat
12 25 (6.98%) Infoblox
13 20 (5.59%) Extreme Networks
14 17 (4.75%) ServiceNow
15 16 (4.47%) McAfee
15 16 (4.47%) NetApp
16 14 (3.91%) Zscaler
17 7 (1.96%) Meraki
18 6 (1.68%) Citrix