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 4 June 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
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 319 347 292
Rank change year-on-year +28 -55 +77
Contract jobs citing F5 358 178 339
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.73% 0.62% 0.79%
As % of the Vendors category 1.79% 1.30% 1.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 96 222
10th Percentile £350 £394 £400
25th Percentile £406 £425 £433
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £530 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.60% +6.00% -3.38%
75th Percentile £575 £601 £577
90th Percentile £668 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £539 £500
% change year-on-year -7.15% +7.70% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 3
10th Percentile £44.28 - -
25th Percentile £48.68 - -
Median hourly rate £57.02 - £23.80
75th Percentile £65.01 - -
90th Percentile £69.20 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £57.02 - -

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 19,948 13,741 18,095
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 40.76% 47.66% 42.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,535 8,490 11,282
10th Percentile £313 £280 £263
25th Percentile £413 £405 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £508 £514
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% -1.22% -2.14%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £626
90th Percentile £700 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £489 £500
% change year-on-year +1.23% -2.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,030 604 1,114
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.84 £12.05
25th Percentile £18.50 £17.34 £14.48
Median hourly rate £32.50 £26.45 £22.56
Median % change year-on-year +22.87% +17.24% -46.92%
75th Percentile £58.75 £56.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £77.50 £70.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £22.50 £21.50
% change year-on-year +33.33% +4.65% -45.64%

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 4 June 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 4 June 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 4 June 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 +18 312 £500 -9.09% 29
UK excluding London +35 256 £500 -7.15% 21
North of England +33 123 £563 +18.42% 7
North West +49 91 £575 +21.05% 3
Work from Home -15 83 £550 +15.79% 10
West Midlands -5 74 £475 -13.79% 3
Midlands -13 74 £475 -15.18% 3
South East -14 68 £523 -5.00% 7
London -71 61 £470 -2.08% 15
Yorkshire -37 26 £478 - 1
Scotland +5 22 £413 -7.04% 2
South West -36 18 £495 -7.48% 1
North East -17 12 £650 +18.18% 3
East of England -32 3 £530 +13.98% 1

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 10 (2.79%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.40%) Confluence
3 4 (1.12%) nginx
4 3 (0.84%) Apache
4 3 (0.84%) IIS
4 3 (0.84%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.28%) CMS
5 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 16 (4.47%) MS Visio
2 6 (1.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.12%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 54 (15.08%) Azure
2 50 (13.97%) AWS
3 21 (5.87%) OCI
4 12 (3.35%) SaaS
5 11 (3.07%) GitHub
6 8 (2.23%) IaaS
6 8 (2.23%) Microsoft 365
7 5 (1.40%) GCP
7 5 (1.40%) Nutanix
8 4 (1.12%) Entra ID
8 4 (1.12%) Mimecast
8 4 (1.12%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 3 (0.84%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.84%) Cloudflare
10 2 (0.56%) Amazon OpenSearch
10 2 (0.56%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 2 (0.56%) OpenShift
11 1 (0.28%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 1 (0.28%) Google Ads
11 1 (0.28%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 189 (52.79%) Firewall
2 155 (43.30%) DNS
3 145 (40.50%) BIG-IP
4 144 (40.22%) BGP
5 111 (31.01%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 110 (30.73%) WAN
7 102 (28.49%) OSPF
8 92 (25.70%) VPN
9 89 (24.86%) LAN
10 77 (21.51%) Network Security
10 77 (21.51%) VXLAN
11 69 (19.27%) TCP/IP
12 62 (17.32%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 59 (16.48%) Multicast
14 57 (15.92%) Ethernet VPN
15 53 (14.80%) SSL
16 51 (14.25%) DHCP
17 49 (13.69%) Cisco Nexus
18 47 (13.13%) SD-WAN
19 41 (11.45%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.12%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.84%) MySQL
3 2 (0.56%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 31 (8.66%) JIRA
2 24 (6.70%) Fiddler
3 21 (5.87%) GitLab
4 10 (2.79%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.68%) Git
6 4 (1.12%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 49 (13.69%) Banking
2 47 (13.13%) Social Skills
3 45 (12.57%) Finance
4 36 (10.06%) Investment Banking
5 29 (8.10%) Public Sector
6 16 (4.47%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (3.35%) Financial Institution
8 10 (2.79%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.68%) Military
10 4 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.84%) Retail
12 2 (0.56%) Legal
13 1 (0.28%) Billing
13 1 (0.28%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.28%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.28%) Police
13 1 (0.28%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 181 (50.56%) Network Engineer
2 66 (18.44%) Senior
3 55 (15.36%) Security Engineer
4 51 (14.25%) Network Security Engineer
5 44 (12.29%) Cisco Engineer
6 42 (11.73%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 40 (11.17%) Web Engineer
8 39 (10.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 37 (10.34%) Data Network Engineer
10 34 (9.50%) Architect
10 34 (9.50%) Data Engineer
11 32 (8.94%) Cisco Security Engineer
12 28 (7.82%) Senior Network Engineer
13 22 (6.15%) IP Network Engineer
14 19 (5.31%) Network Specialist
14 19 (5.31%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 17 (4.75%) Blue Coat Engineer
16 15 (4.19%) Network Architect
17 14 (3.91%) Firewall Specialist
18 9 (2.51%) Design Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (9.22%) 802.1X
2 12 (3.35%) JSON
3 7 (1.96%) LDAP
3 7 (1.96%) SAML
4 6 (1.68%) YAML
5 4 (1.12%) REST
6 3 (0.84%) LAMP
6 3 (0.84%) LEMP Stack
6 3 (0.84%) NETCONF
6 3 (0.84%) YANG
7 2 (0.56%) OpenConfig
7 2 (0.56%) RESTCONF
8 1 (0.28%) Bun
8 1 (0.28%) Elastic Stack
8 1 (0.28%) React
8 1 (0.28%) VML
8 1 (0.28%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 113 (31.56%) Data Centre
2 29 (8.10%) PKI
3 26 (7.26%) Hybrid Cloud
4 24 (6.70%) Clustering
5 18 (5.03%) Public Cloud
6 17 (4.75%) Management Information System
7 12 (3.35%) Cloud Native
7 12 (3.35%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (1.96%) Onboarding
9 6 (1.68%) Private Cloud
10 5 (1.40%) Algorithms
11 3 (0.84%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 3 (0.84%) iSeries
11 3 (0.84%) Legacy Systems
11 3 (0.84%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (0.84%) Virtual Team
12 2 (0.56%) Analytical Mindset
12 2 (0.56%) Cyber Threat
12 2 (0.56%) Enterprise Storage
12 2 (0.56%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 59 (16.48%) Windows
2 37 (10.34%) Linux
3 9 (2.51%) Unix
3 9 (2.51%) Windows Server
3 9 (2.51%) Windows Server 2012
3 9 (2.51%) Windows Server 2019
4 3 (0.84%) CatOS
4 3 (0.84%) CentOS
4 3 (0.84%) Ubuntu
4 3 (0.84%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (49.44%) Load Balancing
2 76 (21.23%) High Availability
3 47 (13.13%) Migration
3 47 (13.13%) Problem-Solving
4 46 (12.85%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 36 (10.06%) Network Design
6 34 (9.50%) CI/CD
7 33 (9.22%) Observability
7 33 (9.22%) Project Delivery
8 32 (8.94%) Agile
9 29 (8.10%) Change Management
9 29 (8.10%) Zero Trust
10 28 (7.82%) Roadmaps
11 26 (7.26%) Identity Access Management
11 26 (7.26%) Infrastructure as Code
12 25 (6.98%) DevOps
12 25 (6.98%) Network Management
13 24 (6.70%) Data Loss Prevention
13 24 (6.70%) Malware Detection/Protection
13 24 (6.70%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 83 (23.18%) Python
2 12 (3.35%) ActionScript
3 10 (2.79%) Bash
3 10 (2.79%) JavaScript
4 9 (2.51%) SQL
4 9 (2.51%) VBA
5 8 (2.23%) PowerShell
6 3 (0.84%) Lisp
7 2 (0.56%) C++
8 1 (0.28%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.28%) Perl
8 1 (0.28%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.28%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 88 (24.58%) Security Cleared
2 74 (20.67%) Cisco Certification
3 49 (13.69%) SC Cleared
4 42 (11.73%) CCNP
5 29 (8.10%) DV Cleared
6 16 (4.47%) CCIE
7 12 (3.35%) CCNA
7 12 (3.35%) Degree
8 11 (3.07%) JNCIS
9 9 (2.51%) JNCIP
10 8 (2.23%) JNCIA
11 5 (1.40%) CCIE Security
12 4 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (1.12%) JNCIE
13 3 (0.84%) CCDP
14 2 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
14 2 (0.56%) CCSE
14 2 (0.56%) CESG Certified Professional
14 2 (0.56%) CHECK Team Leader
14 2 (0.56%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.51%) QA
2 6 (1.68%) Disclosure Scotland
3 4 (1.12%) JSP 440
4 3 (0.84%) 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%) RMADS
6 1 (0.28%) GRC
6 1 (0.28%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 42 (11.73%) VMware Infrastructure
2 26 (7.26%) VMware NSX
3 21 (5.87%) Active Directory
4 19 (5.31%) Firmware
5 6 (1.68%) vSphere
6 5 (1.40%) Docker
6 5 (1.40%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (1.12%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.84%) Dovecot
8 3 (0.84%) Postfix
8 3 (0.84%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.56%) KVM
10 1 (0.28%) IAG
10 1 (0.28%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.28%) RHEV
10 1 (0.28%) Xen
Systems Management
1 77 (21.51%) Ansible
2 52 (14.53%) FortiGate
3 34 (9.50%) Terraform
4 12 (3.35%) Prometheus
5 11 (3.07%) Grafana
6 10 (2.79%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (2.23%) Microsoft Intune
8 7 (1.96%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (1.96%) SCCM
9 6 (1.68%) WMI
10 5 (1.40%) Kubernetes
10 5 (1.40%) Salt
11 4 (1.12%) Nagios
12 3 (0.84%) HAProxy
13 2 (0.56%) Avamar
13 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Satellite
14 1 (0.28%) Argo
14 1 (0.28%) Proxmox
14 1 (0.28%) Puppet
14 1 (0.28%) vRealize
Vendors
1 212 (59.22%) Cisco
2 120 (33.52%) Palo Alto
3 69 (19.27%) Juniper
4 57 (15.92%) VMware
5 53 (14.80%) Fortinet
6 52 (14.53%) CheckPoint
7 45 (12.57%) Arista
8 40 (11.17%) SolarWinds
9 38 (10.61%) Splunk
10 33 (9.22%) Aruba
11 30 (8.38%) Blue Coat
12 25 (6.98%) Infoblox
12 25 (6.98%) McAfee
13 24 (6.70%) ServiceNow
14 23 (6.42%) Extreme Networks
15 20 (5.59%) Microsoft
16 17 (4.75%) NetApp
17 11 (3.07%) Zscaler
18 7 (1.96%) Meraki
19 6 (1.68%) BigPanda