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 1 February 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
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 346 316 330
Rank change year-on-year -30 +14 +51
Contract jobs citing F5 264 226 285
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.69% 0.72% 0.63%
As % of the Vendors category 1.50% 1.56% 1.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 119 126 191
10th Percentile £332 £400 £378
25th Percentile £400 £456 £432
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%
75th Percentile £608 £588 £600
90th Percentile £713 £651 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £490
% change year-on-year -4.76% +7.14% -3.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 7
10th Percentile £46.95 - £64.65
25th Percentile £50.08 £21.25 £68.75
Median hourly rate £57.61 £22.50 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +156.04% -68.97% +271.79%
75th Percentile £63.58 £23.75 £76.88
90th Percentile £65.78 - £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £57.61 £22.50 £72.50
% change year-on-year +156.04% -68.97% -7.88%

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 17,562 14,530 19,696
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 45.57% 46.26% 43.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,297 8,594 12,423
10th Percentile £300 £282 £253
25th Percentile £410 £409 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.31% -0.48% -2.33%
75th Percentile £609 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £713 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £493 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 832 423 898
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.09 £16.00
Median hourly rate £23.75 £28.41 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year -16.40% -5.30% -0.83%
75th Percentile £51.31 £61.13 £59.94
90th Percentile £73.63 £80.08 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.46 £25.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year -14.16% -16.67% +16.23%

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 1 February 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 1 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for F5 in the UK

F5
Top 15 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 1 February 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 -38 233 £500 -4.76% 50
UK excluding London -22 180 £500 -4.76% 46
North of England -1 101 £575 +17.35% 17
North West +18 77 £500 +2.04% 8
Work from Home +5 76 £513 +4.59% 13
Midlands -8 72 £415 -31.97% 4
West Midlands +20 71 £415 -24.68% 3
London -31 57 £500 -1.23% 10
Yorkshire -27 34 £700 +75.00% 9
South East -44 24 £530 +6.00% 13
Scotland +16 17 £500 +6.67% 4
South West -38 7 £520 +12.43% 3
East of England -23 2 - - 5
North East -18 1 £550 -
East Midlands -40 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 (3.79%) Confluence
2 9 (3.41%) OpenStack
3 6 (2.27%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.38%) CICS
4 1 (0.38%) nginx
4 1 (0.38%) Tomcat
4 1 (0.38%) WebSphere
Applications
1 17 (6.44%) MS Visio
2 6 (2.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 89 (33.71%) AWS
2 53 (20.08%) Azure
3 46 (17.42%) GCP
4 27 (10.23%) Akamai
5 21 (7.95%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 17 (6.44%) Amazon S3
7 16 (6.06%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 16 (6.06%) Amazon ELB
8 15 (5.68%) Amazon EC2
9 9 (3.41%) OpenShift
10 6 (2.27%) Microsoft 365
10 6 (2.27%) OCI
11 5 (1.89%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 4 (1.52%) Cloudflare
12 4 (1.52%) Mimecast
12 4 (1.52%) Nutanix
13 2 (0.76%) Amazon OpenSearch
13 2 (0.76%) AWS Direct Connect
13 2 (0.76%) Entra ID
13 2 (0.76%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 140 (53.03%) Firewall
2 111 (42.05%) DNS
3 78 (29.55%) Network Security
4 70 (26.52%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 69 (26.14%) TCP/IP
6 67 (25.38%) SSL
7 62 (23.48%) VPN
8 59 (22.35%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 57 (21.59%) WAN
10 56 (21.21%) BGP
10 56 (21.21%) BIG-IP
11 50 (18.94%) Wireshark
12 45 (17.05%) HTTP
13 43 (16.29%) LAN
14 38 (14.39%) OSPF
15 36 (13.64%) DMZ
16 33 (12.50%) Wireless
17 29 (10.98%) MPLS
18 22 (8.33%) SD-WAN
19 20 (7.58%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.76%) Elasticsearch
2 1 (0.38%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.38%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 26 (9.85%) Fiddler
2 22 (8.33%) Git
3 18 (6.82%) Jenkins
4 17 (6.44%) GitLab
5 14 (5.30%) JIRA
6 2 (0.76%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.38%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.38%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 64 (24.24%) Social Skills
2 44 (16.67%) Banking
3 34 (12.88%) Analytical Skills
3 34 (12.88%) Finance
4 33 (12.50%) Investment Banking
5 24 (9.09%) Public Sector
6 18 (6.82%) Documentation Skills
7 15 (5.68%) Telecoms
8 10 (3.79%) Retail
9 7 (2.65%) Financial Institution
10 6 (2.27%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (2.27%) Legal
10 6 (2.27%) Military
10 6 (2.27%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.52%) Retail Banking
12 2 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.38%) Billing
13 1 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 100 (37.88%) Network Engineer
2 31 (11.74%) Architect
2 31 (11.74%) Senior
3 28 (10.61%) Security Engineer
4 27 (10.23%) Web Engineer
5 17 (6.44%) Network Security Engineer
6 16 (6.06%) Network Architect
7 14 (5.30%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 13 (4.92%) Blue Coat Engineer
8 13 (4.92%) Cisco Engineer
8 13 (4.92%) DevOps Engineer
8 13 (4.92%) IP Network Engineer
8 13 (4.92%) Junior
8 13 (4.92%) Operations Engineer
9 12 (4.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
9 12 (4.55%) Junior Network Engineer
9 12 (4.55%) Senior DevOps
9 12 (4.55%) Senior DevOps Engineer
10 11 (4.17%) Solutions Architect
11 10 (3.79%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.03%) LDAP
2 7 (2.65%) 802.1X
3 6 (2.27%) JSON
3 6 (2.27%) SAML
4 5 (1.89%) XML
5 4 (1.52%) NETCONF
5 4 (1.52%) VML
5 4 (1.52%) YANG
6 3 (1.14%) OpenConfig
6 3 (1.14%) REST
7 2 (0.76%) RESTCONF
8 1 (0.38%) Middleware
8 1 (0.38%) Regular Expression
Miscellaneous
1 47 (17.80%) Data Centre
2 29 (10.98%) Management Information System
3 20 (7.58%) Security Posture
4 10 (3.79%) Cloud Native
4 10 (3.79%) Data Protection Act
5 8 (3.03%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (3.03%) Private Cloud
5 8 (3.03%) Public Cloud
6 6 (2.27%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (2.27%) Onboarding
7 4 (1.52%) PKI
7 4 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.14%) Distributed Architecture
9 2 (0.76%) Algorithms
9 2 (0.76%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (0.76%) CESG
9 2 (0.76%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.76%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 2 (0.76%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (0.76%) iSeries
Operating Systems
1 22 (8.33%) Windows
2 16 (6.06%) Linux
3 8 (3.03%) Windows Server
4 6 (2.27%) Windows Server 2012
4 6 (2.27%) Windows Server 2019
5 5 (1.89%) Unix
6 4 (1.52%) CatOS
7 2 (0.76%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.38%) Solaris
8 1 (0.38%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (38.64%) Load Balancing
2 41 (15.53%) DevOps
3 40 (15.15%) Incident Response
4 39 (14.77%) Migration
5 38 (14.39%) Problem-Solving
6 33 (12.50%) DevSecOps
7 32 (12.12%) CI/CD
8 30 (11.36%) Change Management
9 29 (10.98%) High Availability
10 27 (10.23%) Stakeholder Management
11 25 (9.47%) Business Strategy
11 25 (9.47%) Mentoring
11 25 (9.47%) OWASP
12 24 (9.09%) Application Security
13 23 (8.71%) Data Loss Prevention
14 22 (8.33%) Infrastructure as Code
14 22 (8.33%) Malware Detection/Protection
14 22 (8.33%) Network Design
14 22 (8.33%) Roadmaps
15 21 (7.95%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 72 (27.27%) Python
2 25 (9.47%) Bash
3 8 (3.03%) PowerShell
4 5 (1.89%) Perl
5 4 (1.52%) SQL
6 1 (0.38%) ActionScript
6 1 (0.38%) Java
6 1 (0.38%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 55 (20.83%) Security Cleared
2 40 (15.15%) SC Cleared
3 39 (14.77%) Cisco Certification
4 28 (10.61%) CCNP
5 24 (9.09%) CCIE
6 12 (4.55%) JNCIE
7 10 (3.79%) DV Cleared
8 9 (3.41%) AWS Certification
9 8 (3.03%) CCNA
10 7 (2.65%) Degree
11 5 (1.89%) CCIE Security
11 5 (1.89%) CISSP
11 5 (1.89%) JNCIP
12 4 (1.52%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 4 (1.52%) CCDP
12 4 (1.52%) CCSP
12 4 (1.52%) JNCIS
13 3 (1.14%) CCSE
13 3 (1.14%) CEH
13 3 (1.14%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (2.65%) NIST
2 6 (2.27%) COBIT
2 6 (2.27%) PCI DSS
3 5 (1.89%) GDPR
3 5 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.14%) JSP 440
5 2 (0.76%) NCSC
5 2 (0.76%) RMADS
5 2 (0.76%) SLA
6 1 (0.38%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.38%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 64 (24.24%) VMware Infrastructure
2 34 (12.88%) VMware NSX
3 25 (9.47%) Docker
4 15 (5.68%) Active Directory
5 14 (5.30%) Firmware
6 11 (4.17%) vSphere
7 4 (1.52%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (1.14%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.76%) KVM
9 2 (0.76%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.38%) Hyper-V
10 1 (0.38%) RHEV
10 1 (0.38%) Snort
10 1 (0.38%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.38%) Xen
10 1 (0.38%) XenApp
10 1 (0.38%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 67 (25.38%) Ansible
2 52 (19.70%) Terraform
3 19 (7.20%) CSIRT
4 16 (6.06%) FortiGate
5 12 (4.55%) Kubernetes
6 8 (3.03%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (2.27%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (2.27%) SCCM
8 5 (1.89%) Prometheus
9 4 (1.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (1.52%) Nagios
10 2 (0.76%) Argo
10 2 (0.76%) Grafana
10 2 (0.76%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.76%) Salt
11 1 (0.38%) Podman
11 1 (0.38%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.38%) SCOM
11 1 (0.38%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.38%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 104 (39.39%) Cisco
2 86 (32.58%) VMware
3 69 (26.14%) Palo Alto
4 59 (22.35%) CheckPoint
5 43 (16.29%) Blue Coat
6 39 (14.77%) Juniper
7 37 (14.02%) McAfee
8 29 (10.98%) Fortinet
9 21 (7.95%) Splunk
10 20 (7.58%) NetApp
11 19 (7.20%) Meraki
12 16 (6.06%) Zscaler
13 15 (5.68%) Microsoft
13 15 (5.68%) SolarWinds
14 11 (4.17%) Aruba
15 9 (3.41%) Dell
16 8 (3.03%) Nokia
16 8 (3.03%) Oracle
16 8 (3.03%) ServiceNow
17 6 (2.27%) Dynatrace