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 25 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
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 322 343 278
Rank change year-on-year +21 -65 +101
Contract jobs citing F5 362 187 358
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.71% 0.62% 0.82%
As % of the Vendors category 1.74% 1.31% 1.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 158 104 242
10th Percentile £379 £400 £400
25th Percentile £413 £425 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £513
Median % change year-on-year +2.15% -4.49% +0.49%
75th Percentile £582 £577 £584
90th Percentile £675 £629 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £496 £513
% change year-on-year +5.85% -3.22% +2.50%
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 20,809 14,306 18,571
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 40.89% 47.50% 42.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,041 8,801 11,540
10th Percentile £313 £280 £270
25th Percentile £413 £402 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £520
Median % change year-on-year - -3.85% -0.95%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £715 £735
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,070 662 1,168
10th Percentile £15.55 £14.84 £12.25
25th Percentile £19.00 £17.30 £14.56
Median hourly rate £33.99 £25.40 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year +33.82% +5.05% -42.15%
75th Percentile £60.75 £53.75 £59.66
90th Percentile £81.25 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £23.00 £22.58
% change year-on-year +39.13% +1.86% -39.79%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 +6 316 £520 +2.87% 30
UK excluding London +20 256 £525 +5.85% 19
North of England +24 124 £575 +19.23% 10
Work from Home -15 90 £550 +18.92% 19
North West +37 88 £575 +21.05% 8
West Midlands +3 78 £550 +0.82% 3
Midlands 0 78 £550 -0.18% 3
South East -16 68 £525 -8.70% 2
London -70 64 £475 - 15
Yorkshire -38 29 £478 -2.45%
Scotland +1 20 £419 -5.63% 2
South West -54 17 £495 -9.09% 1
North East -23 13 £650 +18.18% 2
East of England -27 4 £530 +1.92% 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 11 (3.04%) SharePoint
2 6 (1.66%) Confluence
3 4 (1.10%) nginx
4 3 (0.83%) Apache
4 3 (0.83%) IIS
4 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.83%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.28%) CMS
5 1 (0.28%) OpenStack
Applications
1 14 (3.87%) MS Visio
2 9 (2.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.93%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 57 (15.75%) Azure
2 53 (14.64%) AWS
3 22 (6.08%) OCI
4 15 (4.14%) GitHub
4 15 (4.14%) SaaS
5 10 (2.76%) IaaS
6 7 (1.93%) GCP
6 7 (1.93%) Microsoft 365
6 7 (1.93%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 5 (1.38%) Entra ID
8 4 (1.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 4 (1.10%) Mimecast
9 3 (0.83%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.83%) Cloudflare
9 3 (0.83%) Nutanix
9 3 (0.83%) OneDrive
9 3 (0.83%) OpenShift
10 2 (0.55%) Amazon OpenSearch
11 1 (0.28%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 1 (0.28%) CloudBees
Communications & Networking
1 192 (53.04%) Firewall
2 159 (43.92%) DNS
3 150 (41.44%) BGP
3 150 (41.44%) BIG-IP
4 119 (32.87%) WAN
5 118 (32.60%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 107 (29.56%) OSPF
7 96 (26.52%) VPN
8 93 (25.69%) LAN
9 78 (21.55%) VXLAN
10 77 (21.27%) Network Security
11 72 (19.89%) TCP/IP
12 64 (17.68%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 60 (16.57%) Multicast
14 57 (15.75%) Ethernet VPN
15 52 (14.36%) SD-WAN
15 52 (14.36%) SSL
16 51 (14.09%) Cisco Nexus
17 50 (13.81%) DHCP
18 41 (11.33%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.10%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.83%) MySQL
3 2 (0.55%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 34 (9.39%) JIRA
2 23 (6.35%) Fiddler
3 22 (6.08%) GitLab
4 12 (3.31%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.38%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (1.10%) Git
7 1 (0.28%) MSI
7 1 (0.28%) Visual Studio
General
1 49 (13.54%) Banking
2 47 (12.98%) Social Skills
3 45 (12.43%) Finance
4 36 (9.94%) Investment Banking
5 27 (7.46%) Public Sector
6 17 (4.70%) Analytical Skills
7 14 (3.87%) Telecoms
8 12 (3.31%) Financial Institution
9 6 (1.66%) Military
10 4 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.10%) Retail
11 3 (0.83%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (0.83%) Legal
11 3 (0.83%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.28%) Billing
12 1 (0.28%) Law
12 1 (0.28%) Police
12 1 (0.28%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 176 (48.62%) Network Engineer
2 64 (17.68%) Senior
3 56 (15.47%) Security Engineer
4 52 (14.36%) Network Security Engineer
5 44 (12.15%) Cisco Engineer
6 42 (11.60%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 40 (11.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 39 (10.77%) Web Engineer
9 38 (10.50%) Architect
9 38 (10.50%) Data Network Engineer
10 35 (9.67%) Data Engineer
11 33 (9.12%) Cisco Security Engineer
12 27 (7.46%) Senior Network Engineer
13 22 (6.08%) IP Network Engineer
14 19 (5.25%) Network Architect
14 19 (5.25%) Network Specialist
14 19 (5.25%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 17 (4.70%) Blue Coat Engineer
16 14 (3.87%) Firewall Specialist
17 10 (2.76%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (9.39%) 802.1X
2 10 (2.76%) JSON
3 7 (1.93%) LDAP
3 7 (1.93%) SAML
4 6 (1.66%) YAML
5 4 (1.10%) REST
6 3 (0.83%) LAMP
6 3 (0.83%) LEMP Stack
6 3 (0.83%) NETCONF
6 3 (0.83%) OpenConfig
6 3 (0.83%) RESTCONF
6 3 (0.83%) YANG
7 1 (0.28%) .NET
7 1 (0.28%) .NET Framework
7 1 (0.28%) Bun
7 1 (0.28%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.28%) React
Miscellaneous
1 115 (31.77%) Data Centre
2 34 (9.39%) Hybrid Cloud
3 28 (7.73%) PKI
4 25 (6.91%) Clustering
5 19 (5.25%) Cloud Native
5 19 (5.25%) Management Information System
6 16 (4.42%) Public Cloud
7 12 (3.31%) Data Protection Act
8 11 (3.04%) Onboarding
9 9 (2.49%) Private Cloud
10 6 (1.66%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 4 (1.10%) Algorithms
12 3 (0.83%) Analytical Mindset
12 3 (0.83%) iSeries
12 3 (0.83%) Legacy Systems
12 3 (0.83%) Self-Motivation
12 3 (0.83%) Virtual Team
13 2 (0.55%) Cyber Threat
13 2 (0.55%) Enterprise Storage
13 2 (0.55%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 59 (16.30%) Windows
2 38 (10.50%) Linux
3 9 (2.49%) Unix
4 6 (1.66%) Windows Server
4 6 (1.66%) Windows Server 2012
4 6 (1.66%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (0.83%) CatOS
5 3 (0.83%) CentOS
5 3 (0.83%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.55%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.28%) Check Point GAiA
Processes & Methodologies
1 171 (47.24%) Load Balancing
2 76 (20.99%) High Availability
3 50 (13.81%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 49 (13.54%) Migration
5 43 (11.88%) Problem-Solving
6 39 (10.77%) CI/CD
7 38 (10.50%) Zero Trust
8 37 (10.22%) Agile
8 37 (10.22%) Project Delivery
9 36 (9.94%) Network Design
10 33 (9.12%) Observability
11 28 (7.73%) Change Management
11 28 (7.73%) Roadmaps
12 27 (7.46%) Infrastructure as Code
12 27 (7.46%) Stakeholder Management
13 26 (7.18%) Identity Access Management
13 26 (7.18%) Network Architecture
14 25 (6.91%) ITIL
14 25 (6.91%) Network Management
15 24 (6.63%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 88 (24.31%) Python
2 14 (3.87%) ActionScript
3 11 (3.04%) Bash
3 11 (3.04%) SQL
4 10 (2.76%) JavaScript
5 9 (2.49%) VBA
6 8 (2.21%) PowerShell
7 3 (0.83%) C++
7 3 (0.83%) Lisp
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 90 (24.86%) Security Cleared
2 72 (19.89%) Cisco Certification
3 48 (13.26%) SC Cleared
4 40 (11.05%) CCNP
5 30 (8.29%) DV Cleared
6 17 (4.70%) CCIE
7 16 (4.42%) Degree
8 9 (2.49%) JNCIP
9 8 (2.21%) CCNA
9 8 (2.21%) JNCIS
10 7 (1.93%) JNCIA
11 5 (1.38%) JNCIE
12 4 (1.10%) CCIE Security
12 4 (1.10%) Computer Science Degree
13 3 (0.83%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 2 (0.55%) AWS Certification
14 2 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
14 2 (0.55%) CCDP
14 2 (0.55%) CCSE
15 1 (0.28%) CESG Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.49%) QA
2 6 (1.66%) Disclosure Scotland
2 6 (1.66%) NCSC
3 3 (0.83%) JSP 440
3 3 (0.83%) SLA
4 2 (0.55%) GDPR
4 2 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.55%) NIST
5 1 (0.28%) GRC
5 1 (0.28%) RMADS
System Software
1 41 (11.33%) VMware Infrastructure
2 26 (7.18%) VMware NSX
3 19 (5.25%) Firmware
4 18 (4.97%) Active Directory
5 4 (1.10%) Virtual Servers
5 4 (1.10%) vSphere
6 3 (0.83%) Docker
6 3 (0.83%) Dovecot
6 3 (0.83%) Postfix
7 2 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.28%) IAG
8 1 (0.28%) KVM
8 1 (0.28%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 79 (21.82%) Ansible
2 54 (14.92%) FortiGate
3 39 (10.77%) Terraform
4 11 (3.04%) Prometheus
5 10 (2.76%) Grafana
6 9 (2.49%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (2.21%) WMI
8 7 (1.93%) Microsoft Intune
9 5 (1.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (1.10%) Salt
10 4 (1.10%) SCCM
11 3 (0.83%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.83%) Kubernetes
12 2 (0.55%) Avamar
12 2 (0.55%) Red Hat Satellite
13 1 (0.28%) Cisco Prime
13 1 (0.28%) Nagios
13 1 (0.28%) Puppet
13 1 (0.28%) vCenter Server
13 1 (0.28%) vRealize
Vendors
1 215 (59.39%) Cisco
2 125 (34.53%) Palo Alto
3 68 (18.78%) Juniper
4 58 (16.02%) Fortinet
4 58 (16.02%) VMware
5 47 (12.98%) CheckPoint
6 46 (12.71%) Arista
7 45 (12.43%) SolarWinds
8 40 (11.05%) Splunk
9 33 (9.12%) Aruba
10 28 (7.73%) Blue Coat
11 27 (7.46%) Microsoft
12 26 (7.18%) ServiceNow
13 25 (6.91%) Infoblox
14 23 (6.35%) Extreme Networks
14 23 (6.35%) McAfee
15 17 (4.70%) NetApp
16 11 (3.04%) Zscaler
17 5 (1.38%) BigPanda
17 5 (1.38%) Red Hat