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 21 November 2025, 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
21 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 311 276 362
Rank change year-on-year -35 +86 +23
Contract jobs citing F5 292 323 270
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.81% 0.89% 0.58%
As % of the Vendors category 1.71% 1.97% 1.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 155 206 184
10th Percentile £380 £357 £398
25th Percentile £420 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £504 £535
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% -5.75% +1.81%
75th Percentile £618 £588 £613
90th Percentile £700 £650 £684
UK excluding London median daily rate £491 £525 £505
% change year-on-year -6.48% +3.96% -1.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 2 7
10th Percentile - £21.51 £64.65
25th Percentile £65.75 £21.89 £68.75
Median hourly rate £66.50 £23.15 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +187.26% -68.07% +271.79%
75th Percentile £67.25 £23.79 £76.88
90th Percentile - £23.80 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £22.50 £72.50
% change year-on-year +195.56% -68.97% +51.52%

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 17,053 16,375 21,009
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.54% 44.88% 45.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,738 9,632 13,459
10th Percentile £287 £300 £260
25th Percentile £405 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -1.45%
75th Percentile £612 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £718 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.60% - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 887 522 674
10th Percentile £15.33 £15.51 £14.59
25th Percentile £18.25 £19.09 £20.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £30.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.18% -32.58% +72.61%
75th Percentile £42.63 £62.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £72.50 £73.98 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.32 £27.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -18.85% -38.20% +97.78%

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 21 November 2025.

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
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 21 November 2025. 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 -42 265 £491 -1.80% 40
UK excluding London -23 194 £491 -6.48% 35
North of England -6 97 £500 +2.04% 5
London -29 80 £500 +5.26% 11
Work from Home -31 79 £500 +2.04% 21
Midlands +21 70 £440 -34.30% 5
West Midlands +41 69 £440 -16.19% 5
North West -7 58 £500 +2.04% 3
Yorkshire -2 52 £491 -1.85% 1
South East -60 24 £520 -5.45% 12
Scotland +5 19 £500 -6.98% 3
South West -13 12 £550 +18.92% 5
East of England -18 4 £520 -6.31% 6
North East -10 1 £550 - 1
East Midlands -28 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 (3.77%) Confluence
2 10 (3.42%) OpenStack
3 6 (2.05%) WebSphere
4 3 (1.03%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.68%) CICS
5 2 (0.68%) nginx
5 2 (0.68%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.34%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 4 (1.37%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 105 (35.96%) AWS
2 59 (20.21%) Azure
3 55 (18.84%) GCP
4 38 (13.01%) Akamai
5 28 (9.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 25 (8.56%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 24 (8.22%) Amazon ELB
8 23 (7.88%) Amazon EC2
8 23 (7.88%) Amazon S3
9 9 (3.08%) OpenShift
10 8 (2.74%) SaaS
11 6 (2.05%) OCI
11 6 (2.05%) PaaS
12 5 (1.71%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 5 (1.71%) GitHub
12 5 (1.71%) IaaS
13 4 (1.37%) Apigee
13 4 (1.37%) Cloudflare
14 3 (1.03%) Mimecast
15 2 (0.68%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 170 (58.22%) Firewall
2 108 (36.99%) DNS
3 97 (33.22%) Network Security
4 67 (22.95%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
4 67 (22.95%) SSL
5 61 (20.89%) VPN
6 58 (19.86%) TCP/IP
6 58 (19.86%) WAN
7 53 (18.15%) Wireless
8 50 (17.12%) BGP
9 47 (16.10%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
10 41 (14.04%) OSPF
11 40 (13.70%) Wireshark
12 39 (13.36%) LAN
13 35 (11.99%) BIG-IP
13 35 (11.99%) Cisco ISE
14 31 (10.62%) DMZ
15 30 (10.27%) HTTP
16 29 (9.93%) Cisco Nexus
16 29 (9.93%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.68%) NoSQL
1 2 (0.68%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.34%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 38 (13.01%) Jenkins
2 37 (12.67%) Git
3 24 (8.22%) GitLab
4 18 (6.16%) JIRA
5 13 (4.45%) Fiddler
6 6 (2.05%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (1.37%) Robot Framework
8 2 (0.68%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.68%) Rational DOORS
General
1 76 (26.03%) Social Skills
2 44 (15.07%) Banking
3 39 (13.36%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (12.33%) Finance
5 30 (10.27%) Public Sector
6 28 (9.59%) Investment Banking
7 22 (7.53%) Documentation Skills
8 20 (6.85%) Telecoms
9 8 (2.74%) Legal
10 7 (2.40%) Financial Institution
10 7 (2.40%) Retail
11 6 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
11 6 (2.05%) Military
11 6 (2.05%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (1.37%) Retail Banking
13 3 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 102 (34.93%) Network Engineer
2 38 (13.01%) Architect
3 36 (12.33%) Senior
4 25 (8.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 24 (8.22%) Security Engineer
6 20 (6.85%) Network Architect
7 16 (5.48%) Operations Engineer
8 15 (5.14%) Solutions Architect
9 14 (4.79%) Network Security Engineer
10 13 (4.45%) Web Engineer
11 12 (4.11%) Automation Engineer
11 12 (4.11%) Consultant
11 12 (4.11%) Designer
11 12 (4.11%) DevOps Engineer
11 12 (4.11%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 12 (4.11%) Senior DevOps
11 12 (4.11%) Senior DevOps Engineer
12 11 (3.77%) Cisco Engineer
13 10 (3.42%) Analyst
13 10 (3.42%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (4.11%) 802.1X
2 9 (3.08%) Middleware
2 9 (3.08%) REST
3 5 (1.71%) SOAP
4 4 (1.37%) AngularJS
4 4 (1.37%) JSON
4 4 (1.37%) XML
5 3 (1.03%) RESTful
6 2 (0.68%) LDAP
6 2 (0.68%) NETCONF
6 2 (0.68%) OpenConfig
6 2 (0.68%) Regular Expression
6 2 (0.68%) SailPoint
6 2 (0.68%) YANG
7 1 (0.34%) RESTCONF
7 1 (0.34%) VML
Miscellaneous
1 66 (22.60%) Data Centre
2 32 (10.96%) Management Information System
3 20 (6.85%) Security Posture
4 13 (4.45%) Data Protection Act
4 13 (4.45%) Private Cloud
5 12 (4.11%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.42%) Cloud Native
7 9 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (2.05%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (1.37%) Legacy Applications
10 3 (1.03%) Public Cloud
11 2 (0.68%) Clustering
11 2 (0.68%) Distributed Architecture
11 2 (0.68%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 2 (0.68%) Linux Command Line
11 2 (0.68%) Mainframe
11 2 (0.68%) Replication
11 2 (0.68%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.68%) Video\Live Streaming
11 2 (0.68%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 30 (10.27%) Linux
2 24 (8.22%) Windows
3 16 (5.48%) Unix
4 8 (2.74%) Windows Server
5 3 (1.03%) VMS
6 2 (0.68%) Solaris
6 2 (0.68%) zOS
7 1 (0.34%) MVS
7 1 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (30.14%) Load Balancing
2 46 (15.75%) DevOps
3 45 (15.41%) High Availability
4 44 (15.07%) Incident Response
5 43 (14.73%) CI/CD
6 39 (13.36%) DevSecOps
7 38 (13.01%) Migration
8 37 (12.67%) Problem-Solving
9 34 (11.64%) Infrastructure Automation
9 34 (11.64%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 32 (10.96%) Agile
11 28 (9.59%) Business Strategy
11 28 (9.59%) Infrastructure as Code
12 27 (9.25%) ITIL
13 26 (8.90%) Stakeholder Management
14 25 (8.56%) Change Management
15 24 (8.22%) Application Security
16 23 (7.88%) OWASP
17 22 (7.53%) Cybersecurity
17 22 (7.53%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 84 (28.77%) Python
2 34 (11.64%) Bash
3 15 (5.14%) Perl
4 14 (4.79%) PowerShell
5 8 (2.74%) SQL
6 7 (2.40%) Java
7 4 (1.37%) JavaScript
7 4 (1.37%) Shell Script
8 3 (1.03%) VB
Qualifications
1 72 (24.66%) Security Cleared
2 58 (19.86%) SC Cleared
3 50 (17.12%) Cisco Certification
4 35 (11.99%) CCNP
5 24 (8.22%) CCIE
6 13 (4.45%) JNCIE
7 12 (4.11%) Degree
8 10 (3.42%) AWS Certification
9 8 (2.74%) DV Cleared
10 7 (2.40%) CCNA
11 5 (1.71%) CCSA
11 5 (1.71%) CISSP
11 5 (1.71%) JNCIP
12 4 (1.37%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 4 (1.37%) CCIE Routing and Switching
12 4 (1.37%) CCSP
12 4 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (1.37%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 3 (1.03%) Azure Certification
13 3 (1.03%) CCDP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (2.40%) SLA
2 6 (2.05%) COBIT
2 6 (2.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (2.05%) PCI DSS
3 5 (1.71%) GDPR
3 5 (1.71%) NIST
4 2 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
4 2 (0.68%) GRC
5 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
System Software
1 60 (20.55%) VMware Infrastructure
2 29 (9.93%) Docker
3 25 (8.56%) VMware NSX
4 14 (4.79%) Firmware
5 12 (4.11%) vSphere
6 10 (3.42%) Active Directory
7 3 (1.03%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (1.03%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.68%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.68%) KVM
8 2 (0.68%) Snort
9 1 (0.34%) NFS
9 1 (0.34%) ProxySG
9 1 (0.34%) SRDF
9 1 (0.34%) Veritas Cluster Server
9 1 (0.34%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.34%) Xen
Systems Management
1 87 (29.79%) Ansible
2 71 (24.32%) Terraform
3 20 (6.85%) CSIRT
4 19 (6.51%) FortiGate
5 8 (2.74%) Kubernetes
6 6 (2.05%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.37%) CA Spectrum
7 4 (1.37%) OpenView
8 3 (1.03%) vRealize
9 2 (0.68%) HAProxy
9 2 (0.68%) PowerCLI
10 1 (0.34%) Argo
10 1 (0.34%) Podman
10 1 (0.34%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.34%) Puppet
Vendors
1 122 (41.78%) Cisco
2 75 (25.68%) VMware
3 72 (24.66%) Palo Alto
4 65 (22.26%) CheckPoint
5 57 (19.52%) Juniper
6 43 (14.73%) Fortinet
7 36 (12.33%) SolarWinds
8 33 (11.30%) Blue Coat
9 22 (7.53%) McAfee
9 22 (7.53%) Meraki
9 22 (7.53%) Splunk
10 17 (5.82%) Microsoft
10 17 (5.82%) NetApp
11 16 (5.48%) Zscaler
12 13 (4.45%) Oracle
13 12 (4.11%) Infoblox
14 10 (3.42%) HP
15 9 (3.08%) LogicMonitor
15 9 (3.08%) ServiceNow
16 8 (2.74%) Dell