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 7 December 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
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 309 284 366
Rank change year-on-year -25 +82 +29
Contract jobs citing F5 292 298 255
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.80% 0.83% 0.56%
As % of the Vendors category 1.70% 1.84% 1.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 156 186 170
10th Percentile £366 £352 £400
25th Percentile £413 £429 £452
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £496 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.80% -9.09% +3.77%
75th Percentile £614 £588 £625
90th Percentile £700 £641 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £491 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -6.48% -2.33% +2.38%
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% +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 17,187 16,208 20,570
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.37% 45.39% 45.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,917 9,626 13,106
10th Percentile £290 £290 £255
25th Percentile £406 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.33%
75th Percentile £612 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £720 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.60% - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 864 500 679
10th Percentile £15.23 £15.46 £15.25
25th Percentile £18.09 £18.69 £19.88
Median hourly rate £24.00 £29.39 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.33% -33.97% +73.08%
75th Percentile £43.35 £62.51 £64.70
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £76.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £27.13 £44.50
% change year-on-year -18.89% -39.04% +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 7 December 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
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing F5 over the 6 months to 7 December 2025.

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 7 December 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 -31 266 £490 -2.00% 39
UK excluding London -24 193 £491 -6.48% 36
North of England +4 103 £500 +2.04% 8
London -14 81 £500 +5.26% 5
Work from Home -21 80 £500 +2.04% 15
Midlands +13 66 £440 -38.03% 8
West Midlands +36 65 £440 -29.03% 5
North West +4 63 £598 +21.94% 2
Yorkshire -1 53 £491 -1.85% 3
South East -65 25 £510 -7.27% 12
Scotland +14 18 £500 +4.17%
South West -29 10 £550 +14.29% 4
East of England -19 4 £520 -6.94% 7
North East -5 1 £550 - 3
East Midlands -33 1 - - 3

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 12 (4.11%) Confluence
2 10 (3.42%) OpenStack
3 6 (2.05%) WebSphere
4 4 (1.37%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.68%) CICS
5 2 (0.68%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.34%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 9 (3.08%) MS Visio
2 5 (1.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 102 (34.93%) AWS
2 55 (18.84%) Azure
3 52 (17.81%) GCP
4 37 (12.67%) 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 6 (2.05%) OCI
10 6 (2.05%) PaaS
10 6 (2.05%) SaaS
11 5 (1.71%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 5 (1.71%) IaaS
12 4 (1.37%) Apigee
12 4 (1.37%) Cloudflare
13 3 (1.03%) GitHub
13 3 (1.03%) Mimecast
14 2 (0.68%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 166 (56.85%) Firewall
2 113 (38.70%) DNS
3 91 (31.16%) Network Security
4 77 (26.37%) SSL
5 73 (25.00%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 63 (21.58%) VPN
7 62 (21.23%) WAN
8 61 (20.89%) TCP/IP
9 55 (18.84%) BGP
10 52 (17.81%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
10 52 (17.81%) Wireless
11 44 (15.07%) Wireshark
12 43 (14.73%) OSPF
13 41 (14.04%) LAN
14 37 (12.67%) HTTP
15 36 (12.33%) BIG-IP
16 33 (11.30%) DMZ
17 31 (10.62%) Cisco Nexus
18 29 (9.93%) Cisco ISE
19 26 (8.90%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.68%) NoSQL
1 2 (0.68%) PostgreSQL
1 2 (0.68%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 38 (13.01%) Jenkins
2 37 (12.67%) Git
3 22 (7.53%) GitLab
4 16 (5.48%) Fiddler
5 13 (4.45%) JIRA
6 5 (1.71%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (1.37%) Robot Framework
8 2 (0.68%) Rational DOORS
General
1 80 (27.40%) Social Skills
2 46 (15.75%) Banking
3 40 (13.70%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (12.67%) Finance
5 30 (10.27%) Public Sector
6 29 (9.93%) Investment Banking
7 23 (7.88%) Documentation Skills
8 21 (7.19%) Telecoms
9 9 (3.08%) Retail
10 8 (2.74%) Financial Institution
11 7 (2.40%) Legal
11 7 (2.40%) Military
12 6 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (2.05%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (1.37%) Retail Banking
14 2 (0.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 101 (34.59%) Network Engineer
2 37 (12.67%) Architect
3 34 (11.64%) Senior
4 25 (8.56%) Security Engineer
5 21 (7.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 19 (6.51%) Network Architect
7 16 (5.48%) Operations Engineer
7 16 (5.48%) Web Engineer
8 15 (5.14%) Solutions Architect
9 14 (4.79%) Network Security Engineer
10 13 (4.45%) Automation Engineer
11 12 (4.11%) DevOps Engineer
11 12 (4.11%) Senior DevOps
11 12 (4.11%) Senior DevOps Engineer
12 11 (3.77%) Designer
13 10 (3.42%) Analyst
13 10 (3.42%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 10 (3.42%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 9 (3.08%) Consultant
14 9 (3.08%) Python Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (4.45%) 802.1X
2 9 (3.08%) Middleware
3 8 (2.74%) REST
4 6 (2.05%) LDAP
5 5 (1.71%) JSON
5 5 (1.71%) SOAP
5 5 (1.71%) XML
6 4 (1.37%) AngularJS
6 4 (1.37%) NETCONF
6 4 (1.37%) YANG
7 3 (1.03%) OpenConfig
7 3 (1.03%) RESTful
7 3 (1.03%) SAML
7 3 (1.03%) VML
8 2 (0.68%) Regular Expression
8 2 (0.68%) RESTCONF
9 1 (0.34%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 62 (21.23%) Data Centre
2 32 (10.96%) Management Information System
3 20 (6.85%) Security Posture
4 13 (4.45%) Data Protection Act
5 12 (4.11%) Onboarding
6 11 (3.77%) Private Cloud
7 10 (3.42%) Cloud Native
8 9 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (2.05%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (1.37%) Legacy Applications
11 3 (1.03%) Distributed Architecture
11 3 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
12 2 (0.68%) Analytical Mindset
12 2 (0.68%) Clustering
12 2 (0.68%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 2 (0.68%) Linux Command Line
12 2 (0.68%) Mainframe
12 2 (0.68%) Replication
12 2 (0.68%) Virtual Team
13 1 (0.34%) RSA SecurID
Operating Systems
1 30 (10.27%) Linux
2 26 (8.90%) Windows
3 16 (5.48%) Unix
4 9 (3.08%) Windows Server
5 3 (1.03%) VMS
6 2 (0.68%) CatOS
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 92 (31.51%) Load Balancing
2 48 (16.44%) DevOps
3 44 (15.07%) Incident Response
4 43 (14.73%) CI/CD
5 41 (14.04%) High Availability
6 39 (13.36%) DevSecOps
7 38 (13.01%) Problem-Solving
8 35 (11.99%) Migration
9 34 (11.64%) Infrastructure Automation
10 31 (10.62%) Business Strategy
10 31 (10.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 30 (10.27%) Change Management
12 28 (9.59%) Infrastructure as Code
13 26 (8.90%) Agile
14 25 (8.56%) Application Security
14 25 (8.56%) Cybersecurity
14 25 (8.56%) Stakeholder Management
15 24 (8.22%) OWASP
16 22 (7.53%) Network Design
16 22 (7.53%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 87 (29.79%) Python
2 34 (11.64%) Bash
3 15 (5.14%) Perl
4 9 (3.08%) PowerShell
4 9 (3.08%) SQL
5 7 (2.40%) Java
6 4 (1.37%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.37%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.68%) VB
Qualifications
1 69 (23.63%) Security Cleared
2 55 (18.84%) SC Cleared
3 47 (16.10%) Cisco Certification
4 32 (10.96%) CCNP
5 24 (8.22%) CCIE
6 14 (4.79%) JNCIE
7 10 (3.42%) AWS Certification
8 8 (2.74%) Degree
9 7 (2.40%) CCNA
10 6 (2.05%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.05%) JNCIP
11 5 (1.71%) CCSA
11 5 (1.71%) CISSP
12 4 (1.37%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 4 (1.37%) CCSE
12 4 (1.37%) CCSP
12 4 (1.37%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 3 (1.03%) CCDP
13 3 (1.03%) CCIE Security
13 3 (1.03%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (2.05%) COBIT
1 6 (2.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 6 (2.05%) NIST
1 6 (2.05%) PCI DSS
2 5 (1.71%) GDPR
3 4 (1.37%) SLA
4 2 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.34%) GRC
5 1 (0.34%) JSP 440
System Software
1 64 (21.92%) VMware Infrastructure
2 29 (9.93%) Docker
2 29 (9.93%) VMware NSX
3 14 (4.79%) Active Directory
4 13 (4.45%) Firmware
5 12 (4.11%) vSphere
6 3 (1.03%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (1.03%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.68%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.68%) KVM
7 2 (0.68%) ProxySG
7 2 (0.68%) Snort
8 1 (0.34%) NFS
8 1 (0.34%) SRDF
8 1 (0.34%) Veritas Cluster Server
8 1 (0.34%) Xen
8 1 (0.34%) XenApp
8 1 (0.34%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 80 (27.40%) 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
8 3 (1.03%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (1.03%) vRealize
9 2 (0.68%) PowerCLI
10 1 (0.34%) Argo
10 1 (0.34%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.34%) Norton AntiVirus
10 1 (0.34%) Podman
10 1 (0.34%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.34%) Puppet
10 1 (0.34%) SCOM
10 1 (0.34%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.34%) WSUS
Vendors
1 115 (39.38%) Cisco
2 83 (28.42%) VMware
3 67 (22.95%) Palo Alto
4 66 (22.60%) CheckPoint
5 56 (19.18%) Juniper
6 39 (13.36%) Fortinet
7 38 (13.01%) Blue Coat
8 32 (10.96%) SolarWinds
9 27 (9.25%) McAfee
10 23 (7.88%) Meraki
11 22 (7.53%) Splunk
12 21 (7.19%) Microsoft
13 18 (6.16%) NetApp
14 16 (5.48%) Zscaler
15 13 (4.45%) Oracle
16 11 (3.77%) Infoblox
17 10 (3.42%) HP
18 9 (3.08%) LogicMonitor
19 8 (2.74%) Dell
19 8 (2.74%) Nokia