Firewall Contract Job Trends

Firewall
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Firewall skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 85 52 52
Rank change year-on-year -33 0 +4
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,359 1,198 1,593
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.89% 4.08% 3.68%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.02% 32.03% 28.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 883 725 1,003
10th Percentile £335 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -0.97% -1.90%
75th Percentile £580 £600 £625
90th Percentile £642 £688 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% +0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 17 45
10th Percentile £19.90 - £16.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £23.92
Median hourly rate £52.36 £36.65 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +42.88% -38.93% -3.23%
75th Percentile £71.64 £41.50 £85.65
90th Percentile £85.10 £56.50 £87.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.00 £32.07 £83.77
% change year-on-year +74.60% -61.71% +35.10%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

Firewall falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,527 3,740 5,616
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.64% 12.74% 12.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,822 2,310 3,363
10th Percentile £250 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £489 £490
Median % change year-on-year +2.30% -0.26% -5.59%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £464 £475
% change year-on-year +2.43% -2.37% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 218 172 420
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.82 £20.22 £17.00
Median hourly rate £41.24 £37.50 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.97% -1.32% +100.00%
75th Percentile £68.44 £61.31 £62.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £67.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £27.72 £45.88
% change year-on-year +75.76% -39.58% +148.00%

Firewall
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Firewall relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Firewall job vacancy trend in the UK

Firewall
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Firewall.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Firewall

Firewall
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Firewall over the 6 months to 28 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Firewall in the UK

Firewall
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Firewall.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Firewall

Firewall
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Firewall over the 6 months to 28 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Firewall in the UK

Firewall
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Firewall within the UK over the 6 months to 28 April 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 -36 1,135 £500 -3.51% 456
UK excluding London -14 762 £500 +2.04% 399
London -55 423 £511 -2.62% 124
Work from Home -30 385 £515 +3.00% 276
South East 0 246 £500 - 130
North of England -21 216 £495 +4.16% 104
North West -11 138 £525 +10.53% 47
Midlands -42 91 £425 -23.42% 45
West Midlands -23 79 £420 -20.00% 26
Yorkshire -31 74 £425 -10.53% 31
East of England -8 65 £500 -4.76% 45
South West -54 56 £550 +0.92% 44
Scotland +15 55 £425 - 14
Wales -12 32 £425 +11.11% 13
East Midlands -53 8 £475 -17.39% 19
North East -16 6 £473 -14.09% 27
Northern Ireland +6 3 £443 - 17

Firewall
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 39 (2.87%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (2.21%) Confluence
3 16 (1.18%) SharePoint
4 13 (0.96%) Apache
4 13 (0.96%) nginx
5 10 (0.74%) CICS
6 7 (0.52%) SAS
7 5 (0.37%) IIS
8 3 (0.22%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.22%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
9 2 (0.15%) CMS
9 2 (0.15%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.15%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.15%) Umbraco
9 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.074%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.074%) JBoss
Applications
1 34 (2.50%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (1.62%) Microsoft Excel
3 21 (1.55%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.44%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.074%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.074%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.074%) Primavera
2 1 (0.074%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.074%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 455 (33.48%) Azure
2 286 (21.04%) AWS
3 116 (8.54%) Microsoft 365
4 113 (8.31%) Entra ID
4 113 (8.31%) GCP
5 66 (4.86%) GitHub
6 57 (4.19%) IaaS
7 56 (4.12%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 53 (3.90%) Azure DevOps
9 51 (3.75%) PaaS
10 43 (3.16%) SaaS
11 42 (3.09%) Azure Sentinel
12 41 (3.02%) Azure Monitor
13 40 (2.94%) GitHub Actions
13 40 (2.94%) Serverless
14 34 (2.50%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 31 (2.28%) AWS Lambda
16 29 (2.13%) Amazon EC2
17 28 (2.06%) Amazon EKS
17 28 (2.06%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 374 (27.52%) Network Security
2 351 (25.83%) WAN
3 342 (25.17%) VPN
4 283 (20.82%) DNS
5 269 (19.79%) LAN
6 223 (16.41%) BGP
7 204 (15.01%) OSPF
8 153 (11.26%) VLAN
9 146 (10.74%) DHCP
9 146 (10.74%) TCP/IP
10 136 (10.01%) SD-WAN
11 127 (9.35%) Wireless
12 100 (7.36%) Wi-Fi
13 89 (6.55%) MPLS
14 87 (6.40%) IPsec
15 75 (5.52%) VXLAN
16 73 (5.37%) Cisco ISE
17 70 (5.15%) BIG-IP
18 66 (4.86%) Cisco Nexus
19 65 (4.78%) Ethernet VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (1.99%) SQL Server
2 20 (1.47%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (1.32%) Elasticsearch
4 13 (0.96%) Amazon RDS
5 12 (0.88%) Power BI
6 11 (0.81%) Oracle Database
7 10 (0.74%) DataStage
8 8 (0.59%) Data Lake
8 8 (0.59%) Data Warehouse
9 7 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
9 7 (0.52%) MongoDB
10 6 (0.44%) MySQL
11 5 (0.37%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.29%) Amazon Athena
12 4 (0.29%) Amazon QuickSight
12 4 (0.29%) Amazon Redshift
12 4 (0.29%) Metadata
12 4 (0.29%) NoSQL
12 4 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 3 (0.22%) Oracle Exadata
Development Applications
1 80 (5.89%) JIRA
2 53 (3.90%) Jenkins
3 44 (3.24%) GitLab
4 40 (2.94%) Git
5 19 (1.40%) Sonatype Nexus
6 16 (1.18%) Bitbucket
6 16 (1.18%) Burp Suite
6 16 (1.18%) Metasploit
7 9 (0.66%) Chocolatey
7 9 (0.66%) Jaeger
8 7 (0.52%) SonarQube
9 6 (0.44%) Artifactory
10 5 (0.37%) Browser DevTools
11 4 (0.29%) CircleCI
12 2 (0.15%) Introscope
12 2 (0.15%) Postman
12 2 (0.15%) Team Foundation Server
13 1 (0.074%) Maven
13 1 (0.074%) PVCS
13 1 (0.074%) Subversion
General
1 335 (24.65%) Social Skills
2 165 (12.14%) Finance
3 133 (9.79%) Analytical Skills
4 105 (7.73%) Public Sector
5 91 (6.70%) Documentation Skills
6 55 (4.05%) Banking
7 42 (3.09%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.13%) Legal
9 26 (1.91%) Financial Institution
10 24 (1.77%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.40%) Military
12 17 (1.25%) Influencing Skills
13 15 (1.10%) Law
14 14 (1.03%) Retail
15 11 (0.81%) Local Government
16 10 (0.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 10 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
17 9 (0.66%) Front Office
17 9 (0.66%) Investment Banking
17 9 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 403 (29.65%) Network Engineer
2 222 (16.34%) Architect
3 155 (11.41%) Senior
4 113 (8.31%) Security Engineer
5 97 (7.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 75 (5.52%) Network Architect
7 61 (4.49%) Senior Network Engineer
8 60 (4.42%) Azure Engineer
9 55 (4.05%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 47 (3.46%) Cloud Engineer
11 44 (3.24%) Network Security Engineer
11 44 (3.24%) Security Architect
12 41 (3.02%) Lead
13 40 (2.94%) DevOps Engineer
14 39 (2.87%) Technical Architect
15 37 (2.72%) Analyst
15 37 (2.72%) Cisco Engineer
16 34 (2.50%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 34 (2.50%) Solutions Architect
17 32 (2.35%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (5.08%) 802.1X
2 41 (3.02%) LDAP
3 36 (2.65%) Middleware
4 32 (2.35%) SAML
5 27 (1.99%) OpenID
6 20 (1.47%) Kafka
7 14 (1.03%) REST
8 12 (0.88%) OAuth
9 11 (0.81%) OAuth2
9 11 (0.81%) OpenTelemetry
10 10 (0.74%) Spring Boot
11 9 (0.66%) ARM Templates
11 9 (0.66%) JSON
11 9 (0.66%) Node.js
12 8 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
13 6 (0.44%) LangChain
13 6 (0.44%) PyTorch
13 6 (0.44%) scikit-learn
13 6 (0.44%) XML
13 6 (0.44%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 292 (21.49%) Data Centre
2 73 (5.37%) Cloud Native
2 73 (5.37%) Security Posture
3 69 (5.08%) PKI
4 48 (3.53%) Hybrid Cloud
4 48 (3.53%) Onboarding
5 44 (3.24%) Operational Technology
6 39 (2.87%) Clustering
7 37 (2.72%) Management Information System
8 35 (2.58%) Public Cloud
9 29 (2.13%) IoT
10 25 (1.84%) Data Protection Act
11 22 (1.62%) SCADA
12 21 (1.55%) Cyber Threat
13 20 (1.47%) Enterprise Storage
14 19 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
14 19 (1.40%) Self-Motivation
15 18 (1.32%) Replication
16 16 (1.18%) NHS
17 15 (1.10%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 325 (23.91%) Windows
2 197 (14.50%) Linux
3 130 (9.57%) Windows Server
4 36 (2.65%) Unix
5 31 (2.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 27 (1.99%) VMS
7 12 (0.88%) Solaris
8 11 (0.81%) Windows Server 2016
8 11 (0.81%) Windows Server 2019
9 10 (0.74%) AIX
10 7 (0.52%) Windows Server 2003
11 5 (0.37%) Amazon Linux
11 5 (0.37%) CatOS
11 5 (0.37%) Mac OS
11 5 (0.37%) Windows 10
11 5 (0.37%) Windows 7
11 5 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.22%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.22%) SUSE
13 2 (0.15%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 216 (15.89%) DevOps
2 207 (15.23%) Cybersecurity
3 187 (13.76%) Problem-Solving
4 181 (13.32%) CI/CD
5 180 (13.25%) Infrastructure as Code
6 172 (12.66%) Migration
7 166 (12.21%) Load Balancing
8 158 (11.63%) ITIL
9 152 (11.18%) High Availability
10 137 (10.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 128 (9.42%) Agile
12 120 (8.83%) Zero Trust
13 114 (8.39%) SIEM
14 112 (8.24%) Change Management
14 112 (8.24%) Cloud Security
15 96 (7.06%) Observability
16 91 (6.70%) Project Delivery
16 91 (6.70%) Technical Leadership
17 88 (6.48%) Roadmaps
18 87 (6.40%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 183 (13.47%) Python
2 161 (11.85%) PowerShell
3 74 (5.45%) Bash
4 54 (3.97%) SQL
5 38 (2.80%) Bicep
6 30 (2.21%) Java
7 16 (1.18%) Perl
8 11 (0.81%) Kusto Query Language
9 10 (0.74%) COBOL
9 10 (0.74%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.59%) Rust
11 7 (0.52%) Ruby
12 6 (0.44%) PL/SQL
13 5 (0.37%) Shell Script
14 4 (0.29%) C#
14 4 (0.29%) Go
15 3 (0.22%) Groovy
16 2 (0.15%) C++
16 2 (0.15%) Jython
16 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 474 (34.88%) Security Cleared
2 340 (25.02%) SC Cleared
3 267 (19.65%) Cisco Certification
4 208 (15.31%) CCNP
5 115 (8.46%) DV Cleared
6 112 (8.24%) Degree
7 108 (7.95%) CCNA
8 72 (5.30%) CISSP
9 56 (4.12%) Azure Certification
10 44 (3.24%) CCIE
11 43 (3.16%) CISM
12 39 (2.87%) AWS Certification
13 27 (1.99%) Microsoft Certification
14 25 (1.84%) CompTIA Security+
15 23 (1.69%) JNCIS
16 21 (1.55%) Computer Science Degree
17 20 (1.47%) JNCIP
18 19 (1.40%) JNCIA
18 19 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
19 17 (1.25%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (6.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 66 (4.86%) NIST
3 60 (4.42%) GDPR
4 38 (2.80%) PCI DSS
5 33 (2.43%) NCSC
5 33 (2.43%) SLA
6 25 (1.84%) Cyber Essentials
6 25 (1.84%) QA
7 17 (1.25%) PMO
8 7 (0.52%) Data Quality
8 7 (0.52%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
9 6 (0.44%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.44%) RMADS
10 5 (0.37%) GRC
10 5 (0.37%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 5 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 5 (0.37%) SOC 2
11 3 (0.22%) ISA99
11 3 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 225 (16.56%) Active Directory
2 168 (12.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 72 (5.30%) VMware NSX
4 68 (5.00%) Docker
5 41 (3.02%) Hyper-V
6 35 (2.58%) Virtual Machines
6 35 (2.58%) vSphere
7 32 (2.35%) VMware ESXi
8 22 (1.62%) Firmware
9 20 (1.47%) Virtual Desktop
10 11 (0.81%) Squid
11 10 (0.74%) BitLocker
12 8 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
13 6 (0.44%) Virtual Servers
14 3 (0.22%) DFS Replication
14 3 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
15 2 (0.15%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 2 (0.15%) NFS
15 2 (0.15%) Samba
15 2 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 210 (15.45%) Terraform
2 161 (11.85%) Ansible
3 114 (8.39%) Kubernetes
4 102 (7.51%) FortiGate
5 58 (4.27%) Microsoft Intune
6 51 (3.75%) Grafana
7 46 (3.38%) Prometheus
8 36 (2.65%) Single Sign-On
9 33 (2.43%) SCCM
10 32 (2.35%) vCenter Server
11 18 (1.32%) Nmap
12 17 (1.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 15 (1.10%) QRadar
14 13 (0.96%) CASB
15 12 (0.88%) Cisco Prime
15 12 (0.88%) Nagios
15 12 (0.88%) Puppet
16 11 (0.81%) VxRail
16 11 (0.81%) WSUS
17 10 (0.74%) Fluentd
Vendors
1 485 (35.69%) Cisco
2 295 (21.71%) Microsoft
3 292 (21.49%) Palo Alto
4 211 (15.53%) VMware
5 172 (12.66%) Fortinet
6 164 (12.07%) F5
7 150 (11.04%) Juniper
8 138 (10.15%) CheckPoint
9 94 (6.92%) Splunk
10 85 (6.25%) Aruba
11 71 (5.22%) SolarWinds
12 61 (4.49%) ServiceNow
13 54 (3.97%) Google
14 49 (3.61%) Arista
15 46 (3.38%) Meraki
16 43 (3.16%) Zscaler
17 42 (3.09%) Citrix
18 35 (2.58%) Oracle
18 35 (2.58%) Red Hat
19 27 (1.99%) Extreme Networks