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 10 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 85 50 48
Rank change year-on-year -35 -2 +11
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,303 1,265 1,723
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.07% 4.28% 3.85%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.41% 32.10% 28.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 861 758 1,064
10th Percentile £325 £319 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £510
Median % change year-on-year -3.89% +2.01% -2.86%
75th Percentile £588 £606 £625
90th Percentile £660 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 22 51
10th Percentile £25.65 £18.65 £16.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £27.52 £24.63
Median hourly rate £42.71 £36.82 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +15.98% -44.19% +22.81%
75th Percentile £74.26 £41.85 £76.53
90th Percentile £85.60 £72.38 £87.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £36.65 £72.50
% change year-on-year +32.95% -49.46% +31.06%

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 4,285 3,941 6,037
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.10% 13.33% 13.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,780 2,409 3,619
10th Percentile £206 £209 £205
25th Percentile £363 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -3.88% +5.26% -9.09%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -1.26% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 171 141 400
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.33 £14.27
25th Percentile £20.41 £21.46 £18.98
Median hourly rate £40.54 £35.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.83% -12.50% +110.53%
75th Percentile £67.25 £63.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.50 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.38 £32.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year +30.38% -31.58% +151.19%

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 10 March 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 10 March 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 10 March 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 -33 1,091 £513 -2.38% 494
UK excluding London -26 729 £500 - 446
London -55 402 £525 - 103
Work from Home -24 375 £500 - 181
North of England -28 223 £519 +9.16% 107
South East +15 222 £500 - 171
North West -14 142 £540 +8.00% 73
Midlands -47 97 £425 -22.73% 55
West Midlands -28 87 £425 -15.00% 32
Yorkshire -25 79 £441 +6.90% 23
South West -41 58 £550 +0.92% 32
Scotland -12 54 £425 -2.86% 15
East of England -31 46 £470 -8.29% 62
Wales -12 26 £425 +13.33% 17
East Midlands -55 8 £475 -23.11% 23
North East -18 5 £548 -0.45% 11
Northern Ireland - 5 £500 - 2

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 43 (3.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 34 (2.61%) Confluence
3 22 (1.69%) SharePoint
4 12 (0.92%) Apache
4 12 (0.92%) nginx
5 8 (0.61%) CICS
6 6 (0.46%) IIS
6 6 (0.46%) SAS
7 4 (0.31%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
8 2 (0.15%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.077%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.077%) CMS
9 1 (0.077%) JBoss
9 1 (0.077%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.077%) WebSphere
Applications
1 36 (2.76%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (1.69%) MS Visio
3 18 (1.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.30%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.077%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.077%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.077%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.077%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.077%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 443 (34.00%) Azure
2 309 (23.71%) AWS
3 143 (10.97%) GCP
4 115 (8.83%) Microsoft 365
5 106 (8.14%) Entra ID
6 64 (4.91%) GitHub
6 64 (4.91%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 57 (4.37%) IaaS
8 50 (3.84%) PaaS
9 48 (3.68%) Azure DevOps
10 41 (3.15%) Azure Monitor
10 41 (3.15%) Azure Sentinel
10 41 (3.15%) Serverless
11 37 (2.84%) GitHub Actions
12 35 (2.69%) Amazon EC2
13 34 (2.61%) AWS CloudFormation
13 34 (2.61%) AWS Lambda
14 33 (2.53%) SaaS
15 31 (2.38%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 30 (2.30%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 335 (25.71%) Network Security
2 313 (24.02%) VPN
3 311 (23.87%) WAN
4 251 (19.26%) DNS
5 229 (17.57%) LAN
6 201 (15.43%) BGP
7 175 (13.43%) OSPF
8 140 (10.74%) TCP/IP
9 139 (10.67%) VLAN
10 126 (9.67%) DHCP
11 124 (9.52%) SD-WAN
12 122 (9.36%) Wireless
13 97 (7.44%) MPLS
14 95 (7.29%) Wi-Fi
15 67 (5.14%) IPsec
16 64 (4.91%) Cisco ISE
17 62 (4.76%) Cisco ASA
17 62 (4.76%) VXLAN
18 55 (4.22%) Cisco Nexus
18 55 (4.22%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (2.38%) SQL Server
2 20 (1.53%) PostgreSQL
3 19 (1.46%) Amazon RDS
4 15 (1.15%) Elasticsearch
5 10 (0.77%) Oracle Database
6 9 (0.69%) Data Lake
7 8 (0.61%) DataStage
8 7 (0.54%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (0.54%) MongoDB
9 6 (0.46%) Power BI
10 5 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (0.38%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.31%) Amazon QuickSight
11 4 (0.31%) MySQL
11 4 (0.31%) Redis
11 4 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.23%) DynamoDB
12 3 (0.23%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.23%) Oracle Exadata
13 2 (0.15%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 72 (5.53%) JIRA
2 60 (4.60%) Jenkins
3 54 (4.14%) GitLab
4 49 (3.76%) Git
5 24 (1.84%) Sonatype Nexus
6 21 (1.61%) Bitbucket
7 15 (1.15%) Burp Suite
7 15 (1.15%) Metasploit
8 8 (0.61%) Chocolatey
8 8 (0.61%) Jaeger
9 7 (0.54%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.31%) Artifactory
10 4 (0.31%) CircleCI
11 3 (0.23%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.077%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.077%) Maven
12 1 (0.077%) MSI
12 1 (0.077%) Postman
12 1 (0.077%) Subversion
12 1 (0.077%) Travis CI
General
1 358 (27.48%) Social Skills
2 154 (11.82%) Finance
3 142 (10.90%) Analytical Skills
4 109 (8.37%) Public Sector
5 96 (7.37%) Documentation Skills
6 56 (4.30%) Banking
7 44 (3.38%) Telecoms
8 34 (2.61%) Legal
9 26 (2.00%) Manufacturing
10 25 (1.92%) Financial Institution
11 20 (1.53%) Presentation Skills
12 18 (1.38%) Influencing Skills
13 13 (1.00%) Military
14 12 (0.92%) Local Government
15 11 (0.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 11 (0.84%) Retail
16 10 (0.77%) Law
17 8 (0.61%) Aerospace
18 7 (0.54%) Electronics
18 7 (0.54%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 358 (27.48%) Network Engineer
2 221 (16.96%) Architect
3 125 (9.59%) Senior
4 120 (9.21%) Security Engineer
5 80 (6.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 78 (5.99%) Network Architect
7 53 (4.07%) Azure Engineer
8 52 (3.99%) Security Architect
9 51 (3.91%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 48 (3.68%) Consultant
11 46 (3.53%) Analyst
12 41 (3.15%) Solutions Architect
13 40 (3.07%) Senior Network Engineer
14 39 (2.99%) Cloud Engineer
14 39 (2.99%) Network Security Engineer
15 38 (2.92%) DevOps Engineer
16 36 (2.76%) Platform Engineer
17 35 (2.69%) Lead
18 32 (2.46%) IT Engineer
18 32 (2.46%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (5.45%) 802.1X
2 39 (2.99%) LDAP
3 31 (2.38%) SAML
4 29 (2.23%) OpenID
5 28 (2.15%) Middleware
6 20 (1.53%) OAuth
7 19 (1.46%) OAuth2
8 17 (1.30%) Kafka
9 14 (1.07%) Node.js
10 12 (0.92%) REST
11 11 (0.84%) JSON
12 10 (0.77%) OpenTelemetry
13 9 (0.69%) ARM Templates
13 9 (0.69%) Spring Boot
14 8 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
14 8 (0.61%) XML
15 7 (0.54%) YAML
16 6 (0.46%) LangChain
16 6 (0.46%) Microsoft Graph
16 6 (0.46%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 278 (21.34%) Data Centre
2 93 (7.14%) Security Posture
3 71 (5.45%) PKI
4 64 (4.91%) Cloud Native
5 47 (3.61%) Onboarding
6 44 (3.38%) Hybrid Cloud
7 43 (3.30%) Operational Technology
8 34 (2.61%) Management Information System
8 34 (2.61%) Public Cloud
9 27 (2.07%) Clustering
10 25 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
11 23 (1.77%) Cyber Threat
12 21 (1.61%) Product Ownership
12 21 (1.61%) Replication
12 21 (1.61%) Security Operations Centre
13 19 (1.46%) NHS
14 18 (1.38%) Private Cloud
15 17 (1.30%) IoT
15 17 (1.30%) SCADA
16 13 (1.00%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 330 (25.33%) Windows
2 203 (15.58%) Linux
3 134 (10.28%) Windows Server
4 32 (2.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 32 (2.46%) Unix
5 25 (1.92%) VMS
6 10 (0.77%) Windows Server 2019
7 9 (0.69%) Solaris
7 9 (0.69%) Windows 7
8 8 (0.61%) AIX
8 8 (0.61%) Windows 10
8 8 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (0.38%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
10 4 (0.31%) CatOS
10 4 (0.31%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.31%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.23%) Amazon Linux
11 3 (0.23%) Android
11 3 (0.23%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 244 (18.73%) Cybersecurity
2 210 (16.12%) Problem-Solving
3 202 (15.50%) DevOps
4 190 (14.58%) CI/CD
5 178 (13.66%) Infrastructure as Code
6 149 (11.44%) Migration
7 144 (11.05%) ITIL
8 139 (10.67%) SIEM
9 137 (10.51%) Load Balancing
10 134 (10.28%) Cloud Security
11 127 (9.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 124 (9.52%) High Availability
13 123 (9.44%) Agile
14 112 (8.60%) Incident Response
15 105 (8.06%) Change Management
15 105 (8.06%) Zero Trust
16 94 (7.21%) Stakeholder Management
17 93 (7.14%) Mentoring
18 89 (6.83%) Security Architecture
19 87 (6.68%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 209 (16.04%) Python
2 191 (14.66%) PowerShell
3 91 (6.98%) Bash
4 61 (4.68%) SQL
5 38 (2.92%) Java
6 28 (2.15%) Bicep
6 28 (2.15%) Perl
7 12 (0.92%) Kusto Query Language
7 12 (0.92%) Ruby
8 8 (0.61%) COBOL
8 8 (0.61%) JavaScript
8 8 (0.61%) Rust
9 5 (0.38%) Shell Script
10 4 (0.31%) C#
11 3 (0.23%) Go
11 3 (0.23%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.15%) C++
13 1 (0.077%) ActionScript
13 1 (0.077%) Korn
13 1 (0.077%) PHP
Qualifications
1 445 (34.15%) Security Cleared
2 301 (23.10%) SC Cleared
3 253 (19.42%) Cisco Certification
4 201 (15.43%) CCNP
5 120 (9.21%) DV Cleared
6 116 (8.90%) Degree
7 102 (7.83%) CCNA
8 94 (7.21%) CISSP
9 53 (4.07%) Azure Certification
9 53 (4.07%) CISM
10 51 (3.91%) CCIE
11 45 (3.45%) AWS Certification
12 40 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
13 30 (2.30%) CompTIA Security+
14 25 (1.92%) JNCIP
14 25 (1.92%) JNCIS
15 20 (1.53%) Computer Science Degree
16 19 (1.46%) Network+ Certification
17 18 (1.38%) JNCIA
18 17 (1.30%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (8.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 88 (6.75%) NIST
3 67 (5.14%) GDPR
4 45 (3.45%) PCI DSS
5 32 (2.46%) NCSC
5 32 (2.46%) SLA
6 27 (2.07%) Cyber Essentials
7 21 (1.61%) QA
8 15 (1.15%) PMO
9 9 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
9 9 (0.69%) GRC
9 9 (0.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 8 (0.61%) JSP 440
11 6 (0.46%) HIPAA
11 6 (0.46%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 5 (0.38%) NIST 800
12 5 (0.38%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 3 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.23%) RMADS
System Software
1 244 (18.73%) Active Directory
2 160 (12.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 92 (7.06%) Docker
4 66 (5.07%) VMware NSX
5 36 (2.76%) Hyper-V
6 35 (2.69%) vSphere
7 28 (2.15%) Virtual Machines
8 21 (1.61%) VMware ESXi
9 17 (1.30%) Virtual Desktop
10 14 (1.07%) Firmware
11 10 (0.77%) Squid
12 9 (0.69%) Virtual Servers
13 6 (0.46%) BitLocker
13 6 (0.46%) Microsoft App-V
14 5 (0.38%) NDS
14 5 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
15 4 (0.31%) KVM
16 3 (0.23%) DFS Replication
16 3 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
17 2 (0.15%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 197 (15.12%) Terraform
2 146 (11.20%) Ansible
3 122 (9.36%) Kubernetes
4 97 (7.44%) FortiGate
5 66 (5.07%) Microsoft Intune
6 41 (3.15%) Single Sign-On
7 39 (2.99%) Grafana
8 36 (2.76%) SCCM
9 32 (2.46%) Prometheus
10 28 (2.15%) vCenter Server
11 26 (2.00%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 17 (1.30%) Nmap
13 16 (1.23%) CASB
14 15 (1.15%) QRadar
15 13 (1.00%) Fluentd
15 13 (1.00%) Nagios
16 10 (0.77%) Nessus
16 10 (0.77%) Puppet
17 9 (0.69%) Progress Chef
17 9 (0.69%) WMI
Vendors
1 442 (33.92%) Cisco
2 293 (22.49%) Microsoft
3 267 (20.49%) Palo Alto
4 208 (15.96%) VMware
5 149 (11.44%) F5
6 142 (10.90%) Fortinet
7 141 (10.82%) Juniper
8 128 (9.82%) CheckPoint
9 100 (7.67%) Splunk
10 88 (6.75%) Aruba
11 68 (5.22%) SolarWinds
12 62 (4.76%) Google
13 61 (4.68%) Meraki
14 49 (3.76%) Zscaler
15 48 (3.68%) ServiceNow
16 43 (3.30%) Oracle
17 41 (3.15%) Citrix
18 37 (2.84%) Red Hat
19 31 (2.38%) Arista
20 25 (1.92%) Extreme Networks