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

6 months to
7 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 83 50 50
Rank change year-on-year -33 0 +8
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,336 1,291 1,744
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.13% 4.21% 3.88%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.84% 31.69% 28.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 883 768 1,079
10th Percentile £325 £319 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £513
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £590 £611 £625
90th Percentile £660 £706 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 23 50
10th Percentile £26.88 £20.00 £16.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £28.78 £30.35
Median hourly rate £42.32 £37.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +14.39% -43.92% +26.57%
75th Percentile £74.26 £43.49 £76.53
90th Percentile £85.50 £71.00 £87.05
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £36.65 £72.50
% change year-on-year +32.95% -49.46% +34.94%

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 4,332 4,074 6,043
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.14% 13.29% 13.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,816 2,461 3,625
10th Percentile £205 £208 £205
25th Percentile £363 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +5.26% -8.65%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £466 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -1.89% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 174 141 394
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.44 £14.27
25th Percentile £20.04 £21.46 £19.25
Median hourly rate £36.75 £35.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -12.50% +110.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £73.72
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year +29.05% -31.58% +152.39%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 -31 1,119 £513 -2.38% 509
UK excluding London -24 742 £500 - 466
London -44 418 £525 - 124
Work from Home -22 393 £500 -1.96% 189
North of England -30 227 £519 +9.32% 116
South East +16 220 £500 - 182
North West -17 142 £540 +10.77% 82
Midlands -41 103 £425 -20.60% 53
West Midlands -20 93 £425 -11.23% 28
Yorkshire -25 83 £447 +8.30% 26
South West -41 60 £545 - 34
Scotland -8 56 £425 -2.86% 18
East of England -23 47 £458 -16.82% 60
Wales -12 26 £425 +14.86% 17
East Midlands -55 8 £475 -23.11% 25
Northern Ireland - 6 £500 - 1
North East -16 5 £548 -0.45% 8

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 45 (3.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 38 (2.84%) Confluence
3 23 (1.72%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.05%) Apache
5 13 (0.97%) nginx
6 8 (0.60%) CICS
6 8 (0.60%) OpenStack
7 6 (0.45%) IIS
7 6 (0.45%) SAS
8 3 (0.22%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.15%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.15%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.075%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.075%) CMS
10 1 (0.075%) JBoss
10 1 (0.075%) Traefik
10 1 (0.075%) WebSphere
Applications
1 36 (2.69%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (1.57%) MS Visio
3 18 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.27%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.075%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.075%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 1 (0.075%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.075%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.075%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.075%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 457 (34.21%) Azure
2 327 (24.48%) AWS
3 150 (11.23%) GCP
4 119 (8.91%) Microsoft 365
5 106 (7.93%) Entra ID
6 66 (4.94%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 62 (4.64%) GitHub
8 56 (4.19%) IaaS
9 49 (3.67%) PaaS
10 45 (3.37%) Azure Sentinel
11 44 (3.29%) Azure DevOps
12 40 (2.99%) Azure Monitor
13 39 (2.92%) Serverless
14 37 (2.77%) Amazon EC2
15 35 (2.62%) GitHub Actions
16 34 (2.54%) AWS CloudFormation
16 34 (2.54%) SaaS
17 32 (2.40%) AWS Lambda
18 31 (2.32%) Amazon EKS
19 29 (2.17%) Azure ExpressRoute
Communications & Networking
1 337 (25.22%) Network Security
2 320 (23.95%) VPN
3 305 (22.83%) WAN
4 266 (19.91%) DNS
5 222 (16.62%) LAN
6 207 (15.49%) BGP
7 181 (13.55%) OSPF
8 148 (11.08%) VLAN
9 146 (10.93%) TCP/IP
10 131 (9.81%) DHCP
11 123 (9.21%) Wireless
12 121 (9.06%) SD-WAN
13 102 (7.63%) MPLS
14 94 (7.04%) Wi-Fi
15 70 (5.24%) IPsec
16 64 (4.79%) Cisco ISE
17 63 (4.72%) Cisco ASA
18 61 (4.57%) VXLAN
19 60 (4.49%) SSL
20 55 (4.12%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (2.47%) SQL Server
2 22 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
3 20 (1.50%) Amazon RDS
4 15 (1.12%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (0.67%) Data Lake
6 8 (0.60%) DataStage
6 8 (0.60%) Oracle Database
7 7 (0.52%) Data Warehouse
7 7 (0.52%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.37%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.30%) Amazon QuickSight
9 4 (0.30%) MySQL
9 4 (0.30%) Power BI
9 4 (0.30%) Redis
9 4 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.22%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.22%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.22%) Oracle Exadata
11 2 (0.15%) Amazon Athena
11 2 (0.15%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 75 (5.61%) JIRA
2 62 (4.64%) Jenkins
3 55 (4.12%) GitLab
4 52 (3.89%) Git
5 24 (1.80%) Sonatype Nexus
6 21 (1.57%) Bitbucket
7 15 (1.12%) Burp Suite
7 15 (1.12%) Metasploit
8 8 (0.60%) Chocolatey
8 8 (0.60%) Jaeger
9 7 (0.52%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.30%) Artifactory
10 4 (0.30%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.15%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.075%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.075%) MSI
12 1 (0.075%) Postman
12 1 (0.075%) Subversion
12 1 (0.075%) Travis CI
12 1 (0.075%) Vagrant
General
1 365 (27.32%) Social Skills
2 161 (12.05%) Finance
3 141 (10.55%) Analytical Skills
4 107 (8.01%) Public Sector
5 99 (7.41%) Documentation Skills
6 58 (4.34%) Banking
7 45 (3.37%) Telecoms
8 37 (2.77%) Legal
9 28 (2.10%) Manufacturing
10 25 (1.87%) Financial Institution
11 24 (1.80%) Presentation Skills
12 18 (1.35%) Influencing Skills
13 13 (0.97%) Local Government
13 13 (0.97%) Military
13 13 (0.97%) Retail
14 11 (0.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (0.75%) Law
16 8 (0.60%) Aerospace
17 7 (0.52%) Electronics
17 7 (0.52%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 361 (27.02%) Network Engineer
2 229 (17.14%) Architect
3 125 (9.36%) Senior
4 122 (9.13%) Security Engineer
5 83 (6.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 80 (5.99%) Network Architect
7 56 (4.19%) Security Architect
8 55 (4.12%) Azure Engineer
9 50 (3.74%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 49 (3.67%) Analyst
10 49 (3.67%) Consultant
11 43 (3.22%) Solutions Architect
12 41 (3.07%) DevOps Engineer
12 41 (3.07%) Network Security Engineer
13 40 (2.99%) Cloud Engineer
14 39 (2.92%) Senior Network Engineer
15 37 (2.77%) Platform Engineer
16 35 (2.62%) Lead
17 32 (2.40%) IT Engineer
17 32 (2.40%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (5.24%) 802.1X
2 40 (2.99%) LDAP
3 32 (2.40%) Middleware
3 32 (2.40%) SAML
4 29 (2.17%) OpenID
5 20 (1.50%) OAuth
6 19 (1.42%) OAuth2
7 15 (1.12%) Kafka
8 14 (1.05%) Node.js
9 13 (0.97%) REST
10 12 (0.90%) JSON
11 10 (0.75%) OpenTelemetry
12 9 (0.67%) ARM Templates
12 9 (0.67%) Spring Boot
12 9 (0.67%) XML
13 8 (0.60%) YAML
14 7 (0.52%) Elastic Stack
14 7 (0.52%) Microsoft Graph
15 6 (0.45%) LangChain
15 6 (0.45%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 279 (20.88%) Data Centre
2 95 (7.11%) Security Posture
3 72 (5.39%) PKI
4 64 (4.79%) Cloud Native
5 49 (3.67%) Onboarding
5 49 (3.67%) Operational Technology
6 47 (3.52%) Hybrid Cloud
7 35 (2.62%) Management Information System
8 34 (2.54%) Public Cloud
9 26 (1.95%) Clustering
10 24 (1.80%) Cyber Threat
10 24 (1.80%) Data Protection Act
11 22 (1.65%) Product Ownership
11 22 (1.65%) Replication
11 22 (1.65%) Security Operations Centre
12 19 (1.42%) NHS
13 18 (1.35%) Private Cloud
13 18 (1.35%) SCADA
14 15 (1.12%) IoT
15 13 (0.97%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 333 (24.93%) Windows
2 212 (15.87%) Linux
3 135 (10.10%) Windows Server
4 35 (2.62%) Unix
5 33 (2.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 26 (1.95%) VMS
7 10 (0.75%) Windows 10
7 10 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
8 9 (0.67%) Solaris
8 9 (0.67%) Windows 7
9 8 (0.60%) AIX
9 8 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
10 6 (0.45%) Ubuntu
11 5 (0.37%) CentOS
11 5 (0.37%) Windows Server 2003
12 4 (0.30%) Amazon Linux
12 4 (0.30%) Android
12 4 (0.30%) CatOS
12 4 (0.30%) Mac OS
12 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 251 (18.79%) Cybersecurity
2 215 (16.09%) Problem-Solving
3 205 (15.34%) DevOps
4 193 (14.45%) CI/CD
5 183 (13.70%) Infrastructure as Code
6 155 (11.60%) Migration
7 146 (10.93%) SIEM
8 144 (10.78%) ITIL
9 140 (10.48%) Cloud Security
10 138 (10.33%) Load Balancing
11 132 (9.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 126 (9.43%) Agile
13 124 (9.28%) High Availability
14 117 (8.76%) Incident Response
15 109 (8.16%) Zero Trust
16 108 (8.08%) Change Management
17 100 (7.49%) Stakeholder Management
18 95 (7.11%) Mentoring
19 91 (6.81%) Security Architecture
20 88 (6.59%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 220 (16.47%) Python
2 196 (14.67%) PowerShell
3 97 (7.26%) Bash
4 61 (4.57%) SQL
5 39 (2.92%) Java
6 29 (2.17%) Perl
7 27 (2.02%) Bicep
8 13 (0.97%) Kusto Query Language
9 12 (0.90%) Ruby
10 8 (0.60%) COBOL
10 8 (0.60%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.60%) Rust
11 5 (0.37%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.30%) C#
12 4 (0.30%) Go
13 3 (0.22%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.15%) C++
15 1 (0.075%) ActionScript
15 1 (0.075%) Lisp
15 1 (0.075%) PHP
Qualifications
1 447 (33.46%) Security Cleared
2 300 (22.46%) SC Cleared
3 260 (19.46%) Cisco Certification
4 208 (15.57%) CCNP
5 120 (8.98%) DV Cleared
6 117 (8.76%) Degree
7 103 (7.71%) CCNA
8 96 (7.19%) CISSP
9 54 (4.04%) CCIE
9 54 (4.04%) CISM
10 53 (3.97%) Azure Certification
11 49 (3.67%) AWS Certification
12 41 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
13 30 (2.25%) CompTIA Security+
14 26 (1.95%) JNCIP
15 25 (1.87%) JNCIS
16 20 (1.50%) Computer Science Degree
16 20 (1.50%) Network+ Certification
17 18 (1.35%) JNCIA
18 17 (1.27%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 116 (8.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 97 (7.26%) NIST
3 66 (4.94%) GDPR
4 48 (3.59%) PCI DSS
5 34 (2.54%) SLA
6 33 (2.47%) NCSC
7 28 (2.10%) Cyber Essentials
8 21 (1.57%) QA
9 15 (1.12%) PMO
10 12 (0.90%) GRC
10 12 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 9 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
12 8 (0.60%) JSP 440
13 6 (0.45%) HIPAA
13 6 (0.45%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 6 (0.45%) SOC 2
14 5 (0.37%) COBIT
14 5 (0.37%) NIST 800
15 3 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 3 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 248 (18.56%) Active Directory
2 165 (12.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 103 (7.71%) Docker
4 65 (4.87%) VMware NSX
5 39 (2.92%) Hyper-V
6 37 (2.77%) vSphere
7 28 (2.10%) Virtual Machines
8 22 (1.65%) VMware ESXi
9 18 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
10 14 (1.05%) Firmware
11 12 (0.90%) Squid
12 9 (0.67%) Virtual Servers
13 6 (0.45%) BitLocker
13 6 (0.45%) Microsoft App-V
14 5 (0.37%) NDS
14 5 (0.37%) NetIQ eDirectory
15 4 (0.30%) DFS Replication
15 4 (0.30%) KVM
16 3 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
16 3 (0.22%) Snort
Systems Management
1 202 (15.12%) Terraform
2 155 (11.60%) Ansible
3 127 (9.51%) Kubernetes
4 98 (7.34%) FortiGate
5 69 (5.16%) Microsoft Intune
6 43 (3.22%) Single Sign-On
7 40 (2.99%) Grafana
8 38 (2.84%) SCCM
9 34 (2.54%) Prometheus
10 28 (2.10%) vCenter Server
11 26 (1.95%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 18 (1.35%) Nmap
13 16 (1.20%) CASB
14 15 (1.12%) Nagios
14 15 (1.12%) QRadar
15 13 (0.97%) Fluentd
16 12 (0.90%) Nessus
17 10 (0.75%) Puppet
18 9 (0.67%) Cisco Prime
18 9 (0.67%) WMI
Vendors
1 450 (33.68%) Cisco
2 298 (22.31%) Microsoft
3 272 (20.36%) Palo Alto
4 214 (16.02%) VMware
5 149 (11.15%) F5
6 142 (10.63%) Fortinet
7 140 (10.48%) Juniper
8 136 (10.18%) CheckPoint
9 107 (8.01%) Splunk
10 87 (6.51%) Aruba
11 69 (5.16%) SolarWinds
12 63 (4.72%) Google
13 60 (4.49%) Meraki
14 52 (3.89%) Zscaler
15 50 (3.74%) ServiceNow
16 46 (3.44%) Oracle
17 43 (3.22%) Citrix
18 37 (2.77%) Red Hat
19 30 (2.25%) Arista
20 27 (2.02%) Dell