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 19 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 67 54 44
Rank change year-on-year -13 -10 +22
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,342 1,336 2,087
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.76% 3.69% 4.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 33.18% 30.57% 31.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 859 805 1,377
10th Percentile £313 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -
75th Percentile £600 £613 £625
90th Percentile £677 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 22 65
10th Percentile £21.35 £20.00 £35.00
25th Percentile £29.00 £20.45 £62.50
Median hourly rate £34.00 £27.50 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +23.64% -58.32% +77.27%
75th Percentile £74.26 £37.25 £75.67
90th Percentile £89.27 £48.63 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.50 £27.50 £66.62
% change year-on-year +50.91% -58.72% +62.38%

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 4,045 4,371 6,526
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.33% 12.06% 14.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,614 2,522 4,068
10th Percentile £206 £225 £213
25th Percentile £358 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £686 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 206 164 343
10th Percentile £15.50 £18.17 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.77 £24.42 £22.88
Median hourly rate £35.50 £45.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.11% -18.18% +30.72%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £75.67
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £49.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -13.27% -13.26% +25.53%

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 19 November 2025.

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 19 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Firewall in the UK

Firewall
Top 18 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 19 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 -13 1,151 £500 -4.76% 797
UK excluding London -10 741 £488 -2.50% 589
London -8 472 £525 -4.55% 306
Work from Home -5 383 £500 -4.76% 337
North of England -15 211 £492 -1.60% 101
South East -1 184 £500 - 245
Midlands -6 152 £475 -5.00% 80
West Midlands +11 137 £475 -5.00% 61
Yorkshire -5 109 £488 +14.71% 33
North West -27 98 £520 +4.00% 56
Scotland -18 62 £450 -5.26% 38
East of England -10 56 £475 -9.52% 59
South West -21 55 £540 +13.68% 55
East Midlands -39 15 £492 -4.00% 19
Wales -3 13 £225 -40.98% 17
Northern Ireland - 12 £500 - 9
North East -7 7 £550 +57.14% 12
Channel Islands - 4 £725 -

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 60 (4.47%) Microsoft Exchange
2 50 (3.73%) Confluence
3 35 (2.61%) SharePoint
4 16 (1.19%) OpenStack
5 13 (0.97%) Apache
5 13 (0.97%) nginx
6 6 (0.45%) Tomcat
7 5 (0.37%) JBoss
8 4 (0.30%) IIS
9 3 (0.22%) SAS
9 3 (0.22%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.15%) Anypoint
10 2 (0.15%) CICS
10 2 (0.15%) CMS
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.15%) Traefik
10 2 (0.15%) WebLogic
11 1 (0.075%) Exchange Server 2013
11 1 (0.075%) Mattermost
11 1 (0.075%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 30 (2.24%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.75%) Mozilla Thunderbird
3 9 (0.67%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.22%) ION MarketView
2 2 (0.15%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.075%) Finacle
3 1 (0.075%) Pegasus Opera
Cloud Services
1 415 (30.92%) Azure
2 352 (26.23%) AWS
3 156 (11.62%) Microsoft 365
4 151 (11.25%) GCP
5 94 (7.00%) Entra ID
6 81 (6.04%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 69 (5.14%) Amazon EC2
8 62 (4.62%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 58 (4.32%) Amazon S3
10 55 (4.10%) Azure Sentinel
11 46 (3.43%) Amazon ELB
12 39 (2.91%) IaaS
13 36 (2.68%) Akamai
13 36 (2.68%) Azure DevOps
13 36 (2.68%) GitHub
14 32 (2.38%) PaaS
14 32 (2.38%) SaaS
14 32 (2.38%) Serverless
15 29 (2.16%) Azure Monitor
16 28 (2.09%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 285 (21.24%) Network Security
2 284 (21.16%) VPN
3 280 (20.86%) DNS
4 243 (18.11%) WAN
5 171 (12.74%) LAN
6 165 (12.30%) TCP/IP
7 152 (11.33%) BGP
8 144 (10.73%) SD-WAN
9 128 (9.54%) OSPF
10 124 (9.24%) Wireless
11 121 (9.02%) DHCP
12 115 (8.57%) VLAN
13 102 (7.60%) Wi-Fi
14 84 (6.26%) SSL
15 76 (5.66%) Cisco Nexus
16 74 (5.51%) MPLS
17 65 (4.84%) Cisco ISE
18 60 (4.47%) Cisco IOS
19 56 (4.17%) HTTP
20 53 (3.95%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (3.06%) Amazon RDS
2 38 (2.83%) SQL Server
3 25 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (0.89%) Relational Database
5 10 (0.75%) Amazon Aurora
6 8 (0.60%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.52%) MySQL
8 6 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.37%) DB2
9 5 (0.37%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.37%) Oracle Database
9 5 (0.37%) Redis
10 4 (0.30%) DynamoDB
10 4 (0.30%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.22%) Apache Cassandra
11 3 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.15%) Amazon QuickSight
12 2 (0.15%) Data Vault
12 2 (0.15%) RDBMS
13 1 (0.075%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Development Applications
1 109 (8.12%) Jenkins
2 96 (7.15%) Git
3 86 (6.41%) JIRA
4 67 (4.99%) GitLab
5 26 (1.94%) Sonatype Nexus
6 22 (1.64%) Vagrant
7 16 (1.19%) Postman
8 15 (1.12%) Bitbucket
9 9 (0.67%) SonarQube
10 3 (0.22%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.15%) Maven
11 2 (0.15%) MSI
12 1 (0.075%) Eclipse
12 1 (0.075%) Subversion
General
1 335 (24.96%) Social Skills
2 151 (11.25%) Finance
3 149 (11.10%) Analytical Skills
4 128 (9.54%) Public Sector
5 66 (4.92%) Banking
6 58 (4.32%) Telecoms
7 57 (4.25%) Documentation Skills
8 37 (2.76%) Manufacturing
9 32 (2.38%) Legal
10 31 (2.31%) Presentation Skills
11 25 (1.86%) Games
12 16 (1.19%) Local Government
13 13 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 13 (0.97%) Military
14 11 (0.82%) Law
14 11 (0.82%) Organisational Skills
15 10 (0.75%) Retail
16 9 (0.67%) Influencing Skills
17 8 (0.60%) Financial Institution
18 6 (0.45%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 307 (22.88%) Network Engineer
2 216 (16.10%) Architect
3 137 (10.21%) Security Engineer
4 122 (9.09%) Senior
5 88 (6.56%) Analyst
6 85 (6.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 79 (5.89%) Network Architect
8 76 (5.66%) Platform Engineer
9 68 (5.07%) Consultant
10 66 (4.92%) DevOps Engineer
11 58 (4.32%) Security Architect
12 55 (4.10%) Network Security Engineer
13 45 (3.35%) Support Engineer
14 42 (3.13%) Solutions Architect
15 40 (2.98%) Azure Engineer
16 39 (2.91%) Lead
17 36 (2.68%) Cloud Engineer
18 35 (2.61%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
19 34 (2.53%) Security Analyst
20 33 (2.46%) AWS Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (2.38%) LDAP
2 29 (2.16%) 802.1X
3 24 (1.79%) RFC 2544
4 22 (1.64%) SAML
5 21 (1.56%) REST
6 19 (1.42%) Middleware
7 18 (1.34%) JSON
7 18 (1.34%) OpenID
8 16 (1.19%) OAuth
9 14 (1.04%) OAuth2
10 13 (0.97%) Node.js
11 12 (0.89%) Elastic Stack
12 11 (0.82%) XML
13 8 (0.60%) ARM Templates
13 8 (0.60%) YAML
14 6 (0.45%) Kafka
14 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
15 4 (0.30%) Regular Expression
16 3 (0.22%) JBoss Seam
16 3 (0.22%) Rendezvous
Miscellaneous
1 202 (15.05%) Data Centre
2 82 (6.11%) Security Posture
3 63 (4.69%) Operational Technology
4 60 (4.47%) Hybrid Cloud
5 53 (3.95%) PKI
6 49 (3.65%) Replication
7 44 (3.28%) Onboarding
8 38 (2.83%) Cloud Native
9 33 (2.46%) Management Information System
10 30 (2.24%) Data Protection Act
11 26 (1.94%) Cyber Threat
12 25 (1.86%) Public Cloud
13 23 (1.71%) Security Operations Centre
14 22 (1.64%) SCADA
15 19 (1.42%) Private Cloud
16 18 (1.34%) Fibre Optics
17 17 (1.27%) Cyber Defence
18 16 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
18 16 (1.19%) Virtual Team
19 15 (1.12%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 327 (24.37%) Windows
2 232 (17.29%) Linux
3 112 (8.35%) Windows Server
4 42 (3.13%) Unix
5 38 (2.83%) VMS
6 36 (2.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 32 (2.38%) Mac OS
8 29 (2.16%) Android
9 25 (1.86%) Amazon Linux
10 22 (1.64%) Ubuntu
11 14 (1.04%) Windows 10
12 11 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
12 11 (0.82%) Windows Server 2019
13 9 (0.67%) CentOS
14 8 (0.60%) Windows 7
14 8 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
15 6 (0.45%) Solaris
16 3 (0.22%) AIX
16 3 (0.22%) Apple iOS
16 3 (0.22%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 236 (17.59%) Cybersecurity
2 209 (15.57%) DevOps
3 198 (14.75%) Problem-Solving
4 183 (13.64%) Cloud Security
5 171 (12.74%) CI/CD
6 162 (12.07%) SIEM
7 161 (12.00%) Incident Response
8 158 (11.77%) Infrastructure as Code
9 147 (10.95%) Migration
10 135 (10.06%) Agile
11 133 (9.91%) ITIL
12 128 (9.54%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 121 (9.02%) High Availability
14 104 (7.75%) Change Management
15 97 (7.23%) Security Operations
16 94 (7.00%) Stakeholder Management
17 91 (6.78%) Load Balancing
18 90 (6.71%) Network Design
19 85 (6.33%) Zero Trust
20 82 (6.11%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 287 (21.39%) Python
2 225 (16.77%) PowerShell
3 120 (8.94%) Bash
4 58 (4.32%) SQL
5 46 (3.43%) Java
5 46 (3.43%) Perl
6 22 (1.64%) Groovy
7 19 (1.42%) Kusto Query Language
8 17 (1.27%) Bicep
9 10 (0.75%) Ruby
9 10 (0.75%) Shell Script
10 7 (0.52%) JavaScript
11 6 (0.45%) Go
12 4 (0.30%) C
13 3 (0.22%) C#
13 3 (0.22%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.22%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.15%) Apex Code
14 2 (0.15%) C++
14 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 378 (28.17%) Security Cleared
2 263 (19.60%) SC Cleared
3 228 (16.99%) Cisco Certification
4 168 (12.52%) CCNP
5 110 (8.20%) Degree
6 103 (7.68%) CISSP
7 87 (6.48%) CCNA
8 84 (6.26%) DV Cleared
9 61 (4.55%) Azure Certification
10 56 (4.17%) AWS Certification
11 53 (3.95%) CCIE
12 52 (3.87%) CISM
12 52 (3.87%) Microsoft Certification
13 36 (2.68%) Computer Science Degree
14 27 (2.01%) CEH
14 27 (2.01%) CompTIA Security+
15 20 (1.49%) GIAC
16 16 (1.19%) BPSS Clearance
16 16 (1.19%) JNCIP
17 15 (1.12%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 116 (8.64%) NIST
2 106 (7.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 74 (5.51%) GDPR
4 39 (2.91%) PCI DSS
5 24 (1.79%) SLA
6 20 (1.49%) NCSC
7 19 (1.42%) QA
8 14 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
8 14 (1.04%) GRC
9 12 (0.89%) HIPAA
9 12 (0.89%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 9 (0.67%) COBIT
10 9 (0.67%) SOC 2
11 6 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 5 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
12 5 (0.37%) Disclosure Scotland
12 5 (0.37%) GxP
12 5 (0.37%) PSD2
13 4 (0.30%) Accessibility
13 4 (0.30%) NIST 800
System Software
1 241 (17.96%) Active Directory
2 148 (11.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 146 (10.88%) Docker
4 44 (3.28%) Hyper-V
5 35 (2.61%) Virtual Machines
6 29 (2.16%) VMware NSX
7 25 (1.86%) DFS Replication
7 25 (1.86%) vSphere
8 17 (1.27%) Firmware
9 15 (1.12%) Squid
10 11 (0.82%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.75%) Dovecot
11 10 (0.75%) Postfix
12 8 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
12 8 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
13 7 (0.52%) Terminal Services
13 7 (0.52%) Veritas Cluster Server
14 6 (0.45%) KVM
14 6 (0.45%) Snort
15 5 (0.37%) NetIQ eDirectory
Systems Management
1 193 (14.38%) Terraform
2 188 (14.01%) Ansible
3 107 (7.97%) Kubernetes
4 78 (5.81%) Microsoft Intune
5 72 (5.37%) FortiGate
6 62 (4.62%) SCCM
7 42 (3.13%) Grafana
8 40 (2.98%) Prometheus
9 32 (2.38%) Single Sign-On
10 23 (1.71%) Puppet
11 21 (1.56%) Nessus
12 20 (1.49%) vCenter Server
13 19 (1.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 18 (1.34%) CSIRT
15 16 (1.19%) CASB
15 16 (1.19%) QRadar
16 13 (0.97%) Fluentd
17 12 (0.89%) SCOM
18 10 (0.75%) Microsoft Clustering
18 10 (0.75%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 458 (34.13%) Cisco
2 346 (25.78%) Microsoft
3 229 (17.06%) Palo Alto
4 183 (13.64%) VMware
5 171 (12.74%) F5
6 146 (10.88%) Fortinet
7 123 (9.17%) CheckPoint
8 113 (8.42%) Splunk
9 103 (7.68%) Juniper
10 82 (6.11%) Meraki
11 74 (5.51%) SolarWinds
12 69 (5.14%) Oracle
13 58 (4.32%) Google
14 56 (4.17%) ServiceNow
14 56 (4.17%) Zscaler
15 48 (3.58%) Citrix
16 32 (2.38%) Red Hat
17 31 (2.31%) Aruba
18 26 (1.94%) Dell
19 21 (1.56%) Tenable