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

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 89 52 54
Rank change year-on-year -37 +2 -1
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,353 1,208 1,527
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.77% 4.22% 3.57%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.56% 33.36% 28.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 884 717 962
10th Percentile £342 £313 £300
25th Percentile £413 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £625
90th Percentile £650 £688 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 18 44
10th Percentile £20.75 - £16.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £23.92
Median hourly rate £56.00 £26.25 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +113.33% -56.25% -3.23%
75th Percentile £71.29 £41.25 £85.99
90th Percentile £80.00 £53.63 £87.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £26.25 £83.63
% change year-on-year +85.60% -68.61% +34.89%

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 4,738 3,621 5,426
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.70% 12.64% 12.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,909 2,244 3,253
10th Percentile £263 £213 £206
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £484 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.31% -3.20% -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £483
% change year-on-year +2.70% -4.15% +1.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 280 156 414
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.14 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £28.44 £40.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.78% +1.25% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £59.09 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.50 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £30.32 £45.88
% change year-on-year +7.19% -33.91% +154.89%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 -43 1,132 £500 -1.72% 514
UK excluding London -22 768 £500 +2.56% 456
London -66 411 £513 -2.38% 138
Work from Home -29 399 £520 +4.00% 226
North of England -14 247 £508 +6.84% 109
South East -8 233 £500 - 168
North West -3 156 £540 +13.68% 65
Midlands -57 78 £420 -20.00% 64
Yorkshire -34 75 £425 -12.37% 32
West Midlands -46 66 £413 -21.09% 40
East of England -13 65 £503 -1.85% 29
Scotland +18 62 £450 +2.86% 24
South West -37 60 £523 +4.50% 52
Wales -18 27 £425 +21.43% 15
North East -10 20 £625 +25.00% 14
East Midlands -46 8 £488 -12.16% 24
Northern Ireland -1 2 £385 - 3

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 34 (2.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (2.44%) Confluence
3 19 (1.40%) SharePoint
4 16 (1.18%) nginx
5 11 (0.81%) Apache
6 10 (0.74%) CICS
7 6 (0.44%) IIS
7 6 (0.44%) SAS
8 5 (0.37%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.22%) Skype for Business
10 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
10 2 (0.15%) CloudStack
10 2 (0.15%) CMS
10 2 (0.15%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.15%) Umbraco
10 2 (0.15%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.074%) MTS
Applications
1 28 (2.07%) MS Visio
2 25 (1.85%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.33%) Microsoft Excel
4 13 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.59%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.074%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 1 (0.074%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.074%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.074%) Primavera
1 1 (0.074%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.074%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.074%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.074%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 450 (33.26%) Azure
2 293 (21.66%) AWS
3 112 (8.28%) GCP
4 108 (7.98%) Entra ID
5 102 (7.54%) Microsoft 365
6 69 (5.10%) GitHub
7 60 (4.43%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 57 (4.21%) IaaS
9 51 (3.77%) Azure DevOps
10 42 (3.10%) PaaS
11 39 (2.88%) SaaS
12 36 (2.66%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 36 (2.66%) GitHub Actions
13 35 (2.59%) Azure Sentinel
14 33 (2.44%) Azure Monitor
14 33 (2.44%) OCI
15 28 (2.07%) Serverless
16 27 (2.00%) Amazon EC2
17 26 (1.92%) Amazon EKS
18 23 (1.70%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 374 (27.64%) Network Security
2 372 (27.49%) WAN
3 347 (25.65%) VPN
4 287 (21.21%) DNS
5 285 (21.06%) LAN
6 236 (17.44%) BGP
7 213 (15.74%) OSPF
8 172 (12.71%) VLAN
9 148 (10.94%) DHCP
9 148 (10.94%) SD-WAN
10 145 (10.72%) TCP/IP
11 138 (10.20%) Wireless
12 106 (7.83%) Wi-Fi
13 95 (7.02%) BIG-IP
14 94 (6.95%) VXLAN
15 92 (6.80%) MPLS
16 90 (6.65%) IPsec
17 79 (5.84%) Ethernet VPN
18 73 (5.40%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 71 (5.25%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (2.00%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.33%) Elasticsearch
3 17 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
4 14 (1.03%) Power BI
5 10 (0.74%) DataStage
5 10 (0.74%) Oracle Database
6 8 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (0.59%) MySQL
7 7 (0.52%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.52%) Data Warehouse
7 7 (0.52%) MongoDB
8 6 (0.44%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (0.44%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.30%) Amazon Athena
9 4 (0.30%) Amazon QuickSight
9 4 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
9 4 (0.30%) Metadata
9 4 (0.30%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.22%) Oracle Exadata
Development Applications
1 88 (6.50%) JIRA
2 60 (4.43%) Jenkins
3 46 (3.40%) GitLab
4 45 (3.33%) Git
5 15 (1.11%) Sonatype Nexus
6 13 (0.96%) Burp Suite
7 12 (0.89%) Metasploit
8 9 (0.67%) Artifactory
8 9 (0.67%) Bitbucket
8 9 (0.67%) Chocolatey
8 9 (0.67%) Jaeger
9 8 (0.59%) SonarQube
10 5 (0.37%) Browser DevTools
11 4 (0.30%) CircleCI
12 2 (0.15%) Introscope
12 2 (0.15%) Postman
12 2 (0.15%) Team Foundation Server
13 1 (0.074%) Atlassian Bamboo
13 1 (0.074%) Claude Code
13 1 (0.074%) REST Assured
General
1 304 (22.47%) Social Skills
2 162 (11.97%) Finance
3 121 (8.94%) Analytical Skills
4 110 (8.13%) Public Sector
5 83 (6.13%) Documentation Skills
6 55 (4.07%) Banking
7 39 (2.88%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.14%) Legal
9 24 (1.77%) Financial Institution
10 23 (1.70%) Manufacturing
11 20 (1.48%) Military
12 17 (1.26%) Influencing Skills
13 15 (1.11%) Law
14 13 (0.96%) Retail
15 10 (0.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 9 (0.67%) Organisational Skills
17 8 (0.59%) Front Office
17 8 (0.59%) Investment Banking
17 8 (0.59%) Local Government
17 8 (0.59%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 426 (31.49%) Network Engineer
2 213 (15.74%) Architect
3 168 (12.42%) Senior
4 115 (8.50%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 104 (7.69%) Security Engineer
6 77 (5.69%) Network Architect
7 69 (5.10%) Senior Network Engineer
8 67 (4.95%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 58 (4.29%) Cloud Engineer
10 56 (4.14%) Azure Engineer
11 45 (3.33%) Technical Architect
12 44 (3.25%) Network Security Engineer
13 43 (3.18%) Lead
14 42 (3.10%) Cisco Engineer
15 38 (2.81%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 38 (2.81%) DevOps Engineer
15 38 (2.81%) Security Architect
16 36 (2.66%) Consultant
17 33 (2.44%) Analyst
17 33 (2.44%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (5.10%) 802.1X
2 40 (2.96%) Middleware
3 39 (2.88%) LDAP
4 28 (2.07%) SAML
5 23 (1.70%) OpenID
6 18 (1.33%) Kafka
7 12 (0.89%) OAuth
8 11 (0.81%) OAuth2
8 11 (0.81%) OpenTelemetry
9 10 (0.74%) Elastic Stack
9 10 (0.74%) REST
9 10 (0.74%) Spring Boot
10 9 (0.67%) YAML
11 6 (0.44%) .NET
11 6 (0.44%) ARM Templates
11 6 (0.44%) HTML
11 6 (0.44%) JSON
11 6 (0.44%) LangChain
11 6 (0.44%) PyTorch
11 6 (0.44%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 336 (24.83%) Data Centre
2 77 (5.69%) Cloud Native
3 74 (5.47%) Security Posture
4 65 (4.80%) Hybrid Cloud
5 62 (4.58%) PKI
6 51 (3.77%) Onboarding
7 41 (3.03%) Management Information System
8 39 (2.88%) Clustering
9 38 (2.81%) Operational Technology
10 34 (2.51%) Public Cloud
11 26 (1.92%) IoT
12 25 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
13 23 (1.70%) Cyber Threat
14 22 (1.63%) Enterprise Storage
15 19 (1.40%) SCADA
16 17 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
17 16 (1.18%) Driving Licence
17 16 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
18 15 (1.11%) BYOD
19 14 (1.03%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 307 (22.69%) Windows
2 181 (13.38%) Linux
3 119 (8.80%) Windows Server
4 32 (2.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 30 (2.22%) Unix
6 26 (1.92%) VMS
7 12 (0.89%) Windows Server 2019
8 11 (0.81%) Solaris
9 10 (0.74%) AIX
9 10 (0.74%) Windows Server 2016
10 8 (0.59%) Ubuntu
10 8 (0.59%) Windows Server 2003
11 7 (0.52%) Windows 10
11 7 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
12 6 (0.44%) Mac OS
13 5 (0.37%) CatOS
13 5 (0.37%) CentOS
14 4 (0.30%) SUSE
15 3 (0.22%) Android
15 3 (0.22%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (16.78%) DevOps
2 200 (14.78%) CI/CD
3 186 (13.75%) Infrastructure as Code
4 185 (13.67%) Cybersecurity
5 183 (13.53%) Load Balancing
6 174 (12.86%) High Availability
7 168 (12.42%) Migration
8 167 (12.34%) Problem-Solving
9 157 (11.60%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 151 (11.16%) ITIL
11 146 (10.79%) Zero Trust
12 138 (10.20%) Agile
13 109 (8.06%) SIEM
14 103 (7.61%) Cloud Security
15 101 (7.46%) Project Delivery
16 99 (7.32%) Change Management
17 96 (7.10%) Network Segmentation
17 96 (7.10%) Observability
18 94 (6.95%) Technical Leadership
19 90 (6.65%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 201 (14.86%) Python
2 138 (10.20%) PowerShell
3 78 (5.76%) Bash
4 55 (4.07%) SQL
5 42 (3.10%) Bicep
6 34 (2.51%) Java
7 10 (0.74%) COBOL
8 9 (0.67%) JavaScript
8 9 (0.67%) Perl
9 8 (0.59%) ActionScript
9 8 (0.59%) Rust
10 7 (0.52%) Kusto Query Language
11 6 (0.44%) Groovy
11 6 (0.44%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.37%) Go
12 5 (0.37%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.22%) C++
14 2 (0.15%) C
14 2 (0.15%) Jython
14 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 486 (35.92%) Security Cleared
2 364 (26.90%) SC Cleared
3 284 (20.99%) Cisco Certification
4 216 (15.96%) CCNP
5 115 (8.50%) CCNA
6 109 (8.06%) Degree
7 105 (7.76%) DV Cleared
8 64 (4.73%) CISSP
9 62 (4.58%) Azure Certification
10 38 (2.81%) AWS Certification
10 38 (2.81%) CCIE
11 35 (2.59%) CISM
12 31 (2.29%) Microsoft Certification
13 25 (1.85%) Network+ Certification
14 23 (1.70%) JNCIS
15 20 (1.48%) Computer Science Degree
15 20 (1.48%) JNCIA
16 19 (1.40%) CompTIA Security+
17 17 (1.26%) Server+ Certification
18 16 (1.18%) CCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (5.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 55 (4.07%) NIST
3 49 (3.62%) GDPR
4 35 (2.59%) PCI DSS
5 32 (2.37%) SLA
6 30 (2.22%) NCSC
7 26 (1.92%) QA
8 21 (1.55%) Cyber Essentials
9 13 (0.96%) PMO
10 7 (0.52%) Data Quality
10 7 (0.52%) Disclosure Scotland
11 6 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
11 6 (0.44%) GRC
11 6 (0.44%) JSP 440
11 6 (0.44%) RMADS
12 5 (0.37%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 5 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 5 (0.37%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.30%) GxP
13 4 (0.30%) NIST 800
System Software
1 211 (15.59%) Active Directory
2 158 (11.68%) VMware Infrastructure
3 63 (4.66%) VMware NSX
4 56 (4.14%) Docker
5 40 (2.96%) Hyper-V
6 38 (2.81%) vSphere
7 33 (2.44%) Virtual Machines
8 29 (2.14%) VMware ESXi
9 22 (1.63%) Firmware
10 21 (1.55%) Virtual Desktop
11 16 (1.18%) Squid
12 11 (0.81%) BitLocker
13 8 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
14 3 (0.22%) DFS Replication
14 3 (0.22%) Dovecot
14 3 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
14 3 (0.22%) Postfix
15 2 (0.15%) Citrix Hypervisor
15 2 (0.15%) KVM
15 2 (0.15%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 222 (16.41%) Terraform
2 172 (12.71%) Ansible
3 103 (7.61%) Kubernetes
4 102 (7.54%) FortiGate
5 62 (4.58%) Grafana
6 53 (3.92%) Prometheus
7 52 (3.84%) Microsoft Intune
8 34 (2.51%) Single Sign-On
9 28 (2.07%) SCCM
10 24 (1.77%) vCenter Server
11 17 (1.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 14 (1.03%) Nmap
12 14 (1.03%) Puppet
13 13 (0.96%) CASB
13 13 (0.96%) Nagios
13 13 (0.96%) Progress Chef
14 12 (0.89%) Cisco Prime
14 12 (0.89%) QRadar
15 11 (0.81%) Consul
15 11 (0.81%) VxRail
Vendors
1 498 (36.81%) Cisco
2 309 (22.84%) Palo Alto
3 261 (19.29%) Microsoft
4 203 (15.00%) VMware
5 189 (13.97%) F5
5 189 (13.97%) Fortinet
6 151 (11.16%) Juniper
7 132 (9.76%) CheckPoint
8 94 (6.95%) Aruba
9 80 (5.91%) Splunk
10 73 (5.40%) ServiceNow
11 70 (5.17%) SolarWinds
12 65 (4.80%) Arista
13 52 (3.84%) Google
14 42 (3.10%) Zscaler
15 38 (2.81%) Red Hat
16 37 (2.73%) Meraki
17 35 (2.59%) Citrix
18 28 (2.07%) Oracle
19 27 (2.00%) Extreme Networks