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

6 months to
30 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 51 52
Rank change year-on-year -33 +1 +5
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,356 1,200 1,601
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.87% 4.11% 3.67%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 29.78% 32.15% 28.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 886 722 1,007
10th Percentile £331 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £508 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% -1.46% -1.90%
75th Percentile £581 £600 £625
90th Percentile £644 £688 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% +1.01%
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 4,553 3,733 5,643
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.65% 12.77% 12.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,848 2,297 3,382
10th Percentile £250 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £495
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -1.52% -4.53%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 221 175 423
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.57
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.88 £17.35
Median hourly rate £42.25 £37.50 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +12.67% -2.60% +102.63%
75th Percentile £68.75 £60.69 £62.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £67.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £24.76 £45.88
% change year-on-year +112.04% -46.03% +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 30 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 30 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 30 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 -38 1,133 £500 -3.29% 421
UK excluding London -19 760 £500 +2.56% 374
London -55 422 £501 -4.67% 114
Work from Home -28 392 £515 +3.00% 178
South East +2 245 £500 - 118
North of England -25 216 £500 +5.26% 99
North West -15 140 £525 +10.53% 45
Midlands -40 92 £423 -24.55% 46
West Midlands -19 80 £416 -20.71% 27
Yorkshire -29 70 £425 -5.56% 29
East of England -17 64 £500 -2.44% 40
South West -50 56 £550 +0.92% 38
Scotland +15 54 £425 - 17
Wales -13 32 £425 +11.11% 15
North East -12 8 £545 -0.91% 26
East Midlands -46 8 £475 -17.39% 19
Northern Ireland +3 3 £443 - 15

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 (2.88%) 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 35 (2.58%) 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 1 (0.074%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.074%) Primavera
1 1 (0.074%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.074%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 454 (33.48%) Azure
2 287 (21.17%) AWS
3 115 (8.48%) Microsoft 365
4 112 (8.26%) Entra ID
5 110 (8.11%) GCP
6 66 (4.87%) GitHub
7 57 (4.20%) IaaS
8 55 (4.06%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 53 (3.91%) Azure DevOps
10 50 (3.69%) PaaS
11 46 (3.39%) SaaS
12 41 (3.02%) Azure Sentinel
13 40 (2.95%) Azure Monitor
13 40 (2.95%) GitHub Actions
14 39 (2.88%) Serverless
15 34 (2.51%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 30 (2.21%) AWS Lambda
17 28 (2.06%) Amazon EC2
17 28 (2.06%) Amazon EKS
18 27 (1.99%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 372 (27.43%) Network Security
2 353 (26.03%) WAN
3 341 (25.15%) VPN
4 279 (20.58%) DNS
5 270 (19.91%) LAN
6 225 (16.59%) BGP
7 206 (15.19%) OSPF
8 154 (11.36%) VLAN
9 146 (10.77%) DHCP
10 144 (10.62%) TCP/IP
11 138 (10.18%) SD-WAN
12 125 (9.22%) Wireless
13 105 (7.74%) Wi-Fi
14 89 (6.56%) MPLS
15 86 (6.34%) IPsec
16 78 (5.75%) VXLAN
17 76 (5.60%) BIG-IP
18 70 (5.16%) Cisco ISE
19 68 (5.01%) Ethernet VPN
20 65 (4.79%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (1.92%) SQL Server
2 19 (1.40%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (1.33%) 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 (5.90%) JIRA
2 52 (3.83%) Jenkins
3 45 (3.32%) GitLab
4 40 (2.95%) 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 5 (0.37%) Artifactory
9 5 (0.37%) Browser DevTools
10 4 (0.29%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.15%) Introscope
11 2 (0.15%) Postman
11 2 (0.15%) Team Foundation Server
12 1 (0.074%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.074%) Maven
12 1 (0.074%) Subversion
General
1 333 (24.56%) Social Skills
2 163 (12.02%) Finance
3 130 (9.59%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (7.96%) Public Sector
5 90 (6.64%) Documentation Skills
6 54 (3.98%) Banking
7 43 (3.17%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.14%) Legal
9 26 (1.92%) Financial Institution
10 25 (1.84%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.40%) Military
12 16 (1.18%) Influencing Skills
13 15 (1.11%) Law
14 14 (1.03%) Retail
15 11 (0.81%) Local Government
16 10 (0.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 9 (0.66%) Front Office
17 9 (0.66%) Investment Banking
17 9 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
17 9 (0.66%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 401 (29.57%) Network Engineer
2 219 (16.15%) Architect
3 158 (11.65%) Senior
4 111 (8.19%) Security Engineer
5 102 (7.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 75 (5.53%) Network Architect
7 61 (4.50%) Azure Engineer
7 61 (4.50%) Senior Network Engineer
8 56 (4.13%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 48 (3.54%) Cloud Engineer
10 43 (3.17%) Network Security Engineer
11 42 (3.10%) Security Architect
12 40 (2.95%) DevOps Engineer
12 40 (2.95%) Lead
12 40 (2.95%) Technical Architect
13 38 (2.80%) Cisco Engineer
14 36 (2.65%) Analyst
15 35 (2.58%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 34 (2.51%) Solutions Architect
17 31 (2.29%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (5.09%) 802.1X
2 41 (3.02%) LDAP
3 37 (2.73%) Middleware
4 31 (2.29%) SAML
5 27 (1.99%) OpenID
6 20 (1.47%) Kafka
7 13 (0.96%) OAuth
7 13 (0.96%) REST
8 12 (0.88%) OAuth2
9 11 (0.81%) OpenTelemetry
10 9 (0.66%) ARM Templates
10 9 (0.66%) Node.js
10 9 (0.66%) Spring Boot
11 8 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
11 8 (0.59%) JSON
12 6 (0.44%) LangChain
12 6 (0.44%) PyTorch
12 6 (0.44%) scikit-learn
12 6 (0.44%) XML
12 6 (0.44%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 295 (21.76%) Data Centre
2 73 (5.38%) Cloud Native
3 71 (5.24%) Security Posture
4 67 (4.94%) PKI
5 47 (3.47%) Hybrid Cloud
5 47 (3.47%) Onboarding
6 45 (3.32%) Operational Technology
7 39 (2.88%) Clustering
8 37 (2.73%) Management Information System
9 34 (2.51%) Public Cloud
10 29 (2.14%) IoT
11 26 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
12 22 (1.62%) SCADA
13 21 (1.55%) Cyber Threat
14 20 (1.47%) Enterprise Storage
15 18 (1.33%) Enterprise Software
15 18 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
16 17 (1.25%) Replication
17 16 (1.18%) NHS
18 15 (1.11%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 321 (23.67%) Windows
2 191 (14.09%) Linux
3 128 (9.44%) Windows Server
4 36 (2.65%) Unix
5 29 (2.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 26 (1.92%) 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 6 (0.44%) Windows 10
12 5 (0.37%) Amazon Linux
12 5 (0.37%) CatOS
12 5 (0.37%) Mac OS
12 5 (0.37%) Windows 7
12 5 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.22%) Data ONTAP
13 3 (0.22%) SUSE
14 2 (0.15%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 216 (15.93%) DevOps
2 204 (15.04%) Cybersecurity
3 185 (13.64%) Problem-Solving
4 182 (13.42%) CI/CD
4 182 (13.42%) Infrastructure as Code
5 172 (12.68%) Migration
6 170 (12.54%) Load Balancing
7 160 (11.80%) ITIL
8 156 (11.50%) High Availability
9 143 (10.55%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 128 (9.44%) Agile
11 123 (9.07%) Zero Trust
12 111 (8.19%) Cloud Security
12 111 (8.19%) SIEM
13 110 (8.11%) Change Management
14 96 (7.08%) Observability
15 91 (6.71%) Technical Leadership
16 90 (6.64%) Project Delivery
17 87 (6.42%) Network Segmentation
18 86 (6.34%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 182 (13.42%) Python
2 159 (11.73%) PowerShell
3 73 (5.38%) Bash
4 53 (3.91%) SQL
5 39 (2.88%) Bicep
6 30 (2.21%) Java
7 16 (1.18%) Perl
8 10 (0.74%) COBOL
8 10 (0.74%) JavaScript
8 10 (0.74%) Kusto Query Language
9 8 (0.59%) Rust
10 7 (0.52%) Ruby
11 6 (0.44%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.37%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.29%) C#
13 4 (0.29%) Go
14 3 (0.22%) Groovy
15 2 (0.15%) C++
15 2 (0.15%) Jython
15 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 475 (35.03%) Security Cleared
2 345 (25.44%) SC Cleared
3 263 (19.40%) Cisco Certification
4 205 (15.12%) CCNP
5 112 (8.26%) DV Cleared
6 110 (8.11%) Degree
7 106 (7.82%) CCNA
8 70 (5.16%) CISSP
9 54 (3.98%) Azure Certification
10 43 (3.17%) CCIE
10 43 (3.17%) CISM
11 38 (2.80%) AWS Certification
12 27 (1.99%) Microsoft Certification
13 23 (1.70%) CompTIA Security+
13 23 (1.70%) JNCIS
14 20 (1.47%) Computer Science Degree
14 20 (1.47%) JNCIP
15 19 (1.40%) JNCIA
15 19 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
16 17 (1.25%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (6.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (4.65%) NIST
3 60 (4.42%) GDPR
4 37 (2.73%) 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 4 (0.29%) GxP
12 3 (0.22%) ISA99
System Software
1 225 (16.59%) Active Directory
2 165 (12.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 71 (5.24%) VMware NSX
4 65 (4.79%) Docker
5 41 (3.02%) Hyper-V
6 36 (2.65%) Virtual Machines
7 34 (2.51%) vSphere
8 31 (2.29%) VMware ESXi
9 22 (1.62%) Firmware
10 21 (1.55%) Virtual Desktop
11 11 (0.81%) Squid
12 10 (0.74%) BitLocker
13 8 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
14 6 (0.44%) Virtual Servers
15 3 (0.22%) DFS Replication
15 3 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
16 2 (0.15%) Citrix Hypervisor
16 2 (0.15%) NFS
16 2 (0.15%) Samba
16 2 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 212 (15.63%) Terraform
2 162 (11.95%) Ansible
3 112 (8.26%) Kubernetes
4 102 (7.52%) FortiGate
5 57 (4.20%) Microsoft Intune
6 50 (3.69%) Grafana
7 45 (3.32%) Prometheus
8 36 (2.65%) Single Sign-On
9 33 (2.43%) SCCM
10 30 (2.21%) vCenter Server
11 18 (1.33%) Nmap
12 16 (1.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 14 (1.03%) 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
1 483 (35.62%) Cisco
2 296 (21.83%) Palo Alto
3 294 (21.68%) Microsoft
4 208 (15.34%) VMware
5 173 (12.76%) Fortinet
6 169 (12.46%) F5
7 150 (11.06%) Juniper
8 139 (10.25%) CheckPoint
9 92 (6.78%) Splunk
10 89 (6.56%) Aruba
11 71 (5.24%) SolarWinds
12 60 (4.42%) ServiceNow
13 53 (3.91%) Arista
13 53 (3.91%) Google
14 46 (3.39%) Meraki
15 43 (3.17%) Zscaler
16 41 (3.02%) Citrix
17 35 (2.58%) Oracle
18 33 (2.43%) Red Hat
19 27 (1.99%) Extreme Networks