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

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 69 56 46
Rank change year-on-year -13 -10 +20
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,295 1,335 2,005
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.59% 3.66% 4.37%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 32.61% 30.09% 31.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 826 806 1,318
10th Percentile £313 £313 £314
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -
75th Percentile £600 £613 £626
90th Percentile £675 £675 £711
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 22 60
10th Percentile - £20.00 £35.00
25th Percentile £29.00 £20.05 £62.50
Median hourly rate £35.00 £31.25 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% -52.64% +96.96%
75th Percentile £81.50 £40.63 £75.82
90th Percentile £89.63 £48.63 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.75 £22.50 £65.98
% change year-on-year +192.21% -65.90% +60.81%

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 3,971 4,436 6,390
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.02% 12.17% 13.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,578 2,549 3,957
10th Percentile £205 £223 £211
25th Percentile £356 £370 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 193 169 347
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.16 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.50 £23.10 £22.88
Median hourly rate £34.00 £41.00 £56.40
Median % change year-on-year -17.07% -27.30% +35.09%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £48.03 £56.49
% change year-on-year -11.51% -14.98% +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 29 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 29 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 29 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 1,106 £500 -4.76% 550
UK excluding London -15 703 £488 -2.50% 534
London -8 463 £515 -6.36% 146
Work from Home -10 370 £500 -4.76% 198
North of England -17 202 £492 -1.60% 98
South East -2 180 £490 -2.05% 244
Midlands -11 139 £475 -5.00% 67
West Midlands +11 130 £475 -5.00% 48
North West -26 101 £525 +5.00% 55
Yorkshire -3 97 £483 +4.32% 38
Scotland -16 59 £438 -12.50% 22
East of England -11 51 £483 -10.23% 46
South West -16 51 £540 +13.68% 51
Wales -6 14 £250 -32.43% 21
Northern Ireland - 10 £500 - 3
East Midlands -42 9 £450 -5.26% 17
North East -8 7 £550 +22.22% 5
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 58 (4.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 47 (3.63%) Confluence
3 34 (2.63%) SharePoint
4 16 (1.24%) OpenStack
5 14 (1.08%) Apache
6 13 (1.00%) nginx
7 6 (0.46%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.39%) JBoss
9 4 (0.31%) IIS
10 3 (0.23%) SAS
10 3 (0.23%) WebSphere
11 2 (0.15%) Anypoint
11 2 (0.15%) CICS
11 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 2 (0.15%) Traefik
11 2 (0.15%) WebLogic
12 1 (0.077%) Exchange Server 2010
12 1 (0.077%) Exchange Server 2013
12 1 (0.077%) Mattermost
12 1 (0.077%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 31 (2.39%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (0.77%) Mozilla Thunderbird
3 9 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 9 (0.69%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.46%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.23%) ION MarketView
2 2 (0.15%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.077%) Finacle
3 1 (0.077%) Pegasus Opera
Cloud Services
1 413 (31.89%) Azure
2 348 (26.87%) AWS
3 149 (11.51%) Microsoft 365
4 148 (11.43%) GCP
5 93 (7.18%) Entra ID
6 77 (5.95%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 68 (5.25%) Amazon EC2
8 58 (4.48%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 57 (4.40%) Amazon S3
9 57 (4.40%) Azure Sentinel
10 45 (3.47%) Amazon ELB
11 39 (3.01%) GitHub
12 38 (2.93%) IaaS
13 36 (2.78%) Akamai
14 34 (2.63%) Azure DevOps
15 33 (2.55%) Serverless
16 32 (2.47%) Azure Monitor
17 31 (2.39%) SaaS
18 30 (2.32%) PaaS
19 27 (2.08%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 279 (21.54%) VPN
2 278 (21.47%) Network Security
3 274 (21.16%) DNS
4 244 (18.84%) WAN
5 168 (12.97%) LAN
6 153 (11.81%) TCP/IP
7 151 (11.66%) BGP
8 139 (10.73%) SD-WAN
9 127 (9.81%) OSPF
10 121 (9.34%) Wireless
11 114 (8.80%) DHCP
12 112 (8.65%) VLAN
13 104 (8.03%) Wi-Fi
14 82 (6.33%) SSL
15 76 (5.87%) Cisco Nexus
16 74 (5.71%) MPLS
17 63 (4.86%) Cisco ISE
18 55 (4.25%) Cisco IOS
19 53 (4.09%) HTTP
19 53 (4.09%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (3.01%) Amazon RDS
2 37 (2.86%) SQL Server
3 26 (2.01%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (0.77%) Amazon Aurora
4 10 (0.77%) Relational Database
5 8 (0.62%) Data Lake
6 6 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (0.46%) MySQL
7 5 (0.39%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.39%) Redis
8 4 (0.31%) MongoDB
9 3 (0.23%) Apache Cassandra
9 3 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.23%) DB2
9 3 (0.23%) DynamoDB
9 3 (0.23%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.15%) Amazon QuickSight
10 2 (0.15%) Data Vault
10 2 (0.15%) RDBMS
11 1 (0.077%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Development Applications
1 98 (7.57%) Jenkins
2 87 (6.72%) Git
3 76 (5.87%) JIRA
4 66 (5.10%) GitLab
5 25 (1.93%) Sonatype Nexus
6 21 (1.62%) Vagrant
7 15 (1.16%) Bitbucket
8 7 (0.54%) Postman
8 7 (0.54%) SonarQube
9 4 (0.31%) Burp Suite
9 4 (0.31%) Metasploit
10 3 (0.23%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.15%) Maven
11 2 (0.15%) MSI
12 1 (0.077%) Eclipse
12 1 (0.077%) Subversion
General
1 333 (25.71%) Social Skills
2 139 (10.73%) Analytical Skills
3 134 (10.35%) Finance
4 128 (9.88%) Public Sector
5 62 (4.79%) Documentation Skills
6 61 (4.71%) Banking
7 56 (4.32%) Telecoms
8 34 (2.63%) Manufacturing
9 29 (2.24%) Legal
9 29 (2.24%) Presentation Skills
10 22 (1.70%) Games
11 17 (1.31%) Local Government
12 14 (1.08%) Military
13 12 (0.93%) Retail
14 11 (0.85%) Law
15 10 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
16 9 (0.69%) Financial Institution
16 9 (0.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 9 (0.69%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.54%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 300 (23.17%) Network Engineer
2 206 (15.91%) Architect
3 138 (10.66%) Security Engineer
4 114 (8.80%) Senior
5 78 (6.02%) Analyst
5 78 (6.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 74 (5.71%) Network Architect
7 73 (5.64%) Platform Engineer
8 68 (5.25%) Consultant
9 64 (4.94%) DevOps Engineer
10 58 (4.48%) Security Architect
11 55 (4.25%) Network Security Engineer
12 43 (3.32%) Support Engineer
13 42 (3.24%) Azure Engineer
14 40 (3.09%) Solutions Architect
15 34 (2.63%) Cloud Engineer
15 34 (2.63%) Lead
16 33 (2.55%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 32 (2.47%) AWS Engineer
18 31 (2.39%) Cybersecurity Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (2.39%) 802.1X
1 31 (2.39%) LDAP
2 22 (1.70%) SAML
3 19 (1.47%) Middleware
4 18 (1.39%) JSON
4 18 (1.39%) OpenID
4 18 (1.39%) RFC 2544
5 16 (1.24%) OAuth
6 15 (1.16%) REST
7 14 (1.08%) Node.js
7 14 (1.08%) OAuth2
8 11 (0.85%) XML
9 10 (0.77%) Elastic Stack
10 8 (0.62%) ARM Templates
10 8 (0.62%) YAML
11 6 (0.46%) Kafka
11 6 (0.46%) Microsoft Graph
12 4 (0.31%) Regular Expression
13 3 (0.23%) CSS
13 3 (0.23%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 205 (15.83%) Data Centre
2 82 (6.33%) Security Posture
3 63 (4.86%) Operational Technology
4 57 (4.40%) Hybrid Cloud
5 54 (4.17%) PKI
6 48 (3.71%) Replication
7 42 (3.24%) Onboarding
8 41 (3.17%) Cloud Native
9 28 (2.16%) Data Protection Act
10 26 (2.01%) Management Information System
11 24 (1.85%) Cyber Threat
11 24 (1.85%) Public Cloud
12 22 (1.70%) SCADA
12 22 (1.70%) Security Operations Centre
13 19 (1.47%) Cyber Defence
14 18 (1.39%) Private Cloud
15 15 (1.16%) Fibre Optics
15 15 (1.16%) Legacy Systems
15 15 (1.16%) Product Ownership
16 14 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 325 (25.10%) Windows
2 223 (17.22%) Linux
3 113 (8.73%) Windows Server
4 37 (2.86%) Unix
4 37 (2.86%) VMS
5 35 (2.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 29 (2.24%) Mac OS
7 25 (1.93%) Android
8 24 (1.85%) Amazon Linux
9 22 (1.70%) Ubuntu
10 13 (1.00%) Windows 10
11 12 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
12 11 (0.85%) Windows Server 2016
13 9 (0.69%) CentOS
13 9 (0.69%) Windows 7
14 8 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
15 3 (0.23%) Apple iOS
15 3 (0.23%) Solaris
16 2 (0.15%) Windows Server 2003
16 2 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 232 (17.92%) Cybersecurity
2 194 (14.98%) DevOps
3 192 (14.83%) Problem-Solving
4 175 (13.51%) Cloud Security
5 171 (13.20%) CI/CD
6 159 (12.28%) Infrastructure as Code
7 158 (12.20%) SIEM
8 155 (11.97%) Incident Response
9 142 (10.97%) Migration
10 126 (9.73%) ITIL
11 125 (9.65%) Agile
12 123 (9.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 113 (8.73%) High Availability
14 104 (8.03%) Change Management
15 97 (7.49%) Stakeholder Management
16 95 (7.34%) Load Balancing
17 93 (7.18%) Security Operations
18 92 (7.10%) Network Design
19 84 (6.49%) Zero Trust
20 81 (6.25%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 271 (20.93%) Python
2 211 (16.29%) PowerShell
3 119 (9.19%) Bash
4 59 (4.56%) SQL
5 45 (3.47%) Perl
6 42 (3.24%) Java
7 21 (1.62%) Groovy
8 18 (1.39%) Kusto Query Language
9 17 (1.31%) Bicep
10 11 (0.85%) Ruby
11 9 (0.69%) Shell Script
12 8 (0.62%) JavaScript
13 6 (0.46%) Go
14 4 (0.31%) C#
15 3 (0.23%) C
15 3 (0.23%) Kotlin
15 3 (0.23%) TypeScript
16 2 (0.15%) Apex Code
16 2 (0.15%) C++
16 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 379 (29.27%) Security Cleared
2 267 (20.62%) SC Cleared
3 220 (16.99%) Cisco Certification
4 165 (12.74%) CCNP
5 102 (7.88%) CISSP
5 102 (7.88%) Degree
6 83 (6.41%) CCNA
6 83 (6.41%) DV Cleared
7 56 (4.32%) Azure Certification
8 53 (4.09%) AWS Certification
9 52 (4.02%) CISM
10 51 (3.94%) Microsoft Certification
11 50 (3.86%) CCIE
12 29 (2.24%) CompTIA Security+
12 29 (2.24%) Computer Science Degree
13 28 (2.16%) CEH
14 20 (1.54%) GIAC
15 17 (1.31%) JNCIP
16 15 (1.16%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 15 (1.16%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 114 (8.80%) NIST
2 110 (8.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 75 (5.79%) GDPR
4 44 (3.40%) PCI DSS
5 21 (1.62%) NCSC
6 20 (1.54%) SLA
7 19 (1.47%) QA
8 15 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
9 12 (0.93%) GRC
9 12 (0.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 11 (0.85%) HIPAA
11 9 (0.69%) COBIT
12 8 (0.62%) SOC 2
13 6 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 6 (0.46%) PMO
14 5 (0.39%) GxP
14 5 (0.39%) PSD2
15 4 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
15 4 (0.31%) Disclosure Scotland
15 4 (0.31%) NIST 800
System Software
1 240 (18.53%) Active Directory
2 145 (11.20%) Docker
3 140 (10.81%) VMware Infrastructure
4 45 (3.47%) Hyper-V
5 38 (2.93%) Virtual Machines
6 29 (2.24%) VMware NSX
7 25 (1.93%) vSphere
8 24 (1.85%) DFS Replication
9 16 (1.24%) Firmware
9 16 (1.24%) Squid
10 12 (0.93%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.77%) Dovecot
11 10 (0.77%) Postfix
12 8 (0.62%) Virtual Desktop
12 8 (0.62%) Virtual Servers
13 7 (0.54%) KVM
13 7 (0.54%) Snort
13 7 (0.54%) Terminal Services
14 5 (0.39%) NDS
14 5 (0.39%) NetIQ eDirectory
Systems Management
1 193 (14.90%) Terraform
2 163 (12.59%) Ansible
3 102 (7.88%) Kubernetes
4 76 (5.87%) Microsoft Intune
5 69 (5.33%) FortiGate
6 56 (4.32%) SCCM
7 39 (3.01%) Grafana
8 37 (2.86%) Prometheus
9 31 (2.39%) Single Sign-On
10 23 (1.78%) Nessus
11 20 (1.54%) vCenter Server
12 19 (1.47%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 17 (1.31%) CASB
13 17 (1.31%) CSIRT
14 15 (1.16%) QRadar
15 13 (1.00%) Fluentd
15 13 (1.00%) Puppet
16 12 (0.93%) SCOM
17 10 (0.77%) Proxmox
17 10 (0.77%) WMI
Vendors
1 436 (33.67%) Cisco
2 329 (25.41%) Microsoft
3 235 (18.15%) Palo Alto
4 176 (13.59%) VMware
5 161 (12.43%) F5
6 143 (11.04%) Fortinet
7 126 (9.73%) CheckPoint
8 111 (8.57%) Splunk
9 102 (7.88%) Juniper
10 83 (6.41%) Meraki
11 67 (5.17%) SolarWinds
12 66 (5.10%) Oracle
13 60 (4.63%) Google
14 58 (4.48%) Zscaler
15 49 (3.78%) Citrix
16 47 (3.63%) ServiceNow
17 37 (2.86%) Aruba
18 30 (2.32%) Red Hat
19 26 (2.01%) Dell
20 24 (1.85%) Tenable