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

6 months to
4 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 81 48 48
Rank change year-on-year -33 0 +10
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,330 1,249 1,725
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.16% 4.16% 3.90%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.98% 31.43% 28.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 882 741 1,070
10th Percentile £325 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £513
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £590 £613 £625
90th Percentile £668 £715 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 23 49
10th Percentile £29.33 £20.00 £16.00
25th Percentile £35.94 £28.78 £46.39
Median hourly rate £41.94 £37.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +13.35% -43.92% +26.57%
75th Percentile £74.26 £43.49 £76.53
90th Percentile £85.30 £71.00 £87.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.71 £36.65 £72.50
% change year-on-year +24.74% -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 4,293 3,974 5,960
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.19% 13.23% 13.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,798 2,399 3,576
10th Percentile £205 £208 £205
25th Percentile £363 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £500 £480
Median % change year-on-year -3.75% +4.17% -7.69%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -0.32% -1.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 176 132 388
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.52 £14.27
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.46 £19.98
Median hourly rate £34.50 £35.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.43% -12.50% +107.25%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.88 £73.83
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £31.79 £47.50
% change year-on-year +31.93% -33.07% +150.00%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 -32 1,115 £513 -2.38% 575
UK excluding London -24 737 £500 - 522
London -48 416 £525 -0.94% 141
Work from Home -20 397 £500 - 204
North of England -27 231 £519 +9.16% 122
South East +15 209 £500 - 206
North West -19 143 £540 +8.00% 80
Midlands -39 105 £425 -20.60% 61
West Midlands -16 94 £425 -11.23% 29
Yorkshire -25 86 £447 +5.18% 35
South West -46 60 £545 +3.81% 45
Scotland -11 56 £425 -2.86% 19
East of England -25 47 £470 -12.56% 68
Wales -16 25 £425 +16.44% 17
East Midlands -54 9 £488 -21.08% 31
Northern Ireland - 6 £500 -
North East -18 5 £548 -0.45% 7

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 (3.38%) Microsoft Exchange
2 39 (2.93%) Confluence
3 23 (1.73%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.05%) Apache
5 13 (0.98%) nginx
6 8 (0.60%) CICS
6 8 (0.60%) OpenStack
7 6 (0.45%) IIS
7 6 (0.45%) SAS
8 3 (0.23%) 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 (2.71%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (1.58%) MS Visio
3 18 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.28%) 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
1 447 (33.61%) Azure
2 334 (25.11%) AWS
3 148 (11.13%) GCP
4 117 (8.80%) Microsoft 365
5 105 (7.89%) Entra ID
6 75 (5.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 59 (4.44%) GitHub
8 55 (4.14%) IaaS
9 47 (3.53%) Amazon EC2
9 47 (3.53%) PaaS
10 42 (3.16%) Azure Sentinel
11 41 (3.08%) Azure DevOps
12 38 (2.86%) Azure Monitor
12 38 (2.86%) Serverless
13 37 (2.78%) Amazon S3
14 34 (2.56%) AWS CloudFormation
14 34 (2.56%) SaaS
15 32 (2.41%) GitHub Actions
16 31 (2.33%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 31 (2.33%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 340 (25.56%) Network Security
2 323 (24.29%) VPN
3 299 (22.48%) WAN
4 272 (20.45%) DNS
5 217 (16.32%) LAN
6 198 (14.89%) BGP
7 172 (12.93%) OSPF
8 152 (11.43%) TCP/IP
9 148 (11.13%) VLAN
10 127 (9.55%) DHCP
11 125 (9.40%) Wireless
12 119 (8.95%) SD-WAN
13 98 (7.37%) MPLS
14 94 (7.07%) Wi-Fi
15 69 (5.19%) IPsec
15 69 (5.19%) SSL
16 64 (4.81%) Cisco ISE
17 63 (4.74%) Cisco ASA
18 57 (4.29%) VXLAN
19 56 (4.21%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (2.48%) SQL Server
2 22 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
3 21 (1.58%) Amazon RDS
4 15 (1.13%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (0.68%) Data Lake
6 8 (0.60%) DataStage
6 8 (0.60%) Oracle Database
7 7 (0.53%) Data Warehouse
7 7 (0.53%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.38%) 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 (0.23%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.23%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.23%) Oracle Exadata
11 2 (0.15%) DB2
11 2 (0.15%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 76 (5.71%) JIRA
2 73 (5.49%) Jenkins
3 63 (4.74%) GitLab
4 61 (4.59%) Git
5 24 (1.80%) Sonatype Nexus
6 21 (1.58%) Bitbucket
7 15 (1.13%) Burp Suite
7 15 (1.13%) Metasploit
8 8 (0.60%) Chocolatey
8 8 (0.60%) Jaeger
9 7 (0.53%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.30%) Artifactory
10 4 (0.30%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.15%) Vagrant
12 1 (0.075%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.075%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.075%) MSI
12 1 (0.075%) Postman
12 1 (0.075%) Subversion
12 1 (0.075%) Travis CI
General
1 363 (27.29%) Social Skills
2 157 (11.80%) Finance
3 137 (10.30%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (8.12%) Public Sector
5 99 (7.44%) Documentation Skills
6 59 (4.44%) Banking
7 45 (3.38%) Telecoms
8 36 (2.71%) Legal
9 28 (2.11%) Manufacturing
10 24 (1.80%) Financial Institution
10 24 (1.80%) Presentation Skills
11 17 (1.28%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.20%) Military
13 13 (0.98%) Local Government
14 11 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (0.75%) Law
15 10 (0.75%) Retail
16 8 (0.60%) Aerospace
17 7 (0.53%) Electronics
17 7 (0.53%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 360 (27.07%) Network Engineer
2 229 (17.22%) Architect
3 132 (9.92%) Senior
4 122 (9.17%) Security Engineer
5 83 (6.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 81 (6.09%) Network Architect
7 57 (4.29%) Security Architect
8 53 (3.98%) Azure Engineer
9 50 (3.76%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 49 (3.68%) Analyst
10 49 (3.68%) DevOps Engineer
11 48 (3.61%) Consultant
12 43 (3.23%) Solutions Architect
13 41 (3.08%) Network Security Engineer
14 40 (3.01%) Senior Network Engineer
15 39 (2.93%) Cloud Engineer
16 37 (2.78%) Platform Engineer
17 34 (2.56%) Lead
18 32 (2.41%) IT Engineer
19 31 (2.33%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 68 (5.11%) 802.1X
2 41 (3.08%) LDAP
3 33 (2.48%) Middleware
4 32 (2.41%) SAML
5 29 (2.18%) OpenID
6 20 (1.50%) OAuth
7 19 (1.43%) OAuth2
8 15 (1.13%) Kafka
9 14 (1.05%) Node.js
10 13 (0.98%) REST
11 12 (0.90%) JSON
12 10 (0.75%) OpenTelemetry
13 9 (0.68%) ARM Templates
13 9 (0.68%) Spring Boot
13 9 (0.68%) XML
14 7 (0.53%) Elastic Stack
14 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Graph
15 6 (0.45%) LangChain
15 6 (0.45%) PyTorch
15 6 (0.45%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 271 (20.38%) Data Centre
2 93 (6.99%) Security Posture
3 72 (5.41%) PKI
4 62 (4.66%) Cloud Native
5 49 (3.68%) Onboarding
6 48 (3.61%) Operational Technology
7 47 (3.53%) Hybrid Cloud
8 34 (2.56%) Management Information System
8 34 (2.56%) Public Cloud
9 25 (1.88%) Clustering
10 24 (1.80%) Cyber Threat
10 24 (1.80%) Replication
11 23 (1.73%) Data Protection Act
12 22 (1.65%) Product Ownership
12 22 (1.65%) Security Operations Centre
13 19 (1.43%) NHS
14 18 (1.35%) Private Cloud
14 18 (1.35%) SCADA
15 15 (1.13%) IoT
16 13 (0.98%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 326 (24.51%) Windows
2 212 (15.94%) Linux
3 130 (9.77%) Windows Server
4 36 (2.71%) Unix
5 33 (2.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 28 (2.11%) VMS
7 11 (0.83%) Windows 10
8 10 (0.75%) Windows 7
8 10 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (0.68%) Solaris
10 8 (0.60%) AIX
11 7 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
12 6 (0.45%) Ubuntu
13 5 (0.38%) Amazon Linux
13 5 (0.38%) CentOS
13 5 (0.38%) Mac OS
13 5 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
14 4 (0.30%) Android
14 4 (0.30%) CatOS
14 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 244 (18.35%) Cybersecurity
2 218 (16.39%) Problem-Solving
3 210 (15.79%) DevOps
4 196 (14.74%) CI/CD
5 187 (14.06%) Infrastructure as Code
6 153 (11.50%) Migration
7 144 (10.83%) SIEM
8 141 (10.60%) Cloud Security
9 139 (10.45%) ITIL
10 137 (10.30%) Load Balancing
11 132 (9.92%) High Availability
12 130 (9.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 126 (9.47%) Agile
14 125 (9.40%) Incident Response
15 110 (8.27%) Zero Trust
16 104 (7.82%) Change Management
17 100 (7.52%) Mentoring
17 100 (7.52%) Stakeholder Management
18 89 (6.69%) Security Architecture
19 86 (6.47%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 226 (16.99%) Python
2 192 (14.44%) PowerShell
3 105 (7.89%) Bash
4 59 (4.44%) SQL
5 40 (3.01%) Java
6 30 (2.26%) Perl
7 25 (1.88%) Bicep
8 12 (0.90%) Ruby
9 11 (0.83%) Kusto Query Language
10 8 (0.60%) COBOL
10 8 (0.60%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.60%) Rust
11 5 (0.38%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.30%) C#
12 4 (0.30%) Go
13 3 (0.23%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.15%) C++
14 2 (0.15%) Groovy
15 1 (0.075%) Korn
15 1 (0.075%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 452 (33.98%) Security Cleared
2 304 (22.86%) SC Cleared
3 259 (19.47%) Cisco Certification
4 208 (15.64%) CCNP
5 121 (9.10%) DV Cleared
6 119 (8.95%) Degree
7 106 (7.97%) CCNA
8 95 (7.14%) CISSP
9 54 (4.06%) CISM
10 52 (3.91%) Azure Certification
10 52 (3.91%) CCIE
11 48 (3.61%) AWS Certification
12 41 (3.08%) Microsoft Certification
13 29 (2.18%) CompTIA Security+
14 26 (1.95%) JNCIP
14 26 (1.95%) JNCIS
15 21 (1.58%) Computer Science Degree
16 20 (1.50%) Network+ Certification
17 18 (1.35%) JNCIA
18 17 (1.28%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 113 (8.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 96 (7.22%) NIST
3 63 (4.74%) GDPR
4 49 (3.68%) PCI DSS
5 33 (2.48%) NCSC
5 33 (2.48%) SLA
6 28 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials
7 21 (1.58%) QA
8 15 (1.13%) PMO
9 12 (0.90%) GRC
9 12 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 9 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
11 8 (0.60%) JSP 440
12 6 (0.45%) HIPAA
12 6 (0.45%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 6 (0.45%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.38%) COBIT
13 5 (0.38%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.23%) GxP
14 3 (0.23%) RMADS
System Software
1 244 (18.35%) Active Directory
2 166 (12.48%) VMware Infrastructure
3 113 (8.50%) Docker
4 65 (4.89%) VMware NSX
5 41 (3.08%) Hyper-V
6 36 (2.71%) vSphere
7 29 (2.18%) Virtual Machines
8 22 (1.65%) VMware ESXi
9 18 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
10 13 (0.98%) Firmware
11 12 (0.90%) Squid
12 9 (0.68%) Virtual Servers
13 6 (0.45%) BitLocker
13 6 (0.45%) Microsoft App-V
14 5 (0.38%) DFS Replication
14 5 (0.38%) NDS
14 5 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
15 4 (0.30%) KVM
16 3 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
16 3 (0.23%) Snort
Systems Management
1 209 (15.71%) Terraform
2 164 (12.33%) Ansible
3 126 (9.47%) Kubernetes
4 100 (7.52%) FortiGate
5 66 (4.96%) Microsoft Intune
6 44 (3.31%) Single Sign-On
7 41 (3.08%) Grafana
8 38 (2.86%) SCCM
9 35 (2.63%) Prometheus
10 28 (2.11%) vCenter Server
11 26 (1.95%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 18 (1.35%) Nmap
13 16 (1.20%) CASB
14 15 (1.13%) Nagios
14 15 (1.13%) QRadar
15 13 (0.98%) Fluentd
16 12 (0.90%) Nessus
17 10 (0.75%) Puppet
17 10 (0.75%) WMI
18 9 (0.68%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 448 (33.68%) Cisco
2 294 (22.11%) Microsoft
3 285 (21.43%) Palo Alto
4 216 (16.24%) VMware
5 158 (11.88%) F5
6 146 (10.98%) CheckPoint
7 139 (10.45%) Fortinet
8 136 (10.23%) Juniper
9 107 (8.05%) Splunk
10 86 (6.47%) Aruba
11 71 (5.34%) SolarWinds
12 62 (4.66%) Meraki
13 61 (4.59%) Google
14 55 (4.14%) Zscaler
15 52 (3.91%) ServiceNow
16 46 (3.46%) Oracle
17 43 (3.23%) Citrix
18 37 (2.78%) Red Hat
19 28 (2.11%) Arista
20 26 (1.95%) Dell