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 6 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 69 55 46
Rank change year-on-year -14 -9 +21
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,305 1,340 1,935
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.58% 3.72% 4.28%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 32.87% 30.15% 30.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 832 810 1,274
10th Percentile £313 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £407 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% +0.95%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £627
90th Percentile £683 £675 £712
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 21 56
10th Percentile £28.15 - £35.00
25th Percentile £29.00 £20.00 £61.88
Median hourly rate £38.47 £35.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +9.91% -46.95% +72.00%
75th Percentile £82.25 £41.50 £76.25
90th Percentile £89.63 £48.75 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £22.50 £65.98
% change year-on-year +195.56% -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 3,970 4,444 6,262
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.89% 12.35% 13.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,583 2,571 3,881
10th Percentile £206 £220 £211
25th Percentile £356 £373 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £584 £600 £613
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 187 167 348
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.06 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.09 £22.75 £22.69
Median hourly rate £34.00 £41.00 £55.70
Median % change year-on-year -17.07% -26.39% +26.59%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £66.05
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.15
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 6 December 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 6 December 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 6 December 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 1,114 £500 -4.76% 641
UK excluding London -15 712 £488 -2.50% 610
London -16 461 £525 -4.55% 147
Work from Home -6 378 £500 -4.76% 301
North of England -19 203 £496 -0.80% 147
South East -4 185 £488 -2.50% 229
Midlands -16 140 £475 -5.00% 80
West Midlands +5 131 £475 -5.00% 57
North West -22 102 £525 +5.00% 84
Yorkshire -7 97 £450 -2.70% 52
Scotland -17 61 £438 -12.50% 19
South West -25 52 £540 +13.68% 54
East of England -9 50 £483 -12.27% 72
Wales -10 12 £250 -32.43% 23
Northern Ireland - 10 £500 - 4
East Midlands -42 9 £450 +20.00% 22
North East -4 7 £550 +22.22% 14
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 54 (4.14%) Microsoft Exchange
2 49 (3.75%) Confluence
3 33 (2.53%) SharePoint
4 16 (1.23%) OpenStack
5 14 (1.07%) Apache
6 11 (0.84%) nginx
7 6 (0.46%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.38%) JBoss
9 4 (0.31%) IIS
9 4 (0.31%) 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%) CMS
12 1 (0.077%) Exchange Server 2010
12 1 (0.077%) Exchange Server 2013
12 1 (0.077%) Mattermost
Applications
1 34 (2.61%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 13 (1.00%) MS Visio
3 10 (0.77%) Mozilla Thunderbird
4 7 (0.54%) 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
1 412 (31.57%) Azure
2 348 (26.67%) AWS
3 147 (11.26%) GCP
4 142 (10.88%) Microsoft 365
5 91 (6.97%) Entra ID
6 76 (5.82%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 67 (5.13%) Amazon EC2
8 59 (4.52%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 59 (4.52%) Azure Sentinel
9 56 (4.29%) Amazon S3
10 44 (3.37%) Amazon ELB
11 40 (3.07%) IaaS
12 38 (2.91%) GitHub
13 36 (2.76%) Akamai
14 35 (2.68%) Azure Monitor
15 34 (2.61%) Azure DevOps
16 32 (2.45%) PaaS
16 32 (2.45%) Serverless
17 29 (2.22%) SaaS
18 27 (2.07%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 285 (21.84%) VPN
2 281 (21.53%) Network Security
3 277 (21.23%) DNS
4 250 (19.16%) WAN
5 174 (13.33%) LAN
6 157 (12.03%) BGP
7 150 (11.49%) TCP/IP
8 139 (10.65%) SD-WAN
9 131 (10.04%) OSPF
10 125 (9.58%) Wireless
11 113 (8.66%) DHCP
12 111 (8.51%) VLAN
13 105 (8.05%) Wi-Fi
14 85 (6.51%) SSL
15 78 (5.98%) MPLS
16 77 (5.90%) Cisco Nexus
17 64 (4.90%) Cisco ISE
18 58 (4.44%) IPsec
19 57 (4.37%) HTTP
20 51 (3.91%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (3.07%) SQL Server
2 38 (2.91%) Amazon RDS
3 25 (1.92%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (0.77%) Amazon Aurora
4 10 (0.77%) Relational Database
5 8 (0.61%) Data Lake
6 6 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (0.46%) MySQL
6 6 (0.46%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.31%) Data Warehouse
7 4 (0.31%) DB2
7 4 (0.31%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.31%) Redis
8 3 (0.23%) Apache Cassandra
8 3 (0.23%) DynamoDB
8 3 (0.23%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.15%) Amazon QuickSight
9 2 (0.15%) Data Vault
9 2 (0.15%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.15%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 97 (7.43%) Jenkins
2 87 (6.67%) Git
3 77 (5.90%) JIRA
4 65 (4.98%) GitLab
5 24 (1.84%) Sonatype Nexus
6 20 (1.53%) Vagrant
7 13 (1.00%) Bitbucket
8 7 (0.54%) Burp Suite
8 7 (0.54%) Metasploit
8 7 (0.54%) Postman
8 7 (0.54%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.23%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.15%) Maven
10 2 (0.15%) MSI
11 1 (0.077%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.077%) CircleCI
11 1 (0.077%) Eclipse
11 1 (0.077%) Subversion
11 1 (0.077%) Travis CI
General
1 344 (26.36%) Social Skills
2 142 (10.88%) Analytical Skills
3 134 (10.27%) Finance
4 129 (9.89%) Public Sector
5 64 (4.90%) Documentation Skills
6 60 (4.60%) Banking
7 57 (4.37%) Telecoms
8 34 (2.61%) Manufacturing
9 29 (2.22%) Presentation Skills
10 27 (2.07%) Legal
11 19 (1.46%) Games
12 17 (1.30%) Local Government
13 15 (1.15%) Military
14 13 (1.00%) Retail
15 11 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
16 10 (0.77%) Influencing Skills
17 9 (0.69%) Financial Institution
17 9 (0.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 9 (0.69%) Law
18 7 (0.54%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 306 (23.45%) Network Engineer
2 203 (15.56%) Architect
3 133 (10.19%) Security Engineer
4 113 (8.66%) Senior
5 83 (6.36%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 81 (6.21%) Analyst
7 71 (5.44%) Network Architect
8 69 (5.29%) Platform Engineer
9 67 (5.13%) Consultant
10 63 (4.83%) DevOps Engineer
11 58 (4.44%) Security Architect
12 54 (4.14%) Network Security Engineer
13 42 (3.22%) Azure Engineer
13 42 (3.22%) Solutions Architect
13 42 (3.22%) Support Engineer
14 37 (2.84%) Lead
14 37 (2.84%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
15 34 (2.61%) Cloud Engineer
16 31 (2.38%) AWS Engineer
16 31 (2.38%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (2.45%) 802.1X
1 32 (2.45%) LDAP
2 25 (1.92%) SAML
3 21 (1.61%) JSON
4 19 (1.46%) Middleware
5 18 (1.38%) OpenID
6 16 (1.23%) OAuth
6 16 (1.23%) REST
7 15 (1.15%) RFC 2544
8 14 (1.07%) OAuth2
9 13 (1.00%) Node.js
9 13 (1.00%) XML
10 11 (0.84%) Elastic Stack
11 9 (0.69%) YAML
12 8 (0.61%) ARM Templates
13 6 (0.46%) Kafka
13 6 (0.46%) Microsoft Graph
14 4 (0.31%) Regular Expression
15 3 (0.23%) Lambda Expressions
15 3 (0.23%) React
Miscellaneous
1 205 (15.71%) Data Centre
2 83 (6.36%) Security Posture
3 64 (4.90%) Operational Technology
4 57 (4.37%) Hybrid Cloud
5 54 (4.14%) PKI
6 47 (3.60%) Replication
7 42 (3.22%) Onboarding
8 41 (3.14%) Cloud Native
9 28 (2.15%) Data Protection Act
9 28 (2.15%) Management Information System
10 24 (1.84%) Cyber Threat
11 23 (1.76%) Public Cloud
11 23 (1.76%) Security Operations Centre
12 21 (1.61%) SCADA
13 18 (1.38%) Cyber Defence
14 16 (1.23%) Private Cloud
15 15 (1.15%) Legacy Systems
15 15 (1.15%) Product Ownership
16 14 (1.07%) Enterprise Software
17 12 (0.92%) Fat Client
Operating Systems
1 332 (25.44%) Windows
2 226 (17.32%) Linux
3 118 (9.04%) Windows Server
4 38 (2.91%) Unix
5 37 (2.84%) VMS
6 36 (2.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 26 (1.99%) Mac OS
8 23 (1.76%) Amazon Linux
9 22 (1.69%) Android
9 22 (1.69%) Ubuntu
10 13 (1.00%) Windows 10
11 12 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
12 11 (0.84%) Windows Server 2016
13 9 (0.69%) CentOS
13 9 (0.69%) Windows 7
14 7 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
15 3 (0.23%) Apple iOS
15 3 (0.23%) Solaris
16 2 (0.15%) CatOS
16 2 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 239 (18.31%) Cybersecurity
2 198 (15.17%) Problem-Solving
3 196 (15.02%) DevOps
4 172 (13.18%) CI/CD
4 172 (13.18%) Cloud Security
5 163 (12.49%) Infrastructure as Code
6 162 (12.41%) SIEM
7 155 (11.88%) Incident Response
8 141 (10.80%) Migration
9 130 (9.96%) Agile
9 130 (9.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 127 (9.73%) ITIL
11 116 (8.89%) High Availability
12 105 (8.05%) Change Management
13 101 (7.74%) Load Balancing
14 100 (7.66%) Stakeholder Management
15 94 (7.20%) Security Operations
16 93 (7.13%) Network Design
17 81 (6.21%) Containerisation
17 81 (6.21%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 271 (20.77%) Python
2 211 (16.17%) PowerShell
3 119 (9.12%) Bash
4 63 (4.83%) SQL
5 44 (3.37%) Perl
6 41 (3.14%) Java
7 20 (1.53%) Bicep
7 20 (1.53%) Groovy
8 18 (1.38%) Kusto Query Language
9 11 (0.84%) Ruby
10 9 (0.69%) Shell Script
11 7 (0.54%) JavaScript
12 6 (0.46%) Go
13 4 (0.31%) C#
14 3 (0.23%) C
14 3 (0.23%) Kotlin
14 3 (0.23%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.15%) Apex Code
15 2 (0.15%) C++
15 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 379 (29.04%) Security Cleared
2 267 (20.46%) SC Cleared
3 223 (17.09%) Cisco Certification
4 170 (13.03%) CCNP
5 107 (8.20%) Degree
6 100 (7.66%) CISSP
7 83 (6.36%) CCNA
8 80 (6.13%) DV Cleared
9 56 (4.29%) Azure Certification
10 53 (4.06%) AWS Certification
11 52 (3.98%) CISM
11 52 (3.98%) Microsoft Certification
12 51 (3.91%) CCIE
13 29 (2.22%) CEH
13 29 (2.22%) CompTIA Security+
14 28 (2.15%) Computer Science Degree
15 20 (1.53%) GIAC
16 18 (1.38%) JNCIP
17 15 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
18 14 (1.07%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 111 (8.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 111 (8.51%) NIST
2 79 (6.05%) GDPR
3 47 (3.60%) PCI DSS
4 22 (1.69%) QA
5 21 (1.61%) NCSC
6 20 (1.53%) SLA
7 15 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
8 12 (0.92%) GRC
8 12 (0.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 11 (0.84%) HIPAA
10 9 (0.69%) COBIT
11 8 (0.61%) PMO
12 7 (0.54%) SOC 2
13 6 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 5 (0.38%) GxP
14 5 (0.38%) PSD2
15 4 (0.31%) Accessibility
15 4 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
15 4 (0.31%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 240 (18.39%) Active Directory
2 146 (11.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 144 (11.03%) Docker
4 49 (3.75%) Hyper-V
5 39 (2.99%) Virtual Machines
6 32 (2.45%) VMware NSX
7 25 (1.92%) vSphere
8 23 (1.76%) DFS Replication
9 16 (1.23%) Squid
10 15 (1.15%) Firmware
11 12 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
12 10 (0.77%) Dovecot
12 10 (0.77%) Postfix
13 8 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
13 8 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
14 7 (0.54%) KVM
14 7 (0.54%) Snort
14 7 (0.54%) Terminal Services
15 5 (0.38%) NDS
15 5 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
Systems Management
1 199 (15.25%) Terraform
2 163 (12.49%) Ansible
3 103 (7.89%) Kubernetes
4 70 (5.36%) FortiGate
4 70 (5.36%) Microsoft Intune
5 53 (4.06%) SCCM
6 39 (2.99%) Grafana
7 37 (2.84%) Prometheus
8 33 (2.53%) Single Sign-On
9 23 (1.76%) Nessus
10 21 (1.61%) vCenter Server
11 20 (1.53%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 17 (1.30%) CASB
12 17 (1.30%) CSIRT
13 15 (1.15%) QRadar
14 14 (1.07%) Puppet
15 13 (1.00%) Fluentd
15 13 (1.00%) SCOM
16 10 (0.77%) Nmap
16 10 (0.77%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 430 (32.95%) Cisco
2 330 (25.29%) Microsoft
3 243 (18.62%) Palo Alto
4 184 (14.10%) VMware
5 166 (12.72%) F5
6 143 (10.96%) Fortinet
7 129 (9.89%) CheckPoint
8 111 (8.51%) Splunk
9 103 (7.89%) Juniper
10 84 (6.44%) Meraki
11 69 (5.29%) SolarWinds
12 68 (5.21%) Oracle
13 60 (4.60%) Google
14 56 (4.29%) Zscaler
15 50 (3.83%) Citrix
16 48 (3.68%) ServiceNow
17 40 (3.07%) Aruba
18 30 (2.30%) Red Hat
19 26 (1.99%) Dell
20 24 (1.84%) Tenable