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

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 52 56
Rank change year-on-year -38 +4 -8
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,367 1,279 1,518
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.71% 4.30% 3.46%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.52% 34.34% 27.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 879 757 949
10th Percentile £350 £316 £300
25th Percentile £413 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £625
90th Percentile £650 £688 £728
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% +2.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 21 45
10th Percentile £26.42 - £17.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £23.92
Median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +86.67% -50.00% -4.08%
75th Percentile £70.17 £41.25 £85.65
90th Percentile £78.53 £45.00 £87.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £83.63
% change year-on-year +86.67% -64.13% +33.71%

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 4,793 3,724 5,432
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.51% 12.51% 12.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,942 2,288 3,212
10th Percentile £250 £220 £210
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -1.96%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £470 £488
% change year-on-year +2.13% -3.59% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 291 175 422
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.04 £19.14 £17.69
Median hourly rate £27.88 £44.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -36.64% +10.00% +110.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £61.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £78.00 £71.19
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £31.08 £47.50
% change year-on-year -9.91% -34.57% +150.46%

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 18 June 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 18 June 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 18 June 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 -42 1,153 £500 -0.05% 464
UK excluding London -31 779 £500 +3.09% 435
London -53 430 £500 -4.71% 106
Work from Home -33 389 £520 +4.00% 186
North of England -19 273 £500 +5.26% 94
South East -23 213 £500 - 156
North West 0 175 £535 +12.63% 54
Yorkshire -43 83 £434 -11.39% 28
Midlands -60 76 £425 -13.62% 65
East of England -8 72 £505 -3.81% 43
Scotland +15 66 £450 +2.86% 15
West Midlands -46 64 £420 -16.00% 38
South West -42 60 £525 +8.25% 45
Wales -19 25 £425 +30.77% 6
North East -17 21 £625 +25.00% 13
East Midlands -42 9 £500 +1.63% 27
Northern Ireland -5 2 £385 - 20

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 36 (2.63%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (2.27%) Confluence
3 22 (1.61%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.02%) nginx
5 11 (0.80%) Apache
6 10 (0.73%) CICS
7 6 (0.44%) IIS
8 5 (0.37%) 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 (0.073%) MTS
Applications
1 24 (1.76%) MS Visio
2 22 (1.61%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.32%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (0.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.59%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.073%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 1 (0.073%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.073%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.073%) Primavera
1 1 (0.073%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.073%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.073%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 451 (32.99%) Azure
2 287 (20.99%) AWS
3 124 (9.07%) Entra ID
4 112 (8.19%) GCP
5 109 (7.97%) Microsoft 365
6 73 (5.34%) GitHub
7 62 (4.54%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 59 (4.32%) IaaS
9 53 (3.88%) Azure DevOps
10 46 (3.37%) SaaS
11 41 (3.00%) PaaS
12 37 (2.71%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 37 (2.71%) OCI
13 35 (2.56%) Azure Monitor
13 35 (2.56%) Azure Sentinel
14 34 (2.49%) GitHub Actions
14 34 (2.49%) Serverless
15 28 (2.05%) Amazon EC2
15 28 (2.05%) Google Kubernetes Engine
16 25 (1.83%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 391 (28.60%) Network Security
2 376 (27.51%) WAN
3 351 (25.68%) VPN
4 289 (21.14%) DNS
5 276 (20.19%) LAN
6 242 (17.70%) BGP
7 206 (15.07%) OSPF
8 177 (12.95%) VLAN
9 155 (11.34%) SD-WAN
10 151 (11.05%) TCP/IP
11 146 (10.68%) DHCP
11 146 (10.68%) Wireless
12 114 (8.34%) Wi-Fi
13 99 (7.24%) BIG-IP
14 94 (6.88%) MPLS
14 94 (6.88%) VXLAN
15 86 (6.29%) IPsec
16 78 (5.71%) Ethernet VPN
16 78 (5.71%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 78 (5.71%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (1.61%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.32%) Elasticsearch
3 16 (1.17%) Power BI
4 15 (1.10%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (0.80%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (0.73%) DataStage
7 9 (0.66%) Oracle Database
8 8 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
8 8 (0.59%) Data Lake
8 8 (0.59%) MySQL
9 7 (0.51%) Data Warehouse
9 7 (0.51%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.29%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.29%) Amazon QuickSight
10 4 (0.29%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (0.29%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.29%) Metadata
10 4 (0.29%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.22%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 90 (6.58%) JIRA
2 59 (4.32%) Jenkins
3 43 (3.15%) GitLab
4 42 (3.07%) Git
5 14 (1.02%) Sonatype Nexus
6 10 (0.73%) Artifactory
6 10 (0.73%) Burp Suite
7 9 (0.66%) Bitbucket
7 9 (0.66%) Chocolatey
7 9 (0.66%) SonarQube
8 8 (0.59%) Metasploit
9 7 (0.51%) Jaeger
10 5 (0.37%) Browser DevTools
11 2 (0.15%) Cucumber
11 2 (0.15%) Gatling
11 2 (0.15%) Gradle
11 2 (0.15%) Introscope
11 2 (0.15%) LoadRunner
11 2 (0.15%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.15%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 299 (21.87%) Social Skills
2 170 (12.44%) Finance
3 113 (8.27%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (7.90%) Public Sector
5 80 (5.85%) Documentation Skills
6 59 (4.32%) Banking
7 37 (2.71%) Telecoms
8 36 (2.63%) Legal
9 23 (1.68%) Financial Institution
10 21 (1.54%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.39%) Military
12 16 (1.17%) Influencing Skills
13 13 (0.95%) Law
14 12 (0.88%) Retail
15 11 (0.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 11 (0.80%) Investment Banking
15 11 (0.80%) Local Government
16 10 (0.73%) Organisational Skills
17 9 (0.66%) Front Office
17 9 (0.66%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 438 (32.04%) Network Engineer
2 206 (15.07%) Architect
3 168 (12.29%) Senior
4 127 (9.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 115 (8.41%) Security Engineer
6 71 (5.19%) Senior Network Engineer
7 70 (5.12%) Network Architect
8 67 (4.90%) Cloud Engineer
9 58 (4.24%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 54 (3.95%) Azure Engineer
11 51 (3.73%) Network Security Engineer
12 47 (3.44%) Technical Architect
13 45 (3.29%) Consultant
14 44 (3.22%) Lead
15 43 (3.15%) DevOps Engineer
16 42 (3.07%) Cisco Engineer
17 38 (2.78%) Cisco Network Engineer
18 37 (2.71%) Security Architect
19 35 (2.56%) Cloud Architect
20 34 (2.49%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 74 (5.41%) 802.1X
2 40 (2.93%) Middleware
3 34 (2.49%) LDAP
4 27 (1.98%) SAML
5 23 (1.68%) OpenID
6 14 (1.02%) Kafka
7 12 (0.88%) OAuth
8 11 (0.80%) OAuth2
9 10 (0.73%) OpenTelemetry
9 10 (0.73%) REST
10 9 (0.66%) Spring Boot
11 8 (0.59%) ARM Templates
12 7 (0.51%) .NET
12 7 (0.51%) YAML
13 6 (0.44%) LangChain
13 6 (0.44%) PyTorch
13 6 (0.44%) React
13 6 (0.44%) SailPoint
13 6 (0.44%) scikit-learn
14 5 (0.37%) AWS CDK
Miscellaneous
1 328 (23.99%) Data Centre
2 85 (6.22%) Cloud Native
3 80 (5.85%) Security Posture
4 66 (4.83%) Hybrid Cloud
5 59 (4.32%) Onboarding
5 59 (4.32%) PKI
6 45 (3.29%) Management Information System
7 42 (3.07%) Clustering
8 39 (2.85%) Operational Technology
9 31 (2.27%) Public Cloud
10 29 (2.12%) Data Protection Act
11 25 (1.83%) IoT
12 23 (1.68%) Enterprise Storage
13 22 (1.61%) Cyber Threat
14 20 (1.46%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
15 19 (1.39%) SCADA
15 19 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
16 16 (1.17%) Driving Licence
16 16 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
17 15 (1.10%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 304 (22.24%) Windows
2 183 (13.39%) Linux
3 111 (8.12%) Windows Server
4 39 (2.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 30 (2.19%) Unix
6 23 (1.68%) VMS
7 13 (0.95%) Windows Server 2019
8 11 (0.80%) Solaris
9 10 (0.73%) AIX
10 9 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
11 8 (0.59%) Ubuntu
11 8 (0.59%) Windows Server 2003
12 6 (0.44%) Windows 10
12 6 (0.44%) Windows Server 2012
13 5 (0.37%) CentOS
13 5 (0.37%) Mac OS
14 4 (0.29%) Android
14 4 (0.29%) SUSE
15 3 (0.22%) Amazon Linux
15 3 (0.22%) CatOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 239 (17.48%) DevOps
2 210 (15.36%) CI/CD
3 194 (14.19%) Infrastructure as Code
4 189 (13.83%) Load Balancing
5 187 (13.68%) Migration
6 174 (12.73%) High Availability
7 168 (12.29%) Cybersecurity
7 168 (12.29%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 162 (11.85%) Problem-Solving
9 159 (11.63%) ITIL
10 149 (10.90%) Agile
11 147 (10.75%) Zero Trust
12 111 (8.12%) Change Management
12 111 (8.12%) SIEM
13 108 (7.90%) Observability
13 108 (7.90%) Project Delivery
14 102 (7.46%) Cloud Security
15 101 (7.39%) Validation
16 99 (7.24%) Network Segmentation
17 96 (7.02%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 216 (15.80%) Python
2 136 (9.95%) PowerShell
3 80 (5.85%) Bash
4 47 (3.44%) SQL
5 39 (2.85%) Bicep
6 34 (2.49%) Java
7 11 (0.80%) ActionScript
8 10 (0.73%) COBOL
8 10 (0.73%) Perl
9 6 (0.44%) Groovy
9 6 (0.44%) JavaScript
9 6 (0.44%) Kusto Query Language
9 6 (0.44%) Rust
10 5 (0.37%) PL/SQL
11 4 (0.29%) C++
11 4 (0.29%) Go
12 3 (0.22%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.15%) C
13 2 (0.15%) Jython
13 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 454 (33.21%) Security Cleared
2 337 (24.65%) SC Cleared
3 283 (20.70%) Cisco Certification
4 208 (15.22%) CCNP
5 123 (9.00%) CCNA
6 112 (8.19%) Degree
7 99 (7.24%) DV Cleared
8 66 (4.83%) CISSP
9 57 (4.17%) Azure Certification
10 40 (2.93%) CCIE
11 37 (2.71%) AWS Certification
12 33 (2.41%) CISM
12 33 (2.41%) Microsoft Certification
13 21 (1.54%) Network+ Certification
14 20 (1.46%) JNCIS
15 18 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
15 18 (1.32%) JNCIA
15 18 (1.32%) PMP
16 17 (1.24%) Server+ Certification
17 16 (1.17%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (5.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 56 (4.10%) NIST
3 47 (3.44%) GDPR
4 31 (2.27%) PCI DSS
5 30 (2.19%) NCSC
6 29 (2.12%) SLA
7 25 (1.83%) QA
8 23 (1.68%) Cyber Essentials
9 9 (0.66%) PMO
10 8 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
11 7 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
11 7 (0.51%) Data Quality
12 6 (0.44%) GRC
12 6 (0.44%) NIST 800
12 6 (0.44%) RMADS
13 5 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (0.37%) JSP 440
13 5 (0.37%) SOC 2
14 4 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 208 (15.22%) Active Directory
2 149 (10.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 55 (4.02%) Docker
3 55 (4.02%) VMware NSX
4 39 (2.85%) vSphere
5 36 (2.63%) Hyper-V
6 34 (2.49%) Virtual Machines
7 32 (2.34%) VMware ESXi
8 25 (1.83%) Firmware
9 22 (1.61%) Virtual Desktop
10 16 (1.17%) Squid
11 14 (1.02%) BitLocker
12 10 (0.73%) Microsoft App-V
13 4 (0.29%) Terminal Services
14 3 (0.22%) DFS Replication
14 3 (0.22%) Dovecot
14 3 (0.22%) Postfix
15 2 (0.15%) Oracle RAC
15 2 (0.15%) Virtual Servers
15 2 (0.15%) VirtualBox
Systems Management
1 230 (16.83%) Terraform
2 173 (12.66%) Ansible
3 110 (8.05%) FortiGate
4 108 (7.90%) Kubernetes
5 64 (4.68%) Grafana
6 58 (4.24%) Prometheus
7 53 (3.88%) Microsoft Intune
8 32 (2.34%) Single Sign-On
9 30 (2.19%) SCCM
10 24 (1.76%) vCenter Server
11 19 (1.39%) Puppet
12 17 (1.24%) Progress Chef
13 15 (1.10%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 13 (0.95%) CASB
15 12 (0.88%) Cisco Prime
16 11 (0.80%) Consul
16 11 (0.80%) QRadar
17 10 (0.73%) Nmap
17 10 (0.73%) vMotion
17 10 (0.73%) VxRail
Vendors
1 493 (36.06%) Cisco
2 305 (22.31%) Palo Alto
3 270 (19.75%) Microsoft
4 193 (14.12%) Fortinet
5 192 (14.05%) F5
6 190 (13.90%) VMware
7 150 (10.97%) Juniper
8 124 (9.07%) CheckPoint
9 86 (6.29%) Aruba
10 81 (5.93%) Splunk
11 73 (5.34%) ServiceNow
12 72 (5.27%) Arista
13 67 (4.90%) SolarWinds
14 59 (4.32%) Google
15 50 (3.66%) Zscaler
16 42 (3.07%) Red Hat
17 39 (2.85%) Citrix
18 34 (2.49%) Meraki
19 28 (2.05%) Extreme Networks
20 27 (1.98%) Dynatrace