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

6 months to
25 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 51 50
Rank change year-on-year -33 -1 +9
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,334 1,225 1,640
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.04% 4.21% 3.70%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.13% 32.27% 27.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 877 736 1,019
10th Percentile £337 £313 £312
25th Percentile £413 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £509 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.72% +1.75% -4.76%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £625
90th Percentile £651 £691 £746
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £490 £495
% change year-on-year +2.04% -1.01% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 19 43
10th Percentile £20.65 £14.20 £16.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £22.38 £23.92
Median hourly rate £48.72 £36.65 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.95% -43.62% +10.80%
75th Percentile £74.26 £41.50 £85.65
90th Percentile £85.40 £50.75 £87.52
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £35.82 £76.53
% change year-on-year +36.00% -53.19% +38.33%

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 4,427 3,796 5,885
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.09% 13.05% 13.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,843 2,352 3,541
10th Percentile £213 £213 £205
25th Percentile £375 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.51% +2.63% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £473 £475
% change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 191 147 396
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £13.93
25th Percentile £18.94 £21.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £39.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +12.86% +7.69% +69.71%
75th Percentile £67.67 £62.88 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.50 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year +30.00% -27.78% +137.97%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -34 1,121 £515 - 482
UK excluding London -23 753 £500 +2.04% 421
London -57 410 £525 - 121
Work from Home -26 374 £515 +3.00% 177
North of England -17 234 £508 +6.84% 104
South East +8 232 £500 +2.30% 133
North West -9 154 £528 +11.16% 66
Midlands -47 95 £425 -24.11% 63
West Midlands -18 85 £425 -18.35% 37
Yorkshire -23 78 £433 -15.61% 27
East of England -21 56 £475 -12.04% 53
South West -45 56 £550 +0.92% 43
Scotland -2 52 £425 -2.86% 22
Wales -16 27 £425 +9.68% 13
East Midlands -56 7 £475 -19.83% 26
North East -15 5 £548 +9.50% 12
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 5

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 44 (3.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 34 (2.55%) Confluence
3 21 (1.57%) SharePoint
4 13 (0.97%) Apache
4 13 (0.97%) nginx
5 9 (0.67%) SAS
6 8 (0.60%) CICS
7 6 (0.45%) IIS
8 4 (0.30%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.22%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
10 2 (0.15%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.15%) Skype for Business
10 2 (0.15%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.075%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.075%) JBoss
Applications
1 36 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (1.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (1.50%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.075%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.075%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.075%) Primavera
2 1 (0.075%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.075%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 453 (33.96%) Azure
2 302 (22.64%) AWS
3 132 (9.90%) GCP
4 123 (9.22%) Microsoft 365
5 114 (8.55%) Entra ID
6 67 (5.02%) GitHub
7 66 (4.95%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 58 (4.35%) IaaS
9 52 (3.90%) Azure DevOps
9 52 (3.90%) PaaS
10 46 (3.45%) Azure Sentinel
11 45 (3.37%) Serverless
12 44 (3.30%) Azure Monitor
13 38 (2.85%) GitHub Actions
14 37 (2.77%) Amazon EC2
14 37 (2.77%) AWS Lambda
15 36 (2.70%) AWS CloudFormation
16 34 (2.55%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 34 (2.55%) SaaS
17 33 (2.47%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 363 (27.21%) Network Security
2 336 (25.19%) VPN
3 334 (25.04%) WAN
4 273 (20.46%) DNS
5 248 (18.59%) LAN
6 215 (16.12%) BGP
7 190 (14.24%) OSPF
8 149 (11.17%) TCP/IP
9 144 (10.79%) VLAN
10 138 (10.34%) DHCP
11 130 (9.75%) SD-WAN
12 121 (9.07%) Wireless
13 101 (7.57%) Wi-Fi
14 97 (7.27%) MPLS
15 74 (5.55%) IPsec
16 70 (5.25%) Cisco ISE
17 67 (5.02%) Cisco ASA
18 65 (4.87%) VXLAN
19 57 (4.27%) SSL
20 53 (3.97%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (2.17%) SQL Server
2 20 (1.50%) Amazon RDS
2 20 (1.50%) PostgreSQL
3 17 (1.27%) Elasticsearch
4 13 (0.97%) Oracle Database
5 10 (0.75%) Data Lake
5 10 (0.75%) Data Warehouse
6 9 (0.67%) Power BI
7 8 (0.60%) DataStage
7 8 (0.60%) MongoDB
8 7 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
9 6 (0.45%) MySQL
10 5 (0.37%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.30%) Amazon QuickSight
11 4 (0.30%) NoSQL
11 4 (0.30%) Redis
11 4 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.22%) DynamoDB
12 3 (0.22%) Oracle Exadata
12 3 (0.22%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 79 (5.92%) JIRA
2 64 (4.80%) Jenkins
3 54 (4.05%) GitLab
4 49 (3.67%) Git
5 22 (1.65%) Sonatype Nexus
6 21 (1.57%) Bitbucket
7 16 (1.20%) Burp Suite
7 16 (1.20%) Metasploit
8 9 (0.67%) Chocolatey
9 8 (0.60%) Jaeger
10 7 (0.52%) SonarQube
11 4 (0.30%) Artifactory
11 4 (0.30%) CircleCI
12 3 (0.22%) Browser DevTools
13 2 (0.15%) Introscope
14 1 (0.075%) Atlassian Bamboo
14 1 (0.075%) Maven
14 1 (0.075%) MSI
14 1 (0.075%) Postman
14 1 (0.075%) Subversion
General
1 350 (26.24%) Social Skills
2 164 (12.29%) Finance
3 137 (10.27%) Analytical Skills
4 107 (8.02%) Public Sector
5 95 (7.12%) Documentation Skills
6 57 (4.27%) Banking
7 40 (3.00%) Telecoms
8 33 (2.47%) Legal
9 26 (1.95%) Financial Institution
10 23 (1.72%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.42%) Influencing Skills
12 17 (1.27%) Presentation Skills
13 12 (0.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 12 (0.90%) Local Government
13 12 (0.90%) Military
14 11 (0.82%) Law
15 10 (0.75%) Organisational Skills
15 10 (0.75%) Retail
16 8 (0.60%) Aerospace
16 8 (0.60%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 373 (27.96%) Network Engineer
2 235 (17.62%) Architect
3 137 (10.27%) Senior
4 114 (8.55%) Security Engineer
5 87 (6.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 84 (6.30%) Network Architect
7 54 (4.05%) Azure Engineer
8 51 (3.82%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 48 (3.60%) Security Architect
10 46 (3.45%) Analyst
11 45 (3.37%) Solutions Architect
12 44 (3.30%) Senior Network Engineer
13 43 (3.22%) Cloud Engineer
14 41 (3.07%) Consultant
15 39 (2.92%) Platform Engineer
16 37 (2.77%) DevOps Engineer
16 37 (2.77%) Lead
16 37 (2.77%) Network Security Engineer
17 34 (2.55%) Cisco Engineer
18 33 (2.47%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (5.25%) 802.1X
2 38 (2.85%) LDAP
3 31 (2.32%) Middleware
4 30 (2.25%) SAML
5 29 (2.17%) OpenID
6 20 (1.50%) Kafka
6 20 (1.50%) OAuth
7 19 (1.42%) OAuth2
8 14 (1.05%) Node.js
9 12 (0.90%) REST
10 11 (0.82%) ARM Templates
10 11 (0.82%) JSON
11 10 (0.75%) OpenTelemetry
12 9 (0.67%) Spring Boot
13 8 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
13 8 (0.60%) XML
14 7 (0.52%) YAML
15 6 (0.45%) LangChain
15 6 (0.45%) PyTorch
15 6 (0.45%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 280 (20.99%) Data Centre
2 83 (6.22%) Security Posture
3 76 (5.70%) PKI
4 75 (5.62%) Cloud Native
5 47 (3.52%) Onboarding
6 44 (3.30%) Hybrid Cloud
7 41 (3.07%) Operational Technology
8 37 (2.77%) Public Cloud
9 35 (2.62%) Management Information System
10 33 (2.47%) Clustering
11 22 (1.65%) IoT
12 21 (1.57%) Cyber Threat
12 21 (1.57%) Product Ownership
13 20 (1.50%) NHS
13 20 (1.50%) Replication
13 20 (1.50%) SCADA
14 19 (1.42%) Data Protection Act
14 19 (1.42%) Security Operations Centre
15 18 (1.35%) Private Cloud
16 15 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 340 (25.49%) Windows
2 207 (15.52%) Linux
3 143 (10.72%) Windows Server
4 37 (2.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 33 (2.47%) Unix
6 26 (1.95%) VMS
7 13 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
8 11 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
9 10 (0.75%) Solaris
10 9 (0.67%) Windows 7
11 8 (0.60%) AIX
11 8 (0.60%) Windows 10
12 6 (0.45%) Windows Server 2003
13 5 (0.37%) Mac OS
14 4 (0.30%) CatOS
14 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
15 3 (0.22%) Amazon Linux
15 3 (0.22%) Ubuntu
16 2 (0.15%) Android
16 2 (0.15%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (17.02%) Cybersecurity
2 213 (15.97%) DevOps
3 207 (15.52%) Problem-Solving
4 187 (14.02%) CI/CD
5 186 (13.94%) Infrastructure as Code
6 161 (12.07%) Load Balancing
7 159 (11.92%) ITIL
8 155 (11.62%) Migration
9 142 (10.64%) High Availability
10 132 (9.90%) Agile
10 132 (9.90%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 126 (9.45%) SIEM
12 124 (9.30%) Cloud Security
13 115 (8.62%) Zero Trust
14 112 (8.40%) Change Management
15 107 (8.02%) Incident Response
16 94 (7.05%) Stakeholder Management
17 93 (6.97%) Mentoring
18 90 (6.75%) Project Delivery
19 89 (6.67%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 205 (15.37%) Python
2 195 (14.62%) PowerShell
3 93 (6.97%) Bash
4 60 (4.50%) SQL
5 38 (2.85%) Bicep
6 35 (2.62%) Java
7 27 (2.02%) Perl
8 12 (0.90%) Kusto Query Language
8 12 (0.90%) Ruby
9 8 (0.60%) COBOL
9 8 (0.60%) JavaScript
9 8 (0.60%) Rust
10 5 (0.37%) PL/SQL
11 4 (0.30%) C#
11 4 (0.30%) Go
11 4 (0.30%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.15%) C++
12 2 (0.15%) Jython
12 2 (0.15%) PHP
13 1 (0.075%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 468 (35.08%) Security Cleared
2 317 (23.76%) SC Cleared
3 251 (18.82%) Cisco Certification
4 199 (14.92%) CCNP
5 128 (9.60%) DV Cleared
6 120 (9.00%) Degree
7 104 (7.80%) CCNA
8 84 (6.30%) CISSP
9 57 (4.27%) Azure Certification
10 50 (3.75%) CCIE
11 48 (3.60%) AWS Certification
12 45 (3.37%) CISM
13 43 (3.22%) Microsoft Certification
14 27 (2.02%) CompTIA Security+
14 27 (2.02%) JNCIS
15 26 (1.95%) JNCIP
16 23 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
17 20 (1.50%) JNCIA
18 18 (1.35%) CREST Certified
18 18 (1.35%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 104 (7.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 78 (5.85%) NIST
3 68 (5.10%) GDPR
4 45 (3.37%) PCI DSS
5 38 (2.85%) NCSC
6 31 (2.32%) SLA
7 29 (2.17%) Cyber Essentials
8 21 (1.57%) QA
9 16 (1.20%) PMO
10 9 (0.67%) JSP 440
11 7 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
12 6 (0.45%) GRC
12 6 (0.45%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 5 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (0.37%) RMADS
13 5 (0.37%) SOC 2
14 4 (0.30%) Data Quality
14 4 (0.30%) GxP
14 4 (0.30%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 243 (18.22%) Active Directory
2 171 (12.82%) VMware Infrastructure
3 91 (6.82%) Docker
4 68 (5.10%) VMware NSX
5 41 (3.07%) Hyper-V
6 38 (2.85%) vSphere
7 26 (1.95%) Virtual Machines
8 24 (1.80%) VMware ESXi
9 19 (1.42%) Virtual Desktop
10 17 (1.27%) Firmware
11 11 (0.82%) Squid
12 9 (0.67%) Virtual Servers
13 8 (0.60%) BitLocker
14 7 (0.52%) Microsoft App-V
15 3 (0.22%) DFS Replication
15 3 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
16 2 (0.15%) Citrix Hypervisor
16 2 (0.15%) KVM
16 2 (0.15%) NetIQ eDirectory
16 2 (0.15%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 217 (16.27%) Terraform
2 154 (11.54%) Ansible
3 123 (9.22%) Kubernetes
4 97 (7.27%) FortiGate
5 64 (4.80%) Microsoft Intune
6 45 (3.37%) Grafana
7 44 (3.30%) Single Sign-On
8 38 (2.85%) Prometheus
9 37 (2.77%) SCCM
10 30 (2.25%) vCenter Server
11 25 (1.87%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 18 (1.35%) Nmap
13 16 (1.20%) QRadar
14 15 (1.12%) CASB
15 13 (0.97%) Nagios
16 10 (0.75%) Fluentd
16 10 (0.75%) Nessus
16 10 (0.75%) VxRail
16 10 (0.75%) WSUS
17 9 (0.67%) WMI
Vendors
1 446 (33.43%) Cisco
2 308 (23.09%) Microsoft
3 272 (20.39%) Palo Alto
4 218 (16.34%) VMware
5 150 (11.24%) F5
6 147 (11.02%) Fortinet
7 142 (10.64%) Juniper
8 127 (9.52%) CheckPoint
9 91 (6.82%) Splunk
10 90 (6.75%) Aruba
11 70 (5.25%) SolarWinds
12 64 (4.80%) Google
13 57 (4.27%) Meraki
14 53 (3.97%) ServiceNow
15 45 (3.37%) Citrix
15 45 (3.37%) Oracle
16 44 (3.30%) Zscaler
17 41 (3.07%) Red Hat
18 36 (2.70%) Arista
19 25 (1.87%) Extreme Networks