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

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 95 56 57
Rank change year-on-year -39 +1 -9
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,430 1,395 1,400
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.72% 4.25% 3.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.98% 35.34% 28.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 904 825 880
10th Percentile £350 £325 £312
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £595 £595 £614
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £489 £523
% change year-on-year +2.35% -6.51% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 27 36
10th Percentile £29.00 £14.20 £20.45
25th Percentile £37.53 £15.23 £23.92
Median hourly rate £63.75 £30.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +112.50% -20.00% -43.16%
75th Percentile £78.69 £42.61 £85.65
90th Percentile £98.19 £89.63 £87.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £30.00 £73.50
% change year-on-year +116.67% -59.18% +13.96%

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 4,935 3,947 4,876
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.39% 12.03% 12.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,949 2,411 2,952
10th Percentile £250 £235 £213
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 338 196 342
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.01
Median hourly rate £26.22 £48.75 £45.44
Median % change year-on-year -46.22% +7.28% -9.12%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.50 £74.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.66 £44.00 £51.50
% change year-on-year -39.41% -14.56% -10.30%

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 July 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 29 July 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 29 July 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 -45 1,239 £500 - 451
UK excluding London -30 809 £500 +2.35% 384
London -54 475 £500 - 129
Work from Home -32 391 £520 +4.00% 154
North of England -15 287 £500 +5.26% 91
South East -29 224 £515 +3.00% 140
North West -6 186 £525 +10.53% 46
Yorkshire -34 85 £450 -7.64% 31
Midlands -71 76 £459 -6.71% 53
East of England -8 74 £525 -4.55% 32
South West -41 73 £538 +8.86% 40
Scotland +2 64 £425 -5.56% 19
West Midlands -68 60 £450 -10.00% 31
North East -25 22 £625 - 15
Wales -18 18 £425 +17.24% 13
East Midlands -22 13 £488 +3.50% 22
Northern Ireland -9 1 - - 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 (3.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (1.96%) SharePoint
3 27 (1.89%) Confluence
4 14 (0.98%) Apache
5 13 (0.91%) nginx
6 10 (0.70%) CICS
7 6 (0.42%) SAS
8 4 (0.28%) FactoryTalk
8 4 (0.28%) Tomcat
9 3 (0.21%) CloudStack
9 3 (0.21%) IIS
9 3 (0.21%) Skype for Business
10 2 (0.14%) Apache Pulsar
10 2 (0.14%) CMS
10 2 (0.14%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.14%) Umbraco
10 2 (0.14%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.14%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 21 (1.47%) Microsoft Office
1 21 (1.47%) MS Visio
2 19 (1.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.070%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 3 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.14%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.14%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.070%) Bloomberg TOMS
3 1 (0.070%) Eikon
3 1 (0.070%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.070%) Primavera
3 1 (0.070%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 514 (35.94%) Azure
2 324 (22.66%) AWS
3 148 (10.35%) Entra ID
4 121 (8.46%) GCP
4 121 (8.46%) Microsoft 365
5 74 (5.17%) GitHub
6 65 (4.55%) IaaS
7 57 (3.99%) Azure DevOps
7 57 (3.99%) SaaS
7 57 (3.99%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 47 (3.29%) Azure Monitor
9 45 (3.15%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 43 (3.01%) PaaS
11 39 (2.73%) Azure Sentinel
12 37 (2.59%) OCI
13 36 (2.52%) Serverless
14 32 (2.24%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 31 (2.17%) GitHub Actions
16 28 (1.96%) AWS CloudFormation
17 25 (1.75%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 421 (29.44%) VPN
2 396 (27.69%) Network Security
3 395 (27.62%) WAN
4 355 (24.83%) DNS
5 294 (20.56%) LAN
6 266 (18.60%) BGP
7 212 (14.83%) OSPF
8 204 (14.27%) TCP/IP
9 202 (14.13%) DHCP
10 201 (14.06%) VLAN
11 168 (11.75%) Wireless
12 146 (10.21%) SD-WAN
13 125 (8.74%) Wi-Fi
14 95 (6.64%) MPLS
15 94 (6.57%) BIG-IP
16 92 (6.43%) IPsec
17 83 (5.80%) VXLAN
18 81 (5.66%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 80 (5.59%) SSL
20 78 (5.45%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (2.24%) SQL Server
2 19 (1.33%) PostgreSQL
3 17 (1.19%) Power BI
4 13 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
5 12 (0.84%) Elasticsearch
6 10 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
6 10 (0.70%) DataStage
7 9 (0.63%) Data Lake
7 9 (0.63%) Oracle Database
7 9 (0.63%) Relational Database
8 8 (0.56%) MySQL
9 5 (0.35%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.28%) Amazon Aurora
10 4 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.28%) Db2
10 4 (0.28%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.21%) Amazon Athena
11 3 (0.21%) Amazon QuickSight
11 3 (0.21%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.21%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 92 (6.43%) JIRA
2 55 (3.85%) Jenkins
3 44 (3.08%) Git
4 41 (2.87%) GitLab
5 13 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
6 9 (0.63%) Artifactory
6 9 (0.63%) Bitbucket
7 8 (0.56%) Chocolatey
8 6 (0.42%) Browser DevTools
9 5 (0.35%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.28%) Burp Suite
11 2 (0.14%) Cucumber
11 2 (0.14%) Gradle
11 2 (0.14%) Introscope
11 2 (0.14%) LoadRunner
11 2 (0.14%) Metasploit
11 2 (0.14%) MSI
11 2 (0.14%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.14%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 298 (20.84%) Social Skills
2 187 (13.08%) Finance
3 132 (9.23%) Analytical Skills
4 121 (8.46%) Public Sector
5 78 (5.45%) Banking
6 67 (4.69%) Documentation Skills
7 51 (3.57%) Telecoms
8 25 (1.75%) Legal
9 24 (1.68%) Manufacturing
10 23 (1.61%) Influencing Skills
11 22 (1.54%) Military
12 21 (1.47%) Financial Institution
13 19 (1.33%) Local Government
14 16 (1.12%) Retail
15 12 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
15 12 (0.84%) Police
16 11 (0.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 11 (0.77%) Law
17 10 (0.70%) Investment Banking
18 9 (0.63%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 467 (32.66%) Network Engineer
2 209 (14.62%) Senior
3 205 (14.34%) Architect
4 143 (10.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 124 (8.67%) Security Engineer
6 92 (6.43%) Senior Network Engineer
7 75 (5.24%) Cloud Engineer
8 72 (5.03%) Network Architect
9 60 (4.20%) Consultant
10 59 (4.13%) Network Security Engineer
11 58 (4.06%) Azure Engineer
12 50 (3.50%) Security Architect
13 49 (3.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 46 (3.22%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 46 (3.22%) Technical Architect
15 45 (3.15%) DevOps Engineer
16 42 (2.94%) Lead
17 38 (2.66%) Cisco Engineer
18 36 (2.52%) Cisco Network Engineer
19 35 (2.45%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (4.90%) 802.1X
2 43 (3.01%) Middleware
3 28 (1.96%) SAML
4 23 (1.61%) LDAP
5 21 (1.47%) ARM Templates
6 17 (1.19%) OpenID
7 13 (0.91%) OAuth
8 11 (0.77%) Kafka
8 11 (0.77%) OAuth2
9 10 (0.70%) React
10 9 (0.63%) LangChain
10 9 (0.63%) PyTorch
10 9 (0.63%) scikit-learn
11 8 (0.56%) .NET
11 8 (0.56%) REST
11 8 (0.56%) YAML
12 7 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
12 7 (0.49%) SailPoint
13 6 (0.42%) OpenTelemetry
14 5 (0.35%) Jinja
Miscellaneous
1 331 (23.15%) Data Centre
2 97 (6.78%) Cloud Native
3 86 (6.01%) Hybrid Cloud
3 86 (6.01%) PKI
4 71 (4.97%) Security Posture
5 57 (3.99%) Management Information System
6 53 (3.71%) Onboarding
7 46 (3.22%) Operational Technology
8 42 (2.94%) Clustering
9 31 (2.17%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 29 (2.03%) Data Protection Act
11 27 (1.89%) IoT
12 26 (1.82%) Public Cloud
13 24 (1.68%) Enterprise Storage
13 24 (1.68%) SCADA
14 21 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
15 20 (1.40%) Driving Licence
16 19 (1.33%) Linux Command Line
16 19 (1.33%) Replication
17 18 (1.26%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 341 (23.85%) Windows
2 210 (14.69%) Linux
3 126 (8.81%) Windows Server
4 52 (3.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 35 (2.45%) Unix
6 23 (1.61%) VMS
7 19 (1.33%) Ubuntu
8 13 (0.91%) Windows Server 2019
9 11 (0.77%) CentOS
9 11 (0.77%) Solaris
10 10 (0.70%) AIX
10 10 (0.70%) Mac OS
11 9 (0.63%) Windows Server 2016
12 7 (0.49%) Rocky
12 7 (0.49%) Windows 10
12 7 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
13 6 (0.42%) Windows Server 2003
14 4 (0.28%) Amazon Linux
14 4 (0.28%) Android
14 4 (0.28%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 239 (16.71%) DevOps
2 225 (15.73%) CI/CD
3 221 (15.45%) Infrastructure as Code
4 202 (14.13%) Load Balancing
5 199 (13.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 190 (13.29%) Problem-Solving
7 185 (12.94%) Cybersecurity
8 181 (12.66%) Migration
9 180 (12.59%) ITIL
10 179 (12.52%) High Availability
11 157 (10.98%) Zero Trust
12 153 (10.70%) Agile
13 135 (9.44%) SIEM
14 126 (8.81%) Change Management
14 126 (8.81%) Project Delivery
15 120 (8.39%) Observability
16 117 (8.18%) Validation
17 116 (8.11%) Stakeholder Management
18 107 (7.48%) Cloud Security
19 103 (7.20%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 259 (18.11%) Python
2 180 (12.59%) PowerShell
3 121 (8.46%) Bash
4 49 (3.43%) Bicep
5 42 (2.94%) SQL
6 34 (2.38%) Java
7 11 (0.77%) ActionScript
7 11 (0.77%) Perl
8 10 (0.70%) COBOL
9 7 (0.49%) Groovy
9 7 (0.49%) JavaScript
10 6 (0.42%) Go
10 6 (0.42%) Kusto Query Language
11 5 (0.35%) C++
12 3 (0.21%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.21%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.21%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.14%) C
13 2 (0.14%) Jython
13 2 (0.14%) PHP
Qualifications
1 482 (33.71%) Security Cleared
2 335 (23.43%) SC Cleared
3 276 (19.30%) Cisco Certification
4 207 (14.48%) CCNP
5 127 (8.88%) DV Cleared
6 113 (7.90%) CCNA
6 113 (7.90%) Degree
7 73 (5.10%) CISSP
8 60 (4.20%) Azure Certification
9 44 (3.08%) AWS Certification
10 40 (2.80%) CCIE
11 34 (2.38%) Microsoft Certification
12 33 (2.31%) CISM
13 25 (1.75%) Computer Science Degree
14 22 (1.54%) Network+ Certification
15 20 (1.40%) JNCIS
16 17 (1.19%) JNCIP
16 17 (1.19%) Server+ Certification
17 16 (1.12%) CompTIA Security+
17 16 (1.12%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (5.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 60 (4.20%) NIST
3 44 (3.08%) GDPR
4 30 (2.10%) NCSC
5 25 (1.75%) PCI DSS
6 23 (1.61%) SLA
7 21 (1.47%) QA
8 19 (1.33%) Cyber Essentials
9 9 (0.63%) Data Quality
9 9 (0.63%) NIST 800
10 8 (0.56%) Disclosure Scotland
10 8 (0.56%) GxP
11 7 (0.49%) JSP 440
12 6 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 6 (0.42%) HIPAA
13 5 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
13 5 (0.35%) GRC
13 5 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 4 (0.28%) PMO
14 4 (0.28%) SOC 2
System Software
1 226 (15.80%) Active Directory
2 163 (11.40%) VMware Infrastructure
3 63 (4.41%) Docker
4 59 (4.13%) VMware NSX
5 52 (3.64%) Hyper-V
6 42 (2.94%) vSphere
7 41 (2.87%) Virtual Machines
8 38 (2.66%) VMware ESXi
9 25 (1.75%) Firmware
10 15 (1.05%) Virtual Desktop
11 11 (0.77%) BitLocker
11 11 (0.77%) Squid
12 8 (0.56%) Microsoft App-V
13 6 (0.42%) NFS
14 4 (0.28%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.21%) Dovecot
15 3 (0.21%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.21%) Postfix
15 3 (0.21%) Virtual Servers
16 2 (0.14%) VirtualBox
Systems Management
1 275 (19.23%) Terraform
2 190 (13.29%) Ansible
3 115 (8.04%) Kubernetes
4 107 (7.48%) FortiGate
5 67 (4.69%) Microsoft Intune
6 55 (3.85%) Grafana
7 52 (3.64%) Prometheus
8 38 (2.66%) SCCM
9 31 (2.17%) Single Sign-On
10 24 (1.68%) vCenter Server
11 20 (1.40%) Progress Chef
12 18 (1.26%) Puppet
13 16 (1.12%) CASB
14 15 (1.05%) VxRail
15 14 (0.98%) Cisco Prime
16 10 (0.70%) Packer
16 10 (0.70%) QRadar
17 9 (0.63%) Argo
18 8 (0.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
18 8 (0.56%) Nagios
Vendors
1 515 (36.01%) Cisco
2 313 (21.89%) Microsoft
3 306 (21.40%) Palo Alto
4 218 (15.24%) VMware
5 208 (14.55%) Fortinet
6 197 (13.78%) F5
7 160 (11.19%) Juniper
8 123 (8.60%) CheckPoint
9 84 (5.87%) Splunk
10 74 (5.17%) Aruba
11 72 (5.03%) Google
11 72 (5.03%) ServiceNow
12 70 (4.90%) Arista
13 69 (4.83%) SolarWinds
14 66 (4.62%) Zscaler
15 45 (3.15%) Citrix
15 45 (3.15%) Red Hat
16 44 (3.08%) Meraki
17 32 (2.24%) Infoblox
18 29 (2.03%) Dynatrace