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

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 92 54 55
Rank change year-on-year -38 +1 -7
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,423 1,377 1,534
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.73% 4.31% 3.56%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.57% 35.29% 28.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 911 812 955
10th Percentile £340 £325 £275
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £640 £688 £698
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% +2.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 23 46
10th Percentile £24.84 £14.20 £18.06
25th Percentile £36.25 £14.66 £23.92
Median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +86.67% -50.00% -4.08%
75th Percentile £70.23 £31.89 £85.65
90th Percentile £78.55 £44.65 £87.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.00 £30.00 £82.38
% change year-on-year +86.67% -63.58% +31.71%

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 4,981 3,902 5,413
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.55% 12.21% 12.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,031 2,385 3,189
10th Percentile £238 £231 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £670 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £470 £490
% change year-on-year +2.26% -4.08% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 310 182 426
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.86
25th Percentile £19.34 £23.87 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -42.22% - +69.81%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.44 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £79.50 £73.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.89 £37.98 £47.50
% change year-on-year -31.85% -20.04% +9.51%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -40 1,217 £500 - 499
UK excluding London -33 808 £500 +3.09% 468
London -63 461 £500 -3.10% 120
Work from Home -35 392 £520 +4.00% 231
North of England -16 289 £500 +5.26% 99
South East -34 214 £500 - 159
North West -4 186 £528 +11.16% 51
Yorkshire -32 87 £438 -10.62% 37
Midlands -62 82 £438 -7.89% 68
East of England -10 71 £525 -0.94% 42
Scotland +11 67 £456 +5.80% 27
West Midlands -56 67 £425 -19.05% 45
South West -47 66 £525 +5.00% 53
Wales -18 25 £425 +30.77% 9
North East -18 22 £625 +25.00% 13
East Midlands -27 12 £500 +11.11% 23
Northern Ireland -2 2 £385 - 26

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 34 (2.39%) Confluence
2 33 (2.32%) Microsoft Exchange
3 25 (1.76%) SharePoint
4 15 (1.05%) nginx
5 10 (0.70%) Apache
5 10 (0.70%) CICS
6 6 (0.42%) SAS
7 4 (0.28%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.21%) CloudStack
8 3 (0.21%) IIS
8 3 (0.21%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.14%) Apache Pulsar
9 2 (0.14%) CMS
9 2 (0.14%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.14%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.14%) Umbraco
9 2 (0.14%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.14%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.070%) MTS
Applications
1 28 (1.97%) MS Visio
2 18 (1.26%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (1.19%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.070%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 1 (0.070%) Bloomberg TOMS
1 1 (0.070%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.070%) Eikon
1 1 (0.070%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.070%) Primavera
1 1 (0.070%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.070%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 480 (33.73%) Azure
2 313 (22.00%) AWS
3 131 (9.21%) Entra ID
4 119 (8.36%) GCP
5 109 (7.66%) Microsoft 365
6 69 (4.85%) GitHub
7 65 (4.57%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 63 (4.43%) IaaS
9 53 (3.72%) SaaS
10 51 (3.58%) Azure DevOps
11 43 (3.02%) PaaS
12 41 (2.88%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 39 (2.74%) Azure Monitor
14 36 (2.53%) OCI
14 36 (2.53%) Serverless
15 34 (2.39%) Azure Sentinel
16 30 (2.11%) Amazon EC2
16 30 (2.11%) GitHub Actions
17 29 (2.04%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 27 (1.90%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 404 (28.39%) Network Security
2 400 (28.11%) WAN
3 398 (27.97%) VPN
4 328 (23.05%) DNS
5 296 (20.80%) LAN
6 265 (18.62%) BGP
7 217 (15.25%) OSPF
8 185 (13.00%) VLAN
9 177 (12.44%) TCP/IP
10 170 (11.95%) DHCP
11 163 (11.45%) Wireless
12 159 (11.17%) SD-WAN
13 114 (8.01%) Wi-Fi
14 102 (7.17%) BIG-IP
15 96 (6.75%) MPLS
16 91 (6.39%) VXLAN
17 86 (6.04%) IPsec
18 84 (5.90%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 79 (5.55%) SSL
20 76 (5.34%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (1.48%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.26%) Power BI
3 17 (1.19%) Elasticsearch
3 17 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
5 11 (0.77%) Data Lake
6 10 (0.70%) DataStage
7 9 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
8 8 (0.56%) MySQL
8 8 (0.56%) Oracle Database
8 8 (0.56%) Relational Database
9 5 (0.35%) Delta Lake
9 5 (0.35%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.28%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.28%) Amazon Aurora
10 4 (0.28%) Amazon QuickSight
10 4 (0.28%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
11 3 (0.21%) Big Data
11 3 (0.21%) Db2
Development Applications
1 99 (6.96%) JIRA
2 53 (3.72%) Jenkins
3 41 (2.88%) Git
3 41 (2.88%) GitLab
4 16 (1.12%) Sonatype Nexus
5 10 (0.70%) Artifactory
5 10 (0.70%) Bitbucket
6 9 (0.63%) Chocolatey
6 9 (0.63%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.42%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.28%) Burp Suite
8 4 (0.28%) Jaeger
9 2 (0.14%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.14%) Gradle
9 2 (0.14%) Introscope
9 2 (0.14%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.14%) Metasploit
9 2 (0.14%) MSI
9 2 (0.14%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.14%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 309 (21.71%) Social Skills
2 182 (12.79%) Finance
3 118 (8.29%) Analytical Skills
4 116 (8.15%) Public Sector
5 75 (5.27%) Documentation Skills
6 68 (4.78%) Banking
7 42 (2.95%) Telecoms
8 31 (2.18%) Legal
9 22 (1.55%) Manufacturing
10 20 (1.41%) Financial Institution
10 20 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
11 18 (1.26%) Military
12 14 (0.98%) Local Government
13 13 (0.91%) Retail
14 12 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
15 11 (0.77%) Law
16 10 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 10 (0.70%) Investment Banking
16 10 (0.70%) Police
17 9 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 462 (32.47%) Network Engineer
2 235 (16.51%) Architect
3 179 (12.58%) Senior
4 129 (9.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 122 (8.57%) Security Engineer
6 81 (5.69%) Network Architect
7 77 (5.41%) Senior Network Engineer
8 70 (4.92%) Cloud Engineer
9 57 (4.01%) Network Security Engineer
10 55 (3.87%) Consultant
10 55 (3.87%) Technical Architect
11 54 (3.79%) Azure Engineer
12 49 (3.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 47 (3.30%) Security Architect
14 41 (2.88%) DevOps Engineer
14 41 (2.88%) Lead
15 40 (2.81%) Solutions Architect
16 36 (2.53%) Cloud Architect
17 34 (2.39%) Cisco Engineer
18 33 (2.32%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (4.92%) 802.1X
2 43 (3.02%) Middleware
3 37 (2.60%) LDAP
4 31 (2.18%) SAML
5 23 (1.62%) OpenID
6 13 (0.91%) OAuth
7 12 (0.84%) Kafka
8 11 (0.77%) OAuth2
9 10 (0.70%) ARM Templates
10 9 (0.63%) LangChain
10 9 (0.63%) PyTorch
10 9 (0.63%) REST
10 9 (0.63%) scikit-learn
11 8 (0.56%) .NET
12 7 (0.49%) OpenTelemetry
12 7 (0.49%) SailPoint
12 7 (0.49%) YAML
13 6 (0.42%) Elastic Stack
13 6 (0.42%) React
13 6 (0.42%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 341 (23.96%) Data Centre
2 93 (6.54%) Cloud Native
3 79 (5.55%) Security Posture
4 76 (5.34%) Hybrid Cloud
5 65 (4.57%) PKI
6 47 (3.30%) Management Information System
7 45 (3.16%) Onboarding
8 41 (2.88%) Clustering
8 41 (2.88%) Operational Technology
9 32 (2.25%) IoT
10 31 (2.18%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 30 (2.11%) Data Protection Act
12 26 (1.83%) Public Cloud
13 25 (1.76%) Enterprise Storage
14 23 (1.62%) SCADA
15 19 (1.34%) Cyber Threat
15 19 (1.34%) Driving Licence
16 18 (1.26%) Enterprise Software
17 17 (1.19%) NHS
17 17 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 309 (21.71%) Windows
2 182 (12.79%) Linux
3 108 (7.59%) Windows Server
4 46 (3.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 32 (2.25%) Unix
6 21 (1.48%) VMS
7 14 (0.98%) Windows Server 2019
8 13 (0.91%) Ubuntu
9 11 (0.77%) Solaris
10 10 (0.70%) AIX
10 10 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
11 8 (0.56%) CentOS
12 7 (0.49%) Windows Server 2003
13 6 (0.42%) Mac OS
13 6 (0.42%) Windows Server 2012
14 5 (0.35%) Windows 10
15 4 (0.28%) Amazon Linux
15 4 (0.28%) Android
15 4 (0.28%) Rocky
15 4 (0.28%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (16.37%) DevOps
2 211 (14.83%) CI/CD
3 206 (14.48%) Infrastructure as Code
4 199 (13.98%) Load Balancing
5 187 (13.14%) Migration
6 181 (12.72%) High Availability
7 180 (12.65%) ITIL
8 178 (12.51%) Problem-Solving
9 174 (12.23%) Cybersecurity
10 172 (12.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 155 (10.89%) Zero Trust
12 153 (10.75%) Agile
13 124 (8.71%) Change Management
14 122 (8.57%) SIEM
15 114 (8.01%) Observability
16 111 (7.80%) Validation
17 110 (7.73%) Project Delivery
18 105 (7.38%) Roadmaps
19 104 (7.31%) Cloud Security
19 104 (7.31%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 246 (17.29%) Python
2 152 (10.68%) PowerShell
3 91 (6.39%) Bash
4 41 (2.88%) SQL
5 40 (2.81%) Bicep
6 33 (2.32%) Java
7 11 (0.77%) ActionScript
7 11 (0.77%) Perl
8 10 (0.70%) COBOL
9 7 (0.49%) Groovy
10 6 (0.42%) JavaScript
10 6 (0.42%) Kusto Query Language
11 5 (0.35%) C++
11 5 (0.35%) Go
12 3 (0.21%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.21%) Rust
12 3 (0.21%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.14%) C
13 2 (0.14%) Jython
13 2 (0.14%) PHP
Qualifications
1 466 (32.75%) Security Cleared
2 338 (23.75%) SC Cleared
3 292 (20.52%) Cisco Certification
4 218 (15.32%) CCNP
5 122 (8.57%) CCNA
6 111 (7.80%) Degree
7 109 (7.66%) DV Cleared
8 69 (4.85%) CISSP
9 55 (3.87%) Azure Certification
10 44 (3.09%) CCIE
11 41 (2.88%) AWS Certification
12 33 (2.32%) Microsoft Certification
13 32 (2.25%) CISM
14 22 (1.55%) JNCIS
15 21 (1.48%) Network+ Certification
16 20 (1.41%) Computer Science Degree
17 18 (1.26%) JNCIP
17 18 (1.26%) PMP
18 17 (1.19%) JNCIA
18 17 (1.19%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (5.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 58 (4.08%) NIST
3 41 (2.88%) GDPR
4 34 (2.39%) NCSC
5 26 (1.83%) PCI DSS
6 22 (1.55%) QA
7 21 (1.48%) Cyber Essentials
8 20 (1.41%) SLA
9 9 (0.63%) Data Quality
9 9 (0.63%) NIST 800
10 8 (0.56%) Disclosure Scotland
11 7 (0.49%) Actionable Recommendations
11 7 (0.49%) JSP 440
12 6 (0.42%) GRC
13 5 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (0.35%) GxP
13 5 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (0.35%) PMO
13 5 (0.35%) RMADS
14 4 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 206 (14.48%) Active Directory
2 152 (10.68%) VMware Infrastructure
3 55 (3.87%) VMware NSX
4 53 (3.72%) Docker
5 38 (2.67%) Hyper-V
5 38 (2.67%) Virtual Machines
5 38 (2.67%) VMware ESXi
6 37 (2.60%) vSphere
7 26 (1.83%) Firmware
8 19 (1.34%) Virtual Desktop
9 16 (1.12%) Squid
10 13 (0.91%) BitLocker
11 9 (0.63%) Microsoft App-V
12 5 (0.35%) NFS
13 4 (0.28%) Terminal Services
14 3 (0.21%) Dovecot
14 3 (0.21%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.21%) Postfix
14 3 (0.21%) Virtual Servers
15 2 (0.14%) VirtualBox
Systems Management
1 248 (17.43%) Terraform
2 172 (12.09%) Ansible
3 115 (8.08%) FortiGate
4 104 (7.31%) Kubernetes
5 66 (4.64%) Grafana
6 62 (4.36%) Prometheus
7 55 (3.87%) Microsoft Intune
8 39 (2.74%) Single Sign-On
9 31 (2.18%) SCCM
10 23 (1.62%) vCenter Server
11 19 (1.34%) Puppet
12 17 (1.19%) Progress Chef
13 16 (1.12%) CASB
14 14 (0.98%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 12 (0.84%) Cisco Prime
16 11 (0.77%) Consul
16 11 (0.77%) QRadar
17 9 (0.63%) Nagios
17 9 (0.63%) Nessus
17 9 (0.63%) vMotion
Vendors
1 510 (35.84%) Cisco
2 311 (21.86%) Palo Alto
3 290 (20.38%) Microsoft
4 208 (14.62%) Fortinet
5 201 (14.13%) F5
6 199 (13.98%) VMware
7 167 (11.74%) Juniper
8 132 (9.28%) CheckPoint
9 82 (5.76%) Splunk
10 78 (5.48%) Aruba
11 75 (5.27%) Arista
12 70 (4.92%) ServiceNow
12 70 (4.92%) SolarWinds
13 65 (4.57%) Google
14 59 (4.15%) Zscaler
15 48 (3.37%) Citrix
16 45 (3.16%) Red Hat
17 39 (2.74%) Meraki
18 32 (2.25%) Infoblox
19 30 (2.11%) Dynatrace