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

6 months to
3 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 79 50 49
Rank change year-on-year -29 -1 +9
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,320 1,231 1,734
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.16% 4.12% 3.89%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 31.10% 31.24% 28.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 876 728 1,077
10th Percentile £321 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £522 £513
Median % change year-on-year -4.12% +1.76% -2.38%
75th Percentile £590 £613 £625
90th Percentile £672 £715 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 23 49
10th Percentile £29.33 £20.00 £16.00
25th Percentile £35.94 £28.78 £46.39
Median hourly rate £41.94 £37.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +13.35% -43.92% +26.57%
75th Percentile £74.26 £43.49 £76.53
90th Percentile £85.30 £71.00 £87.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.71 £36.65 £72.50
% change year-on-year +24.74% -49.46% +34.94%

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 4,244 3,941 6,001
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.17% 13.20% 13.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,767 2,378 3,602
10th Percentile £204 £208 £205
25th Percentile £363 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £480
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +4.28% -7.79%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £467 £475
% change year-on-year +0.43% -1.79% +1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 175 131 393
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.44 £14.29
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.46 £19.99
Median hourly rate £35.00 £35.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year - -12.50% +105.13%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £31.08 £48.75
% change year-on-year +34.94% -36.25% +156.58%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -27 1,106 £513 -2.38% 544
UK excluding London -25 733 £500 - 484
London -42 411 £525 -0.47% 148
Work from Home -22 393 £500 - 211
North of England -27 231 £519 +9.16% 113
South East +19 206 £500 - 194
North West -19 143 £540 +8.00% 75
Midlands -38 105 £425 -18.35% 53
West Midlands -12 94 £425 -7.10% 28
Yorkshire -24 86 £447 +5.18% 31
South West -38 59 £550 +4.76% 39
Scotland -6 56 £425 -2.86% 18
East of England -22 47 £470 -10.48% 67
Wales -16 25 £425 +16.44% 14
East Midlands -54 9 £488 -21.08% 25
Northern Ireland - 6 £500 -
North East -17 5 £548 -0.45% 7

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 (3.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 38 (2.88%) Confluence
3 23 (1.74%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.06%) Apache
5 13 (0.98%) nginx
6 8 (0.61%) CICS
6 8 (0.61%) OpenStack
7 6 (0.45%) IIS
7 6 (0.45%) SAS
8 3 (0.23%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.15%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.076%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.076%) CMS
10 1 (0.076%) JBoss
10 1 (0.076%) Skype for Business
10 1 (0.076%) Traefik
10 1 (0.076%) WebSphere
Applications
1 36 (2.73%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (1.59%) MS Visio
3 18 (1.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.29%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.076%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.076%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 1 (0.076%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.076%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.076%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.076%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 444 (33.64%) Azure
2 332 (25.15%) AWS
3 147 (11.14%) GCP
4 116 (8.79%) Microsoft 365
5 104 (7.88%) Entra ID
6 75 (5.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 59 (4.47%) GitHub
8 52 (3.94%) IaaS
9 47 (3.56%) Amazon EC2
10 45 (3.41%) PaaS
11 42 (3.18%) Azure Sentinel
12 41 (3.11%) Azure DevOps
13 38 (2.88%) Azure Monitor
13 38 (2.88%) Serverless
14 37 (2.80%) Amazon S3
15 34 (2.58%) AWS CloudFormation
16 33 (2.50%) SaaS
17 32 (2.42%) GitHub Actions
18 31 (2.35%) Amazon CloudWatch
18 31 (2.35%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 337 (25.53%) Network Security
2 321 (24.32%) VPN
3 293 (22.20%) WAN
4 269 (20.38%) DNS
5 214 (16.21%) LAN
6 197 (14.92%) BGP
7 172 (13.03%) OSPF
8 151 (11.44%) TCP/IP
9 147 (11.14%) VLAN
10 125 (9.47%) DHCP
11 124 (9.39%) Wireless
12 117 (8.86%) SD-WAN
13 98 (7.42%) MPLS
14 94 (7.12%) Wi-Fi
15 69 (5.23%) IPsec
15 69 (5.23%) SSL
16 63 (4.77%) Cisco ISE
17 62 (4.70%) Cisco ASA
18 56 (4.24%) Cisco Nexus
18 56 (4.24%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (2.50%) SQL Server
2 22 (1.67%) PostgreSQL
3 21 (1.59%) Amazon RDS
4 14 (1.06%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (0.68%) Data Lake
6 8 (0.61%) DataStage
6 8 (0.61%) Oracle Database
7 7 (0.53%) Data Warehouse
7 7 (0.53%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.38%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.30%) Amazon QuickSight
9 4 (0.30%) MySQL
9 4 (0.30%) Power BI
9 4 (0.30%) Redis
9 4 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.23%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.23%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.23%) Oracle Exadata
11 2 (0.15%) DB2
11 2 (0.15%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 75 (5.68%) JIRA
2 73 (5.53%) Jenkins
3 63 (4.77%) GitLab
4 61 (4.62%) Git
5 24 (1.82%) Sonatype Nexus
6 21 (1.59%) Bitbucket
7 15 (1.14%) Burp Suite
7 15 (1.14%) Metasploit
8 8 (0.61%) Chocolatey
8 8 (0.61%) Jaeger
9 7 (0.53%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.30%) Artifactory
10 4 (0.30%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.15%) Vagrant
12 1 (0.076%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.076%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.076%) MSI
12 1 (0.076%) Postman
12 1 (0.076%) Subversion
12 1 (0.076%) Travis CI
General
1 361 (27.35%) Social Skills
2 156 (11.82%) Finance
3 136 (10.30%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (8.18%) Public Sector
5 99 (7.50%) Documentation Skills
6 59 (4.47%) Banking
7 45 (3.41%) Telecoms
8 36 (2.73%) Legal
9 28 (2.12%) Manufacturing
10 24 (1.82%) Financial Institution
10 24 (1.82%) Presentation Skills
11 17 (1.29%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.21%) Military
13 13 (0.98%) Local Government
14 10 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 10 (0.76%) Law
14 10 (0.76%) Retail
15 8 (0.61%) Aerospace
16 7 (0.53%) Electronics
16 7 (0.53%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 359 (27.20%) Network Engineer
2 229 (17.35%) Architect
3 132 (10.00%) Senior
4 121 (9.17%) Security Engineer
5 81 (6.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 81 (6.14%) Network Architect
6 57 (4.32%) Security Architect
7 53 (4.02%) Azure Engineer
8 50 (3.79%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 49 (3.71%) DevOps Engineer
10 47 (3.56%) Analyst
10 47 (3.56%) Consultant
11 43 (3.26%) Solutions Architect
12 41 (3.11%) Network Security Engineer
13 40 (3.03%) Senior Network Engineer
14 39 (2.95%) Cloud Engineer
15 37 (2.80%) Platform Engineer
16 34 (2.58%) Lead
17 32 (2.42%) IT Engineer
18 31 (2.35%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 66 (5.00%) 802.1X
2 41 (3.11%) LDAP
3 33 (2.50%) Middleware
4 32 (2.42%) SAML
5 29 (2.20%) OpenID
6 20 (1.52%) OAuth
7 19 (1.44%) OAuth2
8 15 (1.14%) Kafka
9 14 (1.06%) Node.js
10 13 (0.98%) REST
11 12 (0.91%) JSON
12 10 (0.76%) OpenTelemetry
13 9 (0.68%) ARM Templates
13 9 (0.68%) Spring Boot
13 9 (0.68%) XML
14 7 (0.53%) Elastic Stack
14 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Graph
15 6 (0.45%) LangChain
15 6 (0.45%) PyTorch
15 6 (0.45%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 270 (20.45%) Data Centre
2 93 (7.05%) Security Posture
3 71 (5.38%) PKI
4 62 (4.70%) Cloud Native
5 49 (3.71%) Onboarding
6 48 (3.64%) Operational Technology
7 46 (3.48%) Hybrid Cloud
8 34 (2.58%) Management Information System
8 34 (2.58%) Public Cloud
9 24 (1.82%) Clustering
9 24 (1.82%) Cyber Threat
9 24 (1.82%) Replication
10 23 (1.74%) Data Protection Act
11 22 (1.67%) Security Operations Centre
12 21 (1.59%) Product Ownership
13 19 (1.44%) NHS
14 18 (1.36%) Private Cloud
14 18 (1.36%) SCADA
15 15 (1.14%) IoT
16 12 (0.91%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 322 (24.39%) Windows
2 210 (15.91%) Linux
3 127 (9.62%) Windows Server
4 36 (2.73%) Unix
5 33 (2.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 27 (2.05%) VMS
7 11 (0.83%) Windows 10
8 10 (0.76%) Windows 7
8 10 (0.76%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (0.68%) Solaris
10 8 (0.61%) AIX
11 6 (0.45%) Ubuntu
11 6 (0.45%) Windows Server 2016
12 5 (0.38%) Amazon Linux
12 5 (0.38%) CentOS
12 5 (0.38%) Mac OS
13 4 (0.30%) Android
13 4 (0.30%) CatOS
13 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2003
13 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 242 (18.33%) Cybersecurity
2 218 (16.52%) Problem-Solving
3 210 (15.91%) DevOps
4 195 (14.77%) CI/CD
5 187 (14.17%) Infrastructure as Code
6 153 (11.59%) Migration
7 143 (10.83%) SIEM
8 139 (10.53%) Cloud Security
9 137 (10.38%) ITIL
10 136 (10.30%) Load Balancing
11 130 (9.85%) High Availability
12 127 (9.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 124 (9.39%) Agile
13 124 (9.39%) Incident Response
14 109 (8.26%) Zero Trust
15 104 (7.88%) Change Management
16 100 (7.58%) Stakeholder Management
17 99 (7.50%) Mentoring
18 88 (6.67%) Security Architecture
19 86 (6.52%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 225 (17.05%) Python
2 190 (14.39%) PowerShell
3 105 (7.95%) Bash
4 59 (4.47%) SQL
5 40 (3.03%) Java
6 30 (2.27%) Perl
7 25 (1.89%) Bicep
8 12 (0.91%) Ruby
9 10 (0.76%) Kusto Query Language
10 8 (0.61%) COBOL
10 8 (0.61%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.61%) Rust
11 5 (0.38%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.30%) C#
12 4 (0.30%) Go
13 3 (0.23%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.15%) C++
14 2 (0.15%) Groovy
15 1 (0.076%) ActionScript
15 1 (0.076%) PHP
Qualifications
1 448 (33.94%) Security Cleared
2 301 (22.80%) SC Cleared
3 258 (19.55%) Cisco Certification
4 207 (15.68%) CCNP
5 118 (8.94%) Degree
5 118 (8.94%) DV Cleared
6 105 (7.95%) CCNA
7 95 (7.20%) CISSP
8 54 (4.09%) CISM
9 52 (3.94%) Azure Certification
9 52 (3.94%) CCIE
10 48 (3.64%) AWS Certification
11 41 (3.11%) Microsoft Certification
12 29 (2.20%) CompTIA Security+
13 26 (1.97%) JNCIP
13 26 (1.97%) JNCIS
14 20 (1.52%) Computer Science Degree
14 20 (1.52%) Network+ Certification
15 18 (1.36%) JNCIA
16 17 (1.29%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (8.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 95 (7.20%) NIST
3 63 (4.77%) GDPR
4 48 (3.64%) PCI DSS
5 33 (2.50%) NCSC
5 33 (2.50%) SLA
6 28 (2.12%) Cyber Essentials
7 21 (1.59%) QA
8 15 (1.14%) PMO
9 12 (0.91%) GRC
9 12 (0.91%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 9 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
11 8 (0.61%) JSP 440
12 6 (0.45%) HIPAA
12 6 (0.45%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 6 (0.45%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.38%) COBIT
13 5 (0.38%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.23%) GxP
14 3 (0.23%) RMADS
System Software
1 240 (18.18%) Active Directory
2 162 (12.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 112 (8.48%) Docker
4 64 (4.85%) VMware NSX
5 38 (2.88%) Hyper-V
6 36 (2.73%) vSphere
7 29 (2.20%) Virtual Machines
8 21 (1.59%) VMware ESXi
9 18 (1.36%) Virtual Desktop
10 13 (0.98%) Firmware
11 12 (0.91%) Squid
12 9 (0.68%) Virtual Servers
13 5 (0.38%) BitLocker
13 5 (0.38%) DFS Replication
13 5 (0.38%) Microsoft App-V
13 5 (0.38%) NDS
13 5 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
14 4 (0.30%) KVM
15 3 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
15 3 (0.23%) Snort
Systems Management
1 208 (15.76%) Terraform
2 162 (12.27%) Ansible
3 125 (9.47%) Kubernetes
4 100 (7.58%) FortiGate
5 65 (4.92%) Microsoft Intune
6 44 (3.33%) Single Sign-On
7 40 (3.03%) Grafana
8 38 (2.88%) SCCM
9 34 (2.58%) Prometheus
10 27 (2.05%) vCenter Server
11 26 (1.97%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 18 (1.36%) Nmap
13 15 (1.14%) CASB
13 15 (1.14%) Nagios
13 15 (1.14%) QRadar
14 13 (0.98%) Fluentd
15 12 (0.91%) Nessus
16 10 (0.76%) WMI
17 9 (0.68%) Cisco Prime
17 9 (0.68%) Puppet
Vendors
1 445 (33.71%) Cisco
2 288 (21.82%) Microsoft
3 283 (21.44%) Palo Alto
4 212 (16.06%) VMware
5 157 (11.89%) F5
6 146 (11.06%) CheckPoint
7 137 (10.38%) Fortinet
8 135 (10.23%) Juniper
9 106 (8.03%) Splunk
10 85 (6.44%) Aruba
11 71 (5.38%) SolarWinds
12 62 (4.70%) Meraki
13 61 (4.62%) Google
14 54 (4.09%) Zscaler
15 51 (3.86%) ServiceNow
16 46 (3.48%) Oracle
17 42 (3.18%) Citrix
18 37 (2.80%) Red Hat
19 27 (2.05%) Arista
20 26 (1.97%) Dell