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

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 81 50 46
Rank change year-on-year -31 -4 +14
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,230 1,248 1,830
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.15% 4.01% 4.05%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 30.29% 30.65% 29.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 805 747 1,172
10th Percentile £313 £313 £300
25th Percentile £413 £410 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £520
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% - -0.95%
75th Percentile £590 £615 £625
90th Percentile £675 £700 £724
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -1.52% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 24 61
10th Percentile £26.53 £20.00 £23.25
25th Percentile £34.50 £20.98 £60.00
Median hourly rate £41.94 £35.82 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +17.08% -45.71% +52.12%
75th Percentile £74.26 £41.62 £76.53
90th Percentile £85.30 £56.25 £85.65
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £35.00 £67.27
% change year-on-year +39.20% -47.97% +29.03%

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 4,061 4,072 6,131
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.40% 13.10% 13.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,674 2,390 3,688
10th Percentile £204 £210 £206
25th Percentile £350 £358 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £490
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +2.04% -5.77%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £467 £475
% change year-on-year -3.54% -1.79% +1.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 168 136 414
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.85 £14.40
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.46 £21.00
Median hourly rate £29.44 £33.75 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.77% -32.50% +150.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £54.69 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £74.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.24 £30.04 £53.00
% change year-on-year +37.28% -43.32% +166.60%

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 7 February 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 7 February 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 7 February 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 -28 1,037 £500 -4.76% 563
UK excluding London -25 687 £488 -1.52% 507
London -39 390 £525 -3.23% 149
Work from Home -13 381 £500 -4.08% 226
North of England -26 203 £500 +5.26% 116
South East +11 182 £500 - 187
North West -22 115 £525 +8.25% 78
Midlands -29 115 £469 -6.25% 60
West Midlands -9 106 £463 +5.71% 45
Yorkshire -15 85 £473 +11.18% 28
South West -32 61 £545 +1.68% 48
Scotland -16 56 £425 -6.85% 32
East of England -27 42 £460 -8.00% 69
Wales -13 20 £425 +16.44% 11
East Midlands -53 8 £500 -23.14% 15
Northern Ireland - 8 £488 -
North East -18 6 £550 - 12

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 41 (3.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 37 (3.01%) Confluence
3 26 (2.11%) SharePoint
4 15 (1.22%) nginx
5 13 (1.06%) Apache
6 9 (0.73%) OpenStack
7 7 (0.57%) IIS
8 6 (0.49%) SAS
9 4 (0.33%) CICS
9 4 (0.33%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.16%) Apache Pulsar
10 2 (0.16%) JBoss
10 2 (0.16%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.16%) WebLogic
11 1 (0.081%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.081%) CMS
11 1 (0.081%) Traefik
11 1 (0.081%) WebSphere
Applications
1 37 (3.01%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (1.79%) MS Visio
3 19 (1.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 18 (1.46%) Microsoft Excel
5 6 (0.49%) Mozilla Thunderbird
6 1 (0.081%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.16%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.081%) Finacle
2 1 (0.081%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.081%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.081%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 423 (34.39%) Azure
2 322 (26.18%) AWS
3 145 (11.79%) GCP
4 118 (9.59%) Microsoft 365
5 94 (7.64%) Entra ID
6 70 (5.69%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 52 (4.23%) Amazon EC2
7 52 (4.23%) GitHub
8 44 (3.58%) Azure Sentinel
8 44 (3.58%) IaaS
9 42 (3.41%) Amazon S3
9 42 (3.41%) Azure DevOps
10 39 (3.17%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 39 (3.17%) Azure Monitor
11 37 (3.01%) PaaS
12 35 (2.85%) Serverless
13 33 (2.68%) AWS CloudFormation
14 32 (2.60%) GitHub Actions
15 28 (2.28%) AWS Lambda
15 28 (2.28%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 307 (24.96%) Network Security
2 290 (23.58%) VPN
3 246 (20.00%) WAN
4 233 (18.94%) DNS
5 177 (14.39%) LAN
6 161 (13.09%) BGP
7 142 (11.54%) TCP/IP
8 135 (10.98%) OSPF
9 122 (9.92%) VLAN
10 110 (8.94%) Wireless
11 104 (8.46%) SD-WAN
12 97 (7.89%) DHCP
13 82 (6.67%) MPLS
13 82 (6.67%) Wi-Fi
14 67 (5.45%) SSL
15 59 (4.80%) IPsec
16 56 (4.55%) Cisco ASA
17 51 (4.15%) Cisco Nexus
18 47 (3.82%) Cisco ISE
19 46 (3.74%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (2.76%) SQL Server
2 27 (2.20%) Amazon RDS
3 23 (1.87%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (0.98%) Elasticsearch
5 8 (0.65%) Oracle Database
6 7 (0.57%) Data Warehouse
6 7 (0.57%) MongoDB
7 6 (0.49%) Amazon Aurora
7 6 (0.49%) Data Lake
8 5 (0.41%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.33%) DataStage
9 4 (0.33%) Redis
9 4 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.24%) Amazon QuickSight
10 3 (0.24%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.24%) Oracle Exadata
11 2 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
11 2 (0.16%) DB2
11 2 (0.16%) MariaDB
11 2 (0.16%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 74 (6.02%) Jenkins
2 70 (5.69%) JIRA
3 63 (5.12%) Git
4 61 (4.96%) GitLab
5 23 (1.87%) Sonatype Nexus
6 19 (1.54%) Bitbucket
7 14 (1.14%) Burp Suite
7 14 (1.14%) Metasploit
8 8 (0.65%) Jaeger
8 8 (0.65%) SonarQube
8 8 (0.65%) Vagrant
9 5 (0.41%) Chocolatey
10 4 (0.33%) CircleCI
11 3 (0.24%) Artifactory
12 2 (0.16%) MSI
13 1 (0.081%) Atlassian Bamboo
13 1 (0.081%) Maven
13 1 (0.081%) Postman
13 1 (0.081%) Subversion
13 1 (0.081%) Travis CI
General
1 354 (28.78%) Social Skills
2 141 (11.46%) Analytical Skills
3 128 (10.41%) Finance
4 108 (8.78%) Public Sector
5 88 (7.15%) Documentation Skills
6 56 (4.55%) Banking
7 50 (4.07%) Telecoms
8 32 (2.60%) Legal
9 30 (2.44%) Manufacturing
10 27 (2.20%) Presentation Skills
11 16 (1.30%) Financial Institution
12 14 (1.14%) Military
13 13 (1.06%) Local Government
14 12 (0.98%) Influencing Skills
15 10 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (0.81%) Retail
16 8 (0.65%) Aerospace
16 8 (0.65%) Law
17 7 (0.57%) Electronics
17 7 (0.57%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 306 (24.88%) Network Engineer
2 198 (16.10%) Architect
3 113 (9.19%) Senior
4 111 (9.02%) Security Engineer
5 83 (6.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 68 (5.53%) Network Architect
7 52 (4.23%) Security Architect
8 51 (4.15%) DevOps Engineer
9 50 (4.07%) Analyst
9 50 (4.07%) Consultant
10 48 (3.90%) Azure Engineer
11 47 (3.82%) Platform Engineer
12 46 (3.74%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 40 (3.25%) Solutions Architect
14 37 (3.01%) Network Security Engineer
15 36 (2.93%) Lead
16 32 (2.60%) Cloud Engineer
16 32 (2.60%) Support Engineer
17 30 (2.44%) Senior Network Engineer
18 29 (2.36%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (3.17%) 802.1X
1 39 (3.17%) LDAP
2 31 (2.52%) SAML
3 27 (2.20%) OpenID
4 26 (2.11%) Middleware
5 20 (1.63%) OAuth
6 19 (1.54%) OAuth2
7 16 (1.30%) Kafka
8 15 (1.22%) JSON
8 15 (1.22%) Node.js
9 14 (1.14%) REST
10 10 (0.81%) OpenTelemetry
10 10 (0.81%) XML
11 9 (0.73%) ARM Templates
11 9 (0.73%) Elastic Stack
11 9 (0.73%) Spring Boot
12 8 (0.65%) Microsoft Graph
13 6 (0.49%) RFC 2544
13 6 (0.49%) YAML
14 4 (0.33%) VML
Miscellaneous
1 230 (18.70%) Data Centre
2 90 (7.32%) Security Posture
3 58 (4.72%) PKI
4 49 (3.98%) Onboarding
5 46 (3.74%) Cloud Native
6 43 (3.50%) Hybrid Cloud
7 42 (3.41%) Operational Technology
8 31 (2.52%) Public Cloud
9 30 (2.44%) Replication
10 27 (2.20%) Management Information System
11 25 (2.03%) Cyber Threat
11 25 (2.03%) Security Operations Centre
12 21 (1.71%) SCADA
13 20 (1.63%) Data Protection Act
14 17 (1.38%) NHS
14 17 (1.38%) Private Cloud
15 15 (1.22%) Product Ownership
16 14 (1.14%) IoT
17 13 (1.06%) Fat Client
17 13 (1.06%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 297 (24.15%) Windows
2 202 (16.42%) Linux
3 121 (9.84%) Windows Server
4 30 (2.44%) VMS
5 28 (2.28%) Unix
6 26 (2.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (0.98%) Ubuntu
7 12 (0.98%) Windows Server 2019
8 11 (0.89%) Amazon Linux
8 11 (0.89%) Windows 10
8 11 (0.89%) Windows 7
9 6 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.41%) Android
10 5 (0.41%) CentOS
10 5 (0.41%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.41%) Solaris
11 4 (0.33%) AIX
11 4 (0.33%) CatOS
11 4 (0.33%) Windows Server 2003
11 4 (0.33%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 243 (19.76%) Cybersecurity
2 208 (16.91%) Problem-Solving
3 199 (16.18%) DevOps
4 181 (14.72%) CI/CD
5 175 (14.23%) Infrastructure as Code
6 150 (12.20%) Migration
7 135 (10.98%) Incident Response
8 133 (10.81%) Cloud Security
9 132 (10.73%) SIEM
10 128 (10.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 124 (10.08%) Agile
12 117 (9.51%) ITIL
13 109 (8.86%) Load Balancing
14 108 (8.78%) High Availability
15 104 (8.46%) Stakeholder Management
16 101 (8.21%) Zero Trust
17 100 (8.13%) Change Management
18 91 (7.40%) Mentoring
19 83 (6.75%) Containerisation
19 83 (6.75%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 224 (18.21%) Python
2 194 (15.77%) PowerShell
3 101 (8.21%) Bash
4 61 (4.96%) SQL
5 40 (3.25%) Java
6 34 (2.76%) Perl
7 24 (1.95%) Bicep
8 13 (1.06%) Kusto Query Language
9 12 (0.98%) Ruby
10 9 (0.73%) Rust
11 8 (0.65%) Groovy
11 8 (0.65%) Shell Script
12 5 (0.41%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.33%) C#
13 4 (0.33%) COBOL
13 4 (0.33%) Go
13 4 (0.33%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.081%) C
14 1 (0.081%) C++
14 1 (0.081%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 415 (33.74%) Security Cleared
2 283 (23.01%) SC Cleared
3 219 (17.80%) Cisco Certification
4 182 (14.80%) CCNP
5 114 (9.27%) Degree
6 104 (8.46%) DV Cleared
7 90 (7.32%) CCNA
8 85 (6.91%) CISSP
9 55 (4.47%) CISM
10 54 (4.39%) Azure Certification
11 46 (3.74%) CCIE
12 45 (3.66%) AWS Certification
13 39 (3.17%) Microsoft Certification
14 23 (1.87%) CompTIA Security+
15 20 (1.63%) JNCIS
16 19 (1.54%) CEH
16 19 (1.54%) Computer Science Degree
16 19 (1.54%) JNCIP
17 16 (1.30%) CREST Certified
18 15 (1.22%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (9.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 91 (7.40%) NIST
3 62 (5.04%) GDPR
4 42 (3.41%) PCI DSS
5 26 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials
5 26 (2.11%) NCSC
5 26 (2.11%) SLA
6 18 (1.46%) QA
7 14 (1.14%) PMO
8 13 (1.06%) GRC
9 11 (0.89%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 8 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
11 6 (0.49%) HIPAA
11 6 (0.49%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 6 (0.49%) JSP 440
12 5 (0.41%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.33%) COBIT
13 4 (0.33%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 3 (0.24%) RMADS
System Software
1 223 (18.13%) Active Directory
2 161 (13.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 117 (9.51%) Docker
4 61 (4.96%) VMware NSX
5 38 (3.09%) Hyper-V
6 34 (2.76%) vSphere
7 32 (2.60%) Virtual Machines
8 20 (1.63%) Virtual Desktop
8 20 (1.63%) VMware ESXi
9 17 (1.38%) Squid
10 11 (0.89%) DFS Replication
10 11 (0.89%) Firmware
11 8 (0.65%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.49%) Dovecot
12 6 (0.49%) KVM
12 6 (0.49%) Postfix
13 5 (0.41%) Microsoft App-V
13 5 (0.41%) NDS
13 5 (0.41%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 5 (0.41%) Snort
Systems Management
1 198 (16.10%) Terraform
2 156 (12.68%) Ansible
3 116 (9.43%) Kubernetes
4 75 (6.10%) FortiGate
5 63 (5.12%) Microsoft Intune
6 43 (3.50%) Grafana
7 42 (3.41%) Single Sign-On
8 39 (3.17%) Prometheus
9 37 (3.01%) SCCM
10 26 (2.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 25 (2.03%) vCenter Server
12 18 (1.46%) Nmap
13 16 (1.30%) CSIRT
14 14 (1.14%) Fluentd
14 14 (1.14%) Nagios
14 14 (1.14%) Nessus
15 12 (0.98%) QRadar
15 12 (0.98%) WMI
16 9 (0.73%) CASB
16 9 (0.73%) SCOM
Vendors
1 393 (31.95%) Cisco
2 281 (22.85%) Microsoft
3 265 (21.54%) Palo Alto
4 206 (16.75%) VMware
5 141 (11.46%) F5
6 133 (10.81%) CheckPoint
7 126 (10.24%) Fortinet
8 102 (8.29%) Juniper
9 90 (7.32%) Splunk
10 72 (5.85%) Aruba
11 62 (5.04%) Meraki
12 57 (4.63%) SolarWinds
13 52 (4.23%) Google
13 52 (4.23%) Oracle
14 45 (3.66%) ServiceNow
15 44 (3.58%) Zscaler
16 37 (3.01%) Citrix
17 27 (2.20%) Red Hat
18 25 (2.03%) Dell
19 19 (1.54%) Arista