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

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 92 56 57
Rank change year-on-year -36 +1 -9
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,443 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 911 825 880
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 £597 £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 4,979 3,947 4,876
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.40% 12.03% 12.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,971 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 340 196 342
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.01
Median hourly rate £26.29 £48.75 £45.44
Median % change year-on-year -46.07% +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 30 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 30 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 30 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 -43 1,250 £500 - 460
UK excluding London -28 817 £500 +2.35% 380
London -55 478 £500 - 139
Work from Home -33 394 £520 +4.00% 169
North of England -14 292 £500 +5.26% 87
South East -32 225 £518 +3.50% 145
North West -6 188 £525 +10.53% 43
Yorkshire -36 88 £450 -7.64% 32
Midlands -71 76 £459 -6.71% 58
South West -38 75 £550 +11.39% 38
East of England -6 74 £525 -4.55% 31
Scotland +5 64 £425 -5.56% 15
West Midlands -73 60 £450 -10.00% 33
North East -24 22 £625 - 15
Wales -19 18 £425 +17.24% 12
East Midlands -21 13 £488 +3.50% 25
Northern Ireland -10 1 - - 4

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 (3.05%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (1.94%) SharePoint
3 27 (1.87%) Confluence
4 14 (0.97%) Apache
5 13 (0.90%) nginx
6 10 (0.69%) 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 23 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (1.52%) MS Visio
3 20 (1.39%) Microsoft Excel
4 8 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.069%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 3 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.14%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.14%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.069%) Bloomberg TOMS
3 1 (0.069%) Eikon
3 1 (0.069%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.069%) Primavera
3 1 (0.069%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 521 (36.11%) Azure
2 327 (22.66%) AWS
3 152 (10.53%) Entra ID
4 125 (8.66%) Microsoft 365
5 122 (8.45%) GCP
6 75 (5.20%) GitHub
7 66 (4.57%) IaaS
8 60 (4.16%) Azure DevOps
9 59 (4.09%) SaaS
10 58 (4.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 47 (3.26%) Azure Monitor
12 46 (3.19%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 44 (3.05%) PaaS
14 41 (2.84%) Azure Sentinel
15 37 (2.56%) OCI
15 37 (2.56%) Serverless
16 32 (2.22%) GitHub Actions
16 32 (2.22%) Google Kubernetes Engine
17 28 (1.94%) AWS CloudFormation
18 25 (1.73%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 425 (29.45%) VPN
2 398 (27.58%) Network Security
3 396 (27.44%) WAN
4 363 (25.16%) DNS
5 296 (20.51%) LAN
6 266 (18.43%) BGP
7 212 (14.69%) OSPF
8 207 (14.35%) TCP/IP
9 205 (14.21%) DHCP
10 204 (14.14%) VLAN
11 168 (11.64%) Wireless
12 146 (10.12%) SD-WAN
13 126 (8.73%) Wi-Fi
14 95 (6.58%) MPLS
15 94 (6.51%) BIG-IP
16 92 (6.38%) IPsec
17 83 (5.75%) VXLAN
18 81 (5.61%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 80 (5.54%) SSL
20 78 (5.41%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (2.36%) SQL Server
2 19 (1.32%) PostgreSQL
3 17 (1.18%) Power BI
4 13 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
5 12 (0.83%) Elasticsearch
6 10 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
6 10 (0.69%) DataStage
7 9 (0.62%) Data Lake
7 9 (0.62%) Oracle Database
7 9 (0.62%) Relational Database
8 8 (0.55%) 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 (6.38%) JIRA
2 57 (3.95%) Jenkins
3 44 (3.05%) Git
4 43 (2.98%) GitLab
5 14 (0.97%) Sonatype Nexus
6 9 (0.62%) Artifactory
6 9 (0.62%) Bitbucket
6 9 (0.62%) Chocolatey
7 6 (0.42%) Browser DevTools
8 5 (0.35%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
9 4 (0.28%) Burp Suite
10 2 (0.14%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.14%) Gatling
10 2 (0.14%) Gradle
10 2 (0.14%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.14%) Metasploit
10 2 (0.14%) MSI
10 2 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.14%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 304 (21.07%) Social Skills
2 188 (13.03%) Finance
3 136 (9.42%) Analytical Skills
4 122 (8.45%) Public Sector
5 80 (5.54%) Banking
6 68 (4.71%) Documentation Skills
7 51 (3.53%) Telecoms
8 25 (1.73%) Legal
9 24 (1.66%) Manufacturing
10 23 (1.59%) Influencing Skills
11 22 (1.52%) Military
12 21 (1.46%) Financial Institution
13 20 (1.39%) Local Government
14 16 (1.11%) Retail
15 13 (0.90%) Law
15 13 (0.90%) Organisational Skills
16 12 (0.83%) Police
17 11 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 10 (0.69%) Investment Banking
19 9 (0.62%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 469 (32.50%) Network Engineer
2 210 (14.55%) Senior
3 207 (14.35%) Architect
4 144 (9.98%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 124 (8.59%) Security Engineer
6 92 (6.38%) Senior Network Engineer
7 76 (5.27%) Cloud Engineer
8 72 (4.99%) Network Architect
9 60 (4.16%) Consultant
10 59 (4.09%) Azure Engineer
10 59 (4.09%) Network Security Engineer
11 50 (3.47%) Security Architect
12 49 (3.40%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 47 (3.26%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 46 (3.19%) Technical Architect
15 45 (3.12%) DevOps Engineer
16 44 (3.05%) Lead
17 38 (2.63%) Cisco Engineer
18 36 (2.49%) Analyst
18 36 (2.49%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (4.85%) 802.1X
2 43 (2.98%) Middleware
3 29 (2.01%) SAML
4 23 (1.59%) LDAP
5 22 (1.52%) ARM Templates
6 18 (1.25%) OpenID
7 14 (0.97%) OAuth
8 12 (0.83%) OAuth2
9 11 (0.76%) Kafka
10 10 (0.69%) React
11 9 (0.62%) LangChain
11 9 (0.62%) PyTorch
11 9 (0.62%) scikit-learn
12 8 (0.55%) .NET
12 8 (0.55%) REST
12 8 (0.55%) YAML
13 7 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
13 7 (0.49%) OpenTelemetry
13 7 (0.49%) SailPoint
14 5 (0.35%) Jinja
Miscellaneous
1 331 (22.94%) Data Centre
2 97 (6.72%) Cloud Native
3 89 (6.17%) Hybrid Cloud
4 86 (5.96%) PKI
5 71 (4.92%) Security Posture
6 57 (3.95%) Management Information System
7 54 (3.74%) Onboarding
8 47 (3.26%) Operational Technology
9 42 (2.91%) Clustering
10 31 (2.15%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 29 (2.01%) Data Protection Act
12 27 (1.87%) IoT
13 26 (1.80%) Public Cloud
14 24 (1.66%) Enterprise Storage
14 24 (1.66%) SCADA
15 22 (1.52%) Driving Licence
16 21 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
17 19 (1.32%) Linux Command Line
17 19 (1.32%) Replication
18 18 (1.25%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 350 (24.26%) Windows
2 213 (14.76%) Linux
3 132 (9.15%) Windows Server
4 52 (3.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 35 (2.43%) Unix
6 23 (1.59%) VMS
7 19 (1.32%) Ubuntu
8 13 (0.90%) Windows Server 2019
9 11 (0.76%) CentOS
9 11 (0.76%) Solaris
10 10 (0.69%) AIX
10 10 (0.69%) Mac OS
11 9 (0.62%) 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
1 242 (16.77%) DevOps
2 228 (15.80%) CI/CD
3 224 (15.52%) Infrastructure as Code
4 204 (14.14%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 203 (14.07%) Load Balancing
6 193 (13.37%) Problem-Solving
7 188 (13.03%) Cybersecurity
8 184 (12.75%) ITIL
9 183 (12.68%) Migration
10 179 (12.40%) High Availability
11 159 (11.02%) Zero Trust
12 154 (10.67%) Agile
13 137 (9.49%) SIEM
14 128 (8.87%) Project Delivery
15 127 (8.80%) Change Management
16 121 (8.39%) Observability
17 118 (8.18%) Validation
18 117 (8.11%) Stakeholder Management
19 109 (7.55%) Cloud Security
20 103 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 263 (18.23%) Python
2 184 (12.75%) PowerShell
3 123 (8.52%) Bash
4 50 (3.47%) Bicep
5 44 (3.05%) SQL
6 34 (2.36%) Java
7 11 (0.76%) ActionScript
7 11 (0.76%) Perl
8 10 (0.69%) COBOL
9 7 (0.49%) Groovy
9 7 (0.49%) JavaScript
9 7 (0.49%) Kusto Query Language
10 6 (0.42%) Go
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%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 488 (33.82%) Security Cleared
2 338 (23.42%) SC Cleared
3 277 (19.20%) Cisco Certification
4 208 (14.41%) CCNP
5 129 (8.94%) DV Cleared
6 117 (8.11%) Degree
7 114 (7.90%) CCNA
8 75 (5.20%) CISSP
9 62 (4.30%) Azure Certification
10 45 (3.12%) AWS Certification
11 40 (2.77%) CCIE
12 34 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
13 33 (2.29%) CISM
14 28 (1.94%) Computer Science Degree
15 22 (1.52%) Network+ Certification
16 21 (1.46%) JNCIS
17 17 (1.18%) CompTIA Security+
17 17 (1.18%) JNCIP
17 17 (1.18%) Server+ Certification
18 16 (1.11%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (5.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 61 (4.23%) NIST
3 45 (3.12%) GDPR
4 31 (2.15%) NCSC
5 26 (1.80%) PCI DSS
6 24 (1.66%) SLA
7 21 (1.46%) QA
8 19 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
9 9 (0.62%) Data Quality
9 9 (0.62%) NIST 800
10 8 (0.55%) Disclosure Scotland
10 8 (0.55%) 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)
13 5 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 4 (0.28%) SOC 2
System Software
1 232 (16.08%) Active Directory
2 164 (11.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 65 (4.50%) Docker
4 60 (4.16%) VMware NSX
5 54 (3.74%) Hyper-V
6 42 (2.91%) vSphere
7 41 (2.84%) Virtual Machines
8 38 (2.63%) VMware ESXi
9 25 (1.73%) Firmware
10 15 (1.04%) Virtual Desktop
11 11 (0.76%) BitLocker
11 11 (0.76%) Squid
12 8 (0.55%) 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
1 278 (19.27%) Terraform
2 193 (13.37%) Ansible
3 117 (8.11%) Kubernetes
4 107 (7.42%) FortiGate
5 68 (4.71%) Microsoft Intune
6 55 (3.81%) Grafana
7 52 (3.60%) Prometheus
8 39 (2.70%) SCCM
9 32 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
10 24 (1.66%) vCenter Server
11 21 (1.46%) Progress Chef
12 18 (1.25%) Puppet
13 17 (1.18%) CASB
14 15 (1.04%) VxRail
15 14 (0.97%) Cisco Prime
16 11 (0.76%) QRadar
17 10 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
17 10 (0.69%) Packer
18 9 (0.62%) Argo
19 8 (0.55%) vMotion
Vendors
1 519 (35.97%) Cisco
2 322 (22.31%) Microsoft
3 308 (21.34%) Palo Alto
4 220 (15.25%) VMware
5 209 (14.48%) Fortinet
6 197 (13.65%) F5
7 160 (11.09%) Juniper
8 123 (8.52%) CheckPoint
9 86 (5.96%) Splunk
10 75 (5.20%) Aruba
11 73 (5.06%) Google
11 73 (5.06%) ServiceNow
12 71 (4.92%) Arista
13 69 (4.78%) SolarWinds
14 66 (4.57%) Zscaler
15 45 (3.12%) Citrix
15 45 (3.12%) Red Hat
16 44 (3.05%) Meraki
17 32 (2.22%) Infoblox
18 31 (2.15%) Dynatrace