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 15 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 66 51 44
Rank change year-on-year -15 -7 +21
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,329 1,351 2,096
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.74% 3.69% 4.48%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 33.06% 30.63% 31.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 853 811 1,391
10th Percentile £313 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -
75th Percentile £600 £614 £625
90th Percentile £688 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 23 65
10th Percentile £20.47 £20.00 £35.00
25th Percentile £29.00 £20.72 £62.50
Median hourly rate £33.39 £27.50 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +21.40% -58.32% +86.60%
75th Percentile £69.31 £39.75 £75.67
90th Percentile £89.63 £57.75 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £27.50 £66.62
% change year-on-year +27.27% -58.72% +62.38%

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 4,020 4,410 6,565
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.32% 12.04% 14.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,606 2,546 4,097
10th Percentile £206 £225 £213
25th Percentile £358 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £453 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -4.63% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 201 166 342
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.83 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.50 £24.63 £22.81
Median hourly rate £35.00 £46.25 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -24.32% -15.91% +30.72%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £75.67
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £50.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -15.00% -11.49% +25.53%

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 15 November 2025.

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 15 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Firewall in the UK

Firewall
Top 18 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 15 November 2025. 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 -14 1,140 £500 -4.76% 784
UK excluding London -9 734 £488 -2.50% 594
London -10 471 £525 -4.55% 296
Work from Home -12 379 £500 -4.76% 302
North of England -12 209 £496 -0.80% 88
South East -2 177 £488 -2.50% 240
Midlands -4 153 £475 -5.00% 88
West Midlands +14 138 £475 -5.00% 63
Yorkshire 0 109 £488 +14.71% 32
North West -26 97 £525 +5.00% 44
Scotland -17 64 £450 -5.26% 37
East of England -12 55 £501 -4.52% 64
South West -25 54 £540 +13.68% 61
East Midlands -36 15 £492 -4.00% 25
Wales -4 14 £200 -46.67% 19
Northern Ireland - 12 £500 - 8
North East -12 6 £550 +57.14% 12
Channel Islands - 4 £725 -

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 58 (4.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 50 (3.76%) Confluence
3 35 (2.63%) SharePoint
4 16 (1.20%) OpenStack
5 13 (0.98%) nginx
6 10 (0.75%) Apache
7 6 (0.45%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.30%) JBoss
9 3 (0.23%) CMS
9 3 (0.23%) SAS
10 2 (0.15%) Anypoint
10 2 (0.15%) CICS
10 2 (0.15%) IIS
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.15%) Traefik
10 2 (0.15%) WebLogic
10 2 (0.15%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.075%) Exchange Server 2013
11 1 (0.075%) Mattermost
11 1 (0.075%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 29 (2.18%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.75%) Mozilla Thunderbird
3 9 (0.68%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.23%) ION MarketView
2 2 (0.15%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.075%) Finacle
3 1 (0.075%) Pegasus Opera
Cloud Services
1 410 (30.85%) Azure
2 350 (26.34%) AWS
3 151 (11.36%) Microsoft 365
4 149 (11.21%) GCP
5 91 (6.85%) Entra ID
6 82 (6.17%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 69 (5.19%) Amazon EC2
8 65 (4.89%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 58 (4.36%) Amazon S3
10 55 (4.14%) Azure Sentinel
11 46 (3.46%) Amazon ELB
12 38 (2.86%) Azure DevOps
12 38 (2.86%) IaaS
13 37 (2.78%) GitHub
14 36 (2.71%) Akamai
15 34 (2.56%) Serverless
16 33 (2.48%) PaaS
17 31 (2.33%) SaaS
18 30 (2.26%) Azure Monitor
19 29 (2.18%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 287 (21.60%) VPN
2 285 (21.44%) Network Security
3 270 (20.32%) DNS
4 245 (18.43%) WAN
5 173 (13.02%) LAN
6 163 (12.26%) TCP/IP
7 152 (11.44%) BGP
8 142 (10.68%) SD-WAN
9 130 (9.78%) OSPF
10 124 (9.33%) Wireless
11 116 (8.73%) VLAN
12 114 (8.58%) DHCP
13 103 (7.75%) Wi-Fi
14 85 (6.40%) SSL
15 77 (5.79%) Cisco Nexus
16 71 (5.34%) MPLS
17 64 (4.82%) Cisco ISE
18 59 (4.44%) Cisco IOS
19 55 (4.14%) HTTP
20 53 (3.99%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (3.16%) Amazon RDS
2 37 (2.78%) SQL Server
3 24 (1.81%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (0.90%) Relational Database
5 10 (0.75%) Amazon Aurora
6 8 (0.60%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.53%) MySQL
8 6 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.38%) DB2
9 5 (0.38%) DynamoDB
9 5 (0.38%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.38%) Oracle Database
9 5 (0.38%) Redis
10 4 (0.30%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.23%) Apache Cassandra
11 3 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.15%) Amazon QuickSight
12 2 (0.15%) Data Vault
12 2 (0.15%) RDBMS
13 1 (0.075%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 111 (8.35%) Jenkins
2 97 (7.30%) Git
3 86 (6.47%) JIRA
4 67 (5.04%) GitLab
5 26 (1.96%) Sonatype Nexus
6 22 (1.66%) Vagrant
7 16 (1.20%) Postman
8 15 (1.13%) Bitbucket
9 9 (0.68%) SonarQube
10 3 (0.23%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.15%) Maven
11 2 (0.15%) MSI
12 1 (0.075%) Eclipse
12 1 (0.075%) Subversion
General
1 326 (24.53%) Social Skills
2 152 (11.44%) Finance
3 146 (10.99%) Analytical Skills
4 124 (9.33%) Public Sector
5 68 (5.12%) Banking
6 55 (4.14%) Telecoms
7 54 (4.06%) Documentation Skills
8 37 (2.78%) Manufacturing
9 33 (2.48%) Legal
10 31 (2.33%) Presentation Skills
11 26 (1.96%) Games
12 16 (1.20%) Local Government
13 14 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 13 (0.98%) Military
15 11 (0.83%) Law
15 11 (0.83%) Organisational Skills
16 10 (0.75%) Retail
17 9 (0.68%) Influencing Skills
18 8 (0.60%) Financial Institution
19 6 (0.45%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 305 (22.95%) Network Engineer
2 211 (15.88%) Architect
3 137 (10.31%) Security Engineer
4 113 (8.50%) Senior
5 89 (6.70%) Analyst
6 79 (5.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 77 (5.79%) Network Architect
8 75 (5.64%) Platform Engineer
9 69 (5.19%) Consultant
10 68 (5.12%) DevOps Engineer
11 57 (4.29%) Security Architect
12 55 (4.14%) Network Security Engineer
13 44 (3.31%) Support Engineer
14 42 (3.16%) Azure Engineer
14 42 (3.16%) Solutions Architect
15 40 (3.01%) Lead
16 35 (2.63%) Cloud Engineer
16 35 (2.63%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 34 (2.56%) Security Analyst
18 33 (2.48%) AWS Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (2.41%) LDAP
2 29 (2.18%) 802.1X
3 25 (1.88%) RFC 2544
4 21 (1.58%) SAML
5 20 (1.50%) REST
6 19 (1.43%) Middleware
7 17 (1.28%) JSON
7 17 (1.28%) OpenID
8 15 (1.13%) OAuth
9 14 (1.05%) Elastic Stack
10 13 (0.98%) Node.js
10 13 (0.98%) OAuth2
11 10 (0.75%) ARM Templates
11 10 (0.75%) XML
12 8 (0.60%) YAML
13 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
14 5 (0.38%) Kafka
15 3 (0.23%) CSS
15 3 (0.23%) JBoss Seam
15 3 (0.23%) Regular Expression
Miscellaneous
1 203 (15.27%) Data Centre
2 83 (6.25%) Security Posture
3 63 (4.74%) Operational Technology
4 60 (4.51%) Hybrid Cloud
5 47 (3.54%) PKI
6 46 (3.46%) Replication
7 44 (3.31%) Onboarding
8 35 (2.63%) Management Information System
9 33 (2.48%) Cloud Native
10 30 (2.26%) Data Protection Act
11 27 (2.03%) Cyber Threat
12 25 (1.88%) Public Cloud
13 23 (1.73%) Security Operations Centre
14 21 (1.58%) SCADA
15 19 (1.43%) Fibre Optics
15 19 (1.43%) Private Cloud
16 18 (1.35%) Cyber Defence
17 16 (1.20%) Virtual Team
18 15 (1.13%) Legacy Systems
19 14 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 318 (23.93%) Windows
2 228 (17.16%) Linux
3 107 (8.05%) Windows Server
4 41 (3.09%) Unix
5 38 (2.86%) VMS
6 36 (2.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 32 (2.41%) Mac OS
8 29 (2.18%) Android
9 25 (1.88%) Amazon Linux
10 22 (1.66%) Ubuntu
11 14 (1.05%) Windows 10
12 11 (0.83%) Windows Server 2016
12 11 (0.83%) Windows Server 2019
13 9 (0.68%) CentOS
14 8 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
15 7 (0.53%) Windows 7
16 6 (0.45%) Solaris
17 3 (0.23%) AIX
17 3 (0.23%) Apple iOS
17 3 (0.23%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (17.68%) Cybersecurity
2 211 (15.88%) DevOps
3 192 (14.45%) Problem-Solving
4 186 (14.00%) Cloud Security
5 169 (12.72%) CI/CD
6 164 (12.34%) Incident Response
7 159 (11.96%) SIEM
8 157 (11.81%) Infrastructure as Code
9 144 (10.84%) Migration
10 133 (10.01%) Agile
11 126 (9.48%) ITIL
12 123 (9.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 121 (9.10%) High Availability
14 99 (7.45%) Change Management
14 99 (7.45%) Security Operations
15 93 (7.00%) Stakeholder Management
16 90 (6.77%) Network Design
17 89 (6.70%) Load Balancing
18 87 (6.55%) Zero Trust
19 81 (6.09%) Configuration Management
Programming Languages
1 284 (21.37%) Python
2 217 (16.33%) PowerShell
3 114 (8.58%) Bash
4 58 (4.36%) SQL
5 46 (3.46%) Java
5 46 (3.46%) Perl
6 22 (1.66%) Groovy
7 20 (1.50%) Kusto Query Language
8 19 (1.43%) Bicep
9 11 (0.83%) Shell Script
10 10 (0.75%) Ruby
11 7 (0.53%) JavaScript
12 6 (0.45%) Go
13 4 (0.30%) C
14 3 (0.23%) C#
14 3 (0.23%) Kotlin
14 3 (0.23%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.15%) Apex Code
15 2 (0.15%) C++
15 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 367 (27.61%) Security Cleared
2 259 (19.49%) SC Cleared
3 228 (17.16%) Cisco Certification
4 165 (12.42%) CCNP
5 110 (8.28%) Degree
6 103 (7.75%) CISSP
7 88 (6.62%) CCNA
8 79 (5.94%) DV Cleared
9 63 (4.74%) Azure Certification
10 54 (4.06%) AWS Certification
11 52 (3.91%) CCIE
11 52 (3.91%) CISM
12 51 (3.84%) Microsoft Certification
13 37 (2.78%) Computer Science Degree
14 27 (2.03%) CEH
14 27 (2.03%) CompTIA Security+
15 20 (1.50%) GIAC
16 16 (1.20%) BPSS Clearance
16 16 (1.20%) JNCIP
17 15 (1.13%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 118 (8.88%) NIST
2 104 (7.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 74 (5.57%) GDPR
4 40 (3.01%) PCI DSS
5 24 (1.81%) SLA
6 20 (1.50%) NCSC
6 20 (1.50%) QA
7 14 (1.05%) GRC
8 13 (0.98%) HIPAA
9 12 (0.90%) Cyber Essentials
9 12 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 10 (0.75%) SOC 2
11 9 (0.68%) COBIT
12 6 (0.45%) Actionable Recommendations
12 6 (0.45%) Disclosure Scotland
12 6 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (0.38%) GxP
13 5 (0.38%) PSD2
14 4 (0.30%) Accessibility
14 4 (0.30%) NIST 800
System Software
1 234 (17.61%) Active Directory
2 144 (10.84%) Docker
3 140 (10.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 38 (2.86%) Hyper-V
5 34 (2.56%) Virtual Machines
6 26 (1.96%) vSphere
7 25 (1.88%) DFS Replication
7 25 (1.88%) VMware NSX
8 16 (1.20%) Firmware
9 15 (1.13%) Squid
10 11 (0.83%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.75%) Dovecot
11 10 (0.75%) Postfix
12 8 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
13 7 (0.53%) Terminal Services
13 7 (0.53%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 7 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
14 6 (0.45%) KVM
14 6 (0.45%) Snort
15 5 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
Systems Management
1 190 (14.30%) Terraform
2 183 (13.77%) Ansible
3 104 (7.83%) Kubernetes
4 74 (5.57%) Microsoft Intune
5 71 (5.34%) FortiGate
6 61 (4.59%) SCCM
7 43 (3.24%) Grafana
8 41 (3.09%) Prometheus
9 32 (2.41%) Single Sign-On
10 24 (1.81%) Puppet
11 21 (1.58%) Nessus
12 19 (1.43%) vCenter Server
13 18 (1.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 18 (1.35%) CSIRT
14 16 (1.20%) CASB
15 15 (1.13%) QRadar
16 12 (0.90%) Fluentd
17 11 (0.83%) SCOM
18 10 (0.75%) Microsoft Clustering
18 10 (0.75%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 456 (34.31%) Cisco
2 338 (25.43%) Microsoft
3 223 (16.78%) Palo Alto
4 175 (13.17%) VMware
5 173 (13.02%) F5
6 145 (10.91%) Fortinet
7 121 (9.10%) CheckPoint
8 113 (8.50%) Splunk
9 102 (7.67%) Juniper
10 81 (6.09%) Meraki
11 71 (5.34%) SolarWinds
12 68 (5.12%) Oracle
13 57 (4.29%) Zscaler
14 56 (4.21%) ServiceNow
15 54 (4.06%) Google
16 46 (3.46%) Citrix
17 32 (2.41%) Red Hat
18 30 (2.26%) Aruba
19 26 (1.96%) Dell
20 21 (1.58%) Tenable