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 4 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 87 51 52
Rank change year-on-year -36 +1 +4
Contract jobs citing Firewall 1,333 1,205 1,565
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.83% 4.11% 3.63%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 29.39% 32.31% 28.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 869 723 981
10th Percentile £331 £313 £313
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £508 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% -1.46% -1.90%
75th Percentile £581 £600 £625
90th Percentile £646 £688 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 19 44
10th Percentile £19.90 - £16.00
25th Percentile £37.25 £14.20 £23.92
Median hourly rate £52.36 £27.50 £61.50
Median % change year-on-year +90.40% -55.28% -0.81%
75th Percentile £71.64 £41.50 £85.99
90th Percentile £85.10 £50.75 £87.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.00 £26.25 £83.77
% change year-on-year +113.33% -68.66% +35.10%

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 4,536 3,729 5,522
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.61% 12.73% 12.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,824 2,294 3,303
10th Percentile £250 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £495
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -1.52% -4.81%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £465 £475
% change year-on-year +2.15% -2.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 230 175 420
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.32 £16.72
Median hourly rate £41.94 £36.65 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +14.45% -8.39% +111.30%
75th Percentile £67.13 £58.09 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £49.36 £24.71 £45.88
% change year-on-year +99.76% -46.14% +148.00%

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 4 May 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 4 May 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 4 May 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 -41 1,115 £500 -3.29% 496
UK excluding London -20 746 £500 +2.04% 414
London -54 417 £507 -3.52% 149
Work from Home -27 389 £514 +2.75% 199
South East -1 244 £500 - 134
North of England -23 208 £500 +5.26% 113
North West -14 137 £525 +10.53% 56
Midlands -48 89 £425 -23.42% 49
West Midlands -27 76 £420 -20.00% 32
Yorkshire -24 65 £425 -5.56% 33
East of England -14 64 £500 -2.44% 41
South West -52 56 £550 +0.55% 44
Scotland +8 54 £425 - 25
Wales -13 30 £425 +11.11% 17
East Midlands -47 9 £475 -16.30% 17
North East -15 8 £545 -0.91% 25
Northern Ireland +1 3 £443 - 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 37 (2.78%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (2.33%) Confluence
3 16 (1.20%) SharePoint
4 13 (0.98%) Apache
4 13 (0.98%) nginx
5 10 (0.75%) CICS
6 6 (0.45%) SAS
7 5 (0.38%) IIS
8 3 (0.23%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.23%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.15%) Apache Pulsar
9 2 (0.15%) CMS
9 2 (0.15%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.15%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.15%) Umbraco
9 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.15%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.075%) JBoss
10 1 (0.075%) MTS
Applications
1 32 (2.40%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (1.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 21 (1.58%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.075%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 1 (0.075%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.075%) Primavera
1 1 (0.075%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.075%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 444 (33.31%) Azure
2 274 (20.56%) AWS
3 114 (8.55%) Microsoft 365
4 110 (8.25%) Entra ID
5 103 (7.73%) GCP
6 65 (4.88%) GitHub
7 56 (4.20%) IaaS
8 53 (3.98%) Azure DevOps
9 52 (3.90%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 48 (3.60%) PaaS
11 45 (3.38%) SaaS
12 42 (3.15%) Azure Sentinel
13 40 (3.00%) Azure Monitor
13 40 (3.00%) GitHub Actions
14 35 (2.63%) Serverless
15 34 (2.55%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 26 (1.95%) Amazon EKS
16 26 (1.95%) AWS Lambda
17 25 (1.88%) Amazon EC2
17 25 (1.88%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 362 (27.16%) Network Security
2 348 (26.11%) WAN
3 328 (24.61%) VPN
4 274 (20.56%) DNS
5 265 (19.88%) LAN
6 225 (16.88%) BGP
7 206 (15.45%) OSPF
8 155 (11.63%) VLAN
9 144 (10.80%) DHCP
10 142 (10.65%) TCP/IP
11 132 (9.90%) SD-WAN
12 126 (9.45%) Wireless
13 102 (7.65%) Wi-Fi
14 89 (6.68%) MPLS
15 86 (6.45%) IPsec
16 78 (5.85%) VXLAN
17 76 (5.70%) BIG-IP
18 71 (5.33%) Cisco ISE
19 68 (5.10%) Ethernet VPN
20 65 (4.88%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (1.95%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.35%) Elasticsearch
3 17 (1.28%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (0.90%) Power BI
5 10 (0.75%) DataStage
5 10 (0.75%) Oracle Database
6 9 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
7 8 (0.60%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
8 7 (0.53%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (0.53%) MongoDB
9 6 (0.45%) MySQL
10 4 (0.30%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.30%) Amazon QuickSight
10 4 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (0.30%) Metadata
10 4 (0.30%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.23%) Delta Lake
11 3 (0.23%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 79 (5.93%) JIRA
2 50 (3.75%) Jenkins
3 38 (2.85%) Git
4 35 (2.63%) GitLab
5 18 (1.35%) Sonatype Nexus
6 16 (1.20%) Burp Suite
6 16 (1.20%) Metasploit
7 14 (1.05%) Bitbucket
8 9 (0.68%) Chocolatey
8 9 (0.68%) Jaeger
9 7 (0.53%) SonarQube
10 6 (0.45%) Artifactory
11 5 (0.38%) Browser DevTools
12 4 (0.30%) CircleCI
13 2 (0.15%) Introscope
13 2 (0.15%) Postman
13 2 (0.15%) Team Foundation Server
14 1 (0.075%) Atlassian Bamboo
14 1 (0.075%) Maven
14 1 (0.075%) PVCS
General
1 322 (24.16%) Social Skills
2 161 (12.08%) Finance
3 124 (9.30%) Analytical Skills
4 107 (8.03%) Public Sector
5 89 (6.68%) Documentation Skills
6 52 (3.90%) Banking
7 43 (3.23%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.18%) Legal
9 25 (1.88%) Financial Institution
10 23 (1.73%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.43%) Military
12 16 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
13 15 (1.13%) Law
14 14 (1.05%) Retail
15 11 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 11 (0.83%) Local Government
16 10 (0.75%) Front Office
17 9 (0.68%) Investment Banking
17 9 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
17 9 (0.68%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 403 (30.23%) Network Engineer
2 214 (16.05%) Architect
3 154 (11.55%) Senior
4 106 (7.95%) Security Engineer
5 101 (7.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 73 (5.48%) Network Architect
7 62 (4.65%) Senior Network Engineer
8 59 (4.43%) Azure Engineer
9 57 (4.28%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 51 (3.83%) Cloud Engineer
11 43 (3.23%) Network Security Engineer
12 41 (3.08%) Lead
12 41 (3.08%) Security Architect
13 40 (3.00%) Technical Architect
14 38 (2.85%) Cisco Engineer
14 38 (2.85%) DevOps Engineer
15 36 (2.70%) Analyst
16 35 (2.63%) Cisco Network Engineer
17 33 (2.48%) Solutions Architect
18 31 (2.33%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (5.18%) 802.1X
2 41 (3.08%) LDAP
3 37 (2.78%) Middleware
4 31 (2.33%) SAML
5 28 (2.10%) OpenID
6 20 (1.50%) Kafka
7 14 (1.05%) OAuth
8 13 (0.98%) OAuth2
8 13 (0.98%) REST
9 11 (0.83%) OpenTelemetry
10 9 (0.68%) ARM Templates
10 9 (0.68%) JSON
10 9 (0.68%) Spring Boot
11 8 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
12 7 (0.53%) Node.js
13 6 (0.45%) LangChain
13 6 (0.45%) PyTorch
13 6 (0.45%) scikit-learn
13 6 (0.45%) XML
13 6 (0.45%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 295 (22.13%) Data Centre
2 74 (5.55%) Cloud Native
3 67 (5.03%) PKI
3 67 (5.03%) Security Posture
4 47 (3.53%) Hybrid Cloud
5 46 (3.45%) Onboarding
6 41 (3.08%) Operational Technology
7 39 (2.93%) Clustering
8 36 (2.70%) Management Information System
9 33 (2.48%) Public Cloud
10 27 (2.03%) Data Protection Act
10 27 (2.03%) IoT
11 22 (1.65%) SCADA
12 21 (1.58%) Cyber Threat
13 20 (1.50%) Enterprise Storage
14 19 (1.43%) Enterprise Software
15 17 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
16 16 (1.20%) NHS
16 16 (1.20%) Replication
17 15 (1.13%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 315 (23.63%) Windows
2 183 (13.73%) Linux
3 125 (9.38%) Windows Server
4 35 (2.63%) Unix
5 27 (2.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 25 (1.88%) VMS
7 11 (0.83%) Solaris
8 10 (0.75%) AIX
8 10 (0.75%) Windows Server 2016
8 10 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
9 7 (0.53%) Windows Server 2003
10 6 (0.45%) Windows 10
11 5 (0.38%) CatOS
11 5 (0.38%) Mac OS
11 5 (0.38%) Windows 7
11 5 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.23%) Amazon Linux
12 3 (0.23%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.23%) SUSE
13 2 (0.15%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 209 (15.68%) DevOps
2 203 (15.23%) Cybersecurity
3 182 (13.65%) Problem-Solving
4 179 (13.43%) CI/CD
5 174 (13.05%) Infrastructure as Code
6 168 (12.60%) Migration
7 167 (12.53%) Load Balancing
8 158 (11.85%) ITIL
9 157 (11.78%) High Availability
10 141 (10.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 124 (9.30%) Agile
12 123 (9.23%) Zero Trust
13 111 (8.33%) SIEM
14 109 (8.18%) Change Management
15 103 (7.73%) Cloud Security
16 91 (6.83%) Technical Leadership
17 90 (6.75%) Observability
17 90 (6.75%) Project Delivery
18 88 (6.60%) Network Segmentation
19 85 (6.38%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 179 (13.43%) Python
2 156 (11.70%) PowerShell
3 73 (5.48%) Bash
4 55 (4.13%) SQL
5 38 (2.85%) Bicep
6 29 (2.18%) Java
7 13 (0.98%) Perl
8 10 (0.75%) COBOL
8 10 (0.75%) JavaScript
8 10 (0.75%) Kusto Query Language
9 8 (0.60%) Rust
10 6 (0.45%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.38%) Ruby
11 5 (0.38%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.30%) C#
12 4 (0.30%) Go
13 3 (0.23%) C++
13 3 (0.23%) Groovy
14 2 (0.15%) Jython
14 2 (0.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 474 (35.56%) Security Cleared
2 345 (25.88%) SC Cleared
3 258 (19.35%) Cisco Certification
4 200 (15.00%) CCNP
5 112 (8.40%) DV Cleared
6 110 (8.25%) Degree
7 103 (7.73%) CCNA
8 62 (4.65%) CISSP
9 55 (4.13%) Azure Certification
10 41 (3.08%) CCIE
11 36 (2.70%) AWS Certification
12 35 (2.63%) CISM
13 28 (2.10%) Microsoft Certification
14 23 (1.73%) CompTIA Security+
14 23 (1.73%) JNCIS
15 20 (1.50%) Computer Science Degree
15 20 (1.50%) JNCIP
16 19 (1.43%) JNCIA
17 17 (1.28%) CREST Certified
17 17 (1.28%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 81 (6.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 59 (4.43%) GDPR
3 56 (4.20%) NIST
4 38 (2.85%) PCI DSS
5 32 (2.40%) SLA
6 30 (2.25%) NCSC
7 26 (1.95%) Cyber Essentials
8 24 (1.80%) QA
9 17 (1.28%) PMO
10 7 (0.53%) Data Quality
10 7 (0.53%) JSP 440
11 6 (0.45%) Actionable Recommendations
11 6 (0.45%) Disclosure Scotland
11 6 (0.45%) RMADS
12 5 (0.38%) GRC
12 5 (0.38%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 5 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 5 (0.38%) SOC 2
13 4 (0.30%) GxP
14 3 (0.23%) NIST 800
System Software
1 223 (16.73%) Active Directory
2 162 (12.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 71 (5.33%) VMware NSX
4 61 (4.58%) Docker
5 41 (3.08%) Hyper-V
6 36 (2.70%) Virtual Machines
7 32 (2.40%) vSphere
8 30 (2.25%) VMware ESXi
9 22 (1.65%) Firmware
9 22 (1.65%) Virtual Desktop
10 11 (0.83%) Squid
11 10 (0.75%) BitLocker
12 8 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
13 4 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
14 3 (0.23%) DFS Replication
14 3 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
15 2 (0.15%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 2 (0.15%) NFS
15 2 (0.15%) Samba
15 2 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 211 (15.83%) Terraform
2 161 (12.08%) Ansible
3 103 (7.73%) Kubernetes
4 101 (7.58%) FortiGate
5 57 (4.28%) Microsoft Intune
6 51 (3.83%) Grafana
7 45 (3.38%) Prometheus
8 35 (2.63%) Single Sign-On
9 33 (2.48%) SCCM
10 29 (2.18%) vCenter Server
11 18 (1.35%) Nmap
12 16 (1.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 14 (1.05%) QRadar
14 13 (0.98%) CASB
15 12 (0.90%) Cisco Prime
15 12 (0.90%) Nagios
15 12 (0.90%) Puppet
16 11 (0.83%) VxRail
16 11 (0.83%) WSUS
17 10 (0.75%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 480 (36.01%) Cisco
2 296 (22.21%) Palo Alto
3 289 (21.68%) Microsoft
4 206 (15.45%) VMware
5 174 (13.05%) Fortinet
6 169 (12.68%) F5
7 150 (11.25%) Juniper
8 138 (10.35%) CheckPoint
9 89 (6.68%) Aruba
10 83 (6.23%) Splunk
11 69 (5.18%) SolarWinds
12 60 (4.50%) ServiceNow
13 53 (3.98%) Arista
14 51 (3.83%) Google
15 45 (3.38%) Meraki
16 43 (3.23%) Zscaler
17 41 (3.08%) Citrix
18 32 (2.40%) Oracle
18 32 (2.40%) Red Hat
19 27 (2.03%) Extreme Networks