Intrusion Detection Contract Job Trends

Intrusion Detection
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Intrusion Detection skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 535 441 478
Rank change year-on-year -94 +37 +165
Contract jobs citing Intrusion Detection 39 83 121
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.26% 0.28%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 1.02% 2.05% 2.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 18 41 74
10th Percentile £359 £367 £470
25th Percentile £461 £479 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £550 £620
Median % change year-on-year -11.82% -11.29% +2.48%
75th Percentile £623 £663 £700
90th Percentile £741 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £550 £621
% change year-on-year -13.64% -11.43% +3.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 3
10th Percentile - - £74.63
25th Percentile - £71.25 £75.02
Median hourly rate - £72.50 £78.74
Median % change year-on-year - -7.92% +20.21%
75th Percentile - £73.75 £84.36
90th Percentile - - £85.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £72.50 £78.74
% change year-on-year - -7.92% +20.21%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

Intrusion Detection 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 3,831 4,039 5,848
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.57% 12.82% 13.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,504 2,361 3,609
10th Percentile £205 £220 £210
25th Percentile £356 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -1.96%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -4.26% -1.05% +3.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 169 133 329
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £17.95
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.25 £23.63
Median hourly rate £35.00 £32.50 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -42.47% +125.96%
75th Percentile £65.00 £52.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £75.05
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £31.79 £60.00
% change year-on-year +33.69% -47.02% +172.73%

Intrusion Detection
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Intrusion Detection relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Intrusion Detection job vacancy trend in the UK

Intrusion Detection
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Intrusion Detection.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Intrusion Detection

Intrusion Detection
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Intrusion Detection over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Intrusion Detection in the UK

Intrusion Detection
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Intrusion Detection.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Intrusion Detection

Intrusion Detection
Top 13 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Intrusion Detection within the UK over the 6 months to 12 January 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 -105 32 £485 -11.82% 12
UK excluding London -73 22 £475 -13.64% 8
Work from Home -28 16 £525 +2.94% 6
South East -9 12 £458 -16.73% 6
London -23 12 £600 +4.35% 7
Midlands -52 5 £350 -47.17% 2
West Midlands -36 4 £350 -54.84% 2
North West -45 3 £375 -26.47%
North of England -65 3 £375 -26.47%
Scotland +4 2 - -
East of England -23 2 £475 -13.64%
South West -25 1 £750 +25.00%
East Midlands -26 1 - -

Intrusion Detection
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 1 (2.56%) Microsoft Exchange
1 1 (2.56%) nginx
Applications
1 1 (2.56%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (2.56%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 5 (12.82%) Azure
2 4 (10.26%) AWS
2 4 (10.26%) Microsoft 365
3 2 (5.13%) Azure Sentinel
3 2 (5.13%) Entra ID
3 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Purview
4 1 (2.56%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 32 (82.05%) Firewall
2 21 (53.85%) Network Security
3 9 (23.08%) VPN
4 8 (20.51%) Internet
4 8 (20.51%) TCP/IP
5 6 (15.38%) LAN
5 6 (15.38%) VLAN
6 5 (12.82%) WAN
7 4 (10.26%) BGP
7 4 (10.26%) OSPF
7 4 (10.26%) WLAN
8 3 (7.69%) DHCP
8 3 (7.69%) DNS
9 2 (5.13%) Modbus
10 1 (2.56%) Cisco ASA
10 1 (2.56%) Cisco ISE
10 1 (2.56%) NGFW
10 1 (2.56%) Software-Defined Networking
10 1 (2.56%) SSL
10 1 (2.56%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.56%) MySQL
1 1 (2.56%) SQL Server
General
1 21 (53.85%) Social Skills
2 9 (23.08%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (12.82%) Documentation Skills
4 3 (7.69%) Manufacturing
5 2 (5.13%) Public Sector
5 2 (5.13%) Telecoms
6 1 (2.56%) Finance
Job Titles
1 13 (33.33%) Network Engineer
2 10 (25.64%) Security Engineer
3 7 (17.95%) Network Security Engineer
4 6 (15.38%) Lead
5 5 (12.82%) Lead Network Engineer
6 4 (10.26%) Security Manager
7 3 (7.69%) Administrator
7 3 (7.69%) Architect
7 3 (7.69%) Consultant
7 3 (7.69%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 3 (7.69%) Security Architect
7 3 (7.69%) Senior
7 3 (7.69%) Senior Security Engineer
8 2 (5.13%) Cybersecurity Manager
8 2 (5.13%) IT Engineer
8 2 (5.13%) IT Security Engineer
8 2 (5.13%) Programme Manager
8 2 (5.13%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 1 (2.56%) Incident Analyst
9 1 (2.56%) Principal Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.56%) JAAS
1 1 (2.56%) JSSE
Miscellaneous
1 8 (20.51%) Security Posture
2 7 (17.95%) Management Information System
3 6 (15.38%) Operational Technology
4 4 (10.26%) Data Centre
5 3 (7.69%) Insider Threat
5 3 (7.69%) Life Science
5 3 (7.69%) Renewable Energy
5 3 (7.69%) SCADA
6 2 (5.13%) CCTV
6 2 (5.13%) Cyber Threat
6 2 (5.13%) Onboarding
7 1 (2.56%) CMDB
7 1 (2.56%) Cyber Security Posture
7 1 (2.56%) Cyberattack
7 1 (2.56%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (2.56%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (2.56%) PKI
7 1 (2.56%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 7 (17.95%) Windows
2 6 (15.38%) Linux
3 2 (5.13%) VMS
4 1 (2.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (2.56%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (51.28%) Incident Response
2 18 (46.15%) SIEM
3 14 (35.90%) Cybersecurity
4 10 (25.64%) Network Architecture
4 10 (25.64%) Problem-Solving
5 8 (20.51%) Zero Trust
6 7 (17.95%) Identity Access Management
6 7 (17.95%) Information Security
6 7 (17.95%) Infrastructure Automation
6 7 (17.95%) Security Operations
7 6 (15.38%) Network Design
8 5 (12.82%) Change Management
8 5 (12.82%) Data Loss Prevention
8 5 (12.82%) Patch Management
8 5 (12.82%) Security Architecture
9 4 (10.26%) Agile
9 4 (10.26%) Cloud Security
9 4 (10.26%) Mentoring
9 4 (10.26%) Risk Assessment
9 4 (10.26%) Vulnerability Assessment
Programming Languages
1 3 (7.69%) Python
2 2 (5.13%) PowerShell
3 1 (2.56%) Java
Qualifications
1 15 (38.46%) Cisco Certification
2 14 (35.90%) CCNP
3 12 (30.77%) Security Cleared
4 11 (28.21%) CISSP
5 10 (25.64%) SC Cleared
6 7 (17.95%) CISM
6 7 (17.95%) Degree
7 3 (7.69%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (7.69%) CCNA
7 3 (7.69%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (5.13%) CEH
8 2 (5.13%) CompTIA Security+
8 2 (5.13%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 1 (2.56%) AWS Certification
9 1 (2.56%) CCNA CyberOps
9 1 (2.56%) CCSA
9 1 (2.56%) GIAC
9 1 (2.56%) ISSMP
9 1 (2.56%) JNCIA
9 1 (2.56%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (25.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (12.82%) NIST
3 4 (10.26%) GDPR
4 3 (7.69%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 1 (2.56%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (2.56%) GRC
5 1 (2.56%) HMG Security Policy Framework
5 1 (2.56%) NCSC
5 1 (2.56%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 5 (12.82%) Virtual Machines
2 3 (7.69%) Active Directory
2 3 (7.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (5.13%) Hyper-V
4 1 (2.56%) KVM
4 1 (2.56%) RHEV
4 1 (2.56%) Xen
Systems Management
1 5 (12.82%) Nagios
2 2 (5.13%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (2.56%) Ansible
3 1 (2.56%) Host Intrusion Detection System
3 1 (2.56%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 13 (33.33%) Cisco
2 10 (25.64%) Palo Alto
3 7 (17.95%) Zscaler
4 6 (15.38%) Microsoft
5 4 (10.26%) Fortinet
5 4 (10.26%) Juniper
5 4 (10.26%) SolarWinds
6 3 (7.69%) Proofpoint
6 3 (7.69%) Rockwell
6 3 (7.69%) VMware
7 2 (5.13%) CheckPoint
8 1 (2.56%) ArcSight
8 1 (2.56%) BMC
8 1 (2.56%) F5
8 1 (2.56%) McAfee
8 1 (2.56%) Sparx
8 1 (2.56%) Veeam
8 1 (2.56%) WSO2