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 24 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 539 471 464
Rank change year-on-year -68 -7 +195
Contract jobs citing Intrusion Detection 47 82 126
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.13% 0.24% 0.29%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 1.17% 1.89% 2.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 25 38 75
10th Percentile £382 £378 £486
25th Percentile £456 £479 £553
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £550 £627
Median % change year-on-year -11.36% -12.28% +4.50%
75th Percentile £625 £672 £700
90th Percentile £745 £729 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £550 £615
% change year-on-year -13.64% -10.57% +2.50%
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 4,004 4,331 5,969
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.82% 12.76% 13.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,619 2,538 3,677
10th Percentile £206 £220 £210
25th Percentile £356 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £601
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 181 147 329
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.13 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.00 £21.46 £23.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -38.04% +37.68%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.00 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £71.75 £75.76
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year +21.43% -38.04% +25.53%

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 24 December 2025.

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 24 December 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 -62 38 £481 -12.50% 64
UK excluding London -62 25 £475 -13.64% 63
Work from Home -4 19 £563 +8.43% 7
London -21 15 £588 +6.82% 10
South East -4 12 £458 -16.73% 17
North West -38 5 £420 -20.00% 4
Midlands -54 5 £350 -47.17% 12
North of England -62 5 £420 -4.00% 10
West Midlands -28 4 £350 -54.84% 6
Scotland +4 2 - - 4
South West -11 2 £619 +3.13% 7
East of England -18 2 £475 -13.64% 11
East Midlands -24 1 - - 5

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 (2.13%) Microsoft Exchange
1 1 (2.13%) nginx
Applications
1 1 (2.13%) Microsoft Project
1 1 (2.13%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (2.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 6 (12.77%) Azure
2 5 (10.64%) AWS
3 4 (8.51%) Microsoft 365
4 2 (4.26%) Azure Sentinel
4 2 (4.26%) Entra ID
4 2 (4.26%) Microsoft Purview
5 1 (2.13%) Cloud Computing
5 1 (2.13%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 40 (85.11%) Firewall
2 26 (55.32%) Network Security
3 15 (31.91%) VPN
4 9 (19.15%) Internet
4 9 (19.15%) TCP/IP
5 7 (14.89%) WAN
6 6 (12.77%) LAN
6 6 (12.77%) VLAN
7 5 (10.64%) BGP
7 5 (10.64%) OSPF
8 4 (8.51%) WLAN
9 3 (6.38%) DHCP
9 3 (6.38%) DNS
10 2 (4.26%) Cisco ISE
10 2 (4.26%) Modbus
10 2 (4.26%) MPLS
11 1 (2.13%) Cisco ASA
11 1 (2.13%) NGFW
11 1 (2.13%) Software-Defined Networking
11 1 (2.13%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.13%) MySQL
1 1 (2.13%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (2.13%) JIRA
General
1 27 (57.45%) Social Skills
2 9 (19.15%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (10.64%) Documentation Skills
4 3 (6.38%) Finance
4 3 (6.38%) Manufacturing
5 2 (4.26%) Telecoms
6 1 (2.13%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 15 (31.91%) Network Engineer
2 13 (27.66%) Security Engineer
3 9 (19.15%) Network Security Engineer
4 8 (17.02%) Lead
5 6 (12.77%) Consultant
5 6 (12.77%) Lead Network Engineer
6 5 (10.64%) Architect
6 5 (10.64%) Security Manager
7 4 (8.51%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 4 (8.51%) Security Architect
8 3 (6.38%) Administrator
8 3 (6.38%) Senior
8 3 (6.38%) Senior Security Engineer
9 2 (4.26%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 2 (4.26%) IT Engineer
9 2 (4.26%) IT Security Engineer
9 2 (4.26%) Network Consultant
9 2 (4.26%) Programme Manager
9 2 (4.26%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 2 (4.26%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.13%) JAAS
1 1 (2.13%) JSSE
Miscellaneous
1 8 (17.02%) Security Posture
2 7 (14.89%) Management Information System
3 6 (12.77%) Operational Technology
4 4 (8.51%) Data Centre
5 3 (6.38%) Cyber Threat
5 3 (6.38%) Insider Threat
5 3 (6.38%) Life Science
5 3 (6.38%) Renewable Energy
5 3 (6.38%) SCADA
6 2 (4.26%) CCTV
6 2 (4.26%) Onboarding
6 2 (4.26%) PKI
7 1 (2.13%) CMDB
7 1 (2.13%) Cyber Security Posture
7 1 (2.13%) Cyberattack
7 1 (2.13%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (2.13%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (2.13%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 6 (12.77%) Windows
2 5 (10.64%) Linux
3 2 (4.26%) VMS
4 1 (2.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (2.13%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 26 (55.32%) Incident Response
2 20 (42.55%) SIEM
3 15 (31.91%) Cybersecurity
4 12 (25.53%) Problem-Solving
5 10 (21.28%) Network Architecture
5 10 (21.28%) Zero Trust
6 9 (19.15%) Information Security
7 8 (17.02%) Infrastructure Automation
7 8 (17.02%) Security Operations
8 7 (14.89%) Identity Access Management
8 7 (14.89%) Network Design
9 6 (12.77%) Mentoring
9 6 (12.77%) Security Architecture
10 5 (10.64%) Change Management
10 5 (10.64%) Cloud Security
10 5 (10.64%) Data Loss Prevention
10 5 (10.64%) Network Monitoring
10 5 (10.64%) Patch Management
10 5 (10.64%) Vulnerability Assessment
11 4 (8.51%) Security Management
Programming Languages
1 5 (10.64%) Python
2 3 (6.38%) PowerShell
3 1 (2.13%) Bash
3 1 (2.13%) Java
Qualifications
1 16 (34.04%) Cisco Certification
2 15 (31.91%) CCNP
3 14 (29.79%) CISSP
4 13 (27.66%) Security Cleared
5 11 (23.40%) SC Cleared
6 10 (21.28%) CISM
7 9 (19.15%) Degree
8 4 (8.51%) CompTIA Security+
9 3 (6.38%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (6.38%) CCNA
9 3 (6.38%) CEH
9 3 (6.38%) Network+ Certification
10 2 (4.26%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (4.26%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 1 (2.13%) CCNA CyberOps
11 1 (2.13%) DV Cleared
11 1 (2.13%) ISSMP
11 1 (2.13%) JNCIA
11 1 (2.13%) JNCIS
11 1 (2.13%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (25.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 9 (19.15%) NIST
3 4 (8.51%) GDPR
4 3 (6.38%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 2 (4.26%) GRC
6 1 (2.13%) COBIT
6 1 (2.13%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (2.13%) HIPAA
6 1 (2.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 1 (2.13%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 5 (10.64%) Virtual Machines
2 3 (6.38%) Active Directory
2 3 (6.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (4.26%) Hyper-V
4 1 (2.13%) KVM
4 1 (2.13%) RHEV
4 1 (2.13%) Xen
Systems Management
1 5 (10.64%) Nagios
2 2 (4.26%) Ansible
2 2 (4.26%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (2.13%) Host Intrusion Detection System
3 1 (2.13%) Kubernetes
3 1 (2.13%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 16 (34.04%) Cisco
2 12 (25.53%) Palo Alto
3 10 (21.28%) Zscaler
4 6 (12.77%) Microsoft
5 4 (8.51%) Fortinet
5 4 (8.51%) Juniper
5 4 (8.51%) SolarWinds
6 3 (6.38%) Proofpoint
6 3 (6.38%) Rockwell
6 3 (6.38%) VMware
7 2 (4.26%) CheckPoint
8 1 (2.13%) ArcSight
8 1 (2.13%) BMC
8 1 (2.13%) F5
8 1 (2.13%) McAfee
8 1 (2.13%) ServiceNow
8 1 (2.13%) Sparx
8 1 (2.13%) Veeam
8 1 (2.13%) WSO2