Network Security Contract Job Trends

Network Security
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Network Security skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 4 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 177 137 151
Rank change year-on-year -40 +14 +89
Contract jobs citing Network Security 587 619 733
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.60% 1.91% 1.70%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.98% 14.95% 12.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 350 388 508
10th Percentile £350 £350 £400
25th Percentile £413 £425 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.89% -5.41% -
75th Percentile £586 £621 £650
90th Percentile £681 £700 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £504 £550
% change year-on-year -5.71% -8.41% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 12 5
10th Percentile £42.30 £20.15 £65.00
25th Percentile £46.31 £35.75 £68.75
Median hourly rate £65.00 £41.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +58.54% -43.45% +93.33%
75th Percentile £81.56 £48.13 £76.25
90th Percentile £87.63 £57.88 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £41.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +58.54% -43.45% +93.33%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

Network Security 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 3,918 4,140 5,856
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.65% 12.78% 13.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,564 2,422 3,616
10th Percentile £205 £220 £209
25th Percentile £356 £369 £362
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £676 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £470
% change year-on-year -5.26% +1.06% +4.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 176 138 330
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.86 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.75 £20.81 £23.00
Median hourly rate £36.75 £32.50 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +13.08% -42.47% +76.53%
75th Percentile £66.31 £53.44 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.38 £75.29
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £31.79 £59.00
% change year-on-year +33.69% -46.12% +66.20%

Network Security
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Network Security job vacancy trend in the UK

Network Security
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Network Security.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Network Security

Network Security
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Security over the 6 months to 4 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Network Security.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Network Security

Network Security
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Security over the 6 months to 4 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
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 Network Security within the UK over the 6 months to 4 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 -36 524 £500 -4.76% 333
UK excluding London -34 289 £475 -5.71% 302
London -17 229 £525 -2.42% 74
Work from Home -33 149 £515 +3.00% 103
North of England -29 103 £460 -8.00% 68
North West +7 72 £476 -1.04% 36
South East -23 72 £430 -21.82% 85
Midlands -26 59 £500 -14.24% 52
West Midlands -16 54 £500 -16.87% 34
Yorkshire -44 44 £205 -59.00% 27
East of England -13 28 £475 -14.80% 43
South West -16 21 £533 +1.43% 33
Scotland +2 19 £475 +18.75% 12
East Midlands -32 5 £650 +73.33% 16
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 6
Wales -9 2 £700 +145.61% 9
North East -12 2 £475 -41.72% 6

Network Security
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 6 (1.02%) Confluence
2 5 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (0.85%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.68%) Apache
4 1 (0.17%) IIS
4 1 (0.17%) nginx
4 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (2.73%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.36%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.17%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 175 (29.81%) Azure
2 137 (23.34%) AWS
3 51 (8.69%) GCP
4 31 (5.28%) Entra ID
5 25 (4.26%) Microsoft 365
5 25 (4.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 24 (4.09%) Amazon S3
7 22 (3.75%) GitHub
8 21 (3.58%) Azure DevOps
9 20 (3.41%) Amazon EC2
9 20 (3.41%) GitHub Actions
10 16 (2.73%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 16 (2.73%) Amazon ELB
10 16 (2.73%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (2.39%) Azure Key Vault
12 13 (2.21%) Serverless
13 12 (2.04%) IaaS
14 11 (1.87%) Azure Monitor
14 11 (1.87%) Cloud Computing
14 11 (1.87%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 298 (50.77%) Firewall
2 124 (21.12%) VPN
3 99 (16.87%) DNS
4 93 (15.84%) WAN
5 64 (10.90%) LAN
6 62 (10.56%) TCP/IP
7 61 (10.39%) SSL
8 56 (9.54%) BGP
9 52 (8.86%) VLAN
10 44 (7.50%) SD-WAN
11 43 (7.33%) OSPF
12 36 (6.13%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 34 (5.79%) DMZ
13 34 (5.79%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 34 (5.79%) Wireless
14 28 (4.77%) Internet
15 24 (4.09%) HTTP
16 23 (3.92%) Intrusion Detection
17 18 (3.07%) Wi-Fi
18 17 (2.90%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
1 4 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
1 4 (0.68%) InfluxDB
1 4 (0.68%) Relational Database
2 3 (0.51%) Amazon Athena
3 2 (0.34%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.34%) Power BI
3 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.17%) Redis
4 1 (0.17%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (4.77%) Jenkins
2 22 (3.75%) GitLab
3 21 (3.58%) Git
4 6 (1.02%) JIRA
5 1 (0.17%) Metasploit
5 1 (0.17%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.17%) Subversion
General
1 186 (31.69%) Social Skills
2 98 (16.70%) Analytical Skills
3 60 (10.22%) Finance
4 50 (8.52%) Public Sector
5 35 (5.96%) Banking
6 21 (3.58%) Documentation Skills
6 21 (3.58%) Telecoms
7 16 (2.73%) Investment Banking
8 13 (2.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (1.53%) Manufacturing
10 8 (1.36%) Legal
10 8 (1.36%) Pharmaceutical
11 7 (1.19%) Military
11 7 (1.19%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (0.85%) Financial Institution
12 5 (0.85%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (0.68%) Aerospace
13 4 (0.68%) Marketing
14 3 (0.51%) Law
Job Titles
1 122 (20.78%) Network Engineer
2 102 (17.38%) Architect
3 92 (15.67%) Security Engineer
4 62 (10.56%) Security Architect
5 45 (7.67%) Senior
6 44 (7.50%) Network Architect
7 43 (7.33%) Analyst
7 43 (7.33%) Network Security Engineer
8 22 (3.75%) Consultant
9 21 (3.58%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 21 (3.58%) Network Security Architect
10 20 (3.41%) Lead
10 20 (3.41%) Security Analyst
10 20 (3.41%) SOC Analyst
11 19 (3.24%) Administrator
12 17 (2.90%) Cloud Engineer
12 17 (2.90%) Operations Engineer
13 15 (2.56%) IT Engineer
13 15 (2.56%) Wintel Administrator
13 15 (2.56%) Wintel Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (3.07%) LDAP
2 15 (2.56%) 802.1X
3 8 (1.36%) .NET
3 8 (1.36%) Node.js
4 6 (1.02%) SAML
5 5 (0.85%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.85%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.85%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.85%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.85%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.85%) React
5 5 (0.85%) TensorFlow
6 4 (0.68%) ARM Templates
7 3 (0.51%) Lambda Expressions
7 3 (0.51%) Plotly
8 2 (0.34%) HTML
8 2 (0.34%) OAuth
8 2 (0.34%) OAuth2
8 2 (0.34%) OpenID
8 2 (0.34%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 64 (10.90%) Data Centre
2 45 (7.67%) Management Information System
3 37 (6.30%) Security Posture
4 34 (5.79%) Hybrid Cloud
5 28 (4.77%) Cloud Native
6 25 (4.26%) Cyber Threat
7 23 (3.92%) Security Operations Centre
8 22 (3.75%) Analytical Mindset
8 22 (3.75%) PKI
9 19 (3.24%) Public Cloud
10 18 (3.07%) Onboarding
10 18 (3.07%) Operational Technology
11 16 (2.73%) CSOC
11 16 (2.73%) Cyberattack
12 14 (2.39%) Cyber Security Posture
13 11 (1.87%) Cloud Security Posture
14 10 (1.70%) Data Protection Act
14 10 (1.70%) IoT
14 10 (1.70%) Virtual Team
15 7 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 93 (15.84%) Windows
2 68 (11.58%) Linux
3 26 (4.43%) Windows Server
4 15 (2.56%) Unix
5 8 (1.36%) VMS
6 4 (0.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.51%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.17%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.17%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.17%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (26.06%) Cybersecurity
2 119 (20.27%) SIEM
3 117 (19.93%) Problem-Solving
4 105 (17.89%) Incident Response
5 95 (16.18%) Cloud Security
6 81 (13.80%) CI/CD
7 78 (13.29%) DevOps
8 75 (12.78%) Infrastructure as Code
9 68 (11.58%) Zero Trust
10 63 (10.73%) Migration
11 59 (10.05%) Change Management
11 59 (10.05%) Security Architecture
11 59 (10.05%) Threat Modelling
12 53 (9.03%) Identity Access Management
12 53 (9.03%) Security Operations
13 50 (8.52%) Continuous Improvement
13 50 (8.52%) Load Balancing
13 50 (8.52%) Network Architecture
14 46 (7.84%) Infrastructure Automation
14 46 (7.84%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 118 (20.10%) Python
2 78 (13.29%) PowerShell
3 36 (6.13%) Bash
4 19 (3.24%) SQL
5 13 (2.21%) Bicep
5 13 (2.21%) JavaScript
6 12 (2.04%) Kusto Query Language
7 9 (1.53%) Go
7 9 (1.53%) Java
8 5 (0.85%) C#
9 4 (0.68%) C
9 4 (0.68%) C++
9 4 (0.68%) Perl
9 4 (0.68%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.34%) C-shell
10 2 (0.34%) Korn
11 1 (0.17%) Rust
11 1 (0.17%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 183 (31.18%) Security Cleared
2 137 (23.34%) SC Cleared
3 107 (18.23%) Cisco Certification
4 84 (14.31%) CCNP
5 81 (13.80%) CISSP
6 56 (9.54%) DV Cleared
7 44 (7.50%) Degree
8 33 (5.62%) CISM
9 32 (5.45%) CCNA
10 29 (4.94%) CCIE
11 25 (4.26%) CEH
11 25 (4.26%) GIAC
12 23 (3.92%) Azure Certification
13 18 (3.07%) CompTIA Security+
14 16 (2.73%) AWS Certification
14 16 (2.73%) Computer Science Degree
15 13 (2.21%) CCSP
16 12 (2.04%) (ISC)2 CCSP
17 11 (1.87%) Microsoft Certification
18 8 (1.36%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (11.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 68 (11.58%) NIST
3 43 (7.33%) GDPR
4 27 (4.60%) PCI DSS
5 16 (2.73%) Cyber Essentials
6 14 (2.39%) NCSC
7 9 (1.53%) GRC
7 9 (1.53%) HIPAA
8 6 (1.02%) SLA
9 5 (0.85%) PSD2
9 5 (0.85%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 4 (0.68%) JSP 440
10 4 (0.68%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.34%) GxP
11 2 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 2 (0.34%) PMO
12 1 (0.17%) California Consumer Privacy Act
System Software
1 42 (7.16%) VMware Infrastructure
2 41 (6.98%) Active Directory
3 38 (6.47%) Docker
4 11 (1.87%) VMware NSX
5 10 (1.70%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.36%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (0.85%) Firmware
7 5 (0.85%) vSphere
8 4 (0.68%) ProxySG
9 3 (0.51%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.34%) KVM
10 2 (0.34%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.17%) RACF
11 1 (0.17%) RHEV
11 1 (0.17%) Xen
11 1 (0.17%) XenApp
11 1 (0.17%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 99 (16.87%) Terraform
2 67 (11.41%) Ansible
3 36 (6.13%) Kubernetes
4 21 (3.58%) FortiGate
5 12 (2.04%) Nagios
6 11 (1.87%) QRadar
7 10 (1.70%) Kibana
8 8 (1.36%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (1.19%) Grafana
9 7 (1.19%) Prometheus
10 6 (1.02%) Microsoft Clustering
10 6 (1.02%) Single Sign-On
11 5 (0.85%) CASB
11 5 (0.85%) SCCM
12 4 (0.68%) Progress Chef
13 3 (0.51%) Icinga
13 3 (0.51%) Puppet
14 2 (0.34%) Docker Swarm
14 2 (0.34%) Jamf Pro
15 1 (0.17%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 145 (24.70%) Cisco
2 116 (19.76%) Palo Alto
3 96 (16.35%) Microsoft
4 83 (14.14%) F5
5 58 (9.88%) CheckPoint
6 51 (8.69%) VMware
7 46 (7.84%) Fortinet
8 45 (7.67%) Juniper
9 43 (7.33%) Zscaler
10 32 (5.45%) Splunk
11 25 (4.26%) Google
12 21 (3.58%) Meraki
12 21 (3.58%) SolarWinds
13 16 (2.73%) CrowdStrike
13 16 (2.73%) ServiceNow
14 15 (2.56%) Tenable
15 13 (2.21%) Blue Coat
16 12 (2.04%) Aruba
17 11 (1.87%) ArcSight
17 11 (1.87%) Qualys