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 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 185 179 164
Rank change year-on-year -6 -15 -5
Contract jobs citing Network Security 882 540 587
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.60% 1.63% 1.56%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.30% 14.35% 12.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 575 320 379
10th Percentile £400 £375 £360
25th Percentile £463 £449 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £538 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.33% +2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £625
90th Percentile £737 £738 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 17 9
10th Percentile £28.93 £45.00 £31.70
25th Percentile £65.94 £55.00 £36.00
Median hourly rate £70.63 £70.16 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +0.66% +55.91% -37.93%
75th Percentile £73.81 £85.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £97.00 £70.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.88 £70.16 £53.75
% change year-on-year +1.02% +30.53% -25.86%

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 5,099 3,763 4,545
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.22% 11.33% 12.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,944 2,404 2,616
10th Percentile £235 £213 £225
25th Percentile £390 £356 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £679 £677 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £480
% change year-on-year +5.56% -6.25% +3.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 443 186 180
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £15.15
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.00 £24.80
Median hourly rate £32.50 £34.00 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year -4.41% -29.98% -14.04%
75th Percentile £68.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.42 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.00 £41.50 £53.75
% change year-on-year -37.35% -22.79% -6.38%

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 15 October 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 15 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
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 Network Security within the UK over the 6 months to 15 October 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 -4 778 £550 +3.29% 229
UK excluding London -4 448 £550 +10.00% 154
London +10 335 £550 - 97
Work from Home -2 262 £540 -1.82% 110
North of England +8 205 £540 +10.83% 29
North West -6 112 £545 +14.74% 16
South East -32 92 £560 +21.76% 53
Yorkshire +9 89 £540 +9.76% 11
Midlands -58 53 £475 -7.77% 19
West Midlands -61 42 £450 -12.62% 10
East of England -11 38 £515 +3.00% 15
South West -37 32 £675 +5.47% 26
Scotland -12 27 £600 +26.32% 7
East Midlands -4 11 £500 - 9
Channel Islands 0 6 £600 -17.24%
North East - 3 £680 - 2
Northern Ireland +4 2 - - 3
Wales -15 1 £650 +30.00% 5

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 18 (2.04%) SharePoint
2 16 (1.81%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.47%) Confluence
4 4 (0.45%) Apache
4 4 (0.45%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.23%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.23%) IIS
5 2 (0.23%) NetWeaver
5 2 (0.23%) nginx
6 1 (0.11%) CMS
6 1 (0.11%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 16 (1.81%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.79%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.11%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 6 (0.68%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.23%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.11%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 298 (33.79%) Azure
2 212 (24.04%) AWS
3 111 (12.59%) GCP
4 102 (11.56%) Entra ID
5 52 (5.90%) Microsoft 365
6 49 (5.56%) GitHub
7 41 (4.65%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (4.20%) Azure Monitor
9 33 (3.74%) Serverless
10 29 (3.29%) SaaS
11 25 (2.83%) Azure Sentinel
12 23 (2.61%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 21 (2.38%) GitHub Actions
13 21 (2.38%) OCI
14 20 (2.27%) Azure AKS
15 19 (2.15%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 19 (2.15%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 18 (2.04%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 18 (2.04%) Amazon EKS
17 17 (1.93%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 406 (46.03%) Firewall
2 209 (23.70%) VPN
3 189 (21.43%) WAN
4 146 (16.55%) DNS
5 129 (14.63%) LAN
6 101 (11.45%) Wireless
7 96 (10.88%) BGP
8 95 (10.77%) TCP/IP
9 79 (8.96%) SD-WAN
10 72 (8.16%) DHCP
11 67 (7.60%) OSPF
12 64 (7.26%) VLAN
13 60 (6.80%) SSL
14 52 (5.90%) MPLS
15 43 (4.88%) IPsec
16 42 (4.76%) Wi-Fi
17 40 (4.54%) Cisco ASA
17 40 (4.54%) Internet
18 38 (4.31%) Cisco ISE
19 34 (3.85%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.13%) Amazon RDS
1 10 (1.13%) SQL Server
2 8 (0.91%) BigQuery
3 5 (0.57%) Delta Lake
3 5 (0.57%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.45%) Neo4j
4 4 (0.45%) Power BI
5 3 (0.34%) Azure SQL Database
5 3 (0.34%) Data Lake
5 3 (0.34%) Looker
5 3 (0.34%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.23%) DataStage
6 2 (0.23%) InfluxDB
6 2 (0.23%) MongoDB
6 2 (0.23%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.23%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.11%) Amazon Athena
7 1 (0.11%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.11%) Metadata
7 1 (0.11%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 42 (4.76%) Git
2 35 (3.97%) Jenkins
3 32 (3.63%) GitLab
4 31 (3.51%) JIRA
5 7 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.45%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.45%) MSBuild
6 4 (0.45%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.45%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.34%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.23%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.23%) IBM UrbanCode
8 2 (0.23%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.11%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.11%) Postman
9 1 (0.11%) Subversion
General
1 254 (28.80%) Social Skills
2 174 (19.73%) Finance
3 96 (10.88%) Analytical Skills
4 69 (7.82%) Banking
5 49 (5.56%) Public Sector
6 45 (5.10%) Documentation Skills
7 34 (3.85%) Legal
8 31 (3.51%) Telecoms
9 18 (2.04%) Financial Institution
10 17 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
11 14 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 14 (1.59%) Manufacturing
12 13 (1.47%) Retail
13 12 (1.36%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
15 7 (0.79%) Local Government
15 7 (0.79%) Military
16 6 (0.68%) Automotive
16 6 (0.68%) Law
16 6 (0.68%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 239 (27.10%) Network Engineer
2 150 (17.01%) Architect
3 117 (13.27%) Security Engineer
4 103 (11.68%) Senior
5 82 (9.30%) Security Architect
6 72 (8.16%) Consultant
7 66 (7.48%) Network Security Engineer
8 59 (6.69%) Network Architect
9 48 (5.44%) Cloud Engineer
10 45 (5.10%) Senior Network Engineer
11 44 (4.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 42 (4.76%) Project Manager
13 40 (4.54%) Security Consultant
14 37 (4.20%) Lead
15 31 (3.51%) Network Security Architect
16 29 (3.29%) Analyst
17 27 (3.06%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
18 24 (2.72%) Azure Engineer
19 22 (2.49%) DevOps Engineer
19 22 (2.49%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 153 (17.35%) Terraform
2 37 (4.20%) 802.1X
3 24 (2.72%) REST
4 17 (1.93%) ARM Templates
5 15 (1.70%) SAML
6 14 (1.59%) Kafka
7 8 (0.91%) JSON
7 8 (0.91%) NETCONF
8 7 (0.79%) LDAP
8 7 (0.79%) OAuth
9 6 (0.68%) gRPC
9 6 (0.68%) Keycloak
9 6 (0.68%) OpenID
9 6 (0.68%) Software Packaging
9 6 (0.68%) YAML
10 5 (0.57%) Azure Blueprints
10 5 (0.57%) SLSA
10 5 (0.57%) XML
11 4 (0.45%) .NET
11 4 (0.45%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 119 (13.49%) Data Centre
2 81 (9.18%) Security Posture
3 57 (6.46%) Onboarding
4 50 (5.67%) Cloud Native
5 45 (5.10%) Hybrid Cloud
6 40 (4.54%) Management Information System
7 37 (4.20%) Operational Technology
8 34 (3.85%) Cyber Threat
9 28 (3.17%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 27 (3.06%) PKI
11 25 (2.83%) Public Cloud
11 25 (2.83%) Security Operations Centre
12 24 (2.72%) Self-Motivation
13 21 (2.38%) Data Protection Act
14 18 (2.04%) Cloud Security Posture
15 16 (1.81%) Enterprise Software
16 14 (1.59%) Replication
17 11 (1.25%) Linux Command Line
18 10 (1.13%) Video Conferencing
19 9 (1.02%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 107 (12.13%) Windows
2 92 (10.43%) Linux
3 45 (5.10%) Windows Server
4 21 (2.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (1.36%) Unix
6 8 (0.91%) Ubuntu
6 8 (0.91%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.34%) Check Point GAiA
7 3 (0.34%) macOS
7 3 (0.34%) Oracle Linux
7 3 (0.34%) Rocky
8 2 (0.23%) Android
8 2 (0.23%) SUSE
8 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.23%) zOS
9 1 (0.11%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (22.45%) Cybersecurity
2 187 (21.20%) Cloud Security
3 161 (18.25%) Stakeholder Management
4 151 (17.12%) CI/CD
5 143 (16.21%) Zero Trust
6 139 (15.76%) Infrastructure as Code
7 128 (14.51%) Incident Response
8 127 (14.40%) Continuous Improvement
8 127 (14.40%) Problem-Solving
9 125 (14.17%) DevOps
10 124 (14.06%) Migration
11 121 (13.72%) SIEM
12 113 (12.81%) Change Management
13 111 (12.59%) Security Architecture
14 98 (11.11%) Identity Access Management
15 95 (10.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 95 (10.77%) Security Operations
16 94 (10.66%) Agile
16 94 (10.66%) Data Protection
17 92 (10.43%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 172 (19.50%) Python
2 98 (11.11%) PowerShell
3 81 (9.18%) Bash
4 37 (4.20%) Bicep
5 29 (3.29%) SQL
6 16 (1.81%) Go
7 15 (1.70%) Java
8 9 (1.02%) ActionScript
9 8 (0.91%) Shell Script
10 7 (0.79%) Kusto Query Language
10 7 (0.79%) Search Processing Language
11 4 (0.45%) Rust
12 3 (0.34%) JavaScript
12 3 (0.34%) Perl
12 3 (0.34%) VBScript
13 1 (0.11%) ABAP
13 1 (0.11%) C
13 1 (0.11%) C#
13 1 (0.11%) C++
13 1 (0.11%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 250 (28.34%) Security Cleared
2 175 (19.84%) Cisco Certification
3 173 (19.61%) SC Cleared
4 113 (12.81%) CISSP
5 99 (11.22%) CCNP
6 82 (9.30%) DV Cleared
7 63 (7.14%) Degree
8 50 (5.67%) CCSP
9 49 (5.56%) CCNA
10 48 (5.44%) CISM
11 47 (5.33%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 37 (4.20%) CCIE
13 27 (3.06%) Azure Certification
14 25 (2.83%) AWS Certification
15 18 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
16 13 (1.47%) BPSS Clearance
17 12 (1.36%) GIAC
18 11 (1.25%) JNCIP
18 11 (1.25%) PMI Certification
18 11 (1.25%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 82 (9.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 74 (8.39%) NIST
3 40 (4.54%) GDPR
4 34 (3.85%) PCI DSS
5 32 (3.63%) NCSC
6 19 (2.15%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (1.47%) GRC
7 13 (1.47%) QA
8 12 (1.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (1.25%) NIST 800
10 9 (1.02%) SLA
11 7 (0.79%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.57%) Disclosure Scotland
12 5 (0.57%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 4 (0.45%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 4 (0.45%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 3 (0.34%) PMO
14 3 (0.34%) SOC 2
15 2 (0.23%) P3O
System Software
1 94 (10.66%) Active Directory
2 57 (6.46%) VMware Infrastructure
3 39 (4.42%) Docker
4 19 (2.15%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (1.93%) VMware NSX
6 13 (1.47%) vSphere
7 11 (1.25%) Hyper-V
8 9 (1.02%) VMware ESXi
9 7 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
10 5 (0.57%) Squid
10 5 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
11 4 (0.45%) Firmware
11 4 (0.45%) FreeRADIUS
12 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 2 (0.23%) NFS
12 2 (0.23%) OpenSSH
12 2 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
13 1 (0.11%) ProxySG
13 1 (0.11%) Samba
Systems Management
1 103 (11.68%) Ansible
2 82 (9.30%) Kubernetes
3 46 (5.22%) FortiGate
4 32 (3.63%) Microsoft Intune
5 31 (3.51%) Grafana
6 22 (2.49%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.04%) Progress Chef
8 17 (1.93%) SCCM
9 13 (1.47%) Single Sign-On
10 11 (1.25%) CASB
11 9 (1.02%) Nagios
11 9 (1.02%) QRadar
12 7 (0.79%) Cisco CUCM
12 7 (0.79%) Puppet
13 5 (0.57%) Suricata
14 4 (0.45%) Istio
14 4 (0.45%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.45%) Podman
14 4 (0.45%) systemd
14 4 (0.45%) VxRail
Vendors
1 262 (29.71%) Cisco
2 176 (19.95%) Microsoft
3 172 (19.50%) Palo Alto
4 97 (11.00%) Fortinet
5 83 (9.41%) F5
6 76 (8.62%) VMware
7 67 (7.60%) Zscaler
8 57 (6.46%) CheckPoint
9 46 (5.22%) Juniper
10 44 (4.99%) Splunk
11 41 (4.65%) SolarWinds
12 37 (4.20%) Google
13 36 (4.08%) Aruba
14 30 (3.40%) ServiceNow
15 18 (2.04%) Meraki
16 16 (1.81%) CyberArk
17 14 (1.59%) Citrix
17 14 (1.59%) Oracle
18 13 (1.47%) Tenable
19 12 (1.36%) AlgoSec