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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 158 147 181
Rank change year-on-year -11 +34 +4
Contract jobs citing Network Security 785 572 552
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.63% 1.96% 1.30%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.11% 15.47% 10.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 534 344 377
10th Percentile £393 £370 £363
25th Percentile £438 £445 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year -1.52% -8.70% -
75th Percentile £613 £608 £669
90th Percentile £700 £684 £768
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £496 £575
% change year-on-year +0.81% -13.74% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 10 17
10th Percentile £32.65 £18.28 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £41.63 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £80.68 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.43% +324.61% -64.53%
75th Percentile £74.00 £81.35 £41.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.29 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.50 £80.68 £7.43
% change year-on-year -18.81% +985.80% -84.87%

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 4,587 3,698 5,394
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.55% 12.69% 12.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,836 2,280 3,215
10th Percentile £263 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £360 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -5.68%
75th Percentile £588 £591 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £694
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £458 £475
% change year-on-year +3.83% -3.68% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 164 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.04 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £37.50 £31.79 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.96% -20.53% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £57.80 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £24.66 £46.14
% change year-on-year +71.33% -46.55% +156.31%

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 16 May 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 16 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Top 16 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 16 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 -17 682 £520 -3.88% 259
UK excluding London -21 386 £500 +0.81% 203
London -15 293 £550 -4.35% 102
Work from Home +16 225 £528 +5.60% 134
North of England -6 146 £489 -2.20% 59
South East -39 97 £500 +2.04% 66
North West +8 89 £489 -3.27% 37
Yorkshire -28 54 £495 +0.92% 16
Midlands -44 54 £500 -4.76% 20
East of England -21 36 £515 -10.43% 13
West Midlands -56 34 £475 -9.52% 14
Scotland +1 29 £475 +11.76% 27
South West -40 29 £545 -0.91% 18
East Midlands -9 19 £638 - 6
Wales -18 3 £600 +106.90% 5
North East -19 3 £538 -14.00% 7

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 19 (2.42%) Confluence
2 10 (1.27%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.51%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.38%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 15 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.40%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.64%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 244 (31.08%) Azure
2 165 (21.02%) AWS
3 99 (12.61%) GCP
4 57 (7.26%) Entra ID
5 31 (3.95%) GitHub
6 29 (3.69%) Azure Sentinel
7 26 (3.31%) Azure DevOps
7 26 (3.31%) GitHub Actions
8 19 (2.42%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 19 (2.42%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 17 (2.17%) Azure AKS
9 17 (2.17%) Azure Key Vault
10 16 (2.04%) AWS CloudFormation
10 16 (2.04%) Azure Monitor
11 15 (1.91%) Microsoft 365
12 14 (1.78%) Akamai
12 14 (1.78%) AWS Direct Connect
12 14 (1.78%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 14 (1.78%) SaaS
13 11 (1.40%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 365 (46.50%) Firewall
2 159 (20.25%) VPN
3 139 (17.71%) WAN
4 112 (14.27%) LAN
5 97 (12.36%) BGP
6 91 (11.59%) DNS
7 85 (10.83%) OSPF
8 75 (9.55%) SD-WAN
9 74 (9.43%) VLAN
10 64 (8.15%) TCP/IP
11 61 (7.77%) Wireless
12 47 (5.99%) MPLS
13 44 (5.61%) DHCP
14 37 (4.71%) Wi-Fi
15 33 (4.20%) Cisco ISE
15 33 (4.20%) IPsec
16 32 (4.08%) Cisco ASA
16 32 (4.08%) SSL
17 31 (3.95%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 29 (3.69%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (0.89%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (0.64%) SQL Server
3 4 (0.51%) InfluxDB
3 4 (0.51%) Relational Database
4 3 (0.38%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.38%) Power BI
5 2 (0.25%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 34 (4.33%) JIRA
2 22 (2.80%) Jenkins
3 20 (2.55%) GitLab
4 15 (1.91%) Git
5 8 (1.02%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (0.89%) Snyk
7 5 (0.64%) Browser DevTools
8 3 (0.38%) Artifactory
9 2 (0.25%) Postman
10 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.13%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.13%) JUnit
10 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.13%) Zephyr
General
1 174 (22.17%) Social Skills
2 114 (14.52%) Finance
3 67 (8.54%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (7.26%) Public Sector
5 42 (5.35%) Banking
6 32 (4.08%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.31%) Telecoms
8 21 (2.68%) Financial Institution
9 11 (1.40%) Legal
10 9 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 6 (0.76%) Manufacturing
11 6 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (0.64%) Law
12 5 (0.64%) Local Government
12 5 (0.64%) Military
12 5 (0.64%) Retail
13 4 (0.51%) Police
14 3 (0.38%) Billing
14 3 (0.38%) Electronics
14 3 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 203 (25.86%) Network Engineer
2 171 (21.78%) Architect
3 100 (12.74%) Security Engineer
4 87 (11.08%) Security Architect
5 71 (9.04%) Senior
6 59 (7.52%) Network Architect
7 49 (6.24%) Network Security Engineer
8 29 (3.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 29 (3.69%) Lead
9 28 (3.57%) Consultant
10 27 (3.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 25 (3.18%) Network Security Architect
12 24 (3.06%) Project Manager
13 23 (2.93%) Analyst
13 23 (2.93%) Cloud Engineer
13 23 (2.93%) Senior Network Engineer
14 20 (2.55%) Azure Architect
15 18 (2.29%) Cloud Architect
15 18 (2.29%) Solutions Architect
16 17 (2.17%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (3.57%) 802.1X
2 14 (1.78%) LDAP
3 10 (1.27%) SAML
4 7 (0.89%) REST
5 6 (0.76%) SLSA
6 5 (0.64%) HTML
6 5 (0.64%) Node.js
6 5 (0.64%) OAuth
7 4 (0.51%) AWS CDK
7 4 (0.51%) OpenID
7 4 (0.51%) RabbitMQ
8 3 (0.38%) .NET
8 3 (0.38%) ARM Templates
8 3 (0.38%) CSS
8 3 (0.38%) Elastic Stack
8 3 (0.38%) JSON
8 3 (0.38%) Lambda Expressions
8 3 (0.38%) OAuth2
8 3 (0.38%) Plotly
9 2 (0.25%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 120 (15.29%) Data Centre
2 44 (5.61%) Security Posture
3 40 (5.10%) Cloud Native
4 39 (4.97%) Hybrid Cloud
5 29 (3.69%) Onboarding
6 26 (3.31%) PKI
7 24 (3.06%) Data Protection Act
8 23 (2.93%) IoT
8 23 (2.93%) Public Cloud
9 22 (2.80%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 21 (2.68%) Cyber Threat
10 21 (2.68%) Management Information System
11 19 (2.42%) Operational Technology
12 16 (2.04%) Product Ownership
13 13 (1.66%) Security Operations Centre
14 11 (1.40%) Cyber Security Posture
14 11 (1.40%) Virtual Team
15 10 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
15 10 (1.27%) Replication
16 9 (1.15%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 72 (9.17%) Windows
2 60 (7.64%) Linux
3 25 (3.18%) Windows Server
4 9 (1.15%) Unix
4 9 (1.15%) VMS
5 6 (0.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (0.76%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.64%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.64%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.38%) SUSE
8 1 (0.13%) Android
8 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
8 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (20.51%) Cybersecurity
2 135 (17.20%) Cloud Security
3 120 (15.29%) Zero Trust
4 113 (14.39%) Security Architecture
5 105 (13.38%) CI/CD
6 104 (13.25%) Migration
7 101 (12.87%) SIEM
8 99 (12.61%) DevOps
9 98 (12.48%) Infrastructure as Code
10 87 (11.08%) Problem-Solving
11 79 (10.06%) High Availability
12 78 (9.94%) Threat Modelling
13 77 (9.81%) Continuous Improvement
14 74 (9.43%) Network Segmentation
15 72 (9.17%) Incident Response
16 69 (8.79%) Application Security
17 68 (8.66%) Load Balancing
17 68 (8.66%) Stakeholder Management
18 67 (8.54%) Identity Access Management
19 63 (8.03%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 110 (14.01%) Python
2 61 (7.77%) PowerShell
3 34 (4.33%) Bash
4 24 (3.06%) Bicep
5 23 (2.93%) JavaScript
6 21 (2.68%) SQL
7 10 (1.27%) Kusto Query Language
8 8 (1.02%) Go
9 7 (0.89%) Java
9 7 (0.89%) Shell Script
10 4 (0.51%) C
10 4 (0.51%) PHP
11 3 (0.38%) C++
12 2 (0.25%) C#
12 2 (0.25%) C-shell
12 2 (0.25%) Korn
12 2 (0.25%) Ruby
13 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
13 1 (0.13%) AppleScript
13 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 233 (29.68%) Security Cleared
2 174 (22.17%) SC Cleared
3 155 (19.75%) Cisco Certification
4 105 (13.38%) CCNP
5 91 (11.59%) CISSP
6 67 (8.54%) DV Cleared
7 59 (7.52%) CCNA
8 51 (6.50%) CISM
9 50 (6.37%) Degree
10 30 (3.82%) Azure Certification
10 30 (3.82%) CCSP
11 29 (3.69%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 21 (2.68%) CCIE
13 18 (2.29%) GIAC
14 17 (2.17%) AWS Certification
15 15 (1.91%) CEH
16 14 (1.78%) CompTIA Security+
17 12 (1.53%) BPSS Clearance
18 11 (1.40%) TOGAF Certification
19 10 (1.27%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 82 (10.45%) NIST
2 67 (8.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 40 (5.10%) GDPR
4 26 (3.31%) PCI DSS
5 19 (2.42%) NCSC
6 17 (2.17%) GRC
7 16 (2.04%) QA
8 14 (1.78%) Cyber Essentials
9 11 (1.40%) SLA
10 8 (1.02%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (1.02%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 8 (1.02%) SOC 2
11 7 (0.89%) Disclosure Scotland
11 7 (0.89%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 6 (0.76%) PMO
13 5 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 4 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 4 (0.51%) RMADS
15 3 (0.38%) ISA99
16 2 (0.25%) JSP 440
System Software
1 51 (6.50%) Active Directory
2 49 (6.24%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.68%) VMware NSX
4 19 (2.42%) Virtual Machines
5 13 (1.66%) Docker
5 13 (1.66%) Hyper-V
6 10 (1.27%) VMware ESXi
7 9 (1.15%) vSphere
8 6 (0.76%) Firmware
9 5 (0.64%) Squid
9 5 (0.64%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.25%) NFS
10 2 (0.25%) Postfix
10 2 (0.25%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.25%) Varnish
11 1 (0.13%) KVM
11 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.13%) Xen
11 1 (0.13%) XenApp
11 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 115 (14.65%) Terraform
2 73 (9.30%) Ansible
3 57 (7.26%) Kubernetes
4 34 (4.33%) FortiGate
5 16 (2.04%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (1.78%) Nagios
7 11 (1.40%) Grafana
7 11 (1.40%) vCenter Server
8 10 (1.27%) Microsoft Intune
9 9 (1.15%) Microsoft Clustering
10 8 (1.02%) Kibana
11 5 (0.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.64%) Istio
11 5 (0.64%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.64%) QRadar
11 5 (0.64%) WSUS
12 4 (0.51%) CASB
12 4 (0.51%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.51%) Suricata
13 3 (0.38%) Docker Swarm
Vendors
1 222 (28.28%) Cisco
2 130 (16.56%) Palo Alto
3 110 (14.01%) Microsoft
4 75 (9.55%) F5
5 66 (8.41%) VMware
6 59 (7.52%) Fortinet
7 56 (7.13%) Juniper
8 51 (6.50%) CheckPoint
9 49 (6.24%) Zscaler
10 32 (4.08%) ServiceNow
11 25 (3.18%) Splunk
12 22 (2.80%) ForeScout
13 21 (2.68%) Google
14 20 (2.55%) SolarWinds
15 19 (2.42%) Aruba
16 17 (2.17%) Citrix
17 15 (1.91%) Tenable
18 13 (1.66%) Meraki
19 12 (1.53%) Infoblox
19 12 (1.53%) Okta