Network Security Contracts

Network Security
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring Network Security skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Network Security over the 6 months leading up to 6 July 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 147 181 166
Rank change year-on-year +34 -15 +56
Contract jobs citing Network Security 576 569 872
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.81% 1.31% 1.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.62% 10.50% 12.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 353 378 548
10th Percentile £367 £363 £400
25th Percentile £450 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.36% - +1.85%
75th Percentile £613 £660 £675
90th Percentile £713 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £575 £525
% change year-on-year -14.78% +9.52% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 18 12
10th Percentile £70.16 - £18.88
25th Percentile £75.25 £7.43 £44.66
Median hourly rate £81.35 £21.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +287.38% -67.69% +20.37%
75th Percentile £83.05 £41.25 £67.06
90th Percentile £100.00 £45.38 £71.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £81.35 £7.43 £20.63
% change year-on-year +994.89% -63.98% -61.80%

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 3,941 5,420 7,263
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.37% 12.52% 12.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,378 3,193 4,688
10th Percentile £231 £213 £231
25th Percentile £363 £350 £382
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £625
90th Percentile £675 £688 £724
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £490 £475
% change year-on-year -4.08% +3.16% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 188 427 409
10th Percentile £14.54 £13.86 -
25th Percentile £20.81 £17.69 £10.63
Median hourly rate £42.50 £45.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% +100.00% -22.41%
75th Percentile £60.41 £63.75 £63.00
90th Percentile £76.50 £73.45 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.55 £47.50 £26.50
% change year-on-year -33.59% +79.25% +17.78%

Network Security
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Network Security as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Network Security.

Daily rate trend for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Security over the 6 months to 6 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Network Security.

Hourly rate trend for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Security over the 6 months to 6 July 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Top 17 Contract 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 6 July 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 +31 491 £525 -4.55% 574
UK excluding London +16 275 £490 -14.78% 402
London +74 228 £550 +4.76% 211
Work from Home +12 174 £525 -2.10% 298
North of England +6 74 £490 -21.60% 101
South East +15 66 £490 -8.07% 98
North West +3 48 £476 -27.29% 41
Midlands 0 46 £581 -0.64% 59
West Midlands +1 43 £581 -8.46% 42
South West +5 31 £600 +4.35% 41
Yorkshire +16 25 £491 +3.37% 48
Scotland +17 22 £425 -11.46% 25
East of England +46 21 £530 +32.50% 56
Wales +13 12 £290 +14.29% 22
East Midlands -4 3 - - 17
Channel Islands - 3 £725 -
North East -2 1 £625 +38.89% 14

Network Security
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 10 (1.74%) Microsoft Exchange
1 10 (1.74%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.39%) Confluence
3 1 (0.17%) Apache
3 1 (0.17%) IIS
3 1 (0.17%) JBoss
Applications
1 11 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (1.56%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.35%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 171 (29.69%) Azure
2 116 (20.14%) AWS
3 49 (8.51%) GCP
4 29 (5.03%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (2.95%) Akamai
5 17 (2.95%) Entra ID
6 16 (2.78%) Azure DevOps
6 16 (2.78%) Azure Sentinel
6 16 (2.78%) IaaS
7 15 (2.60%) GitHub
8 14 (2.43%) AWS CloudFormation
9 10 (1.74%) Azure Key Vault
9 10 (1.74%) Cloud Computing
9 10 (1.74%) Serverless
10 9 (1.56%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (1.39%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 8 (1.39%) Azure Monitor
11 8 (1.39%) Power Platform
11 8 (1.39%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 7 (1.22%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 316 (54.86%) Firewall
2 161 (27.95%) VPN
3 108 (18.75%) BGP
4 104 (18.06%) WAN
5 94 (16.32%) OSPF
6 78 (13.54%) DNS
7 74 (12.85%) Wireless
8 68 (11.81%) SD-WAN
9 62 (10.76%) LAN
10 53 (9.20%) TCP/IP
11 46 (7.99%) VLAN
12 45 (7.81%) EIGRP
13 43 (7.47%) SSL
14 40 (6.94%) IPsec
15 37 (6.42%) Cisco ISE
15 37 (6.42%) DHCP
16 36 (6.25%) Cisco ASA
17 32 (5.56%) Intrusion Detection
18 26 (4.51%) Cisco Firepower
19 25 (4.34%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.91%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.39%) Power BI
3 4 (0.69%) GIS
4 3 (0.52%) Data Lake
4 3 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.35%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.35%) Elasticsearch
5 2 (0.35%) MySQL
5 2 (0.35%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 14 (2.43%) GitLab
2 13 (2.26%) JIRA
3 12 (2.08%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.39%) Git
5 7 (1.22%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.87%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.17%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.17%) Selenium
7 1 (0.17%) WebDriver
General
1 175 (30.38%) Social Skills
2 92 (15.97%) Analytical Skills
3 80 (13.89%) Finance
4 32 (5.56%) Public Sector
5 31 (5.38%) Telecoms
6 21 (3.65%) Banking
7 15 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
8 14 (2.43%) Legal
9 11 (1.91%) Law
10 10 (1.74%) Financial Institution
11 8 (1.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.04%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.87%) Local Government
13 5 (0.87%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (0.87%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.69%) Aviation
14 4 (0.69%) Military
14 4 (0.69%) Retail
15 2 (0.35%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 171 (29.69%) Network Engineer
2 104 (18.06%) Architect
3 87 (15.10%) Security Engineer
4 60 (10.42%) Senior
5 56 (9.72%) Network Security Engineer
6 54 (9.38%) Security Architect
7 39 (6.77%) Network Architect
8 30 (5.21%) Analyst
9 29 (5.03%) Consultant
10 24 (4.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 20 (3.47%) Azure Engineer
12 18 (3.13%) Senior Architect
13 17 (2.95%) Cisco Engineer
13 17 (2.95%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 17 (2.95%) Network Security Architect
14 16 (2.78%) Administrator
14 16 (2.78%) Firewall Engineer
14 16 (2.78%) Lead
15 15 (2.60%) Security Consultant
15 15 (2.60%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (4.69%) 802.1X
2 10 (1.74%) LDAP
3 8 (1.39%) ARM Templates
3 8 (1.39%) YAML
4 6 (1.04%) ADO
5 5 (0.87%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.69%) JSON
6 4 (0.69%) REST
6 4 (0.69%) SailPoint
6 4 (0.69%) XML
7 3 (0.52%) Web Services
8 2 (0.35%) Node.js
8 2 (0.35%) OAuth
9 1 (0.17%) .NET
9 1 (0.17%) gRPC
9 1 (0.17%) JWT
9 1 (0.17%) Middleware
9 1 (0.17%) OLE
9 1 (0.17%) OpenTelemetry
9 1 (0.17%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 62 (10.76%) Data Centre
2 52 (9.03%) Security Posture
3 21 (3.65%) Management Information System
4 20 (3.47%) PKI
5 19 (3.30%) Security Operations Centre
6 18 (3.13%) Cyber Threat
7 15 (2.60%) Hybrid Cloud
8 14 (2.43%) Onboarding
9 13 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
10 11 (1.91%) Data Protection Act
11 10 (1.74%) Cyberattack
11 10 (1.74%) Operational Technology
12 9 (1.56%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 8 (1.39%) Product Ownership
14 7 (1.22%) Cloud Native
14 7 (1.22%) Private Cloud
14 7 (1.22%) SCADA
14 7 (1.22%) Video Conferencing
15 6 (1.04%) Analytical Mindset
15 6 (1.04%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 60 (10.42%) Windows
2 45 (7.81%) Linux
3 22 (3.82%) Windows Server
4 6 (1.04%) Check Point GAiA
4 6 (1.04%) Unix
5 5 (0.87%) CatOS
6 3 (0.52%) CentOS
6 3 (0.52%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2003
6 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.17%) CoreOS
7 1 (0.17%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.17%) VMS
7 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (21.53%) Problem-Solving
2 104 (18.06%) Cybersecurity
3 81 (14.06%) Cloud Security
4 69 (11.98%) Migration
5 67 (11.63%) SIEM
6 61 (10.59%) Network Architecture
7 58 (10.07%) Incident Response
8 57 (9.90%) High Availability
9 54 (9.38%) Computer Science
10 53 (9.20%) Information Security
11 52 (9.03%) Network Monitoring
11 52 (9.03%) Vulnerability Management
12 51 (8.85%) Security Operations
13 48 (8.33%) Infrastructure as Code
14 46 (7.99%) CI/CD
14 46 (7.99%) Identity Access Management
15 45 (7.81%) Agile
15 45 (7.81%) Security Architecture
16 44 (7.64%) Network Design
17 42 (7.29%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 101 (17.53%) Python
2 56 (9.72%) PowerShell
3 22 (3.82%) Bash
4 13 (2.26%) Bicep
5 12 (2.08%) SQL
6 11 (1.91%) Java
7 9 (1.56%) Perl
8 8 (1.39%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.35%) Rust
9 2 (0.35%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.17%) ActionScript
10 1 (0.17%) ActionScript 2.0
10 1 (0.17%) C
10 1 (0.17%) C#
10 1 (0.17%) Go
10 1 (0.17%) PHP
10 1 (0.17%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 157 (27.26%) Cisco Certification
2 154 (26.74%) Security Cleared
3 121 (21.01%) CCNP
4 111 (19.27%) SC Cleared
5 78 (13.54%) Degree
6 50 (8.68%) CISSP
7 48 (8.33%) Computer Science Degree
8 47 (8.16%) CCNA
9 37 (6.42%) CISM
10 34 (5.90%) DV Cleared
11 31 (5.38%) CCIE
12 21 (3.65%) CCSA
13 20 (3.47%) CCSE
14 16 (2.78%) CEH
15 12 (2.08%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 12 (2.08%) CCSP
15 12 (2.08%) GIAC
16 11 (1.91%) Azure Certification
16 11 (1.91%) Microsoft Certification
17 10 (1.74%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (11.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 57 (9.90%) NIST
3 33 (5.73%) PCI DSS
4 28 (4.86%) GDPR
5 18 (3.13%) SLA
6 15 (2.60%) HIPAA
6 15 (2.60%) NCSC
7 13 (2.26%) GRC
8 7 (1.22%) QA
8 7 (1.22%) SOC 2
9 3 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.52%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.35%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 1 (0.17%) COBIT
11 1 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.17%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.17%) Def Stans
System Software
1 33 (5.73%) Active Directory
2 31 (5.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (3.82%) Docker
4 17 (2.95%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (2.60%) vSphere
6 12 (2.08%) VMware NSX
7 11 (1.91%) Firmware
8 7 (1.22%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.52%) FreeRADIUS
9 3 (0.52%) iptables
10 2 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 63 (10.94%) Ansible
2 48 (8.33%) Terraform
3 28 (4.86%) FortiGate
4 27 (4.69%) Kubernetes
5 19 (3.30%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (1.74%) Puppet
7 8 (1.39%) Cacti
7 8 (1.39%) CASB
7 8 (1.39%) Nessus
7 8 (1.39%) ZABBIX
8 7 (1.22%) CA Spectrum
8 7 (1.22%) Grafana
8 7 (1.22%) vCenter Server
9 6 (1.04%) Prometheus
9 6 (1.04%) QRadar
10 5 (0.87%) HP Fortify
10 5 (0.87%) Nagios
10 5 (0.87%) VxRail
11 4 (0.69%) OpenView
11 4 (0.69%) SCCM
Vendors
1 202 (35.07%) Cisco
2 99 (17.19%) Microsoft
3 85 (14.76%) Palo Alto
4 68 (11.81%) Fortinet
5 66 (11.46%) F5
6 57 (9.90%) CheckPoint
7 54 (9.38%) VMware
8 47 (8.16%) Juniper
9 42 (7.29%) SolarWinds
10 37 (6.42%) Zscaler
11 30 (5.21%) Meraki
12 24 (4.17%) Splunk
13 15 (2.60%) Google
14 14 (2.43%) Arista
14 14 (2.43%) Aruba
14 14 (2.43%) Qualys
15 13 (2.26%) CrowdStrike
15 13 (2.26%) ServiceNow
16 11 (1.91%) Infoblox
17 8 (1.39%) Tenable