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

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 178 175 165
Rank change year-on-year -3 -10 -7
Contract jobs citing Network Security 881 548 579
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.62% 1.66% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.48% 14.48% 12.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 575 324 371
10th Percentile £400 £380 £358
25th Percentile £463 £450 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £538 £527
Median % change year-on-year +2.33% +2.09% -4.27%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £626
90th Percentile £735 £738 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -2.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 16 9
10th Percentile £26.80 £45.00 £31.70
25th Percentile £67.50 £52.50 £36.00
Median hourly rate £72.50 £70.16 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.34% +55.91% -37.93%
75th Percentile £74.00 £85.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £97.50 £70.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.00 £70.16 £53.75
% change year-on-year +4.05% +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 5,039 3,784 4,518
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.24% 11.45% 11.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,916 2,391 2,600
10th Percentile £236 £219 £225
25th Percentile £390 £360 £364
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £606
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £485
% change year-on-year +5.56% -7.22% +5.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 434 196 193
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.24
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.81 £24.18
Median hourly rate £32.50 £40.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.75% -19.00% -11.49%
75th Percentile £68.75 £64.63 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £42.50 £56.13
% change year-on-year -38.49% -24.28% -2.39%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -3 778 £550 +3.29% 719
UK excluding London +3 449 £550 +10.00% 369
London -2 335 £550 - 356
Work from Home -3 260 £540 -1.82% 279
North of England +20 206 £540 +10.83% 83
North West 0 112 £545 +14.74% 43
South East -29 92 £559 +24.30% 116
Yorkshire +17 90 £540 +9.76% 31
Midlands -60 54 £475 -9.52% 63
West Midlands -64 42 £450 -14.29% 36
East of England -16 39 £525 -8.70% 32
South West -40 30 £675 +5.47% 40
Scotland -7 27 £600 +26.32% 20
East Midlands -4 12 £500 - 27
Channel Islands -1 6 £600 -17.24%
North East - 3 £680 - 9
Northern Ireland +10 2 - - 10
Wales -10 1 £650 +30.00% 9

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 17 (1.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.36%) 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%) nginx
6 1 (0.11%) CMS
6 1 (0.11%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 17 (1.93%) 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 1 (0.11%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 298 (33.83%) Azure
2 208 (23.61%) AWS
3 107 (12.15%) GCP
4 101 (11.46%) Entra ID
5 51 (5.79%) Microsoft 365
6 48 (5.45%) GitHub
7 41 (4.65%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (4.20%) Azure Monitor
9 32 (3.63%) Serverless
10 27 (3.06%) Azure Sentinel
10 27 (3.06%) SaaS
11 21 (2.38%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 21 (2.38%) GitHub Actions
12 19 (2.16%) Azure AKS
13 18 (2.04%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 18 (2.04%) Amazon EKS
13 18 (2.04%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 18 (2.04%) OCI
13 18 (2.04%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 16 (1.82%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 404 (45.86%) Firewall
2 207 (23.50%) VPN
3 190 (21.57%) WAN
4 143 (16.23%) DNS
5 132 (14.98%) LAN
6 103 (11.69%) Wireless
7 95 (10.78%) BGP
8 94 (10.67%) TCP/IP
9 78 (8.85%) SD-WAN
10 73 (8.29%) DHCP
11 67 (7.60%) OSPF
12 64 (7.26%) VLAN
13 58 (6.58%) SSL
14 52 (5.90%) MPLS
15 43 (4.88%) IPsec
16 42 (4.77%) Wi-Fi
17 41 (4.65%) Cisco ISE
18 39 (4.43%) Cisco ASA
18 39 (4.43%) Internet
19 34 (3.86%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.25%) SQL Server
2 10 (1.14%) Amazon RDS
3 7 (0.79%) BigQuery
4 5 (0.57%) Delta Lake
4 5 (0.57%) Elasticsearch
5 4 (0.45%) Neo4j
5 4 (0.45%) Power BI
6 3 (0.34%) Azure SQL Database
6 3 (0.34%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.34%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.23%) InfluxDB
7 2 (0.23%) Looker
7 2 (0.23%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon Aurora
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.11%) Big Data
8 1 (0.11%) Metadata
8 1 (0.11%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.11%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 41 (4.65%) Git
2 33 (3.75%) Jenkins
3 32 (3.63%) GitLab
4 29 (3.29%) JIRA
5 8 (0.91%) 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%) IBM UrbanCode
9 1 (0.11%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.11%) Postman
9 1 (0.11%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.11%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.11%) Subversion
General
1 253 (28.72%) Social Skills
2 170 (19.30%) Finance
3 94 (10.67%) Analytical Skills
4 67 (7.60%) Banking
5 48 (5.45%) Public Sector
6 47 (5.33%) Documentation Skills
7 32 (3.63%) Legal
8 30 (3.41%) Telecoms
9 18 (2.04%) Financial Institution
10 16 (1.82%) Influencing Skills
11 14 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 14 (1.59%) Manufacturing
11 14 (1.59%) Retail
12 12 (1.36%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.36%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (0.91%) Local Government
14 7 (0.79%) Military
15 6 (0.68%) Automotive
15 6 (0.68%) Law
15 6 (0.68%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 242 (27.47%) Network Engineer
2 150 (17.03%) Architect
3 118 (13.39%) Security Engineer
4 104 (11.80%) Senior
5 81 (9.19%) Security Architect
6 73 (8.29%) Consultant
7 69 (7.83%) Network Security Engineer
8 59 (6.70%) Network Architect
9 47 (5.33%) Senior Network Engineer
10 46 (5.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 45 (5.11%) Cloud Engineer
12 44 (4.99%) Project Manager
13 40 (4.54%) Security Consultant
14 33 (3.75%) Lead
15 30 (3.41%) Network Security Architect
16 29 (3.29%) Analyst
17 27 (3.06%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
18 23 (2.61%) Azure Engineer
18 23 (2.61%) Network Manager
19 22 (2.50%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 150 (17.03%) Terraform
2 38 (4.31%) 802.1X
3 24 (2.72%) REST
4 17 (1.93%) ARM Templates
5 14 (1.59%) Kafka
5 14 (1.59%) SAML
6 8 (0.91%) JSON
6 8 (0.91%) NETCONF
7 7 (0.79%) LDAP
8 6 (0.68%) gRPC
8 6 (0.68%) Keycloak
8 6 (0.68%) OAuth
8 6 (0.68%) OpenID
8 6 (0.68%) Software Packaging
8 6 (0.68%) YAML
9 5 (0.57%) Azure Blueprints
9 5 (0.57%) SLSA
9 5 (0.57%) XML
10 4 (0.45%) .NET
10 4 (0.45%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 123 (13.96%) Data Centre
2 84 (9.53%) Security Posture
3 58 (6.58%) Onboarding
4 50 (5.68%) Cloud Native
5 44 (4.99%) Hybrid Cloud
6 43 (4.88%) Management Information System
7 37 (4.20%) Operational Technology
8 34 (3.86%) Cyber Threat
9 27 (3.06%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 27 (3.06%) PKI
10 25 (2.84%) Public Cloud
10 25 (2.84%) Self-Motivation
11 23 (2.61%) Security Operations Centre
12 21 (2.38%) Data Protection Act
13 19 (2.16%) Cloud Security Posture
14 15 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
15 12 (1.36%) Replication
16 11 (1.25%) Linux Command Line
17 10 (1.14%) Video Conferencing
18 9 (1.02%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 109 (12.37%) Windows
2 93 (10.56%) Linux
3 46 (5.22%) Windows Server
4 20 (2.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (1.36%) Unix
6 9 (1.02%) Windows 10
7 7 (0.79%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.34%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.34%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.23%) Android
9 2 (0.23%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.23%) Rocky
9 2 (0.23%) SUSE
9 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.23%) zOS
10 1 (0.11%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 195 (22.13%) Cybersecurity
2 185 (21.00%) Cloud Security
3 159 (18.05%) Stakeholder Management
4 149 (16.91%) CI/CD
5 142 (16.12%) Zero Trust
6 136 (15.44%) Infrastructure as Code
7 126 (14.30%) Continuous Improvement
7 126 (14.30%) Problem-Solving
8 125 (14.19%) Incident Response
9 121 (13.73%) DevOps
9 121 (13.73%) Migration
9 121 (13.73%) SIEM
10 110 (12.49%) Change Management
10 110 (12.49%) Security Architecture
11 100 (11.35%) Identity Access Management
12 97 (11.01%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 96 (10.90%) Data Protection
14 91 (10.33%) Security Operations
15 90 (10.22%) Agile
15 90 (10.22%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 171 (19.41%) Python
2 97 (11.01%) PowerShell
3 79 (8.97%) Bash
4 37 (4.20%) Bicep
5 29 (3.29%) SQL
6 15 (1.70%) Go
7 14 (1.59%) Java
8 8 (0.91%) ActionScript
9 7 (0.79%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.79%) Search Processing Language
9 7 (0.79%) Shell Script
10 4 (0.45%) Rust
11 3 (0.34%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.34%) Perl
11 3 (0.34%) VBScript
12 1 (0.11%) C
12 1 (0.11%) C#
12 1 (0.11%) C++
12 1 (0.11%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 249 (28.26%) Security Cleared
2 178 (20.20%) Cisco Certification
3 174 (19.75%) SC Cleared
4 114 (12.94%) CISSP
5 101 (11.46%) CCNP
6 80 (9.08%) DV Cleared
7 66 (7.49%) Degree
8 52 (5.90%) CCSP
9 50 (5.68%) CCNA
10 49 (5.56%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 48 (5.45%) CISM
12 37 (4.20%) CCIE
13 29 (3.29%) Azure Certification
14 25 (2.84%) AWS Certification
15 18 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (1.36%) BPSS Clearance
16 12 (1.36%) GIAC
17 11 (1.25%) JNCIP
17 11 (1.25%) PMI Certification
17 11 (1.25%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 82 (9.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 75 (8.51%) NIST
3 41 (4.65%) GDPR
4 32 (3.63%) NCSC
4 32 (3.63%) PCI DSS
5 18 (2.04%) Cyber Essentials
6 14 (1.59%) GRC
7 12 (1.36%) QA
8 11 (1.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 11 (1.25%) NIST 800
9 10 (1.14%) SLA
10 7 (0.79%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 6 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
12 5 (0.57%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 4 (0.45%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 4 (0.45%) Data Quality
13 4 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 4 (0.45%) PMO
14 3 (0.34%) SOC 2
15 2 (0.23%) P3O
System Software
1 92 (10.44%) Active Directory
2 58 (6.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (4.31%) Docker
4 17 (1.93%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (1.82%) VMware NSX
6 13 (1.48%) vSphere
7 12 (1.36%) Hyper-V
8 8 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
9 6 (0.68%) Virtual Servers
10 5 (0.57%) Squid
11 4 (0.45%) FreeRADIUS
12 3 (0.34%) Firmware
13 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 2 (0.23%) NFS
13 2 (0.23%) OpenSSH
13 2 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
14 1 (0.11%) ProxySG
14 1 (0.11%) Samba
Systems Management
1 103 (11.69%) Ansible
2 82 (9.31%) Kubernetes
3 47 (5.33%) FortiGate
4 32 (3.63%) Microsoft Intune
5 31 (3.52%) Grafana
6 22 (2.50%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.04%) Progress Chef
8 17 (1.93%) SCCM
9 12 (1.36%) 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%) Cisco Prime
14 4 (0.45%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.45%) Podman
14 4 (0.45%) systemd
14 4 (0.45%) VxRail
Vendors
1 266 (30.19%) Cisco
2 174 (19.75%) Microsoft
2 174 (19.75%) Palo Alto
3 99 (11.24%) Fortinet
4 84 (9.53%) F5
5 77 (8.74%) VMware
6 68 (7.72%) Zscaler
7 59 (6.70%) CheckPoint
8 45 (5.11%) Juniper
9 42 (4.77%) SolarWinds
10 41 (4.65%) Splunk
11 35 (3.97%) Aruba
12 34 (3.86%) Google
13 27 (3.06%) ServiceNow
14 18 (2.04%) Meraki
15 16 (1.82%) Citrix
16 14 (1.59%) CyberArk
17 13 (1.48%) Blue Coat
17 13 (1.48%) Tenable
18 12 (1.36%) AlgoSec