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

6 months to
11 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 181 178 164
Rank change year-on-year -3 -14 -4
Contract jobs citing Network Security 876 538 583
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.61% 1.62% 1.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.37% 14.31% 12.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 570 321 376
10th Percentile £400 £375 £359
25th Percentile £463 £450 £437
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £538 £526
Median % change year-on-year +2.33% +2.23% -4.41%
75th Percentile £650 £630 £626
90th Percentile £735 £738 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 17 9
10th Percentile £27.00 £45.00 £31.70
25th Percentile £62.81 £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 £73.94 £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 5,043 3,759 4,557
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.24% 11.35% 12.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,917 2,389 2,618
10th Percentile £236 £213 £224
25th Percentile £390 £356 £365
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £606
90th Percentile £678 £676 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £485
% change year-on-year +5.56% -7.22% +4.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 434 189 187
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.40
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.18 £24.18
Median hourly rate £32.50 £35.00 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% -27.92% -14.04%
75th Percentile £68.69 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.38 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £41.94 £55.00
% change year-on-year -37.67% -23.75% -4.21%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -3 775 £550 +3.29% 661
UK excluding London +2 447 £550 +10.00% 366
London +3 334 £550 - 305
Work from Home +11 258 £540 -1.82% 278
North of England +11 203 £545 +11.85% 75
North West -6 111 £550 +15.79% 44
South East -28 92 £559 +19.18% 125
Yorkshire +18 88 £540 +9.76% 24
Midlands -53 54 £475 -7.77% 58
West Midlands -63 42 £450 -12.62% 30
East of England -10 38 £515 +3.00% 30
South West -28 32 £675 +5.47% 42
Scotland -14 27 £600 +26.32% 21
East Midlands -1 12 £500 - 28
Channel Islands 0 6 £600 -17.24%
North East - 3 £680 - 7
Northern Ireland +4 2 - - 11
Wales -15 1 £650 +30.00% 8

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 (2.05%) SharePoint
2 17 (1.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.37%) Confluence
4 4 (0.46%) Apache
4 4 (0.46%) 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 (1.83%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.80%) 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
1 294 (33.56%) Azure
2 206 (23.52%) AWS
3 106 (12.10%) GCP
4 100 (11.42%) Entra ID
5 52 (5.94%) Microsoft 365
6 47 (5.37%) GitHub
7 40 (4.57%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (4.22%) Azure Monitor
9 32 (3.65%) Serverless
10 28 (3.20%) SaaS
11 25 (2.85%) Azure Sentinel
12 22 (2.51%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 21 (2.40%) GitHub Actions
14 19 (2.17%) Azure AKS
14 19 (2.17%) OCI
15 18 (2.05%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 18 (2.05%) Amazon EKS
15 18 (2.05%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 18 (2.05%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 16 (1.83%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 403 (46.00%) Firewall
2 207 (23.63%) VPN
3 189 (21.58%) WAN
4 144 (16.44%) DNS
5 131 (14.95%) LAN
6 101 (11.53%) Wireless
7 95 (10.84%) BGP
8 93 (10.62%) TCP/IP
9 78 (8.90%) SD-WAN
10 73 (8.33%) DHCP
11 67 (7.65%) OSPF
12 64 (7.31%) VLAN
13 58 (6.62%) SSL
14 53 (6.05%) MPLS
15 43 (4.91%) IPsec
15 43 (4.91%) Wi-Fi
16 39 (4.45%) Cisco ASA
16 39 (4.45%) Cisco ISE
16 39 (4.45%) Internet
17 33 (3.77%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.26%) SQL Server
2 10 (1.14%) Amazon RDS
3 7 (0.80%) BigQuery
4 5 (0.57%) Delta Lake
4 5 (0.57%) Elasticsearch
5 4 (0.46%) Neo4j
5 4 (0.46%) 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
7 2 (0.23%) SAP HANA
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%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 41 (4.68%) Git
2 33 (3.77%) Jenkins
3 31 (3.54%) GitLab
4 28 (3.20%) JIRA
5 7 (0.80%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.46%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.46%) MSBuild
6 4 (0.46%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.46%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.34%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.23%) IBM UrbanCode
9 1 (0.11%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.11%) Postman
9 1 (0.11%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.11%) Subversion
General
1 247 (28.20%) Social Skills
2 171 (19.52%) Finance
3 94 (10.73%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (7.76%) Banking
5 47 (5.37%) Public Sector
6 44 (5.02%) Documentation Skills
7 32 (3.65%) Legal
8 30 (3.42%) Telecoms
9 18 (2.05%) Financial Institution
10 16 (1.83%) Influencing Skills
11 14 (1.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 14 (1.60%) Manufacturing
11 14 (1.60%) Retail
12 12 (1.37%) Presentation Skills
13 11 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (0.80%) Local Government
14 7 (0.80%) Military
15 6 (0.68%) Automotive
15 6 (0.68%) Law
15 6 (0.68%) Police
Job Titles
1 240 (27.40%) Network Engineer
2 149 (17.01%) Architect
3 116 (13.24%) Security Engineer
4 103 (11.76%) Senior
5 81 (9.25%) Security Architect
6 72 (8.22%) Consultant
7 67 (7.65%) Network Security Engineer
8 60 (6.85%) Network Architect
9 46 (5.25%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 46 (5.25%) Senior Network Engineer
10 45 (5.14%) Cloud Engineer
11 43 (4.91%) Project Manager
12 40 (4.57%) Security Consultant
13 35 (4.00%) Lead
14 31 (3.54%) Network Security Architect
15 29 (3.31%) Analyst
16 27 (3.08%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 23 (2.63%) Azure Engineer
17 23 (2.63%) Network Manager
18 22 (2.51%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 149 (17.01%) Terraform
2 37 (4.22%) 802.1X
3 24 (2.74%) REST
4 17 (1.94%) ARM Templates
5 14 (1.60%) Kafka
5 14 (1.60%) SAML
6 8 (0.91%) JSON
6 8 (0.91%) NETCONF
7 7 (0.80%) 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 (0.46%) .NET
10 4 (0.46%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 121 (13.81%) Data Centre
2 81 (9.25%) Security Posture
3 57 (6.51%) Onboarding
4 49 (5.59%) Cloud Native
5 44 (5.02%) Hybrid Cloud
6 41 (4.68%) Management Information System
7 37 (4.22%) Operational Technology
8 34 (3.88%) Cyber Threat
9 28 (3.20%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 27 (3.08%) PKI
11 25 (2.85%) Self-Motivation
12 23 (2.63%) Public Cloud
12 23 (2.63%) Security Operations Centre
13 21 (2.40%) Data Protection Act
14 18 (2.05%) Cloud Security Posture
15 16 (1.83%) Enterprise Software
16 13 (1.48%) Replication
17 11 (1.26%) Linux Command Line
18 10 (1.14%) Video Conferencing
19 9 (1.03%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 108 (12.33%) Windows
2 93 (10.62%) Linux
3 46 (5.25%) Windows Server
4 21 (2.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (1.37%) Unix
6 9 (1.03%) Windows 10
7 8 (0.91%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.34%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.34%) macOS
8 3 (0.34%) Oracle Linux
8 3 (0.34%) Rocky
9 2 (0.23%) Android
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
1 194 (22.15%) Cybersecurity
2 181 (20.66%) Cloud Security
3 157 (17.92%) Stakeholder Management
4 147 (16.78%) CI/CD
5 140 (15.98%) Zero Trust
6 136 (15.53%) Infrastructure as Code
7 125 (14.27%) Continuous Improvement
8 124 (14.16%) Incident Response
8 124 (14.16%) Problem-Solving
9 120 (13.70%) DevOps
9 120 (13.70%) Migration
10 119 (13.58%) SIEM
11 111 (12.67%) Change Management
12 108 (12.33%) Security Architecture
13 97 (11.07%) Identity Access Management
13 97 (11.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 93 (10.62%) Data Protection
15 92 (10.50%) Security Operations
16 91 (10.39%) Load Balancing
17 90 (10.27%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 170 (19.41%) Python
2 97 (11.07%) PowerShell
3 79 (9.02%) Bash
4 36 (4.11%) Bicep
5 29 (3.31%) SQL
6 15 (1.71%) Go
6 15 (1.71%) Java
7 8 (0.91%) ActionScript
8 7 (0.80%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.80%) Search Processing Language
8 7 (0.80%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.46%) Rust
10 3 (0.34%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.34%) Perl
10 3 (0.34%) VBScript
11 1 (0.11%) ABAP
11 1 (0.11%) C
11 1 (0.11%) C#
11 1 (0.11%) C++
11 1 (0.11%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 249 (28.42%) Security Cleared
2 173 (19.75%) Cisco Certification
3 172 (19.63%) SC Cleared
4 111 (12.67%) CISSP
5 99 (11.30%) CCNP
6 82 (9.36%) DV Cleared
7 64 (7.31%) Degree
8 50 (5.71%) CCNA
9 49 (5.59%) CCSP
10 47 (5.37%) CISM
11 46 (5.25%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 36 (4.11%) CCIE
13 27 (3.08%) Azure Certification
14 25 (2.85%) AWS Certification
15 18 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
16 12 (1.37%) BPSS Clearance
16 12 (1.37%) GIAC
17 11 (1.26%) JNCIP
17 11 (1.26%) PMI Certification
17 11 (1.26%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 79 (9.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 72 (8.22%) NIST
3 39 (4.45%) GDPR
4 32 (3.65%) PCI DSS
5 31 (3.54%) NCSC
6 18 (2.05%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (1.48%) GRC
7 13 (1.48%) QA
8 11 (1.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 11 (1.26%) NIST 800
9 9 (1.03%) SLA
10 7 (0.80%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 6 (0.68%) Disclosure Scotland
12 5 (0.57%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 4 (0.46%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 4 (0.46%) Data Quality
13 4 (0.46%) PMO
14 3 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 3 (0.34%) SOC 2
15 2 (0.23%) P3O
System Software
1 91 (10.39%) Active Directory
2 58 (6.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (4.34%) Docker
4 18 (2.05%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (1.83%) VMware NSX
6 13 (1.48%) vSphere
7 12 (1.37%) Hyper-V
8 8 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.57%) Squid
9 5 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
10 4 (0.46%) Firmware
10 4 (0.46%) FreeRADIUS
11 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 2 (0.23%) NFS
11 2 (0.23%) OpenSSH
11 2 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.11%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.11%) Samba
Systems Management
1 103 (11.76%) Ansible
2 80 (9.13%) Kubernetes
3 46 (5.25%) FortiGate
4 32 (3.65%) Microsoft Intune
5 31 (3.54%) Grafana
6 22 (2.51%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.05%) Progress Chef
8 17 (1.94%) SCCM
9 12 (1.37%) Single Sign-On
10 11 (1.26%) CASB
11 9 (1.03%) Nagios
11 9 (1.03%) QRadar
12 7 (0.80%) Cisco CUCM
12 7 (0.80%) Puppet
13 5 (0.57%) Suricata
14 4 (0.46%) Cisco Prime
14 4 (0.46%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.46%) Podman
14 4 (0.46%) systemd
14 4 (0.46%) VxRail
Vendors
1 263 (30.02%) Cisco
2 172 (19.63%) Microsoft
2 172 (19.63%) Palo Alto
3 97 (11.07%) Fortinet
4 83 (9.47%) F5
5 77 (8.79%) VMware
6 67 (7.65%) Zscaler
7 58 (6.62%) CheckPoint
8 45 (5.14%) Juniper
9 42 (4.79%) SolarWinds
10 41 (4.68%) Splunk
11 35 (4.00%) Aruba
11 35 (4.00%) Google
12 28 (3.20%) ServiceNow
13 18 (2.05%) Meraki
14 16 (1.83%) Citrix
15 15 (1.71%) CyberArk
16 14 (1.60%) Oracle
17 13 (1.48%) Tenable
18 12 (1.37%) AlgoSec