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 31 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 166 158 181
Rank change year-on-year -8 +23 -17
Contract jobs citing Network Security 883 612 544
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.66% 1.87% 1.37%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.76% 15.48% 11.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 592 371 375
10th Percentile £400 £375 £363
25th Percentile £461 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £650 £615 £655
90th Percentile £735 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £530 £500 £575
% change year-on-year +5.90% -13.04% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 18 6
10th Percentile £26.20 £45.00 £20.75
25th Percentile £42.13 £58.79 £23.00
Median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £40.25
Median % change year-on-year -9.51% +100.43% -39.02%
75th Percentile £74.00 £83.53 £58.75
90th Percentile - £89.50 £88.81
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.00 £80.68 £40.25
% change year-on-year -9.51% +100.43% +111.84%

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 4,971 3,954 4,855
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.36% 12.06% 12.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,961 2,420 2,950
10th Percentile £250 £235 £217
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.41% -2.35% -
75th Percentile £588 £590 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +8.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 342 196 341
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.03
Median hourly rate £26.66 £50.00 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -46.68% +8.98% -8.24%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.72 £45.00 £52.00
% change year-on-year -40.62% -13.46% -8.63%

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 31 July 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 31 July 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 31 July 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 -18 765 £540 +2.86% 266
UK excluding London -18 435 £530 +5.90% 172
London -6 337 £550 - 127
Work from Home +4 267 £540 +1.50% 126
North of England +10 183 £528 +8.36% 34
South East -23 120 £550 +12.24% 72
North West -10 99 £536 +12.84% 21
Yorkshire -2 81 £500 +1.63% 12
Midlands -49 52 £475 -17.39% 24
East of England -16 34 £525 -4.55% 12
West Midlands -75 33 £413 -28.26% 11
Scotland -2 31 £600 +26.32% 12
East Midlands +4 18 £638 - 13
South West -58 17 £550 -8.33% 16
Wales -18 3 £600 +61.62% 4
North East -42 2 £675 +8.00% 1

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 16 (1.81%) Microsoft Exchange
2 15 (1.70%) Confluence
3 11 (1.25%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.34%) Apache
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.11%) IIS
5 1 (0.11%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 21 (2.38%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.79%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.11%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.68%) Oracle ERP
1 6 (0.68%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 298 (33.75%) Azure
2 207 (23.44%) AWS
3 115 (13.02%) GCP
4 92 (10.42%) Entra ID
5 33 (3.74%) Azure DevOps
5 33 (3.74%) GitHub
5 33 (3.74%) Microsoft 365
6 31 (3.51%) Azure Sentinel
7 28 (3.17%) Azure Monitor
8 24 (2.72%) SaaS
8 24 (2.72%) Serverless
9 21 (2.38%) GitHub Actions
9 21 (2.38%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 20 (2.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 19 (2.15%) Azure AKS
12 18 (2.04%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 16 (1.81%) Akamai
14 15 (1.70%) Azure Key Vault
14 15 (1.70%) OCI
15 13 (1.47%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 394 (44.62%) Firewall
2 199 (22.54%) VPN
3 182 (20.61%) WAN
4 134 (15.18%) LAN
5 126 (14.27%) DNS
6 99 (11.21%) BGP
7 95 (10.76%) Wireless
8 94 (10.65%) TCP/IP
9 86 (9.74%) SD-WAN
10 78 (8.83%) OSPF
11 74 (8.38%) VLAN
12 66 (7.47%) DHCP
13 54 (6.12%) IPsec
14 51 (5.78%) SSL
15 48 (5.44%) MPLS
16 44 (4.98%) Wi-Fi
17 42 (4.76%) Cisco ISE
18 38 (4.30%) Internet
18 38 (4.30%) NGFW
19 37 (4.19%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.47%) SQL Server
2 8 (0.91%) Azure SQL Database
3 6 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.45%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.45%) Neo4j
4 4 (0.45%) Power BI
5 3 (0.34%) Amazon Athena
5 3 (0.34%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.23%) BigQuery
6 2 (0.23%) Delta Lake
6 2 (0.23%) InfluxDB
7 1 (0.11%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.11%) DataStage
7 1 (0.11%) Looker
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.11%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.11%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.11%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 39 (4.42%) JIRA
2 38 (4.30%) Git
3 23 (2.60%) GitLab
4 18 (2.04%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.68%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.45%) MSBuild
7 4 (0.45%) Snyk
7 4 (0.45%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.45%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.34%) Artifactory
9 2 (0.23%) Postman
10 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.11%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.11%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.11%) JUnit
10 1 (0.11%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.11%) Subversion
10 1 (0.11%) Zephyr
General
1 209 (23.67%) Social Skills
2 142 (16.08%) Finance
3 73 (8.27%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (7.13%) Banking
5 57 (6.46%) Public Sector
6 44 (4.98%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.06%) Telecoms
8 23 (2.60%) Financial Institution
9 19 (2.15%) Legal
10 14 (1.59%) Manufacturing
11 13 (1.47%) Retail
12 12 (1.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (1.36%) Organisational Skills
13 11 (1.25%) Influencing Skills
14 8 (0.91%) Police
15 6 (0.68%) Automotive
15 6 (0.68%) Law
15 6 (0.68%) Local Government
16 5 (0.57%) Military
17 4 (0.45%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 244 (27.63%) Network Engineer
2 185 (20.95%) Architect
3 107 (12.12%) Security Engineer
4 98 (11.10%) Security Architect
4 98 (11.10%) Senior
5 68 (7.70%) Network Architect
6 65 (7.36%) Network Security Engineer
7 53 (6.00%) Consultant
8 44 (4.98%) Senior Network Engineer
9 43 (4.87%) Project Manager
10 38 (4.30%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 37 (4.19%) Lead
12 30 (3.40%) Cloud Engineer
13 29 (3.28%) Network Security Architect
14 25 (2.83%) Network Manager
15 24 (2.72%) Analyst
16 23 (2.60%) Security Consultant
17 21 (2.38%) Solutions Architect
18 20 (2.27%) DevOps Engineer
19 19 (2.15%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.30%) 802.1X
2 16 (1.81%) SAML
3 14 (1.59%) ARM Templates
3 14 (1.59%) REST
4 10 (1.13%) Kafka
5 6 (0.68%) JSON
5 6 (0.68%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.57%) .NET
6 5 (0.57%) CSS
6 5 (0.57%) HTML
7 4 (0.45%) gRPC
7 4 (0.45%) Keycloak
7 4 (0.45%) OAuth
7 4 (0.45%) OpenID
7 4 (0.45%) Protocol Buffers
7 4 (0.45%) RESTful
7 4 (0.45%) XML
8 3 (0.34%) Azure Blueprints
8 3 (0.34%) Lambda Expressions
8 3 (0.34%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 106 (12.00%) Data Centre
2 68 (7.70%) Security Posture
3 47 (5.32%) Cloud Native
3 47 (5.32%) Hybrid Cloud
4 39 (4.42%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 38 (4.30%) Onboarding
6 31 (3.51%) Management Information System
7 29 (3.28%) Operational Technology
8 22 (2.49%) Cyber Threat
8 22 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
8 22 (2.49%) PKI
9 20 (2.27%) Public Cloud
10 18 (2.04%) Self-Motivation
11 16 (1.81%) Product Ownership
11 16 (1.81%) Security Operations Centre
12 15 (1.70%) Linux Command Line
13 13 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
14 12 (1.36%) IoT
15 10 (1.13%) Replication
15 10 (1.13%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 77 (8.72%) Windows
2 74 (8.38%) Linux
3 24 (2.72%) Windows Server
4 14 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (1.02%) Unix
6 6 (0.68%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.68%) Ubuntu
6 6 (0.68%) Windows 10
7 5 (0.57%) VMS
8 3 (0.34%) Android
8 3 (0.34%) Check Point GAiA
8 3 (0.34%) SUSE
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.11%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (18.80%) Cloud Security
1 166 (18.80%) Cybersecurity
2 135 (15.29%) Zero Trust
3 120 (13.59%) CI/CD
4 117 (13.25%) SIEM
5 116 (13.14%) Continuous Improvement
6 115 (13.02%) DevOps
6 115 (13.02%) Infrastructure as Code
7 112 (12.68%) Migration
8 110 (12.46%) Stakeholder Management
9 104 (11.78%) Security Architecture
10 102 (11.55%) Change Management
11 96 (10.87%) Incident Response
12 95 (10.76%) High Availability
12 95 (10.76%) Identity Access Management
13 94 (10.65%) Problem-Solving
14 87 (9.85%) Data Protection
14 87 (9.85%) Threat Modelling
15 86 (9.74%) Agile
16 84 (9.51%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 111 (12.57%) Python
2 66 (7.47%) PowerShell
3 56 (6.34%) Bash
4 38 (4.30%) Bicep
5 23 (2.60%) SQL
6 18 (2.04%) JavaScript
7 8 (0.91%) Java
7 8 (0.91%) Shell Script
8 4 (0.45%) Perl
8 4 (0.45%) Rust
9 3 (0.34%) Go
9 3 (0.34%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.23%) Ruby
10 2 (0.23%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.11%) ActionScript
11 1 (0.11%) AppleScript
11 1 (0.11%) C
11 1 (0.11%) PHP
11 1 (0.11%) VBA
11 1 (0.11%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 230 (26.05%) Security Cleared
2 163 (18.46%) SC Cleared
3 158 (17.89%) Cisco Certification
4 103 (11.66%) CISSP
5 93 (10.53%) CCNP
6 74 (8.38%) DV Cleared
7 67 (7.59%) Degree
8 58 (6.57%) CCNA
8 58 (6.57%) CISM
9 41 (4.64%) CCSP
10 40 (4.53%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 36 (4.08%) Azure Certification
12 22 (2.49%) AWS Certification
12 22 (2.49%) CCIE
13 14 (1.59%) Computer Science Degree
14 13 (1.47%) CompTIA Security+
15 12 (1.36%) PMP
16 10 (1.13%) CEH
16 10 (1.13%) GIAC
16 10 (1.13%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (9.06%) NIST
2 71 (8.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 41 (4.64%) GDPR
4 31 (3.51%) NCSC
5 24 (2.72%) PCI DSS
6 19 (2.15%) QA
6 19 (2.15%) SLA
7 15 (1.70%) GRC
8 10 (1.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 9 (1.02%) Cyber Essentials
9 9 (1.02%) Disclosure Scotland
10 8 (0.91%) NIST 800
11 5 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 5 (0.57%) SOC 2
12 4 (0.45%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 4 (0.45%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.34%) ISA99
13 3 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.34%) PMO
System Software
1 80 (9.06%) Active Directory
2 53 (6.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 28 (3.17%) Docker
4 22 (2.49%) VMware NSX
5 21 (2.38%) Virtual Machines
6 10 (1.13%) Hyper-V
6 10 (1.13%) vSphere
7 8 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
8 6 (0.68%) Firmware
8 6 (0.68%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (0.57%) Squid
10 3 (0.34%) NFS
11 2 (0.23%) OpenSSH
11 2 (0.23%) Postfix
11 2 (0.23%) Sendmail
11 2 (0.23%) Varnish
11 2 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.11%) FreeRADIUS
12 1 (0.11%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 123 (13.93%) Terraform
2 83 (9.40%) Ansible
3 70 (7.93%) Kubernetes
4 43 (4.87%) FortiGate
5 22 (2.49%) Grafana
5 22 (2.49%) Microsoft Intune
6 18 (2.04%) Single Sign-On
7 13 (1.47%) Prometheus
8 10 (1.13%) SCCM
9 9 (1.02%) CASB
10 8 (0.91%) vCenter Server
11 7 (0.79%) Puppet
11 7 (0.79%) QRadar
12 6 (0.68%) Cisco CUCM
12 6 (0.68%) Cisco Prime
13 5 (0.57%) Progress Chef
13 5 (0.57%) Suricata
13 5 (0.57%) WSUS
14 4 (0.45%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.45%) Podman
Vendors
1 246 (27.86%) Cisco
2 144 (16.31%) Microsoft
3 143 (16.19%) Palo Alto
4 80 (9.06%) Fortinet
5 78 (8.83%) F5
6 68 (7.70%) VMware
7 64 (7.25%) Zscaler
8 56 (6.34%) CheckPoint
9 54 (6.12%) Juniper
10 38 (4.30%) Splunk
11 35 (3.96%) ServiceNow
12 32 (3.62%) SolarWinds
13 29 (3.28%) Aruba
14 24 (2.72%) Citrix
15 22 (2.49%) Google
16 18 (2.04%) Tenable
17 17 (1.93%) ForeScout
18 15 (1.70%) Infoblox
19 14 (1.59%) CyberArk
19 14 (1.59%) Meraki