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 22 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 166 144 157
Rank change year-on-year -22 +13 +55
Contract jobs citing Network Security 746 578 690
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.70% 1.96% 1.56%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 16.85% 14.87% 11.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 360 477
10th Percentile £350 £350 £400
25th Percentile £425 £421 £468
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -6.82% -
75th Percentile £600 £600 £650
90th Percentile £688 £675 £747
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £575
% change year-on-year - -13.04% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 13 18
10th Percentile £22.40 £21.80 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £36.00 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £41.00 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +58.54% +78.26% -50.11%
75th Percentile £75.00 £81.01 £41.25
90th Percentile £91.75 £81.95 £57.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.50 £80.68 £7.43
% change year-on-year -31.21% +985.80% -83.88%

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 4,427 3,888 5,909
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.08% 13.17% 13.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,857 2,386 3,562
10th Percentile £213 £213 £203
25th Percentile £375 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.51% +2.63% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £473 £475
% change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 192 144 394
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.06 £13.90
25th Percentile £18.38 £21.46 £17.74
Median hourly rate £32.52 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.09% +7.69% +71.05%
75th Percentile £66.31 £63.38 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.25 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £41.23
% change year-on-year +29.05% -21.17% +122.86%

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 22 March 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 22 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Top 17 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 22 March 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 -12 658 £500 -5.66% 205
UK excluding London -9 376 £500 - 153
London -10 276 £525 -4.42% 75
Work from Home -5 203 £525 +5.00% 93
North of England -24 130 £480 -4.00% 36
South East -11 107 £500 -6.10% 48
North West +6 83 £492 -1.60% 28
Midlands -21 65 £500 -14.02% 18
Yorkshire -29 53 £335 -31.63% 7
West Midlands -35 52 £500 -14.02% 11
East of England -16 31 £488 -17.02% 24
South West -35 30 £538 -2.27% 22
Scotland +3 27 £543 +27.65% 6
East Midlands -29 12 £638 +50.00% 7
Wales -12 3 £513 +76.72% 1
North East -14 2 £475 -24.00% 1
Northern Ireland - 2 £500 - 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 19 (2.55%) Confluence
2 5 (0.67%) Apache
2 5 (0.67%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.13%) nginx
4 1 (0.13%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 19 (2.55%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.34%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.13%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (0.67%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 231 (30.97%) Azure
2 164 (21.98%) AWS
3 92 (12.33%) GCP
4 54 (7.24%) Entra ID
5 36 (4.83%) GitHub
6 31 (4.16%) GitHub Actions
7 27 (3.62%) Azure DevOps
8 26 (3.49%) Azure Sentinel
9 21 (2.82%) Azure Key Vault
9 21 (2.82%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 17 (2.28%) AWS CloudFormation
10 17 (2.28%) Microsoft 365
11 16 (2.14%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 15 (2.01%) Azure Monitor
13 14 (1.88%) Amazon S3
13 14 (1.88%) Azure AKS
13 14 (1.88%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 13 (1.74%) Akamai
15 12 (1.61%) Power Platform
15 12 (1.61%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 362 (48.53%) Firewall
2 148 (19.84%) VPN
3 130 (17.43%) WAN
4 103 (13.81%) LAN
5 98 (13.14%) BGP
6 86 (11.53%) DNS
7 82 (10.99%) OSPF
8 68 (9.12%) VLAN
9 67 (8.98%) SD-WAN
10 58 (7.77%) TCP/IP
11 50 (6.70%) Wireless
12 44 (5.90%) MPLS
13 40 (5.36%) Cisco ASA
14 38 (5.09%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 33 (4.42%) DHCP
15 33 (4.42%) Wi-Fi
16 30 (4.02%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 30 (4.02%) SSL
17 29 (3.89%) Internet
18 26 (3.49%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.21%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (0.67%) Power BI
3 4 (0.54%) InfluxDB
3 4 (0.54%) Relational Database
4 3 (0.40%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.40%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.13%) Redis
6 1 (0.13%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 29 (3.89%) JIRA
2 24 (3.22%) Jenkins
3 20 (2.68%) GitLab
4 13 (1.74%) Git
5 7 (0.94%) Snyk
5 7 (0.94%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.13%) JUnit
7 1 (0.13%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.13%) Postman
7 1 (0.13%) Zephyr
General
1 194 (26.01%) Social Skills
2 106 (14.21%) Finance
3 89 (11.93%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (8.45%) Public Sector
5 36 (4.83%) Banking
6 30 (4.02%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.62%) Telecoms
8 21 (2.82%) Financial Institution
9 10 (1.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (1.34%) Legal
10 8 (1.07%) Investment Banking
10 8 (1.07%) Manufacturing
11 7 (0.94%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (0.80%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (0.67%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.67%) Local Government
13 5 (0.67%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.54%) Military
15 3 (0.40%) Electronics
15 3 (0.40%) Police
Job Titles
1 170 (22.79%) Architect
2 167 (22.39%) Network Engineer
3 89 (11.93%) Security Engineer
4 86 (11.53%) Security Architect
5 63 (8.45%) Network Architect
6 57 (7.64%) Senior
7 39 (5.23%) Network Security Engineer
8 31 (4.16%) Analyst
9 28 (3.75%) Network Security Architect
10 25 (3.35%) Lead
11 21 (2.82%) Consultant
12 20 (2.68%) Cloud Architect
13 19 (2.55%) Azure Architect
13 19 (2.55%) Cloud Engineer
13 19 (2.55%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 18 (2.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 18 (2.41%) Security Analyst
14 18 (2.41%) Solutions Architect
15 17 (2.28%) Administrator
16 15 (2.01%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.22%) 802.1X
2 13 (1.74%) LDAP
3 8 (1.07%) .NET
3 8 (1.07%) Node.js
3 8 (1.07%) SAML
4 6 (0.80%) ARM Templates
4 6 (0.80%) REST
5 5 (0.67%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.67%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.67%) OAuth
5 5 (0.67%) OAuth2
5 5 (0.67%) OpenID
5 5 (0.67%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.67%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.67%) React
5 5 (0.67%) TensorFlow
6 4 (0.54%) AWS CDK
6 4 (0.54%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.54%) HTML
7 3 (0.40%) Plotly
Miscellaneous
1 100 (13.40%) Data Centre
2 44 (5.90%) Cloud Native
2 44 (5.90%) Security Posture
3 43 (5.76%) Hybrid Cloud
4 31 (4.16%) Management Information System
5 29 (3.89%) PKI
6 26 (3.49%) Public Cloud
7 24 (3.22%) Onboarding
8 23 (3.08%) Operational Technology
9 21 (2.82%) IoT
10 19 (2.55%) Data Protection Act
10 19 (2.55%) Product Ownership
11 18 (2.41%) Cyber Threat
11 18 (2.41%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 16 (2.14%) Analytical Mindset
13 15 (2.01%) Security Operations Centre
14 11 (1.47%) Cyber Security Posture
15 9 (1.21%) BYOD
16 8 (1.07%) CSOC
16 8 (1.07%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 78 (10.46%) Windows
2 63 (8.45%) Linux
3 27 (3.62%) Windows Server
4 11 (1.47%) Unix
5 8 (1.07%) VMS
6 7 (0.94%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.67%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.13%) Android
8 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.13%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 175 (23.46%) Cybersecurity
2 120 (16.09%) Problem-Solving
3 118 (15.82%) Cloud Security
4 108 (14.48%) Security Architecture
4 108 (14.48%) Zero Trust
5 102 (13.67%) Migration
6 101 (13.54%) SIEM
7 100 (13.40%) CI/CD
8 97 (13.00%) Infrastructure as Code
9 96 (12.87%) DevOps
10 82 (10.99%) Incident Response
11 74 (9.92%) Network Segmentation
12 72 (9.65%) Change Management
12 72 (9.65%) Continuous Improvement
13 68 (9.12%) Threat Modelling
14 67 (8.98%) Identity Access Management
15 64 (8.58%) Agile
16 63 (8.45%) Security Operations
17 60 (8.04%) High Availability
17 60 (8.04%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 114 (15.28%) Python
2 63 (8.45%) PowerShell
3 30 (4.02%) Bash
4 28 (3.75%) Bicep
5 26 (3.49%) SQL
6 25 (3.35%) JavaScript
7 15 (2.01%) Kusto Query Language
8 9 (1.21%) Go
8 9 (1.21%) Java
9 6 (0.80%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.67%) C#
11 4 (0.54%) C
11 4 (0.54%) PHP
12 3 (0.40%) C++
13 2 (0.27%) C-shell
13 2 (0.27%) Korn
14 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.13%) AppleScript
14 1 (0.13%) Ruby
14 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 231 (30.97%) Security Cleared
2 165 (22.12%) SC Cleared
3 130 (17.43%) Cisco Certification
4 102 (13.67%) CCNP
5 95 (12.73%) CISSP
6 77 (10.32%) DV Cleared
7 51 (6.84%) CISM
7 51 (6.84%) Degree
8 50 (6.70%) CCNA
9 30 (4.02%) CCIE
10 26 (3.49%) GIAC
11 23 (3.08%) Azure Certification
12 21 (2.82%) CEH
13 19 (2.55%) AWS Certification
14 18 (2.41%) CompTIA Security+
15 16 (2.14%) CCSP
16 15 (2.01%) (ISC)2 CCSP
17 14 (1.88%) TOGAF Certification
18 13 (1.74%) Computer Science Degree
19 12 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 91 (12.20%) NIST
2 80 (10.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 53 (7.10%) GDPR
4 37 (4.96%) PCI DSS
5 22 (2.95%) NCSC
6 20 (2.68%) Cyber Essentials
7 15 (2.01%) GRC
8 14 (1.88%) SLA
9 11 (1.47%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 9 (1.21%) SOC 2
11 8 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 7 (0.94%) Actionable Recommendations
12 7 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 7 (0.94%) QA
13 5 (0.67%) PMO
14 4 (0.54%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.54%) JSP 440
14 4 (0.54%) RMADS
15 2 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
15 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 50 (6.70%) VMware Infrastructure
2 46 (6.17%) Active Directory
3 27 (3.62%) Docker
4 23 (3.08%) VMware NSX
5 9 (1.21%) Virtual Machines
5 9 (1.21%) vSphere
6 8 (1.07%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.80%) Firmware
7 6 (0.80%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (0.54%) ProxySG
9 3 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.13%) KVM
10 1 (0.13%) NFS
10 1 (0.13%) Postfix
10 1 (0.13%) RHEV
10 1 (0.13%) Sendmail
10 1 (0.13%) Varnish
10 1 (0.13%) Xen
10 1 (0.13%) XenApp
10 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 116 (15.55%) Terraform
2 69 (9.25%) Ansible
3 57 (7.64%) Kubernetes
4 27 (3.62%) FortiGate
5 15 (2.01%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (2.01%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (1.88%) Nagios
7 12 (1.61%) Kibana
8 8 (1.07%) Grafana
9 7 (0.94%) Prometheus
9 7 (0.94%) vCenter Server
10 6 (0.80%) Microsoft Clustering
11 5 (0.67%) CASB
12 4 (0.54%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 4 (0.54%) Istio
12 4 (0.54%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.54%) Puppet
13 3 (0.40%) Icinga
13 3 (0.40%) SCCM
13 3 (0.40%) SCOM
Vendors
1 202 (27.08%) Cisco
2 121 (16.22%) Microsoft
3 118 (15.82%) Palo Alto
4 81 (10.86%) F5
5 65 (8.71%) VMware
6 61 (8.18%) Juniper
7 58 (7.77%) Fortinet
8 52 (6.97%) CheckPoint
9 42 (5.63%) Zscaler
10 29 (3.89%) Google
10 29 (3.89%) Splunk
11 28 (3.75%) ServiceNow
12 19 (2.55%) Aruba
12 19 (2.55%) Tenable
13 18 (2.41%) Meraki
13 18 (2.41%) SolarWinds
14 15 (2.01%) Databricks
14 15 (2.01%) ForeScout
15 13 (1.74%) Okta
16 12 (1.61%) Arista