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

6 months to
11 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 141 163
Rank change year-on-year -22 +22 +37
Contract jobs citing Network Security 778 588 665
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.70% 2.01% 1.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.22% 15.59% 11.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 522 369 460
10th Percentile £351 £362 £400
25th Percentile £425 £422 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -5.45% -
75th Percentile £600 £600 £650
90th Percentile £692 £675 £746
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £495 £575
% change year-on-year +1.01% -13.91% +9.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 11 16
10th Percentile £37.23 £18.50 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £40.50 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £45.00 £18.25
Median % change year-on-year +44.44% +146.58% -64.99%
75th Percentile £74.26 £81.18 £41.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.10 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £80.68 £7.43
% change year-on-year -19.43% +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 4,519 3,771 5,852
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.87% 12.90% 13.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,852 2,341 3,526
10th Percentile £231 £213 £205
25th Percentile £398 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £485
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% +1.14% -6.74%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £468 £475
% change year-on-year +1.60% -1.58% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 203 164 421
10th Percentile £15.62 £14.99 £13.85
25th Percentile £20.41 £21.35 £17.72
Median hourly rate £42.71 £37.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.88% -6.25% +110.53%
75th Percentile £70.00 £62.50 £61.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £54.00 £28.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year +92.86% -38.97% +148.00%

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 April 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 April 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 11 April 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 -9 678 £500 -4.76% 194
UK excluding London -8 395 £500 +1.01% 144
London -32 278 £515 -6.36% 73
Work from Home +3 218 £525 +5.00% 78
North of England -5 137 £481 -0.39% 33
South East -19 107 £500 -1.48% 46
North West +13 87 £489 +0.31% 24
Midlands -25 71 £500 -13.04% 20
West Midlands -32 54 £500 -13.04% 14
Yorkshire -20 53 £425 +6.25% 8
East of England -23 33 £525 -6.67% 19
South West -30 31 £545 -0.91% 19
Scotland +6 27 £509 +19.71% 7
East Midlands -30 16 £638 -1.92% 6
North East -14 3 £550 -12.00% 1
Wales -15 3 £513 +76.72% 2
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 18 (2.31%) Confluence
2 8 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (0.77%) Apache
4 4 (0.51%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.13%) nginx
5 1 (0.13%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 22 (2.83%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.29%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.64%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 241 (30.98%) Azure
2 162 (20.82%) AWS
3 93 (11.95%) GCP
4 60 (7.71%) Entra ID
5 36 (4.63%) GitHub
6 31 (3.98%) GitHub Actions
7 30 (3.86%) Azure DevOps
8 27 (3.47%) Azure Sentinel
9 22 (2.83%) Azure Key Vault
10 20 (2.57%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 18 (2.31%) AWS CloudFormation
11 18 (2.31%) Azure Monitor
12 16 (2.06%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 15 (1.93%) Azure AKS
13 15 (1.93%) Microsoft 365
14 14 (1.80%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 13 (1.67%) Akamai
15 13 (1.67%) Serverless
16 12 (1.54%) Power Platform
16 12 (1.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 374 (48.07%) Firewall
2 148 (19.02%) VPN
3 132 (16.97%) WAN
4 107 (13.75%) LAN
5 102 (13.11%) BGP
6 87 (11.18%) DNS
7 85 (10.93%) OSPF
8 73 (9.38%) VLAN
9 71 (9.13%) SD-WAN
10 60 (7.71%) TCP/IP
11 49 (6.30%) Wireless
12 44 (5.66%) MPLS
13 39 (5.01%) DHCP
14 38 (4.88%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 37 (4.76%) Cisco ASA
16 36 (4.63%) Wi-Fi
17 35 (4.50%) Internet
18 30 (3.86%) SSL
19 29 (3.73%) Cisco ISE
19 29 (3.73%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.16%) Azure SQL Database
2 6 (0.77%) Amazon RDS
3 5 (0.64%) InfluxDB
3 5 (0.64%) Relational Database
4 3 (0.39%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.39%) Data Lake
4 3 (0.39%) Power BI
4 3 (0.39%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 33 (4.24%) JIRA
2 22 (2.83%) Jenkins
3 16 (2.06%) GitLab
4 11 (1.41%) Git
5 8 (1.03%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (0.90%) Snyk
7 5 (0.64%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.13%) JUnit
8 1 (0.13%) Postman
8 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.13%) Zephyr
General
1 198 (25.45%) Social Skills
2 107 (13.75%) Finance
3 87 (11.18%) Analytical Skills
4 66 (8.48%) Public Sector
5 36 (4.63%) Banking
6 31 (3.98%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.34%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.57%) Financial Institution
9 10 (1.29%) Legal
10 9 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (1.03%) Manufacturing
12 7 (0.90%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (0.64%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.64%) Investment Banking
13 5 (0.64%) Local Government
13 5 (0.64%) Presentation Skills
14 4 (0.51%) Electronics
14 4 (0.51%) Military
15 3 (0.39%) Law
15 3 (0.39%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 181 (23.26%) Network Engineer
2 175 (22.49%) Architect
3 92 (11.83%) Security Engineer
4 90 (11.57%) Security Architect
5 62 (7.97%) Network Architect
6 60 (7.71%) Senior
7 43 (5.53%) Network Security Engineer
8 28 (3.60%) Analyst
9 27 (3.47%) Network Security Architect
10 25 (3.21%) Consultant
11 24 (3.08%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 24 (3.08%) Lead
12 21 (2.70%) Azure Architect
13 20 (2.57%) Cloud Architect
13 20 (2.57%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 18 (2.31%) Cloud Engineer
14 18 (2.31%) Project Manager
15 17 (2.19%) Security Specialist
15 17 (2.19%) Solutions Architect
16 16 (2.06%) Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.08%) 802.1X
2 13 (1.67%) LDAP
3 9 (1.16%) SAML
4 8 (1.03%) Node.js
5 6 (0.77%) .NET
5 6 (0.77%) ARM Templates
5 6 (0.77%) REST
6 5 (0.64%) .NET Core
6 5 (0.64%) AngularJS
6 5 (0.64%) PyTorch
6 5 (0.64%) RabbitMQ
6 5 (0.64%) React
6 5 (0.64%) TensorFlow
7 4 (0.51%) AWS CDK
7 4 (0.51%) HTML
7 4 (0.51%) OAuth
7 4 (0.51%) OpenID
8 3 (0.39%) CSS
8 3 (0.39%) Elastic Stack
8 3 (0.39%) Lambda Expressions
Miscellaneous
1 106 (13.62%) Data Centre
2 48 (6.17%) Security Posture
3 44 (5.66%) Cloud Native
3 44 (5.66%) Hybrid Cloud
4 27 (3.47%) Management Information System
4 27 (3.47%) Onboarding
5 26 (3.34%) IoT
5 26 (3.34%) Public Cloud
6 23 (2.96%) PKI
7 22 (2.83%) Operational Technology
8 20 (2.57%) Data Protection Act
9 19 (2.44%) Cyber Threat
9 19 (2.44%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 19 (2.44%) Product Ownership
10 16 (2.06%) Security Operations Centre
11 15 (1.93%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (1.54%) Cyber Security Posture
12 12 (1.54%) Virtual Team
13 9 (1.16%) Clustering
13 9 (1.16%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 81 (10.41%) Windows
2 69 (8.87%) Linux
3 28 (3.60%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.54%) Unix
5 10 (1.29%) VMS
6 8 (1.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 7 (0.90%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.77%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.39%) SUSE
9 3 (0.39%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.13%) Android
10 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 170 (21.85%) Cybersecurity
2 122 (15.68%) Cloud Security
3 118 (15.17%) Problem-Solving
4 112 (14.40%) Security Architecture
4 112 (14.40%) Zero Trust
5 106 (13.62%) Migration
6 103 (13.24%) DevOps
7 101 (12.98%) SIEM
8 100 (12.85%) CI/CD
9 99 (12.72%) Infrastructure as Code
10 78 (10.03%) Continuous Improvement
10 78 (10.03%) Threat Modelling
11 76 (9.77%) Incident Response
12 73 (9.38%) Change Management
13 72 (9.25%) Network Segmentation
14 68 (8.74%) Stakeholder Management
15 67 (8.61%) High Availability
16 66 (8.48%) Security Operations
17 65 (8.35%) Agile
18 64 (8.23%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 111 (14.27%) Python
2 64 (8.23%) PowerShell
3 29 (3.73%) Bicep
4 27 (3.47%) Bash
5 26 (3.34%) SQL
6 25 (3.21%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.93%) Kusto Query Language
8 9 (1.16%) Go
9 8 (1.03%) Shell Script
10 7 (0.90%) Java
11 5 (0.64%) C#
12 4 (0.51%) C
12 4 (0.51%) PHP
13 3 (0.39%) C++
14 2 (0.26%) C-shell
14 2 (0.26%) Korn
14 2 (0.26%) Ruby
15 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
15 1 (0.13%) AppleScript
15 1 (0.13%) Perl
Qualifications
1 234 (30.08%) Security Cleared
2 170 (21.85%) SC Cleared
3 134 (17.22%) Cisco Certification
4 103 (13.24%) CCNP
5 96 (12.34%) CISSP
6 73 (9.38%) DV Cleared
7 53 (6.81%) CISM
8 50 (6.43%) CCNA
9 49 (6.30%) Degree
10 30 (3.86%) Azure Certification
10 30 (3.86%) CCIE
11 26 (3.34%) GIAC
12 23 (2.96%) CEH
13 19 (2.44%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 19 (2.44%) AWS Certification
13 19 (2.44%) CCSP
14 17 (2.19%) CompTIA Security+
15 12 (1.54%) BPSS Clearance
15 12 (1.54%) TOGAF Certification
16 10 (1.29%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (11.31%) NIST
2 73 (9.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 47 (6.04%) GDPR
4 31 (3.98%) PCI DSS
5 21 (2.70%) NCSC
6 15 (1.93%) Cyber Essentials
6 15 (1.93%) GRC
7 14 (1.80%) SLA
8 9 (1.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 9 (1.16%) SOC 2
9 8 (1.03%) Actionable Recommendations
9 8 (1.03%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 8 (1.03%) QA
10 5 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 5 (0.64%) PMO
11 4 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 4 (0.51%) RMADS
12 3 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.39%) ISA99
12 3 (0.39%) JSP 440
System Software
1 53 (6.81%) VMware Infrastructure
2 51 (6.56%) Active Directory
3 23 (2.96%) VMware NSX
4 21 (2.70%) Docker
5 12 (1.54%) Virtual Machines
5 12 (1.54%) vSphere
6 11 (1.41%) Hyper-V
7 10 (1.29%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (1.03%) Firmware
9 4 (0.51%) ProxySG
9 4 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.26%) NFS
10 2 (0.26%) Postfix
10 2 (0.26%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.26%) Varnish
11 1 (0.13%) KVM
11 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.13%) Xen
11 1 (0.13%) XenApp
11 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 117 (15.04%) Terraform
2 71 (9.13%) Ansible
3 60 (7.71%) Kubernetes
4 28 (3.60%) FortiGate
5 15 (1.93%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (1.80%) Nagios
7 12 (1.54%) Kibana
7 12 (1.54%) Microsoft Intune
8 11 (1.41%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.16%) Microsoft Clustering
10 8 (1.03%) Grafana
11 7 (0.90%) Prometheus
12 5 (0.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.64%) CASB
12 5 (0.64%) Progress Chef
13 4 (0.51%) Istio
13 4 (0.51%) Puppet
14 3 (0.39%) Network Intrusion Detection System
14 3 (0.39%) QRadar
14 3 (0.39%) VxRail
Vendors
1 206 (26.48%) Cisco
2 123 (15.81%) Microsoft
3 118 (15.17%) Palo Alto
4 80 (10.28%) F5
5 68 (8.74%) VMware
6 59 (7.58%) Juniper
7 58 (7.46%) Fortinet
8 51 (6.56%) CheckPoint
9 41 (5.27%) Zscaler
10 30 (3.86%) ServiceNow
10 30 (3.86%) Splunk
11 27 (3.47%) Google
12 19 (2.44%) Aruba
12 19 (2.44%) SolarWinds
12 19 (2.44%) Tenable
13 18 (2.31%) ForeScout
14 16 (2.06%) Meraki
15 15 (1.93%) Databricks
15 15 (1.93%) Okta
16 12 (1.54%) Arista