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 20 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 174 145 147
Rank change year-on-year -29 +2 +103
Contract jobs citing Network Security 597 620 768
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.62% 1.82% 1.75%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.98% 14.32% 12.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 367 388 522
10th Percentile £340 £350 £400
25th Percentile £413 £425 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -7.27% -
75th Percentile £580 £620 £650
90th Percentile £675 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £550
% change year-on-year -5.00% -9.09% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 12 5
10th Percentile £44.10 £20.15 £65.00
25th Percentile £48.94 £35.75 £68.75
Median hourly rate £65.50 £41.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.76% -43.45% +80.12%
75th Percentile £84.06 £48.13 £76.25
90th Percentile £93.88 £57.88 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £41.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year +58.54% -43.45% +93.33%

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 3,984 4,330 6,063
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.81% 12.71% 13.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,595 2,535 3,742
10th Percentile £206 £220 £210
25th Percentile £356 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £584 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 186 152 333
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.26 £21.46 £22.75
Median hourly rate £34.00 £37.25 £56.40
Median % change year-on-year -8.72% -33.95% +37.46%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.38 £75.59
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £37.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year +13.33% -33.62% +25.53%

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 20 December 2025.

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 20 December 2025.

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 20 December 2025. 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 -27 530 £500 -4.76% 185
UK excluding London -18 299 £475 -5.00% 171
London -14 231 £515 -4.28% 50
Work from Home -36 153 £500 - 88
North of England -26 104 £458 -8.50% 39
North West +11 73 £475 - 29
South East -23 73 £430 -21.82% 61
Midlands -26 63 £500 -14.24% 19
West Midlands -4 59 £500 -19.35% 12
Yorkshire -48 44 £205 -59.00% 8
East of England -18 27 £475 +18.75% 23
South West -10 24 £533 +1.43% 22
Scotland +8 20 £475 +18.75% 7
East Midlands -30 4 £650 +73.33% 7
Wales -3 3 £471 +92.35% 6
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 1
North East -9 2 £475 -41.72% 3

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 6 (1.01%) Confluence
2 5 (0.84%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.67%) Apache
4 3 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.17%) IIS
5 1 (0.17%) nginx
5 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (2.68%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.17%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 167 (27.97%) Azure
2 141 (23.62%) AWS
3 48 (8.04%) GCP
4 27 (4.52%) Entra ID
4 27 (4.52%) Microsoft 365
5 24 (4.02%) Amazon S3
5 24 (4.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 20 (3.35%) Amazon EC2
7 19 (3.18%) Azure DevOps
8 16 (2.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 16 (2.68%) Amazon ELB
8 16 (2.68%) Azure Sentinel
8 16 (2.68%) GitHub
9 14 (2.35%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (2.18%) Azure Key Vault
10 13 (2.18%) IaaS
10 13 (2.18%) Serverless
11 12 (2.01%) Azure Monitor
12 11 (1.84%) Google Workspace
13 10 (1.68%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 300 (50.25%) Firewall
2 128 (21.44%) VPN
3 109 (18.26%) DNS
4 100 (16.75%) WAN
5 68 (11.39%) BGP
6 67 (11.22%) LAN
7 66 (11.06%) SSL
8 63 (10.55%) TCP/IP
9 54 (9.05%) OSPF
9 54 (9.05%) SD-WAN
10 49 (8.21%) VLAN
11 43 (7.20%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 40 (6.70%) Wireless
13 36 (6.03%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 33 (5.53%) DMZ
15 30 (5.03%) Internet
16 28 (4.69%) Intrusion Detection
17 25 (4.19%) HTTP
18 22 (3.69%) DHCP
19 21 (3.52%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
1 4 (0.67%) InfluxDB
1 4 (0.67%) Relational Database
2 3 (0.50%) Amazon Athena
2 3 (0.50%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.34%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.34%) Power BI
4 1 (0.17%) MySQL
4 1 (0.17%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.17%) Redis
4 1 (0.17%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 24 (4.02%) Jenkins
2 22 (3.69%) Git
2 22 (3.69%) GitLab
3 6 (1.01%) JIRA
4 2 (0.34%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.17%) Metasploit
5 1 (0.17%) Subversion
General
1 198 (33.17%) Social Skills
2 105 (17.59%) Analytical Skills
3 59 (9.88%) Finance
4 52 (8.71%) Public Sector
5 36 (6.03%) Banking
6 21 (3.52%) Documentation Skills
6 21 (3.52%) Telecoms
7 16 (2.68%) Investment Banking
8 12 (2.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (1.68%) Pharmaceutical
10 9 (1.51%) Manufacturing
11 8 (1.34%) Legal
12 7 (1.17%) Military
12 7 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.84%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.84%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.67%) Aerospace
14 4 (0.67%) Law
14 4 (0.67%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 130 (21.78%) Network Engineer
2 104 (17.42%) Security Engineer
3 101 (16.92%) Architect
4 59 (9.88%) Security Architect
5 53 (8.88%) Network Security Engineer
6 47 (7.87%) Senior
7 44 (7.37%) Analyst
8 42 (7.04%) Network Architect
9 26 (4.36%) Consultant
10 23 (3.85%) Lead
11 22 (3.69%) SOC Analyst
12 21 (3.52%) Administrator
12 21 (3.52%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 19 (3.18%) Network Security Architect
13 19 (3.18%) Security Analyst
14 17 (2.85%) Operations Engineer
15 16 (2.68%) IT Engineer
16 15 (2.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 15 (2.51%) Project Manager
16 15 (2.51%) SIEM Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (3.02%) LDAP
2 15 (2.51%) 802.1X
3 8 (1.34%) .NET
3 8 (1.34%) Node.js
4 6 (1.01%) SAML
5 5 (0.84%) .NET Core
5 5 (0.84%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.84%) ARM Templates
5 5 (0.84%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.84%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.84%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (0.84%) React
5 5 (0.84%) TensorFlow
6 3 (0.50%) Lambda Expressions
6 3 (0.50%) Plotly
7 2 (0.34%) HTML
7 2 (0.34%) OAuth
7 2 (0.34%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.34%) OpenID
8 1 (0.17%) ADO
Miscellaneous
1 61 (10.22%) Data Centre
2 46 (7.71%) Management Information System
3 36 (6.03%) Security Posture
4 31 (5.19%) Hybrid Cloud
5 26 (4.36%) Cloud Native
6 25 (4.19%) Cyber Threat
6 25 (4.19%) Security Operations Centre
7 22 (3.69%) Analytical Mindset
8 21 (3.52%) Onboarding
9 20 (3.35%) PKI
10 18 (3.02%) Operational Technology
11 16 (2.68%) CSOC
11 16 (2.68%) Cyberattack
12 15 (2.51%) Public Cloud
13 14 (2.35%) Cyber Security Posture
14 11 (1.84%) Cloud Security Posture
14 11 (1.84%) Virtual Team
15 10 (1.68%) Data Protection Act
16 8 (1.34%) IoT
17 7 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 93 (15.58%) Windows
2 72 (12.06%) Linux
3 25 (4.19%) Windows Server
4 15 (2.51%) Unix
5 4 (0.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.67%) VMS
6 3 (0.50%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.17%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.17%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.17%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 150 (25.13%) Cybersecurity
2 121 (20.27%) Problem-Solving
2 121 (20.27%) SIEM
3 111 (18.59%) Incident Response
4 95 (15.91%) Cloud Security
5 72 (12.06%) CI/CD
5 72 (12.06%) Infrastructure as Code
6 70 (11.73%) DevOps
7 65 (10.89%) Zero Trust
8 61 (10.22%) Change Management
9 57 (9.55%) Migration
9 57 (9.55%) Threat Modelling
10 56 (9.38%) Security Operations
11 54 (9.05%) Identity Access Management
12 53 (8.88%) Security Architecture
13 52 (8.71%) Network Architecture
14 49 (8.21%) Infrastructure Automation
15 48 (8.04%) Continuous Improvement
16 46 (7.71%) Load Balancing
16 46 (7.71%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 124 (20.77%) Python
2 81 (13.57%) PowerShell
3 37 (6.20%) Bash
4 18 (3.02%) SQL
5 15 (2.51%) Bicep
6 13 (2.18%) JavaScript
6 13 (2.18%) Kusto Query Language
7 9 (1.51%) Go
8 7 (1.17%) Java
9 5 (0.84%) C#
10 4 (0.67%) Perl
10 4 (0.67%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.34%) C
11 2 (0.34%) C++
11 2 (0.34%) C-shell
11 2 (0.34%) Korn
12 1 (0.17%) Rust
12 1 (0.17%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.17%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 175 (29.31%) Security Cleared
2 128 (21.44%) SC Cleared
3 114 (19.10%) Cisco Certification
4 90 (15.08%) CCNP
5 84 (14.07%) CISSP
6 53 (8.88%) DV Cleared
7 47 (7.87%) Degree
8 37 (6.20%) CISM
9 32 (5.36%) CCIE
10 31 (5.19%) GIAC
11 28 (4.69%) CEH
12 26 (4.36%) CCNA
13 21 (3.52%) Azure Certification
14 18 (3.02%) CompTIA Security+
15 17 (2.85%) Computer Science Degree
16 16 (2.68%) AWS Certification
17 14 (2.35%) CCSA
18 13 (2.18%) CCSP
19 12 (2.01%) (ISC)2 CCSP
20 9 (1.51%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (12.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 70 (11.73%) NIST
3 44 (7.37%) GDPR
4 33 (5.53%) PCI DSS
5 15 (2.51%) NCSC
6 14 (2.35%) Cyber Essentials
7 10 (1.68%) GRC
7 10 (1.68%) HIPAA
8 7 (1.17%) SLA
9 6 (1.01%) SOC 2
10 5 (0.84%) PSD2
10 5 (0.84%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 4 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (0.67%) JSP 440
12 3 (0.50%) QA
13 2 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.34%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 2 (0.34%) GxP
13 2 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 2 (0.34%) PMO
System Software
1 42 (7.04%) Active Directory
2 40 (6.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (6.37%) Docker
4 11 (1.84%) Hyper-V
5 10 (1.68%) Firmware
6 9 (1.51%) VMware NSX
7 7 (1.17%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.84%) vSphere
9 4 (0.67%) ProxySG
10 3 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.34%) KVM
12 1 (0.17%) RACF
12 1 (0.17%) RHEV
12 1 (0.17%) Xen
12 1 (0.17%) XenApp
12 1 (0.17%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 94 (15.75%) Terraform
2 64 (10.72%) Ansible
3 30 (5.03%) Kubernetes
4 23 (3.85%) FortiGate
5 12 (2.01%) QRadar
6 11 (1.84%) Nagios
7 10 (1.68%) Kibana
8 8 (1.34%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (1.17%) Grafana
9 7 (1.17%) Prometheus
10 6 (1.01%) Microsoft Clustering
10 6 (1.01%) Single Sign-On
11 5 (0.84%) CASB
11 5 (0.84%) SCCM
12 4 (0.67%) CA Spectrum
12 4 (0.67%) Progress Chef
13 3 (0.50%) Icinga
13 3 (0.50%) Puppet
14 2 (0.34%) Docker Swarm
14 2 (0.34%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 148 (24.79%) Cisco
2 116 (19.43%) Palo Alto
3 96 (16.08%) Microsoft
4 91 (15.24%) F5
5 63 (10.55%) CheckPoint
6 52 (8.71%) Juniper
7 50 (8.38%) VMware
8 49 (8.21%) Fortinet
9 46 (7.71%) Zscaler
10 33 (5.53%) Splunk
11 27 (4.52%) Meraki
12 25 (4.19%) SolarWinds
13 22 (3.69%) CrowdStrike
14 21 (3.52%) Google
15 16 (2.68%) Tenable
16 15 (2.51%) ServiceNow
17 13 (2.18%) Blue Coat
18 12 (2.01%) Qualys
19 11 (1.84%) ArcSight
19 11 (1.84%) Forcepoint