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

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 154 146 183
Rank change year-on-year -8 +37 -8
Contract jobs citing Network Security 846 552 549
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.72% 1.91% 1.28%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.73% 15.19% 10.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 576 336 375
10th Percentile £399 £363 £375
25th Percentile £447 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -6.36% -2.00%
75th Percentile £623 £606 £666
90th Percentile £700 £688 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £515 £490 £575
% change year-on-year +5.10% -14.78% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 8 17
10th Percentile £27.20 £69.74 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £80.34 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.10% +328.16% -65.45%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.58 £41.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £88.80 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.50 £81.35 £7.43
% change year-on-year -19.48% +994.89% -66.62%

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 4,771 3,635 5,392
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.72% 12.56% 12.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,920 2,249 3,208
10th Percentile £263 £214 £206
25th Percentile £400 £360 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £495
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -3.03% -3.41%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £465 £475
% change year-on-year +2.15% -2.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 282 163 415
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.96 £16.30
Median hourly rate £28.96 £41.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.22% +3.75% +119.30%
75th Percentile £65.00 £59.44 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.93 £80.81 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.86 £31.79 £45.88
% change year-on-year +6.51% -30.71% +154.89%

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 5 June 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 5 June 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 5 June 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 +3 734 £525 - 345
UK excluding London -18 417 £515 +5.10% 274
London +3 316 £550 -4.35% 130
Work from Home +13 249 £530 +4.85% 159
North of England +6 166 £500 - 71
South East -26 105 £520 +6.12% 76
North West +12 93 £498 -1.49% 44
Yorkshire -10 70 £500 +2.04% 22
Midlands -38 48 £450 -18.18% 32
East of England -18 36 £525 -6.67% 29
Scotland +4 34 £538 +26.47% 29
South West -25 33 £550 - 29
West Midlands -56 30 £435 -20.91% 23
East Midlands -11 17 £638 - 9
North East -26 3 £538 -14.00% 7
Wales -27 3 £600 +103.39% 13

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 22 (2.60%) Confluence
2 13 (1.54%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.83%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.24%) Apache
5 1 (0.12%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.12%) nginx
Applications
1 15 (1.77%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.54%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.24%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 262 (30.97%) Azure
2 183 (21.63%) AWS
3 111 (13.12%) GCP
4 68 (8.04%) Entra ID
5 34 (4.02%) GitHub
6 30 (3.55%) Azure Sentinel
7 27 (3.19%) Azure DevOps
7 27 (3.19%) GitHub Actions
8 22 (2.60%) Microsoft 365
8 22 (2.60%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 21 (2.48%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 19 (2.25%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 18 (2.13%) SaaS
12 17 (2.01%) AWS CloudFormation
12 17 (2.01%) Azure Key Vault
13 16 (1.89%) Akamai
13 16 (1.89%) AWS Direct Connect
13 16 (1.89%) Azure AKS
13 16 (1.89%) Azure Monitor
13 16 (1.89%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 381 (45.04%) Firewall
2 172 (20.33%) VPN
3 150 (17.73%) WAN
4 121 (14.30%) LAN
5 102 (12.06%) BGP
5 102 (12.06%) DNS
6 89 (10.52%) OSPF
7 81 (9.57%) SD-WAN
8 78 (9.22%) VLAN
9 71 (8.39%) TCP/IP
10 69 (8.16%) Wireless
11 52 (6.15%) DHCP
12 50 (5.91%) MPLS
13 44 (5.20%) IPsec
13 44 (5.20%) SSL
14 39 (4.61%) Wi-Fi
15 37 (4.37%) Cisco ISE
16 33 (3.90%) Cisco ASA
17 32 (3.78%) HTTP
18 31 (3.66%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (0.95%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.59%) SQL Server
3 4 (0.47%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.47%) Neo4j
4 3 (0.35%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.35%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.35%) InfluxDB
4 3 (0.35%) Power BI
5 2 (0.24%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.24%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.24%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.12%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 41 (4.85%) JIRA
2 23 (2.72%) GitLab
2 23 (2.72%) Jenkins
3 20 (2.36%) Git
4 8 (0.95%) Sonatype Nexus
5 7 (0.83%) Snyk
6 5 (0.59%) Browser DevTools
7 3 (0.35%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.35%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.24%) Postman
9 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.12%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.12%) JUnit
9 1 (0.12%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.12%) Zephyr
General
1 190 (22.46%) Social Skills
2 128 (15.13%) Finance
3 70 (8.27%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (7.45%) Public Sector
5 49 (5.79%) Banking
6 39 (4.61%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (2.96%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.36%) Financial Institution
9 11 (1.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 11 (1.30%) Legal
10 10 (1.18%) Retail
11 8 (0.95%) Manufacturing
12 7 (0.83%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (0.71%) Law
13 6 (0.71%) Local Government
13 6 (0.71%) Police
14 5 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.59%) Military
15 3 (0.35%) Billing
15 3 (0.35%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 220 (26.00%) Network Engineer
2 182 (21.51%) Architect
3 109 (12.88%) Security Engineer
4 90 (10.64%) Security Architect
5 79 (9.34%) Senior
6 61 (7.21%) Network Architect
7 56 (6.62%) Network Security Engineer
8 35 (4.14%) Consultant
9 34 (4.02%) Project Manager
10 30 (3.55%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 29 (3.43%) Lead
11 29 (3.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 27 (3.19%) Senior Network Engineer
13 26 (3.07%) Cloud Engineer
13 26 (3.07%) Network Security Architect
14 23 (2.72%) Azure Architect
15 22 (2.60%) Analyst
15 22 (2.60%) Cloud Architect
16 21 (2.48%) Solutions Architect
17 20 (2.36%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (4.14%) 802.1X
2 14 (1.65%) SAML
3 13 (1.54%) LDAP
4 12 (1.42%) REST
5 8 (0.95%) Kafka
6 7 (0.83%) ARM Templates
6 7 (0.83%) OAuth
7 6 (0.71%) CSS
7 6 (0.71%) HTML
7 6 (0.71%) OpenID
7 6 (0.71%) SLSA
8 5 (0.59%) OAuth2
9 4 (0.47%) AWS CDK
10 3 (0.35%) gRPC
10 3 (0.35%) Lambda Expressions
10 3 (0.35%) Plotly
10 3 (0.35%) Protocol Buffers
10 3 (0.35%) RabbitMQ
10 3 (0.35%) RESTful
10 3 (0.35%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 127 (15.01%) Data Centre
2 53 (6.26%) Security Posture
3 50 (5.91%) Cloud Native
4 42 (4.96%) Hybrid Cloud
5 30 (3.55%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 30 (3.55%) Onboarding
6 29 (3.43%) PKI
7 25 (2.96%) Data Protection Act
8 24 (2.84%) Management Information System
8 24 (2.84%) Public Cloud
9 22 (2.60%) Cyber Threat
10 21 (2.48%) Operational Technology
11 19 (2.25%) IoT
11 19 (2.25%) Product Ownership
12 18 (2.13%) Security Operations Centre
13 14 (1.65%) Self-Motivation
14 11 (1.30%) Cyber Security Posture
15 10 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
15 10 (1.18%) Replication
16 9 (1.06%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 73 (8.63%) Windows
2 65 (7.68%) Linux
3 26 (3.07%) Windows Server
4 9 (1.06%) VMS
5 8 (0.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.71%) Ubuntu
6 6 (0.71%) Unix
7 5 (0.59%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.59%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.35%) SUSE
9 2 (0.24%) Android
10 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (21.04%) Cybersecurity
2 143 (16.90%) Cloud Security
3 136 (16.08%) Zero Trust
4 116 (13.71%) CI/CD
5 115 (13.59%) Security Architecture
6 113 (13.36%) Infrastructure as Code
7 112 (13.24%) Migration
7 112 (13.24%) SIEM
8 109 (12.88%) DevOps
9 93 (10.99%) Continuous Improvement
10 91 (10.76%) High Availability
11 86 (10.17%) Problem-Solving
12 84 (9.93%) Threat Modelling
13 83 (9.81%) Network Segmentation
14 82 (9.69%) Incident Response
15 81 (9.57%) Application Security
16 78 (9.22%) Identity Access Management
17 73 (8.63%) Agile
17 73 (8.63%) Data Protection
17 73 (8.63%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 115 (13.59%) Python
2 63 (7.45%) PowerShell
3 36 (4.26%) Bash
4 28 (3.31%) Bicep
5 21 (2.48%) JavaScript
6 19 (2.25%) SQL
7 10 (1.18%) Kusto Query Language
8 8 (0.95%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.83%) Java
10 4 (0.47%) C
10 4 (0.47%) Go
10 4 (0.47%) PHP
11 3 (0.35%) C++
11 3 (0.35%) Rust
12 2 (0.24%) Perl
12 2 (0.24%) Ruby
13 1 (0.12%) ActionScript
13 1 (0.12%) AppleScript
13 1 (0.12%) VBA
Qualifications
1 252 (29.79%) Security Cleared
2 190 (22.46%) SC Cleared
3 158 (18.68%) Cisco Certification
4 103 (12.17%) CCNP
5 100 (11.82%) CISSP
6 75 (8.87%) DV Cleared
7 61 (7.21%) Degree
8 60 (7.09%) CCNA
9 56 (6.62%) CISM
10 34 (4.02%) CCSP
11 33 (3.90%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 31 (3.66%) Azure Certification
13 20 (2.36%) CCIE
14 18 (2.13%) GIAC
15 17 (2.01%) AWS Certification
16 15 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
17 14 (1.65%) CEH
18 13 (1.54%) JNCIS
19 12 (1.42%) CompTIA Security+
19 12 (1.42%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 89 (10.52%) NIST
2 71 (8.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 39 (4.61%) GDPR
4 26 (3.07%) PCI DSS
5 22 (2.60%) NCSC
6 19 (2.25%) QA
7 16 (1.89%) Cyber Essentials
7 16 (1.89%) GRC
8 13 (1.54%) SLA
9 9 (1.06%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (0.95%) Disclosure Scotland
10 8 (0.95%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 8 (0.95%) SOC 2
11 7 (0.83%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 5 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 4 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 4 (0.47%) NIST 800
13 4 (0.47%) PMO
13 4 (0.47%) RMADS
14 3 (0.35%) ISA99
System Software
1 59 (6.97%) Active Directory
2 55 (6.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (2.96%) VMware NSX
4 21 (2.48%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (2.36%) Docker
6 14 (1.65%) Hyper-V
7 11 (1.30%) VMware ESXi
7 11 (1.30%) vSphere
8 5 (0.59%) Firmware
8 5 (0.59%) Squid
8 5 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.24%) NFS
9 2 (0.24%) Postfix
9 2 (0.24%) Sendmail
9 2 (0.24%) Varnish
9 2 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.12%) KVM
10 1 (0.12%) RHEV
10 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.12%) Xen
Systems Management
1 124 (14.66%) Terraform
2 85 (10.05%) Ansible
3 69 (8.16%) Kubernetes
4 38 (4.49%) FortiGate
5 18 (2.13%) Single Sign-On
6 16 (1.89%) Grafana
7 14 (1.65%) Nagios
8 12 (1.42%) Microsoft Intune
9 11 (1.30%) vCenter Server
10 9 (1.06%) Microsoft Clustering
11 8 (0.95%) Kibana
11 8 (0.95%) Prometheus
12 6 (0.71%) QRadar
13 5 (0.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (0.59%) CASB
13 5 (0.59%) Istio
13 5 (0.59%) Puppet
13 5 (0.59%) Suricata
13 5 (0.59%) WSUS
14 4 (0.47%) Kustomize
Vendors
1 237 (28.01%) Cisco
2 135 (15.96%) Palo Alto
3 117 (13.83%) Microsoft
4 75 (8.87%) F5
5 70 (8.27%) VMware
6 65 (7.68%) Fortinet
7 55 (6.50%) Juniper
8 54 (6.38%) CheckPoint
9 53 (6.26%) Zscaler
10 35 (4.14%) ServiceNow
11 29 (3.43%) Splunk
12 26 (3.07%) SolarWinds
13 22 (2.60%) ForeScout
14 21 (2.48%) Aruba
14 21 (2.48%) Google
15 19 (2.25%) Citrix
16 18 (2.13%) Tenable
17 13 (1.54%) Arista
17 13 (1.54%) Okta
18 12 (1.42%) Meraki