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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 168 138 149
Rank change year-on-year -30 +11 +75
Contract jobs citing Network Security 670 617 713
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.62% 2.01% 1.63%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.81% 15.17% 12.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 438 389 491
10th Percentile £350 £324 £400
25th Percentile £421 £425 £467
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -6.82% -
75th Percentile £600 £623 £647
90th Percentile £700 £675 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £575
% change year-on-year - -13.04% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 11 18
10th Percentile £34.30 £18.50 -
25th Percentile £51.44 £35.50 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.50 £41.00 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.76% +30.16% -26.74%
75th Percentile £81.56 £46.25 £41.25
90th Percentile £93.88 £81.01 £66.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £43.00 £7.43
% change year-on-year +51.16% +478.73% -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 4,239 4,068 5,872
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.23% 13.26% 13.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,761 2,442 3,513
10th Percentile £204 £209 £205
25th Percentile £360 £361 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £481
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +4.06% -7.15%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £467 £467 £475
% change year-on-year - -1.68% +1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 177 131 382
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.44 £14.27
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £19.99
Median hourly rate £34.00 £32.50 £43.12
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% -24.62% +123.39%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £30.04 £50.00
% change year-on-year +39.61% -39.92% +163.16%

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 26 February 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 26 February 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 26 February 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 -33 592 £500 -8.13% 143
UK excluding London -39 329 £500 - 102
London -21 255 £525 -4.55% 54
Work from Home -32 180 £515 +3.00% 76
North of England -36 112 £475 -5.00% 29
South East -17 88 £495 -9.17% 18
North West -8 67 £487 -2.68% 26
Midlands -18 67 £500 -14.02% 24
West Midlands -12 59 £500 -14.02% 22
Yorkshire -43 53 £350 -5.79% 3
South West -34 29 £535 +1.90% 13
East of England -17 25 £475 -20.83% 9
Scotland +9 24 £543 +27.65% 8
East Midlands -32 8 £442 +4.06% 2
North East -12 2 £475 -
Wales -17 2 £600 +106.90% 3
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 (2.84%) Confluence
2 5 (0.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (0.75%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.60%) Apache
4 1 (0.15%) nginx
4 1 (0.15%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (2.69%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.64%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.15%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 197 (29.40%) Azure
2 146 (21.79%) AWS
3 73 (10.90%) GCP
4 44 (6.57%) Entra ID
5 35 (5.22%) GitHub
6 30 (4.48%) GitHub Actions
7 24 (3.58%) Azure DevOps
7 24 (3.58%) Azure Sentinel
8 23 (3.43%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 20 (2.99%) Amazon S3
10 18 (2.69%) Azure Key Vault
11 17 (2.54%) AWS CloudFormation
12 16 (2.39%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 14 (2.09%) Amazon EC2
13 14 (2.09%) Microsoft 365
14 13 (1.94%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 12 (1.79%) Azure Monitor
16 11 (1.64%) AWS Direct Connect
16 11 (1.64%) Google Workspace
16 11 (1.64%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 331 (49.40%) Firewall
2 145 (21.64%) VPN
3 105 (15.67%) WAN
4 88 (13.13%) DNS
5 84 (12.54%) LAN
6 83 (12.39%) BGP
7 67 (10.00%) OSPF
8 63 (9.40%) VLAN
9 60 (8.96%) TCP/IP
10 48 (7.16%) SD-WAN
11 47 (7.01%) Wireless
12 41 (6.12%) SSL
13 35 (5.22%) MPLS
14 33 (4.93%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 32 (4.78%) Cisco ASA
16 30 (4.48%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 29 (4.33%) Internet
18 27 (4.03%) DHCP
19 26 (3.88%) DMZ
20 24 (3.58%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
1 4 (0.60%) Azure SQL Database
1 4 (0.60%) InfluxDB
1 4 (0.60%) Relational Database
2 3 (0.45%) Amazon Athena
2 3 (0.45%) Data Lake
2 3 (0.45%) Power BI
3 2 (0.30%) Oracle Database
3 2 (0.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.15%) Redis
4 1 (0.15%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.15%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (4.18%) Jenkins
2 24 (3.58%) GitLab
3 21 (3.13%) JIRA
4 17 (2.54%) Git
5 6 (0.90%) Snyk
5 6 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.15%) JUnit
6 1 (0.15%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.15%) Postman
6 1 (0.15%) Zephyr
General
1 192 (28.66%) Social Skills
2 89 (13.28%) Finance
3 76 (11.34%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (8.21%) Public Sector
5 35 (5.22%) Banking
6 27 (4.03%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.88%) Telecoms
8 16 (2.39%) Financial Institution
9 11 (1.64%) Investment Banking
10 10 (1.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (1.34%) Legal
12 8 (1.19%) Manufacturing
13 7 (1.04%) Military
13 7 (1.04%) Pharmaceutical
13 7 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
14 6 (0.90%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (0.90%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.60%) Local Government
16 3 (0.45%) Electronics
16 3 (0.45%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 150 (22.39%) Network Engineer
2 144 (21.49%) Architect
3 92 (13.73%) Security Engineer
4 79 (11.79%) Security Architect
5 56 (8.36%) Network Architect
6 51 (7.61%) Senior
7 42 (6.27%) Network Security Engineer
8 30 (4.48%) Network Security Architect
9 28 (4.18%) Analyst
10 20 (2.99%) Cloud Engineer
10 20 (2.99%) Lead
11 19 (2.84%) Administrator
12 18 (2.69%) Cloud Architect
12 18 (2.69%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 18 (2.69%) Security Analyst
13 17 (2.54%) Azure Architect
13 17 (2.54%) Solutions Architect
14 16 (2.39%) Consultant
14 16 (2.39%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 16 (2.39%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.43%) 802.1X
2 14 (2.09%) LDAP
3 11 (1.64%) SAML
4 8 (1.19%) Node.js
5 7 (1.04%) .NET
6 6 (0.90%) ARM Templates
6 6 (0.90%) REST
7 5 (0.75%) .NET Core
7 5 (0.75%) AngularJS
7 5 (0.75%) OAuth
7 5 (0.75%) OAuth2
7 5 (0.75%) OpenID
7 5 (0.75%) PyTorch
7 5 (0.75%) RabbitMQ
7 5 (0.75%) React
7 5 (0.75%) TensorFlow
8 4 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
8 4 (0.60%) HTML
9 3 (0.45%) Lambda Expressions
9 3 (0.45%) Plotly
Miscellaneous
1 90 (13.43%) Data Centre
2 38 (5.67%) Security Posture
3 36 (5.37%) Cloud Native
3 36 (5.37%) Hybrid Cloud
4 29 (4.33%) PKI
5 28 (4.18%) Management Information System
6 21 (3.13%) Onboarding
6 21 (3.13%) Operational Technology
6 21 (3.13%) Public Cloud
7 18 (2.69%) IoT
8 16 (2.39%) Cyber Threat
9 15 (2.24%) Security Operations Centre
10 14 (2.09%) Data Protection Act
10 14 (2.09%) Product Ownership
11 13 (1.94%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (1.79%) Cyber Security Posture
13 10 (1.49%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
14 8 (1.19%) CSOC
14 8 (1.19%) Virtual Team
15 7 (1.04%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 79 (11.79%) Windows
2 64 (9.55%) Linux
3 28 (4.18%) Windows Server
4 10 (1.49%) Unix
5 8 (1.19%) VMS
6 7 (1.04%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 4 (0.60%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.15%) Android
9 1 (0.15%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.15%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 148 (22.09%) Cybersecurity
2 116 (17.31%) Problem-Solving
3 101 (15.07%) CI/CD
4 100 (14.93%) SIEM
4 100 (14.93%) Zero Trust
5 97 (14.48%) Cloud Security
5 97 (14.48%) Infrastructure as Code
6 96 (14.33%) DevOps
7 93 (13.88%) Security Architecture
8 90 (13.43%) Migration
9 86 (12.84%) Incident Response
10 67 (10.00%) Change Management
11 60 (8.96%) Agile
11 60 (8.96%) Continuous Improvement
11 60 (8.96%) Identity Access Management
12 58 (8.66%) Network Segmentation
13 56 (8.36%) Threat Modelling
14 55 (8.21%) Network Architecture
15 49 (7.31%) High Availability
16 48 (7.16%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 113 (16.87%) Python
2 61 (9.10%) PowerShell
3 34 (5.07%) Bash
4 20 (2.99%) Bicep
5 19 (2.84%) JavaScript
5 19 (2.84%) SQL
6 15 (2.24%) Kusto Query Language
7 9 (1.34%) Go
7 9 (1.34%) Java
8 5 (0.75%) C#
8 5 (0.75%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.60%) PHP
10 3 (0.45%) C
10 3 (0.45%) C++
11 2 (0.30%) C-shell
11 2 (0.30%) Korn
12 1 (0.15%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.15%) AppleScript
12 1 (0.15%) Perl
12 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 222 (33.13%) Security Cleared
2 160 (23.88%) SC Cleared
3 125 (18.66%) Cisco Certification
4 98 (14.63%) CCNP
5 87 (12.99%) CISSP
6 70 (10.45%) DV Cleared
7 48 (7.16%) Degree
8 44 (6.57%) CISM
9 40 (5.97%) CCNA
10 31 (4.63%) CCIE
11 27 (4.03%) GIAC
12 22 (3.28%) CEH
13 19 (2.84%) Azure Certification
14 18 (2.69%) CompTIA Security+
15 17 (2.54%) AWS Certification
16 15 (2.24%) CCSP
16 15 (2.24%) Computer Science Degree
17 14 (2.09%) (ISC)2 CCSP
18 13 (1.94%) JNCIS
18 13 (1.94%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (12.39%) NIST
2 75 (11.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 41 (6.12%) GDPR
4 30 (4.48%) PCI DSS
5 22 (3.28%) Cyber Essentials
6 18 (2.69%) NCSC
7 12 (1.79%) GRC
8 9 (1.34%) SOC 2
9 8 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 8 (1.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 8 (1.19%) SLA
10 7 (1.04%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.60%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 4 (0.60%) JSP 440
11 4 (0.60%) PMO
11 4 (0.60%) RMADS
12 2 (0.30%) GxP
12 2 (0.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 2 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 46 (6.87%) VMware Infrastructure
2 36 (5.37%) Active Directory
3 32 (4.78%) Docker
4 20 (2.99%) VMware NSX
5 10 (1.49%) Virtual Machines
6 9 (1.34%) Hyper-V
7 8 (1.19%) vSphere
8 6 (0.90%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.75%) Firmware
10 4 (0.60%) ProxySG
11 3 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.15%) KVM
12 1 (0.15%) RACF
12 1 (0.15%) RHEV
12 1 (0.15%) Xen
12 1 (0.15%) XenApp
12 1 (0.15%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 116 (17.31%) Terraform
2 73 (10.90%) Ansible
3 52 (7.76%) Kubernetes
4 25 (3.73%) FortiGate
5 14 (2.09%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (2.09%) Nagios
6 13 (1.94%) Kibana
7 12 (1.79%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (1.04%) Grafana
8 7 (1.04%) Prometheus
8 7 (1.04%) vCenter Server
9 6 (0.90%) Microsoft Clustering
10 4 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (0.60%) Istio
10 4 (0.60%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.60%) Puppet
10 4 (0.60%) QRadar
11 3 (0.45%) Icinga
11 3 (0.45%) SCCM
11 3 (0.45%) SCOM
Vendors
1 186 (27.76%) Cisco
2 124 (18.51%) Palo Alto
3 104 (15.52%) Microsoft
4 81 (12.09%) F5
5 63 (9.40%) CheckPoint
6 60 (8.96%) Juniper
7 58 (8.66%) VMware
8 50 (7.46%) Fortinet
9 43 (6.42%) Zscaler
10 29 (4.33%) Splunk
11 26 (3.88%) Google
12 19 (2.84%) ServiceNow
12 19 (2.84%) SolarWinds
13 18 (2.69%) Meraki
13 18 (2.69%) Tenable
14 16 (2.39%) Aruba
15 15 (2.24%) Databricks
16 12 (1.79%) Arista
16 12 (1.79%) ForeScout
16 12 (1.79%) Okta