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

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 180 174 165
Rank change year-on-year -6 -9 -7
Contract jobs citing Network Security 873 554 583
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.59% 1.67% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.21% 14.59% 12.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 568 331 376
10th Percentile £400 £380 £359
25th Percentile £463 £450 £439
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £533 £535
Median % change year-on-year +3.29% -0.47% -2.73%
75th Percentile £650 £634 £634
90th Percentile £732 £738 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £545 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +9.00% -4.76% -1.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 16 9
10th Percentile £26.80 £45.00 £31.70
25th Percentile £67.50 £52.50 £36.00
Median hourly rate £73.00 £70.16 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.05% +55.91% -37.93%
75th Percentile £74.00 £85.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £97.50 £70.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.00 £70.16 £53.75
% change year-on-year +4.05% +30.53% -25.86%

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 5,073 3,796 4,532
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.25% 11.45% 11.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,929 2,382 2,616
10th Percentile £234 £220 £225
25th Percentile £390 £362 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £607
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £453 £485
% change year-on-year +4.86% -6.60% +6.49%
Number of hourly rates quoted 429 206 202
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.94 £23.80
Median hourly rate £33.00 £41.72 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.90% -16.56% -11.49%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.63 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.19 £74.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.36 £42.22 £57.35
% change year-on-year -35.20% -26.38% -0.26%

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 3 October 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 3 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Security in the UK

Network Security
Top 18 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 3 October 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 -6 770 £550 +3.29% 708
UK excluding London -15 445 £545 +9.00% 412
London +3 332 £550 - 323
Work from Home +2 256 £540 -1.82% 299
North of England +12 205 £540 +10.32% 93
North West -10 109 £540 +13.68% 51
Yorkshire +18 91 £540 +8.87% 33
South East -33 91 £558 +24.00% 134
Midlands -63 52 £475 -9.52% 68
East of England -4 40 £525 +5.00% 39
West Midlands -62 40 £450 -14.29% 39
South West -41 28 £675 +5.47% 49
Scotland -17 27 £600 +33.33% 21
East Midlands -9 12 £500 - 29
Channel Islands 0 6 £600 -17.24%
North East - 4 £680 - 10
Northern Ireland +5 2 - - 9
Wales -15 1 £650 +30.00% 4

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 (2.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 18 (2.06%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.26%) Confluence
4 4 (0.46%) Apache
4 4 (0.46%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.23%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.23%) IIS
5 2 (0.23%) nginx
6 1 (0.11%) CMS
6 1 (0.11%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 17 (1.95%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.80%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.11%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 6 (0.69%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.11%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 294 (33.68%) Azure
2 207 (23.71%) AWS
3 106 (12.14%) GCP
4 98 (11.23%) Entra ID
5 51 (5.84%) Microsoft 365
6 46 (5.27%) GitHub
7 40 (4.58%) Azure DevOps
8 33 (3.78%) Azure Monitor
9 31 (3.55%) Serverless
10 25 (2.86%) SaaS
11 24 (2.75%) Azure Sentinel
12 21 (2.41%) GitHub Actions
13 19 (2.18%) Azure AKS
14 18 (2.06%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 18 (2.06%) Amazon EKS
14 18 (2.06%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 18 (2.06%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 18 (2.06%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 17 (1.95%) OCI
16 16 (1.83%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 399 (45.70%) Firewall
2 203 (23.25%) VPN
3 193 (22.11%) WAN
4 139 (15.92%) DNS
5 135 (15.46%) LAN
6 103 (11.80%) Wireless
7 96 (11.00%) BGP
8 93 (10.65%) TCP/IP
9 80 (9.16%) SD-WAN
10 73 (8.36%) DHCP
11 66 (7.56%) OSPF
12 64 (7.33%) VLAN
13 59 (6.76%) SSL
14 52 (5.96%) MPLS
15 43 (4.93%) Wi-Fi
16 42 (4.81%) Cisco ISE
16 42 (4.81%) IPsec
17 39 (4.47%) Cisco ASA
18 38 (4.35%) Internet
19 32 (3.67%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.37%) SQL Server
2 9 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
3 7 (0.80%) BigQuery
4 5 (0.57%) Delta Lake
4 5 (0.57%) Elasticsearch
5 4 (0.46%) Neo4j
5 4 (0.46%) Power BI
6 3 (0.34%) Azure SQL Database
6 3 (0.34%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.34%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.23%) InfluxDB
7 2 (0.23%) Looker
7 2 (0.23%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon Aurora
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.11%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.11%) Qlik Sense
8 1 (0.11%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 40 (4.58%) Git
2 32 (3.67%) GitLab
2 32 (3.67%) Jenkins
3 29 (3.32%) JIRA
4 7 (0.80%) Sonatype Nexus
5 4 (0.46%) MSBuild
5 4 (0.46%) SonarQube
5 4 (0.46%) Visual Studio
6 3 (0.34%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.34%) Browser DevTools
6 3 (0.34%) Claude Code
7 2 (0.23%) IBM UrbanCode
8 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.11%) Postman
8 1 (0.11%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.11%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.11%) Subversion
General
1 245 (28.06%) Social Skills
2 162 (18.56%) Finance
3 93 (10.65%) Analytical Skills
4 67 (7.67%) Banking
5 44 (5.04%) Public Sector
6 43 (4.93%) Documentation Skills
7 30 (3.44%) Legal
7 30 (3.44%) Telecoms
8 18 (2.06%) Financial Institution
9 16 (1.83%) Influencing Skills
10 14 (1.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 14 (1.60%) Retail
11 13 (1.49%) Manufacturing
11 13 (1.49%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.37%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (0.92%) Local Government
14 6 (0.69%) Automotive
14 6 (0.69%) Law
14 6 (0.69%) Military
14 6 (0.69%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 247 (28.29%) Network Engineer
2 149 (17.07%) Architect
3 119 (13.63%) Security Engineer
4 105 (12.03%) Senior
5 81 (9.28%) Security Architect
6 72 (8.25%) Network Security Engineer
7 66 (7.56%) Consultant
8 59 (6.76%) Network Architect
9 49 (5.61%) Senior Network Engineer
10 45 (5.15%) Cloud Engineer
10 45 (5.15%) Project Manager
11 43 (4.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 36 (4.12%) Security Consultant
13 33 (3.78%) Lead
14 30 (3.44%) Network Security Architect
15 29 (3.32%) Analyst
16 27 (3.09%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 24 (2.75%) Azure Engineer
17 24 (2.75%) Network Manager
18 22 (2.52%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 146 (16.72%) Terraform
2 37 (4.24%) 802.1X
3 24 (2.75%) REST
4 15 (1.72%) ARM Templates
4 15 (1.72%) SAML
5 14 (1.60%) Kafka
6 8 (0.92%) JSON
6 8 (0.92%) NETCONF
7 6 (0.69%) gRPC
7 6 (0.69%) Keycloak
7 6 (0.69%) LDAP
8 5 (0.57%) Azure Blueprints
8 5 (0.57%) OpenID
8 5 (0.57%) SLSA
8 5 (0.57%) Software Packaging
8 5 (0.57%) XML
8 5 (0.57%) YAML
9 4 (0.46%) CSS
9 4 (0.46%) OAuth
9 4 (0.46%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 120 (13.75%) Data Centre
2 84 (9.62%) Security Posture
3 56 (6.41%) Onboarding
4 50 (5.73%) Cloud Native
5 42 (4.81%) Hybrid Cloud
6 40 (4.58%) Management Information System
7 36 (4.12%) Operational Technology
8 35 (4.01%) Cyber Threat
9 27 (3.09%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 27 (3.09%) PKI
10 26 (2.98%) Self-Motivation
11 23 (2.63%) Security Operations Centre
12 22 (2.52%) Public Cloud
13 19 (2.18%) Cloud Security Posture
13 19 (2.18%) Data Protection Act
14 15 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.26%) Linux Command Line
15 11 (1.26%) Replication
16 9 (1.03%) SCADA
16 9 (1.03%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 105 (12.03%) Windows
2 88 (10.08%) Linux
3 44 (5.04%) Windows Server
4 19 (2.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (1.37%) Unix
6 8 (0.92%) Windows 10
7 7 (0.80%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.57%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.34%) Check Point GAiA
10 2 (0.23%) Android
10 2 (0.23%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.23%) Rocky
10 2 (0.23%) SUSE
10 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.23%) zOS
11 1 (0.11%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 185 (21.19%) Cybersecurity
2 175 (20.05%) Cloud Security
3 155 (17.75%) Stakeholder Management
4 143 (16.38%) CI/CD
5 137 (15.69%) Zero Trust
6 133 (15.23%) Infrastructure as Code
7 127 (14.55%) Continuous Improvement
8 125 (14.32%) Incident Response
9 124 (14.20%) Problem-Solving
10 120 (13.75%) SIEM
11 118 (13.52%) Migration
12 114 (13.06%) DevOps
13 108 (12.37%) Change Management
14 106 (12.14%) Security Architecture
15 97 (11.11%) Identity Access Management
16 95 (10.88%) Data Protection
17 93 (10.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 88 (10.08%) Agile
19 87 (9.97%) Load Balancing
19 87 (9.97%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 168 (19.24%) Python
2 91 (10.42%) PowerShell
3 76 (8.71%) Bash
4 34 (3.89%) Bicep
5 29 (3.32%) SQL
6 15 (1.72%) Go
7 14 (1.60%) Java
8 7 (0.80%) ActionScript
8 7 (0.80%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.80%) Search Processing Language
8 7 (0.80%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.46%) Rust
10 3 (0.34%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.34%) Perl
10 3 (0.34%) VBScript
11 1 (0.11%) C
11 1 (0.11%) C#
11 1 (0.11%) C++
11 1 (0.11%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 244 (27.95%) Security Cleared
2 174 (19.93%) Cisco Certification
3 172 (19.70%) SC Cleared
4 107 (12.26%) CISSP
5 98 (11.23%) CCNP
6 78 (8.93%) DV Cleared
7 65 (7.45%) Degree
8 51 (5.84%) CCSP
9 48 (5.50%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 48 (5.50%) CCNA
10 43 (4.93%) CISM
11 37 (4.24%) CCIE
12 30 (3.44%) Azure Certification
13 25 (2.86%) AWS Certification
14 18 (2.06%) Computer Science Degree
15 12 (1.37%) GIAC
15 12 (1.37%) PMI Certification
15 12 (1.37%) PMP
16 11 (1.26%) JNCIP
17 10 (1.15%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 76 (8.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 72 (8.25%) NIST
3 35 (4.01%) GDPR
4 31 (3.55%) NCSC
5 28 (3.21%) PCI DSS
6 15 (1.72%) Cyber Essentials
7 14 (1.60%) GRC
8 12 (1.37%) NIST 800
8 12 (1.37%) QA
9 10 (1.15%) SLA
10 9 (1.03%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 7 (0.80%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 6 (0.69%) Disclosure Scotland
13 5 (0.57%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 5 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 4 (0.46%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 4 (0.46%) Data Quality
14 4 (0.46%) PMO
15 3 (0.34%) SOC 2
16 2 (0.23%) P3O
System Software
1 92 (10.54%) Active Directory
2 59 (6.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (4.24%) Docker
4 17 (1.95%) Virtual Machines
4 17 (1.95%) VMware NSX
5 12 (1.37%) Hyper-V
5 12 (1.37%) vSphere
6 8 (0.92%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (0.69%) Virtual Servers
8 5 (0.57%) Squid
9 4 (0.46%) FreeRADIUS
10 2 (0.23%) Firmware
10 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 2 (0.23%) OpenSSH
10 2 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.11%) NFS
11 1 (0.11%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.11%) Samba
Systems Management
1 102 (11.68%) Ansible
2 82 (9.39%) Kubernetes
3 47 (5.38%) FortiGate
4 30 (3.44%) Grafana
5 27 (3.09%) Microsoft Intune
6 22 (2.52%) Prometheus
7 18 (2.06%) Progress Chef
8 15 (1.72%) SCCM
9 13 (1.49%) Single Sign-On
10 10 (1.15%) CASB
11 9 (1.03%) QRadar
12 8 (0.92%) Nagios
13 7 (0.80%) Cisco CUCM
13 7 (0.80%) Puppet
14 5 (0.57%) Suricata
15 4 (0.46%) Cisco Prime
15 4 (0.46%) Podman
15 4 (0.46%) systemd
15 4 (0.46%) VxRail
15 4 (0.46%) WSUS
Vendors
1 266 (30.47%) Cisco
2 176 (20.16%) Palo Alto
3 170 (19.47%) Microsoft
4 100 (11.45%) Fortinet
5 82 (9.39%) F5
6 77 (8.82%) VMware
7 69 (7.90%) Zscaler
8 58 (6.64%) CheckPoint
9 46 (5.27%) Juniper
10 42 (4.81%) SolarWinds
11 40 (4.58%) Splunk
12 34 (3.89%) Google
13 33 (3.78%) Aruba
14 25 (2.86%) ServiceNow
15 19 (2.18%) Citrix
16 18 (2.06%) Meraki
17 14 (1.60%) Blue Coat
18 13 (1.49%) CyberArk
18 13 (1.49%) Tenable
19 12 (1.37%) AlgoSec