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 7 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 186 159 158
Rank change year-on-year -27 -1 +73
Contract jobs citing Network Security 569 594 795
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.63% 1.62% 1.70%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.37% 13.45% 12.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 349 384 521
10th Percentile £358 £361 £400
25th Percentile £413 £435 £473
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -4.55% +3.77%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £638
90th Percentile £713 £725 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +4.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 8 6
10th Percentile £45.00 £35.70 £40.50
25th Percentile £52.50 £40.88 £64.06
Median hourly rate £70.16 £47.50 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year +47.71% -34.48% +61.11%
75th Percentile £87.19 £58.75 £76.25
90th Percentile £97.50 £76.78 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £68.33 £57.50 £72.50
% change year-on-year +18.83% -20.69% +61.11%

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 3,961 4,417 6,542
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.33% 12.03% 14.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,569 2,545 4,073
10th Percentile £207 £222 £213
25th Percentile £360 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £681 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 160 343
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.99 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.00 £26.25 £22.50
Median hourly rate £34.00 £47.50 £53.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.42% -10.38% +29.17%
75th Percentile £65.00 £67.14 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.01
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £51.25 £56.49
% change year-on-year -17.07% -9.28% +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 7 November 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 7 November 2025.

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 7 November 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 -21 501 £510 -5.12% 537
UK excluding London -23 294 £500 -4.76% 449
London -1 215 £538 +1.27% 201
Work from Home -21 153 £525 +5.00% 260
North of England -15 101 £485 -3.72% 55
Midlands -14 67 £500 -9.09% 46
North West -8 63 £525 -4.55% 29
West Midlands -8 63 £500 -21.26% 29
South East -22 59 £438 -20.45% 230
Yorkshire -15 51 £485 -3.00% 16
South West +8 30 £620 +6.35% 47
East of England -8 22 £488 +77.27% 36
Scotland +13 18 £475 +18.75% 23
Wales -1 5 £500 +115.05% 12
East Midlands -30 4 - - 14
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 4
Channel Islands - 2 £725 - 7
North East -11 1 £550 -32.52% 10

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 5 (0.88%) Confluence
2 4 (0.70%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.53%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.18%) IIS
4 1 (0.18%) nginx
4 1 (0.18%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 11 (1.93%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.70%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.35%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.18%) Windchill
Cloud Services
1 149 (26.19%) Azure
2 123 (21.62%) AWS
3 43 (7.56%) GCP
4 30 (5.27%) Microsoft 365
5 26 (4.57%) Entra ID
6 22 (3.87%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 21 (3.69%) Azure DevOps
8 20 (3.51%) Amazon S3
9 18 (3.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 17 (2.99%) Azure Sentinel
11 16 (2.81%) Amazon EC2
11 16 (2.81%) Amazon ELB
11 16 (2.81%) Azure Key Vault
11 16 (2.81%) GitHub
12 14 (2.46%) GitHub Actions
13 12 (2.11%) Azure Monitor
14 11 (1.93%) Azure Logic Apps
14 11 (1.93%) IaaS
15 9 (1.58%) AWS CloudFormation
15 9 (1.58%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 279 (49.03%) Firewall
2 115 (20.21%) VPN
3 103 (18.10%) DNS
4 90 (15.82%) WAN
5 66 (11.60%) BGP
6 62 (10.90%) SSL
7 60 (10.54%) TCP/IP
8 55 (9.67%) SD-WAN
9 51 (8.96%) LAN
10 49 (8.61%) OSPF
11 43 (7.56%) VLAN
11 43 (7.56%) Wireless
12 38 (6.68%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 31 (5.45%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 30 (5.27%) Intrusion Detection
15 27 (4.75%) Cisco ISE
15 27 (4.75%) DMZ
16 25 (4.39%) DHCP
17 23 (4.04%) Internet
17 23 (4.04%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.53%) Amazon Athena
2 2 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
2 2 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.35%) DynamoDB
2 2 (0.35%) GIS
2 2 (0.35%) Power BI
3 1 (0.18%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.18%) MySQL
3 1 (0.18%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.18%) Redis
3 1 (0.18%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 25 (4.39%) Jenkins
2 24 (4.22%) GitLab
3 22 (3.87%) Git
4 11 (1.93%) JIRA
5 3 (0.53%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.18%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.18%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.18%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.18%) Subversion
General
1 175 (30.76%) Social Skills
2 82 (14.41%) Analytical Skills
3 51 (8.96%) Finance
4 43 (7.56%) Public Sector
5 33 (5.80%) Banking
6 23 (4.04%) Telecoms
7 21 (3.69%) Documentation Skills
8 15 (2.64%) Investment Banking
9 14 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 10 (1.76%) Law
11 9 (1.58%) Legal
11 9 (1.58%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (1.23%) Military
13 6 (1.05%) Manufacturing
13 6 (1.05%) Presentation Skills
14 4 (0.70%) Aerospace
14 4 (0.70%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.70%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.53%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 122 (21.44%) Network Engineer
2 106 (18.63%) Security Engineer
3 101 (17.75%) Architect
4 59 (10.37%) Network Security Engineer
5 57 (10.02%) Security Architect
6 53 (9.31%) Senior
7 38 (6.68%) Network Architect
8 37 (6.50%) Analyst
9 35 (6.15%) Consultant
10 23 (4.04%) Lead
11 19 (3.34%) Administrator
11 19 (3.34%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 19 (3.34%) SOC Analyst
12 18 (3.16%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 18 (3.16%) Network Security Architect
13 16 (2.81%) Azure Engineer
13 16 (2.81%) Security Consultant
14 15 (2.64%) Security Analyst
15 14 (2.46%) Systems Administrator
15 14 (2.46%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (2.81%) 802.1X
2 13 (2.28%) LDAP
3 11 (1.93%) ARM Templates
4 7 (1.23%) YAML
5 6 (1.05%) ADO
5 6 (1.05%) SAML
6 5 (0.88%) .NET
7 4 (0.70%) Elastic Stack
8 3 (0.53%) Lambda Expressions
8 3 (0.53%) Plotly
8 3 (0.53%) SailPoint
9 2 (0.35%) .NET Core
9 2 (0.35%) AngularJS
9 2 (0.35%) Node.js
9 2 (0.35%) OAuth
9 2 (0.35%) OAuth2
9 2 (0.35%) OpenID
9 2 (0.35%) PyTorch
9 2 (0.35%) React
9 2 (0.35%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 44 (7.73%) Security Posture
2 43 (7.56%) Management Information System
3 38 (6.68%) Data Centre
4 31 (5.45%) Hybrid Cloud
5 22 (3.87%) Security Operations Centre
6 20 (3.51%) Cloud Native
6 20 (3.51%) PKI
7 17 (2.99%) Operational Technology
8 16 (2.81%) Cyber Threat
8 16 (2.81%) Onboarding
9 15 (2.64%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (2.11%) Cloud Security Posture
11 11 (1.93%) Data Protection Act
11 11 (1.93%) Public Cloud
12 10 (1.76%) CSOC
12 10 (1.76%) Cyberattack
12 10 (1.76%) Virtual Team
13 9 (1.58%) Cyber Security Posture
13 9 (1.58%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 9 (1.58%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 82 (14.41%) Windows
2 62 (10.90%) Linux
3 22 (3.87%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.41%) Unix
5 5 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.70%) VMS
7 3 (0.53%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.35%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.18%) CentOS
9 1 (0.18%) Check Point GAiA
9 1 (0.18%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.18%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (24.08%) Cybersecurity
2 112 (19.68%) SIEM
3 106 (18.63%) Problem-Solving
4 105 (18.45%) Incident Response
5 90 (15.82%) Cloud Security
6 72 (12.65%) Infrastructure as Code
7 70 (12.30%) DevOps
8 66 (11.60%) CI/CD
9 60 (10.54%) Identity Access Management
10 58 (10.19%) Vulnerability Management
11 52 (9.14%) Change Management
11 52 (9.14%) Security Architecture
11 52 (9.14%) Zero Trust
12 51 (8.96%) Security Operations
13 50 (8.79%) Network Architecture
13 50 (8.79%) Threat Modelling
14 49 (8.61%) Migration
15 48 (8.44%) Infrastructure Automation
16 47 (8.26%) Agile
16 47 (8.26%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 109 (19.16%) Python
2 69 (12.13%) PowerShell
3 40 (7.03%) Bash
4 19 (3.34%) Bicep
5 11 (1.93%) Kusto Query Language
6 9 (1.58%) SQL
7 6 (1.05%) JavaScript
7 6 (1.05%) Perl
8 3 (0.53%) Java
9 2 (0.35%) C
9 2 (0.35%) C#
9 2 (0.35%) C++
9 2 (0.35%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.18%) Rust
10 1 (0.18%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 154 (27.07%) Security Cleared
2 109 (19.16%) SC Cleared
3 99 (17.40%) Cisco Certification
4 80 (14.06%) CISSP
5 74 (13.01%) CCNP
6 52 (9.14%) Degree
7 49 (8.61%) CISM
8 42 (7.38%) DV Cleared
9 32 (5.62%) CCIE
10 25 (4.39%) GIAC
11 22 (3.87%) CEH
11 22 (3.87%) Computer Science Degree
12 17 (2.99%) CCNA
13 16 (2.81%) Azure Certification
14 15 (2.64%) CCSA
14 15 (2.64%) CompTIA Security+
15 14 (2.46%) AWS Certification
16 13 (2.28%) CCSP
17 12 (2.11%) (ISC)2 CCSP
18 10 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 81 (14.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 74 (13.01%) NIST
3 49 (8.61%) GDPR
4 34 (5.98%) PCI DSS
5 18 (3.16%) NCSC
6 16 (2.81%) HIPAA
7 12 (2.11%) GRC
8 11 (1.93%) SOC 2
9 10 (1.76%) Cyber Essentials
10 7 (1.23%) SLA
11 5 (0.88%) PSD2
11 5 (0.88%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.70%) QA
13 3 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
13 3 (0.53%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 3 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.53%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.35%) GxP
14 2 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 2 (0.35%) JSP 440
System Software
1 39 (6.85%) Docker
2 38 (6.68%) Active Directory
3 33 (5.80%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.58%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (1.41%) Firmware
6 6 (1.05%) VMware NSX
7 4 (0.70%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.53%) ProxySG
8 3 (0.53%) Virtual Servers
8 3 (0.53%) vSphere
9 1 (0.18%) KVM
9 1 (0.18%) RACF
Systems Management
1 68 (11.95%) Terraform
2 51 (8.96%) Ansible
3 30 (5.27%) Kubernetes
4 20 (3.51%) FortiGate
5 14 (2.46%) QRadar
6 7 (1.23%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (1.05%) CASB
7 6 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.88%) Grafana
8 5 (0.88%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.88%) SCCM
9 4 (0.70%) CA Spectrum
9 4 (0.70%) Kibana
9 4 (0.70%) Nessus
9 4 (0.70%) OpenView
10 3 (0.53%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.53%) Puppet
11 2 (0.35%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.35%) Kustomize
12 1 (0.18%) VxRail
Vendors
1 147 (25.83%) Cisco
2 103 (18.10%) Palo Alto
3 97 (17.05%) F5
3 97 (17.05%) Microsoft
4 61 (10.72%) CheckPoint
5 52 (9.14%) Zscaler
6 51 (8.96%) Fortinet
7 45 (7.91%) VMware
8 40 (7.03%) Juniper
9 39 (6.85%) Splunk
10 27 (4.75%) CrowdStrike
10 27 (4.75%) SolarWinds
11 25 (4.39%) Meraki
12 20 (3.51%) Google
13 13 (2.28%) Qualys
13 13 (2.28%) ServiceNow
13 13 (2.28%) Tenable
14 12 (2.11%) Blue Coat
15 11 (1.93%) ArcSight
15 11 (1.93%) Forcepoint