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 23 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 144 170
Rank change year-on-year -16 +26 +24
Contract jobs citing Network Security 780 581 623
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.68% 1.97% 1.42%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.40% 15.42% 10.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 530 355 433
10th Percentile £355 £363 £400
25th Percentile £426 £424 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £575
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -9.57% -
75th Percentile £600 £613 £650
90th Percentile £700 £675 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £490 £575
% change year-on-year +2.04% -14.78% +7.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 12 16
10th Percentile £32.00 £20.70 -
25th Percentile £42.13 £40.50 £7.43
Median hourly rate £65.50 £62.84 £18.25
Median % change year-on-year +4.24% +244.32% -64.99%
75th Percentile £74.07 £81.35 £41.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.03 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.50 £80.68 £7.43
% change year-on-year -18.81% +985.80% -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 4,483 3,767 5,719
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.66% 12.76% 13.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,796 2,331 3,434
10th Percentile £249 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £362 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -0.51% -5.77%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £465 £475
% change year-on-year +2.15% -2.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 216 172 430
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.82
25th Percentile £20.80 £20.83 £17.69
Median hourly rate £42.38 £37.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.00% -6.25% +110.53%
75th Percentile £70.00 £61.31 £62.38
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £27.94 £46.95
% change year-on-year +87.90% -40.48% +153.76%

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 23 April 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 23 April 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 23 April 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 -15 677 £500 -5.66% 195
UK excluding London -6 396 £500 +2.04% 170
London -22 277 £525 -4.55% 72
Work from Home +11 217 £525 +5.00% 82
North of England 0 135 £481 -3.88% 47
South East -17 109 £500 +2.04% 55
North West +5 83 £489 -2.20% 30
Midlands -18 70 £500 -9.09% 17
Yorkshire -21 53 £425 +6.25% 10
West Midlands -32 51 £500 -4.76% 11
East of England -18 35 £525 -6.67% 16
South West -33 29 £545 -0.91% 12
Scotland +5 27 £509 +19.71% 9
East Midlands -19 18 £638 -1.92% 6
Wales -15 4 £600 +106.90% 7
North East -17 3 £550 -12.00% 7
Northern Ireland - 1 £500 - 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 18 (2.31%) Confluence
2 11 (1.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (0.77%) Apache
4 4 (0.51%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.13%) nginx
5 1 (0.13%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 22 (2.82%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.41%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.64%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 242 (31.03%) Azure
2 167 (21.41%) AWS
3 93 (11.92%) GCP
4 59 (7.56%) Entra ID
5 34 (4.36%) GitHub
6 29 (3.72%) Azure Sentinel
6 29 (3.72%) GitHub Actions
7 27 (3.46%) Azure DevOps
8 21 (2.69%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 19 (2.44%) Azure Key Vault
10 18 (2.31%) AWS CloudFormation
10 18 (2.31%) Azure AKS
11 17 (2.18%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 16 (2.05%) Azure Monitor
13 15 (1.92%) Microsoft 365
14 14 (1.79%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 13 (1.67%) Akamai
15 13 (1.67%) AWS Direct Connect
15 13 (1.67%) Serverless
16 12 (1.54%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 368 (47.18%) Firewall
2 151 (19.36%) VPN
3 133 (17.05%) WAN
4 106 (13.59%) LAN
5 102 (13.08%) BGP
6 87 (11.15%) OSPF
7 86 (11.03%) DNS
8 76 (9.74%) SD-WAN
9 75 (9.62%) VLAN
10 58 (7.44%) TCP/IP
11 50 (6.41%) Wireless
12 45 (5.77%) MPLS
13 42 (5.38%) DHCP
14 38 (4.87%) Wi-Fi
15 36 (4.62%) Cisco ASA
16 34 (4.36%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 34 (4.36%) Internet
17 31 (3.97%) Cisco ISE
18 30 (3.85%) IPsec
19 28 (3.59%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.03%) Azure SQL Database
2 6 (0.77%) Amazon RDS
3 5 (0.64%) InfluxDB
3 5 (0.64%) Relational Database
3 5 (0.64%) SQL Server
4 3 (0.38%) Amazon Athena
4 3 (0.38%) Data Lake
4 3 (0.38%) Power BI
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 32 (4.10%) JIRA
2 23 (2.95%) Jenkins
3 16 (2.05%) GitLab
4 10 (1.28%) Git
5 8 (1.03%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (0.90%) Snyk
7 5 (0.64%) Browser DevTools
8 2 (0.26%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.13%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.13%) JUnit
9 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.13%) Zephyr
General
1 187 (23.97%) Social Skills
2 110 (14.10%) Finance
3 81 (10.38%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (8.08%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.74%) Banking
6 33 (4.23%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.46%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.56%) Financial Institution
9 10 (1.28%) Legal
10 8 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.03%) Manufacturing
11 7 (0.90%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (0.64%) Local Government
13 4 (0.51%) Electronics
13 4 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (0.51%) Military
14 3 (0.38%) Law
14 3 (0.38%) Pharmaceutical
14 3 (0.38%) Police
14 3 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 186 (23.85%) Network Engineer
2 174 (22.31%) Architect
3 95 (12.18%) Security Engineer
4 88 (11.28%) Security Architect
5 65 (8.33%) Senior
6 60 (7.69%) Network Architect
7 46 (5.90%) Network Security Engineer
8 27 (3.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 27 (3.46%) Lead
9 25 (3.21%) Analyst
9 25 (3.21%) Consultant
9 25 (3.21%) Network Security Architect
10 21 (2.69%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 19 (2.44%) Azure Architect
11 19 (2.44%) Project Manager
11 19 (2.44%) Senior Network Engineer
12 18 (2.31%) Cloud Architect
12 18 (2.31%) Cloud Engineer
12 18 (2.31%) Solutions Architect
13 17 (2.18%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (2.95%) 802.1X
2 13 (1.67%) LDAP
3 10 (1.28%) SAML
4 8 (1.03%) Node.js
5 6 (0.77%) .NET
5 6 (0.77%) REST
6 5 (0.64%) .NET Core
6 5 (0.64%) AngularJS
6 5 (0.64%) OAuth
6 5 (0.64%) PyTorch
6 5 (0.64%) RabbitMQ
6 5 (0.64%) React
6 5 (0.64%) TensorFlow
7 4 (0.51%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.51%) AWS CDK
7 4 (0.51%) HTML
7 4 (0.51%) OpenID
8 3 (0.38%) CSS
8 3 (0.38%) Plotly
8 3 (0.38%) SLSA
Miscellaneous
1 111 (14.23%) Data Centre
2 44 (5.64%) Cloud Native
3 43 (5.51%) Security Posture
4 39 (5.00%) Hybrid Cloud
5 30 (3.85%) Onboarding
6 26 (3.33%) IoT
6 26 (3.33%) Public Cloud
7 25 (3.21%) Management Information System
8 22 (2.82%) Operational Technology
8 22 (2.82%) PKI
9 21 (2.69%) Data Protection Act
10 19 (2.44%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 19 (2.44%) Product Ownership
11 18 (2.31%) Cyber Threat
12 15 (1.92%) Analytical Mindset
13 14 (1.79%) Virtual Team
14 13 (1.67%) Security Operations Centre
15 12 (1.54%) Cyber Security Posture
16 9 (1.15%) Clustering
17 8 (1.03%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 82 (10.51%) Windows
2 68 (8.72%) Linux
3 31 (3.97%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.67%) Unix
5 10 (1.28%) VMS
6 8 (1.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 7 (0.90%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.77%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.64%) Windows 10
10 3 (0.38%) SUSE
11 1 (0.13%) Android
11 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 169 (21.67%) Cybersecurity
2 126 (16.15%) Cloud Security
3 114 (14.62%) Security Architecture
3 114 (14.62%) Zero Trust
4 112 (14.36%) Problem-Solving
5 104 (13.33%) Migration
6 101 (12.95%) CI/CD
7 98 (12.56%) Infrastructure as Code
8 96 (12.31%) SIEM
9 95 (12.18%) DevOps
10 78 (10.00%) Continuous Improvement
11 77 (9.87%) Threat Modelling
12 72 (9.23%) High Availability
12 72 (9.23%) Network Segmentation
13 71 (9.10%) Incident Response
14 69 (8.85%) Change Management
15 68 (8.72%) Stakeholder Management
16 66 (8.46%) Agile
17 65 (8.33%) Identity Access Management
18 63 (8.08%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 111 (14.23%) Python
2 65 (8.33%) PowerShell
3 29 (3.72%) Bash
4 26 (3.33%) Bicep
5 25 (3.21%) JavaScript
5 25 (3.21%) SQL
6 15 (1.92%) Kusto Query Language
7 9 (1.15%) Go
8 8 (1.03%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.90%) Java
10 5 (0.64%) C#
11 4 (0.51%) C
11 4 (0.51%) PHP
12 3 (0.38%) C++
13 2 (0.26%) C-shell
13 2 (0.26%) Korn
13 2 (0.26%) Ruby
14 1 (0.13%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.13%) AppleScript
14 1 (0.13%) Perl
Qualifications
1 235 (30.13%) Security Cleared
2 175 (22.44%) SC Cleared
3 139 (17.82%) Cisco Certification
4 101 (12.95%) CCNP
5 94 (12.05%) CISSP
6 71 (9.10%) DV Cleared
7 52 (6.67%) CCNA
8 51 (6.54%) CISM
9 50 (6.41%) Degree
10 33 (4.23%) Azure Certification
11 28 (3.59%) CCIE
12 24 (3.08%) CCSP
12 24 (3.08%) GIAC
13 23 (2.95%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 21 (2.69%) CEH
15 19 (2.44%) AWS Certification
16 15 (1.92%) CompTIA Security+
17 12 (1.54%) BPSS Clearance
17 12 (1.54%) TOGAF Certification
18 10 (1.28%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 85 (10.90%) NIST
2 72 (9.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 44 (5.64%) GDPR
4 28 (3.59%) PCI DSS
5 21 (2.69%) NCSC
6 15 (1.92%) GRC
7 14 (1.79%) Cyber Essentials
7 14 (1.79%) SLA
8 10 (1.28%) QA
9 9 (1.15%) SOC 2
10 8 (1.03%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (1.03%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 8 (1.03%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 6 (0.77%) PMO
12 5 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.64%) Disclosure Scotland
12 5 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 4 (0.51%) RMADS
14 3 (0.38%) ISA99
14 3 (0.38%) JSP 440
System Software
1 54 (6.92%) VMware Infrastructure
2 49 (6.28%) Active Directory
3 22 (2.82%) VMware NSX
4 20 (2.56%) Docker
5 13 (1.67%) Hyper-V
5 13 (1.67%) Virtual Machines
6 12 (1.54%) vSphere
7 10 (1.28%) VMware ESXi
8 7 (0.90%) Firmware
9 5 (0.64%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.26%) NFS
10 2 (0.26%) Postfix
10 2 (0.26%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.26%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.26%) Varnish
11 1 (0.13%) KVM
11 1 (0.13%) Squid
11 1 (0.13%) Xen
11 1 (0.13%) XenApp
11 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 118 (15.13%) Terraform
2 76 (9.74%) Ansible
3 61 (7.82%) Kubernetes
4 31 (3.97%) FortiGate
5 15 (1.92%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (1.79%) Nagios
7 12 (1.54%) Kibana
7 12 (1.54%) Microsoft Intune
8 11 (1.41%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.15%) Microsoft Clustering
10 7 (0.90%) Grafana
11 6 (0.77%) Prometheus
12 5 (0.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.64%) Istio
12 5 (0.64%) Progress Chef
12 5 (0.64%) WSUS
13 4 (0.51%) CASB
13 4 (0.51%) Puppet
14 3 (0.38%) Docker Swarm
14 3 (0.38%) VxRail
Vendors
1 215 (27.56%) Cisco
2 121 (15.51%) Microsoft
3 119 (15.26%) Palo Alto
4 76 (9.74%) F5
5 69 (8.85%) VMware
6 59 (7.56%) Fortinet
7 58 (7.44%) Juniper
8 52 (6.67%) CheckPoint
9 43 (5.51%) Zscaler
10 30 (3.85%) ServiceNow
11 26 (3.33%) Splunk
12 25 (3.21%) Google
13 19 (2.44%) Aruba
13 19 (2.44%) SolarWinds
14 18 (2.31%) ForeScout
15 16 (2.05%) Meraki
15 16 (2.05%) Tenable
16 15 (1.92%) Citrix
16 15 (1.92%) Okta
17 12 (1.54%) SAP