TCP/IP Contract Job Trends

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring TCP/IP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 286 220 304
Rank change year-on-year -66 +84 -58
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 428 354 328
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.86% 1.21% 0.76%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 8.91% 9.64% 6.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 239 241 223
10th Percentile £206 £225 £188
25th Percentile £363 £358 £319
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - +2.56%
75th Percentile £550 £623 £575
90th Percentile £638 £775 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £453 £488
% change year-on-year -0.55% -7.18% +8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 11 22
10th Percentile £21.25 £17.79 £16.25
25th Percentile £26.35 £36.88 £20.81
Median hourly rate £35.22 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.65% -3.85% +18.02%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.22 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -45.82% - +10.35%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

TCP/IP 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 4,801 3,672 5,408
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.66% 12.54% 12.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,942 2,266 3,205
10th Percentile £263 £216 £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 £466 £485
% change year-on-year +2.04% -3.92% +2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 283 165 420
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £27.88 £41.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.82% +3.75% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.13 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.61 £70.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £31.08 £47.50
% change year-on-year +4.57% -34.57% +156.76%

TCP/IP
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing TCP/IP relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

TCP/IP job vacancy trend in the UK

TCP/IP
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP

TCP/IP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing TCP/IP over the 6 months to 9 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for TCP/IP in the UK

TCP/IP
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP

TCP/IP
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing TCP/IP over the 6 months to 9 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for TCP/IP in the UK

TCP/IP
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 TCP/IP within the UK over the 6 months to 9 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 -57 367 £465 -1.85% 221
UK excluding London -31 247 £450 -0.55% 201
London -65 143 £475 +2.70% 53
Work from Home -74 103 £450 -18.23% 77
North of England -29 92 £450 +12.50% 40
North West +3 55 £540 +116.00% 24
South East -36 53 £500 +11.11% 66
East of England -18 37 £263 -38.95% 28
Midlands -44 34 £400 -27.27% 28
Yorkshire -53 32 £449 -10.30% 11
West Midlands -37 31 £388 -29.55% 16
Scotland +3 24 £537 +21.24% 12
South West -27 21 £500 -18.70% 27
Wales -11 7 £408 -9.44% 4
North East -23 5 £306 +22.50% 6
East Midlands -33 3 £625 +13.64% 12

TCP/IP
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 16 (3.74%) Confluence
2 15 (3.50%) SharePoint
3 10 (2.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (2.34%) nginx
4 4 (0.93%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.93%) WebSphere
5 3 (0.70%) IIS
6 2 (0.47%) CICS
6 2 (0.47%) IBM HTTP Server
6 2 (0.47%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 2 (0.47%) WebSphere Application Server
6 2 (0.47%) WebSphere Portal
7 1 (0.23%) Traefik
Applications
1 29 (6.78%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.87%) MS Visio
3 7 (1.64%) Microsoft Excel
4 4 (0.93%) Acrobat
5 3 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.23%) Weka
Business Applications
1 2 (0.47%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 98 (22.90%) Azure
2 94 (21.96%) AWS
3 78 (18.22%) Microsoft 365
4 29 (6.78%) Entra ID
5 28 (6.54%) GCP
6 26 (6.07%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 17 (3.97%) OneDrive
8 16 (3.74%) Amazon EC2
9 15 (3.50%) Amazon EKS
9 15 (3.50%) Amazon S3
10 14 (3.27%) GitHub
10 14 (3.27%) Route 53
11 13 (3.04%) AWS Lambda
11 13 (3.04%) Serverless
12 10 (2.34%) Google Workspace
13 7 (1.64%) Azure DevOps
13 7 (1.64%) Nutanix
13 7 (1.64%) SaaS
14 6 (1.40%) AWS CloudFormation
14 6 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 237 (55.37%) DNS
2 152 (35.51%) Firewall
3 102 (23.83%) VPN
4 100 (23.36%) DHCP
5 74 (17.29%) WAN
6 70 (16.36%) Network Security
7 69 (16.12%) HTTP
8 68 (15.89%) SSL
9 67 (15.65%) LAN
10 60 (14.02%) VLAN
11 57 (13.32%) BGP
12 53 (12.38%) BIG-IP
13 42 (9.81%) OSPF
14 37 (8.64%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 36 (8.41%) Wi-Fi
16 34 (7.94%) Ethernet
17 31 (7.24%) Wireshark
18 30 (7.01%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 22 (5.14%) Wireless
20 16 (3.74%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.57%) Elasticsearch
1 11 (2.57%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.87%) PostgreSQL
3 5 (1.17%) MongoDB
4 3 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.47%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.23%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.23%) MySQL
6 1 (0.23%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.23%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 44 (10.28%) JIRA
2 25 (5.84%) Fiddler
3 21 (4.91%) GitLab
4 16 (3.74%) Git
4 16 (3.74%) Jenkins
5 13 (3.04%) Eclipse
5 13 (3.04%) Visual Studio
6 9 (2.10%) Browser DevTools
7 7 (1.64%) Bitbucket
7 7 (1.64%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.93%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.70%) Artifactory
9 3 (0.70%) CircleCI
10 2 (0.47%) Introscope
10 2 (0.47%) Subversion
11 1 (0.23%) Postman
General
1 157 (36.68%) Social Skills
2 60 (14.02%) Finance
3 51 (11.92%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (9.58%) Banking
5 29 (6.78%) Public Sector
6 26 (6.07%) Investment Banking
7 22 (5.14%) Presentation Skills
8 21 (4.91%) Military
9 20 (4.67%) Documentation Skills
10 19 (4.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (2.10%) Telecoms
12 8 (1.87%) Front Office
13 5 (1.17%) Law
14 3 (0.70%) French Language
14 3 (0.70%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.70%) Marketing
14 3 (0.70%) Organisational Skills
15 2 (0.47%) Japanese Language
15 2 (0.47%) Retail
15 2 (0.47%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 106 (24.77%) Network Engineer
2 53 (12.38%) Analyst
3 36 (8.41%) Support Engineer
4 33 (7.71%) Web Engineer
5 30 (7.01%) Architect
5 30 (7.01%) Senior
6 29 (6.78%) IT Support
7 26 (6.07%) Security Engineer
8 24 (5.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 22 (5.14%) Technical Engineer
10 20 (4.67%) IP Network Engineer
10 20 (4.67%) SOC Analyst
11 18 (4.21%) Blue Coat Engineer
11 18 (4.21%) IT Engineer
11 18 (4.21%) Systems Engineer
12 16 (3.74%) Junior
13 15 (3.50%) Lead
14 14 (3.27%) IT Support Engineer
14 14 (3.27%) Software Engineer
15 13 (3.04%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.67%) LDAP
2 16 (3.74%) SAML
3 14 (3.27%) Web Services
4 13 (3.04%) Node.js
5 12 (2.80%) JSON
5 12 (2.80%) OpenID
6 11 (2.57%) 802.1X
7 10 (2.34%) REST
8 6 (1.40%) .NET
9 5 (1.17%) Kafka
9 5 (1.17%) OAuth
10 4 (0.93%) XML
11 3 (0.70%) ARM Templates
11 3 (0.70%) HTML
11 3 (0.70%) Middleware
11 3 (0.70%) WinForms
12 2 (0.47%) .NET Core
12 2 (0.47%) Blazor
12 2 (0.47%) eBPF
12 2 (0.47%) NETCONF
Miscellaneous
1 44 (10.28%) Data Centre
1 44 (10.28%) Onboarding
2 24 (5.61%) Security Operations Centre
3 23 (5.37%) Management Information System
4 21 (4.91%) Cyberattack
5 17 (3.97%) Cyber Threat
6 15 (3.50%) Industry 4.0
6 15 (3.50%) Robotics
7 14 (3.27%) Security Posture
8 10 (2.34%) Driving Licence
8 10 (2.34%) Enterprise Software
9 9 (2.10%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 8 (1.87%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.87%) Public Cloud
11 7 (1.64%) PKI
12 6 (1.40%) Cloud Native
12 6 (1.40%) Mainframe
12 6 (1.40%) NHS
12 6 (1.40%) Private Cloud
12 6 (1.40%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 184 (42.99%) Windows
2 94 (21.96%) Linux
3 47 (10.98%) Windows Server
4 30 (7.01%) Mac OS
5 18 (4.21%) Windows 10
6 15 (3.50%) Unix
7 14 (3.27%) Apple iOS
8 11 (2.57%) Android
9 9 (2.10%) Windows Server 2012
10 7 (1.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 6 (1.40%) zOS
12 5 (1.17%) Windows Server 2019
13 4 (0.93%) Ubuntu
14 3 (0.70%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.47%) CentOS
15 2 (0.47%) Oracle Linux
15 2 (0.47%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
15 2 (0.47%) VMS
15 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2003
15 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 121 (28.27%) Problem-Solving
2 68 (15.89%) ITIL
3 57 (13.32%) Incident Response
4 54 (12.62%) Agile
5 49 (11.45%) Cybersecurity
6 48 (11.21%) Load Balancing
7 47 (10.98%) DevOps
7 47 (10.98%) SIEM
8 43 (10.05%) Migration
9 42 (9.81%) CI/CD
10 40 (9.35%) ITSM
11 39 (9.11%) Customer Service
12 37 (8.64%) Security Operations
13 36 (8.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 35 (8.18%) Validation
15 34 (7.94%) High Availability
16 33 (7.71%) Root Cause Analysis
17 30 (7.01%) Computer Science
18 29 (6.78%) Decision-Making
19 28 (6.54%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 89 (20.79%) Python
2 42 (9.81%) PowerShell
3 41 (9.58%) Bash
4 29 (6.78%) JavaScript
5 21 (4.91%) C++
6 18 (4.21%) SQL
7 17 (3.97%) C#
8 9 (2.10%) Java
8 9 (2.10%) VBA
9 6 (1.40%) C
9 6 (1.40%) Go
10 5 (1.17%) Shell Script
11 4 (0.93%) Perl
12 3 (0.70%) ActionScript
13 2 (0.47%) Jython
13 2 (0.47%) Ruby
14 1 (0.23%) Groovy
14 1 (0.23%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 115 (26.87%) Security Cleared
2 91 (21.26%) SC Cleared
3 75 (17.52%) Degree
4 47 (10.98%) Cisco Certification
5 37 (8.64%) CCNP
6 30 (7.01%) Computer Science Degree
7 29 (6.78%) CompTIA Security+
8 28 (6.54%) CCNA
9 25 (5.84%) DV Cleared
10 19 (4.44%) CISSP
11 18 (4.21%) CompTIA CySA+
12 14 (3.27%) Microsoft Certification
13 11 (2.57%) Network+ Certification
14 10 (2.34%) Azure Certification
15 9 (2.10%) MCSA
16 8 (1.87%) MCSE
17 7 (1.64%) CCIE
18 6 (1.40%) JNCIS
19 5 (1.17%) CISM
20 4 (0.93%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (3.04%) SLA
2 10 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (2.10%) NIST
4 6 (1.40%) GDPR
4 6 (1.40%) QA
5 3 (0.70%) NCSC
6 2 (0.47%) Government Security Classifications
6 2 (0.47%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.47%) RMADS
7 1 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.23%) GRC
System Software
1 86 (20.09%) Active Directory
2 48 (11.21%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (4.21%) Firmware
4 17 (3.97%) Docker
5 13 (3.04%) Squid
6 11 (2.57%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (2.10%) Hyper-V
8 8 (1.87%) vSphere
9 7 (1.64%) VMware NSX
10 6 (1.40%) Virtual Machines
11 4 (0.93%) NFS
12 3 (0.70%) KVM
13 2 (0.47%) RACF
13 2 (0.47%) VirtualBox
14 1 (0.23%) Ceph
14 1 (0.23%) Citrix Presentation Server
14 1 (0.23%) GPFS
14 1 (0.23%) Lustre
14 1 (0.23%) Snort
14 1 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 66 (15.42%) Ansible
2 36 (8.41%) Terraform
3 35 (8.18%) Kubernetes
4 27 (6.31%) Microsoft Intune
5 25 (5.84%) FortiGate
5 25 (5.84%) Grafana
6 24 (5.61%) Single Sign-On
7 21 (4.91%) SCCM
8 15 (3.50%) Prometheus
9 11 (2.57%) WSUS
10 9 (2.10%) Consul
10 9 (2.10%) Jamf Pro
10 9 (2.10%) Nagios
11 8 (1.87%) QRadar
12 6 (1.40%) CASB
13 5 (1.17%) Nessus
13 5 (1.17%) Suricata
14 4 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 4 (0.93%) Tivoli NetView
15 3 (0.70%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 123 (28.74%) Microsoft
2 72 (16.82%) Cisco
3 69 (16.12%) F5
4 58 (13.55%) VMware
5 41 (9.58%) ServiceNow
6 39 (9.11%) Splunk
7 31 (7.24%) Blue Coat
8 26 (6.07%) Palo Alto
9 25 (5.84%) McAfee
10 23 (5.37%) Fortinet
11 22 (5.14%) Citrix
12 20 (4.67%) Juniper
12 20 (4.67%) NetApp
13 17 (3.97%) Red Hat
13 17 (3.97%) Siemens
13 17 (3.97%) Zscaler
14 13 (3.04%) Bloomberg
14 13 (3.04%) Google
15 12 (2.80%) CheckPoint
16 11 (2.57%) Veeam