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

6 months to
23 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 281 226 287
Rank change year-on-year -55 +61 -44
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 432 361 336
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.85% 1.20% 0.77%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 8.97% 9.70% 6.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 233 233 224
10th Percentile £206 £221 £188
25th Percentile £338 £362 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £481
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +3.90% +0.89%
75th Percentile £550 £625 £575
90th Percentile £638 £795 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £453 £488
% change year-on-year -0.55% -7.18% +8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 16 30
10th Percentile £21.25 £18.63 £18.25
25th Percentile £25.31 £38.09 £48.81
Median hourly rate £33.86 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -45.82% -3.85% +17.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 -
90th Percentile - - £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.22 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -45.82% - +11.84%

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 4,817 3,722 5,393
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.49% 12.42% 12.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,962 2,284 3,181
10th Percentile £250 £225 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £483 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% -3.45% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £473 £488
% change year-on-year +1.59% -3.23% +2.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 298 174 428
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.56 £21.00 £17.69
Median hourly rate £27.69 £44.50 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year -37.78% +7.23% +118.42%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.97 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.08 £78.50 £72.62
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.72 £35.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -23.66% -26.32% +150.00%

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 23 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 23 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 23 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 -57 381 £470 -3.59% 210
UK excluding London -37 248 £450 -0.55% 197
London -64 149 £475 +2.70% 38
Work from Home -56 109 £500 -13.04% 74
North of England -32 91 £450 -0.06% 42
South East -35 59 £520 +15.56% 64
North West 0 56 £508 +35.33% 24
East of England -14 38 £263 -38.95% 35
Midlands -34 35 £413 -25.00% 28
West Midlands -36 31 £400 -27.27% 18
Yorkshire -52 31 £449 -10.30% 14
South West -32 22 £500 -18.70% 26
Scotland -11 16 £301 -27.41% 4
Wales -12 7 £408 -9.44% 4
East Midlands -21 4 £563 +2.27% 10
North East -34 4 £306 +22.50% 8

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 22 (5.09%) SharePoint
2 17 (3.94%) Confluence
3 14 (3.24%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (2.31%) nginx
5 4 (0.93%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.93%) WebSphere
6 3 (0.69%) IIS
7 2 (0.46%) CICS
7 2 (0.46%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.46%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.46%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.46%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.23%) Traefik
Applications
1 30 (6.94%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (2.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.62%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.93%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.23%) Weka
Business Applications
1 2 (0.46%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 106 (24.54%) Azure
2 94 (21.76%) AWS
3 84 (19.44%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (8.80%) Entra ID
5 30 (6.94%) GCP
6 29 (6.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 22 (5.09%) OneDrive
7 22 (5.09%) Route 53
8 16 (3.70%) Amazon EC2
9 15 (3.47%) Amazon EKS
9 15 (3.47%) Amazon S3
10 14 (3.24%) GitHub
11 13 (3.01%) AWS Lambda
11 13 (3.01%) Serverless
12 11 (2.55%) Google Workspace
13 10 (2.31%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (2.08%) SaaS
15 7 (1.62%) Azure DevOps
15 7 (1.62%) IaaS
16 6 (1.39%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 234 (54.17%) DNS
2 161 (37.27%) Firewall
3 106 (24.54%) DHCP
4 102 (23.61%) VPN
5 77 (17.82%) WAN
6 74 (17.13%) Network Security
7 70 (16.20%) LAN
8 68 (15.74%) HTTP
9 65 (15.05%) SSL
10 60 (13.89%) BGP
11 56 (12.96%) BIG-IP
11 56 (12.96%) VLAN
12 40 (9.26%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 40 (9.26%) OSPF
12 40 (9.26%) Wi-Fi
13 37 (8.56%) Ethernet
14 31 (7.18%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
15 30 (6.94%) Wireshark
16 23 (5.32%) Wireless
17 18 (4.17%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.55%) Elasticsearch
1 11 (2.55%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.93%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.46%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.46%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.23%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.23%) MySQL
5 1 (0.23%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 49 (11.34%) JIRA
2 24 (5.56%) Fiddler
3 17 (3.94%) GitLab
4 14 (3.24%) Jenkins
4 14 (3.24%) Visual Studio
5 13 (3.01%) Eclipse
6 12 (2.78%) Git
7 9 (2.08%) Browser DevTools
8 7 (1.62%) Bitbucket
8 7 (1.62%) SonarQube
9 4 (0.93%) Sonatype Nexus
10 3 (0.69%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.46%) Introscope
11 2 (0.46%) Subversion
12 1 (0.23%) MSI
12 1 (0.23%) Postman
General
1 169 (39.12%) Social Skills
2 59 (13.66%) Finance
3 52 (12.04%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (9.03%) Banking
5 25 (5.79%) Investment Banking
5 25 (5.79%) Public Sector
6 22 (5.09%) Presentation Skills
7 21 (4.86%) Documentation Skills
8 20 (4.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 20 (4.63%) Military
9 10 (2.31%) Telecoms
10 8 (1.85%) Front Office
11 5 (1.16%) Legal
12 3 (0.69%) French Language
12 3 (0.69%) Marketing
12 3 (0.69%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.46%) Aviation
13 2 (0.46%) Japanese Language
13 2 (0.46%) Retail
13 2 (0.46%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 104 (24.07%) Network Engineer
2 43 (9.95%) Architect
3 42 (9.72%) Support Engineer
4 39 (9.03%) Analyst
5 33 (7.64%) IT Support
6 31 (7.18%) Web Engineer
7 26 (6.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 25 (5.79%) Senior
9 24 (5.56%) Security Engineer
10 22 (5.09%) IT Engineer
10 22 (5.09%) Technical Engineer
11 21 (4.86%) Systems Engineer
12 19 (4.40%) IP Network Engineer
13 17 (3.94%) Blue Coat Engineer
13 17 (3.94%) IT Support Engineer
14 15 (3.47%) Junior
15 14 (3.24%) Software Engineer
16 13 (3.01%) C# Software Engineer
16 13 (3.01%) Technical Support
17 12 (2.78%) Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.63%) LDAP
2 18 (4.17%) SAML
3 13 (3.01%) Node.js
3 13 (3.01%) Web Services
4 12 (2.78%) OpenID
5 11 (2.55%) JSON
6 10 (2.31%) 802.1X
6 10 (2.31%) REST
7 6 (1.39%) .NET
8 5 (1.16%) OAuth
9 4 (0.93%) ARM Templates
9 4 (0.93%) XML
10 3 (0.69%) HTML
10 3 (0.69%) Middleware
10 3 (0.69%) NETCONF
10 3 (0.69%) OpenConfig
10 3 (0.69%) RESTCONF
10 3 (0.69%) WinForms
10 3 (0.69%) YANG
11 2 (0.46%) eBPF
Miscellaneous
1 53 (12.27%) Data Centre
2 44 (10.19%) Onboarding
3 22 (5.09%) Management Information System
4 18 (4.17%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 17 (3.94%) Security Posture
6 15 (3.47%) Industry 4.0
6 15 (3.47%) Robotics
7 13 (3.01%) Cyber Threat
7 13 (3.01%) Security Operations Centre
8 11 (2.55%) Driving Licence
9 10 (2.31%) Enterprise Software
10 9 (2.08%) Cloud Native
10 9 (2.08%) Cyberattack
11 8 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
11 8 (1.85%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (1.62%) Linux Command Line
12 7 (1.62%) PKI
12 7 (1.62%) Private Cloud
12 7 (1.62%) Public Cloud
13 6 (1.39%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 182 (42.13%) Windows
2 80 (18.52%) Linux
3 45 (10.42%) Windows Server
4 35 (8.10%) Mac OS
5 24 (5.56%) Windows 10
6 17 (3.94%) Apple iOS
7 15 (3.47%) Unix
8 11 (2.55%) Android
9 7 (1.62%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 6 (1.39%) Ubuntu
10 6 (1.39%) zOS
11 3 (0.69%) Check Point GAiA
11 3 (0.69%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
12 2 (0.46%) CentOS
12 2 (0.46%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.46%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 122 (28.24%) Problem-Solving
2 79 (18.29%) ITIL
3 56 (12.96%) Agile
4 52 (12.04%) Load Balancing
5 48 (11.11%) Incident Response
6 47 (10.88%) Customer Service
6 47 (10.88%) Migration
7 43 (9.95%) DevOps
7 43 (9.95%) ITSM
8 42 (9.72%) CI/CD
8 42 (9.72%) High Availability
9 39 (9.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 38 (8.80%) Cybersecurity
11 35 (8.10%) Root Cause Analysis
11 35 (8.10%) Validation
12 34 (7.87%) SIEM
13 33 (7.64%) Infrastructure as Code
14 29 (6.71%) Change Management
14 29 (6.71%) Decision-Making
15 28 (6.48%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 100 (23.15%) Python
2 46 (10.65%) PowerShell
3 44 (10.19%) Bash
4 29 (6.71%) JavaScript
5 21 (4.86%) C++
6 16 (3.70%) C#
7 13 (3.01%) SQL
8 9 (2.08%) VBA
9 5 (1.16%) ActionScript
9 5 (1.16%) C
9 5 (1.16%) Java
10 4 (0.93%) Perl
11 2 (0.46%) Go
11 2 (0.46%) Jython
11 2 (0.46%) Ruby
11 2 (0.46%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.23%) Groovy
12 1 (0.23%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 109 (25.23%) Security Cleared
2 89 (20.60%) SC Cleared
3 75 (17.36%) Degree
4 44 (10.19%) Cisco Certification
5 33 (7.64%) CCNP
6 26 (6.02%) CCNA
7 21 (4.86%) CISSP
7 21 (4.86%) Computer Science Degree
8 19 (4.40%) CompTIA Security+
9 18 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
10 17 (3.94%) DV Cleared
11 10 (2.31%) Azure Certification
11 10 (2.31%) MCSA
12 9 (2.08%) CCIE
12 9 (2.08%) CompTIA CySA+
12 9 (2.08%) MCSE
13 8 (1.85%) Network+ Certification
14 5 (1.16%) CISM
15 4 (0.93%) GCIA
15 4 (0.93%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 9 (2.08%) NIST
1 9 (2.08%) SLA
2 6 (1.39%) QA
3 5 (1.16%) GDPR
3 5 (1.16%) NCSC
4 3 (0.69%) PCI DSS
5 2 (0.46%) Government Security Classifications
5 2 (0.46%) RMADS
6 1 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.23%) GRC
System Software
1 94 (21.76%) Active Directory
2 47 (10.88%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (4.17%) Firmware
4 13 (3.01%) Squid
5 12 (2.78%) Virtual Desktop
6 11 (2.55%) Docker
7 9 (2.08%) Hyper-V
8 8 (1.85%) VMware NSX
9 6 (1.39%) vSphere
10 4 (0.93%) NFS
10 4 (0.93%) Virtual Machines
11 2 (0.46%) KVM
11 2 (0.46%) RACF
11 2 (0.46%) VirtualBox
12 1 (0.23%) Citrix Presentation Server
12 1 (0.23%) GPFS
12 1 (0.23%) iptables
12 1 (0.23%) Lustre
12 1 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 1 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 63 (14.58%) Ansible
2 39 (9.03%) Terraform
3 32 (7.41%) Microsoft Intune
4 29 (6.71%) Kubernetes
5 25 (5.79%) FortiGate
5 25 (5.79%) Single Sign-On
6 21 (4.86%) Grafana
6 21 (4.86%) SCCM
7 15 (3.47%) Prometheus
8 11 (2.55%) Jamf Pro
9 10 (2.31%) WSUS
10 9 (2.08%) Consul
11 6 (1.39%) CASB
11 6 (1.39%) QRadar
12 5 (1.16%) Nessus
12 5 (1.16%) Suricata
13 4 (0.93%) Nagios
13 4 (0.93%) Tivoli NetView
14 3 (0.69%) Puppet
14 3 (0.69%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 142 (32.87%) Microsoft
2 71 (16.44%) Cisco
2 71 (16.44%) F5
3 57 (13.19%) VMware
4 43 (9.95%) ServiceNow
5 29 (6.71%) Blue Coat
6 27 (6.25%) Fortinet
7 26 (6.02%) Palo Alto
8 23 (5.32%) Citrix
8 23 (5.32%) McAfee
8 23 (5.32%) Splunk
9 22 (5.09%) Google
10 20 (4.63%) Zscaler
11 19 (4.40%) Infoblox
11 19 (4.40%) NetApp
12 18 (4.17%) Juniper
13 17 (3.94%) Siemens
14 16 (3.70%) CheckPoint
14 16 (3.70%) Red Hat
15 13 (3.01%) Bloomberg