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

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 273 234 268
Rank change year-on-year -39 +34 -40
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 487 375 339
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 1.13% 0.87%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.80% 9.43% 7.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 263 213 223
10th Percentile £207 £200 £203
25th Percentile £325 £350 £262
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -4.26%
75th Percentile £568 £606 £568
90th Percentile £659 £653 £635
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +5.56% - +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 26 31
10th Percentile £25.34 £20.11 £30.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £45.75 £63.13
Median hourly rate £52.50 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.23% - +28.92%
75th Percentile £65.00 - -
90th Percentile £98.82 £86.32 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -19.23% - +22.64%

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 4,970 3,978 4,735
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.35% 12.01% 12.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,954 2,428 2,892
10th Percentile £250 £235 £220
25th Percentile £400 £373 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £591 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 345 195 327
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.27
Median hourly rate £26.44 £50.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -47.12% +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.60 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.66 £45.00 £53.69
% change year-on-year -40.76% -16.18% -6.63%

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 3 August 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 3 August 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 3 August 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 -33 448 £495 -1.00% 314
UK excluding London -22 274 £475 +5.56% 243
London -44 185 £483 -10.23% 113
Work from Home -55 119 £500 -9.09% 124
North of England -43 86 £475 -5.00% 50
South East -32 79 £525 +25.90% 82
North West -18 55 £475 -0.05% 25
South West -5 40 £638 +3.03% 38
Midlands -27 38 £402 -19.60% 31
East of England -11 33 £250 -52.38% 22
West Midlands -43 30 £406 +1.06% 21
Yorkshire -52 28 £488 -2.50% 17
Scotland -9 11 £301 -32.30% 9
East Midlands -12 8 £402 -26.91% 10
Wales -11 7 £408 +126.39% 3
North East -36 3 £413 +65.00% 10

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 42 (8.62%) SharePoint
2 23 (4.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (2.67%) Confluence
4 9 (1.85%) nginx
5 7 (1.44%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.82%) FactoryTalk
6 4 (0.82%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.62%) IIS
8 2 (0.41%) CICS
8 2 (0.41%) IBM HTTP Server
8 2 (0.41%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Application Server
8 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Portal
9 1 (0.21%) Traefik
Applications
1 36 (7.39%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (3.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.64%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.41%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.41%) Houdini
5 2 (0.41%) NUKE
6 1 (0.21%) Weka
Business Applications
1 7 (1.44%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.21%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 159 (32.65%) Azure
2 114 (23.41%) AWS
3 105 (21.56%) Microsoft 365
4 66 (13.55%) Entra ID
5 36 (7.39%) GCP
6 32 (6.57%) OneDrive
7 28 (5.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 19 (3.90%) GitHub
9 16 (3.29%) Route 53
10 15 (3.08%) Amazon EC2
11 11 (2.26%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (2.26%) Azure Monitor
11 11 (2.26%) Google Workspace
12 10 (2.05%) Amazon EKS
13 9 (1.85%) Azure DevOps
13 9 (1.85%) Azure Sentinel
13 9 (1.85%) OpenShift
14 8 (1.64%) Akamai
14 8 (1.64%) Amazon S3
14 8 (1.64%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 285 (58.52%) DNS
2 211 (43.33%) Firewall
3 166 (34.09%) DHCP
4 138 (28.34%) VPN
5 94 (19.30%) Network Security
6 90 (18.48%) WAN
7 80 (16.43%) LAN
8 75 (15.40%) VLAN
9 72 (14.78%) BGP
10 70 (14.37%) HTTP
11 58 (11.91%) SSL
12 45 (9.24%) BIG-IP
13 44 (9.03%) OSPF
14 41 (8.42%) Wi-Fi
15 39 (8.01%) Ethernet
16 37 (7.60%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 35 (7.19%) Wireless
18 26 (5.34%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 24 (4.93%) SD-WAN
20 23 (4.72%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.08%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.23%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (0.82%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.62%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.41%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.41%) MySQL
5 2 (0.41%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.41%) SQLite
6 1 (0.21%) Cloud Spanner
6 1 (0.21%) KDB
6 1 (0.21%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 47 (9.65%) JIRA
2 25 (5.13%) Git
3 18 (3.70%) Jenkins
4 17 (3.49%) Fiddler
5 16 (3.29%) GitLab
6 14 (2.87%) Visual Studio
7 13 (2.67%) Eclipse
8 10 (2.05%) Browser DevTools
9 7 (1.44%) Sonatype Nexus
10 4 (0.82%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.62%) Bitbucket
12 2 (0.41%) Introscope
12 2 (0.41%) SonarQube
12 2 (0.41%) Subversion
13 1 (0.21%) MSI
13 1 (0.21%) Postman
General
1 196 (40.25%) Social Skills
2 69 (14.17%) Analytical Skills
3 65 (13.35%) Finance
4 43 (8.83%) Banking
5 33 (6.78%) Public Sector
6 22 (4.52%) Presentation Skills
7 21 (4.31%) Investment Banking
8 20 (4.11%) Telecoms
9 19 (3.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (3.29%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (3.29%) Military
11 9 (1.85%) Front Office
12 6 (1.23%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.23%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (1.03%) Legal
13 5 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.82%) Automotive
14 4 (0.82%) Police
15 3 (0.62%) Retail
16 2 (0.41%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 113 (23.20%) Network Engineer
2 55 (11.29%) Support Engineer
3 52 (10.68%) Senior
4 47 (9.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 43 (8.83%) Architect
6 36 (7.39%) IT Support
7 33 (6.78%) Analyst
8 30 (6.16%) IT Engineer
9 27 (5.54%) Security Engineer
10 24 (4.93%) Web Engineer
11 23 (4.72%) IT Support Engineer
12 22 (4.52%) Technical Engineer
13 21 (4.31%) Systems Engineer
14 20 (4.11%) Senior Network Engineer
15 19 (3.90%) Platform Engineer
16 17 (3.49%) IP Network Engineer
16 17 (3.49%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 15 (3.08%) Blue Coat Engineer
17 15 (3.08%) Cloud Engineer
17 15 (3.08%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (3.90%) SAML
2 15 (3.08%) LDAP
3 14 (2.87%) JSON
4 13 (2.67%) Node.js
4 13 (2.67%) Web Services
5 12 (2.46%) 802.1X
5 12 (2.46%) ARM Templates
5 12 (2.46%) REST
6 8 (1.64%) .NET
7 6 (1.23%) NETCONF
7 6 (1.23%) OpenConfig
7 6 (1.23%) OpenID
7 6 (1.23%) RESTCONF
7 6 (1.23%) XML
7 6 (1.23%) YANG
8 5 (1.03%) OAuth
9 4 (0.82%) boto
9 4 (0.82%) WinForms
10 3 (0.62%) HTML
10 3 (0.62%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 78 (16.02%) Data Centre
2 51 (10.47%) Onboarding
3 30 (6.16%) PKI
4 27 (5.54%) Hybrid Cloud
5 24 (4.93%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 24 (4.93%) Management Information System
6 19 (3.90%) Robotics
7 18 (3.70%) Security Posture
8 17 (3.49%) Driving Licence
8 17 (3.49%) Linux Command Line
9 15 (3.08%) Industry 4.0
9 15 (3.08%) Public Cloud
10 14 (2.87%) Operational Technology
10 14 (2.87%) Self-Motivation
11 13 (2.67%) Cloud Native
12 12 (2.46%) SCADA
13 11 (2.26%) Cyber Threat
14 10 (2.05%) Analytical Mindset
15 9 (1.85%) Private Cloud
16 8 (1.64%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 214 (43.94%) Windows
2 122 (25.05%) Linux
3 63 (12.94%) Windows Server
4 35 (7.19%) Mac OS
4 35 (7.19%) Windows 10
5 21 (4.31%) Unix
6 16 (3.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 15 (3.08%) Apple iOS
8 13 (2.67%) Ubuntu
9 11 (2.26%) Android
10 4 (0.82%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (0.82%) zOS
11 3 (0.62%) CentOS
11 3 (0.62%) Check Point GAiA
12 2 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.21%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.21%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (28.13%) Problem-Solving
2 101 (20.74%) ITIL
3 73 (14.99%) CI/CD
4 69 (14.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 62 (12.73%) Agile
6 61 (12.53%) Infrastructure as Code
7 58 (11.91%) Load Balancing
8 56 (11.50%) Customer Service
8 56 (11.50%) DevOps
9 54 (11.09%) Cybersecurity
10 50 (10.27%) Migration
11 48 (9.86%) SIEM
12 47 (9.65%) High Availability
12 47 (9.65%) Incident Response
12 47 (9.65%) ITSM
13 41 (8.42%) Continuous Improvement
13 41 (8.42%) Service Management
13 41 (8.42%) Validation
14 40 (8.21%) Technical Leadership
15 39 (8.01%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 133 (27.31%) Python
2 88 (18.07%) PowerShell
3 74 (15.20%) Bash
4 27 (5.54%) C++
5 26 (5.34%) JavaScript
6 17 (3.49%) C#
6 17 (3.49%) SQL
7 11 (2.26%) Java
8 8 (1.64%) Bicep
8 8 (1.64%) VBA
9 7 (1.44%) Perl
10 5 (1.03%) ActionScript
10 5 (1.03%) C
11 3 (0.62%) Go
11 3 (0.62%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.41%) Jython
12 2 (0.41%) Korn
12 2 (0.41%) Objective-C
12 2 (0.41%) Ruby
12 2 (0.41%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 131 (26.90%) Security Cleared
2 87 (17.86%) SC Cleared
3 74 (15.20%) Degree
4 61 (12.53%) Cisco Certification
5 45 (9.24%) CCNP
6 44 (9.03%) DV Cleared
7 30 (6.16%) CCNA
8 28 (5.75%) Microsoft Certification
9 22 (4.52%) CISSP
10 16 (3.29%) Computer Science Degree
11 15 (3.08%) CCIE
11 15 (3.08%) Network+ Certification
12 11 (2.26%) Azure Certification
12 11 (2.26%) CompTIA Security+
13 10 (2.05%) A+ Certification
13 10 (2.05%) MCSA
13 10 (2.05%) MCSE
13 10 (2.05%) VCAP
14 8 (1.64%) AWS Certification
15 6 (1.23%) JNCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.90%) SLA
2 14 (2.87%) NIST
3 11 (2.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (1.85%) NCSC
5 6 (1.23%) QA
6 5 (1.03%) GDPR
7 4 (0.82%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 4 (0.82%) GxP
7 4 (0.82%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.82%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.41%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.41%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.21%) ISO 8583
9 1 (0.21%) RMADS
System Software
1 134 (27.52%) Active Directory
2 82 (16.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (5.95%) Hyper-V
4 25 (5.13%) Docker
5 23 (4.72%) vSphere
6 22 (4.52%) VMware NSX
7 16 (3.29%) Firmware
8 11 (2.26%) Virtual Desktop
9 8 (1.64%) Squid
10 6 (1.23%) Virtual Machines
11 4 (0.82%) NFS
11 4 (0.82%) VMware ESXi
12 2 (0.41%) KVM
12 2 (0.41%) RACF
12 2 (0.41%) VirtualBox
13 1 (0.21%) GPFS
13 1 (0.21%) iptables
13 1 (0.21%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 1 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.21%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 94 (19.30%) Ansible
2 75 (15.40%) Terraform
3 50 (10.27%) Microsoft Intune
4 42 (8.62%) Kubernetes
5 27 (5.54%) SCCM
6 25 (5.13%) Single Sign-On
7 20 (4.11%) FortiGate
7 20 (4.11%) Grafana
8 14 (2.87%) VxRail
9 11 (2.26%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (2.05%) Prometheus
11 9 (1.85%) WSUS
12 6 (1.23%) CASB
12 6 (1.23%) QRadar
12 6 (1.23%) systemd
13 5 (1.03%) Nessus
13 5 (1.03%) Suricata
14 4 (0.82%) Consul
15 3 (0.62%) Nagios
15 3 (0.62%) SELinux
Vendors
1 178 (36.55%) Microsoft
2 95 (19.51%) VMware
3 93 (19.10%) Cisco
4 63 (12.94%) F5
5 54 (11.09%) ServiceNow
6 29 (5.95%) Fortinet
7 28 (5.75%) Zscaler
8 26 (5.34%) Google
9 25 (5.13%) Juniper
10 22 (4.52%) Blue Coat
10 22 (4.52%) Palo Alto
11 21 (4.31%) Citrix
11 21 (4.31%) Splunk
12 20 (4.11%) Infoblox
13 18 (3.70%) CheckPoint
13 18 (3.70%) NetApp
14 17 (3.49%) McAfee
14 17 (3.49%) Red Hat
14 17 (3.49%) Siemens
15 13 (2.67%) Remedy