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 12 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 276 229 284
Rank change year-on-year -47 +55 -40
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 416 353 343
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.88% 1.21% 0.80%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.17% 9.47% 6.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 251 235
10th Percentile £228 £225 £188
25th Percentile £364 £368 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £453 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -9.40% - +2.51%
75th Percentile £550 £625 £575
90th Percentile £638 £750 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -10.00% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 9 21
10th Percentile £21.25 £17.87 £16.00
25th Percentile £26.25 £28.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £62.50 £54.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +14.68% -16.15% +3.92%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year - -3.85% -

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 4,536 3,727 5,473
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.55% 12.76% 12.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,807 2,290 3,273
10th Percentile £250 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £495
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -1.52% -4.16%
75th Percentile £588 £595 £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 241 168 418
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.92 £16.44
Median hourly rate £41.94 £31.79 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +31.93% -20.53% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £57.80 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £24.66 £46.14
% change year-on-year +97.57% -46.55% +153.28%

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 12 May 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 -58 351 £470 -6.00% 212
UK excluding London -23 261 £450 -10.00% 175
London -65 120 £475 - 60
Work from Home -83 90 £450 -18.23% 92
North of England -17 89 £450 +16.13% 40
South East -35 60 £510 -2.86% 61
North West +2 57 £555 +122.00% 19
East of England -9 44 £228 -47.09% 27
Midlands -37 34 £388 -29.55% 20
West Midlands -42 31 £375 +70.45% 16
Scotland +14 28 £425 -3.95% 5
Yorkshire -41 27 £447 -17.79% 15
South West -35 19 £500 -18.70% 26
Wales -10 8 £390 -13.33% 6
North East -16 5 £306 +22.50% 7
East Midlands -37 3 £625 +13.64% 4

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 18 (4.33%) Confluence
2 10 (2.40%) nginx
3 9 (2.16%) SharePoint
4 8 (1.92%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (0.72%) Apache
5 3 (0.72%) IIS
5 3 (0.72%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.48%) IBM HTTP Server
6 2 (0.48%) OpenStack
6 2 (0.48%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 2 (0.48%) WebSphere Application Server
6 2 (0.48%) WebSphere Portal
6 2 (0.48%) WordPress
7 1 (0.24%) CICS
7 1 (0.24%) Traefik
Applications
1 30 (7.21%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (2.40%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.96%) Acrobat
3 4 (0.96%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.24%) Weka
Business Applications
1 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 86 (20.67%) AWS
1 86 (20.67%) Azure
2 59 (14.18%) Microsoft 365
3 25 (6.01%) GCP
4 24 (5.77%) Entra ID
5 23 (5.53%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 15 (3.61%) Amazon EC2
6 15 (3.61%) Amazon S3
7 14 (3.37%) Amazon EKS
7 14 (3.37%) Route 53
8 13 (3.13%) AWS Lambda
8 13 (3.13%) Serverless
9 9 (2.16%) AWS CloudFormation
9 9 (2.16%) GitHub
9 9 (2.16%) Google Workspace
9 9 (2.16%) OneDrive
10 7 (1.68%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (1.68%) Nutanix
10 7 (1.68%) SaaS
11 5 (1.20%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 229 (55.05%) DNS
2 147 (35.34%) Firewall
3 101 (24.28%) VPN
4 94 (22.60%) DHCP
5 79 (18.99%) WAN
6 70 (16.83%) LAN
7 68 (16.35%) HTTP
8 66 (15.87%) SSL
9 63 (15.14%) Network Security
10 60 (14.42%) VLAN
11 53 (12.74%) BGP
12 50 (12.02%) BIG-IP
13 44 (10.58%) OSPF
14 36 (8.65%) Ethernet
15 35 (8.41%) Wi-Fi
16 34 (8.17%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 33 (7.93%) Wireshark
18 27 (6.49%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 20 (4.81%) Wireless
20 16 (3.85%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.88%) Elasticsearch
2 11 (2.64%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (1.20%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.48%) MySQL
7 1 (0.24%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.24%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 42 (10.10%) JIRA
2 28 (6.73%) Fiddler
3 19 (4.57%) GitLab
4 17 (4.09%) Eclipse
4 17 (4.09%) Git
4 17 (4.09%) Visual Studio
5 12 (2.88%) Jenkins
6 9 (2.16%) Browser DevTools
7 7 (1.68%) Bitbucket
7 7 (1.68%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.96%) CircleCI
8 4 (0.96%) Sonatype Nexus
9 2 (0.48%) Introscope
9 2 (0.48%) Subversion
10 1 (0.24%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.24%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 1 (0.24%) Postman
10 1 (0.24%) Travis CI
General
1 146 (35.10%) Social Skills
2 51 (12.26%) Finance
3 50 (12.02%) Analytical Skills
4 42 (10.10%) Banking
5 29 (6.97%) Public Sector
6 27 (6.49%) Military
6 27 (6.49%) Presentation Skills
7 26 (6.25%) Investment Banking
8 18 (4.33%) Documentation Skills
8 18 (4.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 11 (2.64%) Telecoms
10 8 (1.92%) Front Office
11 6 (1.44%) Law
12 3 (0.72%) Aerospace
12 3 (0.72%) French Language
12 3 (0.72%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.72%) Marketing
12 3 (0.72%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.48%) Aviation
13 2 (0.48%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 104 (25.00%) Network Engineer
2 49 (11.78%) Analyst
3 36 (8.65%) Web Engineer
4 34 (8.17%) Senior
5 33 (7.93%) Support Engineer
6 28 (6.73%) Architect
7 24 (5.77%) Security Engineer
8 22 (5.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (5.05%) IP Network Engineer
9 21 (5.05%) Technical Engineer
10 20 (4.81%) IT Support
10 20 (4.81%) SOC Analyst
11 19 (4.57%) Blue Coat Engineer
12 18 (4.33%) IT Engineer
13 17 (4.09%) Systems Engineer
14 15 (3.61%) Integration Engineer
14 15 (3.61%) Lead
15 14 (3.37%) Junior
16 13 (3.13%) Software Engineer
17 12 (2.88%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (5.29%) LDAP
2 19 (4.57%) Web Services
3 17 (4.09%) Node.js
4 15 (3.61%) SAML
5 12 (2.88%) JSON
5 12 (2.88%) OpenID
6 10 (2.40%) 802.1X
7 7 (1.68%) REST
8 5 (1.20%) Kafka
8 5 (1.20%) OAuth
9 4 (0.96%) NETCONF
9 4 (0.96%) OpenConfig
9 4 (0.96%) RESTCONF
9 4 (0.96%) XML
9 4 (0.96%) YANG
10 3 (0.72%) ARM Templates
10 3 (0.72%) Elastic Stack
10 3 (0.72%) HTML
10 3 (0.72%) Middleware
11 2 (0.48%) WebSphere MQ
Miscellaneous
1 30 (7.21%) Data Centre
2 27 (6.49%) Onboarding
3 25 (6.01%) Management Information System
4 23 (5.53%) Security Operations Centre
5 21 (5.05%) Cyberattack
6 15 (3.61%) Industry 4.0
6 15 (3.61%) Robotics
7 14 (3.37%) Security Posture
8 13 (3.13%) Cyber Threat
9 11 (2.64%) Enterprise Software
9 11 (2.64%) PKI
10 10 (2.40%) Public Cloud
11 9 (2.16%) Data Protection Act
12 8 (1.92%) Driving Licence
13 7 (1.68%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 7 (1.68%) Mainframe
13 7 (1.68%) Self-Motivation
14 6 (1.44%) Analytical Mindset
14 6 (1.44%) NHS
14 6 (1.44%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 176 (42.31%) Windows
2 101 (24.28%) Linux
3 49 (11.78%) Windows Server
4 15 (3.61%) Mac OS
4 15 (3.61%) Windows 10
5 14 (3.37%) Unix
6 13 (3.13%) Android
7 9 (2.16%) Windows Server 2012
8 8 (1.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 7 (1.68%) zOS
10 6 (1.44%) Apple iOS
10 6 (1.44%) Ubuntu
10 6 (1.44%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.96%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.72%) Debian
12 3 (0.72%) Windows 7
12 3 (0.72%) Windows Server 2003
13 2 (0.48%) AIX
13 2 (0.48%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.48%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 121 (29.09%) Problem-Solving
2 63 (15.14%) ITIL
3 56 (13.46%) Agile
4 53 (12.74%) Cybersecurity
5 51 (12.26%) Incident Response
5 51 (12.26%) SIEM
6 48 (11.54%) Load Balancing
7 40 (9.62%) CI/CD
7 40 (9.62%) Migration
8 39 (9.38%) DevOps
8 39 (9.38%) Security Operations
9 38 (9.13%) Validation
10 31 (7.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 31 (7.45%) Root Cause Analysis
11 30 (7.21%) Data Loss Prevention
12 29 (6.97%) Computer Science
12 29 (6.97%) Customer Service
12 29 (6.97%) High Availability
13 28 (6.73%) Decision-Making
13 28 (6.73%) Malware Detection/Protection
Programming Languages
1 90 (21.63%) Python
2 49 (11.78%) PowerShell
3 42 (10.10%) Bash
4 32 (7.69%) JavaScript
5 22 (5.29%) C++
6 21 (5.05%) SQL
7 19 (4.57%) C#
8 8 (1.92%) Java
9 7 (1.68%) Shell Script
9 7 (1.68%) VBA
10 6 (1.44%) C
10 6 (1.44%) Go
11 5 (1.20%) Perl
12 2 (0.48%) Jython
12 2 (0.48%) Ruby
13 1 (0.24%) Groovy
13 1 (0.24%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.24%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 125 (30.05%) Security Cleared
2 104 (25.00%) SC Cleared
3 63 (15.14%) Degree
4 46 (11.06%) Cisco Certification
5 37 (8.89%) CCNP
6 30 (7.21%) CompTIA Security+
7 29 (6.97%) Computer Science Degree
8 26 (6.25%) DV Cleared
9 25 (6.01%) CCNA
10 18 (4.33%) CompTIA CySA+
11 17 (4.09%) CISSP
12 13 (3.13%) Microsoft Certification
13 10 (2.40%) Network+ Certification
14 9 (2.16%) Azure Certification
14 9 (2.16%) MCSA
15 8 (1.92%) CCIE
15 8 (1.92%) MCSE
16 7 (1.68%) JNCIS
17 5 (1.20%) AWS Certification
17 5 (1.20%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (2.64%) SLA
2 9 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (1.68%) NIST
4 5 (1.20%) GDPR
5 4 (0.96%) NCSC
6 3 (0.72%) QA
7 2 (0.48%) RMADS
8 1 (0.24%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.24%) GRC
System Software
1 82 (19.71%) Active Directory
2 51 (12.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (5.29%) Docker
4 19 (4.57%) Firmware
5 11 (2.64%) Hyper-V
5 11 (2.64%) Squid
6 9 (2.16%) VMware NSX
6 9 (2.16%) vSphere
7 8 (1.92%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (1.44%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (1.20%) KVM
10 4 (0.96%) NFS
11 2 (0.48%) Ceph
11 2 (0.48%) iptables
11 2 (0.48%) Lustre
11 2 (0.48%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.48%) VMware ESXi
12 1 (0.24%) Citrix Presentation Server
12 1 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
12 1 (0.24%) Xen
Systems Management
1 67 (16.11%) Ansible
2 36 (8.65%) Terraform
3 35 (8.41%) Kubernetes
4 28 (6.73%) SCCM
5 23 (5.53%) FortiGate
5 23 (5.53%) Grafana
6 22 (5.29%) Single Sign-On
7 20 (4.81%) Microsoft Intune
8 17 (4.09%) Prometheus
9 12 (2.88%) WSUS
10 10 (2.40%) Nagios
11 9 (2.16%) Consul
12 8 (1.92%) QRadar
13 6 (1.44%) CASB
13 6 (1.44%) Tivoli NetView
14 5 (1.20%) Nessus
15 4 (0.96%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 4 (0.96%) Puppet
16 3 (0.72%) Red Hat Satellite
16 3 (0.72%) Suricata
Vendors
1 106 (25.48%) Microsoft
2 69 (16.59%) VMware
3 68 (16.35%) F5
4 65 (15.63%) Cisco
5 41 (9.86%) Splunk
6 33 (7.93%) Blue Coat
7 31 (7.45%) ServiceNow
8 28 (6.73%) McAfee
8 28 (6.73%) Palo Alto
9 24 (5.77%) Fortinet
10 22 (5.29%) Red Hat
11 21 (5.05%) Citrix
11 21 (5.05%) Juniper
11 21 (5.05%) NetApp
12 16 (3.85%) Siemens
13 15 (3.61%) Zscaler
14 13 (3.13%) Bloomberg
14 13 (3.13%) CheckPoint
14 13 (3.13%) SolarWinds
15 11 (2.64%) Veeam