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 17 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 265 201 240
Rank change year-on-year -64 +39 -10
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 431 395 422
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.00% 1.35% 0.95%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.88% 10.08% 7.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 250 280 297
10th Percentile £206 £224 £188
25th Percentile £363 £400 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £550 £488
Median % change year-on-year -16.73% +12.82% -7.14%
75th Percentile £575 £660 £569
90th Percentile £650 £800 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £456 £513 £467
% change year-on-year -11.02% +9.74% -3.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 9 18
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.87 £16.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £31.25 £23.50
Median hourly rate £41.94 £54.50 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -23.05% -3.52% -9.69%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.12
90th Percentile - £66.75 £73.28
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £62.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year -32.90% +10.64% -13.09%

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 4,363 3,919 5,951
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.11% 13.35% 13.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,819 2,409 3,579
10th Percentile £213 £213 £205
25th Percentile £368 £370 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +5.26% -9.43%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £475
Number of hourly rates quoted 181 142 395
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.01 £14.06
25th Percentile £20.32 £21.46 £18.47
Median hourly rate £40.54 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +15.83% +7.69% +71.05%
75th Percentile £67.25 £63.06 £63.75
90th Percentile £79.50 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year +30.00% -29.16% +148.00%

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 17 March 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 17 March 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 17 March 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 -45 375 £470 -14.55% 206
UK excluding London -18 288 £456 -11.02% 184
London -70 113 £477 -8.14% 43
North of England -21 96 £447 +2.41% 47
Work from Home -75 96 £425 -29.98% 72
North West +9 61 £540 +44.00% 23
South East -29 58 £525 -4.55% 53
East of England -5 55 £350 -30.00% 30
South West -15 35 £700 +13.82% 25
Midlands -35 33 £200 -60.00% 22
West Midlands -38 32 £200 -4.76% 16
Yorkshire -44 32 £433 -24.67% 17
Scotland +22 28 £388 -13.36% 6
Wales -14 5 £293 -26.88% 4
North East -15 3 £200 +6.67% 10
East Midlands -37 1 £625 +13.64% 6

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 (5.10%) Microsoft Exchange
2 20 (4.64%) Confluence
3 18 (4.18%) SharePoint
4 14 (3.25%) Skype for Business
5 9 (2.09%) nginx
6 7 (1.62%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.70%) Apache
8 2 (0.46%) IIS
8 2 (0.46%) WordPress
9 1 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.23%) IBM HTTP Server
9 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.23%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 1 (0.23%) Traefik
9 1 (0.23%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.23%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.23%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 41 (9.51%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (2.32%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.39%) Weka
4 5 (1.16%) Acrobat
5 4 (0.93%) Microsoft Excel
5 4 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.23%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 1 (0.23%) RMDS
1 1 (0.23%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 95 (22.04%) Azure
2 93 (21.58%) AWS
3 77 (17.87%) Microsoft 365
4 30 (6.96%) GCP
5 21 (4.87%) Entra ID
6 20 (4.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (3.25%) Amazon S3
8 13 (3.02%) Amazon EC2
9 12 (2.78%) Route 53
10 10 (2.32%) Amazon EKS
10 10 (2.32%) OneDrive
11 9 (2.09%) AWS CloudFormation
11 9 (2.09%) AWS Lambda
11 9 (2.09%) GitHub
11 9 (2.09%) Serverless
12 8 (1.86%) Azure DevOps
13 7 (1.62%) Cloud Computing
13 7 (1.62%) Nutanix
13 7 (1.62%) SaaS
14 6 (1.39%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 240 (55.68%) DNS
2 141 (32.71%) Firewall
3 110 (25.52%) DHCP
4 102 (23.67%) VPN
5 87 (20.19%) WAN
6 78 (18.10%) LAN
7 63 (14.62%) HTTP
7 63 (14.62%) SSL
8 60 (13.92%) VLAN
9 55 (12.76%) Network Security
10 44 (10.21%) BGP
10 44 (10.21%) BIG-IP
11 41 (9.51%) Wi-Fi
12 39 (9.05%) Wireshark
13 38 (8.82%) OSPF
14 33 (7.66%) Ethernet
15 30 (6.96%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 26 (6.03%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 23 (5.34%) Wireless
18 18 (4.18%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (3.25%) SQL Server
2 12 (2.78%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.93%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.23%) Amazon Aurora
5 1 (0.23%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.23%) Apache Hive
5 1 (0.23%) Big Data
5 1 (0.23%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.23%) Impala
5 1 (0.23%) MySQL
5 1 (0.23%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.23%) Power BI
5 1 (0.23%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.23%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 36 (8.35%) JIRA
2 30 (6.96%) Fiddler
3 23 (5.34%) GitLab
4 15 (3.48%) Git
5 14 (3.25%) Eclipse
5 14 (3.25%) Jenkins
5 14 (3.25%) Visual Studio
6 7 (1.62%) Bitbucket
6 7 (1.62%) SonarQube
7 6 (1.39%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.93%) CircleCI
9 3 (0.70%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.46%) Maven
11 1 (0.23%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.23%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.23%) GCC
11 1 (0.23%) IntelliJ
11 1 (0.23%) Introscope
11 1 (0.23%) MSI
11 1 (0.23%) Travis CI
General
1 152 (35.27%) Social Skills
2 61 (14.15%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (9.51%) Finance
4 36 (8.35%) Banking
5 33 (7.66%) Public Sector
6 30 (6.96%) Presentation Skills
7 24 (5.57%) Investment Banking
7 24 (5.57%) Military
8 18 (4.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 14 (3.25%) Documentation Skills
10 9 (2.09%) Front Office
10 9 (2.09%) Telecoms
11 7 (1.62%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.16%) Law
12 5 (1.16%) Legal
13 3 (0.70%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.70%) French Language
13 3 (0.70%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.70%) Marketing
14 2 (0.46%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 109 (25.29%) Network Engineer
2 58 (13.46%) Analyst
3 52 (12.06%) Support Engineer
4 36 (8.35%) Web Engineer
5 35 (8.12%) Senior
6 26 (6.03%) Architect
6 26 (6.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 23 (5.34%) IT Support
8 22 (5.10%) IT Engineer
9 21 (4.87%) SOC Analyst
9 21 (4.87%) Technical Engineer
10 19 (4.41%) Blue Coat Engineer
10 19 (4.41%) IP Network Engineer
10 19 (4.41%) Technical Analyst
10 19 (4.41%) Technical Support
11 17 (3.94%) IT Support Engineer
11 17 (3.94%) Junior
11 17 (3.94%) Systems Engineer
12 15 (3.48%) Lead
13 14 (3.25%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (4.18%) LDAP
2 17 (3.94%) Web Services
3 14 (3.25%) Node.js
4 10 (2.32%) OpenID
5 9 (2.09%) 802.1X
5 9 (2.09%) SAML
6 8 (1.86%) Middleware
7 6 (1.39%) JSON
7 6 (1.39%) REST
8 5 (1.16%) FIX Protocol
9 4 (0.93%) Kafka
9 4 (0.93%) NETCONF
9 4 (0.93%) OAuth
9 4 (0.93%) OpenConfig
9 4 (0.93%) RESTCONF
9 4 (0.93%) Ultra Messaging
9 4 (0.93%) YANG
10 3 (0.70%) .NET
10 3 (0.70%) ARM Templates
10 3 (0.70%) React
Miscellaneous
1 33 (7.66%) Management Information System
2 30 (6.96%) Data Centre
3 22 (5.10%) Security Operations Centre
4 21 (4.87%) Cyberattack
5 18 (4.18%) Onboarding
6 16 (3.71%) Public Cloud
7 15 (3.48%) Industry 4.0
7 15 (3.48%) Robotics
8 13 (3.02%) CMDB
8 13 (3.02%) NHS
8 13 (3.02%) Security Posture
9 12 (2.78%) Driving Licence
9 12 (2.78%) PKI
10 11 (2.55%) Cyber Threat
10 11 (2.55%) Private Cloud
11 10 (2.32%) Analytical Mindset
11 10 (2.32%) Enterprise Software
12 8 (1.86%) Self-Motivation
13 6 (1.39%) Data Protection Act
13 6 (1.39%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 192 (44.55%) Windows
2 115 (26.68%) Linux
3 56 (12.99%) Windows Server
4 25 (5.80%) Windows 10
5 14 (3.25%) Android
5 14 (3.25%) Unix
6 11 (2.55%) Mac OS
7 9 (2.09%) Windows Server 2012
8 7 (1.62%) Apple iOS
9 6 (1.39%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (1.39%) zOS
10 5 (1.16%) Ubuntu
11 4 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (0.93%) Windows Server 2003
11 4 (0.93%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.70%) Debian
12 3 (0.70%) VMS
12 3 (0.70%) Windows 7
13 2 (0.46%) AIX
13 2 (0.46%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (29.70%) Problem-Solving
2 66 (15.31%) ITIL
3 54 (12.53%) Agile
4 52 (12.06%) Cybersecurity
4 52 (12.06%) Incident Response
4 52 (12.06%) SIEM
5 48 (11.14%) Load Balancing
6 45 (10.44%) CI/CD
6 45 (10.44%) DevOps
7 38 (8.82%) Infrastructure as Code
8 37 (8.58%) Customer Service
8 37 (8.58%) Root Cause Analysis
8 37 (8.58%) Security Operations
9 36 (8.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 36 (8.35%) Migration
10 35 (8.12%) Validation
11 31 (7.19%) Data Loss Prevention
11 31 (7.19%) Decision-Making
12 30 (6.96%) Malware Detection/Protection
13 28 (6.50%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 104 (24.13%) Python
2 78 (18.10%) PowerShell
3 54 (12.53%) Bash
4 21 (4.87%) JavaScript
4 21 (4.87%) SQL
5 18 (4.18%) C#
5 18 (4.18%) C++
6 11 (2.55%) Java
7 10 (2.32%) Perl
8 8 (1.86%) Go
9 6 (1.39%) Shell Script
10 5 (1.16%) C
11 2 (0.46%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.46%) Ruby
11 2 (0.46%) T-SQL
11 2 (0.46%) VBA
11 2 (0.46%) VBScript
12 1 (0.23%) Bicep
12 1 (0.23%) Jython
12 1 (0.23%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 138 (32.02%) Security Cleared
2 110 (25.52%) SC Cleared
3 59 (13.69%) Degree
4 45 (10.44%) Cisco Certification
5 43 (9.98%) DV Cleared
6 35 (8.12%) CCNP
7 33 (7.66%) CompTIA Security+
8 25 (5.80%) Computer Science Degree
9 22 (5.10%) CCNA
10 19 (4.41%) CISSP
11 18 (4.18%) CompTIA CySA+
12 16 (3.71%) Microsoft Certification
13 12 (2.78%) Network+ Certification
14 10 (2.32%) JNCIS
15 9 (2.09%) MCSE
16 8 (1.86%) Azure Certification
16 8 (1.86%) Microsoft Certified Professional
17 7 (1.62%) CCIE
17 7 (1.62%) MCSA
18 6 (1.39%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (2.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 9 (2.09%) GDPR
2 9 (2.09%) SLA
3 8 (1.86%) NIST
4 5 (1.16%) NCSC
5 2 (0.46%) HIPAA
5 2 (0.46%) QA
5 2 (0.46%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
6 1 (0.23%) GRC
6 1 (0.23%) RMADS
System Software
1 94 (21.81%) Active Directory
2 54 (12.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (7.66%) Docker
4 21 (4.87%) Firmware
5 11 (2.55%) VMware NSX
5 11 (2.55%) vSphere
6 10 (2.32%) Hyper-V
7 8 (1.86%) Squid
8 7 (1.62%) Lustre
8 7 (1.62%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 7 (1.62%) Virtual Machines
9 6 (1.39%) GPFS
9 6 (1.39%) KVM
10 5 (1.16%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
12 2 (0.46%) Ceph
12 2 (0.46%) NDS
12 2 (0.46%) NetIQ eDirectory
12 2 (0.46%) NFS
13 1 (0.23%) Citrix Presentation Server
Systems Management
1 70 (16.24%) Ansible
2 41 (9.51%) Terraform
3 39 (9.05%) Kubernetes
4 30 (6.96%) SCCM
5 25 (5.80%) Microsoft Intune
6 23 (5.34%) Grafana
7 20 (4.64%) Prometheus
8 19 (4.41%) Single Sign-On
9 17 (3.94%) FortiGate
10 9 (2.09%) Nagios
10 9 (2.09%) QRadar
11 8 (1.86%) Consul
11 8 (1.86%) Puppet
12 7 (1.62%) WSUS
13 6 (1.39%) Tivoli NetView
14 5 (1.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 5 (1.16%) CASB
14 5 (1.16%) Nessus
15 4 (0.93%) ITRS Geneos
15 4 (0.93%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 120 (27.84%) Microsoft
2 76 (17.63%) VMware
3 66 (15.31%) F5
4 60 (13.92%) Cisco
5 41 (9.51%) Splunk
6 36 (8.35%) Palo Alto
7 35 (8.12%) Blue Coat
8 32 (7.42%) McAfee
9 28 (6.50%) ServiceNow
10 26 (6.03%) Juniper
11 23 (5.34%) Fortinet
12 22 (5.10%) NetApp
13 19 (4.41%) CheckPoint
13 19 (4.41%) Red Hat
14 15 (3.48%) Citrix
14 15 (3.48%) Siemens
15 13 (3.02%) SolarWinds
16 12 (2.78%) Aruba
16 12 (2.78%) Oracle
16 12 (2.78%) Zscaler