Network Security Job Trends in the South West

Network Security
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Network Security skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 4 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 180 106 143
Rank change year-on-year -74 +37 -5
Permanent jobs citing Network Security 61 66 86
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 0.58% 1.84% 1.24%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.17% 11.44% 11.41%
Number of salaries quoted 39 56 58
10th Percentile £31,250 £30,000 £39,375
25th Percentile £45,000 £46,000 £52,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £50,000 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.00% -37.50% +35.88%
75th Percentile £81,500 £54,565 £97,250
90th Percentile £110,000 £64,375 -
England median annual salary £65,000 £60,000 £62,750
% change year-on-year +8.33% -4.38% +3.72%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
South West

Network Security falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in the South West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 665 577 754
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South West 6.33% 16.09% 10.88%
Number of salaries quoted 367 362 443
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,625 £30,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £30,000 £33,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £34,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.43% -31.00% -
75th Percentile £67,500 £52,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £63,675 £82,500
England median annual salary £50,000 £40,000 £51,000
% change year-on-year +25.00% -21.57% -2.86%

Network Security
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Network Security relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Network Security job vacancy trend in the South West

Network Security
Salary Trend in the South West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Network Security.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Network Security

Network Security
Salary Histogram in the South West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Network Security in the South West over the 6 months to 4 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Network Security in the South West

Network Security
Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Network Security within the South West region over the 6 months to 4 October 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Gloucestershire -43 22 £88,000 - 17
Wiltshire -17 13 £57,500 +33.72% 11
Somerset -23 10 £50,000 -10.91% 4
Bristol -68 7 £65,000 +30.00% 9
Devon -26 5 £32,500 -37.17% 3
Network Security
England

Network Security
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 8 (13.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (6.56%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 30 (49.18%) Azure
2 22 (36.07%) Entra ID
3 18 (29.51%) AWS
4 14 (22.95%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (14.75%) Azure AKS
5 9 (14.75%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 6 (9.84%) OCI
7 5 (8.20%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (8.20%) GCP
8 3 (4.92%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 3 (4.92%) Amazon ECS
8 3 (4.92%) SaaS
9 1 (1.64%) IaaS
9 1 (1.64%) Mimecast
9 1 (1.64%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 39 (63.93%) Firewall
2 20 (32.79%) VLAN
2 20 (32.79%) VPN
3 14 (22.95%) WAN
4 10 (16.39%) DHCP
4 10 (16.39%) DNS
5 9 (14.75%) BGP
5 9 (14.75%) SD-WAN
5 9 (14.75%) Software-Defined Networking
6 8 (13.11%) LAN
7 6 (9.84%) DMZ
7 6 (9.84%) Ethernet VPN
7 6 (9.84%) TCP/IP
8 5 (8.20%) SNMP
8 5 (8.20%) VoIP
8 5 (8.20%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (8.20%) Wireless
9 4 (6.56%) OSPF
9 4 (6.56%) VXLAN
9 4 (6.56%) Wireshark
Development Applications
1 5 (8.20%) JIRA
2 3 (4.92%) GitLab
3 1 (1.64%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 16 (26.23%) Finance
2 15 (24.59%) Social Skills
3 9 (14.75%) Aerospace
4 6 (9.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 5 (8.20%) Automotive
6 3 (4.92%) Public Sector
7 2 (3.28%) Analytical Skills
8 1 (1.64%) Retail
Job Titles
1 17 (27.87%) Support Engineer
2 14 (22.95%) Architect
2 14 (22.95%) IT Support
3 13 (21.31%) IT Engineer
3 13 (21.31%) IT Support Engineer
4 12 (19.67%) Network Engineer
5 9 (14.75%) Azure Architect
5 9 (14.75%) Technical Architect
6 5 (8.20%) Azure Engineer
6 5 (8.20%) Cloud Engineer
6 5 (8.20%) Cybersecurity Specialist
6 5 (8.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 5 (8.20%) Infrastructure Support
6 5 (8.20%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
6 5 (8.20%) Network Architect
6 5 (8.20%) Security Specialist
6 5 (8.20%) Server Engineer
6 5 (8.20%) Server Support
7 4 (6.56%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
7 4 (6.56%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (29.51%) Terraform
2 1 (1.64%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 12 (19.67%) Hybrid Cloud
2 4 (6.56%) Cyber Threat
2 4 (6.56%) Driving Licence
3 3 (4.92%) Cloud Native
4 2 (3.28%) Blog
4 2 (3.28%) Cloud Security Posture
4 2 (3.28%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 2 (3.28%) Data Centre
4 2 (3.28%) PKI
4 2 (3.28%) Security Posture
5 1 (1.64%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 15 (24.59%) Windows
2 11 (18.03%) Windows Server
3 5 (8.20%) Linux
4 4 (6.56%) Windows Server 2012
4 4 (6.56%) Windows Server 2016
4 4 (6.56%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (32.79%) Cybersecurity
2 18 (29.51%) Infrastructure as Code
3 15 (24.59%) Network Virtualisation
4 14 (22.95%) Containerisation
5 13 (21.31%) Cloud Security
6 12 (19.67%) CI/CD
7 11 (18.03%) Disaster Recovery
7 11 (18.03%) Network Monitoring
8 10 (16.39%) Agile
8 10 (16.39%) Collaborative Working
8 10 (16.39%) Problem-Solving
8 10 (16.39%) Zero Trust
9 9 (14.75%) Business Continuity
9 9 (14.75%) Continuous Improvement
9 9 (14.75%) DevSecOps
9 9 (14.75%) GitOps
9 9 (14.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 9 (14.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 8 (13.11%) DevOps
10 8 (13.11%) Network Architecture
Programming Languages
1 9 (14.75%) Bicep
2 6 (9.84%) Python
3 2 (3.28%) Bash
3 2 (3.28%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 26 (42.62%) Security Cleared
2 17 (27.87%) DV Cleared
3 13 (21.31%) SC Cleared
4 8 (13.11%) Cisco Certification
5 5 (8.20%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (6.56%) AWS Certification
6 4 (6.56%) Azure Certification
6 4 (6.56%) CCNA
6 4 (6.56%) CCNP
6 4 (6.56%) MCSA
6 4 (6.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 4 (6.56%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 3 (4.92%) CCIE
8 2 (3.28%) CISSP
9 1 (1.64%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (1.64%) CISM
9 1 (1.64%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (1.64%) Network+ Certification
9 1 (1.64%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (22.95%) Cyber Essentials
2 10 (16.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (14.75%) NIST
4 7 (11.48%) GRC
5 4 (6.56%) GDPR
6 3 (4.92%) PCI DSS
7 2 (3.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 2 (3.28%) JSP 440
7 2 (3.28%) NCSC
System Software
1 24 (39.34%) Active Directory
2 19 (31.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (16.39%) Hyper-V
4 8 (13.11%) Docker
5 3 (4.92%) VMware NSX
6 2 (3.28%) Firmware
6 2 (3.28%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (1.64%) KVM
7 1 (1.64%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (1.64%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 14 (22.95%) Kubernetes
2 8 (13.11%) Ansible
3 4 (6.56%) Iperf
4 3 (4.92%) Grafana
4 3 (4.92%) Prometheus
5 2 (3.28%) FortiGate
6 1 (1.64%) Proxmox
6 1 (1.64%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (1.64%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 30 (49.18%) Microsoft
2 19 (31.15%) VMware
3 12 (19.67%) Cisco
4 8 (13.11%) Fortinet
5 5 (8.20%) SonicWALL
6 4 (6.56%) Oracle
6 4 (6.56%) Ruckus Wireless
6 4 (6.56%) Veeam
7 3 (4.92%) Aruba
7 3 (4.92%) Palo Alto
8 1 (1.64%) Arista
8 1 (1.64%) CheckPoint
8 1 (1.64%) Google
8 1 (1.64%) Juniper
8 1 (1.64%) SolarWinds
8 1 (1.64%) Sophos
8 1 (1.64%) WatchGuard