BGP Contract Job Trends

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring BGP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 350 212 255
Rank change year-on-year -138 +43 +156
Contract jobs citing BGP 245 392 421
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.66% 1.23% 0.97%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.26% 9.57% 7.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 144 237 211
10th Percentile £300 £375 £325
25th Percentile £400 £425 £424
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% +0.96% +4.00%
75th Percentile £538 £649 £600
90th Percentile £618 £775 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £445 £525 £488
% change year-on-year -15.24% +7.69% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 4 11
10th Percentile £67.45 £22.33 £24.25
25th Percentile £70.01 £28.06 £28.50
Median hourly rate £74.26 £33.75 £38.04
Median % change year-on-year +120.03% -11.28% +44.91%
75th Percentile - £35.75 £68.75
90th Percentile - £37.10 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £19.00 £44.00
% change year-on-year +290.84% -56.82% +87.23%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

BGP 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 3,913 4,097 5,909
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.49% 12.88% 13.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,580 2,396 3,637
10th Percentile £204 £213 £210
25th Percentile £356 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £468 £475
% change year-on-year -3.74% -1.58% +2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 159 141 349
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £17.74
25th Percentile £18.69 £21.46 £23.09
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -38.04% +134.16%
75th Percentile £65.00 £57.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £74.41 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £58.50
% change year-on-year +29.05% -44.44% +179.48%

BGP
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing BGP relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

BGP job vacancy trend in the UK

BGP
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP

BGP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing BGP over the 6 months to 17 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for BGP in the UK

BGP
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BGP

BGP
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing BGP within the UK over the 6 months to 17 January 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 -126 218 £455 -11.22% 89
UK excluding London -74 151 £445 -15.24% 80
Work from Home -65 83 £440 -29.43% 23
London -69 71 £475 -7.32% 23
South East -25 64 £450 -18.18% 23
West Midlands -5 42 £400 -16.45% 8
Midlands -14 42 £400 -20.00% 13
North of England -87 35 £550 +8.91% 17
North West -51 31 £550 +4.76% 5
Scotland +4 9 £425 +6.25% 5
South West -31 9 £519 +13.39% 11
Yorkshire -56 4 £600 +118.18% 11
Wales +3 3 £400 +8.11% 3
North East -8 3 £550 - 3
East of England -22 1 £300 +9.09% 8

BGP
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 16 (6.53%) OpenStack
2 13 (5.31%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.04%) Confluence
Applications
1 16 (6.53%) MS Visio
2 6 (2.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (1.22%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 47 (19.18%) AWS
2 36 (14.69%) Azure
3 12 (4.90%) GCP
4 10 (4.08%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 7 (2.86%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 6 (2.45%) OpenShift
7 5 (2.04%) AWS Direct Connect
8 3 (1.22%) IaaS
8 3 (1.22%) PaaS
8 3 (1.22%) Route 53
8 3 (1.22%) SaaS
9 2 (0.82%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (0.82%) Cloud Computing
10 1 (0.41%) Akamai
10 1 (0.41%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.41%) Amazon ECS
10 1 (0.41%) Amazon EKS
10 1 (0.41%) Amazon S3
10 1 (0.41%) AWS KMS
10 1 (0.41%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 150 (61.22%) OSPF
2 143 (58.37%) Firewall
3 124 (50.61%) WAN
4 93 (37.96%) VPN
5 91 (37.14%) MPLS
6 85 (34.69%) LAN
7 65 (26.53%) IPsec
8 56 (22.86%) Network Security
9 53 (21.63%) VLAN
10 49 (20.00%) Wireless
11 44 (17.96%) SD-WAN
12 41 (16.73%) VXLAN
13 40 (16.33%) EIGRP
14 37 (15.10%) DNS
15 32 (13.06%) Cisco ASA
16 28 (11.43%) Ethernet VPN
17 27 (11.02%) TCP/IP
18 26 (10.61%) Cisco ISE
19 25 (10.20%) Cisco Nexus
20 23 (9.39%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.41%) Redis
1 1 (0.41%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 14 (5.71%) Git
2 5 (2.04%) GitLab
3 4 (1.63%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.82%) JIRA
5 1 (0.41%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.41%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.41%) Robot Framework
General
1 66 (26.94%) Social Skills
2 32 (13.06%) Documentation Skills
3 31 (12.65%) Public Sector
4 27 (11.02%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (7.35%) Finance
6 17 (6.94%) Telecoms
7 12 (4.90%) Banking
7 12 (4.90%) Manufacturing
8 11 (4.49%) Investment Banking
9 6 (2.45%) Military
10 5 (2.04%) Legal
11 4 (1.63%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.63%) Marketing
11 4 (1.63%) Retail
12 3 (1.22%) Electronics
12 3 (1.22%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.82%) French Language
13 2 (0.82%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.41%) Police
Job Titles
1 137 (55.92%) Network Engineer
2 37 (15.10%) Architect
3 33 (13.47%) Cisco Engineer
4 29 (11.84%) Cisco Network Engineer
5 25 (10.20%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 20 (8.16%) Network Architect
6 20 (8.16%) Senior
7 17 (6.94%) Security Engineer
8 14 (5.71%) Network Security Engineer
8 14 (5.71%) Senior Network Engineer
8 14 (5.71%) Support Engineer
9 12 (4.90%) WAN Engineer
10 11 (4.49%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 11 (4.49%) 3rd Line Support
10 11 (4.49%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
10 11 (4.49%) Solutions Architect
11 10 (4.08%) Juniper Engineer
12 9 (3.67%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 9 (3.67%) Wireless Engineer
12 9 (3.67%) Wireless Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (4.90%) 802.1X
2 11 (4.49%) YANG
3 10 (4.08%) NETCONF
4 7 (2.86%) REST
5 5 (2.04%) Jinja
6 4 (1.63%) JSON
6 4 (1.63%) VML
7 3 (1.22%) LDAP
7 3 (1.22%) OpenConfig
7 3 (1.22%) SAML
8 2 (0.82%) CSS
8 2 (0.82%) HTML
8 2 (0.82%) RESTCONF
8 2 (0.82%) XML
9 1 (0.41%) CrewAI
9 1 (0.41%) Elastic Stack
9 1 (0.41%) gRPC
9 1 (0.41%) JFC
9 1 (0.41%) RabbitMQ
9 1 (0.41%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 83 (33.88%) Data Centre
2 38 (15.51%) PKI
3 18 (7.35%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (3.27%) Product Ownership
4 8 (3.27%) Self-Motivation
5 7 (2.86%) Cloud Native
6 6 (2.45%) Data Protection Act
7 5 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
7 5 (2.04%) NHS
7 5 (2.04%) Onboarding
8 4 (1.63%) Operational Technology
9 3 (1.22%) Distributed Architecture
9 3 (1.22%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (0.82%) Algorithms
10 2 (0.82%) CESG
10 2 (0.82%) Distributed Systems
10 2 (0.82%) Linux Command Line
10 2 (0.82%) Public Cloud
11 1 (0.41%) IPTV
11 1 (0.41%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 17 (6.94%) Linux
2 13 (5.31%) Windows
3 8 (3.27%) Windows Server
4 6 (2.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.63%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (17.55%) Network Design
2 38 (15.51%) Load Balancing
3 34 (13.88%) Problem-Solving
4 25 (10.20%) Migration
5 22 (8.98%) Cybersecurity
5 22 (8.98%) Project Delivery
6 21 (8.57%) Network Monitoring
7 20 (8.16%) Network Segmentation
8 19 (7.76%) High Availability
8 19 (7.76%) Roadmaps
8 19 (7.76%) Zero Trust
9 18 (7.35%) DevOps
9 18 (7.35%) Network Virtualisation
9 18 (7.35%) Stakeholder Management
10 17 (6.94%) Network Architecture
10 17 (6.94%) Strategic Thinking
10 17 (6.94%) TOGAF
11 16 (6.53%) Performance Tuning
12 15 (6.12%) Security Architecture
13 14 (5.71%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 68 (27.76%) Python
2 19 (7.76%) Bash
3 15 (6.12%) Perl
4 10 (4.08%) PowerShell
5 8 (3.27%) Lisp
6 5 (2.04%) C++
7 2 (0.82%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.41%) Go
8 1 (0.41%) PHP
8 1 (0.41%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.41%) SQL
Qualifications
1 123 (50.20%) Cisco Certification
2 111 (45.31%) Security Cleared
3 103 (42.04%) CCNP
4 93 (37.96%) SC Cleared
5 48 (19.59%) CCIE
6 22 (8.98%) JNCIE
7 21 (8.57%) Degree
8 20 (8.16%) CCNA
8 20 (8.16%) DV Cleared
9 14 (5.71%) JNCIS
10 11 (4.49%) AWS Certification
11 10 (4.08%) CCDP
11 10 (4.08%) JNCIP
12 9 (3.67%) JNCIA
13 8 (3.27%) CISSP
14 6 (2.45%) CCSE
15 5 (2.04%) CCIE Security
16 4 (1.63%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 4 (1.63%) Azure Certification
16 4 (1.63%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (4.49%) NIST
2 10 (4.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (3.27%) SLA
4 6 (2.45%) GDPR
4 6 (2.45%) PCI DSS
5 3 (1.22%) NCSC
6 2 (0.82%) JSP 440
6 2 (0.82%) RMADS
7 1 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.41%) NIST 800
7 1 (0.41%) SOC 2
System Software
1 23 (9.39%) VMware Infrastructure
2 18 (7.35%) VMware NSX
3 9 (3.67%) Docker
4 7 (2.86%) Active Directory
5 6 (2.45%) Firmware
6 3 (1.22%) KVM
6 3 (1.22%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.82%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.82%) vCloud
8 1 (0.41%) Squid
Systems Management
1 54 (22.04%) Ansible
2 29 (11.84%) FortiGate
2 29 (11.84%) Terraform
3 7 (2.86%) Kubernetes
4 3 (1.22%) Iperf
4 3 (1.22%) Nagios
4 3 (1.22%) Nmap
4 3 (1.22%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (1.22%) vCenter Server
5 2 (0.82%) Grafana
5 2 (0.82%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.41%) CASB
6 1 (0.41%) Cisco CUCM
6 1 (0.41%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.41%) SCOM
6 1 (0.41%) vRealize
6 1 (0.41%) VxRail
Vendors
1 173 (70.61%) Cisco
2 70 (28.57%) Juniper
3 69 (28.16%) Palo Alto
4 52 (21.22%) F5
5 47 (19.18%) Fortinet
6 36 (14.69%) CheckPoint
7 30 (12.24%) Meraki
8 29 (11.84%) Aruba
9 25 (10.20%) VMware
10 18 (7.35%) SolarWinds
11 16 (6.53%) Arista
11 16 (6.53%) Zscaler
12 13 (5.31%) Remedy
12 13 (5.31%) ServiceNow
13 11 (4.49%) Nokia
14 10 (4.08%) Ekahau
15 7 (2.86%) Microsoft
16 6 (2.45%) Red Hat
17 5 (2.04%) Dell
17 5 (2.04%) Splunk