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

6 months to
3 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 300 230 223
Rank change year-on-year -70 -7 +134
Contract jobs citing BGP 357 336 455
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.80% 1.16% 1.03%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.98% 8.92% 7.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 202 213 266
10th Percentile £301 £362 £313
25th Percentile £400 £413 £377
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £550 £600 £566
90th Percentile £600 £750 £669
UK excluding London median daily rate £455 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -9.00% +11.11% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 10
10th Percentile £53.08 £19.78 £24.15
25th Percentile £70.67 £21.69 £24.44
Median hourly rate £74.26 £25.75 £46.25
Median % change year-on-year +188.39% -44.32% -41.08%
75th Percentile - £30.19 £69.38
90th Percentile - £32.33 £71.33
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £19.00 £44.00
% change year-on-year +290.84% -56.82% -43.95%

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 4,476 3,766 5,878
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.98% 12.95% 13.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,858 2,336 3,544
10th Percentile £225 £213 £205
25th Percentile £380 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £498 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.05% +2.63% -9.09%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +1.06% -1.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 194 149 405
10th Percentile £15.62 £14.99 £13.64
25th Percentile £19.59 £21.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £42.10 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +20.27% +7.69% +71.05%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.25 £62.50
90th Percentile £77.20 £75.00 £67.31
UK excluding London median hourly rate £49.36 £29.00 £43.00
% change year-on-year +70.21% -32.56% +132.43%

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 3 April 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
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing BGP over the 6 months to 3 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for BGP in the UK

BGP
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 BGP within the UK over the 6 months to 3 April 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 -60 314 £456 -8.90% 75
UK excluding London -59 206 £455 -9.00% 65
Work from Home -41 109 £443 -13.45% 37
London -83 103 £463 -7.50% 25
South East +5 101 £445 -23.61% 28
Midlands -27 53 £413 +37.50% 9
North of England -72 52 £550 +4.76% 12
West Midlands -27 50 £406 +35.42% 7
North West -50 49 £550 +4.76% 5
South West -41 14 £525 +2.44% 4
Scotland +5 9 £425 - 5
Wales -14 4 £425 -5.56% 4
North East -11 3 £550 - 2
Yorkshire -59 3 £650 +30.00% 5
East Midlands -31 2 - - 2
East of England -37 2 £500 +17.65% 4

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 8 (2.24%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.12%) Confluence
3 2 (0.56%) OpenStack
Applications
1 13 (3.64%) MS Visio
2 8 (2.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.68%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.40%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 59 (16.53%) AWS
2 54 (15.13%) Azure
3 26 (7.28%) GCP
4 19 (5.32%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 11 (3.08%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 9 (2.52%) AWS Direct Connect
7 8 (2.24%) Route 53
8 6 (1.68%) SaaS
9 5 (1.40%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 4 (1.12%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.12%) Azure Sentinel
10 4 (1.12%) IaaS
10 4 (1.12%) PaaS
11 3 (0.84%) Amazon S3
11 3 (0.84%) Catchpoint
11 3 (0.84%) GitHub
11 3 (0.84%) Nutanix
12 2 (0.56%) AWS Control Tower
12 2 (0.56%) Azure DevOps
12 2 (0.56%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 245 (68.63%) OSPF
2 225 (63.03%) Firewall
3 203 (56.86%) WAN
4 142 (39.78%) LAN
5 121 (33.89%) VPN
6 100 (28.01%) MPLS
7 99 (27.73%) Network Security
8 79 (22.13%) VLAN
8 79 (22.13%) VXLAN
9 77 (21.57%) DNS
10 65 (18.21%) SD-WAN
11 60 (16.81%) Ethernet VPN
12 59 (16.53%) Multicast
13 57 (15.97%) IPsec
14 53 (14.85%) Cisco ASA
15 49 (13.73%) TCP/IP
16 48 (13.45%) Cisco ISE
17 46 (12.89%) DHCP
17 46 (12.89%) Wireless
18 41 (11.48%) EIGRP
Development Applications
1 15 (4.20%) Git
2 8 (2.24%) Sonatype Nexus
3 4 (1.12%) GitLab
3 4 (1.12%) JIRA
4 3 (0.84%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.28%) AppScan
5 1 (0.28%) Burp Suite
5 1 (0.28%) Metasploit
General
1 59 (16.53%) Social Skills
2 39 (10.92%) Analytical Skills
3 37 (10.36%) Documentation Skills
4 35 (9.80%) Finance
5 33 (9.24%) Public Sector
6 26 (7.28%) Banking
7 21 (5.88%) Telecoms
8 17 (4.76%) Investment Banking
9 16 (4.48%) Financial Institution
10 15 (4.20%) Manufacturing
11 13 (3.64%) Military
12 6 (1.68%) Marketing
13 5 (1.40%) Legal
13 5 (1.40%) Retail
14 4 (1.12%) French Language
14 4 (1.12%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.84%) Electronics
15 3 (0.84%) Police
16 2 (0.56%) Pharmaceutical
16 2 (0.56%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 216 (60.50%) Network Engineer
2 52 (14.57%) Cisco Engineer
3 48 (13.45%) Cisco Network Engineer
4 45 (12.61%) Senior
5 39 (10.92%) Architect
6 36 (10.08%) Security Engineer
7 31 (8.68%) Data Network Engineer
7 31 (8.68%) Network Security Engineer
7 31 (8.68%) Senior Network Engineer
8 29 (8.12%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 27 (7.56%) Network Architect
10 24 (6.72%) Cisco Security Engineer
10 24 (6.72%) Data Engineer
11 19 (5.32%) Network Specialist
12 14 (3.92%) Juniper Engineer
13 12 (3.36%) Design Engineer
13 12 (3.36%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
13 12 (3.36%) Firewall Specialist
14 11 (3.08%) Operations Engineer
14 11 (3.08%) Web Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (10.64%) 802.1X
2 8 (2.24%) NETCONF
2 8 (2.24%) REST
2 8 (2.24%) YANG
3 6 (1.68%) LDAP
4 5 (1.40%) OpenConfig
5 4 (1.12%) Jinja
5 4 (1.12%) RESTCONF
5 4 (1.12%) VML
6 2 (0.56%) AWS CDK
6 2 (0.56%) CSS
6 2 (0.56%) HTML
6 2 (0.56%) JSON
6 2 (0.56%) RFC 2544
6 2 (0.56%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 151 (42.30%) Data Centre
2 43 (12.04%) PKI
3 23 (6.44%) Clustering
4 14 (3.92%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (2.52%) Product Ownership
6 8 (2.24%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.24%) Onboarding
7 6 (1.68%) Cloud Native
7 6 (1.68%) Data Protection Act
7 6 (1.68%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.40%) NHS
9 4 (1.12%) Operational Technology
9 4 (1.12%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.12%) SCADA
9 4 (1.12%) Virtual Team
10 3 (0.84%) CESG
10 3 (0.84%) Distributed Architecture
10 3 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (0.84%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (0.84%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 41 (11.48%) Windows
2 23 (6.44%) Linux
3 9 (2.52%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.96%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (1.68%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.28%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.28%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (22.97%) Load Balancing
2 55 (15.41%) High Availability
2 55 (15.41%) Problem-Solving
3 46 (12.89%) Network Design
4 40 (11.20%) Migration
5 33 (9.24%) ITIL
6 32 (8.96%) Change Management
7 30 (8.40%) Cybersecurity
7 30 (8.40%) Network Monitoring
8 29 (8.12%) Observability
9 27 (7.56%) Project Delivery
9 27 (7.56%) Stakeholder Management
9 27 (7.56%) Zero Trust
10 25 (7.00%) Network Segmentation
11 24 (6.72%) Identity Access Management
12 23 (6.44%) Infrastructure as Code
12 23 (6.44%) Root Cause Analysis
13 20 (5.60%) ITSM
14 19 (5.32%) Agile
14 19 (5.32%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 75 (21.01%) Python
2 12 (3.36%) Bash
3 10 (2.80%) PowerShell
4 7 (1.96%) Perl
5 5 (1.40%) Lisp
6 4 (1.12%) PHP
7 2 (0.56%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.56%) SQL
Qualifications
1 156 (43.70%) Cisco Certification
2 148 (41.46%) Security Cleared
3 120 (33.61%) CCNP
4 113 (31.65%) SC Cleared
5 52 (14.57%) CCIE
6 42 (11.76%) DV Cleared
7 30 (8.40%) CCNA
7 30 (8.40%) Degree
8 19 (5.32%) JNCIP
8 19 (5.32%) JNCIS
9 14 (3.92%) JNCIA
10 13 (3.64%) JNCIE
11 11 (3.08%) AWS Certification
12 10 (2.80%) CISSP
13 8 (2.24%) Azure Certification
13 8 (2.24%) CCDP
14 7 (1.96%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (1.96%) GIAC
15 5 (1.40%) CompTIA Security+
15 5 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 14 (3.92%) NIST
2 10 (2.80%) NCSC
2 10 (2.80%) SLA
3 7 (1.96%) PCI DSS
4 6 (1.68%) GDPR
5 4 (1.12%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (1.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 3 (0.84%) RMADS
7 2 (0.56%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.28%) COBIT
8 1 (0.28%) GRC
8 1 (0.28%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.28%) QA
System Software
1 31 (8.68%) VMware Infrastructure
2 14 (3.92%) VMware NSX
3 10 (2.80%) Active Directory
4 8 (2.24%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (1.40%) Docker
6 3 (0.84%) Firmware
6 3 (0.84%) vSphere
7 2 (0.56%) vCloud
8 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.28%) KVM
8 1 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 71 (19.89%) Ansible
2 53 (14.85%) FortiGate
3 36 (10.08%) Terraform
4 15 (4.20%) Grafana
5 13 (3.64%) Prometheus
6 7 (1.96%) Kubernetes
7 6 (1.68%) vCenter Server
8 5 (1.40%) Nagios
9 3 (0.84%) SCOM
10 2 (0.56%) CASB
10 2 (0.56%) Cisco Prime
10 2 (0.56%) Iperf
10 2 (0.56%) Nmap
11 1 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.28%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Intune
11 1 (0.28%) Nessus
11 1 (0.28%) QRadar
11 1 (0.28%) vRealize
11 1 (0.28%) VxRail
Vendors
1 268 (75.07%) Cisco
2 111 (31.09%) F5
3 104 (29.13%) Palo Alto
4 95 (26.61%) Juniper
5 61 (17.09%) Fortinet
6 52 (14.57%) CheckPoint
7 43 (12.04%) Arista
8 42 (11.76%) Aruba
9 38 (10.64%) SolarWinds
10 36 (10.08%) VMware
11 27 (7.56%) Meraki
12 26 (7.28%) Splunk
13 25 (7.00%) Extreme Networks
14 18 (5.04%) Zscaler
15 15 (4.20%) Nokia
16 11 (3.08%) Microsoft
16 11 (3.08%) ServiceNow
17 9 (2.52%) Ekahau
18 8 (2.24%) Remedy
19 7 (1.96%) Red Hat