Security Testing Contracts

Security Testing
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Security Testing skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Security Testing over the 6 months to 26 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
26 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 361 469 563
Rank change year-on-year +108 +94 -67
Contract jobs citing Security Testing 228 238 303
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.52% 0.40% 0.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.61% 0.44% 0.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 150 221
10th Percentile £463 £450 £363
25th Percentile £550 £507 £467
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £625 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% +9.09% +7.84%
75th Percentile £700 £738 £638
90th Percentile £780 £800 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £585 £600 £548
% change year-on-year -2.50% +9.59% +9.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 4
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £17.00
Median hourly rate £62.50 - £19.00
75th Percentile - - £21.00
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 - £19.00
% change year-on-year - - -5.00%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Security Testing is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 37,600 53,916 80,351
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.32% 89.91% 90.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,240 37,368 56,382
10th Percentile £300 £325 £340
25th Percentile £413 £438 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% +8.25%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% +9.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,433 1,775 1,932
10th Percentile £12.75 £11.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.25 £15.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £37.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.41% +48.00% -
75th Percentile £59.50 £65.00 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £63.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.50 £35.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year +4.29% +75.00% -8.34%

Security Testing
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Security Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Security Testing.

Daily rate trend for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Testing over the 6 months to 26 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Security Testing.

Hourly rate trend for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Top 15 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Security Testing within the UK over the 6 months to 26 April 2024. 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 +116 204 £625 +4.17% 53
Work from Home +152 116 £600 +9.09% 62
UK excluding London +81 109 £585 -2.50% 30
London +115 102 £650 +2.97% 17
South East +66 72 £550 -8.33% 5
North of England +20 12 £475 -17.39% 15
North West +18 11 £475 -14.80% 9
Scotland +31 9 £600 - 1
South West +27 6 £580 -2.32% 2
Midlands +8 5 £538 -10.42% 4
West Midlands +11 4 £650 -0.95% 4
East of England +9 3 £700 - 3
Wales - 2 £666 -
East Midlands +22 1 £355 -40.83%
Yorkshire +18 1 - - 6

Security Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 13 (5.70%) Apache
1 13 (5.70%) Apache Airflow
2 11 (4.82%) nginx
3 5 (2.19%) Anypoint
4 2 (0.88%) CMS
5 1 (0.44%) Confluence
5 1 (0.44%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.44%) SAS
Applications
1 5 (2.19%) Microsoft Office
1 5 (2.19%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (1.32%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (0.88%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 64 (28.07%) SaaS
2 57 (25.00%) IaaS
3 56 (24.56%) PaaS
4 51 (22.37%) Azure
5 43 (18.86%) AWS
6 24 (10.53%) Serverless
7 15 (6.58%) AWS CloudFormation
8 13 (5.70%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (4.82%) AWS Elastic Beanstalk
10 9 (3.95%) Azure Key Vault
10 9 (3.95%) Azure Monitor
11 7 (3.07%) Azure Data Factory
11 7 (3.07%) Cloud Computing
11 7 (3.07%) Microsoft 365
12 6 (2.63%) AWS Lambda
12 6 (2.63%) GCP
12 6 (2.63%) OpenShift
13 5 (2.19%) Azure API Management
13 5 (2.19%) Azure Functions
13 5 (2.19%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 41 (17.98%) 5G
1 41 (17.98%) Broadband
2 22 (9.65%) Firewall
3 20 (8.77%) VPN
4 19 (8.33%) BGP
5 13 (5.70%) Ethernet VPN
5 13 (5.70%) MPLS
6 12 (5.26%) Radio Access Network
7 8 (3.51%) LAN
7 8 (3.51%) WAN
7 8 (3.51%) WLAN
8 7 (3.07%) Wireless
9 6 (2.63%) Cisco ASA
9 6 (2.63%) OSPF
10 5 (2.19%) Cisco Wireless
10 5 (2.19%) IPsec
11 3 (1.32%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (1.32%) SSL
11 3 (1.32%) Wi-Fi
12 2 (0.88%) DNS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (8.77%) NoSQL
2 14 (6.14%) SQL Server
3 12 (5.26%) MongoDB
3 12 (5.26%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (3.07%) Oracle Database
5 6 (2.63%) Azure SQL Database
6 4 (1.75%) Big Data
7 3 (1.32%) Data Lake
7 3 (1.32%) MySQL
7 3 (1.32%) RDBMS
7 3 (1.32%) Relational Database
7 3 (1.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.44%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.44%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.44%) HDInsight
8 1 (0.44%) Oracle Exadata
8 1 (0.44%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 23 (10.09%) Git
2 21 (9.21%) JIRA
3 20 (8.77%) GitLab
4 17 (7.46%) Jenkins
5 16 (7.02%) TestRail
6 13 (5.70%) Robot Framework
7 11 (4.82%) Visual Studio
8 9 (3.95%) Selenium
9 6 (2.63%) JMeter
9 6 (2.63%) LoadRunner
9 6 (2.63%) Postman
10 5 (2.19%) Burp Suite
10 5 (2.19%) NUnit
10 5 (2.19%) TeamCity
11 3 (1.32%) Cucumber
11 3 (1.32%) Cypress.io
11 3 (1.32%) FitNesse
11 3 (1.32%) SonarQube
11 3 (1.32%) SpecFlow
12 2 (0.88%) Subversion
General
1 43 (18.86%) Law
2 42 (18.42%) Organisational Skills
3 40 (17.54%) Finance
4 37 (16.23%) Social Skills
5 27 (11.84%) Analytical Skills
6 18 (7.89%) Public Sector
7 16 (7.02%) Banking
8 12 (5.26%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (3.07%) Financial Institution
10 4 (1.75%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.32%) Back Office
11 3 (1.32%) Electronics
11 3 (1.32%) Front Office
11 3 (1.32%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.32%) Marketing
12 2 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.88%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.44%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 52 (22.81%) Tester
2 45 (19.74%) Security Specialist
3 44 (19.30%) Penetration Tester
4 41 (17.98%) Security Penetration Tester
4 41 (17.98%) Security Tester
4 41 (17.98%) Testing Specialist
5 31 (13.60%) Architect
6 29 (12.72%) Senior
7 23 (10.09%) Test Engineer
8 22 (9.65%) Developer
8 22 (9.65%) Security Architect
9 15 (6.58%) Lead
10 13 (5.70%) Consultant
11 12 (5.26%) Project Manager
11 12 (5.26%) Security Consultant
11 12 (5.26%) Security Manager
12 11 (4.82%) Full Stack Developer
12 11 (4.82%) Network Engineer
12 11 (4.82%) Security Engineer
13 10 (4.39%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (17.98%) Web Services
2 24 (10.53%) REST
3 21 (9.21%) SOAP
4 18 (7.89%) CSS
5 17 (7.46%) HTML
6 13 (5.70%) NETCONF
6 13 (5.70%) RESTCONF
6 13 (5.70%) Sass
7 12 (5.26%) Laravel
7 12 (5.26%) WebSockets
7 12 (5.26%) YANG
8 10 (4.39%) AngularJS
8 10 (4.39%) Node.js
9 8 (3.51%) .NET
10 7 (3.07%) Playwright
11 5 (2.19%) ActiveMQ
11 5 (2.19%) ARM Templates
11 5 (2.19%) GraphQL
11 5 (2.19%) OpenAPI
11 5 (2.19%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 57 (25.00%) Mobile App
2 18 (7.89%) Security Posture
3 16 (7.02%) IoT
4 12 (5.26%) Management Information System
5 11 (4.82%) PKI
5 11 (4.82%) Public Cloud
6 8 (3.51%) Cyber Threat
7 5 (2.19%) Data Protection Act
8 3 (1.32%) Cloud Native
8 3 (1.32%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 3 (1.32%) PMI
9 2 (0.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 2 (0.88%) Operational Technology
9 2 (0.88%) Reference Data
9 2 (0.88%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.44%) Client/Server
10 1 (0.44%) Embedded Systems
10 1 (0.44%) SCADA
10 1 (0.44%) W3C
Operating Systems
1 21 (9.21%) Linux
2 13 (5.70%) Windows
3 11 (4.82%) Unix
4 10 (4.39%) Windows Server
5 6 (2.63%) Oracle Linux
5 6 (2.63%) Solaris
5 6 (2.63%) VMS
6 2 (0.88%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.44%) CentOS
7 1 (0.44%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.44%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (39.47%) Application Security
2 73 (32.02%) Cybersecurity
3 72 (31.58%) Test Automation
4 61 (26.75%) CI/CD
4 61 (26.75%) Penetration Testing
5 59 (25.88%) Agile
6 56 (24.56%) OWASP
7 52 (22.81%) Stakeholder Management
8 51 (22.37%) DevOps
9 44 (19.30%) MITRE ATT&CK
10 41 (17.98%) Infrastructure as Code
11 39 (17.11%) DevSecOps
12 37 (16.23%) Static Application Security Testing
13 32 (14.04%) Problem-Solving
14 31 (13.60%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
15 27 (11.84%) Performance Testing
16 26 (11.40%) SDLC
17 24 (10.53%) Scrum
18 23 (10.09%) Integration Testing
18 23 (10.09%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 31 (13.60%) Python
2 30 (13.16%) SQL
3 21 (9.21%) JavaScript
4 18 (7.89%) PHP
5 9 (3.95%) PowerShell
5 9 (3.95%) TypeScript
6 6 (2.63%) Java
7 4 (1.75%) C#
8 3 (1.32%) Bash
8 3 (1.32%) C
9 2 (0.88%) C++
9 2 (0.88%) Perl
9 2 (0.88%) Ruby
9 2 (0.88%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 62 (27.19%) Security Cleared
2 44 (19.30%) CREST Certified
2 44 (19.30%) SANS
3 43 (18.86%) OSCP
4 42 (18.42%) GIAC
5 41 (17.98%) GPEN
6 31 (13.60%) Degree
7 20 (8.77%) SC Cleared
8 17 (7.46%) Computer Science Degree
9 16 (7.02%) CISSP
10 13 (5.70%) CISM
11 7 (3.07%) CISA
11 7 (3.07%) ISTQB
12 5 (2.19%) Master's Degree
13 4 (1.75%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 4 (1.75%) PMI Certification
14 3 (1.32%) CTC Cleared
14 3 (1.32%) ITIL Certification
14 3 (1.32%) MCSE
14 3 (1.32%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (21.93%) PCI DSS
2 45 (19.74%) GDPR
3 43 (18.86%) NCSC
4 28 (12.28%) Accessibility
5 24 (10.53%) NIST
6 16 (7.02%) QA
7 9 (3.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (2.19%) Disclosure Scotland
9 4 (1.75%) HIPAA
10 3 (1.32%) Software Quality Assurance
11 2 (0.88%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.88%) GRC
System Software
1 30 (13.16%) Docker
2 8 (3.51%) Active Directory
3 7 (3.07%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (2.63%) KVM
4 6 (2.63%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.32%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.88%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 30 (13.16%) Terraform
2 16 (7.02%) Ansible
3 15 (6.58%) Kubernetes
4 6 (2.63%) FortiGate
5 5 (2.19%) SCCM
6 4 (1.75%) Grafana
7 3 (1.32%) Graylog
7 3 (1.32%) Nagios
7 3 (1.32%) Prometheus
7 3 (1.32%) Puppet
8 2 (0.88%) HP Fortify
8 2 (0.88%) Nessus
8 2 (0.88%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.88%) WebInspect
9 1 (0.44%) Kibana
Vendors
1 41 (17.98%) Virgin Media
2 24 (10.53%) Microsoft
3 19 (8.33%) Oracle
4 10 (4.39%) VMware
5 9 (3.95%) SAP
6 7 (3.07%) Cisco
6 7 (3.07%) Palo Alto
7 6 (2.63%) Fortinet
7 6 (2.63%) Google
7 6 (2.63%) Juniper
8 5 (2.19%) Checkmarx
8 5 (2.19%) Extreme Networks
8 5 (2.19%) MuleSoft
8 5 (2.19%) Rapid7
8 5 (2.19%) Salesforce
8 5 (2.19%) Sophos
8 5 (2.19%) WSO2
9 4 (1.75%) Veracode
10 3 (1.32%) Qualys
10 3 (1.32%) Splunk