Penetration Testing Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Penetration Testing
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Cheshire requiring Penetration Testing skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 68 52 43
Rank change year-on-year -16 -9 -
Contract jobs citing Penetration Testing 9 6 6
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 1.31% 1.16% 1.49%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.46% 1.34% 1.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 4 2
10th Percentile £415 £582 £616
25th Percentile £463 £698 £622
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £604 £775 £663
Median % change year-on-year -22.13% +16.98% -
75th Percentile £658 £788 £722
90th Percentile £671 - £739
North West median daily rate £520 £575 £650
% change year-on-year -9.55% -11.54% +41.30%

All Process and Methodology Skills
Cheshire

Penetration Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in Cheshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 616 448 361
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 89.67% 86.82% 89.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 463 273 220
10th Percentile £268 £326 £289
25th Percentile £358 £382 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £478 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.95% -4.40% +11.11%
75th Percentile £525 £565 £581
90th Percentile £688 £648 £611
North West median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 20 27
10th Percentile £12.82 £16.00 £15.60
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.38
Median hourly rate £18.87 £35.00 £23.61
Median % change year-on-year -46.09% +48.24% +46.92%
75th Percentile £40.00 £43.75 £35.39
90th Percentile £67.25 £47.13 £40.00
North West median hourly rate £25.15 £40.33 £35.50
% change year-on-year -37.63% +13.59% +36.00%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Penetration Testing relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Penetration Testing job vacancy trend in Cheshire

Penetration Testing
Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Penetration Testing.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing in Cheshire over the 6 months to 26 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Penetration Testing in Cheshire

Penetration Testing
Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Penetration Testing.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing
Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Penetration Testing within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 26 October 2025. 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
Knutsford -15 4 £651 -16.06%
Macclesfield - 1 £375 -
Penetration Testing
North West

Penetration Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire 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:

Cloud Services
1 4 (44.44%) AWS
1 4 (44.44%) Azure
1 4 (44.44%) Cloud Computing
1 4 (44.44%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 5 (55.56%) Firewall
2 3 (33.33%) Internet
2 3 (33.33%) Intrusion Detection
2 3 (33.33%) Network Security
3 2 (22.22%) DNS
3 2 (22.22%) SSL
3 2 (22.22%) TCP/IP
General
1 5 (55.56%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (22.22%) Finance
3 1 (11.11%) Banking
Job Titles
1 4 (44.44%) Architect
1 4 (44.44%) Security Architect
1 4 (44.44%) Security Solutions Architect
1 4 (44.44%) Solutions Architect
2 2 (22.22%) Network Engineer
2 2 (22.22%) Network Security Engineer
2 2 (22.22%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (22.22%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 3 (33.33%) Security Posture
2 2 (22.22%) Cloud Security Posture
2 2 (22.22%) CMDB
3 1 (11.11%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 2 (22.22%) Linux
1 2 (22.22%) Unix
1 2 (22.22%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 9 (100.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
2 5 (55.56%) Problem-Solving
3 4 (44.44%) AI
3 4 (44.44%) Cybersecurity
3 4 (44.44%) Data Ingestion
3 4 (44.44%) Data Privacy
3 4 (44.44%) Generative AI
3 4 (44.44%) Machine Learning
3 4 (44.44%) Security Architecture
3 4 (44.44%) Threat Modelling
4 3 (33.33%) Incident Response
4 3 (33.33%) Network Design
4 3 (33.33%) SIEM
5 2 (22.22%) Data Protection
5 2 (22.22%) Identity Management
5 2 (22.22%) ITIL
5 2 (22.22%) ITSM
5 2 (22.22%) Validation
5 2 (22.22%) Vulnerability Management
5 2 (22.22%) Vulnerability Scanning
Qualifications
1 3 (33.33%) Cisco Certification
1 3 (33.33%) CISSP
1 3 (33.33%) CompTIA Security+
2 2 (22.22%) CCNP
2 2 (22.22%) MCSA
2 2 (22.22%) MCSE
2 2 (22.22%) Microsoft Certification
3 1 (11.11%) CCNA CyberOps
3 1 (11.11%) CCSA
3 1 (11.11%) CCSE
3 1 (11.11%) Check Point Certification
3 1 (11.11%) Computer Science Degree
3 1 (11.11%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (44.44%) California Consumer Privacy Act
1 4 (44.44%) GDPR
System Software
1 2 (22.22%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 2 (22.22%) CASB
1 2 (22.22%) Nessus
Vendors
1 3 (33.33%) Cisco
1 3 (33.33%) Palo Alto
1 3 (33.33%) Zscaler
2 2 (22.22%) CyberArk
2 2 (22.22%) Remedy
2 2 (22.22%) Splunk
2 2 (22.22%) Tenable
3 1 (11.11%) CheckPoint