CISM Contract Job Trends in England

ISACA Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for CISM qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 19 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 289 281 255
Rank change year-on-year -8 -26 +165
Contract jobs citing CISM 274 216 325
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.86% 0.81% 0.89%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.52% 2.67% 2.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 130 244
10th Percentile £425 £500 £463
25th Percentile £463 £541 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £625 £625
Median % change year-on-year -14.08% - -3.85%
75th Percentile £638 £675 £700
90th Percentile £725 £760 £825
UK median daily rate £550 £625 £600
% change year-on-year -12.00% +4.17% -5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 6 4
10th Percentile - £64.77 -
25th Percentile £41.94 £68.80 £68.26
Median hourly rate £43.70 £78.40 £78.36
Median % change year-on-year -44.26% +0.05% +7.37%
75th Percentile £77.81 £83.20 £84.31
90th Percentile £94.13 £89.10 £85.92
UK median hourly rate £55.23 £83.20 £78.36
% change year-on-year -33.62% +6.18% +15.24%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
England

CISM falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in England.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 10,889 8,095 11,358
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.38% 30.37% 30.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,206 4,909 7,128
10th Percentile £313 £300 £300
25th Percentile £419 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £738
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 863 394 737
10th Percentile £16.00 £19.98 £14.41
25th Percentile £18.87 £25.26 £21.64
Median hourly rate £25.15 £47.37 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -46.91% -5.26% +11.11%
75th Percentile £61.18 £67.94 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.63 £82.25 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -37.13% -20.00% +11.11%

CISM
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

CISM job vacancy trend in England

CISM
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing CISM.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing CISM

CISM
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing CISM in England over the 6 months to 19 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for CISM in England

CISM
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing CISM.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing CISM

CISM
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing CISM in England over the 6 months to 19 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for CISM in England

CISM
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing CISM within the England region over the 6 months to 19 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
London -36 98 £550 -14.06% 22
North of England -7 58 £532 -14.17% 14
South East +2 48 £492 -23.13% 18
Yorkshire -12 36 £532 -19.98% 7
South West +2 23 £625 -3.85% 9
Midlands -34 22 £500 - 15
North West -20 21 £525 -12.50% 7
West Midlands -25 17 £625 +25.00% 9
East Midlands -28 5 £425 -29.17% 6
East of England -21 3 £600 +4.35% 7
North East - 1 £545 -
CISM
UK

CISM
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 26 (9.49%) Confluence
2 2 (0.73%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.36%) SharePoint
Applications
1 6 (2.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.82%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.46%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.36%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.92%) Maximo
2 2 (0.73%) SAP CO
2 2 (0.73%) SAP FI
2 2 (0.73%) SAP FI/CO
2 2 (0.73%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.36%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 88 (32.12%) Azure
2 70 (25.55%) AWS
3 43 (15.69%) GCP
4 25 (9.12%) OpenShift
5 20 (7.30%) Azure Sentinel
6 19 (6.93%) Entra ID
7 12 (4.38%) Microsoft 365
8 8 (2.92%) Azure AKS
8 8 (2.92%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 8 (2.92%) Azure Monitor
9 7 (2.55%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (2.55%) Microsoft Purview
10 6 (2.19%) SaaS
11 4 (1.46%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.73%) Azure Key Vault
12 2 (0.73%) Google Workspace
13 1 (0.36%) Amazon GuardDuty
13 1 (0.36%) AWS CloudFormation
13 1 (0.36%) AWS KMS
13 1 (0.36%) Google Ads
Communications & Networking
1 39 (14.23%) Firewall
2 30 (10.95%) Network Security
3 22 (8.03%) VPN
4 5 (1.82%) Intrusion Detection
4 5 (1.82%) Kerberos
4 5 (1.82%) SSL
5 4 (1.46%) S/MIME
5 4 (1.46%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.09%) HTTP
6 3 (1.09%) SSH
7 1 (0.36%) DNS
7 1 (0.36%) InfiniBand
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.73%) Power BI
1 2 (0.73%) Tableau
2 1 (0.36%) EDRMS
Development Applications
1 32 (11.68%) JIRA
2 8 (2.92%) GitLab
3 2 (0.73%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.36%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.36%) Git
4 1 (0.36%) TestDirector
General
1 106 (38.69%) Social Skills
2 59 (21.53%) Finance
3 37 (13.50%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (8.39%) Public Sector
5 21 (7.66%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (4.74%) Legal
7 11 (4.01%) Banking
8 7 (2.55%) Presentation Skills
9 5 (1.82%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (1.82%) Local Government
9 5 (1.82%) Marketing
10 3 (1.09%) Law
10 3 (1.09%) Retail
11 2 (0.73%) Automotive
11 2 (0.73%) Electronics
11 2 (0.73%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.73%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.73%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.73%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.73%) Police
Job Titles
1 37 (13.50%) Architect
2 36 (13.14%) Consultant
3 32 (11.68%) Analyst
4 27 (9.85%) Security Architect
5 25 (9.12%) Security Consultant
5 25 (9.12%) Security Engineer
6 24 (8.76%) Lead
6 24 (8.76%) Security Manager
7 18 (6.57%) Solutions Architect
8 17 (6.20%) Security Analyst
9 15 (5.47%) Cybersecurity Consultant
9 15 (5.47%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 15 (5.47%) Senior
10 14 (5.11%) Security Solutions Architect
10 14 (5.11%) Security Specialist
11 11 (4.01%) Cybersecurity Specialist
11 11 (4.01%) Project Manager
12 10 (3.65%) Azure Engineer
12 10 (3.65%) Cybersecurity Analyst
13 9 (3.28%) Cybersecurity Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (8.76%) LDAP
2 15 (5.47%) SailPoint
3 9 (3.28%) OAuth
4 8 (2.92%) ARM Templates
4 8 (2.92%) SAML
5 5 (1.82%) REST
5 5 (1.82%) SOAP
6 3 (1.09%) Microsoft Graph
6 3 (1.09%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.73%) Flash
7 2 (0.73%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.73%) OpenID
7 2 (0.73%) Smart Contracts
8 1 (0.36%) JWT
8 1 (0.36%) OpenMP
8 1 (0.36%) PyTorch
8 1 (0.36%) SLSA
8 1 (0.36%) TensorFlow
8 1 (0.36%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 33 (12.04%) Management Information System
2 19 (6.93%) Cyber Threat
3 18 (6.57%) Security Posture
4 16 (5.84%) PKI
5 13 (4.74%) Cloud Native
5 13 (4.74%) Onboarding
5 13 (4.74%) Security Operations Centre
6 11 (4.01%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (3.28%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (3.28%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.19%) CSOC
9 4 (1.46%) Algorithms
9 4 (1.46%) NHS
9 4 (1.46%) Smartcard
10 3 (1.09%) BYOD
10 3 (1.09%) Cyber Defence
10 3 (1.09%) IoT
10 3 (1.09%) Robotics
11 2 (0.73%) Analytical Mindset
11 2 (0.73%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 10 (3.65%) Windows
2 9 (3.28%) Linux
3 4 (1.46%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.09%) Unix
5 2 (0.73%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.36%) Rocky
6 1 (0.36%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 167 (60.95%) Cybersecurity
2 83 (30.29%) Incident Response
3 79 (28.83%) Information Security
4 76 (27.74%) Risk Management
5 72 (26.28%) SIEM
6 67 (24.45%) Cloud Security
7 66 (24.09%) Identity Access Management
8 52 (18.98%) DevOps
9 49 (17.88%) Security Operations
10 47 (17.15%) Problem-Solving
11 43 (15.69%) Vulnerability Management
12 40 (14.60%) CI/CD
12 40 (14.60%) Computer Science
13 38 (13.87%) Agile
13 38 (13.87%) DevSecOps
14 36 (13.14%) Stakeholder Management
14 36 (13.14%) Threat Modelling
15 34 (12.41%) Zero Trust
16 32 (11.68%) TOGAF
17 31 (11.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 39 (14.23%) PowerShell
2 33 (12.04%) Python
3 8 (2.92%) Bicep
4 5 (1.82%) BeanShell
4 5 (1.82%) Java
5 3 (1.09%) Bash
6 2 (0.73%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.73%) Rust
6 2 (0.73%) Solidity
7 1 (0.36%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 262 (95.62%) CISSP
2 82 (29.93%) Security Cleared
3 71 (25.91%) Degree
4 55 (20.07%) SC Cleared
5 48 (17.52%) CISA
6 35 (12.77%) DV Cleared
7 34 (12.41%) CRISC
8 26 (9.49%) CEH
8 26 (9.49%) CompTIA Security+
9 22 (8.03%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 22 (8.03%) Master's Degree
10 21 (7.66%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 20 (7.30%) GIAC
12 16 (5.84%) Azure Certification
13 15 (5.47%) TOGAF Certification
14 13 (4.74%) Microsoft Certification
15 11 (4.01%) Cisco Certification
15 11 (4.01%) PhD
16 10 (3.65%) PMI Certification
16 10 (3.65%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 151 (55.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 133 (48.54%) NIST
3 79 (28.83%) GDPR
4 28 (10.22%) GRC
5 26 (9.49%) PCI DSS
6 24 (8.76%) NCSC
7 18 (6.57%) COBIT
7 18 (6.57%) Cyber Essentials
8 15 (5.47%) NIST 800
9 14 (5.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 8 (2.92%) JSP 440
11 7 (2.55%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 7 (2.55%) SOC 2
12 6 (2.19%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (1.82%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (1.82%) HIPAA
14 4 (1.46%) PMO
15 3 (1.09%) Actionable Recommendations
15 3 (1.09%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 2 (0.73%) IFRS
System Software
1 39 (14.23%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.73%) GPFS
2 2 (0.73%) Lustre
2 2 (0.73%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 1 (0.36%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 30 (10.95%) Kubernetes
2 17 (6.20%) Terraform
3 15 (5.47%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (3.65%) QRadar
5 8 (2.92%) Ansible
5 8 (2.92%) Fluentd
6 5 (1.82%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.82%) RSA Archer
7 4 (1.46%) CSIRT
8 3 (1.09%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.73%) EnCase
9 2 (0.73%) FTK
9 2 (0.73%) Grafana
9 2 (0.73%) Nessus
9 2 (0.73%) PingFederate
9 2 (0.73%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.73%) SELinux
10 1 (0.36%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 61 (22.26%) Microsoft
2 44 (16.06%) CyberArk
3 29 (10.58%) Splunk
4 21 (7.66%) BeyondTrust
5 19 (6.93%) BiZZdesign
6 14 (5.11%) Centrify
7 11 (4.01%) IBM
8 10 (3.65%) Tenable
9 9 (3.28%) ServiceNow
10 8 (2.92%) Cribl.io
10 8 (2.92%) Red Hat
11 7 (2.55%) Thycotic
12 6 (2.19%) Fortinet
12 6 (2.19%) SAP
13 5 (1.82%) Okta
13 5 (1.82%) Qualys
13 5 (1.82%) Rapid7
14 4 (1.46%) CrowdStrike
14 4 (1.46%) Palo Alto
14 4 (1.46%) Thales