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 22 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 288 292 269
Rank change year-on-year +4 -23 +142
Contract jobs citing CISM 278 214 316
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.86% 0.80% 0.86%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.50% 2.62% 2.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 182 129 236
10th Percentile £425 £500 £469
25th Percentile £463 £538 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £541 £625 £625
Median % change year-on-year -13.44% - -3.85%
75th Percentile £638 £675 £700
90th Percentile £725 £761 £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 11,130 8,166 11,359
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.37% 30.43% 31.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,385 4,958 7,104
10th Percentile £313 £300 £300
25th Percentile £419 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.48% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £738
UK median daily rate £519 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -1.24% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 875 400 768
10th Percentile £15.92 £19.96 £14.22
25th Percentile £18.87 £25.26 £21.46
Median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £48.40
Median % change year-on-year -45.54% -4.59% +7.56%
75th Percentile £62.38 £67.56 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.47 £82.25 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £39.04 £48.40
% change year-on-year -35.58% -19.34% +7.56%

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 22 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 22 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 22 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 -37 101 £550 -15.38% 25
North of England -21 59 £532 -14.17% 13
South East -13 48 £492 -23.13% 20
Yorkshire -18 37 £532 -19.98% 5
South West -3 22 £575 -11.54% 11
Midlands -43 22 £500 - 15
North West -23 21 £525 -12.50% 8
West Midlands -34 17 £625 +25.00% 9
East Midlands -26 5 £425 -29.17% 6
East of England -25 3 £600 +4.35% 4
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 27 (9.71%) Confluence
2 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.36%) SharePoint
Applications
1 6 (2.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.80%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.44%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.36%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.88%) Maximo
2 2 (0.72%) SAP CO
2 2 (0.72%) SAP FI
2 2 (0.72%) SAP FI/CO
2 2 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.36%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 89 (32.01%) Azure
2 72 (25.90%) AWS
3 43 (15.47%) GCP
4 25 (8.99%) OpenShift
5 20 (7.19%) Azure Sentinel
5 20 (7.19%) Entra ID
6 13 (4.68%) Microsoft 365
7 8 (2.88%) Azure AKS
7 8 (2.88%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 8 (2.88%) Azure Monitor
7 8 (2.88%) Microsoft Purview
8 7 (2.52%) Azure DevOps
9 6 (2.16%) SaaS
10 4 (1.44%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.72%) Azure Key Vault
11 2 (0.72%) Google Workspace
12 1 (0.36%) Akamai
12 1 (0.36%) GitHub
12 1 (0.36%) IaaS
12 1 (0.36%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 39 (14.03%) Firewall
2 30 (10.79%) Network Security
3 22 (7.91%) VPN
4 5 (1.80%) Intrusion Detection
4 5 (1.80%) Kerberos
4 5 (1.80%) SSL
5 4 (1.44%) S/MIME
5 4 (1.44%) SSH
5 4 (1.44%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.08%) HTTP
7 1 (0.36%) DNS
7 1 (0.36%) InfiniBand
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.72%) Power BI
1 2 (0.72%) Tableau
2 1 (0.36%) EDRMS
Development Applications
1 33 (11.87%) JIRA
2 8 (2.88%) GitLab
3 2 (0.72%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.36%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.36%) Git
4 1 (0.36%) TestDirector
General
1 106 (38.13%) Social Skills
2 59 (21.22%) Finance
3 37 (13.31%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (7.91%) Public Sector
5 21 (7.55%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (5.04%) Legal
7 12 (4.32%) Banking
8 7 (2.52%) Presentation Skills
9 5 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (1.80%) Local Government
10 4 (1.44%) Marketing
10 4 (1.44%) Retail
11 3 (1.08%) Law
12 2 (0.72%) Automotive
12 2 (0.72%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.72%) Organisational Skills
12 2 (0.72%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.72%) Police
13 1 (0.36%) Digital Health
13 1 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 37 (13.31%) Architect
2 35 (12.59%) Consultant
3 32 (11.51%) Analyst
4 27 (9.71%) Security Architect
5 25 (8.99%) Security Engineer
5 25 (8.99%) Security Manager
6 24 (8.63%) Lead
6 24 (8.63%) Security Consultant
7 18 (6.47%) Solutions Architect
8 17 (6.12%) Security Analyst
9 15 (5.40%) Cybersecurity Consultant
9 15 (5.40%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 15 (5.40%) Senior
10 14 (5.04%) Security Solutions Architect
10 14 (5.04%) Security Specialist
11 11 (3.96%) Cybersecurity Specialist
11 11 (3.96%) Project Manager
12 10 (3.60%) Azure Engineer
12 10 (3.60%) Cybersecurity Analyst
13 9 (3.24%) Cybersecurity Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (8.63%) LDAP
2 15 (5.40%) SailPoint
3 9 (3.24%) OAuth
4 8 (2.88%) ARM Templates
4 8 (2.88%) SAML
5 5 (1.80%) REST
5 5 (1.80%) SOAP
6 3 (1.08%) Microsoft Graph
6 3 (1.08%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.72%) Flash
7 2 (0.72%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.72%) OpenID
7 2 (0.72%) 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 34 (12.23%) Management Information System
2 20 (7.19%) Cyber Threat
2 20 (7.19%) Security Posture
3 16 (5.76%) PKI
4 14 (5.04%) Cloud Native
4 14 (5.04%) Security Operations Centre
5 13 (4.68%) Onboarding
6 11 (3.96%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (3.24%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (3.24%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.16%) CSOC
9 4 (1.44%) Algorithms
9 4 (1.44%) NHS
9 4 (1.44%) Smartcard
10 3 (1.08%) BYOD
10 3 (1.08%) Cyber Defence
10 3 (1.08%) IoT
10 3 (1.08%) Robotics
11 2 (0.72%) Blockchain
11 2 (0.72%) CUDA
Operating Systems
1 10 (3.60%) Windows
2 9 (3.24%) Linux
3 4 (1.44%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.08%) Unix
5 2 (0.72%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.36%) Rocky
6 1 (0.36%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 170 (61.15%) Cybersecurity
2 85 (30.58%) Incident Response
3 81 (29.14%) Information Security
4 78 (28.06%) Risk Management
5 74 (26.62%) SIEM
6 68 (24.46%) Cloud Security
7 66 (23.74%) Identity Access Management
8 52 (18.71%) DevOps
9 51 (18.35%) Security Operations
10 47 (16.91%) Problem-Solving
11 45 (16.19%) Vulnerability Management
12 42 (15.11%) Computer Science
13 41 (14.75%) CI/CD
14 38 (13.67%) Agile
14 38 (13.67%) DevSecOps
15 37 (13.31%) Stakeholder Management
16 35 (12.59%) Threat Modelling
17 34 (12.23%) Zero Trust
18 32 (11.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 32 (11.51%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 39 (14.03%) PowerShell
2 34 (12.23%) Python
3 8 (2.88%) Bicep
4 5 (1.80%) BeanShell
4 5 (1.80%) Java
5 3 (1.08%) Bash
6 2 (0.72%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.72%) Rust
6 2 (0.72%) Solidity
7 1 (0.36%) Go
7 1 (0.36%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 266 (95.68%) CISSP
2 83 (29.86%) Security Cleared
3 73 (26.26%) Degree
4 57 (20.50%) SC Cleared
5 48 (17.27%) CISA
6 36 (12.95%) CRISC
7 34 (12.23%) DV Cleared
8 26 (9.35%) CEH
8 26 (9.35%) CompTIA Security+
9 24 (8.63%) Master's Degree
10 22 (7.91%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 21 (7.55%) GIAC
12 20 (7.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 17 (6.12%) Azure Certification
14 15 (5.40%) TOGAF Certification
15 13 (4.68%) Microsoft Certification
16 12 (4.32%) Cisco Certification
17 11 (3.96%) (ISC)2 CCSP
17 11 (3.96%) Computer Science Degree
17 11 (3.96%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 153 (55.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 136 (48.92%) NIST
3 81 (29.14%) GDPR
4 28 (10.07%) GRC
4 28 (10.07%) PCI DSS
5 24 (8.63%) NCSC
6 19 (6.83%) Cyber Essentials
7 18 (6.47%) COBIT
8 15 (5.40%) NIST 800
9 14 (5.04%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 8 (2.88%) JSP 440
10 8 (2.88%) SOC 2
11 7 (2.52%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 6 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (1.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (1.80%) HIPAA
14 4 (1.44%) PMO
15 3 (1.08%) Actionable Recommendations
15 3 (1.08%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 2 (0.72%) IFRS
System Software
1 39 (14.03%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.72%) GPFS
2 2 (0.72%) Lustre
2 2 (0.72%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 1 (0.36%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 31 (11.15%) Kubernetes
2 17 (6.12%) Terraform
3 15 (5.40%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (3.60%) QRadar
5 8 (2.88%) Ansible
5 8 (2.88%) Fluentd
6 5 (1.80%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.80%) RSA Archer
7 4 (1.44%) CSIRT
8 3 (1.08%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.72%) EnCase
9 2 (0.72%) FTK
9 2 (0.72%) Grafana
9 2 (0.72%) Nessus
9 2 (0.72%) PingFederate
9 2 (0.72%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.72%) SELinux
10 1 (0.36%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 62 (22.30%) Microsoft
2 44 (15.83%) CyberArk
3 29 (10.43%) Splunk
4 21 (7.55%) BeyondTrust
5 20 (7.19%) BiZZdesign
6 14 (5.04%) Centrify
7 11 (3.96%) IBM
8 10 (3.60%) Tenable
9 9 (3.24%) ServiceNow
10 8 (2.88%) Cribl.io
10 8 (2.88%) Red Hat
11 7 (2.52%) Thycotic
12 6 (2.16%) Fortinet
13 5 (1.80%) Okta
13 5 (1.80%) Qualys
13 5 (1.80%) Rapid7
13 5 (1.80%) SAP
14 4 (1.44%) CrowdStrike
14 4 (1.44%) Palo Alto
14 4 (1.44%) Thales