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

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 291 273 247
Rank change year-on-year -18 -26 +168
Contract jobs citing CISM 271 225 337
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.87% 0.84% 0.93%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.55% 2.77% 3.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 176 141 252
10th Percentile £425 £475 £459
25th Percentile £472 £538 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £541 £625 £611
Median % change year-on-year -13.44% +2.25% -5.96%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £700
90th Percentile £725 £775 £823
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 10,631 8,135 11,234
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.28% 30.45% 30.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,005 4,957 7,069
10th Percentile £313 £300 £300
25th Percentile £420 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £730 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 855 384 700
10th Percentile £16.17 £19.46 £14.50
25th Percentile £18.87 £25.26 £23.56
Median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -45.54% -7.64% +11.11%
75th Percentile £57.38 £68.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £76.58 £82.25 £78.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £39.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -35.51% -22.00% +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 12 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 12 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 12 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 98 £558 -14.23% 34
North of England -9 57 £527 -17.62% 15
South East -2 47 £488 -22.00% 23
Yorkshire -5 36 £532 -21.75% 6
South West -7 24 £675 +3.85% 12
North West -26 20 £519 -13.54% 9
Midlands -39 20 £490 -2.00% 12
West Midlands -27 15 £660 +32.00% 7
East Midlands -22 5 £425 -29.17% 5
East of England -25 4 £575 - 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 (9.59%) Confluence
2 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.37%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (1.85%) Microsoft Project
2 4 (1.48%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.37%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.95%) Maximo
2 2 (0.74%) SAP CO
2 2 (0.74%) SAP FI
2 2 (0.74%) SAP FI/CO
2 2 (0.74%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.37%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 86 (31.73%) Azure
2 67 (24.72%) AWS
3 40 (14.76%) GCP
4 25 (9.23%) OpenShift
5 20 (7.38%) Azure Sentinel
5 20 (7.38%) Entra ID
6 13 (4.80%) Microsoft 365
7 8 (2.95%) Azure AKS
7 8 (2.95%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 8 (2.95%) Azure Monitor
8 7 (2.58%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (2.58%) Microsoft Purview
9 6 (2.21%) SaaS
10 4 (1.48%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.74%) Azure Key Vault
11 2 (0.74%) Google Workspace
11 2 (0.74%) IaaS
11 2 (0.74%) PaaS
12 1 (0.37%) Akamai
12 1 (0.37%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 39 (14.39%) Firewall
2 27 (9.96%) Network Security
3 22 (8.12%) VPN
4 6 (2.21%) SSL
5 5 (1.85%) Intrusion Detection
5 5 (1.85%) Kerberos
6 4 (1.48%) S/MIME
6 4 (1.48%) SSH
6 4 (1.48%) TCP/IP
7 3 (1.11%) HTTP
8 1 (0.37%) DNS
8 1 (0.37%) InfiniBand
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.74%) Power BI
1 2 (0.74%) Tableau
2 1 (0.37%) EDRMS
Development Applications
1 30 (11.07%) JIRA
2 8 (2.95%) GitLab
3 2 (0.74%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.37%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.37%) Git
4 1 (0.37%) TestDirector
General
1 101 (37.27%) Social Skills
2 59 (21.77%) Finance
3 35 (12.92%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (9.59%) Public Sector
5 19 (7.01%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (4.43%) Banking
7 11 (4.06%) Legal
8 6 (2.21%) Marketing
8 6 (2.21%) Presentation Skills
9 5 (1.85%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (1.85%) Local Government
10 4 (1.48%) Law
11 3 (1.11%) Electronics
11 3 (1.11%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.11%) Police
11 3 (1.11%) Retail
11 3 (1.11%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.74%) Automotive
12 2 (0.74%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 40 (14.76%) Consultant
2 38 (14.02%) Architect
3 33 (12.18%) Analyst
4 29 (10.70%) Security Consultant
5 28 (10.33%) Security Architect
6 26 (9.59%) Security Engineer
7 24 (8.86%) Lead
8 23 (8.49%) Security Manager
9 18 (6.64%) Solutions Architect
10 17 (6.27%) Security Analyst
11 16 (5.90%) Senior
12 15 (5.54%) Cybersecurity Consultant
12 15 (5.54%) Cybersecurity Manager
13 14 (5.17%) Security Solutions Architect
14 10 (3.69%) Azure Engineer
14 10 (3.69%) Cybersecurity Analyst
14 10 (3.69%) Security Specialist
15 9 (3.32%) Cybersecurity Engineer
15 9 (3.32%) Project Manager
16 8 (2.95%) Security Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (8.12%) LDAP
2 15 (5.54%) SailPoint
3 10 (3.69%) OAuth
4 9 (3.32%) ARM Templates
4 9 (3.32%) SAML
5 5 (1.85%) REST
5 5 (1.85%) SOAP
6 4 (1.48%) OAuth2
7 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Graph
7 3 (1.11%) OpenID
8 2 (0.74%) Flash
8 2 (0.74%) JWT
8 2 (0.74%) ModSecurity
8 2 (0.74%) Smart Contracts
9 1 (0.37%) EJB
9 1 (0.37%) JCE
9 1 (0.37%) JSON Web Signature
9 1 (0.37%) OpenMP
9 1 (0.37%) TensorFlow
9 1 (0.37%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 34 (12.55%) Management Information System
2 19 (7.01%) Security Posture
3 18 (6.64%) Cyber Threat
4 15 (5.54%) PKI
5 14 (5.17%) Cloud Native
6 13 (4.80%) Onboarding
6 13 (4.80%) Security Operations Centre
7 11 (4.06%) Enterprise Software
8 9 (3.32%) Hybrid Cloud
9 7 (2.58%) Operational Technology
10 6 (2.21%) CSOC
11 5 (1.85%) Algorithms
12 4 (1.48%) NHS
12 4 (1.48%) Smartcard
13 3 (1.11%) BYOD
13 3 (1.11%) Cyber Defence
13 3 (1.11%) Data Centre
13 3 (1.11%) IoT
13 3 (1.11%) Robotics
14 2 (0.74%) Blockchain
Operating Systems
1 10 (3.69%) Windows
2 9 (3.32%) Linux
3 4 (1.48%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.11%) Unix
5 2 (0.74%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.37%) Rocky
6 1 (0.37%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 160 (59.04%) Cybersecurity
2 83 (30.63%) Incident Response
3 75 (27.68%) Information Security
4 73 (26.94%) Risk Management
5 70 (25.83%) SIEM
6 68 (25.09%) Cloud Security
6 68 (25.09%) Identity Access Management
7 51 (18.82%) DevOps
8 50 (18.45%) Security Operations
9 43 (15.87%) Problem-Solving
10 42 (15.50%) Vulnerability Management
11 39 (14.39%) CI/CD
12 38 (14.02%) Threat Modelling
13 37 (13.65%) Computer Science
14 36 (13.28%) Agile
15 35 (12.92%) DevSecOps
15 35 (12.92%) Stakeholder Management
16 32 (11.81%) Zero Trust
17 30 (11.07%) Privileged Access Management
17 30 (11.07%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 39 (14.39%) PowerShell
2 33 (12.18%) Python
3 9 (3.32%) Bicep
4 5 (1.85%) BeanShell
4 5 (1.85%) Java
5 4 (1.48%) Bash
6 2 (0.74%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.74%) Rust
6 2 (0.74%) Solidity
7 1 (0.37%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 260 (95.94%) CISSP
2 80 (29.52%) Security Cleared
3 69 (25.46%) Degree
4 54 (19.93%) SC Cleared
5 48 (17.71%) CISA
6 33 (12.18%) DV Cleared
7 30 (11.07%) CRISC
8 27 (9.96%) CEH
9 26 (9.59%) CompTIA Security+
10 23 (8.49%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 23 (8.49%) Master's Degree
11 21 (7.75%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 20 (7.38%) GIAC
13 15 (5.54%) Azure Certification
14 14 (5.17%) TOGAF Certification
15 13 (4.80%) Cisco Certification
15 13 (4.80%) Microsoft Certification
16 12 (4.43%) (ISC)2 CCSP
17 11 (4.06%) PhD
18 10 (3.69%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 151 (55.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 133 (49.08%) NIST
3 77 (28.41%) GDPR
4 27 (9.96%) PCI DSS
5 25 (9.23%) GRC
6 24 (8.86%) NCSC
7 18 (6.64%) COBIT
7 18 (6.64%) Cyber Essentials
8 16 (5.90%) NIST 800
9 14 (5.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 10 (3.69%) JSP 440
11 7 (2.58%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 7 (2.58%) SOC 2
12 6 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (1.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (1.85%) HIPAA
14 4 (1.48%) PMO
15 3 (1.11%) Actionable Recommendations
15 3 (1.11%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 2 (0.74%) IFRS
System Software
1 37 (13.65%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.74%) Firmware
2 2 (0.74%) GPFS
2 2 (0.74%) Lustre
2 2 (0.74%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 1 (0.37%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 30 (11.07%) Kubernetes
2 18 (6.64%) Terraform
3 15 (5.54%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (3.69%) QRadar
5 8 (2.95%) Ansible
5 8 (2.95%) Fluentd
6 5 (1.85%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.85%) RSA Archer
7 4 (1.48%) CSIRT
8 3 (1.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.74%) EnCase
9 2 (0.74%) FTK
9 2 (0.74%) Grafana
9 2 (0.74%) Nessus
9 2 (0.74%) PingFederate
9 2 (0.74%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.74%) SELinux
10 1 (0.37%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 61 (22.51%) Microsoft
2 43 (15.87%) CyberArk
3 29 (10.70%) Splunk
4 19 (7.01%) BeyondTrust
4 19 (7.01%) BiZZdesign
5 14 (5.17%) Centrify
6 11 (4.06%) IBM
7 10 (3.69%) Tenable
8 9 (3.32%) ServiceNow
9 8 (2.95%) Cribl.io
9 8 (2.95%) Red Hat
10 7 (2.58%) SAP
10 7 (2.58%) Thycotic
11 6 (2.21%) Fortinet
12 5 (1.85%) Okta
12 5 (1.85%) Qualys
12 5 (1.85%) Rapid7
12 5 (1.85%) Thales
13 4 (1.48%) CrowdStrike
13 4 (1.48%) Palo Alto