GIAC Contract Job Trends in England

Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for GIAC qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 3 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 516 436 483
Rank change year-on-year -80 +47 +73
Contract jobs citing GIAC 71 39 53
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.18% 0.16% 0.14%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.54% 0.51% 0.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 46 17 24
10th Percentile £386 £320 £400
25th Percentile £425 £450 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £539 £523 £600
Median % change year-on-year +3.01% -12.83% -14.29%
75th Percentile £681 £600 £650
90th Percentile £728 £643 £721
UK median daily rate £540 £524 £600
% change year-on-year +3.05% -12.67% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £51.25 - -
Median hourly rate £52.50 - -
75th Percentile £53.75 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £52.50 - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
England

GIAC 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 13,138 7,640 11,590
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.46% 31.34% 31.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,815 4,846 7,129
10th Percentile £340 £289 £307
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £627 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -1.00% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 983 441 989
10th Percentile £17.09 £18.13 £14.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £22.27 £18.13
Median hourly rate £47.50 £43.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.47% +7.50% -23.81%
75th Percentile £71.50 £67.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £85.48 £81.35 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £47.50 £40.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +18.75% - -25.93%

GIAC
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

GIAC job vacancy trend in England

GIAC
Daily Rate Trend in England

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing GIAC

GIAC
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing GIAC in England over the 6 months to 3 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for GIAC in England

GIAC
Hourly Rate Trend in England

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing GIAC

GIAC
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 GIAC within the England region over the 6 months to 3 May 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 -50 31 £553 +23.46% 9
South East -42 25 £430 -17.78% 10
North of England - 6 £626 - 8
South West - 5 £540 - 7
North West - 5 £712 - 1
West Midlands -63 1 - - 3
Midlands -77 1 - - 8
Yorkshire - 1 £540 - 4
GIAC
UK

GIAC
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:

Applications
1 1 (1.41%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 24 (33.80%) Azure
2 16 (22.54%) AWS
3 10 (14.08%) GCP
4 7 (9.86%) Microsoft 365
5 4 (5.63%) Entra ID
5 4 (5.63%) IaaS
5 4 (5.63%) PaaS
5 4 (5.63%) SaaS
6 3 (4.23%) Apigee
6 3 (4.23%) Azure API Management
6 3 (4.23%) Kong
7 2 (2.82%) Azure Sentinel
8 1 (1.41%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 1 (1.41%) GitHub
8 1 (1.41%) OCI
8 1 (1.41%) Power Platform
8 1 (1.41%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 20 (28.17%) Network Security
2 10 (14.08%) VPN
3 7 (9.86%) Firewall
4 6 (8.45%) BGP
4 6 (8.45%) MPLS
5 4 (5.63%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (5.63%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (5.63%) S/MIME
5 4 (5.63%) TACACS
6 2 (2.82%) OSPF
6 2 (2.82%) TCP/IP
7 1 (1.41%) 802.11
7 1 (1.41%) Cisco Wireless
7 1 (1.41%) DHCP
7 1 (1.41%) DNS
7 1 (1.41%) Modbus
7 1 (1.41%) SSL
7 1 (1.41%) VLAN
7 1 (1.41%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (1.41%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 1 (1.41%) GitLab
1 1 (1.41%) Jenkins
General
1 32 (45.07%) Social Skills
2 19 (26.76%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (18.31%) Public Sector
4 4 (5.63%) Finance
5 2 (2.82%) Banking
5 2 (2.82%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.41%) Financial Institution
6 1 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (1.41%) Law
6 1 (1.41%) Military
6 1 (1.41%) Retail
Job Titles
1 14 (19.72%) Architect
2 12 (16.90%) Analyst
3 10 (14.08%) Security Architect
3 10 (14.08%) SIEM Engineer
4 9 (12.68%) Security Engineer
5 7 (9.86%) Lead
6 6 (8.45%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 6 (8.45%) Security Analyst
7 5 (7.04%) Consultant
7 5 (7.04%) Security Specialist
8 4 (5.63%) Cybersecurity Specialist
8 4 (5.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 4 (5.63%) Operational Security Manager
8 4 (5.63%) Operations Manager
8 4 (5.63%) Security Manager
8 4 (5.63%) Security Operations Manager
8 4 (5.63%) SOC Analyst
9 3 (4.23%) Cybersecurity Consultant
9 3 (4.23%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
9 3 (4.23%) SOC Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (5.63%) LDAP
1 4 (5.63%) OAuth
2 3 (4.23%) JWT
2 3 (4.23%) OAuth2
2 3 (4.23%) OpenID
3 1 (1.41%) 802.1X
3 1 (1.41%) JSON
3 1 (1.41%) Kafka
3 1 (1.41%) REST
3 1 (1.41%) SailPoint
3 1 (1.41%) SAML
3 1 (1.41%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 8 (11.27%) Cyber Security Posture
1 8 (11.27%) Operational Technology
1 8 (11.27%) PKI
2 7 (9.86%) Onboarding
3 6 (8.45%) Cyber Defence
4 5 (7.04%) Cyber Threat
4 5 (7.04%) Management Information System
4 5 (7.04%) Security Operations Centre
5 4 (5.63%) Algorithms
5 4 (5.63%) SCADA
5 4 (5.63%) Security Posture
5 4 (5.63%) Smartcard
6 1 (1.41%) Analytical Mindset
6 1 (1.41%) CAN bus
6 1 (1.41%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (1.41%) MISP
6 1 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (1.41%) STIX
6 1 (1.41%) TAXII
Operating Systems
1 13 (18.31%) Linux
2 7 (9.86%) Windows
3 4 (5.63%) Ubuntu
3 4 (5.63%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (73.24%) Cybersecurity
2 36 (50.70%) SIEM
3 24 (33.80%) Incident Response
4 19 (26.76%) Security Operations
5 18 (25.35%) Threat Detection
5 18 (25.35%) Threat Intelligence
6 17 (23.94%) Security Architecture
6 17 (23.94%) Vulnerability Management
7 15 (21.13%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 14 (19.72%) Cloud Security
8 14 (19.72%) Problem-Solving
9 13 (18.31%) Risk Assessment
9 13 (18.31%) SABSA
10 12 (16.90%) Incident Management
10 12 (16.90%) Threat Modelling
11 11 (15.49%) Analytical Thinking
12 10 (14.08%) CI/CD
12 10 (14.08%) OWASP
12 10 (14.08%) Risk Management
13 9 (12.68%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 18 (25.35%) Python
2 13 (18.31%) PowerShell
3 10 (14.08%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (5.63%) PHP
5 1 (1.41%) Bash
Qualifications
1 57 (80.28%) CISSP
2 46 (64.79%) Security Cleared
3 32 (45.07%) SC Cleared
4 27 (38.03%) CISM
5 25 (35.21%) CEH
6 19 (26.76%) CompTIA Security+
7 18 (25.35%) Degree
8 15 (21.13%) DV Cleared
9 10 (14.08%) Cisco Certification
10 9 (12.68%) CREST Certified
10 9 (12.68%) SSCP
11 8 (11.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 8 (11.27%) GSEC
12 7 (9.86%) CRISC
13 5 (7.04%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (7.04%) CISA
13 5 (7.04%) CompTIA CySA+
13 5 (7.04%) CSSLP
13 5 (7.04%) SANS
14 4 (5.63%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (38.03%) NIST
2 26 (36.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (14.08%) NCSC
4 8 (11.27%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (7.04%) COBIT
6 4 (5.63%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (5.63%) GRC
7 3 (4.23%) ISO 31000
8 2 (2.82%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (2.82%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (2.82%) NIST 800
8 2 (2.82%) RMADS
9 1 (1.41%) ISA99
9 1 (1.41%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 4 (5.63%) Active Directory
1 4 (5.63%) VMware ESXi
1 4 (5.63%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (1.41%) Docker
2 1 (1.41%) Squid
Systems Management
1 10 (14.08%) Kibana
2 4 (5.63%) vCenter Server
3 3 (4.23%) SCOM
4 2 (2.82%) Ansible
4 2 (2.82%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.41%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (1.41%) QRadar
5 1 (1.41%) SELinux
5 1 (1.41%) Terraform
Vendors
1 20 (28.17%) Microsoft
2 14 (19.72%) Splunk
3 9 (12.68%) FireEye
3 9 (12.68%) Tanium
4 6 (8.45%) Cisco
4 6 (8.45%) Tenable
5 5 (7.04%) Cribl.io
6 4 (5.63%) Thales
6 4 (5.63%) VMware
7 3 (4.23%) MuleSoft
8 2 (2.82%) ArcSight
8 2 (2.82%) Fortinet
8 2 (2.82%) LogRhythm
9 1 (1.41%) AirMagnet
9 1 (1.41%) CheckPoint
9 1 (1.41%) Intel
9 1 (1.41%) Juniper
9 1 (1.41%) Meraki
9 1 (1.41%) Siemens
9 1 (1.41%) SonicWALL