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 13 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 507 442 437
Rank change year-on-year -65 -5 +183
Contract jobs citing GIAC 77 37 103
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.20% 0.15% 0.28%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.59% 0.48% 0.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 17 22
10th Percentile £373 £379 £402
25th Percentile £425 £475 £434
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £525 £600
Median % change year-on-year +2.38% -12.50% -14.29%
75th Percentile £653 £620 £650
90th Percentile £725 £665 £724
UK median daily rate £538 £526 £600
% change year-on-year +2.19% -12.33% -14.29%

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 13,040 7,658 11,683
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.20% 31.41% 31.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,741 4,904 7,218
10th Percentile £341 £300 £300
25th Percentile £425 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £745
UK median daily rate £518 £525 £537
% change year-on-year -1.43% -2.23% -2.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 991 424 936
10th Percentile £16.35 £18.26 £13.93
25th Percentile £20.82 £24.24 £17.72
Median hourly rate £45.46 £50.00 £39.44
Median % change year-on-year -9.08% +26.79% -24.16%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.40 £82.25 £76.12
UK median hourly rate £42.25 £45.00 £38.85
% change year-on-year -6.11% +15.83% -27.62%

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 13 April 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 13 April 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 -40 32 £530 +11.87% 6
South East -32 27 £430 -17.78% 1
South West - 6 £545 -
North of England - 6 £626 - 3
North West - 5 £712 - 2
West Midlands -71 1 - - 2
Midlands -73 1 - - 2
Yorkshire - 1 £540 -
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 (1.30%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 19 (24.68%) Azure
2 15 (19.48%) AWS
3 9 (11.69%) GCP
4 3 (3.90%) Apigee
4 3 (3.90%) Azure API Management
4 3 (3.90%) Kong
4 3 (3.90%) Microsoft 365
5 2 (2.60%) SaaS
6 1 (1.30%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 1 (1.30%) Azure Sentinel
6 1 (1.30%) Entra ID
6 1 (1.30%) GitHub
6 1 (1.30%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 25 (32.47%) Network Security
2 10 (12.99%) Firewall
2 10 (12.99%) VPN
3 6 (7.79%) BGP
3 6 (7.79%) MPLS
4 4 (5.19%) Cisco ASA
4 4 (5.19%) Cisco IOS
4 4 (5.19%) S/MIME
4 4 (5.19%) TACACS
5 2 (2.60%) OSPF
5 2 (2.60%) TCP/IP
6 1 (1.30%) 802.11
6 1 (1.30%) Cisco Wireless
6 1 (1.30%) DHCP
6 1 (1.30%) DNS
6 1 (1.30%) Modbus
6 1 (1.30%) SSL
6 1 (1.30%) VLAN
6 1 (1.30%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (1.30%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 2 (2.60%) GitLab
1 2 (2.60%) Jenkins
General
1 33 (42.86%) Social Skills
2 22 (28.57%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (18.18%) Public Sector
4 3 (3.90%) Finance
5 2 (2.60%) Banking
5 2 (2.60%) Legal
5 2 (2.60%) Retail
6 1 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.30%) Financial Institution
6 1 (1.30%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 17 (22.08%) Analyst
2 15 (19.48%) Architect
3 13 (16.88%) SIEM Engineer
4 11 (14.29%) Security Engineer
5 10 (12.99%) Security Architect
6 9 (11.69%) Security Analyst
7 8 (10.39%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 7 (9.09%) Lead
8 7 (9.09%) SOC Analyst
9 5 (6.49%) Consultant
10 4 (5.19%) Cybersecurity Engineer
10 4 (5.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 4 (5.19%) Operational Security Manager
10 4 (5.19%) Operations Manager
10 4 (5.19%) Security Manager
10 4 (5.19%) Security Operations Manager
11 3 (3.90%) Cybersecurity Consultant
11 3 (3.90%) Information Assurance Leader
11 3 (3.90%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
11 3 (3.90%) Security Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (5.19%) LDAP
2 3 (3.90%) JWT
2 3 (3.90%) OAuth
2 3 (3.90%) OAuth2
2 3 (3.90%) OpenID
3 1 (1.30%) 802.1X
3 1 (1.30%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 11 (14.29%) Cyber Security Posture
1 11 (14.29%) Security Operations Centre
2 8 (10.39%) PKI
3 6 (7.79%) Management Information System
3 6 (7.79%) Onboarding
4 5 (6.49%) Operational Technology
5 4 (5.19%) Algorithms
5 4 (5.19%) Cyber Threat
5 4 (5.19%) Security Posture
5 4 (5.19%) Smartcard
6 3 (3.90%) Cyber Defence
7 1 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (1.30%) CAN bus
7 1 (1.30%) CESG
7 1 (1.30%) Data Centre
7 1 (1.30%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (1.30%) Mobile App
7 1 (1.30%) Private Cloud
7 1 (1.30%) Public Cloud
7 1 (1.30%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 9 (11.69%) Linux
2 4 (5.19%) Ubuntu
3 3 (3.90%) Windows
4 1 (1.30%) Android
4 1 (1.30%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (76.62%) Cybersecurity
2 39 (50.65%) SIEM
3 29 (37.66%) Incident Response
4 25 (32.47%) Security Operations
5 22 (28.57%) Threat Detection
6 17 (22.08%) Problem-Solving
6 17 (22.08%) Threat Intelligence
7 15 (19.48%) Analytical Thinking
7 15 (19.48%) Cloud Security
8 14 (18.18%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 14 (18.18%) Threat Modelling
9 13 (16.88%) Security Architecture
9 13 (16.88%) Vulnerability Management
10 10 (12.99%) Risk Assessment
10 10 (12.99%) SABSA
11 9 (11.69%) Application Security
11 9 (11.69%) Continuous Improvement
11 9 (11.69%) MITRE ATT&CK
11 9 (11.69%) Risk Management
11 9 (11.69%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 22 (28.57%) Python
2 16 (20.78%) PowerShell
3 13 (16.88%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (5.19%) PHP
5 1 (1.30%) Java
5 1 (1.30%) JavaScript
5 1 (1.30%) Kotlin
5 1 (1.30%) Objective-C
5 1 (1.30%) Swift
Qualifications
1 62 (80.52%) CISSP
2 50 (64.94%) Security Cleared
3 33 (42.86%) SC Cleared
4 30 (38.96%) CEH
5 26 (33.77%) CISM
6 23 (29.87%) CompTIA Security+
7 17 (22.08%) DV Cleared
8 13 (16.88%) Degree
9 9 (11.69%) CREST Certified
10 6 (7.79%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (7.79%) GCIA
10 6 (7.79%) GCIH
11 5 (6.49%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (6.49%) CISA
11 5 (6.49%) CompTIA CySA+
11 5 (6.49%) CSSLP
11 5 (6.49%) GSEC
11 5 (6.49%) SSCP
12 4 (5.19%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 4 (5.19%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (33.77%) NIST
2 25 (32.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (12.99%) NCSC
4 5 (6.49%) COBIT
5 4 (5.19%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (5.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 4 (5.19%) GRC
6 2 (2.60%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (2.60%) GDPR
6 2 (2.60%) HIPAA
6 2 (2.60%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 2 (2.60%) NIST 800
6 2 (2.60%) RMADS
7 1 (1.30%) ISA99
7 1 (1.30%) PCI DSS
7 1 (1.30%) QA
System Software
1 4 (5.19%) VMware ESXi
1 4 (5.19%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (1.30%) Active Directory
2 1 (1.30%) Docker
Systems Management
1 13 (16.88%) Kibana
2 4 (5.19%) vCenter Server
3 3 (3.90%) SCOM
4 2 (2.60%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (1.30%) Ansible
5 1 (1.30%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.30%) SELinux
Vendors
1 18 (23.38%) Splunk
2 17 (22.08%) Microsoft
3 12 (15.58%) FireEye
3 12 (15.58%) Tanium
4 9 (11.69%) Tenable
5 6 (7.79%) Cisco
6 5 (6.49%) Cribl.io
7 4 (5.19%) Thales
7 4 (5.19%) VMware
8 3 (3.90%) ArcSight
8 3 (3.90%) LogRhythm
8 3 (3.90%) MuleSoft
9 2 (2.60%) CrowdStrike
9 2 (2.60%) Fortinet
10 1 (1.30%) AirMagnet
10 1 (1.30%) Google
10 1 (1.30%) Intel
10 1 (1.30%) Juniper
10 1 (1.30%) SonicWALL
10 1 (1.30%) Zscaler