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 16 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 504 450 428
Rank change year-on-year -54 -22 +207
Contract jobs citing GIAC 74 32 120
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.20% 0.13% 0.32%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.59% 0.42% 1.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 51 14 17
10th Percentile £371 £483 £400
25th Percentile £425 £507 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £547 £600
Median % change year-on-year -4.02% -8.83% -17.24%
75th Percentile £633 £633 £713
90th Percentile £725 £676 £758
UK median daily rate £525 £567 £600
% change year-on-year -7.41% -5.50% -15.79%

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 12,517 7,654 11,818
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.04% 30.94% 31.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,304 4,856 7,309
10th Percentile £330 £285 £300
25th Percentile £423 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £728 £738
UK median daily rate £515 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.90% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 978 415 924
10th Percentile £16.29 £19.17 £14.00
25th Percentile £19.72 £25.26 £18.32
Median hourly rate £27.69 £51.50 £38.85
Median % change year-on-year -46.23% +32.56% -22.30%
75th Percentile £67.84 £68.09 £63.00
90th Percentile £84.00 £82.50 £76.45
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £45.00 £38.16
% change year-on-year -35.56% +17.94% -25.19%

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 16 March 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 16 March 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
South East -26 29 £430 -18.10% 2
London -37 26 £500 -4.76% 9
North of England - 6 £620 - 4
South West - 5 £540 - 1
Midlands -62 4 £525 -15.32% 1
West Midlands -63 3 - - 1
North West - 3 £712 - 4
Yorkshire - 3 £540 -
East of England -30 1 £95 -81.00%
East Midlands -32 1 £525 -
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 (1.35%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 18 (24.32%) Azure
2 17 (22.97%) AWS
3 7 (9.46%) GCP
4 3 (4.05%) Microsoft 365
5 2 (2.70%) Apigee
5 2 (2.70%) Azure API Management
5 2 (2.70%) Entra ID
5 2 (2.70%) Kong
5 2 (2.70%) OCI
6 1 (1.35%) Akamai
6 1 (1.35%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 1 (1.35%) Cloudflare
6 1 (1.35%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 25 (33.78%) Network Security
2 11 (14.86%) Firewall
2 11 (14.86%) VPN
3 6 (8.11%) BGP
3 6 (8.11%) MPLS
4 5 (6.76%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (5.41%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (5.41%) S/MIME
5 4 (5.41%) TACACS
6 2 (2.70%) DHCP
6 2 (2.70%) DNS
6 2 (2.70%) OSPF
6 2 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (1.35%) HTTP
7 1 (1.35%) HTTPS
7 1 (1.35%) LAN
7 1 (1.35%) SSL
7 1 (1.35%) TCP/IP
7 1 (1.35%) WAN
7 1 (1.35%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 1 (1.35%) GitLab
1 1 (1.35%) Jenkins
General
1 34 (45.95%) Social Skills
2 21 (28.38%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (17.57%) Public Sector
4 2 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
4 2 (2.70%) Legal
4 2 (2.70%) Retail
5 1 (1.35%) Banking
5 1 (1.35%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 15 (20.27%) Analyst
1 15 (20.27%) Architect
2 13 (17.57%) SIEM Engineer
3 11 (14.86%) Security Engineer
4 9 (12.16%) Security Architect
5 8 (10.81%) Security Analyst
6 7 (9.46%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 6 (8.11%) SOC Analyst
8 5 (6.76%) Lead
9 4 (5.41%) Consultant
9 4 (5.41%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 4 (5.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 4 (5.41%) Operational Security Manager
9 4 (5.41%) Operations Manager
9 4 (5.41%) Security Manager
9 4 (5.41%) Security Operations Manager
10 3 (4.05%) Applications Architect
10 3 (4.05%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
10 3 (4.05%) Operations Analyst
10 3 (4.05%) Security Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (6.76%) LDAP
2 3 (4.05%) OAuth
3 2 (2.70%) JWT
3 2 (2.70%) OAuth2
3 2 (2.70%) OpenID
4 1 (1.35%) 802.1X
4 1 (1.35%) JSON
4 1 (1.35%) REST
4 1 (1.35%) SAML
4 1 (1.35%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 12 (16.22%) Security Operations Centre
2 11 (14.86%) Cyber Security Posture
3 8 (10.81%) PKI
4 6 (8.11%) Onboarding
5 5 (6.76%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (5.41%) Algorithms
6 4 (5.41%) Management Information System
6 4 (5.41%) Operational Technology
6 4 (5.41%) Security Posture
6 4 (5.41%) Smartcard
7 3 (4.05%) Cyber Defence
8 2 (2.70%) CSOC
9 1 (1.35%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (1.35%) Insider Threat
9 1 (1.35%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
9 1 (1.35%) MISP
9 1 (1.35%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (1.35%) STIX
9 1 (1.35%) TAXII
Operating Systems
1 9 (12.16%) Linux
2 4 (5.41%) Ubuntu
3 3 (4.05%) Windows
4 1 (1.35%) Android
4 1 (1.35%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (74.32%) Cybersecurity
2 39 (52.70%) SIEM
3 32 (43.24%) Incident Response
4 27 (36.49%) Security Operations
5 21 (28.38%) Threat Detection
6 17 (22.97%) Threat Intelligence
7 16 (21.62%) Analytical Thinking
8 15 (20.27%) Cloud Security
8 15 (20.27%) Problem-Solving
9 14 (18.92%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
10 13 (17.57%) Threat Modelling
10 13 (17.57%) Vulnerability Management
11 10 (13.51%) Agile
11 10 (13.51%) MITRE ATT&CK
12 9 (12.16%) Continuous Improvement
12 9 (12.16%) Security Architecture
12 9 (12.16%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
12 9 (12.16%) Vulnerability Scanning
13 8 (10.81%) DevOps
13 8 (10.81%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 22 (29.73%) Python
2 17 (22.97%) PowerShell
3 13 (17.57%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (5.41%) PHP
5 2 (2.70%) SQL
6 1 (1.35%) Java
6 1 (1.35%) JavaScript
6 1 (1.35%) Kotlin
6 1 (1.35%) Objective-C
6 1 (1.35%) Swift
Qualifications
1 58 (78.38%) CISSP
2 46 (62.16%) Security Cleared
3 32 (43.24%) SC Cleared
4 27 (36.49%) CEH
5 24 (32.43%) CISM
6 19 (25.68%) CompTIA Security+
7 16 (21.62%) DV Cleared
8 12 (16.22%) Degree
9 10 (13.51%) CREST Certified
10 7 (9.46%) GCIA
10 7 (9.46%) GCIH
11 6 (8.11%) Cisco Certification
11 6 (8.11%) SSCP
12 4 (5.41%) APMG
12 4 (5.41%) BPSS Clearance
12 4 (5.41%) CISA
12 4 (5.41%) CompTIA CySA+
12 4 (5.41%) GSEC
13 3 (4.05%) GWAPT
13 3 (4.05%) ISACA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (36.49%) NIST
2 24 (32.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (10.81%) NCSC
4 4 (5.41%) Cyber Essentials
4 4 (5.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 3 (4.05%) COBIT
5 3 (4.05%) GDPR
5 3 (4.05%) HIPAA
5 3 (4.05%) NIST 800
6 2 (2.70%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (2.70%) GRC
6 2 (2.70%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 2 (2.70%) PCI DSS
7 1 (1.35%) ISA99
7 1 (1.35%) QA
7 1 (1.35%) RMADS
7 1 (1.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 4 (5.41%) VMware ESXi
1 4 (5.41%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (2.70%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 13 (17.57%) Kibana
2 4 (5.41%) vCenter Server
3 3 (4.05%) SCOM
4 2 (2.70%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (1.35%) Ansible
5 1 (1.35%) SELinux
Vendors
1 17 (22.97%) Microsoft
2 15 (20.27%) Splunk
3 12 (16.22%) FireEye
3 12 (16.22%) Tanium
4 7 (9.46%) Cisco
4 7 (9.46%) Tenable
5 5 (6.76%) Cribl.io
6 4 (5.41%) Thales
6 4 (5.41%) VMware
7 3 (4.05%) ArcSight
7 3 (4.05%) Fortinet
7 3 (4.05%) LogRhythm
8 2 (2.70%) CrowdStrike
8 2 (2.70%) MuleSoft
8 2 (2.70%) Palo Alto
8 2 (2.70%) Rapid7
8 2 (2.70%) Zscaler
9 1 (1.35%) Arista
9 1 (1.35%) Darktrace
9 1 (1.35%) Workday