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 1 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 511 446 476
Rank change year-on-year -65 +30 +90
Contract jobs citing GIAC 73 39 66
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.18% 0.16% 0.18%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.55% 0.51% 0.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 48 17 25
10th Percentile £395 £320 £400
25th Percentile £425 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £523 £600
Median % change year-on-year +2.77% -12.83% -14.29%
75th Percentile £668 £600 £650
90th Percentile £727 £643 £755
UK median daily rate £538 £524 £600
% change year-on-year +2.58% -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 13,166 7,626 11,630
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.61% 31.33% 31.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,835 4,847 7,139
10th Percentile £341 £290 £302
25th Percentile £425 £415 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £629 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -0.95% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 988 435 986
10th Percentile £17.10 £18.13 £14.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £22.39 £18.13
Median hourly rate £47.50 £45.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% +12.50% -23.51%
75th Percentile £71.50 £67.75 £62.50
90th Percentile £85.40 £81.74 £75.25
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 1 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 1 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 -42 31 £553 +23.46% 7
South East -38 27 £430 -17.78% 9
North of England - 6 £626 - 8
North West - 5 £712 - 1
South West - 5 £540 - 6
West Midlands -66 1 - - 3
Midlands -83 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 (1.37%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 23 (31.51%) Azure
2 16 (21.92%) AWS
3 10 (13.70%) GCP
4 6 (8.22%) Microsoft 365
5 4 (5.48%) SaaS
6 3 (4.11%) Apigee
6 3 (4.11%) Azure API Management
6 3 (4.11%) Entra ID
6 3 (4.11%) IaaS
6 3 (4.11%) Kong
6 3 (4.11%) PaaS
7 2 (2.74%) Azure Sentinel
8 1 (1.37%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 1 (1.37%) GitHub
8 1 (1.37%) OCI
8 1 (1.37%) Power Platform
8 1 (1.37%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 23 (31.51%) Network Security
2 10 (13.70%) VPN
3 7 (9.59%) Firewall
4 6 (8.22%) BGP
4 6 (8.22%) MPLS
5 4 (5.48%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (5.48%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (5.48%) S/MIME
5 4 (5.48%) TACACS
6 2 (2.74%) OSPF
6 2 (2.74%) TCP/IP
7 1 (1.37%) 802.11
7 1 (1.37%) Cisco Wireless
7 1 (1.37%) DHCP
7 1 (1.37%) DNS
7 1 (1.37%) Modbus
7 1 (1.37%) SSL
7 1 (1.37%) VLAN
7 1 (1.37%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (1.37%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 1 (1.37%) GitLab
1 1 (1.37%) Jenkins
General
1 34 (46.58%) Social Skills
2 22 (30.14%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (19.18%) Public Sector
4 4 (5.48%) Finance
5 2 (2.74%) Banking
5 2 (2.74%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.37%) Financial Institution
6 1 (1.37%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (1.37%) Law
6 1 (1.37%) Military
6 1 (1.37%) Retail
Job Titles
1 14 (19.18%) Architect
2 13 (17.81%) SIEM Engineer
3 12 (16.44%) Analyst
4 10 (13.70%) Security Architect
5 9 (12.33%) Security Engineer
6 7 (9.59%) Lead
7 6 (8.22%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 6 (8.22%) Security Analyst
8 5 (6.85%) Consultant
9 4 (5.48%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 4 (5.48%) Operational Security Manager
9 4 (5.48%) Operations Manager
9 4 (5.48%) Security Manager
9 4 (5.48%) Security Operations Manager
9 4 (5.48%) Security Specialist
9 4 (5.48%) SOC Analyst
10 3 (4.11%) Cybersecurity Consultant
10 3 (4.11%) Cybersecurity Specialist
10 3 (4.11%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
10 3 (4.11%) SOC Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (5.48%) LDAP
1 4 (5.48%) OAuth
2 3 (4.11%) JWT
2 3 (4.11%) OAuth2
2 3 (4.11%) OpenID
3 1 (1.37%) 802.1X
3 1 (1.37%) JSON
3 1 (1.37%) Kafka
3 1 (1.37%) REST
3 1 (1.37%) SailPoint
3 1 (1.37%) SAML
3 1 (1.37%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 11 (15.07%) Cyber Security Posture
2 8 (10.96%) PKI
3 7 (9.59%) Onboarding
3 7 (9.59%) Operational Technology
4 5 (6.85%) Cyber Defence
4 5 (6.85%) Cyber Threat
4 5 (6.85%) Management Information System
4 5 (6.85%) Security Operations Centre
5 4 (5.48%) Algorithms
5 4 (5.48%) Security Posture
5 4 (5.48%) Smartcard
6 3 (4.11%) SCADA
7 1 (1.37%) CAN bus
7 1 (1.37%) CESG
7 1 (1.37%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 1 (1.37%) Data Centre
7 1 (1.37%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (1.37%) Private Cloud
7 1 (1.37%) Public Cloud
7 1 (1.37%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 12 (16.44%) Linux
2 6 (8.22%) Windows
3 4 (5.48%) Ubuntu
4 3 (4.11%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (73.97%) Cybersecurity
2 38 (52.05%) SIEM
3 24 (32.88%) Incident Response
4 21 (28.77%) Threat Detection
5 19 (26.03%) Security Operations
6 17 (23.29%) Problem-Solving
6 17 (23.29%) Threat Intelligence
7 16 (21.92%) Security Architecture
7 16 (21.92%) Vulnerability Management
8 14 (19.18%) Analytical Thinking
8 14 (19.18%) Cloud Security
8 14 (19.18%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
9 12 (16.44%) Risk Assessment
9 12 (16.44%) SABSA
9 12 (16.44%) Threat Modelling
10 11 (15.07%) Incident Management
11 9 (12.33%) Continuous Improvement
11 9 (12.33%) OWASP
11 9 (12.33%) Risk Management
11 9 (12.33%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 21 (28.77%) Python
2 16 (21.92%) PowerShell
3 13 (17.81%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (5.48%) PHP
5 1 (1.37%) Bash
Qualifications
1 59 (80.82%) CISSP
2 48 (65.75%) Security Cleared
3 35 (47.95%) SC Cleared
4 28 (38.36%) CEH
5 26 (35.62%) CISM
6 19 (26.03%) CompTIA Security+
7 17 (23.29%) Degree
8 15 (20.55%) DV Cleared
9 9 (12.33%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (12.33%) CREST Certified
10 8 (10.96%) SSCP
11 7 (9.59%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 7 (9.59%) GSEC
12 6 (8.22%) CRISC
13 5 (6.85%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (6.85%) CISA
13 5 (6.85%) CompTIA CySA+
13 5 (6.85%) CSSLP
14 4 (5.48%) GCIA
14 4 (5.48%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (35.62%) NIST
2 25 (34.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (13.70%) NCSC
4 7 (9.59%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (6.85%) COBIT
6 4 (5.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (5.48%) GRC
7 2 (2.74%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (2.74%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 2 (2.74%) ISO 31000
7 2 (2.74%) NIST 800
7 2 (2.74%) RMADS
8 1 (1.37%) ISA99
8 1 (1.37%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 4 (5.48%) VMware ESXi
1 4 (5.48%) VMware Infrastructure
2 3 (4.11%) Active Directory
3 1 (1.37%) Docker
3 1 (1.37%) Squid
Systems Management
1 13 (17.81%) Kibana
2 4 (5.48%) vCenter Server
3 3 (4.11%) SCOM
4 2 (2.74%) Ansible
4 2 (2.74%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.37%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (1.37%) QRadar
5 1 (1.37%) SELinux
5 1 (1.37%) Terraform
Vendors
1 19 (26.03%) Microsoft
2 14 (19.18%) Splunk
3 12 (16.44%) FireEye
3 12 (16.44%) Tanium
4 6 (8.22%) Cisco
4 6 (8.22%) Tenable
5 5 (6.85%) Cribl.io
6 4 (5.48%) Thales
6 4 (5.48%) VMware
7 3 (4.11%) MuleSoft
8 2 (2.74%) ArcSight
8 2 (2.74%) Fortinet
8 2 (2.74%) LogRhythm
9 1 (1.37%) AirMagnet
9 1 (1.37%) CheckPoint
9 1 (1.37%) Intel
9 1 (1.37%) Juniper
9 1 (1.37%) Meraki
9 1 (1.37%) Siemens
9 1 (1.37%) SonicWALL