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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 524 452 496
Rank change year-on-year -72 +44 +39
Contract jobs citing GIAC 69 37 35
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.17% 0.15% 0.096%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.52% 0.49% 0.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 44 18 24
10th Percentile £414 £321 £400
25th Percentile £425 £456 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £562 £524 £600
Median % change year-on-year +7.25% -12.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £688 £614 £650
90th Percentile £729 £650 £721
UK median daily rate £550 £525 £600
% change year-on-year +4.76% -12.50% -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 13,159 7,619 11,185
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.92% 31.46% 30.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,834 4,839 6,942
10th Percentile £350 £281 £313
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £530
% change year-on-year - -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 964 437 971
10th Percentile £17.00 £18.13 £14.00
25th Percentile £21.33 £22.50 £18.00
Median hourly rate £47.52 £37.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.43% -7.50% -24.42%
75th Percentile £72.51 £67.50 £62.05
90th Percentile £85.25 £81.15 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £47.80 £35.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +36.56% -12.50% -27.26%

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 21 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 21 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 -47 31 £575 +15.00% 9
South East -40 24 £548 +4.68% 8
South West - 6 £540 -
North of England - 5 £712 - 2
North West - 5 £712 - 2
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 (1.45%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 29 (42.03%) Azure
2 19 (27.54%) AWS
3 15 (21.74%) GCP
4 7 (10.14%) Microsoft 365
5 6 (8.70%) Entra ID
5 6 (8.70%) IaaS
5 6 (8.70%) PaaS
6 4 (5.80%) SaaS
7 3 (4.35%) Apigee
7 3 (4.35%) Azure API Management
7 3 (4.35%) Kong
8 2 (2.90%) Azure Sentinel
9 1 (1.45%) GitHub
9 1 (1.45%) Power Platform
9 1 (1.45%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 17 (24.64%) Network Security
2 9 (13.04%) VPN
3 5 (7.25%) BGP
3 5 (7.25%) MPLS
4 4 (5.80%) Cisco ASA
4 4 (5.80%) Cisco IOS
4 4 (5.80%) Firewall
4 4 (5.80%) S/MIME
4 4 (5.80%) TACACS
5 2 (2.90%) TCP/IP
6 1 (1.45%) DHCP
6 1 (1.45%) DNS
6 1 (1.45%) Modbus
6 1 (1.45%) OSPF
6 1 (1.45%) SSL
Development Applications
1 1 (1.45%) GitLab
1 1 (1.45%) Jenkins
General
1 35 (50.72%) Social Skills
2 19 (27.54%) Analytical Skills
3 12 (17.39%) Public Sector
4 4 (5.80%) Finance
5 2 (2.90%) Banking
6 1 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.45%) Financial Institution
6 1 (1.45%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (1.45%) Law
6 1 (1.45%) Military
6 1 (1.45%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.45%) Retail
Job Titles
1 19 (27.54%) Architect
2 13 (18.84%) Analyst
3 12 (17.39%) Security Architect
4 8 (11.59%) SIEM Engineer
5 7 (10.14%) Cybersecurity Analyst
5 7 (10.14%) Security Analyst
5 7 (10.14%) Security Engineer
5 7 (10.14%) Security Specialist
6 6 (8.70%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 5 (7.25%) Lead
7 5 (7.25%) SOC Analyst
8 4 (5.80%) Consultant
8 4 (5.80%) Cybersecurity Architect
9 3 (4.35%) Applications Architect
9 3 (4.35%) Cybersecurity Consultant
9 3 (4.35%) Information Assurance Leader
9 3 (4.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 3 (4.35%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
9 3 (4.35%) Security Consultant
9 3 (4.35%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (5.80%) LDAP
1 4 (5.80%) OAuth
2 3 (4.35%) JWT
2 3 (4.35%) OAuth2
2 3 (4.35%) OpenID
3 1 (1.45%) JSON
3 1 (1.45%) Kafka
3 1 (1.45%) REST
3 1 (1.45%) SailPoint
3 1 (1.45%) SAML
3 1 (1.45%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 11 (15.94%) PKI
2 10 (14.49%) Operational Technology
3 7 (10.14%) Cyber Security Posture
3 7 (10.14%) Onboarding
3 7 (10.14%) SCADA
4 6 (8.70%) Management Information System
5 5 (7.25%) Cyber Defence
5 5 (7.25%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (5.80%) Algorithms
6 4 (5.80%) Security Posture
6 4 (5.80%) Smartcard
7 3 (4.35%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (4.35%) Security Operations Centre
8 1 (1.45%) CAN bus
8 1 (1.45%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 1 (1.45%) Data Centre
8 1 (1.45%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (1.45%) Private Cloud
8 1 (1.45%) Public Cloud
8 1 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 15 (21.74%) Linux
2 9 (13.04%) Windows
3 6 (8.70%) Unix
4 4 (5.80%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (73.91%) Cybersecurity
2 36 (52.17%) SIEM
3 23 (33.33%) Security Architecture
4 22 (31.88%) Incident Response
5 21 (30.43%) Threat Intelligence
6 20 (28.99%) SABSA
7 18 (26.09%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 16 (23.19%) Risk Assessment
8 16 (23.19%) Vulnerability Management
9 15 (21.74%) Problem-Solving
9 15 (21.74%) Security Operations
9 15 (21.74%) Threat Detection
10 14 (20.29%) CI/CD
10 14 (20.29%) Cloud Security
10 14 (20.29%) Threat Modelling
11 13 (18.84%) Risk Management
12 12 (17.39%) DevOps
12 12 (17.39%) OWASP
13 10 (14.49%) Incident Management
13 10 (14.49%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 16 (23.19%) Python
2 11 (15.94%) PowerShell
3 9 (13.04%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (5.80%) PHP
5 1 (1.45%) Bash
Qualifications
1 57 (82.61%) CISSP
2 49 (71.01%) Security Cleared
3 35 (50.72%) SC Cleared
4 34 (49.28%) CISM
5 23 (33.33%) CEH
6 19 (27.54%) CompTIA Security+
7 17 (24.64%) Degree
8 16 (23.19%) DV Cleared
9 11 (15.94%) Cisco Certification
10 10 (14.49%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 9 (13.04%) CRISC
11 9 (13.04%) GSEC
11 9 (13.04%) SSCP
12 8 (11.59%) SANS
13 6 (8.70%) CESG Certified Professional
13 6 (8.70%) CISA
14 5 (7.25%) BPSS Clearance
14 5 (7.25%) CompTIA CySA+
14 5 (7.25%) CSSLP
15 4 (5.80%) APMG
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (49.28%) NIST
2 33 (47.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (17.39%) NCSC
4 10 (14.49%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (10.14%) COBIT
6 5 (7.25%) ISO 31000
7 4 (5.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (5.80%) GRC
8 2 (2.90%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (2.90%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (2.90%) RMADS
9 1 (1.45%) ISA99
9 1 (1.45%) NIST 800
System Software
1 6 (8.70%) Active Directory
2 4 (5.80%) VMware ESXi
2 4 (5.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.45%) Docker
3 1 (1.45%) Squid
Systems Management
1 8 (11.59%) Kibana
2 4 (5.80%) vCenter Server
3 3 (4.35%) SCOM
4 2 (2.90%) Ansible
4 2 (2.90%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.45%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (1.45%) QRadar
5 1 (1.45%) SELinux
5 1 (1.45%) Terraform
Vendors
1 20 (28.99%) Microsoft
2 13 (18.84%) Splunk
3 7 (10.14%) FireEye
3 7 (10.14%) Tanium
4 5 (7.25%) Cisco
4 5 (7.25%) Cribl.io
4 5 (7.25%) Tenable
5 4 (5.80%) Thales
5 4 (5.80%) VMware
6 3 (4.35%) ArcSight
6 3 (4.35%) MuleSoft
7 2 (2.90%) LogRhythm
8 1 (1.45%) Arista
8 1 (1.45%) CheckPoint
8 1 (1.45%) CyberArk
8 1 (1.45%) Fortinet
8 1 (1.45%) Intel
8 1 (1.45%) Juniper
8 1 (1.45%) Palo Alto
8 1 (1.45%) Siemens