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

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 533 437 502
Rank change year-on-year -96 +65 +20
Contract jobs citing GIAC 69 39 35
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.16% 0.16% 0.095%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.52% 0.52% 0.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 44 22 25
10th Percentile £414 £335 £400
25th Percentile £425 £481 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £562 £547 £600
Median % change year-on-year +2.74% -8.83% -14.29%
75th Percentile £688 £647 £650
90th Percentile £729 £684 £720
UK median daily rate £550 £567 £600
% change year-on-year -3.00% -5.50% -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 13,397 7,545 11,253
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.89% 31.40% 30.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,988 4,788 6,986
10th Percentile £350 £278 £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 £624 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £746
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £530
% change year-on-year +0.96% -1.89% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,012 440 996
10th Percentile £17.10 £17.87 £14.00
25th Percentile £21.33 £22.27 £18.34
Median hourly rate £47.50 £32.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +46.15% -18.75% -27.27%
75th Percentile £73.00 £66.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £85.25 £80.10 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £32.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +46.28% -18.75% -27.27%

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 30 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 30 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 -57 31 £575 +1.10% 15
South East -49 24 £548 +4.68% 11
South West - 6 £540 -
North of England - 5 £712 - 4
North West - 5 £712 - 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 (1.45%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (1.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 30 (43.48%) Azure
2 20 (28.99%) AWS
3 16 (23.19%) GCP
4 7 (10.14%) Entra ID
4 7 (10.14%) Microsoft 365
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%) Azure Sentinel
7 3 (4.35%) Kong
8 1 (1.45%) AWS Control Tower
8 1 (1.45%) GitHub
8 1 (1.45%) Power Platform
8 1 (1.45%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 16 (23.19%) 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%) S/MIME
4 4 (5.80%) TACACS
5 3 (4.35%) Firewall
6 2 (2.90%) TCP/IP
7 1 (1.45%) DHCP
7 1 (1.45%) DNS
7 1 (1.45%) Internet
7 1 (1.45%) Modbus
7 1 (1.45%) OSPF
7 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 20 (28.99%) Architect
2 13 (18.84%) Analyst
2 13 (18.84%) Security Architect
3 8 (11.59%) SIEM Engineer
4 7 (10.14%) Cybersecurity Analyst
4 7 (10.14%) Security Analyst
4 7 (10.14%) Security Specialist
5 6 (8.70%) Cybersecurity Specialist
5 6 (8.70%) Security Engineer
6 5 (7.25%) Cybersecurity Architect
6 5 (7.25%) Lead
6 5 (7.25%) SOC Analyst
7 4 (5.80%) Consultant
8 3 (4.35%) Applications Architect
8 3 (4.35%) Cybersecurity Consultant
8 3 (4.35%) Information Assurance Leader
8 3 (4.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 3 (4.35%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
8 3 (4.35%) Security Consultant
8 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%) Azure Blueprints
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%) Management Information System
3 7 (10.14%) Onboarding
3 7 (10.14%) SCADA
4 5 (7.25%) Cyber Defence
4 5 (7.25%) Cyber Threat
4 5 (7.25%) Security Posture
5 4 (5.80%) Algorithms
5 4 (5.80%) Smartcard
6 3 (4.35%) Analytical Mindset
6 3 (4.35%) Security Operations Centre
7 1 (1.45%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 1 (1.45%) Legacy Applications
7 1 (1.45%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (1.45%) MISP
7 1 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (1.45%) STIX
7 1 (1.45%) TAXII
Operating Systems
1 16 (23.19%) Linux
2 10 (14.49%) Windows
3 6 (8.70%) Unix
4 5 (7.25%) Ubuntu
5 1 (1.45%) Alpine Linux
5 1 (1.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (1.45%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (73.91%) Cybersecurity
2 36 (52.17%) SIEM
3 24 (34.78%) 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 17 (24.64%) Vulnerability Management
9 16 (23.19%) Risk Assessment
9 16 (23.19%) Security Operations
10 15 (21.74%) Cloud Security
10 15 (21.74%) Problem-Solving
10 15 (21.74%) Threat Detection
11 14 (20.29%) CI/CD
11 14 (20.29%) Risk Management
12 13 (18.84%) DevOps
12 13 (18.84%) Threat Modelling
13 12 (17.39%) OWASP
14 11 (15.94%) TOGAF
15 10 (14.49%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (24.64%) Python
2 12 (17.39%) PowerShell
3 9 (13.04%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (5.80%) PHP
5 1 (1.45%) Bash
5 1 (1.45%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 57 (82.61%) CISSP
2 48 (69.57%) Security Cleared
3 35 (50.72%) SC Cleared
4 34 (49.28%) CISM
5 22 (31.88%) CEH
6 18 (26.09%) CompTIA Security+
7 17 (24.64%) Degree
8 15 (21.74%) DV Cleared
9 11 (15.94%) Cisco Certification
10 10 (14.49%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 10 (14.49%) GSEC
11 9 (13.04%) CRISC
11 9 (13.04%) SSCP
12 8 (11.59%) SANS
13 7 (10.14%) CISA
14 6 (8.70%) CESG Certified Professional
15 5 (7.25%) BPSS Clearance
15 5 (7.25%) CompTIA CySA+
15 5 (7.25%) CSSLP
15 5 (7.25%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (50.72%) NIST
2 34 (49.28%) 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%) HIPAA
9 1 (1.45%) ISA99
9 1 (1.45%) NIST 800
9 1 (1.45%) SOC 2
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%) Ansible
3 3 (4.35%) SCOM
4 2 (2.90%) Kubernetes
4 2 (2.90%) Terraform
5 1 (1.45%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (1.45%) QRadar
5 1 (1.45%) SELinux
Vendors
1 21 (30.43%) 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%) CrowdStrike
7 2 (2.90%) LogRhythm
8 1 (1.45%) Arista
8 1 (1.45%) CyberArk
8 1 (1.45%) Exabeam
8 1 (1.45%) Okta
8 1 (1.45%) Palo Alto
8 1 (1.45%) Rapid7
8 1 (1.45%) Zscaler