GSEC Contract Job Trends in England

GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for GSEC qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 4 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 530 508 578
Rank change year-on-year -22 +70 +176
Contract jobs citing GSEC 14 5 4
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.048% 0.016% 0.010%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.14% 0.054% 0.034%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 3 1
10th Percentile £431 £553 -
25th Percentile £454 £613 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £725 £425
Median % change year-on-year -36.90% +70.59% -15.00%
75th Percentile £950 £738 £438
90th Percentile £980 - -
UK median daily rate £458 £725 £425
% change year-on-year -36.90% +70.59% -15.00%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
England

GSEC 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 9,665 9,176 11,641
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.91% 29.68% 29.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,218 5,616 7,475
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £415 £425 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £530 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.94% -3.64% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £715 £728 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 834 411 702
10th Percentile £17.69 £20.12 £17.71
25th Percentile £18.87 £27.00 £26.24
Median hourly rate £25.15 £52.19 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -51.81% -0.59% +16.67%
75th Percentile £45.46 £68.09 £69.91
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £79.98
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.50
% change year-on-year -45.54% -12.04% +16.67%

GSEC
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing GSEC relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

GSEC job vacancy trend in England

GSEC
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing GSEC.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing GSEC

GSEC
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing GSEC in England over the 6 months to 4 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for GSEC in England

GSEC
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing GSEC.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing GSEC

GSEC
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 GSEC within the England region over the 6 months to 4 November 2025. 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
North of England - 9 £458 -
Yorkshire - 6 - -
South East - 6 - - 2
London -5 3 £950 +31.03% 1
North West - 3 £458 -
GSEC
UK

GSEC
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:

Cloud Services
1 5 (35.71%) Azure
1 5 (35.71%) Microsoft 365
2 4 (28.57%) Azure Sentinel
3 1 (7.14%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (64.29%) Firewall
2 3 (21.43%) Network Security
3 1 (7.14%) Cisco ASA
3 1 (7.14%) Cisco Firepower
3 1 (7.14%) Cisco Nexus
General
1 11 (78.57%) Social Skills
2 8 (57.14%) Finance
3 3 (21.43%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (14.29%) Law
4 2 (14.29%) Legal
5 1 (7.14%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 8 (57.14%) Analyst
1 8 (57.14%) SOC Analyst
2 4 (28.57%) Infrastructure Analyst
3 3 (21.43%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 3 (21.43%) Cybersecurity Specialist
4 2 (14.29%) Head of Information Security
4 2 (14.29%) Junior
4 2 (14.29%) Junior Analyst
4 2 (14.29%) Junior Infrastructure Analyst
5 1 (7.14%) Head of Information
5 1 (7.14%) Head of Security
5 1 (7.14%) Security Engineer
5 1 (7.14%) Senior
5 1 (7.14%) Senior Security Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 4 (28.57%) Cyber Defence
1 4 (28.57%) Operational Technology
2 2 (14.29%) Management Information System
3 1 (7.14%) Enterprise Software
3 1 (7.14%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 1 (7.14%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (71.43%) ISMS
2 8 (57.14%) Cybersecurity
2 8 (57.14%) ITIL
3 7 (50.00%) Information Security
4 5 (35.71%) Cloud Security
5 4 (28.57%) Logistics
5 4 (28.57%) Security Operations
5 4 (28.57%) SIEM
6 3 (21.43%) Incident Response
7 2 (14.29%) Forensic Analysis
7 2 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
8 1 (7.14%) Data Loss Prevention
8 1 (7.14%) Data Privacy
8 1 (7.14%) Decision-Making
8 1 (7.14%) People Management
8 1 (7.14%) Project Management
8 1 (7.14%) Risk Management
8 1 (7.14%) Stakeholder Management
8 1 (7.14%) Strategic Roadmap
8 1 (7.14%) Thought Leadership
Qualifications
1 8 (57.14%) CISMP
2 6 (42.86%) CISSP
3 5 (35.71%) CISA
3 5 (35.71%) CISM
4 3 (21.43%) Degree
5 2 (14.29%) GIAC
5 2 (14.29%) ISACA
5 2 (14.29%) SANS
5 2 (14.29%) SSCP
6 1 (7.14%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 1 (7.14%) CCSP
6 1 (7.14%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (78.57%) GDPR
2 6 (42.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (28.57%) NIST
4 3 (21.43%) HIPAA
4 3 (21.43%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 1 (7.14%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 3 (21.43%) QRadar
2 1 (7.14%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 7 (50.00%) Microsoft
2 3 (21.43%) ArcSight
2 3 (21.43%) Splunk
3 1 (7.14%) Cisco
3 1 (7.14%) Palo Alto