Penetration Testing Contracts in England

Penetration Testing
UK > England

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for Penetration Testing skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Penetration Testing over the 6 months to 4 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
4 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 359 425 555
Rank change year-on-year +66 +130 -74
Contract jobs citing Penetration Testing 184 229 239
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.50% 0.46% 0.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.58% 0.51% 0.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 127 143 153
10th Percentile £420 £450 £362
25th Percentile £504 £500 £507
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £588 £575 £588
Median % change year-on-year +2.17% -2.13% +17.50%
75th Percentile £675 £725 £675
90th Percentile £771 £800 £759
UK median daily rate £585 £600 £580
% change year-on-year -2.50% +3.45% +6.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £81.75 - -
Median hourly rate £83.50 £80.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +4.38% - -
75th Percentile £85.25 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £83.50 £80.00 -
% change year-on-year +4.38% - -

All Process and Methodology Skills
England

Penetration Testing is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 31,926 45,112 64,564
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 86.59% 90.20% 90.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,947 31,664 45,849
10th Percentile £300 £325 £331
25th Percentile £413 £444 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +2.33% +8.59%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £650
90th Percentile £750 £763 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £550 £530
% change year-on-year -4.55% +3.77% +8.72%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,243 1,598 1,761
10th Percentile £12.92 £11.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.25 £15.25
Median hourly rate £36.33 £37.15 £24.35
Median % change year-on-year -2.21% +52.57% +3.62%
75th Percentile £60.00 £65.00 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £63.75
UK median hourly rate £35.95 £36.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -0.14% +44.00% +2.04%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Penetration Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Penetration Testing in England.

Daily rate trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing in England over the 6 months to 4 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Penetration Testing in England.

Hourly rate trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
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 Penetration Testing within the England region over the 6 months to 4 May 2024. 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 +60 101 £589 -1.88% 49
North of England +27 25 £650 +23.81% 14
South West +33 22 £525 -12.50% 20
North West +25 19 £666 +26.86% 8
South East +13 13 £530 -7.42% 19
Midlands +24 11 £550 -24.14% 7
East of England +8 8 £700 +27.27%
West Midlands +20 7 £650 -10.34% 2
Yorkshire +14 4 £650 +23.81% 5
East Midlands - 4 £400 - 5
North East - 2 £625 - 1
Penetration Testing
UK

Penetration Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 3 (1.63%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.09%) IIS
2 2 (1.09%) JBoss
3 1 (0.54%) Confluence
Applications
1 6 (3.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (2.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 4 (2.17%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.54%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 34 (18.48%) Azure
2 25 (13.59%) AWS
3 12 (6.52%) SaaS
4 11 (5.98%) GCP
5 7 (3.80%) Azure DevOps
5 7 (3.80%) PaaS
6 5 (2.72%) Azure Sentinel
6 5 (2.72%) CloudFront
6 5 (2.72%) Entra ID
6 5 (2.72%) IaaS
6 5 (2.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 3 (1.63%) GitHub
7 3 (1.63%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (0.54%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 1 (0.54%) AWS CloudFormation
8 1 (0.54%) AWS CloudTrail
8 1 (0.54%) Cloud Computing
8 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
8 1 (0.54%) Oracle CX
Communications & Networking
1 43 (23.37%) Firewall
2 29 (15.76%) Network Security
3 12 (6.52%) WAN
3 12 (6.52%) Wireless
4 11 (5.98%) SD-WAN
5 7 (3.80%) DNS
6 6 (3.26%) Intrusion Detection
6 6 (3.26%) VPN
7 5 (2.72%) 5G
7 5 (2.72%) Broadband
8 4 (2.17%) TCP/IP
9 2 (1.09%) Cisco ISE
9 2 (1.09%) DHCP
9 2 (1.09%) Internet
9 2 (1.09%) tcpdump
9 2 (1.09%) Wireshark
10 1 (0.54%) Fibre Channel
10 1 (0.54%) FTP
10 1 (0.54%) HTTP
10 1 (0.54%) iSCSI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.09%) DB2
2 1 (0.54%) Apache Hive
2 1 (0.54%) Hadoop
2 1 (0.54%) Oracle Database
2 1 (0.54%) Oracle Exadata
2 1 (0.54%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 14 (7.61%) Jenkins
2 12 (6.52%) Burp Suite
3 10 (5.43%) GitLab
4 4 (2.17%) TeamCity
5 3 (1.63%) JIRA
5 3 (1.63%) Metasploit
6 2 (1.09%) Vagrant
7 1 (0.54%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 47 (25.54%) Finance
2 39 (21.20%) Social Skills
3 28 (15.22%) Banking
4 24 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (9.24%) Public Sector
6 10 (5.43%) Retail
7 6 (3.26%) Law
8 5 (2.72%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.17%) Legal
10 3 (1.63%) Manufacturing
11 2 (1.09%) Multimedia
12 1 (0.54%) Automotive
12 1 (0.54%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.54%) Marketing
12 1 (0.54%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.54%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 29 (15.76%) Architect
2 27 (14.67%) Security Architect
3 24 (13.04%) Consultant
4 21 (11.41%) Security Engineer
5 20 (10.87%) Penetration Tester
5 20 (10.87%) Security Consultant
5 20 (10.87%) Tester
6 17 (9.24%) Analyst
7 15 (8.15%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (7.61%) Network Engineer
9 12 (6.52%) Senior
10 11 (5.98%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (4.35%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 7 (3.80%) DevSecOps Engineer
12 7 (3.80%) Ethical Hacker
12 7 (3.80%) Security Analyst
12 7 (3.80%) Security Specialist
12 7 (3.80%) SOC Analyst
13 6 (3.26%) Cloud Engineer
13 6 (3.26%) Cloud Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.72%) OAuth
1 5 (2.72%) OAuth2
1 5 (2.72%) SAML
1 5 (2.72%) Web Services
2 1 (0.54%) EDI
2 1 (0.54%) OLE
2 1 (0.54%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 22 (11.96%) Mobile App
2 20 (10.87%) Security Posture
3 18 (9.78%) Cyber Threat
4 16 (8.70%) Data Centre
5 15 (8.15%) Private Cloud
6 11 (5.98%) PKI
7 8 (4.35%) Operational Technology
7 8 (4.35%) Security Operations Centre
8 6 (3.26%) Cloud Native
8 6 (3.26%) Cyber Defence
9 5 (2.72%) IoT
10 4 (2.17%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (2.17%) Management Information System
11 3 (1.63%) Cyberattack
11 3 (1.63%) Renewable Energy
12 2 (1.09%) Algorithms
12 2 (1.09%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 2 (1.09%) Insider Threat
12 2 (1.09%) Product Ownership
12 2 (1.09%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 38 (20.65%) Windows
2 34 (18.48%) Linux
3 10 (5.43%) Kali Linux
4 4 (2.17%) Unix
5 2 (1.09%) AIX
5 2 (1.09%) Solaris
5 2 (1.09%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.54%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (48.37%) Cybersecurity
2 48 (26.09%) Information Security
3 42 (22.83%) Cloud Security
4 35 (19.02%) Vulnerability Scanning
5 34 (18.48%) Application Security
6 32 (17.39%) DevSecOps
7 31 (16.85%) DevOps
8 29 (15.76%) Ethical Hacking
9 27 (14.67%) Red Team
9 27 (14.67%) SIEM
9 27 (14.67%) Threat Modelling
10 26 (14.13%) CI/CD
10 26 (14.13%) Incident Response
10 26 (14.13%) Problem-Solving
11 25 (13.59%) Security Operations
12 23 (12.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 23 (12.50%) MITRE ATT&CK
13 21 (11.41%) Identity Access Management
13 21 (11.41%) Infrastructure as Code
13 21 (11.41%) Security Testing
Programming Languages
1 24 (13.04%) Python
2 13 (7.07%) Kusto Query Language
3 9 (4.89%) C++
4 7 (3.80%) C#
4 7 (3.80%) PowerShell
5 6 (3.26%) JavaScript
6 5 (2.72%) Go
7 4 (2.17%) Perl
7 4 (2.17%) Search Processing Language
8 3 (1.63%) C
8 3 (1.63%) Java
8 3 (1.63%) Shell Script
9 2 (1.09%) Ruby
9 2 (1.09%) SQL
10 1 (0.54%) Bash
Qualifications
1 52 (28.26%) Security Cleared
2 44 (23.91%) SC Cleared
3 29 (15.76%) OSCP
4 24 (13.04%) CREST Certified
5 23 (12.50%) Degree
6 18 (9.78%) GIAC
7 15 (8.15%) Computer Science Degree
8 14 (7.61%) CISSP
8 14 (7.61%) GPEN
9 13 (7.07%) CEH
10 12 (6.52%) CISM
11 7 (3.80%) CompTIA Security+
12 6 (3.26%) CHECK Team Leader
12 6 (3.26%) SANS
13 5 (2.72%) AWS Certification
14 4 (2.17%) Master's Degree
15 3 (1.63%) CCNA
15 3 (1.63%) Cisco Certification
16 2 (1.09%) CCSP
16 2 (1.09%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (20.11%) NIST
2 36 (19.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 20 (10.87%) PCI DSS
4 18 (9.78%) GDPR
5 12 (6.52%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 10 (5.43%) NCSC
7 7 (3.80%) QA
8 5 (2.72%) COBIT
8 5 (2.72%) HIPAA
9 4 (2.17%) PMO
9 4 (2.17%) SLA
10 2 (1.09%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (1.09%) ISO 22301
10 2 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.54%) JSP 440
System Software
1 16 (8.70%) VMware Infrastructure
2 14 (7.61%) vSphere
3 12 (6.52%) Active Directory
4 5 (2.72%) Docker
5 2 (1.09%) Snort
6 1 (0.54%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 19 (10.33%) Terraform
2 13 (7.07%) vCenter Server
3 6 (3.26%) Nessus
4 2 (1.09%) Tivoli
5 1 (0.54%) Ansible
5 1 (0.54%) CASB
5 1 (0.54%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (0.54%) CSIRT
5 1 (0.54%) HP Fortify
5 1 (0.54%) Kibana
5 1 (0.54%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.54%) Nmap
5 1 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 31 (16.85%) Microsoft
2 17 (9.24%) VMware
3 11 (5.98%) Google
4 6 (3.26%) Qualys
4 6 (3.26%) Splunk
5 5 (2.72%) Cisco
5 5 (2.72%) SAP
5 5 (2.72%) Virgin Media
6 4 (2.17%) Oracle
7 3 (1.63%) F5
8 2 (1.09%) AppDynamics
8 2 (1.09%) IBM
8 2 (1.09%) Remedy
8 2 (1.09%) Salesforce
9 1 (0.54%) Checkmarx
9 1 (0.54%) CrowdStrike
9 1 (0.54%) Darktrace
9 1 (0.54%) Palo Alto
9 1 (0.54%) Rapid7
9 1 (0.54%) Veracode