Security Operations Contract Job Trends in England

Security Operations (SecOps)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Security Operations skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 215 206 282
Rank change year-on-year -9 +76 -56
Contract jobs citing Security Operations 581 370 279
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.25% 1.34% 0.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.48% 1.48% 1.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 398 226 184
10th Percentile £413 £363 £425
25th Percentile £475 £450 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -2.04%
75th Percentile £625 £663 £738
90th Percentile £775 £775 £823
UK median daily rate £550 £540 £600
% change year-on-year +1.85% -10.00% -2.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 11 3
10th Percentile £66.50 £29.51 -
25th Percentile £73.75 £37.81 £56.25
Median hourly rate £80.00 £54.50 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +46.79% -5.22% -14.81%
75th Percentile £81.25 £73.75 £75.88
90th Percentile £90.27 £75.00 £86.15
UK median hourly rate £80.00 £49.75 £57.50
% change year-on-year +60.80% -13.48% -16.36%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Security Operations falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 39,321 25,058 28,015
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.90% 90.80% 85.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,195 15,905 17,612
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £508 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% -4.55%
75th Percentile £636 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £752
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,661 1,475 1,343
10th Percentile £14.22 £14.27 £14.84
25th Percentile £18.00 £17.83 £20.24
Median hourly rate £43.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +72.96% -41.51% +0.58%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £66.61
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.75 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £40.03 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +59.17% -41.51% +1.96%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Security Operations job vacancy trend in England

Security Operations
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Security Operations.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in England over the 6 months to 9 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Operations in England

Security Operations
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Security Operations.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Operations in England over the 6 months to 9 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Operations in England

Security Operations
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 Security Operations within the England region over the 6 months to 9 September 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 -35 238 £550 -1.35% 398
South East -21 113 £563 +7.14% 117
North of England -23 86 £525 -3.67% 85
South West -3 63 £616 +12.05% 56
North West -19 59 £525 +5.00% 58
Midlands -33 39 £500 +8.11% 39
West Midlands -31 30 £500 -20.00% 22
Yorkshire -22 25 £540 -10.00% 24
East of England -29 25 £550 -12.00% 33
East Midlands -13 9 £500 +17.65% 17
North East - 1 - - 4
Security Operations
UK

Security Operations
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:

Application Platforms
1 6 (1.03%) Confluence
2 5 (0.86%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.34%) IIS
Applications
1 5 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.17%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.17%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (1.20%) Oracle ERP
2 4 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.34%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.17%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 159 (27.37%) Azure
2 121 (20.83%) AWS
3 55 (9.47%) Entra ID
4 44 (7.57%) Azure Sentinel
5 42 (7.23%) Microsoft 365
6 38 (6.54%) GCP
7 26 (4.48%) SaaS
8 22 (3.79%) Microsoft Purview
9 13 (2.24%) Amazon ECS
9 13 (2.24%) Azure Logic Apps
10 12 (2.07%) Serverless
11 11 (1.89%) Amazon S3
12 10 (1.72%) AWS Lambda
12 10 (1.72%) GitHub
12 10 (1.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 9 (1.55%) Amazon EC2
13 9 (1.55%) OCI
14 8 (1.38%) Amazon EKS
15 7 (1.20%) Azure DevOps
15 7 (1.20%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 80 (13.77%) Network Security
2 67 (11.53%) Firewall
3 33 (5.68%) DNS
4 27 (4.65%) VPN
5 25 (4.30%) TCP/IP
6 22 (3.79%) DHCP
7 18 (3.10%) WAN
8 15 (2.58%) Intrusion Detection
8 15 (2.58%) LAN
9 12 (2.07%) Cisco ASA
10 11 (1.89%) Cisco Firepower
11 10 (1.72%) HTTP
11 10 (1.72%) IPsec
11 10 (1.72%) NGFW
11 10 (1.72%) Wireless
12 9 (1.55%) Cisco ISE
12 9 (1.55%) Internet
12 9 (1.55%) SSH
12 9 (1.55%) SSL
13 6 (1.03%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.20%) Power BI
2 5 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (0.69%) SQL Server
4 2 (0.34%) Big Data
4 2 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.17%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.17%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 14 (2.41%) GitLab
2 13 (2.24%) Jenkins
3 9 (1.55%) JIRA
4 5 (0.86%) Bitbucket
4 5 (0.86%) Git
5 3 (0.52%) Claude Code
6 2 (0.34%) Visual Studio Team System
7 1 (0.17%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.17%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.17%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.17%) MSI
7 1 (0.17%) Snyk
7 1 (0.17%) sqlmap
General
1 148 (25.47%) Social Skills
2 82 (14.11%) Analytical Skills
3 78 (13.43%) Public Sector
4 71 (12.22%) Finance
5 19 (3.27%) Military
6 17 (2.93%) Documentation Skills
7 16 (2.75%) Telecoms
8 15 (2.58%) Legal
9 11 (1.89%) Banking
10 10 (1.72%) Aerospace
11 8 (1.38%) Local Government
12 6 (1.03%) Law
12 6 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (0.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (0.69%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.52%) Digital Health
15 3 (0.52%) Digital Healthcare
16 2 (0.34%) Manufacturing
16 2 (0.34%) Police
16 2 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 147 (25.30%) Analyst
2 85 (14.63%) Security Analyst
3 72 (12.39%) Security Engineer
4 69 (11.88%) SOC Analyst
5 68 (11.70%) Senior
6 49 (8.43%) Lead
7 47 (8.09%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 47 (8.09%) Security Manager
8 37 (6.37%) Architect
9 33 (5.68%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 31 (5.34%) Consultant
11 30 (5.16%) SOC Manager
12 28 (4.82%) Network Engineer
12 28 (4.82%) Operations Analyst
13 25 (4.30%) Operations Manager
14 23 (3.96%) Security Consultant
14 23 (3.96%) SOC Engineer
15 21 (3.61%) Operational Security Manager
15 21 (3.61%) Security Operations Analyst
15 21 (3.61%) Security Operations Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (7.75%) Terraform
2 22 (3.79%) REST
3 16 (2.75%) SOAP
4 9 (1.55%) Elastic Stack
4 9 (1.55%) SAML
5 7 (1.20%) FIDO
6 6 (1.03%) ARM Templates
6 6 (1.03%) JSON
6 6 (1.03%) SailPoint
6 6 (1.03%) WebAuthn
7 4 (0.69%) AWS CDK
7 4 (0.69%) Azure Blueprints
7 4 (0.69%) Kafka
7 4 (0.69%) XML
8 3 (0.52%) 802.1X
8 3 (0.52%) LDAP
8 3 (0.52%) Web Services
9 2 (0.34%) CSS
9 2 (0.34%) HTML
9 2 (0.34%) Regular Expression
Miscellaneous
1 140 (24.10%) Security Operations Centre
2 88 (15.15%) Security Posture
3 82 (14.11%) Cyber Threat
4 43 (7.40%) Onboarding
5 41 (7.06%) Cyber Defence
6 36 (6.20%) Management Information System
7 27 (4.65%) CSOC
8 26 (4.48%) CMDB
9 24 (4.13%) Cloud Native
10 19 (3.27%) Operational Technology
11 15 (2.58%) PKI
12 13 (2.24%) Cloud Security Posture
12 13 (2.24%) Data Centre
13 9 (1.55%) Cyber Kill Chain
13 9 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
14 8 (1.38%) Enterprise Cloud
14 8 (1.38%) Hybrid Cloud
14 8 (1.38%) Product Ownership
15 7 (1.20%) Analytical Mindset
15 7 (1.20%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 66 (11.36%) Windows
2 49 (8.43%) Linux
3 17 (2.93%) Windows Server
4 13 (2.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (1.20%) Mac OS
6 6 (1.03%) Unix
7 5 (0.86%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.69%) Alpine Linux
9 3 (0.52%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.17%) Android
10 1 (0.17%) CentOS
10 1 (0.17%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 358 (61.62%) Cybersecurity
2 267 (45.96%) Incident Response
3 209 (35.97%) SIEM
4 137 (23.58%) Vulnerability Management
5 133 (22.89%) Stakeholder Management
6 129 (22.20%) Continuous Improvement
7 128 (22.03%) Threat Detection
8 115 (19.79%) Security Monitoring
9 114 (19.62%) Cloud Security
10 113 (19.45%) Incident Management
10 113 (19.45%) Threat Intelligence
11 94 (16.18%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
12 89 (15.32%) Information Security
13 79 (13.60%) ITIL
14 76 (13.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 72 (12.39%) Risk Management
16 70 (12.05%) SOAR
17 67 (11.53%) Use Case
18 64 (11.02%) MITRE ATT&CK
19 62 (10.67%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 64 (11.02%) PowerShell
2 62 (10.67%) Python
3 33 (5.68%) Kusto Query Language
4 21 (3.61%) Bash
5 16 (2.75%) Search Processing Language
6 15 (2.58%) Bicep
7 13 (2.24%) JavaScript
8 8 (1.38%) SQL
9 4 (0.69%) Perl
10 1 (0.17%) C
10 1 (0.17%) Groovy
10 1 (0.17%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 226 (38.90%) Security Cleared
2 142 (24.44%) SC Cleared
3 104 (17.90%) CISSP
4 94 (16.18%) DV Cleared
5 61 (10.50%) CISM
6 37 (6.37%) Cisco Certification
7 35 (6.02%) Degree
8 27 (4.65%) CompTIA Security+
9 24 (4.13%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 21 (3.61%) GCIH
11 19 (3.27%) AWS Certification
11 19 (3.27%) CompTIA CySA+
12 16 (2.75%) GIAC
12 16 (2.75%) Microsoft Certification
13 14 (2.41%) CCNP
13 14 (2.41%) CCSP
13 14 (2.41%) CEH
14 13 (2.24%) GCIA
15 11 (1.89%) Azure Certification
16 10 (1.72%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 106 (18.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 77 (13.25%) NIST
3 69 (11.88%) GDPR
4 51 (8.78%) NCSC
5 48 (8.26%) GRC
6 24 (4.13%) Cyber Essentials
7 23 (3.96%) PCI DSS
8 12 (2.07%) SLA
8 12 (2.07%) SOC 2
9 10 (1.72%) Data Quality
10 8 (1.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 8 (1.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 4 (0.69%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.52%) Def Stans
12 3 (0.52%) QA
13 2 (0.34%) COBIT
13 2 (0.34%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.34%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.34%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 2 (0.34%) JSP 440
System Software
1 43 (7.40%) Active Directory
2 19 (3.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.93%) Docker
4 10 (1.72%) VMware NSX
5 7 (1.20%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (1.03%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.86%) vSphere
8 2 (0.34%) NFS
9 1 (0.17%) IAG
9 1 (0.17%) KVM
9 1 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 32 (5.51%) Ansible
2 26 (4.48%) Kubernetes
3 22 (3.79%) QRadar
4 16 (2.75%) CASB
5 10 (1.72%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (1.72%) Single Sign-On
6 9 (1.55%) FortiGate
7 8 (1.38%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.69%) Cisco CUCM
8 4 (0.69%) CSIRT
8 4 (0.69%) SCCM
9 3 (0.52%) Grafana
9 3 (0.52%) VxRail
10 2 (0.34%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 2 (0.34%) Nexpose
10 2 (0.34%) Puppet
11 1 (0.17%) Istio
11 1 (0.17%) Nessus
11 1 (0.17%) WSUS
Vendors
1 162 (27.88%) Microsoft
2 72 (12.39%) Splunk
3 69 (11.88%) ServiceNow
4 41 (7.06%) CrowdStrike
5 30 (5.16%) Palo Alto
6 27 (4.65%) Cisco
7 20 (3.44%) VMware
8 19 (3.27%) Qualys
9 16 (2.75%) Tenable
10 15 (2.58%) Google
11 13 (2.24%) Oracle
12 11 (1.89%) SolarWinds
13 10 (1.72%) F5
13 10 (1.72%) Rapid7
14 9 (1.55%) CyberArk
14 9 (1.55%) Fortinet
14 9 (1.55%) Zscaler
15 8 (1.38%) BeyondTrust
15 8 (1.38%) Cribl.io
16 7 (1.20%) Okta