Security Operations Contracts in England

Security Operations (SecOps)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring Security Operations skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Security Operations over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 240 221 290
Rank change year-on-year -19 +69 +101
Contract jobs citing Security Operations 264 395 443
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 1.08% 1.06% 0.88%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.19% 1.23% 0.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 280 316
10th Percentile £399 £425 £403
25th Percentile £463 £500 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £600 £622
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% -3.54% +3.67%
75th Percentile £668 £700 £730
90th Percentile £751 £800 £825
UK median daily rate £564 £600 £613
% change year-on-year -6.08% -2.04% +2.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 2 4
10th Percentile £30.38 - £44.86
25th Percentile £45.89 - £63.11
Median hourly rate £67.59 £11.25 £84.50
Median % change year-on-year +500.78% -86.69% +125.33%
75th Percentile £81.01 - £95.31
90th Percentile £81.56 - £98.13
UK median hourly rate £50.97 £11.25 £84.50
% change year-on-year +353.07% -86.69% +63.29%

All Process and 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 22,202 32,193 45,529
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 91.16% 86.56% 90.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,534 21,105 31,969
10th Percentile £310 £300 £325
25th Percentile £413 £413 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +2.33%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £765
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 921 2,246 1,592
10th Percentile £14.42 £12.92 £10.87
25th Percentile £18.20 £16.01 £16.25
Median hourly rate £29.07 £36.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -19.25% -4.00% +53.06%
75th Percentile £63.75 £60.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £35.65 £37.30
% change year-on-year -18.65% -4.42% +49.20%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Security Operations as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Security Operations in England

Security Operations
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Security Operations in England.

Daily rate trend for Security Operations in England

Security Operations
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in England over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Security Operations in England

Security Operations
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Security Operations in England.

Hourly rate trend for Security Operations in England

Security Operations
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Operations in England over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

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 1 May 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
London +46 138 £600 -7.69% 177
South East +46 51 £525 +1.65% 193
East of England +33 20 £600 -7.69% 116
North of England +19 14 £558 -12.51% 146
Midlands -10 13 £563 -8.91% 126
West Midlands -15 13 £563 -10.00% 73
South West -54 12 £650 +14.04% 72
North West +20 11 £558 -12.51% 72
Yorkshire +5 3 - - 57
Security Operations
UK

Security Operations
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 4 (1.52%) CMS
2 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.14%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.38%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.76%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (1.14%) SAP GRC
1 3 (1.14%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 76 (28.79%) Azure
2 28 (10.61%) AWS
2 28 (10.61%) Azure Sentinel
3 18 (6.82%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (3.41%) GCP
5 7 (2.65%) Power Platform
6 6 (2.27%) Entra ID
6 6 (2.27%) Microsoft Purview
7 4 (1.52%) Azure DevOps
7 4 (1.52%) Azure Monitor
7 4 (1.52%) Serverless
8 3 (1.14%) Akamai
8 3 (1.14%) Azure AKS
8 3 (1.14%) Azure Key Vault
8 3 (1.14%) SaaS
9 2 (0.76%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (0.76%) Azure Machine Learning
9 2 (0.76%) Datadog
9 2 (0.76%) GitHub
9 2 (0.76%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 62 (23.48%) Firewall
2 40 (15.15%) Network Security
3 27 (10.23%) DNS
4 24 (9.09%) TCP/IP
5 21 (7.95%) HTTP
6 20 (7.58%) SMTP
7 15 (5.68%) SSL
8 14 (5.30%) FTP
9 12 (4.55%) VPN
10 11 (4.17%) DHCP
11 9 (3.41%) Intrusion Detection
11 9 (3.41%) WAN
12 6 (2.27%) VLAN
12 6 (2.27%) Wireless
13 5 (1.89%) BGP
13 5 (1.89%) OSPF
14 4 (1.52%) Internet
14 4 (1.52%) LAN
14 4 (1.52%) Wi-Fi
15 3 (1.14%) 4G
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (3.03%) Data Lake
2 7 (2.65%) Power BI
3 1 (0.38%) ClickHouse
3 1 (0.38%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.38%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.38%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 1 (0.38%) GitLab
1 1 (0.38%) SonarQube
General
1 84 (31.82%) Social Skills
2 47 (17.80%) Analytical Skills
3 44 (16.67%) Finance
4 29 (10.98%) Public Sector
5 15 (5.68%) Banking
6 10 (3.79%) Legal
7 8 (3.03%) Financial Institution
8 7 (2.65%) Telecoms
9 6 (2.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (2.27%) Law
10 5 (1.89%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.52%) Local Government
11 4 (1.52%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.52%) Retail
12 3 (1.14%) Electronics
12 3 (1.14%) Fire and Rescue
12 3 (1.14%) Marketing
13 2 (0.76%) French Language
13 2 (0.76%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 63 (23.86%) Analyst
2 43 (16.29%) Security Engineer
3 31 (11.74%) SOC Analyst
4 30 (11.36%) Security Analyst
4 30 (11.36%) Senior
5 25 (9.47%) Architect
6 18 (6.82%) Lead
7 16 (6.06%) Security Architect
8 15 (5.68%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 15 (5.68%) Operations Engineer
9 14 (5.30%) Consultant
10 13 (4.92%) Security Manager
10 13 (4.92%) Solutions Architect
11 12 (4.55%) Automation Engineer
12 10 (3.79%) SIEM Engineer
13 9 (3.41%) Azure Engineer
13 9 (3.41%) Developer
13 9 (3.41%) Operations Analyst
13 9 (3.41%) Security Operations Analyst
13 9 (3.41%) ServiceNow Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (4.17%) JSON
2 10 (3.79%) LDAP
3 9 (3.41%) HTML
3 9 (3.41%) REST
4 8 (3.03%) CSS
5 6 (2.27%) Web Services
6 4 (1.52%) .NET
6 4 (1.52%) SOAP
6 4 (1.52%) XML
7 3 (1.14%) SAP Fiori
8 2 (0.76%) 802.1X
8 2 (0.76%) AngularJS
8 2 (0.76%) Node.js
8 2 (0.76%) OpenTelemetry
8 2 (0.76%) SailPoint
8 2 (0.76%) YAML
9 1 (0.38%) Ajax
9 1 (0.38%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 73 (27.65%) Security Operations Centre
2 42 (15.91%) Security Posture
3 39 (14.77%) Cyber Threat
4 22 (8.33%) Management Information System
5 17 (6.44%) CSOC
6 16 (6.06%) Onboarding
7 12 (4.55%) Cyberattack
8 11 (4.17%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (2.65%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (2.27%) Data Centre
10 6 (2.27%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 6 (2.27%) Operational Technology
11 5 (1.89%) Cyber Defence
11 5 (1.89%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 4 (1.52%) Cloud Security Posture
12 4 (1.52%) Distributed Systems
12 4 (1.52%) Public Cloud
13 3 (1.14%) BYOD
13 3 (1.14%) SCADA
14 2 (0.76%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 28 (10.61%) Windows
2 20 (7.58%) Linux
3 6 (2.27%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.76%) Mac OS
4 2 (0.76%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (50.38%) Cybersecurity
2 122 (46.21%) SIEM
3 119 (45.08%) Incident Response
4 58 (21.97%) Vulnerability Management
5 49 (18.56%) Threat Detection
6 47 (17.80%) Problem-Solving
7 45 (17.05%) Information Security
8 42 (15.91%) Cloud Security
9 39 (14.77%) Threat Intelligence
10 37 (14.02%) Incident Management
11 35 (13.26%) SOAR
12 34 (12.88%) Risk Management
13 32 (12.12%) Security Architecture
14 31 (11.74%) Security Monitoring
15 30 (11.36%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
16 26 (9.85%) Agile
17 23 (8.71%) Continuous Improvement
18 22 (8.33%) ITIL
18 22 (8.33%) Roadmaps
18 22 (8.33%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 30 (11.36%) Python
2 27 (10.23%) PowerShell
3 15 (5.68%) Kusto Query Language
4 11 (4.17%) JavaScript
5 7 (2.65%) Bash
6 6 (2.27%) Java
7 4 (1.52%) C#
7 4 (1.52%) SQL
8 2 (0.76%) Bicep
8 2 (0.76%) Search Processing Language
9 1 (0.38%) Go
Qualifications
1 79 (29.92%) Security Cleared
2 61 (23.11%) SC Cleared
3 41 (15.53%) CISSP
4 24 (9.09%) DV Cleared
5 21 (7.95%) CISM
5 21 (7.95%) Degree
6 20 (7.58%) Cisco Certification
7 17 (6.44%) GCIH
8 14 (5.30%) GIAC
9 13 (4.92%) CompTIA Security+
10 11 (4.17%) CCSP
10 11 (4.17%) CEH
11 10 (3.79%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 10 (3.79%) Microsoft Certification
12 9 (3.41%) GCIA
13 8 (3.03%) Azure Certification
13 8 (3.03%) CCNA
14 7 (2.65%) AWS Certification
14 7 (2.65%) CCNP
14 7 (2.65%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (14.77%) NIST
2 34 (12.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 19 (7.20%) GDPR
4 13 (4.92%) GRC
5 11 (4.17%) NIST 800
6 10 (3.79%) SLA
7 6 (2.27%) Data Quality
7 6 (2.27%) HIPAA
8 5 (1.89%) PCI DSS
9 4 (1.52%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (1.14%) COBIT
10 3 (1.14%) NCSC
11 2 (0.76%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 1 (0.38%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.38%) Def Stans
12 1 (0.38%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.38%) QA
12 1 (0.38%) WCAG
System Software
1 14 (5.30%) Virtual Machines
2 9 (3.41%) Active Directory
3 3 (1.14%) IAG
4 1 (0.38%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 6 (2.27%) Ansible
1 6 (2.27%) SCCM
2 5 (1.89%) CSIRT
2 5 (1.89%) FortiGate
2 5 (1.89%) Kubernetes
2 5 (1.89%) QRadar
2 5 (1.89%) Terraform
3 4 (1.52%) Grafana
4 3 (1.14%) CASB
4 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (1.14%) WSUS
5 2 (0.76%) SCOrch
6 1 (0.38%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 1 (0.38%) OPNET
6 1 (0.38%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 84 (31.82%) Microsoft
2 31 (11.74%) Splunk
3 24 (9.09%) ServiceNow
4 22 (8.33%) Palo Alto
5 18 (6.82%) Google
6 12 (4.55%) Cisco
7 8 (3.03%) CrowdStrike
7 8 (3.03%) Rapid7
8 7 (2.65%) LogRhythm
8 7 (2.65%) Qualys
9 6 (2.27%) Darktrace
9 6 (2.27%) SAP
10 5 (1.89%) CheckPoint
10 5 (1.89%) FireEye
11 4 (1.52%) Ariba
12 3 (1.14%) F5
12 3 (1.14%) Meraki
12 3 (1.14%) Sophos
12 3 (1.14%) Symantec
12 3 (1.14%) Tenable