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 30 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 222 224 268
Rank change year-on-year +2 +44 +91
Contract jobs citing Security Operations 291 383 447
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 1.21% 1.04% 0.94%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.33% 1.21% 1.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 197 267 325
10th Percentile £383 £425 £400
25th Percentile £463 £488 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £600 £613
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% -2.04% +2.08%
75th Percentile £688 £700 £730
90th Percentile £775 £775 £820
UK median daily rate £567 £600 £606
% change year-on-year -5.50% -0.99% +1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 2 4
10th Percentile £23.77 - £44.86
25th Percentile £29.02 - £63.11
Median hourly rate £50.97 £11.25 £84.50
Median % change year-on-year +353.07% -86.69% +181.55%
75th Percentile £81.01 - £95.31
90th Percentile £81.34 - £98.13
UK median hourly rate £46.22 £11.25 £84.50
% change year-on-year +310.84% -86.69% +125.33%

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 21,947 31,578 42,765
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 91.31% 85.86% 89.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,275 20,635 30,003
10th Percentile £305 £300 £325
25th Percentile £410 £413 £449
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +1.85%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £766
UK median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 956 2,303 1,521
10th Percentile £14.20 £12.84 £10.63
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.00 £15.81
Median hourly rate £28.17 £37.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -24.89% - +50.00%
75th Percentile £59.93 £61.30 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £36.50 £37.00
% change year-on-year -24.66% -1.35% +44.08%

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 30 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 30 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 30 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 +64 147 £575 -11.54% 166
South East +60 54 £514 -3.61% 450
East of England +39 25 £600 -7.69% 266
North of England +14 19 £625 - 347
North West +15 14 £625 - 157
Midlands -9 14 £600 -5.51% 297
South West -42 14 £658 +15.35% 186
West Midlands -12 11 £600 -5.51% 160
Yorkshire +16 5 £625 -5.66% 145
East Midlands +12 3 £350 -38.27% 117
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 3 (1.03%) CMS
1 3 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (1.03%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.34%) Confluence
2 1 (0.34%) SAS
Applications
1 3 (1.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.69%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.69%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.34%) 1Password
3 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.34%) SAP GRC
1 1 (0.34%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 82 (28.18%) Azure
2 45 (15.46%) AWS
3 29 (9.97%) Azure Sentinel
4 21 (7.22%) SaaS
5 20 (6.87%) Microsoft 365
6 17 (5.84%) Amazon EC2
6 17 (5.84%) Amazon S3
7 14 (4.81%) Amazon SQS
8 9 (3.09%) GCP
9 7 (2.41%) Entra ID
9 7 (2.41%) Power Platform
10 6 (2.06%) Microsoft Purview
11 4 (1.37%) Azure AKS
11 4 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.37%) Azure Logic Apps
11 4 (1.37%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (1.37%) Serverless
12 3 (1.03%) Akamai
12 3 (1.03%) Azure Key Vault
13 2 (0.69%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 74 (25.43%) Firewall
2 45 (15.46%) Network Security
3 24 (8.25%) DNS
4 23 (7.90%) TCP/IP
5 17 (5.84%) HTTP
6 16 (5.50%) SMTP
6 16 (5.50%) VPN
7 14 (4.81%) SSL
8 13 (4.47%) FTP
9 11 (3.78%) Intrusion Detection
9 11 (3.78%) WAN
10 8 (2.75%) DHCP
10 8 (2.75%) VLAN
10 8 (2.75%) Wireless
11 7 (2.41%) BGP
11 7 (2.41%) OSPF
12 6 (2.06%) LAN
13 5 (1.72%) 4G
13 5 (1.72%) Internet
14 4 (1.37%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.75%) Data Lake
2 7 (2.41%) Power BI
3 1 (0.34%) ClickHouse
3 1 (0.34%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.34%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.03%) JIRA
2 1 (0.34%) Git
2 1 (0.34%) GitLab
General
1 90 (30.93%) Social Skills
2 54 (18.56%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (13.75%) Finance
4 33 (11.34%) Public Sector
5 17 (5.84%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (4.81%) Banking
7 12 (4.12%) Legal
8 8 (2.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.75%) Telecoms
9 7 (2.41%) Financial Institution
10 6 (2.06%) Retail
11 5 (1.72%) Law
11 5 (1.72%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (1.37%) Local Government
12 4 (1.37%) Military
13 3 (1.03%) Fire and Rescue
14 2 (0.69%) Aviation
14 2 (0.69%) French Language
14 2 (0.69%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.69%) Police
Job Titles
1 58 (19.93%) Analyst
2 43 (14.78%) Architect
2 43 (14.78%) Security Engineer
3 33 (11.34%) Senior
4 32 (11.00%) Security Architect
5 31 (10.65%) Security Analyst
5 31 (10.65%) SOC Analyst
6 20 (6.87%) Consultant
7 17 (5.84%) Lead
7 17 (5.84%) Security Manager
8 14 (4.81%) Solutions Architect
9 13 (4.47%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 12 (4.12%) Automation Engineer
10 12 (4.12%) Operations Analyst
10 12 (4.12%) Operations Engineer
10 12 (4.12%) Security Operations Analyst
11 11 (3.78%) Developer
12 10 (3.44%) SIEM Engineer
13 9 (3.09%) Azure Engineer
13 9 (3.09%) Head of Security
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.09%) JSON
1 9 (3.09%) LDAP
2 8 (2.75%) REST
3 7 (2.41%) HTML
4 6 (2.06%) CSS
5 5 (1.72%) Web Services
6 4 (1.37%) .NET
7 3 (1.03%) SOAP
8 2 (0.69%) 802.1X
8 2 (0.69%) Node.js
8 2 (0.69%) OpenTelemetry
8 2 (0.69%) XML
8 2 (0.69%) YAML
9 1 (0.34%) Ajax
9 1 (0.34%) AngularJS
9 1 (0.34%) Kafka
9 1 (0.34%) React
9 1 (0.34%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 92 (31.62%) Security Operations Centre
2 51 (17.53%) Security Posture
3 47 (16.15%) Cyber Threat
4 35 (12.03%) CSOC
5 34 (11.68%) Onboarding
6 26 (8.93%) Management Information System
7 11 (3.78%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.75%) Analytical Mindset
8 8 (2.75%) Cyberattack
8 8 (2.75%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 6 (2.06%) Cyber Defence
9 6 (2.06%) Cyber Kill Chain
10 5 (1.72%) CMDB
10 5 (1.72%) Operational Technology
11 4 (1.37%) Cloud Security Posture
11 4 (1.37%) Data Centre
11 4 (1.37%) Distributed Systems
12 3 (1.03%) BYOD
12 3 (1.03%) Client/Server
12 3 (1.03%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 28 (9.62%) Windows
2 18 (6.19%) Linux
3 6 (2.06%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.69%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 150 (51.55%) Cybersecurity
2 143 (49.14%) SIEM
3 126 (43.30%) Incident Response
4 66 (22.68%) Vulnerability Management
5 57 (19.59%) SOAR
6 54 (18.56%) Threat Detection
7 53 (18.21%) Information Security
7 53 (18.21%) Problem-Solving
8 50 (17.18%) Threat Intelligence
9 46 (15.81%) Cloud Security
10 39 (13.40%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
11 37 (12.71%) Risk Management
11 37 (12.71%) Security Monitoring
12 32 (11.00%) Incident Management
13 29 (9.97%) Use Case
14 28 (9.62%) Roadmaps
15 27 (9.28%) Agile
16 26 (8.93%) Continuous Improvement
16 26 (8.93%) Security Architecture
17 25 (8.59%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 44 (15.12%) Python
2 37 (12.71%) PowerShell
3 17 (5.84%) Kusto Query Language
4 15 (5.15%) JavaScript
5 13 (4.47%) Bash
6 8 (2.75%) Java
7 4 (1.37%) C#
7 4 (1.37%) SQL
8 2 (0.69%) Bicep
9 1 (0.34%) Go
9 1 (0.34%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 80 (27.49%) Security Cleared
2 68 (23.37%) SC Cleared
3 46 (15.81%) CISSP
4 24 (8.25%) CISM
5 22 (7.56%) Degree
6 21 (7.22%) Cisco Certification
7 18 (6.19%) DV Cleared
8 17 (5.84%) GCIH
8 17 (5.84%) GIAC
9 15 (5.15%) CompTIA Security+
10 14 (4.81%) CEH
11 9 (3.09%) CCNP
11 9 (3.09%) CCSP
11 9 (3.09%) GCIA
12 8 (2.75%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 8 (2.75%) Azure Certification
12 8 (2.75%) Microsoft Certification
13 7 (2.41%) AWS Certification
13 7 (2.41%) CCSE
13 7 (2.41%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (15.81%) NIST
2 42 (14.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (7.90%) GDPR
4 14 (4.81%) GRC
5 12 (4.12%) Cyber Essentials
5 12 (4.12%) SLA
6 9 (3.09%) NIST 800
6 9 (3.09%) PCI DSS
7 6 (2.06%) Data Quality
7 6 (2.06%) HIPAA
8 5 (1.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 4 (1.37%) COBIT
9 4 (1.37%) NCSC
10 2 (0.69%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.69%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.69%) QA
11 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.34%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.34%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.34%) SOC 2
System Software
1 12 (4.12%) Virtual Machines
2 11 (3.78%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.34%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.34%) IAG
3 1 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 8 (2.75%) Ansible
2 7 (2.41%) FortiGate
3 6 (2.06%) Kubernetes
4 5 (1.72%) CSIRT
4 5 (1.72%) QRadar
4 5 (1.72%) SCCM
4 5 (1.72%) Terraform
5 4 (1.37%) CASB
5 4 (1.37%) Grafana
6 2 (0.69%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 2 (0.69%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.69%) SCOrch
6 2 (0.69%) WSUS
7 1 (0.34%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 1 (0.34%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 88 (30.24%) Microsoft
2 49 (16.84%) Splunk
3 31 (10.65%) ServiceNow
4 24 (8.25%) Palo Alto
5 17 (5.84%) Cisco
6 16 (5.50%) Google
7 10 (3.44%) CheckPoint
8 8 (2.75%) Qualys
8 8 (2.75%) Rapid7
9 7 (2.41%) CrowdStrike
10 5 (1.72%) Darktrace
11 4 (1.37%) Ariba
11 4 (1.37%) F5
11 4 (1.37%) IBM
11 4 (1.37%) LogRhythm
11 4 (1.37%) SAP
11 4 (1.37%) VMware
12 3 (1.03%) Meraki
12 3 (1.03%) Oracle
12 3 (1.03%) Proofpoint