NIST Contract Job Trends in London

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
England > London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in London requiring NIST skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 13 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 167 171 194
Rank change year-on-year +4 +23 +33
Contract jobs citing NIST 271 191 220
As % of all contract jobs in London 1.53% 1.54% 1.25%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 8.46% 9.62% 8.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 186 125 172
10th Percentile £430 £473 £375
25th Percentile £513 £530 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £615 £650 £644
Median % change year-on-year -5.38% +0.97% -4.63%
75th Percentile £750 £725 £775
90th Percentile £900 £838 £825
England median daily rate £600 £625 £625
% change year-on-year -4.00% - -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 3 0
Median hourly rate - £83.20 -
England median hourly rate £73.60 £78.40 £67.50
% change year-on-year -6.13% +16.15% +5.23%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
London

NIST falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 3,202 1,986 2,495
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 18.13% 16.06% 14.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,156 1,317 1,758
10th Percentile £350 £314 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £530 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.03% -3.64% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £675 £688
90th Percentile £738 £775 £800
England median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 27 64
10th Percentile £19.76 £19.25 £13.09
25th Percentile £25.38 £22.27 £18.04
Median hourly rate £27.75 £34.50 £24.59
Median % change year-on-year -19.57% +40.30% -29.74%
75th Percentile £36.41 £65.00 £49.06
90th Percentile £66.38 £87.42 £59.25
England median hourly rate £33.12 £38.03 £22.50
% change year-on-year -12.91% +69.02% -43.18%

NIST
Job Vacancy Trend in London

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

NIST job vacancy trend in London

NIST
Daily Rate Trend in London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing NIST.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing NIST

NIST
Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing NIST in London over the 6 months to 13 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for NIST in London

NIST
Hourly Rate Trend in London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing NIST.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing NIST

NIST
Contract Job Locations in London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing NIST within the London region over the 6 months to 13 May 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
Central London +12 48 £625 -3.85% 18
East London -5 4 £450 -26.83% 6
South London -14 2 £744 +65.22% 3
West London -29 1 - - 3
NIST
England

NIST
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London 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 3 (1.11%) Confluence
2 2 (0.74%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.37%) nginx
Applications
1 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.37%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 104 (38.38%) Azure
2 88 (32.47%) AWS
3 42 (15.50%) GCP
4 25 (9.23%) Entra ID
5 18 (6.64%) AWS CloudFormation
6 15 (5.54%) SaaS
7 13 (4.80%) OpenShift
8 12 (4.43%) Amazon ECS
8 12 (4.43%) GitHub
9 11 (4.06%) Azure Sentinel
10 10 (3.69%) Serverless
11 9 (3.32%) Amazon EKS
11 9 (3.32%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 8 (2.95%) AWS Lambda
13 7 (2.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 7 (2.58%) Amazon MSK
13 7 (2.58%) Azure DevOps
13 7 (2.58%) Datadog
14 6 (2.21%) Amazon S3
14 6 (2.21%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 19 (7.01%) Network Security
2 16 (5.90%) Firewall
3 14 (5.17%) DNS
4 6 (2.21%) Kerberos
5 4 (1.48%) NGFW
6 3 (1.11%) Cisco IPT
6 3 (1.11%) DHCP
6 3 (1.11%) HTTP
6 3 (1.11%) Intrusion Detection
6 3 (1.11%) SD-WAN
6 3 (1.11%) SSL
6 3 (1.11%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.11%) VPN
6 3 (1.11%) WAN
6 3 (1.11%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.11%) X.509
7 2 (0.74%) IPv4
7 2 (0.74%) IPv6
7 2 (0.74%) LAN
7 2 (0.74%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.95%) Amazon RDS
2 4 (1.48%) Amazon Aurora
2 4 (1.48%) Big Data
2 4 (1.48%) Data Lake
2 4 (1.48%) DocumentDB
2 4 (1.48%) DynamoDB
2 4 (1.48%) MySQL
2 4 (1.48%) NoSQL
2 4 (1.48%) PostgreSQL
2 4 (1.48%) Redis
3 3 (1.11%) Amazon Athena
3 3 (1.11%) Amazon Redshift
3 3 (1.11%) Star Schema
4 1 (0.37%) Data Hub
4 1 (0.37%) EDRMS
4 1 (0.37%) Metadata
4 1 (0.37%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 17 (6.27%) Jenkins
2 11 (4.06%) JIRA
3 5 (1.85%) Git
3 5 (1.85%) GitLab
4 4 (1.48%) Snyk
5 3 (1.11%) JMeter
6 2 (0.74%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.37%) MLflow
7 1 (0.37%) Postman
General
1 97 (35.79%) Social Skills
2 89 (32.84%) Finance
3 49 (18.08%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (9.23%) Documentation Skills
5 23 (8.49%) Banking
6 21 (7.75%) Influencing Skills
7 17 (6.27%) Legal
8 15 (5.54%) Financial Institution
9 11 (4.06%) Public Sector
10 9 (3.32%) Presentation Skills
11 6 (2.21%) Law
12 4 (1.48%) Retail
12 4 (1.48%) Telecoms
13 3 (1.11%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.74%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.74%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.37%) Back Office
15 1 (0.37%) Military
Job Titles
1 64 (23.62%) Architect
2 34 (12.55%) Analyst
3 27 (9.96%) Security Architect
4 24 (8.86%) Consultant
5 23 (8.49%) Security Engineer
6 21 (7.75%) CyberArk Architect
6 21 (7.75%) Project Manager
7 19 (7.01%) Security Consultant
8 18 (6.64%) Senior
9 17 (6.27%) Security Manager
10 15 (5.54%) Lead
11 14 (5.17%) Security Specialist
12 13 (4.80%) Security Analyst
13 11 (4.06%) Business Analyst
13 11 (4.06%) Cloud Architect
13 11 (4.06%) Migration Manager
13 11 (4.06%) Migration Project Manager
14 10 (3.69%) Cybersecurity Consultant
15 8 (2.95%) Cybersecurity Analyst
15 8 (2.95%) Cybersecurity Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (7.38%) SAML
2 19 (7.01%) OpenID
3 16 (5.90%) LDAP
4 10 (3.69%) SailPoint
5 9 (3.32%) Kafka
5 9 (3.32%) OAuth
6 7 (2.58%) REST
7 6 (2.21%) RESTful
8 5 (1.85%) .NET
8 5 (1.85%) OAuth2
8 5 (1.85%) OpenTelemetry
8 5 (1.85%) Spring
9 4 (1.48%) gRPC
9 4 (1.48%) Hibernate
9 4 (1.48%) JPA
9 4 (1.48%) JSON
9 4 (1.48%) Spring Boot
9 4 (1.48%) Spring Cloud
10 2 (0.74%) Elastic Stack
10 2 (0.74%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 36 (13.28%) Onboarding
2 31 (11.44%) Cloud Native
3 22 (8.12%) Security Posture
4 17 (6.27%) Management Information System
5 15 (5.54%) Hybrid Cloud
6 13 (4.80%) Operational Technology
7 9 (3.32%) CMDB
8 6 (2.21%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.85%) Data Centre
10 4 (1.48%) AI Agents
10 4 (1.48%) BYOD
10 4 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.48%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (1.48%) PKI
10 4 (1.48%) SCADA
10 4 (1.48%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (1.11%) Cloud Security Posture
11 3 (1.11%) Cyber Defence
11 3 (1.11%) Legacy Systems
11 3 (1.11%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 14 (5.17%) Windows
2 12 (4.43%) Linux
3 4 (1.48%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.11%) Unix
5 2 (0.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.37%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 135 (49.82%) Cybersecurity
2 69 (25.46%) Stakeholder Management
3 60 (22.14%) Information Security
4 58 (21.40%) Risk Management
5 57 (21.03%) CI/CD
6 54 (19.93%) Security Architecture
7 53 (19.56%) Cloud Security
8 49 (18.08%) Incident Response
9 47 (17.34%) DevOps
9 47 (17.34%) SIEM
10 46 (16.97%) Continuous Improvement
11 45 (16.61%) Threat Modelling
12 43 (15.87%) AI
12 43 (15.87%) Data Protection
13 42 (15.50%) Infrastructure as Code
14 39 (14.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 38 (14.02%) Agile
16 37 (13.65%) Vulnerability Management
17 36 (13.28%) Roadmaps
18 33 (12.18%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 29 (10.70%) Python
2 21 (7.75%) PowerShell
3 15 (5.54%) Java
4 13 (4.80%) SQL
5 10 (3.69%) Bash
6 4 (1.48%) Kusto Query Language
7 2 (0.74%) Go
8 1 (0.37%) Bicep
8 1 (0.37%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.37%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 78 (28.78%) CISSP
2 58 (21.40%) Security Cleared
3 47 (17.34%) SC Cleared
4 40 (14.76%) CISM
5 37 (13.65%) Degree
6 23 (8.49%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 23 (8.49%) Cisco Certification
7 21 (7.75%) CompTIA Security+
7 21 (7.75%) CRISC
8 17 (6.27%) CEH
8 17 (6.27%) PMI Certification
8 17 (6.27%) PMP
9 16 (5.90%) CISA
10 14 (5.17%) GIAC
11 13 (4.80%) AWS Certification
11 13 (4.80%) CCSP
12 11 (4.06%) Azure Certification
12 11 (4.06%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (3.32%) Master's Degree
14 7 (2.58%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 171 (63.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 61 (22.51%) GDPR
3 39 (14.39%) GRC
4 37 (13.65%) COBIT
5 36 (13.28%) NCSC
6 35 (12.92%) PCI DSS
7 25 (9.23%) NIST 800
8 14 (5.17%) ITGC
9 12 (4.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 12 (4.43%) SOC 2
10 10 (3.69%) Cyber Essentials
11 9 (3.32%) QA
12 6 (2.21%) SLA
13 5 (1.85%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 5 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 4 (1.48%) ISO 22301
14 4 (1.48%) ISO/IEC 42001
15 3 (1.11%) EU AI Act
15 3 (1.11%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 3 (1.11%) PMO
System Software
1 22 (8.12%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.17%) Docker
3 2 (0.74%) OpenSSH
4 1 (0.37%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.37%) Varnish
4 1 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.37%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 34 (12.55%) Kubernetes
2 25 (9.23%) Terraform
3 8 (2.95%) Single Sign-On
4 6 (2.21%) Ansible
5 3 (1.11%) CASB
5 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (1.11%) Nessus
6 2 (0.74%) Grafana
6 2 (0.74%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.37%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 1 (0.37%) Nexpose
7 1 (0.37%) Puppet
7 1 (0.37%) SELinux
7 1 (0.37%) VxRail
Vendors
1 41 (15.13%) CyberArk
2 39 (14.39%) Microsoft
3 32 (11.81%) Splunk
4 16 (5.90%) ServiceNow
5 12 (4.43%) Google
6 11 (4.06%) Tenable
7 8 (2.95%) Qualys
8 7 (2.58%) Rapid7
9 6 (2.21%) CrowdStrike
9 6 (2.21%) Palo Alto
9 6 (2.21%) Zscaler
10 5 (1.85%) Cisco
11 4 (1.48%) Fortinet
11 4 (1.48%) VMware
12 3 (1.11%) Commvault
12 3 (1.11%) Forcepoint
12 3 (1.11%) ForgeRock
12 3 (1.11%) Workday
13 2 (0.74%) Okta
13 2 (0.74%) Red Hat