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 4 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 170 166 216
Rank change year-on-year -4 +50 +1
Contract jobs citing NIST 327 230 175
As % of all contract jobs in London 1.63% 1.69% 1.07%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 8.78% 9.95% 7.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 226 160 136
10th Percentile £430 £425 £438
25th Percentile £500 £509 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £586 £600 £650
Median % change year-on-year -2.29% -7.69% -3.70%
75th Percentile £697 £700 £775
90th Percentile £775 £814 £780
England median daily rate £583 £590 £650
% change year-on-year -1.27% -9.23% -

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 3,726 2,312 2,227
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 18.63% 16.97% 13.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,519 1,557 1,533
10th Percentile £350 £325 £350
25th Percentile £430 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.65%
75th Percentile £638 £660 £675
90th Percentile £738 £750 £788
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 36 43
10th Percentile £18.72 £23.95 £16.99
25th Percentile £24.81 £25.15 £21.13
Median hourly rate £28.80 £34.48 £26.68
Median % change year-on-year -16.49% +29.24% -23.77%
75th Percentile £44.75 £45.44 £46.25
90th Percentile £65.02 £55.88 £59.00
England median hourly rate £40.00 £30.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +33.33% +9.09% -34.16%

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 4 August 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 4 August 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 +5 50 £600 +2.56% 32
East London -2 3 £750 +28.21%
South London -14 3 £744 +35.18%
West London -22 2 £431 +11.29% 8
North London - 1 £650 - 1
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 6 (1.83%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.31%) Red Hat Fuse
Applications
1 7 (2.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 134 (40.98%) Azure
2 95 (29.05%) AWS
3 53 (16.21%) Entra ID
4 44 (13.46%) GCP
5 21 (6.42%) Azure Sentinel
6 17 (5.20%) SaaS
7 16 (4.89%) Azure DevOps
8 14 (4.28%) Microsoft 365
9 12 (3.67%) Microsoft Purview
9 12 (3.67%) OCI
10 10 (3.06%) GitHub
11 8 (2.45%) Azure Key Vault
11 8 (2.45%) Datadog
12 6 (1.83%) Azure Monitor
12 6 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
12 6 (1.83%) Serverless
13 5 (1.53%) Amazon Bedrock
13 5 (1.53%) AWS Control Tower
13 5 (1.53%) AWS KMS
13 5 (1.53%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 27 (8.26%) Network Security
2 17 (5.20%) Firewall
3 11 (3.36%) DNS
4 10 (3.06%) VPN
5 7 (2.14%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.83%) Kerberos
6 6 (1.83%) NGFW
6 6 (1.83%) X.509
7 5 (1.53%) HTTP
7 5 (1.53%) IPsec
7 5 (1.53%) SSL
8 4 (1.22%) Cisco IPT
9 3 (0.92%) DHCP
9 3 (0.92%) Internet
9 3 (0.92%) SSH
10 2 (0.61%) BGP
10 2 (0.61%) IPv4
10 2 (0.61%) IPv6
10 2 (0.61%) S/MIME
10 2 (0.61%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.22%) Big Data
2 3 (0.92%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (0.61%) Data Hub
3 2 (0.61%) Power BI
4 1 (0.31%) Amazon Athena
4 1 (0.31%) Amazon Redshift
4 1 (0.31%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.31%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.31%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 8 (2.45%) JIRA
2 7 (2.14%) Snyk
3 5 (1.53%) GitLab
4 4 (1.22%) Burp Suite
4 4 (1.22%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.22%) SonarQube
5 2 (0.61%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.61%) Git
6 1 (0.31%) MSI
6 1 (0.31%) Postman
General
1 107 (32.72%) Social Skills
2 103 (31.50%) Finance
3 48 (14.68%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (7.95%) Banking
5 24 (7.34%) Public Sector
6 21 (6.42%) Legal
7 16 (4.89%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (3.36%) Financial Institution
9 8 (2.45%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (1.83%) Law
11 5 (1.53%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.22%) Manufacturing
12 4 (1.22%) Retail
13 3 (0.92%) Local Government
13 3 (0.92%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.92%) Telecoms
14 2 (0.61%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.61%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.31%) Aerospace
15 1 (0.31%) German Language
Job Titles
1 74 (22.63%) Architect
2 55 (16.82%) Analyst
3 41 (12.54%) Security Architect
4 34 (10.40%) Consultant
5 33 (10.09%) Senior
6 23 (7.03%) Lead
6 23 (7.03%) Security Consultant
7 22 (6.73%) Security Analyst
8 20 (6.12%) Business Analyst
8 20 (6.12%) Security Engineer
9 18 (5.50%) Security Manager
10 16 (4.89%) Project Manager
11 14 (4.28%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 14 (4.28%) Security Specialist
12 13 (3.98%) Solutions Architect
13 12 (3.67%) Cybersecurity Consultant
14 9 (2.75%) CyberArk Architect
14 9 (2.75%) Head of Security
14 9 (2.75%) Senior Architect
15 8 (2.45%) Cybersecurity Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.59%) SailPoint
2 9 (2.75%) OAuth
2 9 (2.75%) SAML
3 6 (1.83%) JSON
4 4 (1.22%) Kafka
4 4 (1.22%) LDAP
4 4 (1.22%) REST
4 4 (1.22%) YAML
5 3 (0.92%) OpenID
5 3 (0.92%) SLSA
5 3 (0.92%) SPIFFE
6 2 (0.61%) Azure Blueprints
6 2 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
6 2 (0.61%) Middleware
6 2 (0.61%) OAuth2
6 2 (0.61%) OpenTelemetry
6 2 (0.61%) RESTful
6 2 (0.61%) SOAP
6 2 (0.61%) Vert.x
7 1 (0.31%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 31 (9.48%) Security Posture
2 30 (9.17%) Cloud Native
3 25 (7.65%) Onboarding
4 22 (6.73%) Operational Technology
5 18 (5.50%) Hybrid Cloud
6 14 (4.28%) Management Information System
7 12 (3.67%) CMDB
8 11 (3.36%) AI Agents
9 10 (3.06%) PKI
9 10 (3.06%) SCADA
10 8 (2.45%) Cyber Threat
11 7 (2.14%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (1.53%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.53%) Data Centre
12 5 (1.53%) Data Protection Act
13 4 (1.22%) BYOD
14 3 (0.92%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
14 3 (0.92%) Legacy Systems
14 3 (0.92%) Mainframe
14 3 (0.92%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 18 (5.50%) Windows
2 15 (4.59%) Linux
3 7 (2.14%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.22%) Unix
6 3 (0.92%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.61%) Alpine Linux
8 1 (0.31%) Android
8 1 (0.31%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.31%) CentOS
8 1 (0.31%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 182 (55.66%) Cybersecurity
2 76 (23.24%) Risk Management
3 71 (21.71%) Stakeholder Management
4 70 (21.41%) Security Architecture
5 63 (19.27%) Information Security
6 60 (18.35%) Cloud Security
7 56 (17.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 51 (15.60%) AI
8 51 (15.60%) Roadmaps
9 50 (15.29%) CI/CD
10 49 (14.98%) Identity Access Management
10 49 (14.98%) Incident Response
11 46 (14.07%) Vulnerability Management
12 43 (13.15%) Threat Modelling
13 42 (12.84%) Continuous Improvement
14 40 (12.23%) Data Protection
15 39 (11.93%) DevOps
15 39 (11.93%) Zero Trust
16 38 (11.62%) Agile
16 38 (11.62%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 35 (10.70%) Python
2 29 (8.87%) PowerShell
3 16 (4.89%) SQL
4 9 (2.75%) Bash
5 6 (1.83%) Kusto Query Language
6 5 (1.53%) Bicep
7 4 (1.22%) Java
8 2 (0.61%) Go
8 2 (0.61%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.31%) C
9 1 (0.31%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.31%) Korn
Qualifications
1 96 (29.36%) CISSP
2 59 (18.04%) Security Cleared
3 52 (15.90%) CISM
4 46 (14.07%) SC Cleared
5 37 (11.31%) Degree
6 25 (7.65%) CRISC
7 23 (7.03%) Cisco Certification
8 22 (6.73%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 21 (6.42%) CISA
10 20 (6.12%) CEH
10 20 (6.12%) GIAC
11 18 (5.50%) CompTIA Security+
12 16 (4.89%) Azure Certification
13 13 (3.98%) PMI Certification
13 13 (3.98%) PMP
14 12 (3.67%) AWS Certification
14 12 (3.67%) DV Cleared
15 10 (3.06%) CCSP
15 10 (3.06%) Computer Science Degree
15 10 (3.06%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 201 (61.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 59 (18.04%) GDPR
3 50 (15.29%) GRC
4 42 (12.84%) COBIT
5 33 (10.09%) NIST 800
6 32 (9.79%) NCSC
7 29 (8.87%) PCI DSS
8 26 (7.95%) SOC 2
9 20 (6.12%) Cyber Essentials
10 15 (4.59%) ITGC
11 13 (3.98%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 9 (2.75%) EU AI Act
12 9 (2.75%) QA
13 8 (2.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 8 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 8 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 7 (2.14%) SLA
15 6 (1.83%) PMO
16 5 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27005
17 4 (1.22%) HIPAA
System Software
1 36 (11.01%) Active Directory
2 14 (4.28%) Docker
3 3 (0.92%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.61%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.61%) OpenSSH
4 2 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.31%) Firmware
5 1 (0.31%) Varnish
5 1 (0.31%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 21 (6.42%) Terraform
2 20 (6.12%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.67%) Single Sign-On
4 9 (2.75%) Ansible
5 7 (2.14%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.61%) Docker Swarm
6 2 (0.61%) Grafana
6 2 (0.61%) HP Fortify
6 2 (0.61%) Nexpose
6 2 (0.61%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.61%) Puppet
7 1 (0.31%) CASB
7 1 (0.31%) Nessus
7 1 (0.31%) SCCM
7 1 (0.31%) VxRail
Vendors
1 68 (20.80%) Microsoft
2 27 (8.26%) CyberArk
3 23 (7.03%) Splunk
4 21 (6.42%) ServiceNow
5 13 (3.98%) CrowdStrike
5 13 (3.98%) Google
5 13 (3.98%) Tenable
6 12 (3.67%) Qualys
7 10 (3.06%) Palo Alto
8 6 (1.83%) Cisco
8 6 (1.83%) Okta
8 6 (1.83%) Rapid7
9 5 (1.53%) Zscaler
10 4 (1.22%) Veracode
10 4 (1.22%) VMware
11 3 (0.92%) BeyondTrust
11 3 (0.92%) Commvault
11 3 (0.92%) Forcepoint
11 3 (0.92%) ForgeRock
11 3 (0.92%) Workday