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

6 months to
12 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 174 164 219
Rank change year-on-year -10 +55 -10
Contract jobs citing NIST 333 228 173
As % of all contract jobs in London 1.65% 1.68% 1.07%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 8.81% 9.88% 7.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 228 159 134
10th Percentile £430 £425 £475
25th Percentile £500 £509 £550
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £589 £600 £664
Median % change year-on-year -1.88% -9.64% -1.63%
75th Percentile £705 £700 £775
90th Percentile £800 £815 £780
England median daily rate £585 £590 £650
% change year-on-year -0.85% -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 3,778 2,307 2,224
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 18.75% 16.97% 13.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,553 1,557 1,516
10th Percentile £350 £313 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £426
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £738 £750 £794
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 42 43
10th Percentile £18.07 - £16.99
25th Percentile £24.38 £25.15 £21.13
Median hourly rate £29.04 £34.49 £26.68
Median % change year-on-year -15.80% +29.27% -23.77%
75th Percentile £41.68 £44.75 £46.25
90th Percentile £65.44 £54.88 £59.00
England median hourly rate £38.72 £31.64 £27.50
% change year-on-year +22.38% +15.05% -30.40%

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 12 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 12 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 -6 49 £600 +2.56% 27
West London -17 4 £431 +11.29% 9
East London +1 3 £750 +33.33%
South London -10 3 £744 +35.18% 2
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 (1.80%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.50%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.60%) Confluence
4 1 (0.30%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.30%) Red Hat Fuse
Applications
1 8 (2.40%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 139 (41.74%) Azure
2 96 (28.83%) AWS
3 58 (17.42%) Entra ID
4 47 (14.11%) GCP
5 22 (6.61%) Azure Sentinel
6 18 (5.41%) SaaS
7 16 (4.80%) Azure DevOps
7 16 (4.80%) Microsoft 365
8 12 (3.60%) Microsoft Purview
8 12 (3.60%) OCI
9 10 (3.00%) GitHub
10 8 (2.40%) Azure Key Vault
10 8 (2.40%) Datadog
11 6 (1.80%) Azure Monitor
11 6 (1.80%) GitHub Actions
11 6 (1.80%) Serverless
12 5 (1.50%) Amazon Bedrock
12 5 (1.50%) AWS KMS
12 5 (1.50%) Azure Logic Apps
12 5 (1.50%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 27 (8.11%) Network Security
2 18 (5.41%) Firewall
3 12 (3.60%) DNS
4 10 (3.00%) VPN
5 7 (2.10%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.80%) Kerberos
6 6 (1.80%) NGFW
6 6 (1.80%) X.509
7 5 (1.50%) HTTP
7 5 (1.50%) IPsec
7 5 (1.50%) SSL
8 4 (1.20%) Cisco IPT
9 3 (0.90%) DHCP
9 3 (0.90%) Internet
9 3 (0.90%) SSH
10 2 (0.60%) BGP
10 2 (0.60%) IPv4
10 2 (0.60%) IPv6
10 2 (0.60%) S/MIME
10 2 (0.60%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.20%) Big Data
2 3 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (0.60%) Power BI
4 1 (0.30%) Amazon Athena
4 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
4 1 (0.30%) Data Hub
4 1 (0.30%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.30%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 8 (2.40%) JIRA
2 7 (2.10%) Snyk
3 5 (1.50%) GitLab
4 4 (1.20%) Burp Suite
4 4 (1.20%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.20%) SonarQube
5 2 (0.60%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.60%) Git
5 2 (0.60%) MSI
6 1 (0.30%) Postman
General
1 111 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 103 (30.93%) Finance
3 49 (14.71%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (7.51%) Banking
4 25 (7.51%) Public Sector
5 24 (7.21%) Legal
6 16 (4.80%) Documentation Skills
7 11 (3.30%) Financial Institution
8 8 (2.40%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.80%) Law
10 5 (1.50%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.50%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.20%) Retail
12 3 (0.90%) Local Government
12 3 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
12 3 (0.90%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.60%) German Language
13 2 (0.60%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.30%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 78 (23.42%) Architect
2 55 (16.52%) Analyst
3 44 (13.21%) Security Architect
4 35 (10.51%) Consultant
5 29 (8.71%) Senior
6 28 (8.41%) Lead
7 23 (6.91%) Security Analyst
7 23 (6.91%) Security Consultant
8 21 (6.31%) Business Analyst
9 20 (6.01%) Security Engineer
10 18 (5.41%) Security Manager
11 16 (4.80%) Project Manager
12 15 (4.50%) Cybersecurity Analyst
13 13 (3.90%) Cybersecurity Consultant
13 13 (3.90%) Solutions Architect
14 10 (3.00%) Security Specialist
15 9 (2.70%) CyberArk Architect
15 9 (2.70%) Cybersecurity Architect
15 9 (2.70%) Head of Security
15 9 (2.70%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.80%) SailPoint
2 10 (3.00%) OAuth
3 9 (2.70%) SAML
4 7 (2.10%) JSON
5 6 (1.80%) REST
6 5 (1.50%) LDAP
7 4 (1.20%) YAML
8 3 (0.90%) Kafka
8 3 (0.90%) OpenID
8 3 (0.90%) SLSA
8 3 (0.90%) SOAP
8 3 (0.90%) SPIFFE
9 2 (0.60%) Azure Blueprints
9 2 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.60%) Middleware
9 2 (0.60%) OAuth2
9 2 (0.60%) RESTful
10 1 (0.30%) 802.1X
10 1 (0.30%) Flask
10 1 (0.30%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 29 (8.71%) Cloud Native
1 29 (8.71%) Security Posture
2 26 (7.81%) Onboarding
3 23 (6.91%) Operational Technology
4 18 (5.41%) Hybrid Cloud
5 13 (3.90%) CMDB
6 12 (3.60%) Management Information System
7 11 (3.30%) AI Agents
7 11 (3.30%) SCADA
8 10 (3.00%) PKI
9 8 (2.40%) Cyber Threat
10 7 (2.10%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (1.50%) Cloud Security Posture
11 5 (1.50%) Data Centre
12 4 (1.20%) BYOD
12 4 (1.20%) Data Protection Act
13 3 (0.90%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 3 (0.90%) Enterprise Software
13 3 (0.90%) Mainframe
13 3 (0.90%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 19 (5.71%) Windows
2 16 (4.80%) Linux
3 7 (2.10%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.20%) Unix
6 3 (0.90%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.60%) Alpine Linux
8 1 (0.30%) Android
8 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.30%) CentOS
8 1 (0.30%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 189 (56.76%) Cybersecurity
2 74 (22.22%) Security Architecture
2 74 (22.22%) Stakeholder Management
3 72 (21.62%) Risk Management
4 62 (18.62%) Cloud Security
5 60 (18.02%) Information Security
6 57 (17.12%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 54 (16.22%) Roadmaps
8 51 (15.32%) Identity Access Management
8 51 (15.32%) Incident Response
9 48 (14.41%) AI
9 48 (14.41%) CI/CD
9 48 (14.41%) Vulnerability Management
10 45 (13.51%) Threat Modelling
11 43 (12.91%) SIEM
12 40 (12.01%) Continuous Improvement
12 40 (12.01%) Zero Trust
13 39 (11.71%) Data Protection
14 38 (11.41%) DevOps
14 38 (11.41%) Risk Assessment
Programming Languages
1 33 (9.91%) Python
2 31 (9.31%) PowerShell
3 16 (4.80%) SQL
4 9 (2.70%) Bash
5 6 (1.80%) Kusto Query Language
6 5 (1.50%) Bicep
7 4 (1.20%) Java
8 2 (0.60%) Go
8 2 (0.60%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.30%) BeanShell
9 1 (0.30%) C
9 1 (0.30%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.30%) Korn
Qualifications
1 97 (29.13%) CISSP
2 63 (18.92%) Security Cleared
3 52 (15.62%) CISM
4 48 (14.41%) SC Cleared
5 37 (11.11%) Degree
6 25 (7.51%) CRISC
7 23 (6.91%) Cisco Certification
8 22 (6.61%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 21 (6.31%) CEH
9 21 (6.31%) GIAC
10 19 (5.71%) CISA
10 19 (5.71%) CompTIA Security+
11 16 (4.80%) Azure Certification
12 13 (3.90%) DV Cleared
12 13 (3.90%) PMI Certification
12 13 (3.90%) PMP
13 12 (3.60%) AWS Certification
14 11 (3.30%) FFIEC
14 11 (3.30%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
15 10 (3.00%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 203 (60.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 60 (18.02%) GDPR
3 50 (15.02%) GRC
4 44 (13.21%) COBIT
5 34 (10.21%) NCSC
6 29 (8.71%) NIST 800
7 25 (7.51%) PCI DSS
8 23 (6.91%) SOC 2
9 20 (6.01%) Cyber Essentials
10 15 (4.50%) ITGC
11 14 (4.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 11 (3.30%) EU AI Act
13 10 (3.00%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 9 (2.70%) QA
15 8 (2.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 7 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 7 (2.10%) PMO
16 7 (2.10%) SLA
17 4 (1.20%) HIPAA
17 4 (1.20%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 40 (12.01%) Active Directory
2 14 (4.20%) Docker
3 3 (0.90%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.60%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.60%) OpenSSH
4 2 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.30%) Firmware
5 1 (0.30%) Varnish
5 1 (0.30%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 21 (6.31%) Terraform
2 20 (6.01%) Kubernetes
3 12 (3.60%) Single Sign-On
4 9 (2.70%) Ansible
5 8 (2.40%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.90%) Nessus
7 2 (0.60%) Docker Swarm
7 2 (0.60%) Grafana
7 2 (0.60%) HP Fortify
7 2 (0.60%) Nexpose
7 2 (0.60%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.60%) Puppet
7 2 (0.60%) SCCM
8 1 (0.30%) CASB
8 1 (0.30%) QRadar
8 1 (0.30%) VxRail
Vendors
1 71 (21.32%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.41%) CyberArk
3 24 (7.21%) Splunk
4 23 (6.91%) ServiceNow
5 16 (4.80%) CrowdStrike
5 16 (4.80%) Tenable
6 14 (4.20%) Google
6 14 (4.20%) Qualys
7 10 (3.00%) Palo Alto
8 8 (2.40%) Rapid7
9 7 (2.10%) Okta
9 7 (2.10%) Zscaler
10 6 (1.80%) Cisco
11 4 (1.20%) ForgeRock
11 4 (1.20%) Veracode
11 4 (1.20%) VMware
12 3 (0.90%) BeyondTrust
12 3 (0.90%) Commvault
12 3 (0.90%) OpenAI
12 3 (0.90%) Workday