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

6 months to
13 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 169 199 199
Rank change year-on-year +30 0 +92
Contract jobs citing NIST 264 156 212
As % of all contract jobs in London 1.63% 1.21% 1.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 8.62% 8.02% 8.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 188 94 156
10th Percentile £423 £468 £400
25th Percentile £506 £514 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £615 £650 £650
Median % change year-on-year -5.38% - -
75th Percentile £713 £697 £775
90th Percentile £888 £846 £825
England median daily rate £570 £625 £613
% change year-on-year -8.80% +2.04% -5.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 5 0
10th Percentile £81.63 - -
25th Percentile £82.19 £68.80 -
Median hourly rate £88.75 £83.20 -
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% - -
75th Percentile £94.69 - -
90th Percentile £94.88 £90.28 -
England median hourly rate £82.75 £83.20 £44.50
% change year-on-year -0.54% +86.97% -32.06%

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 3,064 1,946 2,465
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 18.87% 15.07% 13.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,041 1,280 1,762
10th Percentile £350 £311 £363
25th Percentile £425 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £638 £675 £685
90th Percentile £750 £789 £780
England median daily rate £510 £503 £525
% change year-on-year +1.47% -4.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 25 61
10th Percentile £18.07 £18.88 £12.50
25th Percentile £18.72 £22.27 £17.75
Median hourly rate £26.11 £39.00 £26.24
Median % change year-on-year -33.05% +48.63% -30.49%
75th Percentile £57.13 £78.40 £43.75
90th Percentile £76.68 £93.75 £57.50
England median hourly rate £26.11 £32.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -19.66% +30.00% -37.50%

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 March 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 March 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 -3 35 £625 +13.64% 22
South London -9 7 £525 - 1
East London +2 4 £450 -28.57% 8
West London -18 3 £423 - 4
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 5 (1.89%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.76%) Confluence
4 1 (0.38%) nginx
Applications
1 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.38%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 78 (29.55%) Azure
2 67 (25.38%) AWS
3 28 (10.61%) GCP
4 16 (6.06%) AWS CloudFormation
4 16 (6.06%) Entra ID
5 14 (5.30%) OpenShift
6 12 (4.55%) Amazon ECS
6 12 (4.55%) Azure Sentinel
6 12 (4.55%) GitHub
7 11 (4.17%) Serverless
8 9 (3.41%) Amazon EKS
8 9 (3.41%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 8 (3.03%) AWS Lambda
9 8 (3.03%) Microsoft Purview
9 8 (3.03%) PaaS
10 7 (2.65%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 7 (2.65%) Amazon MSK
10 7 (2.65%) Microsoft 365
10 7 (2.65%) SaaS
11 6 (2.27%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 23 (8.71%) Network Security
2 20 (7.58%) Firewall
3 11 (4.17%) DNS
4 5 (1.89%) VPN
5 3 (1.14%) Cisco IPT
5 3 (1.14%) Intrusion Detection
5 3 (1.14%) LAN
5 3 (1.14%) NGFW
5 3 (1.14%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.14%) WAN
6 2 (0.76%) BGP
6 2 (0.76%) Ethernet VPN
6 2 (0.76%) HTTP
6 2 (0.76%) IPv4
6 2 (0.76%) IPv6
6 2 (0.76%) Kerberos
6 2 (0.76%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.76%) SSL
6 2 (0.76%) VSAN
6 2 (0.76%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (4.55%) Data Lake
2 8 (3.03%) Amazon RDS
3 5 (1.89%) Redis
4 4 (1.52%) Amazon Aurora
4 4 (1.52%) DocumentDB
4 4 (1.52%) DynamoDB
4 4 (1.52%) MySQL
4 4 (1.52%) NoSQL
4 4 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.14%) Amazon Athena
5 3 (1.14%) Amazon Redshift
5 3 (1.14%) Star Schema
6 2 (0.76%) Big Data
6 2 (0.76%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.76%) Power BI
7 1 (0.38%) Data Hub
7 1 (0.38%) EDRMS
7 1 (0.38%) Metadata
7 1 (0.38%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 17 (6.44%) Jenkins
2 12 (4.55%) JIRA
3 6 (2.27%) GitLab
4 5 (1.89%) Git
5 4 (1.52%) JMeter
5 4 (1.52%) Snyk
6 2 (0.76%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.38%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.38%) MLflow
7 1 (0.38%) Postman
7 1 (0.38%) Selenium
General
1 107 (40.53%) Social Skills
2 79 (29.92%) Finance
3 39 (14.77%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (9.47%) Public Sector
5 23 (8.71%) Documentation Skills
6 20 (7.58%) Banking
7 19 (7.20%) Influencing Skills
8 17 (6.44%) Legal
9 14 (5.30%) Financial Institution
9 14 (5.30%) Presentation Skills
10 7 (2.65%) Law
11 6 (2.27%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (2.27%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.76%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.76%) Military
12 2 (0.76%) Retail
13 1 (0.38%) Electronics
13 1 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 1 (0.38%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.38%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 41 (15.53%) Architect
2 35 (13.26%) Analyst
3 34 (12.88%) Security Engineer
4 31 (11.74%) Consultant
5 22 (8.33%) Senior
6 17 (6.44%) Security Architect
6 17 (6.44%) Security Consultant
6 17 (6.44%) Security Specialist
7 16 (6.06%) Project Manager
7 16 (6.06%) Security Manager
8 15 (5.68%) Lead
9 14 (5.30%) CyberArk Architect
10 13 (4.92%) Security Analyst
11 9 (3.41%) Migration Manager
11 9 (3.41%) Migration Project Manager
12 8 (3.03%) Cloud Architect
12 8 (3.03%) Cybersecurity Consultant
12 8 (3.03%) Cybersecurity Manager
13 7 (2.65%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 7 (2.65%) Risk Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (6.82%) OpenID
2 16 (6.06%) SAML
3 13 (4.92%) LDAP
4 9 (3.41%) REST
5 8 (3.03%) .NET
5 8 (3.03%) Kafka
6 7 (2.65%) RESTful
7 5 (1.89%) OAuth
7 5 (1.89%) OpenTelemetry
7 5 (1.89%) Spring
8 4 (1.52%) gRPC
8 4 (1.52%) Hibernate
8 4 (1.52%) JPA
8 4 (1.52%) OAuth2
8 4 (1.52%) Spring Boot
8 4 (1.52%) Spring Cloud
9 3 (1.14%) Elastic Stack
9 3 (1.14%) PyTorch
9 3 (1.14%) SailPoint
9 3 (1.14%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 29 (10.98%) Onboarding
2 27 (10.23%) Cloud Native
3 25 (9.47%) Security Posture
4 19 (7.20%) Management Information System
5 13 (4.92%) Operational Technology
6 10 (3.79%) Hybrid Cloud
7 8 (3.03%) Cyber Threat
8 7 (2.65%) CMDB
8 7 (2.65%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 7 (2.65%) Data Centre
8 7 (2.65%) Security Operations Centre
9 6 (2.27%) Distributed Systems
10 5 (1.89%) BYOD
10 5 (1.89%) Product Ownership
11 4 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
12 3 (1.14%) Analytical Mindset
12 3 (1.14%) Cyber Defence
12 3 (1.14%) Data Protection Act
12 3 (1.14%) Legacy Applications
12 3 (1.14%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 14 (5.30%) Linux
2 13 (4.92%) Windows
3 6 (2.27%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (1.14%) Unix
6 1 (0.38%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (47.35%) Cybersecurity
2 71 (26.89%) Information Security
3 64 (24.24%) Cloud Security
3 64 (24.24%) Risk Management
4 60 (22.73%) SIEM
5 59 (22.35%) Stakeholder Management
6 53 (20.08%) CI/CD
7 43 (16.29%) Incident Response
8 42 (15.91%) Infrastructure as Code
9 41 (15.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 41 (15.53%) Threat Modelling
10 40 (15.15%) Data Protection
11 39 (14.77%) Agile
11 39 (14.77%) Continuous Improvement
12 38 (14.39%) Security Architecture
13 36 (13.64%) DevOps
14 35 (13.26%) AI
15 34 (12.88%) Vulnerability Management
16 28 (10.61%) Identity Access Management
17 27 (10.23%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 27 (10.23%) Python
2 16 (6.06%) Java
3 15 (5.68%) PowerShell
4 12 (4.55%) SQL
5 7 (2.65%) Kusto Query Language
6 6 (2.27%) Bash
7 2 (0.76%) C++
8 1 (0.38%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 70 (26.52%) Security Cleared
2 65 (24.62%) CISSP
3 62 (23.48%) SC Cleared
4 44 (16.67%) CISM
5 36 (13.64%) Degree
6 18 (6.82%) CEH
7 17 (6.44%) Cisco Certification
7 17 (6.44%) CompTIA Security+
8 16 (6.06%) CRISC
9 15 (5.68%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 15 (5.68%) PMI Certification
9 15 (5.68%) PMP
10 13 (4.92%) CISA
11 11 (4.17%) Computer Science Degree
11 11 (4.17%) DV Cleared
11 11 (4.17%) Master's Degree
12 10 (3.79%) AWS Certification
12 10 (3.79%) CCSP
12 10 (3.79%) GIAC
12 10 (3.79%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 170 (64.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 68 (25.76%) GDPR
3 40 (15.15%) GRC
4 35 (13.26%) PCI DSS
5 33 (12.50%) NCSC
6 24 (9.09%) COBIT
7 19 (7.20%) NIST 800
8 16 (6.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 15 (5.68%) Cyber Essentials
9 15 (5.68%) ITGC
10 11 (4.17%) SOC 2
11 9 (3.41%) HIPAA
12 8 (3.03%) QA
13 7 (2.65%) SOX 404
14 6 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 5 (1.89%) EU AI Act
15 5 (1.89%) SLA
16 4 (1.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 4 (1.52%) HMG Security Policy Framework
17 3 (1.14%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 16 (6.06%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.30%) Docker
3 4 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.76%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.38%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 32 (12.12%) Kubernetes
2 19 (7.20%) Terraform
3 5 (1.89%) Ansible
3 5 (1.89%) CASB
3 5 (1.89%) Nessus
4 3 (1.14%) Grafana
4 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (1.14%) Prometheus
5 2 (0.76%) VxRail
6 1 (0.38%) Fluentd
6 1 (0.38%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.38%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.38%) Network Intrusion Detection System
6 1 (0.38%) Nmap
6 1 (0.38%) RSA Archer
6 1 (0.38%) SCCM
6 1 (0.38%) SELinux
6 1 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.38%) WSUS
Vendors
1 38 (14.39%) Microsoft
2 34 (12.88%) CyberArk
3 28 (10.61%) Splunk
4 15 (5.68%) ServiceNow
5 11 (4.17%) Tenable
6 10 (3.79%) Google
7 9 (3.41%) Cisco
7 9 (3.41%) Oracle
8 8 (3.03%) SAP
9 7 (2.65%) Palo Alto
9 7 (2.65%) Qualys
9 7 (2.65%) Rapid7
9 7 (2.65%) VMware
10 6 (2.27%) Fortinet
11 5 (1.89%) CrowdStrike
12 4 (1.52%) Trend Micro
12 4 (1.52%) Zscaler
13 3 (1.14%) CheckPoint
13 3 (1.14%) Red Hat
14 2 (0.76%) Forcepoint