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

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 176 157 226
Rank change year-on-year -19 +69 -18
Contract jobs citing NIST 333 244 174
As % of all contract jobs in London 1.64% 1.81% 1.07%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 8.44% 10.37% 7.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 236 159 124
10th Percentile £434 £400 £475
25th Percentile £500 £498 £522
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £575 £650
Median % change year-on-year - -11.54% -
75th Percentile £675 £688 £775
90th Percentile £783 £775 -
England median daily rate £563 £573 £625
% change year-on-year -1.75% -8.32% -0.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £90.00 -
England median hourly rate £65.69 £90.00 £80.00
% change year-on-year -27.01% +12.50% +71.12%

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 3,946 2,354 2,216
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 19.39% 17.45% 13.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,676 1,560 1,390
10th Percentile £350 £325 £319
25th Percentile £430 £413 £421
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.95% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £688
90th Percentile £725 £750 £804
England median daily rate £513 £500 £520
% change year-on-year +2.50% -3.85% -3.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 54 39
10th Percentile £15.99 £23.47 £18.13
25th Percentile £21.33 £25.15 £23.80
Median hourly rate £28.00 £34.00 £31.62
Median % change year-on-year -17.65% +7.53% +12.43%
75th Percentile £40.00 £44.37 £50.88
90th Percentile £58.95 £62.60 £73.25
England median hourly rate £32.40 £32.74 £34.47
% change year-on-year -1.04% -5.02% -12.77%

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 3 October 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 3 October 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 -15 42 £570 +1.33% 56
West London -23 5 £488 +14.71% 9
East London +2 3 £750 +33.33% 6
South London -6 3 £495 -23.85% 4
North London - 1 £650 -
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 7 (2.10%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.50%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.90%) Confluence
4 1 (0.30%) Apache
4 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.30%) IIS
4 1 (0.30%) nginx
4 1 (0.30%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.30%) Red Hat Fuse
Applications
1 7 (2.10%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.90%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 138 (41.44%) Azure
2 101 (30.33%) AWS
3 65 (19.52%) Entra ID
4 52 (15.62%) GCP
5 25 (7.51%) Microsoft 365
6 23 (6.91%) Azure Sentinel
7 20 (6.01%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (6.01%) SaaS
8 18 (5.41%) OCI
9 15 (4.50%) GitHub
10 14 (4.20%) Microsoft Purview
11 10 (3.00%) Amazon S3
11 10 (3.00%) AWS Control Tower
11 10 (3.00%) Azure Key Vault
12 8 (2.40%) Amazon EC2
12 8 (2.40%) GitHub Actions
13 7 (2.10%) Azure Monitor
14 6 (1.80%) AWS KMS
14 6 (1.80%) Microsoft Copilot
14 6 (1.80%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.01%) Network Security
2 21 (6.31%) Firewall
3 11 (3.30%) VPN
4 9 (2.70%) DNS
4 9 (2.70%) X.509
5 8 (2.40%) IPsec
6 7 (2.10%) SSH
7 5 (1.50%) Modbus
7 5 (1.50%) NGFW
8 4 (1.20%) TCP/IP
9 3 (0.90%) Internet
9 3 (0.90%) Kerberos
9 3 (0.90%) SSL
9 3 (0.90%) Wireless
10 2 (0.60%) Cisco IOS
10 2 (0.60%) DHCP
10 2 (0.60%) HTTP
10 2 (0.60%) Intrusion Detection
10 2 (0.60%) S/MIME
10 2 (0.60%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.80%) Amazon RDS
1 6 (1.80%) DynamoDB
2 5 (1.50%) Power BI
3 3 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (0.90%) Metadata
4 2 (0.60%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.30%) Big Data
5 1 (0.30%) Data Hub
5 1 (0.30%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 10 (3.00%) GitLab
2 9 (2.70%) JIRA
3 8 (2.40%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.80%) Snyk
5 5 (1.50%) Git
6 4 (1.20%) Burp Suite
6 4 (1.20%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.90%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.90%) Selenium
7 3 (0.90%) TestRail
8 2 (0.60%) MSI
General
1 104 (31.23%) Social Skills
2 84 (25.23%) Finance
3 34 (10.21%) Public Sector
4 33 (9.91%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (6.91%) Banking
6 22 (6.61%) Legal
7 18 (5.41%) Manufacturing
8 11 (3.30%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (3.30%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (1.20%) Investment Banking
9 4 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.90%) Cyber-Physical System
10 3 (0.90%) Financial Institution
10 3 (0.90%) Local Government
10 3 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (0.90%) Retail
11 2 (0.60%) German Language
11 2 (0.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.60%) Law
11 2 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 80 (24.02%) Architect
2 54 (16.22%) Analyst
3 47 (14.11%) Consultant
3 47 (14.11%) Security Architect
4 33 (9.91%) Lead
5 29 (8.71%) Senior
6 27 (8.11%) Security Analyst
7 23 (6.91%) Security Consultant
7 23 (6.91%) Security Engineer
8 20 (6.01%) Security Manager
9 17 (5.11%) Business Analyst
9 17 (5.11%) Cybersecurity Consultant
10 16 (4.80%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 12 (3.60%) Senior Architect
12 11 (3.30%) Project Manager
13 10 (3.00%) Solutions Architect
14 9 (2.70%) Security Project Manager
14 9 (2.70%) Senior Analyst
15 8 (2.40%) Cybersecurity Manager
16 7 (2.10%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (10.21%) Terraform
2 14 (4.20%) SailPoint
3 13 (3.90%) OAuth
4 11 (3.30%) REST
5 9 (2.70%) JSON
6 8 (2.40%) LDAP
6 8 (2.40%) SAML
7 4 (1.20%) JDBC
7 4 (1.20%) Playwright
7 4 (1.20%) SOAP
8 3 (0.90%) OpenID
8 3 (0.90%) pytest
8 3 (0.90%) SLSA
8 3 (0.90%) SPIFFE
8 3 (0.90%) YAML
9 2 (0.60%) Azure Blueprints
9 2 (0.60%) Kafka
9 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Graph
10 1 (0.30%) FastAPI
10 1 (0.30%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 34 (10.21%) Cloud Native
1 34 (10.21%) Onboarding
2 32 (9.61%) Security Posture
3 31 (9.31%) Operational Technology
4 17 (5.11%) Cyber Threat
5 16 (4.80%) Management Information System
5 16 (4.80%) PKI
6 13 (3.90%) SCADA
7 10 (3.00%) AI Agents
8 7 (2.10%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (1.80%) Cloud Security Posture
9 6 (1.80%) CMDB
9 6 (1.80%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.80%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (1.80%) IoT
10 5 (1.50%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.50%) Taxonomies
11 4 (1.20%) Algorithms
11 4 (1.20%) Cyberattack
11 4 (1.20%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 20 (6.01%) Windows
2 18 (5.41%) Linux
3 10 (3.00%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (0.90%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.60%) Alpine Linux
7 1 (0.30%) Android
7 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.30%) CentOS
7 1 (0.30%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.30%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 202 (60.66%) Cybersecurity
2 85 (25.53%) Risk Management
3 83 (24.92%) Security Architecture
3 83 (24.92%) Stakeholder Management
4 71 (21.32%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 69 (20.72%) Cloud Security
6 62 (18.62%) Identity Access Management
6 62 (18.62%) Vulnerability Management
7 60 (18.02%) Roadmaps
8 54 (16.22%) Incident Response
9 51 (15.32%) Threat Modelling
10 49 (14.71%) Information Security
11 45 (13.51%) AI
12 43 (12.91%) Continuous Improvement
13 42 (12.61%) CI/CD
13 42 (12.61%) Zero Trust
14 41 (12.31%) SIEM
15 39 (11.71%) Security Operations
16 38 (11.41%) Infrastructure as Code
17 37 (11.11%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 43 (12.91%) Python
2 40 (12.01%) PowerShell
3 19 (5.71%) SQL
4 18 (5.41%) Bash
5 8 (2.40%) Bicep
5 8 (2.40%) Java
5 8 (2.40%) Kusto Query Language
6 4 (1.20%) BeanShell
7 3 (0.90%) C#
7 3 (0.90%) Korn
8 2 (0.60%) Go
8 2 (0.60%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.30%) C
9 1 (0.30%) CodeQL
Qualifications
1 109 (32.73%) CISSP
2 82 (24.62%) Security Cleared
3 75 (22.52%) CISM
4 68 (20.42%) SC Cleared
5 33 (9.91%) CRISC
6 26 (7.81%) Cisco Certification
7 23 (6.91%) Degree
8 21 (6.31%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 19 (5.71%) Azure Certification
9 19 (5.71%) CISA
10 18 (5.41%) AWS Certification
10 18 (5.41%) GIAC
11 16 (4.80%) CompTIA Security+
11 16 (4.80%) DV Cleared
12 12 (3.60%) CCSP
12 12 (3.60%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 12 (3.60%) PMI Certification
12 12 (3.60%) PMP
13 11 (3.30%) CEH
13 11 (3.30%) FFIEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 213 (63.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 53 (15.92%) GRC
3 44 (13.21%) NCSC
4 42 (12.61%) GDPR
5 31 (9.31%) NIST 800
6 28 (8.41%) COBIT
7 24 (7.21%) Cyber Essentials
7 24 (7.21%) PCI DSS
8 22 (6.61%) SOC 2
9 12 (3.60%) ISO/IEC 42001
9 12 (3.60%) QA
10 11 (3.30%) EU AI Act
10 11 (3.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 9 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 7 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 7 (2.10%) ITGC
13 6 (1.80%) Data Quality
14 5 (1.50%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 5 (1.50%) SLA
15 4 (1.20%) PMO
System Software
1 45 (13.51%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.50%) Docker
3 5 (1.50%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.60%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.60%) OpenSSH
5 1 (0.30%) Firmware
5 1 (0.30%) ISA Server
5 1 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 21 (6.31%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.90%) Ansible
2 13 (3.90%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (2.10%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (0.90%) Argo
4 3 (0.90%) HP Fortify
5 2 (0.60%) CASB
5 2 (0.60%) Docker Swarm
5 2 (0.60%) Nessus
5 2 (0.60%) Nexpose
5 2 (0.60%) Puppet
5 2 (0.60%) SCCM
6 1 (0.30%) Grafana
6 1 (0.30%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.30%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.30%) QRadar
Vendors
1 83 (24.92%) Microsoft
2 21 (6.31%) CyberArk
3 19 (5.71%) ServiceNow
4 18 (5.41%) CrowdStrike
4 18 (5.41%) Google
5 17 (5.11%) Splunk
6 14 (4.20%) Qualys
7 11 (3.30%) Palo Alto
7 11 (3.30%) Tenable
8 10 (3.00%) Okta
8 10 (3.00%) Rapid7
9 9 (2.70%) Cisco
10 6 (1.80%) VMware
11 5 (1.50%) Zscaler
12 4 (1.20%) Databricks
12 4 (1.20%) OpenAI
12 4 (1.20%) Salesforce
12 4 (1.20%) SAP
12 4 (1.20%) Siemens
12 4 (1.20%) Veracode