Cybersecurity Contract Job Trends in the North West

Cybersecurity
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Cybersecurity skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 46 39 55
Rank change year-on-year -7 +16 +28
Contract jobs citing Cybersecurity 112 85 91
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 4.52% 3.98% 3.46%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.11% 4.61% 3.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 54 52
10th Percentile £310 £452 £359
25th Percentile £423 £513 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £573 £545
Median % change year-on-year -12.66% +5.05% -0.91%
75th Percentile £575 £675 £627
90th Percentile £684 £739 £699
England median daily rate £535 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -6.96% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 2 3
10th Percentile £15.50 £41.97 £19.70
25th Percentile £37.50 £42.67 £24.86
Median hourly rate £45.46 £44.59 £35.95
Median % change year-on-year +1.95% +24.03% +79.75%
75th Percentile £47.22 £45.76 £42.65
90th Percentile £70.45 £46.01 £45.19
England median hourly rate £45.46 £55.25 £72.50
% change year-on-year -17.72% -23.79% +10.69%

All Process and Methodology Skills
North West

Cybersecurity falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,191 1,842 2,346
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 88.49% 86.32% 89.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,430 1,037 1,594
10th Percentile £213 £274 £288
25th Percentile £358 £390 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £574 £575 £600
90th Percentile £655 £656 £684
England median daily rate £505 £525 £544
% change year-on-year -3.81% -3.49% -1.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 196 108 154
10th Percentile £16.43 £16.00 £15.75
25th Percentile £20.86 £21.20 £17.81
Median hourly rate £32.50 £32.01 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year +1.53% -9.83% +37.54%
75th Percentile £55.00 £51.91 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.00 £68.65 £65.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +19.30%

Cybersecurity
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cybersecurity relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Cybersecurity job vacancy trend in the North West

Cybersecurity
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Cybersecurity.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cybersecurity in the North West over the 6 months to 16 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Cybersecurity in the North West

Cybersecurity
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Cybersecurity.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cybersecurity in the North West over the 6 months to 16 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Cybersecurity in the North West

Cybersecurity
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cybersecurity within the North West region over the 6 months to 16 December 2025. 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
Lancashire +11 38 £550 -6.38% 57
Manchester -9 31 £550 -8.33% 86
Cheshire -23 26 £465 -16.78% 31
Cumbria +13 11 £501 -21.69% 4
Merseyside 0 5 £275 -35.29% 24
Cybersecurity
England

Cybersecurity
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 (2.68%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (2.68%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.79%) Confluence
3 1 (0.89%) Apache
3 1 (0.89%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 1 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 20 (17.86%) Azure
2 17 (15.18%) Microsoft 365
3 9 (8.04%) AWS
3 9 (8.04%) SaaS
4 6 (5.36%) Azure Sentinel
4 6 (5.36%) Entra ID
5 5 (4.46%) Azure Logic Apps
5 5 (4.46%) Power Platform
6 4 (3.57%) GCP
7 3 (2.68%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (1.79%) Google Workspace
8 2 (1.79%) OneDrive
9 1 (0.89%) Amazon ECS
9 1 (0.89%) Amazon EKS
9 1 (0.89%) AWS Lambda
9 1 (0.89%) Azure DevOps
9 1 (0.89%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.89%) OpenShift
9 1 (0.89%) Serverless
9 1 (0.89%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 15 (13.39%) Firewall
2 12 (10.71%) Network Security
3 8 (7.14%) BGP
3 8 (7.14%) DNS
3 8 (7.14%) Software-Defined Networking
3 8 (7.14%) VLAN
4 5 (4.46%) Internet
4 5 (4.46%) Unified Communications
4 5 (4.46%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (1.79%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.89%) Ethernet VPN
6 1 (0.89%) LAN
6 1 (0.89%) MPLS
6 1 (0.89%) VPN
6 1 (0.89%) WAN
6 1 (0.89%) WebEx
6 1 (0.89%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.89%) Amazon Redshift
1 1 (0.89%) BigQuery
1 1 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
1 1 (0.89%) Elasticsearch
1 1 (0.89%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 2 (1.79%) JIRA
2 1 (0.89%) GitLab
General
1 44 (39.29%) Social Skills
2 19 (16.96%) Analytical Skills
3 16 (14.29%) Finance
4 8 (7.14%) Public Sector
5 6 (5.36%) Documentation Skills
6 5 (4.46%) Legal
7 4 (3.57%) Military
7 4 (3.57%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (2.68%) Banking
8 3 (2.68%) Retail
9 2 (1.79%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.89%) Arabic Language
10 1 (0.89%) Automotive
10 1 (0.89%) Corporate Banking
10 1 (0.89%) French Language
10 1 (0.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.89%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 20 (17.86%) Lead
2 16 (14.29%) Senior
3 13 (11.61%) Analyst
4 10 (8.93%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 9 (8.04%) Security Analyst
6 8 (7.14%) Architect
6 8 (7.14%) Security Engineer
7 7 (6.25%) IT Technician
7 7 (6.25%) Platform Engineer
7 7 (6.25%) Security Architect
8 6 (5.36%) IT Support
8 6 (5.36%) Project Manager
9 5 (4.46%) Consultant
9 5 (4.46%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 5 (4.46%) Cybersecurity Specialist
9 5 (4.46%) IT Support Technician
9 5 (4.46%) Security Manager
9 5 (4.46%) Service Desk Support
9 5 (4.46%) Service Desk Technician
9 5 (4.46%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (2.68%) JSON
2 1 (0.89%) Apache NiFi
2 1 (0.89%) Elastic Stack
2 1 (0.89%) NestJS
2 1 (0.89%) Node.js
2 1 (0.89%) OAuth
2 1 (0.89%) OAuth2
2 1 (0.89%) OpenID
2 1 (0.89%) REST
2 1 (0.89%) SAML
2 1 (0.89%) Web Services
2 1 (0.89%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 14 (12.50%) Virtual Team
2 13 (11.61%) Onboarding
3 11 (9.82%) Product Ownership
4 10 (8.93%) Cyber Threat
5 7 (6.25%) Security Operations Centre
6 6 (5.36%) Data Centre
7 5 (4.46%) Analytical Mindset
7 5 (4.46%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (4.46%) Low-Code
7 5 (4.46%) Video Conferencing
8 4 (3.57%) Management Information System
8 4 (3.57%) Operational Technology
9 3 (2.68%) SCADA
9 3 (2.68%) Security Posture
10 2 (1.79%) Cloud Native
10 2 (1.79%) CMDB
10 2 (1.79%) CSOC
10 2 (1.79%) Private Cloud
11 1 (0.89%) Driving Licence
11 1 (0.89%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 20 (17.86%) Windows
2 9 (8.04%) Linux
3 8 (7.14%) Windows Server
4 7 (6.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (25.89%) Continuous Improvement
2 22 (19.64%) Project Management
3 20 (17.86%) Problem-Solving
3 20 (17.86%) Project Delivery
3 20 (17.86%) Security Operations
4 19 (16.96%) DevOps
4 19 (16.96%) Service Delivery
5 18 (16.07%) Agile
5 18 (16.07%) Incident Response
5 18 (16.07%) Risk Management
6 17 (15.18%) Change Management
6 17 (15.18%) ITIL
6 17 (15.18%) PRINCE2
6 17 (15.18%) Security Management
7 15 (13.39%) Agile Project Management
7 15 (13.39%) Information Security
7 15 (13.39%) Lean Six Sigma
7 15 (13.39%) SIEM
7 15 (13.39%) Six Sigma
7 15 (13.39%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (15.18%) PowerShell
2 11 (9.82%) Python
3 10 (8.93%) Bash
4 6 (5.36%) Kusto Query Language
4 6 (5.36%) Perl
5 1 (0.89%) SQL
Qualifications
1 49 (43.75%) Security Cleared
2 38 (33.93%) Degree
2 38 (33.93%) SC Cleared
3 15 (13.39%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
4 11 (9.82%) CISSP
5 9 (8.04%) CISM
6 6 (5.36%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (3.57%) Azure Certification
8 3 (2.68%) CCDP
8 3 (2.68%) CCNA
8 3 (2.68%) CCNP
8 3 (2.68%) CISA
8 3 (2.68%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (2.68%) DBS Check
8 3 (2.68%) DV Cleared
8 3 (2.68%) GSEC
8 3 (2.68%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 2 (1.79%) AWS Certification
9 2 (1.79%) GCIA
9 2 (1.79%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (21.43%) NIST
2 9 (8.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (6.25%) GDPR
4 6 (5.36%) NCSC
5 3 (2.68%) HIPAA
5 3 (2.68%) PCI DSS
6 2 (1.79%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 2 (1.79%) COBIT
6 2 (1.79%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (1.79%) IEC 61131
7 1 (0.89%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.89%) GRC
7 1 (0.89%) PMBOK
System Software
1 17 (15.18%) Active Directory
2 4 (3.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (2.68%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (5.36%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (4.46%) SCCM
3 4 (3.57%) Kubernetes
3 4 (3.57%) Nessus
3 4 (3.57%) QRadar
4 3 (2.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (1.79%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.89%) Fluentd
6 1 (0.89%) Kibana
6 1 (0.89%) logstash
Vendors
1 34 (30.36%) Microsoft
2 7 (6.25%) Red Hat
2 7 (6.25%) Splunk
3 6 (5.36%) ServiceNow
4 4 (3.57%) ArcSight
4 4 (3.57%) Cisco
4 4 (3.57%) Citrix
4 4 (3.57%) Qualys
4 4 (3.57%) Tanium
4 4 (3.57%) VMware
5 3 (2.68%) LogRhythm
5 3 (2.68%) Palo Alto
6 2 (1.79%) F5
6 2 (1.79%) Google
6 2 (1.79%) Rockwell
6 2 (1.79%) Siemens
6 2 (1.79%) Wonderware
7 1 (0.89%) Cribl.io
7 1 (0.89%) Meraki
7 1 (0.89%) Ping Identity