Security Specialist Contract Job Trends in the North West

Security Specialist
England > North West

The median Security Specialist daily rate in the North West is £340, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 September 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 123 102 147
Rank change year-on-year -21 +45 +28
Contract jobs requiring a Security Specialist 4 15 1
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 0.18% 0.64% 0.035%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.20% 0.68% 0.038%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 10 0
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £340 £650 -
Median % change year-on-year -47.63% - -
England median daily rate £570 £600 £638
% change year-on-year -5.00% -5.88% +10.87%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £93.00 -
England median hourly rate - £61.50 £72.40
% change year-on-year - -15.06% +130.48%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North West. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the North West with a recognized job title 1,989 2,206 2,658
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.96% 93.59% 92.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,324 1,190 1,826
10th Percentile £265 £272 £270
25th Percentile £369 £394 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.16% -2.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £576 £594
90th Percentile £684 £670 £673
England median daily rate £512 £525 £546
% change year-on-year -2.52% -3.85% -0.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 159 159 166
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.46 £16.00
25th Percentile £17.30 £17.72 £17.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £33.54
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% +7.33% +40.07%
75th Percentile £47.12 £55.52 £46.70
90th Percentile £68.84 £74.37 £68.13
England median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year -44.11% -1.92% +73.48%

Security Specialist
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Job postings that featured Security Specialist in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Job vacancy trend for Security Specialist in the North West

Security Specialist
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Security Specialist job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Security Specialist job vacancies in the North West

Security Specialist
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Security Specialist job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Security Specialist job vacancies in the North West

Security Specialist
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 Security Specialist within the North West region over the 6 months to 30 September 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
Manchester -9 2 - - 1
Cheshire -19 1 £340 -47.63%
Security Specialist
England

Security Specialist Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 30 September 2025, Security Specialist contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the North West region featuring Security Specialist in the job title.

1 3 (75.00%) Cybersecurity
1 3 (75.00%) MITRE ATT&CK
2 2 (50.00%) Incident Response
2 2 (50.00%) Threat Intelligence
2 2 (50.00%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 2 (50.00%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
2 2 (50.00%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (50.00%) SIEM
2 2 (50.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 2 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 2 (50.00%) PowerShell
2 2 (50.00%) Python
2 2 (50.00%) Information Security
2 2 (50.00%) Analytics
3 1 (25.00%) GCIA
3 1 (25.00%) GCIH
3 1 (25.00%) Nessus
3 1 (25.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (25.00%) Taxonomies
3 1 (25.00%) Degree
3 1 (25.00%) Wireshark
3 1 (25.00%) Mathematics
3 1 (25.00%) Computer Science
3 1 (25.00%) Use Case
3 1 (25.00%) Qualys
3 1 (25.00%) Data Integration
3 1 (25.00%) SC Cleared
3 1 (25.00%) IBM
3 1 (25.00%) Microsoft

Security Specialist Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Cloud Services
1 1 (25.00%) Azure
1 1 (25.00%) Azure Logic Apps
1 1 (25.00%) Azure Sentinel
1 1 (25.00%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (25.00%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (25.00%) tcpdump
1 1 (25.00%) Wireshark
General
1 2 (50.00%) Analytical Skills
1 2 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 1 (25.00%) Military
2 1 (25.00%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 1 (25.00%) Analytical Mindset
1 1 (25.00%) Cloud Native
1 1 (25.00%) Cyber Threat
1 1 (25.00%) MISP
1 1 (25.00%) Onboarding
1 1 (25.00%) Operational Technology
1 1 (25.00%) Security Posture
1 1 (25.00%) Taxonomies
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (75.00%) Cybersecurity
1 3 (75.00%) MITRE ATT&CK
2 2 (50.00%) Analytics
2 2 (50.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 2 (50.00%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
2 2 (50.00%) Incident Response
2 2 (50.00%) Information Security
2 2 (50.00%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (50.00%) SIEM
2 2 (50.00%) Threat Intelligence
3 1 (25.00%) Computer Science
3 1 (25.00%) Data Integration
3 1 (25.00%) Mathematics
3 1 (25.00%) Risk Assessment
3 1 (25.00%) Risk Management
3 1 (25.00%) Root Cause Analysis
3 1 (25.00%) Security Architecture
3 1 (25.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 1 (25.00%) Use Case
3 1 (25.00%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (50.00%) PowerShell
1 2 (50.00%) Python
2 1 (25.00%) Bash
2 1 (25.00%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 2 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 1 (25.00%) Computer Science Degree
2 1 (25.00%) Degree
2 1 (25.00%) GCIA
2 1 (25.00%) GCIH
2 1 (25.00%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (25.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 1 (25.00%) NIST
Systems Management
1 1 (25.00%) Nessus
1 1 (25.00%) OpenVAS
1 1 (25.00%) QRadar
Vendors
1 1 (25.00%) ArcSight
1 1 (25.00%) Carbon Black
1 1 (25.00%) CrowdStrike
1 1 (25.00%) IBM
1 1 (25.00%) LogRhythm
1 1 (25.00%) Microsoft
1 1 (25.00%) Qualys
1 1 (25.00%) Rapid7
1 1 (25.00%) Splunk