Security Operations Contract Job Trends in Reading

Security Operations (SecOps)
Berkshire > Reading

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Reading requiring Security Operations 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 57 83 83
Rank change year-on-year +26 0 +6
Contract jobs citing Security Operations 21 6 6
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 2.88% 0.58% 0.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.19% 0.64% 0.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 15 1 4
10th Percentile £346 - £421
25th Percentile £400 £375 £453
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £467 £400 £520
Median % change year-on-year +16.75% -23.08% +38.67%
75th Percentile £503 £425 £650
90th Percentile £538 - £785
Berkshire median daily rate £466 £525 £400
% change year-on-year -11.24% +31.25% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £57.50 -
Berkshire median hourly rate - £57.50 -

All Process and Methodology Skills
Reading

Security Operations 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 Reading.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 658 940 951
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 90.14% 91.35% 92.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 458 534 621
10th Percentile £350 £325 £213
25th Percentile £425 £463 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £580 £525
Median % change year-on-year -9.48% +10.48% -
75th Percentile £613 £650 £615
90th Percentile £650 £700 £688
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 9 17
10th Percentile £14.75 £28.45 £41.24
25th Percentile £20.38 £42.50 £59.89
Median hourly rate £65.00 £61.76 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year +5.25% -2.42% -2.63%
75th Percentile £93.75 £69.69 £65.25
90th Percentile £99.00 £77.39 £66.96
Berkshire median hourly rate £40.44 £59.00 £61.45
% change year-on-year -31.47% -3.98% +29.36%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend in Reading

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Security Operations relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading.

Security Operations job vacancy trend in Reading

Security Operations
Daily Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Operations.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Daily Rate Histogram in Reading

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in Reading over the 6 months to 16 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Security Operations in Reading

Security Operations
Hourly Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Operations.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Reading 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:

Cloud Services
1 5 (23.81%) Azure
1 5 (23.81%) IaaS
1 5 (23.81%) PaaS
2 4 (19.05%) Microsoft 365
3 3 (14.29%) AWS
3 3 (14.29%) Microsoft Purview
3 3 (14.29%) SaaS
4 2 (9.52%) GCP
4 2 (9.52%) Google Kubernetes Engine
5 1 (4.76%) Azure Sentinel
5 1 (4.76%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 3 (14.29%) Network Security
2 2 (9.52%) Firewall
3 1 (4.76%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (9.52%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 2 (9.52%) Git
General
1 7 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 5 (23.81%) Analytical Skills
2 5 (23.81%) Legal
2 5 (23.81%) Public Sector
3 2 (9.52%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 8 (38.10%) Analyst
1 8 (38.10%) SOC Analyst
2 5 (23.81%) Architect
3 3 (14.29%) Cybersecurity Architect
3 3 (14.29%) Security Architect
3 3 (14.29%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
4 2 (9.52%) DevOps Engineer
4 2 (9.52%) Operational Security Manager
4 2 (9.52%) Operations Manager
4 2 (9.52%) Security Manager
4 2 (9.52%) Security Operations Manager
4 2 (9.52%) Security Solutions Architect
4 2 (9.52%) ServiceNow Architect
4 2 (9.52%) Solutions Architect
5 1 (4.76%) Cyber Threat Intelligence Specialist
5 1 (4.76%) Cyber Threat Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (9.52%) Jinja
1 2 (9.52%) Kafka
1 2 (9.52%) REST
1 2 (9.52%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 12 (57.14%) Security Operations Centre
2 9 (42.86%) Cyber Threat
3 6 (28.57%) Management Information System
4 2 (9.52%) CMDB
4 2 (9.52%) Cyber Defence
4 2 (9.52%) Insider Threat
4 2 (9.52%) Security Posture
5 1 (4.76%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (4.76%) Operational Technology
5 1 (4.76%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 9 (42.86%) Linux
2 7 (33.33%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (61.90%) Incident Response
2 12 (57.14%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
2 12 (57.14%) Threat Intelligence
3 11 (52.38%) SIEM
4 9 (42.86%) Cybersecurity
5 8 (38.10%) Forensic Analysis
6 7 (33.33%) Behavioural Analysis
6 7 (33.33%) Malware Analysis
7 6 (28.57%) Vulnerability Management
8 5 (23.81%) Continuous Improvement
8 5 (23.81%) Cyber Resilience
8 5 (23.81%) Data Privacy
8 5 (23.81%) Risk Management
8 5 (23.81%) Task Automation
9 4 (19.05%) DevOps
9 4 (19.05%) Problem-Solving
9 4 (19.05%) Security Monitoring
10 3 (14.29%) Cyber Intelligence
10 3 (14.29%) OSINT
10 3 (14.29%) Threat Detection
Programming Languages
1 9 (42.86%) Python
2 7 (33.33%) PowerShell
3 2 (9.52%) JavaScript
3 2 (9.52%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 12 (57.14%) CISSP
2 7 (33.33%) GCFA
2 7 (33.33%) GCIA
2 7 (33.33%) GCIH
2 7 (33.33%) GIAC
3 6 (28.57%) CFCE
4 5 (23.81%) Security Cleared
5 3 (14.29%) Azure Certification
5 3 (14.29%) Microsoft Certification
5 3 (14.29%) TOGAF Certification
6 2 (9.52%) CEH
6 2 (9.52%) CREST Certified
6 2 (9.52%) Degree
7 1 (4.76%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (4.76%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (42.86%) NIST
2 8 (38.10%) GDPR
3 7 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (23.81%) HIPAA
5 2 (9.52%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (9.52%) GRC
6 1 (4.76%) QA
System Software
1 3 (14.29%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (23.81%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
2 2 (9.52%) Ansible
2 2 (9.52%) Kubernetes
2 2 (9.52%) logstash
2 2 (9.52%) SCCM
2 2 (9.52%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (9.52%) Terraform
Vendors
1 13 (61.90%) Microsoft
2 8 (38.10%) Splunk
3 7 (33.33%) CrowdStrike
4 6 (28.57%) ArcSight
5 5 (23.81%) LogRhythm
6 3 (14.29%) Tenable
7 2 (9.52%) CheckPoint
7 2 (9.52%) Fortinet
7 2 (9.52%) Google
7 2 (9.52%) ServiceNow
8 1 (4.76%) Carbon Black
8 1 (4.76%) Intel