Penetration Testing Contracts in Scotland

Penetration Testing
UK > Scotland

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Scotland requiring Penetration Testing skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Penetration Testing over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 97 112 160
Rank change year-on-year +15 +48 +8
Contract jobs citing Penetration Testing 19 17 3
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Scotland 1.17% 0.77% 0.10%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.25% 0.87% 0.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 11 11 0
10th Percentile £456 - -
25th Percentile £483 £508 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £515 -
Median % change year-on-year +3.88% - -
75th Percentile £550 £538 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median daily rate £550 £586 £600
% change year-on-year -6.18% -2.29% +4.35%

All Process and Methodology Skills
Scotland

Penetration Testing 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 Scotland.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,518 1,963 2,651
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 93.42% 88.54% 92.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 920 1,196 1,908
10th Percentile £263 £229 £263
25th Percentile £375 £400 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% - +2.15%
75th Percentile £550 £588 £556
90th Percentile £606 £675 £650
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 94 54
10th Percentile £16.19 £12.36 £10.63
25th Percentile £17.30 £16.00 £11.51
Median hourly rate £21.59 £19.34 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +11.66% +9.11% -55.69%
75th Percentile £24.66 £40.94 £53.75
90th Percentile £51.48 £60.75 £66.09
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £35.65 £37.30
% change year-on-year -18.65% -4.42% +49.20%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in Scotland

Job postings citing Penetration Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Scotland.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing in Scotland

Penetration Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in Scotland

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Penetration Testing in Scotland.

Daily rate trend for Penetration Testing in Scotland

Penetration Testing
Contract Job Locations in Scotland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Penetration Testing within the Scotland region over the 6 months to 1 May 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
Glasgow +9 9 £550 - 8
Edinburgh 0 9 £463 -10.19% 4
Penetration Testing
UK

Penetration Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Scotland 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:

Business Applications
1 1 (5.26%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 10 (52.63%) Azure
2 7 (36.84%) Amazon S3
2 7 (36.84%) Cloud Computing
2 7 (36.84%) OpenShift
3 3 (15.79%) IaaS
3 3 (15.79%) PaaS
3 3 (15.79%) SaaS
4 2 (10.53%) AWS
4 2 (10.53%) Cohesity
4 2 (10.53%) Power Platform
5 1 (5.26%) Azure Sentinel
5 1 (5.26%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 7 (36.84%) NAS
1 7 (36.84%) SAN
2 2 (10.53%) Network Security
3 1 (5.26%) Firewall
3 1 (5.26%) SSL
Development Applications
1 7 (36.84%) Git
1 7 (36.84%) Jenkins
General
1 11 (57.89%) Social Skills
2 10 (52.63%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (26.32%) Finance
4 4 (21.05%) Banking
4 4 (21.05%) Retail Banking
5 2 (10.53%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 4 (21.05%) Security Engineer
2 3 (15.79%) Python Engineer
2 3 (15.79%) Security Specialist
2 3 (15.79%) Senior
3 2 (10.53%) Cybersecurity Specialist
3 2 (10.53%) Delivery Manager
3 2 (10.53%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
3 2 (10.53%) Technical Delivery Manager
3 2 (10.53%) Technical Manager
4 1 (5.26%) Backup Engineer
4 1 (5.26%) Consultant
4 1 (5.26%) Data Engineer
4 1 (5.26%) Developer
4 1 (5.26%) DevOps Engineer
4 1 (5.26%) Engineering Specialist
4 1 (5.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 1 (5.26%) Python Developer
4 1 (5.26%) Senior Consultant
4 1 (5.26%) Support Technician
4 1 (5.26%) Technical Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 3 (15.79%) Data Centre
1 3 (15.79%) PKI
2 2 (10.53%) Cyber Threat
2 2 (10.53%) Management Information System
2 2 (10.53%) Security Posture
3 1 (5.26%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (5.26%) Legacy Systems
3 1 (5.26%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 11 (57.89%) Windows
2 10 (52.63%) Unix
3 9 (47.37%) Windows Server
4 1 (5.26%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (36.84%) CI/CD
1 7 (36.84%) Cybersecurity
1 7 (36.84%) Data Deduplication
1 7 (36.84%) Data Protection
1 7 (36.84%) Decision-Making
1 7 (36.84%) Security Hardening
2 6 (31.58%) Observability
2 6 (31.58%) Risk Assessment
3 5 (26.32%) Security Operations
3 5 (26.32%) Service Delivery
3 5 (26.32%) Software Engineering
3 5 (26.32%) Threat Modelling
4 4 (21.05%) Remediation Plan
4 4 (21.05%) Vulnerability Management
5 3 (15.79%) Information Security
5 3 (15.79%) Risk Management
5 3 (15.79%) Vulnerability Remediation
5 3 (15.79%) Vulnerability Scanning
6 2 (10.53%) ITIL
6 2 (10.53%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 7 (36.84%) Python
2 1 (5.26%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 4 (21.05%) Degree
2 2 (10.53%) (ISC)2 CCSP
2 2 (10.53%) Cisco Certification
2 2 (10.53%) CISM
2 2 (10.53%) CompTIA Security+
2 2 (10.53%) CRISC
2 2 (10.53%) ITIL Certification
2 2 (10.53%) MCSE
2 2 (10.53%) Microsoft Certification
3 1 (5.26%) CCSP
3 1 (5.26%) CEH
3 1 (5.26%) CISSP
3 1 (5.26%) GCIH
3 1 (5.26%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (15.79%) Disclosure Scotland
2 2 (10.53%) SLA
System Software
1 1 (5.26%) Active Directory
1 1 (5.26%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 7 (36.84%) Kubernetes
1 7 (36.84%) NetBackup
1 7 (36.84%) Oracle RMAN
2 1 (5.26%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (5.26%) SCCM
Vendors
1 7 (36.84%) Veritas
2 2 (10.53%) Microsoft
3 1 (5.26%) Qualys
3 1 (5.26%) ServiceNow