GPEN Contract Job Trends in the South East

GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for GPEN qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 29 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 170 170 119
Rank change year-on-year 0 -51 +138
Contract jobs citing GPEN 7 1 86
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.16% 0.028% 1.73%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.36% 0.073% 3.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 1 0
10th Percentile £405 - -
25th Percentile £407 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £500 -
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% - -
75th Percentile £459 - -
90th Percentile £503 - -
England median daily rate £430 £500 -
% change year-on-year -14.10% - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

GPEN falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,932 1,373 2,206
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 43.81% 38.26% 44.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,287 908 1,316
10th Percentile £270 £263 £213
25th Percentile £415 £408 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% +0.47%
75th Percentile £600 £636 £638
90th Percentile £704 £700 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 196 78 137
10th Percentile £15.69 £20.07 £27.50
25th Percentile £18.97 £31.25 £50.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% -5.43% +33.33%
75th Percentile £60.06 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £75.00 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £51.89
% change year-on-year -45.54% -11.00% +15.31%

GPEN
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing GPEN relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

GPEN job vacancy trend in the South East

GPEN
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing GPEN.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing GPEN

GPEN
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing GPEN within the South East region over the 6 months to 29 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
Thames Valley -3 7 £425 -15.00% 2
Berkshire -10 7 £425 -15.00% 2
GPEN
England

GPEN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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:

Communications & Networking
1 7 (100.00%) Wireshark
Development Applications
1 7 (100.00%) Burp Suite
1 7 (100.00%) Metasploit
General
1 6 (85.71%) Analytical Skills
1 6 (85.71%) Social Skills
2 1 (14.29%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 7 (100.00%) Penetration Tester
1 7 (100.00%) Tester
Operating Systems
1 7 (100.00%) Kali Linux
1 7 (100.00%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (100.00%) Ethical Hacking
1 7 (100.00%) MITRE ATT&CK
1 7 (100.00%) OWASP
1 7 (100.00%) Penetration Testing
1 7 (100.00%) Red Team
1 7 (100.00%) Test Automation
2 1 (14.29%) Cybersecurity
2 1 (14.29%) Risk Assessment
Programming Languages
1 7 (100.00%) Bash
1 7 (100.00%) PowerShell
1 7 (100.00%) Python
Qualifications
1 7 (100.00%) CEH
1 7 (100.00%) OSCP
2 6 (85.71%) SC Cleared
2 6 (85.71%) Security Cleared
Systems Management
1 7 (100.00%) Nmap