Information Security Contract Job Trends in the South East

Information Security (InfoSec)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Information Security skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 23 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 94 75 74
Rank change year-on-year -19 -1 +32
Contract jobs citing Information Security 94 90 148
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.10% 2.74% 2.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.50% 3.07% 3.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 41 39 119
10th Percentile £447 £403 £460
25th Percentile £463 £489 £504
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £563 £575 £560
Median % change year-on-year -2.17% +2.68% -1.75%
75th Percentile £648 £650 £654
90th Percentile £775 £740 £673
England median daily rate £538 £600 £575
% change year-on-year -10.42% +4.35% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 1 5
10th Percentile - - £38.85
25th Percentile £20.71 £68.26 £68.26
Median hourly rate £20.79 £73.31 £82.17
Median % change year-on-year -71.64% -10.78% -
75th Percentile £36.00 £78.36 £83.41
90th Percentile £105.46 - -
England median hourly rate £33.50 £24.18 £49.50
% change year-on-year +38.54% -51.15% -23.85%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

Information Security 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 South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,759 2,935 4,594
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 83.98% 89.37% 88.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,475 1,809 2,868
10th Percentile £250 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% +0.99%
75th Percentile £600 £618 £614
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 330 106 306
10th Percentile £14.50 £19.00 £15.33
25th Percentile £17.00 £24.54 £23.63
Median hourly rate £23.58 £42.69 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.78% -14.62% +14.94%
75th Percentile £51.94 £62.64 £64.88
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.93 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £37.75
% change year-on-year -26.03% -9.93% +8.51%

Information Security
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Information Security job vacancy trend in the South East

Information Security
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Information Security
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Information Security in the South East over the 6 months to 23 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Information Security in the South East

Information Security
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Information Security.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Information Security

Information Security
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Information Security in the South East over the 6 months to 23 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Information Security in the South East

Information Security
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 Information Security within the South East region over the 6 months to 23 January 2026. 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 -13 44 £648 +3.27% 27
Berkshire -22 37 £648 +3.27% 18
Hampshire -7 32 £563 -2.17% 15
Surrey +2 17 £475 - 12
Buckinghamshire +1 5 £600 -4.00% 6
Oxfordshire - 2 £418 - 3
West Sussex -12 1 - - 8
Home Counties - 1 - -
Information Security
England

Information Security
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:

Application Platforms
1 7 (7.45%) Mattermost
1 7 (7.45%) Skype for Business
2 4 (4.26%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
3 2 (2.13%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 18 (19.15%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (9.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (9.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 8 (8.51%) Oracle EBS
2 7 (7.45%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 18 (19.15%) AWS
2 16 (17.02%) Azure
3 9 (9.57%) OCI
4 6 (6.38%) GCP
5 3 (3.19%) Entra ID
5 3 (3.19%) Microsoft 365
6 2 (2.13%) Google Workspace
6 2 (2.13%) SaaS
7 1 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (1.06%) IaaS
7 1 (1.06%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (13.83%) Firewall
2 11 (11.70%) Wireless
3 7 (7.45%) Network Security
3 7 (7.45%) Skype
4 3 (3.19%) HTTP
5 1 (1.06%) Internet
5 1 (1.06%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.06%) Metadata
1 1 (1.06%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 11 (11.70%) Burp Suite
2 9 (9.57%) Metasploit
3 1 (1.06%) JIRA
General
1 41 (43.62%) Social Skills
2 21 (22.34%) Finance
3 16 (17.02%) Public Sector
4 7 (7.45%) Legal
5 6 (6.38%) Manufacturing
6 5 (5.32%) Analytical Skills
7 3 (3.19%) Telecoms
8 1 (1.06%) Digital Health
8 1 (1.06%) Electronics
8 1 (1.06%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (1.06%) Law
8 1 (1.06%) Marketing
8 1 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
8 1 (1.06%) Retail
Job Titles
1 26 (27.66%) Analyst
2 12 (12.77%) Support Analyst
3 11 (11.70%) 1st Line Support
4 10 (10.64%) Penetration Tester
4 10 (10.64%) Tester
5 9 (9.57%) Security Analyst
6 8 (8.51%) Consultant
7 7 (7.45%) Information Security Officer
7 7 (7.45%) Messaging Analyst
7 7 (7.45%) Messaging Support
7 7 (7.45%) Messaging Support Analyst
7 7 (7.45%) Security Officer
8 6 (6.38%) Information Officer
9 5 (5.32%) Architect
9 5 (5.32%) Information Analyst
9 5 (5.32%) Information Security Analyst
9 5 (5.32%) IT Analyst
9 5 (5.32%) IT Support
9 5 (5.32%) IT Support Analyst
9 5 (5.32%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (8.51%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 14 (14.89%) Security Posture
2 13 (13.83%) Management Information System
3 4 (4.26%) Cloud Native
4 3 (3.19%) BYOD
4 3 (3.19%) Cloud Security Posture
4 3 (3.19%) Cyber Defence
4 3 (3.19%) Enterprise Software
4 3 (3.19%) Hybrid Cloud
4 3 (3.19%) Public Cloud
5 2 (2.13%) IoT
6 1 (1.06%) Cyber Threat
6 1 (1.06%) Data Centre
6 1 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (1.06%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (1.06%) NHS
6 1 (1.06%) Onboarding
6 1 (1.06%) Operational Technology
6 1 (1.06%) PKI
6 1 (1.06%) Private Cloud
6 1 (1.06%) TAXII
Operating Systems
1 16 (17.02%) Windows
2 12 (12.77%) Linux
3 2 (2.13%) Kali Linux
3 2 (2.13%) Mac OS
3 2 (2.13%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (32.98%) Cybersecurity
2 23 (24.47%) Problem-Solving
3 21 (22.34%) Data Protection
3 21 (22.34%) Security Management
4 19 (20.21%) Customer Service
5 18 (19.15%) Regulatory Compliance
6 17 (18.09%) Cloud Security
7 16 (17.02%) Risk Management
7 16 (17.02%) Validation
8 13 (13.83%) ITIL
8 13 (13.83%) ITSM
8 13 (13.83%) Penetration Testing
8 13 (13.83%) Stakeholder Management
9 12 (12.77%) Information Security Management
9 12 (12.77%) Problem Management
10 11 (11.70%) Service Delivery
11 10 (10.64%) Incident Response
12 9 (9.57%) Business Development
12 9 (9.57%) Commercial Awareness
12 9 (9.57%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 7 (7.45%) PowerShell
1 7 (7.45%) SQL
2 1 (1.06%) Korn
2 1 (1.06%) Kusto Query Language
2 1 (1.06%) Python
Qualifications
1 27 (28.72%) Security Cleared
2 25 (26.60%) Degree
3 22 (23.40%) SC Cleared
4 14 (14.89%) CISSP
5 10 (10.64%) CREST Certified
6 9 (9.57%) CHECK Team Member
6 9 (9.57%) Cisco Certification
6 9 (9.57%) Cyber Scheme
6 9 (9.57%) Postgraduate
7 8 (8.51%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 7 (7.45%) CCSP
8 7 (7.45%) CISM
8 7 (7.45%) ITIL Certification
9 6 (6.38%) DV Cleared
10 5 (5.32%) A+ Certification
11 4 (4.26%) AWS Certification
12 3 (3.19%) Azure Certification
12 3 (3.19%) GCIH
13 2 (2.13%) Computer Science Degree
13 2 (2.13%) GCFA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (45.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (32.98%) NIST
3 25 (26.60%) GDPR
4 20 (21.28%) PCI DSS
5 13 (13.83%) QA
6 12 (12.77%) PMO
7 9 (9.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 8 (8.51%) COBIT
9 6 (6.38%) Cyber Essentials
10 5 (5.32%) RMADS
11 4 (4.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (4.26%) GRC
11 4 (4.26%) PSD2
12 2 (2.13%) NCSC
13 1 (1.06%) Data Quality
13 1 (1.06%) EU AI Act
13 1 (1.06%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 1 (1.06%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 1 (1.06%) SLA
System Software
1 9 (9.57%) Active Directory
2 3 (3.19%) Docker
Systems Management
1 11 (11.70%) Nmap
2 7 (7.45%) HP SiteScope
2 7 (7.45%) SCOM
3 3 (3.19%) Kubernetes
4 2 (2.13%) EnCase
4 2 (2.13%) FTK
5 1 (1.06%) Nessus
Vendors
1 23 (24.47%) Microsoft
2 10 (10.64%) Cisco
3 8 (8.51%) Oracle
3 8 (8.51%) Splunk
4 7 (7.45%) Remedy
5 3 (3.19%) CrowdStrike
5 3 (3.19%) CyberArk
6 2 (2.13%) Darktrace
6 2 (2.13%) IBM
7 1 (1.06%) Google
7 1 (1.06%) Juniper
7 1 (1.06%) Salesforce
7 1 (1.06%) SAP
7 1 (1.06%) ServiceNow