Penetration Tester Contracts in the South East

Penetration Tester
England > South East

The median Penetration Tester daily rate in the South East is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 156 178 220
Rank change year-on-year +22 +42 -
Contract jobs requiring a Penetration Tester 3 27 2
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 0.100% 0.49% 0.034%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.11% 0.53% 0.036%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 0 2
10th Percentile - - £559
25th Percentile - - £561
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 - £568
75th Percentile - - £572
90th Percentile - - £572
England median daily rate £500 £638 £625
% change year-on-year -21.57% +2.00% +4.17%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 South East with a recognized job title 2,767 5,141 5,491
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.93% 92.50% 94.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,821 3,084 3,829
10th Percentile £250 £213 £225
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - +2.42%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £606
90th Percentile £663 £688 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 163 481 240
10th Percentile £14.20 £12.78 £18.04
25th Percentile £20.06 £18.32 £22.16
Median hourly rate £32.50 £47.50 £48.40
Median % change year-on-year -31.58% -1.86% +130.48%
75th Percentile £63.75 £62.50 £65.16
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.86 £75.00
England median hourly rate £30.62 £36.31 £45.00
% change year-on-year -15.67% -19.32% +100.00%

Penetration Tester
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Job postings that featured Penetration Tester in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Tester in the South East

Penetration Tester
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Penetration Tester in the South East.

Daily rate trend for Penetration Tester in the South East

Penetration Tester
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Penetration Tester in the South East.

Hourly rate trend for Penetration Tester in the South East

Penetration Tester
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 Penetration Tester within the South East 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
Thames Valley +24 3 £500 - 31
Berkshire +12 3 £500 - 12
Penetration Tester
England

Penetration Tester Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 1 May 2025, Penetration Tester 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 South East region featuring Penetration Tester in the job title.

1 3 (100.00%) Penetration Testing
1 3 (100.00%) Metasploit
1 3 (100.00%) Burp Suite
2 2 (66.67%) Regulatory Compliance
2 2 (66.67%) GDPR
2 2 (66.67%) Scenario Testing
2 2 (66.67%) Master's Degree
2 2 (66.67%) Computer Science Degree
2 2 (66.67%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (66.67%) Social Skills
2 2 (66.67%) Cloud Security
2 2 (66.67%) Reverse Engineering
2 2 (66.67%) Azure
2 2 (66.67%) Information Security
2 2 (66.67%) Cryptography
2 2 (66.67%) GWAPT
2 2 (66.67%) GPEN
2 2 (66.67%) OSCP
2 2 (66.67%) OSCE
2 2 (66.67%) HIPAA
2 2 (66.67%) OWASP
2 2 (66.67%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (66.67%) Ruby
2 2 (66.67%) Degree
2 2 (66.67%) Data Protection Act
2 2 (66.67%) Computer Science
2 2 (66.67%) Security Testing
2 2 (66.67%) Data Protection
2 2 (66.67%) PCI DSS
2 2 (66.67%) Python

Penetration Tester Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East 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 2 (66.67%) Azure
2 1 (33.33%) Entra ID
Development Applications
1 3 (100.00%) Burp Suite
1 3 (100.00%) Metasploit
General
1 2 (66.67%) Analytical Skills
1 2 (66.67%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (33.33%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 2 (66.67%) Data Protection Act
2 1 (33.33%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1 (33.33%) Kali Linux
1 1 (33.33%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (100.00%) Penetration Testing
2 2 (66.67%) Cloud Security
2 2 (66.67%) Computer Science
2 2 (66.67%) Cryptography
2 2 (66.67%) Data Protection
2 2 (66.67%) Information Security
2 2 (66.67%) OWASP
2 2 (66.67%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (66.67%) Regulatory Compliance
2 2 (66.67%) Reverse Engineering
2 2 (66.67%) Scenario Testing
2 2 (66.67%) Security Testing
3 1 (33.33%) Actionable Insight
3 1 (33.33%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (33.33%) Ethical Hacking
3 1 (33.33%) Open Source
3 1 (33.33%) OSINT
3 1 (33.33%) Risk Assessment
3 1 (33.33%) Threat Modelling
3 1 (33.33%) Vulnerability Assessment
Programming Languages
1 2 (66.67%) C
1 2 (66.67%) C++
1 2 (66.67%) Java
1 2 (66.67%) Python
1 2 (66.67%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 2 (66.67%) Computer Science Degree
1 2 (66.67%) Degree
1 2 (66.67%) GPEN
1 2 (66.67%) GWAPT
1 2 (66.67%) Master's Degree
1 2 (66.67%) OSCE
1 2 (66.67%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (66.67%) GDPR
1 2 (66.67%) HIPAA
1 2 (66.67%) PCI DSS
2 1 (33.33%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 1 (33.33%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft