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 28 August 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
28 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 169 181 213
Rank change year-on-year +12 +32 -
DemandTrendContract jobs requiring a Penetration Tester 1 1 2
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 0.028% 0.021% 0.036%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.031% 0.023% 0.038%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 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 £550 £625 £550
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% +17.96%

All DemandTrendContract 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.

DemandTrendContract vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 3,184 4,406 5,288
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.20% 92.23% 95.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,049 2,657 3,628
10th Percentile £205 £250 £213
25th Percentile £375 £400 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% +3.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £628 £613
90th Percentile £670 £688 £700
England median daily rate £508 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -3.33% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 286 359 229
10th Percentile £13.75 £16.00 £16.00
25th Percentile £15.50 £27.50 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £57.35 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -56.15% +14.70% +122.22%
75th Percentile £57.50 £74.31 £65.25
90th Percentile £72.25 £80.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £44.00 £43.86
% change year-on-year -42.84% +0.32% +68.69%

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
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Penetration Tester job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Penetration Tester job vacancies in the South East

Penetration Tester
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Penetration Tester job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Penetration Tester job vacancies in the South East

Penetration Tester
DemandTrendContract 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 28 August 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
DemandTrendContract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Berkshire - 1 £500 -
Thames Valley - 1 £500 -
Penetration Tester
England

Penetration Tester Skill Set
Top 15 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 28 August 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 1 (100.00%) Linux
1 1 (100.00%) Risk Assessment
1 1 (100.00%) Ethical Hacking
1 1 (100.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
1 1 (100.00%) Penetration Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Metasploit
1 1 (100.00%) Open Source
1 1 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
1 1 (100.00%) OSINT
1 1 (100.00%) Burp Suite
1 1 (100.00%) Kali Linux
1 1 (100.00%) Threat Modelling
1 1 (100.00%) Cyber Threat
1 1 (100.00%) Actionable Insight
1 1 (100.00%) Actionable Recommendations

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:

Development Applications
1 1 (100.00%) Burp Suite
1 1 (100.00%) Metasploit
Miscellaneous
1 1 (100.00%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 1 (100.00%) Kali Linux
1 1 (100.00%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Actionable Insight
1 1 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
1 1 (100.00%) Ethical Hacking
1 1 (100.00%) Open Source
1 1 (100.00%) OSINT
1 1 (100.00%) Penetration Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Risk Assessment
1 1 (100.00%) Threat Modelling
1 1 (100.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (100.00%) Actionable Recommendations