Penetration Testing Contracts in the South East

Penetration Testing
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East 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 133 170 200
Rank change year-on-year +37 +30 +45
Contract jobs citing Penetration Testing 26 35 22
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 0.86% 0.63% 0.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.94% 0.74% 0.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 12 6 12
10th Percentile - £381 -
25th Percentile £500 £429 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £658 £530 £573
Median % change year-on-year +24.06% -7.42% -10.20%
75th Percentile £727 £643 £639
90th Percentile £756 £706 £771
England median daily rate £619 £589 £575
% change year-on-year +5.10% +2.39% -1.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £51.25 £81.75 -
Median hourly rate £52.50 £83.50 -
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% - -
75th Percentile £53.75 £85.25 -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £52.50 £83.50 £80.00
% change year-on-year -37.13% +4.38% -

All Process and Methodology Skills
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,757 4,716 5,181
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 91.59% 84.85% 89.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,756 2,743 3,594
10th Percentile £256 £243 £250
25th Percentile £400 £400 £404
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £508
Median % change year-on-year - -1.53% +1.55%
75th Percentile £600 £621 £619
90th Percentile £675 £700 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 171 434 219
10th Percentile £13.85 £13.00 £18.25
25th Percentile £15.79 £18.23 £23.83
Median hourly rate £28.00 £47.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -41.05% -5.00% +122.22%
75th Percentile £62.50 £62.49 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.86 £74.83
England median hourly rate £29.07 £36.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year -19.25% -4.00% +53.06%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Job postings citing Penetration Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing in the South East

Penetration Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

Daily rate trend for Penetration Testing in the South East

Penetration Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing in the South East over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Penetration Testing in the South East

Penetration Testing
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

Hourly rate trend for Penetration Testing in the South East

Penetration Testing
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 Testing 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
Hampshire +30 11 £895 +37.69% 34
Thames Valley +28 11 £664 +25.28% 51
Berkshire +17 11 £664 +25.28% 18
Surrey +18 3 £450 -18.18% 17
Kent - 1 £675 - 19
Penetration Testing
England

Penetration Testing
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:

Application Platforms
1 8 (30.77%) SharePoint
2 2 (7.69%) TPMS
Cloud Services
1 12 (46.15%) Azure
2 7 (26.92%) Microsoft 365
2 7 (26.92%) Power Platform
3 2 (7.69%) AWS
4 1 (3.85%) Entra ID
4 1 (3.85%) GCP
4 1 (3.85%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 9 (34.62%) Firewall
2 7 (26.92%) Internet
2 7 (26.92%) VPN
3 6 (23.08%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (26.92%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 3 (11.54%) Burp Suite
1 3 (11.54%) Metasploit
2 1 (3.85%) MSI
General
1 9 (34.62%) Social Skills
2 6 (23.08%) Public Sector
3 3 (11.54%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (11.54%) Military
4 2 (7.69%) Aerospace
4 2 (7.69%) Legal
5 1 (3.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (3.85%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 8 (30.77%) IT Manager
1 8 (30.77%) IT Services Manager
1 8 (30.77%) Service Manager
2 7 (26.92%) Senior
3 6 (23.08%) Auditor
3 6 (23.08%) Security Auditor
3 6 (23.08%) Senior IT Manager
3 6 (23.08%) Senior Manager
3 6 (23.08%) Senior Service Manager
4 4 (15.38%) Tester
5 3 (11.54%) Information Assurance Specialist
5 3 (11.54%) Information Specialist
5 3 (11.54%) Penetration Tester
6 2 (7.69%) Network Manager
6 2 (7.69%) Security Specialist
7 1 (3.85%) IT Security Officer
7 1 (3.85%) IT Security Specialist
7 1 (3.85%) Linux Administrator
7 1 (3.85%) Network Security Manager
7 1 (3.85%) Service Security Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.85%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 7 (26.92%) Video Conferencing
2 3 (11.54%) Cyber Threat
3 2 (7.69%) Data Protection Act
3 2 (7.69%) Embedded Systems
4 1 (3.85%) Cloud Native
4 1 (3.85%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 1 (3.85%) Management Information System
4 1 (3.85%) Operational Technology
4 1 (3.85%) Security Operations Centre
4 1 (3.85%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 2 (7.69%) Linux
2 1 (3.85%) Kali Linux
2 1 (3.85%) Windows
2 1 (3.85%) Windows 10
2 1 (3.85%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (53.85%) Cybersecurity
2 11 (42.31%) Security Testing
3 8 (30.77%) Disaster Recovery
3 8 (30.77%) Security Monitoring
4 7 (26.92%) Agile
4 7 (26.92%) Analytics
4 7 (26.92%) Business Intelligence
4 7 (26.92%) Case Management
4 7 (26.92%) Contract Management
5 6 (23.08%) Containerisation
6 5 (19.23%) Antivirus Management
6 5 (19.23%) Incident Response
6 5 (19.23%) Problem-Solving
6 5 (19.23%) Server Management
6 5 (19.23%) Storage Management
7 4 (15.38%) Cryptography
7 4 (15.38%) Data Protection
7 4 (15.38%) Information Security
7 4 (15.38%) Regulatory Compliance
7 4 (15.38%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (7.69%) C
1 2 (7.69%) C++
1 2 (7.69%) Java
1 2 (7.69%) Python
1 2 (7.69%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 14 (53.85%) Security Cleared
2 13 (50.00%) SC Cleared
3 4 (15.38%) CEH
3 4 (15.38%) CISM
3 4 (15.38%) CISSP
3 4 (15.38%) Computer Science Degree
3 4 (15.38%) Degree
4 3 (11.54%) Master's Degree
4 3 (11.54%) OSCP
5 2 (7.69%) GPEN
5 2 (7.69%) GWAPT
5 2 (7.69%) OSCE
6 1 (3.85%) CCNA
6 1 (3.85%) CISA
6 1 (3.85%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (3.85%) GIAC
6 1 (3.85%) MCSE
6 1 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (3.85%) SANS
6 1 (3.85%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (23.08%) NCSC
2 4 (15.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (15.38%) NIST
3 3 (11.54%) PCI DSS
4 2 (7.69%) GDPR
4 2 (7.69%) HIPAA
4 2 (7.69%) NIST 800
5 1 (3.85%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (3.85%) SLA
System Software
1 2 (7.69%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 6 (23.08%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (3.85%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
2 1 (3.85%) CSIRT
2 1 (3.85%) SCCM
Vendors
1 10 (38.46%) Microsoft
2 1 (3.85%) BT
2 1 (3.85%) Splunk