Security Operations Contract Job Trends in the South East

Security Operations (SecOps)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Security Operations skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 110 150 165
Rank change year-on-year +40 +15 +40
Contract jobs citing Security Operations 57 29 46
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.59% 0.67% 0.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.80% 0.80% 0.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 38 18 41
10th Percentile £417 £345 £463
25th Percentile £450 £503 £540
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £583 £619
Median % change year-on-year -9.87% -5.90% +7.65%
75th Percentile £569 £678 £650
90th Percentile £738 £891 £681
England median daily rate £550 £600 £613
% change year-on-year -8.33% -2.04% +2.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £57.50 -
England median hourly rate £54.50 £57.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -5.22% -11.54% +64.56%

All Process and Methodology Skills
South East

Security Operations 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 3,169 3,611 4,902
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 88.59% 83.24% 89.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,981 2,163 3,277
10th Percentile £213 £255 £243
25th Percentile £375 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £625 £625
90th Percentile £650 £688 £700
England median daily rate £510 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 326 191 249
10th Percentile £13.50 £16.25 £15.50
25th Percentile £16.17 £30.00 £23.24
Median hourly rate £21.32 £58.49 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year -63.55% +9.33% +64.62%
75th Percentile £46.78 £70.09 £67.75
90th Percentile £69.20 £75.40 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £42.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -40.82% -4.49% +36.92%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Security Operations job vacancy trend in the South East

Security Operations
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Security Operations
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in the South East over the 6 months to 9 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Security Operations in the South East

Security Operations
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Security Operations
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 Security Operations within the South East region over the 6 months to 9 October 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 +32 41 £523 -3.24% 19
Berkshire +34 34 £500 -7.41% 14
Hampshire +13 12 £563 -8.16% 10
Buckinghamshire +9 5 £525 - 3
West Sussex - 3 £444 -
Oxfordshire - 2 £400 - 2
East Sussex - 1 £925 -
Security Operations
England

Security Operations
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:

Cloud Services
1 6 (10.53%) Azure
2 5 (8.77%) SaaS
3 4 (7.02%) Microsoft 365
4 3 (5.26%) Azure Sentinel
4 3 (5.26%) Entra ID
4 3 (5.26%) IaaS
4 3 (5.26%) Microsoft Purview
4 3 (5.26%) PaaS
5 2 (3.51%) GCP
5 2 (3.51%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 1 (1.75%) AWS
6 1 (1.75%) Azure Key Vault
6 1 (1.75%) SAP Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 13 (22.81%) Firewall
2 9 (15.79%) Network Security
3 6 (10.53%) VLAN
4 5 (8.77%) BGP
4 5 (8.77%) OSPF
4 5 (8.77%) TCP/IP
4 5 (8.77%) VPN
5 3 (5.26%) HTTP
6 1 (1.75%) Internet
6 1 (1.75%) Intrusion Detection
6 1 (1.75%) NAS
6 1 (1.75%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.51%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 2 (3.51%) Git
2 1 (1.75%) JIRA
General
1 18 (31.58%) Social Skills
2 12 (21.05%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (8.77%) Legal
3 5 (8.77%) Public Sector
4 4 (7.02%) Telecoms
5 2 (3.51%) Retail
6 1 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.75%) Finance
Job Titles
1 14 (24.56%) Analyst
2 10 (17.54%) Architect
2 10 (17.54%) SOC Analyst
3 6 (10.53%) Developer
4 5 (8.77%) Security Architect
5 4 (7.02%) Lead
5 4 (7.02%) Security Analyst
5 4 (7.02%) SIEM Architect
6 3 (5.26%) Product Owner
6 3 (5.26%) Security Specialist
6 3 (5.26%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
7 2 (3.51%) Consultant
7 2 (3.51%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 2 (3.51%) DevOps Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Security Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Senior
7 2 (3.51%) Senior Analyst
7 2 (3.51%) ServiceNow Developer
8 1 (1.75%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
8 1 (1.75%) Salesforce Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (3.51%) Jinja
1 2 (3.51%) Kafka
2 1 (1.75%) .NET
2 1 (1.75%) ADO
Miscellaneous
1 21 (36.84%) Security Operations Centre
2 13 (22.81%) Cyber Threat
3 10 (17.54%) CSOC
4 9 (15.79%) Management Information System
5 3 (5.26%) BYOD
5 3 (5.26%) Cyber Defence
5 3 (5.26%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 3 (5.26%) Product Ownership
6 2 (3.51%) CMDB
6 2 (3.51%) Insider Threat
6 2 (3.51%) Operational Technology
6 2 (3.51%) Security Posture
7 1 (1.75%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (1.75%) CCTV
7 1 (1.75%) Data Centre
7 1 (1.75%) Onboarding
7 1 (1.75%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 8 (14.04%) Linux
2 5 (8.77%) Windows
3 1 (1.75%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 33 (57.89%) SIEM
2 28 (49.12%) Cybersecurity
3 24 (42.11%) Incident Response
4 12 (21.05%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
4 12 (21.05%) Threat Intelligence
5 10 (17.54%) Risk Management
6 8 (14.04%) Problem-Solving
6 8 (14.04%) Security Management
7 7 (12.28%) Agile
7 7 (12.28%) DevOps
7 7 (12.28%) SOAR
8 6 (10.53%) ISMS
8 6 (10.53%) Security Monitoring
9 5 (8.77%) Behavioural Analysis
9 5 (8.77%) Change Management
9 5 (8.77%) Forensic Analysis
9 5 (8.77%) MITRE ATT&CK
9 5 (8.77%) Proactive Monitoring
9 5 (8.77%) Roadmaps
9 5 (8.77%) Threat Detection
Programming Languages
1 16 (28.07%) Python
2 7 (12.28%) PowerShell
3 4 (7.02%) JavaScript
4 2 (3.51%) Java
4 2 (3.51%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 19 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 13 (22.81%) CISSP
3 9 (15.79%) SC Cleared
4 8 (14.04%) Degree
4 8 (14.04%) GCIA
4 8 (14.04%) GCIH
5 7 (12.28%) CISM
6 6 (10.53%) Cisco Certification
6 6 (10.53%) DV Cleared
6 6 (10.53%) GCFA
6 6 (10.53%) GIAC
7 5 (8.77%) CCNP
7 5 (8.77%) CCSA
7 5 (8.77%) CCSE
7 5 (8.77%) CEH
7 5 (8.77%) Check Point Certification
8 4 (7.02%) CFCE
9 3 (5.26%) SANS
10 2 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (3.51%) ECSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (26.32%) NIST
2 11 (19.30%) GDPR
2 11 (19.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (8.77%) HIPAA
4 4 (7.02%) NIST 800
5 3 (5.26%) PCI DSS
5 3 (5.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 3 (5.26%) SLA
6 1 (1.75%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (1.75%) GRC
6 1 (1.75%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 5 (8.77%) Active Directory
2 2 (3.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.75%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 7 (12.28%) Ansible
2 5 (8.77%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
3 2 (3.51%) Kubernetes
3 2 (3.51%) logstash
3 2 (3.51%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (3.51%) Terraform
4 1 (1.75%) CSIRT
4 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (1.75%) QRadar
4 1 (1.75%) SCCM
Vendors
1 17 (29.82%) Microsoft
2 15 (26.32%) Splunk
3 5 (8.77%) CheckPoint
3 5 (8.77%) Cisco
3 5 (8.77%) CrowdStrike
3 5 (8.77%) LogRhythm
3 5 (8.77%) Palo Alto
4 4 (7.02%) ArcSight
4 4 (7.02%) IBM
5 2 (3.51%) Google
5 2 (3.51%) ServiceNow
5 2 (3.51%) VMware
6 1 (1.75%) Intel
6 1 (1.75%) Proofpoint
6 1 (1.75%) Salesforce
6 1 (1.75%) Virgin Media