GCFA Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA)
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley with a requirement for GCFA qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 14 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 115 - 140
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Contract jobs citing GCFA 13 0 1
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.63% - 0.040%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.55% - 0.095%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 0 0
10th Percentile £365 - -
25th Percentile £400 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 - -
75th Percentile £647 - -
90th Percentile £780 - -
South East median daily rate £500 - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Thames Valley

GCFA falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 837 773 1,049
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 40.49% 38.23% 41.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 556 470 663
10th Percentile £255 £256 £210
25th Percentile £375 £398 £364
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £523 £510
Median % change year-on-year -8.01% +2.45% +2.00%
75th Percentile £550 £638 £618
90th Percentile £625 £700 £675
South East median daily rate £500 £540 £538
% change year-on-year -7.41% +0.47% +1.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 36 67
10th Percentile £18.25 £20.90 £24.40
25th Percentile £20.50 £41.25 £48.40
Median hourly rate £25.15 £60.25 £60.14
Median % change year-on-year -58.26% +0.18% +186.38%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.73 £68.63
90th Percentile £95.00 £75.13 £75.67
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £60.00
% change year-on-year -55.68% -5.43% +33.33%

GCFA
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing GCFA relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

GCFA job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

GCFA
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing GCFA.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing GCFA

GCFA
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing GCFA in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 14 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for GCFA in the Thames Valley

GCFA
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing GCFA within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 14 December 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
Berkshire - 13 £500 -
GCFA
South East

GCFA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 2 (15.38%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 2 (15.38%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 2 (15.38%) Google Workspace
1 2 (15.38%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (7.69%) AWS
2 1 (7.69%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 3 (23.08%) Network Security
General
1 7 (53.85%) Legal
2 4 (30.77%) Public Sector
3 3 (23.08%) Social Skills
4 2 (15.38%) Analytical Skills
5 1 (7.69%) Banking
Job Titles
1 10 (76.92%) Analyst
1 10 (76.92%) SOC Analyst
2 2 (15.38%) Consultant
2 2 (15.38%) Forensic Consultant
2 2 (15.38%) Senior
2 2 (15.38%) Senior Consultant
3 1 (7.69%) Cybersecurity Specialist
3 1 (7.69%) Security Specialist
Miscellaneous
1 8 (61.54%) Management Information System
2 7 (53.85%) Security Operations Centre
3 6 (46.15%) Cyber Threat
4 4 (30.77%) Security Posture
5 2 (15.38%) IoT
6 1 (7.69%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 11 (84.62%) Linux
1 11 (84.62%) Windows
2 2 (15.38%) Mac OS
2 2 (15.38%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (100.00%) Incident Response
2 10 (76.92%) Forensic Analysis
2 10 (76.92%) SIEM
3 9 (69.23%) Malware Analysis
3 9 (69.23%) Threat Intelligence
4 8 (61.54%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 7 (53.85%) Behavioural Analysis
5 7 (53.85%) Data Privacy
5 7 (53.85%) Risk Management
5 7 (53.85%) Security Operations
6 6 (46.15%) Cybersecurity
6 6 (46.15%) Task Automation
7 5 (38.46%) Digital Forensics
8 3 (23.08%) Computer Science
8 3 (23.08%) Continuous Improvement
8 3 (23.08%) DevOps
8 3 (23.08%) Information Security
8 3 (23.08%) Mentoring
8 3 (23.08%) Technical Analysis
9 2 (15.38%) Strategic Planning
Programming Languages
1 10 (76.92%) PowerShell
1 10 (76.92%) Python
Qualifications
1 13 (100.00%) CISSP
2 12 (92.31%) GCIH
3 10 (76.92%) GCIA
4 8 (61.54%) CFCE
5 6 (46.15%) GIAC
6 5 (38.46%) Security Cleared
7 3 (23.08%) CISM
8 2 (15.38%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 2 (15.38%) CCSP
8 2 (15.38%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (15.38%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (15.38%) Degree
8 2 (15.38%) GCFE
8 2 (15.38%) GREM
9 1 (7.69%) CEH
9 1 (7.69%) CompTIA CySA+
9 1 (7.69%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (76.92%) NIST
2 9 (69.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (61.54%) GDPR
4 6 (46.15%) HIPAA
5 1 (7.69%) QA
Systems Management
1 5 (38.46%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
2 2 (15.38%) EnCase
2 2 (15.38%) FTK
3 1 (7.69%) QRadar
Vendors
1 11 (84.62%) CrowdStrike
1 11 (84.62%) Microsoft
1 11 (84.62%) Splunk
2 8 (61.54%) ArcSight
3 7 (53.85%) LogRhythm
4 2 (15.38%) Darktrace
5 1 (7.69%) Carbon Black
5 1 (7.69%) Intel
5 1 (7.69%) Tenable