SOC Analyst Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Security Operations Centre Analyst
South East > Thames Valley

The median Security Operations Centre Analyst daily rate in the Thames Valley is £513, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 October 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 103 126 126
Rank change year-on-year +23 0 +56
Contract jobs requiring a SOC Analyst 15 1 13
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.86% 0.046% 0.49%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.95% 0.051% 0.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 9 1 13
10th Percentile £443 - £528
25th Percentile £500 £713 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £725 £619
Median % change year-on-year -29.31% +17.12% +3.17%
75th Percentile £534 £738 £650
90th Percentile £542 - -
South East median daily rate £506 £500 £621
% change year-on-year +1.25% -19.48% +10.40%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
Thames Valley

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the Thames Valley. 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 Thames Valley with a recognized job title 1,581 1,979 2,479
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.50% 91.62% 94.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,018 1,129 1,656
10th Percentile £255 £266 £213
25th Percentile £400 £403 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £501 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% +0.10% -
75th Percentile £588 £613 £615
90th Percentile £663 £675 £700
South East median daily rate £500 £508 £513
% change year-on-year -1.57% -0.88% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 97 84 98
10th Percentile £14.75 £18.50 £15.58
25th Percentile £15.91 £25.12 £21.94
Median hourly rate £25.15 £57.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -56.26% +15.00% +187.03%
75th Percentile £51.00 £63.75 £67.63
90th Percentile £81.20 £96.38 £75.67
South East median hourly rate £20.73 £57.79 £51.90
% change year-on-year -64.13% +11.35% +62.64%

SOC Analyst
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'SOC Analyst' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

SOC Analyst job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

SOC Analyst
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for SOC Analyst job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for SOC Analyst job vacancies in the Thames Valley

SOC Analyst
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SOC Analyst in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 22 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for SOC Analyst in the Thames Valley

SOC Analyst
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 SOC Analyst within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 22 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
Berkshire - 12 £500 - 1
Buckinghamshire +6 3 £525 -27.59%
SOC Analyst
South East

SOC Analyst Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 22 October 2025, SOC Analyst contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Thames Valley region featuring SOC Analyst in the job title.

1 13 (86.67%) SIEM
2 11 (73.33%) Microsoft
3 10 (66.67%) Incident Response
4 9 (60.00%) CISSP
4 9 (60.00%) Forensic Analysis
4 9 (60.00%) GCIH
4 9 (60.00%) Security Operations
4 9 (60.00%) Splunk
4 9 (60.00%) Threat Intelligence
5 8 (53.33%) CrowdStrike
5 8 (53.33%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 8 (53.33%) Cybersecurity
5 8 (53.33%) GCFA
5 8 (53.33%) GCIA
5 8 (53.33%) PowerShell
5 8 (53.33%) Python
6 7 (46.67%) Behavioural Analysis
6 7 (46.67%) CFCE
6 7 (46.67%) GDPR
6 7 (46.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (46.67%) Linux
6 7 (46.67%) Malware Analysis
6 7 (46.67%) NIST
6 7 (46.67%) Windows
7 6 (40.00%) ArcSight
7 6 (40.00%) Data Privacy
7 6 (40.00%) LogRhythm
7 6 (40.00%) Risk Management
7 6 (40.00%) Security Cleared
8 5 (33.33%) GIAC

SOC Analyst Skill Set
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:

Cloud Services
1 3 (20.00%) Azure
2 1 (6.67%) AWS
2 1 (6.67%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 3 (20.00%) Network Security
General
1 6 (40.00%) Analytical Skills
1 6 (40.00%) Legal
2 5 (33.33%) Social Skills
3 3 (20.00%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 9 (60.00%) Cyber Threat
1 9 (60.00%) Security Operations Centre
2 5 (33.33%) Management Information System
3 4 (26.67%) Security Posture
4 2 (13.33%) CSOC
5 1 (6.67%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 7 (46.67%) Linux
1 7 (46.67%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (86.67%) SIEM
2 10 (66.67%) Incident Response
3 9 (60.00%) Forensic Analysis
3 9 (60.00%) Security Operations
3 9 (60.00%) Threat Intelligence
4 8 (53.33%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
4 8 (53.33%) Cybersecurity
5 7 (46.67%) Behavioural Analysis
5 7 (46.67%) Malware Analysis
6 6 (40.00%) Data Privacy
6 6 (40.00%) Risk Management
7 5 (33.33%) Task Automation
8 3 (20.00%) Computer Science
8 3 (20.00%) Continuous Improvement
8 3 (20.00%) DevOps
8 3 (20.00%) Protective Monitoring
8 3 (20.00%) Technical Analysis
9 2 (13.33%) Analytical Thinking
9 2 (13.33%) Digital Forensics
9 2 (13.33%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 8 (53.33%) PowerShell
1 8 (53.33%) Python
2 2 (13.33%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 9 (60.00%) CISSP
1 9 (60.00%) GCIH
2 8 (53.33%) GCFA
2 8 (53.33%) GCIA
3 7 (46.67%) CFCE
4 6 (40.00%) Security Cleared
5 5 (33.33%) GIAC
6 3 (20.00%) SC Cleared
7 2 (13.33%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (13.33%) Degree
8 1 (6.67%) CEH
8 1 (6.67%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (46.67%) GDPR
1 7 (46.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 7 (46.67%) NIST
2 5 (33.33%) HIPAA
3 3 (20.00%) SLA
Systems Management
1 4 (26.67%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
Vendors
1 11 (73.33%) Microsoft
2 9 (60.00%) Splunk
3 8 (53.33%) CrowdStrike
4 6 (40.00%) ArcSight
4 6 (40.00%) LogRhythm
5 1 (6.67%) Intel