Cybersecurity Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Cybersecurity
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Cybersecurity skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 38 41
Rank change year-on-year +9 +3 -1
Contract jobs citing Cybersecurity 1,597 814 754
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 5.67% 5.13% 4.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.99% 5.76% 5.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 998 511 460
10th Percentile £400 £350 £384
25th Percentile £462 £432 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £513 £571
Median % change year-on-year +7.32% -10.28% -0.65%
75th Percentile £630 £608 £675
90th Percentile £725 £716 £788
UK median daily rate £550 £538 £583
% change year-on-year +2.33% -7.73% -2.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 139 37 28
10th Percentile £23.57 £15.50 £29.48
25th Percentile £50.00 £26.75 £38.91
Median hourly rate £76.50 £41.94 £48.09
Median % change year-on-year +82.40% -12.79% -34.40%
75th Percentile £85.63 £75.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £100.00 £88.05 £90.60
UK median hourly rate £76.50 £41.94 £52.00
% change year-on-year +82.40% -19.35% -28.84%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Cybersecurity 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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 22,831 14,140 14,581
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 81.06% 89.14% 83.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,645 8,502 8,251
10th Percentile £300 £225 £243
25th Percentile £409 £368 £379
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £575 £600
90th Percentile £688 £669 £688
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,890 1,548 1,043
10th Percentile £13.47 £14.00 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £17.06 £18.15
Median hourly rate £37.50 £22.27 £40.33
Median % change year-on-year +68.43% -44.79% -7.99%
75th Percentile £65.81 £39.10 £66.61
90th Percentile £77.50 £65.48 £73.75
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +49.11% -37.13% -9.60%

Cybersecurity
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cybersecurity relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Cybersecurity job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Cybersecurity
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cybersecurity.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cybersecurity in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 11 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cybersecurity in the UK excluding London

Cybersecurity
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cybersecurity.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cybersecurity in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 11 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cybersecurity in the UK excluding London

Cybersecurity
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cybersecurity within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 11 October 2026. 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
North of England +16 515 £525 +0.96% 671
South East +19 505 £575 +10.31% 707
North West +24 288 £525 - 360
South West +27 221 £561 -6.46% 334
Yorkshire -3 215 £525 +0.99% 222
Midlands -21 155 £500 - 408
Scotland -9 125 £540 +8.22% 291
West Midlands -12 124 £500 -9.09% 257
East of England +7 94 £540 -10.00% 210
East Midlands -21 30 £500 +25.00% 150
Wales -12 24 £513 +56.49% 88
North East -29 11 £594 - 92
Channel Islands -3 5 £700 - 3
Northern Ireland -13 3 £438 -7.89% 108
Cybersecurity
UK

Cybersecurity
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 54 (3.38%) Confluence
2 40 (2.50%) SharePoint
3 32 (2.00%) Microsoft Exchange
4 18 (1.13%) Apache Spark
5 16 (1.00%) Apache
6 12 (0.75%) IIS
7 7 (0.44%) Apache Superset
8 5 (0.31%) Apache Airflow
8 5 (0.31%) FactoryTalk
8 5 (0.31%) IBM Transformation Extender
9 4 (0.25%) nginx
10 2 (0.13%) CMS
11 1 (0.063%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.063%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.063%) WebLogic
11 1 (0.063%) WebSphere
Applications
1 18 (1.13%) Microsoft Project
2 12 (0.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.63%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.50%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.44%) Microsoft Office
6 1 (0.063%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.063%) InfoPath
6 1 (0.063%) SOLIDWORKS
6 1 (0.063%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (0.31%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.25%) Integrated Workplace Management System
2 4 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
2 4 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.19%) Maximo
4 2 (0.13%) BASE24
4 2 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
4 2 (0.13%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.063%) Primavera
5 1 (0.063%) Sage 50
5 1 (0.063%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.063%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 1 (0.063%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 361 (22.60%) Azure
2 183 (11.46%) AWS
3 150 (9.39%) Entra ID
4 133 (8.33%) Microsoft 365
5 99 (6.20%) GCP
6 58 (3.63%) Power Platform
7 48 (3.01%) SaaS
8 45 (2.82%) Azure DevOps
9 33 (2.07%) Azure Sentinel
10 31 (1.94%) GitHub
11 29 (1.82%) IaaS
12 28 (1.75%) Microsoft Purview
13 26 (1.63%) Azure Monitor
14 25 (1.57%) PaaS
15 24 (1.50%) Serverless
16 18 (1.13%) GitHub Actions
17 17 (1.06%) OneDrive
18 13 (0.81%) Cloud Computing
18 13 (0.81%) OpenShift
19 11 (0.69%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 147 (9.20%) Firewall
2 112 (7.01%) Network Security
3 78 (4.88%) DNS
4 51 (3.19%) TCP/IP
5 50 (3.13%) VPN
6 44 (2.76%) DHCP
7 27 (1.69%) WAN
8 25 (1.57%) Intrusion Detection
9 20 (1.25%) HTTP
9 20 (1.25%) LAN
10 17 (1.06%) SSL
10 17 (1.06%) VLAN
11 14 (0.88%) Wireless
12 12 (0.75%) Broadband
13 11 (0.69%) BGP
14 10 (0.63%) VSAN
14 10 (0.63%) Wi-Fi
15 9 (0.56%) SSH
16 8 (0.50%) Modbus
16 8 (0.50%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (2.57%) Power BI
2 20 (1.25%) Data Lake
3 18 (1.13%) Big Data
3 18 (1.13%) SQL Server
4 11 (0.69%) Elasticsearch
4 11 (0.69%) NoSQL
5 6 (0.38%) Metadata
6 5 (0.31%) Data Warehouse
6 5 (0.31%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.31%) Trino
7 4 (0.25%) DynamoDB
7 4 (0.25%) Neo4j
7 4 (0.25%) Oracle Database
8 3 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.19%) EDRMS
8 3 (0.19%) Power Query
8 3 (0.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 2 (0.13%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.13%) Amazon QuickSight
9 2 (0.13%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 80 (5.01%) JIRA
2 23 (1.44%) Git
3 17 (1.06%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.00%) GitLab
5 6 (0.38%) SonarQube
6 5 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (0.25%) Claude Code
8 2 (0.13%) MSBuild
8 2 (0.13%) Postman
8 2 (0.13%) Tricentis qTest
8 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.13%) Zephyr
9 1 (0.063%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.063%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.063%) Maven
9 1 (0.063%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.063%) MSI
9 1 (0.063%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.063%) Selenium
9 1 (0.063%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 470 (29.43%) Social Skills
2 183 (11.46%) Finance
3 165 (10.33%) Public Sector
4 164 (10.27%) Analytical Skills
5 63 (3.94%) Banking
5 63 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
6 58 (3.63%) Aerospace
7 52 (3.26%) Legal
8 45 (2.82%) Organisational Skills
9 44 (2.76%) Military
10 43 (2.69%) Influencing Skills
11 42 (2.63%) Manufacturing
12 21 (1.31%) Retail
13 18 (1.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 17 (1.06%) Telecoms
15 16 (1.00%) Automotive
15 16 (1.00%) Financial Institution
15 16 (1.00%) Marketing
16 15 (0.94%) Law
17 14 (0.88%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 209 (13.09%) Architect
2 204 (12.77%) Analyst
3 192 (12.02%) Lead
4 136 (8.52%) Consultant
5 117 (7.33%) Security Architect
6 102 (6.39%) Security Analyst
7 96 (6.01%) Project Manager
8 95 (5.95%) Security Engineer
9 88 (5.51%) Senior
10 77 (4.82%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 76 (4.76%) Security Consultant
12 65 (4.07%) Security Manager
13 62 (3.88%) SOC Analyst
14 61 (3.82%) Cybersecurity Architect
14 61 (3.82%) Cybersecurity Engineer
15 58 (3.63%) Security Specialist
16 55 (3.44%) Cybersecurity Consultant
17 53 (3.32%) Cybersecurity Manager
18 49 (3.07%) Cybersecurity Specialist
19 47 (2.94%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 109 (6.83%) Terraform
2 34 (2.13%) LDAP
3 32 (2.00%) OAuth
4 27 (1.69%) SAML
5 26 (1.63%) OpenID
6 24 (1.50%) Kafka
7 19 (1.19%) ARM Templates
7 19 (1.19%) REST
8 18 (1.13%) SailPoint
9 15 (0.94%) OAuth2
9 15 (0.94%) RESTful
10 14 (0.88%) JSON
10 14 (0.88%) Middleware
11 13 (0.81%) Elastic Stack
12 11 (0.69%) PySpark
12 11 (0.69%) SLSA
13 9 (0.56%) Regular Expression
13 9 (0.56%) XML
14 7 (0.44%) CSS
14 7 (0.44%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 187 (11.71%) Operational Technology
2 130 (8.14%) Cyber Threat
3 119 (7.45%) Onboarding
4 113 (7.08%) Management Information System
5 99 (6.20%) Security Posture
6 71 (4.45%) Security Operations Centre
7 65 (4.07%) SCADA
8 54 (3.38%) Product Ownership
9 50 (3.13%) Data Centre
10 49 (3.07%) Cloud Native
10 49 (3.07%) PKI
11 45 (2.82%) Cyber Defence
12 40 (2.50%) Hybrid Cloud
13 37 (2.32%) Enterprise Software
14 34 (2.13%) Data Protection Act
15 25 (1.57%) CSOC
16 19 (1.19%) Private Cloud
17 18 (1.13%) Self-Motivation
18 17 (1.06%) Distributed Systems
19 13 (0.81%) Cyber Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 156 (9.77%) Windows
2 134 (8.39%) Linux
3 54 (3.38%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.25%) Unix
5 12 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (0.56%) macOS
7 3 (0.19%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.13%) Android
8 2 (0.13%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.13%) CentOS
8 2 (0.13%) VMS
9 1 (0.063%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.063%) Rocky
9 1 (0.063%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 363 (22.73%) Stakeholder Management
2 303 (18.97%) Risk Management
3 288 (18.03%) Continuous Improvement
4 262 (16.41%) Incident Response
5 260 (16.28%) Vulnerability Management
6 245 (15.34%) SIEM
7 238 (14.90%) Security Operations
8 199 (12.46%) Roadmaps
8 199 (12.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 196 (12.27%) Agile
10 191 (11.96%) CI/CD
11 165 (10.33%) Problem-Solving
12 163 (10.21%) Identity Access Management
13 159 (9.96%) DevOps
14 153 (9.58%) Information Security
15 140 (8.77%) Incident Management
16 134 (8.39%) AI
16 134 (8.39%) Cloud Security
16 134 (8.39%) Service Management
17 131 (8.20%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 149 (9.33%) Python
2 133 (8.33%) PowerShell
3 58 (3.63%) Bash
4 41 (2.57%) SQL
5 26 (1.63%) Bicep
6 24 (1.50%) Java
7 19 (1.19%) Kusto Query Language
8 11 (0.69%) C#
9 7 (0.44%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.31%) Go
10 5 (0.31%) Search Processing Language
11 4 (0.25%) Perl
11 4 (0.25%) Rust
11 4 (0.25%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.13%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.063%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.063%) BeanShell
13 1 (0.063%) JavaScript
13 1 (0.063%) Korn
Qualifications
1 590 (36.94%) Security Cleared
2 399 (24.98%) SC Cleared
3 174 (10.90%) DV Cleared
4 161 (10.08%) CISSP
5 155 (9.71%) Degree
6 117 (7.33%) CISM
7 69 (4.32%) Cisco Certification
8 48 (3.01%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 33 (2.07%) Azure Certification
10 32 (2.00%) BPSS Clearance
11 31 (1.94%) DBS Check
12 30 (1.88%) Microsoft Certification
13 26 (1.63%) CCSP
13 26 (1.63%) CRISC
14 24 (1.50%) CEH
14 24 (1.50%) GIAC
14 24 (1.50%) PMP
15 23 (1.44%) AWS Certification
16 22 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
17 20 (1.25%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 246 (15.40%) NIST
2 231 (14.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 110 (6.89%) NCSC
4 105 (6.57%) GRC
5 86 (5.39%) GDPR
6 59 (3.69%) Cyber Essentials
7 44 (2.76%) QA
8 36 (2.25%) PCI DSS
9 31 (1.94%) Data Quality
10 26 (1.63%) SLA
11 25 (1.57%) NIST 800
12 19 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 16 (1.00%) ISO 31000
13 16 (1.00%) JSP 440
14 13 (0.81%) COBIT
14 13 (0.81%) Def Stans
14 13 (0.81%) PMO
15 10 (0.63%) RMADS
16 8 (0.50%) Disclosure Scotland
16 8 (0.50%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 160 (10.02%) Active Directory
2 65 (4.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 45 (2.82%) Docker
4 39 (2.44%) Hyper-V
5 20 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (0.94%) vSphere
7 13 (0.81%) VMware NSX
8 8 (0.50%) Firmware
8 8 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
9 7 (0.44%) NFS
9 7 (0.44%) VMware ESXi
10 4 (0.25%) ISA Server
10 4 (0.25%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 4 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.19%) OpenAM
12 2 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
12 2 (0.13%) NDS
12 2 (0.13%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 1 (0.063%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
13 1 (0.063%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 84 (5.26%) Kubernetes
2 69 (4.32%) Ansible
3 31 (1.94%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (1.44%) SCCM
4 23 (1.44%) Single Sign-On
5 17 (1.06%) Grafana
6 16 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 15 (0.94%) QRadar
8 14 (0.88%) VxRail
9 9 (0.56%) Nessus
9 9 (0.56%) Progress Chef
10 8 (0.50%) CASB
11 7 (0.44%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 6 (0.38%) McAfee ePO
13 5 (0.31%) CSIRT
13 5 (0.31%) Podman
13 5 (0.31%) Tivoli
13 5 (0.31%) Tivoli Monitoring
14 4 (0.25%) Kustomize
14 4 (0.25%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 331 (20.73%) Microsoft
2 76 (4.76%) VMware
3 52 (3.26%) ServiceNow
4 49 (3.07%) Cisco
5 40 (2.50%) Databricks
5 40 (2.50%) Google
5 40 (2.50%) Splunk
6 29 (1.82%) CyberArk
7 28 (1.75%) Oracle
8 22 (1.38%) Palo Alto
9 21 (1.31%) CrowdStrike
10 18 (1.13%) Tenable
11 16 (1.00%) BeyondTrust
11 16 (1.00%) Qualys
11 16 (1.00%) SAP
12 15 (0.94%) F5
13 13 (0.81%) Fortinet
13 13 (0.81%) IBM
14 12 (0.75%) Meraki
15 10 (0.63%) ArcSight