CompTIA Security+ Contract Job Trends

CompTIA Security+
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for CompTIA Security+ qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 26 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 501 484 561
Rank change year-on-year -17 +77 +149
Contract jobs citing CompTIA Security+ 87 53 46
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.23% 0.17% 0.10%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.68% 0.57% 0.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 50 27 38
10th Percentile £324 £466 £298
25th Percentile £400 £569 £602
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £625 £635
Median % change year-on-year -15.48% -1.57% +12.89%
75th Percentile £612 £668 £666
90th Percentile £653 £725 £715
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £628 £635
% change year-on-year -12.35% -1.18% +19.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 0 0
10th Percentile £36.82 - -
25th Percentile £41.94 - -
Median hourly rate £43.70 - -
75th Percentile £58.31 - -
90th Percentile £71.48 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

CompTIA Security+ 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.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 12,811 9,339 13,465
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.96% 29.85% 30.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,474 5,608 8,397
10th Percentile £315 £300 £291
25th Percentile £416 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.24% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £631 £650
90th Percentile £725 £723 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £536
% change year-on-year - -6.72% +2.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 947 457 895
10th Percentile £15.82 £19.06 £14.20
25th Percentile £19.10 £24.18 £21.46
Median hourly rate £25.15 £39.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -35.51% -17.89% +5.56%
75th Percentile £62.38 £66.00 £65.38
90th Percentile £76.58 £77.31 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £42.69 £47.50
% change year-on-year -41.09% -10.13% +5.56%

CompTIA Security+
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing CompTIA Security+ relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

CompTIA Security+ job vacancy trend in the UK

CompTIA Security+
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing CompTIA Security+.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing CompTIA Security+

CompTIA Security+
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing CompTIA Security+ over the 6 months to 26 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for CompTIA Security+ in the UK

CompTIA Security+
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing CompTIA Security+.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing CompTIA Security+

CompTIA Security+
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing CompTIA Security+ over the 6 months to 26 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for CompTIA Security+ in the UK

CompTIA Security+
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing CompTIA Security+ within the UK over the 6 months to 26 January 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
England -56 65 £510 -18.40% 128
UK excluding London -33 39 £550 -12.35% 138
London -5 36 £500 -18.37% 25
Work from Home +1 21 £388 -38.25% 26
Scotland +20 13 £600 +26.32% 15
North of England -41 9 £520 -18.75% 32
South East -30 7 £643 -8.21% 30
North West -15 6 £375 -41.41% 13
East of England -9 4 £550 +10.00% 13
South West -26 3 £538 -10.42% 18
Yorkshire - 3 £520 - 12
Wales - 2 £394 - 8
Midlands -45 1 £425 -32.00% 24
East Midlands - 1 £425 - 11

CompTIA Security+
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 1 (1.15%) Confluence
Applications
1 2 (2.30%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (1.15%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 17 (19.54%) Azure
2 15 (17.24%) AWS
3 8 (9.20%) GCP
4 6 (6.90%) Microsoft 365
5 5 (5.75%) Entra ID
6 4 (4.60%) Azure Sentinel
7 3 (3.45%) OCI
8 2 (2.30%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (2.30%) Microsoft Purview
8 2 (2.30%) SaaS
9 1 (1.15%) Amazon EC2
9 1 (1.15%) Amazon EKS
9 1 (1.15%) Amazon S3
9 1 (1.15%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (1.15%) Azure Logic Apps
9 1 (1.15%) GitHub
9 1 (1.15%) Google Workspace
9 1 (1.15%) Power Platform
9 1 (1.15%) Serverless
9 1 (1.15%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 25 (28.74%) Firewall
2 22 (25.29%) TCP/IP
3 21 (24.14%) DNS
4 17 (19.54%) Network Security
5 4 (4.60%) HTTP
6 3 (3.45%) DHCP
6 3 (3.45%) VPN
7 2 (2.30%) Cisco ASA
7 2 (2.30%) Intrusion Detection
7 2 (2.30%) iSCSI
7 2 (2.30%) SMTP
7 2 (2.30%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (2.30%) Wireless
8 1 (1.15%) BGP
8 1 (1.15%) Cisco IOS
8 1 (1.15%) DKIM
8 1 (1.15%) Internet
8 1 (1.15%) Intranet
8 1 (1.15%) MPLS
8 1 (1.15%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.15%) Amazon QuickSight
1 1 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (1.15%) Power BI
1 1 (1.15%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (2.30%) JIRA
2 1 (1.15%) Burp Suite
General
1 19 (21.84%) Social Skills
2 16 (18.39%) Analytical Skills
2 16 (18.39%) Public Sector
3 6 (6.90%) Finance
4 3 (3.45%) Aerospace
4 3 (3.45%) Documentation Skills
5 2 (2.30%) Electronics
5 2 (2.30%) Influencing Skills
5 2 (2.30%) Law
5 2 (2.30%) Legal
5 2 (2.30%) Manufacturing
5 2 (2.30%) Marketing
5 2 (2.30%) Military
5 2 (2.30%) Organisational Skills
5 2 (2.30%) Pharmaceutical
5 2 (2.30%) Telecoms
6 1 (1.15%) Banking
6 1 (1.15%) German Language
6 1 (1.15%) Retail
6 1 (1.15%) Welsh Language
Job Titles
1 39 (44.83%) Analyst
2 17 (19.54%) Security Analyst
2 17 (19.54%) SOC Analyst
3 14 (16.09%) Security Engineer
4 12 (13.79%) Senior
5 9 (10.34%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 8 (9.20%) Lead
6 8 (9.20%) Operations Analyst
7 7 (8.05%) Consultant
7 7 (8.05%) Security Manager
8 6 (6.90%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 5 (5.75%) Cybersecurity Consultant
9 5 (5.75%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 5 (5.75%) Security Consultant
9 5 (5.75%) Senior Analyst
10 4 (4.60%) Architect
10 4 (4.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 4 (4.60%) Senior Operations Analyst
10 4 (4.60%) Senior Technical Analyst
10 4 (4.60%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (5.75%) LDAP
2 2 (2.30%) REST
2 2 (2.30%) SailPoint
2 2 (2.30%) YAML
3 1 (1.15%) OpenMP
Miscellaneous
1 21 (24.14%) Security Operations Centre
2 13 (14.94%) Cyberattack
3 12 (13.79%) Cyber Threat
4 9 (10.34%) Management Information System
5 7 (8.05%) Security Posture
6 5 (5.75%) Onboarding
7 4 (4.60%) Operational Technology
8 3 (3.45%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (3.45%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 3 (3.45%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (2.30%) CSOC
9 2 (2.30%) Cyber Defence
9 2 (2.30%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (2.30%) Life Science
9 2 (2.30%) NHS
9 2 (2.30%) STIX
9 2 (2.30%) YARA
10 1 (1.15%) CMDB
10 1 (1.15%) CUDA
10 1 (1.15%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 31 (35.63%) Windows
2 26 (29.89%) Linux
3 7 (8.05%) Windows Server
4 3 (3.45%) Windows Server 2016
4 3 (3.45%) Windows Server 2019
5 2 (2.30%) Ubuntu
6 1 (1.15%) Kali Linux
6 1 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (1.15%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (70.11%) Cybersecurity
2 54 (62.07%) Incident Response
3 48 (55.17%) SIEM
4 40 (45.98%) Security Operations
5 21 (24.14%) Vulnerability Management
6 20 (22.99%) Computer Science
7 16 (18.39%) Cloud Security
7 16 (18.39%) MITRE ATT&CK
8 13 (14.94%) Problem-Solving
9 12 (13.79%) Information Security
9 12 (13.79%) Threat Detection
9 12 (13.79%) Vulnerability Scanning
10 11 (12.64%) SOAR
11 9 (10.34%) Zero Trust
12 8 (9.20%) Stakeholder Management
12 8 (9.20%) Threat Intelligence
12 8 (9.20%) Threat Modelling
12 8 (9.20%) Use Case
13 7 (8.05%) Agile
13 7 (8.05%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 19 (21.84%) PowerShell
2 18 (20.69%) Python
3 6 (6.90%) Bash
3 6 (6.90%) Kusto Query Language
4 2 (2.30%) BeanShell
4 2 (2.30%) Java
4 2 (2.30%) SQL
5 1 (1.15%) PHP
Qualifications
1 52 (59.77%) CISSP
2 39 (44.83%) Security Cleared
3 27 (31.03%) CISM
3 27 (31.03%) Degree
4 26 (29.89%) SC Cleared
5 22 (25.29%) CompTIA CySA+
6 21 (24.14%) DV Cleared
7 19 (21.84%) CEH
8 16 (18.39%) Computer Science Degree
8 16 (18.39%) GIAC
9 11 (12.64%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (12.64%) SSCP
10 9 (10.34%) GCIH
11 8 (9.20%) GCIA
11 8 (9.20%) Microsoft Certification
12 5 (5.75%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 5 (5.75%) AWS Certification
12 5 (5.75%) Azure Certification
13 4 (4.60%) BPSS Clearance
13 4 (4.60%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (29.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (28.74%) NIST
3 9 (10.34%) NCSC
4 7 (8.05%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (6.90%) GDPR
6 5 (5.75%) PCI DSS
7 4 (4.60%) NIST 800
8 3 (3.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (2.30%) GxP
9 2 (2.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (1.15%) COBIT
10 1 (1.15%) Government Security Classifications
10 1 (1.15%) GRC
10 1 (1.15%) HIPAA
10 1 (1.15%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (1.15%) SOC 2
System Software
1 17 (19.54%) Active Directory
2 4 (4.60%) Hyper-V
2 4 (4.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.15%) GPFS
3 1 (1.15%) Lustre
3 1 (1.15%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 1 (1.15%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 3 (3.45%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
2 2 (2.30%) CSIRT
2 2 (2.30%) Kubernetes
2 2 (2.30%) QRadar
2 2 (2.30%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (2.30%) Terraform
2 2 (2.30%) WhatsUp Gold
3 1 (1.15%) Failover Clustering
3 1 (1.15%) Nessus
3 1 (1.15%) Nmap
3 1 (1.15%) SCOM
3 1 (1.15%) SELinux
3 1 (1.15%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 28 (32.18%) Microsoft
2 25 (28.74%) Splunk
3 8 (9.20%) Tenable
4 7 (8.05%) Cisco
5 5 (5.75%) CrowdStrike
5 5 (5.75%) Google
6 4 (4.60%) CyberArk
6 4 (4.60%) Rapid7
6 4 (4.60%) VMware
6 4 (4.60%) Zscaler
7 3 (3.45%) Darktrace
7 3 (3.45%) Qualys
7 3 (3.45%) Veeam
8 2 (2.30%) BeyondTrust
8 2 (2.30%) Carbon Black
8 2 (2.30%) LogRhythm
8 2 (2.30%) Palo Alto
8 2 (2.30%) SAP
8 2 (2.30%) ServiceNow
8 2 (2.30%) Thycotic