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 14 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 516 479 552
Rank change year-on-year -37 +73 +147
Contract jobs citing CompTIA Security+ 89 50 48
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.22% 0.16% 0.11%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.65% 0.55% 0.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 55 25 39
10th Percentile £373 £403 £303
25th Percentile £425 £500 £600
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £600 £635
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -5.51% +12.89%
75th Percentile £634 £650 £656
90th Percentile £652 £725 £710
UK excluding London median daily rate £583 £600 £626
% change year-on-year -2.79% -4.19% +15.97%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 1 0
10th Percentile £34.66 - -
25th Percentile - £45.75 -
Median hourly rate £41.94 £54.50 -
Median % change year-on-year -23.05% - -
75th Percentile £54.12 £63.25 -
90th Percentile £77.43 - -
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 13,589 9,168 13,592
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.86% 29.61% 30.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,968 5,590 8,404
10th Percentile £325 £296 £295
25th Percentile £418 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.43% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £619 £630 £650
90th Percentile £723 £720 £729
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £501 £532
% change year-on-year -0.10% -5.92% +0.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 990 432 960
10th Percentile £15.75 £19.84 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.10 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £39.00 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -35.51% -15.00% +1.96%
75th Percentile £63.75 £66.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £80.09 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £42.50 £46.18
% change year-on-year -40.82% -7.97% +2.62%

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 14 February 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 14 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for CompTIA Security+ in the UK

CompTIA Security+
Top 12 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 14 February 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 -57 65 £538 -10.42% 106
UK excluding London -42 43 £583 -2.79% 106
London -34 33 £500 -16.67% 20
Work from Home -12 17 £470 -19.31% 17
Scotland +19 15 £610 +28.42% 8
North of England -46 12 £580 -9.38% 28
North West -24 8 £639 -0.16% 13
South East -23 7 £643 -8.21% 19
South West -19 4 £539 +0.23% 17
East of England -19 4 £550 +10.00% 10
Yorkshire - 4 £520 - 12
Wales - 1 £550 - 5

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 (1.12%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (1.12%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (1.12%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 18 (20.22%) Azure
2 16 (17.98%) AWS
3 9 (10.11%) GCP
4 6 (6.74%) Entra ID
5 5 (5.62%) Azure Sentinel
5 5 (5.62%) Microsoft 365
6 3 (3.37%) OCI
7 2 (2.25%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (2.25%) Microsoft Purview
7 2 (2.25%) SaaS
8 1 (1.12%) Amazon EC2
8 1 (1.12%) Amazon EKS
8 1 (1.12%) Amazon S3
8 1 (1.12%) Azure Logic Apps
8 1 (1.12%) Azure Monitor
8 1 (1.12%) GitHub
8 1 (1.12%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (1.12%) Google Workspace
8 1 (1.12%) Power Platform
8 1 (1.12%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 30 (33.71%) Firewall
2 29 (32.58%) TCP/IP
3 28 (31.46%) DNS
4 21 (23.60%) Network Security
5 8 (8.99%) VPN
6 5 (5.62%) BGP
6 5 (5.62%) Cisco ASA
6 5 (5.62%) HTTP
7 4 (4.49%) Cisco IOS
7 4 (4.49%) MPLS
7 4 (4.49%) SSL
7 4 (4.49%) TACACS
8 3 (3.37%) DHCP
9 2 (2.25%) Intrusion Detection
9 2 (2.25%) Wireless
10 1 (1.12%) Intranet
10 1 (1.12%) IPsec
10 1 (1.12%) OSPF
10 1 (1.12%) SAN
10 1 (1.12%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.12%) Amazon QuickSight
1 1 (1.12%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (1.12%) Power BI
1 1 (1.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (2.25%) JIRA
2 1 (1.12%) Burp Suite
General
1 19 (21.35%) Social Skills
2 14 (15.73%) Analytical Skills
2 14 (15.73%) Public Sector
3 8 (8.99%) Finance
4 4 (4.49%) Documentation Skills
5 3 (3.37%) Aerospace
6 2 (2.25%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (2.25%) Military
6 2 (2.25%) Organisational Skills
6 2 (2.25%) Pharmaceutical
7 1 (1.12%) Banking
7 1 (1.12%) Electronics
7 1 (1.12%) Law
7 1 (1.12%) Legal
7 1 (1.12%) Manufacturing
7 1 (1.12%) Marketing
7 1 (1.12%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (1.12%) Retail
7 1 (1.12%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 40 (44.94%) Analyst
2 19 (21.35%) SOC Analyst
3 17 (19.10%) Security Analyst
3 17 (19.10%) Security Engineer
4 11 (12.36%) Senior
5 10 (11.24%) Cybersecurity Analyst
5 10 (11.24%) Lead
6 8 (8.99%) Operations Analyst
7 6 (6.74%) Consultant
7 6 (6.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 5 (5.62%) Cybersecurity Consultant
8 5 (5.62%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 5 (5.62%) Network Security Engineer
8 5 (5.62%) Security Consultant
8 5 (5.62%) Security Manager
8 5 (5.62%) Senior Analyst
9 4 (4.49%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 4 (4.49%) Security Operations Analyst
9 4 (4.49%) Senior Operations Analyst
9 4 (4.49%) Technical Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (11.24%) LDAP
2 2 (2.25%) REST
3 1 (1.12%) ARM Templates
3 1 (1.12%) JSON
3 1 (1.12%) OpenMP
3 1 (1.12%) SailPoint
3 1 (1.12%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 21 (23.60%) Security Operations Centre
2 15 (16.85%) Cyberattack
3 12 (13.48%) Cyber Threat
4 9 (10.11%) Security Posture
5 6 (6.74%) Management Information System
6 5 (5.62%) Onboarding
6 5 (5.62%) Operational Technology
7 4 (4.49%) Cloud Security Posture
7 4 (4.49%) PKI
8 3 (3.37%) Cloud Native
8 3 (3.37%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (2.25%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (2.25%) Cyber Defence
9 2 (2.25%) Data Centre
9 2 (2.25%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (2.25%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (2.25%) Life Science
10 1 (1.12%) Clustering
10 1 (1.12%) CUDA
10 1 (1.12%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 36 (40.45%) Linux
2 34 (38.20%) Windows
3 7 (7.87%) Windows Server
4 5 (5.62%) Ubuntu
5 3 (3.37%) Unix
5 3 (3.37%) Windows Server 2016
5 3 (3.37%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (1.12%) Kali Linux
6 1 (1.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (1.12%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (70.79%) Cybersecurity
2 51 (57.30%) Incident Response
3 49 (55.06%) SIEM
4 39 (43.82%) Security Operations
5 23 (25.84%) Vulnerability Management
6 21 (23.60%) Cloud Security
7 20 (22.47%) Computer Science
8 17 (19.10%) MITRE ATT&CK
9 15 (16.85%) Vulnerability Scanning
10 13 (14.61%) SOAR
11 12 (13.48%) Problem-Solving
12 11 (12.36%) Information Security
13 10 (11.24%) Penetration Testing
13 10 (11.24%) Threat Detection
14 9 (10.11%) Agile
14 9 (10.11%) Use Case
14 9 (10.11%) Zero Trust
15 8 (8.99%) ITIL
15 8 (8.99%) Stakeholder Management
15 8 (8.99%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 23 (25.84%) Python
2 20 (22.47%) PowerShell
3 8 (8.99%) Bash
4 4 (4.49%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (4.49%) PHP
5 2 (2.25%) SQL
6 1 (1.12%) BeanShell
6 1 (1.12%) Java
Qualifications
1 53 (59.55%) CISSP
2 44 (49.44%) Security Cleared
3 31 (34.83%) SC Cleared
4 26 (29.21%) CISM
4 26 (29.21%) Degree
4 26 (29.21%) DV Cleared
5 22 (24.72%) CompTIA CySA+
6 20 (22.47%) CEH
7 19 (21.35%) GIAC
8 17 (19.10%) Computer Science Degree
9 12 (13.48%) Microsoft Certification
9 12 (13.48%) SSCP
10 9 (10.11%) GCIA
10 9 (10.11%) GCIH
11 8 (8.99%) Cisco Certification
12 6 (6.74%) AWS Certification
12 6 (6.74%) Azure Certification
13 4 (4.49%) APMG
13 4 (4.49%) BPSS Clearance
13 4 (4.49%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (31.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 28 (31.46%) NIST
2 9 (10.11%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (7.87%) NCSC
4 6 (6.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 6 (6.74%) GDPR
5 5 (5.62%) PCI DSS
6 4 (4.49%) NIST 800
7 3 (3.37%) GxP
8 2 (2.25%) GRC
8 2 (2.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (2.25%) SOC 2
9 1 (1.12%) Accessibility
9 1 (1.12%) COBIT
9 1 (1.12%) Government Security Classifications
9 1 (1.12%) HIPAA
9 1 (1.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 18 (20.22%) Active Directory
2 7 (7.87%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (4.49%) Hyper-V
3 4 (4.49%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (1.12%) Docker
4 1 (1.12%) GPFS
4 1 (1.12%) Lustre
4 1 (1.12%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 1 (1.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 6 (6.74%) QRadar
2 4 (4.49%) Nessus
2 4 (4.49%) Terraform
2 4 (4.49%) vCenter Server
3 3 (3.37%) CASB
3 3 (3.37%) Kubernetes
3 3 (3.37%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
3 3 (3.37%) SCOM
4 1 (1.12%) Ansible
4 1 (1.12%) CSIRT
4 1 (1.12%) Failover Clustering
4 1 (1.12%) Fluentd
4 1 (1.12%) logstash
4 1 (1.12%) Nmap
4 1 (1.12%) SELinux
4 1 (1.12%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 33 (37.08%) Splunk
2 27 (30.34%) Microsoft
3 11 (12.36%) Tenable
4 8 (8.99%) Cisco
5 7 (7.87%) VMware
6 6 (6.74%) CrowdStrike
6 6 (6.74%) CyberArk
7 4 (4.49%) Carbon Black
7 4 (4.49%) Google
7 4 (4.49%) Rapid7
8 3 (3.37%) Remedy
8 3 (3.37%) Veeam
8 3 (3.37%) Zscaler
9 2 (2.25%) Darktrace
9 2 (2.25%) LogRhythm
9 2 (2.25%) Palo Alto
9 2 (2.25%) Qualys
9 2 (2.25%) ServiceNow
10 1 (1.12%) BeyondTrust
10 1 (1.12%) NVIDIA