Cyber Threat Contract Job Trends

Cyber Threats
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Cyber Threat in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Cyber Threat over the 6 months leading up to 23 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 408 404 403
Rank change year-on-year -4 -1 +174
Contract jobs citing Cyber Threat 177 125 181
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.47% 0.39% 0.42%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.37% 1.22% 1.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 70 120
10th Percentile £380 £463 £448
25th Percentile £463 £538 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £580 £600 £612
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% -2.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £688 £675 £725
90th Percentile £793 £776 £793
UK excluding London median daily rate £593 £613 £569
% change year-on-year -3.14% +7.69% +4.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 1 10
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £41.94 £36.25 £42.25
Median hourly rate £47.00 £37.50 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year +25.33% -15.73% -32.06%
75th Percentile £63.38 £38.75 £46.75
90th Percentile £75.00 - £49.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.50 £37.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year +48.00% -15.73% -31.80%

All Generic Skills
UK

Cyber Threat falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 12,959 10,253 13,417
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.18% 32.36% 30.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,194 6,078 8,768
10th Percentile £278 £263 £256
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £530 £538
Median % change year-on-year -5.66% -1.40% -4.02%
75th Percentile £625 £663 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 621 312 693
10th Percentile £14.54 £18.51 £14.36
25th Percentile £18.25 £23.60 £17.72
Median hourly rate £27.54 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.31% - +55.66%
75th Percentile £61.50 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.10 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £35.65
% change year-on-year -15.38% -8.84% +78.25%

Cyber Threat
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cyber Threat relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Cyber Threat job vacancy trend in the UK

Cyber Threat
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Threat.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Threat

Cyber Threat
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cyber Threat over the 6 months to 23 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cyber Threat in the UK

Cyber Threat
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Threat.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Threat

Cyber Threat
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cyber Threat over the 6 months to 23 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cyber Threat in the UK

Cyber Threat
Top 13 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cyber Threat within the UK over the 6 months to 23 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 +9 156 £588 -6.00% 228
UK excluding London -39 91 £593 -3.14% 220
London -8 65 £500 -16.67% 100
Work from Home +14 52 £600 - 187
North of England -44 20 £501 -28.49% 26
South East -13 19 £595 -2.86% 78
South West 0 17 £750 +11.00% 35
East of England -13 15 £553 -7.83% 27
North West -24 14 £508 -27.40% 19
Scotland 0 13 £550 -4.35% 26
West Midlands -47 10 £600 -22.58% 6
Midlands -51 10 £600 -22.58% 20
Yorkshire - 6 £475 - 5

Cyber Threat
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 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.13%) Confluence
2 2 (1.13%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.56%) Trello
Business Applications
1 1 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 27 (15.25%) Azure
2 20 (11.30%) AWS
3 14 (7.91%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (6.78%) Entra ID
5 6 (3.39%) Azure Sentinel
5 6 (3.39%) GCP
6 5 (2.82%) Azure Key Vault
6 5 (2.82%) Microsoft Purview
7 3 (1.69%) Power Platform
8 2 (1.13%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.56%) Akamai
9 1 (0.56%) Amazon S3
9 1 (0.56%) Asana
9 1 (0.56%) AWS CodePipeline
9 1 (0.56%) AWS Lambda
9 1 (0.56%) Cloudflare
9 1 (0.56%) GitHub
9 1 (0.56%) OpenDNS
9 1 (0.56%) SaaS
9 1 (0.56%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 25 (14.12%) Firewall
2 17 (9.60%) Network Security
3 11 (6.21%) DNS
4 10 (5.65%) TCP/IP
5 6 (3.39%) Internet
5 6 (3.39%) SSL
6 5 (2.82%) FTP
6 5 (2.82%) HTTP
6 5 (2.82%) SMTP
6 5 (2.82%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (1.69%) Intrusion Detection
7 3 (1.69%) VPN
8 2 (1.13%) MIMO
9 1 (0.56%) Intranet
9 1 (0.56%) Multicast
9 1 (0.56%) NAS
9 1 (0.56%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.13%) Redis
1 2 (1.13%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.56%) Elasticsearch
2 1 (0.56%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.56%) Power BI
2 1 (0.56%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 3 (1.69%) Git
1 3 (1.69%) JIRA
2 1 (0.56%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.56%) GitLab
2 1 (0.56%) Metasploit
General
1 38 (21.47%) Analytical Skills
2 37 (20.90%) Social Skills
3 22 (12.43%) Public Sector
4 21 (11.86%) Finance
5 10 (5.65%) Banking
6 9 (5.08%) Telecoms
7 7 (3.95%) Back Office
8 6 (3.39%) Military
8 6 (3.39%) Presentation Skills
9 5 (2.82%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (2.82%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (2.26%) Electronics
10 4 (2.26%) Law
10 4 (2.26%) Legal
10 4 (2.26%) Manufacturing
10 4 (2.26%) Marketing
11 2 (1.13%) Automotive
12 1 (0.56%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.56%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 62 (35.03%) Analyst
2 36 (20.34%) Senior
3 23 (12.99%) Security Analyst
3 23 (12.99%) SOC Analyst
4 21 (11.86%) Senior Analyst
5 16 (9.04%) Architect
6 15 (8.47%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 13 (7.34%) Security Engineer
8 8 (4.52%) Security Architect
8 8 (4.52%) Security Specialist
9 7 (3.95%) Consultant
9 7 (3.95%) Lead
9 7 (3.95%) Operations Analyst
9 7 (3.95%) Project Manager
9 7 (3.95%) SOC Architect
9 7 (3.95%) Threat Intelligence Analyst
10 6 (3.39%) Cloud Engineer
10 6 (3.39%) Cybersecurity Engineer
10 6 (3.39%) Technical Manager
11 5 (2.82%) Network Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.82%) LDAP
2 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Graph
2 3 (1.69%) SailPoint
3 2 (1.13%) Kafka
3 2 (1.13%) Loki
3 2 (1.13%) React
3 2 (1.13%) REST
3 2 (1.13%) RESTful
3 2 (1.13%) WebSockets
4 1 (0.56%) AWS CDK
4 1 (0.56%) WebCenter
Miscellaneous
1 25 (14.12%) Security Operations Centre
2 20 (11.30%) Management Information System
3 16 (9.04%) Cyber Defence
3 16 (9.04%) Security Posture
4 14 (7.91%) Cyberattack
5 12 (6.78%) Onboarding
6 11 (6.21%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 10 (5.65%) CSOC
8 7 (3.95%) Cybercrime
9 6 (3.39%) Virtual Team
10 5 (2.82%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (1.69%) Cloud Native
11 3 (1.69%) Mobile App
11 3 (1.69%) Operational Technology
11 3 (1.69%) Product Ownership
12 2 (1.13%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (1.13%) Enterprise Storage
12 2 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
12 2 (1.13%) Insider Threat
12 2 (1.13%) TAXII
Operating Systems
1 17 (9.60%) Windows
2 16 (9.04%) Linux
3 4 (2.26%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.69%) Android
4 3 (1.69%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.56%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.56%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 119 (67.23%) Cybersecurity
2 73 (41.24%) Incident Response
3 60 (33.90%) SIEM
4 49 (27.68%) Security Operations
5 48 (27.12%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 48 (27.12%) Threat Intelligence
6 35 (19.77%) Cyber Intelligence
7 33 (18.64%) Threat Detection
8 31 (17.51%) Information Security
9 28 (15.82%) Threat Modelling
10 27 (15.25%) MITRE ATT&CK
11 26 (14.69%) Vulnerability Management
12 21 (11.86%) Risk Management
13 19 (10.73%) Continuous Improvement
13 19 (10.73%) Problem-Solving
14 18 (10.17%) Actionable Insight
15 17 (9.60%) Cloud Security
15 17 (9.60%) Stakeholder Management
16 16 (9.04%) Critical Thinking
17 15 (8.47%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 27 (15.25%) Python
2 15 (8.47%) PowerShell
3 9 (5.08%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (2.26%) Java
4 4 (2.26%) SQL
5 3 (1.69%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.69%) Perl
5 3 (1.69%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.13%) Bash
6 2 (1.13%) Rust
7 1 (0.56%) Go
7 1 (0.56%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 86 (48.59%) Security Cleared
2 63 (35.59%) SC Cleared
3 29 (16.38%) CISSP
4 27 (15.25%) DV Cleared
5 24 (13.56%) CISM
6 17 (9.60%) Degree
6 17 (9.60%) GIAC
7 14 (7.91%) CEH
8 12 (6.78%) CompTIA Security+
9 10 (5.65%) CompTIA CySA+
10 7 (3.95%) OSCP
11 6 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (3.39%) GREM
12 5 (2.82%) CREST Certified
13 4 (2.26%) AWS Certification
13 4 (2.26%) Azure Certification
13 4 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
13 4 (2.26%) GCIH
13 4 (2.26%) Master's Degree
14 3 (1.69%) GCFA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (24.86%) NIST
2 34 (19.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (13.56%) NCSC
4 14 (7.91%) GDPR
5 13 (7.34%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (4.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 6 (3.39%) JSP 440
7 6 (3.39%) QA
8 3 (1.69%) Accessibility
8 3 (1.69%) GRC
9 2 (1.13%) COBIT
9 2 (1.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 2 (1.13%) ISO 9001
9 2 (1.13%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.56%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.56%) Government Security Classifications
10 1 (0.56%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.56%) ITGC
10 1 (0.56%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.56%) PMO
System Software
1 11 (6.21%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.82%) Virtual Desktop
2 5 (2.82%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.56%) Docker
3 1 (0.56%) Snort
3 1 (0.56%) Squid
Systems Management
1 5 (2.82%) Kubernetes
1 5 (2.82%) Nessus
2 4 (2.26%) Terraform
3 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (1.69%) Nexpose
3 3 (1.69%) Prometheus
4 2 (1.13%) Grafana
4 2 (1.13%) QRadar
5 1 (0.56%) Ansible
5 1 (0.56%) CASB
5 1 (0.56%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (0.56%) CSIRT
5 1 (0.56%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.56%) RSA Archer
5 1 (0.56%) Suricata
Vendors
1 39 (22.03%) Microsoft
2 21 (11.86%) Splunk
3 7 (3.95%) CrowdStrike
3 7 (3.95%) CyberArk
4 6 (3.39%) Google
5 4 (2.26%) SAP
6 3 (1.69%) Computacenter
6 3 (1.69%) Intel
6 3 (1.69%) LogRhythm
6 3 (1.69%) Palo Alto
6 3 (1.69%) Qualys
6 3 (1.69%) Tenable
7 2 (1.13%) Apple
7 2 (1.13%) Cisco
7 2 (1.13%) Oracle
7 2 (1.13%) QAD
7 2 (1.13%) Rapid7
7 2 (1.13%) Salesforce
7 2 (1.13%) ServiceNow
7 2 (1.13%) Tanium