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 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 439 416 386
Rank change year-on-year -23 -30 +187
Contract jobs citing Cyber Threat 167 114 215
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.42% 0.37% 0.48%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.23% 1.12% 1.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 90 62 140
10th Percentile £313 £451 £448
25th Percentile £450 £502 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £552 £583 £570
Median % change year-on-year -5.32% +2.19% -5.00%
75th Percentile £642 £638 £678
90th Percentile £762 £725 £793
UK excluding London median daily rate £564 £588 £568
% change year-on-year -4.00% +3.52% -1.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 0 10
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £41.94 - £42.25
Median hourly rate £48.50 - £44.50
75th Percentile £62.06 - £46.75
90th Percentile £75.00 - £49.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.75 - £44.50
% change year-on-year - - -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 13,542 10,207 13,732
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.74% 32.97% 30.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,550 6,122 8,863
10th Percentile £273 £265 £258
25th Percentile £404 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £527
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.28% -4.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 657 314 821
10th Percentile £15.25 £18.73 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £23.65 £16.54
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £32.12
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% +8.98% +42.83%
75th Percentile £63.32 £65.00 £58.70
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.80 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.74 £32.50 £34.21
% change year-on-year -8.49% -5.00% +57.69%

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 14 February 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 14 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cyber Threat in the UK

Cyber Threat
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 Cyber Threat 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 -11 146 £553 -7.06% 57
UK excluding London -44 84 £564 -4.00% 51
London -20 62 £518 -11.16% 13
Work from Home 0 44 £600 +3.00% 33
South East -16 20 £595 -0.83% 16
North of England -44 17 £450 +26.40% 10
East of England -13 15 £553 -7.83% 6
Scotland -6 13 £350 -36.36% 6
West Midlands -41 12 £600 -22.58% 6
Midlands -48 12 £600 -22.58% 7
North West -24 11 £325 -8.71% 4
South West -11 9 £678 +29.05% 5
Yorkshire - 6 £475 - 3
Wales -5 1 - - 2

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 (1.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.20%) Confluence
2 2 (1.20%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.60%) Trello
Business Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 28 (16.77%) Azure
2 20 (11.98%) AWS
3 16 (9.58%) Microsoft 365
4 11 (6.59%) Entra ID
5 6 (3.59%) Azure Sentinel
6 5 (2.99%) Azure Key Vault
6 5 (2.99%) Microsoft Purview
7 4 (2.40%) GCP
8 3 (1.80%) Power Platform
8 3 (1.80%) SaaS
9 2 (1.20%) Amazon OpenSearch
9 2 (1.20%) Amazon S3
9 2 (1.20%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (1.20%) Datadog
9 2 (1.20%) IaaS
9 2 (1.20%) PaaS
10 1 (0.60%) Akamai
10 1 (0.60%) AWS Lambda
10 1 (0.60%) GitHub
10 1 (0.60%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 24 (14.37%) Firewall
2 14 (8.38%) Network Security
3 13 (7.78%) DNS
4 11 (6.59%) TCP/IP
5 7 (4.19%) SSL
5 7 (4.19%) Wi-Fi
6 6 (3.59%) Internet
7 5 (2.99%) FTP
7 5 (2.99%) HTTP
7 5 (2.99%) SMTP
7 5 (2.99%) VPN
8 4 (2.40%) Intrusion Detection
8 4 (2.40%) SAN
9 2 (1.20%) DHCP
9 2 (1.20%) MIMO
9 2 (1.20%) Multicast
9 2 (1.20%) NAS
9 2 (1.20%) VLAN
10 1 (0.60%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.99%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.20%) Elasticsearch
2 2 (1.20%) Redis
3 1 (0.60%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.60%) Power BI
3 1 (0.60%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 4 (2.40%) Git
1 4 (2.40%) JIRA
2 2 (1.20%) Chocolatey
2 2 (1.20%) GitLab
3 1 (0.60%) Burp Suite
3 1 (0.60%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.60%) Metasploit
General
1 40 (23.95%) Analytical Skills
2 39 (23.35%) Social Skills
3 21 (12.57%) Public Sector
4 19 (11.38%) Finance
5 12 (7.19%) Banking
6 8 (4.79%) Telecoms
7 6 (3.59%) Law
7 6 (3.59%) Military
7 6 (3.59%) Presentation Skills
8 5 (2.99%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.40%) Legal
10 3 (1.80%) Electronics
10 3 (1.80%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.80%) Marketing
11 2 (1.20%) Automotive
11 2 (1.20%) Back Office
11 2 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.60%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.60%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 64 (38.32%) Analyst
2 39 (23.35%) Senior
3 23 (13.77%) Security Analyst
3 23 (13.77%) SOC Analyst
4 21 (12.57%) Senior Analyst
5 15 (8.98%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 8 (4.79%) Architect
6 8 (4.79%) Lead
6 8 (4.79%) Security Specialist
7 7 (4.19%) Consultant
7 7 (4.19%) Operations Analyst
7 7 (4.19%) Project Manager
7 7 (4.19%) Threat Intelligence Analyst
8 6 (3.59%) Security Engineer
8 6 (3.59%) Technical Manager
9 5 (2.99%) Network Analyst
9 5 (2.99%) Network Support
9 5 (2.99%) Security Architect
9 5 (2.99%) Senior Technical Analyst
9 5 (2.99%) Technical Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.99%) LDAP
2 3 (1.80%) Loki
2 3 (1.80%) Microsoft Graph
2 3 (1.80%) REST
3 2 (1.20%) Kafka
3 2 (1.20%) React
3 2 (1.20%) RESTful
3 2 (1.20%) SailPoint
3 2 (1.20%) WebSockets
4 1 (0.60%) AWS CDK
4 1 (0.60%) WebCenter
Miscellaneous
1 22 (13.17%) Security Operations Centre
2 19 (11.38%) Management Information System
3 16 (9.58%) Cyberattack
4 14 (8.38%) Security Posture
5 12 (7.19%) Onboarding
6 11 (6.59%) Cyber Defence
7 10 (5.99%) CSOC
8 9 (5.39%) Cybercrime
9 8 (4.79%) Cyber Kill Chain
10 6 (3.59%) Virtual Team
11 5 (2.99%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (2.40%) Enterprise Storage
13 3 (1.80%) Mobile App
13 3 (1.80%) Operational Technology
13 3 (1.80%) Product Ownership
14 2 (1.20%) Cloud Native
14 2 (1.20%) Insider Threat
14 2 (1.20%) MISP
14 2 (1.20%) STIX
14 2 (1.20%) TAXII
Operating Systems
1 18 (10.78%) Linux
2 17 (10.18%) Windows
3 4 (2.40%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.80%) Android
4 3 (1.80%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.60%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.60%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (67.66%) Cybersecurity
2 68 (40.72%) Incident Response
3 49 (29.34%) SIEM
4 48 (28.74%) Threat Intelligence
5 47 (28.14%) Security Operations
6 45 (26.95%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 35 (20.96%) Cyber Intelligence
8 33 (19.76%) Threat Detection
9 29 (17.37%) Information Security
10 28 (16.77%) MITRE ATT&CK
11 24 (14.37%) Threat Modelling
12 23 (13.77%) Problem-Solving
13 22 (13.17%) Vulnerability Management
14 19 (11.38%) Risk Management
15 18 (10.78%) Actionable Insight
15 18 (10.78%) Stakeholder Management
16 17 (10.18%) Cloud Security
17 16 (9.58%) Continuous Improvement
17 16 (9.58%) Critical Thinking
17 16 (9.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 30 (17.96%) Python
2 16 (9.58%) PowerShell
3 5 (2.99%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (2.40%) Java
4 4 (2.40%) Perl
4 4 (2.40%) SQL
5 3 (1.80%) Bash
5 3 (1.80%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.80%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.20%) Rust
7 1 (0.60%) Go
7 1 (0.60%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 72 (43.11%) Security Cleared
2 52 (31.14%) SC Cleared
3 26 (15.57%) CISSP
4 22 (13.17%) DV Cleared
5 21 (12.57%) CISM
5 21 (12.57%) Degree
6 17 (10.18%) GIAC
7 13 (7.78%) CEH
8 12 (7.19%) CompTIA Security+
9 10 (5.99%) CompTIA CySA+
10 7 (4.19%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (4.19%) OSCP
11 6 (3.59%) GREM
12 5 (2.99%) CREST Certified
12 5 (2.99%) GCIH
12 5 (2.99%) Master's Degree
13 4 (2.40%) Azure Certification
13 4 (2.40%) Computer Science Degree
14 3 (1.80%) AWS Certification
14 3 (1.80%) GCFA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (19.76%) NIST
2 30 (17.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 19 (11.38%) NCSC
4 13 (7.78%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (6.59%) GDPR
6 8 (4.79%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 5 (2.99%) QA
8 4 (2.40%) JSP 440
9 3 (1.80%) GRC
10 2 (1.20%) Accessibility
10 2 (1.20%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (1.20%) ISO 9001
10 2 (1.20%) SLA
10 2 (1.20%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.60%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.60%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.60%) ITGC
11 1 (0.60%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.60%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.60%) PMO
System Software
1 13 (7.78%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.99%) Virtual Desktop
2 5 (2.99%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.60%) Docker
3 1 (0.60%) Snort
3 1 (0.60%) Squid
Systems Management
1 5 (2.99%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (2.40%) Kubernetes
2 4 (2.40%) Prometheus
2 4 (2.40%) Terraform
3 3 (1.80%) Ansible
3 3 (1.80%) Nessus
3 3 (1.80%) Nexpose
4 2 (1.20%) Grafana
4 2 (1.20%) Red Hat Satellite
4 2 (1.20%) SCCM
5 1 (0.60%) CASB
5 1 (0.60%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (0.60%) CSIRT
5 1 (0.60%) Host Intrusion Detection System
5 1 (0.60%) QRadar
5 1 (0.60%) RSA Archer
5 1 (0.60%) Suricata
Vendors
1 35 (20.96%) Microsoft
2 22 (13.17%) Splunk
3 9 (5.39%) CrowdStrike
4 7 (4.19%) CyberArk
5 6 (3.59%) Tenable
6 5 (2.99%) Google
6 5 (2.99%) Intel
7 3 (1.80%) Computacenter
7 3 (1.80%) LogRhythm
7 3 (1.80%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.80%) SAP
8 2 (1.20%) AppDynamics
8 2 (1.20%) Cisco
8 2 (1.20%) Dell
8 2 (1.20%) F5
8 2 (1.20%) Oracle
8 2 (1.20%) QAD
8 2 (1.20%) Rapid7
8 2 (1.20%) ServiceNow
8 2 (1.20%) VMware