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 12 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 482 392 355
Rank change year-on-year -90 -37 +160
Contract jobs citing Cyber Threat 168 134 252
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.34% 0.46% 0.58%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.04% 1.33% 1.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 117 73 171
10th Percentile £400 £410 £488
25th Percentile £450 £488 £531
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £583
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -9.95% -2.28%
75th Percentile £638 £613 £738
90th Percentile £750 £684 £850
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £550 £570
% change year-on-year - -3.51% +3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 2
10th Percentile - £64.35 £58.80
25th Percentile £41.94 £74.63 £62.63
Median hourly rate £55.50 £80.68 £70.50
Median % change year-on-year -31.21% +14.43% -
75th Percentile £70.41 £81.28 £78.63
90th Percentile £111.15 £81.77 £82.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.50 £80.68 £70.50
% change year-on-year -31.21% +14.43% -

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 16,215 10,108 13,093
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.44% 34.34% 30.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,966 6,359 8,357
10th Percentile £315 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.50% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £660
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £497 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.66% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 813 432 938
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.84 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.89 £19.97 £15.28
Median hourly rate £41.94 £33.05 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +26.90% -5.57% +57.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £62.24 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.48 £82.48 £71.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £32.05 £35.00
% change year-on-year +37.16% -8.43% +60.00%

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 12 June 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 12 June 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 12 June 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 -78 149 £550 +4.76% 81
UK excluding London -51 111 £550 - 76
London -65 44 £550 +4.76% 23
Work from Home -49 40 £516 +0.73% 49
North of England -42 38 £533 +7.36% 18
North West -11 29 £476 -3.98% 9
South East -64 29 £575 +11.11% 23
Scotland -6 12 £438 -16.67% 3
West Midlands -49 12 £625 +4.17% 3
Midlands -56 12 £625 +4.17% 6
South West -24 10 £640 +19.07% 11
East of England -32 9 £550 -8.33% 13
Yorkshire - 9 £588 - 7
Wales - 1 - - 1

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 5 (2.98%) Apache Spark
2 3 (1.79%) Confluence
3 1 (0.60%) SharePoint
Applications
1 2 (1.19%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 43 (25.60%) Azure
2 21 (12.50%) AWS
3 20 (11.90%) Microsoft 365
4 10 (5.95%) Datadog
4 10 (5.95%) SaaS
5 9 (5.36%) PaaS
6 8 (4.76%) Entra ID
6 8 (4.76%) IaaS
7 7 (4.17%) Microsoft Purview
8 6 (3.57%) Power Platform
9 5 (2.98%) Azure Key Vault
10 4 (2.38%) Amazon ECS
10 4 (2.38%) GCP
11 3 (1.79%) Akamai
11 3 (1.79%) GitHub
12 2 (1.19%) Amazon OpenSearch
12 2 (1.19%) Amazon S3
12 2 (1.19%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (1.19%) GitHub Actions
13 1 (0.60%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 23 (13.69%) Firewall
2 18 (10.71%) TCP/IP
3 17 (10.12%) Network Security
4 15 (8.93%) DNS
5 9 (5.36%) SAN
5 9 (5.36%) SSL
6 8 (4.76%) Intrusion Detection
6 8 (4.76%) VPN
7 7 (4.17%) HTTP
8 6 (3.57%) DHCP
8 6 (3.57%) VLAN
8 6 (3.57%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (1.79%) DMZ
10 2 (1.19%) MIMO
10 2 (1.19%) Multicast
10 2 (1.19%) NAS
11 1 (0.60%) Internet
11 1 (0.60%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (6.55%) SQL Server
2 5 (2.98%) Big Data
3 3 (1.79%) Redis
4 2 (1.19%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.60%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.60%) MySQL
5 1 (0.60%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.60%) Power BI
5 1 (0.60%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.60%) Semantic Layer
5 1 (0.60%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (4.17%) Chocolatey
2 6 (3.57%) Git
3 2 (1.19%) GitLab
3 2 (1.19%) JIRA
4 1 (0.60%) Jenkins
General
1 42 (25.00%) Social Skills
2 35 (20.83%) Analytical Skills
3 25 (14.88%) Finance
4 21 (12.50%) Public Sector
5 12 (7.14%) Banking
6 6 (3.57%) Legal
7 5 (2.98%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (2.98%) Law
8 4 (2.38%) Military
9 2 (1.19%) Local Government
9 2 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.60%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.60%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 45 (26.79%) Analyst
2 32 (19.05%) Senior
3 19 (11.31%) Architect
4 18 (10.71%) SOC Analyst
5 16 (9.52%) Lead
5 16 (9.52%) Senior Analyst
6 12 (7.14%) Security Engineer
7 10 (5.95%) Security Analyst
7 10 (5.95%) Security Architect
8 9 (5.36%) SOC Engineer
9 7 (4.17%) Azure Engineer
9 7 (4.17%) Lead Architect
9 7 (4.17%) Security Manager
10 6 (3.57%) Cloud Engineer
10 6 (3.57%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 6 (3.57%) Operations Analyst
10 6 (3.57%) Trainer
11 5 (2.98%) Cyber Threat Analyst
11 5 (2.98%) IT Engineer
11 5 (2.98%) Senior IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (4.76%) Kafka
2 6 (3.57%) Elastic Stack
2 6 (3.57%) REST
3 4 (2.38%) Loki
4 3 (1.79%) React
4 3 (1.79%) RESTful
4 3 (1.79%) WebSockets
5 1 (0.60%) AWS CDK
5 1 (0.60%) Django
5 1 (0.60%) JSON
5 1 (0.60%) JWT
5 1 (0.60%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 22 (13.10%) Security Operations Centre
2 19 (11.31%) Security Posture
3 11 (6.55%) Cyber Defence
4 10 (5.95%) Management Information System
5 8 (4.76%) Cyberattack
5 8 (4.76%) Operational Technology
6 6 (3.57%) Cloud Native
6 6 (3.57%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 5 (2.98%) CSOC
7 5 (2.98%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 5 (2.98%) Private Cloud
8 4 (2.38%) Enterprise Storage
8 4 (2.38%) MISP
8 4 (2.38%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.79%) Cybercrime
9 3 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (1.79%) Derivative
9 3 (1.79%) Energy Derivatives
9 3 (1.79%) PKI
10 2 (1.19%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 27 (16.07%) Linux
2 26 (15.48%) Windows
3 5 (2.98%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.79%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (53.57%) Cybersecurity
2 66 (39.29%) Incident Response
3 53 (31.55%) SIEM
4 43 (25.60%) Threat Intelligence
5 40 (23.81%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 40 (23.81%) Security Operations
6 32 (19.05%) Threat Detection
7 30 (17.86%) Problem-Solving
8 24 (14.29%) MITRE ATT&CK
9 21 (12.50%) Vulnerability Management
10 19 (11.31%) Continuous Improvement
10 19 (11.31%) Cyber Intelligence
11 18 (10.71%) Information Security
12 17 (10.12%) Cloud Security
12 17 (10.12%) Risk Management
13 16 (9.52%) Analytics
13 16 (9.52%) Threat Modelling
13 16 (9.52%) Use Case
14 14 (8.33%) CI/CD
14 14 (8.33%) Security Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 32 (19.05%) Python
2 6 (3.57%) Kusto Query Language
3 5 (2.98%) Bash
3 5 (2.98%) PowerShell
4 4 (2.38%) Search Processing Language
5 3 (1.79%) C
5 3 (1.79%) C++
5 3 (1.79%) Embedded C
5 3 (1.79%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.79%) Rust
5 3 (1.79%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.19%) Perl
7 1 (0.60%) Go
7 1 (0.60%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.60%) SQL
Qualifications
1 64 (38.10%) Security Cleared
2 43 (25.60%) SC Cleared
3 23 (13.69%) Degree
4 20 (11.90%) DV Cleared
5 19 (11.31%) CISSP
6 12 (7.14%) CISM
7 9 (5.36%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (3.57%) CompTIA Security+
9 5 (2.98%) GCIH
9 5 (2.98%) GIAC
10 4 (2.38%) CEH
10 4 (2.38%) CREST Certified
11 3 (1.79%) BPSS Clearance
11 3 (1.79%) Master's Degree
11 3 (1.79%) MCSE
11 3 (1.79%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (1.79%) SANS
12 2 (1.19%) GCFA
12 2 (1.19%) HND
12 2 (1.19%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (10.71%) NIST
2 14 (8.33%) NCSC
3 13 (7.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (5.36%) GDPR
4 9 (5.36%) GRC
4 9 (5.36%) SLA
5 4 (2.38%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (2.38%) PCI DSS
5 4 (2.38%) QA
6 3 (1.79%) ISO 19650
7 2 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.60%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 1 (0.60%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.60%) SOC 2
System Software
1 16 (9.52%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.17%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (2.98%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (1.19%) Hyper-V
4 2 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.60%) Docker
Systems Management
1 10 (5.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 9 (5.36%) SCCM
2 9 (5.36%) Terraform
3 7 (4.17%) Ansible
4 6 (3.57%) Grafana
5 5 (2.98%) Prometheus
6 4 (2.38%) QRadar
7 2 (1.19%) Red Hat Satellite
8 1 (0.60%) CASB
8 1 (0.60%) Host Intrusion Detection System
8 1 (0.60%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 40 (23.81%) Microsoft
2 18 (10.71%) Splunk
3 9 (5.36%) Tenable
4 7 (4.17%) AppDynamics
4 7 (4.17%) Dynatrace
4 7 (4.17%) VMware
5 6 (3.57%) Google
5 6 (3.57%) Tanium
6 5 (2.98%) CrowdStrike
6 5 (2.98%) Databricks
7 3 (1.79%) Apple
7 3 (1.79%) Blue Coat
7 3 (1.79%) Intel
7 3 (1.79%) Netskope
7 3 (1.79%) Zscaler
8 2 (1.19%) ArcSight
8 2 (1.19%) Citrix
8 2 (1.19%) Dell
8 2 (1.19%) Red Hat
8 2 (1.19%) Tripwire