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 17 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 470 412 371
Rank change year-on-year -58 -41 +192
Contract jobs citing Cyber Threat 159 115 224
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.39% 0.50%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.11% 1.16% 1.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 99 70 143
10th Percentile £390 £454 £450
25th Percentile £450 £500 £515
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £553 £564 £570
Median % change year-on-year -1.86% -1.14% -8.43%
75th Percentile £646 £638 £648
90th Percentile £763 £725 £798
UK excluding London median daily rate £575 £564 £568
% change year-on-year +2.04% -0.70% -9.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 3 3
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £41.94 £80.34 £42.25
Median hourly rate £52.75 £80.68 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -34.61% +81.29% -31.80%
75th Percentile £64.69 £81.56 £46.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.88 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.75 £80.68 £44.50
% change year-on-year -34.61% +81.29% -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 14,310 9,887 13,470
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.15% 33.67% 30.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,007 6,263 8,623
10th Percentile £293 £287 £256
25th Percentile £408 £410 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 665 361 867
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.95 £12.50
25th Percentile £18.87 £22.22 £15.50
Median hourly rate £37.50 £32.50 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% +16.07% +24.44%
75th Percentile £68.75 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £84.60 £83.20 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £31.08 £26.00
% change year-on-year +34.94% +19.54% +16.83%

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 17 March 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 17 March 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 17 March 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 -53 139 £553 -3.83% 53
UK excluding London -65 93 £575 +2.04% 46
London -44 48 £535 -6.96% 18
Work from Home -18 38 £600 +9.09% 31
North of England -45 25 £484 -4.96% 9
South East -39 22 £595 +6.25% 17
North West -16 19 £484 -4.96% 6
East of England -24 18 £553 -7.83% 4
Midlands -49 14 £600 -12.73% 8
West Midlands -56 14 £600 -12.73% 3
Scotland +8 13 £350 -33.33% 2
Yorkshire - 6 £475 - 2
South West -26 3 £600 +1.05% 5
Wales -9 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 2 (1.26%) Confluence
1 2 (1.26%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.63%) Trello
Business Applications
1 1 (0.63%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 36 (22.64%) Azure
2 22 (13.84%) AWS
3 17 (10.69%) Microsoft 365
4 11 (6.92%) Entra ID
5 7 (4.40%) SaaS
6 6 (3.77%) Datadog
6 6 (3.77%) IaaS
6 6 (3.77%) PaaS
7 5 (3.14%) Azure Key Vault
7 5 (3.14%) Microsoft Purview
8 4 (2.52%) Azure Sentinel
9 3 (1.89%) GCP
9 3 (1.89%) Power Platform
10 2 (1.26%) Amazon OpenSearch
10 2 (1.26%) Amazon S3
10 2 (1.26%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.63%) Akamai
11 1 (0.63%) AWS Lambda
11 1 (0.63%) GitHub
11 1 (0.63%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 23 (14.47%) Firewall
2 16 (10.06%) DNS
2 16 (10.06%) Network Security
3 11 (6.92%) TCP/IP
4 10 (6.29%) Wi-Fi
5 8 (5.03%) SAN
6 7 (4.40%) SSL
6 7 (4.40%) VPN
7 5 (3.14%) DHCP
7 5 (3.14%) FTP
7 5 (3.14%) HTTP
7 5 (3.14%) SMTP
7 5 (3.14%) VLAN
8 3 (1.89%) Intrusion Detection
9 2 (1.26%) MIMO
9 2 (1.26%) Multicast
9 2 (1.26%) NAS
10 1 (0.63%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (5.66%) SQL Server
2 3 (1.89%) Redis
3 2 (1.26%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.63%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.63%) Power BI
4 1 (0.63%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (3.77%) Chocolatey
2 5 (3.14%) Git
3 4 (2.52%) JIRA
4 2 (1.26%) GitLab
5 1 (0.63%) Burp Suite
5 1 (0.63%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.63%) Metasploit
General
1 43 (27.04%) Social Skills
2 34 (21.38%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (8.81%) Banking
3 14 (8.81%) Finance
3 14 (8.81%) Public Sector
4 6 (3.77%) Presentation Skills
5 5 (3.14%) Documentation Skills
5 5 (3.14%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (2.52%) Legal
7 3 (1.89%) Military
8 2 (1.26%) Financial Institution
8 2 (1.26%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (1.26%) Law
9 1 (0.63%) Electronics
9 1 (0.63%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.63%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.63%) Marketing
9 1 (0.63%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 57 (35.85%) Analyst
2 41 (25.79%) Senior
3 22 (13.84%) Senior Analyst
3 22 (13.84%) SOC Analyst
4 16 (10.06%) Security Analyst
5 12 (7.55%) Architect
6 9 (5.66%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 8 (5.03%) Threat Intelligence Analyst
8 7 (4.40%) Lead
8 7 (4.40%) Project Manager
8 7 (4.40%) Security Architect
9 6 (3.77%) Azure Engineer
9 6 (3.77%) Cloud Engineer
9 6 (3.77%) Cyber Threat Analyst
9 6 (3.77%) Operations Analyst
9 6 (3.77%) Security Engineer
9 6 (3.77%) Technical Manager
10 5 (3.14%) Network Security Analyst
10 5 (3.14%) Senior Operations Analyst
10 5 (3.14%) Technical Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.14%) LDAP
2 4 (2.52%) Loki
2 4 (2.52%) REST
3 3 (1.89%) Kafka
3 3 (1.89%) React
3 3 (1.89%) RESTful
3 3 (1.89%) WebSockets
4 1 (0.63%) AWS CDK
4 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.63%) WebCenter
Miscellaneous
1 21 (13.21%) Security Operations Centre
2 16 (10.06%) Cyberattack
3 15 (9.43%) Security Posture
4 14 (8.81%) Management Information System
5 10 (6.29%) CSOC
5 10 (6.29%) Cyber Defence
5 10 (6.29%) Onboarding
6 9 (5.66%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 6 (3.77%) Cloud Native
7 6 (3.77%) Virtual Team
8 5 (3.14%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (2.52%) Enterprise Storage
10 3 (1.89%) Cybercrime
10 3 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.89%) Derivative
10 3 (1.89%) Energy Derivatives
10 3 (1.89%) MISP
10 3 (1.89%) Product Ownership
11 2 (1.26%) Distributed Systems
11 2 (1.26%) STIX
Operating Systems
1 20 (12.58%) Linux
2 19 (11.95%) Windows
3 4 (2.52%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.63%) Android
4 1 (0.63%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.63%) Kali Linux
4 1 (0.63%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (58.49%) Cybersecurity
2 65 (40.88%) Incident Response
3 50 (31.45%) SIEM
4 42 (26.42%) Security Operations
5 39 (24.53%) Threat Intelligence
6 38 (23.90%) Threat Detection
7 36 (22.64%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 26 (16.35%) Cyber Intelligence
8 26 (16.35%) Problem-Solving
9 25 (15.72%) MITRE ATT&CK
10 23 (14.47%) Threat Modelling
11 22 (13.84%) Information Security
12 19 (11.95%) Vulnerability Management
13 18 (11.32%) Cloud Security
14 17 (10.69%) Continuous Improvement
15 15 (9.43%) Risk Management
16 14 (8.81%) Line Management
16 14 (8.81%) Threat Analysis
17 13 (8.18%) Actionable Insight
17 13 (8.18%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 30 (18.87%) Python
2 11 (6.92%) PowerShell
3 4 (2.52%) JavaScript
3 4 (2.52%) SQL
3 4 (2.52%) TypeScript
4 3 (1.89%) C
4 3 (1.89%) C++
4 3 (1.89%) Embedded C
4 3 (1.89%) Kusto Query Language
4 3 (1.89%) Rust
5 2 (1.26%) Bash
5 2 (1.26%) Java
5 2 (1.26%) Perl
6 1 (0.63%) Go
6 1 (0.63%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 68 (42.77%) Security Cleared
2 54 (33.96%) SC Cleared
3 24 (15.09%) Degree
4 22 (13.84%) CISSP
5 21 (13.21%) DV Cleared
6 17 (10.69%) CISM
7 11 (6.92%) CompTIA Security+
8 8 (5.03%) GIAC
9 7 (4.40%) BPSS Clearance
10 6 (3.77%) CEH
10 6 (3.77%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (3.14%) CREST Certified
11 5 (3.14%) GCIH
11 5 (3.14%) Master's Degree
12 4 (2.52%) Azure Certification
12 4 (2.52%) CompTIA CySA+
13 3 (1.89%) AWS Certification
13 3 (1.89%) GCFA
14 2 (1.26%) CISMP
14 2 (1.26%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (18.24%) NIST
2 22 (13.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 22 (13.84%) NCSC
3 13 (8.18%) Cyber Essentials
4 10 (6.29%) GDPR
5 8 (5.03%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 6 (3.77%) SLA
7 4 (2.52%) GRC
7 4 (2.52%) QA
8 3 (1.89%) JSP 440
9 2 (1.26%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 2 (1.26%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.63%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.63%) Government Security Classifications
10 1 (0.63%) ITGC
10 1 (0.63%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.63%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.63%) PMO
System Software
1 16 (10.06%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.77%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (3.14%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.63%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 7 (4.40%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (3.77%) SCCM
3 5 (3.14%) Prometheus
3 5 (3.14%) Terraform
4 3 (1.89%) Ansible
4 3 (1.89%) Grafana
4 3 (1.89%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.26%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (0.63%) CASB
6 1 (0.63%) CSIRT
6 1 (0.63%) Host Intrusion Detection System
6 1 (0.63%) QRadar
6 1 (0.63%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 36 (22.64%) Microsoft
2 20 (12.58%) Splunk
3 9 (5.66%) Tenable
4 8 (5.03%) CrowdStrike
5 7 (4.40%) CyberArk
6 6 (3.77%) AppDynamics
6 6 (3.77%) Dynatrace
6 6 (3.77%) VMware
7 5 (3.14%) Google
7 5 (3.14%) Tanium
8 4 (2.52%) Intel
9 3 (1.89%) Apple
9 3 (1.89%) Computacenter
10 2 (1.26%) Citrix
10 2 (1.26%) Dell
10 2 (1.26%) F5
10 2 (1.26%) LogRhythm
10 2 (1.26%) Oracle
10 2 (1.26%) Red Hat
10 2 (1.26%) ServiceNow