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 18 September 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 409 357 446
Rank change year-on-year -52 +89 +234
Contract jobs citing Cyber Threat 159 208 208
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.48% 0.54% 0.42%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.36% 1.78% 1.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 77 117 137
10th Percentile £449 £495 £462
25th Percentile £488 £550 £510
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £650 £600
Median % change year-on-year -15.38% +8.33% -
75th Percentile £688 £788 £725
90th Percentile £772 £850 £791
UK excluding London median daily rate £578 £690 £560
% change year-on-year -16.30% +23.21% -10.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 4 8
10th Percentile £44.39 £42.25 -
25th Percentile £45.00 £51.25 £42.25
Median hourly rate £47.00 £57.50 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.26% +29.21% -12.35%
75th Percentile £75.00 £65.38 £47.31
90th Percentile £77.00 £77.30 £49.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year +13.04% +29.21% -11.86%

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 11,702 11,714 15,947
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.52% 30.41% 32.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,164 7,180 10,922
10th Percentile £300 £294 £300
25th Percentile £406 £415 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £540 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.63% -1.82% -
75th Percentile £638 £675 £675
90th Percentile £754 £807 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 587 473 447
10th Percentile £15.13 £14.41 £16.78
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.25 £21.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £50.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.00% +11.11% +69.81%
75th Percentile £55.00 £70.00 £66.72
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.11 £57.35 £49.00
% change year-on-year -47.51% +17.04% +124.98%

Cyber Threat
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Cyber Threat as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Cyber Threat 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 18 September 2025.

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 18 September 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Cyber Threat in the UK

Cyber Threat
Top 10 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 18 September 2025. 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 -20 134 £558 -17.45% 163
UK excluding London -51 84 £578 -16.30% 144
London +17 58 £525 -12.50% 52
Work from Home +14 48 £580 +0.87% 66
South West +14 22 £750 +8.70% 24
South East +16 20 £511 -31.38% 39
East of England +22 18 £665 - 19
North West -27 13 £501 -27.88% 13
North of England -40 13 £501 -32.78% 22
Scotland -14 11 £525 -2.33% 10

Cyber Threat
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 4 (2.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.26%) Apache Spark
2 2 (1.26%) CMS
2 2 (1.26%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.63%) Apache
3 1 (0.63%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.63%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.26%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 30 (18.87%) Azure
2 21 (13.21%) Azure Sentinel
3 19 (11.95%) AWS
4 11 (6.92%) Microsoft 365
5 8 (5.03%) GCP
6 5 (3.14%) Entra ID
7 4 (2.52%) Microsoft Purview
8 3 (1.89%) Power Platform
9 2 (1.26%) Azure Logic Apps
9 2 (1.26%) Cloudflare
9 2 (1.26%) OneDrive
9 2 (1.26%) OpenDNS
9 2 (1.26%) SaaS
10 1 (0.63%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 1 (0.63%) Amazon S3
10 1 (0.63%) AWS CloudFormation
10 1 (0.63%) Cloud Computing
10 1 (0.63%) Cohesity
10 1 (0.63%) GitHub
10 1 (0.63%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 36 (22.64%) Firewall
2 21 (13.21%) Network Security
3 11 (6.92%) HTTP
4 8 (5.03%) DNS
4 8 (5.03%) FTP
4 8 (5.03%) SMTP
4 8 (5.03%) SSL
5 7 (4.40%) Internet
5 7 (4.40%) Intrusion Detection
5 7 (4.40%) VPN
6 2 (1.26%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.63%) FCoE
7 1 (0.63%) Fibre Channel
7 1 (0.63%) iSCSI
7 1 (0.63%) SAN
7 1 (0.63%) tcpdump
7 1 (0.63%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.89%) Big Data
2 1 (0.63%) Flink
2 1 (0.63%) Hadoop
2 1 (0.63%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.63%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 3 (1.89%) GitLab
1 3 (1.89%) JIRA
General
1 45 (28.30%) Analytical Skills
2 38 (23.90%) Social Skills
3 29 (18.24%) Finance
4 22 (13.84%) Public Sector
5 8 (5.03%) Banking
5 8 (5.03%) Telecoms
6 7 (4.40%) Back Office
6 7 (4.40%) Legal
7 6 (3.77%) Law
7 6 (3.77%) Military
8 4 (2.52%) Manufacturing
9 3 (1.89%) Electronics
9 3 (1.89%) Influencing Skills
9 3 (1.89%) Marketing
10 2 (1.26%) Automotive
11 1 (0.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.63%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.63%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.63%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 53 (33.33%) Analyst
2 25 (15.72%) SOC Analyst
3 23 (14.47%) Security Engineer
4 22 (13.84%) Architect
5 21 (13.21%) Security Analyst
6 14 (8.81%) Senior
7 13 (8.18%) Lead
8 12 (7.55%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 11 (6.92%) Security Architect
10 7 (4.40%) Consultant
10 7 (4.40%) Security Specialist
10 7 (4.40%) SOC Architect
11 6 (3.77%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 6 (3.77%) Operations Analyst
11 6 (3.77%) Senior Analyst
12 5 (3.14%) Automation Engineer
12 5 (3.14%) Security Operations Analyst
13 4 (2.52%) Developer
13 4 (2.52%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
14 3 (1.89%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (5.03%) LDAP
2 3 (1.89%) SailPoint
3 2 (1.26%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (1.26%) RESTful
4 1 (0.63%) AWS CDK
4 1 (0.63%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.63%) Kafka
4 1 (0.63%) Middleware
4 1 (0.63%) NestJS
4 1 (0.63%) Node.js
4 1 (0.63%) OAuth
4 1 (0.63%) Resque
4 1 (0.63%) Ruby on Rails
4 1 (0.63%) Sidekiq
4 1 (0.63%) Spring
4 1 (0.63%) Spring Boot
4 1 (0.63%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 31 (19.50%) Security Operations Centre
2 29 (18.24%) Management Information System
3 15 (9.43%) Cyber Defence
4 13 (8.18%) Security Posture
5 10 (6.29%) CSOC
6 9 (5.66%) Cyberattack
7 8 (5.03%) Analytical Mindset
8 6 (3.77%) Cybercrime
8 6 (3.77%) Onboarding
9 5 (3.14%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 5 (3.14%) PKI
10 4 (2.52%) Data Centre
10 4 (2.52%) Driving Licence
11 3 (1.89%) Cloud Native
11 3 (1.89%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 3 (1.89%) Cyber Security Posture
11 3 (1.89%) Insider Threat
11 3 (1.89%) Operational Technology
11 3 (1.89%) Private Cloud
12 2 (1.26%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 25 (15.72%) Windows
2 18 (11.32%) Linux
3 3 (1.89%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.26%) Android
4 2 (1.26%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.63%) CentOS
5 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (67.92%) Cybersecurity
2 77 (48.43%) Incident Response
2 77 (48.43%) SIEM
3 59 (37.11%) Security Operations
4 54 (33.96%) Threat Intelligence
5 53 (33.33%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
6 29 (18.24%) Threat Detection
7 28 (17.61%) Information Security
8 27 (16.98%) Continuous Improvement
9 25 (15.72%) Threat Modelling
9 25 (15.72%) Vulnerability Management
10 24 (15.09%) Cyber Intelligence
11 23 (14.47%) Problem-Solving
12 21 (13.21%) Risk Management
12 21 (13.21%) SOAR
13 20 (12.58%) Cloud Security
14 18 (11.32%) MITRE ATT&CK
15 17 (10.69%) Mentoring
15 17 (10.69%) Security Architecture
15 17 (10.69%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 40 (25.16%) Python
2 35 (22.01%) PowerShell
3 18 (11.32%) Kusto Query Language
4 7 (4.40%) Java
5 6 (3.77%) Bash
6 4 (2.52%) JavaScript
7 2 (1.26%) Perl
8 1 (0.63%) C++
8 1 (0.63%) Kotlin
8 1 (0.63%) R
8 1 (0.63%) Ruby
8 1 (0.63%) Rust
8 1 (0.63%) SQL
8 1 (0.63%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 69 (43.40%) Security Cleared
2 50 (31.45%) SC Cleared
3 27 (16.98%) CISSP
4 20 (12.58%) DV Cleared
5 17 (10.69%) GIAC
6 14 (8.81%) CISM
7 13 (8.18%) CEH
7 13 (8.18%) Degree
8 12 (7.55%) GCIA
8 12 (7.55%) GCIH
9 9 (5.66%) CompTIA CySA+
10 8 (5.03%) CompTIA Security+
11 7 (4.40%) OSCP
12 6 (3.77%) GCFA
12 6 (3.77%) GREM
13 4 (2.52%) CFCE
13 4 (2.52%) CISA
14 3 (1.89%) CASP
14 3 (1.89%) Cisco Certification
14 3 (1.89%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (19.50%) NIST
2 27 (16.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (7.55%) GDPR
4 10 (6.29%) NCSC
5 7 (4.40%) HIPAA
6 5 (3.14%) Accessibility
7 3 (1.89%) JSP 440
7 3 (1.89%) QA
7 3 (1.89%) SLA
8 2 (1.26%) COBIT
8 2 (1.26%) GRC
8 2 (1.26%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.63%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.63%) ISO 19650
9 1 (0.63%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.63%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 8 (5.03%) Active Directory
2 5 (3.14%) Hyper-V
3 4 (2.52%) Virtual Machines
3 4 (2.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.89%) Docker
5 2 (1.26%) Snort
5 2 (1.26%) Squid
Systems Management
1 7 (4.40%) Nessus
2 5 (3.14%) Kubernetes
3 4 (2.52%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
3 4 (2.52%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (2.52%) Nexpose
4 3 (1.89%) Progress Chef
4 3 (1.89%) QRadar
5 2 (1.26%) SCCM
5 2 (1.26%) Suricata
6 1 (0.63%) Ansible
6 1 (0.63%) CSIRT
6 1 (0.63%) OpenVAS
6 1 (0.63%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.63%) Terraform
Vendors
1 44 (27.67%) Microsoft
2 28 (17.61%) Splunk
3 10 (6.29%) ArcSight
3 10 (6.29%) CrowdStrike
4 7 (4.40%) Google
4 7 (4.40%) LogRhythm
4 7 (4.40%) Palo Alto
4 7 (4.40%) VMware
5 6 (3.77%) Qualys
6 5 (3.14%) Cisco
6 5 (3.14%) Fortinet
7 4 (2.52%) FireEye
8 3 (1.89%) Carbon Black
8 3 (1.89%) ForgeRock
8 3 (1.89%) Rapid7
8 3 (1.89%) SAP
8 3 (1.89%) ServiceNow
8 3 (1.89%) Thycotic
8 3 (1.89%) Zscaler
9 2 (1.26%) Cloudera