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

6 months to
18 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 421 393 440
Rank change year-on-year -28 +47 +179
Contract jobs citing Cyber Threat 177 152 166
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.48% 0.44% 0.38%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.38% 1.39% 1.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 90 79 98
10th Percentile £443 £463 £426
25th Percentile £466 £513 £514
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £586 £613 £625
Median % change year-on-year -4.37% -2.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £700 £693 £725
90th Percentile £789 £780 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £596 £625 £566
% change year-on-year -4.68% +10.38% +3.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 2 10
10th Percentile £41.94 £38.25 -
25th Percentile £45.00 £41.25 £42.25
Median hourly rate £55.50 £47.50 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year +16.84% +6.74% -35.51%
75th Percentile £75.00 £53.75 £46.75
90th Percentile £79.38 £56.75 £49.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.25 £47.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year +26.84% +6.74% -32.06%

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 12,833 10,908 13,970
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.07% 31.91% 31.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,021 6,528 9,313
10th Percentile £275 £269 £263
25th Percentile £406 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.51% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £625 £656 £668
90th Percentile £738 £775 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 642 339 495
10th Percentile £13.54 £17.45 £16.50
25th Percentile £18.01 £22.86 £20.50
Median hourly rate £27.21 £33.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.55% -22.35% +21.43%
75th Percentile £58.94 £64.63 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £78.47 £77.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £45.21
% change year-on-year -15.38% -28.11% +52.12%

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 18 December 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 December 2025.

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 18 December 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 +4 157 £600 -4.00% 156
UK excluding London -30 97 £596 -4.68% 178
London +1 65 £518 -13.75% 28
Work from Home -1 49 £600 - 125
East of England +1 24 £650 +20.93% 27
South East -10 20 £543 -9.58% 38
South West +4 17 £775 +12.67% 13
North of England -47 17 £501 -28.23% 29
Scotland -12 13 £540 -4.00% 35
North West -18 12 £515 -26.14% 17
West Midlands -33 9 £600 -22.58% 16
Midlands -40 9 £600 -22.58% 29
Yorkshire -37 5 £450 - 10

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
3 1 (0.56%) 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 25 (14.12%) Azure
2 16 (9.04%) AWS
3 12 (6.78%) Microsoft 365
4 11 (6.21%) Azure Sentinel
5 8 (4.52%) GCP
6 7 (3.95%) Entra ID
7 3 (1.69%) Cloud Computing
7 3 (1.69%) Power Platform
7 3 (1.69%) SaaS
8 2 (1.13%) Cloudflare
8 2 (1.13%) OpenDNS
9 1 (0.56%) Akamai
9 1 (0.56%) Asana
9 1 (0.56%) AWS CodePipeline
9 1 (0.56%) AWS Lambda
9 1 (0.56%) Azure Logic Apps
9 1 (0.56%) GitHub
9 1 (0.56%) GitHub Actions
9 1 (0.56%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 25 (14.12%) Network Security
2 22 (12.43%) Firewall
3 17 (9.60%) DNS
4 13 (7.34%) FTP
4 13 (7.34%) HTTP
4 13 (7.34%) SMTP
4 13 (7.34%) SSL
5 6 (3.39%) Internet
6 5 (2.82%) TCP/IP
6 5 (2.82%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (1.69%) Intrusion Detection
8 2 (1.13%) VPN
9 1 (0.56%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.56%) MongoDB
1 1 (0.56%) Power BI
1 1 (0.56%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (1.13%) JIRA
2 1 (0.56%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.56%) Metasploit
General
1 51 (28.81%) Social Skills
2 47 (26.55%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (11.86%) Public Sector
4 17 (9.60%) Finance
5 9 (5.08%) Banking
5 9 (5.08%) Legal
5 9 (5.08%) Telecoms
6 7 (3.95%) Back Office
7 6 (3.39%) Presentation Skills
8 5 (2.82%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.82%) Law
8 5 (2.82%) Military
8 5 (2.82%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.26%) Electronics
9 4 (2.26%) Manufacturing
9 4 (2.26%) Marketing
10 2 (1.13%) Automotive
11 1 (0.56%) Financial Institution
11 1 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.56%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 68 (38.42%) Analyst
2 32 (18.08%) SOC Analyst
3 27 (15.25%) Senior
4 26 (14.69%) Security Analyst
5 17 (9.60%) Architect
6 16 (9.04%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 15 (8.47%) Security Engineer
8 13 (7.34%) Senior Analyst
9 10 (5.65%) Lead
10 9 (5.08%) Security Architect
11 8 (4.52%) Consultant
11 8 (4.52%) Security Specialist
12 7 (3.95%) Project Manager
12 7 (3.95%) SOC Architect
13 6 (3.39%) Technical Manager
13 6 (3.39%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
14 5 (2.82%) Cybersecurity Consultant
14 5 (2.82%) Cybersecurity Engineer
14 5 (2.82%) Network Security Analyst
14 5 (2.82%) Technical Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (7.34%) LDAP
2 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Graph
2 3 (1.69%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.56%) AWS CDK
3 1 (0.56%) GraphQL
3 1 (0.56%) OAuth
3 1 (0.56%) Resque
3 1 (0.56%) RESTful
3 1 (0.56%) Ruby on Rails
3 1 (0.56%) Sidekiq
3 1 (0.56%) WebCenter
Miscellaneous
1 37 (20.90%) Security Operations Centre
2 32 (18.08%) Management Information System
3 20 (11.30%) Cyberattack
4 18 (10.17%) CSOC
5 17 (9.60%) Cyber Defence
6 15 (8.47%) Security Posture
7 13 (7.34%) Analytical Mindset
7 13 (7.34%) Onboarding
8 10 (5.65%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 6 (3.39%) Cybercrime
9 6 (3.39%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.69%) Cloud Native
10 3 (1.69%) Mobile App
10 3 (1.69%) Operational Technology
10 3 (1.69%) Product Ownership
11 2 (1.13%) Driving Licence
11 2 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
11 2 (1.13%) Insider Threat
12 1 (0.56%) Distributed Systems
12 1 (0.56%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 16 (9.04%) Windows
2 14 (7.91%) Linux
3 3 (1.69%) Android
3 3 (1.69%) Apple iOS
4 2 (1.13%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.56%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.56%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (72.32%) Cybersecurity
2 87 (49.15%) Incident Response
3 75 (42.37%) SIEM
4 66 (37.29%) Security Operations
5 54 (30.51%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 54 (30.51%) Threat Intelligence
6 41 (23.16%) Threat Detection
7 37 (20.90%) Cyber Intelligence
8 35 (19.77%) Information Security
9 34 (19.21%) Threat Modelling
10 26 (14.69%) MITRE ATT&CK
11 25 (14.12%) Continuous Improvement
11 25 (14.12%) Risk Management
11 25 (14.12%) Vulnerability Management
12 22 (12.43%) SOAR
13 20 (11.30%) Actionable Insight
13 20 (11.30%) Problem-Solving
14 19 (10.73%) Analytics
15 18 (10.17%) AI
16 17 (9.60%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 33 (18.64%) Python
2 29 (16.38%) PowerShell
3 11 (6.21%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (2.26%) Java
5 3 (1.69%) Perl
5 3 (1.69%) SQL
6 2 (1.13%) Bash
7 1 (0.56%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.56%) Ruby
7 1 (0.56%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.56%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 90 (50.85%) Security Cleared
2 67 (37.85%) SC Cleared
3 33 (18.64%) DV Cleared
4 31 (17.51%) CISSP
5 21 (11.86%) CISM
6 18 (10.17%) GIAC
7 16 (9.04%) Degree
8 15 (8.47%) CEH
9 11 (6.21%) CompTIA CySA+
10 10 (5.65%) CompTIA Security+
11 7 (3.95%) GCIH
11 7 (3.95%) OSCP
12 6 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
12 6 (3.39%) GCFA
12 6 (3.39%) GCIA
12 6 (3.39%) GREM
13 5 (2.82%) CFCE
14 4 (2.26%) AWS Certification
14 4 (2.26%) Azure Certification
14 4 (2.26%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (28.25%) NIST
2 39 (22.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (12.99%) NCSC
4 18 (10.17%) GDPR
5 13 (7.34%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (4.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 6 (3.39%) JSP 440
8 5 (2.82%) HIPAA
9 4 (2.26%) GRC
9 4 (2.26%) QA
10 3 (1.69%) Accessibility
10 3 (1.69%) SLA
11 2 (1.13%) COBIT
11 2 (1.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 2 (1.13%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.56%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.56%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.56%) ITGC
12 1 (0.56%) PMO
12 1 (0.56%) SOC 2
System Software
1 8 (4.52%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.69%) Docker
3 2 (1.13%) Snort
3 2 (1.13%) Squid
Systems Management
1 6 (3.39%) Kubernetes
1 6 (3.39%) Nessus
2 4 (2.26%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
2 4 (2.26%) Nexpose
3 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.13%) QRadar
4 2 (1.13%) Suricata
4 2 (1.13%) Terraform
5 1 (0.56%) CASB
5 1 (0.56%) CSIRT
5 1 (0.56%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 43 (24.29%) Microsoft
2 26 (14.69%) Splunk
3 10 (5.65%) CrowdStrike
4 7 (3.95%) CyberArk
4 7 (3.95%) Google
5 6 (3.39%) LogRhythm
5 6 (3.39%) Palo Alto
6 5 (2.82%) ArcSight
7 4 (2.26%) Qualys
7 4 (2.26%) SAP
8 3 (1.69%) Cisco
8 3 (1.69%) Computacenter
8 3 (1.69%) Tenable
8 3 (1.69%) Zscaler
9 2 (1.13%) Blue Coat
9 2 (1.13%) Intel
9 2 (1.13%) Oracle
9 2 (1.13%) QAD
9 2 (1.13%) Rapid7
9 2 (1.13%) ServiceNow