GRC Contract Job Trends

Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring GRC skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 327 373 452
Rank change year-on-year +46 +79 +73
Contract jobs citing GRC 334 153 127
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.69% 0.53% 0.30%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 4.19% 3.33% 2.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 95 93
10th Percentile £393 £330 £348
25th Percentile £450 £478 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £640 £694 £738
90th Percentile £738 £757 £875
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £598
% change year-on-year +5.00% -16.32% -0.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 0
Median hourly rate £36.00 £65.00 -
Median % change year-on-year -44.62% - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 - -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

GRC falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 7,963 4,591 6,046
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.50% 15.77% 14.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,126 2,943 3,848
10th Percentile £344 £263 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% +0.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 462 180 382
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.93 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £36.04 £34.50 £21.06
Median % change year-on-year +4.45% +63.84% -39.84%
75th Percentile £66.69 £67.50 £45.00
90th Percentile £81.70 £80.28 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £37.02 £18.27
% change year-on-year +8.05% +102.63% -43.78%

GRC
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing GRC relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

GRC job vacancy trend in the UK

GRC
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing GRC.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing GRC

GRC
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing GRC over the 6 months to 21 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for GRC in the UK

GRC
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing GRC.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing GRC

GRC
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 GRC within the UK over the 6 months to 21 May 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 +50 295 £525 -12.50% 125
UK excluding London +2 166 £525 +5.00% 95
London +8 141 £550 -15.38% 55
Work from Home +17 106 £533 -11.17% 78
North of England -35 45 £475 +10.59% 13
South East -22 44 £525 -14.29% 35
Midlands -38 34 £583 -2.92% 11
North West -22 25 £506 +39.39% 10
Yorkshire -33 20 £475 -9.52% 2
Scotland +5 19 £533 +15.87% 5
West Midlands -48 19 £550 -8.33% 6
East of England -12 15 £575 +4.55% 8
East Midlands -17 15 £638 +78.07% 4
South West -28 9 £500 +20.34% 18

GRC
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 15 (4.49%) Confluence
2 10 (2.99%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.90%) IIS
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.30%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 12 (3.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.60%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 26 (7.78%) SAP S/4HANA
2 24 (7.19%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.60%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.60%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.30%) SAP CCM
4 1 (0.30%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.30%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.30%) SAP FI-GL
4 1 (0.30%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 52 (15.57%) Azure
2 42 (12.57%) AWS
3 20 (5.99%) GCP
4 14 (4.19%) Power Platform
5 12 (3.59%) Microsoft 365
6 9 (2.69%) Entra ID
6 9 (2.69%) SuccessFactors
7 8 (2.40%) Azure DevOps
7 8 (2.40%) GitHub
7 8 (2.40%) Microsoft Copilot
7 8 (2.40%) SaaS
8 7 (2.10%) Microsoft Purview
9 6 (1.80%) Power Automate
10 5 (1.50%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 4 (1.20%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 4 (1.20%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.20%) Copilot Studio
11 4 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (0.90%) Azure Sentinel
13 2 (0.60%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.79%) Network Security
2 6 (1.80%) Firewall
3 5 (1.50%) NGFW
4 3 (0.90%) HTTPS
4 3 (0.90%) Internet
4 3 (0.90%) Reverse Proxy
4 3 (0.90%) VPN
5 1 (0.30%) BGP
5 1 (0.30%) Cisco ASA
5 1 (0.30%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (0.30%) iSCSI
5 1 (0.30%) LAN
5 1 (0.30%) MPLS
5 1 (0.30%) NAS
5 1 (0.30%) OSPF
5 1 (0.30%) SAN
5 1 (0.30%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.30%) VLAN
5 1 (0.30%) WAN
5 1 (0.30%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.59%) Metadata
1 12 (3.59%) Power BI
2 7 (2.10%) Data Warehouse
3 5 (1.50%) Power Query
3 5 (1.50%) SAP HANA
4 2 (0.60%) Data Mining
4 2 (0.60%) SAP BW
4 2 (0.60%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.30%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.30%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle Exadata
5 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.30%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 17 (5.09%) JIRA
2 4 (1.20%) Jaeger
3 2 (0.60%) Git
4 1 (0.30%) Flyway
4 1 (0.30%) GitLab
4 1 (0.30%) Liquibase
General
1 112 (33.53%) Social Skills
2 91 (27.25%) Finance
3 48 (14.37%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (10.48%) Legal
5 34 (10.18%) Public Sector
6 30 (8.98%) Banking
7 9 (2.69%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.40%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (2.40%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.80%) Law
9 6 (1.80%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (1.50%) Marketing
10 5 (1.50%) Pharmaceutical
11 4 (1.20%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.20%) Military
12 3 (0.90%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.60%) Police
13 2 (0.60%) Retail
Job Titles
1 53 (15.87%) Consultant
2 49 (14.67%) Analyst
3 38 (11.38%) Architect
4 32 (9.58%) Lead
5 26 (7.78%) Senior
6 22 (6.59%) Security Consultant
7 20 (5.99%) Risk Manager
8 16 (4.79%) Security Architect
9 15 (4.49%) Security Analyst
10 14 (4.19%) Project Manager
10 14 (4.19%) Senior Consultant
11 13 (3.89%) Risk Analyst
12 12 (3.59%) Business Analyst
12 12 (3.59%) Developer
12 12 (3.59%) Governance Manager
12 12 (3.59%) IT Manager
12 12 (3.59%) Security Manager
13 11 (3.29%) ServiceNow Architect
14 10 (2.99%) Security Engineer
15 9 (2.69%) Compliance Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.69%) REST
1 19 (5.69%) SAP Fiori
2 14 (4.19%) SOAP
3 4 (1.20%) .NET
3 4 (1.20%) Loki
3 4 (1.20%) OpenTelemetry
3 4 (1.20%) SailPoint
4 3 (0.90%) ADO
4 3 (0.90%) OAuth
4 3 (0.90%) OAuth2
4 3 (0.90%) OpenID
4 3 (0.90%) SAML
5 2 (0.60%) JSON
5 2 (0.60%) Middleware
5 2 (0.60%) Web Services
6 1 (0.30%) AngularJS
6 1 (0.30%) LDAP
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle Fusion
6 1 (0.30%) SAP PI
6 1 (0.30%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 27 (8.08%) Security Posture
2 21 (6.29%) Product Ownership
3 20 (5.99%) Management Information System
3 20 (5.99%) Operational Technology
4 19 (5.69%) Onboarding
5 16 (4.79%) CMDB
6 8 (2.40%) Cloud Native
6 8 (2.40%) Cyber Threat
6 8 (2.40%) Data Centre
7 7 (2.10%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (2.10%) Taxonomies
7 7 (2.10%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.80%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (1.50%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.50%) IoT
9 5 (1.50%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.50%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.20%) AI Agents
10 4 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.20%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 9 (2.69%) Linux
2 7 (2.10%) Windows
3 4 (1.20%) AIX
3 4 (1.20%) HPUX
3 4 (1.20%) Oracle Linux
3 4 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 4 (1.20%) Solaris
3 4 (1.20%) SUSE
3 4 (1.20%) Unix
4 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (37.13%) Risk Management
2 91 (27.25%) Cybersecurity
3 87 (26.05%) Information Security
4 85 (25.45%) Stakeholder Management
5 60 (17.96%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 56 (16.77%) Problem-Solving
7 48 (14.37%) Continuous Improvement
8 44 (13.17%) Roadmaps
8 44 (13.17%) Security Operations
9 42 (12.57%) Agile
10 37 (11.08%) Risk Assessment
11 34 (10.18%) Cloud Security
11 34 (10.18%) Vulnerability Management
12 32 (9.58%) Data Protection
13 31 (9.28%) Regulatory Compliance
14 30 (8.98%) Risk Register
15 29 (8.68%) Analytics
15 29 (8.68%) Identity Access Management
16 28 (8.38%) AI
17 27 (8.08%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 10 (2.99%) SQL
2 8 (2.40%) Python
3 7 (2.10%) Bash
4 6 (1.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 6 (1.80%) JavaScript
4 6 (1.80%) PowerShell
5 4 (1.20%) Bicep
5 4 (1.20%) Go
6 1 (0.30%) ABAP
6 1 (0.30%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 77 (23.05%) Security Cleared
2 54 (16.17%) CISSP
3 49 (14.67%) SC Cleared
4 38 (11.38%) CISM
5 25 (7.49%) CISA
5 25 (7.49%) Degree
6 23 (6.89%) CRISC
6 23 (6.89%) DV Cleared
7 14 (4.19%) PMI Certification
7 14 (4.19%) PMP
8 8 (2.40%) Azure Certification
8 8 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (2.40%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
8 8 (2.40%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 7 (2.10%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 7 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (2.10%) CCSP
9 7 (2.10%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (1.50%) OSCP
10 5 (1.50%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (26.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 79 (23.65%) NIST
3 41 (12.28%) GDPR
4 20 (5.99%) PCI DSS
5 17 (5.09%) COBIT
6 14 (4.19%) SOC 2
7 12 (3.59%) QA
8 10 (2.99%) Cyber Essentials
8 10 (2.99%) NCSC
8 10 (2.99%) SLA
9 9 (2.69%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 8 (2.40%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 7 (2.10%) Actionable Recommendations
11 7 (2.10%) ISO 31000
11 7 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 7 (2.10%) PMO
12 6 (1.80%) ITGC
13 5 (1.50%) Data Quality
13 5 (1.50%) ISO 22301
13 5 (1.50%) NIST 800
System Software
1 8 (2.40%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.60%) IAG
3 1 (0.30%) Docker
3 1 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 12 (3.59%) Terraform
2 11 (3.29%) Single Sign-On
3 10 (2.99%) Kubernetes
4 4 (1.20%) Grafana
4 4 (1.20%) Istio
4 4 (1.20%) Prometheus
4 4 (1.20%) RSA Archer
5 3 (0.90%) Rancher
6 2 (0.60%) Ansible
6 2 (0.60%) QRadar
7 1 (0.30%) Cisco Prime
7 1 (0.30%) Data Guard
7 1 (0.30%) Fluentd
7 1 (0.30%) Iperf
7 1 (0.30%) logstash
7 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.30%) NetBackup
7 1 (0.30%) Nmap
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 45 (13.47%) ServiceNow
2 33 (9.88%) Microsoft
2 33 (9.88%) SAP
3 10 (2.99%) Oracle
4 7 (2.10%) Palo Alto
5 5 (1.50%) Atlassian
5 5 (1.50%) Fortinet
5 5 (1.50%) Google
5 5 (1.50%) Splunk
6 4 (1.20%) HP
6 4 (1.20%) Red Hat
7 3 (0.90%) Ariba
7 3 (0.90%) Okta
7 3 (0.90%) Rapid7
8 2 (0.60%) Cisco
8 2 (0.60%) CrowdStrike
8 2 (0.60%) CyberArk
8 2 (0.60%) OneTrust
8 2 (0.60%) Tenable
8 2 (0.60%) Zscaler