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 15 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 371 379 442
Rank change year-on-year +8 +63 +135
Contract jobs citing GRC 212 156 139
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.49% 0.33%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.30% 3.42% 2.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 127 91 98
10th Percentile £350 £338 £332
25th Percentile £450 £500 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £600 £561
Median % change year-on-year -14.17% +6.90% -6.46%
75th Percentile £588 £713 £775
90th Percentile £675 £900 £925
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £563 £574
% change year-on-year -6.67% -1.96% -4.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median hourly rate £33.50 - -
75th Percentile £35.38 - -
90th Percentile £36.00 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 - -

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 6,423 4,563 6,088
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.31% 14.33% 14.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,154 2,682 4,042
10th Percentile £313 £260 £313
25th Percentile £406 £375 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £623 £644
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 309 175 245
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.00 £13.07
25th Percentile £17.69 £21.02 £17.13
Median hourly rate £25.77 £29.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.14% -10.77% +35.42%
75th Percentile £61.25 £64.73 £60.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £79.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.36 £29.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year -29.79% -3.33% +37.93%

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 15 January 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 15 January 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 +3 195 £525 -12.50% 84
London +10 104 £520 -24.36% 39
UK excluding London -42 90 £525 -6.67% 62
Work from Home +11 49 £500 -13.04% 42
South East -18 29 £525 -4.11% 25
South West -1 19 £500 -37.50% 4
North of England -28 19 £438 -31.64% 17
Midlands -33 14 £575 -4.17% 8
Yorkshire - 10 £450 - 9
North West -20 9 £425 -33.59% 7
East Midlands -24 8 £450 -25.00% 2
East of England -24 6 £650 +8.33% 6
West Midlands -33 6 £575 +4.55% 6
Scotland 0 3 £331 -17.19% 1

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 10 (4.72%) Confluence
2 3 (1.42%) SharePoint
Applications
1 10 (4.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.89%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.42%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.42%) Trello
4 1 (0.47%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (6.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (5.66%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.47%) SAP BPC
3 1 (0.47%) SAP CO
3 1 (0.47%) SAP FI
3 1 (0.47%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 26 (12.26%) Azure
2 17 (8.02%) AWS
3 13 (6.13%) Power Platform
4 10 (4.72%) GCP
4 10 (4.72%) Miro
5 5 (2.36%) GitHub
5 5 (2.36%) Microsoft 365
5 5 (2.36%) Microsoft Purview
5 5 (2.36%) SaaS
6 3 (1.42%) Asana
6 3 (1.42%) Azure Sentinel
7 2 (0.94%) Entra ID
7 2 (0.94%) IaaS
7 2 (0.94%) OneDrive
7 2 (0.94%) PaaS
7 2 (0.94%) SuccessFactors
8 1 (0.47%) AWS CloudFormation
8 1 (0.47%) AWS Fargate
8 1 (0.47%) Cloud Computing
8 1 (0.47%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 10 (4.72%) Firewall
2 6 (2.83%) Network Security
3 1 (0.47%) DMZ
3 1 (0.47%) Internet
3 1 (0.47%) Intrusion Detection
3 1 (0.47%) LAN
3 1 (0.47%) NGFW
3 1 (0.47%) SD-WAN
3 1 (0.47%) VPN
3 1 (0.47%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (5.19%) Power BI
2 6 (2.83%) Metadata
3 4 (1.89%) Tableau
4 3 (1.42%) SAP BW
4 3 (1.42%) SAP HANA
5 2 (0.94%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.47%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.47%) Data Vault
6 1 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 12 (5.66%) JIRA
2 1 (0.47%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.47%) Git
General
1 89 (41.98%) Social Skills
2 51 (24.06%) Finance
3 30 (14.15%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (14.15%) Public Sector
4 24 (11.32%) Banking
5 12 (5.66%) Legal
6 10 (4.72%) Organisational Skills
6 10 (4.72%) Presentation Skills
6 10 (4.72%) Telecoms
7 8 (3.77%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (2.36%) Law
9 4 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (1.89%) Financial Institution
10 2 (0.94%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.94%) Police
11 1 (0.47%) Billing
11 1 (0.47%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.47%) Marketing
11 1 (0.47%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 55 (25.94%) Analyst
2 40 (18.87%) Consultant
3 22 (10.38%) Architect
4 21 (9.91%) Security Analyst
5 15 (7.08%) Lead
6 12 (5.66%) Business Analyst
6 12 (5.66%) Risk Analyst
6 12 (5.66%) Senior
7 11 (5.19%) Security Consultant
7 11 (5.19%) ServiceNow Architect
8 10 (4.72%) Information Security Advisor
8 10 (4.72%) Security Advisor
9 9 (4.25%) Information Analyst
9 9 (4.25%) Information Security Analyst
9 9 (4.25%) Security Engineer
10 8 (3.77%) Project Manager
11 7 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
12 6 (2.83%) IT Analyst
12 6 (2.83%) SAP Consultant
13 5 (2.36%) Cybersecurity Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (6.13%) REST
2 12 (5.66%) SOAP
3 5 (2.36%) SAP Fiori
4 2 (0.94%) Web Services
5 1 (0.47%) .NET
5 1 (0.47%) IDoc
5 1 (0.47%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.47%) SAP Basis
5 1 (0.47%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 26 (12.26%) Security Posture
2 22 (10.38%) Management Information System
3 17 (8.02%) Product Ownership
4 13 (6.13%) CMDB
5 7 (3.30%) Operational Technology
6 4 (1.89%) Taxonomies
7 3 (1.42%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.42%) Hedge funds
7 3 (1.42%) PMI
7 3 (1.42%) Virtual Team
8 2 (0.94%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.94%) Credit Risk
8 2 (0.94%) Data Centre
8 2 (0.94%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.94%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.94%) Market Risk
8 2 (0.94%) NHS
8 2 (0.94%) Onboarding
9 1 (0.47%) Life Science
9 1 (0.47%) SCADA
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (44.34%) Risk Management
2 59 (27.83%) Stakeholder Management
3 58 (27.36%) Information Security
4 53 (25.00%) Cybersecurity
5 46 (21.70%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 36 (16.98%) Agile
7 30 (14.15%) Problem-Solving
8 28 (13.21%) Roadmaps
9 26 (12.26%) Continuous Improvement
10 24 (11.32%) Cloud Security
11 23 (10.85%) ITSM
12 22 (10.38%) Risk Assessment
13 21 (9.91%) ITIL
13 21 (9.91%) Security Operations
14 18 (8.49%) Decision-Making
15 17 (8.02%) Risk Register
16 16 (7.55%) Identity Access Management
16 16 (7.55%) Translating Business Requirements
17 15 (7.08%) Internal Audit
17 15 (7.08%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (4.72%) JavaScript
2 4 (1.89%) SQL
3 2 (0.94%) Python
4 1 (0.47%) Java
4 1 (0.47%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 47 (22.17%) Security Cleared
2 30 (14.15%) SC Cleared
3 26 (12.26%) CISM
4 25 (11.79%) Degree
5 22 (10.38%) CISSP
6 15 (7.08%) BPSS Clearance
6 15 (7.08%) CISA
6 15 (7.08%) CRISC
6 15 (7.08%) Master's Degree
7 13 (6.13%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 11 (5.19%) DV Cleared
9 10 (4.72%) Computer Science Degree
9 10 (4.72%) PMI Certification
10 8 (3.77%) PMP
11 7 (3.30%) FFIEC
12 4 (1.89%) CISMP
12 4 (1.89%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 4 (1.89%) SAP Certification
13 2 (0.94%) CCSP
13 2 (0.94%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (32.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 50 (23.58%) NIST
3 22 (10.38%) GDPR
4 19 (8.96%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 14 (6.60%) PCI DSS
6 10 (4.72%) COBIT
6 10 (4.72%) Def Stans
7 9 (4.25%) NCSC
8 8 (3.77%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (2.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 5 (2.36%) QA
10 4 (1.89%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (1.42%) ITGC
11 3 (1.42%) MiFID
11 3 (1.42%) P3O
11 3 (1.42%) PMO
11 3 (1.42%) SLA
11 3 (1.42%) SOC 2
12 2 (0.94%) HIPAA
System Software
1 2 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.47%) Docker
2 1 (0.47%) IAG
Systems Management
1 9 (4.25%) RSA Archer
2 5 (2.36%) Terraform
3 1 (0.47%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.47%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.47%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 40 (18.87%) ServiceNow
2 21 (9.91%) SAP
3 16 (7.55%) Microsoft
4 7 (3.30%) Google
5 4 (1.89%) Ariba
6 2 (0.94%) Oracle
6 2 (0.94%) Rapid7
6 2 (0.94%) Salesforce
7 1 (0.47%) BT
7 1 (0.47%) Concur
7 1 (0.47%) CrowdStrike
7 1 (0.47%) CyberArk
7 1 (0.47%) IBM
7 1 (0.47%) OneTrust
7 1 (0.47%) OpenAI
7 1 (0.47%) Palo Alto
7 1 (0.47%) Progress
7 1 (0.47%) Rockwell
7 1 (0.47%) Snow
7 1 (0.47%) Tenable