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 5 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 348 385 469
Rank change year-on-year +37 +84 +70
Contract jobs citing GRC 304 148 132
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.67% 0.51% 0.30%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.88% 3.32% 2.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 213 92 99
10th Percentile £363 £379 £396
25th Percentile £450 £500 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £635 £575
Median % change year-on-year -17.32% +10.43% -
75th Percentile £638 £713 £750
90th Percentile £738 £812 £905
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £545 £575
% change year-on-year -3.67% -5.22% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 0
Median hourly rate £36.00 - -
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 7,841 4,459 6,308
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.31% 15.26% 14.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,068 2,889 4,026
10th Percentile £336 £263 £300
25th Percentile £413 £386 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £625
90th Percentile £700 £716 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 429 173 374
10th Percentile £14.20 £17.65 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £30.58 £32.50 £20.80
Median % change year-on-year -5.91% +56.23% -47.99%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £82.05 £83.15 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.92 £32.25 £18.00
% change year-on-year +2.08% +79.17% -52.00%

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 5 April 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 5 April 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 +29 280 £525 -19.23% 118
UK excluding London -1 145 £525 -3.67% 84
London +3 138 £550 -18.52% 50
Work from Home +19 90 £525 -12.50% 73
South East -15 47 £525 -4.11% 32
North of England -40 38 £475 -9.52% 22
Midlands -50 29 £563 -6.25% 14
North West -27 20 £518 +4.46% 15
Yorkshire -40 18 £475 -9.52% 6
East Midlands -20 17 £625 +56.25% 2
East of England -19 16 £575 +4.55% 5
West Midlands -53 12 £550 -8.33% 12
South West -20 8 £500 - 6
Scotland +3 7 £418 -9.24% 5

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 19 (6.25%) Confluence
2 11 (3.62%) SharePoint
Applications
1 16 (5.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.99%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.99%) Trello
4 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.33%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (5.59%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (4.93%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.66%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.33%) SAP BPC
4 1 (0.33%) SAP CCM
4 1 (0.33%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.33%) SAP FI-GL
4 1 (0.33%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 41 (13.49%) Azure
2 34 (11.18%) AWS
3 18 (5.92%) GCP
3 18 (5.92%) Power Platform
4 9 (2.96%) Entra ID
5 8 (2.63%) Microsoft 365
5 8 (2.63%) Microsoft Copilot
5 8 (2.63%) SaaS
5 8 (2.63%) SuccessFactors
6 7 (2.30%) GitHub
7 6 (1.97%) Microsoft Purview
7 6 (1.97%) Power Automate
8 5 (1.64%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.64%) Miro
9 4 (1.32%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 4 (1.32%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 4 (1.32%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.32%) Azure Sentinel
9 4 (1.32%) Copilot Studio
10 3 (0.99%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 15 (4.93%) Network Security
2 6 (1.97%) Firewall
3 3 (0.99%) NGFW
3 3 (0.99%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (0.66%) VPN
5 1 (0.33%) BGP
5 1 (0.33%) Cisco ASA
5 1 (0.33%) DMZ
5 1 (0.33%) Fibre Channel
5 1 (0.33%) Internet
5 1 (0.33%) iSCSI
5 1 (0.33%) LAN
5 1 (0.33%) MPLS
5 1 (0.33%) Multicast
5 1 (0.33%) NAS
5 1 (0.33%) OSPF
5 1 (0.33%) SAN
5 1 (0.33%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.33%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.33%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (5.26%) Power BI
2 11 (3.62%) Metadata
3 6 (1.97%) Data Warehouse
4 5 (1.64%) Power Query
4 5 (1.64%) SAP BW
4 5 (1.64%) SAP HANA
5 3 (0.99%) Tableau
6 2 (0.66%) SQL Server
7 1 (0.33%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.33%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.33%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.33%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 17 (5.59%) JIRA
2 3 (0.99%) Jaeger
3 1 (0.33%) Flyway
3 1 (0.33%) Git
3 1 (0.33%) Liquibase
General
1 112 (36.84%) Social Skills
2 69 (22.70%) Finance
3 50 (16.45%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (13.16%) Public Sector
5 29 (9.54%) Legal
6 26 (8.55%) Banking
7 10 (3.29%) Telecoms
8 7 (2.30%) Influencing Skills
8 7 (2.30%) Law
9 6 (1.97%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (1.64%) Financial Institution
10 5 (1.64%) Marketing
10 5 (1.64%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.32%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.99%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (0.99%) Military
13 2 (0.66%) Arabic Language
13 2 (0.66%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.66%) Police
Job Titles
1 57 (18.75%) Analyst
2 54 (17.76%) Consultant
3 33 (10.86%) Architect
4 25 (8.22%) Lead
5 24 (7.89%) Senior
6 20 (6.58%) Security Analyst
7 19 (6.25%) Risk Manager
8 17 (5.59%) Security Consultant
9 14 (4.61%) Governance Manager
9 14 (4.61%) ServiceNow Architect
10 13 (4.28%) Risk Analyst
10 13 (4.28%) Security Manager
10 13 (4.28%) Senior Consultant
11 11 (3.62%) Business Analyst
11 11 (3.62%) Project Manager
11 11 (3.62%) Security Specialist
12 10 (3.29%) Security Engineer
13 9 (2.96%) Information Analyst
13 9 (2.96%) Information Security Analyst
13 9 (2.96%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (6.25%) REST
2 17 (5.59%) SOAP
3 9 (2.96%) SAP Fiori
4 4 (1.32%) .NET
5 3 (0.99%) Loki
5 3 (0.99%) OAuth
5 3 (0.99%) OAuth2
5 3 (0.99%) OpenID
5 3 (0.99%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.99%) SAML
6 2 (0.66%) ADO
6 2 (0.66%) SailPoint
7 1 (0.33%) ARM Templates
7 1 (0.33%) IDoc
7 1 (0.33%) JSON
7 1 (0.33%) LDAP
7 1 (0.33%) Middleware
7 1 (0.33%) SAP PI
7 1 (0.33%) Spring
7 1 (0.33%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 27 (8.88%) Security Posture
2 21 (6.91%) Management Information System
3 20 (6.58%) Product Ownership
4 19 (6.25%) CMDB
5 13 (4.28%) Onboarding
5 13 (4.28%) Operational Technology
6 8 (2.63%) Taxonomies
7 7 (2.30%) Cyber Threat
7 7 (2.30%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (2.30%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.64%) Cloud Native
8 5 (1.64%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (1.64%) IoT
8 5 (1.64%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.32%) AI Agents
9 4 (1.32%) Data Centre
9 4 (1.32%) Distributed Systems
9 4 (1.32%) PropTech
10 3 (0.99%) Data Structures
10 3 (0.99%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 4 (1.32%) Linux
1 4 (1.32%) Windows
2 1 (0.33%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (40.79%) Risk Management
2 92 (30.26%) Cybersecurity
3 82 (26.97%) Information Security
4 80 (26.32%) Stakeholder Management
5 59 (19.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 45 (14.80%) Problem-Solving
7 44 (14.47%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (13.49%) Roadmaps
8 41 (13.49%) Security Operations
9 39 (12.83%) Agile
10 38 (12.50%) Risk Assessment
11 32 (10.53%) ITSM
12 30 (9.87%) Data Protection
13 29 (9.54%) Cloud Security
14 28 (9.21%) Regulatory Compliance
14 28 (9.21%) Risk Register
15 27 (8.88%) AI
15 27 (8.88%) Vulnerability Management
16 26 (8.55%) Data Modelling
16 26 (8.55%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 10 (3.29%) JavaScript
1 10 (3.29%) SQL
2 8 (2.63%) Python
3 6 (1.97%) Bash
3 6 (1.97%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 5 (1.64%) PowerShell
5 3 (0.99%) Bicep
5 3 (0.99%) Go
6 1 (0.33%) ABAP
6 1 (0.33%) Java
6 1 (0.33%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 65 (21.38%) Security Cleared
2 45 (14.80%) CISSP
3 37 (12.17%) SC Cleared
4 34 (11.18%) CISM
5 24 (7.89%) CRISC
5 24 (7.89%) Degree
6 23 (7.57%) DV Cleared
7 20 (6.58%) CISA
8 11 (3.62%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
9 10 (3.29%) PMI Certification
10 9 (2.96%) PMP
11 8 (2.63%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 6 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.64%) Cisco Certification
13 5 (1.64%) CISMP
13 5 (1.64%) CSSLP
13 5 (1.64%) Master's Degree
14 4 (1.32%) CCSP
14 4 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
14 4 (1.32%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (27.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 75 (24.67%) NIST
3 37 (12.17%) GDPR
4 19 (6.25%) PCI DSS
5 14 (4.61%) COBIT
6 13 (4.28%) SOC 2
7 12 (3.95%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (3.95%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 11 (3.62%) QA
9 9 (2.96%) SLA
10 8 (2.63%) NCSC
10 8 (2.63%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 7 (2.30%) Actionable Recommendations
12 6 (1.97%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 6 (1.97%) ISO 22301
12 6 (1.97%) ISO 31000
13 5 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (1.64%) PMO
14 4 (1.32%) Data Quality
14 4 (1.32%) NIST 800
System Software
1 7 (2.30%) Active Directory
2 3 (0.99%) IAG
3 2 (0.66%) Docker
4 1 (0.33%) Oracle RAC
4 1 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 11 (3.62%) Terraform
2 9 (2.96%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.96%) RSA Archer
2 9 (2.96%) Single Sign-On
3 3 (0.99%) Grafana
3 3 (0.99%) Istio
3 3 (0.99%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.66%) Ansible
4 2 (0.66%) QRadar
4 2 (0.66%) Rancher
5 1 (0.33%) Cisco Prime
5 1 (0.33%) Data Guard
5 1 (0.33%) Fluentd
5 1 (0.33%) Iperf
5 1 (0.33%) logstash
5 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.33%) NetBackup
5 1 (0.33%) Nmap
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 51 (16.78%) ServiceNow
2 28 (9.21%) Microsoft
3 24 (7.89%) SAP
4 5 (1.64%) Ariba
4 5 (1.64%) Atlassian
4 5 (1.64%) Google
4 5 (1.64%) Splunk
5 4 (1.32%) Fortinet
5 4 (1.32%) Palo Alto
5 4 (1.32%) Rapid7
6 3 (0.99%) IBM
7 2 (0.66%) CheckPoint
7 2 (0.66%) CrowdStrike
7 2 (0.66%) CyberArk
7 2 (0.66%) Okta
7 2 (0.66%) OneTrust
7 2 (0.66%) Oracle
8 1 (0.33%) Cribl.io
8 1 (0.33%) OpenAI
8 1 (0.33%) Pure Storage