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 22 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 319 372 447
Rank change year-on-year +53 +75 +80
Contract jobs citing GRC 340 153 124
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.70% 0.53% 0.29%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 4.26% 3.36% 2.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 94 91
10th Percentile £393 £327 £378
25th Percentile £450 £475 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £565 £575
Median % change year-on-year -7.08% -1.74% -4.17%
75th Percentile £638 £688 £731
90th Percentile £738 £758 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £600
% change year-on-year +5.00% -16.67% -
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 7,981 4,560 6,021
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.52% 15.83% 14.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,132 2,929 3,826
10th Percentile £340 £263 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £509
Median % change year-on-year - -1.67% -3.14%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +5.26% - -1.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 466 173 384
10th Percentile £14.00 £17.79 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £36.04 £34.50 £21.38
Median % change year-on-year +4.45% +61.38% -38.92%
75th Percentile £67.25 £67.50 £45.94
90th Percentile £82.13 £80.00 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £36.01 £18.27
% change year-on-year +11.08% +97.10% -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 22 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 22 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 +35 301 £525 -10.64% 119
UK excluding London -5 167 £525 +5.00% 95
London +9 146 £550 -15.38% 48
Work from Home +35 107 £533 -11.17% 72
North of England -35 45 £475 +16.14% 14
South East -23 44 £525 -14.29% 35
Midlands -50 34 £583 +5.91% 12
North West -26 25 £506 +59.62% 10
Yorkshire -33 20 £475 -9.52% 2
Scotland +4 19 £533 +15.87% 5
West Midlands -46 19 £550 -8.33% 6
East of England -16 15 £575 +4.55% 8
East Midlands -16 15 £638 +80.08% 5
South West -21 10 £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 (4.41%) Confluence
2 10 (2.94%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.88%) IIS
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.29%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 12 (3.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 26 (7.65%) SAP S/4HANA
2 24 (7.06%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.59%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.59%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.29%) SAP CCM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.29%) SAP FI-GL
4 1 (0.29%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 53 (15.59%) Azure
2 42 (12.35%) AWS
3 20 (5.88%) GCP
4 14 (4.12%) Power Platform
5 13 (3.82%) Microsoft 365
6 9 (2.65%) Entra ID
6 9 (2.65%) SuccessFactors
7 8 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
7 8 (2.35%) GitHub
7 8 (2.35%) Microsoft Copilot
7 8 (2.35%) SaaS
8 7 (2.06%) Microsoft Purview
9 6 (1.76%) Power Automate
10 5 (1.47%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 4 (1.18%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 4 (1.18%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.18%) Azure Sentinel
11 4 (1.18%) Copilot Studio
11 4 (1.18%) GitHub Actions
12 2 (0.59%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.71%) Network Security
2 6 (1.76%) Firewall
3 5 (1.47%) NGFW
4 3 (0.88%) HTTPS
4 3 (0.88%) Internet
4 3 (0.88%) Reverse Proxy
4 3 (0.88%) VPN
5 1 (0.29%) BGP
5 1 (0.29%) Cisco ASA
5 1 (0.29%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (0.29%) iSCSI
5 1 (0.29%) LAN
5 1 (0.29%) MPLS
5 1 (0.29%) NAS
5 1 (0.29%) OSPF
5 1 (0.29%) SAN
5 1 (0.29%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.29%) VLAN
5 1 (0.29%) WAN
5 1 (0.29%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.53%) Metadata
1 12 (3.53%) Power BI
2 7 (2.06%) Data Warehouse
3 5 (1.47%) Power Query
3 5 (1.47%) SAP HANA
4 2 (0.59%) Data Mining
4 2 (0.59%) SAP BW
4 2 (0.59%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.29%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.29%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Exadata
5 1 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.29%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 17 (5.00%) JIRA
2 4 (1.18%) Jaeger
3 3 (0.88%) Git
4 1 (0.29%) Flyway
4 1 (0.29%) GitLab
4 1 (0.29%) Liquibase
General
1 114 (33.53%) Social Skills
2 92 (27.06%) Finance
3 48 (14.12%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (10.88%) Legal
5 36 (10.59%) Public Sector
6 29 (8.53%) Banking
7 10 (2.94%) Telecoms
8 9 (2.65%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (2.35%) Law
9 8 (2.35%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (2.06%) Pharmaceutical
11 6 (1.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 6 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (1.47%) Marketing
13 4 (1.18%) Aerospace
13 4 (1.18%) Military
14 3 (0.88%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.88%) Financial Institution
15 2 (0.59%) Arabic Language
15 2 (0.59%) Police
Job Titles
1 54 (15.88%) Consultant
2 49 (14.41%) Analyst
3 39 (11.47%) Architect
4 32 (9.41%) Lead
5 28 (8.24%) Senior
6 23 (6.76%) Security Consultant
7 20 (5.88%) Risk Manager
8 16 (4.71%) Security Architect
9 15 (4.41%) Security Analyst
9 15 (4.41%) Senior Consultant
10 14 (4.12%) Project Manager
11 13 (3.82%) Developer
11 13 (3.82%) Risk Analyst
11 13 (3.82%) Security Manager
12 12 (3.53%) Business Analyst
12 12 (3.53%) Governance Manager
12 12 (3.53%) IT Manager
12 12 (3.53%) ServiceNow Architect
13 10 (2.94%) Security Engineer
14 9 (2.65%) Compliance Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.59%) REST
1 19 (5.59%) SAP Fiori
2 14 (4.12%) SOAP
3 4 (1.18%) .NET
3 4 (1.18%) Loki
3 4 (1.18%) OpenTelemetry
3 4 (1.18%) SailPoint
4 3 (0.88%) ADO
4 3 (0.88%) OAuth
4 3 (0.88%) OAuth2
4 3 (0.88%) OpenID
4 3 (0.88%) SAML
5 2 (0.59%) JSON
5 2 (0.59%) Middleware
5 2 (0.59%) Web Services
6 1 (0.29%) AngularJS
6 1 (0.29%) LDAP
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle Fusion
6 1 (0.29%) SAP PI
6 1 (0.29%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 28 (8.24%) Security Posture
2 21 (6.18%) Management Information System
2 21 (6.18%) Product Ownership
3 20 (5.88%) Onboarding
3 20 (5.88%) Operational Technology
4 16 (4.71%) CMDB
5 9 (2.65%) Cloud Native
5 9 (2.65%) Cyber Threat
6 8 (2.35%) Data Centre
7 7 (2.06%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (2.06%) Taxonomies
7 7 (2.06%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.76%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (1.47%) Data Structures
9 5 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.47%) IoT
9 5 (1.47%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.47%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.18%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 9 (2.65%) Linux
2 7 (2.06%) Windows
3 4 (1.18%) AIX
3 4 (1.18%) HPUX
3 4 (1.18%) Oracle Linux
3 4 (1.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 4 (1.18%) Solaris
3 4 (1.18%) SUSE
3 4 (1.18%) Unix
4 1 (0.29%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (37.94%) Risk Management
2 93 (27.35%) Cybersecurity
3 88 (25.88%) Information Security
4 86 (25.29%) Stakeholder Management
5 61 (17.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 56 (16.47%) Problem-Solving
7 49 (14.41%) Continuous Improvement
8 46 (13.53%) Security Operations
9 44 (12.94%) Roadmaps
10 43 (12.65%) Agile
11 37 (10.88%) Risk Assessment
12 36 (10.59%) Vulnerability Management
13 34 (10.00%) Cloud Security
13 34 (10.00%) Data Protection
14 32 (9.41%) Regulatory Compliance
15 30 (8.82%) Risk Register
16 29 (8.53%) Analytics
16 29 (8.53%) Identity Access Management
16 29 (8.53%) Incident Response
17 28 (8.24%) AI
Programming Languages
1 10 (2.94%) SQL
2 8 (2.35%) Python
3 7 (2.06%) Bash
4 6 (1.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 6 (1.76%) JavaScript
4 6 (1.76%) PowerShell
5 4 (1.18%) Bicep
5 4 (1.18%) Go
6 1 (0.29%) ABAP
6 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 78 (22.94%) Security Cleared
2 54 (15.88%) CISSP
3 50 (14.71%) SC Cleared
4 38 (11.18%) CISM
5 25 (7.35%) CISA
5 25 (7.35%) Degree
6 23 (6.76%) CRISC
6 23 (6.76%) DV Cleared
7 14 (4.12%) PMI Certification
7 14 (4.12%) PMP
8 8 (2.35%) Azure Certification
8 8 (2.35%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (2.35%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
8 8 (2.35%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 7 (2.06%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 7 (2.06%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (2.06%) CCSP
9 7 (2.06%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (1.47%) CSSLP
10 5 (1.47%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (25.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 79 (23.24%) NIST
3 42 (12.35%) GDPR
4 21 (6.18%) PCI DSS
5 16 (4.71%) COBIT
6 14 (4.12%) QA
6 14 (4.12%) SOC 2
7 11 (3.24%) Cyber Essentials
7 11 (3.24%) NCSC
8 10 (2.94%) SLA
9 9 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 7 (2.06%) Actionable Recommendations
10 7 (2.06%) ISO 31000
10 7 (2.06%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 7 (2.06%) PMO
10 7 (2.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 6 (1.76%) ITGC
12 5 (1.47%) Data Quality
12 5 (1.47%) ISO 22301
12 5 (1.47%) NIST 800
System Software
1 8 (2.35%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.59%) IAG
3 1 (0.29%) Docker
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 12 (3.53%) Terraform
2 11 (3.24%) Single Sign-On
3 10 (2.94%) Kubernetes
4 4 (1.18%) Grafana
4 4 (1.18%) Istio
4 4 (1.18%) Prometheus
4 4 (1.18%) RSA Archer
5 3 (0.88%) Rancher
6 2 (0.59%) Ansible
6 2 (0.59%) QRadar
7 1 (0.29%) Cisco Prime
7 1 (0.29%) Data Guard
7 1 (0.29%) Fluentd
7 1 (0.29%) Iperf
7 1 (0.29%) logstash
7 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.29%) NetBackup
7 1 (0.29%) Nmap
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 47 (13.82%) ServiceNow
2 34 (10.00%) Microsoft
3 33 (9.71%) SAP
4 11 (3.24%) Oracle
5 7 (2.06%) Palo Alto
6 5 (1.47%) Atlassian
6 5 (1.47%) Fortinet
6 5 (1.47%) Google
6 5 (1.47%) Splunk
7 4 (1.18%) HP
7 4 (1.18%) Red Hat
8 3 (0.88%) Ariba
8 3 (0.88%) Okta
8 3 (0.88%) Rapid7
9 2 (0.59%) CrowdStrike
9 2 (0.59%) CyberArk
9 2 (0.59%) OneTrust
9 2 (0.59%) Snow
9 2 (0.59%) Tenable
9 2 (0.59%) Zscaler