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

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 356 365 468
Rank change year-on-year +9 +103 +96
Contract jobs citing GRC 247 156 137
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.64% 0.50% 0.31%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.72% 3.45% 2.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 152 86 104
10th Percentile £363 £353 £383
25th Percentile £449 £500 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £574
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +4.58% +1.91%
75th Percentile £591 £717 £725
90th Percentile £675 £863 £900
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £600 £575
% change year-on-year -12.50% +4.35% -4.17%
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 6,648 4,523 6,366
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.20% 14.38% 14.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,273 2,653 4,226
10th Percentile £322 £251 £300
25th Percentile £411 £375 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £638
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 336 174 317
10th Percentile £15.28 £15.00 £12.25
25th Percentile £18.08 £21.05 £14.50
Median hourly rate £26.34 £29.00 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -9.17% +8.78% +2.54%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.93 £53.50
90th Percentile £69.83 £75.00 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.27 £29.00 £25.06
% change year-on-year -9.41% +15.73% +0.23%

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 30 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 30 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 +9 227 £525 -12.50% 97
London +9 114 £525 -23.64% 48
UK excluding London -7 113 £525 -12.50% 71
Work from Home +14 60 £500 -16.67% 47
South East -15 35 £525 -3.67% 30
North of England -41 26 £450 -29.69% 16
South West -1 19 £500 -37.50% 4
Midlands -45 18 £447 -25.50% 9
Yorkshire - 14 £450 - 5
North West -15 12 £453 -29.22% 10
East Midlands -21 12 £442 -26.29% 3
East of England -18 11 £575 -4.17% 12
West Midlands -37 6 £575 +4.55% 6
Scotland +4 4 £331 -29.52% 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 12 (4.86%) Confluence
2 4 (1.62%) SharePoint
Applications
1 13 (5.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (2.43%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.21%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.21%) Trello
4 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (5.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (4.86%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.40%) SAP BPC
3 1 (0.40%) SAP EWM
3 1 (0.40%) SAP FI
3 1 (0.40%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 27 (10.93%) Azure
2 23 (9.31%) AWS
3 15 (6.07%) GCP
4 14 (5.67%) Power Platform
5 8 (3.24%) Miro
6 6 (2.43%) GitHub
6 6 (2.43%) Microsoft 365
6 6 (2.43%) SaaS
7 4 (1.62%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 4 (1.62%) AWS CloudFormation
7 4 (1.62%) Entra ID
7 4 (1.62%) Microsoft Purview
7 4 (1.62%) SuccessFactors
8 3 (1.21%) Asana
8 3 (1.21%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (1.21%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.81%) Amazon ECS
9 2 (0.81%) Amazon EKS
9 2 (0.81%) IaaS
9 2 (0.81%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.45%) Firewall
2 10 (4.05%) Network Security
3 3 (1.21%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (0.81%) VPN
5 1 (0.40%) BGP
5 1 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
5 1 (0.40%) DMZ
5 1 (0.40%) Internet
5 1 (0.40%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (0.40%) LAN
5 1 (0.40%) MPLS
5 1 (0.40%) Multicast
5 1 (0.40%) NGFW
5 1 (0.40%) OSPF
5 1 (0.40%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.40%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.40%) VLAN
5 1 (0.40%) WAN
5 1 (0.40%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (4.86%) Power BI
2 8 (3.24%) Metadata
3 4 (1.62%) SAP HANA
3 4 (1.62%) Tableau
4 3 (1.21%) SAP BW
5 2 (0.81%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.40%) Data Vault
6 1 (0.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (5.26%) JIRA
2 1 (0.40%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.40%) Git
General
1 102 (41.30%) Social Skills
2 63 (25.51%) Finance
3 34 (13.77%) Public Sector
4 32 (12.96%) Analytical Skills
5 26 (10.53%) Banking
6 16 (6.48%) Legal
7 12 (4.86%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (4.05%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (4.05%) Presentation Skills
8 10 (4.05%) Telecoms
9 6 (2.43%) Law
10 5 (2.02%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.62%) Financial Institution
12 3 (1.21%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.81%) Arabic Language
13 2 (0.81%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.81%) Military
13 2 (0.81%) Police
14 1 (0.40%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 59 (23.89%) Analyst
2 41 (16.60%) Consultant
3 31 (12.55%) Architect
4 21 (8.50%) Security Analyst
5 17 (6.88%) Lead
6 15 (6.07%) Senior
7 14 (5.67%) Risk Analyst
7 14 (5.67%) ServiceNow Architect
8 12 (4.86%) Security Consultant
9 11 (4.45%) Business Analyst
9 11 (4.45%) Project Manager
10 10 (4.05%) Information Security Advisor
10 10 (4.05%) Security Advisor
10 10 (4.05%) Solutions Architect
11 9 (3.64%) Governance Manager
11 9 (3.64%) Information Analyst
11 9 (3.64%) Information Security Analyst
11 9 (3.64%) Security Engineer
12 8 (3.24%) Risk Manager
12 8 (3.24%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (6.88%) REST
2 16 (6.48%) SOAP
3 6 (2.43%) SAP Fiori
4 3 (1.21%) OAuth
4 3 (1.21%) OAuth2
4 3 (1.21%) OpenID
4 3 (1.21%) SAML
5 2 (0.81%) IDoc
5 2 (0.81%) Web Services
6 1 (0.40%) .NET
6 1 (0.40%) LDAP
6 1 (0.40%) Middleware
6 1 (0.40%) SailPoint
6 1 (0.40%) SAP PI
6 1 (0.40%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 29 (11.74%) Security Posture
2 25 (10.12%) Management Information System
3 19 (7.69%) Product Ownership
4 16 (6.48%) CMDB
5 9 (3.64%) Operational Technology
6 4 (1.62%) Cloud Native
6 4 (1.62%) Onboarding
6 4 (1.62%) Taxonomies
6 4 (1.62%) Virtual Team
7 3 (1.21%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.21%) Data Centre
7 3 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.21%) Hedge funds
7 3 (1.21%) PMI
8 2 (0.81%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.81%) Credit Risk
8 2 (0.81%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.81%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (0.81%) Market Risk
8 2 (0.81%) NHS
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (42.91%) Risk Management
2 67 (27.13%) Stakeholder Management
3 65 (26.32%) Information Security
4 64 (25.91%) Cybersecurity
5 54 (21.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 39 (15.79%) Agile
7 35 (14.17%) Roadmaps
8 33 (13.36%) Continuous Improvement
8 33 (13.36%) Problem-Solving
9 29 (11.74%) Security Operations
10 26 (10.53%) ITSM
11 24 (9.72%) Risk Assessment
12 23 (9.31%) Cloud Security
13 22 (8.91%) ITIL
14 21 (8.50%) Risk Register
15 20 (8.10%) Data Protection
16 19 (7.69%) Migration
17 18 (7.29%) Data Modelling
17 18 (7.29%) Regulatory Compliance
18 17 (6.88%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (4.05%) JavaScript
2 4 (1.62%) SQL
3 3 (1.21%) Bicep
3 3 (1.21%) Python
4 1 (0.40%) ABAP
4 1 (0.40%) Bash
4 1 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 1 (0.40%) Java
4 1 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 57 (23.08%) Security Cleared
2 34 (13.77%) SC Cleared
3 30 (12.15%) CISM
3 30 (12.15%) Degree
4 27 (10.93%) CISSP
5 18 (7.29%) DV Cleared
6 17 (6.88%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (6.88%) CRISC
7 15 (6.07%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 15 (6.07%) Master's Degree
8 14 (5.67%) CISA
9 12 (4.86%) Computer Science Degree
9 12 (4.86%) PMI Certification
10 10 (4.05%) PMP
11 7 (2.83%) FFIEC
11 7 (2.83%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 5 (2.02%) SAP Certification
13 4 (1.62%) CISMP
14 3 (1.21%) CGEIT
14 3 (1.21%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 76 (30.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 57 (23.08%) NIST
3 29 (11.74%) GDPR
4 19 (7.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 17 (6.88%) PCI DSS
6 10 (4.05%) COBIT
6 10 (4.05%) Def Stans
6 10 (4.05%) NCSC
7 8 (3.24%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (2.83%) SOC 2
9 6 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 6 (2.43%) QA
10 5 (2.02%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (1.62%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (1.62%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 4 (1.62%) ITGC
11 4 (1.62%) PMO
12 3 (1.21%) MiFID
12 3 (1.21%) P3O
12 3 (1.21%) SLA
System Software
1 2 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.40%) Docker
2 1 (0.40%) IAG
Systems Management
1 10 (4.05%) RSA Archer
2 8 (3.24%) Terraform
3 4 (1.62%) Kubernetes
3 4 (1.62%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.40%) Ansible
4 1 (0.40%) Cisco Prime
4 1 (0.40%) Iperf
4 1 (0.40%) Nexpose
4 1 (0.40%) Nmap
Vendors
1 45 (18.22%) ServiceNow
2 21 (8.50%) Microsoft
3 19 (7.69%) SAP
4 7 (2.83%) Google
5 4 (1.62%) Ariba
6 3 (1.21%) Splunk
7 2 (0.81%) CheckPoint
7 2 (0.81%) Fortinet
7 2 (0.81%) Palo Alto
7 2 (0.81%) Rapid7
8 1 (0.40%) BT
8 1 (0.40%) Concur
8 1 (0.40%) CrowdStrike
8 1 (0.40%) CyberArk
8 1 (0.40%) OneTrust
8 1 (0.40%) OpenAI
8 1 (0.40%) Rockwell
8 1 (0.40%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.40%) Snow
8 1 (0.40%) Tenable