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

6 months to
5 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 355 372 463
Rank change year-on-year +17 +91 +94
Contract jobs citing GRC 252 156 135
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.64% 0.50% 0.30%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.73% 3.44% 2.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 153 86 104
10th Percentile £363 £353 £402
25th Percentile £450 £500 £467
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £561
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +6.90% -0.31%
75th Percentile £590 £717 £725
90th Percentile £678 £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 6,753 4,534 6,395
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.25% 14.56% 14.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,337 2,668 4,240
10th Percentile £322 £258 £300
25th Percentile £411 £377 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £635
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.58% -3.06% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 346 173 331
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.00 £12.24
25th Percentile £18.16 £21.00 £14.50
Median hourly rate £27.04 £30.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -9.88% +20.00% -5.89%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £51.67
90th Percentile £69.83 £75.00 £72.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.85 £29.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -14.33% +16.00% -

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 February 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 February 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 +13 231 £525 -15.32% 126
London +4 117 £525 -25.00% 69
UK excluding London -3 113 £525 -12.50% 70
Work from Home +13 61 £500 -16.67% 71
South East -17 36 £525 -3.67% 27
North of England -41 24 £453 -29.22% 14
South West +4 20 £500 -37.50% 4
Midlands -49 18 £447 -25.50% 13
Yorkshire - 14 £450 - 4
East Midlands -17 12 £442 -26.29% 4
East of England -20 11 £575 -4.17% 13
North West -22 10 £503 -21.41% 9
West Midlands -40 6 £575 +4.55% 9
Scotland +13 4 £331 -29.52%

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 11 (4.37%) Confluence
2 4 (1.59%) SharePoint
Applications
1 13 (5.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (2.38%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.19%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.19%) Trello
4 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (5.16%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (4.76%) 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 30 (11.90%) Azure
2 24 (9.52%) AWS
3 18 (7.14%) GCP
4 14 (5.56%) Power Platform
5 7 (2.78%) Miro
6 6 (2.38%) Entra ID
6 6 (2.38%) GitHub
6 6 (2.38%) Microsoft 365
6 6 (2.38%) SaaS
7 5 (1.98%) Azure Sentinel
8 4 (1.59%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 4 (1.59%) AWS CloudFormation
8 4 (1.59%) Microsoft Purview
8 4 (1.59%) SuccessFactors
9 3 (1.19%) Asana
9 3 (1.19%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.79%) Amazon ECS
10 2 (0.79%) Amazon EKS
10 2 (0.79%) AWS CloudTrail
10 2 (0.79%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (5.16%) Firewall
2 12 (4.76%) Network Security
3 3 (1.19%) NGFW
3 3 (1.19%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (0.79%) 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%) 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 (4.76%) Power BI
2 9 (3.57%) Metadata
3 4 (1.59%) SAP HANA
3 4 (1.59%) Tableau
4 3 (1.19%) SAP BW
5 2 (0.79%) 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 12 (4.76%) JIRA
2 1 (0.40%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.40%) Git
General
1 105 (41.67%) Social Skills
2 65 (25.79%) Finance
3 33 (13.10%) Public Sector
4 31 (12.30%) Analytical Skills
5 26 (10.32%) Banking
6 17 (6.75%) Legal
7 12 (4.76%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (3.97%) Presentation Skills
8 10 (3.97%) Telecoms
9 9 (3.57%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (2.38%) Law
11 5 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.59%) Financial Institution
13 3 (1.19%) Aerospace
14 2 (0.79%) Arabic Language
14 2 (0.79%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.79%) Military
14 2 (0.79%) Police
15 1 (0.40%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 62 (24.60%) Analyst
2 40 (15.87%) Consultant
3 31 (12.30%) Architect
4 21 (8.33%) Security Analyst
5 16 (6.35%) Lead
5 16 (6.35%) Risk Analyst
6 15 (5.95%) Senior
7 14 (5.56%) ServiceNow Architect
8 12 (4.76%) Security Consultant
9 11 (4.37%) Business Analyst
9 11 (4.37%) Security Engineer
10 10 (3.97%) Information Security Advisor
10 10 (3.97%) Security Advisor
10 10 (3.97%) Solutions Architect
11 9 (3.57%) Governance Manager
11 9 (3.57%) Information Analyst
11 9 (3.57%) Information Security Analyst
11 9 (3.57%) Project Manager
12 8 (3.17%) Risk Manager
12 8 (3.17%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (7.14%) REST
2 16 (6.35%) SOAP
3 6 (2.38%) SAP Fiori
4 3 (1.19%) OAuth
4 3 (1.19%) OAuth2
4 3 (1.19%) OpenID
4 3 (1.19%) SAML
5 2 (0.79%) IDoc
5 2 (0.79%) SailPoint
5 2 (0.79%) Web Services
6 1 (0.40%) .NET
6 1 (0.40%) ARM Templates
6 1 (0.40%) JSON
6 1 (0.40%) LDAP
6 1 (0.40%) Middleware
6 1 (0.40%) SAP PI
6 1 (0.40%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 31 (12.30%) Security Posture
2 25 (9.92%) Management Information System
3 18 (7.14%) Product Ownership
4 16 (6.35%) CMDB
5 11 (4.37%) Operational Technology
6 6 (2.38%) Cloud Native
7 5 (1.98%) Data Centre
7 5 (1.98%) Taxonomies
8 4 (1.59%) Onboarding
8 4 (1.59%) Virtual Team
9 3 (1.19%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (1.19%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (1.19%) Hedge funds
9 3 (1.19%) Hybrid Cloud
10 2 (0.79%) Credit Risk
10 2 (0.79%) Market Risk
10 2 (0.79%) NHS
10 2 (0.79%) PMI
11 1 (0.40%) Mobile Computing
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.40%) Linux
1 1 (0.40%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (42.46%) Risk Management
2 69 (27.38%) Stakeholder Management
3 67 (26.59%) Information Security
4 66 (26.19%) Cybersecurity
5 56 (22.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 38 (15.08%) Agile
7 34 (13.49%) Continuous Improvement
7 34 (13.49%) Roadmaps
8 32 (12.70%) Problem-Solving
8 32 (12.70%) Security Operations
9 26 (10.32%) ITSM
10 25 (9.92%) Cloud Security
11 24 (9.52%) Risk Assessment
12 22 (8.73%) ITIL
12 22 (8.73%) Risk Register
13 21 (8.33%) Regulatory Compliance
14 20 (7.94%) Data Protection
15 19 (7.54%) Migration
16 18 (7.14%) Data Modelling
16 18 (7.14%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (3.97%) JavaScript
2 4 (1.59%) Python
2 4 (1.59%) SQL
3 3 (1.19%) Bicep
4 2 (0.79%) Bash
5 1 (0.40%) ABAP
5 1 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 1 (0.40%) Java
5 1 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
5 1 (0.40%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 59 (23.41%) Security Cleared
2 37 (14.68%) SC Cleared
3 30 (11.90%) CISM
3 30 (11.90%) Degree
4 28 (11.11%) CISSP
5 18 (7.14%) DV Cleared
6 17 (6.75%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (6.75%) CRISC
7 15 (5.95%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 15 (5.95%) Master's Degree
8 14 (5.56%) CISA
9 12 (4.76%) Computer Science Degree
10 11 (4.37%) PMI Certification
11 10 (3.97%) PMP
12 7 (2.78%) FFIEC
12 7 (2.78%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 5 (1.98%) SAP Certification
14 4 (1.59%) CISMP
15 3 (1.19%) CGEIT
15 3 (1.19%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (31.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 62 (24.60%) NIST
3 33 (13.10%) GDPR
4 19 (7.54%) PCI DSS
4 19 (7.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 10 (3.97%) COBIT
5 10 (3.97%) Def Stans
5 10 (3.97%) NCSC
6 8 (3.17%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (3.17%) ISO/IEC 27005
6 8 (3.17%) SOC 2
7 6 (2.38%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (1.98%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (1.98%) QA
9 4 (1.59%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 4 (1.59%) ITGC
9 4 (1.59%) PMO
10 3 (1.19%) ISO 22301
10 3 (1.19%) MiFID
10 3 (1.19%) P3O
System Software
1 2 (0.79%) Docker
1 2 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.40%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.40%) IAG
Systems Management
1 11 (4.37%) RSA Archer
2 9 (3.57%) Terraform
3 6 (2.38%) Kubernetes
4 4 (1.59%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.79%) QRadar
6 1 (0.40%) Ansible
6 1 (0.40%) Cisco Prime
6 1 (0.40%) Fluentd
6 1 (0.40%) Iperf
6 1 (0.40%) logstash
6 1 (0.40%) Nexpose
6 1 (0.40%) Nmap
Vendors
1 46 (18.25%) ServiceNow
2 21 (8.33%) Microsoft
3 19 (7.54%) SAP
4 7 (2.78%) Google
5 5 (1.98%) Splunk
6 4 (1.59%) Ariba
6 4 (1.59%) Fortinet
6 4 (1.59%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.19%) Rapid7
8 2 (0.79%) CheckPoint
8 2 (0.79%) CrowdStrike
8 2 (0.79%) CyberArk
8 2 (0.79%) Okta
8 2 (0.79%) Qualys
8 2 (0.79%) Tenable
9 1 (0.40%) Commvault
9 1 (0.40%) Sitecore
9 1 (0.40%) SolarWinds
9 1 (0.40%) Tufin
9 1 (0.40%) Veeam