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

6 months to
23 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 364 380 442
Rank change year-on-year +16 +62 +119
Contract jobs citing GRC 229 150 138
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.60% 0.47% 0.32%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.51% 3.30% 2.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 81 103
10th Percentile £363 £350 £365
25th Percentile £445 £500 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £573
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +4.80% -0.43%
75th Percentile £588 £719 £769
90th Percentile £675 £900 £925
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 6,516 4,544 6,250
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.18% 14.34% 14.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,205 2,662 4,157
10th Percentile £315 £253 £306
25th Percentile £410 £375 £413
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 330 176 297
10th Percentile £15.31 £15.00 £12.47
25th Percentile £17.96 £21.00 £15.39
Median hourly rate £25.94 £29.00 £28.75
Median % change year-on-year -10.55% +0.87% +15.00%
75th Percentile £63.48 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £69.69 £75.00 £77.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.75 £28.00 £28.30
% change year-on-year -25.89% -1.06% +20.25%

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 23 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 23 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 +21 212 £525 -12.50% 91
London +9 109 £525 -23.64% 42
UK excluding London -18 102 £525 -12.50% 68
Work from Home +12 55 £500 -16.67% 57
South East -17 31 £525 -3.67% 25
North of England -36 24 £450 -29.69% 21
South West +10 19 £500 -37.50% 5
Midlands -44 16 £449 -25.25% 8
North West -22 12 £453 -29.22% 12
Yorkshire - 12 £450 - 8
East Midlands -23 10 £447 -25.50% 1
East of England -22 9 £575 -4.17% 9
West Midlands -46 6 £575 +4.55% 7
Scotland +5 3 £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 11 (4.80%) Confluence
2 3 (1.31%) SharePoint
Applications
1 13 (5.68%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (2.62%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.31%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.31%) Trello
4 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 12 (5.24%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (4.80%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.44%) SAP BPC
3 1 (0.44%) SAP CO
3 1 (0.44%) SAP FI
3 1 (0.44%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 26 (11.35%) Azure
2 19 (8.30%) AWS
3 14 (6.11%) Power Platform
4 12 (5.24%) GCP
5 8 (3.49%) Miro
6 5 (2.18%) GitHub
6 5 (2.18%) Microsoft 365
6 5 (2.18%) Microsoft Purview
6 5 (2.18%) SaaS
7 4 (1.75%) Entra ID
8 3 (1.31%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 3 (1.31%) Asana
8 3 (1.31%) AWS CloudFormation
8 3 (1.31%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (0.87%) IaaS
9 2 (0.87%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.87%) PaaS
9 2 (0.87%) SuccessFactors
10 1 (0.44%) AWS Fargate
10 1 (0.44%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 10 (4.37%) Firewall
2 8 (3.49%) Network Security
3 2 (0.87%) Reverse Proxy
4 1 (0.44%) DMZ
4 1 (0.44%) Internet
4 1 (0.44%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (0.44%) LAN
4 1 (0.44%) NGFW
4 1 (0.44%) SD-WAN
4 1 (0.44%) VPN
4 1 (0.44%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (5.24%) Power BI
2 7 (3.06%) Metadata
3 4 (1.75%) Tableau
4 3 (1.31%) SAP BW
4 3 (1.31%) SAP HANA
5 2 (0.87%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.44%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.44%) Data Vault
6 1 (0.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 14 (6.11%) JIRA
2 1 (0.44%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.44%) Git
General
1 94 (41.05%) Social Skills
2 58 (25.33%) Finance
3 31 (13.54%) Analytical Skills
3 31 (13.54%) Public Sector
4 24 (10.48%) Banking
5 13 (5.68%) Legal
6 10 (4.37%) Organisational Skills
6 10 (4.37%) Presentation Skills
7 9 (3.93%) Influencing Skills
7 9 (3.93%) Telecoms
8 6 (2.62%) Law
9 5 (2.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.75%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.87%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.87%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.87%) Police
12 1 (0.44%) Arabic Language
12 1 (0.44%) Billing
12 1 (0.44%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 56 (24.45%) Analyst
2 40 (17.47%) Consultant
3 26 (11.35%) Architect
4 21 (9.17%) Security Analyst
5 16 (6.99%) Lead
6 13 (5.68%) Senior
6 13 (5.68%) ServiceNow Architect
7 12 (5.24%) Risk Analyst
8 11 (4.80%) Business Analyst
8 11 (4.80%) Security Consultant
9 10 (4.37%) Information Security Advisor
9 10 (4.37%) Project Manager
9 10 (4.37%) Security Advisor
10 9 (3.93%) Information Analyst
10 9 (3.93%) Information Security Analyst
10 9 (3.93%) Security Engineer
11 8 (3.49%) Security Specialist
11 8 (3.49%) Solutions Architect
12 7 (3.06%) Governance Manager
13 6 (2.62%) Risk Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (6.55%) REST
2 14 (6.11%) SOAP
3 5 (2.18%) SAP Fiori
4 2 (0.87%) OAuth
4 2 (0.87%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.87%) OpenID
4 2 (0.87%) SAML
5 1 (0.44%) .NET
5 1 (0.44%) IDoc
5 1 (0.44%) LDAP
5 1 (0.44%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.44%) Spring
5 1 (0.44%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 27 (11.79%) Security Posture
2 23 (10.04%) Management Information System
3 18 (7.86%) Product Ownership
4 15 (6.55%) CMDB
5 7 (3.06%) Operational Technology
6 4 (1.75%) Taxonomies
6 4 (1.75%) Virtual Team
7 3 (1.31%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.31%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.31%) Hedge funds
7 3 (1.31%) PMI
8 2 (0.87%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.87%) Credit Risk
8 2 (0.87%) Data Centre
8 2 (0.87%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.87%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.87%) Market Risk
8 2 (0.87%) NHS
8 2 (0.87%) Onboarding
9 1 (0.44%) Cloud Security Posture
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (44.54%) Risk Management
2 63 (27.51%) Stakeholder Management
3 61 (26.64%) Information Security
4 57 (24.89%) Cybersecurity
5 51 (22.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 38 (16.59%) Agile
7 33 (14.41%) Problem-Solving
8 31 (13.54%) Continuous Improvement
9 30 (13.10%) Roadmaps
10 27 (11.79%) Security Operations
11 25 (10.92%) ITSM
12 24 (10.48%) Cloud Security
13 23 (10.04%) Risk Assessment
14 22 (9.61%) ITIL
15 20 (8.73%) Risk Register
16 17 (7.42%) Computer Science
16 17 (7.42%) Data Modelling
16 17 (7.42%) Migration
17 16 (6.99%) Data Protection
17 16 (6.99%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (4.37%) JavaScript
2 4 (1.75%) SQL
3 2 (0.87%) Bicep
3 2 (0.87%) Python
4 1 (0.44%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 1 (0.44%) Java
4 1 (0.44%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 52 (22.71%) Security Cleared
2 31 (13.54%) SC Cleared
3 29 (12.66%) Degree
4 28 (12.23%) CISM
5 24 (10.48%) CISSP
6 17 (7.42%) CRISC
7 16 (6.99%) BPSS Clearance
8 15 (6.55%) CISA
8 15 (6.55%) Master's Degree
9 14 (6.11%) DV Cleared
10 13 (5.68%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 12 (5.24%) Computer Science Degree
11 12 (5.24%) PMI Certification
12 10 (4.37%) PMP
13 7 (3.06%) FFIEC
14 4 (1.75%) CISMP
14 4 (1.75%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
14 4 (1.75%) SAP Certification
15 2 (0.87%) CEH
15 2 (0.87%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (31.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 52 (22.71%) NIST
3 27 (11.79%) GDPR
4 20 (8.73%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 16 (6.99%) PCI DSS
6 10 (4.37%) COBIT
6 10 (4.37%) Def Stans
7 9 (3.93%) NCSC
8 8 (3.49%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (2.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (2.18%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 5 (2.18%) SOC 2
10 4 (1.75%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (1.75%) ITGC
10 4 (1.75%) QA
11 3 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 3 (1.31%) MiFID
11 3 (1.31%) P3O
11 3 (1.31%) PMO
11 3 (1.31%) SLA
System Software
1 2 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.44%) Docker
2 1 (0.44%) IAG
Systems Management
1 10 (4.37%) RSA Archer
2 7 (3.06%) Terraform
3 3 (1.31%) Kubernetes
3 3 (1.31%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.44%) Nexpose
Vendors
1 44 (19.21%) ServiceNow
2 18 (7.86%) Microsoft
2 18 (7.86%) SAP
3 7 (3.06%) Google
4 4 (1.75%) Ariba
5 2 (0.87%) Rapid7
5 2 (0.87%) Splunk
6 1 (0.44%) BT
6 1 (0.44%) CheckPoint
6 1 (0.44%) Commvault
6 1 (0.44%) Concur
6 1 (0.44%) CrowdStrike
6 1 (0.44%) CyberArk
6 1 (0.44%) OneTrust
6 1 (0.44%) OpenAI
6 1 (0.44%) Palo Alto
6 1 (0.44%) Progress
6 1 (0.44%) Rockwell
6 1 (0.44%) Snow
6 1 (0.44%) Tenable