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

6 months to
14 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 322 368 453
Rank change year-on-year +46 +85 +67
Contract jobs citing GRC 332 149 132
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.70% 0.51% 0.31%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 4.20% 3.28% 2.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 91 97
10th Percentile £390 £350 £363
25th Percentile £450 £478 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £638 £700 £725
90th Percentile £738 £762 £850
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £511 £598
% change year-on-year +2.69% -14.44% -0.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 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 7,902 4,545 6,118
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.61% 15.68% 14.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,099 2,912 3,889
10th Percentile £341 £265 £286
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £623 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £483
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.66% +0.84%
Number of hourly rates quoted 460 170 381
10th Percentile £14.02 £18.07 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.17 £13.18
Median hourly rate £36.00 £35.00 £21.12
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% +65.76% -39.67%
75th Percentile £65.56 £65.46 £45.00
90th Percentile £81.10 £82.98 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £50.00 £18.27
% change year-on-year -20.00% +173.67% -45.27%

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 14 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 14 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 +42 295 £525 -14.81% 116
UK excluding London +4 164 £525 +2.69% 84
London +5 141 £550 -15.38% 55
Work from Home +30 106 £533 -11.17% 77
South East -22 46 £525 -14.29% 28
North of England -31 44 £475 +10.59% 9
Midlands -40 33 £575 -4.17% 13
North West -18 25 £506 +39.39% 7
Yorkshire -36 19 £475 -9.52% 1
West Midlands -46 18 £538 -10.42% 7
Scotland +11 17 £525 +14.02% 12
East Midlands -20 15 £638 +78.07% 5
East of England -22 15 £575 +4.55% 10
South West -27 9 £500 +20.34% 10

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 16 (4.82%) Confluence
2 9 (2.71%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.60%) IIS
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.30%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 12 (3.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (0.90%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 25 (7.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (6.93%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.60%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.60%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.30%) SAP CCM
4 1 (0.30%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.30%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.30%) SAP FI-GL
4 1 (0.30%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 52 (15.66%) Azure
2 42 (12.65%) AWS
3 21 (6.33%) GCP
4 13 (3.92%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (3.92%) Power Platform
5 10 (3.01%) SaaS
6 9 (2.71%) Entra ID
6 9 (2.71%) GitHub
6 9 (2.71%) SuccessFactors
7 8 (2.41%) Microsoft Copilot
8 7 (2.11%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (2.11%) Microsoft Purview
9 6 (1.81%) Power Automate
10 5 (1.51%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 5 (1.51%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.20%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 4 (1.20%) Azure Sentinel
11 4 (1.20%) Copilot Studio
11 4 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
12 2 (0.60%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.82%) Network Security
2 5 (1.51%) Firewall
3 4 (1.20%) NGFW
4 3 (0.90%) Internet
4 3 (0.90%) Reverse Proxy
5 2 (0.60%) HTTPS
5 2 (0.60%) VPN
6 1 (0.30%) BGP
6 1 (0.30%) Cisco ASA
6 1 (0.30%) Intrusion Detection
6 1 (0.30%) iSCSI
6 1 (0.30%) LAN
6 1 (0.30%) MPLS
6 1 (0.30%) NAS
6 1 (0.30%) OSPF
6 1 (0.30%) SAN
6 1 (0.30%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.30%) VLAN
6 1 (0.30%) WAN
6 1 (0.30%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.61%) Metadata
2 11 (3.31%) Power BI
3 7 (2.11%) Data Warehouse
4 5 (1.51%) Power Query
4 5 (1.51%) SAP HANA
5 2 (0.60%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.60%) SAP BW
5 2 (0.60%) SQL Server
6 1 (0.30%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.30%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle Exadata
6 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 16 (4.82%) JIRA
2 4 (1.20%) Jaeger
3 2 (0.60%) Git
4 1 (0.30%) Flyway
4 1 (0.30%) GitLab
4 1 (0.30%) Liquibase
General
1 109 (32.83%) Social Skills
2 90 (27.11%) Finance
3 47 (14.16%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (10.54%) Legal
5 34 (10.24%) Public Sector
6 31 (9.34%) Banking
7 9 (2.71%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.41%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.81%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (1.81%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (1.51%) Law
10 5 (1.51%) Marketing
11 4 (1.20%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.20%) Military
11 4 (1.20%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.90%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.60%) Arabic Language
13 2 (0.60%) Police
Job Titles
1 54 (16.27%) Consultant
2 51 (15.36%) Analyst
3 39 (11.75%) Architect
4 32 (9.64%) Lead
5 27 (8.13%) Senior
6 22 (6.63%) Security Consultant
7 20 (6.02%) Risk Manager
8 17 (5.12%) Security Analyst
9 16 (4.82%) Security Architect
10 14 (4.22%) Senior Consultant
11 13 (3.92%) Governance Manager
11 13 (3.92%) Project Manager
11 13 (3.92%) Risk Analyst
11 13 (3.92%) Security Manager
12 12 (3.61%) Business Analyst
12 12 (3.61%) Developer
12 12 (3.61%) IT Manager
12 12 (3.61%) ServiceNow Architect
13 10 (3.01%) Security Engineer
14 9 (2.71%) Compliance Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.72%) REST
2 18 (5.42%) SAP Fiori
3 14 (4.22%) SOAP
4 5 (1.51%) .NET
5 4 (1.20%) Loki
5 4 (1.20%) OpenTelemetry
5 4 (1.20%) SailPoint
6 3 (0.90%) ADO
6 3 (0.90%) OAuth
6 3 (0.90%) OAuth2
6 3 (0.90%) OpenID
6 3 (0.90%) SAML
7 2 (0.60%) JSON
7 2 (0.60%) Middleware
7 2 (0.60%) Web Services
8 1 (0.30%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.30%) IDoc
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle Fusion
8 1 (0.30%) SAP PI
8 1 (0.30%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 29 (8.73%) Security Posture
2 21 (6.33%) Management Information System
3 20 (6.02%) Product Ownership
4 18 (5.42%) Onboarding
4 18 (5.42%) Operational Technology
5 17 (5.12%) CMDB
6 8 (2.41%) Cyber Threat
6 8 (2.41%) Data Centre
7 7 (2.11%) Cloud Native
7 7 (2.11%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (2.11%) Taxonomies
7 7 (2.11%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.81%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (1.51%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.51%) IoT
9 5 (1.51%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.51%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.20%) AI Agents
10 4 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.20%) PropTech
Operating Systems
1 9 (2.71%) Linux
2 6 (1.81%) Windows
3 4 (1.20%) AIX
3 4 (1.20%) HPUX
3 4 (1.20%) Oracle Linux
3 4 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 4 (1.20%) Solaris
3 4 (1.20%) SUSE
3 4 (1.20%) Unix
4 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (37.05%) Risk Management
2 90 (27.11%) Cybersecurity
2 90 (27.11%) Information Security
3 82 (24.70%) Stakeholder Management
4 59 (17.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 53 (15.96%) Problem-Solving
6 46 (13.86%) Continuous Improvement
7 44 (13.25%) Roadmaps
8 43 (12.95%) Security Operations
9 40 (12.05%) Agile
10 37 (11.14%) Risk Assessment
11 35 (10.54%) Cloud Security
12 33 (9.94%) Data Protection
13 32 (9.64%) Risk Register
14 31 (9.34%) Regulatory Compliance
14 31 (9.34%) Vulnerability Management
15 30 (9.04%) Identity Access Management
16 28 (8.43%) AI
17 27 (8.13%) Analytics
17 27 (8.13%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 10 (3.01%) SQL
2 9 (2.71%) Python
3 7 (2.11%) Bash
3 7 (2.11%) JavaScript
4 6 (1.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 6 (1.81%) PowerShell
5 4 (1.20%) Bicep
5 4 (1.20%) Go
6 1 (0.30%) ABAP
6 1 (0.30%) Java
6 1 (0.30%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 74 (22.29%) Security Cleared
2 57 (17.17%) CISSP
3 48 (14.46%) SC Cleared
4 40 (12.05%) CISM
5 25 (7.53%) CISA
5 25 (7.53%) Degree
6 24 (7.23%) CRISC
7 22 (6.63%) DV Cleared
8 14 (4.22%) PMI Certification
9 13 (3.92%) PMP
10 9 (2.71%) Cisco Certification
10 9 (2.71%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 9 (2.71%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 8 (2.41%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 8 (2.41%) Azure Certification
11 8 (2.41%) CCSP
11 8 (2.41%) CompTIA Security+
12 7 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
13 6 (1.81%) OSCP
13 6 (1.81%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (27.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 78 (23.49%) NIST
3 43 (12.95%) GDPR
4 20 (6.02%) PCI DSS
5 17 (5.12%) COBIT
6 14 (4.22%) SOC 2
7 12 (3.61%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (3.61%) NCSC
7 12 (3.61%) QA
8 10 (3.01%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 10 (3.01%) SLA
9 7 (2.11%) Actionable Recommendations
9 7 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 7 (2.11%) ISO 31000
9 7 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 7 (2.11%) PMO
9 7 (2.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 6 (1.81%) ITGC
11 5 (1.51%) ISO 22301
11 5 (1.51%) NIST 800
System Software
1 8 (2.41%) Active Directory
2 3 (0.90%) IAG
3 2 (0.60%) Docker
4 1 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 13 (3.92%) Terraform
2 11 (3.31%) Kubernetes
2 11 (3.31%) Single Sign-On
3 4 (1.20%) Grafana
3 4 (1.20%) Istio
3 4 (1.20%) Prometheus
3 4 (1.20%) RSA Archer
4 3 (0.90%) Rancher
5 2 (0.60%) Ansible
5 2 (0.60%) QRadar
6 1 (0.30%) Cisco Prime
6 1 (0.30%) Data Guard
6 1 (0.30%) Fluentd
6 1 (0.30%) Iperf
6 1 (0.30%) logstash
6 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.30%) NetBackup
6 1 (0.30%) Nmap
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 45 (13.55%) ServiceNow
2 34 (10.24%) Microsoft
3 33 (9.94%) SAP
4 9 (2.71%) Oracle
5 6 (1.81%) Google
5 6 (1.81%) Palo Alto
6 5 (1.51%) Atlassian
6 5 (1.51%) Splunk
7 4 (1.20%) Ariba
7 4 (1.20%) Fortinet
7 4 (1.20%) HP
7 4 (1.20%) Rapid7
7 4 (1.20%) Red Hat
8 3 (0.90%) Okta
9 2 (0.60%) CheckPoint
9 2 (0.60%) CrowdStrike
9 2 (0.60%) CyberArk
9 2 (0.60%) OneTrust
9 2 (0.60%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.60%) Zscaler