Head of Information Security Contracts

Head of Information Security
UK

The median Head of Information Security daily rate in the UK is £800, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 August 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 539 555 663
Rank change year-on-year +16 +108 +177
Contract jobs requiring a Head of Information Security 12 9 2
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.036% 0.023% 0.004%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.040% 0.025% 0.004%
Number of daily rates quoted 11 5 1
10th Percentile £513 £565 -
25th Percentile £738 £625 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £800 £650 £650
Median % change year-on-year +23.08% - -10.34%
75th Percentile £844 £675 -
90th Percentile £950 £869 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £800 - £650
% change year-on-year - - -13.33%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 30,259 36,007 48,961
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.29% 92.93% 94.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,089 23,202 33,827
10th Percentile £281 £300 £305
25th Percentile £400 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.69% -1.11%
75th Percentile £621 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,546 1,999 1,475
10th Percentile £13.60 £14.16 £14.50
25th Percentile £17.26 £20.00 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £41.80
Median % change year-on-year -41.51% +2.87% +62.77%
75th Percentile £53.96 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £37.00
% change year-on-year -44.11% +21.62% +73.91%

Head of Information Security
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Head of Information Security in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Head of Information Security in the UK

Head of Information Security
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Head of Information Security.

Daily rate trend for Head of Information Security in the UK

Head of Information Security
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Head of Information Security over the 6 months to 17 August 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Head of Information Security in the UK

Head of Information Security
Top 8 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Information Security within the UK over the 6 months to 17 August 2025. 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 +25 12 £800 +23.08% 6
London +22 8 £800 +23.08% 5
Work from Home +30 5 £775 -
UK excluding London +5 4 £800 - 1
South West - 2 £813 -
South East +17 1 - -
North of England - 1 £750 -
Yorkshire - 1 £750 -

Head of Information Security Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 17 August 2025, Head of Information Security contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Head of Information Security in the job title.

1 12 (100.00%) Information Security
2 9 (75.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (50.00%) GDPR
4 5 (41.67%) Security Operations
4 5 (41.67%) Incident Response
4 5 (41.67%) Finance
4 5 (41.67%) Security Posture
5 4 (33.33%) Risk Management
5 4 (33.33%) CISSP
5 4 (33.33%) CISA
5 4 (33.33%) CISM
5 4 (33.33%) Social Skills
5 4 (33.33%) NIST
5 4 (33.33%) Cybersecurity
6 3 (25.00%) Security Operations Centre
6 3 (25.00%) Information Security Management
6 3 (25.00%) Security Management
6 3 (25.00%) Management Information System
6 3 (25.00%) ISMS
6 3 (25.00%) Azure
7 2 (16.67%) Continuous Improvement
7 2 (16.67%) ISACA
7 2 (16.67%) Vulnerability Management
7 2 (16.67%) GSEC
7 2 (16.67%) SSCP
7 2 (16.67%) Legal
7 2 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
7 2 (16.67%) GIAC
7 2 (16.67%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 2 (16.67%) SANS

Head of Information Security Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 1 (8.33%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 3 (25.00%) Azure
2 1 (8.33%) Entra ID
2 1 (8.33%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (8.33%) SaaS
General
1 5 (41.67%) Finance
2 4 (33.33%) Social Skills
3 2 (16.67%) Influencing Skills
3 2 (16.67%) Legal
4 1 (8.33%) Banking
4 1 (8.33%) Law
4 1 (8.33%) Organisational Skills
4 1 (8.33%) Retail
Miscellaneous
1 5 (41.67%) Security Posture
2 3 (25.00%) Management Information System
2 3 (25.00%) Security Operations Centre
3 2 (16.67%) Cyber Threat
4 1 (8.33%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 1 (8.33%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (100.00%) Information Security
2 5 (41.67%) Incident Response
2 5 (41.67%) Security Operations
3 4 (33.33%) Cybersecurity
3 4 (33.33%) Risk Management
4 3 (25.00%) Information Security Management
4 3 (25.00%) ISMS
4 3 (25.00%) Security Management
5 2 (16.67%) Application Security
5 2 (16.67%) Cloud Security
5 2 (16.67%) Continuous Improvement
5 2 (16.67%) Cyber Resilience
5 2 (16.67%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 2 (16.67%) Forensic Analysis
5 2 (16.67%) Roadmaps
5 2 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
5 2 (16.67%) Strategic Thinking
5 2 (16.67%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
5 2 (16.67%) Threat Intelligence
5 2 (16.67%) Vulnerability Management
Qualifications
1 4 (33.33%) CISA
1 4 (33.33%) CISM
1 4 (33.33%) CISSP
2 2 (16.67%) GIAC
2 2 (16.67%) GSEC
2 2 (16.67%) ISACA
2 2 (16.67%) SANS
2 2 (16.67%) SSCP
3 1 (8.33%) Degree
3 1 (8.33%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
3 1 (8.33%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (75.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (50.00%) GDPR
3 4 (33.33%) NIST
4 2 (16.67%) COBIT
5 1 (8.33%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (8.33%) GRC
5 1 (8.33%) ISO 9001
5 1 (8.33%) PCI DSS
Vendors
1 1 (8.33%) Microsoft