Information Security Contract Job Trends

Information Security (InfoSec)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Information Security skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 199 167 104
Rank change year-on-year -32 -63 -11
Contract jobs citing Information Security 762 574 837
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.40% 1.74% 2.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.66% 1.93% 2.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 404 312 529
10th Percentile £327 £314 £375
25th Percentile £425 £413 £485
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £533 £575
Median % change year-on-year +3.29% -7.39% -2.64%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £688
90th Percentile £825 £786 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £464 £500 £600
% change year-on-year -7.25% -16.67% +9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 41 17
10th Percentile £16.40 £22.14 £12.75
25th Percentile £21.35 £24.66 £13.00
Median hourly rate £62.25 £33.50 £16.19
Median % change year-on-year +85.82% +106.92% -77.82%
75th Percentile £79.25 £65.00 £21.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £46.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.25 £33.50 £15.73
% change year-on-year +85.82% +112.97% -78.74%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Information Security falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 45,839 29,816 32,769
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.46% 90.52% 85.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,855 18,531 20,147
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £730 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,070 1,799 1,460
10th Percentile £13.84 £14.25 £14.84
25th Percentile £17.36 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.50 £44.68 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.00 £67.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.56 £22.63 £43.00
% change year-on-year +83.63% -47.37% +5.81%

Information Security
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Information Security relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Information Security job vacancy trend in the UK

Information Security
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Information Security.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Information Security

Information Security
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Information Security over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Information Security in the UK

Information Security
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Information Security.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Information Security

Information Security
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Information Security over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Information Security in the UK

Information Security
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Information Security within the UK over the 6 months to 16 September 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 -41 688 £550 +3.77% 1,912
UK excluding London -17 406 £464 -7.25% 965
London -57 301 £600 +9.09% 1,054
Work from Home -41 188 £575 +21.05% 804
North of England -30 114 £465 +0.76% 257
South East -35 99 £450 -30.77% 285
Midlands -7 75 £450 +12.50% 122
North West -14 72 £490 +14.62% 151
West Midlands -1 63 £450 -7.69% 77
South West -41 54 £600 +17.07% 112
Scotland -7 34 £565 +29.89% 72
East of England -9 33 £538 +48.48% 72
Yorkshire -41 26 £540 +8.00% 76
North East -25 15 £425 -22.73% 34
East Midlands -25 12 £533 +33.13% 45
Wales -10 3 £815 +33.06% 21
Northern Ireland +3 1 £550 - 36

Information Security
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 37 (4.86%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.02%) Confluence
3 8 (1.05%) IIS
3 8 (1.05%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.26%) Apache
4 2 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.26%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.26%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.13%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
5 1 (0.13%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 18 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (1.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (1.05%) Spreadsheet
4 7 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.26%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 19 (2.49%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (0.92%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.39%) Oracle Payroll
4 2 (0.26%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.13%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.13%) SAP MDG
5 1 (0.13%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 184 (24.15%) Azure
2 119 (15.62%) AWS
3 65 (8.53%) Entra ID
4 49 (6.43%) SaaS
5 48 (6.30%) Microsoft 365
6 36 (4.72%) GCP
7 31 (4.07%) Power Platform
8 28 (3.67%) GitHub
9 24 (3.15%) Azure Sentinel
10 23 (3.02%) Azure DevOps
10 23 (3.02%) Dynamics 365
10 23 (3.02%) Power Automate
11 22 (2.89%) Serverless
12 21 (2.76%) Microsoft Purview
13 16 (2.10%) OCI
14 15 (1.97%) Azure Functions
15 12 (1.57%) GitHub Actions
15 12 (1.57%) PaaS
16 11 (1.44%) IaaS
17 8 (1.05%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 47 (6.17%) Network Security
2 43 (5.64%) Firewall
3 20 (2.62%) WAN
4 17 (2.23%) DNS
4 17 (2.23%) LAN
5 11 (1.44%) TCP/IP
6 10 (1.31%) DHCP
6 10 (1.31%) SSH
7 9 (1.18%) Internet
7 9 (1.18%) VPN
7 9 (1.18%) Wireless
8 8 (1.05%) NGFW
9 7 (0.92%) HTTP
9 7 (0.92%) HTTPS
10 5 (0.66%) SD-WAN
10 5 (0.66%) SMTP
10 5 (0.66%) SSL
10 5 (0.66%) Structured Cabling
11 4 (0.52%) Cisco IPT
11 4 (0.52%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (4.33%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.23%) Power BI
3 12 (1.57%) MongoDB
4 9 (1.18%) Metadata
5 4 (0.52%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.52%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.52%) Oracle Reports
6 2 (0.26%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.26%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.26%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.13%) Ataccama
7 1 (0.13%) Chroma
7 1 (0.13%) Neo4j
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Database 10g
7 1 (0.13%) Pinecone
7 1 (0.13%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.13%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.13%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 26 (3.41%) JIRA
2 13 (1.71%) Git
3 11 (1.44%) Postman
4 10 (1.31%) Cypress.io
4 10 (1.31%) Selenium
4 10 (1.31%) WebDriver
5 7 (0.92%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.39%) Protractor
6 3 (0.39%) ScalaTest
7 2 (0.26%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.26%) Claude Code
7 2 (0.26%) git-flow
7 2 (0.26%) GitLab
7 2 (0.26%) JMeter
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Jenkins
8 1 (0.13%) LSMW
8 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 287 (37.66%) Social Skills
2 171 (22.44%) Finance
3 148 (19.42%) Public Sector
4 101 (13.25%) Analytical Skills
5 63 (8.27%) Legal
6 51 (6.69%) Banking
7 44 (5.77%) Documentation Skills
8 35 (4.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 35 (4.59%) Influencing Skills
9 30 (3.94%) Organisational Skills
10 28 (3.67%) Military
11 27 (3.54%) Local Government
12 25 (3.28%) Presentation Skills
13 16 (2.10%) Aerospace
14 15 (1.97%) Law
15 12 (1.57%) Billing
15 12 (1.57%) Manufacturing
16 11 (1.44%) Marketing
17 10 (1.31%) Retail
18 8 (1.05%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 110 (14.44%) Analyst
2 87 (11.42%) Senior
3 83 (10.89%) Architect
4 73 (9.58%) Lead
5 66 (8.66%) Consultant
6 60 (7.87%) Security Architect
7 44 (5.77%) Security Engineer
8 41 (5.38%) Security Analyst
8 41 (5.38%) Security Consultant
9 36 (4.72%) Security Manager
10 34 (4.46%) Developer
11 29 (3.81%) Project Manager
12 24 (3.15%) Information Manager
12 24 (3.15%) IT Manager
13 23 (3.02%) Security Officer
14 22 (2.89%) Information Security Officer
15 19 (2.49%) Cybersecurity Manager
15 19 (2.49%) Information Officer
16 18 (2.36%) Chief Information Security Officer
16 18 (2.36%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.72%) Terraform
2 26 (3.41%) Oracle Fusion
2 26 (3.41%) SailPoint
3 18 (2.36%) LDAP
3 18 (2.36%) OAuth
3 18 (2.36%) XML
4 17 (2.23%) SAML
5 15 (1.97%) OpenID
5 15 (1.97%) Web Services
6 14 (1.84%) JSON
7 12 (1.57%) OAuth2
8 11 (1.44%) XSLT
9 10 (1.31%) Gherkin
10 9 (1.18%) REST
11 8 (1.05%) Play Framework
12 5 (0.66%) .NET
12 5 (0.66%) RESTful
13 4 (0.52%) Jakarta EE
13 4 (0.52%) JSP
14 3 (0.39%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 150 (19.69%) Management Information System
2 72 (9.45%) Onboarding
3 56 (7.35%) Security Posture
4 34 (4.46%) Cyber Threat
5 26 (3.41%) Operational Technology
6 24 (3.15%) Security Operations Centre
7 21 (2.76%) Data Centre
8 20 (2.62%) PKI
9 19 (2.49%) Cloud Native
10 16 (2.10%) Enterprise Software
11 14 (1.84%) Taxonomies
12 13 (1.71%) Cyber Defence
12 13 (1.71%) NHS
13 12 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
13 12 (1.57%) Product Ownership
14 11 (1.44%) Self-Motivation
14 11 (1.44%) Virtual Team
15 10 (1.31%) Analytical Mindset
15 10 (1.31%) Public Cloud
16 9 (1.18%) Freedom of Information
Operating Systems
1 81 (10.63%) Windows
2 48 (6.30%) Linux
3 37 (4.86%) Windows Server
4 21 (2.76%) Unix
5 10 (1.31%) Android
5 10 (1.31%) Mac OS
6 8 (1.05%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.79%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.66%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.26%) Alpine Linux
11 1 (0.13%) CentOS
11 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 268 (35.17%) Cybersecurity
2 215 (28.22%) Risk Management
3 201 (26.38%) Stakeholder Management
4 149 (19.55%) Data Protection
5 135 (17.72%) Continuous Improvement
6 116 (15.22%) Incident Response
7 105 (13.78%) Problem-Solving
8 102 (13.39%) Agile
9 101 (13.25%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 97 (12.73%) Vulnerability Management
11 96 (12.60%) Security Operations
12 88 (11.55%) Roadmaps
13 86 (11.29%) Decision-Making
14 84 (11.02%) Cloud Security
15 77 (10.10%) AI
16 74 (9.71%) Security Architecture
17 71 (9.32%) DevOps
17 71 (9.32%) ITIL
17 71 (9.32%) SIEM
18 70 (9.19%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 77 (10.10%) Python
2 67 (8.79%) PowerShell
3 29 (3.81%) Bash
4 24 (3.15%) SQL
5 19 (2.49%) C#
6 18 (2.36%) JavaScript
7 9 (1.18%) PL/SQL
7 9 (1.18%) Scala
8 8 (1.05%) Java
8 8 (1.05%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.92%) Bicep
10 3 (0.39%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.26%) Korn
11 2 (0.26%) Search Processing Language
12 1 (0.13%) Go
12 1 (0.13%) R
12 1 (0.13%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 170 (22.31%) Security Cleared
2 135 (17.72%) CISSP
3 132 (17.32%) Degree
4 124 (16.27%) SC Cleared
5 89 (11.68%) CISM
6 47 (6.17%) DV Cleared
7 38 (4.99%) Microsoft Certification
8 36 (4.72%) CRISC
9 34 (4.46%) CISA
10 29 (3.81%) Cisco Certification
11 24 (3.15%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 20 (2.62%) Azure Certification
13 18 (2.36%) Computer Science Degree
14 17 (2.23%) CCSP
14 17 (2.23%) PMP
15 16 (2.10%) PMI Certification
16 15 (1.97%) AWS Certification
17 14 (1.84%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
18 13 (1.71%) OSCP
18 13 (1.71%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 191 (25.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 127 (16.67%) NIST
3 125 (16.40%) GDPR
4 119 (15.62%) GRC
5 42 (5.51%) NCSC
6 39 (5.12%) Cyber Essentials
7 37 (4.86%) PCI DSS
8 34 (4.46%) Accessibility
9 31 (4.07%) Data Quality
10 22 (2.89%) QA
10 22 (2.89%) WCAG
11 20 (2.62%) NIST 800
11 20 (2.62%) SLA
12 18 (2.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 14 (1.84%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 13 (1.71%) HIPAA
14 13 (1.71%) SOC 2
15 12 (1.57%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 10 (1.31%) Government Security Classifications
17 9 (1.18%) PMO
System Software
1 76 (9.97%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.31%) Docker
3 8 (1.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.79%) Firmware
5 5 (0.66%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.39%) ISA Server
6 3 (0.39%) OpenAM
6 3 (0.39%) Squid
7 2 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.26%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.13%) Ceph
8 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 25 (3.28%) Kubernetes
2 19 (2.49%) Single Sign-On
3 18 (2.36%) Microsoft Intune
4 13 (1.71%) Ansible
5 8 (1.05%) Grafana
6 6 (0.79%) SCCM
7 5 (0.66%) CASB
7 5 (0.66%) QRadar
8 4 (0.52%) Podman
9 3 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 2 (0.26%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 2 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.26%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.13%) Control-M
11 1 (0.13%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.13%) Istio
11 1 (0.13%) WSUS
Vendors
1 195 (25.59%) Microsoft
2 48 (6.30%) Oracle
3 40 (5.25%) ServiceNow
4 34 (4.46%) Splunk
5 28 (3.67%) Google
6 22 (2.89%) Cisco
6 22 (2.89%) CyberArk
7 21 (2.76%) SAP
8 19 (2.49%) BeyondTrust
9 18 (2.36%) Palo Alto
10 15 (1.97%) Apple
10 15 (1.97%) CrowdStrike
11 14 (1.84%) VMware
12 12 (1.57%) Ariba
13 11 (1.44%) Zscaler
14 10 (1.31%) Qualys
14 10 (1.31%) Remedy
15 7 (0.92%) Atlassian
15 7 (0.92%) Thales
16 6 (0.79%) Computacenter