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

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 205 166 108
Rank change year-on-year -39 -58 -16
Contract jobs citing Information Security 763 560 826
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.40% 1.70% 2.16%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.65% 1.88% 2.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 404 312 530
10th Percentile £332 £313 £375
25th Percentile £428 £413 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -8.70% -3.36%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £688
90th Percentile £824 £788 £776
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £600
% change year-on-year -5.00% -16.67% +9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 32 17
10th Percentile £15.97 £22.01 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.03 £22.14 £13.00
Median hourly rate £62.25 £33.12 £16.19
Median % change year-on-year +87.97% +104.56% -78.12%
75th Percentile £77.50 £65.00 £21.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £84.00 £46.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.25 £33.50 £15.73
% change year-on-year +85.82% +112.97% -79.78%

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 46,112 29,840 32,750
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.63% 90.46% 85.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,098 18,520 20,299
10th Percentile £325 £300 £312
25th Percentile £425 £403 £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 £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,038 1,780 1,507
10th Percentile £13.87 £14.23 £14.70
25th Percentile £17.38 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% +2.87%
75th Percentile £67.50 £45.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £67.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.03 £22.63 £43.00
% change year-on-year +76.89% -47.37% +8.65%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -30 689 £550 +4.76% 767
UK excluding London -16 403 £475 -5.00% 434
London -41 305 £600 +9.09% 394
Work from Home -51 187 £575 +20.48% 332
North of England -25 117 £479 +2.85% 123
South East -35 102 £476 -25.94% 127
North West -18 79 £518 +20.50% 70
Midlands -25 67 £450 +12.50% 68
West Midlands 0 55 £418 -14.36% 41
South West -28 54 £600 +12.94% 56
Scotland -26 34 £533 +21.16% 16
East of England -17 31 £538 +48.48% 31
Yorkshire -42 24 £540 +8.00% 35
North East -35 13 £425 -22.73% 20
East Midlands -31 12 £533 +33.13% 27
Wales -9 4 £645 +5.31% 10
Northern Ireland +3 1 £550 - 15

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 33 (4.33%) SharePoint
2 24 (3.15%) Confluence
3 9 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.92%) IIS
5 2 (0.26%) Apache
5 2 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.26%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.26%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.13%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.13%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 19 (2.49%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.70%) 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 14 (1.83%) 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
1 179 (23.46%) Azure
2 120 (15.73%) AWS
3 66 (8.65%) Entra ID
4 49 (6.42%) SaaS
5 48 (6.29%) Microsoft 365
6 34 (4.46%) GCP
7 28 (3.67%) GitHub
7 28 (3.67%) Power Platform
8 23 (3.01%) Azure Sentinel
9 21 (2.75%) Microsoft Purview
10 18 (2.36%) Dynamics 365
10 18 (2.36%) Power Automate
10 18 (2.36%) Serverless
11 17 (2.23%) Azure DevOps
12 16 (2.10%) OCI
13 11 (1.44%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (1.44%) IaaS
13 11 (1.44%) PaaS
14 10 (1.31%) Azure Functions
15 8 (1.05%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 44 (5.77%) Firewall
1 44 (5.77%) Network Security
2 19 (2.49%) WAN
3 16 (2.10%) LAN
4 15 (1.97%) DNS
5 11 (1.44%) DHCP
6 10 (1.31%) SSH
6 10 (1.31%) TCP/IP
6 10 (1.31%) VPN
6 10 (1.31%) Wireless
7 9 (1.18%) Internet
8 8 (1.05%) NGFW
9 7 (0.92%) HTTPS
10 5 (0.66%) HTTP
10 5 (0.66%) SD-WAN
10 5 (0.66%) Structured Cabling
11 4 (0.52%) Cisco IPT
11 4 (0.52%) Intrusion Detection
12 3 (0.39%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (0.26%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (3.67%) SQL Server
2 18 (2.36%) Power BI
3 11 (1.44%) MongoDB
4 8 (1.05%) Metadata
5 5 (0.66%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.52%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.52%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.26%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.26%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.26%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.13%) Ataccama
8 1 (0.13%) MariaDB
8 1 (0.13%) Neo4j
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Database 10g
8 1 (0.13%) Pinecone
8 1 (0.13%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.13%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.13%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 27 (3.54%) JIRA
2 9 (1.18%) Cypress.io
2 9 (1.18%) Git
2 9 (1.18%) Postman
2 9 (1.18%) Selenium
2 9 (1.18%) WebDriver
3 6 (0.79%) Cucumber
4 3 (0.39%) Protractor
5 2 (0.26%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.26%) Burp Suite
5 2 (0.26%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.26%) git-flow
5 2 (0.26%) GitLab
5 2 (0.26%) JMeter
5 2 (0.26%) ScalaTest
6 1 (0.13%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.13%) LSMW
6 1 (0.13%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
General
1 276 (36.17%) Social Skills
2 169 (22.15%) Finance
3 144 (18.87%) Public Sector
4 99 (12.98%) Analytical Skills
5 65 (8.52%) Legal
6 51 (6.68%) Banking
7 45 (5.90%) Documentation Skills
8 33 (4.33%) Influencing Skills
9 30 (3.93%) Organisational Skills
10 29 (3.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 28 (3.67%) Military
12 27 (3.54%) Local Government
13 25 (3.28%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (1.97%) Aerospace
15 14 (1.83%) Law
16 12 (1.57%) Billing
17 11 (1.44%) Manufacturing
18 10 (1.31%) Marketing
18 10 (1.31%) Retail
19 9 (1.18%) Police
Job Titles
1 107 (14.02%) Analyst
2 83 (10.88%) Senior
3 82 (10.75%) Architect
4 71 (9.31%) Lead
5 70 (9.17%) Consultant
6 60 (7.86%) Security Architect
7 44 (5.77%) Security Consultant
7 44 (5.77%) Security Engineer
8 39 (5.11%) Security Analyst
9 35 (4.59%) Security Manager
10 32 (4.19%) Developer
11 29 (3.80%) Project Manager
12 25 (3.28%) IT Manager
13 24 (3.15%) Security Officer
14 23 (3.01%) Information Manager
15 22 (2.88%) Information Security Officer
16 19 (2.49%) Cybersecurity Manager
16 19 (2.49%) Information Officer
17 18 (2.36%) Chief Information Security Officer
17 18 (2.36%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (4.46%) Terraform
2 26 (3.41%) Oracle Fusion
3 25 (3.28%) SailPoint
4 21 (2.75%) OAuth
5 16 (2.10%) SAML
6 15 (1.97%) LDAP
6 15 (1.97%) OAuth2
6 15 (1.97%) OpenID
6 15 (1.97%) Web Services
7 14 (1.83%) XML
8 10 (1.31%) JSON
9 9 (1.18%) Gherkin
9 9 (1.18%) REST
10 7 (0.92%) Play Framework
10 7 (0.92%) XSLT
11 5 (0.66%) .NET
12 4 (0.52%) Jakarta EE
12 4 (0.52%) JSP
12 4 (0.52%) RESTful
13 3 (0.39%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 144 (18.87%) Management Information System
2 73 (9.57%) Onboarding
3 55 (7.21%) Security Posture
4 30 (3.93%) Cyber Threat
5 27 (3.54%) Operational Technology
6 24 (3.15%) Security Operations Centre
7 20 (2.62%) PKI
8 19 (2.49%) Cloud Native
8 19 (2.49%) Data Centre
9 16 (2.10%) Enterprise Software
10 13 (1.70%) Cyber Defence
10 13 (1.70%) NHS
11 12 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
11 12 (1.57%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (1.44%) Product Ownership
13 10 (1.31%) Taxonomies
14 9 (1.18%) CSOC
14 9 (1.18%) Freedom of Information
14 9 (1.18%) Virtual Team
15 8 (1.05%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 83 (10.88%) Windows
2 47 (6.16%) Linux
3 36 (4.72%) Windows Server
4 20 (2.62%) 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
1 269 (35.26%) Cybersecurity
2 215 (28.18%) Risk Management
3 196 (25.69%) Stakeholder Management
4 145 (19.00%) Data Protection
5 136 (17.82%) Continuous Improvement
6 110 (14.42%) Incident Response
7 108 (14.15%) Problem-Solving
8 102 (13.37%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 98 (12.84%) Vulnerability Management
10 96 (12.58%) Agile
11 95 (12.45%) Security Operations
12 86 (11.27%) Cloud Security
13 83 (10.88%) Decision-Making
13 83 (10.88%) Roadmaps
14 74 (9.70%) Security Architecture
15 70 (9.17%) Computer Science
15 70 (9.17%) ITIL
16 68 (8.91%) SIEM
17 67 (8.78%) DevOps
18 66 (8.65%) AI
Programming Languages
1 75 (9.83%) Python
2 66 (8.65%) PowerShell
3 29 (3.80%) Bash
4 24 (3.15%) SQL
5 14 (1.83%) C#
6 13 (1.70%) JavaScript
7 11 (1.44%) Java
8 9 (1.18%) PL/SQL
9 8 (1.05%) Scala
10 7 (0.92%) Bicep
10 7 (0.92%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.39%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.39%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.26%) Korn
13 1 (0.13%) Go
13 1 (0.13%) R
13 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
13 1 (0.13%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 173 (22.67%) Security Cleared
2 135 (17.69%) CISSP
3 129 (16.91%) Degree
4 123 (16.12%) SC Cleared
5 89 (11.66%) CISM
6 48 (6.29%) DV Cleared
7 35 (4.59%) CRISC
8 33 (4.33%) CISA
8 33 (4.33%) Microsoft Certification
9 28 (3.67%) Cisco Certification
10 23 (3.01%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 18 (2.36%) Azure Certification
11 18 (2.36%) Computer Science Degree
12 17 (2.23%) PMP
13 16 (2.10%) AWS Certification
13 16 (2.10%) CCSP
13 16 (2.10%) PMI Certification
14 15 (1.97%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
15 14 (1.83%) CEH
16 13 (1.70%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 194 (25.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 130 (17.04%) NIST
3 120 (15.73%) GRC
4 118 (15.47%) GDPR
5 41 (5.37%) NCSC
6 39 (5.11%) Cyber Essentials
7 38 (4.98%) PCI DSS
8 30 (3.93%) Data Quality
9 29 (3.80%) Accessibility
10 23 (3.01%) NIST 800
11 22 (2.88%) QA
12 20 (2.62%) SLA
13 18 (2.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 16 (2.10%) WCAG
15 15 (1.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 13 (1.70%) HIPAA
16 13 (1.70%) SOC 2
17 12 (1.57%) HMG Security Policy Framework
18 10 (1.31%) Government Security Classifications
19 9 (1.18%) PMO
System Software
1 77 (10.09%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.31%) Docker
3 9 (1.18%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.79%) Firmware
4 6 (0.79%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.39%) OpenAM
5 3 (0.39%) Squid
6 2 (0.26%) ISA Server
6 2 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.26%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.13%) Ceph
7 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 24 (3.15%) Kubernetes
2 19 (2.49%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (2.49%) Single Sign-On
3 12 (1.57%) Ansible
4 7 (0.92%) Grafana
5 6 (0.79%) SCCM
6 5 (0.66%) QRadar
7 4 (0.52%) CASB
7 4 (0.52%) Podman
8 3 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.39%) RSA Archer
9 2 (0.26%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 2 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.13%) Control-M
10 1 (0.13%) Host Intrusion Detection System
10 1 (0.13%) Istio
10 1 (0.13%) Nmap
10 1 (0.13%) WSUS
Vendors
1 186 (24.38%) Microsoft
2 48 (6.29%) Oracle
3 40 (5.24%) ServiceNow
4 30 (3.93%) Splunk
5 26 (3.41%) Google
6 22 (2.88%) CyberArk
7 21 (2.75%) Cisco
7 21 (2.75%) SAP
8 19 (2.49%) BeyondTrust
9 17 (2.23%) Palo Alto
10 15 (1.97%) Apple
10 15 (1.97%) VMware
11 13 (1.70%) CrowdStrike
12 12 (1.57%) Ariba
13 10 (1.31%) Remedy
13 10 (1.31%) Zscaler
14 9 (1.18%) Qualys
15 7 (0.92%) Atlassian
15 7 (0.92%) Thales
16 6 (0.79%) Computacenter