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 27 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 162 167 106
Rank change year-on-year +5 -61 +10
Contract jobs citing Information Security 693 520 926
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.67% 1.70% 2.10%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.92% 1.89% 2.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 393 295 619
10th Percentile £375 £353 £385
25th Percentile £450 £475 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £585 £570
Median % change year-on-year -8.12% +2.63% -5.00%
75th Percentile £648 £688 £667
90th Percentile £756 £800 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £575 £540
% change year-on-year -13.04% +6.48% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 24 54
10th Percentile £17.40 £17.43 £17.01
25th Percentile £20.71 £21.87 £19.25
Median hourly rate £28.00 £24.42 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.66% -45.12% -36.43%
75th Percentile £41.94 £44.06 £81.22
90th Percentile £80.08 £80.22 £83.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £22.14 £44.50
% change year-on-year +26.47% -50.25% -38.09%

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 36,013 27,550 38,397
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.71% 89.93% 86.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,879 17,122 25,100
10th Percentile £313 £306 £300
25th Percentile £411 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -1.58% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,136 871 2,197
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.03 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year -15.38% -1.71% -5.53%
75th Percentile £63.32 £63.75 £59.50
90th Percentile £72.96 £75.00 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.64 £35.00
% change year-on-year -20.51% -9.60% -

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 27 February 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 27 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Information Security in the UK

Information Security
Top 16 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 27 February 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 +9 619 £538 -8.90% 210
UK excluding London -15 332 £500 -13.04% 146
London +1 289 £565 -1.74% 86
Work from Home +15 205 £545 +3.81% 114
South East -12 107 £550 -8.33% 58
North of England -50 68 £500 -5.57% 32
Midlands -32 49 £450 -29.27% 24
East of England -5 44 £535 -10.83% 10
North West -21 43 £500 -9.09% 24
South West -14 38 £500 -25.37% 21
West Midlands -38 33 £500 -35.28% 17
Yorkshire -56 21 £494 +14.49% 7
Scotland +15 20 £354 -26.10% 4
East Midlands -14 16 £450 +49.83% 7
Wales +1 6 £388 +115.28% 2
North East -18 4 £450 -18.18% 1

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 23 (3.32%) Confluence
2 19 (2.74%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.73%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (1.01%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
5 4 (0.58%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.43%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.43%) Skype for Business
7 1 (0.14%) Apache
7 1 (0.14%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 46 (6.64%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (4.76%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (2.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.15%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.29%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.14%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.14%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.14%) Camtasia
6 1 (0.14%) Navisworks
6 1 (0.14%) Revit
Business Applications
1 12 (1.73%) Oracle EBS
2 7 (1.01%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.58%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.29%) SAP GRC
4 2 (0.29%) Temenos T24
5 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 115 (16.59%) Azure
2 84 (12.12%) AWS
3 45 (6.49%) Microsoft 365
4 33 (4.76%) GCP
5 29 (4.18%) Entra ID
6 23 (3.32%) SaaS
7 22 (3.17%) Power Platform
8 15 (2.16%) OCI
9 13 (1.88%) Microsoft Purview
10 11 (1.59%) GitHub
11 9 (1.30%) Azure Sentinel
12 8 (1.15%) Power Automate
13 7 (1.01%) IaaS
13 7 (1.01%) Microsoft Copilot
13 7 (1.01%) PaaS
13 7 (1.01%) PowerApps
14 6 (0.87%) OneDrive
15 5 (0.72%) Amazon S3
15 5 (0.72%) Azure DevOps
15 5 (0.72%) Collibra
Communications & Networking
1 62 (8.95%) Firewall
2 30 (4.33%) Network Security
3 19 (2.74%) DNS
3 19 (2.74%) TCP/IP
4 13 (1.88%) HTTP
4 13 (1.88%) SSH
4 13 (1.88%) Wireless
5 12 (1.73%) WAN
6 10 (1.44%) DHCP
6 10 (1.44%) Internet
7 8 (1.15%) VPN
8 7 (1.01%) SMTP
8 7 (1.01%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (0.72%) FTP
9 5 (0.72%) SAN
9 5 (0.72%) SSL
10 4 (0.58%) Cisco IPT
10 4 (0.58%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (0.43%) OSPF
11 3 (0.43%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.60%) Power BI
2 10 (1.44%) Data Warehouse
3 9 (1.30%) Metadata
3 9 (1.30%) SQL Server
4 6 (0.87%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.58%) Big Data
5 4 (0.58%) GIS
5 4 (0.58%) Hadoop
5 4 (0.58%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 3 (0.43%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.43%) NoSQL
6 3 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
6 3 (0.43%) Tableau
7 2 (0.29%) Amazon Redshift
7 2 (0.29%) BigQuery
7 2 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.29%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.29%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 2 (0.29%) Power Query
7 2 (0.29%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 28 (4.04%) JIRA
2 14 (2.02%) Burp Suite
3 11 (1.59%) Metasploit
4 10 (1.44%) Git
5 2 (0.29%) GitLab
6 1 (0.14%) AppScan
6 1 (0.14%) GCC
6 1 (0.14%) git-flow
6 1 (0.14%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.14%) MSI
6 1 (0.14%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
General
1 239 (34.49%) Social Skills
2 132 (19.05%) Finance
3 101 (14.57%) Public Sector
4 84 (12.12%) Analytical Skills
5 59 (8.51%) Legal
6 43 (6.20%) Banking
7 33 (4.76%) Organisational Skills
8 20 (2.89%) Presentation Skills
9 18 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (2.31%) Telecoms
11 15 (2.16%) Influencing Skills
12 12 (1.73%) Retail
13 9 (1.30%) Manufacturing
14 8 (1.15%) Law
14 8 (1.15%) Police
15 7 (1.01%) Marketing
16 6 (0.87%) Local Government
16 6 (0.87%) Spanish Language
17 5 (0.72%) Cyber-Physical System
18 4 (0.58%) Military
Job Titles
1 127 (18.33%) Analyst
2 68 (9.81%) Consultant
3 51 (7.36%) Architect
3 51 (7.36%) Senior
4 46 (6.64%) Security Analyst
5 45 (6.49%) Security Engineer
6 43 (6.20%) Lead
7 37 (5.34%) Security Manager
8 33 (4.76%) Security Architect
9 32 (4.62%) Security Consultant
10 27 (3.90%) Security Officer
11 22 (3.17%) Security Specialist
12 20 (2.89%) Designer
12 20 (2.89%) Service Designer
12 20 (2.89%) Support Analyst
13 19 (2.74%) Developer
13 19 (2.74%) Information Analyst
13 19 (2.74%) Information Security Analyst
14 18 (2.60%) Project Manager
15 16 (2.31%) Cybersecurity Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.02%) Oracle Fusion
2 12 (1.73%) OAuth
3 10 (1.44%) OpenID
3 10 (1.44%) SAML
4 9 (1.30%) LDAP
4 9 (1.30%) Middleware
5 8 (1.15%) OAuth2
5 8 (1.15%) SailPoint
6 5 (0.72%) Node.js
7 4 (0.58%) .NET
7 4 (0.58%) Qt
7 4 (0.58%) Spring
7 4 (0.58%) Spring Boot
8 3 (0.43%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.43%) J2EE
8 3 (0.43%) JSP
8 3 (0.43%) JWT
8 3 (0.43%) Kafka
8 3 (0.43%) ModSecurity
8 3 (0.43%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 120 (17.32%) Management Information System
2 71 (10.25%) Security Posture
3 32 (4.62%) Onboarding
4 27 (3.90%) Operational Technology
5 26 (3.75%) Cyber Threat
6 19 (2.74%) Data Protection Act
6 19 (2.74%) PKI
7 16 (2.31%) Cloud Native
8 13 (1.88%) Data Centre
8 13 (1.88%) Insider Threat
8 13 (1.88%) Product Ownership
9 12 (1.73%) Security Operations Centre
10 11 (1.59%) Virtual Team
11 10 (1.44%) Analytical Mindset
11 10 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (1.30%) BYOD
12 9 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
12 9 (1.30%) Public Cloud
13 8 (1.15%) Greenfield Project
13 8 (1.15%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 65 (9.38%) Windows
2 38 (5.48%) Linux
3 20 (2.89%) Windows Server
4 17 (2.45%) Unix
5 3 (0.43%) Kali Linux
5 3 (0.43%) zOS
6 2 (0.29%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.14%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.14%) VMS
7 1 (0.14%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 244 (35.21%) Cybersecurity
2 183 (26.41%) Risk Management
3 114 (16.45%) Problem-Solving
4 113 (16.31%) Continuous Improvement
5 108 (15.58%) Data Protection
6 106 (15.30%) Stakeholder Management
7 82 (11.83%) Cloud Security
8 80 (11.54%) Security Management
9 77 (11.11%) Incident Response
10 65 (9.38%) Agile
11 64 (9.24%) Security Operations
12 60 (8.66%) Information Security Management
13 59 (8.51%) Change Management
14 58 (8.37%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 57 (8.23%) Roadmaps
16 53 (7.65%) Computer Science
16 53 (7.65%) SIEM
17 52 (7.50%) ITIL
18 48 (6.93%) Regulatory Compliance
19 47 (6.78%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 59 (8.51%) Python
2 41 (5.92%) PowerShell
3 30 (4.33%) SQL
4 16 (2.31%) Java
5 11 (1.59%) Bash
6 5 (0.72%) C#
6 5 (0.72%) Go
7 4 (0.58%) C++
7 4 (0.58%) Kotlin
7 4 (0.58%) Kusto Query Language
8 3 (0.43%) RPG
9 2 (0.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 2 (0.29%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.29%) R
9 2 (0.29%) Rust
9 2 (0.29%) Solidity
10 1 (0.14%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.14%) Bicep
10 1 (0.14%) Lisp
10 1 (0.14%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 210 (30.30%) Security Cleared
2 166 (23.95%) SC Cleared
3 128 (18.47%) Degree
4 113 (16.31%) CISSP
5 86 (12.41%) CISM
6 45 (6.49%) DV Cleared
7 41 (5.92%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (4.33%) CISA
9 28 (4.04%) Master's Degree
10 26 (3.75%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 25 (3.61%) Cisco Certification
12 24 (3.46%) CRISC
13 20 (2.89%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
14 19 (2.74%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 19 (2.74%) BPSS Clearance
15 15 (2.16%) CEH
16 13 (1.88%) CREST Certified
16 13 (1.88%) ITIL Certification
16 13 (1.88%) Postgraduate
17 12 (1.73%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 228 (32.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 172 (24.82%) NIST
3 117 (16.88%) GDPR
4 79 (11.40%) GRC
5 45 (6.49%) PCI DSS
6 32 (4.62%) COBIT
7 28 (4.04%) NCSC
8 26 (3.75%) QA
9 24 (3.46%) Cyber Essentials
9 24 (3.46%) PMO
10 22 (3.17%) Accessibility
11 19 (2.74%) Data Quality
12 17 (2.45%) NIST 800
13 15 (2.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 14 (2.02%) Def Stans
15 12 (1.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 12 (1.73%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 12 (1.73%) SOC 2
16 11 (1.59%) JSP 440
16 11 (1.59%) RMADS
System Software
1 46 (6.64%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.59%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (1.01%) Docker
4 3 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.14%) Microsoft App-V
5 1 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 20 (2.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (1.88%) Kubernetes
2 13 (1.88%) SCCM
3 12 (1.73%) Nmap
4 9 (1.30%) Terraform
5 7 (1.01%) Ansible
5 7 (1.01%) HP SiteScope
5 7 (1.01%) QRadar
5 7 (1.01%) SCOM
6 6 (0.87%) CASB
6 6 (0.87%) SCOrch
7 5 (0.72%) Functional Safety
7 5 (0.72%) WSUS
8 4 (0.58%) FortiGate
8 4 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.29%) Nessus
9 2 (0.29%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.29%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.29%) RSA Archer
10 1 (0.14%) Cisco CUCM
Vendors
1 115 (16.59%) Microsoft
2 31 (4.47%) ServiceNow
3 20 (2.89%) Oracle
4 17 (2.45%) CyberArk
4 17 (2.45%) Google
5 16 (2.31%) Cisco
6 14 (2.02%) Splunk
7 12 (1.73%) IBM
8 11 (1.59%) CrowdStrike
9 9 (1.30%) Remedy
9 9 (1.30%) Thales
10 8 (1.15%) Fortinet
10 8 (1.15%) Gemalto
11 7 (1.01%) Databricks
11 7 (1.01%) Palo Alto
11 7 (1.01%) Qualys
11 7 (1.01%) SAP
12 6 (0.87%) BeyondTrust
12 6 (0.87%) Sophos
13 5 (0.72%) Ariba