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

6 months to
25 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 192 181 114
Rank change year-on-year -11 -67 -11
Contract jobs citing Information Security 680 437 842
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.40% 1.52% 1.98%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.66% 1.67% 2.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 412 269 521
10th Percentile £408 £313 £363
25th Percentile £463 £420 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £583
Median % change year-on-year - -5.66% -2.83%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £688
90th Percentile £800 £838 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £550 £575
% change year-on-year -4.55% -4.35% +4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 24 25
10th Percentile £16.35 - £12.75
25th Percentile £18.74 £22.14 £16.71
Median hourly rate £31.50 £24.66 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year +27.74% +26.46% -74.00%
75th Percentile £67.84 £79.02 £23.00
90th Percentile £85.40 £82.79 £33.06
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £27.53 £18.00
% change year-on-year +1.71% +52.94% -76.00%

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 40,852 26,213 36,586
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.38% 91.03% 85.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,586 16,831 23,574
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £498 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.74% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,418 1,066 2,483
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.85 £18.13 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.13 £27.59 £36.05
Median % change year-on-year +52.71% -23.47% -0.22%
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.73 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £38.00
% change year-on-year +73.72% -33.82% +8.57%

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 25 May 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 25 May 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 25 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 0 617 £550 - 327
UK excluding London -5 335 £525 -4.55% 231
London +2 291 £600 +14.29% 134
Work from Home -14 178 £550 +4.76% 168
South East -2 123 £525 -15.66% 68
North of England -62 68 £540 +30.91% 61
North West -23 48 £550 +37.50% 42
Midlands -35 46 £545 +36.25% 43
South West -9 38 £500 -14.89% 28
East of England -12 38 £575 -4.17% 16
West Midlands -41 35 £520 +30.00% 34
Scotland +5 21 £358 -20.44% 11
Yorkshire -57 17 £500 +21.21% 17
East Midlands -19 11 £591 +68.71% 9
Wales -9 3 £645 +55.42% 3
North East -30 3 £450 -15.73% 2

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 (3.38%) Confluence
2 17 (2.50%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.74%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
5 4 (0.59%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.44%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 39 (5.74%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (5.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (2.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.62%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.15%) Camtasia
6 1 (0.15%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (1.03%) Oracle EBS
2 6 (0.88%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.59%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.29%) SAP GRC
4 2 (0.29%) Temenos T24
5 1 (0.15%) Oracle Applications
Cloud Services
1 142 (20.88%) Azure
2 105 (15.44%) AWS
3 41 (6.03%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (5.59%) Entra ID
5 34 (5.00%) SaaS
6 29 (4.26%) GCP
7 25 (3.68%) Power Platform
8 19 (2.79%) Microsoft Purview
9 18 (2.65%) GitHub
10 13 (1.91%) Azure Sentinel
11 11 (1.62%) OCI
12 8 (1.18%) Microsoft Copilot
12 8 (1.18%) Power Automate
13 7 (1.03%) IaaS
13 7 (1.03%) PowerApps
14 6 (0.88%) Azure Key Vault
14 6 (0.88%) Azure Logic Apps
14 6 (0.88%) OneDrive
14 6 (0.88%) PaaS
15 5 (0.74%) Collibra
Communications & Networking
1 45 (6.62%) Firewall
2 38 (5.59%) Network Security
3 14 (2.06%) Wireless
4 13 (1.91%) DNS
4 13 (1.91%) HTTP
4 13 (1.91%) TCP/IP
5 12 (1.76%) VPN
6 7 (1.03%) SSH
7 6 (0.88%) DHCP
7 6 (0.88%) Internet
7 6 (0.88%) SSL
8 5 (0.74%) FTP
8 5 (0.74%) HTTPS
8 5 (0.74%) Intrusion Detection
8 5 (0.74%) SMTP
9 3 (0.44%) Cisco IPT
9 3 (0.44%) NGFW
9 3 (0.44%) WAN
10 2 (0.29%) Multicast
10 2 (0.29%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.24%) Power BI
2 12 (1.76%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.32%) Metadata
4 8 (1.18%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (0.74%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.59%) Big Data
6 4 (0.59%) Hadoop
6 4 (0.59%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.59%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (0.44%) NoSQL
7 3 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.44%) Tableau
8 2 (0.29%) DynamoDB
8 2 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.29%) MySQL
8 2 (0.29%) Oracle BI Publisher
9 1 (0.15%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.15%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.15%) DB2
Development Applications
1 24 (3.53%) JIRA
2 14 (2.06%) Burp Suite
3 12 (1.76%) Metasploit
4 10 (1.47%) Git
5 3 (0.44%) git-flow
6 2 (0.29%) GitLab
6 2 (0.29%) JMeter
7 1 (0.15%) AppScan
7 1 (0.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.15%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.15%) ScriptRunner
7 1 (0.15%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
General
1 224 (32.94%) Social Skills
2 143 (21.03%) Finance
3 105 (15.44%) Public Sector
4 85 (12.50%) Analytical Skills
5 66 (9.71%) Legal
6 57 (8.38%) Banking
7 28 (4.12%) Organisational Skills
8 27 (3.97%) Documentation Skills
9 19 (2.79%) Influencing Skills
10 14 (2.06%) Retail
11 13 (1.91%) Local Government
11 13 (1.91%) Presentation Skills
12 10 (1.47%) Marketing
13 8 (1.18%) Law
14 7 (1.03%) Telecoms
15 6 (0.88%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.88%) Police
16 5 (0.74%) Cyber-Physical System
16 5 (0.74%) Pharmaceutical
17 4 (0.59%) Military
Job Titles
1 94 (13.82%) Analyst
2 69 (10.15%) Consultant
3 58 (8.53%) Security Engineer
4 55 (8.09%) Senior
5 51 (7.50%) Architect
6 48 (7.06%) Security Consultant
7 47 (6.91%) Lead
8 36 (5.29%) Security Architect
9 34 (5.00%) Security Analyst
9 34 (5.00%) Security Manager
9 34 (5.00%) Security Officer
10 25 (3.68%) Project Manager
11 23 (3.38%) Developer
11 23 (3.38%) IT Manager
12 22 (3.24%) Information Security Officer
13 19 (2.79%) Senior Manager
14 18 (2.65%) Business Analyst
14 18 (2.65%) Cybersecurity Manager
15 16 (2.35%) Security Specialist
16 14 (2.06%) Information Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.38%) OAuth
2 19 (2.79%) Oracle Fusion
3 18 (2.65%) SailPoint
4 17 (2.50%) OAuth2
5 15 (2.21%) LDAP
6 12 (1.76%) OpenID
6 12 (1.76%) SAML
7 8 (1.18%) Web Services
8 7 (1.03%) .NET
8 7 (1.03%) J2EE
8 7 (1.03%) JSP
8 7 (1.03%) Spring
8 7 (1.03%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.88%) Middleware
9 6 (0.88%) REST
9 6 (0.88%) XML
10 5 (0.74%) Node.js
10 5 (0.74%) RESTful
11 4 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
11 4 (0.59%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 108 (15.88%) Management Information System
2 61 (8.97%) Security Posture
3 54 (7.94%) Onboarding
4 37 (5.44%) Operational Technology
5 21 (3.09%) Cyber Threat
6 17 (2.50%) Security Operations Centre
7 16 (2.35%) Data Protection Act
8 15 (2.21%) Cloud Native
9 13 (1.91%) Analytical Mindset
10 11 (1.62%) BYOD
10 11 (1.62%) CSOC
10 11 (1.62%) Insider Threat
10 11 (1.62%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
11 10 (1.47%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (1.47%) Product Ownership
11 10 (1.47%) SCADA
11 10 (1.47%) Virtual Team
12 9 (1.32%) Public Cloud
12 9 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 80 (11.76%) Windows
2 40 (5.88%) Linux
3 30 (4.41%) Windows Server
4 17 (2.50%) Unix
5 8 (1.18%) Apple iOS
6 7 (1.03%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.59%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.44%) zOS
9 2 (0.29%) Android
10 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 246 (36.18%) Cybersecurity
2 178 (26.18%) Risk Management
3 124 (18.24%) Continuous Improvement
4 112 (16.47%) Data Protection
5 105 (15.44%) Problem-Solving
6 101 (14.85%) Stakeholder Management
7 81 (11.91%) Cloud Security
8 74 (10.88%) Agile
9 70 (10.29%) Incident Response
9 70 (10.29%) Security Operations
10 67 (9.85%) Security Management
11 63 (9.26%) Roadmaps
12 62 (9.12%) Decision-Making
13 60 (8.82%) Change Management
13 60 (8.82%) SIEM
13 60 (8.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 59 (8.68%) AI
15 56 (8.24%) Computer Science
16 52 (7.65%) Threat Modelling
17 51 (7.50%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 81 (11.91%) Python
2 63 (9.26%) PowerShell
3 26 (3.82%) Java
4 21 (3.09%) Bash
5 16 (2.35%) SQL
6 7 (1.03%) Kotlin
7 6 (0.88%) C#
7 6 (0.88%) Kusto Query Language
8 4 (0.59%) Go
9 3 (0.44%) Bicep
9 3 (0.44%) JavaScript
9 3 (0.44%) RPG
10 2 (0.29%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.15%) BeanShell
11 1 (0.15%) C++
11 1 (0.15%) Lisp
11 1 (0.15%) R
11 1 (0.15%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 190 (27.94%) Security Cleared
2 146 (21.47%) Degree
3 143 (21.03%) SC Cleared
4 119 (17.50%) CISSP
5 83 (12.21%) CISM
6 50 (7.35%) DV Cleared
7 32 (4.71%) CISA
8 29 (4.26%) Cisco Certification
9 27 (3.97%) CRISC
10 24 (3.53%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 23 (3.38%) Computer Science Degree
12 17 (2.50%) CEH
12 17 (2.50%) CREST Certified
13 15 (2.21%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
14 14 (2.06%) Postgraduate
15 13 (1.91%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
15 13 (1.91%) Master's Degree
16 12 (1.76%) AWS Certification
16 12 (1.76%) GIAC
16 12 (1.76%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 213 (31.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 147 (21.62%) NIST
3 115 (16.91%) GDPR
4 88 (12.94%) GRC
5 51 (7.50%) PCI DSS
6 28 (4.12%) Cyber Essentials
7 26 (3.82%) COBIT
7 26 (3.82%) NCSC
7 26 (3.82%) QA
8 24 (3.53%) PMO
9 22 (3.24%) Data Quality
10 21 (3.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 17 (2.50%) NIST 800
12 14 (2.06%) SOC 2
13 12 (1.76%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 11 (1.62%) Accessibility
15 10 (1.47%) HIPAA
16 9 (1.32%) Government Security Classifications
17 8 (1.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
18 7 (1.03%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 55 (8.09%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.32%) Docker
3 5 (0.74%) Hyper-V
3 5 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (0.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.44%) Squid
5 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.15%) Ceph
5 1 (0.15%) Firmware
5 1 (0.15%) RACF
5 1 (0.15%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 14 (2.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (1.91%) Terraform
3 12 (1.76%) Kubernetes
4 11 (1.62%) Nmap
5 9 (1.32%) Ansible
5 9 (1.32%) SCCM
6 8 (1.18%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (0.74%) Functional Safety
7 5 (0.74%) QRadar
8 4 (0.59%) WSUS
9 3 (0.44%) Podman
10 2 (0.29%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 2 (0.29%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.29%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.29%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.29%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.15%) CASB
11 1 (0.15%) HP Fortify
11 1 (0.15%) logstash
11 1 (0.15%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 117 (17.21%) Microsoft
2 37 (5.44%) ServiceNow
3 26 (3.82%) Oracle
4 20 (2.94%) CyberArk
5 18 (2.65%) Google
6 17 (2.50%) BeyondTrust
7 15 (2.21%) Cisco
8 13 (1.91%) CrowdStrike
9 10 (1.47%) SAP
10 9 (1.32%) Splunk
11 8 (1.18%) Ariba
11 8 (1.18%) IBM
11 8 (1.18%) Remedy
12 7 (1.03%) Palo Alto
13 6 (0.88%) VMware
14 5 (0.74%) Apple
14 5 (0.74%) Sophos
15 4 (0.59%) Atlassian
15 4 (0.59%) NEC
15 4 (0.59%) Qualys