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

6 months to
14 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 180 182 115
Rank change year-on-year +2 -67 -13
Contract jobs citing Information Security 684 453 842
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.44% 1.56% 1.97%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.71% 1.72% 2.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 417 278 525
10th Percentile £405 £313 £363
25th Percentile £463 £425 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £590
Median % change year-on-year - -6.78% -1.67%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £688
90th Percentile £800 £825 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £535 £575
% change year-on-year -1.78% -7.04% +4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 25 25
10th Percentile £16.35 £22.06 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.57 £22.14 £16.71
Median hourly rate £35.50 £24.66 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year +43.96% +26.46% -74.00%
75th Percentile £65.44 £78.36 £23.00
90th Percentile £85.40 £82.59 £33.06
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £25.15 £18.00
% change year-on-year +43.14% +39.72% -76.24%

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 40,111 26,361 36,876
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.33% 90.96% 86.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,183 16,941 23,723
10th Percentile £325 £305 £300
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £516 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.13% -1.71% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £626 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £479 £500
% change year-on-year +2.71% -4.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,380 1,073 2,431
10th Percentile £14.89 £14.41 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £18.38 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £28.60 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +48.60% -21.64% +1.39%
75th Percentile £67.25 £60.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.78 £38.00
% change year-on-year +74.59% -32.17% +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 14 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 14 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 14 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 -10 617 £550 - 348
UK excluding London -2 328 £525 -1.78% 260
London -3 298 £593 +12.86% 131
Work from Home -13 186 £550 +4.76% 185
South East -3 120 £550 -11.29% 87
North of England -46 68 £540 +27.06% 60
North West -16 48 £550 +37.50% 47
Midlands -29 47 £540 +35.00% 48
East of England -9 40 £575 -4.17% 23
West Midlands -32 36 £500 +25.00% 37
South West -18 31 £500 -14.89% 30
Scotland +7 21 £358 -25.26% 11
Yorkshire -49 17 £500 +21.21% 11
East Midlands -23 11 £591 - 10
Wales -9 3 £645 +258.33% 4
North East -22 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 (3.36%) Confluence
2 16 (2.34%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.17%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (0.88%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
5 4 (0.58%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.29%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 37 (5.41%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (5.26%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (2.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.61%) 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 10 (1.46%) Oracle EBS
2 6 (0.88%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.58%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.29%) SAP GRC
4 2 (0.29%) Temenos T24
5 1 (0.15%) Oracle Applications
Cloud Services
1 150 (21.93%) Azure
2 107 (15.64%) AWS
3 46 (6.73%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (5.56%) Entra ID
5 34 (4.97%) SaaS
6 32 (4.68%) GCP
7 26 (3.80%) Power Platform
8 20 (2.92%) Microsoft Purview
9 18 (2.63%) GitHub
10 14 (2.05%) OCI
11 13 (1.90%) Azure Sentinel
12 9 (1.32%) IaaS
13 8 (1.17%) Microsoft Copilot
13 8 (1.17%) Power Automate
14 7 (1.02%) PowerApps
15 6 (0.88%) Azure Data Factory
15 6 (0.88%) Azure DevOps
15 6 (0.88%) Azure Logic Apps
15 6 (0.88%) OneDrive
15 6 (0.88%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 49 (7.16%) Firewall
2 42 (6.14%) Network Security
3 16 (2.34%) DNS
4 15 (2.19%) Wireless
5 14 (2.05%) TCP/IP
6 13 (1.90%) HTTP
6 13 (1.90%) VPN
7 9 (1.32%) SSH
8 7 (1.02%) DHCP
9 6 (0.88%) Internet
9 6 (0.88%) SSL
9 6 (0.88%) WAN
10 5 (0.73%) FTP
10 5 (0.73%) Intrusion Detection
10 5 (0.73%) SMTP
11 4 (0.58%) HTTPS
12 3 (0.44%) Cisco IPT
12 3 (0.44%) NGFW
12 3 (0.44%) SAN
12 3 (0.44%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (3.36%) Power BI
2 13 (1.90%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.32%) Metadata
4 8 (1.17%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (0.88%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.58%) Big Data
6 4 (0.58%) Hadoop
6 4 (0.58%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (0.44%) DynamoDB
7 3 (0.44%) MongoDB
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%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.29%) MySQL
8 2 (0.29%) Oracle BI Publisher
9 1 (0.15%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.15%) Relational Database
9 1 (0.15%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 24 (3.51%) JIRA
2 14 (2.05%) Burp Suite
3 12 (1.75%) Metasploit
4 9 (1.32%) Git
5 2 (0.29%) git-flow
5 2 (0.29%) GitLab
6 1 (0.15%) AppScan
6 1 (0.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.15%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.15%) JMeter
6 1 (0.15%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.15%) SoapUI
6 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
General
1 216 (31.58%) Social Skills
2 142 (20.76%) Finance
3 100 (14.62%) Public Sector
4 90 (13.16%) Analytical Skills
5 65 (9.50%) Legal
6 57 (8.33%) Banking
7 28 (4.09%) Organisational Skills
8 24 (3.51%) Documentation Skills
9 20 (2.92%) Influencing Skills
10 14 (2.05%) Retail
11 13 (1.90%) Presentation Skills
12 12 (1.75%) Local Government
13 9 (1.32%) Telecoms
14 8 (1.17%) Law
14 8 (1.17%) Marketing
15 6 (0.88%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.88%) Police
16 5 (0.73%) Cyber-Physical System
16 5 (0.73%) Military
16 5 (0.73%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 100 (14.62%) Analyst
2 72 (10.53%) Consultant
3 59 (8.63%) Security Engineer
4 51 (7.46%) Architect
4 51 (7.46%) Senior
5 48 (7.02%) Security Consultant
6 47 (6.87%) Lead
7 40 (5.85%) Security Analyst
8 39 (5.70%) Security Manager
9 37 (5.41%) Security Architect
10 34 (4.97%) Security Officer
11 26 (3.80%) Project Manager
12 24 (3.51%) Developer
13 22 (3.22%) Information Security Officer
14 20 (2.92%) IT Manager
15 19 (2.78%) Business Analyst
15 19 (2.78%) Cybersecurity Manager
16 17 (2.49%) Security Specialist
17 15 (2.19%) Information Analyst
17 15 (2.19%) Information Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.36%) OAuth
2 18 (2.63%) SailPoint
3 16 (2.34%) OAuth2
3 16 (2.34%) Oracle Fusion
4 15 (2.19%) LDAP
5 12 (1.75%) SAML
6 11 (1.61%) OpenID
7 8 (1.17%) Web Services
8 7 (1.02%) J2EE
8 7 (1.02%) JSP
8 7 (1.02%) Spring
8 7 (1.02%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.88%) .NET
9 6 (0.88%) Middleware
10 5 (0.73%) Node.js
10 5 (0.73%) REST
11 4 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
11 4 (0.58%) Kafka
11 4 (0.58%) RESTful
11 4 (0.58%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 109 (15.94%) Management Information System
2 63 (9.21%) Security Posture
3 49 (7.16%) Onboarding
4 36 (5.26%) Operational Technology
5 21 (3.07%) Cyber Threat
6 18 (2.63%) Data Protection Act
7 16 (2.34%) Cloud Native
7 16 (2.34%) Security Operations Centre
8 13 (1.90%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (1.75%) Virtual Team
10 11 (1.61%) BYOD
10 11 (1.61%) Insider Threat
10 11 (1.61%) Legacy Systems
10 11 (1.61%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.46%) CSOC
11 10 (1.46%) Product Ownership
11 10 (1.46%) SCADA
12 9 (1.32%) Data Centre
12 9 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
12 9 (1.32%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 77 (11.26%) Windows
2 40 (5.85%) Linux
3 30 (4.39%) Windows Server
4 15 (2.19%) Unix
5 8 (1.17%) Apple iOS
6 7 (1.02%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.44%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.44%) zOS
8 1 (0.15%) Android
8 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 249 (36.40%) Cybersecurity
2 177 (25.88%) Risk Management
3 119 (17.40%) Continuous Improvement
4 108 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
4 108 (15.79%) Stakeholder Management
5 107 (15.64%) Data Protection
6 85 (12.43%) Cloud Security
7 71 (10.38%) Security Management
7 71 (10.38%) Security Operations
8 70 (10.23%) Agile
9 68 (9.94%) Incident Response
10 63 (9.21%) Roadmaps
11 60 (8.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 59 (8.63%) Change Management
13 58 (8.48%) AI
13 58 (8.48%) SIEM
14 56 (8.19%) Computer Science
15 54 (7.89%) Information Security Management
16 52 (7.60%) Decision-Making
17 51 (7.46%) Risk Assessment
Programming Languages
1 81 (11.84%) Python
2 62 (9.06%) PowerShell
3 25 (3.65%) Java
4 23 (3.36%) Bash
5 17 (2.49%) SQL
6 7 (1.02%) Kotlin
7 6 (0.88%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.73%) C#
8 5 (0.73%) Go
9 3 (0.44%) RPG
10 2 (0.29%) Apex Code
10 2 (0.29%) Bicep
10 2 (0.29%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.15%) BeanShell
11 1 (0.15%) C++
11 1 (0.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.15%) Lisp
11 1 (0.15%) R
11 1 (0.15%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 190 (27.78%) Security Cleared
2 145 (21.20%) SC Cleared
3 138 (20.18%) Degree
4 124 (18.13%) CISSP
5 85 (12.43%) CISM
6 47 (6.87%) DV Cleared
7 33 (4.82%) CISA
8 29 (4.24%) Cisco Certification
9 28 (4.09%) CRISC
10 24 (3.51%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 24 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
11 18 (2.63%) CEH
12 17 (2.49%) CREST Certified
12 17 (2.49%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 15 (2.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
14 14 (2.05%) Postgraduate
15 13 (1.90%) AWS Certification
15 13 (1.90%) Master's Degree
15 13 (1.90%) PMP
16 12 (1.75%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 225 (32.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 151 (22.08%) NIST
3 117 (17.11%) GDPR
4 90 (13.16%) GRC
5 51 (7.46%) PCI DSS
6 31 (4.53%) Cyber Essentials
7 29 (4.24%) COBIT
8 25 (3.65%) NCSC
8 25 (3.65%) PMO
8 25 (3.65%) QA
9 23 (3.36%) Data Quality
10 20 (2.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 18 (2.63%) NIST 800
12 14 (2.05%) SOC 2
13 13 (1.90%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 12 (1.75%) Accessibility
14 12 (1.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 9 (1.32%) HIPAA
16 7 (1.02%) Government Security Classifications
16 7 (1.02%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 53 (7.75%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.32%) Docker
3 6 (0.88%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.88%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.73%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.44%) Squid
6 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.15%) Ceph
6 1 (0.15%) Firmware
6 1 (0.15%) RACF
6 1 (0.15%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 17 (2.49%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (1.90%) Kubernetes
2 13 (1.90%) Terraform
3 11 (1.61%) Nmap
4 10 (1.46%) Ansible
4 10 (1.46%) SCCM
5 7 (1.02%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.73%) Functional Safety
6 5 (0.73%) QRadar
7 4 (0.58%) WSUS
8 3 (0.44%) Podman
9 2 (0.29%) CASB
9 2 (0.29%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 2 (0.29%) FortiGate
9 2 (0.29%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.29%) Red Hat Satellite
10 1 (0.15%) logstash
10 1 (0.15%) Nessus
10 1 (0.15%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.15%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 119 (17.40%) Microsoft
2 36 (5.26%) ServiceNow
3 23 (3.36%) Oracle
4 19 (2.78%) CyberArk
5 18 (2.63%) Google
6 16 (2.34%) Cisco
7 15 (2.19%) BeyondTrust
8 13 (1.90%) CrowdStrike
9 9 (1.32%) Palo Alto
9 9 (1.32%) Splunk
10 8 (1.17%) IBM
10 8 (1.17%) Remedy
11 7 (1.02%) VMware
12 5 (0.73%) Apple
12 5 (0.73%) Databricks
12 5 (0.73%) SAP
12 5 (0.73%) Sophos
13 4 (0.58%) Ariba
13 4 (0.58%) Fortinet
13 4 (0.58%) Red Hat