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 23 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 161 146 95
Rank change year-on-year -15 -51 +22
Contract jobs citing Information Security 655 583 990
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.73% 1.84% 2.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.97% 2.07% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 354 334 695
10th Percentile £363 £364 £400
25th Percentile £450 £492 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year -10.42% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £650 £676 £688
90th Percentile £775 £800 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -13.04% +4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 20 52
10th Percentile £17.26 £15.31 £16.03
25th Percentile £20.71 £19.06 £33.48
Median hourly rate £33.50 £24.18 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.54% -51.15% -23.85%
75th Percentile £46.64 £37.25 £83.40
90th Percentile £80.43 £45.36 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.75 £22.09 £50.00
% change year-on-year +39.20% -55.82% -23.37%

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 33,213 28,195 38,072
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.59% 88.98% 87.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,058 17,139 25,095
10th Percentile £305 £306 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £644
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,026 893 1,862
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.94 £17.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £37.01
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -12.19% +15.66%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £30.62 £39.55
% change year-on-year -21.61% -22.59% +52.12%

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 23 January 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 23 January 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 23 January 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 -22 586 £538 -10.42% 457
UK excluding London -22 311 £500 -13.04% 405
London -13 270 £575 -4.17% 134
Work from Home +2 187 £538 -2.27% 270
South East -19 94 £563 -2.17% 127
North of England -36 76 £475 -13.64% 86
North West -23 49 £466 -12.99% 50
Midlands -47 43 £414 -33.27% 51
South West -6 40 £500 -25.93% 53
East of England -1 38 £520 -13.33% 59
Yorkshire -34 24 £477 -13.27% 24
West Midlands -58 24 £414 -46.44% 26
East Midlands -13 19 £413 +37.50% 24
Scotland +6 15 £438 -8.28% 14
Wales +2 5 £388 - 16
North East -16 3 £550 -19.41% 12

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 24 (3.66%) SharePoint
2 16 (2.44%) Confluence
3 14 (2.14%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (1.07%) Mattermost
4 7 (1.07%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.92%) IIS
6 5 (0.76%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
7 1 (0.15%) Apache
7 1 (0.15%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 60 (9.16%) Microsoft Office
2 30 (4.58%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (2.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.46%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.46%) Navisworks
4 3 (0.46%) Revit
5 2 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.31%) ProjectWise
5 2 (0.31%) 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
Business Applications
1 15 (2.29%) Remedy ITSM
2 9 (1.37%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.31%) assyst
3 2 (0.31%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.31%) Temenos T24
4 1 (0.15%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 120 (18.32%) Azure
2 84 (12.82%) AWS
3 40 (6.11%) Microsoft 365
4 36 (5.50%) GCP
5 34 (5.19%) Entra ID
6 23 (3.51%) SaaS
7 21 (3.21%) Power Platform
8 12 (1.83%) OCI
9 11 (1.68%) Azure Sentinel
10 9 (1.37%) GitHub
11 8 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (1.22%) OneDrive
12 7 (1.07%) Microsoft Purview
12 7 (1.07%) Power Automate
13 6 (0.92%) Cloud Computing
13 6 (0.92%) IaaS
13 6 (0.92%) PaaS
13 6 (0.92%) PowerApps
14 4 (0.61%) Amazon S3
14 4 (0.61%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 69 (10.53%) Firewall
2 33 (5.04%) Network Security
3 21 (3.21%) DNS
3 21 (3.21%) TCP/IP
4 14 (2.14%) WAN
5 13 (1.98%) SSH
5 13 (1.98%) Wireless
6 11 (1.68%) DHCP
6 11 (1.68%) HTTP
6 11 (1.68%) Internet
7 8 (1.22%) Intrusion Detection
7 8 (1.22%) VPN
7 8 (1.22%) Wi-Fi
8 7 (1.07%) Skype
8 7 (1.07%) SMTP
9 6 (0.92%) SSL
10 5 (0.76%) FTP
10 5 (0.76%) LAN
11 4 (0.61%) NGFW
11 4 (0.61%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.75%) Power BI
2 10 (1.53%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (0.92%) GIS
3 6 (0.92%) SQL Server
4 4 (0.61%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.61%) Metadata
4 4 (0.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 3 (0.46%) Tableau
6 2 (0.31%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.31%) Amazon Redshift
6 2 (0.31%) BigQuery
6 2 (0.31%) DB2
6 2 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
6 2 (0.31%) MongoDB
6 2 (0.31%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.31%) Power Query
6 2 (0.31%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.15%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.15%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.15%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 21 (3.21%) JIRA
2 13 (1.98%) Burp Suite
3 10 (1.53%) Metasploit
4 7 (1.07%) Git
4 7 (1.07%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.46%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.31%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.15%) Balsamiq
7 1 (0.15%) GCC
7 1 (0.15%) GitLab
7 1 (0.15%) MSI
7 1 (0.15%) ScriptRunner
7 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
General
1 240 (36.64%) Social Skills
2 143 (21.83%) Finance
3 85 (12.98%) Public Sector
4 83 (12.67%) Analytical Skills
5 50 (7.63%) Legal
6 38 (5.80%) Banking
7 33 (5.04%) Organisational Skills
8 20 (3.05%) Presentation Skills
9 17 (2.60%) Manufacturing
10 16 (2.44%) Telecoms
11 14 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
12 13 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
12 13 (1.98%) Military
13 9 (1.37%) Retail
14 8 (1.22%) Law
15 7 (1.07%) Marketing
15 7 (1.07%) Police
16 6 (0.92%) Investment Banking
16 6 (0.92%) Local Government
16 6 (0.92%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 142 (21.68%) Analyst
2 60 (9.16%) Consultant
3 50 (7.63%) Security Analyst
4 48 (7.33%) Architect
5 42 (6.41%) Security Engineer
5 42 (6.41%) Senior
6 37 (5.65%) Security Manager
7 35 (5.34%) Support Analyst
8 32 (4.89%) Lead
8 32 (4.89%) Security Architect
9 26 (3.97%) Security Consultant
9 26 (3.97%) Security Officer
10 23 (3.51%) Security Specialist
11 22 (3.36%) Information Analyst
11 22 (3.36%) Information Security Analyst
12 17 (2.60%) Coordinator
12 17 (2.60%) IT Analyst
13 16 (2.44%) Cybersecurity Manager
13 16 (2.44%) Developer
14 15 (2.29%) Information Security Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (1.83%) OAuth
2 11 (1.68%) Middleware
2 11 (1.68%) SailPoint
3 10 (1.53%) SAML
4 9 (1.37%) LDAP
4 9 (1.37%) OpenID
4 9 (1.37%) Oracle Fusion
5 8 (1.22%) OAuth2
6 6 (0.92%) Qt
7 4 (0.61%) .NET
7 4 (0.61%) Spring
7 4 (0.61%) Spring Boot
8 3 (0.46%) ADO
8 3 (0.46%) Elastic Stack
8 3 (0.46%) J2EE
8 3 (0.46%) JSP
8 3 (0.46%) JWT
8 3 (0.46%) Node.js
8 3 (0.46%) REST
8 3 (0.46%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 123 (18.78%) Management Information System
2 85 (12.98%) Security Posture
3 31 (4.73%) Cyber Threat
4 25 (3.82%) PKI
5 23 (3.51%) Onboarding
6 15 (2.29%) Cloud Native
6 15 (2.29%) Data Centre
6 15 (2.29%) Insider Threat
6 15 (2.29%) Operational Technology
7 14 (2.14%) Security Operations Centre
8 12 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
9 11 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
9 11 (1.68%) Tandem
10 10 (1.53%) Analytical Mindset
10 10 (1.53%) Greenfield Project
10 10 (1.53%) Product Ownership
11 8 (1.22%) CSOC
11 8 (1.22%) Legacy Systems
11 8 (1.22%) Mobile App
11 8 (1.22%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 74 (11.30%) Windows
2 45 (6.87%) Linux
3 17 (2.60%) Windows Server
4 15 (2.29%) Unix
5 3 (0.46%) Kali Linux
5 3 (0.46%) Mac OS
5 3 (0.46%) Windows 10
5 3 (0.46%) zOS
6 1 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.15%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 224 (34.20%) Cybersecurity
2 160 (24.43%) Risk Management
3 122 (18.63%) Problem-Solving
4 106 (16.18%) Data Protection
5 104 (15.88%) Stakeholder Management
6 92 (14.05%) Incident Response
7 91 (13.89%) Continuous Improvement
8 79 (12.06%) Cloud Security
9 74 (11.30%) ITIL
10 67 (10.23%) Agile
11 63 (9.62%) Security Management
12 59 (9.01%) Security Operations
13 58 (8.85%) Computer Science
14 55 (8.40%) SIEM
14 55 (8.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 54 (8.24%) Threat Modelling
16 47 (7.18%) Incident Management
17 46 (7.02%) Roadmaps
18 44 (6.72%) Information Security Management
18 44 (6.72%) Security Architecture
Programming Languages
1 55 (8.40%) Python
2 45 (6.87%) PowerShell
3 33 (5.04%) SQL
4 15 (2.29%) Java
5 9 (1.37%) Bash
6 6 (0.92%) C++
7 5 (0.76%) Go
8 4 (0.61%) Kotlin
8 4 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (0.46%) C#
9 3 (0.46%) RPG
10 2 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.31%) JavaScript
10 2 (0.31%) Perl
10 2 (0.31%) R
10 2 (0.31%) Rust
10 2 (0.31%) Solidity
11 1 (0.15%) Korn
11 1 (0.15%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.15%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 191 (29.16%) Security Cleared
2 137 (20.92%) SC Cleared
3 128 (19.54%) Degree
4 113 (17.25%) CISSP
5 84 (12.82%) CISM
6 52 (7.94%) DV Cleared
7 45 (6.87%) Computer Science Degree
8 32 (4.89%) CISA
9 28 (4.27%) Master's Degree
10 24 (3.66%) Cisco Certification
11 21 (3.21%) BPSS Clearance
11 21 (3.21%) CRISC
12 20 (3.05%) ITIL Certification
13 17 (2.60%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 17 (2.60%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
14 15 (2.29%) CCSP
15 13 (1.98%) Azure Certification
15 13 (1.98%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
16 12 (1.83%) CompTIA Security+
16 12 (1.83%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 195 (29.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 149 (22.75%) NIST
3 102 (15.57%) GDPR
4 61 (9.31%) GRC
5 41 (6.26%) PCI DSS
6 25 (3.82%) Cyber Essentials
7 24 (3.66%) COBIT
8 22 (3.36%) QA
9 21 (3.21%) NCSC
10 19 (2.90%) PMO
11 16 (2.44%) Accessibility
12 15 (2.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 14 (2.14%) Def Stans
14 12 (1.83%) NIST 800
15 11 (1.68%) RMADS
16 10 (1.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 10 (1.53%) SLA
17 9 (1.37%) Data Quality
17 9 (1.37%) JSP 440
18 8 (1.22%) SOC 2
System Software
1 54 (8.24%) Active Directory
2 14 (2.14%) Virtual Machines
3 10 (1.53%) Docker
4 4 (0.61%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.15%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.15%) Microsoft App-V
5 1 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 22 (3.36%) Microsoft Intune
2 18 (2.75%) Kubernetes
3 15 (2.29%) HP SiteScope
3 15 (2.29%) SCCM
3 15 (2.29%) SCOM
4 14 (2.14%) Terraform
5 12 (1.83%) QRadar
6 11 (1.68%) Ansible
6 11 (1.68%) Nmap
7 6 (0.92%) CASB
7 6 (0.92%) SCOrch
8 5 (0.76%) Functional Safety
8 5 (0.76%) WSUS
9 4 (0.61%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.46%) CSIRT
10 3 (0.46%) Grafana
10 3 (0.46%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
11 2 (0.31%) EnCase
11 2 (0.31%) FTK
Vendors
1 133 (20.31%) Microsoft
2 26 (3.97%) Splunk
3 23 (3.51%) ServiceNow
4 22 (3.36%) Cisco
5 18 (2.75%) Google
6 17 (2.60%) Remedy
7 15 (2.29%) IBM
8 13 (1.98%) CyberArk
9 12 (1.83%) CrowdStrike
9 12 (1.83%) Oracle
10 11 (1.68%) Fortinet
11 10 (1.53%) Salesforce
12 9 (1.37%) Palo Alto
12 9 (1.37%) Thales
13 8 (1.22%) Gemalto
14 7 (1.07%) Databricks
14 7 (1.07%) Qualys
14 7 (1.07%) SAP
15 6 (0.92%) Sophos
16 5 (0.76%) VMware