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 29 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 210 170 108
Rank change year-on-year -40 -62 -14
Contract jobs citing Information Security 747 559 828
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.39% 1.70% 2.15%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.64% 1.88% 2.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 390 317 536
10th Percentile £331 £333 £375
25th Percentile £442 £418 £489
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £530 £600
Median % change year-on-year +3.77% -11.67% +0.08%
75th Percentile £655 £688 £688
90th Percentile £806 £825 £778
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £600
% change year-on-year - -16.67% +9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 77 35 17
10th Percentile £15.75 £19.29 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.25 £22.14 £13.00
Median hourly rate £62.25 £27.53 £16.19
Median % change year-on-year +126.12% +70.04% -78.12%
75th Percentile £77.50 £65.00 £21.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £83.54 £46.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.25 £32.74 £15.73
% change year-on-year +90.16% +108.11% -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 45,621 29,800 32,930
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.64% 90.44% 85.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,920 18,562 20,756
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
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 2,892 1,765 1,620
10th Percentile £14.10 £14.21 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.85 £17.30 £18.50
Median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £42.03
Median % change year-on-year +63.02% -40.16% +0.31%
75th Percentile £67.84 £47.12 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £67.15 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.11 £22.63 £43.00
% change year-on-year +90.48% -47.37% +14.67%

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 29 August 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 29 August 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 29 August 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 -38 680 £551 +3.57% 1,332
UK excluding London -13 397 £500 - 715
London -39 300 £600 +7.38% 743
Work from Home -47 182 £575 +15.00% 604
North of England -30 113 £483 +2.60% 153
South East -28 108 £500 -20.00% 205
North West -23 78 £518 +16.77% 88
Midlands -21 64 £450 +12.50% 89
South West -19 53 £600 +9.34% 111
West Midlands +1 52 £425 -10.53% 53
Scotland -11 31 £533 +21.16% 50
East of England -16 30 £538 +48.48% 80
Yorkshire -43 23 £533 +7.85% 50
East Midlands -27 12 £533 +33.13% 36
North East -30 11 £425 -21.59% 17
Wales -12 4 £645 -0.77% 13
Northern Ireland +2 1 £550 - 22

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 31 (4.15%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.08%) Confluence
3 9 (1.20%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.67%) IIS
5 2 (0.27%) Apache
5 2 (0.27%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.27%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.27%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.13%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.13%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 19 (2.54%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (1.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (1.07%) Spreadsheet
4 6 (0.80%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.27%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 12 (1.61%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (0.94%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.40%) Oracle Payroll
4 2 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.27%) 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 (23.96%) Azure
2 119 (15.93%) AWS
3 67 (8.97%) Entra ID
4 49 (6.56%) SaaS
5 44 (5.89%) Microsoft 365
6 34 (4.55%) GCP
7 26 (3.48%) GitHub
7 26 (3.48%) Power Platform
8 23 (3.08%) Azure Sentinel
8 23 (3.08%) Microsoft Purview
9 16 (2.14%) OCI
9 16 (2.14%) Power Automate
9 16 (2.14%) Serverless
10 15 (2.01%) Azure DevOps
11 14 (1.87%) Dynamics 365
12 10 (1.34%) IaaS
12 10 (1.34%) PaaS
13 9 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (1.07%) Azure Functions
14 8 (1.07%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 46 (6.16%) Firewall
2 45 (6.02%) Network Security
3 19 (2.54%) WAN
4 16 (2.14%) LAN
5 14 (1.87%) DNS
6 13 (1.74%) VPN
7 11 (1.47%) DHCP
8 10 (1.34%) SSH
8 10 (1.34%) Wireless
9 9 (1.20%) TCP/IP
10 8 (1.07%) Internet
10 8 (1.07%) NGFW
11 7 (0.94%) HTTPS
12 6 (0.80%) HTTP
13 5 (0.67%) SD-WAN
13 5 (0.67%) Structured Cabling
14 4 (0.54%) Cisco IPT
14 4 (0.54%) Intrusion Detection
15 3 (0.40%) Wi-Fi
16 2 (0.27%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (3.48%) SQL Server
2 19 (2.54%) Power BI
3 9 (1.20%) MongoDB
4 7 (0.94%) Metadata
5 4 (0.54%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.54%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
6 3 (0.40%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.27%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.27%) Relational Database
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%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.13%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.13%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (3.75%) JIRA
2 9 (1.20%) Cypress.io
2 9 (1.20%) Postman
2 9 (1.20%) Selenium
2 9 (1.20%) WebDriver
3 6 (0.80%) Cucumber
3 6 (0.80%) Git
4 3 (0.40%) Protractor
5 2 (0.27%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 2 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.27%) Burp Suite
5 2 (0.27%) git-flow
5 2 (0.27%) GitLab
5 2 (0.27%) JMeter
6 1 (0.13%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.13%) LSMW
6 1 (0.13%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.13%) ScalaTest
6 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
6 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 259 (34.67%) Social Skills
2 163 (21.82%) Finance
3 138 (18.47%) Public Sector
4 94 (12.58%) Analytical Skills
5 63 (8.43%) Legal
6 50 (6.69%) Banking
7 45 (6.02%) Documentation Skills
8 30 (4.02%) Influencing Skills
9 28 (3.75%) Organisational Skills
10 27 (3.61%) Local Government
11 25 (3.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 21 (2.81%) Presentation Skills
13 20 (2.68%) Military
14 15 (2.01%) Aerospace
15 14 (1.87%) Law
16 13 (1.74%) Retail
17 12 (1.61%) Billing
18 10 (1.34%) Manufacturing
18 10 (1.34%) Marketing
19 9 (1.20%) Police
Job Titles
1 103 (13.79%) Analyst
2 78 (10.44%) Architect
2 78 (10.44%) Senior
3 74 (9.91%) Consultant
4 63 (8.43%) Lead
5 57 (7.63%) Security Architect
6 50 (6.69%) Security Consultant
7 42 (5.62%) Security Engineer
8 37 (4.95%) Security Manager
9 33 (4.42%) Security Analyst
10 27 (3.61%) Developer
11 25 (3.35%) IT Manager
11 25 (3.35%) Project Manager
12 23 (3.08%) Information Manager
12 23 (3.08%) Security Officer
13 21 (2.81%) Information Security Officer
14 20 (2.68%) Cybersecurity Manager
15 19 (2.54%) Information Officer
16 18 (2.41%) Business Analyst
17 17 (2.28%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.28%) Terraform
2 26 (3.48%) SailPoint
3 24 (3.21%) Oracle Fusion
4 22 (2.95%) OAuth
5 17 (2.28%) SAML
6 16 (2.14%) LDAP
7 15 (2.01%) OAuth2
7 15 (2.01%) OpenID
8 14 (1.87%) Web Services
9 12 (1.61%) XML
10 10 (1.34%) REST
11 9 (1.20%) Gherkin
12 8 (1.07%) JSON
13 5 (0.67%) .NET
13 5 (0.67%) Play Framework
13 5 (0.67%) XSLT
14 4 (0.54%) Jakarta EE
14 4 (0.54%) JSP
15 3 (0.40%) ASP.NET
15 3 (0.40%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 136 (18.21%) Management Information System
2 76 (10.17%) Onboarding
3 53 (7.10%) Security Posture
4 28 (3.75%) Operational Technology
5 26 (3.48%) Cyber Threat
6 24 (3.21%) Security Operations Centre
7 20 (2.68%) Data Centre
7 20 (2.68%) PKI
8 18 (2.41%) Cloud Native
9 15 (2.01%) Enterprise Software
10 13 (1.74%) NHS
11 12 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
11 12 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
12 10 (1.34%) Cyber Defence
13 9 (1.20%) CSOC
13 9 (1.20%) Freedom of Information
13 9 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
13 9 (1.20%) Product Ownership
14 8 (1.07%) Driving Licence
14 8 (1.07%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 84 (11.24%) Windows
2 45 (6.02%) Linux
3 37 (4.95%) Windows Server
4 20 (2.68%) Unix
5 10 (1.34%) Android
6 9 (1.20%) Mac OS
7 8 (1.07%) Apple iOS
8 6 (0.80%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.67%) Windows 10
10 3 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.27%) Alpine Linux
12 1 (0.13%) CentOS
12 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 258 (34.54%) Cybersecurity
2 206 (27.58%) Risk Management
3 180 (24.10%) Stakeholder Management
4 141 (18.88%) Data Protection
5 129 (17.27%) Continuous Improvement
6 105 (14.06%) Problem-Solving
7 104 (13.92%) Incident Response
8 94 (12.58%) Security Operations
8 94 (12.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 86 (11.51%) Vulnerability Management
10 83 (11.11%) Roadmaps
11 82 (10.98%) Agile
11 82 (10.98%) Cloud Security
11 82 (10.98%) Decision-Making
12 67 (8.97%) ITIL
13 65 (8.70%) AI
13 65 (8.70%) Security Architecture
13 65 (8.70%) SIEM
14 62 (8.30%) Computer Science
14 62 (8.30%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 75 (10.04%) Python
2 68 (9.10%) PowerShell
3 30 (4.02%) Bash
4 21 (2.81%) SQL
5 12 (1.61%) C#
5 12 (1.61%) Java
6 10 (1.34%) JavaScript
7 9 (1.20%) PL/SQL
8 7 (0.94%) Bicep
9 6 (0.80%) Kusto Query Language
9 6 (0.80%) Scala
10 3 (0.40%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.40%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.13%) BeanShell
11 1 (0.13%) Go
11 1 (0.13%) R
11 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.13%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 161 (21.55%) Security Cleared
2 126 (16.87%) Degree
3 124 (16.60%) CISSP
4 115 (15.39%) SC Cleared
5 84 (11.24%) CISM
6 46 (6.16%) DV Cleared
7 31 (4.15%) Microsoft Certification
8 30 (4.02%) CISA
9 29 (3.88%) CRISC
10 25 (3.35%) Cisco Certification
11 20 (2.68%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 17 (2.28%) Azure Certification
13 16 (2.14%) AWS Certification
13 16 (2.14%) Computer Science Degree
14 15 (2.01%) CEH
15 14 (1.87%) PMP
16 13 (1.74%) CCSP
16 13 (1.74%) PMI Certification
17 12 (1.61%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
17 12 (1.61%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 194 (25.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 124 (16.60%) NIST
3 120 (16.06%) GDPR
4 110 (14.73%) GRC
5 41 (5.49%) Cyber Essentials
6 38 (5.09%) NCSC
6 38 (5.09%) PCI DSS
7 26 (3.48%) Data Quality
8 24 (3.21%) Accessibility
9 22 (2.95%) QA
10 19 (2.54%) NIST 800
10 19 (2.54%) SLA
11 18 (2.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 16 (2.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 14 (1.87%) HIPAA
14 13 (1.74%) WCAG
15 12 (1.61%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 12 (1.61%) SOC 2
16 10 (1.34%) COBIT
16 10 (1.34%) Government Security Classifications
System Software
1 82 (10.98%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.34%) Docker
3 9 (1.20%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.80%) Hyper-V
5 5 (0.67%) Firmware
6 3 (0.40%) OpenAM
6 3 (0.40%) Squid
7 2 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.13%) Ceph
8 1 (0.13%) RACF
8 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 22 (2.95%) Kubernetes
1 22 (2.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (2.54%) Single Sign-On
3 12 (1.61%) Ansible
4 6 (0.80%) SCCM
5 5 (0.67%) Grafana
5 5 (0.67%) QRadar
6 4 (0.54%) Podman
7 3 (0.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (0.40%) RSA Archer
8 2 (0.27%) CASB
8 2 (0.27%) Computer Incident Response Team
8 2 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.13%) Control-M
9 1 (0.13%) Host Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.13%) Istio
9 1 (0.13%) Nmap
9 1 (0.13%) WSUS
Vendors
1 176 (23.56%) Microsoft
2 45 (6.02%) Oracle
3 39 (5.22%) ServiceNow
4 25 (3.35%) Splunk
5 24 (3.21%) Google
6 23 (3.08%) CyberArk
7 21 (2.81%) SAP
8 19 (2.54%) BeyondTrust
8 19 (2.54%) Cisco
9 16 (2.14%) Palo Alto
10 15 (2.01%) Apple
10 15 (2.01%) VMware
11 12 (1.61%) Ariba
12 10 (1.34%) Remedy
12 10 (1.34%) Zscaler
13 9 (1.20%) CrowdStrike
14 7 (0.94%) Qualys
14 7 (0.94%) Thales
15 6 (0.80%) Atlassian
15 6 (0.80%) Computacenter