NCSC Contract Job Trends

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring NCSC skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 357 416 454
Rank change year-on-year +59 +38 -34
Contract jobs citing NCSC 304 104 117
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.63% 0.36% 0.28%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.78% 2.27% 1.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 226 64 75
10th Percentile £450 £500 £484
25th Percentile £513 £563 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £638 £650
Median % change year-on-year -5.88% -1.92% -3.70%
75th Percentile £688 £700 £700
90th Percentile £781 £746 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £640 £613
% change year-on-year -6.25% +4.49% -12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 8 2
10th Percentile £73.26 £49.13 £80.34
25th Percentile £81.90 £60.75 £80.85
Median hourly rate £85.40 £78.36 £81.71
Median % change year-on-year +8.98% -4.09% +10.43%
75th Percentile - £88.75 £82.56
90th Percentile - £92.50 £83.07
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.40 £78.36 £80.00
% change year-on-year +8.98% -2.05% +9.62%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

NCSC falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 8,045 4,579 6,017
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.55% 15.89% 14.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,171 2,943 3,821
10th Percentile £340 £263 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £509
Median % change year-on-year - -1.67% -3.14%
75th Percentile £600 £618 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +5.26% - -2.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 469 172 393
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.96 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £36.00 £32.96 £21.64
Median % change year-on-year +9.22% +52.31% -38.17%
75th Percentile £67.25 £67.50 £48.75
90th Percentile £82.05 £80.00 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £32.96 £18.27
% change year-on-year +21.36% +80.41% -47.80%

NCSC
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing NCSC relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

NCSC job vacancy trend in the UK

NCSC
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NCSC.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NCSC

NCSC
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing NCSC over the 6 months to 24 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NCSC.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NCSC

NCSC
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing NCSC over the 6 months to 24 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Top 13 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing NCSC within the UK over the 6 months to 24 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 +38 268 £600 -7.69% 76
UK excluding London -22 143 £600 -6.25% 63
Work from Home +36 115 £640 +6.67% 44
London +16 104 £625 -3.85% 18
South East -2 87 £600 -8.05% 26
South West -16 26 £600 -9.43% 21
North of England -70 15 £668 +0.75% 4
North West -34 11 £668 -5.49% 3
West Midlands -67 7 £607 -6.62% 4
Midlands -75 7 £607 -6.62% 7
Scotland -3 5 £451 -14.19% 1
Yorkshire -55 4 £638 -12.07% 1
East of England -33 3 £450 +80.72% 3

NCSC
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 7 (2.30%) Confluence
2 3 (0.99%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.66%) Camunda
3 2 (0.66%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.66%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.33%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.33%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 2 (0.66%) PlantUML
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (1.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.66%) SAP GRC
2 2 (0.66%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 105 (34.54%) Azure
2 83 (27.30%) AWS
3 41 (13.49%) Entra ID
4 26 (8.55%) GCP
4 26 (8.55%) OpenShift
5 18 (5.92%) Microsoft 365
6 15 (4.93%) SaaS
7 14 (4.61%) Azure DevOps
8 12 (3.95%) AWS CloudFormation
9 11 (3.62%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 11 (3.62%) AWS KMS
10 10 (3.29%) GitHub
10 10 (3.29%) GitHub Actions
11 9 (2.96%) Amazon EKS
11 9 (2.96%) AWS CloudTrail
11 9 (2.96%) Azure AKS
11 9 (2.96%) IaaS
11 9 (2.96%) PaaS
12 8 (2.63%) AWS Control Tower
12 8 (2.63%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.87%) Firewall
2 19 (6.25%) Network Security
3 11 (3.62%) VPN
4 10 (3.29%) BGP
4 10 (3.29%) IPsec
5 9 (2.96%) OSPF
5 9 (2.96%) SD-WAN
5 9 (2.96%) WAN
6 8 (2.63%) MPLS
7 7 (2.30%) DNS
8 6 (1.97%) Kerberos
8 6 (1.97%) LAN
8 6 (1.97%) VSAN
9 4 (1.32%) Ethernet VPN
9 4 (1.32%) MQTT
9 4 (1.32%) Multicast
9 4 (1.32%) VLAN
9 4 (1.32%) VXLAN
10 3 (0.99%) Intrusion Detection
10 3 (0.99%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.97%) PostgreSQL
2 4 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
2 4 (1.32%) Redis
3 3 (0.99%) Power BI
3 3 (0.99%) Relational Database
4 2 (0.66%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.66%) DynamoDB
4 2 (0.66%) MySQL
5 1 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.33%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.33%) EDRMS
5 1 (0.33%) Metadata
5 1 (0.33%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.33%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 15 (4.93%) Jenkins
2 10 (3.29%) JIRA
3 6 (1.97%) GitLab
4 5 (1.64%) Git
5 2 (0.66%) Ant
5 2 (0.66%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.66%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.66%) Gradle
5 2 (0.66%) JUnit
5 2 (0.66%) Maven
5 2 (0.66%) Mockito
6 1 (0.33%) Gatling
6 1 (0.33%) JMeter
6 1 (0.33%) Postman
6 1 (0.33%) REST Assured
6 1 (0.33%) Selenium
6 1 (0.33%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 87 (28.62%) Public Sector
2 82 (26.97%) Social Skills
3 38 (12.50%) Finance
4 22 (7.24%) Influencing Skills
5 19 (6.25%) Documentation Skills
6 17 (5.59%) Analytical Skills
7 14 (4.61%) Telecoms
8 10 (3.29%) Military
9 9 (2.96%) Law
10 7 (2.30%) Local Government
10 7 (2.30%) Police
11 6 (1.97%) Manufacturing
12 5 (1.64%) Legal
13 3 (0.99%) Electronics
13 3 (0.99%) Marketing
13 3 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
14 2 (0.66%) Aviation
14 2 (0.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 2 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 114 (37.50%) Architect
2 45 (14.80%) Security Architect
3 28 (9.21%) Consultant
3 28 (9.21%) Lead
4 27 (8.88%) Technical Architect
5 26 (8.55%) Senior
6 17 (5.59%) Security Consultant
7 14 (4.61%) Security Manager
8 13 (4.28%) Analyst
8 13 (4.28%) Cloud Architect
8 13 (4.28%) CyberArk Architect
8 13 (4.28%) Lead Architect
9 11 (3.62%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 11 (3.62%) Security Engineer
9 11 (3.62%) Tester
10 10 (3.29%) Cloud Engineer
10 10 (3.29%) Coordinator
10 10 (3.29%) Security Assurance Coordinator
10 10 (3.29%) Solutions Architect
11 9 (2.96%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (7.24%) LDAP
2 18 (5.92%) SAML
3 17 (5.59%) OpenID
4 6 (1.97%) Kafka
5 4 (1.32%) ADO
5 4 (1.32%) ARM Templates
5 4 (1.32%) Keycloak
5 4 (1.32%) Oracle Fusion
5 4 (1.32%) REST
6 3 (0.99%) .NET
6 3 (0.99%) OAuth
7 2 (0.66%) CSS
7 2 (0.66%) HTML
7 2 (0.66%) JSON
7 2 (0.66%) OpenAPI
7 2 (0.66%) RabbitMQ
7 2 (0.66%) RFC 2544
7 2 (0.66%) SOAP
7 2 (0.66%) Spring
7 2 (0.66%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.55%) Cloud Native
2 22 (7.24%) Onboarding
3 20 (6.58%) Operational Technology
4 19 (6.25%) Management Information System
5 15 (4.93%) Cyber Threat
6 13 (4.28%) PKI
6 13 (4.28%) Public Cloud
6 13 (4.28%) Security Posture
7 11 (3.62%) Data Centre
7 11 (3.62%) Security Operations Centre
8 10 (3.29%) CSOC
9 8 (2.63%) SCADA
10 7 (2.30%) Private Cloud
10 7 (2.30%) Product Ownership
11 6 (1.97%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (1.97%) NHS
12 5 (1.64%) Legacy Systems
13 4 (1.32%) Cyberattack
13 4 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
14 3 (0.99%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 24 (7.89%) Linux
2 16 (5.26%) Windows
3 6 (1.97%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (0.99%) Android
5 3 (0.99%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.99%) VMS
6 2 (0.66%) Rocky
6 2 (0.66%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.66%) Unix
7 1 (0.33%) CentOS
7 1 (0.33%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.33%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (43.42%) Cybersecurity
2 74 (24.34%) CI/CD
3 66 (21.71%) DevOps
3 66 (21.71%) Infrastructure as Code
4 63 (20.72%) Cloud Security
5 56 (18.42%) Agile
5 56 (18.42%) Stakeholder Management
6 54 (17.76%) Risk Management
6 54 (17.76%) Security Architecture
7 48 (15.79%) Threat Modelling
8 44 (14.47%) Zero Trust
9 42 (13.82%) Continuous Improvement
9 42 (13.82%) Incident Response
10 39 (12.83%) Roadmaps
11 38 (12.50%) TOGAF
12 37 (12.17%) Containerisation
13 36 (11.84%) SIEM
14 34 (11.18%) DevSecOps
15 33 (10.86%) Architectural Patterns
15 33 (10.86%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 16 (5.26%) Python
2 14 (4.61%) Bicep
3 11 (3.62%) SQL
4 9 (2.96%) PowerShell
5 7 (2.30%) Bash
6 5 (1.64%) Java
7 2 (0.66%) Go
7 2 (0.66%) Kotlin
7 2 (0.66%) Swift
8 1 (0.33%) C#
8 1 (0.33%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 216 (71.05%) Security Cleared
2 183 (60.20%) SC Cleared
3 51 (16.78%) DV Cleared
4 39 (12.83%) CISSP
5 35 (11.51%) CISM
6 26 (8.55%) Cisco Certification
7 20 (6.58%) Degree
8 17 (5.59%) AWS Certification
9 13 (4.28%) CCNP
10 12 (3.95%) GIAC
11 10 (3.29%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 10 (3.29%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 10 (3.29%) Azure Certification
11 10 (3.29%) CEH
11 10 (3.29%) CHECK Team Leader
12 9 (2.96%) CESG Certified Professional
12 9 (2.96%) CompTIA Security+
13 8 (2.63%) CCIE
13 8 (2.63%) CCSP
14 7 (2.30%) CHECK Team Member
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 102 (33.55%) NIST
2 86 (28.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 38 (12.50%) GDPR
4 37 (12.17%) Cyber Essentials
5 23 (7.57%) JSP 440
6 20 (6.58%) NIST 800
7 18 (5.92%) RMADS
8 16 (5.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 14 (4.61%) Government Security Classifications
10 11 (3.62%) GRC
11 10 (3.29%) COBIT
11 10 (3.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 10 (3.29%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 7 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 7 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 6 (1.97%) IASME
14 5 (1.64%) PCI DSS
15 4 (1.32%) Accessibility
15 4 (1.32%) QA
16 3 (0.99%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 26 (8.55%) Active Directory
2 14 (4.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (3.95%) Docker
4 9 (2.96%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.97%) Virtual Desktop
6 5 (1.64%) Hyper-V
7 4 (1.32%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.99%) vSphere
9 2 (0.66%) GPFS
9 2 (0.66%) Lustre
9 2 (0.66%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.33%) KVM
10 1 (0.33%) UAG
Systems Management
1 51 (16.78%) Kubernetes
2 38 (12.50%) Terraform
3 13 (4.28%) Ansible
4 7 (2.30%) Istio
5 6 (1.97%) Grafana
5 6 (1.97%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.64%) Argo
7 4 (1.32%) linkerd
8 3 (0.99%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.66%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.66%) Iperf
9 2 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.66%) Nmap
9 2 (0.66%) SELinux
10 1 (0.33%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.33%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.33%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.33%) McAfee ePO
10 1 (0.33%) SCCM
Vendors
1 53 (17.43%) Microsoft
2 25 (8.22%) VMware
3 22 (7.24%) Splunk
4 17 (5.59%) Cisco
5 14 (4.61%) CyberArk
6 12 (3.95%) Palo Alto
7 10 (3.29%) Citrix
8 9 (2.96%) Fortinet
8 9 (2.96%) Red Hat
9 6 (1.97%) CloudEndure
9 6 (1.97%) Zscaler
10 5 (1.64%) Google
10 5 (1.64%) Juniper
10 5 (1.64%) Oracle
10 5 (1.64%) SAP
11 4 (1.32%) BiZZdesign
11 4 (1.32%) CheckPoint
11 4 (1.32%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.32%) Sparx
12 3 (0.99%) Tenable