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 8 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 358 409 501
Rank change year-on-year +51 +92 -79
Contract jobs citing NCSC 335 136 95
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.64% 0.43% 0.22%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.80% 2.60% 1.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 247 87 64
10th Percentile £450 £500 £475
25th Percentile £513 £555 £523
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £625 £650 £613
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% +6.12% -9.26%
75th Percentile £710 £700 £728
90th Percentile £800 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £644 £575
% change year-on-year -6.80% +11.96% -17.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 13 1
10th Percentile £73.75 £60.75 -
25th Percentile £80.48 £82.50 -
Median hourly rate £83.65 £85.00 £80.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.59% +6.25% -2.03%
75th Percentile £85.40 £91.50 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.40 £85.00 £80.00
% change year-on-year +0.47% +6.25% -3.97%

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 8,821 5,238 5,932
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.91% 16.40% 13.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,650 3,360 3,670
10th Percentile £338 £281 £281
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £611 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +6.38% -1.05% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 544 222 431
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.78 £11.07
25th Percentile £19.30 £18.50 £13.52
Median hourly rate £36.07 £30.00 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year +20.23% +25.00% -39.12%
75th Percentile £68.11 £63.38 £50.54
90th Percentile £81.33 £83.37 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £28.18 £24.00
% change year-on-year +33.07% +17.42% -36.00%

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 8 July 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 8 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Top 14 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 8 July 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 +44 290 £625 -3.85% 79
UK excluding London -25 174 £600 -6.80% 61
Work from Home +42 132 £631 -1.37% 45
London -2 107 £635 -2.31% 28
South East -3 91 £639 -5.37% 27
South West -20 39 £553 -14.34% 10
North of England -69 18 £662 +5.88% 12
West Midlands -53 16 £492 -24.31% 1
Midlands -54 16 £492 -24.31% 2
North West -37 15 £668 +14.84% 9
Scotland -10 8 £663 +32.50% 4
Wales - 4 £800 - 3
East of England -32 3 £450 +414.29% 2
Yorkshire -40 3 £600 -14.29% 2

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 14 (4.18%) Confluence
2 3 (0.90%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.60%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.60%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.30%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.30%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 2 (0.60%) PlantUML
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 9 (2.69%) Oracle ERP
2 3 (0.90%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 2 (0.60%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 116 (34.63%) Azure
2 83 (24.78%) AWS
3 30 (8.96%) Entra ID
4 28 (8.36%) GCP
5 22 (6.57%) SaaS
6 20 (5.97%) Microsoft 365
7 18 (5.37%) OpenShift
8 16 (4.78%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (2.69%) IaaS
9 9 (2.69%) OCI
9 9 (2.69%) PaaS
10 8 (2.39%) Amazon EKS
11 7 (2.09%) Azure AKS
11 7 (2.09%) Azure Monitor
11 7 (2.09%) GitHub
11 7 (2.09%) Serverless
12 6 (1.79%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 5 (1.49%) AWS CloudFormation
13 5 (1.49%) AWS Lambda
13 5 (1.49%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 34 (10.15%) Firewall
2 32 (9.55%) Network Security
3 18 (5.37%) VPN
4 15 (4.48%) DNS
5 13 (3.88%) BGP
6 12 (3.58%) IPsec
6 12 (3.58%) OSPF
6 12 (3.58%) WAN
7 11 (3.28%) MPLS
7 11 (3.28%) SD-WAN
7 11 (3.28%) TCP/IP
8 10 (2.99%) LAN
8 10 (2.99%) VLAN
9 6 (1.79%) Cisco ASA
9 6 (1.79%) Cisco Nexus
9 6 (1.79%) VSAN
10 5 (1.49%) BIG-IP
10 5 (1.49%) Cisco Firepower
10 5 (1.49%) DHCP
10 5 (1.49%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.69%) Geospatial Data
2 6 (1.79%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.90%) Oracle Reports
3 3 (0.90%) Power BI
4 2 (0.60%) DynamoDB
5 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.30%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.30%) Metadata
5 1 (0.30%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.30%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 17 (5.07%) JIRA
2 14 (4.18%) Jenkins
3 11 (3.28%) Git
4 7 (2.09%) MSI
5 3 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.60%) GitLab
General
1 97 (28.96%) Public Sector
2 95 (28.36%) Social Skills
3 36 (10.75%) Finance
4 23 (6.87%) Influencing Skills
5 21 (6.27%) Telecoms
6 20 (5.97%) Documentation Skills
7 17 (5.07%) Analytical Skills
8 13 (3.88%) Military
9 8 (2.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (2.09%) Law
10 7 (2.09%) Local Government
10 7 (2.09%) Police
11 6 (1.79%) Legal
11 6 (1.79%) Manufacturing
12 5 (1.49%) Aerospace
13 4 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.60%) Aviation
14 2 (0.60%) Banking
14 2 (0.60%) Electronics
14 2 (0.60%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 128 (38.21%) Architect
2 56 (16.72%) Security Architect
3 37 (11.04%) Lead
4 33 (9.85%) Technical Architect
5 28 (8.36%) Consultant
5 28 (8.36%) Senior
6 18 (5.37%) Security Consultant
7 17 (5.07%) Security Manager
8 16 (4.78%) Solutions Architect
9 14 (4.18%) Analyst
9 14 (4.18%) Lead Architect
10 13 (3.88%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 13 (3.88%) Technical Leader
11 12 (3.58%) CyberArk Architect
12 11 (3.28%) Developer
12 11 (3.28%) Network Architect
12 11 (3.28%) Tester
13 10 (2.99%) Penetration Tester
13 10 (2.99%) Senior Architect
14 9 (2.69%) Security Assurance Coordinator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (6.27%) OpenID
1 21 (6.27%) SAML
2 20 (5.97%) LDAP
3 13 (3.88%) .NET
4 12 (3.58%) REST
5 9 (2.69%) GeoJSON
5 9 (2.69%) RESTful
6 8 (2.39%) .NET Framework
6 8 (2.39%) OAuth
7 7 (2.09%) .NET Core
7 7 (2.09%) ATL
7 7 (2.09%) COM
7 7 (2.09%) CSS
7 7 (2.09%) CSS3
7 7 (2.09%) HTML
7 7 (2.09%) HTML5
7 7 (2.09%) MFC
7 7 (2.09%) WPF
8 5 (1.49%) SailPoint
9 4 (1.19%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 40 (11.94%) Cloud Native
2 37 (11.04%) Onboarding
3 23 (6.87%) Management Information System
4 21 (6.27%) Cyber Threat
5 20 (5.97%) Operational Technology
5 20 (5.97%) Security Operations Centre
6 18 (5.37%) Security Posture
7 17 (5.07%) Data Centre
7 17 (5.07%) PKI
8 14 (4.18%) Public Cloud
9 13 (3.88%) Hybrid Cloud
9 13 (3.88%) SCADA
10 12 (3.58%) CSOC
10 12 (3.58%) Private Cloud
11 10 (2.99%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (2.99%) Product Ownership
12 6 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
13 5 (1.49%) Data Protection Act
13 5 (1.49%) NHS
14 4 (1.19%) CESG
Operating Systems
1 24 (7.16%) Linux
2 23 (6.87%) Windows
3 7 (2.09%) Mac OS
4 6 (1.79%) Windows Server
5 5 (1.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.90%) VMS
6 3 (0.90%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.60%) Android
7 2 (0.60%) CentOS
7 2 (0.60%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.60%) Unix
8 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.30%) Rocky
8 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 157 (46.87%) Cybersecurity
2 84 (25.07%) CI/CD
3 74 (22.09%) Cloud Security
3 74 (22.09%) Infrastructure as Code
4 72 (21.49%) Agile
5 66 (19.70%) DevOps
6 58 (17.31%) Security Architecture
6 58 (17.31%) Stakeholder Management
7 57 (17.01%) Incident Response
7 57 (17.01%) Risk Management
8 53 (15.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 52 (15.52%) Continuous Improvement
9 52 (15.52%) SIEM
10 51 (15.22%) Threat Modelling
11 45 (13.43%) TOGAF
12 44 (13.13%) Zero Trust
13 41 (12.24%) Vulnerability Management
14 39 (11.64%) DevSecOps
15 38 (11.34%) Architectural Patterns
16 37 (11.04%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 20 (5.97%) Bicep
1 20 (5.97%) Python
2 11 (3.28%) SQL
3 9 (2.69%) PowerShell
4 8 (2.39%) C#
5 7 (2.09%) Java
5 7 (2.09%) JavaScript
5 7 (2.09%) TypeScript
6 3 (0.90%) Bash
7 2 (0.60%) Groovy
8 1 (0.30%) C
8 1 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.30%) Objective-C
8 1 (0.30%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 245 (73.13%) Security Cleared
2 197 (58.81%) SC Cleared
3 69 (20.60%) DV Cleared
4 43 (12.84%) CISSP
5 39 (11.64%) CISM
6 32 (9.55%) Cisco Certification
7 22 (6.57%) Degree
8 17 (5.07%) CCNP
9 13 (3.88%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 12 (3.58%) AWS Certification
11 11 (3.28%) Azure Certification
11 11 (3.28%) CHECK Team Leader
11 11 (3.28%) GIAC
12 10 (2.99%) CESG Certified Professional
13 9 (2.69%) CCIE
13 9 (2.69%) CHECK Team Member
14 8 (2.39%) CCSP
14 8 (2.39%) CEH
14 8 (2.39%) CRISC
14 8 (2.39%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 114 (34.03%) NIST
2 96 (28.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 45 (13.43%) GDPR
4 33 (9.85%) Cyber Essentials
5 26 (7.76%) NIST 800
6 24 (7.16%) JSP 440
7 17 (5.07%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 16 (4.78%) GRC
8 16 (4.78%) RMADS
9 14 (4.18%) Government Security Classifications
10 12 (3.58%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 11 (3.28%) Accessibility
12 10 (2.99%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 9 (2.69%) COBIT
14 8 (2.39%) PCI DSS
15 7 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 20000
15 7 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 7 (2.09%) QA
15 7 (2.09%) WCAG
16 6 (1.79%) Data Quality
System Software
1 29 (8.66%) Active Directory
2 17 (5.07%) Docker
3 15 (4.48%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (4.18%) VMware NSX
5 5 (1.49%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.19%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.90%) vSphere
8 2 (0.60%) KVM
9 1 (0.30%) GPFS
9 1 (0.30%) Lustre
9 1 (0.30%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.30%) UAG
Systems Management
1 52 (15.52%) Kubernetes
2 42 (12.54%) Terraform
3 11 (3.28%) Ansible
4 7 (2.09%) Jamf Pro
5 6 (1.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.90%) Istio
6 3 (0.90%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.60%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.60%) CSIRT
7 2 (0.60%) Grafana
7 2 (0.60%) Iperf
7 2 (0.60%) Nmap
7 2 (0.60%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.30%) CASB
8 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.30%) CloudForms
8 1 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.30%) McAfee ePO
8 1 (0.30%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 69 (20.60%) Microsoft
2 27 (8.06%) VMware
3 20 (5.97%) Cisco
4 17 (5.07%) Splunk
5 16 (4.78%) Palo Alto
6 14 (4.18%) CyberArk
7 10 (2.99%) ServiceNow
8 9 (2.69%) Oracle
9 8 (2.39%) Fortinet
9 8 (2.39%) SAP
10 7 (2.09%) Google
10 7 (2.09%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.79%) F5
12 5 (1.49%) Apple
12 5 (1.49%) CheckPoint
12 5 (1.49%) Zscaler
13 4 (1.19%) Juniper
14 3 (0.90%) BiZZdesign
14 3 (0.90%) Citrix
14 3 (0.90%) Red Hat