NCSC Contracts

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring NCSC skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited NCSC over the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 409 418 459
Rank change year-on-year +9 +41 +169
Contract jobs citing NCSC 110 184 260
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.38% 0.42% 0.44%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.41% 2.94% 3.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 67 91 171
10th Percentile £500 £500 £500
25th Percentile £563 £563 £603
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £630 £613 £675
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -9.26% +10.20%
75th Percentile £738 £694 £731
90th Percentile £750 £738 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £650 £600 £700
% change year-on-year +8.33% -14.29% +15.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 2 23
10th Percentile - £80.34 £59.73
25th Percentile £60.75 £80.85 £62.00
Median hourly rate £78.36 £81.71 £72.98
Median % change year-on-year -4.09% +11.96% +17.78%
75th Percentile £88.75 £82.56 £83.31
90th Percentile £92.50 £83.07 £83.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £78.36 £80.00 £72.98
% change year-on-year -2.05% +9.62% +17.78%

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 4,558 6,250 7,982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.59% 14.34% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,921 3,951 5,482
10th Percentile £265 £295 £275
25th Percentile £400 £402 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
75th Percentile £623 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £475
% change year-on-year -2.56% +2.63% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 179 383 225
10th Percentile £18.04 £10.95 £13.21
25th Percentile £22.21 £13.18 £18.70
Median hourly rate £34.50 £21.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +64.29% -44.00% +33.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £45.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £83.01 £67.38 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.78 £18.00 £36.25
% change year-on-year +126.53% -50.34% +72.21%

NCSC
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing NCSC as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing NCSC.

Daily rate trend for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing NCSC over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing NCSC.

Hourly rate trend for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing NCSC over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Top 15 Contract 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 30 April 2025. 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 +5 98 £650 +8.33% 79
UK excluding London +26 81 £650 +8.33% 69
South East +28 44 £630 +2.86% 18
Work from Home -17 38 £625 +4.17% 49
London +3 19 £644 +0.98% 22
North of England +36 15 £725 +26.09% 12
Midlands +31 10 £650 +13.04% 10
West Midlands +23 10 £650 +13.04% 9
South West +18 7 £700 +16.67% 14
Yorkshire +19 6 £725 +26.09% 2
Scotland +10 6 £550 -4.35% 7
North West +11 5 £706 +22.83% 5
North East - 4 £625 - 5
Wales - 2 £488 - 3
East of England +33 1 - - 4

NCSC
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 13 (11.82%) nginx
2 12 (10.91%) Traefik
3 4 (3.64%) Confluence
4 2 (1.82%) Camunda
4 2 (1.82%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (1.82%) SharePoint
4 2 (1.82%) SharePoint Server
5 1 (0.91%) Apache
5 1 (0.91%) IIS
5 1 (0.91%) Tomcat
Applications
1 3 (2.73%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.91%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 37 (33.64%) AWS
2 27 (24.55%) Azure
3 19 (17.27%) Entra ID
4 18 (16.36%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 17 (15.45%) Amazon ECS
5 17 (15.45%) AWS Fargate
6 16 (14.55%) AWS CloudFormation
7 15 (13.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 13 (11.82%) PaaS
9 12 (10.91%) SaaS
10 11 (10.00%) IaaS
11 8 (7.27%) Microsoft 365
12 5 (4.55%) GCP
13 4 (3.64%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (3.64%) GitHub
14 3 (2.73%) Amazon EKS
14 3 (2.73%) Cloud Computing
15 1 (0.91%) AWS CodePipeline
15 1 (0.91%) Azure DevOps
15 1 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 23 (20.91%) DNS
2 22 (20.00%) TCP/IP
3 13 (11.82%) Firewall
4 11 (10.00%) VSAN
5 9 (8.18%) VPN
6 5 (4.55%) Network Security
6 5 (4.55%) SD-WAN
6 5 (4.55%) WAN
7 4 (3.64%) BGP
7 4 (3.64%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (3.64%) DHCP
7 4 (3.64%) Intrusion Detection
7 4 (3.64%) MPLS
7 4 (3.64%) MQTT
7 4 (3.64%) NGFW
7 4 (3.64%) OSPF
8 3 (2.73%) Ethernet
8 3 (2.73%) Internet
8 3 (2.73%) Modbus
8 3 (2.73%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (12.73%) MongoDB
2 7 (6.36%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (1.82%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.91%) Amazon Aurora
4 1 (0.91%) MariaDB
4 1 (0.91%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 19 (17.27%) Jenkins
2 16 (14.55%) GitLab
3 6 (5.45%) JIRA
4 4 (3.64%) Git
5 2 (1.82%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.91%) SonarQube
General
1 36 (32.73%) Public Sector
2 27 (24.55%) Social Skills
3 15 (13.64%) Military
4 8 (7.27%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (2.73%) Law
5 3 (2.73%) Telecoms
6 2 (1.82%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (1.82%) Finance
6 2 (1.82%) Marketing
6 2 (1.82%) Presentation Skills
6 2 (1.82%) Publishing
7 1 (0.91%) Automotive
7 1 (0.91%) Fire and Rescue
7 1 (0.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (0.91%) Legal
7 1 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
7 1 (0.91%) Police
Job Titles
1 39 (35.45%) Architect
2 37 (33.64%) Senior
3 16 (14.55%) Technical Architect
4 14 (12.73%) Security Architect
5 13 (11.82%) Senior DevOps
6 11 (10.00%) DevOps Engineer
7 10 (9.09%) Senior Architect
7 10 (9.09%) Senior Technical Architect
8 9 (8.18%) Senior DevOps Engineer
9 8 (7.27%) Consultant
10 6 (5.45%) Auditor
10 6 (5.45%) Security Auditor
10 6 (5.45%) Security Specialist
11 5 (4.55%) Cybersecurity Architect
11 5 (4.55%) Information Specialist
11 5 (4.55%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 5 (4.55%) Lead
11 5 (4.55%) Security Consultant
11 5 (4.55%) Security Engineer
11 5 (4.55%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (14.55%) Kafka
1 16 (14.55%) Keycloak
2 14 (12.73%) cloud-init
3 4 (3.64%) AngularJS
4 3 (2.73%) .NET
4 3 (2.73%) RESTful
4 3 (2.73%) YAML
5 2 (1.82%) .NET Framework
5 2 (1.82%) ActiveMQ
5 2 (1.82%) Ajax
5 2 (1.82%) CSS
5 2 (1.82%) HTML
5 2 (1.82%) JMS
5 2 (1.82%) LDAP
5 2 (1.82%) Middleware
5 2 (1.82%) OAuth
5 2 (1.82%) OpenID
5 2 (1.82%) RabbitMQ
5 2 (1.82%) SAML
5 2 (1.82%) UIKit
Miscellaneous
1 31 (28.18%) PKI
2 20 (18.18%) Management Information System
3 14 (12.73%) Hybrid Cloud
3 14 (12.73%) Operational Technology
4 8 (7.27%) Public Cloud
4 8 (7.27%) SCADA
5 6 (5.45%) Cyber Threat
6 5 (4.55%) Industrial Internet of Things
6 5 (4.55%) IoT
7 3 (2.73%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.82%) Cyber Defence
8 2 (1.82%) Cyberattack
8 2 (1.82%) Mobile App
8 2 (1.82%) NB-IoT
8 2 (1.82%) NHS
9 1 (0.91%) Algorithms
9 1 (0.91%) Data Structures
9 1 (0.91%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 21 (19.09%) Linux
2 15 (13.64%) CentOS
2 15 (13.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 14 (12.73%) Unix
4 12 (10.91%) Windows
5 7 (6.36%) Windows Server
6 6 (5.45%) Apple iOS
7 5 (4.55%) Mac OS
8 3 (2.73%) Windows 10
9 2 (1.82%) AIX
9 2 (1.82%) Android
9 2 (1.82%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (1.82%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (41.82%) Cybersecurity
2 38 (34.55%) Infrastructure as Code
3 36 (32.73%) CI/CD
4 27 (24.55%) Continuous Integration
5 25 (22.73%) Agile
6 24 (21.82%) Containerisation
6 24 (21.82%) DevOps
7 22 (20.00%) Cloud Security
7 22 (20.00%) Risk Management
8 18 (16.36%) DevSecOps
8 18 (16.36%) Information Security
8 18 (16.36%) Microservices
8 18 (16.36%) TOGAF
9 17 (15.45%) Decision-Making
9 17 (15.45%) Risk Assessment
9 17 (15.45%) Security Architecture
10 14 (12.73%) Continuous Delivery
10 14 (12.73%) Identity Management
10 14 (12.73%) ITIL
10 14 (12.73%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 22 (20.00%) Python
2 16 (14.55%) Bash
3 14 (12.73%) Go
4 10 (9.09%) PowerShell
5 3 (2.73%) Java
5 3 (2.73%) VB
6 2 (1.82%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.82%) Objective-C
6 2 (1.82%) PL/SQL
6 2 (1.82%) SQL
6 2 (1.82%) Swift
6 2 (1.82%) VBScript
7 1 (0.91%) VB6
Qualifications
1 73 (66.36%) Security Cleared
2 59 (53.64%) SC Cleared
3 26 (23.64%) DV Cleared
4 16 (14.55%) AWS Certification
4 16 (14.55%) MCSE
4 16 (14.55%) Microsoft Certification
5 13 (11.82%) Degree
6 11 (10.00%) CISSP
7 10 (9.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 9 (8.18%) CISM
9 6 (5.45%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (4.55%) CCNP
11 2 (1.82%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 2 (1.82%) Azure Certification
11 2 (1.82%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (1.82%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (1.82%) MCP
11 2 (1.82%) MCSA
12 1 (0.91%) BPSS Clearance
12 1 (0.91%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (31.82%) NIST
2 26 (23.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (10.91%) Cyber Essentials
4 7 (6.36%) GRC
5 5 (4.55%) NIST 800
6 3 (2.73%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (2.73%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.91%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.91%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.91%) GDPR
7 1 (0.91%) Government Security Classifications
7 1 (0.91%) ISO 31000
7 1 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 15 (13.64%) VMware Infrastructure
2 12 (10.91%) VMware NSX
3 8 (7.27%) Active Directory
4 5 (4.55%) Docker
5 4 (3.64%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (2.73%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (1.82%) BitLocker
7 2 (1.82%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.91%) Firmware
8 1 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 29 (26.36%) Terraform
2 21 (19.09%) Kubernetes
3 16 (14.55%) Grafana
3 16 (14.55%) Prometheus
4 15 (13.64%) Packer
5 14 (12.73%) Consul
5 14 (12.73%) Istio
5 14 (12.73%) Jamf Pro
5 14 (12.73%) linkerd
5 14 (12.73%) Rancher
5 14 (12.73%) ZABBIX
6 12 (10.91%) HAProxy
7 9 (8.18%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (4.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 5 (4.55%) Ansible
9 4 (3.64%) SCCM
10 2 (1.82%) Puppet
11 1 (0.91%) OPNET
11 1 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 21 (19.09%) VMware
2 14 (12.73%) Okta
2 14 (12.73%) Splunk
3 12 (10.91%) Apple
3 12 (10.91%) Cisco
3 12 (10.91%) ESET
3 12 (10.91%) Palo Alto
4 11 (10.00%) Microsoft
5 4 (3.64%) Google
6 2 (1.82%) McAfee
6 2 (1.82%) Oracle
6 2 (1.82%) QAD
6 2 (1.82%) Symantec
7 1 (0.91%) Atlassian
7 1 (0.91%) Darktrace
7 1 (0.91%) ServiceNow