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 26 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 352 402 489
Rank change year-on-year +50 +87 -64
Contract jobs citing NCSC 331 129 99
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.65% 0.43% 0.23%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.86% 2.61% 1.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 80 63
10th Percentile £459 £498 £476
25th Percentile £513 £562 £538
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £615 £650 £650
Median % change year-on-year -5.38% - -3.70%
75th Percentile £713 £700 £731
90th Percentile £800 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £645 £600
% change year-on-year -6.98% +7.50% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 12 2
10th Percentile £73.75 £60.75 £80.34
25th Percentile £80.48 £77.06 £80.85
Median hourly rate £83.65 £85.00 £81.71
Median % change year-on-year -1.59% +4.03% +5.43%
75th Percentile £85.40 £91.50 £82.56
90th Percentile - - £83.07
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.40 £85.00 £80.00
% change year-on-year +0.47% +6.25% +6.68%

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 8,584 4,943 5,966
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.87% 16.34% 13.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,498 3,166 3,714
10th Percentile £340 £275 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £723 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +6.38% -1.05% -2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 522 201 432
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.09 £11.06
25th Percentile £19.24 £18.50 £13.30
Median hourly rate £36.07 £31.64 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +14.00% +32.94% -36.53%
75th Percentile £67.50 £65.00 £50.27
90th Percentile £82.22 £83.41 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.50 £31.57 £19.50
% change year-on-year +25.14% +61.87% -45.07%

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 26 June 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 26 June 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 26 June 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 +28 286 £623 -4.23% 69
UK excluding London -37 164 £600 -6.98% 56
Work from Home +36 133 £625 -2.34% 32
London +7 109 £625 -3.85% 17
South East -2 87 £629 -6.85% 26
South West -17 36 £600 -6.98% 7
North of England -58 17 £662 +5.88% 10
North West -34 14 £668 +14.84% 6
West Midlands -55 14 £492 -24.31% 3
Midlands -60 14 £492 -24.31% 7
Scotland -8 8 £663 +32.50% 2
Wales - 4 £800 - 2
East of England -35 3 £450 +414.29% 2
Yorkshire -46 3 £600 -14.29% 4

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 12 (3.63%) Confluence
2 3 (0.91%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.60%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.60%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.30%) Camunda
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 8 (2.42%) Oracle ERP
2 5 (1.51%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 2 (0.60%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 118 (35.65%) Azure
2 85 (25.68%) AWS
3 32 (9.67%) GCP
4 31 (9.37%) Entra ID
5 20 (6.04%) SaaS
6 19 (5.74%) Microsoft 365
6 19 (5.74%) OpenShift
7 17 (5.14%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (3.02%) IaaS
8 10 (3.02%) PaaS
9 9 (2.72%) OCI
10 8 (2.42%) Amazon EKS
10 8 (2.42%) Azure AKS
10 8 (2.42%) Azure Monitor
10 8 (2.42%) GitHub
11 7 (2.11%) Serverless
12 6 (1.81%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 5 (1.51%) AWS Lambda
13 5 (1.51%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (1.51%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 33 (9.97%) Firewall
2 27 (8.16%) Network Security
3 16 (4.83%) VPN
4 13 (3.93%) BGP
5 12 (3.63%) IPsec
5 12 (3.63%) OSPF
5 12 (3.63%) WAN
6 11 (3.32%) DNS
6 11 (3.32%) MPLS
6 11 (3.32%) SD-WAN
7 10 (3.02%) LAN
8 8 (2.42%) VLAN
9 7 (2.11%) TCP/IP
10 6 (1.81%) Cisco ASA
10 6 (1.81%) Cisco Nexus
10 6 (1.81%) VSAN
11 5 (1.51%) BIG-IP
11 5 (1.51%) Cisco Firepower
11 5 (1.51%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 4 (1.21%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (2.11%) Geospatial Data
2 6 (1.81%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.91%) Oracle Reports
3 3 (0.91%) Power BI
4 2 (0.60%) DynamoDB
4 2 (0.60%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.30%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.30%) Metadata
5 1 (0.30%) MySQL
5 1 (0.30%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 16 (4.83%) JIRA
2 14 (4.23%) Jenkins
3 10 (3.02%) Git
4 5 (1.51%) MSI
5 3 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.60%) GitLab
7 1 (0.30%) Ant
7 1 (0.30%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.30%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.30%) Gradle
7 1 (0.30%) JUnit
7 1 (0.30%) Maven
7 1 (0.30%) Mockito
General
1 98 (29.61%) Public Sector
2 90 (27.19%) Social Skills
3 37 (11.18%) Finance
4 23 (6.95%) Influencing Skills
5 20 (6.04%) Documentation Skills
5 20 (6.04%) Telecoms
6 18 (5.44%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (3.63%) Military
8 9 (2.72%) Law
9 7 (2.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (2.11%) Local Government
9 7 (2.11%) Manufacturing
9 7 (2.11%) Police
10 6 (1.81%) Legal
11 4 (1.21%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.91%) Electronics
12 3 (0.91%) Marketing
13 2 (0.60%) Aviation
13 2 (0.60%) Banking
Job Titles
1 126 (38.07%) Architect
2 54 (16.31%) Security Architect
3 37 (11.18%) Lead
4 33 (9.97%) Technical Architect
5 31 (9.37%) Consultant
6 29 (8.76%) Senior
7 20 (6.04%) Security Consultant
8 16 (4.83%) Security Manager
9 15 (4.53%) Solutions Architect
10 13 (3.93%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 13 (3.93%) Lead Architect
10 13 (3.93%) Technical Leader
11 12 (3.63%) CyberArk Architect
12 11 (3.32%) Analyst
12 11 (3.32%) Coordinator
12 11 (3.32%) Security Assurance Coordinator
13 10 (3.02%) Senior Architect
13 10 (3.02%) Tester
14 9 (2.72%) Cloud Engineer
14 9 (2.72%) Cybersecurity Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (6.34%) LDAP
1 21 (6.34%) OpenID
1 21 (6.34%) SAML
2 11 (3.32%) .NET
3 10 (3.02%) REST
4 8 (2.42%) OAuth
5 7 (2.11%) GeoJSON
5 7 (2.11%) RESTful
6 6 (1.81%) .NET Framework
6 6 (1.81%) CSS
6 6 (1.81%) HTML
7 5 (1.51%) .NET Core
7 5 (1.51%) ATL
7 5 (1.51%) COM
7 5 (1.51%) CSS3
7 5 (1.51%) HTML5
7 5 (1.51%) MFC
7 5 (1.51%) SailPoint
7 5 (1.51%) WPF
8 4 (1.21%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 39 (11.78%) Cloud Native
2 31 (9.37%) Onboarding
3 23 (6.95%) Management Information System
4 17 (5.14%) Cyber Threat
4 17 (5.14%) Data Centre
4 17 (5.14%) Operational Technology
4 17 (5.14%) Security Posture
5 16 (4.83%) Security Operations Centre
6 14 (4.23%) PKI
6 14 (4.23%) Public Cloud
7 13 (3.93%) Hybrid Cloud
7 13 (3.93%) Private Cloud
8 12 (3.63%) SCADA
9 11 (3.32%) CSOC
10 10 (3.02%) Product Ownership
11 8 (2.42%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (1.51%) Data Protection Act
12 5 (1.51%) NHS
13 4 (1.21%) Enterprise Software
14 3 (0.91%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 23 (6.95%) Linux
2 19 (5.74%) Windows
3 6 (1.81%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.21%) Android
4 4 (1.21%) Mac OS
5 3 (0.91%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (0.91%) VMS
6 2 (0.60%) Unix
7 1 (0.30%) CentOS
7 1 (0.30%) Rocky
7 1 (0.30%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 151 (45.62%) Cybersecurity
2 81 (24.47%) CI/CD
3 75 (22.66%) Cloud Security
4 74 (22.36%) Agile
5 73 (22.05%) Infrastructure as Code
6 70 (21.15%) DevOps
7 63 (19.03%) Stakeholder Management
8 58 (17.52%) Risk Management
8 58 (17.52%) Security Architecture
9 53 (16.01%) Threat Modelling
10 52 (15.71%) Continuous Improvement
10 52 (15.71%) Incident Response
11 49 (14.80%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 46 (13.90%) Zero Trust
13 45 (13.60%) SIEM
13 45 (13.60%) TOGAF
14 38 (11.48%) Architectural Patterns
14 38 (11.48%) DevSecOps
14 38 (11.48%) Vulnerability Management
15 37 (11.18%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 20 (6.04%) Bicep
2 16 (4.83%) Python
3 12 (3.63%) SQL
4 8 (2.42%) PowerShell
5 7 (2.11%) Java
6 6 (1.81%) C#
7 5 (1.51%) JavaScript
7 5 (1.51%) TypeScript
8 3 (0.91%) Bash
9 2 (0.60%) Groovy
9 2 (0.60%) Kotlin
9 2 (0.60%) Swift
10 1 (0.30%) Go
Qualifications
1 241 (72.81%) Security Cleared
2 196 (59.21%) SC Cleared
3 64 (19.34%) DV Cleared
4 41 (12.39%) CISSP
5 38 (11.48%) CISM
6 31 (9.37%) Cisco Certification
7 22 (6.65%) Degree
8 17 (5.14%) CCNP
9 12 (3.63%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 12 (3.63%) AWS Certification
9 12 (3.63%) Azure Certification
10 11 (3.32%) GIAC
11 10 (3.02%) CHECK Team Leader
12 9 (2.72%) CCIE
12 9 (2.72%) CEH
12 9 (2.72%) CESG Certified Professional
12 9 (2.72%) CompTIA Security+
13 8 (2.42%) CCSP
13 8 (2.42%) CRISC
13 8 (2.42%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 111 (33.53%) NIST
2 95 (28.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 48 (14.50%) GDPR
4 31 (9.37%) Cyber Essentials
5 22 (6.65%) NIST 800
6 21 (6.34%) JSP 440
7 18 (5.44%) RMADS
8 16 (4.83%) GRC
9 15 (4.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 15 (4.53%) Government Security Classifications
10 13 (3.93%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 10 (3.02%) COBIT
11 10 (3.02%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 9 (2.72%) Accessibility
13 7 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 7 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 7 (2.11%) PCI DSS
13 7 (2.11%) QA
14 6 (1.81%) IASME
15 5 (1.51%) Data Quality
System Software
1 28 (8.46%) Active Directory
2 16 (4.83%) Docker
3 15 (4.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (4.23%) VMware NSX
5 5 (1.51%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.21%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.91%) vSphere
8 1 (0.30%) GPFS
8 1 (0.30%) KVM
8 1 (0.30%) Lustre
8 1 (0.30%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.30%) UAG
Systems Management
1 52 (15.71%) Kubernetes
2 40 (12.08%) Terraform
3 11 (3.32%) Ansible
4 6 (1.81%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 4 (1.21%) Jamf Pro
6 3 (0.91%) Istio
7 2 (0.60%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.60%) Grafana
7 2 (0.60%) Iperf
7 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.60%) Nmap
7 2 (0.60%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.30%) CloudForms
8 1 (0.30%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.30%) FreeIPA
8 1 (0.30%) McAfee ePO
8 1 (0.30%) SELinux
8 1 (0.30%) VxRail
Vendors
1 64 (19.34%) Microsoft
2 27 (8.16%) VMware
3 20 (6.04%) Cisco
4 17 (5.14%) Splunk
5 16 (4.83%) Palo Alto
6 14 (4.23%) CyberArk
7 10 (3.02%) Oracle
8 9 (2.72%) SAP
8 9 (2.72%) ServiceNow
9 8 (2.42%) Fortinet
9 8 (2.42%) Google
10 7 (2.11%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.81%) F5
12 5 (1.51%) CheckPoint
12 5 (1.51%) Sparx
13 4 (1.21%) Apple
13 4 (1.21%) Juniper
13 4 (1.21%) Red Hat
13 4 (1.21%) Zscaler
14 3 (0.91%) Citrix