Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 7 March 2021

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for NCSC skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited NCSC over the 6 months to 7 March 2021 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

Note that daily and hourly rates are treated separately in these statistics. When calculating contractor rate percentiles, daily rates are never derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
UK
6 months to
7 Mar 2021		 Same period 2020 Same period 2019
Rank 470 551 727
Rank change year-on-year +81 +176 +132
Contract jobs citing NCSC 159 166 161
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.33% 0.25% 0.17%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.04% 2.50% 1.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 122 126
Median daily rate £563 £556 £600
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +1.12% -7.29% -
10th Percentile £285 £413 £390
90th Percentile £700 £675 £756
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £551 £575
% change year-on-year -9.30% -4.13% +21.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
Median hourly rate £58.18 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £58.18 - -

NCSC is in the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills.

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK
Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,233 6,637 10,463
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.88% 10.05% 10.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,467 4,231 6,712
Median daily rate £471 £450 £450
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +4.62% - +2.86%
10th Percentile £260 £215 £250
90th Percentile £650 £638 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £425 £425
Number of hourly rates quoted 244 276 352
Median hourly rate £21.00 £22.90 £20.12
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year -8.28% +13.81% -3.28%
10th Percentile £11.00 £13.00 £10.75
90th Percentile £50.00 £53.00 £47.50
Median hourly rate £19.50 £22.55 £20.24
% change year-on-year -13.51% +11.42% -5.88%

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 7 March 2021.

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
Top 14 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 7 March 2021. 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
Job
Vacancies
England +139 136 £563 -2.17% 31
UK excluding London +140 104 £500 -9.30% 23
South East +136 47 £432 -28.08% 13
London +66 45 £613 +5.38% 10
South West +76 25 £600 +9.09% 3
Work from Home -215 23 £563 -6.25% 5
Scotland +27 15 £425 -14.79% 2
North of England +55 11 £612 +2.00% 3
North West +26 9 £612 +2.00% 3
Midlands +39 4 £525 -3.45% 2
East of England +50 2 £225 -60.04%
Yorkshire +47 2 £575 +59.72%
West Midlands +34 2 £525 -2.33% 2
East Midlands +18 2 £513 -6.82%

For the 6 months to 7 March 2021, IT contractor jobs citing NCSC also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads with a requirement for NCSC.

1 113 (71.07%) Security Cleared
2 93 (58.49%) SC Cleared
3 89 (55.97%) Cybersecurity
4 61 (38.36%) NIST
5 58 (36.48%) CISSP
6 44 (27.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 43 (27.04%) CESG Certified Professional
8 38 (23.90%) Public Sector
8 38 (23.90%) CISM
9 37 (23.27%) Information Security
9 37 (23.27%) Network Security
9 37 (23.27%) SIEM
10 34 (21.38%) Azure
11 33 (20.75%) Security Architecture
12 32 (20.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 30 (18.87%) Firewall
14 28 (17.61%) Internet
14 28 (17.61%) Security Operations
15 26 (16.35%) Security Operations Centre
15 26 (16.35%) Palo Alto
15 26 (16.35%) Microsoft
15 26 (16.35%) Windows
15 26 (16.35%) Risk Management
15 26 (16.35%) AWS
16 25 (15.72%) LogRhythm
17 23 (14.47%) JSP 440
18 22 (13.84%) Fortinet
18 22 (13.84%) Cisco
19 21 (13.21%) TOGAF
19 21 (13.21%) Information Assurance

NCSC
Co-occurring IT Skills by Category

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

Application Platforms
1 8 (5.03%) IIS
2 7 (4.40%) MS Exchange
3 4 (2.52%) Exchange Server 2010
3 4 (2.52%) nginx
4 3 (1.89%) Confluence
4 3 (1.89%) SharePoint
5 2 (1.26%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.63%) Apache
6 1 (0.63%) CMS
6 1 (0.63%) Tomcat
Applications
1 5 (3.14%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.26%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 34 (21.38%) Azure
2 26 (16.35%) AWS
3 18 (11.32%) SaaS
4 14 (8.81%) PaaS
5 12 (7.55%) GCP
5 12 (7.55%) IaaS
6 9 (5.66%) Cloud Computing
7 5 (3.14%) Microsoft 365
8 4 (2.52%) Power Platform
9 3 (1.89%) Azure Active Directory
9 3 (1.89%) G Suite
10 2 (1.26%) PowerApps
11 1 (0.63%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 37 (23.27%) Network Security
2 30 (18.87%) Firewall
3 28 (17.61%) Internet
4 12 (7.55%) DHCP
4 12 (7.55%) DNS
5 10 (6.29%) Intrusion Detection
6 5 (3.14%) BGP
6 5 (3.14%) IPv4
7 4 (2.52%) SAN
7 4 (2.52%) VSAN
8 3 (1.89%) 5G
8 3 (1.89%) TCP/IP
9 2 (1.26%) Skype
9 2 (1.26%) VPN
10 1 (0.63%) IPv6
10 1 (0.63%) LAN
10 1 (0.63%) Software-Defined Networking
10 1 (0.63%) SSL
10 1 (0.63%) Unified Communications
10 1 (0.63%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (5.66%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.52%) MySQL
3 3 (1.89%) Big Data
4 2 (1.26%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.26%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.26%) Power BI
4 2 (1.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 2 (1.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 1 (0.63%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 5 (3.14%) Burp Suite
2 3 (1.89%) JIRA
3 2 (1.26%) Bitbucket
3 2 (1.26%) Git (software)
3 2 (1.26%) TeamCity
4 1 (0.63%) Atlassian Bamboo
4 1 (0.63%) fastlane
4 1 (0.63%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.63%) Snyk
4 1 (0.63%) Xcode
General
1 38 (23.90%) Public Sector
2 10 (6.29%) Finance
3 9 (5.66%) Electronics
3 9 (5.66%) Manufacturing
3 9 (5.66%) Marketing
3 9 (5.66%) Telecoms
4 4 (2.52%) Legal
5 2 (1.26%) Law
Job Titles
1 33 (20.75%) Architect
2 32 (20.13%) Analyst
3 30 (18.87%) Consultant
4 24 (15.09%) Security Architect
4 24 (15.09%) Security Consultant
5 14 (8.81%) Cybersecurity Consultant
6 11 (6.92%) Cloud Architect
7 9 (5.66%) Senior Analyst
8 8 (5.03%) Coordinator
8 8 (5.03%) Security Assurance Coordinator
8 8 (5.03%) Security Specialist
9 7 (4.40%) Cybersecurity Specialist
9 7 (4.40%) Developer
9 7 (4.40%) Junior
9 7 (4.40%) Junior Analyst
9 7 (4.40%) Security Analyst
10 6 (3.77%) Network Architect
10 6 (3.77%) Security Engineer
10 6 (3.77%) Security Manager
11 5 (3.14%) Network Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (5.03%) .NET
2 7 (4.40%) ModSecurity
3 6 (3.77%) CSS
3 6 (3.77%) HTML
3 6 (3.77%) Web Services
4 4 (2.52%) Ajax
4 4 (2.52%) AngularJS
4 4 (2.52%) RabbitMQ
5 3 (1.89%) .NET Core
5 3 (1.89%) COM+
5 3 (1.89%) LDAP
5 3 (1.89%) Middleware
6 2 (1.26%) .NET Framework
6 2 (1.26%) ASP.NET
6 2 (1.26%) Entity Framework
6 2 (1.26%) HTML5
6 2 (1.26%) jQuery
6 2 (1.26%) SOAP
6 2 (1.26%) Vue.js
6 2 (1.26%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 26 (16.35%) Security Operations Centre
2 20 (12.58%) Management Information System
3 12 (7.55%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (6.29%) PKI
5 9 (5.66%) Data Centre
6 7 (4.40%) CESG
6 7 (4.40%) Cyber Defence
7 6 (3.77%) Public Cloud
8 5 (3.14%) Cyberthreat
9 4 (2.52%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 4 (2.52%) HP StoreVirtual
9 4 (2.52%) User Experience
10 3 (1.89%) CMDB
10 3 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (1.89%) NHS
11 2 (1.26%) BYOD
11 2 (1.26%) Replication
11 2 (1.26%) SCADA
11 2 (1.26%) Video Conferencing
12 1 (0.63%) Cybercrime
Operating Systems
1 26 (16.35%) Windows
2 15 (9.43%) Windows 10
3 9 (5.66%) Linux
3 9 (5.66%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.40%) Mac OS
5 5 (3.14%) Kali Linux
6 4 (2.52%) Windows Server 2008
7 3 (1.89%) Windows Server 2016
7 3 (1.89%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (1.26%) Android
9 1 (0.63%) AIX
9 1 (0.63%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (55.97%) Cybersecurity
2 37 (23.27%) Information Security
2 37 (23.27%) SIEM
3 33 (20.75%) Security Architecture
4 28 (17.61%) Security Operations
5 26 (16.35%) Risk Management
6 21 (13.21%) Information Assurance
6 21 (13.21%) TOGAF
7 20 (12.58%) SABSA
8 18 (11.32%) Agile Software Development
9 11 (6.92%) Business Intelligence
9 11 (6.92%) Continuous Improvement
9 11 (6.92%) Security Testing
10 10 (6.29%) Due Diligence
10 10 (6.29%) Stakeholder Management
11 9 (5.66%) Business Analysis
11 9 (5.66%) Data Protection
11 9 (5.66%) Digital Marketing
11 9 (5.66%) Programme Management
11 9 (5.66%) Security Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.66%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.40%) C
2 7 (4.40%) C#
2 7 (4.40%) SQL
3 6 (3.77%) JavaScript
4 5 (3.14%) PL/SQL
5 4 (2.52%) Java
6 3 (1.89%) Bash Shell
6 3 (1.89%) Python
6 3 (1.89%) VB
6 3 (1.89%) VB6
7 2 (1.26%) COBOL
7 2 (1.26%) PHP
7 2 (1.26%) Ruby
8 1 (0.63%) Ada
8 1 (0.63%) Apple Swift
8 1 (0.63%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 113 (71.07%) Security Cleared
2 93 (58.49%) SC Cleared
3 58 (36.48%) CISSP
4 43 (27.04%) CESG Certified Professional
5 38 (23.90%) CISM
6 18 (11.32%) CRISC
7 14 (8.81%) DV Cleared
8 13 (8.18%) Cisco Certification
9 12 (7.55%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 9 (5.66%) CCSP
11 8 (5.03%) Degree
12 7 (4.40%) CISA
12 7 (4.40%) OSCP
13 6 (3.77%) SANS
14 5 (3.14%) CEH
14 5 (3.14%) CREST Certified
14 5 (3.14%) GIAC
15 4 (2.52%) CLAS
15 4 (2.52%) GCIH
15 4 (2.52%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (38.36%) NIST
2 44 (27.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 32 (20.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
4 23 (14.47%) JSP 440
5 21 (13.21%) Cyber Essentials
6 13 (8.18%) RMADS
7 9 (5.66%) GDPR
8 8 (5.03%) NIST 800
9 5 (3.14%) COBIT
9 5 (3.14%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (1.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.63%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.63%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.63%) QA
System Software
1 11 (6.92%) Active Directory
2 9 (5.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (5.03%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (2.52%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.26%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.63%) Docker
6 1 (0.63%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.63%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 7 (4.40%) Ansible
2 6 (3.77%) Nessus
3 4 (2.52%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
3 4 (2.52%) Nexpose
3 4 (2.52%) Norton AntiVirus
3 4 (2.52%) QRadar
3 4 (2.52%) WSUS
4 3 (1.89%) HAProxy
5 2 (1.26%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (1.26%) Terraform
5 2 (1.26%) vCenter Server
6 1 (0.63%) AirWatch
6 1 (0.63%) Kubernetes
6 1 (0.63%) OpenVAS
6 1 (0.63%) Opscode Chef
6 1 (0.63%) Puppet
6 1 (0.63%) vRealize
Vendors
1 26 (16.35%) Microsoft
1 26 (16.35%) Palo Alto
2 25 (15.72%) LogRhythm
3 22 (13.84%) Cisco
3 22 (13.84%) Fortinet
4 21 (13.21%) Splunk
5 13 (8.18%) Google
6 10 (6.29%) VMware
7 9 (5.66%) SAP
8 8 (5.03%) Oracle
9 5 (3.14%) Arista
10 4 (2.52%) HP
10 4 (2.52%) Lumension
10 4 (2.52%) Sophos
10 4 (2.52%) Symantec
11 3 (1.89%) CyberArk
11 3 (1.89%) Qualys
11 3 (1.89%) SolarWinds
12 2 (1.26%) ServiceNow
12 2 (1.26%) Veeam