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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 364 409 502
Rank change year-on-year +45 +93 -94
Contract jobs citing NCSC 330 147 83
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.63% 0.45% 0.20%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.66% 2.68% 1.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 238 99 55
10th Percentile £450 £500 £475
25th Percentile £513 £558 £503
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £645 £600
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% +7.50% -14.29%
75th Percentile £688 £700 £700
90th Percentile £775 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £643 £563
% change year-on-year -6.61% +14.22% -19.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 15 1
10th Percentile £75.00 £46.05 -
25th Percentile £80.95 £71.62 -
Median hourly rate £85.40 £85.00 £80.00
Median % change year-on-year +0.47% +6.25% -3.97%
75th Percentile - £91.50 -
90th Percentile £90.24 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.40 £85.75 £80.00
% change year-on-year -0.41% +7.19% -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 9,023 5,486 5,639
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.10% 16.78% 13.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,779 3,541 3,491
10th Percentile £338 £281 £282
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £604 £623
90th Percentile £700 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £473 £475
% change year-on-year +5.70% -0.42% -4.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 547 243 364
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.60 £11.18
25th Percentile £19.50 £17.67 £14.34
Median hourly rate £40.00 £28.18 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +41.94% +12.72% -35.42%
75th Percentile £70.00 £62.24 £53.81
90th Percentile £82.25 £84.88 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £25.00
% change year-on-year +59.05% +0.60% -28.57%

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 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 24 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 24 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 +16 281 £600 -7.34% 79
UK excluding London -30 179 £600 -6.61% 62
Work from Home +20 124 £606 -5.83% 47
London -20 100 £593 -8.85% 28
South East -2 89 £638 -5.56% 19
South West -30 40 £575 -11.54% 19
North of England -51 23 £656 +7.10% 11
North West -28 20 £662 +13.85% 9
Midlands -47 16 £492 -24.31% 1
West Midlands -56 16 £492 -24.31% 1
Scotland -6 9 £663 +35.90% 5
Wales - 4 £800 - 1
East of England -29 3 £450 +80.72% 6
Yorkshire -45 3 £600 -7.69% 1

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 16 (4.85%) Confluence
2 3 (0.91%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.61%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.61%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.30%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.30%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 2 (0.61%) PlantUML
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 9 (2.73%) Oracle ERP
2 3 (0.91%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 2 (0.61%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.61%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 117 (35.45%) Azure
2 81 (24.55%) AWS
3 30 (9.09%) Entra ID
4 24 (7.27%) GCP
5 22 (6.67%) Microsoft 365
6 20 (6.06%) SaaS
7 14 (4.24%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (2.73%) OCI
9 8 (2.42%) Amazon EKS
9 8 (2.42%) IaaS
9 8 (2.42%) PaaS
10 7 (2.12%) Azure AKS
10 7 (2.12%) Serverless
11 6 (1.82%) GitHub
11 6 (1.82%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 5 (1.52%) AWS Lambda
12 5 (1.52%) Azure Monitor
12 5 (1.52%) Power Platform
13 4 (1.21%) Amazon ECS
13 4 (1.21%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 31 (9.39%) Firewall
1 31 (9.39%) Network Security
2 18 (5.45%) VPN
3 15 (4.55%) DNS
4 11 (3.33%) BGP
4 11 (3.33%) TCP/IP
4 11 (3.33%) WAN
5 10 (3.03%) OSPF
5 10 (3.03%) VLAN
6 9 (2.73%) IPsec
6 9 (2.73%) LAN
6 9 (2.73%) MPLS
7 8 (2.42%) SD-WAN
8 6 (1.82%) Cisco ASA
8 6 (1.82%) Cisco Nexus
8 6 (1.82%) VSAN
9 5 (1.52%) Cisco Firepower
10 4 (1.21%) BIG-IP
10 4 (1.21%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 4 (1.21%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.33%) Geospatial Data
2 6 (1.82%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.91%) Metadata
3 3 (0.91%) Oracle Reports
3 3 (0.91%) Power BI
4 2 (0.61%) Amazon Redshift
4 2 (0.61%) DynamoDB
4 2 (0.61%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.30%) Big Data
5 1 (0.30%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.30%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.30%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.30%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 19 (5.76%) JIRA
2 13 (3.94%) Git
3 9 (2.73%) MSI
4 3 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.61%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.30%) GitLab
General
1 104 (31.52%) Public Sector
2 87 (26.36%) Social Skills
3 23 (6.97%) Finance
4 19 (5.76%) Telecoms
5 17 (5.15%) Analytical Skills
6 14 (4.24%) Military
7 11 (3.33%) Influencing Skills
8 9 (2.73%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 8 (2.42%) Law
10 7 (2.12%) Local Government
10 7 (2.12%) Police
11 6 (1.82%) Legal
12 5 (1.52%) Aerospace
13 4 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.61%) Aviation
14 2 (0.61%) Banking
14 2 (0.61%) Manufacturing
15 1 (0.30%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.30%) Retail
Job Titles
1 118 (35.76%) Architect
2 55 (16.67%) Security Architect
3 41 (12.42%) Lead
4 34 (10.30%) Technical Architect
5 30 (9.09%) Consultant
6 27 (8.18%) Senior
7 19 (5.76%) Security Consultant
8 18 (5.45%) Security Manager
9 16 (4.85%) Lead Architect
10 15 (4.55%) Analyst
11 14 (4.24%) Solutions Architect
11 14 (4.24%) Technical Leader
12 13 (3.94%) Cybersecurity Manager
12 13 (3.94%) Developer
12 13 (3.94%) Security Engineer
13 12 (3.64%) Tester
14 11 (3.33%) Network Architect
14 11 (3.33%) Penetration Tester
15 10 (3.03%) Senior Architect
16 9 (2.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.55%) .NET
2 13 (3.94%) REST
3 11 (3.33%) GeoJSON
3 11 (3.33%) RESTful
4 10 (3.03%) .NET Framework
4 10 (3.03%) OpenID
4 10 (3.03%) SAML
5 9 (2.73%) .NET Core
5 9 (2.73%) ATL
5 9 (2.73%) COM
5 9 (2.73%) CSS
5 9 (2.73%) CSS3
5 9 (2.73%) HTML
5 9 (2.73%) HTML5
5 9 (2.73%) MFC
5 9 (2.73%) OAuth
5 9 (2.73%) WPF
6 8 (2.42%) LDAP
7 5 (1.52%) SailPoint
8 4 (1.21%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 34 (10.30%) Cloud Native
2 29 (8.79%) Onboarding
3 25 (7.58%) Management Information System
3 25 (7.58%) Security Operations Centre
4 20 (6.06%) Cyber Threat
5 19 (5.76%) Security Posture
6 18 (5.45%) Operational Technology
7 16 (4.85%) Data Centre
7 16 (4.85%) PKI
8 15 (4.55%) CSOC
8 15 (4.55%) Legacy Systems
8 15 (4.55%) Public Cloud
9 14 (4.24%) Hybrid Cloud
10 11 (3.33%) SCADA
11 10 (3.03%) Private Cloud
11 10 (3.03%) Product Ownership
12 6 (1.82%) Enterprise Software
13 5 (1.52%) Cyber Defence
13 5 (1.52%) Data Protection Act
14 4 (1.21%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 25 (7.58%) Windows
2 21 (6.36%) Linux
3 7 (2.12%) Mac OS
4 6 (1.82%) Windows Server
5 5 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (1.21%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.91%) VMS
8 2 (0.61%) Android
8 2 (0.61%) Unix
9 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.30%) CentOS
9 1 (0.30%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (44.55%) Cybersecurity
2 76 (23.03%) Cloud Security
3 75 (22.73%) Agile
4 71 (21.52%) CI/CD
5 62 (18.79%) Infrastructure as Code
6 60 (18.18%) Incident Response
7 59 (17.88%) Risk Management
7 59 (17.88%) Security Architecture
8 55 (16.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 53 (16.06%) DevOps
10 52 (15.76%) Stakeholder Management
11 51 (15.45%) Continuous Improvement
12 45 (13.64%) TOGAF
13 43 (13.03%) SIEM
13 43 (13.03%) Zero Trust
14 41 (12.42%) Vulnerability Management
15 39 (11.82%) Security Operations
16 38 (11.52%) Threat Modelling
17 37 (11.21%) Containerisation
17 37 (11.21%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 24 (7.27%) Python
2 23 (6.97%) Bicep
3 11 (3.33%) SQL
4 10 (3.03%) C#
4 10 (3.03%) PowerShell
5 9 (2.73%) JavaScript
5 9 (2.73%) TypeScript
6 7 (2.12%) Java
7 3 (0.91%) Bash
8 2 (0.61%) Groovy
8 2 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.61%) Objective-C
8 2 (0.61%) Search Processing Language
9 1 (0.30%) C
Qualifications
1 241 (73.03%) Security Cleared
2 194 (58.79%) SC Cleared
3 76 (23.03%) DV Cleared
4 43 (13.03%) CISSP
5 38 (11.52%) CISM
6 31 (9.39%) Cisco Certification
7 22 (6.67%) Degree
8 16 (4.85%) CCNP
9 14 (4.24%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 11 (3.33%) AWS Certification
10 11 (3.33%) Azure Certification
10 11 (3.33%) CHECK Team Leader
11 10 (3.03%) CESG Certified Professional
11 10 (3.03%) CHECK Team Member
12 9 (2.73%) GIAC
13 8 (2.42%) CEH
13 8 (2.42%) CompTIA Security+
13 8 (2.42%) Microsoft Certification
14 7 (2.12%) BPSS Clearance
14 7 (2.12%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 100 (30.30%) NIST
2 82 (24.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 47 (14.24%) GDPR
4 36 (10.91%) Cyber Essentials
5 26 (7.88%) NIST 800
6 23 (6.97%) JSP 440
7 19 (5.76%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 16 (4.85%) GRC
9 15 (4.55%) Government Security Classifications
10 13 (3.94%) Accessibility
11 10 (3.03%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 10 (3.03%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 9 (2.73%) COBIT
12 9 (2.73%) RMADS
12 9 (2.73%) WCAG
13 8 (2.42%) Data Quality
14 7 (2.12%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 7 (2.12%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 7 (2.12%) PCI DSS
14 7 (2.12%) QA
System Software
1 28 (8.48%) Active Directory
2 18 (5.45%) Docker
3 15 (4.55%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (4.24%) VMware NSX
5 5 (1.52%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.21%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.91%) vSphere
8 2 (0.61%) KVM
9 1 (0.30%) UAG
Systems Management
1 43 (13.03%) Terraform
2 41 (12.42%) Kubernetes
3 9 (2.73%) Ansible
4 7 (2.12%) Jamf Pro
5 6 (1.82%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.91%) Istio
6 3 (0.91%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.61%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.61%) CSIRT
7 2 (0.61%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.61%) Iperf
7 2 (0.61%) Nmap
7 2 (0.61%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.30%) CASB
8 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.30%) Grafana
8 1 (0.30%) McAfee ePO
8 1 (0.30%) QRadar
8 1 (0.30%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 76 (23.03%) Microsoft
2 27 (8.18%) VMware
3 18 (5.45%) Cisco
4 14 (4.24%) Palo Alto
5 12 (3.64%) ServiceNow
6 9 (2.73%) Oracle
7 8 (2.42%) Google
8 7 (2.12%) SolarWinds
8 7 (2.12%) Splunk
9 6 (1.82%) Fortinet
9 6 (1.82%) SAP
10 5 (1.52%) Apple
10 5 (1.52%) F5
11 4 (1.21%) CheckPoint
12 3 (0.91%) Citrix
12 3 (0.91%) Sparx
12 3 (0.91%) Zscaler
13 2 (0.61%) Cribl.io
13 2 (0.61%) OneLogin
13 2 (0.61%) Tenable