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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 346 415 463
Rank change year-on-year +69 +48 -23
Contract jobs citing NCSC 303 107 117
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.62% 0.37% 0.27%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.75% 2.36% 1.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 227 66 75
10th Percentile £452 £500 £484
25th Percentile £513 £563 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £643 £650
Median % change year-on-year -6.61% -1.15% -3.70%
75th Percentile £700 £700 £700
90th Percentile £793 £744 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £640 £613
% change year-on-year -6.25% +4.49% -12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 8 2
10th Percentile £73.26 £49.13 £80.34
25th Percentile £81.90 £60.75 £80.85
Median hourly rate £85.40 £78.36 £81.71
Median % change year-on-year +8.98% -4.09% +10.43%
75th Percentile - £88.75 £82.56
90th Percentile - £92.50 £83.07
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.40 £78.36 £80.00
% change year-on-year +8.98% -2.05% +9.62%

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 8,088 4,540 6,011
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.60% 15.89% 14.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,200 2,928 3,815
10th Percentile £344 £263 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £508
Median % change year-on-year - -1.57% -3.24%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +5.26% - -2.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 476 171 394
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.29 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £35.50 £32.50 £21.06
Median % change year-on-year +9.23% +54.34% -39.84%
75th Percentile £67.31 £67.50 £47.81
90th Percentile £81.95 £80.00 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £32.50 £18.27
% change year-on-year +23.08% +77.89% -45.27%

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 27 May 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 27 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for NCSC in the UK

NCSC
Top 13 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 27 May 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 +31 267 £615 -5.38% 78
UK excluding London -35 144 £600 -6.25% 62
Work from Home +34 114 £640 +3.23% 47
London +5 103 £625 -3.85% 22
South East -3 87 £600 -8.05% 23
South West -16 26 £600 -9.43% 22
North of England -64 15 £668 +0.75% 5
North West -34 11 £668 -5.49% 4
West Midlands -64 8 £639 -1.69% 4
Midlands -73 8 £639 -1.69% 7
Scotland -2 5 £451 -14.19% 1
Yorkshire -50 4 £638 -12.07% 1
East of England -28 3 £450 +80.72% 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 7 (2.31%) Confluence
2 3 (0.99%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.66%) Camunda
3 2 (0.66%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.66%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.33%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.33%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 2 (0.66%) PlantUML
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (1.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.66%) SAP GRC
2 2 (0.66%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 106 (34.98%) Azure
2 84 (27.72%) AWS
3 40 (13.20%) Entra ID
4 26 (8.58%) OpenShift
5 25 (8.25%) GCP
6 19 (6.27%) Microsoft 365
7 15 (4.95%) SaaS
8 14 (4.62%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (3.96%) AWS CloudFormation
10 11 (3.63%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 11 (3.63%) AWS KMS
11 10 (3.30%) GitHub
11 10 (3.30%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (2.97%) Amazon EKS
12 9 (2.97%) AWS CloudTrail
12 9 (2.97%) Azure AKS
12 9 (2.97%) IaaS
12 9 (2.97%) PaaS
13 8 (2.64%) AWS Control Tower
13 8 (2.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 31 (10.23%) Firewall
2 19 (6.27%) Network Security
3 11 (3.63%) VPN
4 10 (3.30%) BGP
4 10 (3.30%) IPsec
5 9 (2.97%) OSPF
5 9 (2.97%) SD-WAN
5 9 (2.97%) WAN
6 8 (2.64%) MPLS
7 7 (2.31%) DNS
8 6 (1.98%) LAN
8 6 (1.98%) VSAN
9 5 (1.65%) Kerberos
10 4 (1.32%) Ethernet VPN
10 4 (1.32%) MQTT
10 4 (1.32%) Multicast
10 4 (1.32%) VLAN
10 4 (1.32%) VXLAN
11 3 (0.99%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (0.99%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.98%) PostgreSQL
2 4 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
2 4 (1.32%) Redis
3 3 (0.99%) Power BI
3 3 (0.99%) Relational Database
4 2 (0.66%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.66%) DynamoDB
4 2 (0.66%) MySQL
5 1 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.33%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.33%) EDRMS
5 1 (0.33%) Metadata
5 1 (0.33%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.33%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 15 (4.95%) Jenkins
2 10 (3.30%) JIRA
3 6 (1.98%) GitLab
4 5 (1.65%) Git
5 2 (0.66%) Ant
5 2 (0.66%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.66%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.66%) Gradle
5 2 (0.66%) JUnit
5 2 (0.66%) Maven
5 2 (0.66%) Mockito
6 1 (0.33%) Gatling
6 1 (0.33%) JMeter
6 1 (0.33%) Postman
6 1 (0.33%) REST Assured
6 1 (0.33%) Selenium
6 1 (0.33%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 88 (29.04%) Public Sector
2 82 (27.06%) Social Skills
3 38 (12.54%) Finance
4 22 (7.26%) Influencing Skills
5 19 (6.27%) Documentation Skills
6 17 (5.61%) Analytical Skills
7 14 (4.62%) Telecoms
8 10 (3.30%) Military
9 9 (2.97%) Law
10 7 (2.31%) Local Government
10 7 (2.31%) Police
11 6 (1.98%) Manufacturing
12 5 (1.65%) Legal
13 3 (0.99%) Electronics
13 3 (0.99%) Marketing
13 3 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
14 2 (0.66%) Banking
14 2 (0.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 2 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 114 (37.62%) Architect
2 47 (15.51%) Security Architect
3 28 (9.24%) Consultant
3 28 (9.24%) Lead
4 27 (8.91%) Technical Architect
5 26 (8.58%) Senior
6 17 (5.61%) Security Consultant
7 15 (4.95%) Security Manager
8 13 (4.29%) CyberArk Architect
8 13 (4.29%) Lead Architect
9 12 (3.96%) Analyst
9 12 (3.96%) Cloud Architect
9 12 (3.96%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 11 (3.63%) Security Engineer
10 11 (3.63%) Tester
11 10 (3.30%) Cloud Engineer
11 10 (3.30%) Coordinator
11 10 (3.30%) Security Assurance Coordinator
11 10 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
12 9 (2.97%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (7.26%) LDAP
2 19 (6.27%) SAML
3 18 (5.94%) OpenID
4 6 (1.98%) Kafka
5 4 (1.32%) .NET
5 4 (1.32%) ADO
5 4 (1.32%) ARM Templates
5 4 (1.32%) Keycloak
5 4 (1.32%) OAuth
5 4 (1.32%) Oracle Fusion
5 4 (1.32%) REST
6 2 (0.66%) Bootstrap
6 2 (0.66%) CSS
6 2 (0.66%) HTML
6 2 (0.66%) JSON
6 2 (0.66%) OpenAPI
6 2 (0.66%) RabbitMQ
6 2 (0.66%) SOAP
6 2 (0.66%) Spring
6 2 (0.66%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.58%) Cloud Native
2 22 (7.26%) Onboarding
3 20 (6.60%) Operational Technology
4 19 (6.27%) Management Information System
5 15 (4.95%) Cyber Threat
6 13 (4.29%) PKI
6 13 (4.29%) Public Cloud
6 13 (4.29%) Security Posture
7 11 (3.63%) Security Operations Centre
8 10 (3.30%) CSOC
8 10 (3.30%) Data Centre
9 8 (2.64%) SCADA
10 7 (2.31%) Hybrid Cloud
10 7 (2.31%) Private Cloud
10 7 (2.31%) Product Ownership
11 6 (1.98%) NHS
12 5 (1.65%) Legacy Systems
13 4 (1.32%) Cyberattack
13 4 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
14 3 (0.99%) Cyber Kill Chain
Operating Systems
1 24 (7.92%) Linux
2 15 (4.95%) Windows
3 6 (1.98%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (0.99%) Android
5 3 (0.99%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.99%) VMS
6 2 (0.66%) Rocky
6 2 (0.66%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.66%) Unix
7 1 (0.33%) CentOS
7 1 (0.33%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (44.22%) Cybersecurity
2 74 (24.42%) CI/CD
3 66 (21.78%) DevOps
4 65 (21.45%) Infrastructure as Code
5 63 (20.79%) Cloud Security
6 56 (18.48%) Agile
6 56 (18.48%) Security Architecture
7 55 (18.15%) Risk Management
7 55 (18.15%) Stakeholder Management
8 50 (16.50%) Threat Modelling
9 44 (14.52%) Continuous Improvement
10 43 (14.19%) Incident Response
11 42 (13.86%) Zero Trust
12 38 (12.54%) TOGAF
13 37 (12.21%) Roadmaps
13 37 (12.21%) SIEM
14 36 (11.88%) Containerisation
15 35 (11.55%) DevSecOps
16 34 (11.22%) Architectural Patterns
17 33 (10.89%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 16 (5.28%) Python
2 14 (4.62%) Bicep
3 11 (3.63%) SQL
4 8 (2.64%) PowerShell
5 7 (2.31%) Bash
6 6 (1.98%) Java
7 2 (0.66%) Go
7 2 (0.66%) Kotlin
7 2 (0.66%) Swift
8 1 (0.33%) C#
8 1 (0.33%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 215 (70.96%) Security Cleared
2 182 (60.07%) SC Cleared
3 50 (16.50%) DV Cleared
4 41 (13.53%) CISSP
5 37 (12.21%) CISM
6 26 (8.58%) Cisco Certification
7 20 (6.60%) Degree
8 17 (5.61%) AWS Certification
9 13 (4.29%) CCNP
10 12 (3.96%) GIAC
11 10 (3.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 10 (3.30%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 10 (3.30%) Azure Certification
11 10 (3.30%) CEH
11 10 (3.30%) CHECK Team Leader
12 9 (2.97%) CESG Certified Professional
12 9 (2.97%) CompTIA Security+
13 8 (2.64%) CCIE
13 8 (2.64%) CCSP
14 7 (2.31%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (33.99%) NIST
2 87 (28.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 39 (12.87%) GDPR
4 37 (12.21%) Cyber Essentials
5 23 (7.59%) JSP 440
6 20 (6.60%) NIST 800
7 18 (5.94%) RMADS
8 16 (5.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 14 (4.62%) Government Security Classifications
10 11 (3.63%) GRC
11 10 (3.30%) COBIT
11 10 (3.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 10 (3.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 7 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 7 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 6 (1.98%) IASME
13 6 (1.98%) PCI DSS
14 5 (1.65%) QA
15 4 (1.32%) Accessibility
16 3 (0.99%) Def Stans
System Software
1 26 (8.58%) Active Directory
2 14 (4.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (3.96%) Docker
4 9 (2.97%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.98%) Virtual Desktop
6 5 (1.65%) Hyper-V
7 4 (1.32%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.99%) vSphere
9 2 (0.66%) GPFS
9 2 (0.66%) Lustre
9 2 (0.66%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.33%) KVM
10 1 (0.33%) UAG
Systems Management
1 50 (16.50%) Kubernetes
2 37 (12.21%) Terraform
3 13 (4.29%) Ansible
4 7 (2.31%) Istio
5 6 (1.98%) Grafana
5 6 (1.98%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.65%) Argo
7 4 (1.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 4 (1.32%) linkerd
8 3 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.66%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.66%) Iperf
9 2 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.66%) Nmap
9 2 (0.66%) SELinux
10 1 (0.33%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.33%) CloudForms
10 1 (0.33%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 1 (0.33%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.33%) McAfee ePO
Vendors
1 54 (17.82%) Microsoft
2 25 (8.25%) VMware
3 22 (7.26%) Splunk
4 17 (5.61%) Cisco
5 14 (4.62%) CyberArk
6 12 (3.96%) Palo Alto
7 10 (3.30%) Citrix
8 9 (2.97%) Fortinet
8 9 (2.97%) Red Hat
9 6 (1.98%) CloudEndure
9 6 (1.98%) Zscaler
10 5 (1.65%) Juniper
10 5 (1.65%) Oracle
10 5 (1.65%) SAP
11 4 (1.32%) BiZZdesign
11 4 (1.32%) CheckPoint
11 4 (1.32%) Google
11 4 (1.32%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.32%) Sparx
12 3 (0.99%) Tenable