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

6 months to
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 344 397 491
Rank change year-on-year +53 +94 -96
Contract jobs citing NCSC 365 162 78
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.67% 0.49% 0.20%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 3.84% 2.88% 1.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 251 116 46
10th Percentile £456 £488 £478
25th Percentile £517 £548 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £645 £588
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% +9.79% -16.07%
75th Percentile £688 £700 £734
90th Percentile £775 £738 £781
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £650 £560
% change year-on-year -7.69% +16.07% -20.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 14 2
10th Percentile £71.00 £50.13 £62.67
25th Percentile £80.00 £82.69 £65.56
Median hourly rate £85.40 £88.75 £70.75
Median % change year-on-year -3.77% +25.45% -15.17%
75th Percentile £96.00 £91.50 £75.56
90th Percentile - - £78.22
UK excluding London median hourly rate £87.70 £90.00 £70.75
% change year-on-year -2.56% +27.21% -15.17%

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 9,494 5,631 5,161
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.46% 17.11% 13.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,999 3,606 3,096
10th Percentile £325 £300 £282
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £508
Median % change year-on-year - -1.53% -3.29%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £625
90th Percentile £700 £712 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +3.05% -1.04% -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 609 267 262
10th Percentile £13.91 £13.60 £12.37
25th Percentile £16.75 £16.92 £15.00
Median hourly rate £33.00 £30.00 £27.09
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +10.74% -22.60%
75th Percentile £67.84 £58.75 £58.44
90th Percentile £77.50 £81.10 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.98 £27.53 £26.50
% change year-on-year +23.43% +3.89% -24.29%

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 13 September 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 13 September 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 13 September 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 +29 307 £585 -10.00% 163
UK excluding London -10 197 £600 -7.69% 100
Work from Home +12 138 £590 -8.59% 89
London -22 113 £585 -10.00% 80
South East -1 76 £642 -4.96% 29
South West -32 54 £600 -11.11% 13
North West -21 38 £566 +41.50% 17
North of England -37 38 £566 +2.91% 24
Midlands -40 17 £568 -18.86% 13
West Midlands -43 17 £568 -18.86% 9
Scotland -18 12 £738 +47.50% 8
East of England -30 7 £480 +92.77% 10
Wales -11 5 £800 +236.13% 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 20 (5.48%) Confluence
2 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.82%) Apache
3 3 (0.82%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.27%) nginx
4 1 (0.27%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.27%) SharePoint 2013
4 1 (0.27%) Traefik
Applications
1 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 10 (2.74%) Oracle ERP
2 4 (1.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 2 (0.55%) SAP GRC
3 2 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 124 (33.97%) Azure
2 93 (25.48%) AWS
3 28 (7.67%) Entra ID
3 28 (7.67%) GCP
4 22 (6.03%) SaaS
5 20 (5.48%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (4.93%) Microsoft 365
7 11 (3.01%) GitHub
7 11 (3.01%) IaaS
8 10 (2.74%) OCI
8 10 (2.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 9 (2.47%) PaaS
10 8 (2.19%) Amazon EKS
10 8 (2.19%) AWS CloudFormation
11 7 (1.92%) Azure Sentinel
11 7 (1.92%) GitHub Actions
12 6 (1.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 6 (1.64%) Amazon ECS
13 5 (1.37%) Azure AKS
13 5 (1.37%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 29 (7.95%) Network Security
2 26 (7.12%) Firewall
3 18 (4.93%) VPN
4 17 (4.66%) DNS
5 10 (2.74%) TCP/IP
6 8 (2.19%) WAN
7 7 (1.92%) LAN
8 6 (1.64%) IPsec
8 6 (1.64%) SD-WAN
8 6 (1.64%) VLAN
9 5 (1.37%) Cisco Firepower
9 5 (1.37%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (1.37%) DHCP
9 5 (1.37%) X.509
10 4 (1.10%) 4G
10 4 (1.10%) 5G
10 4 (1.10%) BGP
10 4 (1.10%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 4 (1.10%) MPLS
10 4 (1.10%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.56%) Geospatial Data
2 7 (1.92%) Metadata
3 5 (1.37%) Data Lake
4 3 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.82%) Oracle Reports
5 2 (0.55%) Amazon Redshift
5 2 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.55%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.55%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.55%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.55%) Parquet
6 1 (0.27%) Big Data
6 1 (0.27%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.27%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.27%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.27%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.27%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 23 (6.30%) JIRA
2 15 (4.11%) Git
3 11 (3.01%) MSI
4 10 (2.74%) GitLab
4 10 (2.74%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.55%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 116 (31.78%) Public Sector
2 95 (26.03%) Social Skills
3 25 (6.85%) Analytical Skills
4 24 (6.58%) Military
5 22 (6.03%) Finance
6 18 (4.93%) Telecoms
7 14 (3.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (3.84%) Influencing Skills
8 13 (3.56%) Local Government
9 12 (3.29%) Aerospace
10 10 (2.74%) Documentation Skills
11 9 (2.47%) Law
11 9 (2.47%) Police
12 6 (1.64%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.64%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.37%) Legal
14 3 (0.82%) Back Office
15 2 (0.55%) Banking
15 2 (0.55%) Presentation Skills
16 1 (0.27%) Retail
Job Titles
1 123 (33.70%) Architect
2 60 (16.44%) Security Architect
3 49 (13.42%) Lead
4 36 (9.86%) Consultant
5 34 (9.32%) Senior
6 27 (7.40%) Security Manager
6 27 (7.40%) Technical Architect
7 20 (5.48%) Cybersecurity Manager
7 20 (5.48%) Security Consultant
8 17 (4.66%) Security Engineer
9 15 (4.11%) Lead Architect
10 13 (3.56%) Developer
10 13 (3.56%) Penetration Tester
10 13 (3.56%) Tester
11 12 (3.29%) Analyst
11 12 (3.29%) Cybersecurity Consultant
11 12 (3.29%) Senior Architect
12 11 (3.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 11 (3.01%) SOC Manager
12 11 (3.01%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (14.52%) Terraform
2 17 (4.66%) .NET
2 17 (4.66%) REST
3 16 (4.38%) RESTful
4 13 (3.56%) GeoJSON
5 12 (3.29%) .NET Framework
6 11 (3.01%) .NET Core
6 11 (3.01%) ATL
6 11 (3.01%) COM
6 11 (3.01%) CSS
6 11 (3.01%) CSS3
6 11 (3.01%) HTML
6 11 (3.01%) HTML5
6 11 (3.01%) MFC
6 11 (3.01%) OAuth
6 11 (3.01%) SAML
6 11 (3.01%) WPF
7 10 (2.74%) OpenID
8 8 (2.19%) LDAP
9 6 (1.64%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 37 (10.14%) Cloud Native
2 34 (9.32%) Security Operations Centre
3 33 (9.04%) Management Information System
4 28 (7.67%) Onboarding
5 24 (6.58%) PKI
5 24 (6.58%) Security Posture
6 22 (6.03%) Cyber Threat
7 21 (5.75%) Legacy Systems
8 20 (5.48%) CSOC
9 18 (4.93%) Operational Technology
10 14 (3.84%) Hybrid Cloud
11 12 (3.29%) SCADA
12 11 (3.01%) Private Cloud
12 11 (3.01%) Public Cloud
13 9 (2.47%) Data Centre
14 6 (1.64%) Enterprise Software
15 5 (1.37%) Cyber Defence
15 5 (1.37%) Distributed Systems
15 5 (1.37%) NHS
15 5 (1.37%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 28 (7.67%) Windows
2 20 (5.48%) Linux
3 9 (2.47%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.92%) Mac OS
4 7 (1.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.10%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.82%) Unix
7 2 (0.55%) Android
7 2 (0.55%) CentOS
8 1 (0.27%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.27%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (48.77%) Cybersecurity
2 90 (24.66%) Incident Response
3 80 (21.92%) Risk Management
4 77 (21.10%) Continuous Improvement
5 76 (20.82%) CI/CD
5 76 (20.82%) Cloud Security
5 76 (20.82%) Security Architecture
6 73 (20.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 70 (19.18%) Agile
8 68 (18.63%) Stakeholder Management
9 67 (18.36%) Vulnerability Management
10 64 (17.53%) Infrastructure as Code
11 59 (16.16%) Zero Trust
12 57 (15.62%) Security Operations
13 54 (14.79%) DevOps
14 53 (14.52%) SIEM
15 50 (13.70%) Threat Modelling
16 48 (13.15%) Technical Leadership
17 46 (12.60%) Decision-Making
18 45 (12.33%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 30 (8.22%) Python
2 29 (7.95%) Bicep
3 16 (4.38%) PowerShell
4 12 (3.29%) C#
5 11 (3.01%) JavaScript
5 11 (3.01%) TypeScript
6 8 (2.19%) Bash
7 5 (1.37%) Java
8 4 (1.10%) SQL
9 3 (0.82%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.55%) Go
10 2 (0.55%) Groovy
10 2 (0.55%) Objective-C
10 2 (0.55%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.27%) C
Qualifications
1 284 (77.81%) Security Cleared
2 221 (60.55%) SC Cleared
3 89 (24.38%) DV Cleared
4 62 (16.99%) CISSP
5 53 (14.52%) CISM
6 31 (8.49%) Cisco Certification
7 23 (6.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 19 (5.21%) Degree
9 15 (4.11%) AWS Certification
10 14 (3.84%) Azure Certification
11 13 (3.56%) CHECK Team Leader
12 12 (3.29%) CEH
12 12 (3.29%) CHECK Team Member
12 12 (3.29%) CompTIA Security+
12 12 (3.29%) CRISC
13 11 (3.01%) CCSP
13 11 (3.01%) GIAC
14 9 (2.47%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (2.19%) CESG Certified Professional
16 7 (1.92%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 121 (33.15%) NIST
2 115 (31.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 47 (12.88%) GDPR
4 38 (10.41%) Cyber Essentials
5 30 (8.22%) GRC
5 30 (8.22%) JSP 440
6 27 (7.40%) NIST 800
7 23 (6.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 20 (5.48%) Data Quality
9 14 (3.84%) Accessibility
10 11 (3.01%) WCAG
11 10 (2.74%) COBIT
11 10 (2.74%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 9 (2.47%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 8 (2.19%) Government Security Classifications
14 7 (1.92%) PCI DSS
14 7 (1.92%) QA
15 6 (1.64%) Def Stans
15 6 (1.64%) SLA
16 5 (1.37%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 28 (7.67%) Active Directory
2 21 (5.75%) Docker
3 16 (4.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (3.01%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.64%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.10%) Firmware
6 4 (1.10%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.55%) KVM
7 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 2 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.55%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.27%) UAG
8 1 (0.27%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 54 (14.79%) Kubernetes
2 10 (2.74%) Ansible
3 8 (2.19%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 6 (1.64%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.37%) Grafana
6 5 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.82%) Istio
7 3 (0.82%) QRadar
7 3 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.55%) CSIRT
8 2 (0.55%) SCCM
9 1 (0.27%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.27%) FreeIPA
9 1 (0.27%) HAProxy
9 1 (0.27%) linkerd
9 1 (0.27%) McAfee ePO
9 1 (0.27%) Packer
9 1 (0.27%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.27%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 90 (24.66%) Microsoft
2 23 (6.30%) VMware
3 16 (4.38%) ServiceNow
4 12 (3.29%) Oracle
5 11 (3.01%) Cisco
6 10 (2.74%) Palo Alto
6 10 (2.74%) Splunk
7 9 (2.47%) Google
8 6 (1.64%) Apple
8 6 (1.64%) SAP
9 4 (1.10%) F5
9 4 (1.10%) OneLogin
9 4 (1.10%) SolarWinds
9 4 (1.10%) Sparx
10 3 (0.82%) Cribl.io
10 3 (0.82%) Fortinet
10 3 (0.82%) Red Hat
11 2 (0.55%) Northgate
11 2 (0.55%) Qualys
11 2 (0.55%) Zscaler