NIST 800 Contract Job Trends

NIST Special Publication (SP) 800 Series
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring NIST 800 skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 531 478 501
Rank change year-on-year -53 +23 +121
Contract jobs citing NIST 800 88 46 90
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.19% 0.16% 0.21%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.12% 1.01% 1.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 53 28 45
10th Percentile £500 £518 £505
25th Percentile £513 £548 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £582
Median % change year-on-year - +3.09% -10.46%
75th Percentile £685 £694 £700
90th Percentile £733 £883 £875
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £593 £582
% change year-on-year -7.17% +1.80% -4.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 1 0
10th Percentile £83.00 - -
25th Percentile - £77.50 -
Median hourly rate £84.00 £85.00 -
Median % change year-on-year -1.18% - -
75th Percentile £107.00 £92.50 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £84.00 £85.00 -
% change year-on-year -1.18% - -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

NIST 800 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 7,829 4,550 6,276
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.98% 15.46% 14.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,064 2,927 3,988
10th Percentile £334 £263 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £514
Median % change year-on-year - -2.68% -2.14%
75th Percentile £600 £618 £630
90th Percentile £700 £719 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 439 175 379
10th Percentile £14.02 £17.92 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.00
Median hourly rate £31.00 £32.81 £20.47
Median % change year-on-year -5.52% +60.28% -45.77%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £81.20 £82.88 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £33.11 £17.72
% change year-on-year +5.71% +86.85% -49.37%

NIST 800
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing NIST 800 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

NIST 800 job vacancy trend in the UK

NIST 800
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NIST 800.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NIST 800

NIST 800
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing NIST 800 over the 6 months to 18 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for NIST 800 in the UK

NIST 800
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NIST 800.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NIST 800

NIST 800
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing NIST 800 over the 6 months to 18 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for NIST 800 in the UK

NIST 800
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 NIST 800 within the UK over the 6 months to 18 April 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 -67 80 £600 - 21
UK excluding London -64 54 £550 -7.17% 26
South East -18 33 £550 -8.33% 10
London -35 27 £625 - 7
Work from Home -32 24 £650 +8.33% 7
South West -20 12 £663 +11.81% 5
North of England -65 4 £658 +14.35% 2
North West -45 2 £775 +34.78%
Northern Ireland - 2 £500 -
Yorkshire - 2 £540 - 2
Scotland - 2 - - 5
West Midlands -65 1 - - 1
Midlands -70 1 - - 2

NIST 800
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 6 (6.82%) SharePoint
2 2 (2.27%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (1.14%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (1.14%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (6.82%) Maximo
2 2 (2.27%) SAP ERP
2 2 (2.27%) SAP PP
Cloud Services
1 24 (27.27%) Azure
2 14 (15.91%) AWS
3 9 (10.23%) Azure DevOps
4 8 (9.09%) SaaS
5 7 (7.95%) Entra ID
5 7 (7.95%) OpenShift
6 6 (6.82%) Azure AKS
6 6 (6.82%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 6 (6.82%) Azure Monitor
6 6 (6.82%) Azure Sentinel
6 6 (6.82%) GCP
7 3 (3.41%) Microsoft 365
7 3 (3.41%) OCI
8 1 (1.14%) Apigee
8 1 (1.14%) GitHub
8 1 (1.14%) Kong
8 1 (1.14%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 6 (6.82%) VPN
2 4 (4.55%) IPsec
2 4 (4.55%) MQTT
2 4 (4.55%) SD-WAN
3 2 (2.27%) Firewall
4 1 (1.14%) BGP
4 1 (1.14%) DHCP
4 1 (1.14%) DMZ
4 1 (1.14%) DNS
4 1 (1.14%) Ethernet
4 1 (1.14%) Ethernet VPN
4 1 (1.14%) InfiniBand
4 1 (1.14%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (1.14%) Modbus
4 1 (1.14%) NAS
4 1 (1.14%) Network Security
4 1 (1.14%) VSAN
4 1 (1.14%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.41%) Oracle Database
2 2 (2.27%) Metadata
3 1 (1.14%) Oracle Database 12c
3 1 (1.14%) SQL Server
3 1 (1.14%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (1.14%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 6 (6.82%) JIRA
2 1 (1.14%) Postman
General
1 20 (22.73%) Social Skills
2 9 (10.23%) Public Sector
3 8 (9.09%) Aerospace
3 8 (9.09%) Manufacturing
4 7 (7.95%) Analytical Skills
5 5 (5.68%) Banking
6 4 (4.55%) Finance
7 2 (2.27%) Legal
8 1 (1.14%) Military
8 1 (1.14%) Pharmaceutical
8 1 (1.14%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 21 (23.86%) Lead
2 18 (20.45%) Architect
3 12 (13.64%) Security Architect
4 8 (9.09%) Analyst
5 7 (7.95%) Information Assurance Leader
5 7 (7.95%) Security Analyst
6 6 (6.82%) Azure Engineer
6 6 (6.82%) Senior
7 5 (5.68%) Azure DevOps Engineer
7 5 (5.68%) Cybersecurity Architect
7 5 (5.68%) DevOps Engineer
7 5 (5.68%) Security Engineer
8 4 (4.55%) Security Solutions Architect
8 4 (4.55%) Security Specialist
8 4 (4.55%) Solutions Architect
8 4 (4.55%) Tester
9 3 (3.41%) Consultant
9 3 (3.41%) CyberArk Architect
9 3 (3.41%) Principal Security Architect
9 3 (3.41%) Product Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (6.82%) ARM Templates
2 4 (4.55%) ADO
3 2 (2.27%) REST
4 1 (1.14%) JSON
4 1 (1.14%) JWT
4 1 (1.14%) Kafka
4 1 (1.14%) Node.js
4 1 (1.14%) OAuth
4 1 (1.14%) OAuth2
4 1 (1.14%) PyTorch
4 1 (1.14%) RabbitMQ
4 1 (1.14%) RESTful
4 1 (1.14%) SOAP
4 1 (1.14%) Swagger
4 1 (1.14%) TensorFlow
4 1 (1.14%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (14.77%) Operational Technology
2 7 (7.95%) Hybrid Cloud
2 7 (7.95%) Management Information System
2 7 (7.95%) Virtual Team
3 6 (6.82%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (5.68%) Onboarding
4 5 (5.68%) Security Posture
5 4 (4.55%) SCADA
6 3 (3.41%) Cloud Native
6 3 (3.41%) CSOC
6 3 (3.41%) Data Centre
7 2 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (2.27%) IoT
8 1 (1.14%) CUDA
8 1 (1.14%) Cyber Threat
8 1 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
8 1 (1.14%) Life Science
8 1 (1.14%) Private Cloud
8 1 (1.14%) Replication
8 1 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 12 (13.64%) Windows
2 10 (11.36%) Linux
3 4 (4.55%) Unix
3 4 (4.55%) Windows Server
4 3 (3.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (52.27%) Cybersecurity
2 24 (27.27%) Risk Management
3 17 (19.32%) Cloud Security
3 17 (19.32%) Security Architecture
3 17 (19.32%) Vulnerability Management
4 16 (18.18%) Information Security
4 16 (18.18%) Risk Assessment
4 16 (18.18%) SIEM
5 15 (17.05%) DevOps
6 13 (14.77%) Penetration Testing
7 12 (13.64%) CI/CD
7 12 (13.64%) Containerisation
7 12 (13.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 12 (13.64%) Threat Modelling
7 12 (13.64%) Validation
8 11 (12.50%) Continuous Improvement
8 11 (12.50%) Zero Trust
9 10 (11.36%) Computer Science
9 10 (11.36%) Supplier Management
10 9 (10.23%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 6 (6.82%) Bicep
2 2 (2.27%) PowerShell
2 2 (2.27%) SQL
3 1 (1.14%) Java
3 1 (1.14%) JavaScript
3 1 (1.14%) Python
Qualifications
1 45 (51.14%) Security Cleared
2 33 (37.50%) SC Cleared
3 19 (21.59%) CISSP
4 15 (17.05%) CISM
5 12 (13.64%) Degree
6 11 (12.50%) DV Cleared
7 7 (7.95%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 7 (7.95%) Microsoft Certification
7 7 (7.95%) OSCP
8 6 (6.82%) Azure Certification
8 6 (6.82%) CEH
9 5 (5.68%) CISA
9 5 (5.68%) CREST Certified
10 4 (4.55%) CRISC
11 3 (3.41%) CESG Certified Professional
11 3 (3.41%) CHECK Team Leader
11 3 (3.41%) CompTIA Security+
11 3 (3.41%) SSCP
12 2 (2.27%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (2.27%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (100.00%) NIST
2 37 (42.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (26.14%) NCSC
4 13 (14.77%) Def Stans
5 10 (11.36%) Cyber Essentials
6 9 (10.23%) PCI DSS
7 8 (9.09%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 6 (6.82%) IASME
8 6 (6.82%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 4 (4.55%) GRC
9 4 (4.55%) PMO
9 4 (4.55%) SOC 2
10 3 (3.41%) GDPR
10 3 (3.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (2.27%) COBIT
11 2 (2.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 2 (2.27%) SLA
12 1 (1.14%) ISO 22301
12 1 (1.14%) JSP 440
12 1 (1.14%) QA
System Software
1 9 (10.23%) Active Directory
2 2 (2.27%) Docker
2 2 (2.27%) UAG
2 2 (2.27%) VMware ESXi
2 2 (2.27%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (2.27%) VMware NSX
3 1 (1.14%) GPFS
3 1 (1.14%) Lustre
3 1 (1.14%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 16 (18.18%) Kubernetes
2 8 (9.09%) Terraform
3 3 (3.41%) RSA Archer
3 3 (3.41%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (2.27%) Ansible
4 2 (2.27%) vCenter Server
5 1 (1.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (1.14%) Oracle RMAN
5 1 (1.14%) SELinux
5 1 (1.14%) VxRail
Vendors
1 17 (19.32%) Microsoft
2 7 (7.95%) Red Hat
3 6 (6.82%) IBM
4 5 (5.68%) CyberArk
5 4 (4.55%) BiZZdesign
5 4 (4.55%) ServiceNow
6 3 (3.41%) OneTrust
6 3 (3.41%) Oracle
6 3 (3.41%) SAP
6 3 (3.41%) VMware
6 3 (3.41%) Workday
7 2 (2.27%) Becrypt
7 2 (2.27%) Cisco
7 2 (2.27%) NVIDIA
7 2 (2.27%) Splunk
8 1 (1.14%) Dell
8 1 (1.14%) Google
8 1 (1.14%) Palo Alto
8 1 (1.14%) Rapid7
8 1 (1.14%) Wonderware