Offensive Security Contracts

Offensive Security
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Offensive Security skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Offensive Security over the 6 months to 27 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
27 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 572 706 816
Rank change year-on-year +134 +110 -146
Contract jobs citing Offensive Security 26 13 33
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.060% 0.022% 0.037%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.070% 0.024% 0.041%
Number of daily rates quoted 19 7 14
10th Percentile £525 £463 £504
25th Percentile £600 £494 £523
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £650 £675 £608
Median % change year-on-year -3.70% +11.11% +58.82%
75th Percentile £675 £700 £675
90th Percentile £688 - £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £625 - £650
% change year-on-year - - +69.93%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Offensive Security is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 37,374 53,774 80,482
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.31% 89.91% 90.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,095 37,304 56,474
10th Percentile £300 £325 £340
25th Percentile £413 £438 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% +8.25%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% +9.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,422 1,763 1,928
10th Percentile £12.75 £11.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.25 £15.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £37.34 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.27% +49.36% -
75th Percentile £59.44 £65.00 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £63.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £36.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year - +80.00% -8.17%

Offensive Security
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Offensive Security as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Offensive Security.

Daily rate trend for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Offensive Security over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Top 10 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Offensive Security within the UK over the 6 months to 27 April 2024. 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 +140 24 £650 -5.45% 15
London +105 15 £650 -5.45% 9
Work from Home +134 9 £625 -10.71% 9
UK excluding London +73 9 £625 - 7
North of England +38 6 £650 - 2
Yorkshire +23 4 £650 - 1
Midlands - 2 £600 - 2
North East - 2 £625 - 1
West Midlands - 2 £600 - 2
South West - 1 - - 1

Offensive Security
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

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

Cloud Services
1 6 (23.08%) Azure
1 6 (23.08%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (3.85%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 13 (50.00%) Wireless
2 2 (7.69%) Firewall
2 2 (7.69%) Network Security
3 1 (3.85%) DHCP
3 1 (3.85%) DNS
3 1 (3.85%) FTP
3 1 (3.85%) HTTP
3 1 (3.85%) TCP/IP
3 1 (3.85%) tcpdump
3 1 (3.85%) Wireshark
General
1 8 (30.77%) Public Sector
2 7 (26.92%) Social Skills
3 5 (19.23%) Legal
4 3 (11.54%) Finance
5 2 (7.69%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (7.69%) Banking
Job Titles
1 10 (38.46%) Penetration Tester
1 10 (38.46%) Tester
2 6 (23.08%) Security Engineer
3 4 (15.38%) Analyst
3 4 (15.38%) Consultant
3 4 (15.38%) IT Analyst
3 4 (15.38%) IT Security Analyst
3 4 (15.38%) Security Analyst
4 3 (11.54%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 2 (7.69%) Cyber Threat Engineer
5 2 (7.69%) Junior
5 2 (7.69%) Junior Consultant
5 2 (7.69%) SOC Engineer
6 1 (3.85%) Applications Tester
6 1 (3.85%) Incident Engineer
6 1 (3.85%) IT Security Engineer
6 1 (3.85%) Senior Analyst
6 1 (3.85%) Senior Security Analyst
6 1 (3.85%) Senior Security Engineer
6 1 (3.85%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (7.69%) Regular Expression
Miscellaneous
1 14 (53.85%) Mobile App
2 7 (26.92%) Operational Technology
3 6 (23.08%) Cyberattack
4 4 (15.38%) IoT
5 2 (7.69%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (7.69%) Cloud Native
5 2 (7.69%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 2 (7.69%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (7.69%) Taxonomies
6 1 (3.85%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 21 (80.77%) Windows
2 13 (50.00%) Linux
3 2 (7.69%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (84.62%) Cybersecurity
2 18 (69.23%) Penetration Testing
3 14 (53.85%) Red Team
4 9 (34.62%) Security Operations
5 8 (30.77%) Application Security
5 8 (30.77%) Ethical Hacking
5 8 (30.77%) MITRE ATT&CK
6 7 (26.92%) Incident Response
7 6 (23.08%) OWASP
7 6 (23.08%) Social Engineering
7 6 (23.08%) Task Automation
7 6 (23.08%) Vulnerability Assessment
7 6 (23.08%) Vulnerability Remediation
8 3 (11.54%) SIEM
8 3 (11.54%) Threat Intelligence
9 2 (7.69%) Change Control
9 2 (7.69%) Cloud Security
9 2 (7.69%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
9 2 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
9 2 (7.69%) Threat Detection
Programming Languages
1 14 (53.85%) Python
2 7 (26.92%) C++
2 7 (26.92%) JavaScript
3 6 (23.08%) C#
3 6 (23.08%) Go
3 6 (23.08%) PowerShell
4 1 (3.85%) Perl
Qualifications
1 17 (65.38%) GIAC
2 16 (61.54%) OSCP
3 15 (57.69%) CREST Certified
4 11 (42.31%) GPEN
5 10 (38.46%) Security Cleared
6 9 (34.62%) CEH
6 9 (34.62%) SC Cleared
7 6 (23.08%) CHECK Team Leader
8 3 (11.54%) GCED
9 2 (7.69%) BC Cleared
9 2 (7.69%) CASP
9 2 (7.69%) CCNA
9 2 (7.69%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (7.69%) CompTIA Security+
9 2 (7.69%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (7.69%) Degree
9 2 (7.69%) GSEC
10 1 (3.85%) CCNP
10 1 (3.85%) CCSP
10 1 (3.85%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (50.00%) NIST
System Software
1 13 (50.00%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (3.85%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
1 1 (3.85%) CSIRT
Vendors
1 7 (26.92%) Microsoft
2 6 (23.08%) CrowdStrike
3 2 (7.69%) Cisco
3 2 (7.69%) Citrix
3 2 (7.69%) LogRhythm
3 2 (7.69%) Palo Alto
3 2 (7.69%) TippingPoint
3 2 (7.69%) Trend Micro