Penetration Testing Contract Job Trends
Penetration Testing
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Penetration Testing skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 464 | 344 | 400 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -120 | +56 | 0 |
| Contract jobs citing Penetration Testing | 231 | 232 | 167 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.42% | 0.70% | 0.44% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 0.49% | 0.77% | 0.52% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 159 | 161 | 117 |
| 10th Percentile | £423 | £400 | £440 |
| 25th Percentile | £500 | £463 | £505 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £575 | £550 | £563 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.55% | -2.22% | +2.27% |
| 75th Percentile | £688 | £600 | £675 |
| 90th Percentile | £775 | £675 | £765 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £575 | £496 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +15.93% | -5.52% | -4.55% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 10th Percentile | £84.00 | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £86.25 | - | - |
| Median hourly rate | £90.00 | - | - |
| 75th Percentile | - | - | - |
| 90th Percentile | - | - | - |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £90.00 | - | - |
All Process & Methodology Skills
UK
Penetration Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.
| 6 months to 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 46,911 | 30,121 | 32,352 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 84.81% | 90.54% | 86.01% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,189 | 18,721 | 19,488 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £296 | £308 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £404 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -2.42% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,476 | 1,911 | 1,239 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.51 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.75 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £37.24 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +48.07% | -37.13% | -10.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.79 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £66.00 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £37.24 | £22.27 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +67.26% | -44.34% | -8.88% |
Penetration Testing Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Penetration Testing relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Penetration Testing Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Penetration Testing.
Penetration Testing Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.
Penetration Testing Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Penetration Testing.
Penetration Testing Top 16 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Penetration Testing within the UK over the 6 months to 16 October 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 | -163 | 180 | £565 | +2.73% | 397 |
| UK excluding London | -88 | 95 | £575 | +15.93% | 244 |
| London | -121 | 89 | £525 | -8.70% | 165 |
| Work from Home | -87 | 75 | £600 | - | 216 |
| North of England | -61 | 30 | £586 | +11.62% | 63 |
| South West | -22 | 20 | £555 | +13.85% | 31 |
| North West | -43 | 19 | £582 | +11.90% | 30 |
| South East | -68 | 18 | £650 | +32.11% | 48 |
| Scotland | -15 | 15 | £581 | - | 24 |
| Midlands | -53 | 13 | £575 | +53.33% | 41 |
| West Midlands | -37 | 12 | £575 | +6.98% | 26 |
| Yorkshire | -32 | 6 | £600 | +20.00% | 24 |
| North East | -37 | 5 | £500 | -28.57% | 10 |
| East of England | -27 | 4 | £227 | -58.79% | 24 |
| Wales | - | 2 | - | - | 7 |
| East Midlands | -19 | 1 | £533 | +42.00% | 15 |
Penetration Testing Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cybersecurity | 58.0% | 134 |
| 2 | Vulnerability Management | 38.1% | 88 |
| 3 | Cloud Security | 31.6% | 73 |
| 4 | Threat Modelling | 27.3% | 63 |
| 5 | Stakeholder Management | 25.5% | 59 |
| 6 | Security Architecture | 22.5% | 52 |
| 7 | Security Testing | 21.2% | 49 |
| 8 | CI/CD | 19.9% | 46 |
| 9 | Application Security | 19.0% | 44 |
| 9 | DevSecOps | 19.0% | 44 |
| 9 | Incident Response | 19.0% | 44 |
| 12 | Information Security | 18.2% | 42 |
| 12 | Vulnerability Remediation | 18.2% | 42 |
| 14 | Risk Management | 16.9% | 39 |
| 15 | Security Operations | 16.5% | 38 |
| 16 | SIEM | 15.6% | 36 |
| 17 | Validation | 14.7% | 34 |
| 18 | OWASP | 13.9% | 32 |
| 19 | Continuous Improvement | 13.0% | 30 |
| 20 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.6% | 29 |