Sarbanes-Oxley Contract Job Trends

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX, Sarbox)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Sarbanes-Oxley skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 511 391 477
Rank change year-on-year -120 +86 +7
Contract jobs citing Sarbanes-Oxley 172 166 95
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.32% 0.50% 0.24%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.86% 2.95% 1.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 101 67
10th Percentile £413 £400 £351
25th Percentile £425 £513 £399
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £563 £569 £575
Median % change year-on-year -1.14% -1.04% +15.00%
75th Percentile £600 £663 £653
90th Percentile £738 £750 £705
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £550 £525
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 6 1
10th Percentile £50.00 £21.50 -
25th Percentile £55.63 £27.06 -
Median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £44.04
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% +47.59% +11.21%
75th Percentile £76.50 £91.56 -
90th Percentile £81.20 £92.50 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.25 £23.00 £44.04
% change year-on-year +170.65% -47.77% +11.21%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

Sarbanes-Oxley 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 9,261 5,625 5,230
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.27% 17.05% 13.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,902 3,621 3,207
10th Percentile £325 £286 £288
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £610 £625
90th Percentile £700 £716 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £491 £475 £484
% change year-on-year +3.37% -1.86% -3.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 579 265 302
10th Percentile £13.87 £13.60 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.43 £17.35 £14.10
Median hourly rate £36.07 £29.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +24.38% +16.00% -29.58%
75th Percentile £69.91 £60.00 £55.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £85.55 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.07 £25.11 £24.18
% change year-on-year +43.63% +3.86% -30.91%

Sarbanes-Oxley
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Sarbanes-Oxley relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Sarbanes-Oxley job vacancy trend in the UK

Sarbanes-Oxley
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Sarbanes-Oxley.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Sarbanes-Oxley

Sarbanes-Oxley
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Sarbanes-Oxley over the 6 months to 24 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Sarbanes-Oxley in the UK

Sarbanes-Oxley
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Sarbanes-Oxley.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Sarbanes-Oxley

Sarbanes-Oxley
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Sarbanes-Oxley over the 6 months to 24 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Sarbanes-Oxley in the UK

Sarbanes-Oxley
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Sarbanes-Oxley within the UK over the 6 months to 24 August 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 -104 153 £530 -6.77% 34
London -75 77 £588 -0.21% 19
UK excluding London -91 76 £525 -4.55% 19
Work from Home -59 66 £500 -13.04% 18
North of England -42 47 £450 -20.91% 4
North West -32 27 £569 -0.52% 2
Yorkshire -27 20 £450 -18.18% 2
South East -68 11 £563 +4.65% 11
East of England -22 8 £525 -16.00%
Midlands -44 6 £650 +23.81% 4
East Midlands -11 3 £550 +24.29% 1
Scotland -20 3 £600 -
West Midlands -45 3 £650 +15.25% 3
South West -46 1 £600 +18.81%

Sarbanes-Oxley
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 (4.07%) Apache Spark
2 5 (2.91%) Apache
2 5 (2.91%) IIS
3 1 (0.58%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.58%) IBM HTTP Server
3 1 (0.58%) WebSphere
3 1 (0.58%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 12 (6.98%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.58%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 21 (12.21%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (3.49%) NetSuite
3 4 (2.33%) HFM
3 4 (2.33%) OpenText VIM for SAP
3 4 (2.33%) Oracle Payables
3 4 (2.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (1.16%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (1.16%) Oracle Receivables
4 2 (1.16%) SAP CO
4 2 (1.16%) SAP FI
4 2 (1.16%) SAP FI/CO
5 1 (0.58%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.58%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.58%) Oracle Cash Management
5 1 (0.58%) SAP CS
5 1 (0.58%) SAP ECC
5 1 (0.58%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.58%) SAP GTS
5 1 (0.58%) SAP LE
5 1 (0.58%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 58 (33.72%) Azure
2 53 (30.81%) AWS
3 18 (10.47%) Entra ID
4 16 (9.30%) SaaS
5 13 (7.56%) Azure DevOps
5 13 (7.56%) GCP
6 6 (3.49%) Azure Sentinel
6 6 (3.49%) Power Platform
7 4 (2.33%) GitHub
7 4 (2.33%) Microsoft 365
7 4 (2.33%) Snowflake
8 3 (1.74%) IaaS
8 3 (1.74%) SuccessFactors
9 2 (1.16%) Amazon S3
9 2 (1.16%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 2 (1.16%) Azure Machine Learning
9 2 (1.16%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (1.16%) Matillion
10 1 (0.58%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.58%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 11 (6.40%) Network Security
2 8 (4.65%) Firewall
3 5 (2.91%) HTTPS
4 4 (2.33%) HTTP
5 1 (0.58%) DNS
5 1 (0.58%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.58%) SAN
5 1 (0.58%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (4.65%) Relational Database
2 7 (4.07%) SQL Server
3 6 (3.49%) Power BI
4 5 (2.91%) NoSQL
5 4 (2.33%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (1.74%) Apache Cassandra
6 3 (1.74%) Data Lake
6 3 (1.74%) RDBMS
6 3 (1.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (1.16%) GIS
8 1 (0.58%) BigQuery
8 1 (0.58%) Delta Lake
8 1 (0.58%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.58%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.58%) Metadata
8 1 (0.58%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.58%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.58%) Snowflake Schema
8 1 (0.58%) Spark SQL
8 1 (0.58%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (4.65%) GitLab
2 6 (3.49%) JIRA
3 5 (2.91%) Git
3 5 (2.91%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.16%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.58%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.58%) Gradle
5 1 (0.58%) Introscope
5 1 (0.58%) Maven
5 1 (0.58%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.58%) TestRail
General
1 90 (52.33%) Finance
2 66 (38.37%) Social Skills
3 38 (22.09%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (9.88%) Legal
5 13 (7.56%) Banking
6 11 (6.40%) Influencing Skills
7 9 (5.23%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (5.23%) Pharmaceutical
8 7 (4.07%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (2.91%) Billing
9 5 (2.91%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (1.74%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.74%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.16%) Retail
12 1 (0.58%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.58%) Legal Technology
12 1 (0.58%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 30 (17.44%) Architect
2 29 (16.86%) Lead
3 20 (11.63%) Analyst
4 17 (9.88%) Author
4 17 (9.88%) Technical Author
5 14 (8.14%) Consultant
6 11 (6.40%) SOX Analyst
7 9 (5.23%) Project Manager
8 8 (4.65%) Business Analyst
8 8 (4.65%) IT Analyst
9 7 (4.07%) Finance Business Analyst
9 7 (4.07%) Financial Analyst
9 7 (4.07%) Java Engineer
9 7 (4.07%) Senior
10 6 (3.49%) Data Engineer
11 5 (2.91%) Compliance Analyst
11 5 (2.91%) SailPoint Architect
11 5 (2.91%) SIEM Engineer
11 5 (2.91%) Software Engineer
11 5 (2.91%) Splunk Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (11.05%) REST
2 13 (7.56%) LDAP
3 9 (5.23%) JDBC
3 9 (5.23%) SailPoint
3 9 (5.23%) SOAP
4 7 (4.07%) Spring
4 7 (4.07%) Spring Boot
5 6 (3.49%) OAuth
5 6 (3.49%) OpenID
5 6 (3.49%) SAML
6 5 (2.91%) AWS CDK
6 5 (2.91%) Jakarta EE
6 5 (2.91%) JSON
6 5 (2.91%) Oracle Fusion
7 4 (2.33%) Node.js
8 3 (1.74%) Middleware
9 2 (1.16%) pytest
9 2 (1.16%) SAP Fiori
9 2 (1.16%) Snowpark
9 2 (1.16%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 12 (6.98%) Cloud Native
2 10 (5.81%) Onboarding
3 9 (5.23%) Management Information System
3 9 (5.23%) Product Ownership
4 8 (4.65%) Enterprise Software
5 6 (3.49%) Replication
6 5 (2.91%) Data Protection Act
6 5 (2.91%) Reinsurance
7 4 (2.33%) BYOD
7 4 (2.33%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (2.33%) Virtual Team
8 3 (1.74%) Augmented Reality
8 3 (1.74%) Greenfield Project
8 3 (1.74%) Life Science
8 3 (1.74%) Operational Technology
9 2 (1.16%) Data Centre
9 2 (1.16%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 2 (1.16%) PKI
9 2 (1.16%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 1 (0.58%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 15 (8.72%) Windows
2 9 (5.23%) Linux
3 4 (2.33%) Unix
4 1 (0.58%) AIX
4 1 (0.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (27.91%) Stakeholder Management
2 39 (22.67%) Agile
3 33 (19.19%) ERP
4 27 (15.70%) DevOps
4 27 (15.70%) Problem-Solving
5 26 (15.12%) RBAC
6 25 (14.53%) Continuous Improvement
7 23 (13.37%) Change Management
7 23 (13.37%) Migration
7 23 (13.37%) Roadmaps
8 21 (12.21%) Identity Access Management
9 20 (11.63%) Cybersecurity
9 20 (11.63%) Procure-to-Pay
10 19 (11.05%) CI/CD
11 17 (9.88%) AI
11 17 (9.88%) User Acceptance Testing
12 16 (9.30%) Data Modelling
12 16 (9.30%) Order to Cash
12 16 (9.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 15 (8.72%) Record to Report
Programming Languages
1 28 (16.28%) SQL
2 25 (14.53%) Python
3 22 (12.79%) Java
4 16 (9.30%) PowerShell
5 5 (2.91%) Kusto Query Language
5 5 (2.91%) Search Processing Language
6 4 (2.33%) Bash
6 4 (2.33%) TypeScript
7 3 (1.74%) BeanShell
8 1 (0.58%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.58%) Jython
8 1 (0.58%) R
8 1 (0.58%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 26 (15.12%) Degree
2 22 (12.79%) CISSP
3 15 (8.72%) ACCA
4 12 (6.98%) CISM
5 11 (6.40%) PMI Certification
6 10 (5.81%) CIMA
6 10 (5.81%) PMP
7 5 (2.91%) CISA
7 5 (2.91%) GCFA
7 5 (2.91%) GCIH
7 5 (2.91%) Security Cleared
8 4 (2.33%) CRISC
9 3 (1.74%) Azure Certification
10 2 (1.16%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (1.16%) SAFe Agilist
11 1 (0.58%) ISTQB
11 1 (0.58%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.58%) Oracle Certification
11 1 (0.58%) SAP Certification
11 1 (0.58%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (34.30%) GDPR
2 33 (19.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 20 (11.63%) NIST
4 18 (10.47%) ITGC
5 16 (9.30%) HIPAA
6 15 (8.72%) GRC
7 14 (8.14%) PCI DSS
8 13 (7.56%) GAAP
8 13 (7.56%) IFRS
9 9 (5.23%) Data Quality
10 5 (2.91%) GxP
10 5 (2.91%) Solvency II
11 4 (2.33%) COBIT
11 4 (2.33%) QA
12 3 (1.74%) NIST 800
13 2 (1.16%) PMO
13 2 (1.16%) SLA
14 1 (0.58%) PSD2
14 1 (0.58%) SOC 1
System Software
1 21 (12.21%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.91%) Docker
3 1 (0.58%) Apache ZooKeeper
Systems Management
1 10 (5.81%) Kubernetes
2 9 (5.23%) Single Sign-On
3 5 (2.91%) Ansible
3 5 (2.91%) CASB
3 5 (2.91%) Progress Chef
4 1 (0.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 1 (0.58%) CA Wily
4 1 (0.58%) Grafana
4 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.58%) Puppet
4 1 (0.58%) systemd
Vendors
1 56 (32.56%) SAP
2 31 (18.02%) Microsoft
3 21 (12.21%) ServiceNow
4 17 (9.88%) Oracle
5 14 (8.14%) CyberArk
6 13 (7.56%) Workday
7 9 (5.23%) Splunk
8 7 (4.07%) Ariba
9 6 (3.49%) Salesforce
10 5 (2.91%) Cribl.io
11 4 (2.33%) Google
11 4 (2.33%) Hyperion
11 4 (2.33%) Okta
11 4 (2.33%) Tagetik
12 3 (1.74%) Alteryx
12 3 (1.74%) BeyondTrust
12 3 (1.74%) Bloomberg
12 3 (1.74%) Databricks
12 3 (1.74%) Palo Alto
12 3 (1.74%) Zscaler