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 4 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 455 394 531
Rank change year-on-year -61 +137 +12
Contract jobs citing Sarbanes-Oxley 182 139 69
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.40% 0.48% 0.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.32% 3.12% 1.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 83 44
10th Percentile £450 £313 £477
25th Percentile £503 £431 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £582 £575
Median % change year-on-year +3.18% +1.14% +15.00%
75th Percentile £658 £684 £603
90th Percentile £766 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £563 £550 £560
% change year-on-year +2.27% -1.79% +16.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 4 2
10th Percentile £35.80 £79.63 £34.88
25th Percentile £55.00 £84.69 £40.31
Median hourly rate £62.00 £90.00 £51.25
Median % change year-on-year -31.11% +75.61% +26.54%
75th Percentile £63.75 £93.13 £62.81
90th Percentile £78.00 £94.25 £68.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.00 £82.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year -24.85% +17.86% -

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 7,830 4,459 6,308
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.34% 15.26% 14.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,064 2,889 4,026
10th Percentile £336 £263 £300
25th Percentile £413 £386 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £625
90th Percentile £700 £716 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 428 173 374
10th Percentile £14.18 £17.65 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £30.58 £32.50 £20.80
Median % change year-on-year -5.91% +56.23% -47.99%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £82.08 £83.15 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.86 £32.25 £18.00
% change year-on-year -1.21% +79.17% -52.00%

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 4 April 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 4 April 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 4 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 -68 155 £600 +3.18% 33
London -24 109 £600 -1.88% 16
Work from Home -24 58 £600 +6.67% 15
UK excluding London -97 47 £563 +2.27% 23
North of England -71 14 £662 +47.11% 3
South East -42 12 £519 +15.28% 12
North West -37 11 £694 +20.61% 2
Midlands -71 8 £600 +14.29% 5
East of England -29 7 £600 +4.35% 3
West Midlands -55 7 £600 +6.38% 4
Scotland 0 4 £700 +21.74%
Yorkshire -62 3 £500 +15.94% 1
Northern Ireland -4 2 £550 -
East Midlands -32 1 - - 1

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 4 (2.20%) Apache
2 3 (1.65%) Apache Spark
2 3 (1.65%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 3 (1.65%) WebSphere
3 2 (1.10%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.55%) Confluence
4 1 (0.55%) IBM HTTP Server
4 1 (0.55%) Oracle Workflow
4 1 (0.55%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 15 (8.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 22 (12.09%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (3.30%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 5 (2.75%) Oracle General Ledger
3 5 (2.75%) Oracle Payables
3 5 (2.75%) Oracle Receivables
3 5 (2.75%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 3 (1.65%) NetSuite
4 3 (1.65%) OpenText VIM for SAP
4 3 (1.65%) SAP GRC
5 2 (1.10%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (1.10%) Oracle FAH
5 2 (1.10%) Remedy ITSM
5 2 (1.10%) SAP GTS
6 1 (0.55%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.55%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.55%) SAP CS
6 1 (0.55%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.55%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.55%) SAP SCM
6 1 (0.55%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 63 (34.62%) Azure
2 32 (17.58%) AWS
3 28 (15.38%) Entra ID
4 15 (8.24%) Power Platform
5 10 (5.49%) Azure DevOps
6 9 (4.95%) OCI
7 6 (3.30%) SaaS
8 5 (2.75%) IaaS
8 5 (2.75%) Microsoft 365
9 4 (2.20%) GCP
9 4 (2.20%) Snowflake
10 3 (1.65%) Azure Machine Learning
10 3 (1.65%) SuccessFactors
11 2 (1.10%) Azure Data Factory
11 2 (1.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 2 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
11 2 (1.10%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (1.10%) PaaS
11 2 (1.10%) Veeva
12 1 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 16 (8.79%) DNS
2 15 (8.24%) DHCP
2 15 (8.24%) Kerberos
3 9 (4.95%) HTTP
3 9 (4.95%) Network Security
4 4 (2.20%) Firewall
5 2 (1.10%) SSL
5 2 (1.10%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.55%) Intrusion Detection
6 1 (0.55%) LAN
6 1 (0.55%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.55%) Structured Cabling
6 1 (0.55%) WAN
6 1 (0.55%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (8.24%) Power BI
2 8 (4.40%) Relational Database
2 8 (4.40%) SQL Server
3 7 (3.85%) Data Lake
3 7 (3.85%) Spark SQL
4 4 (2.20%) Data Warehouse
5 3 (1.65%) Big Data
5 3 (1.65%) NoSQL
5 3 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (1.10%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.55%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.55%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.55%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.55%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.55%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 13 (7.14%) Git
1 13 (7.14%) GitLab
2 10 (5.49%) JIRA
3 5 (2.75%) Jenkins
4 3 (1.65%) Postman
4 3 (1.65%) REST Assured
4 3 (1.65%) Robot Framework
4 3 (1.65%) Selenium
5 1 (0.55%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.55%) Introscope
General
1 101 (55.49%) Finance
2 74 (40.66%) Social Skills
3 32 (17.58%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (14.29%) Banking
5 15 (8.24%) Legal
6 13 (7.14%) Influencing Skills
7 12 (6.59%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (3.85%) General Ledger
9 6 (3.30%) Investment Banking
10 5 (2.75%) Financial Institution
10 5 (2.75%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (2.20%) Billing
11 4 (2.20%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (1.65%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.65%) Public Sector
12 3 (1.65%) Retail
13 2 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (1.10%) Japanese Language
13 2 (1.10%) Manufacturing
13 2 (1.10%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 24 (13.19%) Analyst
2 23 (12.64%) Lead
3 22 (12.09%) Consultant
4 19 (10.44%) Architect
5 12 (6.59%) Senior
6 7 (3.85%) Business Analyst
6 7 (3.85%) Project Manager
7 6 (3.30%) Information Officer
7 6 (3.30%) Information Security Officer
7 6 (3.30%) IT Analyst
7 6 (3.30%) Programme Manager
7 6 (3.30%) Security Officer
8 5 (2.75%) Developer
8 5 (2.75%) QA Engineer
8 5 (2.75%) Security Analyst
8 5 (2.75%) Security Consultant
8 5 (2.75%) SOX Analyst
9 4 (2.20%) Engineering Manager
9 4 (2.20%) Head of Testing
9 4 (2.20%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (12.09%) LDAP
2 20 (10.99%) OAuth
2 20 (10.99%) SAML
3 7 (3.85%) Oracle Fusion
3 7 (3.85%) PySpark
3 7 (3.85%) SailPoint
3 7 (3.85%) Spark Streaming
4 6 (3.30%) Middleware
5 5 (2.75%) REST
6 4 (2.20%) OpenID
6 4 (2.20%) SAP Fiori
6 4 (2.20%) SOAP
7 3 (1.65%) CSS
7 3 (1.65%) HTML
7 3 (1.65%) JDBC
7 3 (1.65%) Node.js
7 3 (1.65%) pytest
7 3 (1.65%) Spring
7 3 (1.65%) Spring Boot
7 3 (1.65%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.24%) Replication
2 12 (6.59%) Management Information System
3 9 (4.95%) Onboarding
4 7 (3.85%) BYOD
4 7 (3.85%) Distributed Computing
5 6 (3.30%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (2.75%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (2.20%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 4 (2.20%) Product Ownership
8 3 (1.65%) Cloud Native
8 3 (1.65%) CMDB
8 3 (1.65%) Data Protection Act
8 3 (1.65%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.65%) PMI
9 2 (1.10%) AI Agents
9 2 (1.10%) Data Centre
9 2 (1.10%) Hedge funds
9 2 (1.10%) Life Science
9 2 (1.10%) Mainframe
9 2 (1.10%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 28 (15.38%) Windows
2 15 (8.24%) Windows Server
3 11 (6.04%) Linux
4 4 (2.20%) Unix
5 2 (1.10%) zOS
6 1 (0.55%) AIX
6 1 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (29.67%) Stakeholder Management
2 50 (27.47%) Agile
3 39 (21.43%) Identity Access Management
4 36 (19.78%) Continuous Improvement
5 31 (17.03%) DevOps
6 30 (16.48%) ERP
6 30 (16.48%) RBAC
7 26 (14.29%) CI/CD
7 26 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
8 24 (13.19%) Change Management
9 22 (12.09%) Cybersecurity
9 22 (12.09%) Procure-to-Pay
10 21 (11.54%) ETL
10 21 (11.54%) Migration
11 19 (10.44%) Privileged Access Management
11 19 (10.44%) Risk Management
12 18 (9.89%) Disaster Recovery
12 18 (9.89%) Waterfall
13 17 (9.34%) AI
13 17 (9.34%) Information Security
Programming Languages
1 33 (18.13%) SQL
2 26 (14.29%) Python
3 25 (13.74%) PowerShell
4 18 (9.89%) Java
5 3 (1.65%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.65%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.10%) Bash
6 2 (1.10%) C#
6 2 (1.10%) CLIST
6 2 (1.10%) JCL
6 2 (1.10%) PL/SQL
6 2 (1.10%) REXX
7 1 (0.55%) Jython
7 1 (0.55%) R
7 1 (0.55%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 27 (14.84%) Degree
2 19 (10.44%) CISSP
2 19 (10.44%) Security Cleared
3 18 (9.89%) SC Cleared
4 15 (8.24%) CISM
5 12 (6.59%) PMI Certification
6 10 (5.49%) PMP
7 6 (3.30%) ACCA
7 6 (3.30%) CISA
8 5 (2.75%) CIMA
9 4 (2.20%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (2.20%) Master's Degree
10 3 (1.65%) Azure Certification
10 3 (1.65%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (1.65%) CRISC
10 3 (1.65%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 2 (1.10%) ISTQB
11 2 (1.10%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 1 (0.55%) MBA
12 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (43.96%) GDPR
2 40 (21.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 36 (19.78%) NIST
4 20 (10.99%) PCI DSS
5 18 (9.89%) ITGC
6 14 (7.69%) COBIT
7 11 (6.04%) HIPAA
8 10 (5.49%) QA
9 8 (4.40%) GRC
9 8 (4.40%) IFRS
10 7 (3.85%) GAAP
10 7 (3.85%) SOX 404
11 6 (3.30%) Data Quality
12 5 (2.75%) Basel III
13 3 (1.65%) IFRS 9
13 3 (1.65%) NIST 800
13 3 (1.65%) SLA
14 2 (1.10%) Actionable Recommendations
14 2 (1.10%) GxP
14 2 (1.10%) PMO
System Software
1 26 (14.29%) Active Directory
2 13 (7.14%) Docker
3 2 (1.10%) NDS
3 2 (1.10%) NetIQ eDirectory
3 2 (1.10%) RACF
3 2 (1.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.55%) IAG
Systems Management
1 22 (12.09%) Single Sign-On
2 16 (8.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 14 (7.69%) Kubernetes
4 3 (1.65%) RSA Archer
4 3 (1.65%) Terraform
5 2 (1.10%) Control-M
5 2 (1.10%) zSecure
6 1 (0.55%) Ansible
6 1 (0.55%) CA Wily
6 1 (0.55%) Oracle Identity Manager
6 1 (0.55%) Puppet
Vendors
1 45 (24.73%) SAP
2 39 (21.43%) Microsoft
3 24 (13.19%) Oracle
4 23 (12.64%) ServiceNow
5 18 (9.89%) Okta
6 14 (7.69%) CyberArk
7 12 (6.59%) Workday
8 5 (2.75%) Ariba
9 4 (2.20%) IBM
9 4 (2.20%) Informatica
9 4 (2.20%) OpenText
10 3 (1.65%) VMware
11 2 (1.10%) BeyondTrust
11 2 (1.10%) BMC
11 2 (1.10%) Centrify
11 2 (1.10%) Databricks
11 2 (1.10%) NetIQ
11 2 (1.10%) Remedy
11 2 (1.10%) Splunk
12 1 (0.55%) Adaptive Insights