Security Architect Contract Job Trends

Security Architect
UK

The median Security Architect daily rate in the UK is £650, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 29 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 286 242 256
Rank change year-on-year -44 +14 +61
Contract jobs requiring a Security Architect 344 337 415
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.01% 0.96%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.02% 1.09% 1.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 229 215 265
10th Percentile £480 £525 £525
25th Percentile £538 £600 £608
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £650 £675 £675
Median % change year-on-year -3.70% - -2.88%
75th Percentile £738 £769 £765
90th Percentile £788 £812 £820
UK excluding London median daily rate £650 £655 £700
% change year-on-year -0.76% -6.43% +2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 3
10th Percentile £79.38 - £74.63
25th Percentile £82.19 £68.26 £75.02
Median hourly rate £85.00 £73.31 £78.74
Median % change year-on-year +15.95% -6.90% +12.49%
75th Percentile £91.56 £78.36 £84.36
90th Percentile £94.38 - £85.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.00 £73.31 £78.74
% change year-on-year +15.95% -6.90% +12.49%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 33,636 30,890 40,421
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.16% 92.72% 93.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,275 18,962 27,109
10th Percentile £295 £300 £282
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £640
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £487 £500
% change year-on-year -2.41% -2.65% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,972 959 1,551
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.52 £14.50
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.05 £19.15
Median hourly rate £25.47 £32.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.63% -27.78% +41.93%
75th Percentile £58.06 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.97 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.94
% change year-on-year -22.62% -29.26% +77.99%

Security Architect
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Security Architect' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Security Architect job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Architect
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Security Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Security Architect job vacancies in the UK

Security Architect
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Architect over the 6 months to 29 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Security Architect in the UK

Security Architect
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Security Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Security Architect job vacancies in the UK

Security Architect
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Security Architect within the UK over the 6 months to 29 December 2025. 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 -16 295 £650 -3.70% 533
UK excluding London -12 176 £650 -0.76% 511
London -15 126 £650 -5.45% 53
Work from Home -17 96 £650 -3.70% 306
South East +13 64 £650 +4.00% 115
North of England -15 60 £625 -16.67% 138
Yorkshire -20 33 £544 -22.32% 57
South West -6 21 £650 - 62
North West -24 16 £701 -6.60% 66
Midlands -42 13 £675 -3.57% 94
North East - 12 £738 - 15
West Midlands -30 11 £675 -3.57% 47
Wales +7 9 £725 - 18
Scotland -5 9 £675 +12.50% 18
East of England -18 5 £520 +15.56% 70
Northern Ireland -9 2 £500 - 3
East Midlands - 2 £450 - 42

Security Architect Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 29 December 2025, Security Architect contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Security Architect in the job title.

1 166 (48.26%) Security Architecture
2 122 (35.47%) Security Cleared
3 113 (32.85%) Cybersecurity
4 106 (30.81%) Azure
5 101 (29.36%) AWS
6 92 (26.74%) NIST
7 87 (25.29%) SC Cleared
8 85 (24.71%) CISSP
8 85 (24.71%) Cloud Security
9 76 (22.09%) Threat Modelling
10 69 (20.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 65 (18.90%) TOGAF
12 63 (18.31%) Network Security
13 60 (17.44%) Firewall
14 58 (16.86%) Microsoft
15 57 (16.57%) Zero Trust
16 51 (14.83%) Incident Response
16 51 (14.83%) SABSA
17 49 (14.24%) Identity Access Management
18 46 (13.37%) Risk Management
19 44 (12.79%) Vulnerability Management
20 43 (12.50%) CISM
20 43 (12.50%) SIEM
21 40 (11.63%) DevSecOps
21 40 (11.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
22 39 (11.34%) GCP
22 39 (11.34%) Roadmaps
23 38 (11.05%) CI/CD
24 37 (10.76%) GDPR
25 32 (9.30%) Architectural Patterns

Security Architect Skill Set
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 15 (4.36%) Confluence
2 3 (0.87%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.58%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.29%) Jupyter
4 1 (0.29%) nginx
Applications
1 1 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (2.03%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 106 (30.81%) Azure
2 101 (29.36%) AWS
3 39 (11.34%) GCP
4 21 (6.10%) Entra ID
5 12 (3.49%) Microsoft 365
6 11 (3.20%) Microsoft Purview
6 11 (3.20%) SaaS
7 9 (2.62%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 9 (2.62%) AWS KMS
7 9 (2.62%) PaaS
8 8 (2.33%) Azure Sentinel
8 8 (2.33%) GitHub
8 8 (2.33%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 7 (2.03%) AWS CloudFormation
9 7 (2.03%) IaaS
10 4 (1.16%) Azure Key Vault
11 3 (0.87%) Amazon EKS
12 2 (0.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 2 (0.58%) Amazon ECS
12 2 (0.58%) AWS CloudTrail
Communications & Networking
1 63 (18.31%) Network Security
2 60 (17.44%) Firewall
3 13 (3.78%) VPN
4 12 (3.49%) WAN
5 11 (3.20%) LAN
6 10 (2.91%) SD-WAN
7 8 (2.33%) NGFW
8 5 (1.45%) DNS
8 5 (1.45%) IPsec
9 4 (1.16%) BGP
9 4 (1.16%) Intrusion Detection
9 4 (1.16%) SSL
9 4 (1.16%) Wi-Fi
10 3 (0.87%) DHCP
10 3 (0.87%) Internet
10 3 (0.87%) Kerberos
10 3 (0.87%) OSPF
10 3 (0.87%) Skype
10 3 (0.87%) TCP/IP
10 3 (0.87%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.62%) MongoDB
1 9 (2.62%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (0.58%) BigQuery
3 1 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
3 1 (0.29%) Metadata
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 13 (3.78%) JIRA
2 5 (1.45%) Git
3 3 (0.87%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.58%) GitLab
5 1 (0.29%) MLflow
General
1 81 (23.55%) Social Skills
2 55 (15.99%) Finance
3 49 (14.24%) Public Sector
4 20 (5.81%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (4.94%) Banking
6 11 (3.20%) Legal
7 8 (2.33%) Financial Institution
8 7 (2.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 7 (2.03%) Influencing Skills
8 7 (2.03%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (1.74%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.16%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.16%) Pharmaceutical
10 4 (1.16%) Telecoms
11 3 (0.87%) Electronics
11 3 (0.87%) Manufacturing
11 3 (0.87%) Marketing
11 3 (0.87%) Military
12 1 (0.29%) Investment Banking
12 1 (0.29%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.33%) SAML
2 6 (1.74%) OAuth
3 5 (1.45%) ModSecurity
3 5 (1.45%) OpenID
3 5 (1.45%) PyTorch
3 5 (1.45%) TensorFlow
4 4 (1.16%) Google JAX
4 4 (1.16%) JAX
4 4 (1.16%) scikit-learn
5 3 (0.87%) OAuth2
6 2 (0.58%) .NET
6 2 (0.58%) ARM Templates
6 2 (0.58%) Kafka
6 2 (0.58%) Middleware
7 1 (0.29%) ADO
7 1 (0.29%) JAAS
7 1 (0.29%) JSSE
7 1 (0.29%) LDAP
7 1 (0.29%) OpenTelemetry
7 1 (0.29%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 31 (9.01%) Security Posture
2 29 (8.43%) Cloud Native
3 16 (4.65%) Onboarding
4 15 (4.36%) Management Information System
4 15 (4.36%) PKI
5 14 (4.07%) Data Centre
5 14 (4.07%) Operational Technology
6 11 (3.20%) Product Ownership
7 9 (2.62%) Cyber Threat
7 9 (2.62%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (2.62%) Private Cloud
8 8 (2.33%) Cloud Security Posture
8 8 (2.33%) Public Cloud
9 7 (2.03%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (2.03%) Taxonomies
10 6 (1.74%) Cyber Defence
10 6 (1.74%) Security Operations Centre
11 5 (1.45%) SCADA
12 4 (1.16%) Algorithms
12 4 (1.16%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 11 (3.20%) Windows
2 8 (2.33%) Linux
3 3 (0.87%) Windows 10
3 3 (0.87%) Windows Server
3 3 (0.87%) Windows Server 2008
4 2 (0.58%) Unix
4 2 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
5 1 (0.29%) Android
5 1 (0.29%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (48.26%) Security Architecture
2 113 (32.85%) Cybersecurity
3 85 (24.71%) Cloud Security
4 76 (22.09%) Threat Modelling
5 65 (18.90%) TOGAF
6 57 (16.57%) Zero Trust
7 51 (14.83%) Incident Response
7 51 (14.83%) SABSA
8 49 (14.24%) Identity Access Management
9 46 (13.37%) Risk Management
10 44 (12.79%) Vulnerability Management
11 43 (12.50%) SIEM
12 40 (11.63%) DevSecOps
12 40 (11.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 39 (11.34%) Roadmaps
14 38 (11.05%) CI/CD
15 32 (9.30%) Architectural Patterns
15 32 (9.30%) Information Security
16 31 (9.01%) Enterprise Architecture
16 31 (9.01%) Regulatory Compliance
Programming Languages
1 11 (3.20%) Python
2 10 (2.91%) Java
3 5 (1.45%) C
3 5 (1.45%) R
4 4 (1.16%) C++
4 4 (1.16%) SQL
5 3 (0.87%) Bicep
6 2 (0.58%) PL/SQL
6 2 (0.58%) PowerShell
7 1 (0.29%) Bash
7 1 (0.29%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.29%) Kotlin
7 1 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.29%) ProC
7 1 (0.29%) Swift
Qualifications
1 122 (35.47%) Security Cleared
2 87 (25.29%) SC Cleared
3 85 (24.71%) CISSP
4 43 (12.50%) CISM
5 26 (7.56%) Cisco Certification
6 25 (7.27%) DV Cleared
7 22 (6.40%) Degree
8 20 (5.81%) AWS Certification
9 16 (4.65%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 15 (4.36%) TOGAF Certification
11 14 (4.07%) Azure Certification
12 11 (3.20%) CCSP
13 10 (2.91%) CCNP
14 7 (2.03%) Master's Degree
15 6 (1.74%) CCIE
16 5 (1.45%) GIAC
16 5 (1.45%) Microsoft Certification
16 5 (1.45%) PhD
17 4 (1.16%) CISA
17 4 (1.16%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (26.74%) NIST
2 69 (20.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 37 (10.76%) GDPR
4 27 (7.85%) NCSC
5 23 (6.69%) PCI DSS
6 11 (3.20%) EU AI Act
7 8 (2.33%) PSD2
8 7 (2.03%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (2.03%) JSP 440
8 7 (2.03%) NIST 800
8 7 (2.03%) QA
9 5 (1.45%) GRC
10 4 (1.16%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.87%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.87%) Def Stans
11 3 (0.87%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 2 (0.58%) COBIT
12 2 (0.58%) RMADS
12 2 (0.58%) SOC 1
System Software
1 8 (2.33%) Active Directory
1 8 (2.33%) Docker
2 3 (0.87%) VMware ESXi
2 3 (0.87%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.29%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.29%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 23 (6.69%) Terraform
2 18 (5.23%) Kubernetes
3 6 (1.74%) Ansible
3 6 (1.74%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (0.87%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 3 (0.87%) OPNET
4 3 (0.87%) SCCM
4 3 (0.87%) vCenter Server
5 2 (0.58%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.29%) Kibana
6 1 (0.29%) Kubeflow
6 1 (0.29%) logstash
Vendors
1 58 (16.86%) Microsoft
2 23 (6.69%) CyberArk
3 15 (4.36%) Palo Alto
4 14 (4.07%) Cisco
4 14 (4.07%) Splunk
5 11 (3.20%) BiZZdesign
5 11 (3.20%) Centrify
6 10 (2.91%) Fortinet
6 10 (2.91%) Zscaler
7 8 (2.33%) CheckPoint
7 8 (2.33%) Darktrace
8 7 (2.03%) Google
8 7 (2.03%) Sparx
8 7 (2.03%) Virgin Media
9 6 (1.74%) VMware
10 5 (1.45%) F5
11 4 (1.16%) Oracle
11 4 (1.16%) SAP
11 4 (1.16%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.16%) Tenable