Security Architect Contract Job Trends

Security Architect
UK

The median Security Architect daily rate in the UK is £625, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 September 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 245 236 243
Rank change year-on-year -9 +7 -23
Contract jobs requiring a Security Architect 588 364 372
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.12% 0.98%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.17% 1.23% 1.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 409 228 214
10th Percentile £500 £507 £500
25th Percentile £525 £595 £600
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £625 £675 £700
Median % change year-on-year -7.41% -3.57% +2.94%
75th Percentile £738 £765 £775
90th Percentile £838 £800 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £601 £675 £660
% change year-on-year -11.04% +2.27% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 3 4
10th Percentile - £86.00 -
25th Percentile £60.00 £91.25 -
Median hourly rate £70.00 £100.00 £87.46
Median % change year-on-year -30.00% +14.34% +24.94%
75th Percentile £82.25 £102.75 -
90th Percentile £83.00 £104.40 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £100.00 £87.46
% change year-on-year -30.00% +14.34% +22.46%

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 50,343 29,565 35,332
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 91.03% 92.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,778 18,648 21,690
10th Percentile £325 £278 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £630 £625 £638
90th Percentile £731 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,866 1,577 1,631
10th Percentile £14.56 £13.75 £14.73
25th Percentile £20.25 £17.29 £20.50
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.80 £51.80 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £69.79 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.11 £43.90
% change year-on-year +69.26% -42.80% +0.34%

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 22 September 2026.

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 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 Security Architect within the UK over the 6 months to 22 September 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 -21 504 £625 -7.41% 385
London -4 266 £640 -5.19% 206
UK excluding London -36 226 £601 -11.04% 182
Work from Home -5 187 £600 -12.73% 192
South East -2 108 £644 +7.29% 64
North of England -67 50 £600 -16.35% 21
North West -42 38 £600 -16.35% 16
Midlands -38 31 £638 -5.56% 35
West Midlands -35 30 £638 -13.56% 32
South West -38 29 £600 -7.65% 32
Yorkshire -44 9 £350 -41.67% 2
East of England -29 6 £625 +25.00% 4
Channel Islands - 3 £700 - 2
East Midlands -15 1 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 22 September 2026, 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.

1 316 (53.74%) Security Architecture
2 279 (47.45%) Security Cleared
3 203 (34.52%) Cybersecurity
4 188 (31.97%) SC Cleared
5 184 (31.29%) Azure
6 168 (28.57%) Cloud Security
7 156 (26.53%) Threat Modelling
8 143 (24.32%) AWS
9 137 (23.30%) NIST
10 117 (19.90%) CISSP
11 96 (16.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 93 (15.82%) Identity Access Management
12 93 (15.82%) Zero Trust
13 92 (15.65%) Risk Management
14 89 (15.14%) DV Cleared
14 89 (15.14%) Stakeholder Management
15 86 (14.63%) AI
16 85 (14.46%) TOGAF
17 80 (13.61%) Network Security
18 78 (13.27%) Architectural Patterns
19 77 (13.10%) Microsoft
20 72 (12.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
21 66 (11.22%) Roadmaps
22 64 (10.88%) GCP
22 64 (10.88%) NCSC
22 64 (10.88%) SABSA
23 59 (10.03%) Data Protection
24 58 (9.86%) CISM
24 58 (9.86%) DevSecOps
24 58 (9.86%) Information Security

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 4 (0.68%) IIS
2 2 (0.34%) Confluence
2 2 (0.34%) SAS
2 2 (0.34%) SharePoint
Applications
1 4 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.34%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.17%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 184 (31.29%) Azure
2 143 (24.32%) AWS
3 64 (10.88%) GCP
4 36 (6.12%) Entra ID
5 18 (3.06%) SaaS
6 17 (2.89%) Azure Sentinel
7 12 (2.04%) Dynamics 365
7 12 (2.04%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (1.53%) Azure Key Vault
9 6 (1.02%) AWS KMS
10 5 (0.85%) AWS Control Tower
10 5 (0.85%) Azure AI
10 5 (0.85%) IaaS
10 5 (0.85%) Microsoft Purview
10 5 (0.85%) OCI
10 5 (0.85%) PaaS
10 5 (0.85%) Vertex AI
11 4 (0.68%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 4 (0.68%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.68%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 80 (13.61%) Network Security
2 48 (8.16%) Firewall
3 14 (2.38%) WAN
4 13 (2.21%) VPN
5 8 (1.36%) 4G
5 8 (1.36%) SD-WAN
5 8 (1.36%) VLAN
6 7 (1.19%) IPsec
7 6 (1.02%) 5G
7 6 (1.02%) LAN
7 6 (1.02%) NGFW
8 5 (0.85%) BGP
8 5 (0.85%) OSPF
8 5 (0.85%) Radio Access Network
9 4 (0.68%) MPLS
10 3 (0.51%) BIG-IP
10 3 (0.51%) Cisco IOS
10 3 (0.51%) EIGRP
10 3 (0.51%) Internet
10 3 (0.51%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.85%) Data Lake
2 1 (0.17%) Big Data
2 1 (0.17%) BigQuery
2 1 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (0.17%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 9 (1.53%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.68%) JIRA
3 3 (0.51%) Claude Code
4 2 (0.34%) GitLab
General
1 98 (16.67%) Social Skills
2 70 (11.90%) Public Sector
3 52 (8.84%) Finance
4 28 (4.76%) Influencing Skills
5 27 (4.59%) Banking
6 24 (4.08%) Documentation Skills
7 20 (3.40%) Legal
8 19 (3.23%) Analytical Skills
9 16 (2.72%) Telecoms
10 13 (2.21%) Manufacturing
11 10 (1.70%) Military
11 10 (1.70%) Police
12 7 (1.19%) Aerospace
12 7 (1.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (1.19%) Law
13 5 (0.85%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.68%) Automotive
14 4 (0.68%) Local Government
14 4 (0.68%) Presentation Skills
14 4 (0.68%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (4.08%) Terraform
2 17 (2.89%) OAuth
3 12 (2.04%) OpenID
4 11 (1.87%) OAuth2
4 11 (1.87%) SAML
5 6 (1.02%) ModSecurity
5 6 (1.02%) REST
5 6 (1.02%) SLSA
6 5 (0.85%) Azure Blueprints
6 5 (0.85%) LangChain
6 5 (0.85%) PyTorch
7 4 (0.68%) Jakarta EE
7 4 (0.68%) JSP
7 4 (0.68%) LDAP
8 3 (0.51%) .NET
8 3 (0.51%) HTML
8 3 (0.51%) JWT
8 3 (0.51%) scikit-learn
9 2 (0.34%) Hugging Face
9 2 (0.34%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 52 (8.84%) Security Posture
2 50 (8.50%) Cloud Native
3 32 (5.44%) Operational Technology
4 31 (5.27%) Management Information System
5 17 (2.89%) Cyber Threat
5 17 (2.89%) Data Centre
6 16 (2.72%) Onboarding
7 15 (2.55%) AI Agents
8 11 (1.87%) Enterprise Cloud
8 11 (1.87%) Hybrid Cloud
8 11 (1.87%) Public Cloud
9 10 (1.70%) Cloud Security Posture
10 9 (1.53%) PKI
11 7 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
11 7 (1.19%) Private Cloud
12 6 (1.02%) Data Protection Act
12 6 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
12 6 (1.02%) IoT
12 6 (1.02%) Self-Motivation
13 5 (0.85%) Data Fabric
Operating Systems
1 12 (2.04%) Linux
2 10 (1.70%) Windows
2 10 (1.70%) Windows Server
3 4 (0.68%) Alpine Linux
3 4 (0.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 4 (0.68%) Ubuntu
4 2 (0.34%) Unix
5 1 (0.17%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 316 (53.74%) Security Architecture
2 203 (34.52%) Cybersecurity
3 168 (28.57%) Cloud Security
4 156 (26.53%) Threat Modelling
5 93 (15.82%) Identity Access Management
5 93 (15.82%) Zero Trust
6 92 (15.65%) Risk Management
7 89 (15.14%) Stakeholder Management
8 86 (14.63%) AI
9 85 (14.46%) TOGAF
10 78 (13.27%) Architectural Patterns
11 72 (12.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 66 (11.22%) Roadmaps
13 64 (10.88%) SABSA
14 59 (10.03%) Data Protection
15 58 (9.86%) DevSecOps
15 58 (9.86%) Information Security
16 57 (9.69%) CI/CD
16 57 (9.69%) Vulnerability Management
17 55 (9.35%) Enterprise Architecture
Programming Languages
1 19 (3.23%) Python
2 10 (1.70%) Java
3 9 (1.53%) PowerShell
4 8 (1.36%) Bicep
5 5 (0.85%) Groovy
5 5 (0.85%) Shell Script
6 4 (0.68%) Bash
7 3 (0.51%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.34%) SQL
9 1 (0.17%) R
Qualifications
1 279 (47.45%) Security Cleared
2 188 (31.97%) SC Cleared
3 117 (19.90%) CISSP
4 89 (15.14%) DV Cleared
5 58 (9.86%) CISM
6 48 (8.16%) Cisco Certification
7 42 (7.14%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 32 (5.44%) CCSP
9 23 (3.91%) AWS Certification
10 22 (3.74%) Degree
11 19 (3.23%) TOGAF Certification
12 18 (3.06%) CISA
13 16 (2.72%) Azure Certification
14 10 (1.70%) SANS
15 9 (1.53%) CEH
16 8 (1.36%) CompTIA Security+
16 8 (1.36%) CRISC
16 8 (1.36%) GIAC
16 8 (1.36%) ISSAP
16 8 (1.36%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 137 (23.30%) NIST
2 96 (16.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 64 (10.88%) NCSC
4 40 (6.80%) GDPR
5 33 (5.61%) GRC
6 21 (3.57%) NIST 800
7 20 (3.40%) PCI DSS
8 11 (1.87%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 11 (1.87%) JSP 440
9 10 (1.70%) Cyber Essentials
9 10 (1.70%) Government Security Classifications
10 9 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 7 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 7 (1.19%) EU AI Act
11 7 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 6 (1.02%) ISO 19650
12 6 (1.02%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 5 (0.85%) COBIT
13 5 (0.85%) HIPAA
13 5 (0.85%) QA
System Software
1 20 (3.40%) Active Directory
2 15 (2.55%) Docker
3 7 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.68%) ISA Server
5 2 (0.34%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.34%) vSphere
6 1 (0.17%) KVM
6 1 (0.17%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 25 (4.25%) Kubernetes
2 12 (2.04%) Ansible
3 7 (1.19%) CASB
4 6 (1.02%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (0.68%) QRadar
6 3 (0.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.51%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.34%) Docker Swarm
7 2 (0.34%) Istio
8 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.17%) Suricata
Vendors
1 77 (13.10%) Microsoft
2 26 (4.42%) Google
3 23 (3.91%) Cisco
4 18 (3.06%) Palo Alto
5 16 (2.72%) Splunk
6 14 (2.38%) CrowdStrike
7 12 (2.04%) Fortinet
8 10 (1.70%) Salesforce
9 9 (1.53%) Qualys
9 9 (1.53%) SAP
10 8 (1.36%) F5
10 8 (1.36%) Tenable
10 8 (1.36%) VMware
11 7 (1.19%) Okta
11 7 (1.19%) Zscaler
12 6 (1.02%) IFS
12 6 (1.02%) Juniper
13 4 (0.68%) CheckPoint
13 4 (0.68%) Databricks
13 4 (0.68%) IBM