Security Architect Contract Job Trends

Security Architect
UK

The median Security Architect daily rate in the UK is £634, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 May 2026.

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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 252 232 221
Rank change year-on-year -20 -11 +29
Contract jobs requiring a Security Architect 478 331 451
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.14% 1.06%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.07% 1.23% 1.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 309 228 280
10th Percentile £480 £546 £520
25th Percentile £525 £600 £625
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £634 £671 £700
Median % change year-on-year -5.51% -4.14% -
75th Percentile £750 £750 £780
90th Percentile £825 £835 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £650 £650 £666
% change year-on-year - -2.40% -2.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 2 19
10th Percentile - £69.68 £81.86
25th Percentile - £71.82 £81.88
Median hourly rate £83.00 £79.16 £87.46
Median % change year-on-year +4.86% -9.50% +24.94%
75th Percentile £83.25 £85.22 £87.50
90th Percentile £83.70 £86.59 £87.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £83.00 £79.16 £87.46
% change year-on-year +4.86% -9.50% +24.94%

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 44,544 26,886 39,472
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.32% 92.37% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,258 17,494 25,719
10th Percentile £325 £293 £280
25th Percentile £413 £405 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.49% -2.86% -3.23%
75th Percentile £615 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £489
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.86% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,901 1,057 2,674
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.83
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.69 £27.99 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.50% -23.32% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.50 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £26.34 £40.00
% change year-on-year +70.88% -34.16% -5.88%

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 21 May 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 15 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 21 May 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 -19 405 £650 -3.13% 124
London -29 202 £650 -3.70% 34
UK excluding London -20 190 £650 - 107
Work from Home -14 156 £620 -8.15% 43
South East -14 71 £630 +5.00% 27
North of England -30 59 £700 +5.02% 27
North West -8 45 £707 +5.39% 16
Midlands -33 41 £663 -5.36% 13
West Midlands -35 39 £713 +1.79% 8
Yorkshire -44 12 £650 +5.69% 6
South West -50 12 £591 -11.09% 16
Scotland -6 5 £700 -8.20% 4
East of England - 2 £750 - 13
East Midlands - 2 £438 - 5
North East -23 1 - - 5

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

For the 6 months to 21 May 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.

1 227 (47.49%) Security Architecture
2 210 (43.93%) Security Cleared
3 164 (34.31%) Cybersecurity
4 138 (28.87%) SC Cleared
5 133 (27.82%) Threat Modelling
6 130 (27.20%) Azure
7 111 (23.22%) Cloud Security
8 107 (22.38%) AWS
9 101 (21.13%) NIST
10 87 (18.20%) Zero Trust
11 86 (17.99%) CISSP
11 86 (17.99%) Network Security
12 66 (13.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
13 64 (13.39%) Risk Management
14 61 (12.76%) Architectural Patterns
14 61 (12.76%) DV Cleared
15 59 (12.34%) TOGAF
16 57 (11.92%) GCP
17 55 (11.51%) SABSA
18 52 (10.88%) Application Security
18 52 (10.88%) Identity Access Management
19 51 (10.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 47 (9.83%) CISM
21 46 (9.62%) AI
21 46 (9.62%) Vulnerability Management
22 45 (9.41%) Microsoft
23 43 (9.00%) Cisco Certification
23 43 (9.00%) Data Protection
23 43 (9.00%) DevSecOps
24 42 (8.79%) NCSC

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 10 (2.09%) Confluence
2 6 (1.26%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.84%) nginx
4 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.21%) NetWeaver
4 1 (0.21%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 2 (0.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 2 (0.42%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.21%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.21%) SAP EWM
1 1 (0.21%) SAP GRC
1 1 (0.21%) SAP HR
1 1 (0.21%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.21%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.21%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 130 (27.20%) Azure
2 107 (22.38%) AWS
3 57 (11.92%) GCP
4 30 (6.28%) Entra ID
5 14 (2.93%) Azure Sentinel
6 11 (2.30%) SaaS
7 9 (1.88%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 7 (1.46%) Amazon EKS
9 6 (1.26%) AWS KMS
9 6 (1.26%) GitHub
10 5 (1.05%) Amazon ECS
10 5 (1.05%) Microsoft 365
11 4 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (0.84%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.84%) IaaS
11 4 (0.84%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 3 (0.63%) Akamai
12 3 (0.63%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 3 (0.63%) Apigee
12 3 (0.63%) AWS CloudTrail
Communications & Networking
1 86 (17.99%) Network Security
2 37 (7.74%) Firewall
3 13 (2.72%) VPN
4 10 (2.09%) LAN
4 10 (2.09%) WAN
5 8 (1.67%) SD-WAN
6 6 (1.26%) IPsec
7 5 (1.05%) BGP
7 5 (1.05%) OSPF
8 4 (0.84%) MQTT
8 4 (0.84%) Reverse Proxy
9 3 (0.63%) BIG-IP
9 3 (0.63%) MPLS
9 3 (0.63%) NGFW
10 2 (0.42%) DMZ
10 2 (0.42%) DNS
10 2 (0.42%) Intranet
10 2 (0.42%) Intrusion Detection
10 2 (0.42%) VLAN
10 2 (0.42%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.05%) PostgreSQL
2 3 (0.63%) Data Lake
2 3 (0.63%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (0.42%) Big Data
4 1 (0.21%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.21%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.21%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.21%) Metadata
4 1 (0.21%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 7 (1.46%) JIRA
2 4 (0.84%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.84%) Snyk
3 3 (0.63%) GitLab
4 1 (0.21%) AppScan
4 1 (0.21%) Artifactory
4 1 (0.21%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.21%) Claude Code
4 1 (0.21%) Metasploit
General
1 76 (15.90%) Social Skills
2 66 (13.81%) Public Sector
3 53 (11.09%) Finance
4 24 (5.02%) Banking
5 20 (4.18%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (2.93%) Influencing Skills
7 12 (2.51%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (2.51%) Presentation Skills
8 11 (2.30%) Legal
9 9 (1.88%) Aerospace
10 6 (1.26%) Manufacturing
11 5 (1.05%) Financial Institution
11 5 (1.05%) Military
12 3 (0.63%) Law
13 2 (0.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.42%) Police
13 2 (0.42%) Retail
13 2 (0.42%) Retail Banking
14 1 (0.21%) Aviation
14 1 (0.21%) Investment Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.09%) OAuth
2 8 (1.67%) OAuth2
2 8 (1.67%) OpenID
3 7 (1.46%) SAML
4 5 (1.05%) J2EE
4 5 (1.05%) JSP
4 5 (1.05%) Middleware
4 5 (1.05%) SailPoint
5 4 (0.84%) ADO
5 4 (0.84%) JWT
5 4 (0.84%) REST
6 3 (0.63%) FastAPI
6 3 (0.63%) Flask
7 2 (0.42%) A2A Protocol
7 2 (0.42%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.42%) Hugging Face
7 2 (0.42%) LangChain
7 2 (0.42%) PyTorch
7 2 (0.42%) TensorFlow
8 1 (0.21%) IDoc
Miscellaneous
1 41 (8.58%) Security Posture
2 33 (6.90%) Cloud Native
3 31 (6.49%) Operational Technology
4 24 (5.02%) Management Information System
5 17 (3.56%) Onboarding
6 14 (2.93%) AI Agents
7 11 (2.30%) Data Centre
8 10 (2.09%) Data Protection Act
8 10 (2.09%) Legacy Systems
9 7 (1.46%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (1.46%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (1.26%) Cloud Security Posture
10 6 (1.26%) Private Cloud
11 5 (1.05%) Enterprise Cloud
12 4 (0.84%) Autonomous Agent
12 4 (0.84%) SCADA
12 4 (0.84%) Security Operations Centre
12 4 (0.84%) Virtual Team
13 3 (0.63%) Genomics
13 3 (0.63%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 12 (2.51%) Windows
2 10 (2.09%) Linux
3 3 (0.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 3 (0.63%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.42%) Android
4 2 (0.42%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.21%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.21%) Unix
5 1 (0.21%) VMS
5 1 (0.21%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.21%) Windows 7
5 1 (0.21%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (47.49%) Security Architecture
2 164 (34.31%) Cybersecurity
3 133 (27.82%) Threat Modelling
4 111 (23.22%) Cloud Security
5 87 (18.20%) Zero Trust
6 64 (13.39%) Risk Management
7 61 (12.76%) Architectural Patterns
8 59 (12.34%) TOGAF
9 55 (11.51%) SABSA
10 52 (10.88%) Application Security
10 52 (10.88%) Identity Access Management
11 51 (10.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 46 (9.62%) AI
12 46 (9.62%) Vulnerability Management
13 43 (9.00%) Data Protection
13 43 (9.00%) DevSecOps
14 42 (8.79%) SIEM
15 41 (8.58%) Stakeholder Management
16 39 (8.16%) Network Segmentation
17 37 (7.74%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 11 (2.30%) Java
2 8 (1.67%) Python
3 4 (0.84%) Bicep
3 4 (0.84%) JavaScript
3 4 (0.84%) SQL
4 2 (0.42%) C
4 2 (0.42%) Kotlin
4 2 (0.42%) PL/SQL
4 2 (0.42%) PowerShell
4 2 (0.42%) Swift
5 1 (0.21%) Bash
5 1 (0.21%) Kusto Query Language
5 1 (0.21%) Lisp
5 1 (0.21%) ProC
5 1 (0.21%) RPG
5 1 (0.21%) VB
5 1 (0.21%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 210 (43.93%) Security Cleared
2 138 (28.87%) SC Cleared
3 86 (17.99%) CISSP
4 61 (12.76%) DV Cleared
5 47 (9.83%) CISM
6 43 (9.00%) Cisco Certification
7 34 (7.11%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 23 (4.81%) Degree
9 21 (4.39%) CCSP
10 13 (2.72%) AWS Certification
10 13 (2.72%) BPSS Clearance
11 12 (2.51%) GIAC
12 10 (2.09%) Azure Certification
12 10 (2.09%) CISA
12 10 (2.09%) SANS
13 9 (1.88%) CEH
14 8 (1.67%) CCNP
15 7 (1.46%) TOGAF Certification
16 6 (1.26%) OSCP
17 5 (1.05%) CCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 101 (21.13%) NIST
2 66 (13.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 42 (8.79%) NCSC
4 32 (6.69%) GDPR
5 16 (3.35%) GRC
6 15 (3.14%) PCI DSS
7 13 (2.72%) NIST 800
8 8 (1.67%) EU AI Act
9 7 (1.46%) COBIT
10 6 (1.26%) JSP 440
10 6 (1.26%) RMADS
11 5 (1.05%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.84%) QA
13 3 (0.63%) Government Security Classifications
13 3 (0.63%) IFRS
13 3 (0.63%) IFRS 9
13 3 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 3 (0.63%) SOC 2
System Software
1 18 (3.77%) Active Directory
2 3 (0.63%) Docker
2 3 (0.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.42%) vSphere
4 1 (0.21%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.21%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.21%) Varnish
4 1 (0.21%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 20 (4.18%) Terraform
2 16 (3.35%) Kubernetes
3 5 (1.05%) Ansible
4 4 (0.84%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.42%) Network Intrusion Detection System
5 2 (0.42%) QRadar
6 1 (0.21%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.21%) Istio
6 1 (0.21%) Kibana
6 1 (0.21%) logstash
6 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.21%) Nessus
6 1 (0.21%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.21%) SCCM
6 1 (0.21%) SELinux
Vendors
1 45 (9.41%) Microsoft
2 16 (3.35%) Splunk
3 13 (2.72%) SAP
4 11 (2.30%) Cisco
5 10 (2.09%) BiZZdesign
5 10 (2.09%) Okta
5 10 (2.09%) Zscaler
6 8 (1.67%) CyberArk
6 8 (1.67%) Palo Alto
7 7 (1.46%) CheckPoint
8 6 (1.26%) Fortinet
8 6 (1.26%) Google
8 6 (1.26%) ServiceNow
8 6 (1.26%) Tenable
9 5 (1.05%) Cribl.io
9 5 (1.05%) VMware
10 4 (0.84%) F5
10 4 (0.84%) Qualys
10 4 (0.84%) Salesforce
11 3 (0.63%) Juniper