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 16 August 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 228 229 236
Rank change year-on-year +1 +7 -7
Contract jobs requiring a Security Architect 610 379 393
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.14% 1.15% 1.01%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.23% 1.25% 1.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 404 243 236
10th Percentile £500 £509 £500
25th Percentile £525 £581 £625
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £625 £675 £700
Median % change year-on-year -7.41% -3.57% +2.90%
75th Percentile £750 £758 £775
90th Percentile £850 £800 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £625 £675 £666
% change year-on-year -7.41% +1.35% -1.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 3 7
10th Percentile - £86.00 £81.83
25th Percentile £60.00 £91.25 £84.67
Median hourly rate £83.00 £100.00 £87.46
Median % change year-on-year -17.00% +14.34% +24.94%
75th Percentile - £102.75 -
90th Percentile £83.40 £104.40 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £83.00 £100.00 £87.46
% change year-on-year -17.00% +14.34% +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 49,690 30,209 36,033
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.54% 91.30% 92.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,849 19,090 23,214
10th Percentile £325 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £621 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,486 1,544 2,018
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.60 £14.23
25th Percentile £20.62 £17.29 £20.12
Median hourly rate £41.96 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +66.84% -41.51% +2.38%
75th Percentile £67.96 £53.89 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +21.62%

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 16 August 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 16 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 -15 525 £638 -5.56% 243
UK excluding London -10 258 £625 -7.41% 133
London -11 256 £650 -3.70% 120
Work from Home +7 203 £600 -11.93% 104
South East -7 119 £640 +6.67% 48
North of England -55 66 £625 -10.71% 27
North West -17 52 £652 -6.93% 16
Midlands -28 37 £625 -21.88% 10
West Midlands -34 36 £625 -21.88% 9
South West -65 25 £608 -6.54% 22
Yorkshire -39 11 £350 -41.67% 11
East of England -17 8 £625 +25.00% 9
Scotland -10 3 - - 7
East Midlands - 1 - - 1
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

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

For the 6 months to 16 August 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.

1 312 (51.15%) Security Architecture
2 274 (44.92%) Security Cleared
3 206 (33.77%) Cybersecurity
4 185 (30.33%) Azure
5 176 (28.85%) SC Cleared
6 164 (26.89%) Cloud Security
7 162 (26.56%) Threat Modelling
8 150 (24.59%) AWS
9 134 (21.97%) NIST
10 126 (20.66%) CISSP
11 99 (16.23%) Risk Management
12 94 (15.41%) Zero Trust
13 93 (15.25%) DV Cleared
13 93 (15.25%) Identity Access Management
14 92 (15.08%) Network Security
15 90 (14.75%) AI
15 90 (14.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
16 83 (13.61%) TOGAF
17 81 (13.28%) Architectural Patterns
18 77 (12.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 76 (12.46%) Stakeholder Management
20 75 (12.30%) GCP
21 71 (11.64%) Roadmaps
22 70 (11.48%) SABSA
23 68 (11.15%) DevSecOps
24 67 (10.98%) Microsoft
25 63 (10.33%) NCSC
26 61 (10.00%) CI/CD
26 61 (10.00%) CISM
27 60 (9.84%) Enterprise Architecture

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 2 (0.33%) Confluence
1 2 (0.33%) SAS
1 2 (0.33%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.16%) NetWeaver
Applications
1 4 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.33%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.16%) SAP EHS
2 1 (0.16%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 185 (30.33%) Azure
2 150 (24.59%) AWS
3 75 (12.30%) GCP
4 37 (6.07%) Entra ID
5 21 (3.44%) Azure Sentinel
6 20 (3.28%) SaaS
7 11 (1.80%) Microsoft 365
8 10 (1.64%) Dynamics 365
9 8 (1.31%) Azure Key Vault
10 6 (0.98%) IaaS
11 5 (0.82%) Anthropic Claude
11 5 (0.82%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 5 (0.82%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (0.82%) Microsoft Purview
11 5 (0.82%) Vertex AI
12 4 (0.66%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (0.66%) AWS Control Tower
12 4 (0.66%) AWS KMS
12 4 (0.66%) Azure AI
12 4 (0.66%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 92 (15.08%) Network Security
2 46 (7.54%) Firewall
3 12 (1.97%) VPN
4 11 (1.80%) WAN
5 8 (1.31%) SD-WAN
6 7 (1.15%) 4G
6 7 (1.15%) IPsec
7 6 (0.98%) LAN
7 6 (0.98%) VLAN
8 5 (0.82%) 5G
8 5 (0.82%) NGFW
8 5 (0.82%) Radio Access Network
9 4 (0.66%) Intranet
9 4 (0.66%) MPLS
10 3 (0.49%) BGP
10 3 (0.49%) Internet
10 3 (0.49%) OSPF
11 2 (0.33%) DHCP
11 2 (0.33%) DNS
11 2 (0.33%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.98%) Data Lake
2 4 (0.66%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (0.33%) Big Data
3 2 (0.33%) BigQuery
3 2 (0.33%) Metadata
3 2 (0.33%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 8 (1.31%) Jenkins
2 5 (0.82%) JIRA
3 4 (0.66%) Snyk
4 3 (0.49%) Claude Code
5 1 (0.16%) GitLab
General
1 108 (17.70%) Social Skills
2 70 (11.48%) Public Sector
3 66 (10.82%) Finance
4 32 (5.25%) Banking
5 25 (4.10%) Influencing Skills
6 22 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
7 21 (3.44%) Analytical Skills
8 19 (3.11%) Legal
9 14 (2.30%) Telecoms
10 10 (1.64%) Manufacturing
10 10 (1.64%) Police
11 9 (1.48%) Aerospace
12 8 (1.31%) Military
13 7 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (1.15%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.82%) Financial Institution
15 4 (0.66%) Law
15 4 (0.66%) Local Government
15 4 (0.66%) Retail
16 2 (0.33%) Aviation
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (2.79%) OAuth
2 12 (1.97%) OAuth2
2 12 (1.97%) OpenID
3 10 (1.64%) SAML
4 7 (1.15%) REST
5 6 (0.98%) SLSA
6 5 (0.82%) Azure Blueprints
6 5 (0.82%) LangChain
6 5 (0.82%) ModSecurity
6 5 (0.82%) PyTorch
7 4 (0.66%) Jakarta EE
7 4 (0.66%) JSP
7 4 (0.66%) JWT
8 3 (0.49%) .NET
8 3 (0.49%) HTML
8 3 (0.49%) LDAP
8 3 (0.49%) scikit-learn
9 2 (0.33%) A2A Protocol
9 2 (0.33%) Hugging Face
9 2 (0.33%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 60 (9.84%) Security Posture
2 53 (8.69%) Cloud Native
3 34 (5.57%) Management Information System
3 34 (5.57%) Operational Technology
4 22 (3.61%) Onboarding
5 17 (2.79%) AI Agents
6 14 (2.30%) Cyber Threat
7 13 (2.13%) Enterprise Cloud
8 12 (1.97%) Data Centre
8 12 (1.97%) Hybrid Cloud
9 9 (1.48%) Cloud Security Posture
9 9 (1.48%) Private Cloud
10 8 (1.31%) Data Protection Act
11 7 (1.15%) Legacy Systems
11 7 (1.15%) Public Cloud
11 7 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
12 6 (0.98%) Data Fabric
12 6 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
12 6 (0.98%) PKI
13 4 (0.66%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 9 (1.48%) Linux
2 7 (1.15%) Windows
3 6 (0.98%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.66%) Alpine Linux
4 4 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (0.66%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.16%) Android
5 1 (0.16%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 312 (51.15%) Security Architecture
2 206 (33.77%) Cybersecurity
3 164 (26.89%) Cloud Security
4 162 (26.56%) Threat Modelling
5 99 (16.23%) Risk Management
6 94 (15.41%) Zero Trust
7 93 (15.25%) Identity Access Management
8 90 (14.75%) AI
9 83 (13.61%) TOGAF
10 81 (13.28%) Architectural Patterns
11 77 (12.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 76 (12.46%) Stakeholder Management
13 71 (11.64%) Roadmaps
14 70 (11.48%) SABSA
15 68 (11.15%) DevSecOps
16 61 (10.00%) CI/CD
17 60 (9.84%) Enterprise Architecture
18 54 (8.85%) Data Protection
18 54 (8.85%) Information Security
19 51 (8.36%) Risk Assessment
Programming Languages
1 15 (2.46%) Python
2 10 (1.64%) Bicep
2 10 (1.64%) Java
3 8 (1.31%) PowerShell
4 5 (0.82%) Groovy
4 5 (0.82%) Shell Script
5 3 (0.49%) Bash
5 3 (0.49%) JavaScript
5 3 (0.49%) SQL
6 1 (0.16%) R
Qualifications
1 274 (44.92%) Security Cleared
2 176 (28.85%) SC Cleared
3 126 (20.66%) CISSP
4 93 (15.25%) DV Cleared
5 61 (10.00%) CISM
6 48 (7.87%) Cisco Certification
7 43 (7.05%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 30 (4.92%) CCSP
9 23 (3.77%) AWS Certification
10 19 (3.11%) Degree
11 15 (2.46%) CISA
11 15 (2.46%) TOGAF Certification
12 14 (2.30%) Azure Certification
13 11 (1.80%) CEH
14 10 (1.64%) GIAC
15 9 (1.48%) SANS
16 7 (1.15%) CompTIA Security+
16 7 (1.15%) Microsoft Certification
16 7 (1.15%) OSCP
17 6 (0.98%) ISSAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 134 (21.97%) NIST
2 90 (14.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 63 (10.33%) NCSC
4 45 (7.38%) GDPR
5 23 (3.77%) GRC
6 21 (3.44%) NIST 800
7 20 (3.28%) PCI DSS
8 12 (1.97%) Government Security Classifications
9 11 (1.80%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 11 (1.80%) JSP 440
10 8 (1.31%) EU AI Act
10 8 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 7 (1.15%) COBIT
12 6 (0.98%) Cyber Essentials
12 6 (0.98%) ISO 19650
12 6 (0.98%) QA
12 6 (0.98%) RMADS
13 5 (0.82%) HIPAA
13 5 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 5 (0.82%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 20 (3.28%) Active Directory
2 14 (2.30%) Docker
3 7 (1.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.66%) vSphere
5 2 (0.33%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.33%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.16%) KVM
6 1 (0.16%) Varnish
6 1 (0.16%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 29 (4.75%) Kubernetes
2 25 (4.10%) Terraform
3 9 (1.48%) Ansible
4 4 (0.66%) QRadar
5 3 (0.49%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 3 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.33%) CASB
6 2 (0.33%) Docker Swarm
6 2 (0.33%) Istio
7 1 (0.16%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.16%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.16%) Suricata
Vendors
1 67 (10.98%) Microsoft
2 21 (3.44%) Google
3 16 (2.62%) Cisco
3 16 (2.62%) Palo Alto
3 16 (2.62%) Splunk
4 15 (2.46%) Okta
5 12 (1.97%) SAP
6 11 (1.80%) Fortinet
6 11 (1.80%) Tenable
7 10 (1.64%) Salesforce
8 8 (1.31%) CrowdStrike
8 8 (1.31%) Qualys
8 8 (1.31%) VMware
9 6 (0.98%) Zscaler
10 5 (0.82%) IFS
10 5 (0.82%) ServiceNow
11 4 (0.66%) CheckPoint
11 4 (0.66%) CyberArk
11 4 (0.66%) Juniper
11 4 (0.66%) Rapid7