Security Engineer Contract Job Trends

Security Engineer
UK

The median Security Engineer daily rate in the UK is £538, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 24 January 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 228 260 276
Rank change year-on-year +32 +16 -27
Contract jobs requiring a Security Engineer 469 302 366
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 0.96% 0.83%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.35% 1.03% 0.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 177 235
10th Percentile £380 £400 £413
25th Percentile £456 £435 £476
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £550 £588
Median % change year-on-year -2.27% -6.38% +2.17%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £691
90th Percentile £686 £700 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 3 24
10th Percentile - £42.00 £57.23
25th Percentile - £43.13 £78.69
Median hourly rate £85.40 £45.00 £83.40
Median % change year-on-year +89.78% -46.04% +42.56%
75th Percentile £90.81 £61.68 -
90th Percentile £92.20 £71.69 £83.41
UK excluding London median hourly rate £85.40 £73.31 £83.40
% change year-on-year +16.49% -12.10% +22.74%

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 34,755 29,351 41,026
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.46% 92.84% 93.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,967 17,954 27,186
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £477 £500
% change year-on-year +0.16% -4.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,062 872 2,014
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.92 £13.41
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.64
Median hourly rate £27.72 £32.50 £38.10
Median % change year-on-year -14.72% -14.69% +9.53%
75th Percentile £60.72 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.98 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.00 £30.98 £40.00
% change year-on-year -16.07% -22.56% +33.33%

Security Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Security Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Security Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Engineer over the 6 months to 24 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Engineer in the UK

Security Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Security Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Engineer over the 6 months to 24 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Engineer in the UK

Security Engineer
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 Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 24 January 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 +27 397 £538 -2.27% 413
London +35 208 £539 -6.30% 104
UK excluding London +12 199 £525 - 377
Work from Home +3 135 £537 -2.10% 143
North of England -50 49 £575 +9.52% 74
South East -12 42 £475 -9.52% 117
Scotland +19 34 £580 +5.45% 24
North West -20 33 £575 +4.55% 41
Midlands -32 32 £475 +6.74% 53
South West +7 29 £525 -8.70% 52
West Midlands -40 26 £510 +14.61% 24
East of England -5 18 £550 +100.00% 50
Yorkshire -56 13 £570 +42.50% 24
East Midlands - 6 £450 - 28
Northern Ireland 0 5 - - 3
North East -14 3 £400 -23.81% 9
Wales -5 2 £600 +34.83% 15

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

For the 6 months to 24 January 2026, Security Engineer 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 Engineer in the job title.

1 179 (38.17%) Azure
2 174 (37.10%) Cybersecurity
3 128 (27.29%) AWS
4 122 (26.01%) SIEM
5 120 (25.59%) Microsoft
6 113 (24.09%) Cloud Security
7 112 (23.88%) Security Cleared
8 111 (23.67%) Firewall
9 94 (20.04%) Network Security
10 93 (19.83%) Python
11 88 (18.76%) Incident Response
12 87 (18.55%) SC Cleared
13 84 (17.91%) NIST
14 77 (16.42%) PowerShell
15 74 (15.78%) CI/CD
16 73 (15.57%) Security Operations
17 69 (14.71%) Infrastructure as Code
18 68 (14.50%) Windows
19 66 (14.07%) CISSP
20 64 (13.65%) Linux
21 61 (13.01%) DevOps
22 57 (12.15%) GCP
22 57 (12.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
23 56 (11.94%) Degree
24 55 (11.73%) Entra ID
24 55 (11.73%) Microsoft 365
25 51 (10.87%) Active Directory
26 50 (10.66%) Cisco
26 50 (10.66%) Problem-Solving
26 50 (10.66%) Threat Modelling

Security Engineer 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 11 (2.35%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (1.92%) Confluence
3 6 (1.28%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.43%) Apache
4 2 (0.43%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 5 (1.07%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.43%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 179 (38.17%) Azure
2 128 (27.29%) AWS
3 57 (12.15%) GCP
4 55 (11.73%) Entra ID
4 55 (11.73%) Microsoft 365
5 45 (9.59%) Azure Sentinel
6 39 (8.32%) Microsoft Purview
7 34 (7.25%) GitHub
8 21 (4.48%) AWS CloudFormation
9 20 (4.26%) OpenShift
10 14 (2.99%) GitHub Actions
10 14 (2.99%) Mimecast
10 14 (2.99%) SaaS
11 13 (2.77%) Azure Monitor
12 12 (2.56%) Amazon ECS
12 12 (2.56%) Amazon GuardDuty
12 12 (2.56%) Azure Key Vault
13 11 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
14 9 (1.92%) AWS CloudTrail
15 8 (1.71%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 111 (23.67%) Firewall
2 94 (20.04%) Network Security
3 41 (8.74%) VPN
4 33 (7.04%) DNS
5 19 (4.05%) WAN
6 18 (3.84%) BGP
7 15 (3.20%) TCP/IP
7 15 (3.20%) Wireless
8 14 (2.99%) SSL
9 10 (2.13%) Intrusion Detection
9 10 (2.13%) IPsec
10 9 (1.92%) OSPF
11 8 (1.71%) Cisco IPT
11 8 (1.71%) DMVPN
12 7 (1.49%) Cisco ASA
12 7 (1.49%) DHCP
12 7 (1.49%) Wi-Fi
13 6 (1.28%) DMZ
13 6 (1.28%) Multicast
14 5 (1.07%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.77%) Data Lake
2 7 (1.49%) BigQuery
2 7 (1.49%) Oracle Database
3 5 (1.07%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.85%) Amazon Athena
4 4 (0.85%) Power BI
5 3 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.43%) Amazon Redshift
6 2 (0.43%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.43%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.43%) Mixpanel
6 2 (0.43%) OLAP
6 2 (0.43%) OLTP
7 1 (0.21%) Big Data
7 1 (0.21%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 20 (4.26%) GitLab
2 14 (2.99%) JIRA
3 11 (2.35%) Jenkins
4 9 (1.92%) Snyk
5 7 (1.49%) Git
5 7 (1.49%) SonarQube
6 6 (1.28%) ClearCase
7 4 (0.85%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.64%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.21%) Travis CI
General
1 118 (25.16%) Social Skills
2 63 (13.43%) Finance
3 49 (10.45%) Public Sector
4 46 (9.81%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (3.20%) Banking
6 13 (2.77%) Documentation Skills
7 11 (2.35%) Telecoms
8 9 (1.92%) Legal
8 9 (1.92%) Military
9 8 (1.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 6 (1.28%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.28%) Spanish Language
11 5 (1.07%) Cyber-Physical System
11 5 (1.07%) Investment Banking
11 5 (1.07%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (0.85%) Manufacturing
12 4 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (0.85%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.64%) Local Government
14 2 (0.43%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (4.90%) REST
2 12 (2.56%) Elastic Stack
2 12 (2.56%) SAML
3 9 (1.92%) OAuth
4 8 (1.71%) 802.1X
5 7 (1.49%) Node.js
5 7 (1.49%) SailPoint
6 6 (1.28%) JSON
6 6 (1.28%) Kafka
6 6 (1.28%) LDAP
6 6 (1.28%) NestJS
6 6 (1.28%) OpenID
7 5 (1.07%) .NET
7 5 (1.07%) Microsoft Graph
8 4 (0.85%) Regular Expression
8 4 (0.85%) SLSA
8 4 (0.85%) SOAP
9 2 (0.43%) ADO
9 2 (0.43%) Web Services
9 2 (0.43%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 54 (11.51%) Security Posture
2 29 (6.18%) Data Centre
3 25 (5.33%) Cloud Native
4 22 (4.69%) Onboarding
5 21 (4.48%) Management Information System
6 13 (2.77%) Cyber Threat
6 13 (2.77%) Data Protection Act
7 12 (2.56%) Operational Technology
8 10 (2.13%) Cyber Defence
9 7 (1.49%) Cloud Security Posture
9 7 (1.49%) Cyber Security Posture
9 7 (1.49%) Hybrid Cloud
9 7 (1.49%) PKI
9 7 (1.49%) Security Operations Centre
10 6 (1.28%) BYOD
10 6 (1.28%) Cyber Kill Chain
10 6 (1.28%) Greenfield Project
11 5 (1.07%) Life Science
11 5 (1.07%) Mobile App
12 4 (0.85%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 68 (14.50%) Windows
2 64 (13.65%) Linux
3 13 (2.77%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.35%) Mac OS
5 7 (1.49%) Unix
6 6 (1.28%) Android
7 5 (1.07%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.85%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.85%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.64%) VMS
10 1 (0.21%) Rocky
10 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 174 (37.10%) Cybersecurity
2 122 (26.01%) SIEM
3 113 (24.09%) Cloud Security
4 88 (18.76%) Incident Response
5 74 (15.78%) CI/CD
6 73 (15.57%) Security Operations
7 69 (14.71%) Infrastructure as Code
8 61 (13.01%) DevOps
9 50 (10.66%) Problem-Solving
9 50 (10.66%) Threat Modelling
10 45 (9.59%) Threat Detection
11 44 (9.38%) Vulnerability Management
12 43 (9.17%) DevSecOps
13 42 (8.96%) Information Security
14 41 (8.74%) SOAR
15 40 (8.53%) Agile
16 38 (8.10%) Security Monitoring
17 37 (7.89%) Continuous Improvement
17 37 (7.89%) Data Protection
18 34 (7.25%) Security Architecture
Programming Languages
1 93 (19.83%) Python
2 77 (16.42%) PowerShell
3 30 (6.40%) Kusto Query Language
4 27 (5.76%) Bash
5 22 (4.69%) Java
6 9 (1.92%) SQL
7 6 (1.28%) Bicep
7 6 (1.28%) C
8 5 (1.07%) JavaScript
8 5 (1.07%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.85%) BeanShell
10 3 (0.64%) C#
10 3 (0.64%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.64%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.43%) C++
11 2 (0.43%) Go
11 2 (0.43%) Perl
11 2 (0.43%) Rust
12 1 (0.21%) Scala
12 1 (0.21%) Swift
Qualifications
1 112 (23.88%) Security Cleared
2 87 (18.55%) SC Cleared
3 66 (14.07%) CISSP
4 56 (11.94%) Degree
5 37 (7.89%) CISM
6 26 (5.54%) Cisco Certification
6 26 (5.54%) DV Cleared
7 17 (3.62%) Azure Certification
8 14 (2.99%) CEH
8 14 (2.99%) CompTIA Security+
9 12 (2.56%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 12 (2.56%) AWS Certification
9 12 (2.56%) CCNP
10 11 (2.35%) SANS
11 9 (1.92%) GIAC
11 9 (1.92%) Microsoft Certification
12 8 (1.71%) CCSP
13 6 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
13 6 (1.28%) Network+ Certification
13 6 (1.28%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 84 (17.91%) NIST
2 57 (12.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (7.25%) GDPR
4 17 (3.62%) Cyber Essentials
5 16 (3.41%) NCSC
6 11 (2.35%) HIPAA
7 10 (2.13%) NIST 800
7 10 (2.13%) PCI DSS
8 9 (1.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 9 (1.92%) GRC
9 7 (1.49%) JSP 440
9 7 (1.49%) RMADS
10 5 (1.07%) SOC 2
11 3 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 3 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 2 (0.43%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.43%) EU AI Act
12 2 (0.43%) GxP
13 1 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.21%) SLA
System Software
1 51 (10.87%) Active Directory
2 20 (4.26%) Docker
3 18 (3.84%) Virtual Machines
4 7 (1.49%) Firmware
4 7 (1.49%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.64%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.43%) Snort
7 2 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.21%) GPFS
8 1 (0.21%) Lustre
8 1 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.21%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 45 (9.59%) Terraform
2 44 (9.38%) Kubernetes
3 21 (4.48%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (4.05%) SCCM
5 14 (2.99%) Single Sign-On
6 13 (2.77%) Fluentd
7 8 (1.71%) Ansible
7 8 (1.71%) CASB
8 7 (1.49%) Kibana
8 7 (1.49%) logstash
8 7 (1.49%) WSUS
9 6 (1.28%) SCOrch
10 5 (1.07%) Functional Safety
11 4 (0.85%) AirWatch
11 4 (0.85%) CSIRT
11 4 (0.85%) Nessus
12 3 (0.64%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.64%) Icinga
12 3 (0.64%) QRadar
12 3 (0.64%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 120 (25.59%) Microsoft
2 50 (10.66%) Cisco
3 45 (9.59%) Splunk
4 34 (7.25%) Palo Alto
5 30 (6.40%) F5
6 28 (5.97%) CrowdStrike
7 27 (5.76%) Tenable
8 22 (4.69%) CheckPoint
9 21 (4.48%) Fortinet
10 20 (4.26%) Google
11 15 (3.20%) Juniper
12 14 (2.99%) Qualys
13 13 (2.77%) Cribl.io
14 11 (2.35%) ServiceNow
14 11 (2.35%) Zscaler
15 9 (1.92%) Blue Coat
15 9 (1.92%) Oracle
16 8 (1.71%) CyberArk
17 7 (1.49%) Forcepoint
17 7 (1.49%) Rapid7