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 11 July 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 242 258 250
Rank change year-on-year +16 -8 -39
Contract jobs requiring a Security Engineer 556 342 419
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.05% 1.05% 0.97%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.14% 1.15% 1.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 357 215 315
10th Percentile £413 £375 £413
25th Percentile £475 £413 £434
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £525 £568
Median % change year-on-year +2.38% -7.49% +0.44%
75th Percentile £605 £650 £650
90th Percentile £688 £733 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £540 £500 £560
% change year-on-year +8.00% -10.71% +1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 9 2
10th Percentile £70.38 £63.50 £64.25
25th Percentile £73.75 £82.50 £66.88
Median hourly rate £77.50 £85.00 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.82% +17.24% -13.02%
75th Percentile £85.05 £91.50 £76.88
90th Percentile £85.40 - £78.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £84.00 £85.00 £72.50
% change year-on-year -1.18% +17.24% -13.07%

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 48,916 29,817 39,992
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 91.88% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,647 19,017 25,745
10th Percentile £325 £288 £288
25th Percentile £418 £401 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.50% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,278 1,379 2,732
10th Percentile £15.92 £13.75 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.31 £16.86
Median hourly rate £43.25 £26.50 £39.53
Median % change year-on-year +63.21% -32.95% -8.08%
75th Percentile £67.50 £56.25 £62.97
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% +1.07%

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 11 July 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 11 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Engineer in the UK

Security Engineer
Top 16 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 11 July 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 +9 509 £525 - 316
UK excluding London -17 263 £540 +8.00% 247
London +21 252 £525 -4.55% 104
Work from Home +12 208 £540 +8.00% 74
North of England -1 129 £563 +12.50% 63
North West +9 106 £556 +11.14% 38
Midlands -12 62 £500 - 35
West Midlands -21 59 £500 -8.05% 18
South East -48 45 £500 +11.11% 86
South West -29 22 £525 +7.69% 19
Yorkshire -35 22 £600 +14.29% 20
Scotland +8 21 £618 +12.27% 12
East of England -34 19 £525 +7.69% 33
East Midlands -18 3 £406 -2.11% 17
Wales -14 2 £733 +46.50%
North East -36 1 - - 5

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

For the 6 months to 11 July 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.

1 190 (34.17%) Azure
2 172 (30.94%) Cybersecurity
3 159 (28.60%) Cloud Security
4 152 (27.34%) AWS
5 128 (23.02%) Python
6 124 (22.30%) Firewall
6 124 (22.30%) SIEM
7 120 (21.58%) Microsoft
8 118 (21.22%) Network Security
9 105 (18.88%) CI/CD
10 95 (17.09%) Cisco
11 93 (16.73%) Security Cleared
12 87 (15.65%) PowerShell
13 84 (15.11%) Incident Response
14 78 (14.03%) SC Cleared
15 77 (13.85%) VPN
16 73 (13.13%) Security Operations
17 71 (12.77%) Security Architecture
18 70 (12.59%) CISSP
19 69 (12.41%) Terraform
20 68 (12.23%) GCP
21 67 (12.05%) NIST
22 63 (11.33%) DNS
22 63 (11.33%) Threat Modelling
22 63 (11.33%) Vulnerability Management
23 62 (11.15%) Data Loss Prevention
23 62 (11.15%) DevSecOps
24 61 (10.97%) F5
25 60 (10.79%) DevOps
25 60 (10.79%) Windows

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 21 (3.78%) Confluence
2 3 (0.54%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.18%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.36%) Maximo
2 2 (0.36%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.18%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 190 (34.17%) Azure
2 152 (27.34%) AWS
3 68 (12.23%) GCP
4 50 (8.99%) Microsoft Purview
5 45 (8.09%) Microsoft 365
6 32 (5.76%) Entra ID
7 23 (4.14%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 22 (3.96%) SaaS
9 21 (3.78%) AWS CloudFormation
10 20 (3.60%) GitHub
11 19 (3.42%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 19 (3.42%) Azure Sentinel
12 14 (2.52%) AWS CloudTrail
12 14 (2.52%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 14 (2.52%) Mimecast
13 12 (2.16%) Akamai
14 10 (1.80%) Azure DevOps
14 10 (1.80%) Serverless
15 9 (1.62%) Amazon ECS
15 9 (1.62%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 124 (22.30%) Firewall
2 118 (21.22%) Network Security
3 77 (13.85%) VPN
4 63 (11.33%) DNS
5 51 (9.17%) BGP
6 37 (6.65%) DMZ
7 35 (6.29%) Multicast
8 25 (4.50%) SSL
8 25 (4.50%) TCP/IP
8 25 (4.50%) WAN
9 21 (3.78%) SD-WAN
10 18 (3.24%) HTTP
11 14 (2.52%) Internet
12 13 (2.34%) Cisco ISE
13 12 (2.16%) TACACS
14 11 (1.98%) VLAN
15 10 (1.80%) Cisco ASA
15 10 (1.80%) MPLS
15 10 (1.80%) Wireless
16 9 (1.62%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.44%) Power BI
2 7 (1.26%) SQL Server
3 6 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (0.90%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.72%) MongoDB
6 3 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (0.54%) Big Data
7 2 (0.36%) Apache Cassandra
7 2 (0.36%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.36%) Metadata
7 2 (0.36%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.36%) RDBMS
7 2 (0.36%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.18%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.18%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.18%) Db2
8 1 (0.18%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 26 (4.68%) JIRA
2 12 (2.16%) GitLab
3 9 (1.62%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.44%) Git
5 7 (1.26%) Snyk
6 4 (0.72%) Burp Suite
7 2 (0.36%) Browser DevTools
7 2 (0.36%) Claude Code
7 2 (0.36%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.18%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.18%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.18%) sqlmap
8 1 (0.18%) TruffleHog
General
1 106 (19.06%) Social Skills
2 86 (15.47%) Finance
3 48 (8.63%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (7.37%) Banking
5 29 (5.22%) Public Sector
6 23 (4.14%) Investment Banking
7 18 (3.24%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (1.26%) Legal
8 7 (1.26%) Marketing
8 7 (1.26%) Presentation Skills
9 5 (0.90%) Telecoms
10 4 (0.72%) Health Technology
10 4 (0.72%) Manufacturing
11 3 (0.54%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.54%) Military
11 3 (0.54%) Retail
12 2 (0.36%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.36%) Law
13 1 (0.18%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.98%) SAML
2 8 (1.44%) LDAP
2 8 (1.44%) SLSA
3 7 (1.26%) Elastic Stack
3 7 (1.26%) LangChain
3 7 (1.26%) REST
4 6 (1.08%) PyTorch
4 6 (1.08%) scikit-learn
5 5 (0.90%) 802.1X
5 5 (0.90%) Microsoft Graph
6 4 (0.72%) .NET
6 4 (0.72%) OAuth
7 3 (0.54%) AWS CDK
8 2 (0.36%) GraphQL
8 2 (0.36%) JSON
8 2 (0.36%) NestJS
8 2 (0.36%) SailPoint
8 2 (0.36%) Web Services
9 1 (0.18%) JCE
9 1 (0.18%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 85 (15.29%) Security Posture
2 59 (10.61%) Cloud Native
3 35 (6.29%) Management Information System
4 29 (5.22%) Cloud Security Posture
5 21 (3.78%) Data Centre
6 17 (3.06%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 17 (3.06%) Operational Technology
7 14 (2.52%) AI Agents
7 14 (2.52%) Onboarding
8 13 (2.34%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (2.16%) Cyber Threat
9 12 (2.16%) Hybrid Cloud
10 10 (1.80%) Public Cloud
11 9 (1.62%) Enterprise Cloud
11 9 (1.62%) PKI
11 9 (1.62%) Security Operations Centre
12 7 (1.26%) Cyber Defence
13 6 (1.08%) Linux Command Line
13 6 (1.08%) SCADA
14 4 (0.72%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 60 (10.79%) Windows
2 52 (9.35%) Linux
3 13 (2.34%) Windows Server
4 11 (1.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 10 (1.80%) Mac OS
6 7 (1.26%) Apple iOS
6 7 (1.26%) Ubuntu
7 6 (1.08%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.54%) Unix
9 2 (0.36%) Android
9 2 (0.36%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 172 (30.94%) Cybersecurity
2 159 (28.60%) Cloud Security
3 124 (22.30%) SIEM
4 105 (18.88%) CI/CD
5 84 (15.11%) Incident Response
6 73 (13.13%) Security Operations
7 71 (12.77%) Security Architecture
8 63 (11.33%) Threat Modelling
8 63 (11.33%) Vulnerability Management
9 62 (11.15%) Data Loss Prevention
9 62 (11.15%) DevSecOps
10 60 (10.79%) DevOps
11 57 (10.25%) Load Balancing
12 54 (9.71%) Information Security
13 50 (8.99%) Infrastructure as Code
14 47 (8.45%) Agile
15 46 (8.27%) Continuous Improvement
15 46 (8.27%) Validation
15 46 (8.27%) Zero Trust
16 44 (7.91%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 128 (23.02%) Python
2 87 (15.65%) PowerShell
3 50 (8.99%) Bash
4 20 (3.60%) Java
5 13 (2.34%) Kusto Query Language
6 9 (1.62%) SQL
7 7 (1.26%) Bicep
8 5 (0.90%) PHP
8 5 (0.90%) Search Processing Language
9 3 (0.54%) Perl
9 3 (0.54%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.36%) Go
10 2 (0.36%) JavaScript
10 2 (0.36%) Ruby
10 2 (0.36%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.18%) C
11 1 (0.18%) C#
11 1 (0.18%) Korn
Qualifications
1 93 (16.73%) Security Cleared
2 78 (14.03%) SC Cleared
3 70 (12.59%) CISSP
4 48 (8.63%) Degree
5 37 (6.65%) Cisco Certification
6 31 (5.58%) CISM
7 26 (4.68%) AWS Certification
8 22 (3.96%) DV Cleared
9 19 (3.42%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 18 (3.24%) Azure Certification
11 17 (3.06%) CCNP
12 13 (2.34%) CEH
12 13 (2.34%) GIAC
13 12 (2.16%) CompTIA Security+
13 12 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
14 11 (1.98%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (1.44%) CCIE
15 8 (1.44%) CCSP
15 8 (1.44%) OSCP
16 6 (1.08%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (12.05%) NIST
2 58 (10.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 31 (5.58%) GDPR
4 25 (4.50%) Cyber Essentials
5 21 (3.78%) PCI DSS
6 15 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 11 (1.98%) NCSC
8 8 (1.44%) HIPAA
8 8 (1.44%) SLA
9 6 (1.08%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 6 (1.08%) NIST 800
10 5 (0.90%) GRC
10 5 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 4 (0.72%) Government Security Classifications
11 4 (0.72%) SOC 2
12 3 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.54%) ISA99
12 3 (0.54%) JSP 440
13 2 (0.36%) COBIT
13 2 (0.36%) RMADS
System Software
1 30 (5.40%) Active Directory
2 26 (4.68%) Docker
3 12 (2.16%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.44%) VMware ESXi
5 6 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
5 6 (1.08%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.08%) vSphere
6 3 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
7 2 (0.36%) Squid
8 1 (0.18%) Firmware
8 1 (0.18%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.18%) RACF
Systems Management
1 69 (12.41%) Terraform
2 53 (9.53%) Kubernetes
3 19 (3.42%) Ansible
4 11 (1.98%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.98%) Microsoft Intune
4 11 (1.98%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (1.80%) Progress Chef
6 7 (1.26%) vCenter Server
7 6 (1.08%) CASB
8 4 (0.72%) Nessus
9 3 (0.54%) Grafana
9 3 (0.54%) Kibana
9 3 (0.54%) SCOM
10 2 (0.36%) logstash
10 2 (0.36%) QRadar
11 1 (0.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 1 (0.18%) AirWatch
11 1 (0.18%) CSIRT
11 1 (0.18%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.18%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 120 (21.58%) Microsoft
2 95 (17.09%) Cisco
3 61 (10.97%) F5
4 44 (7.91%) Palo Alto
5 40 (7.19%) CrowdStrike
6 38 (6.83%) Fortinet
7 31 (5.58%) Zscaler
8 26 (4.68%) CyberArk
8 26 (4.68%) Google
8 26 (4.68%) ServiceNow
9 23 (4.14%) CheckPoint
10 21 (3.78%) Splunk
11 19 (3.42%) VMware
12 16 (2.88%) Tenable
13 15 (2.70%) Netskope
14 13 (2.34%) BeyondTrust
15 11 (1.98%) Blue Coat
15 11 (1.98%) Red Hat
16 10 (1.80%) Oracle
16 10 (1.80%) Qualys