Security Engineer Contract Job Trends

Security Engineer
UK

The median Security Engineer daily rate in the UK is £536, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 August 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 255 226 195
Rank change year-on-year -29 -31 +28
Contract jobs requiring a Security Engineer 532 383 468
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.17% 1.21%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.07% 1.28% 1.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 346 230 358
10th Percentile £413 £361 £411
25th Percentile £463 £413 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £536 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.60% -6.82% -2.65%
75th Percentile £610 £638 £638
90th Percentile £688 £738 £741
UK excluding London median daily rate £540 £500 £550
% change year-on-year +8.00% -9.09% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 12 2
10th Percentile £70.38 £66.75 £64.25
25th Percentile £73.75 £83.06 £66.88
Median hourly rate £77.50 £90.50 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year -14.36% +24.83% -13.07%
75th Percentile £85.05 £91.50 £76.88
90th Percentile £86.03 - £78.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £84.00 £90.50 £72.50
% change year-on-year -7.18% +24.83% -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 49,489 29,958 36,053
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 91.24% 92.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,683 18,934 23,125
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £638
90th Percentile £730 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,498 1,546 1,979
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.63 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.62 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £41.74 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.94% -41.51% +2.38%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.90
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.71% +17.07%

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 20 August 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 20 August 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 20 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 -34 489 £533 +4.00% 564
UK excluding London -24 260 £540 +8.00% 359
London -45 227 £525 - 249
Work from Home -3 198 £539 +10.51% 167
North of England +33 147 £575 +15.93% 80
North West +34 125 £559 +14.97% 54
South East -29 51 £500 - 96
Midlands -22 49 £500 +25.00% 44
West Midlands -21 48 £500 +28.21% 28
Yorkshire -27 20 £600 +11.11% 19
East of England -35 20 £510 +2.00% 45
South West -39 13 £488 -2.50% 77
Scotland -17 10 £600 +14.29% 15
Wales -15 2 £733 +46.50% 2
East Midlands -17 1 £338 -18.67% 16
North East -40 1 - - 7

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

For the 6 months to 20 August 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.

1 189 (35.53%) Azure
2 177 (33.27%) Cloud Security
3 154 (28.95%) Cybersecurity
4 150 (28.20%) AWS
5 128 (24.06%) Microsoft
5 128 (24.06%) SIEM
6 113 (21.24%) Python
7 106 (19.92%) Firewall
8 103 (19.36%) Network Security
9 94 (17.67%) CI/CD
10 88 (16.54%) Incident Response
11 84 (15.79%) PowerShell
12 83 (15.60%) Cisco
12 83 (15.60%) Terraform
13 80 (15.04%) GCP
14 74 (13.91%) Security Cleared
15 70 (13.16%) CISSP
15 70 (13.16%) Security Operations
16 69 (12.97%) VPN
17 68 (12.78%) Kubernetes
18 66 (12.41%) DevSecOps
19 63 (11.84%) Infrastructure as Code
20 61 (11.47%) SC Cleared
21 60 (11.28%) Security Architecture
21 60 (11.28%) Vulnerability Management
22 58 (10.90%) Bash
22 58 (10.90%) DevOps
22 58 (10.90%) F5
22 58 (10.90%) Windows
23 55 (10.34%) 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 13 (2.44%) Confluence
2 3 (0.56%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.38%) nginx
4 1 (0.19%) Apache
4 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
1 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (1.13%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.38%) Maximo
3 1 (0.19%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 189 (35.53%) Azure
2 150 (28.20%) AWS
3 80 (15.04%) GCP
4 46 (8.65%) Microsoft Purview
5 44 (8.27%) Microsoft 365
6 39 (7.33%) Entra ID
7 27 (5.08%) AWS CloudFormation
8 26 (4.89%) Azure Sentinel
9 19 (3.57%) SaaS
10 18 (3.38%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 18 (3.38%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 15 (2.82%) Akamai
11 15 (2.82%) GitHub
12 14 (2.63%) Serverless
13 12 (2.26%) AWS CloudTrail
13 12 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (2.07%) Amazon GuardDuty
14 11 (2.07%) Mimecast
15 9 (1.69%) Amazon ECS
15 9 (1.69%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 106 (19.92%) Firewall
2 103 (19.36%) Network Security
3 69 (12.97%) VPN
4 53 (9.96%) DNS
5 40 (7.52%) BGP
6 32 (6.02%) DMZ
7 30 (5.64%) Multicast
8 27 (5.08%) SSL
9 26 (4.89%) WAN
10 24 (4.51%) TCP/IP
11 19 (3.57%) SD-WAN
12 18 (3.38%) HTTP
13 16 (3.01%) Internet
14 15 (2.82%) Cisco ISE
15 13 (2.44%) Intrusion Detection
16 11 (2.07%) Wireless
17 9 (1.69%) OSPF
17 9 (1.69%) VLAN
18 8 (1.50%) IPsec
19 6 (1.13%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.50%) Power BI
2 7 (1.32%) SQL Server
3 6 (1.13%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.75%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.75%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.56%) Amazon RDS
5 3 (0.56%) Big Data
6 2 (0.38%) Apache Cassandra
6 2 (0.38%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.38%) DynamoDB
6 2 (0.38%) Metadata
6 2 (0.38%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.38%) RDBMS
6 2 (0.38%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.38%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.19%) Db2
7 1 (0.19%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.19%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.19%) Redis
Development Applications
1 16 (3.01%) JIRA
2 9 (1.69%) GitLab
3 7 (1.32%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.75%) Burp Suite
5 3 (0.56%) Claude Code
5 3 (0.56%) Git
6 2 (0.38%) Browser DevTools
6 2 (0.38%) Snyk
6 2 (0.38%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.19%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.19%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.19%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.19%) sqlmap
7 1 (0.19%) TruffleHog
General
1 93 (17.48%) Finance
1 93 (17.48%) Social Skills
2 47 (8.83%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (7.71%) Banking
4 21 (3.95%) Documentation Skills
5 20 (3.76%) Investment Banking
6 16 (3.01%) Public Sector
7 7 (1.32%) Marketing
8 6 (1.13%) Legal
8 6 (1.13%) Manufacturing
8 6 (1.13%) Presentation Skills
9 5 (0.94%) Retail
9 5 (0.94%) Telecoms
10 4 (0.75%) Health Technology
10 4 (0.75%) Military
11 3 (0.56%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.56%) Digital Health
11 3 (0.56%) Digital Healthcare
11 3 (0.56%) Financial Institution
11 3 (0.56%) Italian Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 83 (15.60%) Terraform
2 8 (1.50%) SAML
3 7 (1.32%) 802.1X
4 5 (0.94%) REST
5 4 (0.75%) ARM Templates
5 4 (0.75%) Elastic Stack
5 4 (0.75%) LangChain
5 4 (0.75%) SLSA
6 3 (0.56%) Azure Blueprints
6 3 (0.56%) JWT
6 3 (0.56%) Microsoft Graph
6 3 (0.56%) PyTorch
6 3 (0.56%) SailPoint
6 3 (0.56%) scikit-learn
7 2 (0.38%) Model Context Protocol
7 2 (0.38%) OAuth
7 2 (0.38%) OpenID
8 1 (0.19%) Java SE
8 1 (0.19%) JCE
8 1 (0.19%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 100 (18.80%) Security Posture
2 63 (11.84%) Cloud Native
3 40 (7.52%) Cloud Security Posture
4 37 (6.95%) Management Information System
5 22 (4.14%) Enterprise Cloud
6 19 (3.57%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 17 (3.20%) AI Agents
8 16 (3.01%) Onboarding
9 14 (2.63%) Cyber Threat
10 13 (2.44%) Operational Technology
11 12 (2.26%) Hybrid Cloud
12 11 (2.07%) Data Centre
13 10 (1.88%) Data Protection Act
14 8 (1.50%) Cyber Defence
15 7 (1.32%) Security Operations Centre
16 6 (1.13%) PKI
16 6 (1.13%) SCADA
17 5 (0.94%) NHS
17 5 (0.94%) Public Cloud
18 4 (0.75%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 58 (10.90%) Windows
2 48 (9.02%) Linux
3 18 (3.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 12 (2.26%) Windows Server
5 8 (1.50%) Mac OS
6 7 (1.32%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.94%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.38%) Android
8 2 (0.38%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.19%) Unix
9 1 (0.19%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (33.27%) Cloud Security
2 154 (28.95%) Cybersecurity
3 128 (24.06%) SIEM
4 94 (17.67%) CI/CD
5 88 (16.54%) Incident Response
6 70 (13.16%) Security Operations
7 66 (12.41%) DevSecOps
8 63 (11.84%) Infrastructure as Code
9 60 (11.28%) Security Architecture
9 60 (11.28%) Vulnerability Management
10 58 (10.90%) DevOps
11 55 (10.34%) Threat Modelling
11 55 (10.34%) Zero Trust
12 54 (10.15%) Load Balancing
12 54 (10.15%) Threat Detection
13 50 (9.40%) Data Loss Prevention
14 45 (8.46%) Agile
14 45 (8.46%) Stakeholder Management
15 42 (7.89%) Data Protection
15 42 (7.89%) Information Security
Programming Languages
1 113 (21.24%) Python
2 84 (15.79%) PowerShell
3 58 (10.90%) Bash
4 20 (3.76%) Bicep
5 18 (3.38%) Java
6 9 (1.69%) Kusto Query Language
6 9 (1.69%) SQL
7 5 (0.94%) Go
8 4 (0.75%) Search Processing Language
9 3 (0.56%) Perl
9 3 (0.56%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.19%) C
10 1 (0.19%) C#
10 1 (0.19%) JavaScript
10 1 (0.19%) Korn
10 1 (0.19%) PHP
10 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 74 (13.91%) Security Cleared
2 70 (13.16%) CISSP
3 61 (11.47%) SC Cleared
4 40 (7.52%) Degree
5 33 (6.20%) Cisco Certification
6 32 (6.02%) AWS Certification
7 28 (5.26%) CISM
8 21 (3.95%) Azure Certification
8 21 (3.95%) CCNP
9 17 (3.20%) CEH
10 16 (3.01%) DV Cleared
11 14 (2.63%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 12 (2.26%) Microsoft Certification
12 12 (2.26%) OSCP
13 10 (1.88%) CCIE
13 10 (1.88%) GIAC
14 9 (1.69%) Computer Science Degree
15 7 (1.32%) CCSP
15 7 (1.32%) CompTIA Security+
16 6 (1.13%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (9.21%) NIST
2 45 (8.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (4.70%) GDPR
4 18 (3.38%) PCI DSS
5 15 (2.82%) NCSC
6 14 (2.63%) Cyber Essentials
7 11 (2.07%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 9 (1.69%) HIPAA
9 6 (1.13%) NIST 800
9 6 (1.13%) SLA
10 5 (0.94%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 4 (0.75%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 4 (0.75%) SOC 2
12 3 (0.56%) ISA99
13 2 (0.38%) COBIT
13 2 (0.38%) GRC
13 2 (0.38%) JSP 440
14 1 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
14 1 (0.19%) QA
14 1 (0.19%) RMADS
System Software
1 32 (6.02%) Active Directory
2 24 (4.51%) Docker
3 6 (1.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.13%) VMware NSX
3 6 (1.13%) vSphere
4 4 (0.75%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.56%) Virtual Servers
6 2 (0.38%) Squid
6 2 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.19%) RACF
Systems Management
1 68 (12.78%) Kubernetes
2 17 (3.20%) Ansible
3 16 (3.01%) Progress Chef
4 12 (2.26%) FortiGate
5 10 (1.88%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (1.88%) Single Sign-On
6 8 (1.50%) Grafana
7 5 (0.94%) CASB
7 5 (0.94%) Istio
7 5 (0.94%) QRadar
8 4 (0.75%) linkerd
9 2 (0.38%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.19%) Argo
10 1 (0.19%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.19%) Host Intrusion Detection System
10 1 (0.19%) HP Fortify
10 1 (0.19%) Network Intrusion Detection System
10 1 (0.19%) SCCM
10 1 (0.19%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 128 (24.06%) Microsoft
2 83 (15.60%) Cisco
3 58 (10.90%) F5
4 48 (9.02%) Palo Alto
5 38 (7.14%) CrowdStrike
6 33 (6.20%) Zscaler
7 30 (5.64%) Fortinet
8 28 (5.26%) CyberArk
9 25 (4.70%) CheckPoint
10 24 (4.51%) ServiceNow
11 22 (4.14%) Google
11 22 (4.14%) Splunk
12 19 (3.57%) Red Hat
13 14 (2.63%) VMware
14 13 (2.44%) BeyondTrust
14 13 (2.44%) Netskope
15 12 (2.26%) Tenable
16 11 (2.07%) Blue Coat
17 10 (1.88%) Oracle
17 10 (1.88%) Qualys