Security Engineer Contract Job Trends

Security Engineer
UK

The median Security Engineer daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 September 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 251 224 201
Rank change year-on-year -27 -23 +40
Contract jobs requiring a Security Engineer 565 388 464
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.03% 1.19% 1.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.12% 1.30% 1.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 354 226 343
10th Percentile £413 £378 £405
25th Percentile £457 £422 £439
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -6.78%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £697 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £550
% change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -1.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 12 2
10th Percentile £72.63 £66.75 £64.25
25th Percentile £73.75 £83.06 £66.88
Median hourly rate £79.70 £90.50 £72.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.93% +24.83% -13.07%
75th Percentile £90.53 £91.50 £76.88
90th Percentile £92.11 - £78.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £90.00 £90.50 £72.50
% change year-on-year -0.55% +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 50,606 29,766 35,027
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 91.04% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,920 18,783 21,484
10th Percentile £325 £276 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £630 £625 £638
90th Percentile £733 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,907 1,587 1,616
10th Percentile £14.50 £13.75 £14.79
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.30 £20.69
Median hourly rate £42.30 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.19% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.70 £51.65 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £69.65 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.08 £43.97
% change year-on-year +69.49% -42.97% +0.50%

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 23 September 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 23 September 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 23 September 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 -8 523 £525 - 1,271
UK excluding London -25 271 £525 +5.00% 722
London -37 248 £525 -4.55% 589
Work from Home -9 187 £525 +6.71% 431
North of England +6 143 £550 +10.00% 202
North West +21 119 £545 +9.00% 133
Midlands -15 54 £475 +18.01% 89
South East -32 53 £500 - 169
West Midlands -7 50 £500 +28.21% 57
East of England -35 31 £518 +3.50% 87
Yorkshire -33 21 £613 +13.43% 43
South West -42 12 £475 -7.32% 94
Scotland -29 8 £618 +6.47% 57
East Midlands -18 4 £338 -18.67% 32
Wales -14 2 £733 +22.08% 10
North East -37 2 - - 26

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

For the 6 months to 23 September 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.

1 197 (34.87%) Azure
2 178 (31.50%) Cloud Security
3 172 (30.44%) Cybersecurity
4 151 (26.73%) AWS
5 136 (24.07%) Microsoft
6 128 (22.65%) SIEM
7 121 (21.42%) Python
8 117 (20.71%) Network Security
9 113 (20.00%) Firewall
10 100 (17.70%) Terraform
11 96 (16.99%) PowerShell
12 95 (16.81%) Security Cleared
13 94 (16.64%) Incident Response
14 90 (15.93%) Security Operations
15 87 (15.40%) CI/CD
15 87 (15.40%) Cisco
15 87 (15.40%) GCP
16 82 (14.51%) SC Cleared
17 80 (14.16%) Kubernetes
18 77 (13.63%) CISSP
19 73 (12.92%) VPN
20 71 (12.57%) Infrastructure as Code
20 71 (12.57%) Palo Alto
21 69 (12.21%) Threat Detection
22 67 (11.86%) Windows
23 66 (11.68%) DevSecOps
24 64 (11.33%) DevOps
25 62 (10.97%) Vulnerability Management
26 61 (10.80%) Bash
26 61 (10.80%) Security Architecture

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 (1.95%) IIS
2 8 (1.42%) Confluence
3 3 (0.53%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.35%) nginx
5 1 (0.18%) Apache
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.18%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.18%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.35%) Maximo
3 1 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 197 (34.87%) Azure
2 151 (26.73%) AWS
3 87 (15.40%) GCP
4 52 (9.20%) Entra ID
5 45 (7.96%) Microsoft 365
6 35 (6.19%) Microsoft Purview
7 33 (5.84%) Azure Sentinel
8 29 (5.13%) AWS CloudFormation
9 23 (4.07%) GitHub
10 16 (2.83%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 14 (2.48%) Azure DevOps
12 13 (2.30%) Power Platform
12 13 (2.30%) SaaS
12 13 (2.30%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 12 (2.12%) Serverless
14 11 (1.95%) Akamai
15 10 (1.77%) Amazon ECS
15 10 (1.77%) AWS CloudTrail
15 10 (1.77%) Azure AKS
15 10 (1.77%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 117 (20.71%) Network Security
2 113 (20.00%) Firewall
3 73 (12.92%) VPN
4 48 (8.50%) DNS
5 37 (6.55%) BGP
6 30 (5.31%) SSL
7 29 (5.13%) WAN
8 26 (4.60%) DMZ
9 24 (4.25%) Multicast
10 22 (3.89%) TCP/IP
11 21 (3.72%) HTTP
12 18 (3.19%) Internet
13 16 (2.83%) Cisco ISE
13 16 (2.83%) SD-WAN
13 16 (2.83%) Wireless
14 15 (2.65%) Intrusion Detection
15 13 (2.30%) IPsec
16 12 (2.12%) OSPF
17 10 (1.77%) DMVPN
18 9 (1.59%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.59%) Power BI
2 5 (0.88%) SQL Server
3 4 (0.71%) MongoDB
3 4 (0.71%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (0.53%) Big Data
4 3 (0.53%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.35%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.35%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.18%) Apache Cassandra
6 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.18%) Db2
6 1 (0.18%) Delta Lake
6 1 (0.18%) Elasticsearch
6 1 (0.18%) Metadata
6 1 (0.18%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.18%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.18%) Redis
6 1 (0.18%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 9 (1.59%) JIRA
2 8 (1.42%) Git
3 7 (1.24%) GitLab
3 7 (1.24%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.53%) Burp Suite
4 3 (0.53%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.35%) JUnit
5 2 (0.35%) Snyk
5 2 (0.35%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.18%) Browser DevTools
6 1 (0.18%) Maven
6 1 (0.18%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.18%) TruffleHog
General
1 104 (18.41%) Social Skills
2 94 (16.64%) Finance
3 48 (8.50%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (6.90%) Banking
5 19 (3.36%) Public Sector
6 17 (3.01%) Investment Banking
7 16 (2.83%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (1.59%) Military
8 9 (1.59%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (1.24%) Back Office
9 7 (1.24%) Manufacturing
9 7 (1.24%) Marketing
10 6 (1.06%) Legal
10 6 (1.06%) Telecoms
11 5 (0.88%) Influencing Skills
11 5 (0.88%) Retail
12 4 (0.71%) Financial Institution
12 4 (0.71%) Health Technology
13 3 (0.53%) Digital Health
13 3 (0.53%) Digital Healthcare
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 100 (17.70%) Terraform
2 17 (3.01%) JSON
3 12 (2.12%) REST
4 11 (1.95%) 802.1X
5 9 (1.59%) SAML
6 8 (1.42%) JWT
6 8 (1.42%) OpenID
6 8 (1.42%) Regular Expression
7 7 (1.24%) LDAP
7 7 (1.24%) OAuth
8 6 (1.06%) OAuth2
9 5 (0.88%) ARM Templates
10 4 (0.71%) Azure Blueprints
10 4 (0.71%) Elastic Stack
10 4 (0.71%) Microsoft Graph
10 4 (0.71%) SLSA
11 3 (0.53%) pytest
11 3 (0.53%) SailPoint
11 3 (0.53%) SOAP
12 2 (0.35%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 98 (17.35%) Security Posture
2 64 (11.33%) Cloud Native
3 40 (7.08%) Management Information System
4 33 (5.84%) Cloud Security Posture
5 30 (5.31%) Onboarding
6 26 (4.60%) Cyber Threat
7 23 (4.07%) Enterprise Cloud
8 19 (3.36%) Data Centre
9 17 (3.01%) AI Agents
10 15 (2.65%) Cyber Defence
11 13 (2.30%) Operational Technology
12 11 (1.95%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 9 (1.59%) Hybrid Cloud
13 9 (1.59%) PKI
13 9 (1.59%) Public Cloud
13 9 (1.59%) Security Operations Centre
14 8 (1.42%) CCTV
14 8 (1.42%) Data Protection Act
15 5 (0.88%) Mobile App
15 5 (0.88%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 67 (11.86%) Windows
2 45 (7.96%) Linux
3 18 (3.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 17 (3.01%) Windows Server
5 10 (1.77%) Apple iOS
6 7 (1.24%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.88%) Android
7 5 (0.88%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.35%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.35%) Unix
9 1 (0.18%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (31.50%) Cloud Security
2 172 (30.44%) Cybersecurity
3 128 (22.65%) SIEM
4 94 (16.64%) Incident Response
5 90 (15.93%) Security Operations
6 87 (15.40%) CI/CD
7 71 (12.57%) Infrastructure as Code
8 69 (12.21%) Threat Detection
9 66 (11.68%) DevSecOps
10 64 (11.33%) DevOps
11 62 (10.97%) Vulnerability Management
12 61 (10.80%) Security Architecture
13 58 (10.27%) Zero Trust
14 56 (9.91%) Security Monitoring
15 54 (9.56%) AI
16 52 (9.20%) Identity Access Management
17 51 (9.03%) Threat Modelling
18 50 (8.85%) Continuous Improvement
18 50 (8.85%) Stakeholder Management
19 49 (8.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 121 (21.42%) Python
2 96 (16.99%) PowerShell
3 61 (10.80%) Bash
4 26 (4.60%) Java
5 20 (3.54%) Bicep
6 8 (1.42%) Go
6 8 (1.42%) Kusto Query Language
6 8 (1.42%) SQL
7 4 (0.71%) Search Processing Language
8 3 (0.53%) Perl
9 2 (0.35%) C#
10 1 (0.18%) JavaScript
10 1 (0.18%) Korn
10 1 (0.18%) PHP
10 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 95 (16.81%) Security Cleared
2 82 (14.51%) SC Cleared
3 77 (13.63%) CISSP
4 48 (8.50%) Degree
5 42 (7.43%) Cisco Certification
6 33 (5.84%) AWS Certification
7 29 (5.13%) CISM
8 24 (4.25%) Azure Certification
9 23 (4.07%) DV Cleared
10 22 (3.89%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 20 (3.54%) CCNP
12 17 (3.01%) CEH
13 16 (2.83%) CCSP
14 14 (2.48%) OSCP
15 12 (2.12%) GIAC
15 12 (2.12%) Microsoft Certification
16 11 (1.95%) CISA
17 9 (1.59%) Computer Science Degree
18 8 (1.42%) CCIE
18 8 (1.42%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 56 (9.91%) NIST
2 52 (9.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (4.07%) PCI DSS
4 20 (3.54%) GDPR
5 14 (2.48%) Cyber Essentials
6 13 (2.30%) NCSC
7 11 (1.95%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 8 (1.42%) GRC
9 6 (1.06%) HIPAA
9 6 (1.06%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.71%) ISO 31000
10 4 (0.71%) ISO 9001
10 4 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 3 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 3 (0.53%) SOC 2
12 2 (0.35%) COBIT
12 2 (0.35%) JSP 440
12 2 (0.35%) QA
12 2 (0.35%) SLA
13 1 (0.18%) RMADS
System Software
1 45 (7.96%) Active Directory
2 23 (4.07%) Docker
3 11 (1.95%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (1.77%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (1.24%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.24%) NFS
6 5 (0.88%) vSphere
7 4 (0.71%) ISA Server
7 4 (0.71%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (0.71%) VMware NSX
8 3 (0.53%) Firmware
9 2 (0.35%) Squid
9 2 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.18%) RACF
Systems Management
1 80 (14.16%) Kubernetes
2 27 (4.78%) Ansible
3 18 (3.19%) Progress Chef
4 12 (2.12%) FortiGate
4 12 (2.12%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (1.77%) Single Sign-On
6 8 (1.42%) Grafana
7 6 (1.06%) Istio
8 5 (0.88%) CASB
8 5 (0.88%) linkerd
9 3 (0.53%) QRadar
10 2 (0.35%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.35%) SCCM
11 1 (0.18%) Argo
11 1 (0.18%) CSIRT
11 1 (0.18%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.18%) McAfee ePO
11 1 (0.18%) Nessus
11 1 (0.18%) Network Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.18%) VxRail
Vendors
1 136 (24.07%) Microsoft
2 87 (15.40%) Cisco
3 71 (12.57%) Palo Alto
4 56 (9.91%) F5
5 48 (8.50%) Zscaler
6 39 (6.90%) CrowdStrike
7 36 (6.37%) CheckPoint
8 35 (6.19%) Splunk
9 29 (5.13%) Fortinet
10 24 (4.25%) CyberArk
11 23 (4.07%) Google
12 19 (3.36%) Red Hat
13 18 (3.19%) ServiceNow
14 17 (3.01%) VMware
15 16 (2.83%) Blue Coat
16 14 (2.48%) Juniper
17 13 (2.30%) Qualys
18 12 (2.12%) BeyondTrust
19 11 (1.95%) Netskope
20 10 (1.77%) AlgoSec