Security Testing Contracts

Security Testing
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Security Testing skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Security Testing over the 6 months to 6 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
6 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 391 491 561
Rank change year-on-year +100 +70 -41
Contract jobs citing Security Testing 189 230 311
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.44% 0.39% 0.35%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.43% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 147 228
10th Percentile £463 £450 £359
25th Percentile £550 £503 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £613 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.08% +9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £700 £738 £638
90th Percentile £780 £790 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £585 £600 £548
% change year-on-year -2.50% +9.59% +9.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 5
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £17.00
Median hourly rate £62.50 - £19.00
75th Percentile - - £21.00
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 - £19.00
% change year-on-year - - -5.00%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Security Testing is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 37,480 53,073 80,381
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.37% 89.85% 90.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,166 36,804 56,457
10th Percentile £300 £325 £340
25th Percentile £413 £438 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +3.77% +8.72%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% +8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,447 1,751 1,910
10th Percentile £12.75 £11.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.25 £15.50
Median hourly rate £35.96 £36.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.11% +44.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £60.00 £65.00 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £35.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year +7.14% +75.00% -6.98%

Security Testing
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Security Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Security Testing.

Daily rate trend for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Testing over the 6 months to 6 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Security Testing.

Hourly rate trend for Security Testing in the UK

Security Testing
Top 15 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Security Testing within the UK over the 6 months to 6 May 2024. 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 +82 164 £600 - 62
London +113 99 £650 +8.33% 15
Work from Home +126 77 £600 +9.09% 69
UK excluding London +38 71 £585 -2.50% 38
South East +23 32 £550 -8.33% 5
North of England +23 13 £525 -8.70% 17
North West +27 12 £525 -8.70% 9
Scotland +37 9 £600 - 2
South West +28 7 £585 -1.47% 5
Midlands +10 5 £538 -18.87% 7
West Midlands -1 4 £650 -10.34% 6
East of England +6 3 £700 - 3
Wales - 2 £666 - 1
Yorkshire +19 1 - - 8
East Midlands +19 1 £355 -40.83% 1

Security Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 13 (6.88%) Apache
1 13 (6.88%) Apache Airflow
2 12 (6.35%) nginx
3 5 (2.65%) Anypoint
4 2 (1.06%) CMS
5 1 (0.53%) Confluence
5 1 (0.53%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.53%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (2.12%) Microsoft Office
1 4 (2.12%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (1.59%) Dynamics GP
1 3 (1.59%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 53 (28.04%) Azure
2 44 (23.28%) AWS
3 24 (12.70%) Serverless
4 23 (12.17%) SaaS
5 16 (8.47%) IaaS
6 15 (7.94%) AWS CloudFormation
6 15 (7.94%) Azure DevOps
6 15 (7.94%) PaaS
7 12 (6.35%) AWS Elastic Beanstalk
8 9 (4.76%) Azure Key Vault
8 9 (4.76%) Azure Monitor
9 7 (3.70%) Azure Data Factory
9 7 (3.70%) Cloud Computing
9 7 (3.70%) Microsoft 365
10 6 (3.17%) AWS Lambda
10 6 (3.17%) GCP
10 6 (3.17%) OpenShift
11 5 (2.65%) Apigee
11 5 (2.65%) Azure Functions
11 5 (2.65%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 22 (11.64%) Firewall
2 20 (10.58%) VPN
3 19 (10.05%) BGP
4 13 (6.88%) Ethernet VPN
4 13 (6.88%) MPLS
5 12 (6.35%) Radio Access Network
6 8 (4.23%) LAN
6 8 (4.23%) WAN
6 8 (4.23%) WLAN
7 7 (3.70%) Wireless
8 6 (3.17%) Cisco ASA
8 6 (3.17%) OSPF
9 5 (2.65%) Cisco Wireless
9 5 (2.65%) IPsec
10 3 (1.59%) Intrusion Detection
10 3 (1.59%) SSL
10 3 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (1.06%) DNS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (10.58%) NoSQL
2 14 (7.41%) SQL Server
3 12 (6.35%) MongoDB
3 12 (6.35%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (3.70%) Oracle Database
5 6 (3.17%) Azure SQL Database
6 4 (2.12%) Big Data
7 3 (1.59%) Data Lake
7 3 (1.59%) MySQL
7 3 (1.59%) RDBMS
7 3 (1.59%) Relational Database
7 3 (1.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.53%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.53%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.53%) HDInsight
8 1 (0.53%) Oracle Exadata
8 1 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 24 (12.70%) Git
2 21 (11.11%) JIRA
3 20 (10.58%) GitLab
4 17 (8.99%) Jenkins
5 16 (8.47%) TestRail
6 13 (6.88%) Robot Framework
7 12 (6.35%) Visual Studio
8 9 (4.76%) Selenium
9 7 (3.70%) Postman
10 6 (3.17%) Burp Suite
10 6 (3.17%) JMeter
10 6 (3.17%) LoadRunner
10 6 (3.17%) NUnit
11 5 (2.65%) TeamCity
12 3 (1.59%) Cucumber
12 3 (1.59%) Cypress.io
12 3 (1.59%) FitNesse
12 3 (1.59%) SonarQube
12 3 (1.59%) SpecFlow
13 2 (1.06%) Subversion
General
1 39 (20.63%) Finance
2 37 (19.58%) Social Skills
3 27 (14.29%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (8.99%) Public Sector
5 16 (8.47%) Banking
6 11 (5.82%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (3.17%) Financial Institution
8 4 (2.12%) Telecoms
9 3 (1.59%) Back Office
9 3 (1.59%) Electronics
9 3 (1.59%) Front Office
9 3 (1.59%) Manufacturing
9 3 (1.59%) Marketing
10 2 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.06%) Law
10 2 (1.06%) Retail Banking
11 1 (0.53%) Automotive
11 1 (0.53%) Health Technology
11 1 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 31 (16.40%) Architect
1 31 (16.40%) Senior
2 25 (13.23%) Test Engineer
3 23 (12.17%) Developer
4 22 (11.64%) Security Architect
5 15 (7.94%) Lead
6 13 (6.88%) Consultant
6 13 (6.88%) Security Engineer
7 12 (6.35%) Full Stack Developer
7 12 (6.35%) Security Consultant
8 11 (5.82%) Network Engineer
8 11 (5.82%) Senior Test Engineer
8 11 (5.82%) Tester
9 10 (5.29%) Project Manager
9 10 (5.29%) Security Manager
9 10 (5.29%) Senior Architect
10 9 (4.76%) Azure Engineer
10 9 (4.76%) Cloud Architect
10 9 (4.76%) Security Project Manager
10 9 (4.76%) Senior Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (12.70%) REST
2 21 (11.11%) SOAP
3 19 (10.05%) CSS
4 18 (9.52%) HTML
5 14 (7.41%) Sass
6 13 (6.88%) Laravel
6 13 (6.88%) NETCONF
6 13 (6.88%) RESTCONF
6 13 (6.88%) WebSockets
7 12 (6.35%) YANG
8 11 (5.82%) AngularJS
9 10 (5.29%) Node.js
10 9 (4.76%) .NET
11 8 (4.23%) Playwright
12 6 (3.17%) GraphQL
13 5 (2.65%) Apache Camel
13 5 (2.65%) RabbitMQ
13 5 (2.65%) RAML
13 5 (2.65%) Swagger
13 5 (2.65%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (9.52%) Security Posture
2 16 (8.47%) IoT
2 16 (8.47%) Mobile App
3 12 (6.35%) PKI
4 11 (5.82%) Management Information System
4 11 (5.82%) Public Cloud
5 8 (4.23%) Cyber Threat
6 5 (2.65%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.59%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.59%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 3 (1.59%) PMI
8 2 (1.06%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 2 (1.06%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.06%) Reference Data
8 2 (1.06%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.53%) Client/Server
9 1 (0.53%) Embedded Systems
9 1 (0.53%) SCADA
9 1 (0.53%) W3C
Operating Systems
1 22 (11.64%) Linux
2 13 (6.88%) Windows
3 12 (6.35%) Unix
4 10 (5.29%) Windows Server
5 6 (3.17%) Oracle Linux
5 6 (3.17%) Solaris
5 6 (3.17%) VMS
6 2 (1.06%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.53%) CentOS
7 1 (0.53%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (40.74%) Test Automation
2 64 (33.86%) CI/CD
3 62 (32.80%) Agile
4 54 (28.57%) DevOps
5 49 (25.93%) Application Security
6 41 (21.69%) Infrastructure as Code
7 39 (20.63%) DevSecOps
8 36 (19.05%) Static Application Security Testing
9 32 (16.93%) Problem-Solving
10 31 (16.40%) Cybersecurity
11 30 (15.87%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
12 29 (15.34%) Performance Testing
13 27 (14.29%) SDLC
14 25 (13.23%) Scrum
15 24 (12.70%) Integration Testing
16 22 (11.64%) Vulnerability Management
17 21 (11.11%) Containerisation
17 21 (11.11%) Information Security
17 21 (11.11%) Penetration Testing
17 21 (11.11%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 31 (16.40%) Python
1 31 (16.40%) SQL
2 22 (11.64%) JavaScript
3 19 (10.05%) PHP
4 10 (5.29%) TypeScript
5 9 (4.76%) PowerShell
6 6 (3.17%) Java
7 4 (2.12%) C#
8 3 (1.59%) Bash
8 3 (1.59%) C
9 2 (1.06%) C++
9 2 (1.06%) Perl
9 2 (1.06%) Ruby
9 2 (1.06%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 31 (16.40%) Degree
2 21 (11.11%) Security Cleared
3 20 (10.58%) SC Cleared
4 17 (8.99%) Computer Science Degree
5 15 (7.94%) CISSP
6 12 (6.35%) CISM
7 7 (3.70%) ISTQB
8 6 (3.17%) CISA
9 5 (2.65%) Master's Degree
10 4 (2.12%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 4 (2.12%) PMI Certification
11 3 (1.59%) CREST Certified
11 3 (1.59%) CRISC
11 3 (1.59%) CTC Cleared
11 3 (1.59%) ITIL Certification
11 3 (1.59%) MCSE
11 3 (1.59%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (1.59%) SANS
12 2 (1.06%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (1.06%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (15.87%) Accessibility
2 24 (12.70%) NIST
3 16 (8.47%) QA
4 9 (4.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (4.76%) PCI DSS
5 5 (2.65%) Disclosure Scotland
6 4 (2.12%) GDPR
6 4 (2.12%) HIPAA
7 3 (1.59%) Software Quality Assurance
8 2 (1.06%) Data Quality
8 2 (1.06%) GRC
8 2 (1.06%) NCSC
System Software
1 31 (16.40%) Docker
2 8 (4.23%) Active Directory
3 7 (3.70%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (3.17%) KVM
4 6 (3.17%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.59%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 30 (15.87%) Terraform
2 16 (8.47%) Ansible
3 15 (7.94%) Kubernetes
4 6 (3.17%) FortiGate
5 5 (2.65%) SCCM
6 4 (2.12%) Grafana
7 3 (1.59%) Graylog
7 3 (1.59%) HP Fortify
7 3 (1.59%) Nagios
7 3 (1.59%) Prometheus
7 3 (1.59%) Puppet
8 2 (1.06%) Nessus
8 2 (1.06%) Progress Chef
8 2 (1.06%) WebInspect
9 1 (0.53%) Kibana
9 1 (0.53%) Nmap
Vendors
1 25 (13.23%) Microsoft
2 20 (10.58%) Oracle
3 10 (5.29%) VMware
4 9 (4.76%) SAP
5 7 (3.70%) Cisco
5 7 (3.70%) Palo Alto
6 6 (3.17%) Fortinet
6 6 (3.17%) Google
6 6 (3.17%) Juniper
7 5 (2.65%) Checkmarx
7 5 (2.65%) Extreme Networks
7 5 (2.65%) MuleSoft
7 5 (2.65%) Rapid7
7 5 (2.65%) Salesforce
7 5 (2.65%) Sophos
7 5 (2.65%) WSO2
8 4 (2.12%) Veracode
9 3 (1.59%) Qualys
9 3 (1.59%) Splunk
10 2 (1.06%) CA