NIST Job Trends in the Thames Valley

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring NIST skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 142 136 180
Rank change year-on-year -6 +44 -30
Permanent jobs citing NIST 23 37 44
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 0.53% 1.12% 0.82%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 4.36% 8.49% 5.54%
Number of salaries quoted 19 15 27
10th Percentile £50,882 £61,250 £56,250
25th Percentile £56,875 £63,500 £66,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £75,000 £69,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +8.70% -1.43%
75th Percentile £85,000 £91,875 £71,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £143,750 £78,000
South East median annual salary £65,000 £73,250 £67,500
% change year-on-year -11.26% +8.52% -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
Thames Valley

NIST falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 528 436 794
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 12.13% 13.22% 14.77%
Number of salaries quoted 245 218 473
10th Percentile £28,000 £34,675 £26,800
25th Percentile £39,280 £51,250 £34,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £66,250 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year -16.98% +25.00% +6.00%
75th Percentile £68,750 £83,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £91,500 £90,000 £84,750
South East median annual salary £52,500 £57,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -8.70% +15.00% -4.76%

NIST
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing NIST relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

NIST job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

NIST
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing NIST.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing NIST

NIST
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing NIST in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 10 February 2026.

Salary histogram for NIST in the Thames Valley

NIST
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing NIST within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 10 February 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Oxfordshire +13 11 £65,000 -13.33% 5
Buckinghamshire 0 6 £53,750 -34.85% 6
Berkshire -9 6 £95,000 +32.87% 11
NIST
South East

NIST
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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:

Business Applications
1 2 (8.70%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 9 (39.13%) Azure
2 4 (17.39%) AWS
3 3 (13.04%) Microsoft 365
3 3 (13.04%) SaaS
4 2 (8.70%) Entra ID
5 1 (4.35%) Azure Sentinel
5 1 (4.35%) GCP
5 1 (4.35%) IaaS
5 1 (4.35%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 3 (13.04%) Firewall
2 2 (8.70%) VPN
3 1 (4.35%) DNS
3 1 (4.35%) Modbus
3 1 (4.35%) Network Security
3 1 (4.35%) S/MIME
General
1 9 (39.13%) Social Skills
2 5 (21.74%) Finance
3 3 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (13.04%) Legal
4 2 (8.70%) Manufacturing
5 1 (4.35%) Aerospace
5 1 (4.35%) Banking
5 1 (4.35%) Games
5 1 (4.35%) Retail
Job Titles
1 6 (26.09%) Lead
2 4 (17.39%) Analyst
2 4 (17.39%) Architect
2 4 (17.39%) Security Analyst
2 4 (17.39%) Senior
3 3 (13.04%) Cybersecurity Analyst
3 3 (13.04%) Cybersecurity Architect
3 3 (13.04%) Principal Architect
3 3 (13.04%) Principal Security Architect
3 3 (13.04%) Security Architect
3 3 (13.04%) Security Engineer
4 2 (8.70%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 2 (8.70%) Head of Compliance
4 2 (8.70%) Head of Cybersecurity
4 2 (8.70%) Risk Analyst
4 2 (8.70%) Security Risk Analyst
4 2 (8.70%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
4 2 (8.70%) Senior Risk Analyst
4 2 (8.70%) Senior Security Analyst
4 2 (8.70%) Senior Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (4.35%) SLSA
Miscellaneous
1 4 (17.39%) Management Information System
1 4 (17.39%) Security Posture
2 2 (8.70%) Cyber Threat
3 1 (4.35%) Algorithms
3 1 (4.35%) Onboarding
3 1 (4.35%) Operational Technology
3 1 (4.35%) PKI
3 1 (4.35%) Renewable Energy
3 1 (4.35%) SCADA
3 1 (4.35%) Smartcard
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (56.52%) Cybersecurity
2 7 (30.43%) Risk Management
3 6 (26.09%) Mentoring
4 5 (21.74%) Information Security
4 5 (21.74%) Security Architecture
4 5 (21.74%) Threat Modelling
5 4 (17.39%) Application Security
5 4 (17.39%) Continuous Improvement
5 4 (17.39%) Incident Response
5 4 (17.39%) OWASP
5 4 (17.39%) SDLC
5 4 (17.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 4 (17.39%) Stakeholder Management
5 4 (17.39%) TOGAF
5 4 (17.39%) Vulnerability Management
6 3 (13.04%) Cloud Security
6 3 (13.04%) Due Diligence
6 3 (13.04%) Regulatory Compliance
6 3 (13.04%) Roadmaps
6 3 (13.04%) Vulnerability Scanning
Programming Languages
1 1 (4.35%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 14 (60.87%) CISSP
2 11 (47.83%) CISM
3 5 (21.74%) CRISC
4 4 (17.39%) Degree
4 4 (17.39%) Security Cleared
5 3 (13.04%) (ISC)2 CCSP
5 3 (13.04%) CCSP
5 3 (13.04%) CISA
5 3 (13.04%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (13.04%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
6 2 (8.70%) CGEIT
6 2 (8.70%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (8.70%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
6 2 (8.70%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (8.70%) SC Cleared
7 1 (4.35%) CEH
7 1 (4.35%) CESG Certified Professional
7 1 (4.35%) DV Cleared
7 1 (4.35%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (95.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (47.83%) Cyber Essentials
3 9 (39.13%) GDPR
4 7 (30.43%) GRC
5 3 (13.04%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (8.70%) NIST 800
6 2 (8.70%) PCI DSS
7 1 (4.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (4.35%) COBIT
7 1 (4.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (4.35%) HIPAA
7 1 (4.35%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 1 (4.35%) NCSC
7 1 (4.35%) SLA
7 1 (4.35%) SOC 2
Vendors
1 5 (21.74%) Microsoft
2 2 (8.70%) SAP
2 2 (8.70%) ServiceNow
3 1 (4.35%) Cisco
3 1 (4.35%) Qualys
3 1 (4.35%) Splunk
3 1 (4.35%) Tenable
3 1 (4.35%) Thales