Offensive Security Contracts

Offensive Security
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Offensive Security skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Offensive Security over the 6 months to 17 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
17 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 555 689 821
Rank change year-on-year +134 +132 -148
Contract jobs citing Offensive Security 24 12 28
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.056% 0.021% 0.032%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.065% 0.024% 0.035%
Number of daily rates quoted 20 6 12
10th Percentile £525 £463 £501
25th Percentile £587 £513 £518
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £650 £688 £606
Median % change year-on-year -5.45% +13.40% +26.63%
75th Percentile £675 £700 £675
90th Percentile £688 - £756
UK excluding London median daily rate £625 - £650
% change year-on-year - - +20.09%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Offensive Security 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 36,704 51,058 79,302
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.15% 89.78% 90.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,629 35,390 55,663
10th Percentile £300 £325 £344
25th Percentile £413 £438 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +3.77% +8.16%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £480
% change year-on-year - +4.17% +9.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,440 1,690 1,894
10th Percentile £12.75 £10.63 £12.50
25th Percentile £15.99 £15.99 £15.50
Median hourly rate £36.05 £35.65 £25.68
Median % change year-on-year +1.11% +38.82% +5.90%
75th Percentile £60.00 £65.00 £49.75
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% -6.54%

Offensive Security
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Offensive Security over the 6 months to 17 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Top 10 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Offensive Security within the UK over the 6 months to 17 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 +119 21 £650 -5.45% 19
London +86 12 £650 -5.45% 9
Work from Home +127 10 £600 -14.29% 8
UK excluding London +69 9 £625 - 12
North of England +32 6 £650 - 4
Yorkshire +16 4 £650 - 1
Midlands - 2 £600 - 3
North East - 2 £625 - 1
West Midlands - 2 £600 - 3
South West - 1 - - 4

Offensive Security
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:

Cloud Services
1 6 (25.00%) Azure
1 6 (25.00%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (4.17%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 10 (41.67%) Wireless
2 2 (8.33%) Firewall
2 2 (8.33%) Network Security
3 1 (4.17%) DHCP
3 1 (4.17%) DNS
3 1 (4.17%) FTP
3 1 (4.17%) HTTP
3 1 (4.17%) TCP/IP
3 1 (4.17%) tcpdump
3 1 (4.17%) Wireshark
General
1 7 (29.17%) Social Skills
2 5 (20.83%) Legal
2 5 (20.83%) Public Sector
3 3 (12.50%) Finance
4 2 (8.33%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (8.33%) Banking
Job Titles
1 9 (37.50%) Penetration Tester
1 9 (37.50%) Tester
2 6 (25.00%) Security Engineer
3 4 (16.67%) Analyst
3 4 (16.67%) IT Analyst
3 4 (16.67%) IT Security Analyst
3 4 (16.67%) Security Analyst
4 3 (12.50%) Consultant
4 3 (12.50%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 2 (8.33%) Cyber Threat Engineer
5 2 (8.33%) Junior
5 2 (8.33%) Junior Consultant
5 2 (8.33%) SOC Engineer
6 1 (4.17%) Applications Tester
6 1 (4.17%) IT Engineer
6 1 (4.17%) Senior
6 1 (4.17%) Senior IT Engineer
6 1 (4.17%) Senior IT Security Analyst
6 1 (4.17%) Senior Security Analyst
6 1 (4.17%) Senior Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (8.33%) Regular Expression
2 1 (4.17%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 11 (45.83%) Mobile App
2 7 (29.17%) Operational Technology
3 6 (25.00%) Cyberattack
4 3 (12.50%) IoT
5 2 (8.33%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (8.33%) Cloud Native
5 2 (8.33%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 2 (8.33%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (8.33%) Taxonomies
6 1 (4.17%) Security Operations Centre
6 1 (4.17%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 18 (75.00%) Windows
2 10 (41.67%) Linux
3 2 (8.33%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (83.33%) Cybersecurity
2 16 (66.67%) Penetration Testing
3 11 (45.83%) Red Team
4 9 (37.50%) Security Operations
5 8 (33.33%) Application Security
5 8 (33.33%) Ethical Hacking
6 7 (29.17%) Incident Response
7 6 (25.00%) Task Automation
7 6 (25.00%) Vulnerability Remediation
8 5 (20.83%) MITRE ATT&CK
9 3 (12.50%) OWASP
9 3 (12.50%) SIEM
9 3 (12.50%) Social Engineering
9 3 (12.50%) Threat Intelligence
9 3 (12.50%) Vulnerability Assessment
10 2 (8.33%) Change Control
10 2 (8.33%) Computer Science
10 2 (8.33%) Incident Management
10 2 (8.33%) ITIL
10 2 (8.33%) Network Architecture
Programming Languages
1 11 (45.83%) Python
2 7 (29.17%) C++
2 7 (29.17%) JavaScript
3 6 (25.00%) PowerShell
4 3 (12.50%) C#
4 3 (12.50%) Go
5 1 (4.17%) Perl
Qualifications
1 14 (58.33%) GIAC
2 13 (54.17%) CREST Certified
2 13 (54.17%) OSCP
3 10 (41.67%) Security Cleared
4 9 (37.50%) CEH
4 9 (37.50%) GPEN
4 9 (37.50%) SC Cleared
5 3 (12.50%) CHECK Team Leader
5 3 (12.50%) GCED
6 2 (8.33%) BC Cleared
6 2 (8.33%) CASP
6 2 (8.33%) CCNA
6 2 (8.33%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (8.33%) CompTIA Security+
6 2 (8.33%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (8.33%) Degree
6 2 (8.33%) GSEC
7 1 (4.17%) CCNP
7 1 (4.17%) CCSP
7 1 (4.17%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (41.67%) NIST
2 1 (4.17%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 13 (54.17%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (4.17%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
1 1 (4.17%) CSIRT
Vendors
1 7 (29.17%) Microsoft
2 6 (25.00%) CrowdStrike
3 2 (8.33%) Cisco
3 2 (8.33%) Citrix
3 2 (8.33%) LogRhythm
3 2 (8.33%) Palo Alto
3 2 (8.33%) TippingPoint
3 2 (8.33%) Trend Micro