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 18 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
18 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 388 484 557
Rank change year-on-year +96 +73 -38
Contract jobs citing Security Testing 183 206 298
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.43% 0.36% 0.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.40% 0.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 115 131 217
10th Percentile £439 £450 £358
25th Percentile £525 £500 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £700 £738 £650
90th Percentile £780 £800 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £563 £600 £540
% change year-on-year -6.25% +11.11% +10.77%
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 36,673 51,121 79,325
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.13% 89.77% 90.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,631 35,432 55,673
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% +7.07%
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% +9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,440 1,683 1,892
10th Percentile £12.75 £10.63 £12.50
25th Percentile £15.99 £16.01 £15.50
Median hourly rate £36.05 £36.00 £25.68
Median % change year-on-year +0.13% +40.19% +7.00%
75th Percentile £60.00 £65.00 £49.54
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% -4.99%

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 18 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 18 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 +91 155 £600 - 71
London +102 95 £648 +5.71% 20
Work from Home +108 73 £580 +5.45% 37
UK excluding London +50 68 £563 -6.25% 44
South East +31 27 £550 -8.33% 10
Scotland +48 12 £600 +4.35% 2
North of England +30 12 £475 -17.39% 17
North West +21 11 £475 -5.00% 6
South West +14 8 £590 -1.67% 6
Midlands +6 4 £425 -41.38% 7
West Midlands +6 3 £588 -18.97% 6
East of England +1 3 £700 -15.15% 5
Wales - 2 £666 -
Yorkshire +14 1 - - 9
East Midlands +14 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 (7.10%) nginx
2 11 (6.01%) Apache
2 11 (6.01%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (2.73%) Anypoint
4 2 (1.09%) CMS
5 1 (0.55%) Confluence
5 1 (0.55%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.55%) SAS
Applications
1 3 (1.64%) Microsoft Office
1 3 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (2.19%) Dynamics GP
2 3 (1.64%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 53 (28.96%) Azure
2 46 (25.14%) AWS
3 24 (13.11%) Serverless
4 23 (12.57%) SaaS
5 16 (8.74%) Azure DevOps
6 15 (8.20%) AWS CloudFormation
6 15 (8.20%) PaaS
7 14 (7.65%) IaaS
8 13 (7.10%) AWS Elastic Beanstalk
9 10 (5.46%) Microsoft 365
10 7 (3.83%) Azure Data Factory
11 6 (3.28%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (3.28%) Azure Key Vault
11 6 (3.28%) Azure Monitor
11 6 (3.28%) GCP
11 6 (3.28%) OpenShift
12 5 (2.73%) Apigee
12 5 (2.73%) Azure API Management
12 5 (2.73%) Azure Logic Apps
12 5 (2.73%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 20 (10.93%) Firewall
2 16 (8.74%) VPN
3 15 (8.20%) BGP
4 11 (6.01%) Ethernet VPN
4 11 (6.01%) MPLS
5 10 (5.46%) Radio Access Network
6 5 (2.73%) LAN
7 4 (2.19%) Intrusion Detection
7 4 (2.19%) IPsec
7 4 (2.19%) OSPF
7 4 (2.19%) SSL
7 4 (2.19%) WAN
7 4 (2.19%) Wireless
7 4 (2.19%) WLAN
8 3 (1.64%) Cisco ASA
8 3 (1.64%) Cisco Wireless
8 3 (1.64%) DNS
9 1 (0.55%) HTTP
9 1 (0.55%) HTTPS
9 1 (0.55%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (9.84%) NoSQL
2 15 (8.20%) SQL Server
3 10 (5.46%) MongoDB
3 10 (5.46%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (3.83%) Oracle Database
5 6 (3.28%) Azure SQL Database
6 4 (2.19%) Big Data
7 3 (1.64%) Data Lake
7 3 (1.64%) MySQL
7 3 (1.64%) RDBMS
7 3 (1.64%) Relational Database
7 3 (1.64%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.55%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.55%) HDInsight
8 1 (0.55%) Oracle Exadata
8 1 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 22 (12.02%) Git
2 19 (10.38%) JIRA
3 18 (9.84%) GitLab
3 18 (9.84%) Jenkins
4 14 (7.65%) TestRail
5 13 (7.10%) Visual Studio
6 11 (6.01%) Robot Framework
7 9 (4.92%) Selenium
8 8 (4.37%) Postman
9 7 (3.83%) NUnit
10 6 (3.28%) Burp Suite
10 6 (3.28%) JMeter
10 6 (3.28%) LoadRunner
11 5 (2.73%) TeamCity
12 3 (1.64%) Cucumber
12 3 (1.64%) Cypress.io
12 3 (1.64%) FitNesse
12 3 (1.64%) SonarQube
12 3 (1.64%) SpecFlow
13 2 (1.09%) Subversion
General
1 40 (21.86%) Finance
2 36 (19.67%) Social Skills
3 22 (12.02%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (8.74%) Banking
4 16 (8.74%) Public Sector
5 11 (6.01%) Documentation Skills
6 5 (2.73%) Financial Institution
7 4 (2.19%) Telecoms
8 3 (1.64%) Back Office
8 3 (1.64%) Electronics
8 3 (1.64%) Front Office
8 3 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (1.64%) Manufacturing
8 3 (1.64%) Marketing
9 2 (1.09%) Retail Banking
10 1 (0.55%) Automotive
10 1 (0.55%) Health Technology
10 1 (0.55%) Law
10 1 (0.55%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 32 (17.49%) Architect
1 32 (17.49%) Senior
2 24 (13.11%) Developer
2 24 (13.11%) Test Engineer
3 23 (12.57%) Security Architect
4 14 (7.65%) Security Engineer
5 13 (7.10%) Full Stack Developer
6 12 (6.56%) Consultant
6 12 (6.56%) Senior Test Engineer
6 12 (6.56%) Tester
7 11 (6.01%) Security Consultant
8 10 (5.46%) Lead
8 10 (5.46%) Senior Architect
9 9 (4.92%) Azure Engineer
9 9 (4.92%) Cloud Architect
9 9 (4.92%) Network Engineer
9 9 (4.92%) Senior Security Architect
10 8 (4.37%) Project Manager
10 8 (4.37%) Security Manager
10 8 (4.37%) Security Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (12.02%) REST
2 19 (10.38%) SOAP
3 17 (9.29%) CSS
4 16 (8.74%) HTML
5 15 (8.20%) Sass
6 14 (7.65%) Laravel
6 14 (7.65%) WebSockets
7 11 (6.01%) NETCONF
7 11 (6.01%) RESTCONF
8 10 (5.46%) .NET
8 10 (5.46%) YANG
9 9 (4.92%) AngularJS
9 9 (4.92%) Playwright
10 7 (3.83%) GraphQL
10 7 (3.83%) Node.js
11 5 (2.73%) ActiveMQ
11 5 (2.73%) Apache Camel
11 5 (2.73%) RabbitMQ
11 5 (2.73%) Spring
11 5 (2.73%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (9.84%) Security Posture
2 16 (8.74%) IoT
2 16 (8.74%) Mobile App
3 13 (7.10%) PKI
4 11 (6.01%) Management Information System
4 11 (6.01%) Public Cloud
5 9 (4.92%) Cyber Threat
6 5 (2.73%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.64%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.64%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 3 (1.64%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 3 (1.64%) PMI
8 2 (1.09%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.09%) Reference Data
8 2 (1.09%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.55%) Embedded Systems
9 1 (0.55%) SCADA
9 1 (0.55%) W3C
Operating Systems
1 22 (12.02%) Linux
2 15 (8.20%) Windows
3 13 (7.10%) Unix
4 12 (6.56%) Windows Server
5 6 (3.28%) Oracle Linux
5 6 (3.28%) Solaris
5 6 (3.28%) VMS
6 3 (1.64%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (40.44%) Test Automation
2 60 (32.79%) CI/CD
3 57 (31.15%) Agile
4 52 (28.42%) DevOps
5 50 (27.32%) Application Security
6 40 (21.86%) DevSecOps
7 39 (21.31%) Infrastructure as Code
8 38 (20.77%) Static Application Security Testing
9 32 (17.49%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
10 31 (16.94%) Problem-Solving
11 28 (15.30%) Cybersecurity
11 28 (15.30%) Performance Testing
12 27 (14.75%) SDLC
13 24 (13.11%) Penetration Testing
13 24 (13.11%) Scrum
14 23 (12.57%) TDD
15 22 (12.02%) Cloud Security
15 22 (12.02%) Vulnerability Management
16 21 (11.48%) Information Security
16 21 (11.48%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 30 (16.39%) Python
1 30 (16.39%) SQL
2 20 (10.93%) JavaScript
3 17 (9.29%) PHP
4 11 (6.01%) TypeScript
5 9 (4.92%) PowerShell
6 6 (3.28%) Java
7 4 (2.19%) C#
8 3 (1.64%) Bash
8 3 (1.64%) C
9 2 (1.09%) C++
9 2 (1.09%) Perl
9 2 (1.09%) Ruby
9 2 (1.09%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 33 (18.03%) Degree
2 18 (9.84%) Computer Science Degree
3 16 (8.74%) Security Cleared
4 15 (8.20%) SC Cleared
5 14 (7.65%) CISSP
6 11 (6.01%) CISM
7 7 (3.83%) ISTQB
8 5 (2.73%) CISA
8 5 (2.73%) Master's Degree
9 4 (2.19%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 4 (2.19%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (2.19%) MCSE
9 4 (2.19%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (2.19%) PMI Certification
10 3 (1.64%) CREST Certified
10 3 (1.64%) CRISC
10 3 (1.64%) CTC Cleared
10 3 (1.64%) SANS
11 2 (1.09%) Azure Certification
11 2 (1.09%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (17.49%) Accessibility
2 22 (12.02%) NIST
3 16 (8.74%) QA
4 9 (4.92%) PCI DSS
5 8 (4.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (3.83%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (2.19%) GDPR
7 4 (2.19%) HIPAA
8 3 (1.64%) Software Quality Assurance
9 2 (1.09%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.55%) GRC
10 1 (0.55%) NCSC
System Software
1 30 (16.39%) Docker
2 10 (5.46%) Active Directory
3 7 (3.83%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (3.28%) KVM
4 6 (3.28%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (2.73%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.09%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 30 (16.39%) Terraform
2 16 (8.74%) Ansible
3 15 (8.20%) Kubernetes
4 8 (4.37%) SCCM
5 4 (2.19%) Grafana
6 3 (1.64%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.64%) Graylog
6 3 (1.64%) HP Fortify
6 3 (1.64%) Nagios
6 3 (1.64%) Prometheus
7 2 (1.09%) Nessus
7 2 (1.09%) Progress Chef
7 2 (1.09%) Puppet
7 2 (1.09%) WebInspect
8 1 (0.55%) Kibana
8 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.55%) Nmap
Vendors
1 26 (14.21%) Microsoft
2 20 (10.93%) Oracle
3 11 (6.01%) VMware
4 9 (4.92%) SAP
5 6 (3.28%) Google
6 5 (2.73%) Checkmarx
6 5 (2.73%) MuleSoft
6 5 (2.73%) Salesforce
6 5 (2.73%) WSO2
7 4 (2.19%) Cisco
7 4 (2.19%) Fortinet
7 4 (2.19%) Juniper
7 4 (2.19%) Palo Alto
7 4 (2.19%) Qualys
7 4 (2.19%) Veracode
8 3 (1.64%) CA
8 3 (1.64%) Extreme Networks
8 3 (1.64%) Rapid7
8 3 (1.64%) Sophos
8 3 (1.64%) Splunk