Security Operations Manager Contract Job Trends

Security Operations Manager
UK

The median Security Operations Manager daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 March 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 584 516 570
Rank change year-on-year -68 +54 +162
Contract jobs requiring a Security Operations Manager 17 4 18
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.041% 0.013% 0.040%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.045% 0.014% 0.043%
Number of daily rates quoted 15 2 16
10th Percentile - £480 £560
25th Percentile £280 £506 £634
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £555 £738
Median % change year-on-year -5.41% -24.75% +5.36%
75th Percentile £603 £598 £800
90th Percentile £625 £620 £813
UK excluding London median daily rate £403 £475 £625
% change year-on-year -15.26% -24.00% -16.67%

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 38,005 28,021 41,486
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.82% 92.83% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,844 17,678 27,270
10th Percentile £310 £288 £275
25th Percentile £409 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,343 846 2,411
10th Percentile £14.82 £16.25 £13.05
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.06 £34.25
Median % change year-on-year -1.63% -0.57% -14.38%
75th Percentile £64.00 £64.74 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.38 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year - -7.14% -7.03%

Security Operations Manager
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Security Operations Manager' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Security Operations Manager job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Operations Manager
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Security Operations Manager job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Security Operations Manager job vacancies in the UK

Security Operations Manager
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Operations Manager over the 6 months to 2 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Operations Manager in the UK

Security Operations Manager
Top 6 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 Operations Manager within the UK over the 6 months to 2 March 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 -79 16 £525 -17.32% 4
UK excluding London -65 14 £403 -15.26% 1
South East -22 13 £403 - 1
Work from Home -13 9 £280 -41.05% 2
London -45 3 £600 -5.51% 3
Scotland +12 1 - -

Security Operations Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 2 March 2026, Security Operations Manager 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 Operations Manager in the job title.

1 14 (82.35%) Security Operations
2 8 (47.06%) Cybersecurity
3 6 (35.29%) Cyber Resilience
4 5 (29.41%) CISSP
4 5 (29.41%) SIEM
5 4 (23.53%) Azure
5 4 (23.53%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 4 (23.53%) GIAC
5 4 (23.53%) Incident Response
5 4 (23.53%) Programme Delivery
5 4 (23.53%) Security Cleared
5 4 (23.53%) Storytelling
5 4 (23.53%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
5 4 (23.53%) Threat Intelligence
5 4 (23.53%) Vulnerability Management
6 3 (17.65%) CEH
6 3 (17.65%) Continuous Improvement
6 3 (17.65%) CREST Certified
6 3 (17.65%) Microsoft
6 3 (17.65%) Microsoft 365
6 3 (17.65%) Threat Detection
7 2 (11.76%) CISM
7 2 (11.76%) Client Onboarding
7 2 (11.76%) DV Cleared
7 2 (11.76%) NCSC
7 2 (11.76%) Risk Management
7 2 (11.76%) SC Cleared
7 2 (11.76%) Stakeholder Management
8 1 (5.88%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 1 (5.88%) APMG

Security Operations Manager 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:

Cloud Services
1 4 (23.53%) Azure
2 3 (17.65%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (5.88%) AWS
3 1 (5.88%) IaaS
3 1 (5.88%) PaaS
3 1 (5.88%) SaaS
General
1 2 (11.76%) Public Sector
2 1 (5.88%) Finance
2 1 (5.88%) Influencing Skills
2 1 (5.88%) Manufacturing
2 1 (5.88%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 3 (17.65%) Cyber Defence
2 2 (11.76%) Onboarding
2 2 (11.76%) Security Operations Centre
3 1 (5.88%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (5.88%) Management Information System
3 1 (5.88%) Operational Technology
3 1 (5.88%) Private Cloud
3 1 (5.88%) SCADA
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (82.35%) Security Operations
2 8 (47.06%) Cybersecurity
3 6 (35.29%) Cyber Resilience
4 5 (29.41%) SIEM
5 4 (23.53%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 4 (23.53%) Incident Response
5 4 (23.53%) Programme Delivery
5 4 (23.53%) Storytelling
5 4 (23.53%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
5 4 (23.53%) Threat Intelligence
5 4 (23.53%) Vulnerability Management
6 3 (17.65%) Continuous Improvement
6 3 (17.65%) Threat Detection
7 2 (11.76%) Client Onboarding
7 2 (11.76%) Risk Management
7 2 (11.76%) Stakeholder Management
8 1 (5.88%) Impact Assessments
8 1 (5.88%) Stakeholder Identification
8 1 (5.88%) Stakeholder Map
8 1 (5.88%) Strategic Thinking
Qualifications
1 5 (29.41%) CISSP
2 4 (23.53%) GIAC
2 4 (23.53%) Security Cleared
3 3 (17.65%) CEH
3 3 (17.65%) CREST Certified
4 2 (11.76%) CISM
4 2 (11.76%) DV Cleared
4 2 (11.76%) SC Cleared
5 1 (5.88%) (ISC)2 CCSP
5 1 (5.88%) APMG
5 1 (5.88%) Azure Certification
5 1 (5.88%) Cisco Certification
5 1 (5.88%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (11.76%) NCSC
2 1 (5.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (5.88%) NIST
Vendors
1 3 (17.65%) Microsoft