The skills shortage in the IT security field continues to plague businesses that try to keep up with the fast-evolving threat landscape. But those who choose to walk that employment path are finding themselves in the catbird seat: cybersecurity professionals are the most sought-after contractors within the UK’s growing jobs market, according to new research from Sonovate.
Research from the recruitment specialist reveals that overall growth for contract security roles has reached a year-on-year high of 19%, and this level of demand is set to grow by 30% over the course of 2016.
The highest month-on-month demand is for consultants (52%), with network security engineers (26%) and analysts (24%) a close second and third respectively. And they make impressive money: IT security consultants command an average day rate of £539. Information security officers, despite having a more executive role, aren’t that far ahead, at £647 per day.
Engineers meanwhile make around £441 per day and analysts are paid an average of £460.
As for where the jobs are, demand is unsurprisingly the highest in London (45% of recruitment efforts), followed by the southeast of the country (26%), with single-digit demand elsewhere.
The data, based on the number of active roles advertised either directly or via recruitment agencies, highlights that the next most-looked-for skill sets lag behind: No. 2 is for roles in the user experience field (a 17% year-on-year growth), followed distantly by architecture specialists (5% growth).
“IT security has always been important for companies looking to protect their business interests—something which has only been reinforced by the recent spate of high-profile data breaches and cyber-attacks,” said Richard Prime, co-CEO and co-founder of Sonovate. “In addition, changing attitudes to work have resulted in a burgeoning contractor market.”
Prime added: “There’s a real appetite for high-quality contractors at the moment. This research says one thing loud and clear: it’s a great time to be an IT security recruiter, especially one with an eye for opportunity.”
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