BSA 2024 Cyber Security Salary Guide v5 SPREADS - Flipbook - Page 7
07
Contract recruitment trends
The cyber security and data privacy interim market
was relatively subdued in 2023. Widespread cost-cutting has resulted in more employers looking to offshore
security activities rather than hire contractors or other
temporary resource for additional support.
Some senior roles are resistant to this trend, especially
those that require a high level of technical pro昀椀ciency
or stakeholder management skills. There is also ongoing
demand for contractors with strong DevSecOps,
Application Security and/or cloud migration experience.
Primary reasons for using interim, contract and co-source staff
Keep permanent
headcount low: 8%
Supporting BAU
workloads: 8%
2023
Leverage subject
matter expertise: 15%
Indeed, more than half (54%) of employers hired interim
staff for speci昀椀c projects last year, while 15% sought to
leverage subject matter expertise. These 昀椀gures signi昀椀cantly increased year on year from 37%
and 9%, respectively.
Overall, however, it has been a dif昀椀cult year for
contractors.
“Employers have quite high expectations at the
moment,” says Jeff Mayger, Principal Consultant
at Barclay Simpson.
Keep permanent
headcount low: 11%
Speci昀椀c
projects: 37%
2022
As a result of these and other pressures, contract
day rates have slipped over the last year. The most
commonly reported day rate in 2023 was £600-699,
which is down from £700-799 the previous year.
Supporting BAU
workloads: 14%
Inability to source
perm staff: 17%
“So while there are a lot of talented contractors available,
organisations are often looking for very speci昀椀c combinations of skillsets that few candidates possess.”
Lower demand for permanent staff is also having a
knock-on effect for the interim market. In 2021 and 2022,
an inability to source permanent employees was the
second most-cited reason for hiring contractors. Last
year, it failed to rank in the top 昀椀ve.
Speci昀椀c
projects: 54%
Keep permanent
headcount low: 9%
Supporting BAU
workloads: 15%
Inability to source
perm staff: 24%
2021
Speci昀椀c
projects: 45%
