Security Operations (SecOps)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for Security Operations skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered in vacancies that have cited Security Operations over the 6 months to 9 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
9 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 349 337 384
Rank change year-on-year -12 +47 -4
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 801 1,029 1,489
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.81% 1.02% 0.95%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.94% 1.06% 0.99%
Number of salaries quoted 606 698 884
10th Percentile £37,500 £38,425 £41,250
25th Percentile £48,750 £49,250 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,500 £65,000 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year -6.92% -3.70% +8.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £79,938 £85,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,290 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £55,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +3.60% +0.91%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Security Operations is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 84,809 96,894 150,102
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 85.57% 95.61% 95.67%
Number of salaries quoted 59,843 56,945 82,179
10th Percentile £29,000 £34,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £61,180 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.10% +1.97% +9.09%
75th Percentile £72,500 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £100,000 £96,550
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% +9.38%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Security Operations.

Salary trend for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations over the 6 months to 9 May 2024.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Operations within the UK over the 6 months to 9 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +12 719 £61,970 -4.66% 170
UK excluding London -27 480 £55,000 -4.35% 120
Work from Home +43 317 £60,000 -4.00% 84
London +29 286 £71,250 +5.56% 70
South East -38 129 £55,000 - 30
South West +6 95 £62,500 +8.92% 15
North of England +15 90 £50,000 -20.00% 24
Midlands -14 70 £52,500 -4.55% 21
West Midlands +11 52 £45,475 -17.32% 14
Scotland -53 51 £53,886 -2.03% 15
North West -17 50 £45,000 -30.77% 10
East of England +36 39 £60,000 +9.09% 11
Yorkshire +75 31 £55,000 -5.43% 12
East Midlands -19 18 £57,500 +52.32% 7
North East +2 9 £45,000 -36.84% 2
Wales -22 6 £52,500 -4.55% 5
Northern Ireland +28 3 £32,500 - 1

Security Operations
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 22 (2.75%) SAS
2 11 (1.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.62%) Confluence
3 5 (0.62%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.25%) Apache
4 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.25%) IIS
4 2 (0.25%) MS Project Server
5 1 (0.12%) Site Server
Applications
1 15 (1.87%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.87%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.25%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.25%) SAP GRC
2 1 (0.12%) Endur
Cloud Services
1 226 (28.21%) Azure
2 138 (17.23%) Microsoft 365
3 77 (9.61%) AWS
4 51 (6.37%) Azure Sentinel
5 46 (5.74%) SaaS
6 31 (3.87%) Entra ID
7 25 (3.12%) Cloud Computing
8 21 (2.62%) GCP
9 18 (2.25%) PaaS
10 16 (2.00%) Azure DevOps
10 16 (2.00%) IaaS
11 15 (1.87%) Microsoft Purview
12 10 (1.25%) Azure AKS
13 6 (0.75%) OCI
14 4 (0.50%) Datadog
15 3 (0.37%) Mimecast
15 3 (0.37%) Power Platform
15 3 (0.37%) Stackdriver
16 2 (0.25%) SonarCloud
16 2 (0.25%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 173 (21.60%) Firewall
2 126 (15.73%) Network Security
3 63 (7.87%) Intrusion Detection
4 43 (5.37%) TCP/IP
5 33 (4.12%) VPN
6 27 (3.37%) Internet
7 25 (3.12%) LAN
8 24 (3.00%) WAN
9 23 (2.87%) Wireshark
10 20 (2.50%) DNS
11 11 (1.37%) DHCP
12 6 (0.75%) Broadband
12 6 (0.75%) HTTP
12 6 (0.75%) SMTP
12 6 (0.75%) Wireless
13 4 (0.50%) SSL
14 3 (0.37%) OSPF
14 3 (0.37%) tcpdump
14 3 (0.37%) Wi-Fi
14 3 (0.37%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.00%) Relational Database
2 5 (0.62%) BigQuery
2 5 (0.62%) Data Warehouse
2 5 (0.62%) Hadoop
3 4 (0.50%) Big Data
4 2 (0.25%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.25%) Power BI
5 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.12%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (0.75%) Git
2 5 (0.62%) Jenkins
2 5 (0.62%) JIRA
3 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
3 1 (0.12%) GitLab
3 1 (0.12%) SonarQube
General
1 211 (26.34%) Social Skills
2 157 (19.60%) Finance
3 110 (13.73%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (6.74%) Law
5 48 (5.99%) Military
6 45 (5.62%) Legal
7 38 (4.74%) Retail
8 36 (4.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 31 (3.87%) Banking
10 17 (2.12%) Games
11 16 (2.00%) Aerospace
12 14 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
13 13 (1.62%) Public Sector
14 11 (1.37%) Telecoms
15 9 (1.12%) Marketing
15 9 (1.12%) Pharmaceutical
16 6 (0.75%) Police
17 5 (0.62%) Manufacturing
18 4 (0.50%) Aviation
18 4 (0.50%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 264 (32.96%) Analyst
2 158 (19.73%) Security Analyst
3 110 (13.73%) Senior
4 106 (13.23%) Security Engineer
5 79 (9.86%) Consultant
6 78 (9.74%) Security Manager
7 77 (9.61%) Lead
8 76 (9.49%) SOC Analyst
9 75 (9.36%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 70 (8.74%) Security Consultant
11 66 (8.24%) Senior Analyst
12 46 (5.74%) IT Analyst
13 45 (5.62%) IT Security Analyst
14 40 (4.99%) Cybersecurity Consultant
15 39 (4.87%) Senior Security Analyst
16 38 (4.74%) Developer
16 38 (4.74%) ServiceNow Developer
17 30 (3.75%) Senior Security Engineer
18 29 (3.62%) Cybersecurity Engineer
19 28 (3.50%) Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.62%) Web Services
2 24 (3.00%) AngularJS
2 24 (3.00%) CSS
3 22 (2.75%) HTML
3 22 (2.75%) Twitter Bootstrap
4 18 (2.25%) Elastic Stack
5 10 (1.25%) Fluent Bit
6 7 (0.87%) LDAP
7 6 (0.75%) Kafka
7 6 (0.75%) OAuth
7 6 (0.75%) REST
7 6 (0.75%) SAML
7 6 (0.75%) SOAP
8 4 (0.50%) EDI
9 3 (0.37%) ADO
9 3 (0.37%) ODBC
10 2 (0.25%) JDBC
10 2 (0.25%) Middleware
10 2 (0.25%) OpenID
11 1 (0.12%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 235 (29.34%) Security Operations Centre
2 128 (15.98%) Management Information System
3 119 (14.86%) Cyber Threat
4 63 (7.87%) Cyberattack
5 61 (7.62%) Security Posture
6 55 (6.87%) Cyber Defence
7 37 (4.62%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 31 (3.87%) CMDB
9 24 (3.00%) Legacy Systems
10 22 (2.75%) Operational Technology
11 21 (2.62%) Data Protection Act
12 20 (2.50%) Client/Server
13 19 (2.37%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
14 17 (2.12%) Onboarding
14 17 (2.12%) SCADA
15 16 (2.00%) Data Centre
15 16 (2.00%) Product Ownership
16 15 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
17 12 (1.50%) Self-Motivation
18 11 (1.37%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 140 (17.48%) Windows
2 66 (8.24%) Linux
3 35 (4.37%) Windows Server
4 21 (2.62%) Unix
5 16 (2.00%) Mac OS X
6 15 (1.87%) Android
6 15 (1.87%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.62%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.37%) CentOS
10 2 (0.25%) AIX
10 2 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.12%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.12%) Windows Vista
Processes & Methodologies
1 521 (65.04%) Cybersecurity
2 327 (40.82%) SIEM
3 286 (35.71%) Incident Response
4 264 (32.96%) Information Security
5 189 (23.60%) Vulnerability Management
6 150 (18.73%) Incident Management
7 115 (14.36%) Threat Intelligence
8 114 (14.23%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
9 107 (13.36%) Risk Management
10 103 (12.86%) Agile
11 102 (12.73%) Problem-Solving
12 94 (11.74%) Mentoring
13 91 (11.36%) Cloud Security
14 81 (10.11%) Identity Access Management
15 80 (9.99%) ITIL
16 75 (9.36%) Security Architecture
17 74 (9.24%) Continuous Improvement
18 73 (9.11%) DevOps
19 70 (8.74%) Roadmaps
20 69 (8.61%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 66 (8.24%) PowerShell
2 52 (6.49%) Python
3 18 (2.25%) Bash
4 12 (1.50%) Kusto Query Language
5 8 (1.00%) Java
5 8 (1.00%) JavaScript
5 8 (1.00%) SQL
6 2 (0.25%) C
6 2 (0.25%) Scala
7 1 (0.12%) C#
7 1 (0.12%) Go
Qualifications
1 176 (21.97%) CISSP
2 143 (17.85%) Security Cleared
3 141 (17.60%) Degree
4 69 (8.61%) CISM
5 67 (8.36%) SC Cleared
6 58 (7.24%) CompTIA Security+
7 55 (6.87%) DV Cleared
8 53 (6.62%) Cisco Certification
9 46 (5.74%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 45 (5.62%) CCSP
11 38 (4.74%) GIAC
12 33 (4.12%) Computer Science Degree
13 32 (4.00%) CEH
14 30 (3.75%) CompTIA CySA+
15 24 (3.00%) Master's Degree
16 23 (2.87%) SSCP
17 22 (2.75%) CISA
18 20 (2.50%) GCIA
19 19 (2.37%) GCIH
20 17 (2.12%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 179 (22.35%) NIST
2 157 (19.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 76 (9.49%) GDPR
4 66 (8.24%) PCI DSS
5 56 (6.99%) Cyber Essentials
6 47 (5.87%) GRC
7 31 (3.87%) NCSC
8 26 (3.25%) NIST 800
8 26 (3.25%) SOC 2
9 25 (3.12%) JSP 440
10 18 (2.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 17 (2.12%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 9 (1.12%) COBIT
13 8 (1.00%) ISO 9001
13 8 (1.00%) QA
14 7 (0.87%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 6 (0.75%) HIPAA
16 5 (0.62%) Data Quality
17 3 (0.37%) RMADS
17 3 (0.37%) SLA
System Software
1 75 (9.36%) Active Directory
2 17 (2.12%) Virtual Desktop
2 17 (2.12%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (1.87%) vSphere
4 12 (1.50%) Docker
5 5 (0.62%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.62%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.50%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 1 (0.12%) Snort
7 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.12%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 26 (3.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (3.12%) QRadar
3 24 (3.00%) Kubernetes
4 17 (2.12%) CASB
5 15 (1.87%) logstash
5 15 (1.87%) Terraform
6 14 (1.75%) Nmap
7 12 (1.50%) Ansible
8 10 (1.25%) Fluentd
8 10 (1.25%) Nessus
9 8 (1.00%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 7 (0.87%) CSIRT
11 5 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.62%) Suricata
12 3 (0.37%) Graphite
12 3 (0.37%) Nagios
12 3 (0.37%) SCCM
12 3 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
12 3 (0.37%) vCenter Server
12 3 (0.37%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 242 (30.21%) Microsoft
2 80 (9.99%) Splunk
3 52 (6.49%) ServiceNow
4 48 (5.99%) Qualys
5 23 (2.87%) VMware
6 21 (2.62%) Cisco
7 19 (2.37%) CrowdStrike
8 18 (2.25%) Tripwire
9 17 (2.12%) IBM
9 17 (2.12%) SolarWinds
9 17 (2.12%) Tanium
10 16 (2.00%) Rapid7
11 14 (1.75%) Dell
11 14 (1.75%) Thycotic
12 13 (1.62%) Darktrace
13 9 (1.12%) Juniper
14 8 (1.00%) Google
15 7 (0.87%) Oracle
16 6 (0.75%) BT
17 5 (0.62%) CheckPoint