Penetration Testing Job Trends in England

Penetration Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in England requiring Penetration Testing skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 8 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 420 402 374
Rank change year-on-year -18 -28 +116
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 202 290 441
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.35% 0.63% 0.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.44% 0.69% 0.76%
Number of salaries quoted 146 176 357
10th Percentile £40,375 £42,501 £41,150
25th Percentile £50,813 £57,500 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £64,902
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +4.00% -6.21%
75th Percentile £87,500 £88,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £103,750 £90,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% -5.93%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Penetration Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 45,994 42,048 58,304
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 79.88% 92.01% 88.24%
Number of salaries quoted 27,932 20,551 46,192
10th Percentile £29,000 £35,000 £29,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £46,250 £40,988
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £61,967 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.24% +12.67% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £75,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Penetration Testing relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Penetration Testing job vacancy trend in England

Penetration Testing
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Penetration Testing.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing in England over the 6 months to 8 February 2026.

Salary histogram for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Penetration Testing within the England region over the 6 months to 8 February 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +15 98 £77,500 +3.33% 31
South West +40 44 £72,500 +7.41% 17
Midlands +8 27 £52,500 -22.22% 9
South East -34 18 £65,000 +4.00% 23
East Midlands -4 14 £51,058 +27.65% 3
West Midlands +1 13 £57,500 -14.81% 6
North of England -33 10 £55,000 - 16
Yorkshire -26 6 £56,250 +9.76% 2
North West -10 3 £55,000 -5.17% 10
East of England +18 1 £85,000 +198.25% 5
North East - 1 £75,000 - 4
Penetration Testing
UK

Penetration Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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:

Application Platforms
1 5 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (1.98%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.50%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (1.98%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (1.98%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.50%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 54 (26.73%) Azure
2 31 (15.35%) AWS
3 18 (8.91%) Microsoft 365
4 15 (7.43%) Entra ID
5 14 (6.93%) Azure Sentinel
6 13 (6.44%) GitHub
6 13 (6.44%) Microsoft Purview
7 12 (5.94%) Slack
8 10 (4.95%) GCP
9 9 (4.46%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (3.47%) Power Platform
11 3 (1.49%) IBM Cloud
12 2 (0.99%) SaaS
13 1 (0.50%) Datadog
13 1 (0.50%) Dynamics 365
13 1 (0.50%) Mimecast
13 1 (0.50%) OpenShift
13 1 (0.50%) Power Automate
13 1 (0.50%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 34 (16.83%) Firewall
2 23 (11.39%) Network Security
3 20 (9.90%) Wireless
4 15 (7.43%) VPN
5 14 (6.93%) TCP/IP
6 8 (3.96%) VLAN
6 8 (3.96%) Wireshark
7 7 (3.47%) DNS
7 7 (3.47%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (2.48%) HTTP
8 5 (2.48%) Intrusion Detection
9 4 (1.98%) Ethernet
9 4 (1.98%) Internet
10 3 (1.49%) Cisco ISE
10 3 (1.49%) DMARC
10 3 (1.49%) DMZ
10 3 (1.49%) LAN
10 3 (1.49%) Modbus
10 3 (1.49%) SSL
10 3 (1.49%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (3.47%) Power BI
2 4 (1.98%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 21 (10.40%) Burp Suite
1 21 (10.40%) Metasploit
2 16 (7.92%) JIRA
3 9 (4.46%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.99%) IDA Disassembler
5 1 (0.50%) Git
5 1 (0.50%) GitLab
General
1 74 (36.63%) Social Skills
2 59 (29.21%) Finance
3 20 (9.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 17 (8.42%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (7.43%) Influencing Skills
6 13 (6.44%) Presentation Skills
6 13 (6.44%) Retail
7 11 (5.45%) Banking
8 9 (4.46%) Law
9 8 (3.96%) Legal
10 6 (2.97%) Marketing
11 4 (1.98%) Electronics
12 3 (1.49%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.49%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (1.49%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.49%) Military
12 3 (1.49%) Public Sector
12 3 (1.49%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.99%) Public Speaking
14 1 (0.50%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 35 (17.33%) Analyst
1 35 (17.33%) Consultant
1 35 (17.33%) Security Consultant
2 33 (16.34%) Security Engineer
3 31 (15.35%) Security Analyst
4 30 (14.85%) Senior
5 21 (10.40%) Security Manager
6 17 (8.42%) Cybersecurity Consultant
7 16 (7.92%) IT Manager
8 15 (7.43%) Tester
9 14 (6.93%) Penetration Tester
9 14 (6.93%) Security Specialist
10 12 (5.94%) Applications Engineer
10 12 (5.94%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 11 (5.45%) Senior Analyst
11 11 (5.45%) Senior Security Analyst
11 11 (5.45%) Senior Security Engineer
12 9 (4.46%) Information Analyst
12 9 (4.46%) Information Security Analyst
12 9 (4.46%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.48%) JSON
2 1 (0.50%) .NET
2 1 (0.50%) PyTorch
2 1 (0.50%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.50%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 52 (25.74%) Security Posture
2 26 (12.87%) Cyber Defence
3 24 (11.88%) Mobile App
4 23 (11.39%) Management Information System
5 12 (5.94%) Cyber Threat
6 7 (3.47%) Insider Threat
6 7 (3.47%) PKI
6 7 (3.47%) Security Operations Centre
6 7 (3.47%) Self-Motivation
7 6 (2.97%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (2.97%) Data Centre
7 6 (2.97%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.97%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.98%) Cloud Native
8 4 (1.98%) Cyber Security Posture
9 3 (1.49%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 3 (1.49%) Cyberattack
9 3 (1.49%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.49%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.49%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 19 (9.41%) Linux
1 19 (9.41%) Windows
2 6 (2.97%) Android
2 6 (2.97%) Apple iOS
3 5 (2.48%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.98%) Unix
5 2 (0.99%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.50%) Debian
6 1 (0.50%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.50%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 111 (54.95%) Cybersecurity
2 69 (34.16%) Incident Response
3 66 (32.67%) Red Team
4 48 (23.76%) Application Security
5 47 (23.27%) Vulnerability Management
6 44 (21.78%) Problem-Solving
6 44 (21.78%) SIEM
7 41 (20.30%) Agile
8 40 (19.80%) Offensive Security
9 37 (18.32%) Information Security
9 37 (18.32%) Mentoring
10 33 (16.34%) Business Strategy
11 32 (15.84%) Internal Audit
12 31 (15.35%) Vulnerability Assessment
13 30 (14.85%) Vulnerability Scanning
14 29 (14.36%) Security Operations
15 28 (13.86%) Business Transformation
15 28 (13.86%) Coaching
15 28 (13.86%) Creative Thinking
16 26 (12.87%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 56 (27.72%) Python
2 39 (19.31%) PowerShell
3 38 (18.81%) Bash
4 16 (7.92%) Go
5 8 (3.96%) C
5 8 (3.96%) C#
5 8 (3.96%) C++
6 6 (2.97%) SQL
7 5 (2.48%) Java
7 5 (2.48%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.98%) Perl
8 4 (1.98%) R
9 2 (0.99%) Ruby
10 1 (0.50%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.50%) Scala
Qualifications
1 57 (28.22%) CREST Certified
2 55 (27.23%) OSCP
3 52 (25.74%) CISSP
4 48 (23.76%) Degree
5 37 (18.32%) Security Cleared
6 31 (15.35%) SC Cleared
7 28 (13.86%) Cisco Certification
8 24 (11.88%) CHECK Team Member
9 22 (10.89%) CEH
10 21 (10.40%) CHECK Team Leader
11 20 (9.90%) CCNA
12 18 (8.91%) CCSAM
12 18 (8.91%) GIAC
13 16 (7.92%) CompTIA Security+
13 16 (7.92%) DV Cleared
13 16 (7.92%) SANS
14 13 (6.44%) CISM
15 12 (5.94%) CISA
16 11 (5.45%) GCIH
17 10 (4.95%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (36.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 53 (26.24%) NIST
3 28 (13.86%) Cyber Essentials
4 22 (10.89%) GDPR
5 21 (10.40%) Accessibility
6 11 (5.45%) Actionable Recommendations
7 8 (3.96%) NCSC
8 7 (3.47%) GRC
9 6 (2.97%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 4 (1.98%) NIST 800
10 4 (1.98%) PCI DSS
10 4 (1.98%) QA
11 3 (1.49%) COBIT
11 3 (1.49%) ITGC
11 3 (1.49%) RMADS
12 2 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 1 (0.50%) GxP
13 1 (0.50%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 1 (0.50%) SOC 2
System Software
1 17 (8.42%) Active Directory
2 12 (5.94%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (3.47%) VMware ESXi
4 6 (2.97%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.99%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.50%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 1 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 16 (7.92%) Nessus
2 12 (5.94%) Nmap
3 8 (3.96%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (2.97%) QRadar
5 5 (2.48%) Kubernetes
6 4 (1.98%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (1.49%) ArcSight ESM
7 3 (1.49%) FortiGate
7 3 (1.49%) Proxmox
7 3 (1.49%) Terraform
8 2 (0.99%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.50%) Ansible
9 1 (0.50%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.50%) VxRail
Vendors
1 56 (27.72%) Microsoft
2 13 (6.44%) Cisco
3 12 (5.94%) ServiceNow
3 12 (5.94%) Tenable
4 9 (4.46%) Splunk
4 9 (4.46%) VMware
5 4 (1.98%) CheckPoint
5 4 (1.98%) CrowdStrike
5 4 (1.98%) Oracle
5 4 (1.98%) Qualys
5 4 (1.98%) Zscaler
6 3 (1.49%) ArcSight
6 3 (1.49%) Dell
6 3 (1.49%) IBM
6 3 (1.49%) LogLogic
6 3 (1.49%) McAfee
6 3 (1.49%) Veeam
7 2 (0.99%) Fortinet
7 2 (0.99%) SonicWALL
7 2 (0.99%) Sophos