Penetration Testing Jobs in England

Penetration Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in England requiring Penetration Testing skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the annual salaries offered in vacancies that cited Penetration Testing over the 6 months leading up to 28 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 471 438 468
Rank change year-on-year -33 +30 +113
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 218 461 535
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 0.45% 0.52% 0.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.62% 0.64%
Number of salaries quoted 165 363 376
10th Percentile £42,050 £38,797 £43,750
25th Percentile £56,500 £47,500 £50,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% - -
75th Percentile £82,000 £82,500 £90,313
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £105,000
UK median annual salary £67,500 £65,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.85% - +2.87%

All Process and 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 45,477 74,482 83,229
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 94.01% 84.24% 95.56%
Number of salaries quoted 22,533 54,432 49,691
10th Percentile £29,625 £29,000 £34,375
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £46,105
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -12.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £82,500
90th Percentile £98,695 £93,750 £102,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £61,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% -9.84% +1.67%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Penetration Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Salary Trend in England

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Penetration Testing in England.

Salary trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing in England over the 6 months to 28 May 2025.

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 28 May 2025. 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 +8 93 £72,500 +1.75% 190
South East +63 38 £70,000 +60.00% 420
North of England +27 36 £61,000 +1.67% 381
Midlands +40 33 £67,500 +22.73% 336
West Midlands +64 30 £67,500 +22.73% 184
North West -16 21 £61,000 +1.67% 179
Yorkshire +61 11 £55,000 +24.29% 158
South West +77 7 £67,500 +5.88% 243
North East - 4 £72,692 - 44
East Midlands +19 3 £40,000 -38.46% 131
East of England +38 2 - - 261
Penetration Testing
UK

Penetration Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England 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 2 (0.92%) TPMS
2 1 (0.46%) Apache
2 1 (0.46%) Confluence
2 1 (0.46%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.46%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 47 (21.56%) Azure
2 28 (12.84%) Microsoft 365
3 27 (12.39%) AWS
4 13 (5.96%) Entra ID
5 8 (3.67%) Azure Sentinel
5 8 (3.67%) PaaS
6 7 (3.21%) GCP
7 6 (2.75%) Google Workspace
7 6 (2.75%) SaaS
8 4 (1.83%) IaaS
9 3 (1.38%) AWS KMS
9 3 (1.38%) Cloud Computing
9 3 (1.38%) Power Platform
10 2 (0.92%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 2 (0.92%) AWS CloudTrail
10 2 (0.92%) Azure AKS
10 2 (0.92%) Azure Data Factory
10 2 (0.92%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (0.92%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (0.92%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 43 (19.72%) Firewall
2 31 (14.22%) Network Security
3 20 (9.17%) Wi-Fi
4 14 (6.42%) Bluetooth
5 12 (5.50%) 5G
6 11 (5.05%) LTE
7 10 (4.59%) TCP/IP
8 9 (4.13%) HTTP
8 9 (4.13%) VLAN
8 9 (4.13%) VPN
8 9 (4.13%) Wireless
9 8 (3.67%) BGP
9 8 (3.67%) DNS
9 8 (3.67%) OSPF
10 7 (3.21%) Spanning Tree
10 7 (3.21%) SSL
11 6 (2.75%) Wireshark
12 5 (2.29%) HTTPS
12 5 (2.29%) WAN
13 4 (1.83%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.38%) Power BI
2 1 (0.46%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.46%) Elasticsearch
2 1 (0.46%) MySQL
2 1 (0.46%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.46%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 20 (9.17%) JIRA
2 19 (8.72%) Selenium
3 8 (3.67%) Burp Suite
3 8 (3.67%) Metasploit
4 2 (0.92%) GitLab
4 2 (0.92%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.92%) Postman
4 2 (0.92%) REST Assured
4 2 (0.92%) SoapUI
5 1 (0.46%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.46%) Git
5 1 (0.46%) JMeter
5 1 (0.46%) JUnit
5 1 (0.46%) LoadRunner
5 1 (0.46%) TestRail
General
1 78 (35.78%) Social Skills
2 34 (15.60%) Finance
3 31 (14.22%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (10.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 13 (5.96%) Electronics
6 12 (5.50%) Legal
7 10 (4.59%) Law
8 8 (3.67%) Mandarin Language
9 5 (2.29%) Banking
9 5 (2.29%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (2.29%) Manufacturing
9 5 (2.29%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.83%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.83%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.38%) Automotive
11 3 (1.38%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.92%) Games
12 2 (0.92%) Public Sector
13 1 (0.46%) Aviation
13 1 (0.46%) Military
Job Titles
1 57 (26.15%) Lead
2 28 (12.84%) Senior
3 27 (12.39%) Analyst
3 27 (12.39%) Security Engineer
4 21 (9.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 20 (9.17%) Security Analyst
5 20 (9.17%) Tester
6 18 (8.26%) Automation Engineer
6 18 (8.26%) Penetration Tester
6 18 (8.26%) Validation Engineer
7 15 (6.88%) Architect
7 15 (6.88%) Security Architect
8 14 (6.42%) Security Specialist
9 13 (5.96%) Security Manager
10 11 (5.05%) Cybersecurity Specialist
10 11 (5.05%) Lead Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (3.67%) IT Analyst
11 8 (3.67%) IT Security Analyst
11 8 (3.67%) Senior Penetration Tester
11 8 (3.67%) Senior Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.92%) Azure Blueprints
1 2 (0.92%) EDI
1 2 (0.92%) PyTorch
1 2 (0.92%) REST
1 2 (0.92%) scikit-learn
1 2 (0.92%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.46%) AngularJS
2 1 (0.46%) Elastic Stack
2 1 (0.46%) JWT
2 1 (0.46%) LAMP
2 1 (0.46%) Loki
2 1 (0.46%) Node.js
2 1 (0.46%) OAuth
2 1 (0.46%) OAuth2
2 1 (0.46%) pytest
2 1 (0.46%) SAML
2 1 (0.46%) Web Services
2 1 (0.46%) XML
2 1 (0.46%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 31 (14.22%) Management Information System
2 30 (13.76%) Security Posture
3 20 (9.17%) Operational Technology
4 18 (8.26%) SCADA
5 15 (6.88%) IoT
6 13 (5.96%) Cyber Threat
7 12 (5.50%) Mobile App
8 11 (5.05%) NB-IoT
9 10 (4.59%) Data Centre
9 10 (4.59%) Security Operations Centre
10 6 (2.75%) Onboarding
10 6 (2.75%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (2.29%) Cyber Security Posture
12 4 (1.83%) Cloud Native
12 4 (1.83%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.83%) Embedded Systems
12 4 (1.83%) Public Cloud
13 3 (1.38%) Algorithms
13 3 (1.38%) PKI
13 3 (1.38%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 32 (14.68%) Windows
2 24 (11.01%) Linux
3 20 (9.17%) Windows Server
4 7 (3.21%) CentOS
5 6 (2.75%) Ubuntu
6 5 (2.29%) Android
6 5 (2.29%) Apple iOS
7 3 (1.38%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.92%) VMS
8 2 (0.92%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.46%) AIX
9 1 (0.46%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.46%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.46%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 136 (62.39%) Cybersecurity
2 69 (31.65%) Incident Response
3 65 (29.82%) Information Security
4 63 (28.90%) Vulnerability Management
5 45 (20.64%) SIEM
6 43 (19.72%) Security Testing
7 42 (19.27%) Mentoring
8 39 (17.89%) Vulnerability Assessment
9 38 (17.43%) Computer Science
10 37 (16.97%) Test Automation
11 30 (13.76%) Risk Management
12 29 (13.30%) Problem-Solving
13 28 (12.84%) Cloud Security
13 28 (12.84%) Red Team
14 27 (12.39%) Vulnerability Scanning
15 26 (11.93%) Application Security
16 25 (11.47%) Security Architecture
17 24 (11.01%) Validation
18 22 (10.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
19 19 (8.72%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 30 (13.76%) Python
2 28 (12.84%) PowerShell
3 21 (9.63%) Bash
4 7 (3.21%) Java
5 5 (2.29%) C
5 5 (2.29%) C++
6 4 (1.83%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.83%) Kotlin
6 4 (1.83%) Objective-C
6 4 (1.83%) SQL
7 3 (1.38%) C#
7 3 (1.38%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.92%) Go
8 2 (0.92%) Perl
8 2 (0.92%) Ruby
9 1 (0.46%) AWK
9 1 (0.46%) Korn
9 1 (0.46%) PHP
Qualifications
1 64 (29.36%) Degree
2 34 (15.60%) CISSP
3 30 (13.76%) Security Cleared
4 29 (13.30%) SC Cleared
5 24 (11.01%) CREST Certified
6 21 (9.63%) CISM
7 20 (9.17%) ISTQB
8 18 (8.26%) CompTIA Security+
9 17 (7.80%) CEH
9 17 (7.80%) Network+ Certification
10 16 (7.34%) OSCP
11 11 (5.05%) Cisco Certification
12 9 (4.13%) CCNA
12 9 (4.13%) CCNP
13 8 (3.67%) CCSAS
13 8 (3.67%) Master's Degree
13 8 (3.67%) Microsoft Certification
14 7 (3.21%) CHECK Team Leader
14 7 (3.21%) CISA
14 7 (3.21%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (24.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 46 (21.10%) NIST
3 18 (8.26%) GDPR
4 13 (5.96%) Cyber Essentials
4 13 (5.96%) PCI DSS
5 12 (5.50%) NCSC
6 8 (3.67%) QA
7 6 (2.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (2.29%) GRC
9 4 (1.83%) Accessibility
9 4 (1.83%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (1.83%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (1.83%) SLA
10 3 (1.38%) NIST 800
10 3 (1.38%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.92%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 2 (0.92%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (0.92%) JTAG
12 1 (0.46%) COBIT
12 1 (0.46%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 28 (12.84%) Active Directory
2 19 (8.72%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (5.05%) vSphere
4 3 (1.38%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.46%) Docker
6 1 (0.46%) Firmware
6 1 (0.46%) KVM
6 1 (0.46%) Postfix
6 1 (0.46%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 17 (7.80%) Terraform
2 14 (6.42%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (5.05%) Ansible
3 11 (5.05%) Puppet
3 11 (5.05%) Single Sign-On
4 8 (3.67%) Kubernetes
5 6 (2.75%) Jamf Pro
5 6 (2.75%) Nessus
6 3 (1.38%) QRadar
7 2 (0.92%) CASB
7 2 (0.92%) Grafana
7 2 (0.92%) Istio
7 2 (0.92%) linkerd
7 2 (0.92%) Nmap
8 1 (0.46%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.46%) Argo
8 1 (0.46%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.46%) HP Quality Center
8 1 (0.46%) Nagios
8 1 (0.46%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 69 (31.65%) Microsoft
2 24 (11.01%) Cisco
3 20 (9.17%) VMware
4 11 (5.05%) Google
5 10 (4.59%) Palo Alto
6 7 (3.21%) Juniper
6 7 (3.21%) Red Hat
7 6 (2.75%) Meraki
8 2 (0.92%) Checkmarx
8 2 (0.92%) Dell
8 2 (0.92%) EMC
8 2 (0.92%) F5
8 2 (0.92%) Fortinet
8 2 (0.92%) LogRhythm
8 2 (0.92%) Oracle
8 2 (0.92%) Qualys
8 2 (0.92%) SonicWALL
8 2 (0.92%) Splunk
8 2 (0.92%) Tenable
9 1 (0.46%) SAP