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 14 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 441 364 390
Rank change year-on-year -77 +26 +83
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 207 266 469
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.32% 0.68% 0.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.40% 0.73% 0.73%
Number of salaries quoted 141 194 373
10th Percentile £38,750 £45,000 £39,139
25th Percentile £50,813 £58,750 £47,725
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% -6.07%
75th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £82,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £69,750 £65,000
% change year-on-year +0.36% +7.31% -6.07%

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 51,202 36,655 64,673
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 78.09% 93.66% 87.20%
Number of salaries quoted 31,769 20,174 50,526
10th Percentile £29,750 £32,500 £29,010
25th Percentile £40,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £75,000
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% -11.86%

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 14 March 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 14 March 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 -13 95 £77,500 +6.16% 35
South West +7 47 £72,500 +3.57% 14
Midlands -32 25 £52,500 -22.22% 8
South East -44 17 £72,500 +3.57% 24
West Midlands -14 14 £60,000 -11.11% 6
North of England -65 13 £60,000 -2.83% 17
East Midlands -25 11 £51,058 +27.65% 2
Yorkshire -37 6 £56,250 +9.76% 9
North West -35 4 £55,000 -12.00% 6
North East -18 3 £75,000 -1.32% 2
East of England +6 2 £57,500 - 3
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 (2.42%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (1.93%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.48%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (1.45%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (1.45%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 56 (27.05%) Azure
2 40 (19.32%) AWS
3 16 (7.73%) Microsoft 365
4 15 (7.25%) GitHub
5 14 (6.76%) GCP
6 12 (5.80%) Entra ID
7 11 (5.31%) Azure Sentinel
8 10 (4.83%) GitHub Actions
8 10 (4.83%) Microsoft Purview
9 7 (3.38%) Slack
10 6 (2.90%) Power Platform
11 3 (1.45%) Mimecast
11 3 (1.45%) SaaS
12 2 (0.97%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.97%) IBM Cloud
12 2 (0.97%) Rubrik
13 1 (0.48%) Amazon EKS
13 1 (0.48%) Azure DevOps
13 1 (0.48%) Azure Key Vault
13 1 (0.48%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 37 (17.87%) Firewall
2 20 (9.66%) Network Security
2 20 (9.66%) Wireless
3 14 (6.76%) TCP/IP
3 14 (6.76%) VPN
4 11 (5.31%) DNS
5 7 (3.38%) Intrusion Detection
5 7 (3.38%) VLAN
5 7 (3.38%) Wi-Fi
6 6 (2.90%) Cisco ISE
7 5 (2.42%) HTTP
7 5 (2.42%) Wireshark
8 4 (1.93%) Ethernet
8 4 (1.93%) HTTPS
8 4 (1.93%) Internet
9 3 (1.45%) DHCP
9 3 (1.45%) DMZ
9 3 (1.45%) LAN
9 3 (1.45%) SSL
9 3 (1.45%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.90%) Power BI
2 3 (1.45%) Tableau
3 1 (0.48%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 22 (10.63%) Burp Suite
1 22 (10.63%) Metasploit
2 12 (5.80%) JIRA
3 10 (4.83%) Jenkins
4 5 (2.42%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.97%) Git
5 2 (0.97%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.48%) GitLab
6 1 (0.48%) NUnit
General
1 81 (39.13%) Social Skills
2 65 (31.40%) Finance
3 20 (9.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 19 (9.18%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (7.73%) Retail
6 14 (6.76%) Banking
6 14 (6.76%) Law
7 9 (4.35%) Influencing Skills
7 9 (4.35%) Legal
8 8 (3.86%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (2.90%) Marketing
9 6 (2.90%) Public Sector
10 4 (1.93%) Electronics
10 4 (1.93%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.45%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.45%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.45%) Military
12 2 (0.97%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.97%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 38 (18.36%) Analyst
1 38 (18.36%) Consultant
2 37 (17.87%) Security Consultant
3 28 (13.53%) Security Analyst
3 28 (13.53%) Security Engineer
4 27 (13.04%) Senior
5 23 (11.11%) Security Manager
6 20 (9.66%) Tester
7 19 (9.18%) Cybersecurity Consultant
7 19 (9.18%) Penetration Tester
8 17 (8.21%) Security Specialist
9 13 (6.28%) Applications Engineer
10 12 (5.80%) IT Manager
11 11 (5.31%) Senior Analyst
11 11 (5.31%) Senior Security Analyst
12 9 (4.35%) Digital Analyst
12 9 (4.35%) Lead
12 9 (4.35%) Senior Digital Analyst
13 7 (3.38%) Cybersecurity Analyst
13 7 (3.38%) Cybersecurity Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.97%) .NET
1 2 (0.97%) JSON
2 1 (0.48%) .NET Framework
2 1 (0.48%) AngularJS
2 1 (0.48%) ASP.NET
2 1 (0.48%) ASP.NET Core
2 1 (0.48%) Entity Framework
2 1 (0.48%) OpenAPI
2 1 (0.48%) RESTful
2 1 (0.48%) RxJS
2 1 (0.48%) Swagger
2 1 (0.48%) Vitest
2 1 (0.48%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 57 (27.54%) Security Posture
2 27 (13.04%) Cyber Defence
3 25 (12.08%) Mobile App
4 21 (10.14%) Cyber Threat
5 17 (8.21%) Management Information System
6 7 (3.38%) Data Centre
6 7 (3.38%) Insider Threat
7 6 (2.90%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (2.90%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.90%) Operational Technology
7 6 (2.90%) PKI
7 6 (2.90%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.93%) Blog
8 4 (1.93%) Cloud Native
8 4 (1.93%) Cyber Security Posture
8 4 (1.93%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.93%) Security Operations Centre
9 3 (1.45%) Cyberattack
9 3 (1.45%) Renewable Energy
9 3 (1.45%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 23 (11.11%) Linux
1 23 (11.11%) Windows
2 9 (4.35%) Android
2 9 (4.35%) Apple iOS
3 7 (3.38%) Unix
4 4 (1.93%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 115 (55.56%) Cybersecurity
2 74 (35.75%) Incident Response
3 70 (33.82%) Red Team
4 51 (24.64%) Application Security
5 46 (22.22%) Problem-Solving
6 45 (21.74%) Offensive Security
7 44 (21.26%) Information Security
8 43 (20.77%) Agile
8 43 (20.77%) SIEM
9 41 (19.81%) Vulnerability Management
10 37 (17.87%) Mentoring
11 33 (15.94%) Business Strategy
12 32 (15.46%) Threat Modelling
13 31 (14.98%) Internal Audit
14 29 (14.01%) Business Transformation
15 28 (13.53%) Coaching
15 28 (13.53%) Creative Thinking
16 27 (13.04%) SDLC
16 27 (13.04%) Security Operations
16 27 (13.04%) Vulnerability Assessment
Programming Languages
1 56 (27.05%) Python
2 41 (19.81%) Bash
2 41 (19.81%) PowerShell
3 14 (6.76%) Go
4 8 (3.86%) C
4 8 (3.86%) C++
4 8 (3.86%) Java
5 6 (2.90%) SQL
6 5 (2.42%) C#
7 4 (1.93%) Perl
8 3 (1.45%) R
9 2 (0.97%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.97%) Ruby
10 1 (0.48%) Bicep
10 1 (0.48%) Scala
10 1 (0.48%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 66 (31.88%) CREST Certified
2 62 (29.95%) OSCP
3 51 (24.64%) CISSP
4 46 (22.22%) Degree
5 40 (19.32%) Security Cleared
6 34 (16.43%) SC Cleared
7 27 (13.04%) Cisco Certification
8 25 (12.08%) CEH
9 24 (11.59%) CHECK Team Member
10 21 (10.14%) CHECK Team Leader
11 19 (9.18%) CCNA
12 18 (8.70%) CCSAM
12 18 (8.70%) DV Cleared
13 17 (8.21%) CompTIA Security+
14 16 (7.73%) GIAC
15 13 (6.28%) CISM
15 13 (6.28%) SANS
16 11 (5.31%) CISA
17 10 (4.83%) GPEN
18 9 (4.35%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (34.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 43 (20.77%) NIST
3 28 (13.53%) GDPR
4 24 (11.59%) Cyber Essentials
5 18 (8.70%) Accessibility
6 14 (6.76%) Actionable Recommendations
7 11 (5.31%) PCI DSS
8 10 (4.83%) NCSC
9 9 (4.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 6 (2.90%) GRC
11 3 (1.45%) ITGC
11 3 (1.45%) NIST 800
11 3 (1.45%) RMADS
12 2 (0.97%) COBIT
12 2 (0.97%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.48%) GxP
13 1 (0.48%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.48%) SOC 2
System Software
1 21 (10.14%) Active Directory
2 7 (3.38%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (2.90%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (2.42%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.97%) EMC RecoverPoint
5 2 (0.97%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 15 (7.25%) Nessus
2 13 (6.28%) Nmap
3 12 (5.80%) Kubernetes
4 6 (2.90%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (1.93%) Ansible
5 4 (1.93%) CSIRT
6 3 (1.45%) ArcSight ESM
6 3 (1.45%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.45%) QRadar
6 3 (1.45%) Terraform
7 2 (0.97%) Proxmox
7 2 (0.97%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.97%) VxRail
8 1 (0.48%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 56 (27.05%) Microsoft
2 14 (6.76%) Cisco
3 10 (4.83%) Splunk
4 9 (4.35%) VMware
5 7 (3.38%) CheckPoint
5 7 (3.38%) ServiceNow
5 7 (3.38%) Tenable
5 7 (3.38%) Zscaler
6 6 (2.90%) Sophos
7 4 (1.93%) Fortinet
7 4 (1.93%) Qualys
7 4 (1.93%) TOWER Software
8 3 (1.45%) ArcSight
8 3 (1.45%) CrowdStrike
8 3 (1.45%) Dell
8 3 (1.45%) LogLogic
8 3 (1.45%) McAfee
8 3 (1.45%) Okta
8 3 (1.45%) Oracle
8 3 (1.45%) Veeam