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 7 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 443 428 412
Rank change year-on-year -15 -16 +133
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 176 309 297
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.40% 0.51% 0.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.46% 0.61% 0.67%
Number of salaries quoted 152 174 263
10th Percentile £47,750 £46,883 £42,500
25th Percentile £52,438 £55,313 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £69,384 £65,000 £61,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.74% +6.56% -12.86%
75th Percentile £86,957 £87,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +7.69% +4.00% -9.68%

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 38,107 50,570 44,529
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 86.72% 82.89% 93.77%
Number of salaries quoted 23,702 26,628 34,165
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,750 £100,000
UK median annual salary £54,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -10.00% - -

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 7 November 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 7 November 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 -16 82 £75,000 - 114
North of England +3 25 £62,500 +4.17% 56
South East +8 23 £57,500 -2.54% 106
South West +38 20 £78,750 +23.05% 48
Midlands +27 20 £55,000 -4.35% 33
Yorkshire +28 18 £55,000 +4.76% 10
West Midlands +24 13 £57,000 -2.98% 26
East Midlands +27 7 £51,058 -11.20% 5
North West -3 5 £69,384 +11.01% 44
North East - 2 £75,574 - 2
East of England +32 1 £85,000 +198.25% 12
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 6 (3.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.70%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.57%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (3.98%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (3.98%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.57%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 60 (34.09%) Azure
2 36 (20.45%) AWS
3 21 (11.93%) Microsoft 365
4 16 (9.09%) Entra ID
5 15 (8.52%) Slack
6 12 (6.82%) Azure Sentinel
7 9 (5.11%) Power Platform
8 8 (4.55%) GitHub
9 7 (3.98%) GCP
9 7 (3.98%) Microsoft Purview
10 4 (2.27%) Azure Key Vault
10 4 (2.27%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (2.27%) SaaS
11 3 (1.70%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.70%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (1.70%) IBM Cloud
11 3 (1.70%) Mimecast
11 3 (1.70%) PaaS
12 2 (1.14%) Google Workspace
12 2 (1.14%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 58 (32.95%) Firewall
2 41 (23.30%) Network Security
3 13 (7.39%) TCP/IP
4 12 (6.82%) VPN
5 8 (4.55%) Wi-Fi
5 8 (4.55%) Wireless
5 8 (4.55%) Wireshark
6 7 (3.98%) Intrusion Detection
7 6 (3.41%) VLAN
8 5 (2.84%) BGP
8 5 (2.84%) OSPF
9 4 (2.27%) Ethernet
9 4 (2.27%) HTTP
10 3 (1.70%) Cisco ISE
10 3 (1.70%) DNS
10 3 (1.70%) Modbus
10 3 (1.70%) Spanning Tree
10 3 (1.70%) SSL
10 3 (1.70%) WAN
11 2 (1.14%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (5.11%) Power BI
2 7 (3.98%) Tableau
3 2 (1.14%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (1.14%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (10.80%) JIRA
2 12 (6.82%) Burp Suite
3 11 (6.25%) Metasploit
4 4 (2.27%) Jenkins
5 3 (1.70%) Git
6 2 (1.14%) GitLab
6 2 (1.14%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 87 (49.43%) Social Skills
2 23 (13.07%) Analytical Skills
2 23 (13.07%) Influencing Skills
3 22 (12.50%) Finance
4 18 (10.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 16 (9.09%) Presentation Skills
6 8 (4.55%) Law
7 6 (3.41%) Legal
7 6 (3.41%) Retail
8 5 (2.84%) Manufacturing
9 4 (2.27%) Banking
9 4 (2.27%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.27%) Electronics
10 3 (1.70%) Mandarin Language
10 3 (1.70%) Military
11 2 (1.14%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (1.14%) Public Sector
12 1 (0.57%) Advertising
12 1 (0.57%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.57%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 48 (27.27%) Security Engineer
2 33 (18.75%) Analyst
3 29 (16.48%) Security Analyst
4 25 (14.20%) Senior
5 19 (10.80%) Cybersecurity Engineer
6 17 (9.66%) Senior Security Engineer
7 16 (9.09%) Lead
8 13 (7.39%) Architect
9 12 (6.82%) Security Specialist
10 11 (6.25%) IT Manager
10 11 (6.25%) Network Engineer
10 11 (6.25%) Security Architect
11 10 (5.68%) Tester
12 9 (5.11%) Cybersecurity Analyst
12 9 (5.11%) Cybersecurity Specialist
12 9 (5.11%) Penetration Tester
13 8 (4.55%) Cloud Engineer
13 8 (4.55%) Vulnerability Management Engineer
14 7 (3.98%) Consultant
14 7 (3.98%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.84%) JSON
2 2 (1.14%) Elastic Stack
3 1 (0.57%) ModSecurity
3 1 (0.57%) PyTorch
3 1 (0.57%) TensorFlow
3 1 (0.57%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 26 (14.77%) Management Information System
2 19 (10.80%) Security Posture
3 15 (8.52%) Security Operations Centre
4 13 (7.39%) Cyber Threat
5 9 (5.11%) Cyber Defence
5 9 (5.11%) Operational Technology
6 8 (4.55%) Mobile App
6 8 (4.55%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (3.98%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (3.98%) Data Centre
7 7 (3.98%) PKI
8 6 (3.41%) Cloud Native
8 6 (3.41%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 6 (3.41%) SCADA
9 4 (2.27%) Cyberattack
9 4 (2.27%) Distributed Systems
9 4 (2.27%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (2.27%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (1.70%) Onboarding
10 3 (1.70%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 37 (21.02%) Windows
2 26 (14.77%) Linux
3 7 (3.98%) Unix
4 6 (3.41%) Windows Server
5 5 (2.84%) Kali Linux
6 3 (1.70%) VMS
7 2 (1.14%) Android
7 2 (1.14%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.57%) Debian
8 1 (0.57%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.57%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.57%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (60.23%) Cybersecurity
2 73 (41.48%) Incident Response
3 58 (32.95%) SIEM
4 54 (30.68%) Vulnerability Management
5 41 (23.30%) Vulnerability Scanning
6 39 (22.16%) Vulnerability Assessment
7 36 (20.45%) Information Security
8 33 (18.75%) DevOps
9 30 (17.05%) Security Operations
10 27 (15.34%) Cloud Security
10 27 (15.34%) Security Testing
11 26 (14.77%) CI/CD
11 26 (14.77%) Problem-Solving
11 26 (14.77%) Security Architecture
12 25 (14.20%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 21 (11.93%) Threat Modelling
14 20 (11.36%) Application Security
14 20 (11.36%) Red Team
15 19 (10.80%) Technology Transformation
16 17 (9.66%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 56 (31.82%) Python
2 36 (20.45%) PowerShell
3 30 (17.05%) Bash
4 18 (10.23%) Go
5 12 (6.82%) SQL
6 7 (3.98%) JavaScript
6 7 (3.98%) R
7 6 (3.41%) C
7 6 (3.41%) C++
8 4 (2.27%) C#
9 3 (1.70%) Java
9 3 (1.70%) Perl
10 1 (0.57%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.57%) Scala
Qualifications
1 38 (21.59%) Security Cleared
2 36 (20.45%) Degree
3 35 (19.89%) CISSP
3 35 (19.89%) SC Cleared
4 20 (11.36%) OSCP
5 19 (10.80%) Cisco Certification
6 15 (8.52%) CCNA
6 15 (8.52%) CompTIA Security+
6 15 (8.52%) CREST Certified
7 14 (7.95%) SANS
8 13 (7.39%) DV Cleared
9 12 (6.82%) CCNP
9 12 (6.82%) GCIA
10 9 (5.11%) CEH
10 9 (5.11%) CISA
10 9 (5.11%) GIAC
11 7 (3.98%) ACCA
11 7 (3.98%) CHECK Team Leader
11 7 (3.98%) CIMA
12 6 (3.41%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 73 (41.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 56 (31.82%) NIST
3 28 (15.91%) Cyber Essentials
4 19 (10.80%) Accessibility
5 15 (8.52%) GDPR
6 14 (7.95%) NCSC
7 9 (5.11%) QA
8 5 (2.84%) NIST 800
9 3 (1.70%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (1.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (1.70%) RMADS
10 1 (0.57%) COBIT
10 1 (0.57%) GRC
10 1 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 1 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 1 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.57%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.57%) SOC 2
System Software
1 15 (8.52%) Virtual Machines
2 12 (6.82%) Active Directory
3 5 (2.84%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.27%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (1.70%) Firmware
6 2 (1.14%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (1.14%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.14%) pfSense
6 2 (1.14%) Squid
Systems Management
1 9 (5.11%) Nmap
2 7 (3.98%) Single Sign-On
3 6 (3.41%) Microsoft Intune
3 6 (3.41%) Nessus
4 5 (2.84%) Kubernetes
4 5 (2.84%) QRadar
5 3 (1.70%) Proxmox
6 2 (1.14%) Cisco CUCM
6 2 (1.14%) Jamf Pro
6 2 (1.14%) Kibana
6 2 (1.14%) Progress Chef
6 2 (1.14%) Terraform
6 2 (1.14%) VxRail
7 1 (0.57%) Ansible
7 1 (0.57%) CASB
7 1 (0.57%) SCCM
7 1 (0.57%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 62 (35.23%) Microsoft
2 17 (9.66%) Tenable
3 16 (9.09%) Cisco
4 15 (8.52%) ServiceNow
5 9 (5.11%) Splunk
6 8 (4.55%) Oracle
7 7 (3.98%) VMware
8 6 (3.41%) Fortinet
9 5 (2.84%) Palo Alto
10 4 (2.27%) CheckPoint
10 4 (2.27%) Sophos
10 4 (2.27%) Zscaler
11 3 (1.70%) IBM
11 3 (1.70%) LogRhythm
11 3 (1.70%) Meraki
12 2 (1.14%) CrowdStrike
12 2 (1.14%) CyberArk
12 2 (1.14%) Dell
12 2 (1.14%) LogicMonitor
12 2 (1.14%) Okta