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 9 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 429 469 451
Rank change year-on-year +40 -18 -6
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 334 184 340
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.36% 0.42% 0.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.47% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 228 155 248
10th Percentile £38,200 £46,000 £41,250
25th Percentile £49,750 £53,719 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £90,000 £78,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £92,900 £98,250
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +8.33%

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 69,000 39,152 58,715
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.88% 89.43% 81.36%
Number of salaries quoted 48,669 22,708 38,960
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,528 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 9 August 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 9 August 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 +6 144 £85,500 +20.00% 105
South East +8 73 £70,000 +16.67% 37
South West -20 47 £50,000 -25.93% 32
Midlands -22 29 £65,000 -3.70% 21
North of England -51 25 £56,000 -2.61% 36
West Midlands -32 19 £70,000 +3.70% 14
Yorkshire -40 15 £55,000 - 13
East Midlands -16 10 £46,743 +16.86% 7
East of England - 8 £40,000 - 14
North West -17 5 £67,500 +10.66% 20
North East -51 5 £75,000 +3.18% 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 9 (2.69%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (2.40%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.80%) Confluence
4 3 (0.90%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.90%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) Apache
5 1 (0.30%) Drupal
5 1 (0.30%) nginx
5 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Magento
1 1 (0.30%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 89 (26.65%) AWS
2 83 (24.85%) Azure
3 31 (9.28%) Microsoft 365
4 23 (6.89%) GCP
5 14 (4.19%) Entra ID
6 10 (2.99%) SaaS
7 6 (1.80%) Amazon Bedrock
7 6 (1.80%) Azure Sentinel
7 6 (1.80%) Cloud Computing
7 6 (1.80%) GitHub
8 5 (1.50%) Nutanix
8 5 (1.50%) OneDrive
9 4 (1.20%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (1.20%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 4 (1.20%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.20%) Azure Key Vault
9 4 (1.20%) Microsoft Purview
9 4 (1.20%) Mimecast
10 3 (0.90%) Amazon Kinesis
10 3 (0.90%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 89 (26.65%) Firewall
2 36 (10.78%) Cisco Nexus
3 35 (10.48%) Wi-Fi
4 31 (9.28%) Network Security
5 30 (8.98%) Internet
6 24 (7.19%) LAN
6 24 (7.19%) WAN
7 18 (5.39%) VPN
8 13 (3.89%) DNS
9 11 (3.29%) TCP/IP
10 8 (2.40%) Cisco ISE
10 8 (2.40%) VLAN
11 6 (1.80%) HTTPS
11 6 (1.80%) Wireless
12 5 (1.50%) Intrusion Detection
12 5 (1.50%) Kerberos
13 4 (1.20%) Cisco ASA
13 4 (1.20%) DHCP
14 3 (0.90%) VoIP
14 3 (0.90%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.29%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.50%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.90%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.90%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.60%) KNIME
5 1 (0.30%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.30%) InterSystems Cache
5 1 (0.30%) Power BI
5 1 (0.30%) Redis
Development Applications
1 19 (5.69%) Burp Suite
2 18 (5.39%) Metasploit
3 12 (3.59%) JIRA
4 6 (1.80%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.90%) Git
5 3 (0.90%) Yeoman
6 2 (0.60%) Gatling
6 2 (0.60%) NUnit
6 2 (0.60%) Snyk
7 1 (0.30%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.30%) GitLab
7 1 (0.30%) IDA Disassembler
7 1 (0.30%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.30%) JMeter
7 1 (0.30%) JUnit
7 1 (0.30%) Postman
7 1 (0.30%) Selenium
7 1 (0.30%) Vagrant
General
1 107 (32.04%) Social Skills
2 55 (16.47%) Finance
3 49 (14.67%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (10.78%) Public Sector
5 29 (8.68%) Law
6 19 (5.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 15 (4.49%) Retail
8 14 (4.19%) Banking
9 8 (2.40%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (2.10%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.80%) Legal
11 6 (1.80%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (1.50%) Marketing
13 4 (1.20%) Aerospace
13 4 (1.20%) Financial Institution
13 4 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (1.20%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.90%) Back Office
14 3 (0.90%) Digital Health
14 3 (0.90%) Digital Healthcare
Job Titles
1 84 (25.15%) Senior
2 59 (17.66%) Analyst
3 55 (16.47%) Penetration Tester
3 55 (16.47%) Tester
4 46 (13.77%) Security Analyst
5 38 (11.38%) Lead
6 37 (11.08%) Senior Analyst
7 31 (9.28%) Senior Security Analyst
8 29 (8.68%) Consultant
9 28 (8.38%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 28 (8.38%) Security Consultant
9 28 (8.38%) Security Engineer
10 25 (7.49%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
11 21 (6.29%) Network Analyst
11 21 (6.29%) Senior Network Analyst
12 20 (5.99%) Security Specialist
13 18 (5.39%) Senior Security Engineer
14 17 (5.09%) Cybersecurity Engineer
15 16 (4.79%) Architect
15 16 (4.79%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.50%) LDAP
2 4 (1.20%) RESTful
3 3 (0.90%) .NET
3 3 (0.90%) .NET Framework
3 3 (0.90%) Kafka
3 3 (0.90%) OAuth
4 2 (0.60%) AngularJS
4 2 (0.60%) ASP.NET
4 2 (0.60%) ASP.NET Core
4 2 (0.60%) Entity Framework
4 2 (0.60%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.60%) OpenAPI
4 2 (0.60%) OpenID
4 2 (0.60%) RxJS
4 2 (0.60%) Swagger
4 2 (0.60%) Vitest
5 1 (0.30%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.30%) Memcached
5 1 (0.30%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 66 (19.76%) Security Posture
2 28 (8.38%) Cyber Threat
3 24 (7.19%) Management Information System
4 17 (5.09%) Onboarding
5 13 (3.89%) Security Operations Centre
6 12 (3.59%) Cyber Defence
6 12 (3.59%) Self-Motivation
7 11 (3.29%) Mobile App
8 8 (2.40%) Blog
8 8 (2.40%) Cyber Security Posture
8 8 (2.40%) Operational Technology
9 7 (2.10%) Cloud Native
10 6 (1.80%) Cyberattack
10 6 (1.80%) Data Centre
10 6 (1.80%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.50%) NHS
12 4 (1.20%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 4 (1.20%) Insider Threat
12 4 (1.20%) PKI
13 3 (0.90%) Cloud Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 51 (15.27%) Windows
2 42 (12.57%) Linux
3 18 (5.39%) Windows Server
4 14 (4.19%) Android
4 14 (4.19%) Apple iOS
5 5 (1.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (1.20%) Unix
7 3 (0.90%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.60%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 256 (76.65%) Cybersecurity
2 108 (32.34%) Vulnerability Management
3 95 (28.44%) Incident Response
4 91 (27.25%) SIEM
5 72 (21.56%) Security Operations
5 72 (21.56%) Security Testing
6 70 (20.96%) Cloud Security
7 68 (20.36%) Information Security
8 67 (20.06%) Red Team
9 56 (16.77%) Problem-Solving
10 50 (14.97%) Disaster Recovery
10 50 (14.97%) Offensive Security
11 47 (14.07%) Continuous Improvement
12 44 (13.17%) Threat Detection
13 43 (12.87%) Application Security
13 43 (12.87%) Mentoring
13 43 (12.87%) Threat Intelligence
14 41 (12.28%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 40 (11.98%) Incident Management
15 40 (11.98%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 37 (11.08%) PowerShell
2 35 (10.48%) Python
3 15 (4.49%) Java
4 11 (3.29%) Bash
5 10 (2.99%) Go
6 7 (2.10%) SQL
7 6 (1.80%) Bicep
8 3 (0.90%) C
8 3 (0.90%) C#
8 3 (0.90%) C++
8 3 (0.90%) Objective-C
8 3 (0.90%) Perl
8 3 (0.90%) PHP
8 3 (0.90%) Ruby
8 3 (0.90%) Rust
9 2 (0.60%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.60%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.60%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 60 (17.96%) CISSP
2 51 (15.27%) Security Cleared
3 50 (14.97%) CREST Certified
4 46 (13.77%) CISM
5 39 (11.68%) SC Cleared
6 34 (10.18%) OSCP
7 31 (9.28%) Degree
8 23 (6.89%) Cisco Certification
9 19 (5.69%) CHECK Team Member
10 18 (5.39%) CompTIA Security+
11 14 (4.19%) CCNP
11 14 (4.19%) CEH
12 13 (3.89%) GIAC
13 11 (3.29%) DV Cleared
14 10 (2.99%) CCNA
14 10 (2.99%) CHECK Team Leader
15 9 (2.69%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 9 (2.69%) AWS Certification
16 8 (2.40%) CCSP
17 7 (2.10%) OSCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 90 (26.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 56 (16.77%) NIST
3 42 (12.57%) GDPR
4 40 (11.98%) Cyber Essentials
5 20 (5.99%) PCI DSS
6 17 (5.09%) GRC
7 14 (4.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 13 (3.89%) NCSC
9 9 (2.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 8 (2.40%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (2.40%) SOC 2
11 5 (1.50%) Accessibility
11 5 (1.50%) QA
12 4 (1.20%) Def Stans
12 4 (1.20%) NIST 800
13 3 (0.90%) Data Quality
13 3 (0.90%) SLA
14 2 (0.60%) COBIT
15 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 1 (0.30%) WCAG
System Software
1 36 (10.78%) Active Directory
2 10 (2.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.50%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (1.20%) Docker
5 3 (0.90%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (0.60%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 2 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 19 (5.69%) Kubernetes
2 18 (5.39%) Nmap
3 11 (3.29%) Nessus
4 9 (2.69%) Terraform
5 7 (2.10%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.50%) Ansible
6 5 (1.50%) Red Hat Satellite
7 3 (0.90%) SCCM
7 3 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.90%) VxRail
8 2 (0.60%) CSIRT
8 2 (0.60%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.60%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
9 1 (0.30%) CASB
9 1 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 1 (0.30%) Consul
9 1 (0.30%) OpenVAS
9 1 (0.30%) Packer
9 1 (0.30%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.30%) Puppet
Vendors
1 66 (19.76%) Microsoft
2 45 (13.47%) Cisco
3 44 (13.17%) Qualys
4 43 (12.87%) Palo Alto
5 33 (9.88%) Aruba
6 22 (6.59%) Splunk
7 12 (3.59%) Sophos
8 11 (3.29%) CrowdStrike
9 10 (2.99%) Rapid7
9 10 (2.99%) Tenable
9 10 (2.99%) VMware
10 9 (2.69%) Fortinet
11 8 (2.40%) Zscaler
12 7 (2.10%) ServiceNow
13 6 (1.80%) CheckPoint
14 5 (1.50%) CyberArk
14 5 (1.50%) Ivanti
14 5 (1.50%) Oracle
14 5 (1.50%) Red Hat
14 5 (1.50%) TOWER Software