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 24 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 430 460 449
Rank change year-on-year +30 -11 -15
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 327 191 387
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.37% 0.44% 0.49%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.49% 0.59%
Number of salaries quoted 213 162 297
10th Percentile £41,400 £45,775 £38,750
25th Percentile £50,000 £52,500 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £64,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +5.47% +6.67%
75th Percentile £89,000 £78,750 £81,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £94,900 £100,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £62,500
% change year-on-year +3.70% +8.00% +4.17%

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 65,772 38,931 65,266
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.80% 89.97% 81.95%
Number of salaries quoted 46,496 22,437 45,318
10th Percentile £31,037 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £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 24 July 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 24 July 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 +18 138 £85,000 +17.24% 49
South East +30 73 £71,250 +18.75% 24
South West -17 48 £50,000 -27.27% 19
Midlands -31 28 £65,000 -3.70% 4
North of England -53 24 £57,500 - 16
West Midlands -38 19 £70,000 +3.70% 3
Yorkshire -37 13 £55,000 - 8
East Midlands -18 9 £46,743 +16.86% 1
East of England - 7 £35,000 - 4
North East -45 6 £75,000 +3.18%
North West -18 5 £67,500 +17.39% 8
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 (2.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.14%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.53%) Confluence
4 3 (0.92%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.92%) IIS
5 1 (0.31%) Apache
5 1 (0.31%) Drupal
5 1 (0.31%) nginx
5 1 (0.31%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.61%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Magento
1 1 (0.31%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.31%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 82 (25.08%) AWS
2 77 (23.55%) Azure
3 31 (9.48%) Microsoft 365
4 24 (7.34%) GCP
5 13 (3.98%) Entra ID
6 8 (2.45%) SaaS
7 7 (2.14%) Azure Sentinel
7 7 (2.14%) GitHub
8 6 (1.83%) Amazon Bedrock
8 6 (1.83%) Cloud Computing
9 4 (1.22%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (1.22%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 4 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.22%) Azure Key Vault
9 4 (1.22%) Microsoft Purview
9 4 (1.22%) Mimecast
9 4 (1.22%) Nutanix
9 4 (1.22%) OneDrive
9 4 (1.22%) Rubrik
10 3 (0.92%) Amazon Kinesis
Communications & Networking
1 86 (26.30%) Firewall
2 35 (10.70%) Cisco Nexus
3 33 (10.09%) Wi-Fi
4 29 (8.87%) Internet
5 28 (8.56%) Network Security
6 20 (6.12%) LAN
6 20 (6.12%) WAN
7 17 (5.20%) VPN
8 12 (3.67%) DNS
9 11 (3.36%) Wireless
10 10 (3.06%) TCP/IP
11 8 (2.45%) Cisco ISE
12 7 (2.14%) VLAN
13 6 (1.83%) Intrusion Detection
14 5 (1.53%) HTTPS
15 4 (1.22%) DHCP
15 4 (1.22%) Kerberos
16 3 (0.92%) VoIP
16 3 (0.92%) Wireshark
17 2 (0.61%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.75%) SQL Server
2 4 (1.22%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.92%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.92%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.92%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.61%) KNIME
5 1 (0.31%) InterSystems Cache
5 1 (0.31%) Power BI
5 1 (0.31%) Redis
Development Applications
1 17 (5.20%) Burp Suite
2 16 (4.89%) Metasploit
3 12 (3.67%) JIRA
4 6 (1.83%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.92%) Git
5 3 (0.92%) Yeoman
6 2 (0.61%) Gatling
6 2 (0.61%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.61%) NUnit
6 2 (0.61%) Snyk
7 1 (0.31%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.31%) GitLab
7 1 (0.31%) IDA Disassembler
7 1 (0.31%) JMeter
7 1 (0.31%) JUnit
7 1 (0.31%) Postman
7 1 (0.31%) Selenium
7 1 (0.31%) Vagrant
General
1 104 (31.80%) Social Skills
2 62 (18.96%) Finance
3 40 (12.23%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (11.01%) Public Sector
5 31 (9.48%) Law
6 18 (5.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 15 (4.59%) Retail
8 13 (3.98%) Banking
9 7 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (2.14%) Legal
10 6 (1.83%) Pharmaceutical
11 5 (1.53%) Marketing
11 5 (1.53%) Telecoms
12 4 (1.22%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.92%) Back Office
13 3 (0.92%) Digital Health
13 3 (0.92%) Digital Healthcare
13 3 (0.92%) Military
13 3 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.61%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 83 (25.38%) Senior
2 61 (18.65%) Analyst
3 53 (16.21%) Penetration Tester
3 53 (16.21%) Tester
4 48 (14.68%) Security Analyst
5 40 (12.23%) Senior Analyst
6 35 (10.70%) Consultant
7 34 (10.40%) Security Consultant
7 34 (10.40%) Senior Security Analyst
8 32 (9.79%) Lead
9 28 (8.56%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 25 (7.65%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
11 24 (7.34%) Security Engineer
12 21 (6.42%) Network Analyst
12 21 (6.42%) Security Specialist
12 21 (6.42%) Senior Network Analyst
13 18 (5.50%) Security Manager
14 16 (4.89%) Team Leader
15 15 (4.59%) Cybersecurity Consultant
15 15 (4.59%) Network Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.22%) .NET
1 4 (1.22%) LDAP
1 4 (1.22%) RESTful
2 3 (0.92%) .NET Framework
2 3 (0.92%) Kafka
2 3 (0.92%) OAuth
3 2 (0.61%) AngularJS
3 2 (0.61%) ASP.NET
3 2 (0.61%) ASP.NET Core
3 2 (0.61%) Entity Framework
3 2 (0.61%) OAuth2
3 2 (0.61%) OpenAPI
3 2 (0.61%) OpenID
3 2 (0.61%) RxJS
3 2 (0.61%) Swagger
3 2 (0.61%) Vitest
4 1 (0.31%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.31%) Memcached
4 1 (0.31%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 63 (19.27%) Security Posture
2 30 (9.17%) Cyber Threat
3 23 (7.03%) Management Information System
4 19 (5.81%) Cyber Defence
5 18 (5.50%) Mobile App
6 14 (4.28%) Onboarding
7 13 (3.98%) Security Operations Centre
8 11 (3.36%) Self-Motivation
9 8 (2.45%) Blog
9 8 (2.45%) Operational Technology
10 7 (2.14%) Cloud Native
10 7 (2.14%) Cyberattack
10 7 (2.14%) Data Centre
11 6 (1.83%) Cyber Security Posture
11 6 (1.83%) Enterprise Software
12 4 (1.22%) Insider Threat
13 3 (0.92%) Cloud Security Posture
13 3 (0.92%) Cyber Kill Chain
13 3 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
13 3 (0.92%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 51 (15.60%) Windows
2 41 (12.54%) Linux
3 17 (5.20%) Windows Server
4 14 (4.28%) Android
4 14 (4.28%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.22%) Unix
6 3 (0.92%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.31%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 243 (74.31%) Cybersecurity
2 100 (30.58%) Vulnerability Management
3 98 (29.97%) Incident Response
4 83 (25.38%) SIEM
5 76 (23.24%) Red Team
6 68 (20.80%) Security Testing
7 67 (20.49%) Security Operations
8 65 (19.88%) Cloud Security
9 58 (17.74%) Information Security
10 55 (16.82%) Offensive Security
11 54 (16.51%) Problem-Solving
12 50 (15.29%) Application Security
13 49 (14.98%) Mentoring
14 48 (14.68%) Disaster Recovery
15 43 (13.15%) Continuous Improvement
16 41 (12.54%) Threat Intelligence
17 40 (12.23%) Threat Detection
18 38 (11.62%) Threat Modelling
19 36 (11.01%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
19 36 (11.01%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 40 (12.23%) PowerShell
2 38 (11.62%) Python
3 15 (4.59%) Bash
4 14 (4.28%) Java
5 10 (3.06%) Go
6 7 (2.14%) SQL
7 6 (1.83%) Bicep
8 4 (1.22%) C
8 4 (1.22%) C#
8 4 (1.22%) C++
9 3 (0.92%) Objective-C
9 3 (0.92%) Perl
9 3 (0.92%) PHP
9 3 (0.92%) Ruby
9 3 (0.92%) Rust
10 2 (0.61%) JavaScript
10 2 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.61%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 61 (18.65%) CREST Certified
2 60 (18.35%) CISSP
3 52 (15.90%) Security Cleared
4 46 (14.07%) OSCP
5 44 (13.46%) CISM
6 40 (12.23%) SC Cleared
7 31 (9.48%) Degree
8 24 (7.34%) CHECK Team Member
9 22 (6.73%) Cisco Certification
10 17 (5.20%) CEH
10 17 (5.20%) CHECK Team Leader
11 16 (4.89%) CompTIA Security+
12 14 (4.28%) CCNP
13 13 (3.98%) DV Cleared
13 13 (3.98%) GIAC
14 12 (3.67%) CCNA
15 10 (3.06%) CCSAM
16 8 (2.45%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 8 (2.45%) AWS Certification
16 8 (2.45%) OSCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (26.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 51 (15.60%) NIST
3 42 (12.84%) GDPR
4 39 (11.93%) Cyber Essentials
5 20 (6.12%) PCI DSS
6 17 (5.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 14 (4.28%) GRC
7 14 (4.28%) NCSC
8 11 (3.36%) Actionable Recommendations
9 8 (2.45%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 7 (2.14%) SOC 2
11 6 (1.83%) Accessibility
12 5 (1.53%) QA
13 4 (1.22%) Def Stans
13 4 (1.22%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.92%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.92%) SLA
15 2 (0.61%) COBIT
16 1 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 1 (0.31%) WCAG
System Software
1 36 (11.01%) Active Directory
2 10 (3.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.22%) Docker
3 4 (1.22%) EMC RecoverPoint
3 4 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.31%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Virtual Server
4 1 (0.31%) Virtual Servers
4 1 (0.31%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 18 (5.50%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.98%) Nmap
3 11 (3.36%) Nessus
4 9 (2.75%) Terraform
5 8 (2.45%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.53%) Ansible
7 4 (1.22%) Red Hat Satellite
7 4 (1.22%) VxRail
8 3 (0.92%) SCCM
9 2 (0.61%) CSIRT
9 2 (0.61%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.31%) CASB
10 1 (0.31%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 1 (0.31%) Consul
10 1 (0.31%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.31%) OpenVAS
10 1 (0.31%) Packer
10 1 (0.31%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.31%) Puppet
Vendors
1 64 (19.57%) Microsoft
2 41 (12.54%) Cisco
3 40 (12.23%) Qualys
4 38 (11.62%) Palo Alto
5 31 (9.48%) Aruba
6 22 (6.73%) Splunk
7 14 (4.28%) Sophos
8 11 (3.36%) CrowdStrike
8 11 (3.36%) VMware
9 10 (3.06%) Zscaler
10 8 (2.45%) CheckPoint
10 8 (2.45%) Fortinet
10 8 (2.45%) Tenable
11 6 (1.83%) Rapid7
11 6 (1.83%) ServiceNow
12 5 (1.53%) TOWER Software
13 4 (1.22%) CyberArk
13 4 (1.22%) Ivanti
13 4 (1.22%) Oracle
13 4 (1.22%) Red Hat