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

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 418 436 462
Rank change year-on-year +18 +26 +2
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 319 210 437
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.38% 0.52% 0.46%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.57% 0.56%
Number of salaries quoted 206 163 356
10th Percentile £41,625 £44,000 £38,750
25th Percentile £48,165 £54,375 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +4.00%
75th Percentile £87,500 £79,500 £82,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £100,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +1.96%

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 62,060 37,011 77,392
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.39% 92.32% 81.92%
Number of salaries quoted 43,762 20,363 56,096
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,822 £29,444
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £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 £78,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%

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 June 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 June 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 +23 140 £82,500 +17.86% 29
South East +8 62 £72,500 +3.57% 20
South West -22 48 £50,000 -25.93% 9
Midlands -23 30 £51,058 -24.36% 5
North of England -51 24 £56,000 -2.61% 7
West Midlands -21 19 £65,000 -3.70% 3
Yorkshire -44 14 £55,000 - 5
East Midlands -19 11 £46,743 +16.86% 2
North East -40 6 £75,000 +3.18%
East of England - 6 £32,500 -
North West -18 4 £61,750 +4.22% 2
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 8 (2.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.19%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.94%) Confluence
3 3 (0.94%) IIS
4 2 (0.63%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.31%) Apache
5 1 (0.31%) Drupal
5 1 (0.31%) nginx
5 1 (0.31%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.63%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Magento
1 1 (0.31%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.31%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 78 (24.45%) AWS
2 77 (24.14%) Azure
3 33 (10.34%) Microsoft 365
4 26 (8.15%) GCP
5 15 (4.70%) Entra ID
6 9 (2.82%) Azure Sentinel
6 9 (2.82%) GitHub
7 8 (2.51%) SaaS
8 6 (1.88%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (1.57%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (1.25%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.25%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.25%) Azure Key Vault
10 4 (1.25%) Mimecast
10 4 (1.25%) Rubrik
11 3 (0.94%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 3 (0.94%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (0.94%) OneDrive
12 2 (0.63%) Figma
12 2 (0.63%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 72 (22.57%) Firewall
2 27 (8.46%) Network Security
3 23 (7.21%) Cisco Nexus
3 23 (7.21%) Internet
4 22 (6.90%) Wi-Fi
5 21 (6.58%) Wireless
6 20 (6.27%) VPN
7 14 (4.39%) LAN
7 14 (4.39%) WAN
8 12 (3.76%) DNS
9 11 (3.45%) TCP/IP
10 9 (2.82%) Cisco ISE
11 7 (2.19%) VLAN
12 6 (1.88%) Intrusion Detection
13 4 (1.25%) DHCP
13 4 (1.25%) HTTPS
14 3 (0.94%) DMARC
14 3 (0.94%) DMZ
14 3 (0.94%) SSL
14 3 (0.94%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.88%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.94%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (0.63%) Hadoop
3 2 (0.63%) MongoDB
3 2 (0.63%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.31%) InterSystems Cache
4 1 (0.31%) KNIME
4 1 (0.31%) Power BI
4 1 (0.31%) Redis
Development Applications
1 21 (6.58%) Burp Suite
2 20 (6.27%) Metasploit
3 10 (3.13%) JIRA
4 6 (1.88%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.25%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.94%) Git
6 3 (0.94%) Yeoman
7 2 (0.63%) Gatling
7 2 (0.63%) NUnit
8 1 (0.31%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.31%) GitLab
8 1 (0.31%) IDA Disassembler
8 1 (0.31%) JMeter
8 1 (0.31%) JUnit
8 1 (0.31%) Postman
8 1 (0.31%) Selenium
8 1 (0.31%) Snyk
8 1 (0.31%) Vagrant
General
1 109 (34.17%) Social Skills
2 74 (23.20%) Finance
3 35 (10.97%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (10.34%) Law
5 30 (9.40%) Public Sector
6 21 (6.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 19 (5.96%) Retail
8 15 (4.70%) Banking
9 10 (3.13%) Legal
10 8 (2.51%) Marketing
11 7 (2.19%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (1.25%) Financial Institution
12 4 (1.25%) Influencing Skills
12 4 (1.25%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.94%) Back Office
14 2 (0.63%) Digital Health
14 2 (0.63%) Digital Healthcare
14 2 (0.63%) Military
14 2 (0.63%) Social Housing
15 1 (0.31%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 77 (24.14%) Senior
2 59 (18.50%) Analyst
3 50 (15.67%) Security Analyst
4 44 (13.79%) Consultant
4 44 (13.79%) Penetration Tester
4 44 (13.79%) Tester
5 43 (13.48%) Security Consultant
6 39 (12.23%) Senior Analyst
7 37 (11.60%) Senior Security Analyst
8 25 (7.84%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 24 (7.52%) Lead
9 24 (7.52%) Security Manager
10 22 (6.90%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
11 21 (6.58%) Security Specialist
12 20 (6.27%) Security Engineer
13 18 (5.64%) Cybersecurity Consultant
14 15 (4.70%) Network Analyst
14 15 (4.70%) Senior Network Analyst
14 15 (4.70%) Team Leader
15 13 (4.08%) Network Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.25%) .NET
1 4 (1.25%) RESTful
2 3 (0.94%) .NET Framework
2 3 (0.94%) OAuth
3 2 (0.63%) AngularJS
3 2 (0.63%) ASP.NET
3 2 (0.63%) ASP.NET Core
3 2 (0.63%) Entity Framework
3 2 (0.63%) Kafka
3 2 (0.63%) LDAP
3 2 (0.63%) OAuth2
3 2 (0.63%) OpenAPI
3 2 (0.63%) OpenID
3 2 (0.63%) RxJS
3 2 (0.63%) Swagger
3 2 (0.63%) Vitest
4 1 (0.31%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.31%) Memcached
4 1 (0.31%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 78 (24.45%) Security Posture
2 30 (9.40%) Cyber Defence
2 30 (9.40%) Cyber Threat
2 30 (9.40%) Mobile App
3 21 (6.58%) Management Information System
4 15 (4.70%) Self-Motivation
5 13 (4.08%) Security Operations Centre
6 9 (2.82%) Data Centre
6 9 (2.82%) Onboarding
7 8 (2.51%) Blog
8 7 (2.19%) Cloud Native
8 7 (2.19%) Cyber Security Posture
9 6 (1.88%) Cyberattack
9 6 (1.88%) Insider Threat
10 5 (1.57%) Operational Technology
11 4 (1.25%) Enterprise Software
12 3 (0.94%) CCTV
12 3 (0.94%) Hybrid Cloud
12 3 (0.94%) Public Cloud
13 2 (0.63%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 44 (13.79%) Windows
2 36 (11.29%) Linux
3 16 (5.02%) Android
3 16 (5.02%) Apple iOS
4 13 (4.08%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.25%) Unix
6 2 (0.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.63%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.31%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 220 (68.97%) Cybersecurity
2 99 (31.03%) Incident Response
3 93 (29.15%) Red Team
4 89 (27.90%) Vulnerability Management
5 71 (22.26%) SIEM
6 66 (20.69%) Offensive Security
7 64 (20.06%) Security Testing
8 61 (19.12%) Mentoring
9 60 (18.81%) Problem-Solving
10 58 (18.18%) Application Security
11 57 (17.87%) Cloud Security
11 57 (17.87%) Information Security
11 57 (17.87%) Security Operations
12 41 (12.85%) Disaster Recovery
13 39 (12.23%) Continuous Improvement
14 38 (11.91%) Threat Modelling
15 36 (11.29%) Agile
16 35 (10.97%) Threat Intelligence
17 33 (10.34%) Coaching
18 31 (9.72%) Business Strategy
Programming Languages
1 45 (14.11%) PowerShell
1 45 (14.11%) Python
2 25 (7.84%) Bash
3 14 (4.39%) Java
4 12 (3.76%) Go
5 6 (1.88%) SQL
6 5 (1.57%) Bicep
6 5 (1.57%) C#
7 4 (1.25%) C
7 4 (1.25%) C++
7 4 (1.25%) Perl
8 3 (0.94%) Objective-C
8 3 (0.94%) PHP
8 3 (0.94%) Ruby
8 3 (0.94%) Rust
9 2 (0.63%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.63%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.63%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 79 (24.76%) CREST Certified
2 63 (19.75%) OSCP
3 58 (18.18%) CISSP
4 52 (16.30%) Security Cleared
5 44 (13.79%) SC Cleared
6 40 (12.54%) CISM
7 34 (10.66%) Degree
8 27 (8.46%) CHECK Team Leader
9 26 (8.15%) CHECK Team Member
10 24 (7.52%) CEH
11 21 (6.58%) CCSAM
11 21 (6.58%) Cisco Certification
12 20 (6.27%) CompTIA Security+
13 16 (5.02%) CCNA
13 16 (5.02%) CCNP
14 14 (4.39%) DV Cleared
14 14 (4.39%) GIAC
15 8 (2.51%) OSCE
15 8 (2.51%) SANS
16 6 (1.88%) GPEN
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (27.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 47 (14.73%) NIST
3 40 (12.54%) Cyber Essentials
3 40 (12.54%) GDPR
4 18 (5.64%) PCI DSS
5 17 (5.33%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 14 (4.39%) Actionable Recommendations
6 14 (4.39%) NCSC
7 12 (3.76%) GRC
8 7 (2.19%) Accessibility
9 6 (1.88%) SOC 2
10 5 (1.57%) QA
10 5 (1.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 4 (1.25%) Def Stans
11 4 (1.25%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.94%) COBIT
12 3 (0.94%) Data Quality
13 2 (0.63%) SLA
14 1 (0.31%) GxP
14 1 (0.31%) WCAG
System Software
1 37 (11.60%) Active Directory
2 8 (2.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
4 3 (0.94%) Docker
4 3 (0.94%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 17 (5.33%) Kubernetes
2 14 (4.39%) Nessus
3 11 (3.45%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (3.45%) Nmap
4 9 (2.82%) Terraform
5 5 (1.57%) Ansible
6 4 (1.25%) VxRail
7 3 (0.94%) CSIRT
7 3 (0.94%) FortiGate
7 3 (0.94%) SCCM
8 2 (0.63%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.63%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.31%) CASB
9 1 (0.31%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 1 (0.31%) Consul
9 1 (0.31%) OpenVAS
9 1 (0.31%) Packer
9 1 (0.31%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.31%) Puppet
Vendors
1 66 (20.69%) Microsoft
2 31 (9.72%) Cisco
3 26 (8.15%) Qualys
4 23 (7.21%) Palo Alto
5 20 (6.27%) Splunk
6 19 (5.96%) Aruba
7 14 (4.39%) Sophos
8 11 (3.45%) VMware
8 11 (3.45%) Zscaler
9 10 (3.13%) CrowdStrike
10 9 (2.82%) CheckPoint
11 8 (2.51%) Fortinet
12 5 (1.57%) Tenable
12 5 (1.57%) TOWER Software
13 4 (1.25%) Okta
13 4 (1.25%) Rapid7
14 3 (0.94%) Dell
14 3 (0.94%) Google
14 3 (0.94%) ServiceNow
14 3 (0.94%) Veeam