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 vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 475 454 448
Rank change year-on-year -21 -6 +122
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 161 318 318
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 0.37% 0.47% 0.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.42% 0.57% 0.61%
Number of salaries quoted 135 194 285
10th Percentile £47,750 £43,225 £42,500
25th Percentile £53,719 £51,563 £50,757
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - +8.33% -14.29%
75th Percentile £79,375 £82,500 £83,750
90th Percentile £90,750 £100,000 £99,000
UK median annual salary £67,500 £65,000 £61,000
% change year-on-year +3.85% +6.56% -12.86%

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 38,123 55,583 52,252
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 88.74% 81.32% 94.35%
Number of salaries quoted 21,792 32,261 39,094
10th Percentile £28,571 £32,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £42,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £62,004
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% -7.26% +3.34%
75th Percentile £76,250 £77,500 £81,250
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,250 £100,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Penetration Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing 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 15 September 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 15 September 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 +17 84 £73,750 +5.36% 43
North of England +20 28 £57,500 -6.12% 27
South East +18 25 £60,000 +1.69% 31
Yorkshire +31 17 £55,000 +4.76% 9
Midlands +18 14 £59,000 +2.61% 25
West Midlands +33 11 £59,000 +7.27% 17
North West -8 8 £63,000 -1.56% 17
South West +50 5 £67,500 +5.47% 18
East Midlands +16 3 £60,000 +4.35% 7
North East - 3 £69,384 - 1
Penetration Testing
UK

Penetration Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 4 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.24%) TPMS
3 1 (0.62%) SharePoint
Applications
1 4 (2.48%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (2.48%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.62%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 54 (33.54%) Azure
2 30 (18.63%) AWS
3 23 (14.29%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (10.56%) Entra ID
5 11 (6.83%) Azure Sentinel
6 9 (5.59%) GCP
7 8 (4.97%) Slack
8 6 (3.73%) Google Workspace
9 5 (3.11%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (3.11%) Power Platform
10 4 (2.48%) Azure Key Vault
10 4 (2.48%) GitHub
10 4 (2.48%) PaaS
10 4 (2.48%) SaaS
11 3 (1.86%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.86%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (1.86%) Mimecast
12 2 (1.24%) Azure Stack
12 2 (1.24%) IaaS
12 2 (1.24%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 62 (38.51%) Firewall
2 42 (26.09%) Network Security
3 13 (8.07%) TCP/IP
4 12 (7.45%) Wireless
5 11 (6.83%) VPN
6 8 (4.97%) BGP
6 8 (4.97%) Intrusion Detection
6 8 (4.97%) OSPF
7 7 (4.35%) SSL
7 7 (4.35%) VLAN
8 6 (3.73%) Spanning Tree
9 4 (2.48%) HTTP
9 4 (2.48%) HTTPS
9 4 (2.48%) WAN
9 4 (2.48%) Wi-Fi
9 4 (2.48%) Wireshark
10 3 (1.86%) Cisco ISE
11 2 (1.24%) Cisco Nexus
11 2 (1.24%) IPsec
11 2 (1.24%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (3.11%) Power BI
2 4 (2.48%) Tableau
3 2 (1.24%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (1.24%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.62%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 12 (7.45%) JIRA
2 10 (6.21%) Burp Suite
3 9 (5.59%) Metasploit
4 2 (1.24%) Git
4 2 (1.24%) Selenium
5 1 (0.62%) GitLab
5 1 (0.62%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.62%) Postman
5 1 (0.62%) REST Assured
5 1 (0.62%) SoapUI
General
1 68 (42.24%) Social Skills
2 22 (13.66%) Finance
3 15 (9.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 14 (8.70%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (8.70%) Influencing Skills
5 8 (4.97%) Presentation Skills
6 7 (4.35%) Law
6 7 (4.35%) Mandarin Language
7 6 (3.73%) Legal
8 4 (2.48%) Banking
9 3 (1.86%) Aerospace
9 3 (1.86%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (1.24%) Public Sector
11 1 (0.62%) Financial Institution
11 1 (0.62%) Military
11 1 (0.62%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.62%) Retail
11 1 (0.62%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 43 (26.71%) Security Engineer
2 27 (16.77%) Analyst
3 26 (16.15%) Security Analyst
4 24 (14.91%) Senior
5 17 (10.56%) Lead
6 16 (9.94%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 15 (9.32%) Senior Security Engineer
8 14 (8.70%) Network Engineer
9 12 (7.45%) Architect
9 12 (7.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 12 (7.45%) Security Architect
9 12 (7.45%) Tester
10 11 (6.83%) Penetration Tester
11 9 (5.59%) Cybersecurity Specialist
11 9 (5.59%) Security Specialist
12 8 (4.97%) IT Manager
13 7 (4.35%) Cloud Engineer
13 7 (4.35%) Information Analyst
13 7 (4.35%) Information Security Analyst
13 7 (4.35%) IT Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.86%) JSON
2 2 (1.24%) Elastic Stack
3 1 (0.62%) EDI
3 1 (0.62%) JWT
3 1 (0.62%) ModSecurity
3 1 (0.62%) OAuth
3 1 (0.62%) OAuth2
3 1 (0.62%) PyTorch
3 1 (0.62%) REST
3 1 (0.62%) SAML
3 1 (0.62%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 20 (12.42%) Management Information System
1 20 (12.42%) Security Posture
2 17 (10.56%) Security Operations Centre
3 13 (8.07%) Cyber Threat
3 13 (8.07%) Mobile App
3 13 (8.07%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (4.97%) Data Centre
5 7 (4.35%) Operational Technology
6 6 (3.73%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 5 (3.11%) Cloud Native
7 5 (3.11%) Cyber Defence
7 5 (3.11%) SCADA
8 4 (2.48%) Distributed Systems
9 3 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (1.86%) Cyber Security Posture
9 3 (1.86%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.86%) PKI
9 3 (1.86%) Public Cloud
9 3 (1.86%) Virtual Team
10 2 (1.24%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 33 (20.50%) Windows
2 21 (13.04%) Linux
3 6 (3.73%) Android
3 6 (3.73%) Apple iOS
4 5 (3.11%) Kali Linux
4 5 (3.11%) Windows Server
5 4 (2.48%) Unix
6 3 (1.86%) VMS
7 2 (1.24%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.62%) Debian
8 1 (0.62%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.62%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.62%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (62.73%) Cybersecurity
2 72 (44.72%) Incident Response
3 57 (35.40%) SIEM
3 57 (35.40%) Vulnerability Management
4 40 (24.84%) Vulnerability Assessment
5 39 (24.22%) Information Security
6 33 (20.50%) Security Operations
7 30 (18.63%) Vulnerability Scanning
8 28 (17.39%) Cloud Security
9 25 (15.53%) Security Testing
10 23 (14.29%) DevOps
11 21 (13.04%) Problem-Solving
12 20 (12.42%) Computer Science
12 20 (12.42%) Risk Management
13 19 (11.80%) Security Architecture
14 17 (10.56%) Application Security
14 17 (10.56%) CI/CD
15 16 (9.94%) Mentoring
16 15 (9.32%) ITIL
16 15 (9.32%) Threat Detection
Programming Languages
1 36 (22.36%) Python
2 30 (18.63%) PowerShell
3 21 (13.04%) Bash
4 11 (6.83%) Go
5 9 (5.59%) SQL
6 7 (4.35%) Java
7 5 (3.11%) JavaScript
8 4 (2.48%) C
8 4 (2.48%) C#
8 4 (2.48%) C++
8 4 (2.48%) Kotlin
8 4 (2.48%) Objective-C
8 4 (2.48%) R
9 3 (1.86%) Perl
10 1 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 39 (24.22%) Degree
2 27 (16.77%) CISSP
3 21 (13.04%) SC Cleared
3 21 (13.04%) Security Cleared
4 14 (8.70%) OSCP
5 12 (7.45%) Cisco Certification
6 11 (6.83%) CCNA
6 11 (6.83%) CCNP
6 11 (6.83%) CEH
6 11 (6.83%) CompTIA Security+
6 11 (6.83%) GCIA
7 9 (5.59%) CISM
7 9 (5.59%) CREST Certified
8 8 (4.97%) SANS
9 7 (4.35%) CISA
10 6 (3.73%) CHECK Team Leader
10 6 (3.73%) Master's Degree
11 5 (3.11%) GIAC
12 4 (2.48%) CIMA
12 4 (2.48%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (39.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 48 (29.81%) NIST
3 24 (14.91%) Cyber Essentials
4 14 (8.70%) GDPR
5 11 (6.83%) NCSC
6 9 (5.59%) Accessibility
7 8 (4.97%) QA
8 4 (2.48%) SOC 2
9 3 (1.86%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (1.86%) NIST 800
10 2 (1.24%) COBIT
11 1 (0.62%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.62%) GRC
11 1 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 20 (12.42%) Active Directory
2 8 (4.97%) Virtual Machines
3 4 (2.48%) Firmware
4 3 (1.86%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (1.24%) EMC RecoverPoint
5 2 (1.24%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.24%) pfSense
5 2 (1.24%) Squid
5 2 (1.24%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.62%) Docker
Systems Management
1 12 (7.45%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (6.83%) Single Sign-On
3 6 (3.73%) Jamf Pro
3 6 (3.73%) Kubernetes
3 6 (3.73%) Nmap
4 5 (3.11%) QRadar
5 4 (2.48%) Nessus
6 3 (1.86%) Terraform
7 2 (1.24%) Cisco CUCM
7 2 (1.24%) Kibana
7 2 (1.24%) VxRail
8 1 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.62%) Ansible
8 1 (0.62%) Argo
8 1 (0.62%) CASB
8 1 (0.62%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.62%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.62%) Proxmox
8 1 (0.62%) SCCM
8 1 (0.62%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 57 (35.40%) Microsoft
2 20 (12.42%) Cisco
3 10 (6.21%) Splunk
3 10 (6.21%) Tenable
4 8 (4.97%) Google
4 8 (4.97%) ServiceNow
5 7 (4.35%) Meraki
6 5 (3.11%) Fortinet
6 5 (3.11%) Oracle
6 5 (3.11%) Palo Alto
6 5 (3.11%) VMware
7 4 (2.48%) Sophos
8 3 (1.86%) CheckPoint
8 3 (1.86%) Dell
8 3 (1.86%) Juniper
8 3 (1.86%) Zscaler
9 2 (1.24%) Checkmarx
9 2 (1.24%) CrowdStrike
9 2 (1.24%) LogicMonitor
9 2 (1.24%) Okta