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

6 months to
5 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 425 477 460
Rank change year-on-year +52 -17 -11
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 368 163 314
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.38% 0.38% 0.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.43% 0.56%
Number of salaries quoted 250 137 202
10th Percentile £40,000 £46,900 £42,550
25th Percentile £49,750 £52,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% - +8.33%
75th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £82,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £91,750 £100,000
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 71,905 38,217 56,104
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.27% 88.53% 80.99%
Number of salaries quoted 51,202 22,024 33,984
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £37,397 £41,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £76,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%

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 5 September 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 5 September 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 +29 168 £85,000 +17.24% 125
South East +14 75 £70,000 +19.15% 43
South West -29 53 £50,000 -25.93% 34
North of England -62 29 £56,000 -2.61% 32
Midlands -25 28 £65,000 +10.17% 24
West Midlands -30 18 £70,000 +18.64% 12
Yorkshire -49 16 £55,000 - 10
East of England - 11 £45,000 - 12
East Midlands -25 10 £46,743 -4.12% 12
North West -11 8 £67,500 +13.92% 17
North East -60 5 £75,000 +8.09% 5
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 (2.45%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (1.90%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.63%) Confluence
4 3 (0.82%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.82%) IIS
5 1 (0.27%) Apache
5 1 (0.27%) Drupal
5 1 (0.27%) nginx
5 1 (0.27%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.27%) FLEXCUBE
1 1 (0.27%) Magento
1 1 (0.27%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.27%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 91 (24.73%) AWS
2 85 (23.10%) Azure
3 29 (7.88%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (6.79%) GCP
5 17 (4.62%) Entra ID
6 12 (3.26%) SaaS
7 7 (1.90%) Azure Sentinel
7 7 (1.90%) Mimecast
8 6 (1.63%) Amazon Bedrock
8 6 (1.63%) Cloud Computing
8 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (1.36%) Nutanix
10 4 (1.09%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 4 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.09%) Azure Key Vault
10 4 (1.09%) GitHub
10 4 (1.09%) OneDrive
11 3 (0.82%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.82%) Amazon Kinesis
11 3 (0.82%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 96 (26.09%) Firewall
2 39 (10.60%) Wi-Fi
3 38 (10.33%) Cisco Nexus
4 34 (9.24%) Internet
5 33 (8.97%) Network Security
6 29 (7.88%) LAN
6 29 (7.88%) WAN
7 21 (5.71%) VPN
8 13 (3.53%) DNS
9 11 (2.99%) TCP/IP
10 9 (2.45%) Wireless
11 8 (2.17%) VLAN
12 7 (1.90%) Cisco ASA
12 7 (1.90%) Cisco ISE
13 6 (1.63%) Intrusion Detection
13 6 (1.63%) Wireshark
14 5 (1.36%) Kerberos
15 4 (1.09%) DHCP
15 4 (1.09%) HTTPS
15 4 (1.09%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.72%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.36%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.82%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.82%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.54%) KNIME
5 1 (0.27%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.27%) InterSystems Cache
5 1 (0.27%) Power BI
5 1 (0.27%) Redis
Development Applications
1 28 (7.61%) Burp Suite
2 25 (6.79%) Metasploit
3 14 (3.80%) JIRA
4 4 (1.09%) Yeoman
5 3 (0.82%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.82%) Git
5 3 (0.82%) Snyk
6 2 (0.54%) Gatling
6 2 (0.54%) GitLab
6 2 (0.54%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.54%) Maven
6 2 (0.54%) NUnit
6 2 (0.54%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.27%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.27%) IDA Disassembler
7 1 (0.27%) JMeter
7 1 (0.27%) JUnit
7 1 (0.27%) Postman
7 1 (0.27%) Selenium
7 1 (0.27%) Vagrant
General
1 114 (30.98%) Social Skills
2 58 (15.76%) Finance
3 53 (14.40%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (9.78%) Public Sector
5 30 (8.15%) Law
6 21 (5.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (3.80%) Banking
7 14 (3.80%) Retail
8 11 (2.99%) Influencing Skills
9 10 (2.72%) Aerospace
9 10 (2.72%) Telecoms
10 7 (1.90%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (1.90%) Presentation Skills
11 6 (1.63%) Legal
11 6 (1.63%) Marketing
11 6 (1.63%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (1.09%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.82%) Digital Health
13 3 (0.82%) Digital Healthcare
13 3 (0.82%) Military
Job Titles
1 98 (26.63%) Senior
2 67 (18.21%) Penetration Tester
2 67 (18.21%) Tester
3 54 (14.67%) Analyst
4 46 (12.50%) Lead
4 46 (12.50%) Security Analyst
5 38 (10.33%) Security Engineer
6 37 (10.05%) Senior Analyst
7 32 (8.70%) Consultant
8 31 (8.42%) Senior Security Analyst
9 28 (7.61%) Security Consultant
10 27 (7.34%) Senior Security Engineer
11 26 (7.07%) Cybersecurity Analyst
12 25 (6.79%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
13 23 (6.25%) Cybersecurity Engineer
14 21 (5.71%) Network Analyst
14 21 (5.71%) Senior Network Analyst
15 19 (5.16%) Security Specialist
16 17 (4.62%) Architect
17 16 (4.35%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.17%) Terraform
2 5 (1.36%) LDAP
3 4 (1.09%) .NET
3 4 (1.09%) OAuth
3 4 (1.09%) RESTful
4 3 (0.82%) .NET Framework
4 3 (0.82%) Kafka
4 3 (0.82%) OpenID
5 2 (0.54%) AngularJS
5 2 (0.54%) ASP.NET
5 2 (0.54%) ASP.NET Core
5 2 (0.54%) Entity Framework
5 2 (0.54%) OAuth2
5 2 (0.54%) OpenAPI
5 2 (0.54%) RxJS
5 2 (0.54%) Swagger
5 2 (0.54%) Vitest
6 1 (0.27%) CSS
6 1 (0.27%) HTML
6 1 (0.27%) Memcached
Miscellaneous
1 72 (19.57%) Security Posture
2 28 (7.61%) Cyber Threat
2 28 (7.61%) Management Information System
3 17 (4.62%) Onboarding
3 17 (4.62%) Self-Motivation
4 15 (4.08%) Mobile App
4 15 (4.08%) Security Operations Centre
5 12 (3.26%) Cyber Defence
5 12 (3.26%) Operational Technology
6 10 (2.72%) Cyber Security Posture
7 8 (2.17%) Blog
8 7 (1.90%) Cloud Native
8 7 (1.90%) NHS
9 6 (1.63%) Cyberattack
9 6 (1.63%) Data Centre
9 6 (1.63%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.36%) PKI
11 4 (1.09%) Cloud Security Posture
11 4 (1.09%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 4 (1.09%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 53 (14.40%) Windows
2 46 (12.50%) Linux
3 19 (5.16%) Windows Server
4 14 (3.80%) Android
4 14 (3.80%) Apple iOS
5 6 (1.63%) Mac OS
6 5 (1.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.09%) Kali Linux
8 3 (0.82%) Unix
9 2 (0.54%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 282 (76.63%) Cybersecurity
2 125 (33.97%) Vulnerability Management
3 97 (26.36%) Incident Response
3 97 (26.36%) SIEM
4 87 (23.64%) Security Testing
5 79 (21.47%) Security Operations
6 77 (20.92%) Red Team
7 74 (20.11%) Cloud Security
8 70 (19.02%) Information Security
9 62 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
10 57 (15.49%) Continuous Improvement
11 54 (14.67%) Offensive Security
12 51 (13.86%) Application Security
12 51 (13.86%) Disaster Recovery
13 49 (13.32%) Threat Detection
14 48 (13.04%) Mentoring
15 47 (12.77%) Vulnerability Assessment
15 47 (12.77%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 46 (12.50%) Threat Intelligence
17 45 (12.23%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 33 (8.97%) Python
2 31 (8.42%) PowerShell
3 17 (4.62%) Java
4 9 (2.45%) Go
5 7 (1.90%) SQL
6 6 (1.63%) Bicep
7 5 (1.36%) Bash
7 5 (1.36%) C
7 5 (1.36%) C#
7 5 (1.36%) C++
7 5 (1.36%) Perl
7 5 (1.36%) Ruby
8 4 (1.09%) JavaScript
9 3 (0.82%) Objective-C
9 3 (0.82%) PHP
9 3 (0.82%) Rust
10 2 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.54%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.27%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 65 (17.66%) CISSP
2 59 (16.03%) Security Cleared
3 57 (15.49%) CREST Certified
4 52 (14.13%) CISM
5 42 (11.41%) SC Cleared
6 37 (10.05%) OSCP
7 33 (8.97%) Degree
8 26 (7.07%) CHECK Team Member
9 23 (6.25%) Cisco Certification
10 17 (4.62%) CEH
10 17 (4.62%) CompTIA Security+
11 14 (3.80%) CCNP
12 13 (3.53%) CHECK Team Leader
12 13 (3.53%) DV Cleared
12 13 (3.53%) GIAC
13 10 (2.72%) Computer Science Degree
14 9 (2.45%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 9 (2.45%) AWS Certification
15 8 (2.17%) CCNA
15 8 (2.17%) Cyber Scheme
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 104 (28.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 67 (18.21%) NIST
3 45 (12.23%) GDPR
4 41 (11.14%) Cyber Essentials
5 24 (6.52%) GRC
6 19 (5.16%) PCI DSS
7 13 (3.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 12 (3.26%) NCSC
9 10 (2.72%) SOC 2
10 8 (2.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 6 (1.63%) Def Stans
11 6 (1.63%) NIST 800
12 5 (1.36%) Actionable Recommendations
12 5 (1.36%) QA
13 4 (1.09%) SLA
14 3 (0.82%) Accessibility
15 2 (0.54%) COBIT
15 2 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 1 (0.27%) Data Quality
16 1 (0.27%) WCAG
System Software
1 38 (10.33%) Active Directory
2 10 (2.72%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.36%) Docker
3 5 (1.36%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.82%) EMC RecoverPoint
5 2 (0.54%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 2 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 25 (6.79%) Nmap
2 18 (4.89%) Kubernetes
2 18 (4.89%) Nessus
3 7 (1.90%) Microsoft Intune
4 5 (1.36%) Red Hat Satellite
4 5 (1.36%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.82%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.82%) SCCM
5 3 (0.82%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
5 3 (0.82%) VxRail
6 2 (0.54%) Ansible
6 2 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.27%) CASB
7 1 (0.27%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 1 (0.27%) Consul
7 1 (0.27%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 1 (0.27%) OpenVAS
7 1 (0.27%) Packer
7 1 (0.27%) Puppet
7 1 (0.27%) QRadar
Vendors
1 71 (19.29%) Microsoft
2 51 (13.86%) Cisco
3 50 (13.59%) Palo Alto
3 50 (13.59%) Qualys
4 37 (10.05%) Aruba
5 21 (5.71%) Splunk
6 15 (4.08%) CrowdStrike
6 15 (4.08%) Tenable
7 14 (3.80%) Rapid7
8 10 (2.72%) VMware
9 9 (2.45%) Fortinet
9 9 (2.45%) Sophos
10 7 (1.90%) ServiceNow
10 7 (1.90%) Zscaler
11 6 (1.63%) Oracle
11 6 (1.63%) Veracode
12 5 (1.36%) CyberArk
12 5 (1.36%) Ivanti
12 5 (1.36%) Red Hat
13 4 (1.09%) CheckPoint