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

6 months to
8 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 443 392 356
Rank change year-on-year -51 -36 +163
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 171 307 359
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.32% 0.63% 0.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.40% 0.70% 0.84%
Number of salaries quoted 138 184 284
10th Percentile £48,165 £45,000 £42,849
25th Percentile £51,563 £56,250 £52,475
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £63,250
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +2.77% -9.64%
75th Percentile £87,500 £88,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £87,500
UK median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +7.69% - -6.07%

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 42,844 44,109 42,817
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 81.40% 90.47% 89.81%
Number of salaries quoted 25,653 21,778 33,081
10th Percentile £28,697 £35,000 £32,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,874
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £96,750 £100,000 £100,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 8 January 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 8 January 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 -10 76 £76,000 +4.83% 37
South West +27 33 £80,000 +25.00% 33
Midlands +6 26 £52,500 -8.70% 27
South East -21 19 £62,500 +4.17% 42
East Midlands +11 13 £51,058 -11.20% 14
West Midlands +5 13 £57,500 -11.54% 12
North of England -11 11 £55,000 - 28
Yorkshire -10 7 £60,000 +14.29% 11
North West -1 4 £55,000 -12.00% 13
East of England +21 1 £85,000 +198.25% 22
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 6 (3.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.75%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.58%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (4.09%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (4.09%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.58%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 56 (32.75%) Azure
2 30 (17.54%) AWS
3 15 (8.77%) Azure Sentinel
4 14 (8.19%) Slack
5 12 (7.02%) Entra ID
5 12 (7.02%) Microsoft 365
6 11 (6.43%) Microsoft Purview
7 10 (5.85%) GitHub
7 10 (5.85%) Power Platform
8 8 (4.68%) GCP
9 6 (3.51%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (1.75%) IBM Cloud
10 3 (1.75%) Mimecast
11 2 (1.17%) Rubrik
11 2 (1.17%) SaaS
11 2 (1.17%) SecurityScorecard
12 1 (0.58%) Cloud Computing
12 1 (0.58%) Datadog
12 1 (0.58%) OpenShift
12 1 (0.58%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 35 (20.47%) Firewall
2 26 (15.20%) Network Security
3 15 (8.77%) TCP/IP
4 13 (7.60%) VPN
5 9 (5.26%) Wireless
5 9 (5.26%) Wireshark
6 7 (4.09%) Intrusion Detection
6 7 (4.09%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (2.92%) HTTP
7 5 (2.92%) VLAN
8 4 (2.34%) DNS
8 4 (2.34%) Ethernet
9 3 (1.75%) Cisco ISE
9 3 (1.75%) Internet
9 3 (1.75%) Modbus
10 2 (1.17%) BGP
10 2 (1.17%) ICMP
10 2 (1.17%) OSPF
10 2 (1.17%) SSH
10 2 (1.17%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (5.85%) Power BI
2 7 (4.09%) Tableau
3 2 (1.17%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 16 (9.36%) Burp Suite
1 16 (9.36%) JIRA
1 16 (9.36%) Metasploit
2 6 (3.51%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.17%) IDA Disassembler
4 1 (0.58%) Git
4 1 (0.58%) GitLab
General
1 67 (39.18%) Social Skills
2 35 (20.47%) Finance
3 19 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (9.94%) Influencing Skills
5 16 (9.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 15 (8.77%) Presentation Skills
7 11 (6.43%) Retail
8 9 (5.26%) Banking
9 6 (3.51%) Law
10 4 (2.34%) Electronics
10 4 (2.34%) Legal
10 4 (2.34%) Marketing
10 4 (2.34%) Public Sector
11 3 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.75%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.75%) Military
12 2 (1.17%) Aerospace
12 2 (1.17%) Public Speaking
12 2 (1.17%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.58%) Mandarin Language
Job Titles
1 40 (23.39%) Security Engineer
2 31 (18.13%) Analyst
3 27 (15.79%) Security Analyst
4 23 (13.45%) Senior
5 20 (11.70%) Consultant
5 20 (11.70%) Security Consultant
6 17 (9.94%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 15 (8.77%) IT Manager
7 15 (8.77%) Senior Security Engineer
8 12 (7.02%) Cybersecurity Consultant
8 12 (7.02%) Tester
9 11 (6.43%) Penetration Tester
9 11 (6.43%) Security Manager
10 10 (5.85%) Security Specialist
11 9 (5.26%) Applications Engineer
11 9 (5.26%) Lead
12 8 (4.68%) Auditor
12 8 (4.68%) Information Analyst
12 8 (4.68%) Information Security Analyst
12 8 (4.68%) IT Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.92%) JSON
2 1 (0.58%) PyTorch
2 1 (0.58%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.58%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 33 (19.30%) Security Posture
2 24 (14.04%) Management Information System
3 14 (8.19%) Cyber Defence
4 11 (6.43%) Cyber Threat
4 11 (6.43%) Mobile App
4 11 (6.43%) Security Operations Centre
5 8 (4.68%) Operational Technology
5 8 (4.68%) Self-Motivation
6 7 (4.09%) Insider Threat
6 7 (4.09%) PKI
7 6 (3.51%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (3.51%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 5 (2.92%) Cloud Native
8 5 (2.92%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (2.92%) SCADA
9 4 (2.34%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (1.75%) Cyber Security Posture
10 3 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.75%) Onboarding
10 3 (1.75%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 23 (13.45%) Linux
2 22 (12.87%) Windows
3 7 (4.09%) Unix
4 6 (3.51%) Windows Server
5 4 (2.34%) Android
5 4 (2.34%) Apple iOS
6 3 (1.75%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.58%) Debian
7 1 (0.58%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.58%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (53.80%) Cybersecurity
2 62 (36.26%) Incident Response
3 47 (27.49%) SIEM
4 45 (26.32%) Red Team
4 45 (26.32%) Vulnerability Management
5 37 (21.64%) Information Security
5 37 (21.64%) Problem-Solving
6 32 (18.71%) Application Security
6 32 (18.71%) Vulnerability Scanning
7 31 (18.13%) Security Operations
8 30 (17.54%) Vulnerability Assessment
9 27 (15.79%) DevOps
10 25 (14.62%) Vulnerability Remediation
11 22 (12.87%) CI/CD
11 22 (12.87%) Threat Modelling
12 21 (12.28%) Cloud Security
12 21 (12.28%) SDLC
13 20 (11.70%) ITIL
13 20 (11.70%) Security Testing
13 20 (11.70%) Technology Transformation
Programming Languages
1 54 (31.58%) Python
2 32 (18.71%) Bash
2 32 (18.71%) PowerShell
3 16 (9.36%) Go
4 10 (5.85%) SQL
5 7 (4.09%) C
5 7 (4.09%) C++
5 7 (4.09%) R
6 6 (3.51%) C#
7 5 (2.92%) JavaScript
7 5 (2.92%) Perl
8 3 (1.75%) Java
9 2 (1.17%) Ruby
10 1 (0.58%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.58%) Scala
Qualifications
1 51 (29.82%) CISSP
2 42 (24.56%) Degree
3 39 (22.81%) Security Cleared
4 33 (19.30%) SC Cleared
5 32 (18.71%) OSCP
6 31 (18.13%) CREST Certified
7 30 (17.54%) Cisco Certification
8 21 (12.28%) CCNA
9 19 (11.11%) CompTIA Security+
10 18 (10.53%) GIAC
11 16 (9.36%) SANS
12 15 (8.77%) CEH
13 13 (7.60%) DV Cleared
14 12 (7.02%) CHECK Team Member
14 12 (7.02%) CISA
14 12 (7.02%) GCIA
14 12 (7.02%) GCIH
15 11 (6.43%) CCNP
16 10 (5.85%) GPEN
16 10 (5.85%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (41.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 51 (29.82%) NIST
3 26 (15.20%) Cyber Essentials
4 20 (11.70%) Accessibility
5 13 (7.60%) GDPR
6 7 (4.09%) Actionable Recommendations
7 6 (3.51%) NCSC
8 5 (2.92%) NIST 800
9 4 (2.34%) GRC
9 4 (2.34%) QA
10 3 (1.75%) ITGC
10 3 (1.75%) PCI DSS
10 3 (1.75%) RMADS
11 2 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (1.17%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 1 (0.58%) COBIT
12 1 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 1 (0.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.58%) SOC 2
System Software
1 14 (8.19%) Virtual Machines
2 9 (5.26%) Active Directory
3 6 (3.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.34%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (1.75%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.17%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (1.17%) Firmware
6 2 (1.17%) pfSense
6 2 (1.17%) Squid
Systems Management
1 12 (7.02%) Nmap
2 11 (6.43%) Nessus
3 8 (4.68%) QRadar
4 5 (2.92%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (2.34%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.75%) ArcSight ESM
6 3 (1.75%) Kubernetes
6 3 (1.75%) Proxmox
7 2 (1.17%) Cisco CUCM
7 2 (1.17%) CSIRT
7 2 (1.17%) Terraform
7 2 (1.17%) VxRail
8 1 (0.58%) Ansible
8 1 (0.58%) CASB
8 1 (0.58%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.58%) SCCM
Vendors
1 54 (31.58%) Microsoft
2 16 (9.36%) Cisco
3 15 (8.77%) Tenable
4 14 (8.19%) ServiceNow
5 10 (5.85%) Splunk
6 8 (4.68%) VMware
7 7 (4.09%) Oracle
8 5 (2.92%) Fortinet
8 5 (2.92%) Palo Alto
8 5 (2.92%) Qualys
9 4 (2.34%) CheckPoint
9 4 (2.34%) Zscaler
10 3 (1.75%) ArcSight
10 3 (1.75%) CyberArk
10 3 (1.75%) IBM
10 3 (1.75%) LogLogic
10 3 (1.75%) McAfee
11 2 (1.17%) LogRhythm
11 2 (1.17%) Okta
11 2 (1.17%) Trend Micro