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

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 415 457 476
Rank change year-on-year +42 +19 -21
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 333 197 428
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.39% 0.48% 0.46%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.52% 0.56%
Number of salaries quoted 217 162 342
10th Percentile £41,700 £43,875 £38,750
25th Percentile £49,750 £53,750 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £87,500 £78,750 £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% +4.00%

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 63,008 37,645 76,122
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.63% 91.62% 82.29%
Number of salaries quoted 44,477 20,913 54,962
10th Percentile £31,000 £28,822 £29,490
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,750 £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 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £93,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.09%

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 30 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 30 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 +22 146 £82,500 +17.86% 32
South East +18 64 £71,250 +18.75% 21
South West -17 51 £50,000 -25.93% 8
Midlands -33 32 £51,058 -24.36% 5
North of England -70 25 £61,750 +7.39% 3
West Midlands -30 20 £67,500 - 3
Yorkshire -33 14 £55,000 - 2
East Midlands -17 12 £46,743 +16.86% 2
North East -46 6 £75,000 +3.18%
East of England - 6 £32,500 - 3
North West -15 5 £67,500 +13.92% 1
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 (2.70%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.10%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.20%) Confluence
4 3 (0.90%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.90%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) Apache
5 1 (0.30%) Drupal
5 1 (0.30%) nginx
5 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Magento
1 1 (0.30%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 83 (24.92%) AWS
2 81 (24.32%) Azure
3 34 (10.21%) Microsoft 365
4 27 (8.11%) GCP
5 16 (4.80%) Entra ID
6 9 (2.70%) Azure Sentinel
6 9 (2.70%) GitHub
7 8 (2.40%) SaaS
8 6 (1.80%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (1.50%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (1.20%) Amazon Bedrock
10 4 (1.20%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.20%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 4 (1.20%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.20%) Azure Key Vault
10 4 (1.20%) Cloud Computing
10 4 (1.20%) Mimecast
10 4 (1.20%) Rubrik
11 3 (0.90%) Amazon Kinesis
11 3 (0.90%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 77 (23.12%) Firewall
2 29 (8.71%) Network Security
3 25 (7.51%) Cisco Nexus
4 24 (7.21%) Wi-Fi
5 23 (6.91%) Internet
6 21 (6.31%) VPN
7 20 (6.01%) Wireless
8 15 (4.50%) LAN
8 15 (4.50%) WAN
9 13 (3.90%) DNS
10 11 (3.30%) TCP/IP
11 9 (2.70%) Cisco ISE
12 8 (2.40%) VLAN
13 6 (1.80%) Intrusion Detection
14 5 (1.50%) DHCP
15 4 (1.20%) HTTPS
16 3 (0.90%) DMZ
16 3 (0.90%) Kerberos
16 3 (0.90%) SSL
16 3 (0.90%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (2.10%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.90%) Amazon RDS
2 3 (0.90%) Hadoop
2 3 (0.90%) MongoDB
2 3 (0.90%) NoSQL
3 2 (0.60%) KNIME
4 1 (0.30%) InterSystems Cache
4 1 (0.30%) Power BI
4 1 (0.30%) Redis
Development Applications
1 21 (6.31%) Burp Suite
2 20 (6.01%) Metasploit
3 11 (3.30%) JIRA
4 6 (1.80%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.20%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.90%) Git
6 3 (0.90%) Yeoman
7 2 (0.60%) Gatling
7 2 (0.60%) NUnit
7 2 (0.60%) Snyk
8 1 (0.30%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.30%) GitLab
8 1 (0.30%) IDA Disassembler
8 1 (0.30%) JMeter
8 1 (0.30%) JUnit
8 1 (0.30%) Postman
8 1 (0.30%) Selenium
8 1 (0.30%) Vagrant
General
1 110 (33.03%) Social Skills
2 74 (22.22%) Finance
3 37 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
4 34 (10.21%) Public Sector
5 33 (9.91%) Law
6 21 (6.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 19 (5.71%) Retail
8 15 (4.50%) Banking
9 10 (3.00%) Legal
10 8 (2.40%) Marketing
11 7 (2.10%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (1.50%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.20%) Financial Institution
13 4 (1.20%) Telecoms
14 3 (0.90%) Back Office
14 3 (0.90%) Digital Health
14 3 (0.90%) Digital Healthcare
14 3 (0.90%) Military
15 2 (0.60%) Social Housing
16 1 (0.30%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 80 (24.02%) Senior
2 61 (18.32%) Analyst
3 51 (15.32%) Penetration Tester
3 51 (15.32%) Security Analyst
3 51 (15.32%) Tester
4 43 (12.91%) Consultant
5 42 (12.61%) Security Consultant
6 40 (12.01%) Senior Analyst
7 37 (11.11%) Senior Security Analyst
8 27 (8.11%) Lead
9 26 (7.81%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 23 (6.91%) Security Manager
10 23 (6.91%) Security Specialist
10 23 (6.91%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
11 21 (6.31%) Security Engineer
12 18 (5.41%) Cybersecurity Consultant
13 17 (5.11%) Network Analyst
13 17 (5.11%) Senior Network Analyst
14 16 (4.80%) Team Leader
15 14 (4.20%) Network Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.20%) .NET
1 4 (1.20%) RESTful
2 3 (0.90%) .NET Framework
2 3 (0.90%) Kafka
2 3 (0.90%) LDAP
2 3 (0.90%) OAuth
3 2 (0.60%) AngularJS
3 2 (0.60%) ASP.NET
3 2 (0.60%) ASP.NET Core
3 2 (0.60%) Entity Framework
3 2 (0.60%) OAuth2
3 2 (0.60%) OpenAPI
3 2 (0.60%) OpenID
3 2 (0.60%) RxJS
3 2 (0.60%) Swagger
3 2 (0.60%) Vitest
4 1 (0.30%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.30%) Memcached
4 1 (0.30%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 78 (23.42%) Security Posture
2 30 (9.01%) Cyber Threat
3 28 (8.41%) Cyber Defence
3 28 (8.41%) Mobile App
4 22 (6.61%) Management Information System
5 15 (4.50%) Self-Motivation
6 13 (3.90%) Security Operations Centre
7 11 (3.30%) Onboarding
8 10 (3.00%) Data Centre
9 8 (2.40%) Blog
10 7 (2.10%) Cloud Native
10 7 (2.10%) Cyber Security Posture
10 7 (2.10%) Cyberattack
11 6 (1.80%) Insider Threat
11 6 (1.80%) Operational Technology
12 5 (1.50%) Enterprise Software
13 3 (0.90%) CCTV
13 3 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
13 3 (0.90%) NHS
13 3 (0.90%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 48 (14.41%) Windows
2 39 (11.71%) Linux
3 16 (4.80%) Android
3 16 (4.80%) Apple iOS
4 15 (4.50%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.20%) Unix
6 3 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.30%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.30%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 232 (69.67%) Cybersecurity
2 101 (30.33%) Incident Response
3 93 (27.93%) Vulnerability Management
4 91 (27.33%) Red Team
5 74 (22.22%) SIEM
6 68 (20.42%) Security Testing
7 66 (19.82%) Offensive Security
8 61 (18.32%) Cloud Security
8 61 (18.32%) Mentoring
9 60 (18.02%) Application Security
9 60 (18.02%) Problem-Solving
9 60 (18.02%) Security Operations
10 58 (17.42%) Information Security
11 43 (12.91%) Continuous Improvement
12 42 (12.61%) Disaster Recovery
13 40 (12.01%) Threat Modelling
14 38 (11.41%) Threat Intelligence
15 34 (10.21%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 33 (9.91%) Agile
17 32 (9.61%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 46 (13.81%) PowerShell
2 45 (13.51%) Python
3 24 (7.21%) Bash
4 15 (4.50%) Java
5 12 (3.60%) Go
6 7 (2.10%) SQL
7 6 (1.80%) Bicep
8 5 (1.50%) C#
9 4 (1.20%) C
9 4 (1.20%) C++
9 4 (1.20%) Perl
10 3 (0.90%) Objective-C
10 3 (0.90%) PHP
10 3 (0.90%) Ruby
10 3 (0.90%) Rust
11 2 (0.60%) JavaScript
11 2 (0.60%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.60%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 77 (23.12%) CREST Certified
2 61 (18.32%) OSCP
3 60 (18.02%) CISSP
4 54 (16.22%) Security Cleared
5 44 (13.21%) SC Cleared
6 41 (12.31%) CISM
7 35 (10.51%) Degree
8 29 (8.71%) CHECK Team Member
9 26 (7.81%) CHECK Team Leader
10 23 (6.91%) CEH
10 23 (6.91%) Cisco Certification
11 20 (6.01%) CompTIA Security+
12 19 (5.71%) CCSAM
13 16 (4.80%) CCNA
13 16 (4.80%) CCNP
14 14 (4.20%) DV Cleared
14 14 (4.20%) GIAC
15 8 (2.40%) OSCE
15 8 (2.40%) SANS
16 6 (1.80%) GPEN
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 90 (27.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 49 (14.71%) NIST
3 42 (12.61%) GDPR
4 41 (12.31%) Cyber Essentials
5 18 (5.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 18 (5.41%) PCI DSS
6 14 (4.20%) Actionable Recommendations
6 14 (4.20%) NCSC
7 12 (3.60%) GRC
8 8 (2.40%) Accessibility
9 7 (2.10%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 6 (1.80%) SOC 2
11 5 (1.50%) QA
12 4 (1.20%) Def Stans
12 4 (1.20%) NIST 800
13 3 (0.90%) COBIT
13 3 (0.90%) Data Quality
13 3 (0.90%) SLA
14 1 (0.30%) GxP
14 1 (0.30%) WCAG
System Software
1 39 (11.71%) Active Directory
2 9 (2.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.20%) Docker
3 4 (1.20%) EMC RecoverPoint
4 3 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.90%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (5.71%) Kubernetes
2 14 (4.20%) Nessus
3 12 (3.60%) Nmap
4 11 (3.30%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (3.00%) Terraform
6 5 (1.50%) Ansible
7 4 (1.20%) VxRail
8 3 (0.90%) CSIRT
8 3 (0.90%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.90%) Red Hat Satellite
8 3 (0.90%) SCCM
9 2 (0.60%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.30%) CASB
10 1 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 1 (0.30%) Consul
10 1 (0.30%) OpenVAS
10 1 (0.30%) Packer
10 1 (0.30%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.30%) Puppet
Vendors
1 68 (20.42%) Microsoft
2 33 (9.91%) Cisco
3 29 (8.71%) Qualys
4 26 (7.81%) Palo Alto
5 21 (6.31%) Aruba
5 21 (6.31%) Splunk
6 14 (4.20%) Sophos
7 12 (3.60%) VMware
8 11 (3.30%) CrowdStrike
8 11 (3.30%) Zscaler
9 9 (2.70%) CheckPoint
10 8 (2.40%) Fortinet
11 7 (2.10%) Tenable
12 5 (1.50%) Rapid7
12 5 (1.50%) ServiceNow
12 5 (1.50%) TOWER Software
13 4 (1.20%) Okta
14 3 (0.90%) CyberArk
14 3 (0.90%) Veeam
14 3 (0.90%) Veracode