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 23 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 449 425 413
Rank change year-on-year -24 -12 +115
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 161 324 315
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.35% 0.53% 0.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.41% 0.62% 0.72%
Number of salaries quoted 145 194 273
10th Percentile £47,750 £46,883 £42,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £56,250 £51,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £61,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +6.56% -12.86%
75th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £64,451
% change year-on-year +7.69% +0.85% -6.86%

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 39,369 51,858 43,590
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 85.22% 84.32% 93.70%
Number of salaries quoted 24,574 27,331 33,414
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -1.93%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £81,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £99,500 £100,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -

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 23 November 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 23 November 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 -21 76 £75,000 +3.45% 30
South West +37 26 £80,000 +25.00% 20
South East +25 23 £57,500 -4.17% 23
Midlands +39 18 £53,000 -7.83% 21
West Midlands +34 11 £54,000 +2.86% 19
North of England +8 11 £55,000 -8.33% 17
Yorkshire +16 9 £55,000 +4.76% 4
East Midlands +33 7 £51,058 -11.20% 2
North West +18 2 £57,500 -8.00% 10
East of England +31 1 £85,000 +198.25% 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 6 (3.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.86%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.62%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (4.35%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (4.35%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.62%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 55 (34.16%) Azure
2 24 (14.91%) AWS
3 17 (10.56%) Entra ID
4 15 (9.32%) Slack
5 13 (8.07%) Azure Sentinel
5 13 (8.07%) Microsoft 365
6 11 (6.83%) Microsoft Purview
7 10 (6.21%) GitHub
7 10 (6.21%) Power Platform
8 6 (3.73%) GCP
8 6 (3.73%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (2.48%) Azure Key Vault
10 3 (1.86%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (1.86%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (1.86%) IBM Cloud
10 3 (1.86%) Mimecast
10 3 (1.86%) PaaS
10 3 (1.86%) SaaS
11 2 (1.24%) Azure Stack
11 2 (1.24%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 51 (31.68%) Firewall
2 32 (19.88%) Network Security
3 15 (9.32%) TCP/IP
4 13 (8.07%) VPN
5 10 (6.21%) Intrusion Detection
6 8 (4.97%) Wi-Fi
6 8 (4.97%) Wireshark
7 7 (4.35%) Wireless
8 6 (3.73%) VLAN
9 5 (3.11%) HTTP
10 4 (2.48%) BGP
10 4 (2.48%) DNS
10 4 (2.48%) Ethernet
10 4 (2.48%) OSPF
11 3 (1.86%) Cisco ISE
11 3 (1.86%) Modbus
11 3 (1.86%) Spanning Tree
12 2 (1.24%) Cisco Nexus
12 2 (1.24%) ICMP
12 2 (1.24%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (6.21%) Power BI
2 7 (4.35%) Tableau
3 2 (1.24%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.62%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 19 (11.80%) JIRA
2 13 (8.07%) Burp Suite
3 12 (7.45%) Metasploit
4 6 (3.73%) Jenkins
5 2 (1.24%) Git
5 2 (1.24%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.62%) GitLab
General
1 74 (45.96%) Social Skills
2 23 (14.29%) Finance
3 21 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
4 18 (11.18%) Influencing Skills
5 16 (9.94%) Presentation Skills
6 14 (8.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (4.35%) Law
8 6 (3.73%) Retail
9 5 (3.11%) Manufacturing
10 4 (2.48%) Banking
10 4 (2.48%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (2.48%) Electronics
11 3 (1.86%) Mandarin Language
11 3 (1.86%) Military
11 3 (1.86%) Public Sector
12 2 (1.24%) Legal
12 2 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.62%) Advertising
13 1 (0.62%) Aerospace
13 1 (0.62%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 47 (29.19%) Security Engineer
2 36 (22.36%) Analyst
3 32 (19.88%) Security Analyst
4 22 (13.66%) Senior
5 19 (11.80%) Cybersecurity Engineer
6 15 (9.32%) Senior Security Engineer
7 11 (6.83%) IT Manager
7 11 (6.83%) Network Engineer
7 11 (6.83%) Tester
8 10 (6.21%) Lead
8 10 (6.21%) Penetration Tester
9 9 (5.59%) Consultant
9 9 (5.59%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 9 (5.59%) Security Consultant
10 8 (4.97%) Applications Engineer
10 8 (4.97%) Information Analyst
10 8 (4.97%) Information Security Analyst
10 8 (4.97%) Vulnerability Management Engineer
11 7 (4.35%) Auditor
11 7 (4.35%) IT Audit Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.11%) JSON
2 1 (0.62%) Elastic Stack
2 1 (0.62%) ModSecurity
2 1 (0.62%) PyTorch
2 1 (0.62%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.62%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 28 (17.39%) Management Information System
2 21 (13.04%) Security Posture
3 15 (9.32%) Security Operations Centre
4 14 (8.70%) Cyber Threat
5 9 (5.59%) Cyber Defence
6 8 (4.97%) Operational Technology
7 7 (4.35%) PKI
7 7 (4.35%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (3.73%) Analytical Mindset
8 6 (3.73%) Cloud Native
8 6 (3.73%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 6 (3.73%) Data Centre
8 6 (3.73%) Mobile App
8 6 (3.73%) SCADA
9 5 (3.11%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (2.48%) Cyberattack
10 4 (2.48%) Linux Command Line
11 3 (1.86%) Insider Threat
11 3 (1.86%) Renewable Energy
11 3 (1.86%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 27 (16.77%) Windows
2 25 (15.53%) Linux
3 7 (4.35%) Unix
4 6 (3.73%) Windows Server
5 5 (3.11%) Kali Linux
6 3 (1.86%) VMS
7 2 (1.24%) Android
7 2 (1.24%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.62%) Debian
8 1 (0.62%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.62%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.62%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (55.28%) Cybersecurity
2 67 (41.61%) Incident Response
3 53 (32.92%) SIEM
4 45 (27.95%) Vulnerability Management
5 37 (22.98%) Vulnerability Assessment
6 33 (20.50%) Vulnerability Scanning
7 31 (19.25%) DevOps
7 31 (19.25%) Security Operations
8 30 (18.63%) Information Security
9 29 (18.01%) Problem-Solving
10 27 (16.77%) Vulnerability Remediation
11 23 (14.29%) CI/CD
11 23 (14.29%) Red Team
12 22 (13.66%) Cloud Security
13 21 (13.04%) Application Security
13 21 (13.04%) Technology Transformation
14 20 (12.42%) ITIL
14 20 (12.42%) Threat Modelling
15 18 (11.18%) SDLC
16 17 (10.56%) Security Testing
Programming Languages
1 53 (32.92%) Python
2 36 (22.36%) PowerShell
3 31 (19.25%) Bash
4 16 (9.94%) Go
5 13 (8.07%) SQL
6 7 (4.35%) R
7 6 (3.73%) C
7 6 (3.73%) C++
8 5 (3.11%) C#
8 5 (3.11%) JavaScript
9 2 (1.24%) Perl
10 1 (0.62%) Java
10 1 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.62%) Scala
Qualifications
1 41 (25.47%) Degree
2 40 (24.84%) CISSP
3 32 (19.88%) Security Cleared
4 27 (16.77%) SC Cleared
5 22 (13.66%) Cisco Certification
6 21 (13.04%) OSCP
7 18 (11.18%) CREST Certified
8 17 (10.56%) CCNA
8 17 (10.56%) SANS
9 16 (9.94%) CompTIA Security+
10 14 (8.70%) DV Cleared
11 13 (8.07%) GIAC
12 12 (7.45%) GCIA
13 11 (6.83%) CCNP
14 10 (6.21%) CISA
15 9 (5.59%) CEH
16 7 (4.35%) ACCA
16 7 (4.35%) CHECK Team Leader
16 7 (4.35%) CIMA
16 7 (4.35%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (42.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 53 (32.92%) NIST
3 29 (18.01%) Cyber Essentials
4 21 (13.04%) Accessibility
5 17 (10.56%) GDPR
6 6 (3.73%) NCSC
7 5 (3.11%) NIST 800
8 4 (2.48%) QA
9 3 (1.86%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (1.86%) ITGC
9 3 (1.86%) RMADS
10 2 (1.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (1.24%) GRC
10 2 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (1.24%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.62%) COBIT
11 1 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 1 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.62%) SOC 2
System Software
1 15 (9.32%) Virtual Machines
2 11 (6.83%) Active Directory
3 6 (3.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.48%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (1.86%) Firmware
5 3 (1.86%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.24%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (1.24%) pfSense
6 2 (1.24%) Squid
Systems Management
1 10 (6.21%) Nmap
2 8 (4.97%) QRadar
3 7 (4.35%) Nessus
4 6 (3.73%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (3.11%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.86%) ArcSight ESM
6 3 (1.86%) Kubernetes
6 3 (1.86%) Proxmox
7 2 (1.24%) Cisco CUCM
7 2 (1.24%) Terraform
7 2 (1.24%) VxRail
8 1 (0.62%) Ansible
8 1 (0.62%) CASB
8 1 (0.62%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.62%) Kibana
8 1 (0.62%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.62%) SCCM
8 1 (0.62%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 55 (34.16%) Microsoft
2 17 (10.56%) Tenable
3 15 (9.32%) ServiceNow
4 14 (8.70%) Cisco
5 11 (6.83%) Splunk
6 8 (4.97%) VMware
7 7 (4.35%) Oracle
8 6 (3.73%) Fortinet
9 5 (3.11%) Palo Alto
10 4 (2.48%) CheckPoint
10 4 (2.48%) Sophos
10 4 (2.48%) Zscaler
11 3 (1.86%) ArcSight
11 3 (1.86%) CyberArk
11 3 (1.86%) IBM
11 3 (1.86%) LogLogic
11 3 (1.86%) LogRhythm
11 3 (1.86%) McAfee
11 3 (1.86%) Qualys
12 2 (1.24%) Meraki