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

6 months to
18 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 444 425 398
Rank change year-on-year -19 -27 +126
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 173 305 315
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.38% 0.51% 0.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.44% 0.61% 0.71%
Number of salaries quoted 147 175 274
10th Percentile £47,650 £45,647 £42,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £55,625 £51,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £61,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +5.69% -11.64%
75th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £64,902
% change year-on-year +7.69% +0.15% -6.21%

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 39,312 50,298 44,083
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 85.94% 83.82% 93.70%
Number of salaries quoted 24,307 25,999 33,770
10th Percentile £28,250 £35,000 £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% - -1.64%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £81,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £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 18 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 18 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 79 £75,000 - 68
South West +36 23 £80,000 +25.00% 22
South East +21 23 £57,500 -4.17% 28
North of England +34 21 £56,250 -6.25% 33
Midlands +29 20 £53,000 -7.83% 19
Yorkshire +25 18 £55,000 +4.76% 6
West Midlands +33 13 £54,000 -8.09% 17
East Midlands +28 7 £51,058 -11.20% 2
North West +16 3 £65,000 +4.00% 24
East of England +17 1 £85,000 +198.25% 7
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 (3.47%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.73%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.58%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (4.05%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (4.05%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.58%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 63 (36.42%) Azure
2 35 (20.23%) AWS
3 22 (12.72%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (9.83%) Entra ID
5 15 (8.67%) Slack
6 13 (7.51%) Azure Sentinel
7 11 (6.36%) Microsoft Purview
8 10 (5.78%) Power Platform
9 9 (5.20%) GitHub
10 7 (4.05%) GCP
11 5 (2.89%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (2.31%) Azure Key Vault
13 3 (1.73%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (1.73%) Azure Logic Apps
13 3 (1.73%) IBM Cloud
13 3 (1.73%) Mimecast
13 3 (1.73%) PaaS
13 3 (1.73%) SaaS
14 2 (1.16%) Azure Stack
14 2 (1.16%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 60 (34.68%) Firewall
2 34 (19.65%) Network Security
3 15 (8.67%) TCP/IP
4 13 (7.51%) VPN
5 10 (5.78%) Intrusion Detection
6 8 (4.62%) Wi-Fi
6 8 (4.62%) Wireshark
7 7 (4.05%) Wireless
8 6 (3.47%) VLAN
9 5 (2.89%) HTTP
10 4 (2.31%) BGP
10 4 (2.31%) DNS
10 4 (2.31%) Ethernet
10 4 (2.31%) OSPF
11 3 (1.73%) Cisco ISE
11 3 (1.73%) Modbus
11 3 (1.73%) Spanning Tree
12 2 (1.16%) Cisco Nexus
12 2 (1.16%) ICMP
12 2 (1.16%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (5.78%) Power BI
2 7 (4.05%) Tableau
3 2 (1.16%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (1.16%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (10.98%) JIRA
2 13 (7.51%) Burp Suite
3 12 (6.94%) Metasploit
4 5 (2.89%) Jenkins
5 3 (1.73%) Git
6 2 (1.16%) GitLab
6 2 (1.16%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 78 (45.09%) Social Skills
2 25 (14.45%) Finance
3 21 (12.14%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (10.98%) Influencing Skills
5 16 (9.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 16 (9.25%) Presentation Skills
6 8 (4.62%) Law
7 6 (3.47%) Retail
8 5 (2.89%) Banking
8 5 (2.89%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (2.89%) Manufacturing
9 4 (2.31%) Electronics
10 3 (1.73%) Legal
10 3 (1.73%) Mandarin Language
10 3 (1.73%) Military
10 3 (1.73%) Public Sector
11 2 (1.16%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.58%) Advertising
12 1 (0.58%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.58%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 49 (28.32%) Security Engineer
2 36 (20.81%) Analyst
3 32 (18.50%) Security Analyst
4 24 (13.87%) Senior
5 20 (11.56%) Cybersecurity Engineer
6 16 (9.25%) Senior Security Engineer
7 12 (6.94%) Lead
7 12 (6.94%) Security Specialist
8 11 (6.36%) IT Manager
8 11 (6.36%) Network Engineer
8 11 (6.36%) Tester
9 10 (5.78%) Penetration Tester
10 9 (5.20%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 9 (5.20%) Cybersecurity Specialist
10 9 (5.20%) Information Analyst
10 9 (5.20%) Information Security Analyst
11 8 (4.62%) Cloud Engineer
11 8 (4.62%) Vulnerability Management Engineer
12 7 (4.05%) Auditor
12 7 (4.05%) Internal Audit Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.89%) JSON
2 2 (1.16%) Elastic Stack
3 1 (0.58%) ModSecurity
3 1 (0.58%) PyTorch
3 1 (0.58%) TensorFlow
3 1 (0.58%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 28 (16.18%) Management Information System
2 21 (12.14%) Security Posture
3 15 (8.67%) Security Operations Centre
4 14 (8.09%) Cyber Threat
5 9 (5.20%) Cyber Defence
5 9 (5.20%) Operational Technology
6 8 (4.62%) Mobile App
6 8 (4.62%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (4.05%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (4.05%) Cloud Native
7 7 (4.05%) Data Centre
7 7 (4.05%) PKI
8 6 (3.47%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 6 (3.47%) SCADA
9 5 (2.89%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (2.31%) Cyberattack
10 4 (2.31%) Linux Command Line
11 3 (1.73%) Public Cloud
11 3 (1.73%) Renewable Energy
11 3 (1.73%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 36 (20.81%) Windows
2 25 (14.45%) Linux
3 7 (4.05%) Unix
4 6 (3.47%) Windows Server
5 5 (2.89%) Kali Linux
6 3 (1.73%) VMS
7 2 (1.16%) Android
7 2 (1.16%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.58%) Debian
8 1 (0.58%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.58%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (58.96%) Cybersecurity
2 77 (44.51%) Incident Response
3 63 (36.42%) SIEM
4 56 (32.37%) Vulnerability Management
5 42 (24.28%) Vulnerability Scanning
6 39 (22.54%) Vulnerability Assessment
7 33 (19.08%) Security Operations
8 32 (18.50%) DevOps
8 32 (18.50%) Information Security
9 29 (16.76%) Problem-Solving
10 27 (15.61%) Security Testing
10 27 (15.61%) Vulnerability Remediation
11 25 (14.45%) CI/CD
11 25 (14.45%) Cloud Security
12 22 (12.72%) Application Security
12 22 (12.72%) Threat Modelling
13 21 (12.14%) Red Team
14 20 (11.56%) ITIL
14 20 (11.56%) Technology Transformation
15 19 (10.98%) Security Architecture
Programming Languages
1 56 (32.37%) Python
2 36 (20.81%) PowerShell
3 32 (18.50%) Bash
4 17 (9.83%) Go
5 13 (7.51%) SQL
6 7 (4.05%) R
7 6 (3.47%) C
7 6 (3.47%) C++
7 6 (3.47%) JavaScript
8 5 (2.89%) C#
9 3 (1.73%) Perl
10 2 (1.16%) Java
11 1 (0.58%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.58%) Scala
Qualifications
1 40 (23.12%) Degree
2 38 (21.97%) CISSP
3 32 (18.50%) Security Cleared
4 27 (15.61%) SC Cleared
5 22 (12.72%) Cisco Certification
6 20 (11.56%) OSCP
7 17 (9.83%) CCNA
7 17 (9.83%) CREST Certified
8 16 (9.25%) CompTIA Security+
8 16 (9.25%) SANS
9 14 (8.09%) DV Cleared
10 13 (7.51%) GIAC
11 12 (6.94%) GCIA
12 11 (6.36%) CCNP
13 9 (5.20%) CEH
13 9 (5.20%) CISA
14 8 (4.62%) CHECK Team Leader
15 7 (4.05%) CIMA
15 7 (4.05%) Computer Science Degree
15 7 (4.05%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (40.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 54 (31.21%) NIST
3 30 (17.34%) Cyber Essentials
4 20 (11.56%) Accessibility
5 18 (10.40%) GDPR
6 7 (4.05%) NCSC
7 5 (2.89%) NIST 800
7 5 (2.89%) QA
8 3 (1.73%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (1.73%) ITGC
8 3 (1.73%) RMADS
9 2 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (1.16%) GRC
9 2 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 1 (0.58%) COBIT
10 1 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 1 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.58%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.58%) SOC 2
System Software
1 15 (8.67%) Virtual Machines
2 11 (6.36%) Active Directory
3 6 (3.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.31%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (1.73%) Firmware
5 3 (1.73%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.16%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (1.16%) pfSense
6 2 (1.16%) Squid
Systems Management
1 10 (5.78%) Nmap
2 8 (4.62%) QRadar
3 7 (4.05%) Nessus
4 6 (3.47%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (2.89%) Kubernetes
5 5 (2.89%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.73%) ArcSight ESM
6 3 (1.73%) Proxmox
7 2 (1.16%) Cisco CUCM
7 2 (1.16%) Kibana
7 2 (1.16%) Progress Chef
7 2 (1.16%) Terraform
7 2 (1.16%) VxRail
8 1 (0.58%) Ansible
8 1 (0.58%) CASB
8 1 (0.58%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.58%) SCCM
8 1 (0.58%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 65 (37.57%) Microsoft
2 17 (9.83%) Tenable
3 15 (8.67%) ServiceNow
4 14 (8.09%) Cisco
5 12 (6.94%) Splunk
6 8 (4.62%) Oracle
6 8 (4.62%) VMware
7 6 (3.47%) Fortinet
8 5 (2.89%) Palo Alto
9 4 (2.31%) CheckPoint
9 4 (2.31%) LogRhythm
9 4 (2.31%) Sophos
9 4 (2.31%) Zscaler
10 3 (1.73%) ArcSight
10 3 (1.73%) CyberArk
10 3 (1.73%) IBM
10 3 (1.73%) LogLogic
10 3 (1.73%) McAfee
10 3 (1.73%) Qualys
11 2 (1.16%) Meraki