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

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 425 472 458
Rank change year-on-year +47 -14 -11
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 349 181 336
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.37% 0.41% 0.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.46% 0.57%
Number of salaries quoted 239 153 243
10th Percentile £40,000 £46,000 £41,250
25th Percentile £49,750 £52,500 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £90,000 £78,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £92,250 £99,500
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 69,952 39,107 58,576
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.57% 89.26% 81.15%
Number of salaries quoted 49,460 22,554 38,208
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,500 £37,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 August 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 18 August 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 +32 160 £86,000 +22.86% 33
South East +24 73 £70,000 +19.15% 26
South West -24 49 £50,000 -25.93% 20
Midlands -24 29 £65,000 +1.96% 8
North of England -50 25 £56,000 -2.61% 18
West Midlands -24 19 £70,000 +7.69% 6
Yorkshire -32 16 £55,000 - 7
East Midlands -14 10 £46,743 +16.86% 2
East of England - 7 £45,000 - 7
North West -11 5 £67,500 +10.66% 9
North East -60 4 £75,000 +3.18% 2
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 (2.58%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.01%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.72%) Confluence
4 3 (0.86%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.86%) IIS
5 1 (0.29%) Apache
5 1 (0.29%) Drupal
5 1 (0.29%) nginx
5 1 (0.29%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.29%) Magento
1 1 (0.29%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.29%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 90 (25.79%) AWS
2 86 (24.64%) Azure
3 30 (8.60%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (6.30%) GCP
5 16 (4.58%) Entra ID
6 11 (3.15%) SaaS
7 6 (1.72%) Amazon Bedrock
7 6 (1.72%) Azure Sentinel
7 6 (1.72%) Cloud Computing
7 6 (1.72%) GitHub
7 6 (1.72%) Microsoft Purview
7 6 (1.72%) Mimecast
8 5 (1.43%) Nutanix
9 4 (1.15%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 4 (1.15%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.15%) Azure Key Vault
9 4 (1.15%) OneDrive
10 3 (0.86%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.86%) Amazon Kinesis
10 3 (0.86%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 95 (27.22%) Firewall
2 37 (10.60%) Cisco Nexus
3 36 (10.32%) Wi-Fi
4 33 (9.46%) Network Security
5 31 (8.88%) Internet
6 26 (7.45%) LAN
6 26 (7.45%) WAN
7 21 (6.02%) VPN
8 15 (4.30%) DNS
9 12 (3.44%) TCP/IP
10 9 (2.58%) Cisco ISE
11 8 (2.29%) VLAN
12 7 (2.01%) Cisco ASA
13 6 (1.72%) HTTPS
13 6 (1.72%) Intrusion Detection
13 6 (1.72%) Wireless
14 5 (1.43%) Kerberos
15 4 (1.15%) DHCP
15 4 (1.15%) Wireshark
16 3 (0.86%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.87%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.43%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.86%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.86%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.57%) KNIME
5 1 (0.29%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.29%) InterSystems Cache
5 1 (0.29%) Power BI
5 1 (0.29%) Redis
Development Applications
1 23 (6.59%) Burp Suite
2 22 (6.30%) Metasploit
3 13 (3.72%) JIRA
4 6 (1.72%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.86%) Git
5 3 (0.86%) Yeoman
6 2 (0.57%) Gatling
6 2 (0.57%) NUnit
6 2 (0.57%) Snyk
7 1 (0.29%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.29%) GitLab
7 1 (0.29%) IDA Disassembler
7 1 (0.29%) JMeter
7 1 (0.29%) JUnit
7 1 (0.29%) Postman
7 1 (0.29%) Selenium
7 1 (0.29%) Vagrant
General
1 110 (31.52%) Social Skills
2 58 (16.62%) Finance
3 52 (14.90%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (10.32%) Public Sector
5 27 (7.74%) Law
6 19 (5.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (4.01%) Retail
8 13 (3.72%) Banking
9 9 (2.58%) Telecoms
10 8 (2.29%) Influencing Skills
11 7 (2.01%) Aerospace
12 6 (1.72%) Legal
12 6 (1.72%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (1.43%) Marketing
13 5 (1.43%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (1.15%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.86%) Digital Health
15 3 (0.86%) Digital Healthcare
15 3 (0.86%) Financial Institution
15 3 (0.86%) Military
Job Titles
1 92 (26.36%) Senior
2 59 (16.91%) Penetration Tester
2 59 (16.91%) Tester
3 58 (16.62%) Analyst
4 45 (12.89%) Security Analyst
5 43 (12.32%) Lead
6 37 (10.60%) Senior Analyst
7 32 (9.17%) Security Engineer
8 31 (8.88%) Consultant
8 31 (8.88%) Senior Security Analyst
9 28 (8.02%) Security Consultant
10 27 (7.74%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 25 (7.16%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
12 22 (6.30%) Senior Security Engineer
13 21 (6.02%) Network Analyst
13 21 (6.02%) Senior Network Analyst
14 20 (5.73%) Security Specialist
15 19 (5.44%) Cybersecurity Engineer
16 17 (4.87%) Architect
17 16 (4.58%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.43%) LDAP
2 4 (1.15%) RESTful
3 3 (0.86%) .NET
3 3 (0.86%) .NET Framework
3 3 (0.86%) Kafka
3 3 (0.86%) OAuth
4 2 (0.57%) AngularJS
4 2 (0.57%) ASP.NET
4 2 (0.57%) ASP.NET Core
4 2 (0.57%) Entity Framework
4 2 (0.57%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.57%) OpenAPI
4 2 (0.57%) OpenID
4 2 (0.57%) RxJS
4 2 (0.57%) Swagger
4 2 (0.57%) Vitest
5 1 (0.29%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.29%) Lightning Web Components
5 1 (0.29%) Memcached
5 1 (0.29%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 64 (18.34%) Security Posture
2 30 (8.60%) Cyber Threat
3 25 (7.16%) Management Information System
4 17 (4.87%) Onboarding
5 13 (3.72%) Security Operations Centre
5 13 (3.72%) Self-Motivation
6 12 (3.44%) Cyber Defence
7 11 (3.15%) Mobile App
8 10 (2.87%) Operational Technology
9 9 (2.58%) Cyber Security Posture
10 8 (2.29%) Blog
11 7 (2.01%) Cloud Native
11 7 (2.01%) NHS
12 6 (1.72%) Cyberattack
12 6 (1.72%) Data Centre
12 6 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
13 5 (1.43%) PKI
14 4 (1.15%) Cyber Kill Chain
14 4 (1.15%) Insider Threat
15 3 (0.86%) Cloud Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 52 (14.90%) Windows
2 45 (12.89%) Linux
3 18 (5.16%) Windows Server
4 13 (3.72%) Android
4 13 (3.72%) Apple iOS
5 5 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (1.15%) Kali Linux
6 4 (1.15%) Mac OS
6 4 (1.15%) Unix
7 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 266 (76.22%) Cybersecurity
2 112 (32.09%) Vulnerability Management
3 96 (27.51%) Incident Response
4 95 (27.22%) SIEM
5 76 (21.78%) Security Testing
6 74 (21.20%) Security Operations
7 72 (20.63%) Red Team
8 71 (20.34%) Cloud Security
9 70 (20.06%) Information Security
10 60 (17.19%) Problem-Solving
11 54 (15.47%) Offensive Security
12 50 (14.33%) Disaster Recovery
13 49 (14.04%) Continuous Improvement
14 48 (13.75%) Mentoring
15 46 (13.18%) Threat Detection
16 45 (12.89%) Vulnerability Remediation
17 44 (12.61%) Application Security
18 43 (12.32%) Threat Intelligence
19 41 (11.75%) Incident Management
19 41 (11.75%) Vulnerability Assessment
Programming Languages
1 36 (10.32%) PowerShell
1 36 (10.32%) Python
2 15 (4.30%) Java
3 10 (2.87%) Bash
4 9 (2.58%) Go
5 7 (2.01%) SQL
6 6 (1.72%) Bicep
7 4 (1.15%) C
7 4 (1.15%) C#
7 4 (1.15%) C++
7 4 (1.15%) Perl
7 4 (1.15%) Ruby
8 3 (0.86%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.86%) Objective-C
8 3 (0.86%) PHP
8 3 (0.86%) Rust
9 2 (0.57%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.57%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.29%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 59 (16.91%) CISSP
2 53 (15.19%) Security Cleared
3 52 (14.90%) CREST Certified
4 46 (13.18%) CISM
5 39 (11.17%) SC Cleared
6 36 (10.32%) OSCP
7 32 (9.17%) Degree
8 24 (6.88%) Cisco Certification
9 22 (6.30%) CHECK Team Member
10 18 (5.16%) CompTIA Security+
11 15 (4.30%) CCNP
12 14 (4.01%) CEH
13 13 (3.72%) GIAC
14 11 (3.15%) CHECK Team Leader
14 11 (3.15%) DV Cleared
15 10 (2.87%) CCNA
16 9 (2.58%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 9 (2.58%) AWS Certification
17 8 (2.29%) CCSP
18 7 (2.01%) OSCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (26.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 61 (17.48%) NIST
3 44 (12.61%) GDPR
4 38 (10.89%) Cyber Essentials
5 19 (5.44%) GRC
5 19 (5.44%) PCI DSS
6 13 (3.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 13 (3.72%) NCSC
7 9 (2.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 9 (2.58%) SOC 2
8 7 (2.01%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (1.43%) QA
10 4 (1.15%) Accessibility
10 4 (1.15%) Def Stans
10 4 (1.15%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.86%) SLA
12 2 (0.57%) COBIT
12 2 (0.57%) Data Quality
13 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 1 (0.29%) WCAG
System Software
1 38 (10.89%) Active Directory
2 10 (2.87%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.43%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (1.15%) Docker
5 3 (0.86%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (0.57%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 2 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 22 (6.30%) Nmap
2 20 (5.73%) Kubernetes
3 16 (4.58%) Nessus
4 8 (2.29%) Terraform
5 7 (2.01%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.43%) Ansible
6 5 (1.43%) Red Hat Satellite
6 5 (1.43%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.86%) SCCM
7 3 (0.86%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
7 3 (0.86%) VxRail
8 2 (0.57%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.29%) CASB
9 1 (0.29%) Consul
9 1 (0.29%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.29%) Network Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.29%) OpenVAS
9 1 (0.29%) Packer
9 1 (0.29%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.29%) Puppet
Vendors
1 67 (19.20%) Microsoft
2 49 (14.04%) Cisco
3 47 (13.47%) Palo Alto
4 45 (12.89%) Qualys
5 34 (9.74%) Aruba
6 22 (6.30%) Splunk
7 13 (3.72%) CrowdStrike
7 13 (3.72%) Rapid7
8 12 (3.44%) Tenable
9 11 (3.15%) Fortinet
9 11 (3.15%) Sophos
10 10 (2.87%) VMware
11 8 (2.29%) Zscaler
12 7 (2.01%) ServiceNow
13 6 (1.72%) CheckPoint
13 6 (1.72%) Okta
14 5 (1.43%) Ivanti
14 5 (1.43%) Oracle
14 5 (1.43%) Red Hat
14 5 (1.43%) TOWER Software