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

6 months to
3 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 443 363 395
Rank change year-on-year -80 +32 +85
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 226 253 484
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.32% 0.69% 0.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.42% 0.74% 0.71%
Number of salaries quoted 153 197 387
10th Percentile £42,100 £46,900 £38,750
25th Percentile £50,000 £58,750 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year - +3.85% -6.07%
75th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £82,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £67,500 £67,500 £62,500
% change year-on-year - +8.00% -9.68%

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 54,454 34,050 67,812
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 76.60% 93.17% 86.25%
Number of salaries quoted 34,258 20,315 52,343
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £103,750 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -10.57%

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 3 April 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 3 April 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 -24 98 £76,250 +5.17% 31
South West +2 50 £62,500 -7.41% 23
Midlands -42 25 £52,500 -22.22% 9
South East -62 23 £75,000 +7.14% 22
North of England -75 19 £67,500 +10.66% 14
West Midlands -31 15 £62,500 -7.41% 7
East Midlands -37 10 £51,058 +27.65% 2
North West -44 7 £56,000 -10.40% 7
Yorkshire -53 7 £60,000 +17.07% 7
North East -19 5 £75,000 +12.36%
East of England -24 3 £35,000 - 6
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 3 (1.33%) Confluence
1 3 (1.33%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (1.33%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.88%) IIS
3 1 (0.44%) Apache
3 1 (0.44%) Drupal
3 1 (0.44%) nginx
3 1 (0.44%) WordPress
Applications
1 3 (1.33%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (1.33%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.44%) Magento
Cloud Services
1 62 (27.43%) Azure
2 51 (22.57%) AWS
3 19 (8.41%) GCP
4 14 (6.19%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (5.75%) GitHub
6 11 (4.87%) Azure Sentinel
7 10 (4.42%) Entra ID
8 9 (3.98%) GitHub Actions
8 9 (3.98%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (2.21%) Power Platform
10 4 (1.77%) Mimecast
10 4 (1.77%) SaaS
11 3 (1.33%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (1.33%) AWS CloudFormation
11 3 (1.33%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.33%) Azure Key Vault
11 3 (1.33%) Slack
12 2 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.88%) Figma
12 2 (0.88%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 43 (19.03%) Firewall
2 25 (11.06%) Network Security
3 20 (8.85%) Wireless
4 17 (7.52%) VPN
5 14 (6.19%) DNS
6 13 (5.75%) TCP/IP
7 8 (3.54%) Intrusion Detection
7 8 (3.54%) VLAN
8 7 (3.10%) Cisco ISE
9 5 (2.21%) HTTP
9 5 (2.21%) Wi-Fi
10 4 (1.77%) Cisco Nexus
10 4 (1.77%) HTTPS
11 3 (1.33%) DMARC
11 3 (1.33%) DMZ
11 3 (1.33%) Internet
11 3 (1.33%) LAN
11 3 (1.33%) Modbus
11 3 (1.33%) SSL
11 3 (1.33%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.21%) Power BI
2 3 (1.33%) SQL Server
2 3 (1.33%) Tableau
3 2 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.44%) InterSystems Cache
4 1 (0.44%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.44%) Redis
Development Applications
1 21 (9.29%) Burp Suite
1 21 (9.29%) Metasploit
2 10 (4.42%) JIRA
3 8 (3.54%) Jenkins
4 6 (2.65%) Bitbucket
5 3 (1.33%) Git
6 2 (0.88%) IDA Disassembler
6 2 (0.88%) NUnit
7 1 (0.44%) Gatling
7 1 (0.44%) GitLab
7 1 (0.44%) JMeter
7 1 (0.44%) Vagrant
General
1 75 (33.19%) Social Skills
2 68 (30.09%) Finance
3 20 (8.85%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (8.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 18 (7.96%) Banking
5 17 (7.52%) Law
5 17 (7.52%) Retail
6 15 (6.64%) Public Sector
7 9 (3.98%) Legal
8 6 (2.65%) Marketing
9 5 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (1.77%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.77%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.33%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.33%) Financial Institution
11 3 (1.33%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.33%) Military
12 2 (0.88%) Back Office
12 2 (0.88%) Electronics
12 2 (0.88%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 42 (18.58%) Consultant
2 41 (18.14%) Security Consultant
3 35 (15.49%) Analyst
4 27 (11.95%) Security Analyst
5 26 (11.50%) Tester
6 25 (11.06%) Penetration Tester
6 25 (11.06%) Senior
7 23 (10.18%) Security Manager
8 22 (9.73%) Cybersecurity Consultant
9 21 (9.29%) Security Engineer
10 18 (7.96%) Security Specialist
11 15 (6.64%) Lead
12 11 (4.87%) IT Manager
12 11 (4.87%) Senior Analyst
12 11 (4.87%) Senior Security Analyst
13 10 (4.42%) Applications Engineer
14 9 (3.98%) Digital Analyst
14 9 (3.98%) Senior Digital Analyst
15 7 (3.10%) Head of Security
15 7 (3.10%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.77%) .NET
2 3 (1.33%) .NET Framework
3 2 (0.88%) AngularJS
3 2 (0.88%) ASP.NET
3 2 (0.88%) ASP.NET Core
3 2 (0.88%) Entity Framework
3 2 (0.88%) OpenAPI
3 2 (0.88%) RESTful
3 2 (0.88%) RxJS
3 2 (0.88%) Swagger
3 2 (0.88%) Vitest
4 1 (0.44%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.44%) LDAP
4 1 (0.44%) Memcached
4 1 (0.44%) OAuth
4 1 (0.44%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.44%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 63 (27.88%) Security Posture
2 27 (11.95%) Mobile App
3 26 (11.50%) Cyber Defence
4 23 (10.18%) Cyber Threat
5 17 (7.52%) Management Information System
6 7 (3.10%) Data Centre
6 7 (3.10%) Insider Threat
7 6 (2.65%) Blog
7 6 (2.65%) Operational Technology
7 6 (2.65%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (2.21%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (2.21%) PKI
9 4 (1.77%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.77%) Cloud Native
9 4 (1.77%) Cyber Security Posture
9 4 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.77%) Public Cloud
10 3 (1.33%) Cyberattack
10 3 (1.33%) Renewable Energy
10 3 (1.33%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 31 (13.72%) Linux
2 30 (13.27%) Windows
3 11 (4.87%) Android
3 11 (4.87%) Apple iOS
4 7 (3.10%) Unix
5 4 (1.77%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.44%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (58.41%) Cybersecurity
2 79 (34.96%) Red Team
3 77 (34.07%) Incident Response
4 55 (24.34%) Application Security
5 50 (22.12%) Information Security
6 48 (21.24%) Mentoring
6 48 (21.24%) Offensive Security
6 48 (21.24%) Problem-Solving
7 44 (19.47%) SIEM
8 42 (18.58%) Agile
9 41 (18.14%) Vulnerability Management
10 32 (14.16%) Security Testing
11 31 (13.72%) Business Strategy
11 31 (13.72%) Cloud Security
11 31 (13.72%) Internal Audit
12 30 (13.27%) Security Operations
12 30 (13.27%) Threat Modelling
13 29 (12.83%) Business Transformation
13 29 (12.83%) Ethical Hacking
14 28 (12.39%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 53 (23.45%) Python
2 40 (17.70%) PowerShell
3 37 (16.37%) Bash
4 14 (6.19%) Go
5 13 (5.75%) Java
6 9 (3.98%) C
6 9 (3.98%) C++
7 8 (3.54%) SQL
8 7 (3.10%) C#
8 7 (3.10%) Perl
9 5 (2.21%) Ruby
10 3 (1.33%) Bicep
10 3 (1.33%) Objective-C
10 3 (1.33%) R
10 3 (1.33%) Rust
11 2 (0.88%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.44%) JavaScript
12 1 (0.44%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.44%) PHP
12 1 (0.44%) Scala
Qualifications
1 75 (33.19%) CREST Certified
2 67 (29.65%) OSCP
3 53 (23.45%) CISSP
4 46 (20.35%) Degree
5 44 (19.47%) Security Cleared
6 36 (15.93%) SC Cleared
7 29 (12.83%) CEH
8 28 (12.39%) Cisco Certification
9 26 (11.50%) CHECK Team Member
10 21 (9.29%) CCSAM
10 21 (9.29%) CHECK Team Leader
11 20 (8.85%) CISM
12 19 (8.41%) CCNA
13 17 (7.52%) CompTIA Security+
13 17 (7.52%) DV Cleared
13 17 (7.52%) GIAC
14 13 (5.75%) GPEN
15 11 (4.87%) CCNP
15 11 (4.87%) CISA
16 10 (4.42%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (31.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 44 (19.47%) NIST
3 31 (13.72%) GDPR
4 25 (11.06%) Cyber Essentials
5 19 (8.41%) Actionable Recommendations
6 13 (5.75%) PCI DSS
7 12 (5.31%) Accessibility
8 11 (4.87%) NCSC
9 10 (4.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 6 (2.65%) GRC
11 3 (1.33%) ITGC
11 3 (1.33%) NIST 800
11 3 (1.33%) RMADS
11 3 (1.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (1.33%) SOC 2
12 2 (0.88%) COBIT
12 2 (0.88%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.88%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 1 (0.44%) GxP
13 1 (0.44%) QA
System Software
1 23 (10.18%) Active Directory
2 6 (2.65%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.77%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.33%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.88%) EMC RecoverPoint
5 2 (0.88%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.44%) Docker
6 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 13 (5.75%) Nessus
2 12 (5.31%) Nmap
3 11 (4.87%) Kubernetes
4 7 (3.10%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (2.65%) Terraform
6 5 (2.21%) Ansible
7 4 (1.77%) CSIRT
8 3 (1.33%) ArcSight ESM
8 3 (1.33%) FortiGate
8 3 (1.33%) QRadar
8 3 (1.33%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.88%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.88%) VxRail
10 1 (0.44%) Consul
10 1 (0.44%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.44%) Packer
10 1 (0.44%) Puppet
10 1 (0.44%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 57 (25.22%) Microsoft
2 14 (6.19%) Cisco
3 13 (5.75%) Splunk
4 10 (4.42%) Sophos
5 9 (3.98%) VMware
6 8 (3.54%) Zscaler
7 7 (3.10%) CheckPoint
7 7 (3.10%) Fortinet
8 5 (2.21%) Qualys
8 5 (2.21%) TOWER Software
9 4 (1.77%) CrowdStrike
9 4 (1.77%) Okta
9 4 (1.77%) Oracle
9 4 (1.77%) ServiceNow
9 4 (1.77%) Tenable
10 3 (1.33%) ArcSight
10 3 (1.33%) CyberArk
10 3 (1.33%) Dell
10 3 (1.33%) LogLogic
10 3 (1.33%) Palo Alto