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

6 months to
27 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 426 477 448
Rank change year-on-year +51 -29 -11
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 363 165 318
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.35% 0.38% 0.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.43% 0.57%
Number of salaries quoted 237 139 179
10th Percentile £38,650 £47,350 £42,500
25th Percentile £46,743 £53,094 £52,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% - +8.33%
75th Percentile £90,000 £85,000 £86,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £90,250 £100,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £68,442 £65,000
% change year-on-year +2.28% +5.30% +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 76,043 38,474 55,663
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.46% 88.78% 82.23%
Number of salaries quoted 53,667 22,007 30,452
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £36,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £59,664
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -7.82% -4.27%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £78,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.17% -3.33%

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 27 September 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 27 September 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 +19 170 £83,750 +11.67% 163
South East +4 77 £67,500 +12.50% 65
South West -40 49 £50,000 -27.27% 40
Midlands -35 29 £55,872 -1.98% 39
North of England -56 25 £55,000 -4.35% 78
West Midlands -33 17 £70,000 +27.27% 23
Yorkshire -36 15 £55,000 - 21
East Midlands -28 12 £46,743 -22.10% 16
East of England - 11 £45,000 - 19
North West -26 7 £65,000 -3.26% 43
North East -63 3 £75,000 +8.09% 15
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 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (2.20%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.38%) Confluence
4 3 (0.83%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.55%) IIS
Applications
1 2 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.28%) FLEXCUBE
1 1 (0.28%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.28%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 86 (23.69%) AWS
2 75 (20.66%) Azure
3 31 (8.54%) Microsoft 365
4 26 (7.16%) GCP
5 17 (4.68%) Entra ID
6 14 (3.86%) SaaS
7 7 (1.93%) Microsoft Purview
8 6 (1.65%) Amazon Bedrock
8 6 (1.65%) Cloud Computing
8 6 (1.65%) Mimecast
9 5 (1.38%) Amazon ECS
9 5 (1.38%) GitHub
9 5 (1.38%) Power Platform
10 4 (1.10%) Azure Sentinel
10 4 (1.10%) Nutanix
10 4 (1.10%) OneDrive
11 3 (0.83%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 3 (0.83%) Amazon Kinesis
11 3 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
11 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 87 (23.97%) Firewall
2 39 (10.74%) Wi-Fi
3 37 (10.19%) Cisco Nexus
4 33 (9.09%) Internet
5 29 (7.99%) LAN
5 29 (7.99%) WAN
6 28 (7.71%) Network Security
7 17 (4.68%) VPN
8 11 (3.03%) Wireless
9 10 (2.75%) DNS
9 10 (2.75%) TCP/IP
10 7 (1.93%) Cisco ASA
10 7 (1.93%) Wireshark
11 6 (1.65%) VLAN
12 5 (1.38%) Cisco ISE
12 5 (1.38%) Intrusion Detection
13 4 (1.10%) Cisco Firepower
13 4 (1.10%) DHCP
13 4 (1.10%) Kerberos
13 4 (1.10%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.03%) SQL Server
2 4 (1.10%) MongoDB
2 4 (1.10%) Power BI
3 3 (0.83%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.83%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.55%) Amazon Aurora
4 2 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
4 2 (0.55%) KNIME
5 1 (0.28%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.28%) Data Vault
5 1 (0.28%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.28%) Power Query
5 1 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.28%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 30 (8.26%) Burp Suite
2 26 (7.16%) Metasploit
3 13 (3.58%) JIRA
4 4 (1.10%) Snyk
4 4 (1.10%) Yeoman
5 3 (0.83%) Git
5 3 (0.83%) GitLab
5 3 (0.83%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.83%) Maven
5 3 (0.83%) Team Foundation Server
6 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.28%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.28%) Gatling
6 1 (0.28%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.28%) JUnit
6 1 (0.28%) NUnit
6 1 (0.28%) Postman
6 1 (0.28%) Selenium
General
1 117 (32.23%) Social Skills
2 58 (15.98%) Finance
3 50 (13.77%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (7.71%) Law
4 28 (7.71%) Public Sector
5 22 (6.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 20 (5.51%) Retail
7 17 (4.68%) Banking
8 13 (3.58%) Aerospace
9 11 (3.03%) Influencing Skills
10 10 (2.75%) Telecoms
11 8 (2.20%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (1.93%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.65%) Legal
13 6 (1.65%) Marketing
14 5 (1.38%) Pharmaceutical
15 4 (1.10%) Financial Institution
16 3 (0.83%) Aviation
16 3 (0.83%) Digital Health
16 3 (0.83%) Military
Job Titles
1 101 (27.82%) Senior
2 73 (20.11%) Tester
3 72 (19.83%) Penetration Tester
4 50 (13.77%) Analyst
5 46 (12.67%) Lead
6 43 (11.85%) Security Analyst
7 41 (11.29%) Security Engineer
8 36 (9.92%) Senior Analyst
9 30 (8.26%) Senior Security Analyst
10 28 (7.71%) Senior Security Engineer
11 27 (7.44%) Consultant
11 27 (7.44%) Cybersecurity Analyst
12 25 (6.89%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
13 24 (6.61%) Cybersecurity Engineer
14 22 (6.06%) Security Consultant
15 21 (5.79%) Network Analyst
15 21 (5.79%) Senior Network Analyst
16 20 (5.51%) Architect
17 17 (4.68%) Security Manager
17 17 (4.68%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.20%) Terraform
2 4 (1.10%) LDAP
2 4 (1.10%) OAuth
3 3 (0.83%) .NET
3 3 (0.83%) Kafka
3 3 (0.83%) OpenID
3 3 (0.83%) RESTful
4 2 (0.55%) Ruby on Rails
5 1 (0.28%) .NET Framework
5 1 (0.28%) AngularJS
5 1 (0.28%) ASP.NET
5 1 (0.28%) ASP.NET Core
5 1 (0.28%) CSS
5 1 (0.28%) Entity Framework
5 1 (0.28%) HTML
5 1 (0.28%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.28%) PySpark
5 1 (0.28%) RxJS
5 1 (0.28%) Swagger
5 1 (0.28%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 72 (19.83%) Security Posture
2 32 (8.82%) Management Information System
3 27 (7.44%) Cyber Threat
4 17 (4.68%) Onboarding
4 17 (4.68%) Self-Motivation
5 15 (4.13%) Security Operations Centre
6 14 (3.86%) Mobile App
6 14 (3.86%) Operational Technology
7 12 (3.31%) Cloud Native
7 12 (3.31%) Cyber Defence
8 10 (2.75%) Cyber Security Posture
9 7 (1.93%) NHS
9 7 (1.93%) PKI
10 6 (1.65%) Cyberattack
11 5 (1.38%) Data Centre
11 5 (1.38%) Distributed Systems
11 5 (1.38%) Enterprise Software
12 4 (1.10%) Cloud Security Posture
12 4 (1.10%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 4 (1.10%) Insider Threat
Operating Systems
1 48 (13.22%) Windows
2 39 (10.74%) Linux
3 16 (4.41%) Android
3 16 (4.41%) Apple iOS
3 16 (4.41%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.20%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.10%) Kali Linux
5 4 (1.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.83%) Unix
7 2 (0.55%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 277 (76.31%) Cybersecurity
2 132 (36.36%) Vulnerability Management
3 92 (25.34%) Security Testing
4 90 (24.79%) Incident Response
5 88 (24.24%) SIEM
6 79 (21.76%) Security Operations
7 77 (21.21%) Information Security
8 74 (20.39%) Cloud Security
9 72 (19.83%) Red Team
10 67 (18.46%) Problem-Solving
11 56 (15.43%) Application Security
12 54 (14.88%) Continuous Improvement
12 54 (14.88%) Offensive Security
13 50 (13.77%) Disaster Recovery
14 49 (13.50%) Vulnerability Assessment
15 47 (12.95%) Stakeholder Management
15 47 (12.95%) Threat Detection
15 47 (12.95%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 46 (12.67%) Threat Intelligence
17 45 (12.40%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 33 (9.09%) Python
2 27 (7.44%) PowerShell
3 18 (4.96%) Java
4 11 (3.03%) Go
5 9 (2.48%) SQL
6 6 (1.65%) Ruby
7 5 (1.38%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.10%) Bicep
8 4 (1.10%) C
8 4 (1.10%) C#
8 4 (1.10%) C++
8 4 (1.10%) Perl
9 3 (0.83%) Bash
9 3 (0.83%) Rust
10 2 (0.55%) Objective-C
10 2 (0.55%) PHP
11 1 (0.28%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.28%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.28%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.28%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 69 (19.01%) CISSP
2 57 (15.70%) Security Cleared
3 52 (14.33%) CREST Certified
4 50 (13.77%) CISM
5 40 (11.02%) OSCP
6 39 (10.74%) SC Cleared
7 32 (8.82%) Degree
8 27 (7.44%) CHECK Team Member
9 18 (4.96%) Cisco Certification
10 16 (4.41%) CEH
11 14 (3.86%) CompTIA Security+
12 13 (3.58%) CHECK Team Leader
12 13 (3.58%) Computer Science Degree
13 11 (3.03%) AWS Certification
13 11 (3.03%) Cyber Scheme
13 11 (3.03%) GIAC
14 10 (2.75%) CCNP
14 10 (2.75%) DV Cleared
15 9 (2.48%) CISA
16 8 (2.20%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 102 (28.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 66 (18.18%) NIST
3 45 (12.40%) GDPR
4 43 (11.85%) Cyber Essentials
5 26 (7.16%) GRC
6 19 (5.23%) PCI DSS
7 16 (4.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 11 (3.03%) NCSC
8 11 (3.03%) SOC 2
9 7 (1.93%) Def Stans
9 7 (1.93%) NIST 800
9 7 (1.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 6 (1.65%) QA
11 4 (1.10%) SLA
12 3 (0.83%) Accessibility
12 3 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.55%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.55%) COBIT
13 2 (0.55%) ISO 9001
13 2 (0.55%) PERC
System Software
1 29 (7.99%) Active Directory
2 8 (2.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.38%) Docker
4 4 (1.10%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.55%) EMC RecoverPoint
5 2 (0.55%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 2 (0.55%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 26 (7.16%) Nmap
2 22 (6.06%) Kubernetes
3 19 (5.23%) Nessus
4 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Intune
4 4 (1.10%) Red Hat Satellite
4 4 (1.10%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.83%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.83%) SCCM
5 3 (0.83%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
6 2 (0.55%) VxRail
7 1 (0.28%) CASB
7 1 (0.28%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.28%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 1 (0.28%) OpenVAS
7 1 (0.28%) QRadar
Vendors
1 70 (19.28%) Microsoft
2 49 (13.50%) Cisco
2 49 (13.50%) Qualys
3 48 (13.22%) Palo Alto
4 37 (10.19%) Aruba
5 16 (4.41%) Splunk
6 14 (3.86%) CrowdStrike
6 14 (3.86%) Tenable
7 13 (3.58%) Rapid7
8 8 (2.20%) VMware
9 6 (1.65%) Fortinet
9 6 (1.65%) ServiceNow
9 6 (1.65%) Veracode
10 5 (1.38%) Oracle
10 5 (1.38%) Sophos
11 4 (1.10%) CyberArk
11 4 (1.10%) Ivanti
11 4 (1.10%) Red Hat
11 4 (1.10%) Zscaler
12 3 (0.83%) Okta