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

6 months to
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 420 469 440
Rank change year-on-year +49 -29 +14
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 352 180 342
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.37% 0.41% 0.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.46% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 242 153 236
10th Percentile £40,000 £46,300 £41,250
25th Percentile £47,688 £53,750 £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 £91,000 £97,500
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +5.26%

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 70,489 39,024 59,079
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.45% 89.04% 81.03%
Number of salaries quoted 49,966 22,592 37,637
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £37,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £56,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -1.79% -10.40%
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% - -8.33%

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 24 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 24 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 +33 162 £86,000 +22.86% 37
South East +18 73 £70,000 +19.15% 32
South West -24 52 £50,000 -27.27% 26
Midlands -32 28 £65,000 +4.00% 22
North of England -49 25 £56,000 -5.49% 24
West Midlands -19 18 £70,000 +7.69% 13
Yorkshire -27 16 £55,000 - 11
East Midlands -15 10 £46,743 -6.51% 9
East of England - 8 £43,750 - 13
North West -25 5 £67,500 +7.14% 11
North East -55 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 (2.56%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (1.99%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.70%) Confluence
4 3 (0.85%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.85%) IIS
5 1 (0.28%) Apache
5 1 (0.28%) Drupal
5 1 (0.28%) nginx
5 1 (0.28%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.28%) Magento
1 1 (0.28%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.28%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 89 (25.28%) AWS
2 83 (23.58%) Azure
3 29 (8.24%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (6.25%) GCP
5 16 (4.55%) Entra ID
6 12 (3.41%) SaaS
7 6 (1.70%) Amazon Bedrock
7 6 (1.70%) Azure Sentinel
7 6 (1.70%) Cloud Computing
7 6 (1.70%) GitHub
7 6 (1.70%) Microsoft Purview
7 6 (1.70%) Mimecast
8 5 (1.42%) Nutanix
9 4 (1.14%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 4 (1.14%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.14%) Azure Key Vault
9 4 (1.14%) OneDrive
10 3 (0.85%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.85%) Amazon Kinesis
10 3 (0.85%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 95 (26.99%) Firewall
2 37 (10.51%) Cisco Nexus
2 37 (10.51%) Wi-Fi
3 32 (9.09%) Internet
3 32 (9.09%) Network Security
4 27 (7.67%) LAN
4 27 (7.67%) WAN
5 20 (5.68%) VPN
6 14 (3.98%) DNS
7 11 (3.13%) TCP/IP
8 8 (2.27%) Cisco ISE
8 8 (2.27%) VLAN
8 8 (2.27%) Wireless
9 7 (1.99%) Cisco ASA
10 5 (1.42%) HTTPS
10 5 (1.42%) Intrusion Detection
10 5 (1.42%) Kerberos
10 5 (1.42%) Wireshark
11 4 (1.14%) DHCP
12 3 (0.85%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.84%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.42%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.85%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.85%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.57%) KNIME
5 1 (0.28%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.28%) InterSystems Cache
5 1 (0.28%) Power BI
5 1 (0.28%) Redis
Development Applications
1 25 (7.10%) Burp Suite
2 23 (6.53%) Metasploit
3 14 (3.98%) JIRA
4 5 (1.42%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.85%) Git
5 3 (0.85%) Snyk
5 3 (0.85%) Yeoman
6 2 (0.57%) Gatling
6 2 (0.57%) GitLab
6 2 (0.57%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.57%) Maven
6 2 (0.57%) NUnit
6 2 (0.57%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.28%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.28%) IDA Disassembler
7 1 (0.28%) JMeter
7 1 (0.28%) JUnit
7 1 (0.28%) Postman
7 1 (0.28%) Selenium
7 1 (0.28%) Vagrant
General
1 111 (31.53%) Social Skills
2 60 (17.05%) Finance
3 51 (14.49%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (10.23%) Public Sector
5 27 (7.67%) Law
6 19 (5.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (3.98%) Retail
8 13 (3.69%) Banking
9 10 (2.84%) Influencing Skills
9 10 (2.84%) Telecoms
10 8 (2.27%) Aerospace
11 6 (1.70%) Legal
11 6 (1.70%) Marketing
11 6 (1.70%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (1.70%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (1.42%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.85%) Digital Health
13 3 (0.85%) Digital Healthcare
13 3 (0.85%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.85%) Military
Job Titles
1 94 (26.70%) Senior
2 61 (17.33%) Penetration Tester
2 61 (17.33%) Tester
3 55 (15.63%) Analyst
4 44 (12.50%) Lead
4 44 (12.50%) Security Analyst
5 37 (10.51%) Senior Analyst
6 36 (10.23%) Security Engineer
7 31 (8.81%) Consultant
7 31 (8.81%) Senior Security Analyst
8 28 (7.95%) Security Consultant
9 26 (7.39%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 25 (7.10%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
10 25 (7.10%) Senior Security Engineer
11 21 (5.97%) Network Analyst
11 21 (5.97%) Senior Network Analyst
12 20 (5.68%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 19 (5.40%) Security Specialist
14 17 (4.83%) Architect
15 16 (4.55%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.27%) Terraform
2 5 (1.42%) LDAP
3 4 (1.14%) .NET
3 4 (1.14%) OAuth
3 4 (1.14%) RESTful
4 3 (0.85%) .NET Framework
4 3 (0.85%) Kafka
4 3 (0.85%) OpenID
5 2 (0.57%) AngularJS
5 2 (0.57%) ASP.NET
5 2 (0.57%) ASP.NET Core
5 2 (0.57%) Entity Framework
5 2 (0.57%) OAuth2
5 2 (0.57%) OpenAPI
5 2 (0.57%) RxJS
5 2 (0.57%) Swagger
5 2 (0.57%) Vitest
6 1 (0.28%) CSS
6 1 (0.28%) HTML
6 1 (0.28%) Memcached
Miscellaneous
1 67 (19.03%) Security Posture
2 27 (7.67%) Cyber Threat
3 25 (7.10%) Management Information System
4 17 (4.83%) Onboarding
5 15 (4.26%) Security Operations Centre
5 15 (4.26%) Self-Motivation
6 12 (3.41%) Mobile App
7 11 (3.13%) Cyber Defence
7 11 (3.13%) Operational Technology
8 10 (2.84%) Cyber Security Posture
9 8 (2.27%) Blog
10 7 (1.99%) Cloud Native
10 7 (1.99%) NHS
11 6 (1.70%) Cyberattack
11 6 (1.70%) Data Centre
11 6 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
12 5 (1.42%) PKI
13 4 (1.14%) Cyber Kill Chain
13 4 (1.14%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 4 (1.14%) Insider Threat
Operating Systems
1 51 (14.49%) Windows
2 44 (12.50%) Linux
3 18 (5.11%) Windows Server
4 13 (3.69%) Android
4 13 (3.69%) Apple iOS
5 5 (1.42%) Mac OS
5 5 (1.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (1.14%) Kali Linux
7 3 (0.85%) Unix
8 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 269 (76.42%) Cybersecurity
2 115 (32.67%) Vulnerability Management
3 95 (26.99%) Incident Response
4 93 (26.42%) SIEM
5 81 (23.01%) Security Testing
6 76 (21.59%) Security Operations
7 74 (21.02%) Red Team
8 72 (20.45%) Cloud Security
9 70 (19.89%) Information Security
10 60 (17.05%) Problem-Solving
11 54 (15.34%) Offensive Security
12 52 (14.77%) Continuous Improvement
13 50 (14.20%) Disaster Recovery
14 48 (13.64%) Application Security
14 48 (13.64%) Mentoring
15 46 (13.07%) Threat Detection
16 44 (12.50%) Vulnerability Remediation
17 43 (12.22%) Vulnerability Assessment
18 42 (11.93%) Incident Management
19 41 (11.65%) Threat Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 36 (10.23%) Python
2 34 (9.66%) PowerShell
3 17 (4.83%) Java
4 9 (2.56%) Go
5 8 (2.27%) Bash
6 7 (1.99%) SQL
7 6 (1.70%) Bicep
8 5 (1.42%) C
8 5 (1.42%) C#
8 5 (1.42%) C++
8 5 (1.42%) Perl
8 5 (1.42%) Ruby
9 4 (1.14%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.85%) Objective-C
10 3 (0.85%) PHP
10 3 (0.85%) Rust
11 2 (0.57%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.57%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.28%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 59 (16.76%) CISSP
2 55 (15.63%) Security Cleared
3 53 (15.06%) CREST Certified
4 46 (13.07%) CISM
5 39 (11.08%) SC Cleared
6 36 (10.23%) OSCP
7 31 (8.81%) Degree
8 24 (6.82%) CHECK Team Member
9 23 (6.53%) Cisco Certification
10 17 (4.83%) CompTIA Security+
11 14 (3.98%) CCNP
11 14 (3.98%) CEH
12 13 (3.69%) GIAC
13 12 (3.41%) CHECK Team Leader
14 11 (3.13%) DV Cleared
15 9 (2.56%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 9 (2.56%) AWS Certification
15 9 (2.56%) CCNA
16 8 (2.27%) CCSP
17 7 (1.99%) Cyber Scheme
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 93 (26.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 60 (17.05%) NIST
3 42 (11.93%) GDPR
4 38 (10.80%) Cyber Essentials
5 20 (5.68%) GRC
6 17 (4.83%) PCI DSS
7 13 (3.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 12 (3.41%) NCSC
9 9 (2.56%) SOC 2
10 8 (2.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 7 (1.99%) Actionable Recommendations
12 5 (1.42%) QA
13 4 (1.14%) Def Stans
13 4 (1.14%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.85%) Accessibility
14 3 (0.85%) SLA
15 2 (0.57%) COBIT
16 1 (0.28%) Data Quality
16 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 1 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 37 (10.51%) Active Directory
2 10 (2.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.42%) Docker
3 5 (1.42%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.85%) EMC RecoverPoint
5 2 (0.57%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 2 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 23 (6.53%) Nmap
2 19 (5.40%) Kubernetes
3 17 (4.83%) Nessus
4 7 (1.99%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (1.42%) Red Hat Satellite
5 5 (1.42%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.14%) Ansible
7 3 (0.85%) Progress Chef
7 3 (0.85%) SCCM
7 3 (0.85%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
7 3 (0.85%) VxRail
8 2 (0.57%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.28%) CASB
9 1 (0.28%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 1 (0.28%) Consul
9 1 (0.28%) Network Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.28%) OpenVAS
9 1 (0.28%) Packer
9 1 (0.28%) Puppet
Vendors
1 66 (18.75%) Microsoft
2 49 (13.92%) Cisco
3 48 (13.64%) Palo Alto
4 47 (13.35%) Qualys
5 35 (9.94%) Aruba
6 21 (5.97%) Splunk
7 14 (3.98%) CrowdStrike
8 13 (3.69%) Rapid7
9 12 (3.41%) Tenable
10 10 (2.84%) Fortinet
10 10 (2.84%) Sophos
10 10 (2.84%) VMware
11 8 (2.27%) Zscaler
12 7 (1.99%) ServiceNow
13 6 (1.70%) Veracode
14 5 (1.42%) CheckPoint
14 5 (1.42%) CyberArk
14 5 (1.42%) Ivanti
14 5 (1.42%) Oracle
14 5 (1.42%) Red Hat