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

6 months to
24 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 430 398 368
Rank change year-on-year -32 -30 +142
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 185 302 397
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.34% 0.63% 0.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.42% 0.69% 0.77%
Number of salaries quoted 141 179 317
10th Percentile £42,500 £45,000 £42,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £56,250 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £66,250 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.66% +1.92% -5.80%
75th Percentile £87,500 £88,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,500 £90,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,510
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.04% -2.95%

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 44,281 43,623 51,630
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 80.50% 91.27% 88.89%
Number of salaries quoted 26,723 21,246 40,559
10th Percentile £28,750 £35,000 £30,750
25th Percentile £38,393 £46,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £76,750 £81,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £101,250 £97,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -8.00%

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 January 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 January 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 +6 89 £76,000 +4.83% 32
South West +33 39 £80,000 +16.36% 38
Midlands +4 27 £52,500 -14.29% 33
South East -16 16 £65,000 +4.00% 45
East Midlands +5 14 £51,058 -11.20% 22
West Midlands +17 13 £57,500 -13.21% 10
North of England -14 9 £55,000 -3.30% 38
Yorkshire -19 6 £56,250 +7.14% 14
North West -7 3 £55,000 -10.93% 19
East of England +21 1 £85,000 +198.25% 19
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 5 (2.70%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (2.16%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.54%) Confluence
Applications
1 6 (3.24%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (3.24%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.54%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 54 (29.19%) Azure
2 32 (17.30%) AWS
3 16 (8.65%) Microsoft 365
4 14 (7.57%) Azure Sentinel
4 14 (7.57%) Entra ID
5 12 (6.49%) GitHub
5 12 (6.49%) Microsoft Purview
5 12 (6.49%) Slack
6 9 (4.86%) GCP
6 9 (4.86%) Power Platform
7 8 (4.32%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (1.62%) IBM Cloud
9 2 (1.08%) SaaS
10 1 (0.54%) Datadog
10 1 (0.54%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
10 1 (0.54%) OpenShift
10 1 (0.54%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.54%) Rubrik
10 1 (0.54%) SecurityScorecard
Communications & Networking
1 31 (16.76%) Firewall
2 23 (12.43%) Network Security
3 16 (8.65%) VPN
4 14 (7.57%) TCP/IP
4 14 (7.57%) Wireless
5 9 (4.86%) Wireshark
6 7 (3.78%) VLAN
7 6 (3.24%) DNS
7 6 (3.24%) Intrusion Detection
7 6 (3.24%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (2.70%) HTTP
9 4 (2.16%) Ethernet
10 3 (1.62%) Cisco ISE
10 3 (1.62%) DMARC
10 3 (1.62%) Internet
10 3 (1.62%) LAN
10 3 (1.62%) Modbus
10 3 (1.62%) SSL
10 3 (1.62%) WAN
11 2 (1.08%) ICMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.86%) Power BI
2 6 (3.24%) Tableau
3 1 (0.54%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (10.27%) Burp Suite
1 19 (10.27%) Metasploit
2 15 (8.11%) JIRA
3 8 (4.32%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.08%) IDA Disassembler
5 1 (0.54%) Git
5 1 (0.54%) GitLab
General
1 70 (37.84%) Social Skills
2 48 (25.95%) Finance
3 20 (10.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 18 (9.73%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (8.11%) Influencing Skills
6 13 (7.03%) Presentation Skills
6 13 (7.03%) Retail
7 11 (5.95%) Banking
8 7 (3.78%) Law
8 7 (3.78%) Legal
9 6 (3.24%) Marketing
10 4 (2.16%) Electronics
11 3 (1.62%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.62%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.62%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.62%) Military
11 3 (1.62%) Public Sector
11 3 (1.62%) Telecoms
12 2 (1.08%) Public Speaking
13 1 (0.54%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 35 (18.92%) Security Engineer
2 34 (18.38%) Analyst
3 30 (16.22%) Security Analyst
4 27 (14.59%) Senior
5 26 (14.05%) Consultant
5 26 (14.05%) Security Consultant
6 17 (9.19%) IT Manager
7 14 (7.57%) Cybersecurity Consultant
7 14 (7.57%) Security Manager
7 14 (7.57%) Tester
8 13 (7.03%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 13 (7.03%) Penetration Tester
9 12 (6.49%) Security Specialist
9 12 (6.49%) Senior Security Engineer
10 11 (5.95%) Applications Engineer
11 10 (5.41%) Information Analyst
11 10 (5.41%) Information Security Analyst
12 9 (4.86%) Lead
13 8 (4.32%) Senior Analyst
13 8 (4.32%) Senior Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.70%) JSON
2 1 (0.54%) PyTorch
2 1 (0.54%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.54%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 44 (23.78%) Security Posture
2 21 (11.35%) Management Information System
3 19 (10.27%) Cyber Defence
4 18 (9.73%) Mobile App
5 9 (4.86%) Cyber Threat
6 7 (3.78%) Insider Threat
6 7 (3.78%) PKI
6 7 (3.78%) Security Operations Centre
6 7 (3.78%) Self-Motivation
7 6 (3.24%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (3.24%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (3.24%) Operational Technology
8 5 (2.70%) Cloud Native
8 5 (2.70%) Data Centre
9 4 (2.16%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 4 (2.16%) Cyber Security Posture
10 3 (1.62%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.62%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (1.62%) Onboarding
10 3 (1.62%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 21 (11.35%) Linux
1 21 (11.35%) Windows
2 6 (3.24%) Android
2 6 (3.24%) Apple iOS
2 6 (3.24%) Unix
3 5 (2.70%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.08%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.54%) Debian
5 1 (0.54%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.54%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2016
5 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (54.05%) Cybersecurity
2 62 (33.51%) Incident Response
3 55 (29.73%) Red Team
4 45 (24.32%) SIEM
4 45 (24.32%) Vulnerability Management
5 43 (23.24%) Application Security
6 39 (21.08%) Information Security
6 39 (21.08%) Problem-Solving
7 32 (17.30%) Vulnerability Assessment
8 31 (16.76%) Agile
9 30 (16.22%) Vulnerability Scanning
10 29 (15.68%) Offensive Security
11 28 (15.14%) Security Operations
12 26 (14.05%) Mentoring
12 26 (14.05%) Threat Modelling
13 24 (12.97%) DevOps
13 24 (12.97%) Internal Audit
14 23 (12.43%) Business Strategy
14 23 (12.43%) Security Testing
14 23 (12.43%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 55 (29.73%) Python
2 35 (18.92%) Bash
3 34 (18.38%) PowerShell
4 16 (8.65%) Go
5 8 (4.32%) SQL
6 7 (3.78%) C
6 7 (3.78%) C#
6 7 (3.78%) C++
7 6 (3.24%) R
8 5 (2.70%) Java
8 5 (2.70%) JavaScript
9 4 (2.16%) Perl
10 2 (1.08%) Ruby
11 1 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.54%) Scala
Qualifications
1 52 (28.11%) CISSP
2 45 (24.32%) CREST Certified
3 43 (23.24%) Degree
3 43 (23.24%) OSCP
4 36 (19.46%) Security Cleared
5 30 (16.22%) SC Cleared
6 28 (15.14%) Cisco Certification
7 19 (10.27%) CCNA
7 19 (10.27%) CEH
8 18 (9.73%) CHECK Team Member
8 18 (9.73%) CompTIA Security+
8 18 (9.73%) GIAC
9 15 (8.11%) CHECK Team Leader
9 15 (8.11%) SANS
10 14 (7.57%) DV Cleared
11 12 (6.49%) CCSAM
11 12 (6.49%) CISA
11 12 (6.49%) GCIH
12 10 (5.41%) CISM
12 10 (5.41%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (37.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 50 (27.03%) NIST
3 26 (14.05%) Cyber Essentials
4 20 (10.81%) Accessibility
5 17 (9.19%) GDPR
6 8 (4.32%) Actionable Recommendations
7 6 (3.24%) NCSC
8 5 (2.70%) GRC
8 5 (2.70%) NIST 800
9 4 (2.16%) QA
10 3 (1.62%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (1.62%) ITGC
10 3 (1.62%) PCI DSS
10 3 (1.62%) RMADS
11 2 (1.08%) COBIT
11 2 (1.08%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (1.08%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.54%) GxP
12 1 (0.54%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 13 (7.03%) Active Directory
2 12 (6.49%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (3.24%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (2.70%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (1.08%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.54%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 1 (0.54%) pfSense
6 1 (0.54%) Squid
6 1 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 14 (7.57%) Nessus
2 12 (6.49%) Nmap
3 7 (3.78%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (3.78%) QRadar
4 5 (2.70%) Kubernetes
5 4 (2.16%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.62%) ArcSight ESM
6 3 (1.62%) Proxmox
6 3 (1.62%) Terraform
7 2 (1.08%) CSIRT
7 2 (1.08%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.54%) Ansible
8 1 (0.54%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.54%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.54%) VxRail
Vendors
1 56 (30.27%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.03%) Cisco
3 12 (6.49%) ServiceNow
3 12 (6.49%) Tenable
4 9 (4.86%) Splunk
5 8 (4.32%) VMware
6 6 (3.24%) Oracle
7 4 (2.16%) CheckPoint
7 4 (2.16%) Qualys
8 3 (1.62%) ArcSight
8 3 (1.62%) CrowdStrike
8 3 (1.62%) Dell
8 3 (1.62%) IBM
8 3 (1.62%) LogLogic
8 3 (1.62%) McAfee
8 3 (1.62%) Palo Alto
8 3 (1.62%) Veeam
8 3 (1.62%) Zscaler
9 2 (1.08%) CyberArk
9 2 (1.08%) LogRhythm