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

6 months to
27 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 434 389 375
Rank change year-on-year -45 -14 +134
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 187 295 409
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.34% 0.63% 0.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.42% 0.68% 0.76%
Number of salaries quoted 140 176 330
10th Percentile £42,500 £45,000 £41,250
25th Percentile £51,141 £57,188 £51,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% -6.07%
75th Percentile £87,500 £88,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £101,250 £90,250
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% -3.70%

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 44,420 43,108 53,781
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 80.33% 91.56% 88.65%
Number of salaries quoted 26,812 20,825 42,459
10th Percentile £28,756 £35,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £38,500 £46,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,743 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -9.45% +5.64% -8.00%
75th Percentile £76,406 £81,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £96,250
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 27 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 27 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 +11 90 £77,250 +4.75% 33
South West +27 39 £80,000 +16.36% 26
Midlands 0 27 £52,500 -20.75% 20
South East -28 17 £65,000 +4.00% 29
East Midlands -2 14 £51,058 +27.65% 12
West Midlands +8 13 £57,500 -14.81% 8
North of England -13 9 £55,000 - 24
Yorkshire -13 6 £56,250 +7.14% 6
North West -3 3 £55,000 -9.84% 15
East of England +20 1 £85,000 +198.25% 7
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 4 (2.14%) Microsoft Exchange
1 4 (2.14%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.53%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (2.67%) Microsoft Excel
1 5 (2.67%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.53%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 54 (28.88%) Azure
2 32 (17.11%) AWS
3 16 (8.56%) Microsoft 365
4 14 (7.49%) Azure Sentinel
4 14 (7.49%) Entra ID
5 12 (6.42%) GitHub
5 12 (6.42%) Microsoft Purview
5 12 (6.42%) Slack
6 9 (4.81%) GCP
7 8 (4.28%) GitHub Actions
7 8 (4.28%) Power Platform
8 3 (1.60%) IBM Cloud
9 2 (1.07%) SaaS
10 1 (0.53%) Datadog
10 1 (0.53%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.53%) OpenShift
10 1 (0.53%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 31 (16.58%) Firewall
2 22 (11.76%) Network Security
3 16 (8.56%) Wireless
4 15 (8.02%) VPN
5 14 (7.49%) TCP/IP
6 9 (4.81%) Wireshark
7 7 (3.74%) VLAN
8 6 (3.21%) DNS
8 6 (3.21%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (2.67%) HTTP
9 5 (2.67%) Intrusion Detection
10 4 (2.14%) Ethernet
11 3 (1.60%) DMARC
11 3 (1.60%) Internet
11 3 (1.60%) LAN
11 3 (1.60%) Modbus
11 3 (1.60%) SSL
11 3 (1.60%) WAN
12 2 (1.07%) DHCP
12 2 (1.07%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (4.28%) Power BI
2 5 (2.67%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 20 (10.70%) Burp Suite
1 20 (10.70%) Metasploit
2 15 (8.02%) JIRA
3 8 (4.28%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.07%) IDA Disassembler
5 1 (0.53%) Git
5 1 (0.53%) GitLab
General
1 70 (37.43%) Social Skills
2 51 (27.27%) Finance
3 20 (10.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 17 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (8.02%) Influencing Skills
6 13 (6.95%) Presentation Skills
6 13 (6.95%) Retail
7 11 (5.88%) Banking
8 7 (3.74%) Law
8 7 (3.74%) Legal
9 6 (3.21%) Marketing
10 4 (2.14%) Electronics
11 3 (1.60%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.60%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.60%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.60%) Military
11 3 (1.60%) Public Sector
11 3 (1.60%) Telecoms
12 2 (1.07%) Public Speaking
13 1 (0.53%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 35 (18.72%) Analyst
2 34 (18.18%) Security Engineer
3 31 (16.58%) Security Analyst
4 28 (14.97%) Senior
5 27 (14.44%) Consultant
5 27 (14.44%) Security Consultant
6 16 (8.56%) IT Manager
6 16 (8.56%) Security Manager
7 14 (7.49%) Cybersecurity Consultant
7 14 (7.49%) Tester
8 13 (6.95%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 13 (6.95%) Penetration Tester
9 12 (6.42%) Security Specialist
9 12 (6.42%) Senior Security Engineer
10 11 (5.88%) Applications Engineer
11 10 (5.35%) Information Analyst
11 10 (5.35%) Information Security Analyst
12 9 (4.81%) Lead
12 9 (4.81%) Senior Analyst
12 9 (4.81%) Senior Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.67%) JSON
2 1 (0.53%) PyTorch
2 1 (0.53%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.53%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 46 (24.60%) Security Posture
2 21 (11.23%) Cyber Defence
2 21 (11.23%) Management Information System
3 20 (10.70%) Mobile App
4 10 (5.35%) Cyber Threat
5 7 (3.74%) Insider Threat
5 7 (3.74%) PKI
5 7 (3.74%) Security Operations Centre
5 7 (3.74%) Self-Motivation
6 6 (3.21%) Analytical Mindset
6 6 (3.21%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (3.21%) Operational Technology
7 5 (2.67%) Cloud Native
7 5 (2.67%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.14%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 4 (2.14%) Cyber Security Posture
9 3 (1.60%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (1.60%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.60%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.60%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 19 (10.16%) Linux
1 19 (10.16%) Windows
2 6 (3.21%) Android
2 6 (3.21%) Apple iOS
3 5 (2.67%) Unix
4 4 (2.14%) Windows Server
5 2 (1.07%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.53%) Debian
6 1 (0.53%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.53%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.53%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (54.01%) Cybersecurity
2 62 (33.16%) Incident Response
3 58 (31.02%) Red Team
4 46 (24.60%) Vulnerability Management
5 44 (23.53%) Application Security
5 44 (23.53%) SIEM
6 40 (21.39%) Problem-Solving
7 39 (20.86%) Information Security
8 34 (18.18%) Agile
9 32 (17.11%) Offensive Security
10 31 (16.58%) Vulnerability Assessment
11 30 (16.04%) Vulnerability Scanning
12 29 (15.51%) Mentoring
13 28 (14.97%) Security Operations
14 26 (13.90%) Business Strategy
14 26 (13.90%) Internal Audit
14 26 (13.90%) Threat Modelling
15 23 (12.30%) DevOps
15 23 (12.30%) Security Testing
16 22 (11.76%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 55 (29.41%) Python
2 36 (19.25%) Bash
3 35 (18.72%) PowerShell
4 16 (8.56%) Go
5 7 (3.74%) C
5 7 (3.74%) C#
5 7 (3.74%) C++
5 7 (3.74%) SQL
6 5 (2.67%) Java
6 5 (2.67%) JavaScript
6 5 (2.67%) R
7 4 (2.14%) Perl
8 2 (1.07%) Ruby
9 1 (0.53%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.53%) Scala
Qualifications
1 51 (27.27%) CISSP
2 48 (25.67%) CREST Certified
3 46 (24.60%) OSCP
4 44 (23.53%) Degree
5 36 (19.25%) Security Cleared
6 30 (16.04%) SC Cleared
7 27 (14.44%) Cisco Certification
8 20 (10.70%) CEH
8 20 (10.70%) CHECK Team Member
9 18 (9.63%) CCNA
9 18 (9.63%) CompTIA Security+
9 18 (9.63%) GIAC
10 17 (9.09%) CHECK Team Leader
11 15 (8.02%) SANS
12 14 (7.49%) CCSAM
12 14 (7.49%) DV Cleared
13 12 (6.42%) GCIH
14 11 (5.88%) CISA
15 10 (5.35%) CISM
15 10 (5.35%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (37.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 50 (26.74%) NIST
3 27 (14.44%) Cyber Essentials
4 20 (10.70%) Accessibility
5 18 (9.63%) GDPR
6 9 (4.81%) Actionable Recommendations
7 6 (3.21%) NCSC
8 5 (2.67%) GRC
8 5 (2.67%) NIST 800
9 4 (2.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 4 (2.14%) QA
10 3 (1.60%) ITGC
10 3 (1.60%) PCI DSS
10 3 (1.60%) RMADS
11 2 (1.07%) COBIT
11 2 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (1.07%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.53%) GxP
12 1 (0.53%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.53%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 13 (6.95%) Active Directory
2 12 (6.42%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (3.21%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (2.67%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (1.07%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 15 (8.02%) Nessus
2 12 (6.42%) Nmap
3 7 (3.74%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (3.74%) QRadar
4 5 (2.67%) Kubernetes
5 4 (2.14%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.60%) ArcSight ESM
6 3 (1.60%) Proxmox
6 3 (1.60%) Terraform
7 2 (1.07%) CSIRT
7 2 (1.07%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.53%) Ansible
8 1 (0.53%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 55 (29.41%) Microsoft
2 12 (6.42%) Cisco
2 12 (6.42%) ServiceNow
2 12 (6.42%) Tenable
3 8 (4.28%) Splunk
4 7 (3.74%) VMware
5 5 (2.67%) Oracle
6 4 (2.14%) Qualys
7 3 (1.60%) ArcSight
7 3 (1.60%) CheckPoint
7 3 (1.60%) CrowdStrike
7 3 (1.60%) IBM
7 3 (1.60%) LogLogic
7 3 (1.60%) McAfee
7 3 (1.60%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.60%) Veeam
8 2 (1.07%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.07%) LogRhythm
8 2 (1.07%) SonicWALL
8 2 (1.07%) Zscaler