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

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 428 463 449
Rank change year-on-year +35 -14 -18
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 329 188 412
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.37% 0.43% 0.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.48% 0.59%
Number of salaries quoted 215 161 323
10th Percentile £41,250 £46,000 £38,750
25th Percentile £50,000 £52,500 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £89,000 £78,750 £81,875
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £100,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £64,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +5.47% +2.40%

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 65,072 38,960 70,273
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.88% 90.13% 82.28%
Number of salaries quoted 46,074 22,313 49,745
10th Percentile £31,000 £28,760 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £93,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £56,888 £55,000
% change year-on-year +5.47% +3.43% -8.71%

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 18 July 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 18 July 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 +30 142 £82,500 +13.79% 37
South East +23 72 £72,500 +20.83% 24
South West -15 49 £50,000 -27.27% 19
Midlands -30 27 £65,000 -3.70% 5
North of England -62 24 £57,500 - 14
West Midlands -26 19 £70,000 +3.70% 4
Yorkshire -36 13 £55,000 - 8
East Midlands -8 8 £46,743 +16.86% 1
North East -51 6 £75,000 +3.18%
East of England - 6 £32,500 - 4
North West -11 5 £67,500 +17.39% 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 9 (2.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.13%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.52%) Confluence
4 3 (0.91%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.91%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) Apache
5 1 (0.30%) Drupal
5 1 (0.30%) nginx
5 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 2 (0.61%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Magento
1 1 (0.30%) SAP EHS
1 1 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 82 (24.92%) AWS
2 78 (23.71%) Azure
3 33 (10.03%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (7.60%) GCP
5 15 (4.56%) Entra ID
6 8 (2.43%) Azure Sentinel
6 8 (2.43%) GitHub
6 8 (2.43%) SaaS
7 6 (1.82%) Amazon Bedrock
7 6 (1.82%) Cloud Computing
7 6 (1.82%) Microsoft Purview
8 4 (1.22%) Amazon EKS
8 4 (1.22%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 4 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
8 4 (1.22%) Azure Key Vault
8 4 (1.22%) GitHub Actions
8 4 (1.22%) Mimecast
8 4 (1.22%) Nutanix
8 4 (1.22%) Rubrik
9 3 (0.91%) Amazon Kinesis
Communications & Networking
1 87 (26.44%) Firewall
2 33 (10.03%) Cisco Nexus
3 31 (9.42%) Wi-Fi
4 29 (8.81%) Network Security
5 28 (8.51%) Internet
6 20 (6.08%) LAN
6 20 (6.08%) VPN
6 20 (6.08%) WAN
7 12 (3.65%) DNS
8 11 (3.34%) Wireless
9 10 (3.04%) TCP/IP
10 9 (2.74%) Cisco ISE
11 7 (2.13%) VLAN
12 6 (1.82%) Intrusion Detection
13 4 (1.22%) DHCP
13 4 (1.22%) HTTPS
13 4 (1.22%) Kerberos
14 3 (0.91%) VoIP
14 3 (0.91%) Wireshark
15 2 (0.61%) Broadband
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.43%) SQL Server
2 4 (1.22%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.91%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.91%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.61%) KNIME
5 1 (0.30%) InterSystems Cache
5 1 (0.30%) Power BI
5 1 (0.30%) Redis
Development Applications
1 18 (5.47%) Burp Suite
2 17 (5.17%) Metasploit
3 13 (3.95%) JIRA
4 6 (1.82%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.91%) Git
5 3 (0.91%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.91%) Yeoman
6 2 (0.61%) Gatling
6 2 (0.61%) NUnit
6 2 (0.61%) Snyk
7 1 (0.30%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.30%) GitLab
7 1 (0.30%) IDA Disassembler
7 1 (0.30%) JMeter
7 1 (0.30%) JUnit
7 1 (0.30%) Postman
7 1 (0.30%) Selenium
7 1 (0.30%) Vagrant
General
1 108 (32.83%) Social Skills
2 64 (19.45%) Finance
3 41 (12.46%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (10.64%) Public Sector
5 32 (9.73%) Law
6 18 (5.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 16 (4.86%) Retail
8 14 (4.26%) Banking
9 8 (2.43%) Legal
10 7 (2.13%) Influencing Skills
11 6 (1.82%) Marketing
11 6 (1.82%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (1.22%) Financial Institution
12 4 (1.22%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.91%) Back Office
13 3 (0.91%) Digital Health
13 3 (0.91%) Digital Healthcare
13 3 (0.91%) Military
13 3 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.61%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 84 (25.53%) Senior
2 61 (18.54%) Analyst
3 52 (15.81%) Penetration Tester
3 52 (15.81%) Tester
4 49 (14.89%) Security Analyst
5 40 (12.16%) Senior Analyst
6 37 (11.25%) Consultant
7 36 (10.94%) Security Consultant
8 35 (10.64%) Senior Security Analyst
9 30 (9.12%) Lead
10 28 (8.51%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 25 (7.60%) Security Engineer
11 25 (7.60%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
12 22 (6.69%) Security Specialist
13 20 (6.08%) Network Analyst
13 20 (6.08%) Senior Network Analyst
14 19 (5.78%) Security Manager
15 16 (4.86%) Cybersecurity Consultant
15 16 (4.86%) Team Leader
16 15 (4.56%) Network Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.22%) .NET
1 4 (1.22%) LDAP
1 4 (1.22%) RESTful
2 3 (0.91%) .NET Framework
2 3 (0.91%) Kafka
2 3 (0.91%) OAuth
3 2 (0.61%) AngularJS
3 2 (0.61%) ASP.NET
3 2 (0.61%) ASP.NET Core
3 2 (0.61%) Entity Framework
3 2 (0.61%) OAuth2
3 2 (0.61%) OpenAPI
3 2 (0.61%) OpenID
3 2 (0.61%) RxJS
3 2 (0.61%) Swagger
3 2 (0.61%) Vitest
4 1 (0.30%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.30%) Memcached
4 1 (0.30%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 67 (20.36%) Security Posture
2 31 (9.42%) Cyber Threat
3 24 (7.29%) Management Information System
4 21 (6.38%) Cyber Defence
5 19 (5.78%) Mobile App
6 13 (3.95%) Onboarding
6 13 (3.95%) Security Operations Centre
7 12 (3.65%) Self-Motivation
8 9 (2.74%) Data Centre
9 8 (2.43%) Blog
9 8 (2.43%) Operational Technology
10 7 (2.13%) Cloud Native
10 7 (2.13%) Cyberattack
10 7 (2.13%) Enterprise Software
11 6 (1.82%) Cyber Security Posture
12 4 (1.22%) Insider Threat
13 3 (0.91%) Cloud Security Posture
13 3 (0.91%) Cyber Kill Chain
13 3 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
13 3 (0.91%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 52 (15.81%) Windows
2 42 (12.77%) Linux
3 17 (5.17%) Windows Server
4 15 (4.56%) Android
4 15 (4.56%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.22%) Unix
6 3 (0.91%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.30%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 241 (73.25%) Cybersecurity
2 102 (31.00%) Incident Response
3 100 (30.40%) Vulnerability Management
4 82 (24.92%) SIEM
5 77 (23.40%) Red Team
6 70 (21.28%) Security Testing
7 68 (20.67%) Security Operations
8 66 (20.06%) Cloud Security
9 59 (17.93%) Information Security
10 57 (17.33%) Offensive Security
11 54 (16.41%) Problem-Solving
12 52 (15.81%) Application Security
13 50 (15.20%) Mentoring
14 49 (14.89%) Disaster Recovery
15 45 (13.68%) Continuous Improvement
16 41 (12.46%) Threat Intelligence
17 40 (12.16%) Threat Modelling
18 39 (11.85%) Threat Detection
19 37 (11.25%) Vulnerability Remediation
20 36 (10.94%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 42 (12.77%) PowerShell
2 40 (12.16%) Python
3 17 (5.17%) Bash
4 15 (4.56%) Java
5 11 (3.34%) Go
6 7 (2.13%) SQL
7 6 (1.82%) Bicep
8 4 (1.22%) C
8 4 (1.22%) C#
8 4 (1.22%) C++
9 3 (0.91%) Objective-C
9 3 (0.91%) Perl
9 3 (0.91%) PHP
9 3 (0.91%) Ruby
9 3 (0.91%) Rust
10 2 (0.61%) JavaScript
10 2 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.61%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 64 (19.45%) CREST Certified
2 62 (18.84%) CISSP
3 53 (16.11%) Security Cleared
4 48 (14.59%) OSCP
5 45 (13.68%) CISM
6 41 (12.46%) SC Cleared
7 31 (9.42%) Degree
8 24 (7.29%) CHECK Team Member
9 23 (6.99%) Cisco Certification
10 18 (5.47%) CEH
10 18 (5.47%) CHECK Team Leader
11 16 (4.86%) CompTIA Security+
12 15 (4.56%) CCNP
13 14 (4.26%) DV Cleared
14 13 (3.95%) CCNA
14 13 (3.95%) GIAC
15 11 (3.34%) CCSAM
16 8 (2.43%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 8 (2.43%) AWS Certification
16 8 (2.43%) OSCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 91 (27.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 52 (15.81%) NIST
3 43 (13.07%) GDPR
4 41 (12.46%) Cyber Essentials
5 20 (6.08%) PCI DSS
6 18 (5.47%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 14 (4.26%) GRC
7 14 (4.26%) NCSC
8 12 (3.65%) Actionable Recommendations
9 8 (2.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 7 (2.13%) Accessibility
10 7 (2.13%) SOC 2
11 5 (1.52%) QA
12 4 (1.22%) Def Stans
12 4 (1.22%) NIST 800
13 3 (0.91%) COBIT
13 3 (0.91%) Data Quality
13 3 (0.91%) SLA
14 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 1 (0.30%) WCAG
System Software
1 38 (11.55%) Active Directory
2 10 (3.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.22%) Docker
3 4 (1.22%) EMC RecoverPoint
3 4 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.61%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (5.78%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.95%) Nmap
3 12 (3.65%) Nessus
4 10 (3.04%) Microsoft Intune
4 10 (3.04%) Terraform
5 5 (1.52%) Ansible
6 4 (1.22%) Red Hat Satellite
6 4 (1.22%) VxRail
7 3 (0.91%) SCCM
8 2 (0.61%) CSIRT
8 2 (0.61%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.61%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.30%) CASB
9 1 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 1 (0.30%) Consul
9 1 (0.30%) OpenVAS
9 1 (0.30%) Packer
9 1 (0.30%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.30%) Puppet
Vendors
1 66 (20.06%) Microsoft
2 39 (11.85%) Cisco
3 38 (11.55%) Qualys
4 36 (10.94%) Palo Alto
5 29 (8.81%) Aruba
6 23 (6.99%) Splunk
7 14 (4.26%) Sophos
8 12 (3.65%) CrowdStrike
8 12 (3.65%) VMware
9 11 (3.34%) Zscaler
10 9 (2.74%) CheckPoint
11 8 (2.43%) Fortinet
11 8 (2.43%) Tenable
12 6 (1.82%) Rapid7
12 6 (1.82%) ServiceNow
13 5 (1.52%) TOWER Software
14 4 (1.22%) CyberArk
14 4 (1.22%) Ivanti
14 4 (1.22%) Oracle
14 4 (1.22%) Red Hat