Penetration Testing Jobs in England

Penetration Testing
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in England requiring Penetration Testing skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the annual salaries offered in vacancies that cited Penetration Testing over the 6 months leading up to 22 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 458 439 463
Rank change year-on-year -19 +24 +101
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 223 459 545
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 0.46% 0.53% 0.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.49% 0.62% 0.65%
Number of salaries quoted 169 361 377
10th Percentile £42,350 £38,750 £43,750
25th Percentile £57,500 £47,500 £50,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £67,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% -2.99% +7.20%
75th Percentile £86,250 £82,500 £91,250
90th Percentile £99,000 £95,000 £105,000
UK median annual salary £69,384 £65,000 £67,250
% change year-on-year +6.74% -3.35% +7.60%

All Process and 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 45,797 73,583 84,076
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 94.20% 85.02% 95.61%
Number of salaries quoted 22,691 53,859 49,933
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,000 £34,324
25th Percentile £42,000 £40,000 £46,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -12.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £73,000 £82,500
90th Percentile £98,750 £93,750 £102,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £61,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% -9.84% +1.67%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Penetration Testing as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Salary Trend in England

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Penetration Testing in England.

Salary trend for Penetration Testing in England

Penetration Testing
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing in England over the 6 months to 22 May 2025.

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 22 May 2025. 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 +9 98 £73,000 +4.29% 143
South East +65 38 £70,000 +60.00% 32
North of England +39 36 £61,000 +6.09% 37
Midlands +37 33 £67,500 +18.42% 19
West Midlands +68 30 £67,500 +22.73% 15
North West -16 21 £61,000 +1.67% 23
Yorkshire +66 11 £55,000 +24.29% 13
South West +61 7 £67,500 +5.88% 32
North East - 4 £72,692 - 1
East Midlands +9 3 £40,000 -38.46% 4
East of England +35 2 - - 6
Penetration Testing
UK

Penetration Testing
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 2 (0.90%) TPMS
2 1 (0.45%) Apache
2 1 (0.45%) Confluence
2 1 (0.45%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.45%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 50 (22.42%) Azure
2 29 (13.00%) AWS
3 27 (12.11%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (5.38%) Entra ID
5 10 (4.48%) GCP
6 8 (3.59%) Azure Sentinel
6 8 (3.59%) PaaS
7 6 (2.69%) SaaS
8 5 (2.24%) Google Workspace
9 4 (1.79%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.79%) IaaS
10 3 (1.35%) AWS KMS
10 3 (1.35%) Azure AKS
10 3 (1.35%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (1.35%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.90%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 2 (0.90%) Azure Data Factory
11 2 (0.90%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (0.90%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (0.90%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 42 (18.83%) Firewall
2 34 (15.25%) Network Security
3 20 (8.97%) Wi-Fi
4 14 (6.28%) Bluetooth
5 12 (5.38%) 5G
6 11 (4.93%) LTE
7 10 (4.48%) TCP/IP
8 9 (4.04%) HTTP
8 9 (4.04%) VPN
9 8 (3.59%) BGP
9 8 (3.59%) DNS
9 8 (3.59%) OSPF
9 8 (3.59%) VLAN
9 8 (3.59%) Wireless
10 7 (3.14%) Spanning Tree
11 6 (2.69%) SSL
11 6 (2.69%) Wireshark
12 5 (2.24%) HTTPS
12 5 (2.24%) WAN
13 4 (1.79%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.35%) Power BI
2 1 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
2 1 (0.45%) MySQL
2 1 (0.45%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 20 (8.97%) JIRA
2 19 (8.52%) Selenium
3 8 (3.59%) Burp Suite
3 8 (3.59%) Metasploit
4 2 (0.90%) GitLab
4 2 (0.90%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.90%) Postman
4 2 (0.90%) REST Assured
4 2 (0.90%) SoapUI
5 1 (0.45%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.45%) Git
5 1 (0.45%) JMeter
5 1 (0.45%) JUnit
5 1 (0.45%) LoadRunner
5 1 (0.45%) TestRail
General
1 79 (35.43%) Social Skills
2 38 (17.04%) Finance
3 33 (14.80%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (10.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 13 (5.83%) Electronics
6 12 (5.38%) Law
6 12 (5.38%) Legal
7 8 (3.59%) Mandarin Language
8 5 (2.24%) Banking
8 5 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.24%) Manufacturing
8 5 (2.24%) Telecoms
9 4 (1.79%) Aerospace
9 4 (1.79%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.35%) Automotive
10 3 (1.35%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.90%) Games
11 2 (0.90%) Public Sector
12 1 (0.45%) Aviation
12 1 (0.45%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 58 (26.01%) Lead
2 31 (13.90%) Senior
3 28 (12.56%) Analyst
3 28 (12.56%) Security Engineer
4 20 (8.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 20 (8.97%) Tester
5 19 (8.52%) Security Analyst
6 18 (8.07%) Automation Engineer
6 18 (8.07%) Penetration Tester
6 18 (8.07%) Validation Engineer
7 15 (6.73%) Architect
7 15 (6.73%) Security Architect
8 14 (6.28%) Security Manager
8 14 (6.28%) Security Specialist
9 11 (4.93%) Cybersecurity Specialist
9 11 (4.93%) Lead Infrastructure Engineer
10 8 (3.59%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 8 (3.59%) IT Analyst
10 8 (3.59%) IT Security Analyst
10 8 (3.59%) Senior Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.24%) Azure Blueprints
2 2 (0.90%) EDI
2 2 (0.90%) PyTorch
2 2 (0.90%) REST
2 2 (0.90%) scikit-learn
2 2 (0.90%) TensorFlow
3 1 (0.45%) AngularJS
3 1 (0.45%) Elastic Stack
3 1 (0.45%) JWT
3 1 (0.45%) LAMP
3 1 (0.45%) Loki
3 1 (0.45%) Node.js
3 1 (0.45%) OAuth
3 1 (0.45%) OAuth2
3 1 (0.45%) pytest
3 1 (0.45%) SAML
3 1 (0.45%) Web Services
3 1 (0.45%) XML
3 1 (0.45%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 33 (14.80%) Security Posture
2 32 (14.35%) Management Information System
3 20 (8.97%) Operational Technology
4 18 (8.07%) SCADA
5 15 (6.73%) IoT
6 14 (6.28%) Cyber Threat
7 12 (5.38%) Mobile App
8 11 (4.93%) NB-IoT
8 11 (4.93%) Security Operations Centre
9 10 (4.48%) Data Centre
10 8 (3.59%) Cloud Native
10 8 (3.59%) Onboarding
11 5 (2.24%) CSOC
11 5 (2.24%) Cyber Security Posture
11 5 (2.24%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (2.24%) Virtual Team
12 4 (1.79%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.79%) Embedded Systems
12 4 (1.79%) Public Cloud
13 3 (1.35%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 32 (14.35%) Windows
2 24 (10.76%) Linux
3 20 (8.97%) Windows Server
4 7 (3.14%) CentOS
5 6 (2.69%) Ubuntu
6 5 (2.24%) Android
6 5 (2.24%) Apple iOS
7 3 (1.35%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.90%) VMS
8 2 (0.90%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.90%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.45%) AIX
9 1 (0.45%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.45%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.45%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (61.43%) Cybersecurity
2 74 (33.18%) Incident Response
3 65 (29.15%) Vulnerability Management
4 63 (28.25%) Information Security
5 47 (21.08%) SIEM
6 45 (20.18%) Security Testing
7 44 (19.73%) Mentoring
8 38 (17.04%) Vulnerability Assessment
9 37 (16.59%) Computer Science
10 36 (16.14%) Test Automation
11 34 (15.25%) Risk Management
12 31 (13.90%) Problem-Solving
12 31 (13.90%) Vulnerability Scanning
13 30 (13.45%) Cloud Security
14 28 (12.56%) Red Team
14 28 (12.56%) Security Architecture
15 25 (11.21%) Application Security
16 24 (10.76%) Security Operations
16 24 (10.76%) Validation
17 23 (10.31%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 32 (14.35%) Python
2 29 (13.00%) PowerShell
3 23 (10.31%) Bash
4 7 (3.14%) Java
5 5 (2.24%) C
5 5 (2.24%) C++
6 4 (1.79%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.79%) Kotlin
6 4 (1.79%) Objective-C
6 4 (1.79%) SQL
7 3 (1.35%) C#
7 3 (1.35%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.90%) Go
8 2 (0.90%) Perl
8 2 (0.90%) Ruby
9 1 (0.45%) AWK
9 1 (0.45%) Korn
9 1 (0.45%) PHP
Qualifications
1 64 (28.70%) Degree
2 34 (15.25%) CISSP
3 32 (14.35%) Security Cleared
4 31 (13.90%) SC Cleared
5 24 (10.76%) CREST Certified
6 22 (9.87%) CISM
7 20 (8.97%) ISTQB
8 17 (7.62%) CompTIA Security+
8 17 (7.62%) Network+ Certification
9 16 (7.17%) CEH
9 16 (7.17%) OSCP
10 11 (4.93%) Cisco Certification
11 9 (4.04%) CCNA
11 9 (4.04%) CCNP
12 8 (3.59%) CCSAS
12 8 (3.59%) Master's Degree
12 8 (3.59%) Microsoft Certification
13 7 (3.14%) CISA
13 7 (3.14%) CRISC
13 7 (3.14%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (23.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 49 (21.97%) NIST
3 21 (9.42%) GDPR
4 16 (7.17%) PCI DSS
5 13 (5.83%) Cyber Essentials
6 12 (5.38%) NCSC
7 8 (3.59%) QA
8 7 (3.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 6 (2.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 5 (2.24%) GRC
10 5 (2.24%) SLA
11 4 (1.79%) Accessibility
11 4 (1.79%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (1.35%) NIST 800
12 3 (1.35%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 17025
13 2 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.90%) JTAG
14 1 (0.45%) COBIT
14 1 (0.45%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 28 (12.56%) Active Directory
2 19 (8.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (4.93%) vSphere
4 3 (1.35%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.45%) Docker
6 1 (0.45%) Firmware
6 1 (0.45%) KVM
6 1 (0.45%) Postfix
6 1 (0.45%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 20 (8.97%) Terraform
2 13 (5.83%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (4.93%) Ansible
3 11 (4.93%) Kubernetes
3 11 (4.93%) Puppet
4 10 (4.48%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (2.69%) Nessus
6 5 (2.24%) CASB
6 5 (2.24%) Jamf Pro
6 5 (2.24%) QRadar
7 2 (0.90%) Grafana
7 2 (0.90%) Istio
7 2 (0.90%) linkerd
7 2 (0.90%) Nmap
8 1 (0.45%) HP Quality Center
8 1 (0.45%) Kibana
8 1 (0.45%) Nagios
8 1 (0.45%) OpenVAS
8 1 (0.45%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.45%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 70 (31.39%) Microsoft
2 23 (10.31%) Cisco
3 20 (8.97%) VMware
4 13 (5.83%) Google
5 10 (4.48%) Palo Alto
6 7 (3.14%) Juniper
6 7 (3.14%) Red Hat
7 5 (2.24%) Meraki
8 2 (0.90%) Dell
8 2 (0.90%) EMC
8 2 (0.90%) F5
8 2 (0.90%) Fortinet
8 2 (0.90%) LogRhythm
8 2 (0.90%) Oracle
8 2 (0.90%) Qualys
8 2 (0.90%) SonicWALL
8 2 (0.90%) Splunk
8 2 (0.90%) Tenable
9 1 (0.45%) Checkmarx
9 1 (0.45%) Monzo