Security Operations Job Trends in the North of England

Security Operations (SecOps)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Security Operations skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 209 174 198
Rank change year-on-year -35 +24 +38
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 53 103 91
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 0.50% 1.13% 1.06%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.62% 1.25% 1.20%
Number of salaries quoted 28 65 72
10th Percentile £40,125 - £35,000
25th Percentile £45,000 £42,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,309 £56,500
Median % change year-on-year +29.20% -10.96% -13.08%
75th Percentile £89,563 £65,000 £63,750
90th Percentile £110,000 £66,500 £79,250
England median annual salary £69,384 £65,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +6.74% +4.00% -7.41%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North of England

Security Operations 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 the North of England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 8,531 8,241 7,566
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 80.17% 90.66% 88.34%
Number of salaries quoted 4,542 3,667 5,961
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £29,250
25th Percentile £32,500 £40,000 £38,856
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -0.94%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £82,040 £82,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Security Operations relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

Security Operations job vacancy trend in the North of England

Security Operations
Salary Trend in the North of England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Security Operations.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Salary Histogram in the North of England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in the North of England over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the North of England

Security Operations
Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Operations within the North of England region over the 6 months to 12 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
North West +23 28 £45,000 -10.00% 14
Yorkshire -51 16 £67,500 +28.57% 9
North East +7 9 £105,000 +108.71% 6
Security Operations
England

Security Operations
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of 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 2 (3.77%) SharePoint
Applications
1 2 (3.77%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 10 (18.87%) Azure
2 6 (11.32%) AWS
2 6 (11.32%) Microsoft 365
3 5 (9.43%) SaaS
4 3 (5.66%) Azure DevOps
4 3 (5.66%) GitHub
4 3 (5.66%) GitHub Actions
4 3 (5.66%) IaaS
4 3 (5.66%) PaaS
5 2 (3.77%) Azure Sentinel
6 1 (1.89%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 7 (13.21%) Network Security
2 3 (5.66%) Firewall
3 1 (1.89%) Intrusion Detection
3 1 (1.89%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.89%) Elasticsearch
General
1 4 (7.55%) Social Skills
2 3 (5.66%) Finance
3 2 (3.77%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (3.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 2 (3.77%) Local Government
3 2 (3.77%) Police
3 2 (3.77%) Public Sector
4 1 (1.89%) Legal
4 1 (1.89%) Retail
Job Titles
1 28 (52.83%) Lead
2 7 (13.21%) Security Engineer
2 7 (13.21%) Senior
3 6 (11.32%) Head of Security
3 6 (11.32%) Senior Security Engineer
4 5 (9.43%) Head of IT
4 5 (9.43%) Head of IT Security
4 5 (9.43%) Network Engineer
4 5 (9.43%) Network Operations Engineer
4 5 (9.43%) Network Security Engineer
4 5 (9.43%) Senior Network Engineer
4 5 (9.43%) Senior Network Security Engineer
4 5 (9.43%) SOC Manager
5 4 (7.55%) Analyst
6 3 (5.66%) Cloud Engineer
6 3 (5.66%) Head of Engineering
6 3 (5.66%) Lead Cloud Engineer
7 2 (3.77%) 2nd Line Support
7 2 (3.77%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 2 (3.77%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (3.77%) Software Packaging
2 1 (1.89%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 29 (54.72%) Security Operations Centre
2 26 (49.06%) Cyber Threat
3 22 (41.51%) Cyber Kill Chain
3 22 (41.51%) Operational Technology
4 6 (11.32%) Management Information System
5 4 (7.55%) Onboarding
6 3 (5.66%) Security Posture
7 2 (3.77%) NHS
8 1 (1.89%) Cyber Defence
8 1 (1.89%) Smart Energy
8 1 (1.89%) Smart Meter
Operating Systems
1 1 (1.89%) Linux
1 1 (1.89%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (56.60%) Risk Management
1 30 (56.60%) Vulnerability Management
2 29 (54.72%) ITIL
3 28 (52.83%) Roadmaps
4 27 (50.94%) Mentoring
4 27 (50.94%) Threat Intelligence
5 26 (49.06%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 26 (49.06%) Stakeholder Management
5 26 (49.06%) Technology Roadmap
6 24 (45.28%) Cyber Intelligence
7 23 (43.40%) Coaching
8 22 (41.51%) Business Strategy
8 22 (41.51%) Change Advisory Board
8 22 (41.51%) SABSA
8 22 (41.51%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
9 14 (26.42%) Cybersecurity
9 14 (26.42%) Incident Response
10 10 (18.87%) Continuous Improvement
11 8 (15.09%) Information Security
12 7 (13.21%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (5.66%) Bash
1 3 (5.66%) PowerShell
2 1 (1.89%) Bicep
2 1 (1.89%) Kusto Query Language
2 1 (1.89%) SQL
Qualifications
1 7 (13.21%) CISSP
1 7 (13.21%) Degree
2 5 (9.43%) CISM
3 4 (7.55%) AWS Certification
3 4 (7.55%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
3 4 (7.55%) Azure Certification
3 4 (7.55%) Computer Science Degree
3 4 (7.55%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
3 4 (7.55%) Master's Degree
3 4 (7.55%) Microsoft Certification
4 3 (5.66%) CompTIA Security+
4 3 (5.66%) CRISC
5 2 (3.77%) GCIA
6 1 (1.89%) CCNA
6 1 (1.89%) CCNP
6 1 (1.89%) CEH
6 1 (1.89%) CISA
6 1 (1.89%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (1.89%) CISMP
6 1 (1.89%) GCFA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (54.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 27 (50.94%) NIST
3 22 (41.51%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 7 (13.21%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (7.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 3 (5.66%) GRC
7 2 (3.77%) GDPR
8 1 (1.89%) ISO 22301
8 1 (1.89%) NCSC
Systems Management
1 1 (1.89%) Terraform
Vendors
1 13 (24.53%) Microsoft
2 2 (3.77%) CrowdStrike
3 1 (1.89%) Qualys
3 1 (1.89%) Rapid7