Security Operations Job Trends in the North West

Security Operations (SecOps)
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Security Operations skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 31 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 156 168 145
Rank change year-on-year +12 -23 +49
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 27 41 43
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 0.44% 0.79% 1.11%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.87% 1.24%
Number of salaries quoted 16 22 36
10th Percentile £37,500 £40,000 £35,000
25th Percentile £42,188 £42,500 £41,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £50,154 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.67% -7.97% -16.15%
75th Percentile £71,627 £62,875 £72,500
90th Percentile £82,000 £67,350 £85,000
England median annual salary £69,692 £65,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +7.22% - -3.70%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

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 West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 5,122 4,712 3,458
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 83.27% 90.23% 89.61%
Number of salaries quoted 2,464 2,332 2,655
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,500 £31,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -5.45% -
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £82,548
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 West

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

Security Operations job vacancy trend in the North West

Security Operations
Salary Trend in the North West

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in the North West over the 6 months to 31 December 2025.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the North West

Security Operations
Job Locations in the North West

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 West region over the 6 months to 31 December 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
Manchester +22 13 £64,250 +27.71% 9
Merseyside -3 6 £45,000 -23.08% 3
Cheshire -11 5 £45,000 - 3
Cumbria - 3 £65,500 -
Security Operations
England

Security Operations
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 3 (11.11%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (11.11%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 6 (22.22%) Azure
2 5 (18.52%) SaaS
3 3 (11.11%) Azure DevOps
3 3 (11.11%) GitHub
3 3 (11.11%) GitHub Actions
3 3 (11.11%) IaaS
3 3 (11.11%) PaaS
4 2 (7.41%) AWS
4 2 (7.41%) Azure Sentinel
4 2 (7.41%) Microsoft 365
5 1 (3.70%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 5 (18.52%) Network Security
2 3 (11.11%) Firewall
3 1 (3.70%) Intrusion Detection
3 1 (3.70%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (3.70%) Elasticsearch
General
1 3 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
1 3 (11.11%) Finance
1 3 (11.11%) Local Government
1 3 (11.11%) Police
1 3 (11.11%) Public Sector
2 2 (7.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 1 (3.70%) Legal
3 1 (3.70%) Retail
3 1 (3.70%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 15 (55.56%) Lead
2 5 (18.52%) Security Engineer
2 5 (18.52%) Senior
3 4 (14.81%) Senior Security Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) 2nd Line Support
4 3 (11.11%) Analyst
4 3 (11.11%) Cloud Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Lead Cloud Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Network Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Network Operations Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Network Security Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Senior Network Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Senior Network Security Engineer
4 3 (11.11%) Support Team Leader
4 3 (11.11%) Team Leader
5 2 (7.41%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 2 (7.41%) Security Analyst
6 1 (3.70%) Information Analyst
6 1 (3.70%) Operations Analyst
6 1 (3.70%) Operations Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (11.11%) Software Packaging
2 1 (3.70%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 13 (48.15%) Security Operations Centre
2 11 (40.74%) Cyber Threat
3 8 (29.63%) Cyber Kill Chain
3 8 (29.63%) Operational Technology
4 3 (11.11%) NHS
5 2 (7.41%) Management Information System
5 2 (7.41%) Security Posture
6 1 (3.70%) Cyber Defence
6 1 (3.70%) Smart Energy
6 1 (3.70%) Smart Meter
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (44.44%) ITIL
2 11 (40.74%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
2 11 (40.74%) Mentoring
2 11 (40.74%) Risk Management
2 11 (40.74%) Threat Intelligence
3 10 (37.04%) Cyber Intelligence
3 10 (37.04%) Roadmaps
3 10 (37.04%) Vulnerability Management
4 9 (33.33%) Coaching
5 8 (29.63%) Business Strategy
5 8 (29.63%) Change Advisory Board
5 8 (29.63%) Cybersecurity
5 8 (29.63%) SABSA
5 8 (29.63%) Stakeholder Management
5 8 (29.63%) Technology Roadmap
5 8 (29.63%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
6 7 (25.93%) Continuous Improvement
7 6 (22.22%) Incident Response
8 5 (18.52%) Decision-Making
9 4 (14.81%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 3 (11.11%) Bash
1 3 (11.11%) PowerShell
2 1 (3.70%) Bicep
2 1 (3.70%) Kusto Query Language
2 1 (3.70%) SQL
Qualifications
1 3 (11.11%) CISSP
1 3 (11.11%) Degree
2 2 (7.41%) CISM
2 2 (7.41%) CRISC
3 1 (3.70%) CCNA
3 1 (3.70%) CCNP
3 1 (3.70%) Cisco Certification
3 1 (3.70%) CISMP
3 1 (3.70%) CompTIA Security+
3 1 (3.70%) GCIA
3 1 (3.70%) SANS
3 1 (3.70%) SC Cleared
3 1 (3.70%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (51.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 12 (44.44%) NIST
3 8 (29.63%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 3 (11.11%) GRC
5 2 (7.41%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (3.70%) GDPR
6 1 (3.70%) ISO 22301
6 1 (3.70%) NCSC
Systems Management
1 1 (3.70%) Terraform
Vendors
1 8 (29.63%) Microsoft
2 1 (3.70%) CrowdStrike