Security Engineer Job Trends in the South East

Security Engineer
England > South East

The median Security Engineer salary in the South East is £50,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 212 183 199
Rank change year-on-year -29 +16 +99
Permanent jobs requiring a Security Engineer 58 128 97
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 0.56% 1.43% 1.10%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 1.56% 1.16%
Number of salaries quoted 42 94 61
10th Percentile £36,375 £41,975 £32,500
25th Percentile £43,000 £49,775 £32,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £44,400
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +23.87% -19.27%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £60,000
90th Percentile £78,500 £79,500 £65,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South East. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 9,545 8,181 8,342
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.97% 91.12% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 5,970 4,303 6,010
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,911 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +9.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £65,000 £72,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -6.50%

Security Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Security Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Security Engineer job vacancy trend in the South East

Security Engineer
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for Security Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Salary distribution trend for Security Engineer job vacancies in the South East

Security Engineer
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Engineer in the South East

Security Engineer
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 14 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
Hampshire +16 24 £48,000 -9.52% 18
Thames Valley -21 16 £65,000 +13.04% 31
Kent -10 9 £58,000 -1.69% 9
Berkshire -15 7 £65,000 +30.00% 20
Oxfordshire +23 6 £47,500 +18.75% 3
Middlesex -1 5 - - 4
Buckinghamshire -19 3 £42,500 -32.00% 9
Surrey -21 2 £50,000 +11.11% 14
East Sussex - 2 £40,000 - 3
Sussex - 1 £58,000 - 4
West Sussex - 1 £50,000 - 5
Security Engineer
England

Security Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 14 January 2026, Security Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the South East region featuring Security Engineer in the job title.

1 28 (48.28%) Azure
2 23 (39.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 23 (39.66%) Security Operations
3 22 (37.93%) Firewall
4 20 (34.48%) SIEM
5 19 (32.76%) Network Security
6 18 (31.03%) Cybersecurity
6 18 (31.03%) Vulnerability Management
7 17 (29.31%) AWS
8 16 (27.59%) Microsoft
9 15 (25.86%) Cloud Security
10 14 (24.14%) VPN
11 13 (22.41%) Cyber Essentials
11 13 (22.41%) ITIL
12 12 (20.69%) NIST
12 12 (20.69%) Threat Intelligence
13 11 (18.97%) Data Protection
13 11 (18.97%) Information Security
13 11 (18.97%) PowerShell
14 10 (17.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 10 (17.24%) Threat Detection
15 9 (15.52%) Cisco Certification
15 9 (15.52%) CISSP
15 9 (15.52%) Incident Response
15 9 (15.52%) Microsoft 365
15 9 (15.52%) TCP/IP
15 9 (15.52%) Threat Modelling
16 8 (13.79%) Application Security
16 8 (13.79%) CCNP
16 8 (13.79%) CI/CD

Security Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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:

Cloud Services
1 28 (48.28%) Azure
2 17 (29.31%) AWS
3 9 (15.52%) Microsoft 365
4 7 (12.07%) Azure Sentinel
5 6 (10.34%) Azure DevOps
5 6 (10.34%) GCP
6 5 (8.62%) Azure AI
6 5 (8.62%) Microsoft Copilot
6 5 (8.62%) PaaS
6 5 (8.62%) Power Automate
6 5 (8.62%) Power Platform
7 1 (1.72%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 1 (1.72%) AWS CloudTrail
7 1 (1.72%) Azure API Management
7 1 (1.72%) Azure Logic Apps
7 1 (1.72%) Entra ID
7 1 (1.72%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 22 (37.93%) Firewall
2 19 (32.76%) Network Security
3 14 (24.14%) VPN
4 9 (15.52%) TCP/IP
5 3 (5.17%) Cisco ISE
5 3 (5.17%) WAN
6 2 (3.45%) BGP
6 2 (3.45%) DNS
6 2 (3.45%) HTTP
6 2 (3.45%) Internet
6 2 (3.45%) LAN
6 2 (3.45%) OSPF
6 2 (3.45%) WLAN
7 1 (1.72%) DMZ
7 1 (1.72%) EIGRP
7 1 (1.72%) IPsec
7 1 (1.72%) IPv4
7 1 (1.72%) MPLS
7 1 (1.72%) VRRP
7 1 (1.72%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (8.62%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (3.45%) Snyk
General
1 12 (20.69%) Social Skills
2 10 (17.24%) Finance
3 5 (8.62%) Legal
4 4 (6.90%) Automotive
5 2 (3.45%) Manufacturing
5 2 (3.45%) Social Housing
6 1 (1.72%) Aerospace
6 1 (1.72%) Analytical Skills
6 1 (1.72%) Electronics
6 1 (1.72%) Military
6 1 (1.72%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (8.62%) YAML
2 4 (6.90%) ARM Templates
3 1 (1.72%) .NET
3 1 (1.72%) 802.1X
3 1 (1.72%) OAuth
3 1 (1.72%) OAuth2
3 1 (1.72%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 14 (24.14%) Security Posture
2 10 (17.24%) Security Operations Centre
3 9 (15.52%) Onboarding
4 5 (8.62%) CCTV
4 5 (8.62%) Cloud Native
5 4 (6.90%) ARM Cortex
5 4 (6.90%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (3.45%) Cloud Security Posture
6 2 (3.45%) Operational Technology
7 1 (1.72%) Cyberattack
7 1 (1.72%) Driving Licence
7 1 (1.72%) FMCG
7 1 (1.72%) Management Information System
7 1 (1.72%) PKI
7 1 (1.72%) Renewable Energy
7 1 (1.72%) SCADA
7 1 (1.72%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1 (1.72%) Linux
1 1 (1.72%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (39.66%) Security Operations
2 20 (34.48%) SIEM
3 18 (31.03%) Cybersecurity
3 18 (31.03%) Vulnerability Management
4 15 (25.86%) Cloud Security
5 13 (22.41%) ITIL
6 12 (20.69%) Threat Intelligence
7 11 (18.97%) Data Protection
7 11 (18.97%) Information Security
8 10 (17.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 10 (17.24%) Threat Detection
9 9 (15.52%) Incident Response
9 9 (15.52%) Threat Modelling
10 8 (13.79%) Application Security
10 8 (13.79%) CI/CD
10 8 (13.79%) DevSecOps
10 8 (13.79%) Infrastructure as Code
10 8 (13.79%) Penetration Testing
10 8 (13.79%) SDLC
10 8 (13.79%) Situational Awareness
Programming Languages
1 11 (18.97%) PowerShell
2 7 (12.07%) Python
3 4 (6.90%) Bicep
3 4 (6.90%) Kusto Query Language
4 1 (1.72%) Bash
Qualifications
1 9 (15.52%) Cisco Certification
1 9 (15.52%) CISSP
2 8 (13.79%) CCNP
3 7 (12.07%) CCNA
3 7 (12.07%) CompTIA Security+
4 6 (10.34%) Computer Science Degree
4 6 (10.34%) Degree
4 6 (10.34%) GCIA
4 6 (10.34%) SANS
5 5 (8.62%) Master's Degree
5 5 (8.62%) SC Cleared
5 5 (8.62%) Security Cleared
6 3 (5.17%) AWS Certification
7 1 (1.72%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 1 (1.72%) Azure Certification
7 1 (1.72%) CCSP
7 1 (1.72%) City & Guilds
7 1 (1.72%) DV Cleared
7 1 (1.72%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (39.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 13 (22.41%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (20.69%) NIST
4 6 (10.34%) NCSC
5 5 (8.62%) Accessibility
6 2 (3.45%) GDPR
7 1 (1.72%) GRC
7 1 (1.72%) NIST 800
System Software
1 1 (1.72%) Docker
Systems Management
1 8 (13.79%) Terraform
2 1 (1.72%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 16 (27.59%) Microsoft
2 6 (10.34%) Splunk
3 4 (6.90%) CrowdStrike
3 4 (6.90%) Qualys
3 4 (6.90%) ServiceNow
4 3 (5.17%) Cisco
5 2 (3.45%) Checkmarx
5 2 (3.45%) CheckPoint
5 2 (3.45%) HP
5 2 (3.45%) Salesforce
6 1 (1.72%) Citrix
6 1 (1.72%) Fortinet
6 1 (1.72%) Imperva
6 1 (1.72%) Meraki
6 1 (1.72%) NetApp
6 1 (1.72%) Okta
6 1 (1.72%) Palo Alto
6 1 (1.72%) SolarWinds
6 1 (1.72%) Tenable
6 1 (1.72%) Thales