Security Operations Job Trends in the South East

Security Operations (SecOps)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South East 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 168 221 192
Rank change year-on-year +53 -29 +84
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 107 81 98
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 1.04% 0.90% 1.10%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.29% 1.02% 1.25%
Number of salaries quoted 72 53 70
10th Percentile £43,000 £38,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £47,500 £46,250 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £62,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year - -3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £69,063 £78,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £95,000 £80,250
England median annual salary £69,384 £65,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +6.74% +4.00% -7.41%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

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 South East.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 8,270 7,935 7,841
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 80.17% 88.05% 88.33%
Number of salaries quoted 4,919 3,791 5,460
10th Percentile £27,750 £33,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £34,250 £45,000 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £58,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -13.79% +10.48% -4.55%
75th Percentile £65,000 £75,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £80,000
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 South East

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

Security Operations job vacancy trend in the South East

Security Operations
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Security Operations.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in the South East over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the South East

Security Operations
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 Operations within the South East 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
Hampshire +56 50 £54,000 -30.32% 14
Kent +6 24 £52,500 +31.25% 3
Thames Valley -1 22 £65,000 +30.00% 17
Buckinghamshire 0 11 £67,500 +42.11% 6
Berkshire -3 7 £65,000 +8.33% 11
Oxfordshire - 4 £70,000 -
East Sussex +10 3 £87,500 +45.83% 6
Surrey +4 3 - - 6
West Sussex - 3 £72,500 - 3
Security Operations
England

Security Operations
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 30 (28.04%) Azure
2 21 (19.63%) AWS
3 9 (8.41%) GCP
4 8 (7.48%) Azure Sentinel
5 7 (6.54%) Microsoft 365
6 2 (1.87%) AWS CloudFormation
6 2 (1.87%) IaaS
6 2 (1.87%) Microsoft Purview
6 2 (1.87%) PaaS
7 1 (0.93%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 1 (0.93%) AWS CloudTrail
7 1 (0.93%) Azure Logic Apps
7 1 (0.93%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.93%) Entra ID
7 1 (0.93%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 23 (21.50%) Firewall
2 22 (20.56%) Network Security
3 21 (19.63%) DNS
4 14 (13.08%) TCP/IP
5 13 (12.15%) DHCP
5 13 (12.15%) SAN
5 13 (12.15%) VPN
Development Applications
1 1 (0.93%) Git
General
1 54 (50.47%) Social Skills
2 12 (11.21%) Finance
3 11 (10.28%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (9.35%) Legal
5 5 (4.67%) Influencing Skills
6 3 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 3 (2.80%) Organisational Skills
6 3 (2.80%) Public Sector
7 2 (1.87%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.93%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 23 (21.50%) Security Engineer
1 23 (21.50%) Senior
2 21 (19.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 18 (16.82%) Lead
4 16 (14.95%) Analyst
5 12 (11.21%) Cybersecurity Manager
5 12 (11.21%) Security Manager
6 11 (10.28%) Senior Security Engineer
7 9 (8.41%) Infrastructure Manager
7 9 (8.41%) Infrastructure Support
7 9 (8.41%) Infrastructure Support Manager
7 9 (8.41%) Security Analyst
7 9 (8.41%) Senior Analyst
7 9 (8.41%) Support Manager
8 8 (7.48%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
8 8 (7.48%) SOC Manager
9 7 (6.54%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 7 (6.54%) Security Assurance Manager
10 6 (5.61%) Senior Security Analyst
10 6 (5.61%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (5.61%) ARM Templates
2 2 (1.87%) REST
3 1 (0.93%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 48 (44.86%) Security Operations Centre
2 13 (12.15%) Cyber Threat
3 11 (10.28%) Security Posture
4 8 (7.48%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 8 (7.48%) Operational Technology
5 5 (4.67%) Onboarding
6 4 (3.74%) ARM Cortex
6 4 (3.74%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (1.87%) Cloud Native
7 2 (1.87%) Management Information System
8 1 (0.93%) CMDB
8 1 (0.93%) Cyber Defence
8 1 (0.93%) Insider Threat
8 1 (0.93%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 25 (23.36%) Windows
2 13 (12.15%) Windows Server
2 13 (12.15%) Windows Server 2012
2 13 (12.15%) Windows Server 2019
3 9 (8.41%) Windows 10
4 3 (2.80%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 39 (36.45%) Incident Response
1 39 (36.45%) SIEM
2 38 (35.51%) Cybersecurity
3 36 (33.64%) Continuous Improvement
4 27 (25.23%) Problem-Solving
5 25 (23.36%) Threat Intelligence
6 24 (22.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 23 (21.50%) Vulnerability Management
8 20 (18.69%) Information Security
9 17 (15.89%) DevOps
9 17 (15.89%) Mentoring
10 16 (14.95%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 14 (13.08%) Cloud Security
11 14 (13.08%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
11 14 (13.08%) ITIL
11 14 (13.08%) ITSM
12 13 (12.15%) Performance Tuning
13 12 (11.21%) Analytics
14 11 (10.28%) Risk Management
14 11 (10.28%) Situational Awareness
Programming Languages
1 12 (11.21%) PowerShell
1 12 (11.21%) Python
2 9 (8.41%) Kusto Query Language
3 6 (5.61%) Bicep
4 5 (4.67%) Bash
4 5 (4.67%) SQL
5 2 (1.87%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 21 (19.63%) Security Cleared
2 20 (18.69%) SC Cleared
3 13 (12.15%) CompTIA Security+
3 13 (12.15%) Degree
4 10 (9.35%) CISSP
4 10 (9.35%) GCIA
5 8 (7.48%) Cisco Certification
6 7 (6.54%) CREST Certified
7 6 (5.61%) CCNA
7 6 (5.61%) CCNP
7 6 (5.61%) CEH
7 6 (5.61%) CompTIA CySA+
7 6 (5.61%) GCIH
7 6 (5.61%) SANS
8 5 (4.67%) Network+ Certification
9 3 (2.80%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (1.87%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 2 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (1.87%) CISM
10 2 (1.87%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (27.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 21 (19.63%) NIST
3 13 (12.15%) Cyber Essentials
4 8 (7.48%) GDPR
4 8 (7.48%) ISO/IEC 27005
5 7 (6.54%) GRC
6 6 (5.61%) PCI DSS
7 4 (3.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (3.74%) NCSC
7 4 (3.74%) SOC 2
8 3 (2.80%) SOC 3
9 1 (0.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 13 (12.15%) Active Directory
1 13 (12.15%) VMware ESXi
2 3 (2.80%) Docker
Systems Management
1 22 (20.56%) SCCM
2 14 (13.08%) Microsoft Intune
3 13 (12.15%) vCenter Server
4 7 (6.54%) Terraform
5 3 (2.80%) Kubernetes
5 3 (2.80%) Nessus
5 3 (2.80%) QRadar
Vendors
1 36 (33.64%) Microsoft
2 22 (20.56%) SolarWinds
3 15 (14.02%) ServiceNow
4 13 (12.15%) 3PAR
4 13 (12.15%) NetApp
4 13 (12.15%) Veeam
4 13 (12.15%) VMware
5 5 (4.67%) Splunk
6 4 (3.74%) CrowdStrike
7 3 (2.80%) LogRhythm
7 3 (2.80%) Tenable
8 1 (0.93%) McAfee
8 1 (0.93%) Okta
8 1 (0.93%) Symantec