Cybersecurity Job Trends in the South West

Cybersecurity
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Cybersecurity skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 21 43
Rank change year-on-year -2 +22 -21
Permanent jobs citing Cybersecurity 555 256 280
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 5.22% 7.14% 4.24%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 7.30% 8.72% 5.55%
Number of salaries quoted 381 180 177
10th Percentile £31,250 £27,450 £33,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £31,063 £47,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -20.00% -3.10%
75th Percentile £71,250 £68,750 £81,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,850 £97,250
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -9.09% -5.47%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South West

Cybersecurity 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 West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 7,607 2,936 5,046
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South West 71.60% 81.87% 76.34%
Number of salaries quoted 5,171 1,848 2,853
10th Percentile £30,500 £27,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -13.64% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -1.32%

Cybersecurity
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Cybersecurity relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Cybersecurity job vacancy trend in the South West

Cybersecurity
Salary Trend in the South West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Cybersecurity.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity
Salary Histogram in the South West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Cybersecurity in the South West over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Cybersecurity in the South West

Cybersecurity
Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Cybersecurity within the South West region over the 6 months to 15 October 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
Gloucestershire -6 215 £50,000 -6.97% 84
Bristol -8 147 £65,000 +30.00% 74
Wiltshire +7 80 £62,500 +19.05% 45
Devon +1 51 £35,000 +6.06% 24
Somerset -20 29 £47,500 -26.92% 41
Dorset -4 18 £70,000 +125.81% 26
Cornwall +9 4 £32,500 - 3
Cybersecurity
England

Cybersecurity
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South 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 50 (9.01%) Microsoft Exchange
2 25 (4.50%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.72%) Apache
4 3 (0.54%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.54%) WordPress
Applications
1 8 (1.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 6 (1.08%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.54%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 103 (18.56%) Azure
2 90 (16.22%) Microsoft 365
3 60 (10.81%) Entra ID
4 50 (9.01%) AWS
5 11 (1.98%) Serverless
6 10 (1.80%) GCP
7 9 (1.62%) Cloud Computing
8 8 (1.44%) Microsoft Purview
9 7 (1.26%) SaaS
10 6 (1.08%) Dynamics 365
10 6 (1.08%) Microsoft Copilot
11 4 (0.72%) Amazon EC2
11 4 (0.72%) Amazon S3
11 4 (0.72%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.72%) Azure Sentinel
11 4 (0.72%) Power Platform
12 3 (0.54%) Canva
12 3 (0.54%) Google Analytics
13 2 (0.36%) Power Automate
13 2 (0.36%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 60 (10.81%) Firewall
2 30 (5.41%) DNS
3 29 (5.23%) DHCP
4 22 (3.96%) TCP/IP
5 21 (3.78%) Network Security
5 21 (3.78%) Wi-Fi
6 19 (3.42%) VLAN
6 19 (3.42%) VPN
7 18 (3.24%) Wireless
8 15 (2.70%) VoIP
9 14 (2.52%) WAN
10 13 (2.34%) LAN
11 10 (1.80%) Unified Communications
12 7 (1.26%) DMZ
13 5 (0.90%) Intrusion Detection
14 4 (0.72%) Cisco ASA
14 4 (0.72%) Cisco Firepower
14 4 (0.72%) WebEx
14 4 (0.72%) Wireshark
15 3 (0.54%) TETRA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.08%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
2 4 (0.72%) Amazon Redshift
2 4 (0.72%) Flink
3 3 (0.54%) Data Warehouse
3 3 (0.54%) Metadata
4 1 (0.18%) Big Data
4 1 (0.18%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (2.34%) Burp Suite
1 13 (2.34%) Metasploit
2 7 (1.26%) Git
3 6 (1.08%) JIRA
4 2 (0.36%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.36%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.36%) Maven
4 2 (0.36%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (0.36%) TestRail
4 2 (0.36%) Zephyr
General
1 139 (25.05%) Social Skills
2 79 (14.23%) Public Sector
3 57 (10.27%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (9.91%) Finance
5 35 (6.31%) Telecoms
6 25 (4.50%) Aerospace
7 19 (3.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 16 (2.88%) Retail
9 15 (2.70%) Advertising
10 13 (2.34%) Marketing
11 11 (1.98%) Influencing Skills
11 11 (1.98%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.62%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (1.44%) Military
14 7 (1.26%) Banking
15 6 (1.08%) Aviation
16 5 (0.90%) Organisational Skills
17 4 (0.72%) Documentation Skills
18 3 (0.54%) Brand Awareness
19 2 (0.36%) Law
Job Titles
1 84 (15.14%) Consultant
2 64 (11.53%) Security Consultant
3 54 (9.73%) Analyst
4 52 (9.37%) Senior
5 51 (9.19%) IT Support
5 51 (9.19%) Support Engineer
6 41 (7.39%) IT Engineer
7 40 (7.21%) IT Support Engineer
8 35 (6.31%) Lead
9 32 (5.77%) Architect
9 32 (5.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 31 (5.59%) Software Engineer
11 28 (5.05%) Cybersecurity Consultant
12 27 (4.86%) Penetration Tester
12 27 (4.86%) Security Analyst
12 27 (4.86%) Tester
13 25 (4.50%) Auditor
14 24 (4.32%) Security Specialist
15 22 (3.96%) Cybersecurity Analyst
15 22 (3.96%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (1.26%) Terraform
2 6 (1.08%) ModSecurity
3 4 (0.72%) OAuth
3 4 (0.72%) OpenID
3 4 (0.72%) XMPP
4 2 (0.36%) Playwright
5 1 (0.18%) .NET
5 1 (0.18%) JSON
5 1 (0.18%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.18%) RESTful
5 1 (0.18%) SAML
5 1 (0.18%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 44 (7.93%) Security Posture
2 26 (4.68%) Driving Licence
3 22 (3.96%) Operational Technology
4 21 (3.78%) Onboarding
5 19 (3.42%) Cyber Threat
6 18 (3.24%) Security Operations Centre
7 13 (2.34%) Management Information System
8 11 (1.98%) Cloud Native
9 9 (1.62%) Hybrid Cloud
10 8 (1.44%) Cyberattack
10 8 (1.44%) PKI
11 7 (1.26%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 7 (1.26%) Embedded Systems
12 6 (1.08%) Cyber Defence
12 6 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
13 5 (0.90%) Cloud Security Posture
13 5 (0.90%) Public Cloud
13 5 (0.90%) Social Media
14 4 (0.72%) Distributed Systems
14 4 (0.72%) FlexPod
Operating Systems
1 88 (15.86%) Windows
2 34 (6.13%) Windows Server
3 28 (5.05%) macOS
4 27 (4.86%) Linux
5 14 (2.52%) Apple iOS
6 8 (1.44%) Android
7 4 (0.72%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (0.72%) Windows Server 2016
7 4 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.18%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (14.23%) Continuous Improvement
2 70 (12.61%) Problem-Solving
3 54 (9.73%) Software Engineering
3 54 (9.73%) Stakeholder Management
4 52 (9.37%) Risk Management
5 51 (9.19%) Project Delivery
6 47 (8.47%) Security Operations
7 45 (8.11%) Mentoring
8 41 (7.39%) Information Security
9 40 (7.21%) Cloud Security
10 38 (6.85%) Technical Leadership
11 37 (6.67%) Penetration Testing
12 36 (6.49%) Decision-Making
12 36 (6.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 35 (6.31%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 34 (6.13%) AI
15 33 (5.95%) Cyber Resilience
16 32 (5.77%) Service Delivery
17 31 (5.59%) ITIL
18 29 (5.23%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 18 (3.24%) Python
2 17 (3.06%) C++
3 11 (1.98%) JavaScript
4 10 (1.80%) Rust
5 7 (1.26%) C
6 6 (1.08%) PowerShell
7 5 (0.90%) TypeScript
8 4 (0.72%) Go
8 4 (0.72%) Scala
9 3 (0.54%) C#
9 3 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.36%) Bash
10 2 (0.36%) Java
10 2 (0.36%) SQL
Qualifications
1 131 (23.60%) Security Cleared
2 98 (17.66%) SC Cleared
3 72 (12.97%) DV Cleared
4 42 (7.57%) CISSP
5 37 (6.67%) CISM
6 36 (6.49%) Degree
7 24 (4.32%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
8 22 (3.96%) Azure Certification
9 19 (3.42%) CRISC
10 13 (2.34%) CEH
11 12 (2.16%) AWS Certification
11 12 (2.16%) CREST Certified
12 11 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
12 11 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
13 10 (1.80%) CHECK Team Member
13 10 (1.80%) CompTIA Security+
14 9 (1.62%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (1.44%) Chartered Engineer
15 8 (1.44%) Master's Degree
15 8 (1.44%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (14.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 61 (10.99%) Cyber Essentials
3 48 (8.65%) NIST
4 33 (5.95%) NCSC
5 27 (4.86%) GRC
6 22 (3.96%) JSP 440
7 19 (3.42%) GDPR
8 14 (2.52%) Actionable Recommendations
8 14 (2.52%) PCI DSS
9 13 (2.34%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 11 (1.98%) Accessibility
11 10 (1.80%) QA
12 9 (1.62%) DO-254
12 9 (1.62%) IEC 61508
13 6 (1.08%) SLA
14 4 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 42001
15 3 (0.54%) NIST 800
16 2 (0.36%) ISO 9001
17 1 (0.18%) JTAG
17 1 (0.18%) RMADS
System Software
1 64 (11.53%) Active Directory
2 25 (4.50%) Hyper-V
3 17 (3.06%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.36%) Docker
4 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Virtual Server
4 2 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
4 2 (0.36%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 45 (8.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (2.34%) Nmap
3 8 (1.44%) Functional Safety
4 5 (0.90%) Ansible
4 5 (0.90%) Kubernetes
5 4 (0.72%) Cisco CUCM
5 4 (0.72%) Grafana
5 4 (0.72%) Iperf
6 3 (0.54%) Autotask
6 3 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.36%) Nessus
7 2 (0.36%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.18%) SCCM
Vendors
1 126 (22.70%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.42%) Cisco
3 18 (3.24%) VMware
4 14 (2.52%) ForeScout
5 11 (1.98%) Fortinet
5 11 (1.98%) Ubiquiti
6 10 (1.80%) Google
6 10 (1.80%) Veeam
7 8 (1.44%) Apple
7 8 (1.44%) Meraki
7 8 (1.44%) Rockwell
7 8 (1.44%) Siemens
7 8 (1.44%) Splunk
8 5 (0.90%) Adobe
9 4 (0.72%) Palo Alto
9 4 (0.72%) Ruckus Wireless
9 4 (0.72%) SonicWALL
10 3 (0.54%) HubSpot
10 3 (0.54%) Marketo
10 3 (0.54%) Pardot