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 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 53 30
Rank change year-on-year +40 -23 +13
Permanent jobs citing Cybersecurity 406 177 342
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 7.99% 4.27% 7.21%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.16% 4.99% 8.05%
Number of salaries quoted 255 102 247
10th Percentile £28,250 £40,125 £37,500
25th Percentile £34,750 £46,250 £46,903
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £65,000 £59,526
Median % change year-on-year -19.23% +9.20% +3.52%
75th Percentile £75,000 £81,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £84,000 £97,250 £84,334
England median annual salary £50,000 £65,000 £62,000
% change year-on-year -23.08% +4.84% -4.62%

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 3,639 3,549 4,251
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South West 71.62% 85.58% 89.57%
Number of salaries quoted 2,498 1,776 3,216
10th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,454 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% +2.94%
75th Percentile £67,500 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £81,250 £80,627
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 14 January 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 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
Bristol +33 145 £50,000 -28.57% 51
Gloucestershire +40 81 £60,000 +12.38% 38
Wiltshire +15 60 £55,000 -21.43% 30
Devon +28 41 £75,000 +64.85% 31
Somerset +13 36 £87,500 +62.04% 28
Dorset +20 27 £35,000 -26.60% 18
Cornwall -3 12 £41,000 -5.75% 9
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 16 (3.94%) IIS
2 11 (2.71%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.25%) Apache
4 1 (0.25%) Confluence
Applications
1 22 (5.42%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.23%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.25%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 1 (0.25%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 1 (0.25%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 101 (24.88%) Azure
2 57 (14.04%) Microsoft 365
3 44 (10.84%) AWS
4 32 (7.88%) Cloud Computing
5 21 (5.17%) GitHub
6 15 (3.69%) SaaS
7 11 (2.71%) Entra ID
8 9 (2.22%) IaaS
9 8 (1.97%) PaaS
10 6 (1.48%) Power Platform
11 5 (1.23%) Google Analytics
12 4 (0.99%) Azure Stack
13 3 (0.74%) Azure Sentinel
14 2 (0.49%) Google Workspace
15 1 (0.25%) Azure DevOps
15 1 (0.25%) Azure Monitor
15 1 (0.25%) GitHub Actions
15 1 (0.25%) Mimecast
15 1 (0.25%) OpenShift
15 1 (0.25%) Pulumi
Communications & Networking
1 53 (13.05%) Internet
2 27 (6.65%) Network Security
3 16 (3.94%) Firewall
4 14 (3.45%) VPN
5 10 (2.46%) LAN
5 10 (2.46%) VLAN
5 10 (2.46%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (2.22%) DHCP
6 9 (2.22%) DNS
6 9 (2.22%) WAN
7 8 (1.97%) VoIP
8 5 (1.23%) TCP/IP
9 2 (0.49%) Broadband
9 2 (0.49%) DMZ
9 2 (0.49%) Intrusion Detection
9 2 (0.49%) LTE
9 2 (0.49%) Modbus
9 2 (0.49%) NAS
9 2 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
10 1 (0.25%) RS-485
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.48%) Elasticsearch
1 6 (1.48%) Neo4j
2 2 (0.49%) Amazon RDS
2 2 (0.49%) Power BI
3 1 (0.25%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.25%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 20 (4.93%) Git
2 3 (0.74%) Cucumber
2 3 (0.74%) Cypress.io
2 3 (0.74%) Rational DOORS
3 2 (0.49%) Burp Suite
3 2 (0.49%) Metasploit
4 1 (0.25%) GitLab
4 1 (0.25%) JIRA
General
1 187 (46.06%) Social Skills
2 55 (13.55%) Telecoms
3 53 (13.05%) Public Sector
4 51 (12.56%) Finance
5 48 (11.82%) Marketing
6 46 (11.33%) Manufacturing
7 44 (10.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 40 (9.85%) Electronics
9 33 (8.13%) Multimedia
10 32 (7.88%) Analytical Skills
10 32 (7.88%) Banking
11 21 (5.17%) Back Office
12 13 (3.20%) Organisational Skills
13 12 (2.96%) Law
14 9 (2.22%) Legal
15 7 (1.72%) Aerospace
16 6 (1.48%) Military
17 5 (1.23%) Publishing
18 4 (0.99%) Aeronautics
18 4 (0.99%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 91 (22.41%) Consultant
2 90 (22.17%) Security Consultant
3 46 (11.33%) Analyst
3 46 (11.33%) Senior
4 45 (11.08%) Cybersecurity Consultant
5 38 (9.36%) Junior
6 34 (8.37%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 34 (8.37%) Security Analyst
7 33 (8.13%) Trainee
8 31 (7.64%) Junior Analyst
8 31 (7.64%) Junior Security Analyst
8 31 (7.64%) Support Engineer
9 28 (6.90%) Senior Consultant
9 28 (6.90%) Senior Security Consultant
10 27 (6.65%) Lecturer
11 22 (5.42%) Architect
11 22 (5.42%) IT Support
12 21 (5.17%) Desktop Support
12 21 (5.17%) Desktop Support Engineer
12 21 (5.17%) Site Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (6.40%) SAP CAF
2 20 (4.93%) CSS
2 20 (4.93%) HTML
3 7 (1.72%) AngularJS
3 7 (1.72%) React
4 6 (1.48%) MERN Stack
5 4 (0.99%) OAuth
5 4 (0.99%) OpenID
5 4 (0.99%) SAML
5 4 (0.99%) Software Packaging
6 2 (0.49%) GraphQL
6 2 (0.49%) LDAP
6 2 (0.49%) OAuth2
6 2 (0.49%) REST
6 2 (0.49%) SOAP
7 1 (0.25%) Kafka
7 1 (0.25%) Svelte
7 1 (0.25%) SvelteKit
Miscellaneous
1 40 (9.85%) IoT
2 19 (4.68%) Management Information System
3 17 (4.19%) Driving Licence
4 16 (3.94%) Analytical Mindset
4 16 (3.94%) CESG
5 12 (2.96%) Enterprise Software
6 10 (2.46%) Cyber Threat
7 9 (2.22%) PKI
8 7 (1.72%) Data Centre
8 7 (1.72%) Operational Technology
9 6 (1.48%) Onboarding
9 6 (1.48%) Security Posture
10 5 (1.23%) Podcast
10 5 (1.23%) Public Cloud
11 4 (0.99%) Cloud Native
11 4 (0.99%) CMDB
11 4 (0.99%) Digital Signage
12 3 (0.74%) Cyberattack
12 3 (0.74%) Self-Motivation
13 2 (0.49%) Cyber Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 60 (14.78%) Windows
2 28 (6.90%) Windows 10
3 22 (5.42%) Windows Server
4 13 (3.20%) Linux
5 7 (1.72%) Apple iOS
5 7 (1.72%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.49%) Android
6 2 (0.49%) Debian
6 2 (0.49%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.25%) OpenWrt
7 1 (0.25%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 87 (21.43%) Mentoring
2 56 (13.79%) AI
3 55 (13.55%) Risk Management
4 47 (11.58%) ISMS
5 44 (10.84%) Customer Service
6 42 (10.34%) Machine Learning
7 40 (9.85%) Business Intelligence
7 40 (9.85%) Digital Marketing
7 40 (9.85%) ITIL
8 39 (9.61%) Continuous Improvement
8 39 (9.61%) Programme Management
9 37 (9.11%) Problem-Solving
10 33 (8.13%) User Experience
11 32 (7.88%) Information Security
11 32 (7.88%) Web Development
12 31 (7.64%) Analytics
13 30 (7.39%) Collaborative Culture
14 29 (7.14%) Innovative Thinking
15 27 (6.65%) Ticket Management
16 25 (6.16%) Information Assurance
Programming Languages
1 35 (8.62%) Python
2 26 (6.40%) JavaScript
3 12 (2.96%) R
4 9 (2.22%) PowerShell
5 8 (1.97%) C
6 7 (1.72%) Bash
7 6 (1.48%) Java
7 6 (1.48%) SQL
7 6 (1.48%) TypeScript
8 4 (0.99%) Bicep
9 2 (0.49%) C#
9 2 (0.49%) C++
9 2 (0.49%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.25%) Go
10 1 (0.25%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 127 (31.28%) Security Cleared
2 89 (21.92%) SC Cleared
3 78 (19.21%) Degree
4 69 (17.00%) CISSP
5 61 (15.02%) CompTIA Security+
6 56 (13.79%) CISM
7 55 (13.55%) Azure Certification
8 34 (8.37%) CompTIA CySA+
8 34 (8.37%) Master's Degree
9 32 (7.88%) PhD
9 32 (7.88%) Postgraduate
10 30 (7.39%) CEH
10 30 (7.39%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 29 (7.14%) DV Cleared
12 24 (5.91%) Microsoft Certification
13 23 (5.67%) AWS Certification
14 21 (5.17%) CISMP
14 21 (5.17%) CTC Cleared
14 21 (5.17%) Network+ Certification
15 20 (4.93%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 79 (19.46%) NIST
2 70 (17.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 41 (10.10%) GRC
4 29 (7.14%) NCSC
5 21 (5.17%) JSP 440
5 21 (5.17%) NIST 800
5 21 (5.17%) SLA
6 19 (4.68%) RMADS
7 17 (4.19%) PCI DSS
8 16 (3.94%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 13 (3.20%) GDPR
10 11 (2.71%) Cyber Essentials
11 5 (1.23%) ARP4761
12 4 (0.99%) QA
13 3 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.49%) Accessibility
14 2 (0.49%) PMO
14 2 (0.49%) SOC 2
15 1 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 21 (5.17%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (2.96%) Hyper-V
4 7 (1.72%) Docker
4 7 (1.72%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.49%) Firmware
5 2 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.25%) iptables
Systems Management
1 11 (2.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (1.72%) Jamf Pro
2 7 (1.72%) Kubernetes
3 6 (1.48%) Terraform
4 4 (0.99%) Nagios
4 4 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.74%) Ansible
6 2 (0.49%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (0.49%) FTK
6 2 (0.49%) Nmap
6 2 (0.49%) PaperCut
7 1 (0.25%) CASB
7 1 (0.25%) Computer Incident Response Team
7 1 (0.25%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.25%) Nessus
7 1 (0.25%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.25%) QRadar
7 1 (0.25%) SCCM
7 1 (0.25%) WSUS
Vendors
1 111 (27.34%) Microsoft
2 39 (9.61%) SAP
3 34 (8.37%) Cisco
4 31 (7.64%) ForeScout
5 15 (3.69%) VMware
6 13 (3.20%) Fortinet
7 9 (2.22%) CrowdStrike
8 8 (1.97%) Apple
9 7 (1.72%) Palo Alto
10 5 (1.23%) Google
10 5 (1.23%) PayPal
11 4 (0.99%) CheckPoint
11 4 (0.99%) F5
12 2 (0.49%) Datto
12 2 (0.49%) Salesforce
12 2 (0.49%) ServiceNow
12 2 (0.49%) SonicWALL
12 2 (0.49%) Splunk
13 1 (0.25%) Red Hat
13 1 (0.25%) Tenable