Operational Technology Job Trends in the South West

Operational Technology (OT)
England > South West

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Operational Technology in permanent job vacancies in the South West. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered in vacancies that cited Operational Technology over the 6 months leading up to 31 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 171 197 198
Rank change year-on-year +26 +1 +39
Permanent jobs citing Operational Technology 13 3 22
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 0.26% 0.069% 0.50%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.00% 0.18% 1.38%
Number of salaries quoted 7 3 5
10th Percentile £46,560 - £54,750
25th Percentile £50,050 £37,500 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £45,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +33.33% -25.00% -17.24%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,500 £78,500 £78,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £64,800 £60,000
% change year-on-year -11.27% +8.00% -4.38%

All Generic Skills
South West

Operational Technology falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in the South West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 1,302 1,635 1,598
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South West 25.98% 37.70% 36.59%
Number of salaries quoted 839 806 1,173
10th Percentile £27,250 £23,375 £30,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £34,404 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £58,750 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £73,750 £82,500 £84,056
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -7.69%

Operational Technology
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

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

Operational Technology job vacancy trend in the South West

Operational Technology
Salary Trend in the South West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Operational Technology.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Operational Technology

Operational Technology
Salary Histogram in the South West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Operational Technology in the South West over the 6 months to 31 December 2025.

Salary histogram for Operational Technology in the South West

Operational Technology
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 Operational Technology within the South 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
Devon +7 6 £57,500 +27.78% 6
Bristol +17 5 £55,100 -31.13% 6
Somerset - 2 £90,000 - 3
Operational Technology
England

Operational Technology
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:

Applications
1 1 (7.69%) AutoCAD
Communications & Networking
1 3 (23.08%) Modbus
2 2 (15.38%) Network Security
3 1 (7.69%) Firewall
3 1 (7.69%) RS-485
3 1 (7.69%) VLAN
3 1 (7.69%) VPN
General
1 3 (23.08%) Social Skills
2 2 (15.38%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (15.38%) Cyber-Physical System
3 1 (7.69%) Aerospace
3 1 (7.69%) Electronics
3 1 (7.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 1 (7.69%) Manufacturing
3 1 (7.69%) Pharmaceutical
3 1 (7.69%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 3 (23.08%) Lead
2 2 (15.38%) Consultant
2 2 (15.38%) Cybersecurity Consultant
2 2 (15.38%) Cybersecurity Engineer
2 2 (15.38%) SCADA Engineer
2 2 (15.38%) Security Consultant
2 2 (15.38%) Security Engineer
3 1 (7.69%) Field Engineer
3 1 (7.69%) Graduate
3 1 (7.69%) Head of Technology
3 1 (7.69%) IT Engineer
3 1 (7.69%) Systems Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 3 (23.08%) Cyber Kill Chain
1 3 (23.08%) Cyber Threat
1 3 (23.08%) SCADA
1 3 (23.08%) Security Operations Centre
2 2 (15.38%) Analytical Mindset
2 2 (15.38%) Driving Licence
2 2 (15.38%) Smart City
3 1 (7.69%) CCTV
3 1 (7.69%) Derivative
3 1 (7.69%) IoT
3 1 (7.69%) Life Science
3 1 (7.69%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 1 (7.69%) Debian
1 1 (7.69%) Linux
1 1 (7.69%) OpenWrt
1 1 (7.69%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (61.54%) Cybersecurity
2 5 (38.46%) Risk Management
3 3 (23.08%) Business Strategy
3 3 (23.08%) Change Advisory Board
3 3 (23.08%) Coaching
3 3 (23.08%) Cyber Intelligence
3 3 (23.08%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
3 3 (23.08%) ITIL
3 3 (23.08%) Mentoring
3 3 (23.08%) Roadmaps
3 3 (23.08%) SABSA
3 3 (23.08%) Security Operations
3 3 (23.08%) Stakeholder Management
3 3 (23.08%) Technology Roadmap
3 3 (23.08%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
3 3 (23.08%) Threat Intelligence
3 3 (23.08%) Vulnerability Management
4 2 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
4 2 (15.38%) SIEM
4 2 (15.38%) Threat Detection
Programming Languages
1 1 (7.69%) C#
1 1 (7.69%) SQL
Qualifications
1 3 (23.08%) Degree
2 2 (15.38%) CISM
2 2 (15.38%) CISSP
2 2 (15.38%) Security Cleared
3 1 (7.69%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (53.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 7 (53.85%) NIST
2 3 (23.08%) ISO/IEC 27005
3 2 (15.38%) GRC
3 2 (15.38%) NCSC
System Software
1 1 (7.69%) iptables
Systems Management
1 1 (7.69%) Ansible
Vendors
1 1 (7.69%) Allen-Bradley
1 1 (7.69%) Cisco
1 1 (7.69%) Fortinet
1 1 (7.69%) Microsoft
1 1 (7.69%) MikroTik
1 1 (7.69%) Rockwell
1 1 (7.69%) Siemens