Cyber Essentials Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Cyber Essentials skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 246 296 340
Rank change year-on-year +50 +44 +41
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials 405 210 507
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.64% 0.79% 0.76%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.95% 4.98% 5.50%
Number of salaries quoted 295 140 438
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,675 £32,192
25th Percentile £33,750 £41,250 £37,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -1.90%
75th Percentile £61,125 £64,250 £65,000
90th Percentile £73,750 £82,500 £71,625
UK median annual salary £57,239 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -0.45% +4.55% -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,824 4,217 9,210
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.15% 15.85% 13.73%
Number of salaries quoted 3,316 2,371 6,272
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £25,750
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,170 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £52,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +10.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £68,750 £68,114 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £83,750 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £58,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +2.56% +11.43% -8.70%

Cyber Essentials
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Cyber Essentials relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Cyber Essentials job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cyber Essentials.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 21 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Cyber Essentials in the UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Cyber Essentials within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 21 April 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
North of England -10 119 £50,000 -9.09% 27
South West +36 109 £53,750 -14.00% 17
Midlands +5 75 £52,500 +7.69% 28
Yorkshire -13 72 £52,500 -4.55% 13
South East -42 71 £62,500 +4.17% 38
West Midlands -3 51 £52,500 +5.00% 17
North West -24 44 £43,500 -20.94% 12
East Midlands -40 24 £32,500 -7.14% 10
East of England -37 11 £41,000 -8.89% 18
Scotland -22 10 £45,000 -10.00% 7
Wales -22 9 - - 1
North East -37 3 £105,000 +81.03% 4
Northern Ireland - 1 £32,500 - 2
Cyber Essentials
UK

Cyber Essentials
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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
1 100 (24.69%) Microsoft Exchange
2 49 (12.10%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.48%) Confluence
4 5 (1.23%) Drupal
4 5 (1.23%) nginx
4 5 (1.23%) WordPress
5 1 (0.25%) CMS
Applications
1 6 (1.48%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.25%) Sage 200
1 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 189 (46.67%) Microsoft 365
2 168 (41.48%) Azure
3 98 (24.20%) Entra ID
4 31 (7.65%) AWS
5 22 (5.43%) Microsoft Purview
6 18 (4.44%) SaaS
7 14 (3.46%) Azure Sentinel
8 10 (2.47%) OneDrive
9 8 (1.98%) Google Workspace
9 8 (1.98%) IaaS
9 8 (1.98%) PaaS
9 8 (1.98%) Twilio
10 6 (1.48%) GCP
11 5 (1.23%) Intacct
12 3 (0.74%) Amazon GuardDuty
12 3 (0.74%) Cloud Computing
12 3 (0.74%) Serverless
13 2 (0.49%) Power Automate
13 2 (0.49%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.49%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 109 (26.91%) DNS
2 104 (25.68%) DHCP
3 96 (23.70%) Firewall
4 52 (12.84%) VPN
5 30 (7.41%) VoIP
6 24 (5.93%) VLAN
7 23 (5.68%) Wi-Fi
8 22 (5.43%) WAN
9 20 (4.94%) LAN
9 20 (4.94%) Network Security
10 15 (3.70%) TCP/IP
11 8 (1.98%) PBX
11 8 (1.98%) WebEx
12 4 (0.99%) IP Telephony
12 4 (0.99%) Remote Desktop
13 2 (0.49%) HTTP
13 2 (0.49%) SD-WAN
13 2 (0.49%) SSH
14 1 (0.25%) Internet
14 1 (0.25%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 64 (15.80%) Amazon RDS
2 9 (2.22%) SQL Server
3 5 (1.23%) MariaDB
4 2 (0.49%) Data Mining
4 2 (0.49%) Relational Database
4 2 (0.49%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 5 (1.23%) JIRA
2 1 (0.25%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.25%) Git
2 1 (0.25%) Metasploit
General
1 210 (51.85%) Social Skills
2 113 (27.90%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (7.41%) Organisational Skills
4 29 (7.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 26 (6.42%) Legal
6 19 (4.69%) Finance
6 19 (4.69%) Public Sector
7 16 (3.95%) Telecoms
8 14 (3.46%) Retail
9 12 (2.96%) Manufacturing
10 10 (2.47%) Documentation Skills
11 6 (1.48%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (1.23%) Local Government
12 5 (1.23%) Police
13 2 (0.49%) Aviation
13 2 (0.49%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.49%) Social Housing
14 1 (0.25%) Health Technology
14 1 (0.25%) Marketing
14 1 (0.25%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 64 (15.80%) Systems Engineer
2 61 (15.06%) IT Support
3 56 (13.83%) IT Engineer
3 56 (13.83%) Security Manager
4 45 (11.11%) IT Support Engineer
4 45 (11.11%) Support Engineer
5 43 (10.62%) IT Manager
6 37 (9.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 33 (8.15%) Analyst
8 32 (7.90%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 30 (7.41%) Lead
10 18 (4.44%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
10 18 (4.44%) Security Assurance Manager
11 17 (4.20%) Auditor
12 16 (3.95%) Information Security Manager
12 16 (3.95%) Infrastructure Support
13 15 (3.70%) Security Analyst
14 14 (3.46%) Information Manager
14 14 (3.46%) IT Security Manager
14 14 (3.46%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.49%) 802.1X
2 1 (0.25%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 64 (15.80%) Legacy Systems
2 34 (8.40%) Security Posture
3 32 (7.90%) Driving Licence
4 29 (7.16%) Management Information System
5 22 (5.43%) Data Protection Act
6 20 (4.94%) Onboarding
7 15 (3.70%) Cyber Threat
8 10 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (2.22%) Replication
10 8 (1.98%) Analytical Mindset
10 8 (1.98%) Cyber Security Posture
10 8 (1.98%) IVR
11 7 (1.73%) Security Operations Centre
12 5 (1.23%) CCTV
12 5 (1.23%) Mobile App
12 5 (1.23%) NHS
12 5 (1.23%) Web Conferencing
12 5 (1.23%) YubiKey
13 4 (0.99%) IoT
13 4 (0.99%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 150 (37.04%) Windows
2 104 (25.68%) Windows Server
3 77 (19.01%) Linux
4 65 (16.05%) Windows Server 2016
5 18 (4.44%) Windows 10
6 12 (2.96%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.49%) Android
8 1 (0.25%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 159 (39.26%) Cybersecurity
2 126 (31.11%) Problem-Solving
3 109 (26.91%) Continuous Improvement
4 93 (22.96%) Customer Service
5 86 (21.23%) Information Security
6 80 (19.75%) Vulnerability Remediation
7 78 (19.26%) Migration
8 75 (18.52%) Customer Experience
9 73 (18.02%) Incident Response
10 69 (17.04%) Vulnerability Scanning
11 68 (16.79%) Risk Management
12 67 (16.54%) Kalman Filter
12 67 (16.54%) Web Filtering
13 64 (15.80%) Email Filtering
14 60 (14.81%) Disaster Recovery
15 59 (14.57%) ITIL
16 58 (14.32%) SIEM
17 48 (11.85%) Data Protection
18 46 (11.36%) Business Continuity
19 43 (10.62%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 20 (4.94%) PowerShell
2 8 (1.98%) SQL
3 2 (0.49%) Bicep
3 2 (0.49%) C
3 2 (0.49%) JavaScript
3 2 (0.49%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 100 (24.69%) Security Cleared
2 96 (23.70%) SC Cleared
3 49 (12.10%) CISSP
4 34 (8.40%) Degree
5 33 (8.15%) CISM
6 29 (7.16%) Microsoft Certification
7 21 (5.19%) CompTIA Security+
7 21 (5.19%) CREST Certified
8 14 (3.46%) BPSS Clearance
9 13 (3.21%) Cisco Certification
10 12 (2.96%) Azure Certification
11 11 (2.72%) Computer Science Degree
11 11 (2.72%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 11 (2.72%) Network+ Certification
12 9 (2.22%) CEH
13 8 (1.98%) AWS Certification
13 8 (1.98%) CCNP
13 8 (1.98%) CTC Cleared
13 8 (1.98%) DV Cleared
13 8 (1.98%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 210 (51.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 130 (32.10%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 106 (26.17%) NIST
4 102 (25.19%) PCI DSS
5 96 (23.70%) GDPR
6 37 (9.14%) GRC
7 28 (6.91%) NCSC
7 28 (6.91%) SOC 2
8 17 (4.20%) SOC 3
9 16 (3.95%) ISO 9001
10 10 (2.47%) QA
11 9 (2.22%) Actionable Recommendations
11 9 (2.22%) ISO 14001
12 7 (1.73%) SLA
13 6 (1.48%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 5 (1.23%) COBIT
14 5 (1.23%) Def Stans
14 5 (1.23%) ISO 22301
14 5 (1.23%) NIST 800
15 4 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 140 (34.57%) Active Directory
2 81 (20.00%) Hyper-V
3 64 (15.80%) Terminal Server
4 9 (2.22%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (1.23%) Docker
6 4 (0.99%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.25%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 71 (17.53%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (1.98%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (0.74%) Nessus
3 3 (0.74%) Terraform
4 2 (0.49%) CASB
4 2 (0.49%) FortiGate
4 2 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (0.49%) WSUS
5 1 (0.25%) Host Intrusion Detection System
5 1 (0.25%) Nmap
5 1 (0.25%) RSA Archer
5 1 (0.25%) SCCM
5 1 (0.25%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 227 (56.05%) Microsoft
2 80 (19.75%) VMware
3 69 (17.04%) Veeam
4 67 (16.54%) Splunk
5 65 (16.05%) SolarWinds
6 64 (15.80%) Brocade
6 64 (15.80%) Nimble Storage
6 64 (15.80%) Tanium
7 20 (4.94%) Cisco
8 11 (2.72%) Apple
8 11 (2.72%) Google
9 10 (2.47%) Meraki
9 10 (2.47%) Tenable
10 9 (2.22%) Genesys
10 9 (2.22%) Ubiquiti
11 8 (1.98%) Logitech
11 8 (1.98%) Verint
11 8 (1.98%) Yealink
12 6 (1.48%) Qualys
12 6 (1.48%) Sage