Penetration Tester Jobs in the UK excluding London

Penetration Tester
UK > UK excluding London

The median Penetration Tester salary in the UK excluding London is £67,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 15 May 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 579 719 658
Rank change year-on-year +140 -61 +150
Permanent jobs requiring a Penetration Tester 6 44 92
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 0.015% 0.062% 0.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.017% 0.065% 0.17%
Number of salaries quoted 2 26 38
10th Percentile - £37,500 £25,619
25th Percentile £61,250 £42,188 £48,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +22.73% -8.33% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £62,813 £68,750
90th Percentile - £67,500 £75,750
UK median annual salary £67,500 £62,500 £68,750
% change year-on-year +8.00% -9.09% +14.58%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK excluding London with a recognized job title 35,427 67,196 53,197
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.64% 94.83% 89.21%
Number of salaries quoted 18,481 47,540 30,291
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,750 £29,750
25th Percentile £37,574 £35,000 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £51,645 £50,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.29% -5.66% +6.00%
75th Percentile £65,000 £63,750 £68,750
90th Percentile £77,500 £76,750 £81,250
UK median annual salary £56,000 £52,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% -12.50% -

Penetration Tester
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Job postings that featured Penetration Tester in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Tester in the UK excluding London

Penetration Tester
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Penetration Tester in the UK excluding London.

Salary trend for Penetration Tester in the UK excluding London

Penetration Tester
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 Penetration Tester within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 15 May 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
Midlands +60 3 - -
West Midlands +51 3 - -
South West +102 2 £67,500 +50.00% 4
Yorkshire +61 1 - -
North of England +46 1 - - 1
Penetration Tester
UK

Penetration Tester Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 15 May 2025, Penetration Tester job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the UK excluding London region featuring Penetration Tester in the job title.

1 5 (83.33%) Telecoms
1 5 (83.33%) Cybersecurity
2 3 (50.00%) NCSC
2 3 (50.00%) 5G
2 3 (50.00%) Degree
2 3 (50.00%) Burp Suite
2 3 (50.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
2 3 (50.00%) Penetration Testing
2 3 (50.00%) 3GPP
2 3 (50.00%) Vulnerability Research
3 2 (33.33%) TCP/IP
3 2 (33.33%) Internet
3 2 (33.33%) Project Management
3 2 (33.33%) Firewall
3 2 (33.33%) Management Information System
3 2 (33.33%) C#
3 2 (33.33%) Python
3 2 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (33.33%) Nmap
3 2 (33.33%) Finance
3 2 (33.33%) Aerospace
3 2 (33.33%) Information Security
3 2 (33.33%) Cryptography
3 2 (33.33%) Cyber Threat
3 2 (33.33%) CHECK Team Member
3 2 (33.33%) CREST Certified
3 2 (33.33%) Computer Science
3 2 (33.33%) Risk Analysis
3 2 (33.33%) Metasploit
3 2 (33.33%) Bash

Penetration Tester Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Communications & Networking
1 3 (50.00%) 3GPP
1 3 (50.00%) 5G
2 2 (33.33%) Firewall
2 2 (33.33%) Internet
2 2 (33.33%) TCP/IP
Development Applications
1 3 (50.00%) Burp Suite
2 2 (33.33%) Metasploit
General
1 5 (83.33%) Telecoms
2 2 (33.33%) Aerospace
2 2 (33.33%) Finance
3 1 (16.67%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 2 (33.33%) Cyber Threat
1 2 (33.33%) Management Information System
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (83.33%) Cybersecurity
2 3 (50.00%) Penetration Testing
2 3 (50.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
2 3 (50.00%) Vulnerability Research
3 2 (33.33%) Actionable Insight
3 2 (33.33%) Collaborative Working
3 2 (33.33%) Computer Science
3 2 (33.33%) Cryptography
3 2 (33.33%) Information Security
3 2 (33.33%) Mentoring
3 2 (33.33%) Project Management
3 2 (33.33%) Red Team
3 2 (33.33%) Risk Analysis
Programming Languages
1 2 (33.33%) Bash
1 2 (33.33%) C#
1 2 (33.33%) Python
Qualifications
1 3 (50.00%) Degree
2 2 (33.33%) CHECK Team Member
2 2 (33.33%) Computer Science Degree
2 2 (33.33%) CREST Certified
2 2 (33.33%) Master's Degree
3 1 (16.67%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (50.00%) NCSC
2 2 (33.33%) Actionable Recommendations
2 2 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
Systems Management
1 2 (33.33%) Nmap
2 1 (16.67%) Nessus