Security Operations Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Security Operations (SecOps)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Security Operations skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 264 287 267
Rank change year-on-year +23 -20 +37
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 284 342 329
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.68% 0.92% 1.07%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.85% 1.04% 1.18%
Number of salaries quoted 157 217 247
10th Percentile £37,500 £40,751 £36,250
25th Percentile £47,500 £46,250 £47,725
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £55,000 £60,500
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% -9.09% -3.20%
75th Percentile £74,258 £68,750 £70,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £86,750 £83,103
UK median annual salary £69,384 £65,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +6.74% - -3.70%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Security Operations 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 UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 33,380 32,892 27,855
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 79.58% 88.28% 90.59%
Number of salaries quoted 19,063 15,104 20,736
10th Percentile £27,707 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £32,755 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £49,000 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.91% +4.76% -4.50%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £80,070
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Security Operations job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Security Operations
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Security Operations.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the UK excluding London

Security Operations
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 Security Operations within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 1 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
South East +49 106 £62,500 -6.02% 45
Midlands +47 60 £52,500 -1.09% 24
North of England -30 50 £65,000 +29.20% 28
West Midlands +27 42 £51,500 -2.97% 14
East of England +16 27 £75,000 +25.00% 19
North West +12 27 £54,000 +7.67% 14
South West +7 24 £75,000 -4.76% 12
East Midlands - 18 £60,000 - 10
Yorkshire -49 13 £65,000 +23.81% 10
North East +12 10 £105,000 +108.71% 4
Scotland -31 10 £75,000 +33.33% 10
Wales +3 5 £48,250 -31.37% 3
Northern Ireland -8 3 £32,500 -35.40%
Security Operations
UK

Security Operations
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 6 (2.11%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.41%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (1.06%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 56 (19.72%) Azure
2 36 (12.68%) AWS
3 24 (8.45%) Microsoft 365
4 14 (4.93%) Azure Sentinel
5 12 (4.23%) GCP
6 6 (2.11%) Entra ID
6 6 (2.11%) GitHub
7 5 (1.76%) GitHub Actions
7 5 (1.76%) IaaS
7 5 (1.76%) Microsoft Purview
7 5 (1.76%) PaaS
7 5 (1.76%) SaaS
8 3 (1.06%) Azure DevOps
8 3 (1.06%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.70%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (0.70%) Datadog
10 1 (0.35%) AWS CloudTrail
10 1 (0.35%) dbt
10 1 (0.35%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.35%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 37 (13.03%) Firewall
2 32 (11.27%) Network Security
3 27 (9.51%) DNS
4 18 (6.34%) DHCP
5 17 (5.99%) TCP/IP
6 16 (5.63%) VPN
7 13 (4.58%) SAN
8 5 (1.76%) Intrusion Detection
9 3 (1.06%) Internet
9 3 (1.06%) SSL
9 3 (1.06%) Wireshark
10 1 (0.35%) Bluetooth
10 1 (0.35%) FTP
10 1 (0.35%) GSM
10 1 (0.35%) HTTP
10 1 (0.35%) LAN
10 1 (0.35%) NAS
10 1 (0.35%) UWB
10 1 (0.35%) WAN
10 1 (0.35%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
1 2 (0.70%) Metadata
2 1 (0.35%) GIS
Development Applications
1 2 (0.70%) CircleCI
1 2 (0.70%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.35%) Git
2 1 (0.35%) IDA Disassembler
2 1 (0.35%) JIRA
General
1 76 (26.76%) Social Skills
2 35 (12.32%) Finance
3 30 (10.56%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (4.93%) Legal
5 10 (3.52%) Public Sector
6 7 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (1.76%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (1.41%) Law
8 4 (1.41%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.06%) Local Government
9 3 (1.06%) Police
9 3 (1.06%) Retail
10 2 (0.70%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.35%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.35%) Automotive
11 1 (0.35%) Electronics
11 1 (0.35%) Games
11 1 (0.35%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.35%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 94 (33.10%) Lead
2 41 (14.44%) Analyst
3 38 (13.38%) Senior
4 35 (12.32%) Security Engineer
5 26 (9.15%) Security Manager
6 23 (8.10%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 21 (7.39%) Security Analyst
8 19 (6.69%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 16 (5.63%) Senior Security Engineer
10 14 (4.93%) Cybersecurity Engineer
10 14 (4.93%) SOC Manager
11 13 (4.58%) Operations Manager
11 13 (4.58%) SOC Analyst
12 12 (4.23%) Infrastructure Manager
12 12 (4.23%) Senior Analyst
13 11 (3.87%) Operational Security Manager
13 11 (3.87%) Security Operations Manager
14 9 (3.17%) Cloud Engineer
14 9 (3.17%) Cybersecurity Analyst
14 9 (3.17%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (2.11%) ARM Templates
2 3 (1.06%) HTML
2 3 (1.06%) Software Packaging
3 1 (0.35%) Django
3 1 (0.35%) Elastic Stack
3 1 (0.35%) Flash
3 1 (0.35%) LDAP
3 1 (0.35%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 137 (48.24%) Security Operations Centre
2 88 (30.99%) Cyber Threat
3 68 (23.94%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 67 (23.59%) Operational Technology
5 30 (10.56%) Security Posture
6 11 (3.87%) Management Information System
7 9 (3.17%) Onboarding
8 6 (2.11%) Data Centre
9 5 (1.76%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.41%) ARM Cortex
10 4 (1.41%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.41%) Hybrid Cloud
11 3 (1.06%) Cloud Native
11 3 (1.06%) Cyber Defence
11 3 (1.06%) Life Science
11 3 (1.06%) NHS
11 3 (1.06%) PKI
11 3 (1.06%) Replication
12 2 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
13 1 (0.35%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 34 (11.97%) Windows
2 19 (6.69%) Windows Server
3 16 (5.63%) Linux
4 12 (4.23%) Windows Server 2012
4 12 (4.23%) Windows Server 2019
5 8 (2.82%) Windows 10
6 3 (1.06%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (35.92%) Cybersecurity
1 102 (35.92%) Vulnerability Management
2 97 (34.15%) Threat Intelligence
3 85 (29.93%) ITIL
4 84 (29.58%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
5 83 (29.23%) Mentoring
6 80 (28.17%) Risk Management
7 79 (27.82%) Roadmaps
7 79 (27.82%) SIEM
8 78 (27.46%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
9 75 (26.41%) Business Strategy
9 75 (26.41%) Incident Response
9 75 (26.41%) Stakeholder Management
10 70 (24.65%) Cyber Intelligence
11 69 (24.30%) Coaching
11 69 (24.30%) Technology Roadmap
12 66 (23.24%) Change Advisory Board
13 65 (22.89%) SABSA
14 54 (19.01%) Continuous Improvement
15 45 (15.85%) Information Security
Programming Languages
1 27 (9.51%) PowerShell
2 23 (8.10%) Python
3 15 (5.28%) Kusto Query Language
3 15 (5.28%) SQL
4 12 (4.23%) Bash
5 7 (2.46%) Bicep
6 1 (0.35%) C
6 1 (0.35%) C++
6 1 (0.35%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.35%) Perl
Qualifications
1 42 (14.79%) Security Cleared
2 33 (11.62%) SC Cleared
3 29 (10.21%) Degree
4 25 (8.80%) CISSP
5 22 (7.75%) CompTIA Security+
6 18 (6.34%) Cisco Certification
7 16 (5.63%) CEH
8 15 (5.28%) CCNA
8 15 (5.28%) CCNP
9 13 (4.58%) GCIA
10 12 (4.23%) CISM
11 9 (3.17%) DV Cleared
11 9 (3.17%) SANS
12 8 (2.82%) CompTIA CySA+
13 7 (2.46%) CREST Certified
13 7 (2.46%) GCIH
13 7 (2.46%) Microsoft Certification
14 6 (2.11%) AWS Certification
14 6 (2.11%) Computer Science Degree
14 6 (2.11%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 117 (41.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 104 (36.62%) NIST
3 65 (22.89%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 39 (13.73%) Cyber Essentials
5 37 (13.03%) GDPR
6 14 (4.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 14 (4.93%) GRC
7 9 (3.17%) PCI DSS
8 7 (2.46%) NCSC
9 5 (1.76%) SOC 2
10 3 (1.06%) SLA
10 3 (1.06%) SOC 3
11 2 (0.70%) COBIT
11 2 (0.70%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 1 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 1 (0.35%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.35%) QA
12 1 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 24 (8.45%) Active Directory
2 12 (4.23%) VMware ESXi
3 7 (2.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (2.11%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.76%) Docker
6 1 (0.35%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 20 (7.04%) SCCM
2 13 (4.58%) Microsoft Intune
3 12 (4.23%) vCenter Server
4 11 (3.87%) Terraform
5 7 (2.46%) QRadar
6 6 (2.11%) Kubernetes
7 3 (1.06%) CASB
7 3 (1.06%) Computer Incident Response Team
7 3 (1.06%) Nessus
7 3 (1.06%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.70%) Ansible
8 2 (0.70%) Grafana
9 1 (0.35%) Kibana
Vendors
1 61 (21.48%) Microsoft
2 22 (7.75%) VMware
3 20 (7.04%) SolarWinds
4 16 (5.63%) ServiceNow
5 12 (4.23%) 3PAR
5 12 (4.23%) NetApp
5 12 (4.23%) Splunk
5 12 (4.23%) Veeam
6 11 (3.87%) CrowdStrike
7 5 (1.76%) LogRhythm
7 5 (1.76%) Tenable
8 2 (0.70%) Google
8 2 (0.70%) Netskope
8 2 (0.70%) Qualys
8 2 (0.70%) Zscaler
9 1 (0.35%) AlienVault
9 1 (0.35%) Okta
9 1 (0.35%) Palo Alto
9 1 (0.35%) Rapid7
9 1 (0.35%) Tanium