CEPT Job Trends

IACRB Certified Expert Penetration Tester (CEPT)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for CEPT qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 14 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 663 - 796
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Permanent jobs citing CEPT 1 0 2
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.001% - 0.003%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.005% - 0.009%
Number of salaries quoted 0 0 2
10th Percentile - - £55,750
25th Percentile - - £56,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) - - £62,500
75th Percentile - - £66,875
90th Percentile - - £67,250
UK excluding London median annual salary - - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

CEPT falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 19,879 18,668 21,198
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 29.64% 37.60% 28.40%
Number of salaries quoted 8,056 7,390 14,933
10th Percentile £28,250 £32,500 £28,250
25th Percentile £36,750 £45,000 £39,085
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £76,250 £76,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,025 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -1.96%

CEPT
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing CEPT relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

CEPT job vacancy trend in the UK

CEPT
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing CEPT.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing CEPT

CEPT
Top 2 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing CEPT within the UK over the 6 months to 14 February 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
London - 1 - -
England - 1 - -

CEPT
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (100.00%) Azure DevOps
General
1 1 (100.00%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (100.00%) Legal
1 1 (100.00%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 1 (100.00%) Analyst
1 1 (100.00%) Business Information Analyst
1 1 (100.00%) Information Analyst
1 1 (100.00%) Information Risk Analyst
1 1 (100.00%) Risk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (100.00%) ADO
Miscellaneous
1 1 (100.00%) Data Protection Act
1 1 (100.00%) Management Information System
1 1 (100.00%) Self-Motivation
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Agile
1 1 (100.00%) Coaching
1 1 (100.00%) Continuous Improvement
1 1 (100.00%) Continuous Improvement Process
1 1 (100.00%) Creative Thinking
1 1 (100.00%) Data Protection
1 1 (100.00%) Decision-Making
1 1 (100.00%) Due Diligence
1 1 (100.00%) Information Security
1 1 (100.00%) Mentoring
1 1 (100.00%) OWASP
1 1 (100.00%) People Management
1 1 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
1 1 (100.00%) Quality Management
1 1 (100.00%) Risk Management
1 1 (100.00%) Risk Register
1 1 (100.00%) Roadmaps
1 1 (100.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
1 1 (100.00%) Stakeholder Management
Qualifications
1 1 (100.00%) CISM
1 1 (100.00%) CISSP
1 1 (100.00%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
1 1 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
1 1 (100.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 1 (100.00%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)