Chief Security Officer Job Trends

Chief Security Officer
UK

The median Chief Security Officer salary in the UK is £153,900 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 649 - 712
Rank change year-on-year - - +291
Permanent jobs requiring a Chief Security Officer 4 0 9
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.007% - 0.016%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.007% - 0.017%
Number of salaries quoted 4 0 7
10th Percentile - - £93,750
25th Percentile £117,800 - £125,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £153,900 - £165,000
Median % change year-on-year - - +37.50%
75th Percentile £195,000 - £196,250
90th Percentile - - £220,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £190,000 - £165,000
% change year-on-year - - +37.50%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 54,426 49,714 53,040
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.72% 92.90% 95.25%
Number of salaries quoted 33,710 25,743 40,880
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,625 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,000 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,609 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.96% +5.22% -5.25%

Chief Security Officer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Chief Security Officer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Chief Security Officer job vacancy trend in the UK

Chief Security Officer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Chief Security Officer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Chief Security Officer job vacancies in the UK

Chief Security Officer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Chief Security Officer over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Chief Security Officer in the UK

Chief Security Officer
Top 4 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Chief Security Officer within the UK over the 6 months to 14 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
Work from Home - 4 £153,900 -
East of England - 2 £190,000 -
UK excluding London - 2 £190,000 -
England - 2 £190,000 - 1

Chief Security Officer Skill Set
Top 27 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 14 January 2026, Chief Security Officer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Chief Security Officer in the job title.

1 4 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
1 4 (100.00%) Information Security
1 4 (100.00%) Risk Management
2 2 (50.00%) AI
2 2 (50.00%) Business Continuity
2 2 (50.00%) CISA
2 2 (50.00%) CISM
2 2 (50.00%) CISSP
2 2 (50.00%) Collaborative Culture
2 2 (50.00%) Commercial Awareness
2 2 (50.00%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
2 2 (50.00%) Data Privacy
2 2 (50.00%) Data Protection
2 2 (50.00%) DBS Check
2 2 (50.00%) dbt
2 2 (50.00%) GDPR
2 2 (50.00%) Incident Management
2 2 (50.00%) Incident Response
2 2 (50.00%) Mentoring
2 2 (50.00%) NCSC
2 2 (50.00%) NIST
2 2 (50.00%) Proactive Monitoring
2 2 (50.00%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (50.00%) Regulatory Compliance
2 2 (50.00%) Security Architecture
2 2 (50.00%) Strategic Thinking
2 2 (50.00%) Threat Intelligence

Chief Security Officer Skill Set
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 2 (50.00%) dbt
General
1 2 (50.00%) Analytical Skills
1 2 (50.00%) Finance
1 2 (50.00%) Influencing Skills
1 2 (50.00%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 2 (50.00%) Cyber Threat
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
1 4 (100.00%) Information Security
1 4 (100.00%) Risk Management
2 2 (50.00%) AI
2 2 (50.00%) Business Continuity
2 2 (50.00%) Collaborative Culture
2 2 (50.00%) Commercial Awareness
2 2 (50.00%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
2 2 (50.00%) Data Privacy
2 2 (50.00%) Data Protection
2 2 (50.00%) Incident Management
2 2 (50.00%) Incident Response
2 2 (50.00%) Mentoring
2 2 (50.00%) Proactive Monitoring
2 2 (50.00%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (50.00%) Regulatory Compliance
2 2 (50.00%) Security Architecture
2 2 (50.00%) Strategic Thinking
2 2 (50.00%) Threat Intelligence
Qualifications
1 2 (50.00%) CISA
1 2 (50.00%) CISM
1 2 (50.00%) CISSP
1 2 (50.00%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (50.00%) GDPR
1 2 (50.00%) NCSC
1 2 (50.00%) NIST