Cybersecurity Engineer Job Trends

Cybersecurity Engineer
UK

The median Cybersecurity Engineer salary in the UK is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 30 August 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 617 604 671
Rank change year-on-year -13 +67 -56
Permanent jobs requiring a Cybersecurity Engineer 165 70 127
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.15% 0.14% 0.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.16% 0.16%
Number of salaries quoted 116 63 104
10th Percentile £46,939 £46,000 £39,750
25th Percentile £55,000 £53,094 £46,713
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £58,000
Median % change year-on-year - +12.07% -10.77%
75th Percentile £75,250 £77,500 £81,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £60,000 £50,309
% change year-on-year +8.33% +19.26% -16.15%

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 103,208 44,989 77,310
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.87% 89.84% 95.15%
Number of salaries quoted 70,871 26,760 49,758
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £74,888 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

Cybersecurity Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Cybersecurity Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Cybersecurity Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Cybersecurity Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Cybersecurity Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Cybersecurity Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Cybersecurity Engineer over the 6 months to 30 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Cybersecurity Engineer in the UK

Cybersecurity Engineer
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Cybersecurity Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 30 August 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
England -1 158 £66,250 +1.92% 79
UK excluding London -40 116 £65,000 +8.33% 69
Work from Home -7 53 £71,250 +2.69% 32
Midlands +11 51 £65,000 +22.42% 13
London -19 44 £74,250 -13.91% 15
East Midlands - 44 £65,000 - 6
South East -32 37 £70,000 +7.69% 18
North of England -47 17 £55,000 -15.38% 12
North West -12 9 £55,000 -15.38% 6
Yorkshire -30 8 £55,000 +4.76% 4
West Midlands -25 7 £60,000 +13.01% 6
East of England -20 5 £80,000 +60.00% 25
Northern Ireland -79 4 - -
Scotland +2 1 - - 4
South West -73 1 £40,000 -36.00% 3

Cybersecurity Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 30 August 2026, Cybersecurity Engineer 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 Cybersecurity Engineer in the job title.

1 165 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 62 (37.58%) Azure
3 57 (34.55%) Security Operations
4 55 (33.33%) SIEM
5 46 (27.88%) Microsoft
6 40 (24.24%) Vulnerability Management
7 37 (22.42%) Firewall
8 33 (20.00%) Incident Response
9 32 (19.39%) Python
10 31 (18.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 31 (18.79%) NIST
10 31 (18.79%) Threat Detection
11 30 (18.18%) AI
12 29 (17.58%) Cloud Security
13 27 (16.36%) Azure Sentinel
13 27 (16.36%) Degree
14 26 (15.76%) Information Security
15 25 (15.15%) CISSP
15 25 (15.15%) Entra ID
15 25 (15.15%) Microsoft 365
16 23 (13.94%) Qualys
17 22 (13.33%) Penetration Testing
18 21 (12.73%) Business Continuity
18 21 (12.73%) Software Engineering
19 20 (12.12%) Palo Alto
19 20 (12.12%) SC Cleared
19 20 (12.12%) Security Cleared
20 18 (10.91%) Data Loss Prevention
20 18 (10.91%) PowerShell
21 17 (10.30%) Computer Science

Cybersecurity Engineer 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:

Application Platforms
1 8 (4.85%) IIS
2 2 (1.21%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
Cloud Services
1 62 (37.58%) Azure
2 27 (16.36%) Azure Sentinel
3 25 (15.15%) Entra ID
3 25 (15.15%) Microsoft 365
4 16 (9.70%) AWS
5 15 (9.09%) Microsoft Purview
6 11 (6.67%) Mimecast
7 8 (4.85%) GCP
8 3 (1.82%) Akamai
9 2 (1.21%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (1.21%) Serverless
9 2 (1.21%) Sumo Logic
10 1 (0.61%) Cloudflare
10 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Copilot
10 1 (0.61%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 37 (22.42%) Firewall
2 13 (7.88%) Internet
2 13 (7.88%) LAN
2 13 (7.88%) Network Security
2 13 (7.88%) WAN
2 13 (7.88%) Wi-Fi
3 10 (6.06%) Cisco Nexus
4 9 (5.45%) VPN
5 5 (3.03%) Cisco ISE
5 5 (3.03%) Intrusion Detection
6 3 (1.82%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.61%) Broadband
7 1 (0.61%) DHCP
7 1 (0.61%) DMARC
7 1 (0.61%) DNS
7 1 (0.61%) SSH
7 1 (0.61%) SSL
7 1 (0.61%) Unified Communications
Development Applications
1 4 (2.42%) JIRA
2 1 (0.61%) Yeoman
General
1 28 (16.97%) Social Skills
2 20 (12.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 15 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (6.06%) Law
4 10 (6.06%) Retail
5 8 (4.85%) Finance
6 7 (4.24%) Cyber-Physical System
7 6 (3.64%) Legal
7 6 (3.64%) Police
8 2 (1.21%) Banking
9 1 (0.61%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (3.64%) Regular Expression
2 4 (2.42%) Terraform
3 1 (0.61%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 27 (16.36%) Cyber Threat
2 19 (11.52%) Security Posture
3 15 (9.09%) Management Information System
3 15 (9.09%) Operational Technology
3 15 (9.09%) Security Operations Centre
4 9 (5.45%) Cyberattack
5 7 (4.24%) AI Agents
5 7 (4.24%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 7 (4.24%) Legacy Systems
5 7 (4.24%) Onboarding
6 6 (3.64%) Low-Code
7 5 (3.03%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 4 (2.42%) Embedded Systems
8 4 (2.42%) SCADA
8 4 (2.42%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.82%) Driving Licence
10 2 (1.21%) Cloud Security Posture
10 2 (1.21%) PKI
11 1 (0.61%) Cyber Defence
11 1 (0.61%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 10 (6.06%) Linux
2 9 (5.45%) Windows
3 6 (3.64%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
4 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 57 (34.55%) Security Operations
3 55 (33.33%) SIEM
4 40 (24.24%) Vulnerability Management
5 33 (20.00%) Incident Response
6 31 (18.79%) Threat Detection
7 30 (18.18%) AI
8 29 (17.58%) Cloud Security
9 26 (15.76%) Information Security
10 22 (13.33%) Penetration Testing
11 21 (12.73%) Business Continuity
11 21 (12.73%) Software Engineering
12 18 (10.91%) Data Loss Prevention
13 17 (10.30%) Computer Science
13 17 (10.30%) Continuous Improvement
13 17 (10.30%) DevOps
13 17 (10.30%) Disaster Recovery
13 17 (10.30%) Risk Management
14 15 (9.09%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
14 15 (9.09%) Security Architecture
Programming Languages
1 32 (19.39%) Python
2 18 (10.91%) PowerShell
3 8 (4.85%) SQL
4 4 (2.42%) C++
5 3 (1.82%) Bash
6 2 (1.21%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.21%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.61%) Rust
7 1 (0.61%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 27 (16.36%) Degree
2 25 (15.15%) CISSP
3 20 (12.12%) SC Cleared
3 20 (12.12%) Security Cleared
4 14 (8.48%) CompTIA Security+
5 11 (6.67%) CEH
6 10 (6.06%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (6.06%) CISM
6 10 (6.06%) Master's Degree
7 7 (4.24%) CCNA
7 7 (4.24%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (4.24%) GIAC
8 5 (3.03%) SANS
9 4 (2.42%) DBS Check
10 3 (1.82%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 3 (1.82%) CCNP
10 3 (1.82%) CCSP
10 3 (1.82%) CompTIA CySA+
10 3 (1.82%) GCIA
11 2 (1.21%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (18.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 31 (18.79%) NIST
2 17 (10.30%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (4.24%) PCI DSS
4 6 (3.64%) GDPR
5 5 (3.03%) GRC
6 4 (2.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (2.42%) NCSC
7 1 (0.61%) SLA
System Software
1 14 (8.48%) Firmware
2 7 (4.24%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 7 (4.24%) Single Sign-On
2 6 (3.64%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (3.03%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.21%) Nessus
5 1 (0.61%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 46 (27.88%) Microsoft
2 23 (13.94%) Qualys
3 20 (12.12%) Palo Alto
4 16 (9.70%) CrowdStrike
5 15 (9.09%) Cisco
6 10 (6.06%) Aruba
7 7 (4.24%) Splunk
8 4 (2.42%) CyberArk
8 4 (2.42%) New Relic
8 4 (2.42%) SolarWinds
8 4 (2.42%) Tenable
8 4 (2.42%) Zerto
9 3 (1.82%) AlienVault
9 3 (1.82%) Rapid7
10 2 (1.21%) Darktrace
10 2 (1.21%) Fortinet
10 2 (1.21%) Netskope
10 2 (1.21%) Thales
11 1 (0.61%) Exabeam
11 1 (0.61%) iManage