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 27 August 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 620 606 677
Rank change year-on-year -14 +71 -52
Permanent jobs requiring a Cybersecurity Engineer 162 66 128
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.15% 0.13% 0.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.15% 0.16%
Number of salaries quoted 113 60 105
10th Percentile £46,939 £45,000 £40,500
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £46,713
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - +8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £75,250 £75,000 £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 102,706 44,968 79,449
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.89% 89.82% 95.13%
Number of salaries quoted 70,497 26,684 51,823
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £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 £74,258 £72,500
90th Percentile £96,250 £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 27 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 27 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 -11 155 £65,000 - 110
UK excluding London -43 114 £65,000 +8.33% 82
Work from Home -13 54 £71,250 +2.69% 44
Midlands +17 50 £65,000 +22.42% 19
London -21 43 £73,500 -19.45% 30
East Midlands - 43 £65,000 - 10
South East -16 36 £70,000 +7.69% 20
North of England -40 17 £55,000 -15.38% 14
North West -14 9 £55,000 -15.38% 7
Yorkshire -29 8 £55,000 +4.76% 4
West Midlands -30 7 £60,000 +13.01% 9
East of England -33 5 £80,000 +60.00% 22
Northern Ireland -75 4 - -
Scotland +8 1 - - 6
South West -72 1 £40,000 -36.00% 5

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

For the 6 months to 27 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.

1 162 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 60 (37.04%) Azure
3 55 (33.95%) Security Operations
4 54 (33.33%) SIEM
5 46 (28.40%) Microsoft
6 39 (24.07%) Vulnerability Management
7 36 (22.22%) Firewall
8 33 (20.37%) Python
9 32 (19.75%) Incident Response
10 31 (19.14%) Threat Detection
11 30 (18.52%) AI
11 30 (18.52%) Cloud Security
11 30 (18.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 30 (18.52%) NIST
12 26 (16.05%) Degree
12 26 (16.05%) Information Security
13 25 (15.43%) Azure Sentinel
14 24 (14.81%) CISSP
14 24 (14.81%) Microsoft 365
15 23 (14.20%) Entra ID
16 22 (13.58%) Qualys
17 21 (12.96%) Penetration Testing
17 21 (12.96%) Software Engineering
18 20 (12.35%) SC Cleared
18 20 (12.35%) Security Cleared
19 19 (11.73%) Business Continuity
19 19 (11.73%) Palo Alto
19 19 (11.73%) PowerShell
20 17 (10.49%) Computer Science
20 17 (10.49%) Data Loss Prevention

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 (4.94%) IIS
2 2 (1.23%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.62%) Microsoft Exchange
Cloud Services
1 60 (37.04%) Azure
2 25 (15.43%) Azure Sentinel
3 24 (14.81%) Microsoft 365
4 23 (14.20%) Entra ID
5 16 (9.88%) AWS
6 14 (8.64%) Microsoft Purview
7 11 (6.79%) Mimecast
8 8 (4.94%) GCP
9 3 (1.85%) Akamai
10 2 (1.23%) Cloud Computing
10 2 (1.23%) Serverless
10 2 (1.23%) Sumo Logic
11 1 (0.62%) Cloudflare
11 1 (0.62%) Microsoft Copilot
11 1 (0.62%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 36 (22.22%) Firewall
2 13 (8.02%) Network Security
3 12 (7.41%) Internet
3 12 (7.41%) LAN
3 12 (7.41%) WAN
3 12 (7.41%) Wi-Fi
4 9 (5.56%) Cisco Nexus
4 9 (5.56%) VPN
5 5 (3.09%) Cisco ISE
5 5 (3.09%) Intrusion Detection
6 3 (1.85%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.62%) Broadband
7 1 (0.62%) DMARC
7 1 (0.62%) SSH
7 1 (0.62%) SSL
7 1 (0.62%) Unified Communications
Development Applications
1 4 (2.47%) JIRA
2 1 (0.62%) Yeoman
General
1 27 (16.67%) Social Skills
2 20 (12.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 15 (9.26%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (6.17%) Retail
5 9 (5.56%) Law
6 8 (4.94%) Finance
7 7 (4.32%) Cyber-Physical System
8 6 (3.70%) Legal
8 6 (3.70%) Police
9 2 (1.23%) Banking
10 1 (0.62%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (3.70%) Regular Expression
2 4 (2.47%) Terraform
3 1 (0.62%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 27 (16.67%) Cyber Threat
2 19 (11.73%) Security Posture
3 15 (9.26%) Management Information System
3 15 (9.26%) Operational Technology
3 15 (9.26%) Security Operations Centre
4 9 (5.56%) Cyberattack
5 7 (4.32%) AI Agents
5 7 (4.32%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 7 (4.32%) Legacy Systems
5 7 (4.32%) Onboarding
6 6 (3.70%) Low-Code
7 5 (3.09%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 4 (2.47%) Embedded Systems
8 4 (2.47%) SCADA
8 4 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.85%) Driving Licence
10 2 (1.23%) Cloud Security Posture
11 1 (0.62%) Cyber Defence
11 1 (0.62%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.62%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 11 (6.79%) Linux
2 9 (5.56%) Windows
3 5 (3.09%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.62%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 162 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 55 (33.95%) Security Operations
3 54 (33.33%) SIEM
4 39 (24.07%) Vulnerability Management
5 32 (19.75%) Incident Response
6 31 (19.14%) Threat Detection
7 30 (18.52%) AI
7 30 (18.52%) Cloud Security
8 26 (16.05%) Information Security
9 21 (12.96%) Penetration Testing
9 21 (12.96%) Software Engineering
10 19 (11.73%) Business Continuity
11 17 (10.49%) Computer Science
11 17 (10.49%) Data Loss Prevention
12 16 (9.88%) Continuous Improvement
12 16 (9.88%) DevOps
12 16 (9.88%) Disaster Recovery
12 16 (9.88%) Risk Management
13 15 (9.26%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
13 15 (9.26%) Threat Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 33 (20.37%) Python
2 19 (11.73%) PowerShell
3 8 (4.94%) SQL
4 4 (2.47%) C++
5 3 (1.85%) Bash
6 2 (1.23%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.23%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.62%) Rust
7 1 (0.62%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 26 (16.05%) Degree
2 24 (14.81%) CISSP
3 20 (12.35%) SC Cleared
3 20 (12.35%) Security Cleared
4 14 (8.64%) CompTIA Security+
5 10 (6.17%) CEH
5 10 (6.17%) CISM
5 10 (6.17%) Master's Degree
6 9 (5.56%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (4.32%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (4.32%) GIAC
8 6 (3.70%) CCNA
9 5 (3.09%) SANS
10 4 (2.47%) DBS Check
11 3 (1.85%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 3 (1.85%) CCNP
11 3 (1.85%) CCSP
11 3 (1.85%) CompTIA CySA+
11 3 (1.85%) GCIA
12 2 (1.23%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (18.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 30 (18.52%) NIST
2 16 (9.88%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (4.32%) PCI DSS
4 6 (3.70%) GDPR
5 4 (2.47%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 4 (2.47%) GRC
5 4 (2.47%) NCSC
6 1 (0.62%) SLA
System Software
1 14 (8.64%) Firmware
2 6 (3.70%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 6 (3.70%) Single Sign-On
2 5 (3.09%) Kubernetes
3 4 (2.47%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.23%) Nessus
5 1 (0.62%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 46 (28.40%) Microsoft
2 22 (13.58%) Qualys
3 19 (11.73%) Palo Alto
4 16 (9.88%) CrowdStrike
5 14 (8.64%) Cisco
6 9 (5.56%) Aruba
7 7 (4.32%) Splunk
8 4 (2.47%) CyberArk
8 4 (2.47%) New Relic
8 4 (2.47%) SolarWinds
8 4 (2.47%) Tenable
8 4 (2.47%) Zerto
9 3 (1.85%) AlienVault
9 3 (1.85%) Rapid7
10 2 (1.23%) Darktrace
10 2 (1.23%) Fortinet
10 2 (1.23%) Netskope
10 2 (1.23%) Thales
11 1 (0.62%) Exabeam
11 1 (0.62%) iManage