Cybersecurity Engineer Job Trends

Cybersecurity Engineer
UK

The median Cybersecurity Engineer salary in the UK is £55,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 22 April 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 632 561 745
Rank change year-on-year -71 +184 +4
Permanent jobs requiring a Cybersecurity Engineer 86 86 136
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.098% 0.21% 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.11% 0.23% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 58 75 104
10th Percentile £46,357 £37,716 £39,025
25th Percentile £49,063 £48,750 £47,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year - -15.38% +8.33%
75th Percentile £77,375 £67,500 £77,813
90th Percentile £95,375 £84,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £55,000

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 81,450 37,439 89,409
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.76% 89.27% 94.57%
Number of salaries quoted 52,076 23,545 66,095
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +13.21% -11.67%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +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 22 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Cybersecurity Engineer in the UK

Cybersecurity Engineer
Top 11 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 22 April 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 -60 86 £55,000 - 56
London +31 44 £73,500 +5.00% 29
UK excluding London -114 36 £55,000 - 52
Work from Home -5 32 £55,000 -8.33% 31
Midlands -50 15 £48,750 -7.12% 5
North West -24 13 £55,000 - 1
North of England -55 13 £55,000 +21.63% 2
West Midlands -34 8 £48,750 -7.14%
East Midlands -41 7 - - 5
South East -61 6 £70,000 +27.27% 17
South West -54 2 £60,000 -39.24% 7

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

For the 6 months to 22 April 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 86 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (40.70%) Information Security
3 33 (38.37%) Incident Response
4 32 (37.21%) Microsoft
5 27 (31.40%) NIST
5 27 (31.40%) Python
6 26 (30.23%) CISSP
7 25 (29.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 23 (26.74%) Azure
8 23 (26.74%) Degree
8 23 (26.74%) PowerShell
9 22 (25.58%) Security Operations
9 22 (25.58%) SIEM
10 21 (24.42%) Firewall
11 19 (22.09%) Microsoft 365
12 17 (19.77%) Risk Management
13 15 (17.44%) Mac OS
13 15 (17.44%) Security Cleared
14 14 (16.28%) Computer Science
14 14 (16.28%) SC Cleared
15 13 (15.12%) Threat Detection
16 12 (13.95%) Linux
16 12 (13.95%) Windows
17 11 (12.79%) Actionable Insight
17 11 (12.79%) Business Intelligence
17 11 (12.79%) CISA
17 11 (12.79%) Cloud Security
17 11 (12.79%) CompTIA CySA+
17 11 (12.79%) Regulatory Change
17 11 (12.79%) SQL

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:

Applications
1 1 (1.16%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 23 (26.74%) Azure
2 19 (22.09%) Microsoft 365
3 10 (11.63%) Azure Sentinel
3 10 (11.63%) Mimecast
4 8 (9.30%) Entra ID
5 5 (5.81%) AWS
6 4 (4.65%) GCP
7 3 (3.49%) Microsoft Purview
8 2 (2.33%) SaaS
9 1 (1.16%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 1 (1.16%) IaaS
9 1 (1.16%) Nutanix
9 1 (1.16%) PaaS
9 1 (1.16%) Power Platform
9 1 (1.16%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 21 (24.42%) Firewall
2 9 (10.47%) Network Security
3 7 (8.14%) Intrusion Detection
4 5 (5.81%) TCP/IP
4 5 (5.81%) VPN
5 3 (3.49%) DMZ
5 3 (3.49%) DNS
5 3 (3.49%) Modbus
5 3 (3.49%) SSH
6 2 (2.33%) Cisco ISE
6 2 (2.33%) HTTP
7 1 (1.16%) Broadband
7 1 (1.16%) Cisco ASA
7 1 (1.16%) Cisco Firepower
7 1 (1.16%) Internet
7 1 (1.16%) SSL
7 1 (1.16%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (11.63%) Tableau
2 1 (1.16%) Power BI
General
1 35 (40.70%) Social Skills
2 21 (24.42%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (23.26%) Finance
4 14 (16.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 13 (15.12%) Legal
6 9 (10.47%) Retail
7 8 (9.30%) Law
8 6 (6.98%) Police
9 5 (5.81%) Cyber-Physical System
10 4 (4.65%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (1.16%) Banking
11 1 (1.16%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (6.98%) Regular Expression
2 1 (1.16%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 19 (22.09%) Management Information System
2 13 (15.12%) Operational Technology
3 10 (11.63%) Hedge funds
4 9 (10.47%) Driving Licence
4 9 (10.47%) Security Operations Centre
4 9 (10.47%) Security Posture
5 7 (8.14%) Cyberattack
5 7 (8.14%) Legacy Systems
5 7 (8.14%) Onboarding
6 6 (6.98%) Low-Code
7 5 (5.81%) AI Agents
7 5 (5.81%) Cyber Security Posture
7 5 (5.81%) SCADA
8 3 (3.49%) Cyber Threat
8 3 (3.49%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (2.33%) Cloud Native
9 2 (2.33%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 2 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
10 1 (1.16%) Cyber Defence
10 1 (1.16%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 15 (17.44%) Mac OS
2 12 (13.95%) Linux
2 12 (13.95%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (40.70%) Information Security
3 33 (38.37%) Incident Response
4 22 (25.58%) Security Operations
4 22 (25.58%) SIEM
5 17 (19.77%) Risk Management
6 14 (16.28%) Computer Science
7 13 (15.12%) Threat Detection
8 11 (12.79%) Actionable Insight
8 11 (12.79%) Business Intelligence
8 11 (12.79%) Cloud Security
8 11 (12.79%) Regulatory Change
9 10 (11.63%) Data Loss Prevention
10 9 (10.47%) Software Engineering
10 9 (10.47%) Vulnerability Assessment
10 9 (10.47%) Vulnerability Management
10 9 (10.47%) Vulnerability Remediation
11 7 (8.14%) Cyber Resilience
11 7 (8.14%) Vulnerability Scanning
12 6 (6.98%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 27 (31.40%) Python
2 23 (26.74%) PowerShell
3 11 (12.79%) SQL
4 3 (3.49%) C++
5 2 (2.33%) Bash
6 1 (1.16%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 26 (30.23%) CISSP
2 23 (26.74%) Degree
3 15 (17.44%) Security Cleared
4 14 (16.28%) SC Cleared
5 11 (12.79%) CISA
5 11 (12.79%) CompTIA CySA+
6 7 (8.14%) CEH
7 6 (6.98%) Master's Degree
8 5 (5.81%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (4.65%) CompTIA Security+
10 3 (3.49%) DBS Check
10 3 (3.49%) HND
11 2 (2.33%) CCNA
11 2 (2.33%) CCNP
11 2 (2.33%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (2.33%) CISM
11 2 (2.33%) GCIA
11 2 (2.33%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 2 (2.33%) OSCP
11 2 (2.33%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (31.40%) NIST
2 25 (29.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (11.63%) Actionable Recommendations
4 8 (9.30%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (4.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 3 (3.49%) GRC
6 3 (3.49%) PCI DSS
7 1 (1.16%) GDPR
7 1 (1.16%) HIPAA
7 1 (1.16%) ISO 22301
7 1 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 1 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 1 (1.16%) SLA
7 1 (1.16%) SOC 2
System Software
1 2 (2.33%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 4 (4.65%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (2.33%) Nessus
3 1 (1.16%) CASB
3 1 (1.16%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (1.16%) Terraform
Vendors
1 32 (37.21%) Microsoft
2 10 (11.63%) Google
3 8 (9.30%) Qualys
4 7 (8.14%) CrowdStrike
4 7 (8.14%) Palo Alto
4 7 (8.14%) Tenable
5 5 (5.81%) Cisco
5 5 (5.81%) CyberArk
6 4 (4.65%) Thales
7 3 (3.49%) Apple
7 3 (3.49%) iManage
7 3 (3.49%) Rapid7
8 2 (2.33%) Netskope
9 1 (1.16%) CheckPoint
9 1 (1.16%) Commvault
9 1 (1.16%) Fortinet
9 1 (1.16%) Meraki
9 1 (1.16%) Splunk
9 1 (1.16%) VMware
9 1 (1.16%) Zscaler