Cybersecurity Engineer Job Trends

Cybersecurity Engineer
UK

The median Cybersecurity Engineer salary in the UK is £70,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 25 July 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 626 618 719
Rank change year-on-year -8 +101 -49
Permanent jobs requiring a Cybersecurity Engineer 138 71 121
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.14% 0.14% 0.13%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.15% 0.16% 0.14%
Number of salaries quoted 95 63 105
10th Percentile £46,939 £45,000 £45,000
25th Percentile £52,500 £51,250 £46,713
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% - +2.02%
75th Percentile £77,250 £76,250 £81,250
90th Percentile £83,000 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £67,500 £59,000 £50,309
% change year-on-year +14.41% +17.28% -8.53%

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 95,058 44,279 85,185
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.34% 90.13% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 65,017 26,287 59,282
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £96,250 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +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 25 July 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 25 July 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 -20 131 £70,000 +12.00% 51
UK excluding London -51 86 £67,500 +14.41% 39
Work from Home +10 47 £70,000 -3.45% 22
London -2 45 £74,250 -21.84% 8
Midlands -8 37 £65,000 +26.83% 10
East Midlands -2 30 £65,000 +32.65% 8
South East -40 25 £70,000 +16.67% 8
North of England -30 13 £55,000 -15.38% 17
North West -11 10 £55,000 -15.38% 8
West Midlands -23 7 £60,000 +14.29% 2
East of England -13 5 £80,000 +90.09% 2
Northern Ireland -64 4 - -
Yorkshire -36 3 £55,000 +4.76% 6
Scotland +18 1 - -
South West -64 1 £60,000 -50.00% 4

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

For the 6 months to 25 July 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.

1 138 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 55 (39.86%) Azure
3 47 (34.06%) Security Operations
4 46 (33.33%) Microsoft
5 43 (31.16%) SIEM
6 35 (25.36%) Python
7 33 (23.91%) Incident Response
8 32 (23.19%) Cloud Security
8 32 (23.19%) Firewall
9 31 (22.46%) Information Security
9 31 (22.46%) Vulnerability Management
10 30 (21.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 29 (21.01%) Degree
11 29 (21.01%) NIST
12 27 (19.57%) CISSP
13 26 (18.84%) Microsoft 365
14 25 (18.12%) AI
15 23 (16.67%) Threat Detection
16 22 (15.94%) Azure Sentinel
16 22 (15.94%) PowerShell
17 21 (15.22%) Entra ID
18 20 (14.49%) SC Cleared
18 20 (14.49%) Security Cleared
19 18 (13.04%) Computer Science
19 18 (13.04%) Risk Management
19 18 (13.04%) Software Engineering
20 17 (12.32%) Qualys
21 16 (11.59%) CrowdStrike
22 15 (10.87%) AWS
22 15 (10.87%) 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 6 (4.35%) IIS
2 2 (1.45%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 55 (39.86%) Azure
2 26 (18.84%) Microsoft 365
3 22 (15.94%) Azure Sentinel
4 21 (15.22%) Entra ID
5 15 (10.87%) AWS
6 12 (8.70%) Microsoft Purview
7 11 (7.97%) Mimecast
8 9 (6.52%) GCP
9 3 (2.17%) Akamai
10 2 (1.45%) Cloud Computing
10 2 (1.45%) SaaS
10 2 (1.45%) Serverless
10 2 (1.45%) Sumo Logic
11 1 (0.72%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 1 (0.72%) Cloudflare
11 1 (0.72%) IaaS
11 1 (0.72%) Microsoft Copilot
11 1 (0.72%) PaaS
11 1 (0.72%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 32 (23.19%) Firewall
2 11 (7.97%) Network Security
3 9 (6.52%) Internet
4 8 (5.80%) LAN
4 8 (5.80%) WAN
4 8 (5.80%) Wi-Fi
5 6 (4.35%) Intrusion Detection
5 6 (4.35%) VPN
6 5 (3.62%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (2.90%) Cisco ISE
8 3 (2.17%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.72%) Broadband
9 1 (0.72%) Cisco ASA
9 1 (0.72%) Cisco Firepower
9 1 (0.72%) DNS
9 1 (0.72%) SSH
9 1 (0.72%) SSL
9 1 (0.72%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 3 (2.17%) JIRA
2 1 (0.72%) Yeoman
General
1 31 (22.46%) Social Skills
2 21 (15.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 19 (13.77%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (8.70%) Finance
5 10 (7.25%) Retail
6 9 (6.52%) Law
7 8 (5.80%) Legal
8 7 (5.07%) Cyber-Physical System
9 6 (4.35%) Police
10 2 (1.45%) Banking
11 1 (0.72%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (4.35%) Regular Expression
2 1 (0.72%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 24 (17.39%) Cyber Threat
2 19 (13.77%) Security Posture
3 17 (12.32%) Management Information System
4 14 (10.14%) Security Operations Centre
5 12 (8.70%) Operational Technology
6 9 (6.52%) Cyberattack
7 7 (5.07%) AI Agents
7 7 (5.07%) Legacy Systems
7 7 (5.07%) Onboarding
8 6 (4.35%) Low-Code
9 5 (3.62%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 5 (3.62%) Driving Licence
10 4 (2.90%) Embedded Systems
10 4 (2.90%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (2.17%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 3 (2.17%) Hedge funds
11 3 (2.17%) SCADA
12 2 (1.45%) Cloud Security Posture
13 1 (0.72%) Cyber Defence
13 1 (0.72%) Cyber Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 12 (8.70%) Linux
2 10 (7.25%) Windows
3 4 (2.90%) Mac OS
4 3 (2.17%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 47 (34.06%) Security Operations
3 43 (31.16%) SIEM
4 33 (23.91%) Incident Response
5 32 (23.19%) Cloud Security
6 31 (22.46%) Information Security
6 31 (22.46%) Vulnerability Management
7 25 (18.12%) AI
8 23 (16.67%) Threat Detection
9 18 (13.04%) Computer Science
9 18 (13.04%) Risk Management
9 18 (13.04%) Software Engineering
10 15 (10.87%) Data Loss Prevention
10 15 (10.87%) Penetration Testing
10 15 (10.87%) Problem-Solving
11 13 (9.42%) Business Continuity
11 13 (9.42%) Continuous Improvement
11 13 (9.42%) DevOps
11 13 (9.42%) Security Architecture
11 13 (9.42%) Vulnerability Assessment
Programming Languages
1 35 (25.36%) Python
2 22 (15.94%) PowerShell
3 9 (6.52%) SQL
4 4 (2.90%) Bash
4 4 (2.90%) C++
5 2 (1.45%) JavaScript
5 2 (1.45%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (0.72%) Rust
6 1 (0.72%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 29 (21.01%) Degree
2 27 (19.57%) CISSP
3 20 (14.49%) SC Cleared
3 20 (14.49%) Security Cleared
4 12 (8.70%) CompTIA Security+
5 10 (7.25%) Master's Degree
6 9 (6.52%) CEH
6 9 (6.52%) Cisco Certification
6 9 (6.52%) CISM
7 8 (5.80%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (4.35%) CCNA
9 5 (3.62%) CompTIA CySA+
9 5 (3.62%) GIAC
9 5 (3.62%) SANS
10 4 (2.90%) DBS Check
11 3 (2.17%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 3 (2.17%) CCNP
11 3 (2.17%) CCSP
11 3 (2.17%) CISA
11 3 (2.17%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (21.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 29 (21.01%) NIST
3 13 (9.42%) Cyber Essentials
4 7 (5.07%) GDPR
4 7 (5.07%) PCI DSS
5 4 (2.90%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 4 (2.90%) GRC
5 4 (2.90%) NCSC
6 3 (2.17%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.72%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 1 (0.72%) SLA
7 1 (0.72%) SOC 2
System Software
1 6 (4.35%) Firmware
2 5 (3.62%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (3.62%) Terraform
2 4 (2.90%) Single Sign-On
3 3 (2.17%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.45%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.45%) Nessus
5 1 (0.72%) CASB
Vendors
1 46 (33.33%) Microsoft
2 17 (12.32%) Qualys
3 16 (11.59%) CrowdStrike
4 14 (10.14%) Palo Alto
5 11 (7.97%) Cisco
6 5 (3.62%) Aruba
6 5 (3.62%) Tenable
7 4 (2.90%) CyberArk
7 4 (2.90%) Rapid7
7 4 (2.90%) Splunk
8 3 (2.17%) AlienVault
8 3 (2.17%) Google
8 3 (2.17%) New Relic
8 3 (2.17%) SolarWinds
8 3 (2.17%) Thales
8 3 (2.17%) Zerto
9 2 (1.45%) Darktrace
9 2 (1.45%) Fortinet
9 2 (1.45%) iManage
9 2 (1.45%) Netskope