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 4 May 2026.

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

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 628 571 746
Rank change year-on-year -57 +175 +12
Permanent jobs requiring a Cybersecurity Engineer 89 83 138
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.099% 0.19% 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.11% 0.22% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 58 72 106
10th Percentile £45,000 £37,716 £39,875
25th Percentile £46,954 £47,375 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year - -15.38% +8.33%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £81,500 £82,375 £91,875
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year - -4.35% +4.55%

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 83,957 38,400 90,620
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.97% 89.39% 94.55%
Number of salaries quoted 54,111 23,425 66,674
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,425 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,375 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £59,000 £52,900
Median % change year-on-year -6.78% +11.53% -11.83%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £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% -5.66%

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 4 May 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 4 May 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 -43 88 £55,000 - 51
London +37 46 £67,500 -3.57% 25
UK excluding London -87 36 £55,000 - 41
Work from Home -7 33 £55,000 - 24
Midlands -36 17 £45,000 -15.24% 4
North West -28 11 £55,000 - 2
East Midlands -34 11 £30,000 -38.78% 4
North of England -65 11 £55,000 +4.76% 4
West Midlands -24 6 £45,000 -16.18%
South East -49 6 £70,000 +27.27% 11
South West -49 2 £60,000 -39.24% 8

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

For the 6 months to 4 May 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 89 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (39.33%) Information Security
3 32 (35.96%) Incident Response
3 32 (35.96%) Microsoft
4 29 (32.58%) Python
5 27 (30.34%) NIST
6 26 (29.21%) Degree
7 25 (28.09%) CISSP
7 25 (28.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 24 (26.97%) Azure
8 24 (26.97%) PowerShell
8 24 (26.97%) SIEM
9 23 (25.84%) Firewall
9 23 (25.84%) Security Operations
10 21 (23.60%) Microsoft 365
11 20 (22.47%) Security Cleared
12 19 (21.35%) SC Cleared
13 17 (19.10%) Computer Science
13 17 (19.10%) Risk Management
14 14 (15.73%) Linux
14 14 (15.73%) Mac OS
14 14 (15.73%) Windows
15 12 (13.48%) Azure Sentinel
15 12 (13.48%) Cloud Security
16 11 (12.36%) Business Intelligence
16 11 (12.36%) CISA
16 11 (12.36%) CompTIA CySA+
16 11 (12.36%) Mimecast
16 11 (12.36%) Network Security
16 11 (12.36%) Regulatory Change

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 (1.12%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 24 (26.97%) Azure
2 21 (23.60%) Microsoft 365
3 12 (13.48%) Azure Sentinel
4 11 (12.36%) Mimecast
5 8 (8.99%) Entra ID
6 6 (6.74%) AWS
7 5 (5.62%) GCP
8 3 (3.37%) Microsoft Purview
9 2 (2.25%) SaaS
10 1 (1.12%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 1 (1.12%) IaaS
10 1 (1.12%) PaaS
10 1 (1.12%) Power Platform
10 1 (1.12%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 23 (25.84%) Firewall
2 11 (12.36%) Network Security
3 7 (7.87%) Intrusion Detection
4 5 (5.62%) VPN
5 4 (4.49%) TCP/IP
6 3 (3.37%) Cisco ISE
6 3 (3.37%) DMZ
6 3 (3.37%) Modbus
7 2 (2.25%) DNS
7 2 (2.25%) SSH
8 1 (1.12%) Broadband
8 1 (1.12%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (1.12%) Cisco Firepower
8 1 (1.12%) HTTP
8 1 (1.12%) Internet
8 1 (1.12%) SSL
8 1 (1.12%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (11.24%) Tableau
2 1 (1.12%) Power BI
General
1 34 (38.20%) Social Skills
2 22 (24.72%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (21.35%) Finance
4 17 (19.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 12 (13.48%) Legal
6 9 (10.11%) Retail
7 8 (8.99%) Law
8 7 (7.87%) Cyber-Physical System
9 6 (6.74%) Police
10 3 (3.37%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (1.12%) Banking
11 1 (1.12%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (6.74%) Regular Expression
2 1 (1.12%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 20 (22.47%) Management Information System
2 15 (16.85%) Operational Technology
3 10 (11.24%) Hedge funds
4 9 (10.11%) Driving Licence
4 9 (10.11%) Legacy Systems
4 9 (10.11%) Security Operations Centre
5 8 (8.99%) Security Posture
6 7 (7.87%) AI Agents
6 7 (7.87%) Cyberattack
6 7 (7.87%) Onboarding
7 6 (6.74%) Low-Code
8 5 (5.62%) SCADA
9 4 (4.49%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (3.37%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 2 (2.25%) Cyber Security Posture
11 2 (2.25%) Self-Motivation
12 1 (1.12%) Cloud Native
12 1 (1.12%) Cyber Defence
12 1 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
12 1 (1.12%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 14 (15.73%) Linux
1 14 (15.73%) Mac OS
1 14 (15.73%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (39.33%) Information Security
3 32 (35.96%) Incident Response
4 24 (26.97%) SIEM
5 23 (25.84%) Security Operations
6 17 (19.10%) Computer Science
6 17 (19.10%) Risk Management
7 12 (13.48%) Cloud Security
8 11 (12.36%) Business Intelligence
8 11 (12.36%) Regulatory Change
8 11 (12.36%) Threat Detection
9 10 (11.24%) Actionable Insight
9 10 (11.24%) Vulnerability Management
10 9 (10.11%) Cyber Resilience
10 9 (10.11%) Data Loss Prevention
10 9 (10.11%) Software Engineering
10 9 (10.11%) Vulnerability Assessment
11 8 (8.99%) AI
11 8 (8.99%) Roadmaps
11 8 (8.99%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 29 (32.58%) Python
2 24 (26.97%) PowerShell
3 10 (11.24%) SQL
4 4 (4.49%) Bash
5 2 (2.25%) C++
6 1 (1.12%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 26 (29.21%) Degree
2 25 (28.09%) CISSP
3 20 (22.47%) Security Cleared
4 19 (21.35%) SC Cleared
5 11 (12.36%) CISA
5 11 (12.36%) CompTIA CySA+
6 8 (8.99%) Master's Degree
7 5 (5.62%) CEH
7 5 (5.62%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (4.49%) CompTIA Security+
8 4 (4.49%) DBS Check
9 3 (3.37%) HND
10 2 (2.25%) CCNA
10 2 (2.25%) CCNP
10 2 (2.25%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (2.25%) GCIA
10 2 (2.25%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 2 (2.25%) SANS
11 1 (1.12%) CISM
11 1 (1.12%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (30.34%) NIST
2 25 (28.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (11.24%) Actionable Recommendations
4 6 (6.74%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (4.49%) PCI DSS
6 3 (3.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 3 (3.37%) GRC
7 1 (1.12%) GDPR
7 1 (1.12%) HIPAA
7 1 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 1 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 1 (1.12%) NCSC
7 1 (1.12%) SLA
7 1 (1.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 2 (2.25%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 4 (4.49%) Single Sign-On
2 1 (1.12%) CASB
2 1 (1.12%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (1.12%) Nessus
2 1 (1.12%) Terraform
Vendors
1 32 (35.96%) Microsoft
2 10 (11.24%) Google
3 8 (8.99%) CrowdStrike
3 8 (8.99%) Palo Alto
4 7 (7.87%) Qualys
4 7 (7.87%) Tenable
5 6 (6.74%) Cisco
6 5 (5.62%) CyberArk
7 4 (4.49%) Thales
8 3 (3.37%) iManage
8 3 (3.37%) Rapid7
9 2 (2.25%) AlienVault
9 2 (2.25%) Apple
9 2 (2.25%) Netskope
10 1 (1.12%) CheckPoint
10 1 (1.12%) Darktrace
10 1 (1.12%) Fortinet
10 1 (1.12%) LogRhythm
10 1 (1.12%) Meraki
10 1 (1.12%) Splunk