Cybersecurity Specialist Job Trends

Cybersecurity Specialist
UK

The median Cybersecurity Specialist salary in the UK is £60,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 15 April 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 638 635 831
Rank change year-on-year -3 +196 +94
Permanent jobs requiring a Cybersecurity Specialist 62 12 55
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.073% 0.029% 0.059%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.078% 0.033% 0.062%
Number of salaries quoted 43 9 34
10th Percentile £40,000 £52,400 £44,213
25th Percentile £45,000 £52,500 £51,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year - -4.00% +7.76%
75th Percentile £68,750 £75,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £78,000 £79,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -25.00% - +6.19%

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 79,058 36,853 88,284
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.58% 89.53% 94.57%
Number of salaries quoted 50,594 23,309 65,653
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -10.00%
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 Specialist
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Cybersecurity Specialist job vacancy trend in the UK

Cybersecurity Specialist
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for Cybersecurity Specialist job vacancies in the UK

Cybersecurity Specialist
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Cybersecurity Specialist over the 6 months to 15 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Cybersecurity Specialist in the UK

Cybersecurity Specialist
Top 13 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Cybersecurity Specialist within the UK over the 6 months to 15 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 -5 53 £60,000 - 7
UK excluding London -45 42 £45,000 -25.00% 6
London 0 16 £65,000 -13.33% 1
Midlands - 16 £45,000 - 2
Work from Home +14 10 £60,000 +9.09% 1
North of England -67 10 £55,000 -8.33% 1
North West -21 8 £55,000 -8.33%
South East - 8 £40,000 - 3
East Midlands - 8 £45,000 - 2
West Midlands - 8 - -
Scotland - 5 £40,000 -
South West - 3 £60,000 -
Yorkshire - 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 15 April 2026, Cybersecurity Specialist 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 Specialist in the job title.

1 62 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 11 (17.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (14.52%) Cloud Security
4 8 (12.90%) Firewall
5 7 (11.29%) Azure
5 7 (11.29%) Cyber Resilience
5 7 (11.29%) Incident Response
5 7 (11.29%) Microsoft
5 7 (11.29%) Network Security
5 7 (11.29%) NIST
5 7 (11.29%) Risk Management
6 6 (9.68%) CISSP
6 6 (9.68%) Threat Modelling
7 5 (8.06%) Accessibility
7 5 (8.06%) CISM
7 5 (8.06%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (8.06%) Identity Access Management
7 5 (8.06%) Information Security
7 5 (8.06%) Security Operations
7 5 (8.06%) SIEM
8 4 (6.45%) Application Security
8 4 (6.45%) Degree
8 4 (6.45%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
8 4 (6.45%) Fintech
8 4 (6.45%) Microsoft 365
8 4 (6.45%) OWASP
8 4 (6.45%) Static Application Security Testing
8 4 (6.45%) Vulnerability Management
8 4 (6.45%) Windows
9 3 (4.84%) BPSS Clearance

Cybersecurity Specialist 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 1 (1.61%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 7 (11.29%) Azure
2 4 (6.45%) Microsoft 365
3 2 (3.23%) Azure Sentinel
3 2 (3.23%) Microsoft Purview
3 2 (3.23%) Mimecast
4 1 (1.61%) AWS
4 1 (1.61%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 8 (12.90%) Firewall
2 7 (11.29%) Network Security
3 1 (1.61%) Intrusion Detection
Development Applications
1 1 (1.61%) JIRA
General
1 9 (14.52%) Finance
2 5 (8.06%) Social Skills
3 4 (6.45%) Aviation
4 3 (4.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (1.61%) Legal
Miscellaneous
1 4 (6.45%) Operational Technology
2 2 (3.23%) Cyber Threat
3 1 (1.61%) IoT
3 1 (1.61%) Management Information System
3 1 (1.61%) Security Posture
3 1 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 4 (6.45%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (100.00%) Cybersecurity
2 9 (14.52%) Cloud Security
3 7 (11.29%) Cyber Resilience
3 7 (11.29%) Incident Response
3 7 (11.29%) Risk Management
4 6 (9.68%) Threat Modelling
5 5 (8.06%) Identity Access Management
5 5 (8.06%) Information Security
5 5 (8.06%) Security Operations
5 5 (8.06%) SIEM
6 4 (6.45%) Application Security
6 4 (6.45%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
6 4 (6.45%) Fintech
6 4 (6.45%) OWASP
6 4 (6.45%) Static Application Security Testing
6 4 (6.45%) Vulnerability Management
7 3 (4.84%) Incident Management
8 2 (3.23%) Computer Science
8 2 (3.23%) Migration
8 2 (3.23%) Security Testing
Qualifications
1 6 (9.68%) CISSP
2 5 (8.06%) CISM
3 4 (6.45%) Degree
4 3 (4.84%) BPSS Clearance
4 3 (4.84%) CEH
4 3 (4.84%) SC Cleared
4 3 (4.84%) Security Cleared
5 2 (3.23%) CESG Certified Professional
6 1 (1.61%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 1 (1.61%) CCSK
6 1 (1.61%) CISA
6 1 (1.61%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (1.61%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (17.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 7 (11.29%) NIST
3 5 (8.06%) Accessibility
3 5 (8.06%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (3.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 2 (3.23%) GRC
5 1 (1.61%) NCSC
5 1 (1.61%) NIST 800
System Software
1 1 (1.61%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 3 (4.84%) CSIRT
1 3 (4.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (3.23%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 7 (11.29%) Microsoft
2 3 (4.84%) CrowdStrike
3 2 (3.23%) CyberArk
3 2 (3.23%) Netskope
4 1 (1.61%) Cisco
4 1 (1.61%) Cognizant
4 1 (1.61%) Palo Alto
4 1 (1.61%) Zscaler