GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for GPEN qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 31 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 699 889 945
Rank change year-on-year +190 +56 +300
Permanent jobs citing GPEN 3 18 23
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.005% 0.017% 0.024%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.011% 0.065% 0.071%
Number of salaries quoted 0 9 3
10th Percentile - - £59,500
25th Percentile - £47,500 £70,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) - £65,000 £90,000
Median % change year-on-year - -27.78% +63.64%
75th Percentile - £73,750 £94,250
90th Percentile - £73,800 £95,300
UK excluding London median annual salary - £72,500 -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

GPEN falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 27,184 27,860 32,185
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 48.68% 26.87% 33.60%
Number of salaries quoted 11,043 17,264 14,482
10th Percentile £31,750 £28,500 £32,000
25th Percentile £43,364 £38,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £53,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.80% -10.83% +9.09%
75th Percentile £68,750 £71,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £87,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% +5.00%

GPEN
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing GPEN as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for GPEN in the UK

GPEN
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing GPEN.

Salary trend for GPEN in the UK

GPEN
Top 2 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing GPEN within the UK over the 6 months to 31 May 2025. 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
UK excluding London +177 3 - - 3
Northern Ireland - 3 - - 1

GPEN
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Communications & Networking
1 3 (100.00%) Wireshark
Development Applications
1 3 (100.00%) AppScan
1 3 (100.00%) Burp Suite
1 3 (100.00%) Metasploit
General
1 3 (100.00%) Legal
Miscellaneous
1 3 (100.00%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 3 (100.00%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (100.00%) Computer Science
1 3 (100.00%) Ethical Hacking
1 3 (100.00%) Penetration Testing
1 3 (100.00%) Risk Management
1 3 (100.00%) Vulnerability Assessment
Qualifications
1 3 (100.00%) CISSP
1 3 (100.00%) Computer Science Degree
1 3 (100.00%) Degree
1 3 (100.00%) GIAC
1 3 (100.00%) GWAPT
1 3 (100.00%) OSCP
Systems Management
1 3 (100.00%) Nessus
Vendors
1 3 (100.00%) Trustwave