GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for GSEC qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months to 27 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
27 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 859 921 1202
Rank change year-on-year +62 +281 -325
Permanent jobs citing GSEC 37 49 30
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.038% 0.047% 0.019%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.14% 0.14% 0.072%
Number of salaries quoted 29 39 21
10th Percentile £59,000 £39,294 £37,500
25th Percentile £66,250 £72,500 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £85,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -12.28% +62.86% -19.23%
75th Percentile £78,750 £94,125 £67,500
90th Percentile £83,400 £104,500 £70,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £65,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -30.77% +23.81% -30.00%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

GSEC is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 27,286 34,290 41,595
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 27.83% 32.76% 26.99%
Number of salaries quoted 17,237 15,306 18,961
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £31,000
25th Percentile £38,500 £41,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £58,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -6.90% +5.45% -
75th Percentile £71,000 £77,500 £73,750
90th Percentile £87,500 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £50,296 £50,000
% change year-on-year -0.59% +0.59% -

GSEC
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for GSEC in the UK

GSEC
Salary Trend

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

Salary trend for GSEC in the UK

GSEC
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing GSEC over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Salary histogram for GSEC in the UK

GSEC
Top 10 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing GSEC within the UK over the 6 months to 27 April 2024. 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 +104 36 £75,000 -12.28% 4
London +125 25 £75,000 -16.67% 2
Work from Home +86 19 £75,000 -12.28% 1
UK excluding London +13 11 £45,000 -30.77% 3
South West -1 6 £66,250 +5.28%
North of England +51 2 £37,500 -50.00% 1
South East - 2 £45,000 -
Northern Ireland +31 1 - - 1
North West +11 1 - - 1
North East - 1 £37,500 -

GSEC
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:

Cloud Services
1 16 (43.24%) Azure
2 7 (18.92%) Microsoft 365
3 5 (13.51%) AWS
4 4 (10.81%) Serverless
5 3 (8.11%) PaaS
5 3 (8.11%) SaaS
6 1 (2.70%) Dynamics 365
6 1 (2.70%) Entra ID
6 1 (2.70%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 19 (51.35%) Firewall
2 12 (32.43%) Intrusion Detection
3 2 (5.41%) Internet
3 2 (5.41%) Network Security
4 1 (2.70%) tcpdump
4 1 (2.70%) Wireshark
General
1 14 (37.84%) Legal
2 13 (35.14%) Law
3 12 (32.43%) Analytical Skills
3 12 (32.43%) Documentation Skills
4 6 (16.22%) Finance
5 5 (13.51%) Social Skills
6 4 (10.81%) Retail
7 3 (8.11%) Banking
8 1 (2.70%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 16 (43.24%) Lead
2 13 (35.14%) Analyst
3 10 (27.03%) Security Analyst
4 8 (21.62%) Senior
5 7 (18.92%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 6 (16.22%) Security Engineer
7 5 (13.51%) Senior Analyst
7 5 (13.51%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
7 5 (13.51%) Senior Security Analyst
8 4 (10.81%) Security Specialist
9 3 (8.11%) IT Engineer
9 3 (8.11%) IT Security Engineer
9 3 (8.11%) Senior Security Engineer
10 2 (5.41%) CISSP Analyst
10 2 (5.41%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 2 (5.41%) Security Assurance Manager
10 2 (5.41%) Security Manager
10 2 (5.41%) Security Operations Analyst
10 2 (5.41%) SIEM Analyst
10 2 (5.41%) SOC Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 19 (51.35%) Security Posture
2 13 (35.14%) Management Information System
3 4 (10.81%) Onboarding
4 1 (2.70%) CSOC
4 1 (2.70%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 9 (24.32%) Windows
2 6 (16.22%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (78.38%) Cybersecurity
2 17 (45.95%) Kalman Filter
2 17 (45.95%) Problem-Solving
2 17 (45.95%) Web Filtering
3 16 (43.24%) Information Security
4 12 (32.43%) Business Continuity
4 12 (32.43%) Data Privacy
4 12 (32.43%) Disaster Recovery
4 12 (32.43%) Security Architecture
5 11 (29.73%) Incident Response
6 10 (27.03%) Cloud Security
6 10 (27.03%) Security Operations
7 7 (18.92%) SIEM
7 7 (18.92%) Vulnerability Management
8 6 (16.22%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 6 (16.22%) Threat Intelligence
9 5 (13.51%) Mobile Device Management
9 5 (13.51%) Project Delivery
10 4 (10.81%) Static Application Security Testing
10 4 (10.81%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 3 (8.11%) PowerShell
1 3 (8.11%) Python
Qualifications
1 26 (70.27%) CISSP
2 23 (62.16%) GIAC
3 22 (59.46%) CEH
4 15 (40.54%) SSCP
5 9 (24.32%) CompTIA Security+
6 7 (18.92%) Cisco Certification
7 5 (13.51%) CISM
7 5 (13.51%) OSCP
8 4 (10.81%) AWS Certification
8 4 (10.81%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 4 (10.81%) CCSP
8 4 (10.81%) GCIA
8 4 (10.81%) GCIH
9 3 (8.11%) Azure Certification
9 3 (8.11%) CCNP
10 2 (5.41%) CRISC
10 2 (5.41%) GCFE
10 2 (5.41%) GISP
11 1 (2.70%) SC Cleared
11 1 (2.70%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (43.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (37.84%) GDPR
3 8 (21.62%) NIST
4 1 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (2.70%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 7 (18.92%) Active Directory
2 1 (2.70%) Snort
Systems Management
1 5 (13.51%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 2 (5.41%) Darktrace
1 2 (5.41%) Oracle
1 2 (5.41%) Splunk
2 1 (2.70%) CrowdStrike
2 1 (2.70%) iManage
2 1 (2.70%) Intel
2 1 (2.70%) Microsoft