Incident Response Job Trends

Incident Response
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Incident Response skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 202 204 293
Rank change year-on-year +2 +89 +152
Permanent jobs citing Incident Response 722 859 542
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.28% 1.38% 1.07%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.52% 1.59% 1.15%
Number of salaries quoted 527 477 440
10th Percentile £43,000 £42,500 £42,500
25th Percentile £52,000 £53,750 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% +4.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £83,750 £78,750 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £96,750 £87,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £60,000

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Incident Response falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 47,424 53,892 47,309
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 84.09% 86.75% 93.74%
Number of salaries quoted 28,060 28,022 36,472
10th Percentile £28,250 £35,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -0.83%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,750 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% -1.87%

Incident Response
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Incident Response relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Incident Response job vacancy trend in the UK

Incident Response
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Incident Response.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Incident Response

Incident Response
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Incident Response over the 6 months to 9 December 2025.

Salary histogram for Incident Response in the UK

Incident Response
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Incident Response within the UK over the 6 months to 9 December 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
England +7 655 £67,500 +3.85% 485
London +52 366 £75,000 +7.14% 129
UK excluding London -12 303 £60,000 - 438
Work from Home +104 270 £70,000 +7.69% 297
South East +30 81 £59,000 -5.60% 128
North of England -27 75 £65,000 +8.33% 101
Midlands +39 72 £55,000 -4.35% 61
West Midlands +39 57 £55,000 -8.33% 41
North West +32 39 £62,500 +4.17% 67
Yorkshire -53 30 £60,000 -0.83% 28
Scotland -26 22 £70,000 +12.90% 25
South West +1 21 £65,000 +13.04% 65
East of England -4 21 £60,000 -2.44% 48
East Midlands +13 15 £55,000 +22.22% 19
Wales +11 11 £65,000 -25.71% 21
North East +4 8 £65,000 +47.73% 7
Northern Ireland -2 3 £40,327 -60.66% 1

Incident Response
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 25 (3.46%) SharePoint
2 17 (2.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.69%) Confluence
4 4 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.42%) nginx
6 2 (0.28%) OpenStack
Applications
1 18 (2.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (2.35%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.28%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.14%) Weka
Business Applications
1 2 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.14%) Elite 3E
2 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 270 (37.40%) Azure
2 161 (22.30%) AWS
3 83 (11.50%) Microsoft 365
4 75 (10.39%) GCP
5 57 (7.89%) Entra ID
6 55 (7.62%) GitHub
7 53 (7.34%) SaaS
8 47 (6.51%) GitHub Actions
9 46 (6.37%) Azure DevOps
10 44 (6.09%) Azure Monitor
11 42 (5.82%) Azure Sentinel
12 24 (3.32%) AWS CloudFormation
13 20 (2.77%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 20 (2.77%) Azure Logic Apps
13 20 (2.77%) Microsoft Purview
14 19 (2.63%) Azure AKS
15 17 (2.35%) Datadog
16 16 (2.22%) Power Platform
17 13 (1.80%) Serverless
18 12 (1.66%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 155 (21.47%) Firewall
2 93 (12.88%) Network Security
3 76 (10.53%) VPN
4 35 (4.85%) Intrusion Detection
5 33 (4.57%) TCP/IP
6 25 (3.46%) DNS
6 25 (3.46%) WAN
7 20 (2.77%) Wireless
8 19 (2.63%) Wireshark
9 14 (1.94%) BGP
10 13 (1.80%) VLAN
11 11 (1.52%) LAN
11 11 (1.52%) OSPF
11 11 (1.52%) SD-WAN
12 9 (1.25%) DHCP
13 7 (0.97%) SSL
13 7 (0.97%) Wi-Fi
14 6 (0.83%) CHAP
14 6 (0.83%) Internet
14 6 (0.83%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.52%) Power BI
1 11 (1.52%) Tableau
2 7 (0.97%) Azure SQL Database
2 7 (0.97%) SQL Server
3 5 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
3 5 (0.69%) NoSQL
4 4 (0.55%) MySQL
5 3 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
5 3 (0.42%) Metadata
5 3 (0.42%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.42%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.28%) Big Data
6 2 (0.28%) BigQuery
6 2 (0.28%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.28%) Looker
6 2 (0.28%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.14%) DTS
7 1 (0.14%) DynamoDB
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 31 (4.29%) GitLab
2 25 (3.46%) Jenkins
3 15 (2.08%) JIRA
4 12 (1.66%) Git
5 4 (0.55%) Burp Suite
5 4 (0.55%) TeamCity
6 3 (0.42%) CircleCI
6 3 (0.42%) Metasploit
6 3 (0.42%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.28%) Jaeger
7 2 (0.28%) MLflow
8 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
General
1 293 (40.58%) Social Skills
2 180 (24.93%) Finance
3 139 (19.25%) Analytical Skills
4 51 (7.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 46 (6.37%) Banking
6 43 (5.96%) Legal
7 35 (4.85%) Public Sector
8 32 (4.43%) Law
9 29 (4.02%) Documentation Skills
10 27 (3.74%) Financial Institution
11 26 (3.60%) Manufacturing
12 25 (3.46%) Retail
13 22 (3.05%) Aviation
13 22 (3.05%) Fire and Rescue
13 22 (3.05%) Police
13 22 (3.05%) Telecoms
14 20 (2.77%) Marketing
15 14 (1.94%) Back Office
15 14 (1.94%) Electronics
16 10 (1.39%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 125 (17.31%) Analyst
2 99 (13.71%) Security Analyst
3 87 (12.05%) Security Engineer
4 77 (10.66%) Lead
5 74 (10.25%) Senior
6 48 (6.65%) Operations Manager
7 44 (6.09%) Security Manager
8 40 (5.54%) IT Manager
9 37 (5.12%) Cybersecurity Engineer
10 34 (4.71%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 30 (4.16%) Service Manager
12 28 (3.88%) Cloud Engineer
13 24 (3.32%) DevOps Engineer
14 23 (3.19%) Consultant
14 23 (3.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 23 (3.19%) IT Support
14 23 (3.19%) Platform Engineer
15 22 (3.05%) Service Operations Manager
16 21 (2.91%) Security Specialist
16 21 (2.91%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.05%) OAuth
2 14 (1.94%) JSON
2 14 (1.94%) RESTful
3 12 (1.66%) Elastic Stack
3 12 (1.66%) OAuth2
4 9 (1.25%) SAML
5 6 (0.83%) ARM Templates
5 6 (0.83%) EDI
6 5 (0.69%) REST
7 4 (0.55%) ADO
7 4 (0.55%) CSS
7 4 (0.55%) HTML
7 4 (0.55%) XML
7 4 (0.55%) YAML
8 3 (0.42%) SOAP
9 2 (0.28%) CakePHP
9 2 (0.28%) Django
9 2 (0.28%) Kafka
9 2 (0.28%) Laravel
9 2 (0.28%) WebRTC
Miscellaneous
1 97 (13.43%) Security Posture
2 76 (10.53%) Cyber Threat
3 71 (9.83%) Management Information System
4 56 (7.76%) Security Operations Centre
5 44 (6.09%) Cloud Native
6 24 (3.32%) Robotics
7 22 (3.05%) Operational Technology
8 21 (2.91%) Cyber Defence
9 20 (2.77%) Cyberattack
9 20 (2.77%) Hybrid Cloud
9 20 (2.77%) Virtual Team
10 18 (2.49%) Data Centre
11 16 (2.22%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 14 (1.94%) Onboarding
13 13 (1.80%) CMDB
14 11 (1.52%) Driving Licence
14 11 (1.52%) Enterprise Software
14 11 (1.52%) SCADA
15 10 (1.39%) Cyber Security Posture
15 10 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 120 (16.62%) Windows
2 112 (15.51%) Linux
3 32 (4.43%) Windows Server
4 24 (3.32%) Unix
5 15 (2.08%) VMS
6 14 (1.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (1.66%) Mac OS
8 7 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.69%) Kali Linux
9 5 (0.69%) Windows 10
10 2 (0.28%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.14%) Android
11 1 (0.14%) Check Point GAiA
Processes & Methodologies
1 329 (45.57%) Cybersecurity
2 227 (31.44%) SIEM
3 186 (25.76%) Information Security
4 184 (25.48%) Problem-Solving
5 180 (24.93%) Security Operations
6 171 (23.68%) Continuous Improvement
7 163 (22.58%) DevOps
8 127 (17.59%) Root Cause Analysis
9 118 (16.34%) Cloud Security
10 117 (16.20%) CI/CD
10 117 (16.20%) Vulnerability Management
11 115 (15.93%) Incident Management
12 111 (15.37%) ITIL
13 110 (15.24%) Infrastructure as Code
14 103 (14.27%) Risk Management
15 99 (13.71%) Threat Intelligence
16 91 (12.60%) Observability
17 85 (11.77%) Agile
18 84 (11.63%) Business Continuity
19 77 (10.66%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 117 (16.20%) Python
2 86 (11.91%) PowerShell
3 58 (8.03%) Bash
4 48 (6.65%) SQL
5 35 (4.85%) Bicep
6 27 (3.74%) Kusto Query Language
7 8 (1.11%) Go
8 7 (0.97%) Java
8 7 (0.97%) R
9 4 (0.55%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.55%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.42%) Groovy
10 3 (0.42%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.28%) C#
11 2 (0.28%) Perl
11 2 (0.28%) PHP
12 1 (0.14%) Scala
12 1 (0.14%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 170 (23.55%) CISSP
2 129 (17.87%) Degree
3 93 (12.88%) CISM
4 87 (12.05%) Security Cleared
5 68 (9.42%) SC Cleared
6 56 (7.76%) CompTIA Security+
7 42 (5.82%) CEH
8 41 (5.68%) CISA
9 34 (4.71%) Azure Certification
9 34 (4.71%) Computer Science Degree
10 30 (4.16%) AWS Certification
11 26 (3.60%) GCIH
12 23 (3.19%) DV Cleared
13 21 (2.91%) GIAC
14 20 (2.77%) GCIA
15 19 (2.63%) CompTIA CySA+
16 18 (2.49%) OSCP
17 17 (2.35%) Cisco Certification
18 16 (2.22%) Microsoft Certification
19 15 (2.08%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 196 (27.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 169 (23.41%) NIST
3 143 (19.81%) GDPR
4 84 (11.63%) Cyber Essentials
5 54 (7.48%) QA
6 46 (6.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 38 (5.26%) PCI DSS
8 29 (4.02%) GRC
9 27 (3.74%) SOC 2
10 20 (2.77%) NCSC
10 20 (2.77%) SLA
11 12 (1.66%) COBIT
12 10 (1.39%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 10 (1.39%) NIST 800
13 9 (1.25%) Actionable Recommendations
14 8 (1.11%) ISAE 3402
15 7 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 6 (0.83%) HIPAA
17 4 (0.55%) Accessibility
17 4 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 55 (7.62%) Active Directory
2 45 (6.23%) Docker
3 27 (3.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.52%) Virtual Machines
5 6 (0.83%) NFS
6 4 (0.55%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.42%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 3 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.42%) vSphere
8 2 (0.28%) pfSense
8 2 (0.28%) Squid
9 1 (0.14%) Firmware
9 1 (0.14%) KVM
9 1 (0.14%) QEMU
9 1 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.14%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 110 (15.24%) Terraform
2 81 (11.22%) Kubernetes
3 60 (8.31%) Ansible
4 43 (5.96%) Grafana
5 31 (4.29%) Prometheus
6 28 (3.88%) Microsoft Intune
7 21 (2.91%) Single Sign-On
8 17 (2.35%) QRadar
9 11 (1.52%) Nessus
10 10 (1.39%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 10 (1.39%) CSIRT
11 6 (0.83%) CASB
11 6 (0.83%) SCCM
12 5 (0.69%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 4 (0.55%) Argo
13 4 (0.55%) Cilium
13 4 (0.55%) FortiGate
13 4 (0.55%) logstash
13 4 (0.55%) Nmap
14 3 (0.42%) ArcSight ESM
Vendors
1 179 (24.79%) Microsoft
2 43 (5.96%) Splunk
3 38 (5.26%) VMware
4 33 (4.57%) Cisco
5 29 (4.02%) Palo Alto
6 19 (2.63%) ServiceNow
7 15 (2.08%) SAP
8 14 (1.94%) CrowdStrike
9 13 (1.80%) Oracle
9 13 (1.80%) Qualys
9 13 (1.80%) Tenable
10 12 (1.66%) Ab Initio
11 11 (1.52%) Fortinet
11 11 (1.52%) Google
12 10 (1.39%) Commvault
12 10 (1.39%) Zscaler
13 9 (1.25%) Aruba
13 9 (1.25%) F5
14 8 (1.11%) Rapid7
14 8 (1.11%) SolarWinds