Offensive Security Job Trends

Offensive Security
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Offensive Security skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 601 660 690
Rank change year-on-year +59 +30 +226
Permanent jobs citing Offensive Security 52 39 31
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.087% 0.073% 0.056%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.11% 0.080% 0.062%
Number of salaries quoted 33 23 13
10th Percentile £48,165 £50,000 £55,250
25th Percentile £48,750 £56,188 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £77,500 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year -25.81% +10.71% -17.65%
75th Percentile £87,500 £88,125 £76,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £112,500 £86,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £58,250 £62,500 £62,500
% change year-on-year -6.80% - -7.41%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Offensive Security 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 48,596 48,532 50,084
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 81.00% 90.69% 89.94%
Number of salaries quoted 28,664 23,590 38,164
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £77,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £52,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +5.77% -5.45%

Offensive Security
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Offensive Security job vacancy trend in the UK

Offensive Security
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Offensive Security.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Offensive Security

Offensive Security
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Offensive Security over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Offensive Security in the UK

Offensive Security
Top 13 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Offensive Security within the UK over the 6 months to 14 January 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 +71 45 £52,500 -33.33% 62
Work from Home +84 28 £51,058 -7.17% 24
UK excluding London +80 25 £58,250 -6.80% 56
London +45 23 £50,000 -37.50% 17
Midlands +32 12 £51,058 -18.31% 8
East Midlands +2 10 £51,058 - 6
Yorkshire - 4 £58,250 - 6
Scotland - 4 £85,000 - 1
North of England - 4 £58,250 - 10
West Midlands +22 2 £72,500 +16.00% 1
East of England - 2 £83,750 - 6
South West - 2 £66,250 - 9
South East - 1 £100,000 - 20

Offensive Security
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 (1.92%) Confluence
Cloud Services
1 10 (19.23%) AWS
1 10 (19.23%) Azure
2 2 (3.85%) Dynamics 365
2 2 (3.85%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (3.85%) SaaS
3 1 (1.92%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 9 (17.31%) Wireless
2 3 (5.77%) Wireshark
3 1 (1.92%) Firewall
3 1 (1.92%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.92%) MySQL
1 1 (1.92%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 12 (23.08%) Burp Suite
1 12 (23.08%) Metasploit
2 1 (1.92%) JIRA
General
1 18 (34.62%) Finance
2 10 (19.23%) Social Skills
3 9 (17.31%) Retail
4 5 (9.62%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (3.85%) Banking
5 2 (3.85%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.92%) Investment Banking
6 1 (1.92%) Manufacturing
6 1 (1.92%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 13 (25.00%) Senior
2 9 (17.31%) Security Specialist
2 9 (17.31%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
3 7 (13.46%) Tester
4 6 (11.54%) Security Tester
5 5 (9.62%) Analyst
5 5 (9.62%) Consultant
5 5 (9.62%) Digital Analyst
5 5 (9.62%) Security Analyst
5 5 (9.62%) Security Consultant
6 4 (7.69%) Lead
6 4 (7.69%) Security Manager
7 3 (5.77%) Security Engineer
7 3 (5.77%) Security Researcher
7 3 (5.77%) Senior Analyst
7 3 (5.77%) Senior Digital Analyst
7 3 (5.77%) Senior Security Analyst
7 3 (5.77%) Threat Hunter
8 2 (3.85%) Applications Engineer
8 2 (3.85%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.92%) GraphQL
1 1 (1.92%) NestJS
1 1 (1.92%) Next.js
1 1 (1.92%) React
1 1 (1.92%) REST
1 1 (1.92%) Sequelize
Miscellaneous
1 20 (38.46%) Security Posture
2 9 (17.31%) Mobile App
3 8 (15.38%) Cyber Defence
4 7 (13.46%) Insider Threat
5 6 (11.54%) Greenfield Project
6 3 (5.77%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 3 (5.77%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (5.77%) SCADA
7 2 (3.85%) Cyber Threat
7 2 (3.85%) Operational Technology
7 2 (3.85%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (1.92%) Cloud Native
8 1 (1.92%) Cyberattack
8 1 (1.92%) Management Information System
8 1 (1.92%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 8 (15.38%) Linux
1 8 (15.38%) Windows
2 4 (7.69%) Mac OS
3 2 (3.85%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (59.62%) Red Team
2 27 (51.92%) Cybersecurity
3 23 (44.23%) Penetration Testing
4 21 (40.38%) Problem-Solving
5 18 (34.62%) Threat Intelligence
6 16 (30.77%) Ethical Hacking
7 15 (28.85%) Agile
7 15 (28.85%) Mentoring
8 14 (26.92%) Business Strategy
9 12 (23.08%) Application Security
9 12 (23.08%) Business Transformation
9 12 (23.08%) Coaching
9 12 (23.08%) Creative Thinking
9 12 (23.08%) Information Security
9 12 (23.08%) Internal Audit
10 11 (21.15%) Purple Team
11 9 (17.31%) API Testing
11 9 (17.31%) Collaborative Culture
11 9 (17.31%) Incident Response
12 7 (13.46%) Actionable Insight
Programming Languages
1 10 (19.23%) Python
2 9 (17.31%) PowerShell
3 7 (13.46%) Bash
4 3 (5.77%) Java
5 1 (1.92%) C
5 1 (1.92%) C++
5 1 (1.92%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 22 (42.31%) OSCP
2 19 (36.54%) CREST Certified
3 15 (28.85%) CEH
4 11 (21.15%) Degree
5 10 (19.23%) GIAC
6 9 (17.31%) CCSAM
6 9 (17.31%) CHECK Team Leader
6 9 (17.31%) CHECK Team Member
6 9 (17.31%) CISSP
7 8 (15.38%) SC Cleared
7 8 (15.38%) Security Cleared
8 7 (13.46%) CCNA
8 7 (13.46%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (13.46%) CISMP
8 7 (13.46%) CompTIA Security+
8 7 (13.46%) GPEN
8 7 (13.46%) MCP
8 7 (13.46%) MCSE
8 7 (13.46%) Microsoft Certification
9 3 (5.77%) GREM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (13.46%) Actionable Recommendations
2 6 (11.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (11.54%) NIST
3 5 (9.62%) PCI DSS
4 4 (7.69%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (3.85%) GRC
5 2 (3.85%) QA
5 2 (3.85%) SOC 2
6 1 (1.92%) NIST 800
System Software
1 2 (3.85%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 7 (13.46%) Nmap
2 6 (11.54%) Nessus
3 3 (5.77%) Computer Incident Response Team
3 3 (5.77%) QRadar
4 2 (3.85%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (1.92%) Argo
5 1 (1.92%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 10 (19.23%) Microsoft
2 7 (13.46%) Cisco
3 3 (5.77%) CrowdStrike
3 3 (5.77%) Splunk