Penetration Testing Jobs

Penetration Testing
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies requiring Penetration Testing skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the annual salaries offered in vacancies that cited Penetration Testing over the 6 months leading up to 28 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 489 468 479
Rank change year-on-year -21 +11 +91
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 234 512 602
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.43% 0.50% 0.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.46% 0.59% 0.64%
Number of salaries quoted 177 403 410
10th Percentile £42,200 £38,797 £43,723
25th Percentile £57,500 £47,500 £50,042
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £65,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% - +2.87%
75th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £89,688
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £103,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £67,500 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +17.39% +4.55% -8.33%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Penetration Testing 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 51,242 86,144 93,565
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 93.71% 84.33% 95.55%
Number of salaries quoted 25,211 60,433 55,406
10th Percentile £29,000 £29,250 £34,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £61,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -9.84% +1.67%
75th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £81,250
90th Percentile £97,500 £92,500 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,645 £50,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.29% -9.09% +4.76%

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for Penetration Testing in the UK

Penetration Testing
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Penetration Testing.

Salary trend for Penetration Testing in the UK

Penetration Testing
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Penetration Testing over the 6 months to 28 May 2025.

Salary histogram for Penetration Testing in the UK

Penetration Testing
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Penetration Testing within the UK over the 6 months to 28 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
England -33 218 £67,500 +3.85% 1,746
UK excluding London +95 131 £67,500 +17.39% 1,742
London +8 93 £72,500 +1.75% 190
Work from Home -4 73 £76,000 +26.67% 839
South East +63 38 £70,000 +60.00% 420
North of England +27 36 £61,000 +1.67% 381
Midlands +40 33 £67,500 +22.73% 336
West Midlands +64 30 £67,500 +22.73% 184
North West -16 21 £61,000 +1.67% 179
Yorkshire +61 11 £55,000 +24.29% 158
Scotland +121 7 £70,000 +16.67% 74
South West +77 7 £67,500 +5.88% 243
Northern Ireland - 6 £76,092 - 42
North East - 4 £72,692 - 44
East Midlands +19 3 £40,000 -38.46% 131
Wales +46 2 £75,574 -16.03% 51
East of England +38 2 - - 261

Penetration Testing
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:

Application Platforms
1 2 (0.85%) TPMS
2 1 (0.43%) Apache
2 1 (0.43%) Confluence
2 1 (0.43%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (0.43%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.43%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.43%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 49 (20.94%) Azure
2 29 (12.39%) AWS
3 28 (11.97%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (5.56%) Entra ID
5 9 (3.85%) GCP
5 9 (3.85%) PaaS
6 8 (3.42%) Azure Sentinel
7 7 (2.99%) SaaS
8 6 (2.56%) Google Workspace
9 5 (2.14%) IaaS
10 3 (1.28%) AWS KMS
10 3 (1.28%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (1.28%) Power Platform
10 3 (1.28%) Serverless
11 2 (0.85%) AWS CloudTrail
11 2 (0.85%) Azure AKS
11 2 (0.85%) Azure Data Factory
11 2 (0.85%) Azure DevOps
11 2 (0.85%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (0.85%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 43 (18.38%) Firewall
2 38 (16.24%) Network Security
3 20 (8.55%) Wi-Fi
4 14 (5.98%) Bluetooth
5 12 (5.13%) 5G
6 11 (4.70%) LTE
7 10 (4.27%) TCP/IP
8 9 (3.85%) HTTP
8 9 (3.85%) VLAN
8 9 (3.85%) VPN
8 9 (3.85%) Wireless
8 9 (3.85%) Wireshark
9 8 (3.42%) BGP
9 8 (3.42%) DNS
9 8 (3.42%) OSPF
10 7 (2.99%) Spanning Tree
10 7 (2.99%) SSL
11 5 (2.14%) HTTPS
11 5 (2.14%) WAN
12 4 (1.71%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.28%) Power BI
2 1 (0.43%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.43%) Elasticsearch
2 1 (0.43%) MySQL
2 1 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 20 (8.55%) JIRA
2 19 (8.12%) Selenium
3 12 (5.13%) Burp Suite
3 12 (5.13%) Metasploit
4 3 (1.28%) AppScan
5 2 (0.85%) GitLab
5 2 (0.85%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.85%) Postman
5 2 (0.85%) REST Assured
5 2 (0.85%) SoapUI
6 1 (0.43%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.43%) Git
6 1 (0.43%) JMeter
6 1 (0.43%) JUnit
6 1 (0.43%) LoadRunner
6 1 (0.43%) TestRail
General
1 85 (36.32%) Social Skills
2 38 (16.24%) Finance
3 31 (13.25%) Analytical Skills
4 29 (12.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 18 (7.69%) Legal
6 13 (5.56%) Electronics
7 10 (4.27%) Law
8 8 (3.42%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (3.42%) Mandarin Language
9 6 (2.56%) Telecoms
10 5 (2.14%) Banking
10 5 (2.14%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.71%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.71%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.28%) Automotive
12 3 (1.28%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.85%) Games
13 2 (0.85%) Public Sector
14 1 (0.43%) Documentation Skills
14 1 (0.43%) Retail
Job Titles
1 62 (26.50%) Lead
2 29 (12.39%) Security Engineer
3 28 (11.97%) Analyst
3 28 (11.97%) Senior
4 22 (9.40%) Architect
4 22 (9.40%) Security Architect
5 21 (8.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 21 (8.97%) Security Analyst
6 20 (8.55%) Tester
7 18 (7.69%) Automation Engineer
7 18 (7.69%) Penetration Tester
7 18 (7.69%) Validation Engineer
8 15 (6.41%) Security Specialist
9 13 (5.56%) Security Manager
10 11 (4.70%) Cybersecurity Specialist
10 11 (4.70%) Lead Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (3.42%) IT Analyst
11 8 (3.42%) Lead Architect
11 8 (3.42%) Lead Security Architect
11 8 (3.42%) Principal Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.85%) Azure Blueprints
1 2 (0.85%) EDI
1 2 (0.85%) PyTorch
1 2 (0.85%) REST
1 2 (0.85%) scikit-learn
1 2 (0.85%) TensorFlow
2 1 (0.43%) AngularJS
2 1 (0.43%) Elastic Stack
2 1 (0.43%) JWT
2 1 (0.43%) LAMP
2 1 (0.43%) Loki
2 1 (0.43%) Node.js
2 1 (0.43%) OAuth
2 1 (0.43%) OAuth2
2 1 (0.43%) pytest
2 1 (0.43%) SAML
2 1 (0.43%) Web Services
2 1 (0.43%) XML
2 1 (0.43%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 34 (14.53%) Security Posture
2 32 (13.68%) Management Information System
3 21 (8.97%) Operational Technology
4 19 (8.12%) SCADA
5 15 (6.41%) IoT
6 13 (5.56%) Cyber Threat
7 12 (5.13%) Mobile App
8 11 (4.70%) NB-IoT
9 10 (4.27%) Data Centre
9 10 (4.27%) Security Operations Centre
10 6 (2.56%) Onboarding
10 6 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (2.14%) Cloud Native
11 5 (2.14%) Cyber Security Posture
11 5 (2.14%) Public Cloud
12 4 (1.71%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.71%) Embedded Systems
12 4 (1.71%) Virtual Team
13 3 (1.28%) Algorithms
13 3 (1.28%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 32 (13.68%) Windows
2 24 (10.26%) Linux
3 20 (8.55%) Windows Server
4 7 (2.99%) CentOS
5 6 (2.56%) Ubuntu
6 5 (2.14%) Android
6 5 (2.14%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.71%) Kali Linux
8 3 (1.28%) Windows 10
9 2 (0.85%) VMS
9 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.43%) AIX
10 1 (0.43%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.43%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 146 (62.39%) Cybersecurity
2 74 (31.62%) Information Security
3 69 (29.49%) Incident Response
4 64 (27.35%) Vulnerability Management
5 46 (19.66%) Mentoring
5 46 (19.66%) Security Testing
5 46 (19.66%) SIEM
6 43 (18.38%) Computer Science
7 42 (17.95%) Risk Management
7 42 (17.95%) Vulnerability Assessment
8 37 (15.81%) Test Automation
9 32 (13.68%) Security Architecture
10 30 (12.82%) Cloud Security
11 29 (12.39%) Problem-Solving
12 28 (11.97%) Application Security
12 28 (11.97%) Red Team
13 27 (11.54%) Vulnerability Scanning
14 26 (11.11%) Security Management
15 25 (10.68%) Risk Assessment
16 24 (10.26%) Information Security Management
Programming Languages
1 30 (12.82%) Python
2 28 (11.97%) PowerShell
3 21 (8.97%) Bash
4 7 (2.99%) Java
5 5 (2.14%) C
5 5 (2.14%) C++
6 4 (1.71%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.71%) Kotlin
6 4 (1.71%) Objective-C
6 4 (1.71%) SQL
7 3 (1.28%) C#
7 3 (1.28%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.85%) Go
8 2 (0.85%) Perl
8 2 (0.85%) Ruby
9 1 (0.43%) AWK
9 1 (0.43%) Korn
9 1 (0.43%) PHP
Qualifications
1 69 (29.49%) Degree
2 41 (17.52%) CISSP
3 36 (15.38%) Security Cleared
4 35 (14.96%) SC Cleared
5 26 (11.11%) CREST Certified
6 22 (9.40%) CISM
7 20 (8.55%) ISTQB
7 20 (8.55%) OSCP
8 18 (7.69%) CEH
8 18 (7.69%) CompTIA Security+
9 17 (7.26%) Network+ Certification
10 12 (5.13%) Cisco Certification
11 9 (3.85%) CCNA
11 9 (3.85%) CCNP
11 9 (3.85%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (3.42%) CCSAS
12 8 (3.42%) Master's Degree
12 8 (3.42%) Microsoft Certification
13 7 (2.99%) GIAC
13 7 (2.99%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (26.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 54 (23.08%) NIST
3 19 (8.12%) GDPR
3 19 (8.12%) NCSC
4 14 (5.98%) Cyber Essentials
5 13 (5.56%) PCI DSS
6 11 (4.70%) QA
7 7 (2.99%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 6 (2.56%) Accessibility
8 6 (2.56%) GRC
9 5 (2.14%) NIST 800
10 4 (1.71%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (1.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (1.71%) SLA
10 4 (1.71%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 2 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (0.85%) JTAG
12 1 (0.43%) COBIT
12 1 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 28 (11.97%) Active Directory
2 19 (8.12%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (4.70%) vSphere
4 3 (1.28%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.85%) Docker
5 2 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.43%) Firmware
6 1 (0.43%) KVM
6 1 (0.43%) Postfix
6 1 (0.43%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 18 (7.69%) Terraform
2 14 (5.98%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (4.70%) Ansible
3 11 (4.70%) Puppet
3 11 (4.70%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (4.27%) Nessus
5 9 (3.85%) Kubernetes
6 6 (2.56%) Jamf Pro
7 3 (1.28%) Nmap
7 3 (1.28%) QRadar
8 2 (0.85%) CASB
8 2 (0.85%) Grafana
8 2 (0.85%) Istio
8 2 (0.85%) linkerd
9 1 (0.43%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.43%) Argo
9 1 (0.43%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.43%) Kibana
9 1 (0.43%) OpenVAS
9 1 (0.43%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 69 (29.49%) Microsoft
2 24 (10.26%) Cisco
3 20 (8.55%) VMware
4 12 (5.13%) Google
5 10 (4.27%) Palo Alto
6 7 (2.99%) Juniper
6 7 (2.99%) Red Hat
7 6 (2.56%) Meraki
8 3 (1.28%) Trustwave
9 2 (0.85%) Checkmarx
9 2 (0.85%) Dell
9 2 (0.85%) EMC
9 2 (0.85%) F5
9 2 (0.85%) Fortinet
9 2 (0.85%) LogRhythm
9 2 (0.85%) Oracle
9 2 (0.85%) Qualys
9 2 (0.85%) SonicWALL
9 2 (0.85%) Splunk
9 2 (0.85%) Tenable