Security Engineer Job Trends

Security Engineer
UK

The median Security Engineer salary in the UK is £60,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 11 March 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 281 295 366
Rank change year-on-year +14 +71 -5
Permanent jobs requiring a Security Engineer 489 458 619
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.67% 1.04% 0.74%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.73% 1.15% 0.78%
Number of salaries quoted 388 345 517
10th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £35,000
25th Percentile £45,000 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,250 £92,500 £90,400
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -11.80%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 66,980 39,779 79,178
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.76% 90.72% 94.60%
Number of salaries quoted 42,499 22,997 60,965
10th Percentile £30,000 £32,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £43,750 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -4.76%

Security Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Security Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Security Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Security Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Security Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Security Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Engineer over the 6 months to 11 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Engineer in the UK

Security Engineer
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 11 March 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 -6 455 £60,000 +9.09% 279
UK excluding London -17 299 £50,000 -4.76% 240
London +29 177 £80,000 -3.03% 90
Work from Home -10 120 £70,000 +24.44% 72
South West +40 89 £60,000 +17.51% 27
North of England -28 73 £45,000 - 54
South East -57 61 £51,250 -6.82% 76
North West +13 48 £45,000 -12.76% 35
Midlands -43 27 £50,000 -2.44% 26
West Midlands -27 24 £50,000 -2.44% 15
Yorkshire -47 23 £47,500 +5.56% 16
Scotland -5 22 £87,500 +9.38% 19
East of England +5 20 £70,000 +55.56% 32
Wales -9 4 £40,000 -24.70% 4
Northern Ireland -22 4 £30,000 -50.00% 4
East Midlands -39 3 - - 11
North East -26 2 £47,500 +11.76% 3

Security Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 11 March 2026, Security Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Security Engineer in the job title.

1 162 (33.13%) Azure
2 146 (29.86%) Cybersecurity
3 116 (23.72%) Cloud Security
4 108 (22.09%) Microsoft
5 96 (19.63%) Incident Response
6 94 (19.22%) Python
7 92 (18.81%) AWS
8 86 (17.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 83 (16.97%) Information Security
10 82 (16.77%) CISSP
10 82 (16.77%) NIST
11 81 (16.56%) PowerShell
12 80 (16.36%) SIEM
13 70 (14.31%) Firewall
14 69 (14.11%) Microsoft 365
15 62 (12.68%) Degree
15 62 (12.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 61 (12.47%) Network Security
17 60 (12.27%) Application Security
17 60 (12.27%) Security Operations
18 59 (12.07%) Security Architecture
19 58 (11.86%) Terraform
20 57 (11.66%) Bash
20 57 (11.66%) Security Testing
21 55 (11.25%) CI/CD
21 55 (11.25%) Security Cleared
22 54 (11.04%) Continuous Improvement
23 53 (10.84%) Infrastructure as Code
23 53 (10.84%) Vulnerability Management
24 48 (9.82%) Threat Modelling

Security Engineer Skill Set
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 5 (1.02%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.41%) Apache Pulsar
2 2 (0.41%) Palantir Foundry
3 1 (0.20%) Apache
3 1 (0.20%) Confluence
3 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.20%) nginx
Applications
1 3 (0.61%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.20%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 162 (33.13%) Azure
2 92 (18.81%) AWS
3 69 (14.11%) Microsoft 365
4 44 (9.00%) GCP
5 36 (7.36%) Entra ID
6 31 (6.34%) GitHub
7 29 (5.93%) GitHub Actions
8 28 (5.73%) Azure Sentinel
9 27 (5.52%) SaaS
10 22 (4.50%) PaaS
11 20 (4.09%) AWS CloudFormation
12 14 (2.86%) IaaS
12 14 (2.86%) Mimecast
13 12 (2.45%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (2.25%) Azure Monitor
14 11 (2.25%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 9 (1.84%) Power Platform
16 6 (1.23%) Microsoft Purview
17 5 (1.02%) Azure AI
17 5 (1.02%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 70 (14.31%) Firewall
2 61 (12.47%) Network Security
3 29 (5.93%) VPN
4 14 (2.86%) TCP/IP
5 13 (2.66%) Intrusion Detection
6 9 (1.84%) WAN
7 8 (1.64%) DNS
7 8 (1.64%) LAN
8 6 (1.23%) HTTP
8 6 (1.23%) Modbus
8 6 (1.23%) VLAN
9 5 (1.02%) DMZ
10 4 (0.82%) Cisco ASA
10 4 (0.82%) Cisco ISE
10 4 (0.82%) Remote Desktop
11 3 (0.61%) Internet
11 3 (0.61%) IPv4
11 3 (0.61%) MPLS
11 3 (0.61%) Wireless
12 2 (0.41%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.04%) Tableau
2 7 (1.43%) Power BI
3 4 (0.82%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (0.61%) Redis
5 2 (0.41%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.20%) Apache Cassandra
6 1 (0.20%) MySQL
6 1 (0.20%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.20%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 22 (4.50%) Jenkins
2 17 (3.48%) GitLab
3 8 (1.64%) TeamCity
4 7 (1.43%) JIRA
5 3 (0.61%) Git
5 3 (0.61%) Snyk
General
1 83 (16.97%) Finance
2 68 (13.91%) Social Skills
3 34 (6.95%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (4.70%) Legal
4 23 (4.70%) Retail
5 16 (3.27%) Documentation Skills
5 16 (3.27%) Telecoms
6 14 (2.86%) Law
7 13 (2.66%) Public Sector
8 11 (2.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (2.25%) Manufacturing
9 10 (2.04%) Banking
10 7 (1.43%) Advertising
10 7 (1.43%) Automotive
10 7 (1.43%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (1.23%) Financial Institution
11 6 (1.23%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (1.02%) Fire and Rescue
13 4 (0.82%) Back Office
13 4 (0.82%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.25%) OAuth
2 10 (2.04%) REST
2 10 (2.04%) RESTful
2 10 (2.04%) YAML
3 8 (1.64%) OAuth2
3 8 (1.64%) React
4 7 (1.43%) Node.js
4 7 (1.43%) Spring Boot
5 6 (1.23%) Kafka
5 6 (1.23%) NestJS
6 5 (1.02%) ARM Templates
6 5 (1.02%) AWS CDK
7 4 (0.82%) Android NDK
7 4 (0.82%) WebSockets
8 3 (0.61%) JWT
8 3 (0.61%) OpenTelemetry
8 3 (0.61%) SAML
9 2 (0.41%) AngularJS
9 2 (0.41%) JSON
9 2 (0.41%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 62 (12.68%) Security Posture
2 45 (9.20%) CCTV
3 32 (6.54%) Management Information System
4 31 (6.34%) Cloud Native
5 27 (5.52%) Driving Licence
6 21 (4.29%) Hedge funds
7 18 (3.68%) Cloud Security Posture
8 14 (2.86%) Onboarding
9 10 (2.04%) Security Operations Centre
10 9 (1.84%) Operational Technology
11 8 (1.64%) Self-Motivation
12 7 (1.43%) Cyber Threat
13 6 (1.23%) Cyber Security Posture
13 6 (1.23%) Distributed Systems
13 6 (1.23%) Hybrid Cloud
13 6 (1.23%) PKI
13 6 (1.23%) SCADA
14 5 (1.02%) Blog
15 4 (0.82%) Enterprise Software
15 4 (0.82%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 37 (7.57%) Windows
2 19 (3.89%) Linux
3 15 (3.07%) Mac OS
3 15 (3.07%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.25%) Unix
5 9 (1.84%) Android
6 2 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.20%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.20%) CentOS
7 1 (0.20%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 146 (29.86%) Cybersecurity
2 116 (23.72%) Cloud Security
3 96 (19.63%) Incident Response
4 83 (16.97%) Information Security
5 80 (16.36%) SIEM
6 62 (12.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 60 (12.27%) Application Security
7 60 (12.27%) Security Operations
8 59 (12.07%) Security Architecture
9 57 (11.66%) Security Testing
10 55 (11.25%) CI/CD
11 54 (11.04%) Continuous Improvement
12 53 (10.84%) Infrastructure as Code
12 53 (10.84%) Vulnerability Management
13 48 (9.82%) Threat Modelling
14 44 (9.00%) AI
14 44 (9.00%) DevOps
15 41 (8.38%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 40 (8.18%) Penetration Testing
16 40 (8.18%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 94 (19.22%) Python
2 81 (16.56%) PowerShell
3 57 (11.66%) Bash
4 15 (3.07%) Go
5 12 (2.45%) C++
5 12 (2.45%) Java
5 12 (2.45%) SQL
6 11 (2.25%) Bicep
7 7 (1.43%) Kusto Query Language
8 6 (1.23%) JavaScript
9 5 (1.02%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.82%) Kotlin
11 2 (0.41%) C
12 1 (0.20%) C#
12 1 (0.20%) Groovy
12 1 (0.20%) Scala
12 1 (0.20%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 82 (16.77%) CISSP
2 62 (12.68%) Degree
3 55 (11.25%) Security Cleared
4 32 (6.54%) Computer Science Degree
5 27 (5.52%) SC Cleared
6 23 (4.70%) SANS
7 20 (4.09%) CREST Certified
8 17 (3.48%) CEH
8 17 (3.48%) CompTIA Security+
9 16 (3.27%) DV Cleared
10 13 (2.66%) Master's Degree
11 12 (2.45%) CISA
11 12 (2.45%) CompTIA CySA+
12 11 (2.25%) AWS Certification
12 11 (2.25%) CCSK
13 8 (1.64%) Azure Certification
13 8 (1.64%) Cisco Certification
13 8 (1.64%) CISM
14 5 (1.02%) CCNP
15 3 (0.61%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (17.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 82 (16.77%) NIST
3 29 (5.93%) Accessibility
4 28 (5.73%) Cyber Essentials
5 17 (3.48%) NCSC
6 16 (3.27%) GDPR
7 15 (3.07%) GRC
8 13 (2.66%) PCI DSS
9 12 (2.45%) SOC 2
10 10 (2.04%) Actionable Recommendations
11 9 (1.84%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 8 (1.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 8 (1.64%) QA
13 3 (0.61%) Def Stans
13 3 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 3 (0.61%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.41%) COBIT
14 2 (0.41%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.41%) JSP 440
15 1 (0.20%) HIPAA
System Software
1 30 (6.13%) Active Directory
2 8 (1.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (1.43%) Docker
4 4 (0.82%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.82%) vSphere
5 3 (0.61%) Firmware
5 3 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.61%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 58 (11.86%) Terraform
2 22 (4.50%) Microsoft Intune
3 19 (3.89%) Kubernetes
4 8 (1.64%) Cilium
4 8 (1.64%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (0.82%) Ansible
5 4 (0.82%) HP Fortify
5 4 (0.82%) Nessus
6 3 (0.61%) Grafana
6 3 (0.61%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.61%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.20%) CASB
7 1 (0.20%) Nagios
7 1 (0.20%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.20%) SCCM
7 1 (0.20%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 108 (22.09%) Microsoft
2 27 (5.52%) Palo Alto
3 26 (5.32%) Google
4 25 (5.11%) Tenable
5 20 (4.09%) Splunk
6 19 (3.89%) Cisco
6 19 (3.89%) Qualys
7 16 (3.27%) CrowdStrike
8 13 (2.66%) VMware
9 12 (2.45%) CheckPoint
10 11 (2.25%) iManage
11 8 (1.64%) CyberArk
11 8 (1.64%) LogRhythm
11 8 (1.64%) Meraki
11 8 (1.64%) Rapid7
12 7 (1.43%) ServiceNow
13 6 (1.23%) Fortinet
13 6 (1.23%) SolarWinds
13 6 (1.23%) Thales
14 5 (1.02%) Okta