Security Manager Job Trends

Security Manager
UK

The median Security Manager salary in the UK is £70,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 19 April 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 319 429 454
Rank change year-on-year +110 +25 +89
Permanent jobs requiring a Security Manager 492 220 473
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.53% 0.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 0.59% 0.53%
Number of salaries quoted 351 153 394
10th Percentile £50,000 £51,215 £50,000
25th Percentile £60,000 £57,670 £56,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £70,000 £68,500
Median % change year-on-year - +2.19% -5.52%
75th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £85,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £109,000 £98,667
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £64,627 £65,000
% change year-on-year +0.58% -0.57% -3.70%

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 80,529 37,301 89,502
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.65% 89.33% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 51,589 23,381 66,338
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £53,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +12.15% -10.83%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%

Security Manager
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Security Manager job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Manager
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for Security Manager job vacancies in the UK

Security Manager
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Manager over the 6 months to 19 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Manager in the UK

Security Manager
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 Manager within the UK over the 6 months to 19 April 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 +72 385 £70,000 +1.82% 98
UK excluding London +97 326 £65,000 +0.58% 73
Work from Home +39 135 £70,000 - 53
London +45 134 £70,000 -6.67% 39
South East 0 78 £65,000 -18.75% 14
North of England -18 77 £70,000 +13.82% 31
Midlands -14 44 £60,000 - 13
Northern Ireland - 44 £35,000 - 1
North West -6 40 £65,000 +8.33% 16
West Midlands -9 33 £60,000 - 5
South West -41 32 £70,000 +10.13% 6
Yorkshire -30 28 £75,000 +15.38% 11
Scotland -10 26 £65,000 -18.75% 4
Wales -18 13 £100,000 +14.29% 1
East of England -34 12 £70,000 -22.22% 4
East Midlands -46 11 £45,000 -25.00% 8
North East -24 9 £75,000 +7.14% 6

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

For the 6 months to 19 April 2026, Security Manager 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 Manager in the job title.

1 245 (49.80%) Cybersecurity
2 161 (32.72%) Information Security
3 141 (28.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 93 (18.90%) NIST
5 88 (17.89%) Cyber Essentials
6 85 (17.28%) Incident Response
7 78 (15.85%) Continuous Improvement
8 74 (15.04%) Risk Management
9 72 (14.63%) Security Operations
10 65 (13.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 65 (13.21%) GDPR
11 63 (12.80%) CISSP
12 59 (11.99%) Vulnerability Management
13 57 (11.59%) CISM
14 55 (11.18%) Project Management
15 47 (9.55%) Security Cleared
16 46 (9.35%) SIEM
17 45 (9.15%) SC Cleared
18 43 (8.74%) GRC
18 43 (8.74%) PRINCE2
19 41 (8.33%) Performance Metrics
20 40 (8.13%) Security Management
21 39 (7.93%) Business Development
21 39 (7.93%) CREST Certified
21 39 (7.93%) Logistics
22 38 (7.72%) Mentoring
23 37 (7.52%) Microsoft
24 35 (7.11%) Azure
24 35 (7.11%) Cloud Security
24 35 (7.11%) PCI DSS

Security Manager 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 6 (1.22%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.02%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.20%) CMS
Applications
1 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.20%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 35 (7.11%) Azure
2 21 (4.27%) Microsoft 365
3 20 (4.07%) AWS
4 12 (2.44%) SaaS
5 10 (2.03%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.22%) Azure Sentinel
7 4 (0.81%) GCP
7 4 (0.81%) IaaS
7 4 (0.81%) PaaS
8 3 (0.61%) Microsoft Purview
8 3 (0.61%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.41%) GitHub
9 2 (0.41%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (0.41%) Mimecast
9 2 (0.41%) Power Platform
9 2 (0.41%) Serverless
9 2 (0.41%) Stripe
10 1 (0.20%) Cloud Computing
10 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Copilot
10 1 (0.20%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 33 (6.71%) Firewall
2 24 (4.88%) Network Security
3 10 (2.03%) Wireless
4 7 (1.42%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (0.81%) LAN
5 4 (0.81%) VPN
5 4 (0.81%) WAN
6 1 (0.20%) BGP
6 1 (0.20%) Cisco ASA
6 1 (0.20%) Cisco Nexus
6 1 (0.20%) DHCP
6 1 (0.20%) DKIM
6 1 (0.20%) DMARC
6 1 (0.20%) DNS
6 1 (0.20%) IP Telephony
6 1 (0.20%) MPLS
6 1 (0.20%) OSPF
6 1 (0.20%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.20%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.41%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 1 (0.20%) JIRA
General
1 105 (21.34%) Social Skills
2 52 (10.57%) Organisational Skills
3 49 (9.96%) Finance
4 35 (7.11%) Public Sector
5 26 (5.28%) Analytical Skills
6 24 (4.88%) Legal
7 14 (2.85%) Influencing Skills
8 12 (2.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.42%) Aviation
9 7 (1.42%) Law
10 6 (1.22%) Local Government
11 5 (1.02%) Banking
11 5 (1.02%) Marketing
12 3 (0.61%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.41%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (0.41%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.41%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.41%) Retail
13 2 (0.41%) Social Housing
14 1 (0.20%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.41%) ModSecurity
2 1 (0.20%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 50 (10.16%) Security Posture
2 38 (7.72%) Management Information System
3 25 (5.08%) Cyber Threat
4 15 (3.05%) Cyber Defence
4 15 (3.05%) Security Operations Centre
5 9 (1.83%) Mobile App
6 8 (1.63%) Blog
7 7 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.02%) Cyber Security Posture
9 4 (0.81%) Cloud Native
9 4 (0.81%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (0.81%) Replication
10 3 (0.61%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (0.61%) PKI
11 2 (0.41%) CCTV
11 2 (0.41%) CMDB
11 2 (0.41%) Housing Association
11 2 (0.41%) NHS
11 2 (0.41%) Operational Technology
11 2 (0.41%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 3 (0.61%) Windows
1 3 (0.61%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 245 (49.80%) Cybersecurity
2 161 (32.72%) Information Security
3 85 (17.28%) Incident Response
4 78 (15.85%) Continuous Improvement
5 74 (15.04%) Risk Management
6 72 (14.63%) Security Operations
7 59 (11.99%) Vulnerability Management
8 55 (11.18%) Project Management
9 46 (9.35%) SIEM
10 43 (8.74%) PRINCE2
11 41 (8.33%) Performance Metrics
12 40 (8.13%) Security Management
13 39 (7.93%) Business Development
13 39 (7.93%) Logistics
14 38 (7.72%) Mentoring
15 35 (7.11%) Cloud Security
15 35 (7.11%) Problem-Solving
16 30 (6.10%) Coaching
17 28 (5.69%) Data Protection
17 28 (5.69%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 7 (1.42%) PowerShell
2 3 (0.61%) SQL
Qualifications
1 63 (12.80%) CISSP
2 57 (11.59%) CISM
3 47 (9.55%) Security Cleared
4 45 (9.15%) SC Cleared
5 39 (7.93%) CREST Certified
6 18 (3.66%) CRISC
6 18 (3.66%) Degree
7 16 (3.25%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
8 14 (2.85%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 10 (2.03%) Cisco Certification
9 10 (2.03%) DV Cleared
9 10 (2.03%) OSCP
10 9 (1.83%) CCSAM
10 9 (1.83%) CHECK Team Leader
10 9 (1.83%) CHECK Team Member
11 8 (1.63%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 7 (1.42%) CEH
12 7 (1.42%) GSEC
13 6 (1.22%) CCSP
13 6 (1.22%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 141 (28.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 93 (18.90%) NIST
3 88 (17.89%) Cyber Essentials
4 65 (13.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 65 (13.21%) GDPR
5 43 (8.74%) GRC
6 35 (7.11%) PCI DSS
7 32 (6.50%) SOC 2
8 28 (5.69%) NCSC
9 16 (3.25%) SOC 3
10 13 (2.64%) QA
11 9 (1.83%) Actionable Recommendations
11 9 (1.83%) JSP 440
12 7 (1.42%) Government Security Classifications
12 7 (1.42%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 6 (1.22%) COBIT
14 4 (0.81%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 3 (0.61%) NIST 800
16 2 (0.41%) ISAE 3402
16 2 (0.41%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 6 (1.22%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (0.41%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (0.81%) CASB
2 3 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.41%) CSIRT
3 2 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (0.41%) Terraform
4 1 (0.20%) Host Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 37 (7.52%) Microsoft
2 9 (1.83%) CrowdStrike
2 9 (1.83%) Google
3 5 (1.02%) Tenable
3 5 (1.02%) VMware
4 4 (0.81%) Salesforce
5 3 (0.61%) Varonis
6 2 (0.41%) Cisco
6 2 (0.41%) LogRhythm
6 2 (0.41%) Splunk
7 1 (0.20%) CheckPoint
7 1 (0.20%) HubSpot
7 1 (0.20%) Meraki
7 1 (0.20%) Palo Alto
7 1 (0.20%) SolarWinds
7 1 (0.20%) Xero