Security Operations Centre Job Trends

Security Operations Centre
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Security Operations Centre in permanent job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered in vacancies that cited Security Operations Centre over the 6 months leading up to 15 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 553 571 648
Rank change year-on-year +18 +77 +44
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations Centre 183 98 252
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.20% 0.22% 0.23%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.78% 0.51% 0.69%
Number of salaries quoted 134 72 207
10th Percentile £35,375 £40,087 £30,950
25th Percentile £46,000 £46,250 £41,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £52,709 £56,500
Median % change year-on-year +23.32% -6.71% -2.59%
75th Percentile £72,500 £65,313 £71,714
90th Percentile £85,000 £76,025 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £51,058 £54,000
% change year-on-year +7.72% -5.45% +8.00%

All Generic Skills
UK

Security Operations Centre falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 23,565 19,131 36,489
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 25.29% 42.95% 33.81%
Number of salaries quoted 14,989 9,043 23,519
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,800 £28,202
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £38,527
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -15.38%
75th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £110,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,250 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -9.09%

Security Operations Centre
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Security Operations Centre job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Operations Centre
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Security Operations Centre.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Security Operations Centre

Security Operations Centre
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations Centre over the 6 months to 15 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Operations Centre in the UK

Security Operations Centre
Top 14 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Operations Centre within the UK over the 6 months to 15 June 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 -2 171 £65,000 +23.32% 49
UK excluding London -2 126 £55,000 +7.72% 38
South East +21 61 £54,000 +10.20% 19
London +2 48 £70,000 +17.85% 14
Work from Home +12 31 £55,000 +11.61% 13
Midlands 0 31 £57,500 +10.91% 2
East of England -23 18 £50,000 -19.35% 5
East Midlands -3 16 £50,000 -31.03%
West Midlands -10 15 £65,000 +30.00% 2
North of England -32 11 £55,000 - 5
North West -7 6 £55,000 - 2
Yorkshire - 5 £65,000 - 3
South West -66 4 £50,000 -2.07% 7
Scotland - 3 £63,419 -

Security Operations Centre
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:

Business Applications
1 1 (0.55%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 23 (12.57%) Azure
2 17 (9.29%) Azure Sentinel
3 13 (7.10%) Entra ID
4 10 (5.46%) Microsoft 365
5 7 (3.83%) AWS
6 5 (2.73%) Cloudflare
7 4 (2.19%) SaaS
7 4 (2.19%) Sumo Logic
8 2 (1.09%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (1.09%) GCP
8 2 (1.09%) Stripe
9 1 (0.55%) Azure Logic Apps
9 1 (0.55%) IaaS
9 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Purview
9 1 (0.55%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 17 (9.29%) Firewall
1 17 (9.29%) TCP/IP
2 16 (8.74%) Network Security
3 14 (7.65%) DNS
4 12 (6.56%) HTTP
5 10 (5.46%) SMTP
5 10 (5.46%) WAN
6 9 (4.92%) FTP
6 9 (4.92%) LAN
7 8 (4.37%) VPN
8 5 (2.73%) SSL
9 2 (1.09%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.09%) Elasticsearch
1 2 (1.09%) Relational Database
General
1 52 (28.42%) Social Skills
2 39 (21.31%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (10.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 16 (8.74%) Finance
5 8 (4.37%) Aerospace
6 7 (3.83%) Influencing Skills
6 7 (3.83%) Legal
7 6 (3.28%) Law
7 6 (3.28%) Police
7 6 (3.28%) Retail
8 5 (2.73%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.19%) Public Sector
10 3 (1.64%) Games
10 3 (1.64%) Social Housing
11 2 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.55%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 72 (39.34%) Analyst
2 44 (24.04%) Security Analyst
3 34 (18.58%) Cybersecurity Analyst
4 33 (18.03%) SOC Analyst
5 27 (14.75%) SOC Engineer
6 22 (12.02%) Lead
7 20 (10.93%) Senior
8 17 (9.29%) Security Manager
9 15 (8.20%) SOC Manager
10 13 (7.10%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 13 (7.10%) Security Engineer
11 12 (6.56%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 12 (6.56%) IT Analyst
12 11 (6.01%) Operational Security Manager
12 11 (6.01%) Security Operations Manager
13 10 (5.46%) IT Security Analyst
14 9 (4.92%) IT Manager
14 9 (4.92%) IT Security Manager
14 9 (4.92%) Senior Analyst
15 8 (4.37%) Operations Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.92%) LDAP
2 6 (3.28%) Regular Expression
3 1 (0.55%) EDI
3 1 (0.55%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 34 (18.58%) Cyber Defence
2 26 (14.21%) CSOC
3 23 (12.57%) Cyber Threat
4 21 (11.48%) Security Posture
5 12 (6.56%) Onboarding
6 11 (6.01%) Cyberattack
6 11 (6.01%) Management Information System
7 8 (4.37%) Client/Server
8 6 (3.28%) Low-Code
9 3 (1.64%) MISP
10 2 (1.09%) Insider Threat
10 2 (1.09%) Linux Command Line
10 2 (1.09%) Operational Technology
10 2 (1.09%) SCADA
11 1 (0.55%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.55%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 1 (0.55%) Data Centre
11 1 (0.55%) Hybrid Cloud
11 1 (0.55%) PKI
11 1 (0.55%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 33 (18.03%) Linux
2 32 (17.49%) Windows
3 6 (3.28%) Unix
4 1 (0.55%) CentOS
4 1 (0.55%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.55%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 183 (100.00%) Security Operations
2 152 (83.06%) Cybersecurity
3 94 (51.37%) SIEM
4 74 (40.44%) Incident Response
5 48 (26.23%) Threat Intelligence
6 42 (22.95%) Continuous Improvement
6 42 (22.95%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 40 (21.86%) Security Monitoring
8 36 (19.67%) Problem-Solving
8 36 (19.67%) Use Case
9 34 (18.58%) Cloud Security
9 34 (18.58%) Threat Detection
10 32 (17.49%) Mentoring
11 31 (16.94%) SOAR
12 30 (16.39%) MITRE ATT&CK
13 28 (15.30%) Vulnerability Management
14 20 (10.93%) Roadmaps
15 19 (10.38%) Information Security
16 18 (9.84%) ITIL
17 17 (9.29%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 49 (26.78%) Python
2 44 (24.04%) PowerShell
3 11 (6.01%) Bash
4 8 (4.37%) C++
4 8 (4.37%) Kusto Query Language
4 8 (4.37%) Perl
5 2 (1.09%) Shell Script
5 2 (1.09%) SQL
Qualifications
1 69 (37.70%) Security Cleared
2 49 (26.78%) SC Cleared
3 30 (16.39%) CompTIA Security+
4 23 (12.57%) GIAC
5 19 (10.38%) CISSP
5 19 (10.38%) CREST Certified
5 19 (10.38%) DV Cleared
6 16 (8.74%) CEH
7 13 (7.10%) Degree
8 10 (5.46%) CISM
9 9 (4.92%) CompTIA CySA+
10 7 (3.83%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (3.83%) SANS
11 4 (2.19%) GCIH
12 3 (1.64%) CISA
12 3 (1.64%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (1.64%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 2 (1.09%) CCSP
13 2 (1.09%) Computer Science Degree
13 2 (1.09%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (16.94%) NIST
2 21 (11.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (6.01%) GDPR
3 11 (6.01%) NCSC
4 9 (4.92%) SLA
5 8 (4.37%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (4.37%) PCI DSS
6 7 (3.83%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 6 (3.28%) GRC
8 4 (2.19%) SOC 2
8 4 (2.19%) SOC 3
9 1 (0.55%) PMO
System Software
1 7 (3.83%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.55%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.55%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 10 (5.46%) QRadar
2 6 (3.28%) Graylog
3 3 (1.64%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
4 1 (0.55%) CASB
4 1 (0.55%) CSIRT
4 1 (0.55%) Kibana
4 1 (0.55%) SCCM
4 1 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.55%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 76 (41.53%) Microsoft
2 30 (16.39%) Splunk
3 13 (7.10%) CrowdStrike
4 3 (1.64%) Rapid7
5 2 (1.09%) Darktrace
6 1 (0.55%) ArcSight
6 1 (0.55%) Cisco
6 1 (0.55%) Citrix
6 1 (0.55%) Dell
6 1 (0.55%) ForgeRock
6 1 (0.55%) Fortinet
6 1 (0.55%) Google
6 1 (0.55%) LogRhythm
6 1 (0.55%) Palo Alto
6 1 (0.55%) Red Hat
6 1 (0.55%) ServiceNow
6 1 (0.55%) Veeam
6 1 (0.55%) VMware