Security Operations Job Trends

Security Operations (SecOps)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Security Operations skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 288 248 292
Rank change year-on-year -40 +44 +20
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 453 723 589
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.89% 1.06% 1.11%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.03% 1.29% 1.18%
Number of salaries quoted 279 438 475
10th Percentile £39,950 £41,250 £37,500
25th Percentile £48,894 £47,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £63,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% -4.76% -6.67%
75th Percentile £82,500 £77,625 £76,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,750 £97,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £59,000 £53,500 £62,500
% change year-on-year +10.28% -14.40% -3.85%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Security Operations 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 44,012 56,127 49,891
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 86.78% 82.46% 93.88%
Number of salaries quoted 26,595 29,580 38,351
10th Percentile £28,250 £33,750 £32,500
25th Percentile £35,500 £45,000 £43,871
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £46,625 £54,383 £52,500
% change year-on-year -14.26% +3.59% -

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Security Operations job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Operations
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Security Operations

Security Operations
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Operations over the 6 months to 7 November 2025.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
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 Operations within the UK over the 6 months to 7 November 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 -9 420 £65,000 +4.00% 491
UK excluding London -32 282 £59,000 +10.28% 353
Work from Home 0 217 £65,000 +11.35% 213
London -24 145 £77,500 +2.31% 226
South East +18 92 £65,000 +8.33% 219
Midlands +66 65 £52,500 +2.44% 35
North of England -74 56 £56,250 +11.81% 45
West Midlands +53 47 £52,500 +2.44% 19
East of England +35 34 £75,000 +23.46% 23
North West -21 30 £50,000 -0.61% 25
South West +9 19 £51,729 -19.17% 23
East Midlands +36 18 £49,750 -5.24% 15
Yorkshire -34 17 £40,000 -20.00% 16
North East +3 9 £87,500 +94.44% 4
Scotland -53 9 £75,000 +45.90% 8
Wales +8 5 £63,250 +25.72% 3
Northern Ireland -2 3 £32,500 -35.20%

Security Operations
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 14 (3.09%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.99%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.22%) IIS
Applications
1 8 (1.77%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.22%) C-CURE
1 1 (0.22%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 94 (20.75%) Azure
2 63 (13.91%) AWS
3 42 (9.27%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (5.52%) Azure Sentinel
5 21 (4.64%) GCP
6 20 (4.42%) Entra ID
7 11 (2.43%) SaaS
8 10 (2.21%) PaaS
9 9 (1.99%) Mimecast
10 7 (1.55%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (1.32%) IaaS
11 6 (1.32%) Microsoft Purview
12 5 (1.10%) Amazon ECS
12 5 (1.10%) Tessian
13 4 (0.88%) GitHub
14 3 (0.66%) Amazon GuardDuty
14 3 (0.66%) Cloud Computing
14 3 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
14 3 (0.66%) Google App Engine
14 3 (0.66%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 82 (18.10%) Firewall
2 53 (11.70%) Network Security
3 34 (7.51%) DNS
4 29 (6.40%) Intrusion Detection
4 29 (6.40%) VPN
5 28 (6.18%) TCP/IP
6 22 (4.86%) DHCP
7 11 (2.43%) SAN
8 9 (1.99%) WAN
9 7 (1.55%) LAN
9 7 (1.55%) Wireshark
10 5 (1.10%) HTTP
11 4 (0.88%) FTP
11 4 (0.88%) SMTP
11 4 (0.88%) Wireless
12 3 (0.66%) Internet
13 2 (0.44%) NGFW
13 2 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
14 1 (0.22%) DMZ
14 1 (0.22%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.66%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.66%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.44%) Metadata
2 2 (0.44%) Power BI
3 1 (0.22%) Apache Cassandra
3 1 (0.22%) DTS
3 1 (0.22%) GIS
3 1 (0.22%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.22%) MySQL
3 1 (0.22%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (0.66%) JIRA
2 1 (0.22%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.22%) Git
2 1 (0.22%) IDA Disassembler
2 1 (0.22%) MSBuild
General
1 143 (31.57%) Social Skills
2 80 (17.66%) Analytical Skills
3 69 (15.23%) Finance
4 24 (5.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 21 (4.64%) Public Sector
6 19 (4.19%) Legal
7 18 (3.97%) Law
8 15 (3.31%) Documentation Skills
9 11 (2.43%) Banking
10 10 (2.21%) Advertising
10 10 (2.21%) Retail
11 9 (1.99%) Financial Institution
11 9 (1.99%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.32%) Telecoms
13 5 (1.10%) Back Office
13 5 (1.10%) Local Government
13 5 (1.10%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.10%) Police
13 5 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.66%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 128 (28.26%) Lead
2 98 (21.63%) Analyst
3 61 (13.47%) Security Analyst
4 60 (13.25%) Security Engineer
5 49 (10.82%) Senior
6 35 (7.73%) Security Manager
7 30 (6.62%) SOC Analyst
8 26 (5.74%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 26 (5.74%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 24 (5.30%) Operations Manager
10 23 (5.08%) Senior Analyst
11 21 (4.64%) Operational Security Manager
11 21 (4.64%) Security Operations Manager
12 19 (4.19%) SOC Manager
13 18 (3.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 17 (3.75%) Senior Security Analyst
15 15 (3.31%) Head of Security
16 12 (2.65%) Senior Security Engineer
17 11 (2.43%) Information Analyst
17 11 (2.43%) Information Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (1.77%) Elastic Stack
2 6 (1.32%) .NET
3 5 (1.10%) Software Packaging
4 4 (0.88%) LDAP
4 4 (0.88%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.66%) HTML
5 3 (0.66%) React
6 2 (0.44%) ADO.NET
6 2 (0.44%) ARM Templates
6 2 (0.44%) AWS CDK
6 2 (0.44%) Django
6 2 (0.44%) EDI
6 2 (0.44%) OAuth
6 2 (0.44%) OpenID
6 2 (0.44%) SAML
7 1 (0.22%) 802.1X
7 1 (0.22%) ASP.NET
7 1 (0.22%) Flash
7 1 (0.22%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 179 (39.51%) Security Operations Centre
2 144 (31.79%) Cyber Threat
3 77 (17.00%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 74 (16.34%) Operational Technology
5 60 (13.25%) Security Posture
6 21 (4.64%) Management Information System
7 20 (4.42%) Cyber Defence
8 12 (2.65%) Data Centre
9 11 (2.43%) Cyberattack
10 10 (2.21%) Self-Motivation
10 10 (2.21%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.99%) Insider Threat
12 7 (1.55%) Cloud Native
13 6 (1.32%) Cloud Security Posture
13 6 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
13 6 (1.32%) Hybrid Cloud
14 5 (1.10%) NHS
14 5 (1.10%) Onboarding
15 4 (0.88%) Analytical Mindset
15 4 (0.88%) Cyber Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 71 (15.67%) Windows
2 43 (9.49%) Linux
3 23 (5.08%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.43%) Windows Server 2019
5 10 (2.21%) Windows Server 2012
6 6 (1.32%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.22%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.22%) Unix
7 1 (0.22%) VMS
7 1 (0.22%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (43.71%) Cybersecurity
2 186 (41.06%) Incident Response
3 151 (33.33%) SIEM
4 147 (32.45%) Vulnerability Management
5 143 (31.57%) Threat Intelligence
6 127 (28.04%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 108 (23.84%) Information Security
8 105 (23.18%) Mentoring
9 104 (22.96%) Risk Management
10 101 (22.30%) ITIL
11 91 (20.09%) Stakeholder Management
12 90 (19.87%) Roadmaps
13 88 (19.43%) Cyber Intelligence
14 85 (18.76%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
15 83 (18.32%) Business Strategy
16 78 (17.22%) Continuous Improvement
17 75 (16.56%) Problem-Solving
18 73 (16.11%) Coaching
19 70 (15.45%) Technology Roadmap
20 68 (15.01%) SABSA
Programming Languages
1 28 (6.18%) Python
2 21 (4.64%) PowerShell
3 15 (3.31%) Kusto Query Language
4 14 (3.09%) Bash
4 14 (3.09%) SQL
5 4 (0.88%) C#
6 3 (0.66%) Bicep
6 3 (0.66%) Java
6 3 (0.66%) Perl
7 1 (0.22%) C
7 1 (0.22%) C++
7 1 (0.22%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.22%) PHP
7 1 (0.22%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 73 (16.11%) CISSP
2 71 (15.67%) Security Cleared
3 69 (15.23%) Degree
4 49 (10.82%) SC Cleared
5 40 (8.83%) CompTIA Security+
6 37 (8.17%) CISM
7 23 (5.08%) Cisco Certification
8 21 (4.64%) DV Cleared
9 19 (4.19%) GCIA
10 18 (3.97%) CCNA
10 18 (3.97%) CCNP
11 17 (3.75%) CEH
12 14 (3.09%) GIAC
12 14 (3.09%) Microsoft Certification
13 13 (2.87%) SANS
14 12 (2.65%) Computer Science Degree
14 12 (2.65%) GCIH
14 12 (2.65%) Network+ Certification
15 8 (1.77%) CISA
15 8 (1.77%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 148 (32.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 145 (32.01%) NIST
3 68 (15.01%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 57 (12.58%) GDPR
5 51 (11.26%) Cyber Essentials
6 22 (4.86%) GRC
7 21 (4.64%) PCI DSS
8 16 (3.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (2.43%) SLA
10 8 (1.77%) SOC 2
11 7 (1.55%) NCSC
12 6 (1.32%) Accessibility
12 6 (1.32%) QA
13 4 (0.88%) COBIT
13 4 (0.88%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 2 (0.44%) ISO 22301
16 1 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 1 (0.22%) SOC 1
16 1 (0.22%) SOC 3
System Software
1 34 (7.51%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.09%) VMware ESXi
2 14 (3.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (1.99%) Docker
4 8 (1.77%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.44%) Firmware
6 1 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (4.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 18 (3.97%) Kubernetes
3 17 (3.75%) QRadar
4 13 (2.87%) Terraform
5 11 (2.43%) SCCM
6 10 (2.21%) CSIRT
6 10 (2.21%) Single Sign-On
6 10 (2.21%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.99%) Nessus
8 5 (1.10%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (1.10%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 4 (0.88%) Ansible
9 4 (0.88%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.44%) Kibana
11 1 (0.22%) CASB
11 1 (0.22%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.22%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 119 (26.27%) Microsoft
2 38 (8.39%) Splunk
3 27 (5.96%) VMware
4 20 (4.42%) CrowdStrike
5 18 (3.97%) ServiceNow
6 12 (2.65%) Tenable
7 11 (2.43%) SolarWinds
8 10 (2.21%) 3PAR
8 10 (2.21%) NetApp
8 10 (2.21%) Veeam
9 9 (1.99%) Rapid7
10 8 (1.77%) LogRhythm
10 8 (1.77%) Palo Alto
10 8 (1.77%) Qualys
11 5 (1.10%) Cisco
12 4 (0.88%) Foundry
12 4 (0.88%) Palantir
12 4 (0.88%) Zscaler
13 3 (0.66%) AlienVault
13 3 (0.66%) Proofpoint