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 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 241 384 324
Rank change year-on-year +143 -60 +11
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 720 320 874
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.78% 0.72% 0.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.08% 0.78% 1.00%
Number of salaries quoted 542 229 643
10th Percentile £41,300 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £50,000 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +4.17% -4.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £111,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +18.18% +4.76% -8.70%

All Process & 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 66,949 41,023 87,141
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.83% 92.72% 82.59%
Number of salaries quoted 45,661 21,815 61,905
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,000 £29,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,055 £50,000
% change year-on-year +4.89% +0.11% -9.09%

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 9 June 2026.

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 9 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 +124 653 £70,000 +12.00% 193
UK excluding London +95 419 £65,000 +18.18% 168
London +66 250 £72,500 -7.94% 71
Work from Home +118 238 £62,500 +13.64% 91
South East +63 121 £54,000 -15.29% 70
North of England +49 121 £70,000 +14.75% 38
Midlands +12 77 £60,000 +9.09% 15
North West +60 70 £75,000 +23.97% 20
East Midlands +17 43 £57,500 +0.88% 7
Yorkshire -11 43 £62,500 -3.85% 15
South West -30 37 £65,000 +26.48% 21
West Midlands -28 34 £65,000 +18.18% 8
Wales -14 27 £25,000 -52.56% 8
East of England -8 22 £56,250 +2.74% 7
Scotland +8 12 £65,000 +8.33% 9
North East -38 8 £75,000 +22.45% 3
Northern Ireland - 2 £40,750 - 5

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 9 (1.25%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.56%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.14%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.14%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 151 (20.97%) Azure
2 82 (11.39%) AWS
3 71 (9.86%) Microsoft 365
4 59 (8.19%) Azure Sentinel
5 42 (5.83%) GCP
6 40 (5.56%) Entra ID
7 23 (3.19%) SaaS
8 14 (1.94%) Anthropic Claude
8 14 (1.94%) Mimecast
9 12 (1.67%) Zapier
10 11 (1.53%) Microsoft Purview
11 8 (1.11%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (1.11%) GitHub
11 8 (1.11%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (0.97%) IaaS
12 7 (0.97%) PaaS
13 6 (0.83%) Azure Logic Apps
14 5 (0.69%) Cloudflare
14 5 (0.69%) Google Workspace
14 5 (0.69%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 100 (13.89%) Firewall
2 73 (10.14%) Network Security
3 33 (4.58%) TCP/IP
4 32 (4.44%) DNS
5 28 (3.89%) VPN
6 25 (3.47%) WAN
7 22 (3.06%) LAN
8 16 (2.22%) Intrusion Detection
9 15 (2.08%) HTTP
10 11 (1.53%) Cisco Nexus
10 11 (1.53%) Internet
11 10 (1.39%) FTP
11 10 (1.39%) SMTP
12 9 (1.25%) Cisco ISE
12 9 (1.25%) SSL
13 8 (1.11%) Wi-Fi
14 6 (0.83%) SD-WAN
15 4 (0.56%) DHCP
15 4 (0.56%) HTTPS
15 4 (0.56%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.42%) Power BI
2 2 (0.28%) Elasticsearch
2 2 (0.28%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.28%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.14%) Big Data
3 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (0.83%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.56%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.56%) CircleCI
2 4 (0.56%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.28%) JIRA
General
1 162 (22.50%) Social Skills
2 97 (13.47%) Analytical Skills
3 82 (11.39%) Finance
4 49 (6.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 38 (5.28%) Law
6 33 (4.58%) Legal
7 31 (4.31%) Public Sector
8 27 (3.75%) Retail
9 17 (2.36%) Influencing Skills
10 14 (1.94%) Banking
11 9 (1.25%) Aerospace
12 8 (1.11%) Financial Institution
13 7 (0.97%) Advertising
13 7 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (0.97%) Police
14 6 (0.83%) Aviation
14 6 (0.83%) Back Office
14 6 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
15 4 (0.56%) Manufacturing
16 3 (0.42%) Games
Job Titles
1 173 (24.03%) Analyst
2 122 (16.94%) Security Analyst
3 96 (13.33%) Senior
4 89 (12.36%) Security Manager
5 85 (11.81%) Security Engineer
6 72 (10.00%) Lead
7 69 (9.58%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 50 (6.94%) Cybersecurity Manager
8 50 (6.94%) Operational Security Manager
8 50 (6.94%) Security Operations Manager
9 48 (6.67%) SOC Engineer
10 47 (6.53%) Operations Manager
11 45 (6.25%) Architect
11 45 (6.25%) Senior Analyst
12 44 (6.11%) SOC Analyst
13 33 (4.58%) Operations Analyst
13 33 (4.58%) Senior Security Analyst
14 32 (4.44%) Security Specialist
15 31 (4.31%) Cybersecurity Engineer
16 28 (3.89%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.53%) LDAP
2 6 (0.83%) Regular Expression
3 5 (0.69%) REST
4 4 (0.56%) ARM Templates
5 3 (0.42%) JSON
6 2 (0.28%) RESTful
7 1 (0.14%) EDI
7 1 (0.14%) FFmpeg
7 1 (0.14%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.14%) HTML
7 1 (0.14%) SailPoint
7 1 (0.14%) SOAP
7 1 (0.14%) TAPI
7 1 (0.14%) Unreal Engine
7 1 (0.14%) WebRTC
7 1 (0.14%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 172 (23.89%) Security Operations Centre
2 105 (14.58%) Security Posture
3 65 (9.03%) Cyber Defence
4 49 (6.81%) Management Information System
5 47 (6.53%) Cyber Threat
6 35 (4.86%) CSOC
7 27 (3.75%) Cloud Native
8 24 (3.33%) Onboarding
9 13 (1.81%) Cyberattack
9 13 (1.81%) Data Centre
10 12 (1.67%) Cloud Security Posture
11 11 (1.53%) Self-Motivation
12 10 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
13 8 (1.11%) AI Agents
13 8 (1.11%) Client/Server
14 7 (0.97%) Virtual Team
15 6 (0.83%) Cyber Kill Chain
15 6 (0.83%) Driving Licence
15 6 (0.83%) Low-Code
15 6 (0.83%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 93 (12.92%) Windows
2 55 (7.64%) Linux
3 19 (2.64%) Windows 10
4 12 (1.67%) Unix
5 8 (1.11%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.56%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.56%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (0.56%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (0.42%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.14%) CentOS
8 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 380 (52.78%) Cybersecurity
2 260 (36.11%) SIEM
3 248 (34.44%) Incident Response
4 157 (21.81%) Continuous Improvement
5 129 (17.92%) Cloud Security
6 126 (17.50%) Information Security
7 120 (16.67%) Vulnerability Management
8 103 (14.31%) Threat Intelligence
9 89 (12.36%) Problem-Solving
10 88 (12.22%) Threat Detection
11 86 (11.94%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
12 80 (11.11%) SOAR
13 78 (10.83%) Risk Management
14 68 (9.44%) MITRE ATT&CK
15 64 (8.89%) Roadmaps
16 62 (8.61%) AI
17 60 (8.33%) Mentoring
17 60 (8.33%) Security Monitoring
18 55 (7.64%) Use Case
19 54 (7.50%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 101 (14.03%) PowerShell
2 89 (12.36%) Python
3 27 (3.75%) Kusto Query Language
4 24 (3.33%) Bash
5 11 (1.53%) SQL
6 10 (1.39%) Perl
7 9 (1.25%) C++
8 6 (0.83%) Bicep
9 5 (0.69%) C
9 5 (0.69%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.42%) C#
10 3 (0.42%) Search Processing Language
11 2 (0.28%) Go
11 2 (0.28%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.14%) Java
12 1 (0.14%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 137 (19.03%) Security Cleared
2 107 (14.86%) SC Cleared
3 95 (13.19%) CISSP
4 62 (8.61%) CompTIA Security+
5 58 (8.06%) Degree
6 44 (6.11%) GIAC
7 42 (5.83%) CISM
8 32 (4.44%) Cisco Certification
9 31 (4.31%) CEH
10 24 (3.33%) SANS
11 23 (3.19%) Computer Science Degree
12 22 (3.06%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 22 (3.06%) DV Cleared
13 21 (2.92%) CREST Certified
14 18 (2.50%) CompTIA CySA+
14 18 (2.50%) GCIH
15 15 (2.08%) Azure Certification
15 15 (2.08%) CCSP
16 14 (1.94%) Microsoft Certification
17 13 (1.81%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 135 (18.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 131 (18.19%) NIST
3 56 (7.78%) GDPR
4 47 (6.53%) GRC
5 46 (6.39%) Cyber Essentials
6 33 (4.58%) PCI DSS
7 22 (3.06%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 17 (2.36%) NCSC
9 15 (2.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 15 (2.08%) SOC 2
10 10 (1.39%) SLA
11 5 (0.69%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.56%) Accessibility
12 4 (0.56%) SOC 3
13 3 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
13 3 (0.42%) COBIT
14 2 (0.28%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.28%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.28%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.28%) PMO
System Software
1 26 (3.61%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.53%) Docker
3 4 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.28%) Firmware
5 2 (0.28%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.14%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 31 (4.31%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (3.75%) SCCM
3 24 (3.33%) QRadar
4 23 (3.19%) Terraform
5 22 (3.06%) Kubernetes
6 13 (1.81%) Ansible
7 12 (1.67%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (0.83%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 6 (0.83%) FortiGate
9 5 (0.69%) CASB
9 5 (0.69%) Graylog
9 5 (0.69%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.56%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 4 (0.56%) Grafana
11 3 (0.42%) CSIRT
12 2 (0.28%) Kibana
12 2 (0.28%) Nessus
13 1 (0.14%) Host Intrusion Detection System
13 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 210 (29.17%) Microsoft
2 54 (7.50%) Splunk
3 52 (7.22%) ServiceNow
4 35 (4.86%) CrowdStrike
5 26 (3.61%) Cisco
6 25 (3.47%) Qualys
7 23 (3.19%) SolarWinds
8 15 (2.08%) OpenAI
9 14 (1.94%) Tenable
10 13 (1.81%) Google
10 13 (1.81%) Palo Alto
11 12 (1.67%) Fortinet
12 9 (1.25%) Rapid7
12 9 (1.25%) Sophos
13 8 (1.11%) VMware
14 7 (0.97%) Aruba
14 7 (0.97%) Okta
14 7 (0.97%) Zscaler
15 6 (0.83%) Carbon Black
16 5 (0.69%) CheckPoint