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 22 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 272 250 279
Rank change year-on-year -22 +29 +25
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 456 733 585
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.86% 1.07% 1.12%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.00% 1.28% 1.19%
Number of salaries quoted 278 474 470
10th Percentile £40,000 £41,738 £38,750
25th Percentile £50,000 £47,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £62,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.00% -3.85% -3.70%
75th Percentile £82,500 £78,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £95,750 £96,750 £95,125
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £52,750 £62,500
% change year-on-year +13.74% -15.60% -

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 45,432 57,470 49,015
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 85.24% 83.88% 93.81%
Number of salaries quoted 27,673 30,239 37,620
10th Percentile £28,250 £33,975 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £54,150 £52,500
% change year-on-year -12.28% +3.14% -

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 22 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 22 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 -11 421 £67,500 +5.47% 305
UK excluding London -9 283 £60,000 +13.74% 184
Work from Home +48 218 £66,500 +10.83% 138
London -28 146 £77,500 +3.33% 150
South East +28 99 £65,000 +8.33% 72
Midlands +92 64 £52,750 +2.92% 36
North of England -42 52 £56,250 +12.15% 18
West Midlands +66 45 £52,750 +2.92% 24
East of England +16 32 £75,000 +25.00% 17
North West +9 27 £55,000 +9.33% 13
South West +6 20 £52,500 -25.00% 33
East Midlands +45 19 £54,875 +4.52% 12
Yorkshire -36 16 £38,750 -22.50% 3
North East +14 9 £87,500 +94.44% 2
Scotland -34 9 £75,000 +49.08% 6
Wales +7 5 £63,250 +25.72% 5
Northern Ireland +2 3 £32,500 -35.20% 1

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 15 (3.29%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.97%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.22%) IIS
Applications
1 8 (1.75%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.22%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 102 (22.37%) Azure
2 67 (14.69%) AWS
3 43 (9.43%) Microsoft 365
4 29 (6.36%) Azure Sentinel
5 24 (5.26%) GCP
6 20 (4.39%) Entra ID
7 11 (2.41%) SaaS
8 10 (2.19%) PaaS
9 9 (1.97%) Microsoft Purview
10 8 (1.75%) Mimecast
11 7 (1.54%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.32%) IaaS
13 5 (1.10%) Amazon ECS
13 5 (1.10%) Tessian
14 4 (0.88%) GitHub
15 3 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
15 3 (0.66%) Google App Engine
15 3 (0.66%) Power Platform
16 2 (0.44%) Amazon ECR
16 2 (0.44%) Amazon GuardDuty
Communications & Networking
1 83 (18.20%) Firewall
2 52 (11.40%) Network Security
3 33 (7.24%) DNS
4 31 (6.80%) VPN
5 27 (5.92%) Intrusion Detection
6 26 (5.70%) TCP/IP
7 21 (4.61%) DHCP
8 11 (2.41%) SAN
9 8 (1.75%) WAN
10 7 (1.54%) Wireshark
11 6 (1.32%) LAN
12 4 (0.88%) HTTP
12 4 (0.88%) Wireless
13 3 (0.66%) FTP
13 3 (0.66%) SMTP
14 2 (0.44%) Internet
14 2 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
15 1 (0.22%) DMZ
15 1 (0.22%) SSH
15 1 (0.22%) UWB
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
1 140 (30.70%) Social Skills
2 77 (16.89%) Analytical Skills
3 73 (16.01%) Finance
4 28 (6.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 20 (4.39%) Legal
5 20 (4.39%) Public Sector
6 19 (4.17%) Law
7 13 (2.85%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (2.41%) Banking
9 9 (1.97%) Advertising
9 9 (1.97%) Financial Institution
9 9 (1.97%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.75%) Retail
11 5 (1.10%) Back Office
11 5 (1.10%) Local Government
11 5 (1.10%) Police
11 5 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (1.10%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.66%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 127 (27.85%) Lead
2 101 (22.15%) Analyst
3 66 (14.47%) Security Analyst
4 61 (13.38%) Security Engineer
5 54 (11.84%) Senior
6 34 (7.46%) Security Manager
7 30 (6.58%) SOC Analyst
8 26 (5.70%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 24 (5.26%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 24 (5.26%) Senior Analyst
10 22 (4.82%) Operations Manager
11 19 (4.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 18 (3.95%) Operational Security Manager
12 18 (3.95%) Security Operations Manager
12 18 (3.95%) SOC Manager
13 17 (3.73%) Senior Security Analyst
14 15 (3.29%) Senior Security Engineer
15 14 (3.07%) Information Analyst
15 14 (3.07%) Information Security Analyst
16 13 (2.85%) Cybersecurity Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (1.54%) Elastic Stack
2 6 (1.32%) .NET
3 5 (1.10%) Software Packaging
4 4 (0.88%) ARM Templates
4 4 (0.88%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.66%) HTML
5 3 (0.66%) LDAP
5 3 (0.66%) React
6 2 (0.44%) ADO.NET
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%) REST
6 2 (0.44%) SAML
7 1 (0.22%) 802.1X
7 1 (0.22%) ASP.NET
7 1 (0.22%) Flash
Miscellaneous
1 183 (40.13%) Security Operations Centre
2 143 (31.36%) Cyber Threat
3 77 (16.89%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 74 (16.23%) Operational Technology
5 64 (14.04%) Security Posture
6 18 (3.95%) Management Information System
7 17 (3.73%) Cyber Defence
8 10 (2.19%) Cyberattack
8 10 (2.19%) Data Centre
8 10 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
8 10 (2.19%) Virtual Team
9 9 (1.97%) Insider Threat
10 8 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.75%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (1.32%) Cloud Native
11 6 (1.32%) Cloud Security Posture
11 6 (1.32%) Onboarding
12 5 (1.10%) Cyber Security Posture
12 5 (1.10%) NHS
13 4 (0.88%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 70 (15.35%) Windows
2 43 (9.43%) Linux
3 23 (5.04%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.41%) Windows Server 2019
5 10 (2.19%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (0.88%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.44%) Unix
7 2 (0.44%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.22%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 202 (44.30%) Cybersecurity
2 183 (40.13%) Incident Response
3 154 (33.77%) SIEM
4 148 (32.46%) Threat Intelligence
4 148 (32.46%) Vulnerability Management
5 131 (28.73%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
6 110 (24.12%) Information Security
7 104 (22.81%) Mentoring
8 101 (22.15%) ITIL
8 101 (22.15%) Risk Management
9 91 (19.96%) Roadmaps
10 87 (19.08%) Stakeholder Management
10 87 (19.08%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 84 (18.42%) Cyber Intelligence
12 83 (18.20%) Problem-Solving
13 81 (17.76%) Business Strategy
14 78 (17.11%) Continuous Improvement
15 72 (15.79%) Coaching
16 70 (15.35%) Technology Roadmap
17 68 (14.91%) SABSA
Programming Languages
1 36 (7.89%) Python
2 31 (6.80%) PowerShell
3 17 (3.73%) Bash
3 17 (3.73%) Kusto Query Language
4 15 (3.29%) SQL
5 5 (1.10%) Bicep
6 4 (0.88%) C#
7 3 (0.66%) Java
8 2 (0.44%) Perl
9 1 (0.22%) C
9 1 (0.22%) C++
9 1 (0.22%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.22%) PHP
9 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 74 (16.23%) Degree
2 73 (16.01%) CISSP
3 69 (15.13%) Security Cleared
4 48 (10.53%) SC Cleared
5 44 (9.65%) CompTIA Security+
6 31 (6.80%) CISM
7 26 (5.70%) Cisco Certification
8 22 (4.82%) DV Cleared
9 21 (4.61%) CCNA
10 20 (4.39%) CEH
10 20 (4.39%) GCIA
11 18 (3.95%) CCNP
11 18 (3.95%) GIAC
12 17 (3.73%) GCIH
13 14 (3.07%) Computer Science Degree
13 14 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
14 12 (2.63%) CompTIA CySA+
14 12 (2.63%) Network+ Certification
15 11 (2.41%) SANS
16 10 (2.19%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 152 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 151 (33.11%) NIST
3 68 (14.91%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 59 (12.94%) GDPR
5 50 (10.96%) Cyber Essentials
6 23 (5.04%) PCI DSS
7 22 (4.82%) GRC
8 17 (3.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (2.41%) SLA
10 7 (1.54%) NCSC
10 7 (1.54%) SOC 2
11 6 (1.32%) Accessibility
11 6 (1.32%) QA
12 4 (0.88%) COBIT
12 4 (0.88%) Data Quality
13 3 (0.66%) ITGC
14 2 (0.44%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 1 (0.22%) NIST 800
15 1 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 34 (7.46%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.07%) VMware ESXi
2 14 (3.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (1.97%) Docker
4 8 (1.75%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.44%) Firmware
6 1 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 21 (4.61%) QRadar
2 18 (3.95%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.95%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (3.07%) Terraform
4 12 (2.63%) SCCM
5 10 (2.19%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (2.19%) vCenter Server
6 9 (1.97%) CSIRT
7 8 (1.75%) 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 3 (0.66%) ArcSight ESM
11 1 (0.22%) CASB
11 1 (0.22%) Kibana
11 1 (0.22%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 121 (26.54%) Microsoft
2 40 (8.77%) Splunk
3 27 (5.92%) VMware
4 23 (5.04%) CrowdStrike
5 21 (4.61%) ServiceNow
6 12 (2.63%) SolarWinds
7 11 (2.41%) Tenable
8 10 (2.19%) 3PAR
8 10 (2.19%) NetApp
8 10 (2.19%) Veeam
9 9 (1.97%) Palo Alto
9 9 (1.97%) Rapid7
10 8 (1.75%) Qualys
11 7 (1.54%) LogRhythm
12 5 (1.10%) ArcSight
12 5 (1.10%) Cisco
13 4 (0.88%) Foundry
13 4 (0.88%) McAfee
13 4 (0.88%) Palantir
13 4 (0.88%) Zscaler