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

6 months to
18 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 278 246 283
Rank change year-on-year -32 +37 +22
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 457 728 578
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.87% 1.09% 1.10%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.01% 1.30% 1.17%
Number of salaries quoted 279 445 465
10th Percentile £39,950 £42,200 £38,750
25th Percentile £50,000 £48,750 £51,750
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 £98,000 £97,200 £95,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £54,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +11.11% -13.60% -

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 45,214 55,881 49,346
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 85.89% 83.44% 93.81%
Number of salaries quoted 27,281 28,909 37,851
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,404 £32,500
25th Percentile £35,854 £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 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% -

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 18 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 18 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 -14 422 £66,500 +2.31% 301
UK excluding London -17 282 £60,000 +11.11% 176
Work from Home +14 216 £67,500 +12.50% 140
London -37 148 £78,750 +2.94% 145
South East +40 96 £65,000 +8.33% 79
Midlands +70 66 £52,750 +2.92% 34
North of England -45 53 £55,000 +9.33% 21
West Midlands +63 47 £52,750 +2.92% 23
East of England +15 32 £75,000 +25.00% 14
North West -1 28 £50,000 -0.61% 14
East Midlands +37 19 £54,875 +4.52% 11
South West +4 19 £51,729 -22.79% 21
Yorkshire -38 16 £38,750 -22.50% 6
North East 0 9 £87,500 +83.61% 1
Scotland -46 9 £75,000 +49.08% 9
Wales +8 5 £63,250 +25.72%
Northern Ireland -1 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 (3.28%) 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 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.22%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 96 (21.01%) Azure
2 65 (14.22%) AWS
3 42 (9.19%) Microsoft 365
4 27 (5.91%) Azure Sentinel
5 22 (4.81%) GCP
6 20 (4.38%) 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 (1.53%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.31%) IaaS
13 5 (1.09%) Amazon ECS
13 5 (1.09%) Tessian
14 4 (0.88%) GitHub
15 3 (0.66%) Amazon GuardDuty
15 3 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
15 3 (0.66%) Google App Engine
15 3 (0.66%) Power Platform
16 2 (0.44%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 83 (18.16%) Firewall
2 51 (11.16%) Network Security
3 33 (7.22%) DNS
4 30 (6.56%) VPN
5 28 (6.13%) Intrusion Detection
6 26 (5.69%) TCP/IP
7 21 (4.60%) DHCP
8 11 (2.41%) SAN
9 8 (1.75%) WAN
10 7 (1.53%) Wireshark
11 6 (1.31%) 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%) Modbus
15 1 (0.22%) NAS
15 1 (0.22%) UWB
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.88%) Elasticsearch
2 3 (0.66%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.44%) Metadata
3 2 (0.44%) Power BI
4 1 (0.22%) Apache Cassandra
4 1 (0.22%) DTS
4 1 (0.22%) GIS
4 1 (0.22%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.22%) MySQL
4 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
1 144 (31.51%) Social Skills
2 79 (17.29%) Analytical Skills
3 72 (15.75%) Finance
4 29 (6.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 20 (4.38%) Public Sector
6 19 (4.16%) Legal
7 18 (3.94%) Law
8 15 (3.28%) Documentation Skills
9 11 (2.41%) Banking
10 9 (1.97%) Advertising
10 9 (1.97%) Financial Institution
10 9 (1.97%) Influencing Skills
11 8 (1.75%) Retail
12 5 (1.09%) Back Office
12 5 (1.09%) Local Government
12 5 (1.09%) Police
12 5 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (1.09%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.88%) Organisational Skills
14 3 (0.66%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 128 (28.01%) Lead
2 100 (21.88%) Analyst
3 63 (13.79%) Security Analyst
4 61 (13.35%) Security Engineer
5 54 (11.82%) Senior
6 35 (7.66%) Security Manager
7 31 (6.78%) SOC Analyst
8 26 (5.69%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 24 (5.25%) Senior Analyst
10 23 (5.03%) Cybersecurity Analyst
11 22 (4.81%) Operations Manager
12 19 (4.16%) Operational Security Manager
12 19 (4.16%) Security Operations Manager
13 18 (3.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 18 (3.94%) SOC Manager
14 17 (3.72%) Senior Security Analyst
15 14 (3.06%) Information Analyst
15 14 (3.06%) Information Security Analyst
15 14 (3.06%) Senior Security Engineer
16 13 (2.84%) Cybersecurity Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (1.75%) Elastic Stack
2 6 (1.31%) .NET
3 5 (1.09%) Software Packaging
4 4 (0.88%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.66%) ARM Templates
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 (40.04%) Security Operations Centre
2 143 (31.29%) Cyber Threat
3 77 (16.85%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 74 (16.19%) Operational Technology
5 64 (14.00%) Security Posture
6 20 (4.38%) Management Information System
7 17 (3.72%) Cyber Defence
8 11 (2.41%) Data Centre
9 10 (2.19%) Cyberattack
9 10 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (2.19%) Virtual Team
10 8 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.75%) Insider Threat
11 7 (1.53%) Cloud Native
11 7 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
12 6 (1.31%) Cloud Security Posture
13 5 (1.09%) Cyber Security Posture
13 5 (1.09%) NHS
13 5 (1.09%) Onboarding
14 4 (0.88%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 69 (15.10%) Windows
2 43 (9.41%) Linux
3 23 (5.03%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.41%) Windows Server 2019
5 10 (2.19%) Windows Server 2012
6 5 (1.09%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.44%) Unix
8 1 (0.22%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.22%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 203 (44.42%) Cybersecurity
2 184 (40.26%) Incident Response
3 155 (33.92%) SIEM
4 150 (32.82%) Vulnerability Management
5 145 (31.73%) Threat Intelligence
6 129 (28.23%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 110 (24.07%) Information Security
8 104 (22.76%) Mentoring
8 104 (22.76%) Risk Management
9 102 (22.32%) ITIL
10 92 (20.13%) Roadmaps
11 89 (19.47%) Stakeholder Management
12 87 (19.04%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
13 86 (18.82%) Cyber Intelligence
14 82 (17.94%) Business Strategy
15 81 (17.72%) Problem-Solving
16 77 (16.85%) Continuous Improvement
17 72 (15.75%) Coaching
18 70 (15.32%) Technology Roadmap
19 68 (14.88%) SABSA
Programming Languages
1 35 (7.66%) Python
2 28 (6.13%) PowerShell
3 18 (3.94%) Bash
4 16 (3.50%) Kusto Query Language
5 15 (3.28%) SQL
6 4 (0.88%) Bicep
6 4 (0.88%) C#
7 3 (0.66%) Java
7 3 (0.66%) Perl
8 1 (0.22%) C
8 1 (0.22%) C++
8 1 (0.22%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.22%) PHP
8 1 (0.22%) Search Processing Language
8 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 74 (16.19%) Degree
2 72 (15.75%) Security Cleared
3 71 (15.54%) CISSP
4 51 (11.16%) SC Cleared
5 44 (9.63%) CompTIA Security+
6 33 (7.22%) CISM
7 26 (5.69%) Cisco Certification
8 22 (4.81%) DV Cleared
9 21 (4.60%) CCNA
10 20 (4.38%) CEH
11 19 (4.16%) GCIA
12 18 (3.94%) CCNP
13 16 (3.50%) GCIH
13 16 (3.50%) GIAC
14 15 (3.28%) Computer Science Degree
15 14 (3.06%) Microsoft Certification
16 12 (2.63%) Network+ Certification
16 12 (2.63%) SANS
17 11 (2.41%) CompTIA CySA+
18 10 (2.19%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 152 (33.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 149 (32.60%) NIST
3 68 (14.88%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 59 (12.91%) GDPR
5 51 (11.16%) Cyber Essentials
6 23 (5.03%) GRC
7 21 (4.60%) PCI DSS
8 17 (3.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (2.41%) SLA
10 8 (1.75%) SOC 2
11 7 (1.53%) NCSC
12 6 (1.31%) Accessibility
12 6 (1.31%) QA
13 4 (0.88%) COBIT
13 4 (0.88%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.66%) ITGC
15 2 (0.44%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 1 (0.22%) NIST 800
16 1 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 34 (7.44%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.06%) VMware ESXi
2 14 (3.06%) 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 (4.60%) QRadar
2 18 (3.94%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.94%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (3.06%) Terraform
4 11 (2.41%) 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 (1.09%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (1.09%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 4 (0.88%) Ansible
9 4 (0.88%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.66%) ArcSight ESM
11 2 (0.44%) Kibana
12 1 (0.22%) CASB
12 1 (0.22%) RSA Archer
12 1 (0.22%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 120 (26.26%) Microsoft
2 42 (9.19%) Splunk
3 27 (5.91%) VMware
4 21 (4.60%) CrowdStrike
5 19 (4.16%) ServiceNow
6 11 (2.41%) SolarWinds
6 11 (2.41%) Tenable
7 10 (2.19%) 3PAR
7 10 (2.19%) NetApp
7 10 (2.19%) Veeam
8 9 (1.97%) Palo Alto
8 9 (1.97%) Rapid7
9 8 (1.75%) LogRhythm
9 8 (1.75%) Qualys
10 5 (1.09%) ArcSight
10 5 (1.09%) Cisco
11 4 (0.88%) Foundry
11 4 (0.88%) McAfee
11 4 (0.88%) Palantir
11 4 (0.88%) Zscaler