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

6 months to
17 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 235 378 324
Rank change year-on-year +143 -54 +9
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 752 314 890
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.80% 0.70% 0.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.10% 0.76% 1.00%
Number of salaries quoted 566 224 647
10th Percentile £41,250 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £49,000 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.90% +3.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £82,500 £77,500 £77,375
90th Percentile £95,000 £110,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% +1.85% -6.09%

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 68,162 41,264 88,785
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.90% 92.57% 81.89%
Number of salaries quoted 46,887 22,044 62,842
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £29,607
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,000 £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 £91,991
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -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 17 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 17 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 +127 680 £70,000 +12.00% 288
UK excluding London +113 439 £65,000 +18.18% 261
London +82 259 £74,250 -4.19% 103
Work from Home +117 242 £65,000 +18.18% 193
South East +73 132 £54,000 -15.29% 74
North of England +57 121 £70,000 +14.75% 67
Midlands +15 81 £60,000 +9.09% 29
North West +53 72 £75,000 +25.00% 37
East Midlands +16 47 £55,000 -3.51% 15
Yorkshire -10 42 £62,500 -3.85% 22
South West -41 36 £65,000 +27.31% 26
West Midlands -27 34 £66,250 +20.45% 14
East of England -8 28 £57,500 +5.02% 22
Wales -17 27 £25,000 -52.56% 13
Scotland +14 14 £75,000 +36.36% 26
North East -43 7 £75,000 +22.45% 8
Northern Ireland - 2 £40,750 - 14

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 11 (1.46%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.27%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 158 (21.01%) Azure
2 87 (11.57%) AWS
3 76 (10.11%) Microsoft 365
4 61 (8.11%) Azure Sentinel
5 48 (6.38%) Entra ID
6 40 (5.32%) GCP
7 24 (3.19%) SaaS
8 15 (1.99%) Mimecast
9 14 (1.86%) Anthropic Claude
10 12 (1.60%) Microsoft Purview
10 12 (1.60%) Zapier
11 9 (1.20%) Azure Logic Apps
11 9 (1.20%) GitHub
11 9 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (1.06%) AWS CloudFormation
13 7 (0.93%) IaaS
13 7 (0.93%) PaaS
14 6 (0.80%) Cloudflare
14 6 (0.80%) Google Workspace
15 5 (0.66%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 111 (14.76%) Firewall
2 76 (10.11%) Network Security
3 35 (4.65%) DNS
4 34 (4.52%) TCP/IP
5 32 (4.26%) WAN
6 30 (3.99%) VPN
7 29 (3.86%) LAN
8 16 (2.13%) HTTP
8 16 (2.13%) Intrusion Detection
9 14 (1.86%) Cisco Nexus
9 14 (1.86%) Wi-Fi
10 13 (1.73%) Internet
11 10 (1.33%) Cisco ISE
11 10 (1.33%) FTP
11 10 (1.33%) SMTP
12 9 (1.20%) SSL
13 7 (0.93%) SD-WAN
14 5 (0.66%) NGFW
15 4 (0.53%) HTTPS
15 4 (0.53%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.40%) Power BI
1 3 (0.40%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
2 2 (0.27%) MongoDB
2 2 (0.27%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.13%) Big Data
3 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (0.93%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.53%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.53%) CircleCI
2 4 (0.53%) Metasploit
3 3 (0.40%) JIRA
General
1 164 (21.81%) Social Skills
2 99 (13.16%) Analytical Skills
3 83 (11.04%) Finance
4 51 (6.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 39 (5.19%) Law
6 33 (4.39%) Legal
6 33 (4.39%) Public Sector
7 27 (3.59%) Retail
8 17 (2.26%) Influencing Skills
9 13 (1.73%) Banking
10 10 (1.33%) Aerospace
11 8 (1.06%) Financial Institution
12 7 (0.93%) Advertising
13 6 (0.80%) Aviation
13 6 (0.80%) Back Office
13 6 (0.80%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (0.80%) Police
13 6 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
14 4 (0.53%) Games
14 4 (0.53%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 184 (24.47%) Analyst
2 136 (18.09%) Security Analyst
3 109 (14.49%) Senior
4 93 (12.37%) Security Engineer
5 92 (12.23%) Security Manager
6 81 (10.77%) Lead
7 79 (10.51%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 55 (7.31%) Senior Analyst
9 52 (6.91%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 52 (6.91%) SOC Engineer
10 49 (6.52%) Operational Security Manager
10 49 (6.52%) Security Operations Manager
11 46 (6.12%) Operations Manager
12 45 (5.98%) Architect
13 43 (5.72%) SOC Analyst
14 42 (5.59%) Senior Security Analyst
15 35 (4.65%) Cybersecurity Engineer
16 33 (4.39%) Operations Analyst
16 33 (4.39%) Security Specialist
17 29 (3.86%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (1.60%) LDAP
2 6 (0.80%) Regular Expression
3 5 (0.66%) REST
4 4 (0.53%) ARM Templates
5 3 (0.40%) JSON
6 2 (0.27%) OpenID
6 2 (0.27%) RESTful
6 2 (0.27%) SAML
7 1 (0.13%) EDI
7 1 (0.13%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.13%) FFmpeg
7 1 (0.13%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.13%) HTML
7 1 (0.13%) SailPoint
7 1 (0.13%) SOAP
7 1 (0.13%) TAPI
7 1 (0.13%) Unreal Engine
7 1 (0.13%) WebRTC
7 1 (0.13%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 183 (24.34%) Security Operations Centre
2 119 (15.82%) Security Posture
3 68 (9.04%) Cyber Defence
4 51 (6.78%) Cyber Threat
4 51 (6.78%) Management Information System
5 37 (4.92%) CSOC
6 30 (3.99%) Cloud Native
7 23 (3.06%) Onboarding
8 13 (1.73%) Cyberattack
8 13 (1.73%) Data Centre
8 13 (1.73%) Self-Motivation
9 12 (1.60%) Cloud Security Posture
10 8 (1.06%) AI Agents
10 8 (1.06%) Analytical Mindset
10 8 (1.06%) Client/Server
11 7 (0.93%) Hybrid Cloud
11 7 (0.93%) Virtual Team
12 6 (0.80%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 6 (0.80%) Driving Licence
12 6 (0.80%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 95 (12.63%) Windows
2 60 (7.98%) Linux
3 17 (2.26%) Windows 10
4 13 (1.73%) Unix
5 8 (1.06%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.53%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (0.40%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.13%) CentOS
9 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 417 (55.45%) Cybersecurity
2 280 (37.23%) SIEM
3 261 (34.71%) Incident Response
4 166 (22.07%) Continuous Improvement
5 143 (19.02%) Cloud Security
5 143 (19.02%) Vulnerability Management
6 135 (17.95%) Information Security
7 110 (14.63%) Threat Intelligence
8 98 (13.03%) Problem-Solving
9 96 (12.77%) Threat Detection
10 95 (12.63%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
11 87 (11.57%) Risk Management
12 84 (11.17%) SOAR
13 70 (9.31%) MITRE ATT&CK
14 67 (8.91%) Roadmaps
14 67 (8.91%) Security Monitoring
15 66 (8.78%) AI
16 63 (8.38%) Mentoring
17 57 (7.58%) Incident Management
18 56 (7.45%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 102 (13.56%) PowerShell
2 90 (11.97%) Python
3 31 (4.12%) Kusto Query Language
4 24 (3.19%) Bash
5 12 (1.60%) SQL
6 9 (1.20%) C++
6 9 (1.20%) Perl
7 6 (0.80%) Bicep
8 5 (0.66%) C
8 5 (0.66%) JavaScript
8 5 (0.66%) Search Processing Language
9 3 (0.40%) C#
10 2 (0.27%) Go
10 2 (0.27%) Java
10 2 (0.27%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.13%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 146 (19.41%) Security Cleared
2 113 (15.03%) SC Cleared
3 96 (12.77%) CISSP
4 66 (8.78%) CompTIA Security+
5 58 (7.71%) Degree
6 49 (6.52%) GIAC
7 44 (5.85%) CISM
8 32 (4.26%) CEH
8 32 (4.26%) Cisco Certification
9 26 (3.46%) SANS
10 25 (3.32%) DV Cleared
11 22 (2.93%) Computer Science Degree
12 21 (2.79%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 21 (2.79%) CREST Certified
13 20 (2.66%) CompTIA CySA+
14 19 (2.53%) GCIH
15 16 (2.13%) GCIA
16 15 (1.99%) Azure Certification
16 15 (1.99%) CCSP
16 15 (1.99%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (19.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 137 (18.22%) NIST
3 61 (8.11%) GDPR
4 48 (6.38%) GRC
5 47 (6.25%) Cyber Essentials
6 35 (4.65%) PCI DSS
7 22 (2.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 17 (2.26%) NCSC
8 17 (2.26%) SOC 2
9 16 (2.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 10 (1.33%) SLA
11 5 (0.66%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 3 (0.40%) COBIT
12 3 (0.40%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.40%) SOC 3
13 2 (0.27%) Data Quality
13 2 (0.27%) ISO 22301
13 2 (0.27%) ISO 9001
13 2 (0.27%) PMO
System Software
1 28 (3.72%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.46%) Docker
3 5 (0.66%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.27%) Firmware
7 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 33 (4.39%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (3.46%) SCCM
3 25 (3.32%) Terraform
4 24 (3.19%) QRadar
5 22 (2.93%) Kubernetes
6 14 (1.86%) Ansible
7 12 (1.60%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.93%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.80%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 6 (0.80%) Graylog
10 5 (0.66%) vCenter Server
11 4 (0.53%) CASB
11 4 (0.53%) Computer Incident Response Team
11 4 (0.53%) Grafana
12 3 (0.40%) Kibana
12 3 (0.40%) Nessus
13 2 (0.27%) CSIRT
13 2 (0.27%) Red Hat Satellite
14 1 (0.13%) Host Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 222 (29.52%) Microsoft
2 59 (7.85%) Splunk
3 50 (6.65%) ServiceNow
4 38 (5.05%) CrowdStrike
5 35 (4.65%) Qualys
6 32 (4.26%) Cisco
7 21 (2.79%) SolarWinds
8 20 (2.66%) Palo Alto
9 18 (2.39%) Tenable
10 15 (1.99%) OpenAI
11 14 (1.86%) Fortinet
11 14 (1.86%) Google
12 11 (1.46%) Aruba
13 10 (1.33%) Rapid7
14 9 (1.20%) Sophos
14 9 (1.20%) VMware
15 7 (0.93%) iManage
15 7 (0.93%) Okta
15 7 (0.93%) Zscaler
16 6 (0.80%) Carbon Black