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 30 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 217 362 271
Rank change year-on-year +145 -91 -2
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 1,027 364 745
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.87% 0.74% 1.00%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.19% 0.83% 1.22%
Number of salaries quoted 695 264 426
10th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,000
25th Percentile £53,750 £48,165 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £78,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £57,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +14.04% +3.64% -12.00%

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 86,307 43,936 60,951
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.14% 89.11% 81.72%
Number of salaries quoted 59,386 24,309 33,164
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £41,750 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £58,033
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -5.23% -3.28%
75th Percentile £79,641 £75,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -2.78%

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 30 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
Top 16 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 30 September 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 +133 926 £70,000 +7.69% 746
UK excluding London +94 616 £65,000 +14.04% 421
London +87 362 £77,500 +1.64% 366
Work from Home +77 281 £70,000 +3.70% 329
South East +72 221 £60,000 -5.88% 134
North of England +29 133 £70,000 +24.44% 115
North West +43 95 £75,000 +50.00% 73
Midlands -11 91 £65,000 +23.81% 41
East Midlands +17 60 £65,000 +6.34% 21
South West -36 54 £63,750 +24.86% 48
East of England -12 51 £61,250 -14.63% 26
Yorkshire -10 38 £62,500 -3.85% 33
Wales -41 36 £45,000 -18.18% 5
West Midlands -55 31 £67,500 +28.57% 20
Scotland +39 29 £75,000 +13.12% 37
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 19

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 18 (1.75%) SharePoint
2 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.39%) Confluence
4 3 (0.29%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.29%) IIS
5 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
5 1 (0.097%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 1 (0.097%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.097%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.29%) Distributed Ledger
2 1 (0.097%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 217 (21.13%) Azure
2 135 (13.15%) AWS
3 107 (10.42%) Microsoft 365
4 99 (9.64%) Entra ID
5 85 (8.28%) Azure Sentinel
6 64 (6.23%) GCP
7 36 (3.51%) Microsoft Purview
8 26 (2.53%) Azure Logic Apps
9 25 (2.43%) SaaS
10 18 (1.75%) Mimecast
11 14 (1.36%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.17%) Zapier
13 10 (0.97%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (0.88%) IaaS
14 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Copilot
15 8 (0.78%) Amazon GuardDuty
15 8 (0.78%) Cloudflare
16 7 (0.68%) PaaS
17 6 (0.58%) Google Workspace
17 6 (0.58%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 159 (15.48%) Firewall
2 106 (10.32%) Network Security
3 59 (5.74%) WAN
4 57 (5.55%) LAN
5 50 (4.87%) TCP/IP
6 49 (4.77%) VPN
7 39 (3.80%) DNS
8 31 (3.02%) Wi-Fi
9 27 (2.63%) Internet
10 25 (2.43%) Cisco Nexus
11 24 (2.34%) HTTP
12 23 (2.24%) Intrusion Detection
13 16 (1.56%) SMTP
14 15 (1.46%) FTP
15 14 (1.36%) SSL
16 12 (1.17%) Cisco ISE
17 8 (0.78%) Wireless
18 6 (0.58%) IPsec
18 6 (0.58%) NGFW
18 6 (0.58%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.49%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.39%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (0.29%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.29%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.19%) Power BI
4 2 (0.19%) Power Query
4 2 (0.19%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.097%) Big Data
5 1 (0.097%) Data Mining
5 1 (0.097%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 9 (0.88%) JIRA
2 6 (0.58%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.29%) Maven
3 3 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (0.19%) Yeoman
5 1 (0.097%) Git
5 1 (0.097%) GitLab
General
1 210 (20.45%) Social Skills
2 121 (11.78%) Finance
3 117 (11.39%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (5.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 51 (4.97%) Law
6 48 (4.67%) Legal
7 47 (4.58%) Public Sector
8 42 (4.09%) Aerospace
9 41 (3.99%) Retail
10 28 (2.73%) Banking
11 23 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
12 21 (2.04%) Military
13 11 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
14 9 (0.88%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.58%) Back Office
15 6 (0.58%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.58%) Police
16 5 (0.49%) Advertising
16 5 (0.49%) Aviation
16 5 (0.49%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 258 (25.12%) Analyst
2 194 (18.89%) Senior
3 176 (17.14%) Security Analyst
4 145 (14.12%) Security Engineer
5 144 (14.02%) Lead
6 127 (12.37%) Security Manager
7 107 (10.42%) Senior Analyst
8 84 (8.18%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 83 (8.08%) SOC Analyst
10 73 (7.11%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 71 (6.91%) Senior Security Analyst
12 67 (6.52%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 65 (6.33%) Architect
14 62 (6.04%) Operational Security Manager
14 62 (6.04%) Security Operations Manager
15 53 (5.16%) Operations Manager
16 47 (4.58%) SOC Engineer
17 44 (4.28%) Senior Security Engineer
18 42 (4.09%) Operations Analyst
18 42 (4.09%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (3.51%) Terraform
2 21 (2.04%) LDAP
3 16 (1.56%) ModSecurity
4 14 (1.36%) REST
5 8 (0.78%) Regular Expression
6 7 (0.68%) JSON
7 6 (0.58%) ARM Templates
7 6 (0.58%) SOAP
8 4 (0.39%) OpenID
8 4 (0.39%) SAML
9 3 (0.29%) HTML
9 3 (0.29%) Kafka
9 3 (0.29%) SailPoint
9 3 (0.29%) Smart Contracts
10 2 (0.19%) CSS
10 2 (0.19%) Elastic Stack
10 2 (0.19%) RESTful
10 2 (0.19%) XML
11 1 (0.097%) WPF
11 1 (0.097%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 232 (22.59%) Security Operations Centre
2 184 (17.92%) Security Posture
3 96 (9.35%) Cyber Threat
4 89 (8.67%) Cyber Defence
5 74 (7.21%) Management Information System
6 44 (4.28%) Data Centre
7 41 (3.99%) CSOC
8 39 (3.80%) Cloud Native
9 36 (3.51%) Onboarding
10 23 (2.24%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 18 (1.75%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.46%) Cloud Security Posture
13 14 (1.36%) Hybrid Cloud
14 13 (1.27%) AI Agents
15 12 (1.17%) Social Media
16 11 (1.07%) Cyberattack
16 11 (1.07%) PKI
17 10 (0.97%) Cyber Security Posture
17 10 (0.97%) Virtual Team
18 9 (0.88%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 98 (9.54%) Windows
2 72 (7.01%) Linux
3 12 (1.17%) Mac OS
3 12 (1.17%) Windows Server
4 9 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (0.78%) Unix
6 7 (0.68%) Windows 10
7 6 (0.58%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.49%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.19%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.097%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 607 (59.10%) Cybersecurity
2 370 (36.03%) Incident Response
3 361 (35.15%) SIEM
4 268 (26.10%) Vulnerability Management
5 248 (24.15%) Continuous Improvement
6 240 (23.37%) Information Security
7 189 (18.40%) Cloud Security
8 177 (17.23%) Threat Detection
9 160 (15.58%) Risk Management
10 137 (13.34%) Threat Intelligence
11 136 (13.24%) Problem-Solving
12 127 (12.37%) AI
13 120 (11.68%) Security Monitoring
14 119 (11.59%) Stakeholder Management
15 109 (10.61%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
16 96 (9.35%) Mentoring
17 95 (9.25%) Disaster Recovery
18 94 (9.15%) SOAR
19 93 (9.06%) Incident Management
20 85 (8.28%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 110 (10.71%) PowerShell
2 103 (10.03%) Python
3 51 (4.97%) Kusto Query Language
4 29 (2.82%) Bash
5 15 (1.46%) SQL
6 13 (1.27%) C++
7 12 (1.17%) Perl
8 10 (0.97%) Search Processing Language
9 9 (0.88%) Go
9 9 (0.88%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.78%) Bicep
11 6 (0.58%) C
11 6 (0.58%) Java
12 4 (0.39%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.29%) C#
14 1 (0.097%) MATLAB
14 1 (0.097%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 206 (20.06%) Security Cleared
2 159 (15.48%) CISSP
3 137 (13.34%) SC Cleared
4 84 (8.18%) CISM
5 82 (7.98%) Degree
6 78 (7.59%) CompTIA Security+
7 63 (6.13%) DV Cleared
8 48 (4.67%) Cisco Certification
9 44 (4.28%) GIAC
10 37 (3.60%) CEH
11 33 (3.21%) CompTIA CySA+
12 26 (2.53%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 26 (2.53%) AWS Certification
13 25 (2.43%) SANS
14 24 (2.34%) Computer Science Degree
15 23 (2.24%) GCIA
15 23 (2.24%) GCIH
16 19 (1.85%) Azure Certification
17 18 (1.75%) CCNP
17 18 (1.75%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 220 (21.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 166 (16.16%) NIST
3 73 (7.11%) Cyber Essentials
4 72 (7.01%) GDPR
5 69 (6.72%) GRC
6 48 (4.67%) PCI DSS
7 27 (2.63%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 23 (2.24%) SOC 2
9 22 (2.14%) NCSC
10 19 (1.85%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 18 (1.75%) SLA
12 12 (1.17%) Data Quality
13 6 (0.58%) NIST 800
14 5 (0.49%) Accessibility
15 3 (0.29%) COBIT
15 3 (0.29%) ISO 22301
15 3 (0.29%) ISO 9001
15 3 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 27005
16 2 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 41 (3.99%) Active Directory
2 13 (1.27%) Docker
3 10 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.88%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.19%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.19%) NFS
5 2 (0.19%) Snort
5 2 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.097%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 38 (3.70%) Kubernetes
1 38 (3.70%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (3.51%) Single Sign-On
3 30 (2.92%) QRadar
4 15 (1.46%) SCCM
5 9 (0.88%) Ansible
6 7 (0.68%) FortiGate
6 7 (0.68%) Graylog
6 7 (0.68%) Nessus
7 5 (0.49%) McAfee ePO
7 5 (0.49%) Nagios
7 5 (0.49%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.39%) Kibana
8 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Satellite
9 3 (0.29%) CASB
9 3 (0.29%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 3 (0.29%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 3 (0.29%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
10 2 (0.19%) Istio
10 2 (0.19%) Puppet
Vendors
1 275 (26.78%) Microsoft
2 86 (8.37%) Splunk
3 67 (6.52%) Palo Alto
4 61 (5.94%) Cisco
5 57 (5.55%) CrowdStrike
6 55 (5.36%) Qualys
7 45 (4.38%) ServiceNow
8 32 (3.12%) Google
9 26 (2.53%) Aruba
10 24 (2.34%) Fortinet
11 22 (2.14%) Tenable
12 16 (1.56%) OpenAI
13 15 (1.46%) Rapid7
14 14 (1.36%) Meraki
15 12 (1.17%) VMware
15 12 (1.17%) Zscaler
16 9 (0.88%) Carbon Black
17 8 (0.78%) CyberArk
17 8 (0.78%) iManage
17 8 (0.78%) SolarWinds