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 7 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 265 261 291
Rank change year-on-year -4 +30 -4
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 465 616 574
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.78% 1.13% 1.07%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.96% 1.26% 1.18%
Number of salaries quoted 272 409 454
10th Percentile £41,275 £42,500 £37,800
25th Percentile £51,188 £47,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £68,000 £65,000 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% - -3.70%
75th Percentile £82,500 £82,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £104,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £62,500 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +13.64% -8.33% -2.04%

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 48,581 48,989 48,580
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 81.32% 90.25% 90.41%
Number of salaries quoted 28,539 24,001 36,978
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £78,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% -4.55%

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 7 January 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 7 January 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 +26 433 £69,384 +6.74% 153
UK excluding London +18 283 £62,500 +13.64% 110
Work from Home +44 223 £65,000 +8.33% 67
London -27 158 £77,500 +6.90% 52
South East +51 108 £62,500 -6.02% 39
Midlands +45 58 £52,000 -2.03% 22
North of England -41 50 £65,000 +29.20% 15
West Midlands +31 40 £50,000 -5.80% 14
North West +10 27 £54,000 +8.00% 8
South West +12 25 £75,000 +11.11% 11
East of England +11 24 £75,000 +25.00% 19
East Midlands - 18 £60,000 - 8
Yorkshire -52 14 £65,000 +23.81% 4
Scotland -42 10 £75,000 +33.33% 5
North East +8 9 £105,000 +108.71% 3
Wales +5 6 £48,250 -31.37% 2
Northern Ireland -6 3 £32,500 -35.40%

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 10 (2.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (1.94%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.22%) IIS
Applications
1 4 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.22%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 102 (21.94%) Azure
2 67 (14.41%) AWS
3 45 (9.68%) Microsoft 365
4 30 (6.45%) GCP
5 29 (6.24%) Azure Sentinel
6 21 (4.52%) Entra ID
7 14 (3.01%) SaaS
8 11 (2.37%) Mimecast
8 11 (2.37%) PaaS
9 10 (2.15%) Microsoft Purview
10 7 (1.51%) IaaS
10 7 (1.51%) Tessian
11 6 (1.29%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (1.29%) GitHub
12 5 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.65%) AWS CloudFormation
13 3 (0.65%) OneDrive
14 2 (0.43%) Amazon GuardDuty
14 2 (0.43%) Datadog
14 2 (0.43%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 82 (17.63%) Firewall
2 60 (12.90%) Network Security
3 34 (7.31%) VPN
4 33 (7.10%) DNS
5 24 (5.16%) TCP/IP
6 22 (4.73%) DHCP
6 22 (4.73%) Intrusion Detection
7 14 (3.01%) SAN
8 7 (1.51%) Wireshark
9 6 (1.29%) WAN
10 4 (0.86%) LAN
10 4 (0.86%) Wireless
11 3 (0.65%) DMARC
11 3 (0.65%) Internet
11 3 (0.65%) SSL
12 2 (0.43%) DKIM
12 2 (0.43%) HTTP
12 2 (0.43%) Wi-Fi
13 1 (0.22%) SCCP
13 1 (0.22%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.65%) Elasticsearch
2 2 (0.43%) Metadata
3 1 (0.22%) Apache Cassandra
3 1 (0.22%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.22%) MySQL
3 1 (0.22%) Power BI
3 1 (0.22%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.22%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (0.43%) CircleCI
1 2 (0.43%) Jenkins
1 2 (0.43%) JIRA
2 1 (0.22%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.22%) Git
2 1 (0.22%) IDA Disassembler
2 1 (0.22%) MSBuild
General
1 135 (29.03%) Social Skills
2 87 (18.71%) Finance
3 68 (14.62%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (6.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 25 (5.38%) Legal
6 21 (4.52%) Law
7 17 (3.66%) Banking
8 14 (3.01%) Public Sector
9 12 (2.58%) Retail
10 10 (2.15%) Financial Institution
11 8 (1.72%) Advertising
12 7 (1.51%) Back Office
12 7 (1.51%) Documentation Skills
12 7 (1.51%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (1.08%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.65%) Police
15 2 (0.43%) Local Government
15 2 (0.43%) Manufacturing
15 2 (0.43%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 117 (25.16%) Lead
2 92 (19.78%) Analyst
3 62 (13.33%) Security Engineer
4 60 (12.90%) Senior
5 59 (12.69%) Security Analyst
6 43 (9.25%) Security Manager
7 29 (6.24%) SOC Analyst
8 26 (5.59%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 24 (5.16%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 24 (5.16%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 23 (4.95%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 23 (4.95%) Operations Manager
11 22 (4.73%) Senior Analyst
12 21 (4.52%) Operational Security Manager
12 21 (4.52%) Security Operations Manager
13 20 (4.30%) Senior Security Engineer
14 17 (3.66%) Senior Security Analyst
15 16 (3.44%) Information Analyst
15 16 (3.44%) Information Security Analyst
16 15 (3.23%) SOC Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.29%) ARM Templates
2 5 (1.08%) Elastic Stack
3 4 (0.86%) OpenTelemetry
4 3 (0.65%) HTML
5 2 (0.43%) .NET
5 2 (0.43%) Django
5 2 (0.43%) LDAP
5 2 (0.43%) OAuth
5 2 (0.43%) OpenID
5 2 (0.43%) REST
5 2 (0.43%) SAML
5 2 (0.43%) Software Packaging
6 1 (0.22%) ASP.NET
6 1 (0.22%) AWS CDK
6 1 (0.22%) Flash
6 1 (0.22%) React
6 1 (0.22%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 167 (35.91%) Security Operations Centre
2 125 (26.88%) Cyber Threat
3 77 (16.56%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 72 (15.48%) Operational Technology
5 63 (13.55%) Security Posture
6 20 (4.30%) Cyber Defence
6 20 (4.30%) Management Information System
7 13 (2.80%) Cloud Native
8 10 (2.15%) Analytical Mindset
8 10 (2.15%) Onboarding
8 10 (2.15%) Virtual Team
9 9 (1.94%) Cyberattack
9 9 (1.94%) Data Centre
9 9 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.72%) Hybrid Cloud
10 8 (1.72%) Insider Threat
11 6 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (1.08%) Cyber Security Posture
12 5 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
12 5 (1.08%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 76 (16.34%) Windows
2 46 (9.89%) Linux
3 30 (6.45%) Windows Server
4 14 (3.01%) Windows Server 2019
5 13 (2.80%) Windows Server 2012
6 9 (1.94%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.65%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.65%) Unix
8 1 (0.22%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (41.29%) Cybersecurity
2 191 (41.08%) Incident Response
3 160 (34.41%) SIEM
4 142 (30.54%) Threat Intelligence
5 141 (30.32%) Vulnerability Management
6 119 (25.59%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 106 (22.80%) Information Security
8 104 (22.37%) Mentoring
8 104 (22.37%) Risk Management
9 94 (20.22%) Roadmaps
9 94 (20.22%) Stakeholder Management
10 93 (20.00%) ITIL
10 93 (20.00%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 85 (18.28%) Continuous Improvement
12 84 (18.06%) Cyber Intelligence
13 82 (17.63%) Business Strategy
14 75 (16.13%) Coaching
15 72 (15.48%) Problem-Solving
15 72 (15.48%) Technology Roadmap
16 69 (14.84%) Change Advisory Board
Programming Languages
1 48 (10.32%) PowerShell
2 47 (10.11%) Python
3 19 (4.09%) Bash
3 19 (4.09%) Kusto Query Language
3 19 (4.09%) SQL
4 7 (1.51%) Bicep
5 4 (0.86%) Perl
6 2 (0.43%) C#
6 2 (0.43%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.22%) C
7 1 (0.22%) C++
7 1 (0.22%) Java
7 1 (0.22%) PHP
7 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 79 (16.99%) CISSP
2 63 (13.55%) Degree
3 59 (12.69%) Security Cleared
4 46 (9.89%) CompTIA Security+
5 43 (9.25%) SC Cleared
6 33 (7.10%) Cisco Certification
7 31 (6.67%) CISM
8 22 (4.73%) GCIH
8 22 (4.73%) GIAC
9 21 (4.52%) CCNA
10 19 (4.09%) GCIA
11 18 (3.87%) CCNP
11 18 (3.87%) CEH
12 15 (3.23%) DV Cleared
13 14 (3.01%) Computer Science Degree
13 14 (3.01%) Microsoft Certification
14 12 (2.58%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 11 (2.37%) CompTIA CySA+
16 10 (2.15%) Azure Certification
16 10 (2.15%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (35.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 154 (33.12%) NIST
3 68 (14.62%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 62 (13.33%) GDPR
5 58 (12.47%) Cyber Essentials
6 27 (5.81%) PCI DSS
7 24 (5.16%) GRC
8 22 (4.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 13 (2.80%) SOC 2
10 11 (2.37%) SLA
11 10 (2.15%) NCSC
12 6 (1.29%) Accessibility
13 5 (1.08%) QA
14 4 (0.86%) Data Quality
15 3 (0.65%) ITGC
15 3 (0.65%) SOC 3
16 2 (0.43%) ISO 22301
16 2 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
17 1 (0.22%) COBIT
17 1 (0.22%) HIPAA
System Software
1 33 (7.10%) Active Directory
2 17 (3.66%) VMware ESXi
3 12 (2.58%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.15%) Docker
5 7 (1.51%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.22%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 22 (4.73%) SCCM
2 19 (4.09%) QRadar
2 19 (4.09%) Terraform
3 18 (3.87%) Microsoft Intune
4 17 (3.66%) Kubernetes
5 13 (2.80%) vCenter Server
6 11 (2.37%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (2.15%) CSIRT
8 7 (1.51%) Ansible
9 6 (1.29%) Nessus
10 5 (1.08%) Computer Incident Response Team
11 4 (0.86%) CASB
11 4 (0.86%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
11 4 (0.86%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.65%) ArcSight ESM
13 2 (0.43%) Grafana
14 1 (0.22%) Kibana
Vendors
1 118 (25.38%) Microsoft
2 32 (6.88%) Splunk
3 31 (6.67%) ServiceNow
4 29 (6.24%) VMware
5 23 (4.95%) CrowdStrike
6 22 (4.73%) SolarWinds
7 13 (2.80%) 3PAR
7 13 (2.80%) NetApp
7 13 (2.80%) Veeam
8 11 (2.37%) Tenable
9 9 (1.94%) Palo Alto
9 9 (1.94%) Qualys
10 5 (1.08%) ArcSight
10 5 (1.08%) LogRhythm
11 4 (0.86%) Cisco
11 4 (0.86%) Foundry
11 4 (0.86%) McAfee
11 4 (0.86%) Palantir
11 4 (0.86%) Rapid7
12 3 (0.65%) Google