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

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 271 268 294
Rank change year-on-year -3 +26 -3
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 484 595 656
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.77% 1.13% 0.98%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.96% 1.24% 1.10%
Number of salaries quoted 284 386 532
10th Percentile £42,150 £42,500 £37,600
25th Percentile £51,250 £50,294 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £69,875 £65,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.50% +4.00% -7.41%
75th Percentile £82,500 £78,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £110,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £64,250 £57,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +12.72% -5.00% -

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 50,353 48,156 59,526
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.28% 91.19% 88.97%
Number of salaries quoted 29,725 23,186 46,025
10th Percentile £28,675 £35,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £76,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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 25 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 25 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 +7 448 £70,000 +7.69% 202
UK excluding London +17 284 £64,250 +12.72% 184
Work from Home +56 230 £65,000 +4.00% 105
London -14 174 £76,250 +1.67% 49
South East +45 105 £62,500 -6.02% 63
North of England -35 54 £65,500 +30.60% 31
Midlands +31 52 £52,750 -1.75% 26
West Midlands +27 34 £51,500 -4.08% 13
South West +7 29 £75,000 +41.51% 25
North West +4 27 £54,000 +8.00% 14
East of England +9 23 £80,000 +33.33% 24
Yorkshire -55 19 £70,000 +33.33% 10
East Midlands - 18 £60,000 - 13
Scotland -44 13 £72,500 +16.00% 10
North East +5 8 £105,000 +133.33% 8
Wales +7 6 £48,250 -44.86% 9
Northern Ireland -10 3 £32,500 -35.40% 2

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 9 (1.86%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (1.45%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.21%) Confluence
3 1 (0.21%) IIS
Applications
1 4 (0.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 110 (22.73%) Azure
2 70 (14.46%) AWS
3 49 (10.12%) Microsoft 365
4 33 (6.82%) GCP
5 30 (6.20%) Azure Sentinel
6 22 (4.55%) Entra ID
7 15 (3.10%) SaaS
8 12 (2.48%) PaaS
9 10 (2.07%) Microsoft Purview
9 10 (2.07%) Mimecast
10 8 (1.65%) GitHub
10 8 (1.65%) IaaS
11 7 (1.45%) GitHub Actions
12 6 (1.24%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.24%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.24%) Tessian
13 4 (0.83%) Datadog
13 4 (0.83%) Power Platform
14 3 (0.62%) OneDrive
15 2 (0.41%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 82 (16.94%) Firewall
2 60 (12.40%) Network Security
3 36 (7.44%) VPN
4 31 (6.40%) DNS
5 22 (4.55%) TCP/IP
6 21 (4.34%) Intrusion Detection
7 20 (4.13%) DHCP
8 11 (2.27%) SAN
9 8 (1.65%) Wireshark
10 5 (1.03%) WAN
11 4 (0.83%) LAN
12 3 (0.62%) Internet
12 3 (0.62%) SCCP
12 3 (0.62%) SSL
12 3 (0.62%) Wireless
13 2 (0.41%) DKIM
13 2 (0.41%) DMARC
13 2 (0.41%) HTTP
14 1 (0.21%) FTP
14 1 (0.21%) IPv6
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.62%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.62%) Power BI
2 2 (0.41%) Metadata
3 1 (0.21%) Apache Cassandra
3 1 (0.21%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.21%) MySQL
3 1 (0.21%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.21%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 4 (0.83%) CircleCI
1 4 (0.83%) Jenkins
2 2 (0.41%) JIRA
3 1 (0.21%) Burp Suite
3 1 (0.21%) Git
3 1 (0.21%) IDA Disassembler
3 1 (0.21%) MSBuild
General
1 135 (27.89%) Social Skills
2 93 (19.21%) Finance
3 65 (13.43%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (7.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 25 (5.17%) Legal
6 22 (4.55%) Law
7 19 (3.93%) Banking
8 15 (3.10%) Retail
9 11 (2.27%) Financial Institution
9 11 (2.27%) Public Sector
10 9 (1.86%) Back Office
11 8 (1.65%) Advertising
11 8 (1.65%) Influencing Skills
12 7 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
13 5 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.03%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.62%) Aviation
15 2 (0.41%) Manufacturing
15 2 (0.41%) Marketing
15 2 (0.41%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 121 (25.00%) Lead
2 94 (19.42%) Analyst
3 65 (13.43%) Security Analyst
4 61 (12.60%) Security Engineer
5 56 (11.57%) Senior
6 45 (9.30%) Security Manager
7 30 (6.20%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 28 (5.79%) SOC Analyst
9 27 (5.58%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 22 (4.55%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 20 (4.13%) Cybersecurity Engineer
11 20 (4.13%) Operational Security Manager
11 20 (4.13%) Operations Manager
11 20 (4.13%) Security Operations Manager
12 19 (3.93%) Senior Security Engineer
13 18 (3.72%) Information Analyst
13 18 (3.72%) Information Security Analyst
14 17 (3.51%) Senior Analyst
14 17 (3.51%) SOC Manager
15 16 (3.31%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (1.45%) ARM Templates
2 4 (0.83%) Elastic Stack
2 4 (0.83%) OpenTelemetry
3 2 (0.41%) Django
3 2 (0.41%) HTML
3 2 (0.41%) LDAP
3 2 (0.41%) OAuth
3 2 (0.41%) OpenID
3 2 (0.41%) REST
3 2 (0.41%) SAML
4 1 (0.21%) .NET
4 1 (0.21%) ASP.NET
4 1 (0.21%) EDI
4 1 (0.21%) Flash
4 1 (0.21%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 169 (34.92%) Security Operations Centre
2 124 (25.62%) Cyber Threat
3 79 (16.32%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 72 (14.88%) Operational Technology
5 64 (13.22%) Security Posture
6 23 (4.75%) Cyber Defence
7 21 (4.34%) Management Information System
8 16 (3.31%) Cloud Native
9 10 (2.07%) Data Centre
9 10 (2.07%) Onboarding
9 10 (2.07%) Virtual Team
10 9 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.86%) Cyberattack
11 8 (1.65%) Data Protection Act
11 8 (1.65%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (1.45%) Cyber Security Posture
12 7 (1.45%) Insider Threat
13 6 (1.24%) Data Structures
13 6 (1.24%) Enterprise Software
14 5 (1.03%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 79 (16.32%) Windows
2 51 (10.54%) Linux
3 29 (5.99%) Windows Server
4 12 (2.48%) Windows Server 2019
5 11 (2.27%) Windows 10
5 11 (2.27%) Windows Server 2012
6 5 (1.03%) Mac OS
6 5 (1.03%) Unix
7 1 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 202 (41.74%) Incident Response
2 198 (40.91%) Cybersecurity
3 160 (33.06%) SIEM
4 146 (30.17%) Vulnerability Management
5 145 (29.96%) Threat Intelligence
6 123 (25.41%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 107 (22.11%) Risk Management
8 103 (21.28%) Mentoring
9 102 (21.07%) Information Security
10 97 (20.04%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 96 (19.83%) Continuous Improvement
12 95 (19.63%) Roadmaps
13 94 (19.42%) Stakeholder Management
14 90 (18.60%) ITIL
15 84 (17.36%) Cyber Intelligence
16 81 (16.74%) Business Strategy
17 78 (16.12%) Coaching
18 72 (14.88%) Technology Roadmap
19 70 (14.46%) Problem-Solving
20 69 (14.26%) Change Advisory Board
Programming Languages
1 56 (11.57%) PowerShell
2 49 (10.12%) Python
3 19 (3.93%) Bash
4 18 (3.72%) Kusto Query Language
5 14 (2.89%) SQL
6 8 (1.65%) Bicep
7 2 (0.41%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.41%) Perl
7 2 (0.41%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.21%) C
8 1 (0.21%) C#
8 1 (0.21%) C++
8 1 (0.21%) PHP
Qualifications
1 78 (16.12%) CISSP
2 57 (11.78%) Degree
2 57 (11.78%) Security Cleared
3 43 (8.88%) SC Cleared
4 42 (8.68%) CompTIA Security+
5 32 (6.61%) Cisco Certification
6 31 (6.40%) CISM
7 25 (5.17%) GIAC
8 22 (4.55%) GCIH
9 19 (3.93%) CEH
10 18 (3.72%) CCNA
11 16 (3.31%) GCIA
11 16 (3.31%) Microsoft Certification
12 15 (3.10%) CCNP
13 14 (2.89%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 14 (2.89%) Computer Science Degree
14 13 (2.69%) CompTIA CySA+
14 13 (2.69%) DV Cleared
15 11 (2.27%) Azure Certification
15 11 (2.27%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 173 (35.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 163 (33.68%) NIST
3 68 (14.05%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 65 (13.43%) GDPR
5 57 (11.78%) Cyber Essentials
6 34 (7.02%) PCI DSS
7 30 (6.20%) GRC
8 24 (4.96%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 16 (3.31%) SOC 2
10 13 (2.69%) NCSC
11 12 (2.48%) SLA
12 5 (1.03%) Accessibility
12 5 (1.03%) QA
13 4 (0.83%) Data Quality
13 4 (0.83%) SOC 3
14 3 (0.62%) COBIT
14 3 (0.62%) ITGC
15 2 (0.41%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 1 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 31 (6.40%) Active Directory
2 15 (3.10%) Docker
2 15 (3.10%) VMware ESXi
3 11 (2.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.24%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.21%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 24 (4.96%) Terraform
2 21 (4.34%) Kubernetes
2 21 (4.34%) SCCM
3 19 (3.93%) QRadar
4 18 (3.72%) Microsoft Intune
5 12 (2.48%) Ansible
6 11 (2.27%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.86%) CSIRT
7 9 (1.86%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.24%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 4 (0.83%) CASB
9 4 (0.83%) Grafana
9 4 (0.83%) Nessus
9 4 (0.83%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.62%) ArcSight ESM
10 3 (0.62%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
Vendors
1 119 (24.59%) Microsoft
2 34 (7.02%) ServiceNow
3 30 (6.20%) Splunk
4 26 (5.37%) VMware
5 22 (4.55%) SolarWinds
6 21 (4.34%) CrowdStrike
7 11 (2.27%) 3PAR
7 11 (2.27%) NetApp
7 11 (2.27%) Veeam
8 10 (2.07%) Tenable
9 9 (1.86%) Qualys
10 7 (1.45%) Palo Alto
11 6 (1.24%) Google
12 5 (1.03%) LogRhythm
13 4 (0.83%) ArcSight
13 4 (0.83%) Foundry
13 4 (0.83%) McAfee
13 4 (0.83%) Palantir
14 3 (0.62%) LogLogic
14 3 (0.62%) Rapid7