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 9 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 235 374 336
Rank change year-on-year +139 -38 -22
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 824 346 841
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.84% 0.71% 0.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.14% 0.78% 0.99%
Number of salaries quoted 612 252 604
10th Percentile £42,000 £41,275 £37,500
25th Percentile £53,750 £48,889 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +4.17% -4.00%
75th Percentile £82,500 £77,500 £80,313
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% +1.85% -6.90%

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 72,161 44,144 84,574
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.86% 90.58% 82.41%
Number of salaries quoted 49,802 24,628 59,539
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,822 £29,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +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 9 July 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 9 July 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 +130 738 £70,000 +12.00% 270
UK excluding London +104 483 £65,000 +18.18% 196
London +105 285 £75,000 -4.76% 112
Work from Home +94 246 £70,000 +16.67% 113
South East +65 154 £60,000 -7.69% 55
North of England +44 120 £70,000 +16.67% 41
Midlands +1 78 £60,000 +9.09% 24
North West +49 74 £75,000 +36.36% 29
East Midlands +13 45 £53,750 -12.07% 15
East of England -7 40 £62,500 +0.81% 25
Yorkshire -8 40 £50,000 -20.00% 11
South West -46 38 £67,500 +32.20% 39
West Midlands -34 33 £67,500 +22.73% 9
Wales -21 31 £25,000 -54.55% 8
Scotland +22 21 £75,000 +30.43% 9
North East -42 6 £75,000 +30.43% 1
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 4

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 (1.21%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.36%) Apache Spark
2 3 (0.36%) Confluence
3 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.36%) Distributed Ledger
2 1 (0.12%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 181 (21.97%) Azure
2 101 (12.26%) AWS
3 80 (9.71%) Microsoft 365
4 67 (8.13%) Azure Sentinel
5 56 (6.80%) Entra ID
6 44 (5.34%) GCP
7 24 (2.91%) SaaS
8 15 (1.82%) Microsoft Purview
8 15 (1.82%) Mimecast
9 14 (1.70%) Anthropic Claude
9 14 (1.70%) Azure Logic Apps
10 12 (1.46%) Zapier
11 10 (1.21%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (1.21%) IaaS
11 10 (1.21%) PaaS
12 9 (1.09%) GitHub
12 9 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
13 8 (0.97%) Amazon GuardDuty
14 6 (0.73%) Cloudflare
14 6 (0.73%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 126 (15.29%) Firewall
2 84 (10.19%) Network Security
3 41 (4.98%) WAN
4 39 (4.73%) TCP/IP
5 38 (4.61%) LAN
6 36 (4.37%) VPN
7 33 (4.00%) DNS
8 22 (2.67%) Wi-Fi
9 20 (2.43%) Cisco Nexus
10 19 (2.31%) Internet
11 18 (2.18%) Intrusion Detection
12 17 (2.06%) HTTP
13 11 (1.33%) FTP
13 11 (1.33%) SMTP
14 10 (1.21%) Cisco ISE
15 8 (0.97%) SSL
16 7 (0.85%) SD-WAN
17 5 (0.61%) NGFW
18 4 (0.49%) HTTPS
19 3 (0.36%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.49%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.36%) Hadoop
2 3 (0.36%) MongoDB
2 3 (0.36%) NoSQL
3 2 (0.24%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (0.24%) Power BI
3 2 (0.24%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.12%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 7 (0.85%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.49%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.49%) CircleCI
2 4 (0.49%) JIRA
2 4 (0.49%) Metasploit
3 1 (0.12%) Yeoman
General
1 172 (20.87%) Social Skills
2 104 (12.62%) Finance
3 103 (12.50%) Analytical Skills
4 51 (6.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 42 (5.10%) Law
6 34 (4.13%) Legal
6 34 (4.13%) Public Sector
7 29 (3.52%) Retail
8 17 (2.06%) Influencing Skills
9 16 (1.94%) Banking
10 14 (1.70%) Aerospace
11 11 (1.33%) Financial Institution
12 6 (0.73%) Advertising
12 6 (0.73%) Back Office
12 6 (0.73%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (0.73%) Police
13 5 (0.61%) Aviation
13 5 (0.61%) Presentation Skills
14 4 (0.49%) Digital Health
14 4 (0.49%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 197 (23.91%) Analyst
2 145 (17.60%) Security Analyst
3 129 (15.66%) Senior
4 109 (13.23%) Security Manager
5 100 (12.14%) Security Engineer
6 92 (11.17%) Lead
7 82 (9.95%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 69 (8.37%) Senior Analyst
9 56 (6.80%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 55 (6.67%) SOC Engineer
11 54 (6.55%) Operational Security Manager
11 54 (6.55%) Security Operations Manager
12 51 (6.19%) Senior Security Analyst
13 50 (6.07%) Operations Manager
13 50 (6.07%) SOC Analyst
14 49 (5.95%) Architect
15 40 (4.85%) Cybersecurity Engineer
16 37 (4.49%) Security Specialist
17 35 (4.25%) Operations Analyst
18 33 (4.00%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (1.58%) LDAP
2 7 (0.85%) ARM Templates
3 6 (0.73%) Regular Expression
4 4 (0.49%) OpenID
4 4 (0.49%) REST
4 4 (0.49%) SAML
5 3 (0.36%) JSON
5 3 (0.36%) Kafka
5 3 (0.36%) Smart Contracts
6 2 (0.24%) RESTful
7 1 (0.12%) EDI
7 1 (0.12%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.12%) FFmpeg
7 1 (0.12%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.12%) HTML
7 1 (0.12%) SailPoint
7 1 (0.12%) TAPI
7 1 (0.12%) Unreal Engine
7 1 (0.12%) WebRTC
7 1 (0.12%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 202 (24.51%) Security Operations Centre
2 141 (17.11%) Security Posture
3 77 (9.34%) Cyber Defence
4 54 (6.55%) Cyber Threat
5 52 (6.31%) Management Information System
6 39 (4.73%) CSOC
7 34 (4.13%) Cloud Native
8 29 (3.52%) Onboarding
9 18 (2.18%) Data Centre
10 14 (1.70%) Cloud Security Posture
11 13 (1.58%) Cyberattack
11 13 (1.58%) Hybrid Cloud
11 13 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
12 9 (1.09%) AI Agents
12 9 (1.09%) Client/Server
13 7 (0.85%) Virtual Team
14 6 (0.73%) Analytical Mindset
14 6 (0.73%) Cyber Kill Chain
14 6 (0.73%) Insider Threat
14 6 (0.73%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 95 (11.53%) Windows
2 66 (8.01%) Linux
3 15 (1.82%) Windows 10
4 12 (1.46%) Unix
5 5 (0.61%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.49%) Kali Linux
7 3 (0.36%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.12%) CentOS
8 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 463 (56.19%) Cybersecurity
2 311 (37.74%) SIEM
3 292 (35.44%) Incident Response
4 186 (22.57%) Continuous Improvement
5 179 (21.72%) Vulnerability Management
6 170 (20.63%) Cloud Security
7 153 (18.57%) Information Security
8 126 (15.29%) Threat Intelligence
9 112 (13.59%) Risk Management
10 111 (13.47%) Threat Detection
11 108 (13.11%) Problem-Solving
12 105 (12.74%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
13 88 (10.68%) SOAR
14 77 (9.34%) AI
15 75 (9.10%) Security Monitoring
16 74 (8.98%) MITRE ATT&CK
17 70 (8.50%) Penetration Testing
18 69 (8.37%) Roadmaps
19 68 (8.25%) Mentoring
20 66 (8.01%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 108 (13.11%) PowerShell
2 91 (11.04%) Python
3 34 (4.13%) Kusto Query Language
4 24 (2.91%) Bash
5 11 (1.33%) SQL
6 9 (1.09%) Bicep
6 9 (1.09%) C++
7 8 (0.97%) Perl
8 7 (0.85%) Search Processing Language
9 5 (0.61%) C
9 5 (0.61%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.36%) C#
10 3 (0.36%) Java
11 2 (0.24%) Go
11 2 (0.24%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.12%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 164 (19.90%) Security Cleared
2 122 (14.81%) SC Cleared
3 110 (13.35%) CISSP
4 70 (8.50%) CompTIA Security+
5 62 (7.52%) Degree
6 55 (6.67%) CISM
7 51 (6.19%) GIAC
8 35 (4.25%) CEH
8 35 (4.25%) Cisco Certification
9 34 (4.13%) DV Cleared
10 26 (3.16%) SANS
11 24 (2.91%) Computer Science Degree
12 23 (2.79%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 23 (2.79%) CompTIA CySA+
13 22 (2.67%) GCIH
14 21 (2.55%) CISA
14 21 (2.55%) CREST Certified
15 20 (2.43%) GCIA
16 18 (2.18%) CCSP
17 16 (1.94%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 171 (20.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 156 (18.93%) NIST
3 75 (9.10%) GDPR
4 53 (6.43%) GRC
5 50 (6.07%) Cyber Essentials
6 37 (4.49%) PCI DSS
7 24 (2.91%) SOC 2
8 21 (2.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (2.06%) NCSC
10 16 (1.94%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 10 (1.21%) SLA
12 5 (0.61%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 4 (0.49%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.36%) COBIT
14 3 (0.36%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.36%) SOC 3
15 2 (0.24%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (0.24%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.24%) PMO
System Software
1 24 (2.91%) Active Directory
2 13 (1.58%) Docker
3 6 (0.73%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.24%) Firmware
6 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.12%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 34 (4.13%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (3.88%) Terraform
3 27 (3.28%) QRadar
4 26 (3.16%) Kubernetes
5 24 (2.91%) SCCM
6 17 (2.06%) Single Sign-On
7 15 (1.82%) Ansible
8 7 (0.85%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.73%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 6 (0.73%) Graylog
10 4 (0.49%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 4 (0.49%) Grafana
11 3 (0.36%) CASB
11 3 (0.36%) Kibana
11 3 (0.36%) Nessus
11 3 (0.36%) Red Hat Satellite
12 2 (0.24%) vCenter Server
13 1 (0.12%) CSIRT
13 1 (0.12%) Host Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 235 (28.52%) Microsoft
2 70 (8.50%) Splunk
3 49 (5.95%) ServiceNow
4 47 (5.70%) Qualys
5 43 (5.22%) CrowdStrike
6 39 (4.73%) Cisco
7 32 (3.88%) Palo Alto
8 23 (2.79%) Tenable
9 17 (2.06%) Aruba
9 17 (2.06%) Google
10 16 (1.94%) OpenAI
10 16 (1.94%) SolarWinds
11 15 (1.82%) Fortinet
12 13 (1.58%) Rapid7
13 10 (1.21%) Sophos
14 9 (1.09%) iManage
15 8 (0.97%) Meraki
15 8 (0.97%) Zscaler
16 7 (0.85%) Carbon Black
16 7 (0.85%) Okta