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 2 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 218 356 276
Rank change year-on-year +138 -80 -3
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 1,036 367 745
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.88% 0.74% 0.99%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.20% 0.83% 1.21%
Number of salaries quoted 698 266 428
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 £57,250 £55,000
% change year-on-year +13.54% +4.09% -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 86,437 44,202 61,341
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.18% 89.12% 81.82%
Number of salaries quoted 59,483 24,460 33,440
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £41,500 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £58,465
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -5.93% -2.56%
75th Percentile £78,750 £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 2 October 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 2 October 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 +121 934 £70,000 +7.69% 948
UK excluding London +103 618 £65,000 +13.54% 543
London +98 370 £77,500 - 483
Work from Home +83 282 £70,000 +3.70% 400
South East +79 224 £60,000 -5.88% 172
North of England +27 131 £70,000 +21.74% 132
North West +36 92 £75,000 +50.00% 75
Midlands -3 92 £65,000 +23.81% 55
East Midlands +18 61 £65,000 +6.34% 28
South West -31 53 £62,500 +22.41% 68
East of England -18 51 £61,250 -14.63% 36
Yorkshire -5 39 £62,500 -3.85% 45
Wales -42 36 £45,000 -18.18% 11
West Midlands -52 31 £67,500 +28.57% 27
Scotland +30 29 £75,000 +13.12% 50
Northern Ireland - 4 £42,500 - 25

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 (1.74%) SharePoint
2 10 (0.97%) 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
1 223 (21.53%) Azure
2 136 (13.13%) AWS
3 107 (10.33%) Microsoft 365
4 102 (9.85%) Entra ID
5 84 (8.11%) Azure Sentinel
6 66 (6.37%) GCP
7 35 (3.38%) Microsoft Purview
8 26 (2.51%) Azure Logic Apps
8 26 (2.51%) SaaS
9 20 (1.93%) Mimecast
10 14 (1.35%) Anthropic Claude
11 12 (1.16%) AWS CloudFormation
11 12 (1.16%) IaaS
11 12 (1.16%) Zapier
12 9 (0.87%) Microsoft Copilot
12 9 (0.87%) PaaS
13 8 (0.77%) Amazon GuardDuty
13 8 (0.77%) Cloudflare
14 6 (0.58%) Google Workspace
14 6 (0.58%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 164 (15.83%) Firewall
2 108 (10.42%) Network Security
3 59 (5.69%) WAN
4 57 (5.50%) LAN
5 53 (5.12%) VPN
6 50 (4.83%) TCP/IP
7 39 (3.76%) DNS
8 31 (2.99%) Wi-Fi
9 27 (2.61%) Internet
10 25 (2.41%) Cisco Nexus
11 24 (2.32%) HTTP
12 23 (2.22%) Intrusion Detection
13 16 (1.54%) SMTP
14 15 (1.45%) FTP
15 14 (1.35%) Cisco ISE
15 14 (1.35%) SSL
16 8 (0.77%) Wireless
17 6 (0.58%) IPsec
17 6 (0.58%) NGFW
17 6 (0.58%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.48%) 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 (0.87%) 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 (20.27%) Social Skills
2 128 (12.36%) Finance
3 116 (11.20%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (5.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 51 (4.92%) Law
6 49 (4.73%) Legal
7 48 (4.63%) Public Sector
8 42 (4.05%) Aerospace
9 40 (3.86%) Retail
10 28 (2.70%) Banking
11 23 (2.22%) Influencing Skills
12 21 (2.03%) Military
13 11 (1.06%) Documentation Skills
14 9 (0.87%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.58%) Advertising
15 6 (0.58%) Back Office
15 6 (0.58%) Investment Banking
16 5 (0.48%) Aviation
16 5 (0.48%) Manufacturing
16 5 (0.48%) Police
Job Titles
1 260 (25.10%) Analyst
2 198 (19.11%) Senior
3 177 (17.08%) Security Analyst
4 149 (14.38%) Security Engineer
5 145 (14.00%) Lead
6 128 (12.36%) Security Manager
7 108 (10.42%) Senior Analyst
8 85 (8.20%) SOC Analyst
9 84 (8.11%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 74 (7.14%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 71 (6.85%) Senior Security Analyst
12 68 (6.56%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 66 (6.37%) Architect
14 61 (5.89%) Operational Security Manager
14 61 (5.89%) Security Operations Manager
15 54 (5.21%) Operations Manager
16 48 (4.63%) SOC Engineer
17 44 (4.25%) Senior Security Engineer
18 43 (4.15%) Cloud Engineer
18 43 (4.15%) Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (3.76%) Terraform
2 21 (2.03%) LDAP
3 16 (1.54%) ModSecurity
4 15 (1.45%) REST
5 8 (0.77%) ARM Templates
6 7 (0.68%) JSON
6 7 (0.68%) Regular Expression
6 7 (0.68%) SOAP
7 4 (0.39%) OpenID
7 4 (0.39%) SAML
8 3 (0.29%) HTML
8 3 (0.29%) Kafka
8 3 (0.29%) SailPoint
8 3 (0.29%) Smart Contracts
9 2 (0.19%) CSS
9 2 (0.19%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.19%) RESTful
9 2 (0.19%) XML
10 1 (0.097%) WPF
10 1 (0.097%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 233 (22.49%) Security Operations Centre
2 187 (18.05%) Security Posture
3 99 (9.56%) Cyber Threat
4 90 (8.69%) Cyber Defence
5 72 (6.95%) Management Information System
6 44 (4.25%) Data Centre
7 41 (3.96%) Cloud Native
7 41 (3.96%) CSOC
8 35 (3.38%) Onboarding
9 25 (2.41%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 18 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.45%) Cloud Security Posture
11 15 (1.45%) Hybrid Cloud
12 13 (1.25%) AI Agents
13 12 (1.16%) Social Media
14 11 (1.06%) PKI
15 10 (0.97%) Cyber Security Posture
15 10 (0.97%) Cyberattack
15 10 (0.97%) Public Cloud
16 9 (0.87%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 99 (9.56%) Windows
2 73 (7.05%) Linux
3 13 (1.25%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.16%) Mac OS
5 9 (0.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (0.77%) Unix
7 7 (0.68%) Windows 10
8 6 (0.58%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.48%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.19%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.097%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 613 (59.17%) Cybersecurity
2 377 (36.39%) Incident Response
3 366 (35.33%) SIEM
4 274 (26.45%) Vulnerability Management
5 250 (24.13%) Continuous Improvement
6 241 (23.26%) Information Security
7 194 (18.73%) Cloud Security
8 179 (17.28%) Threat Detection
9 160 (15.44%) Risk Management
10 137 (13.22%) Threat Intelligence
11 136 (13.13%) Problem-Solving
12 130 (12.55%) AI
13 124 (11.97%) Stakeholder Management
14 123 (11.87%) Security Monitoring
15 110 (10.62%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
16 98 (9.46%) Disaster Recovery
17 97 (9.36%) Mentoring
18 95 (9.17%) Incident Management
18 95 (9.17%) SOAR
19 87 (8.40%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 110 (10.62%) PowerShell
2 104 (10.04%) Python
3 52 (5.02%) Kusto Query Language
4 29 (2.80%) Bash
5 15 (1.45%) SQL
6 13 (1.25%) C++
7 12 (1.16%) Perl
8 10 (0.97%) Bicep
8 10 (0.97%) Search Processing Language
9 9 (0.87%) Go
9 9 (0.87%) JavaScript
10 6 (0.58%) C
10 6 (0.58%) Java
11 4 (0.39%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.29%) C#
13 1 (0.097%) MATLAB
13 1 (0.097%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 205 (19.79%) Security Cleared
2 159 (15.35%) CISSP
3 137 (13.22%) SC Cleared
4 84 (8.11%) CISM
5 83 (8.01%) Degree
6 78 (7.53%) CompTIA Security+
7 63 (6.08%) DV Cleared
8 48 (4.63%) Cisco Certification
9 44 (4.25%) GIAC
10 37 (3.57%) CEH
11 33 (3.19%) CompTIA CySA+
12 26 (2.51%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 26 (2.51%) AWS Certification
12 26 (2.51%) Computer Science Degree
13 25 (2.41%) SANS
14 23 (2.22%) GCIA
14 23 (2.22%) GCIH
15 20 (1.93%) Azure Certification
16 18 (1.74%) CCNP
16 18 (1.74%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 224 (21.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 171 (16.51%) NIST
3 75 (7.24%) Cyber Essentials
4 73 (7.05%) GDPR
5 71 (6.85%) GRC
6 51 (4.92%) PCI DSS
7 28 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 23 (2.22%) NCSC
8 23 (2.22%) SOC 2
9 19 (1.83%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 18 (1.74%) SLA
11 12 (1.16%) Data Quality
12 6 (0.58%) NIST 800
13 5 (0.48%) Accessibility
14 3 (0.29%) COBIT
14 3 (0.29%) ISO 22301
14 3 (0.29%) ISO 9001
14 3 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 2 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 43 (4.15%) Active Directory
2 15 (1.45%) Docker
3 11 (1.06%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.87%) 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 41 (3.96%) Kubernetes
2 39 (3.76%) Microsoft Intune
2 39 (3.76%) Single Sign-On
3 31 (2.99%) QRadar
4 15 (1.45%) SCCM
5 10 (0.97%) Ansible
6 7 (0.68%) FortiGate
6 7 (0.68%) Graylog
6 7 (0.68%) Nessus
7 6 (0.58%) Progress Chef
8 5 (0.48%) McAfee ePO
8 5 (0.48%) Nagios
9 4 (0.39%) Kibana
9 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Satellite
10 3 (0.29%) CASB
10 3 (0.29%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 3 (0.29%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 3 (0.29%) Puppet
10 3 (0.29%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
11 2 (0.19%) Istio
Vendors
1 283 (27.32%) Microsoft
2 86 (8.30%) Splunk
3 69 (6.66%) Palo Alto
4 64 (6.18%) Cisco
5 60 (5.79%) CrowdStrike
6 55 (5.31%) Qualys
7 43 (4.15%) ServiceNow
8 33 (3.19%) Google
9 26 (2.51%) Aruba
10 24 (2.32%) Fortinet
11 22 (2.12%) Tenable
12 16 (1.54%) OpenAI
13 15 (1.45%) Rapid7
14 14 (1.35%) Meraki
15 13 (1.25%) VMware
15 13 (1.25%) Zscaler
16 9 (0.87%) Carbon Black
17 8 (0.77%) CyberArk
17 8 (0.77%) iManage
17 8 (0.77%) SolarWinds