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

6 months to
4 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 224 371 298
Rank change year-on-year +147 -73 -12
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 941 346 716
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.85% 0.71% 0.90%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.17% 0.80% 1.12%
Number of salaries quoted 674 259 434
10th Percentile £42,800 £37,500 £39,216
25th Percentile £53,750 £47,750 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £64,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.38% +6.67% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £96,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% - -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 80,539 43,404 64,098
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.01% 88.47% 80.63%
Number of salaries quoted 56,017 24,525 38,712
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,500 £36,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,650 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -8.65% -5.04%

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 4 September 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 4 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 +142 846 £70,000 +7.69% 738
UK excluding London +106 576 £65,000 +18.18% 401
London +95 317 £75,000 - 421
Work from Home +68 259 £70,000 +7.69% 311
South East +85 205 £58,000 -9.02% 122
North of England +20 121 £70,000 +21.74% 86
Midlands -1 87 £65,000 +25.00% 39
North West +38 79 £75,000 +36.36% 58
East Midlands +20 58 £65,000 +6.34% 20
East of England -4 49 £61,250 -1.21% 34
South West -43 49 £65,000 +27.31% 62
Yorkshire -17 38 £55,000 -15.38% 23
Wales -37 36 £45,000 -35.71% 10
West Midlands -43 29 £67,500 +29.81% 19
Scotland +28 28 £75,000 +30.43% 34
North East -62 4 £75,000 +30.43% 5
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 17

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 14 (1.49%) SharePoint
2 5 (0.53%) Confluence
3 3 (0.32%) Apache Spark
3 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.32%) Distributed Ledger
Cloud Services
1 194 (20.62%) Azure
2 121 (12.86%) AWS
3 100 (10.63%) Microsoft 365
4 81 (8.61%) Azure Sentinel
5 77 (8.18%) Entra ID
6 44 (4.68%) GCP
7 29 (3.08%) Microsoft Purview
8 24 (2.55%) Azure Logic Apps
9 18 (1.91%) Mimecast
10 17 (1.81%) SaaS
11 14 (1.49%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.28%) Zapier
13 9 (0.96%) Amazon GuardDuty
14 8 (0.85%) AWS CloudFormation
15 7 (0.74%) Cloudflare
15 7 (0.74%) IaaS
15 7 (0.74%) PaaS
16 6 (0.64%) GitHub Actions
16 6 (0.64%) Google Workspace
16 6 (0.64%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 151 (16.05%) Firewall
2 102 (10.84%) Network Security
3 55 (5.84%) WAN
4 53 (5.63%) LAN
5 48 (5.10%) VPN
6 46 (4.89%) TCP/IP
7 36 (3.83%) DNS
8 31 (3.29%) Wi-Fi
9 28 (2.98%) Internet
10 26 (2.76%) Cisco Nexus
11 23 (2.44%) Intrusion Detection
12 20 (2.13%) HTTP
13 14 (1.49%) SMTP
13 14 (1.49%) SSL
14 13 (1.38%) FTP
15 12 (1.28%) Cisco ISE
16 6 (0.64%) IPsec
16 6 (0.64%) NGFW
16 6 (0.64%) SD-WAN
17 5 (0.53%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.64%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.53%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.32%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.32%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.21%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.11%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.11%) Big Data
5 1 (0.11%) Data Mining
Development Applications
1 9 (0.96%) JIRA
2 5 (0.53%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.21%) Maven
3 2 (0.21%) Team Foundation Server
3 2 (0.21%) Yeoman
General
1 194 (20.62%) Social Skills
2 108 (11.48%) Analytical Skills
3 100 (10.63%) Finance
4 43 (4.57%) Legal
5 42 (4.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 40 (4.25%) Law
7 36 (3.83%) Public Sector
8 35 (3.72%) Aerospace
9 29 (3.08%) Retail
10 17 (1.81%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.70%) Military
12 14 (1.49%) Banking
13 9 (0.96%) Documentation Skills
13 9 (0.96%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.64%) Police
15 5 (0.53%) Advertising
15 5 (0.53%) Manufacturing
15 5 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
16 4 (0.43%) Digital Health
16 4 (0.43%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 232 (24.65%) Analyst
2 169 (17.96%) Senior
3 156 (16.58%) Security Analyst
4 128 (13.60%) Security Engineer
5 125 (13.28%) Security Manager
6 116 (12.33%) Lead
7 99 (10.52%) Senior Analyst
8 79 (8.40%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 74 (7.86%) SOC Analyst
10 67 (7.12%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 65 (6.91%) Senior Security Analyst
12 60 (6.38%) Operational Security Manager
12 60 (6.38%) Security Operations Manager
13 59 (6.27%) Cybersecurity Engineer
14 58 (6.16%) Architect
15 57 (6.06%) Operations Manager
16 52 (5.53%) SOC Engineer
17 44 (4.68%) Security Specialist
18 39 (4.14%) Security Architect
19 36 (3.83%) Senior Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (2.98%) Terraform
2 17 (1.81%) LDAP
3 15 (1.59%) ModSecurity
4 8 (0.85%) REST
5 6 (0.64%) ARM Templates
5 6 (0.64%) Regular Expression
6 4 (0.43%) JSON
6 4 (0.43%) OpenID
6 4 (0.43%) SAML
6 4 (0.43%) SOAP
7 3 (0.32%) Kafka
7 3 (0.32%) Smart Contracts
8 2 (0.21%) HTML
8 2 (0.21%) RESTful
9 1 (0.11%) CSS
9 1 (0.11%) GStreamer
9 1 (0.11%) TAPI
9 1 (0.11%) WebRTC
9 1 (0.11%) WPF
9 1 (0.11%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 216 (22.95%) Security Operations Centre
2 172 (18.28%) Security Posture
3 88 (9.35%) Cyber Defence
4 80 (8.50%) Cyber Threat
5 63 (6.70%) Management Information System
6 38 (4.04%) CSOC
7 34 (3.61%) Cloud Native
7 34 (3.61%) Onboarding
8 29 (3.08%) Data Centre
9 20 (2.13%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 17 (1.81%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.59%) Cloud Security Posture
12 12 (1.28%) Cyberattack
12 12 (1.28%) Hybrid Cloud
12 12 (1.28%) Social Media
13 11 (1.17%) AI Agents
14 10 (1.06%) Cyber Security Posture
15 9 (0.96%) Client/Server
15 9 (0.96%) Virtual Team
16 8 (0.85%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 91 (9.67%) Windows
2 63 (6.70%) Linux
3 9 (0.96%) Windows 10
4 8 (0.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 8 (0.85%) Windows Server
5 7 (0.74%) Unix
6 5 (0.53%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.43%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.11%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 553 (58.77%) Cybersecurity
2 349 (37.09%) SIEM
3 341 (36.24%) Incident Response
4 240 (25.50%) Vulnerability Management
5 218 (23.17%) Continuous Improvement
6 205 (21.79%) Information Security
7 180 (19.13%) Cloud Security
8 158 (16.79%) Threat Detection
9 141 (14.98%) Risk Management
10 123 (13.07%) Problem-Solving
11 122 (12.96%) Threat Intelligence
12 105 (11.16%) AI
12 105 (11.16%) Security Monitoring
13 100 (10.63%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
14 94 (9.99%) SOAR
15 90 (9.56%) Stakeholder Management
16 87 (9.25%) Disaster Recovery
17 86 (9.14%) Mentoring
18 84 (8.93%) Penetration Testing
19 83 (8.82%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 100 (10.63%) PowerShell
2 90 (9.56%) Python
3 44 (4.68%) Kusto Query Language
4 22 (2.34%) Bash
5 12 (1.28%) SQL
6 11 (1.17%) C++
7 10 (1.06%) Perl
8 9 (0.96%) Search Processing Language
9 7 (0.74%) JavaScript
10 6 (0.64%) Bicep
10 6 (0.64%) C
11 5 (0.53%) Java
12 4 (0.43%) Go
13 3 (0.32%) C#
13 3 (0.32%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.11%) MATLAB
14 1 (0.11%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 192 (20.40%) Security Cleared
2 145 (15.41%) CISSP
3 130 (13.82%) SC Cleared
4 81 (8.61%) CompTIA Security+
5 76 (8.08%) Degree
6 75 (7.97%) CISM
7 53 (5.63%) Cisco Certification
7 53 (5.63%) DV Cleared
8 45 (4.78%) GIAC
9 43 (4.57%) CEH
10 30 (3.19%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 30 (3.19%) CompTIA CySA+
11 24 (2.55%) Computer Science Degree
12 23 (2.44%) GCIH
12 23 (2.44%) SANS
13 22 (2.34%) GCIA
14 21 (2.23%) CCSP
15 19 (2.02%) AWS Certification
15 19 (2.02%) CCNP
16 18 (1.91%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 201 (21.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 161 (17.11%) NIST
3 72 (7.65%) GDPR
4 64 (6.80%) GRC
5 55 (5.84%) Cyber Essentials
6 35 (3.72%) PCI DSS
7 23 (2.44%) SOC 2
8 20 (2.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (1.81%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 15 (1.59%) SLA
11 14 (1.49%) NCSC
12 11 (1.17%) Data Quality
13 7 (0.74%) NIST 800
14 5 (0.53%) Accessibility
15 4 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 2 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
16 2 (0.21%) COBIT
16 2 (0.21%) ISO 22301
16 2 (0.21%) ISO 9001
16 2 (0.21%) PMO
System Software
1 31 (3.29%) Active Directory
2 8 (0.85%) Docker
2 8 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.64%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.21%) Firmware
5 1 (0.11%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 37 (3.93%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (3.40%) Single Sign-On
3 30 (3.19%) QRadar
4 24 (2.55%) Kubernetes
5 17 (1.81%) SCCM
6 7 (0.74%) Ansible
6 7 (0.74%) FortiGate
6 7 (0.74%) Graylog
6 7 (0.74%) Nessus
7 5 (0.53%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 5 (0.53%) McAfee ePO
7 5 (0.53%) Nagios
7 5 (0.53%) Red Hat Satellite
8 3 (0.32%) CASB
8 3 (0.32%) Computer Incident Response Team
8 3 (0.32%) Kibana
8 3 (0.32%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
9 2 (0.21%) Argo
9 2 (0.21%) Grafana
9 2 (0.21%) Istio
Vendors
1 256 (27.21%) Microsoft
2 82 (8.71%) Splunk
3 67 (7.12%) Palo Alto
4 61 (6.48%) Cisco
5 57 (6.06%) Qualys
6 52 (5.53%) CrowdStrike
7 46 (4.89%) ServiceNow
8 26 (2.76%) Aruba
9 25 (2.66%) Fortinet
10 23 (2.44%) Tenable
11 19 (2.02%) Google
12 17 (1.81%) Rapid7
13 16 (1.70%) OpenAI
14 11 (1.17%) Meraki
14 11 (1.17%) Zscaler
15 10 (1.06%) CyberArk
15 10 (1.06%) SolarWinds
16 9 (0.96%) iManage
16 9 (0.96%) LogRhythm
16 9 (0.96%) Red Hat