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

6 months to
2 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 232 392 322
Rank change year-on-year +160 -70 -23
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 887 337 717
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.86% 0.68% 0.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.16% 0.76% 1.06%
Number of salaries quoted 657 248 490
10th Percentile £41,900 £40,834 £37,500
25th Percentile £52,500 £48,165 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +4.17% -3.23%
75th Percentile £85,000 £79,063 £80,000
90th Percentile £96,000 £98,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +18.18% +4.76% -12.50%

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 76,271 44,428 67,881
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.70% 89.49% 81.01%
Number of salaries quoted 52,568 25,332 44,788
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,500 £31,199
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
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 2 August 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 2 August 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 +137 796 £70,000 +12.00% 331
UK excluding London +121 544 £65,000 +18.18% 210
London +103 291 £75,000 -6.25% 166
Work from Home +91 245 £70,000 +16.67% 144
South East +94 183 £62,500 - 83
North of England +40 124 £70,000 +16.67% 44
Midlands +4 88 £65,000 +19.27% 27
North West +49 77 £75,000 +36.36% 28
East Midlands +23 56 £58,500 -4.29% 13
East of England -8 46 £56,250 -9.27% 9
South West -43 44 £65,000 +27.31% 27
Yorkshire -8 41 £55,000 -12.00% 13
Wales -32 34 £42,250 -23.18% 4
West Midlands -55 32 £67,500 +23.85% 14
Scotland +24 24 £75,000 +30.43% 15
North East -52 6 £75,000 +17.65% 3
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 5

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 (1.13%) SharePoint
2 5 (0.56%) Confluence
3 3 (0.34%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.34%) Distributed Ledger
Cloud Services
1 179 (20.18%) Azure
2 102 (11.50%) AWS
3 80 (9.02%) Microsoft 365
4 72 (8.12%) Azure Sentinel
5 54 (6.09%) Entra ID
6 40 (4.51%) GCP
7 21 (2.37%) SaaS
8 19 (2.14%) Microsoft Purview
9 17 (1.92%) Mimecast
10 15 (1.69%) Azure Logic Apps
11 14 (1.58%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.35%) Zapier
13 9 (1.01%) Amazon GuardDuty
13 9 (1.01%) AWS CloudFormation
13 9 (1.01%) IaaS
13 9 (1.01%) PaaS
14 7 (0.79%) GitHub
14 7 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
15 6 (0.68%) Google Workspace
15 6 (0.68%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 136 (15.33%) Firewall
2 99 (11.16%) Network Security
3 46 (5.19%) WAN
4 44 (4.96%) LAN
4 44 (4.96%) TCP/IP
5 39 (4.40%) VPN
6 35 (3.95%) DNS
7 26 (2.93%) Wi-Fi
8 24 (2.71%) Cisco Nexus
9 23 (2.59%) Internet
9 23 (2.59%) Intrusion Detection
10 18 (2.03%) HTTP
11 12 (1.35%) FTP
11 12 (1.35%) SMTP
12 10 (1.13%) Cisco ISE
12 10 (1.13%) SSL
13 6 (0.68%) NGFW
13 6 (0.68%) SD-WAN
14 5 (0.56%) Kerberos
15 4 (0.45%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.68%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.56%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.34%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.34%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.23%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.11%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.11%) Big Data
5 1 (0.11%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 5 (0.56%) JIRA
2 4 (0.45%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.45%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.45%) Metasploit
3 1 (0.11%) CircleCI
3 1 (0.11%) Yeoman
General
1 171 (19.28%) Social Skills
2 106 (11.95%) Analytical Skills
3 99 (11.16%) Finance
4 48 (5.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 39 (4.40%) Law
6 37 (4.17%) Public Sector
7 35 (3.95%) Legal
8 27 (3.04%) Retail
9 23 (2.59%) Aerospace
10 20 (2.25%) Influencing Skills
11 15 (1.69%) Banking
12 9 (1.01%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.01%) Military
13 7 (0.79%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (0.68%) Advertising
14 6 (0.68%) Police
15 5 (0.56%) Documentation Skills
16 4 (0.45%) Back Office
16 4 (0.45%) Digital Health
16 4 (0.45%) Games
Job Titles
1 221 (24.92%) Analyst
2 155 (17.47%) Security Analyst
3 145 (16.35%) Senior
4 125 (14.09%) Security Manager
5 105 (11.84%) Security Engineer
6 103 (11.61%) Lead
7 86 (9.70%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 85 (9.58%) Senior Analyst
9 65 (7.33%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 60 (6.76%) Operational Security Manager
10 60 (6.76%) Security Operations Manager
10 60 (6.76%) SOC Analyst
10 60 (6.76%) SOC Engineer
11 58 (6.54%) Senior Security Analyst
12 56 (6.31%) Operations Manager
13 49 (5.52%) Architect
13 49 (5.52%) Cybersecurity Engineer
14 37 (4.17%) Security Specialist
15 34 (3.83%) IT Analyst
15 34 (3.83%) Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (1.80%) LDAP
2 7 (0.79%) ARM Templates
3 6 (0.68%) ModSecurity
3 6 (0.68%) Regular Expression
4 4 (0.45%) OpenID
4 4 (0.45%) REST
4 4 (0.45%) SAML
5 3 (0.34%) JSON
5 3 (0.34%) Kafka
5 3 (0.34%) Smart Contracts
6 2 (0.23%) RESTful
7 1 (0.11%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.11%) FFmpeg
7 1 (0.11%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.11%) HTML
7 1 (0.11%) SailPoint
7 1 (0.11%) TAPI
7 1 (0.11%) Unreal Engine
7 1 (0.11%) WebRTC
7 1 (0.11%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 218 (24.58%) Security Operations Centre
2 154 (17.36%) Security Posture
3 88 (9.92%) Cyber Defence
4 67 (7.55%) Cyber Threat
5 59 (6.65%) Management Information System
6 45 (5.07%) CSOC
7 32 (3.61%) Cloud Native
8 31 (3.49%) Onboarding
9 23 (2.59%) Data Centre
10 16 (1.80%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.69%) Cyberattack
12 14 (1.58%) Cloud Security Posture
13 13 (1.47%) Hybrid Cloud
14 10 (1.13%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
15 9 (1.01%) AI Agents
15 9 (1.01%) Client/Server
16 8 (0.90%) Cyber Security Posture
17 7 (0.79%) Social Media
17 7 (0.79%) Virtual Team
18 6 (0.68%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 93 (10.48%) Windows
2 66 (7.44%) Linux
3 12 (1.35%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.24%) Unix
5 6 (0.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.56%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.45%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.45%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.23%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.11%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 507 (57.16%) Cybersecurity
2 330 (37.20%) SIEM
3 315 (35.51%) Incident Response
4 202 (22.77%) Continuous Improvement
5 201 (22.66%) Vulnerability Management
6 182 (20.52%) Information Security
7 173 (19.50%) Cloud Security
8 134 (15.11%) Threat Detection
9 122 (13.75%) Threat Intelligence
10 120 (13.53%) Risk Management
11 110 (12.40%) Problem-Solving
12 99 (11.16%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
13 87 (9.81%) AI
13 87 (9.81%) SOAR
14 81 (9.13%) Security Monitoring
15 80 (9.02%) Stakeholder Management
16 77 (8.68%) Penetration Testing
17 74 (8.34%) Mentoring
18 73 (8.23%) Incident Management
19 71 (8.00%) MITRE ATT&CK
Programming Languages
1 104 (11.72%) PowerShell
2 90 (10.15%) Python
3 36 (4.06%) Kusto Query Language
4 24 (2.71%) Bash
5 10 (1.13%) C++
5 10 (1.13%) SQL
6 9 (1.01%) Bicep
6 9 (1.01%) Perl
7 7 (0.79%) Search Processing Language
8 6 (0.68%) C
9 5 (0.56%) Java
9 5 (0.56%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.34%) C#
11 2 (0.23%) Go
11 2 (0.23%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.11%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 177 (19.95%) Security Cleared
2 129 (14.54%) SC Cleared
3 128 (14.43%) CISSP
4 79 (8.91%) CompTIA Security+
5 71 (8.00%) Degree
6 65 (7.33%) CISM
7 47 (5.30%) Cisco Certification
7 47 (5.30%) GIAC
8 38 (4.28%) DV Cleared
9 37 (4.17%) CEH
10 28 (3.16%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 28 (3.16%) CompTIA CySA+
11 27 (3.04%) SANS
12 24 (2.71%) Computer Science Degree
13 22 (2.48%) CISA
13 22 (2.48%) GCIH
14 21 (2.37%) GCIA
15 19 (2.14%) CCSP
15 19 (2.14%) CREST Certified
16 16 (1.80%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 182 (20.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 157 (17.70%) NIST
3 77 (8.68%) GDPR
4 54 (6.09%) GRC
5 49 (5.52%) Cyber Essentials
6 33 (3.72%) PCI DSS
7 25 (2.82%) SOC 2
8 21 (2.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 18 (2.03%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 14 (1.58%) NCSC
11 13 (1.47%) SLA
12 7 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 6 (0.68%) Data Quality
14 5 (0.56%) Accessibility
15 3 (0.34%) NIST 800
16 2 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
16 2 (0.23%) COBIT
16 2 (0.23%) ISO 22301
16 2 (0.23%) PMO
16 2 (0.23%) SOC 3
System Software
1 21 (2.37%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.13%) Docker
3 8 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
4 6 (0.68%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.23%) Firmware
6 1 (0.11%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 33 (3.72%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (3.27%) Terraform
3 27 (3.04%) QRadar
4 23 (2.59%) Kubernetes
5 20 (2.25%) SCCM
6 19 (2.14%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (1.13%) Ansible
8 7 (0.79%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.68%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 6 (0.68%) Graylog
9 6 (0.68%) Nessus
10 5 (0.56%) Red Hat Satellite
11 3 (0.34%) Computer Incident Response Team
11 3 (0.34%) Kibana
12 2 (0.23%) McAfee ePO
12 2 (0.23%) Nagios
13 1 (0.11%) Host Intrusion Detection System
13 1 (0.11%) Jamf Pro
13 1 (0.11%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
13 1 (0.11%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 239 (26.94%) Microsoft
2 74 (8.34%) Splunk
3 51 (5.75%) Cisco
3 51 (5.75%) Qualys
4 49 (5.52%) Palo Alto
5 45 (5.07%) ServiceNow
6 44 (4.96%) CrowdStrike
7 23 (2.59%) Tenable
8 22 (2.48%) Fortinet
9 21 (2.37%) Aruba
10 16 (1.80%) OpenAI
10 16 (1.80%) Rapid7
11 15 (1.69%) Google
12 12 (1.35%) SolarWinds
13 11 (1.24%) Sophos
14 9 (1.01%) iManage
14 9 (1.01%) Zscaler
15 8 (0.90%) CyberArk
15 8 (0.90%) Meraki
16 7 (0.79%) LogRhythm