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

6 months to
9 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 284 305 335
Rank change year-on-year +21 +30 -2
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 548 403 770
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.66% 0.99% 0.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.87% 1.06% 0.97%
Number of salaries quoted 341 302 616
10th Percentile £45,000 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £51,250 £47,725
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £62,250
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +0.40% -4.23%
75th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £92,500 £110,000 £98,125
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% - -5.89%

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 63,076 38,012 79,454
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 76.08% 92.99% 86.12%
Number of salaries quoted 38,955 22,518 58,781
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,035
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +9.09% -10.57%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -7.41% +8.00% -8.26%

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 April 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 April 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 +23 508 £70,000 +12.00% 153
UK excluding London +24 325 £65,000 +18.18% 113
Work from Home +69 240 £60,000 -4.00% 74
London -5 180 £75,000 - 63
South East +14 97 £65,000 +8.33% 41
North of England -28 89 £65,000 +23.81% 25
Midlands -17 60 £52,500 -4.55% 13
South West -13 41 £70,000 +24.26% 16
North West -12 40 £65,500 +10.55% 17
Yorkshire -42 37 £50,000 - 5
West Midlands -28 30 £65,000 +18.18% 9
East Midlands - 30 £43,500 - 4
East of England -29 20 £80,000 +68.42% 12
North East -24 12 £75,000 +66.67% 3
Wales -25 9 £76,500 -12.57% 4
Scotland -19 8 £64,210 +2.74% 4
Northern Ireland -37 2 £32,500 - 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 7 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (0.91%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.18%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 123 (22.45%) Azure
2 66 (12.04%) AWS
3 47 (8.58%) Microsoft 365
4 45 (8.21%) Azure Sentinel
5 35 (6.39%) GCP
6 24 (4.38%) SaaS
7 22 (4.01%) Entra ID
8 15 (2.74%) Mimecast
9 12 (2.19%) IaaS
9 12 (2.19%) Microsoft Purview
9 12 (2.19%) PaaS
10 11 (2.01%) GitHub
10 11 (2.01%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (1.46%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.09%) Datadog
13 4 (0.73%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.73%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.73%) Power Platform
14 3 (0.55%) Azure Logic Apps
14 3 (0.55%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 76 (13.87%) Firewall
2 64 (11.68%) Network Security
3 30 (5.47%) VPN
4 24 (4.38%) Intrusion Detection
5 13 (2.37%) DNS
6 12 (2.19%) TCP/IP
7 6 (1.09%) DHCP
8 5 (0.91%) Cisco ISE
8 5 (0.91%) SAN
9 4 (0.73%) Cisco Nexus
9 4 (0.73%) HTTPS
9 4 (0.73%) Internet
9 4 (0.73%) WAN
9 4 (0.73%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.55%) SCCP
11 2 (0.36%) DKIM
11 2 (0.36%) DMARC
11 2 (0.36%) LAN
11 2 (0.36%) SSL
12 1 (0.18%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.55%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.55%) Power BI
2 1 (0.18%) Metadata
2 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.18%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (1.09%) CircleCI
1 6 (1.09%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.73%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.73%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.36%) JIRA
4 1 (0.18%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 136 (24.82%) Social Skills
2 82 (14.96%) Analytical Skills
2 82 (14.96%) Finance
3 49 (8.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 31 (5.66%) Law
5 23 (4.20%) Public Sector
5 23 (4.20%) Retail
6 18 (3.28%) Legal
7 17 (3.10%) Banking
8 16 (2.92%) Influencing Skills
9 11 (2.01%) Financial Institution
10 10 (1.82%) Back Office
11 8 (1.46%) Organisational Skills
11 8 (1.46%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (0.91%) Police
13 4 (0.73%) Advertising
13 4 (0.73%) Aviation
14 3 (0.55%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.55%) Games
14 3 (0.55%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 114 (20.80%) Lead
2 111 (20.26%) Analyst
3 79 (14.42%) Security Analyst
4 69 (12.59%) Security Manager
5 63 (11.50%) Security Engineer
6 60 (10.95%) Senior
7 43 (7.85%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 36 (6.57%) Operational Security Manager
8 36 (6.57%) Security Operations Manager
9 34 (6.20%) Operations Manager
10 31 (5.66%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 25 (4.56%) SOC Analyst
12 23 (4.20%) SOC Engineer
13 21 (3.83%) SOC Manager
14 19 (3.47%) Consultant
15 18 (3.28%) Architect
15 18 (3.28%) Head of Security
15 18 (3.28%) Infrastructure Manager
16 17 (3.10%) Cloud Engineer
16 17 (3.10%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.64%) ARM Templates
2 4 (0.73%) Regular Expression
3 3 (0.55%) REST
4 2 (0.36%) LDAP
5 1 (0.18%) EDI
5 1 (0.18%) Flash
5 1 (0.18%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.18%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 202 (36.86%) Security Operations Centre
2 104 (18.98%) Cyber Threat
3 77 (14.05%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 75 (13.69%) Security Posture
5 72 (13.14%) Operational Technology
6 50 (9.12%) Cyber Defence
7 27 (4.93%) Management Information System
8 23 (4.20%) Cloud Native
9 19 (3.47%) CSOC
10 14 (2.55%) Onboarding
11 10 (1.82%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.64%) Cyberattack
13 7 (1.28%) Cyber Security Posture
13 7 (1.28%) Driving Licence
14 6 (1.09%) Data Centre
14 6 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
14 6 (1.09%) Hybrid Cloud
14 6 (1.09%) Life Science
14 6 (1.09%) PKI
14 6 (1.09%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 73 (13.32%) Windows
2 46 (8.39%) Linux
3 17 (3.10%) Windows 10
4 12 (2.19%) Windows Server
5 11 (2.01%) Unix
6 5 (0.91%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.91%) Windows Server 2012
6 5 (0.91%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (0.73%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.18%) CentOS
8 1 (0.18%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (41.97%) Cybersecurity
2 212 (38.69%) Incident Response
3 193 (35.22%) SIEM
4 154 (28.10%) Threat Intelligence
5 142 (25.91%) Vulnerability Management
6 137 (25.00%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 117 (21.35%) Risk Management
8 115 (20.99%) Continuous Improvement
9 109 (19.89%) Mentoring
9 109 (19.89%) Roadmaps
10 104 (18.98%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 97 (17.70%) Stakeholder Management
12 93 (16.97%) Cloud Security
13 90 (16.42%) ITIL
14 87 (15.88%) Information Security
15 81 (14.78%) Cyber Intelligence
16 80 (14.60%) Coaching
17 73 (13.32%) Problem-Solving
18 71 (12.96%) Business Strategy
18 71 (12.96%) Technology Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 87 (15.88%) PowerShell
2 74 (13.50%) Python
3 22 (4.01%) Bash
4 20 (3.65%) Kusto Query Language
5 12 (2.19%) Bicep
6 11 (2.01%) SQL
7 3 (0.55%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.36%) C
8 2 (0.36%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.36%) Perl
9 1 (0.18%) C++
9 1 (0.18%) Java
Qualifications
1 85 (15.51%) Security Cleared
2 81 (14.78%) CISSP
3 73 (13.32%) SC Cleared
4 61 (11.13%) Degree
5 43 (7.85%) CompTIA Security+
6 37 (6.75%) GIAC
7 34 (6.20%) CISM
8 28 (5.11%) Cisco Certification
9 22 (4.01%) CEH
10 19 (3.47%) GCIH
11 18 (3.28%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 18 (3.28%) CompTIA CySA+
11 18 (3.28%) CREST Certified
12 16 (2.92%) Computer Science Degree
13 15 (2.74%) SANS
14 13 (2.37%) CISA
15 12 (2.19%) Azure Certification
15 12 (2.19%) DV Cleared
16 11 (2.01%) CCSP
17 10 (1.82%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 167 (30.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 167 (30.47%) NIST
2 68 (12.41%) ISO/IEC 27005
3 51 (9.31%) GDPR
4 36 (6.57%) Cyber Essentials
5 34 (6.20%) GRC
5 34 (6.20%) PCI DSS
6 21 (3.83%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 21 (3.83%) SOC 2
7 14 (2.55%) NCSC
8 11 (2.01%) SLA
9 6 (1.09%) SOC 3
10 4 (0.73%) COBIT
10 4 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 4 (0.73%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.55%) ITGC
12 2 (0.36%) Accessibility
13 1 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 1 (0.18%) HIPAA
System Software
1 18 (3.28%) Active Directory
2 14 (2.55%) Docker
3 5 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.36%) Firmware
5 2 (0.36%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.18%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 27 (4.93%) Terraform
2 25 (4.56%) Kubernetes
3 23 (4.20%) SCCM
4 18 (3.28%) Microsoft Intune
4 18 (3.28%) QRadar
5 14 (2.55%) Ansible
6 6 (1.09%) Grafana
6 6 (1.09%) vCenter Server
7 5 (0.91%) CASB
7 5 (0.91%) Computer Incident Response Team
7 5 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.55%) ArcSight ESM
8 3 (0.55%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 3 (0.55%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.18%) Host Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.18%) Nessus
9 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 160 (29.20%) Microsoft
2 48 (8.76%) ServiceNow
3 37 (6.75%) Splunk
4 22 (4.01%) CrowdStrike
4 22 (4.01%) SolarWinds
5 15 (2.74%) Qualys
6 14 (2.55%) Cisco
7 12 (2.19%) Tenable
8 10 (1.82%) VMware
9 7 (1.28%) Okta
9 7 (1.28%) Sophos
10 6 (1.09%) NetApp
10 6 (1.09%) Veeam
10 6 (1.09%) Zscaler
11 5 (0.91%) 3PAR
11 5 (0.91%) CheckPoint
11 5 (0.91%) Fortinet
11 5 (0.91%) Google
11 5 (0.91%) LogRhythm
11 5 (0.91%) Palo Alto