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

6 months to
23 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 291 287 331
Rank change year-on-year -4 +44 +4
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 509 439 751
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.66% 1.03% 0.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.86% 1.11% 0.99%
Number of salaries quoted 313 319 614
10th Percentile £45,000 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £51,251 £47,725
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £61,439
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +1.73% -8.30%
75th Percentile £80,000 £79,375 £77,500
90th Percentile £92,350 £106,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% - -8.33%

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 59,502 39,701 75,893
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 77.59% 93.45% 86.91%
Number of salaries quoted 36,057 22,405 57,038
10th Percentile £29,750 £31,452 £29,031
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.29%
75th Percentile £77,424 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -8.90%

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 23 March 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 23 March 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 +7 471 £70,000 +10.67% 154
UK excluding London +10 299 £65,000 +18.18% 107
Work from Home +52 230 £61,250 -2.00% 77
London -3 171 £75,000 - 69
South East +11 95 £62,500 - 37
North of England -24 76 £65,000 +30.00% 24
Midlands -22 56 £54,000 -1.82% 16
South West -9 36 £75,000 +30.05% 11
Yorkshire -33 33 £50,000 +11.11% 6
West Midlands -5 30 £65,000 +18.18% 11
North West -15 30 £64,250 +16.82% 15
East Midlands - 26 £42,000 - 5
East of England -17 17 £80,000 +29.03% 11
North East -16 13 £75,000 +66.67% 3
Scotland -23 10 £70,000 +16.67% 5
Wales -18 7 £76,500 -12.57% 3
Northern Ireland -33 3 £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 8 (1.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (1.38%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.20%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 1 (0.20%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 120 (23.58%) Azure
2 66 (12.97%) AWS
3 43 (8.45%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (7.47%) Azure Sentinel
4 38 (7.47%) GCP
5 24 (4.72%) SaaS
6 20 (3.93%) Entra ID
7 17 (3.34%) Mimecast
8 12 (2.36%) IaaS
8 12 (2.36%) PaaS
9 10 (1.96%) GitHub
9 10 (1.96%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (1.96%) Microsoft Purview
10 7 (1.38%) AWS CloudFormation
11 6 (1.18%) Datadog
12 5 (0.98%) Tessian
13 4 (0.79%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.79%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.79%) Power Platform
14 3 (0.59%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 82 (16.11%) Firewall
2 68 (13.36%) Network Security
3 34 (6.68%) VPN
4 21 (4.13%) Intrusion Detection
5 14 (2.75%) DNS
6 12 (2.36%) TCP/IP
7 8 (1.57%) DHCP
8 6 (1.18%) SAN
9 5 (0.98%) Cisco ISE
10 4 (0.79%) Cisco Nexus
10 4 (0.79%) HTTPS
10 4 (0.79%) Internet
10 4 (0.79%) WAN
10 4 (0.79%) Wireshark
11 3 (0.59%) LAN
11 3 (0.59%) SCCP
12 2 (0.39%) DKIM
12 2 (0.39%) DMARC
12 2 (0.39%) SSL
13 1 (0.20%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.59%) Power BI
2 2 (0.39%) Metadata
3 1 (0.20%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (1.18%) CircleCI
1 6 (1.18%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.79%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.79%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.39%) JIRA
4 1 (0.20%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 128 (25.15%) Social Skills
2 84 (16.50%) Finance
3 71 (13.95%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (7.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 28 (5.50%) Law
6 21 (4.13%) Legal
6 21 (4.13%) Public Sector
7 18 (3.54%) Banking
7 18 (3.54%) Retail
8 15 (2.95%) Influencing Skills
9 11 (2.16%) Financial Institution
10 10 (1.96%) Back Office
11 8 (1.57%) Organisational Skills
11 8 (1.57%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.18%) Advertising
13 3 (0.59%) Aviation
13 3 (0.59%) Documentation Skills
13 3 (0.59%) Games
13 3 (0.59%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.20%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 118 (23.18%) Lead
2 102 (20.04%) Analyst
3 71 (13.95%) Security Analyst
4 59 (11.59%) Security Manager
5 55 (10.81%) Senior
6 53 (10.41%) Security Engineer
7 38 (7.47%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 30 (5.89%) Operational Security Manager
8 30 (5.89%) Security Operations Manager
9 28 (5.50%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 28 (5.50%) Operations Manager
10 25 (4.91%) SOC Analyst
11 21 (4.13%) SOC Manager
12 20 (3.93%) SOC Engineer
13 19 (3.73%) Consultant
13 19 (3.73%) Head of Security
14 18 (3.54%) Infrastructure Manager
15 17 (3.34%) Security Specialist
16 16 (3.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 15 (2.95%) Senior Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (1.57%) ARM Templates
2 2 (0.39%) REST
3 1 (0.20%) EDI
3 1 (0.20%) Flash
3 1 (0.20%) LDAP
3 1 (0.20%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.20%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 197 (38.70%) Security Operations Centre
2 105 (20.63%) Cyber Threat
3 78 (15.32%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 72 (14.15%) Operational Technology
5 70 (13.75%) Security Posture
6 45 (8.84%) Cyber Defence
7 22 (4.32%) Cloud Native
8 19 (3.73%) Management Information System
9 13 (2.55%) CSOC
10 10 (1.96%) Analytical Mindset
10 10 (1.96%) Onboarding
11 7 (1.38%) Cyber Security Posture
11 7 (1.38%) Driving Licence
12 6 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
12 6 (1.18%) PKI
13 5 (0.98%) Cyberattack
13 5 (0.98%) Data Centre
13 5 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
13 5 (0.98%) Hybrid Cloud
13 5 (0.98%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 73 (14.34%) Windows
2 45 (8.84%) Linux
3 16 (3.14%) Windows 10
4 13 (2.55%) Windows Server
5 12 (2.36%) Unix
6 6 (1.18%) Windows Server 2012
6 6 (1.18%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (0.98%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.79%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.20%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (41.26%) Incident Response
2 208 (40.86%) Cybersecurity
3 185 (36.35%) SIEM
4 150 (29.47%) Threat Intelligence
5 135 (26.52%) Vulnerability Management
6 132 (25.93%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 112 (22.00%) Risk Management
8 106 (20.83%) Mentoring
9 103 (20.24%) Continuous Improvement
10 102 (20.04%) Roadmaps
11 97 (19.06%) Stakeholder Management
11 97 (19.06%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
12 87 (17.09%) ITIL
13 84 (16.50%) Information Security
14 83 (16.31%) Cloud Security
15 81 (15.91%) Cyber Intelligence
16 79 (15.52%) Coaching
17 72 (14.15%) Business Strategy
18 71 (13.95%) Technology Roadmap
19 69 (13.56%) Change Advisory Board
Programming Languages
1 76 (14.93%) PowerShell
2 67 (13.16%) Python
3 23 (4.52%) Bash
4 17 (3.34%) Kusto Query Language
5 11 (2.16%) Bicep
5 11 (2.16%) SQL
6 3 (0.59%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.39%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.39%) Perl
8 1 (0.20%) C
8 1 (0.20%) C++
Qualifications
1 81 (15.91%) CISSP
2 72 (14.15%) Security Cleared
3 62 (12.18%) Degree
4 59 (11.59%) SC Cleared
5 44 (8.64%) CompTIA Security+
6 36 (7.07%) CISM
7 35 (6.88%) GIAC
8 26 (5.11%) Cisco Certification
9 24 (4.72%) CEH
10 22 (4.32%) GCIH
11 20 (3.93%) CompTIA CySA+
12 17 (3.34%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 17 (3.34%) Computer Science Degree
12 17 (3.34%) CREST Certified
13 13 (2.55%) Azure Certification
13 13 (2.55%) CISA
13 13 (2.55%) DV Cleared
14 10 (1.96%) CCSP
15 9 (1.77%) CCNA
16 8 (1.57%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 165 (32.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 164 (32.22%) NIST
3 68 (13.36%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 47 (9.23%) GDPR
5 37 (7.27%) Cyber Essentials
6 35 (6.88%) PCI DSS
7 34 (6.68%) GRC
8 22 (4.32%) SOC 2
9 21 (4.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 15 (2.95%) NCSC
11 9 (1.77%) SLA
12 6 (1.18%) SOC 3
13 4 (0.79%) COBIT
13 4 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 3 (0.59%) Accessibility
14 3 (0.59%) ITGC
14 3 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 1 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
15 1 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 1 (0.20%) HIPAA
System Software
1 18 (3.54%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.55%) Docker
3 6 (1.18%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.20%) Firmware
4 1 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 26 (5.11%) Terraform
2 25 (4.91%) Kubernetes
3 22 (4.32%) SCCM
4 19 (3.73%) Microsoft Intune
5 16 (3.14%) QRadar
6 14 (2.75%) Ansible
7 7 (1.38%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.18%) Grafana
8 6 (1.18%) vCenter Server
9 5 (0.98%) CASB
9 5 (0.98%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 3 (0.59%) ArcSight ESM
10 3 (0.59%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 3 (0.59%) CSIRT
11 1 (0.20%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.20%) Nessus
Vendors
1 147 (28.88%) Microsoft
2 41 (8.06%) ServiceNow
3 35 (6.88%) Splunk
4 24 (4.72%) CrowdStrike
5 22 (4.32%) SolarWinds
6 13 (2.55%) Cisco
7 12 (2.36%) Qualys
7 12 (2.36%) Tenable
8 10 (1.96%) VMware
9 7 (1.38%) NetApp
9 7 (1.38%) Okta
9 7 (1.38%) Palo Alto
10 6 (1.18%) 3PAR
10 6 (1.18%) Google
10 6 (1.18%) Sophos
10 6 (1.18%) Veeam
10 6 (1.18%) Zscaler
11 5 (0.98%) CheckPoint
11 5 (0.98%) Fortinet
11 5 (0.98%) LogRhythm