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

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 233 392 320
Rank change year-on-year +159 -72 -15
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 861 332 763
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.85% 0.68% 0.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.16% 0.75% 1.04%
Number of salaries quoted 637 245 532
10th Percentile £41,900 £41,250 £37,500
25th Percentile £52,500 £48,165 £48,438
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 £78,750 £81,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% +1.85% -6.90%

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 74,263 44,137 73,415
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.70% 89.84% 81.67%
Number of salaries quoted 51,228 24,998 49,763
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,000
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 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £93,750
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 25 July 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 25 July 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 +147 769 £70,000 +12.00% 247
UK excluding London +116 519 £65,000 +18.18% 164
London +99 286 £75,000 -6.25% 121
Work from Home +88 244 £70,000 +12.00% 101
South East +72 170 £65,000 +4.00% 52
North of England +43 120 £70,000 +16.67% 39
Midlands -4 85 £65,000 +18.18% 24
North West +39 74 £75,000 +36.36% 24
East Midlands +18 53 £56,750 -7.16% 14
East of England +4 44 £56,250 -9.27% 8
South West -44 42 £65,000 +27.31% 24
Yorkshire -12 40 £52,500 -16.00% 12
Wales -23 34 £42,250 -23.18% 4
West Midlands -38 32 £67,500 +22.73% 10
Scotland +34 23 £75,000 +30.43% 13
North East -48 6 £75,000 +17.65% 3
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 4

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 (1.16%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.46%) Confluence
3 3 (0.35%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.35%) Distributed Ledger
2 1 (0.12%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 179 (20.79%) Azure
2 100 (11.61%) AWS
3 81 (9.41%) Microsoft 365
4 72 (8.36%) Azure Sentinel
5 56 (6.50%) Entra ID
6 41 (4.76%) GCP
7 22 (2.56%) SaaS
8 19 (2.21%) Microsoft Purview
9 17 (1.97%) Mimecast
10 15 (1.74%) Azure Logic Apps
11 14 (1.63%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.39%) Zapier
13 10 (1.16%) IaaS
13 10 (1.16%) PaaS
14 9 (1.05%) AWS CloudFormation
15 8 (0.93%) Amazon GuardDuty
16 7 (0.81%) GitHub
16 7 (0.81%) GitHub Actions
17 6 (0.70%) Google Workspace
17 6 (0.70%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 130 (15.10%) Firewall
2 87 (10.10%) Network Security
3 44 (5.11%) WAN
4 43 (4.99%) TCP/IP
5 41 (4.76%) LAN
6 35 (4.07%) DNS
6 35 (4.07%) VPN
7 25 (2.90%) Wi-Fi
8 23 (2.67%) Cisco Nexus
9 22 (2.56%) Internet
10 20 (2.32%) Intrusion Detection
11 17 (1.97%) HTTP
12 11 (1.28%) FTP
12 11 (1.28%) SMTP
13 9 (1.05%) Cisco ISE
13 9 (1.05%) SSL
14 7 (0.81%) SD-WAN
15 6 (0.70%) NGFW
16 4 (0.46%) HTTPS
16 4 (0.46%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.58%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.46%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.35%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.35%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.23%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.12%) Big Data
5 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 5 (0.58%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.46%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.46%) JIRA
2 4 (0.46%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.23%) CircleCI
4 1 (0.12%) Yeoman
General
1 168 (19.51%) Social Skills
2 104 (12.08%) Analytical Skills
3 99 (11.50%) Finance
4 47 (5.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 39 (4.53%) Law
6 37 (4.30%) Public Sector
7 35 (4.07%) Legal
8 27 (3.14%) Retail
9 19 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
10 17 (1.97%) Aerospace
11 15 (1.74%) Banking
12 9 (1.05%) Financial Institution
13 7 (0.81%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (0.70%) Advertising
14 6 (0.70%) Military
14 6 (0.70%) Police
15 5 (0.58%) Documentation Skills
16 4 (0.46%) Digital Health
16 4 (0.46%) Games
16 4 (0.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 209 (24.27%) Analyst
2 148 (17.19%) Security Analyst
3 136 (15.80%) Senior
4 119 (13.82%) Security Manager
5 104 (12.08%) Security Engineer
6 97 (11.27%) Lead
7 85 (9.87%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 77 (8.94%) Senior Analyst
9 63 (7.32%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 60 (6.97%) SOC Engineer
11 59 (6.85%) Operational Security Manager
11 59 (6.85%) Security Operations Manager
12 56 (6.50%) SOC Analyst
13 55 (6.39%) Operations Manager
14 54 (6.27%) Senior Security Analyst
15 50 (5.81%) Architect
16 47 (5.46%) Cybersecurity Engineer
17 35 (4.07%) Security Specialist
18 34 (3.95%) Operations Analyst
18 34 (3.95%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (1.63%) LDAP
2 7 (0.81%) ARM Templates
3 6 (0.70%) Regular Expression
4 4 (0.46%) OpenID
4 4 (0.46%) REST
4 4 (0.46%) SAML
5 3 (0.35%) JSON
5 3 (0.35%) Kafka
5 3 (0.35%) Smart Contracts
6 2 (0.23%) ModSecurity
6 2 (0.23%) RESTful
7 1 (0.12%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.12%) FFmpeg
7 1 (0.12%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.12%) HTML
7 1 (0.12%) SailPoint
7 1 (0.12%) TAPI
7 1 (0.12%) Unreal Engine
7 1 (0.12%) WebRTC
7 1 (0.12%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 215 (24.97%) Security Operations Centre
2 144 (16.72%) Security Posture
3 82 (9.52%) Cyber Defence
4 62 (7.20%) Cyber Threat
5 57 (6.62%) Management Information System
6 44 (5.11%) CSOC
7 33 (3.83%) Cloud Native
8 30 (3.48%) Onboarding
9 23 (2.67%) Data Centre
10 15 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
11 14 (1.63%) Cloud Security Posture
11 14 (1.63%) Cyberattack
12 13 (1.51%) Hybrid Cloud
13 9 (1.05%) AI Agents
13 9 (1.05%) Client/Server
14 7 (0.81%) Insider Threat
14 7 (0.81%) Virtual Team
15 6 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
15 6 (0.70%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
15 6 (0.70%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 95 (11.03%) Windows
2 66 (7.67%) Linux
3 13 (1.51%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.28%) Unix
5 5 (0.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.46%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 3 (0.35%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.23%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.12%) CentOS
9 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 493 (57.26%) Cybersecurity
2 323 (37.51%) SIEM
3 301 (34.96%) Incident Response
4 193 (22.42%) Vulnerability Management
5 189 (21.95%) Continuous Improvement
6 174 (20.21%) Cloud Security
7 170 (19.74%) Information Security
8 124 (14.40%) Threat Intelligence
9 123 (14.29%) Threat Detection
10 119 (13.82%) Risk Management
11 106 (12.31%) Problem-Solving
12 101 (11.73%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
13 91 (10.57%) SOAR
14 86 (9.99%) AI
15 76 (8.83%) Penetration Testing
15 76 (8.83%) Security Monitoring
15 76 (8.83%) Stakeholder Management
16 73 (8.48%) Mentoring
17 72 (8.36%) MITRE ATT&CK
18 71 (8.25%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 105 (12.20%) PowerShell
2 90 (10.45%) Python
3 36 (4.18%) Kusto Query Language
4 24 (2.79%) Bash
5 11 (1.28%) SQL
6 9 (1.05%) Bicep
6 9 (1.05%) C++
7 8 (0.93%) Perl
8 7 (0.81%) Search Processing Language
9 6 (0.70%) C
10 5 (0.58%) JavaScript
11 4 (0.46%) Java
12 3 (0.35%) C#
13 2 (0.23%) Go
13 2 (0.23%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.12%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 171 (19.86%) Security Cleared
2 127 (14.75%) SC Cleared
3 122 (14.17%) CISSP
4 76 (8.83%) CompTIA Security+
5 69 (8.01%) Degree
6 64 (7.43%) CISM
7 50 (5.81%) GIAC
8 39 (4.53%) Cisco Certification
9 36 (4.18%) CEH
10 35 (4.07%) DV Cleared
11 27 (3.14%) SANS
12 26 (3.02%) CompTIA CySA+
13 25 (2.90%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 24 (2.79%) Computer Science Degree
15 23 (2.67%) GCIH
16 22 (2.56%) CISA
16 22 (2.56%) GCIA
17 20 (2.32%) CREST Certified
18 18 (2.09%) CCSP
19 17 (1.97%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 178 (20.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 157 (18.23%) NIST
3 77 (8.94%) GDPR
4 53 (6.16%) GRC
5 49 (5.69%) Cyber Essentials
6 34 (3.95%) PCI DSS
7 25 (2.90%) SOC 2
8 21 (2.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (1.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 14 (1.63%) NCSC
11 10 (1.16%) SLA
12 6 (0.70%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 5 (0.58%) Accessibility
13 5 (0.58%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.35%) COBIT
14 3 (0.35%) NIST 800
15 2 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (0.23%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.23%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.23%) PMO
System Software
1 22 (2.56%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.16%) Docker
3 7 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (0.58%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.23%) Firmware
6 1 (0.12%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 34 (3.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (3.37%) Terraform
3 26 (3.02%) QRadar
4 23 (2.67%) Kubernetes
5 21 (2.44%) SCCM
6 20 (2.32%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (1.28%) Ansible
8 7 (0.81%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.70%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 6 (0.70%) Graylog
10 5 (0.58%) Nessus
11 4 (0.46%) Red Hat Satellite
12 3 (0.35%) Computer Incident Response Team
12 3 (0.35%) Kibana
13 2 (0.23%) CASB
13 2 (0.23%) Grafana
14 1 (0.12%) Host Intrusion Detection System
14 1 (0.12%) Jamf Pro
14 1 (0.12%) McAfee ePO
14 1 (0.12%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 240 (27.87%) Microsoft
2 71 (8.25%) Splunk
3 50 (5.81%) Qualys
4 46 (5.34%) ServiceNow
5 45 (5.23%) Cisco
6 44 (5.11%) CrowdStrike
7 42 (4.88%) Palo Alto
8 23 (2.67%) Tenable
9 20 (2.32%) Aruba
10 19 (2.21%) Fortinet
11 16 (1.86%) OpenAI
12 15 (1.74%) Google
13 14 (1.63%) Rapid7
14 13 (1.51%) SolarWinds
15 11 (1.28%) Sophos
16 9 (1.05%) iManage
17 8 (0.93%) Meraki
17 8 (0.93%) Zscaler
18 7 (0.81%) CyberArk
18 7 (0.81%) Okta