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 15 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 335 262 276
Rank change year-on-year -73 +14 +61
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 379 734 655
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.77% 1.03% 1.17%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.87% 1.26% 1.24%
Number of salaries quoted 275 429 523
10th Percentile £39,850 £40,001 £37,500
25th Percentile £48,688 £48,750 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% -4.00% -7.41%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,750 £76,250
90th Percentile £99,000 £100,000 £98,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +4.55% -12.00% -3.85%

All Process and 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 43,738 58,305 52,769
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 88.91% 82.16% 94.06%
Number of salaries quoted 24,553 31,325 40,400
10th Percentile £28,250 £32,925 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £52,600 £54,000
% change year-on-year -9.70% -2.59% +2.86%

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 15 October 2025.

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 15 October 2025. 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 -50 351 £65,000 +1.56% 215
UK excluding London -75 215 £57,500 +4.55% 161
London -11 140 £76,250 -1.61% 105
Work from Home -64 136 £67,500 +16.73% 127
South East -4 80 £65,000 +8.33% 83
Midlands +30 44 £52,750 +2.92% 15
West Midlands +40 40 £52,750 +4.85% 7
North of England -93 36 £55,000 +9.33% 27
East of England +3 28 £75,000 +25.00% 10
North West -52 20 £45,000 -14.54% 8
South West +10 16 £51,058 -19.28% 13
Yorkshire -35 11 £65,000 +23.81% 18
Scotland -59 9 £70,000 +36.18% 18
North East +1 5 £87,500 +94.44% 1
East Midlands +12 4 £61,125 +16.43% 8
Wales +14 3 £55,000 +9.66%
Northern Ireland +1 1 - -

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 13 (3.43%) SharePoint
2 8 (2.11%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.26%) Confluence
3 1 (0.26%) IIS
Applications
1 8 (2.11%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.26%) C-CURE
1 1 (0.26%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 91 (24.01%) Azure
2 59 (15.57%) AWS
3 45 (11.87%) Microsoft 365
4 24 (6.33%) Azure Sentinel
5 19 (5.01%) Entra ID
6 18 (4.75%) GCP
7 8 (2.11%) Mimecast
7 8 (2.11%) SaaS
8 7 (1.85%) Amazon ECS
8 7 (1.85%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (1.85%) PaaS
9 4 (1.06%) Microsoft Purview
9 4 (1.06%) Tessian
10 3 (0.79%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (0.79%) Google App Engine
10 3 (0.79%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.53%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 2 (0.53%) AWS CloudTrail
11 2 (0.53%) dbt
11 2 (0.53%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 95 (25.07%) Firewall
2 52 (13.72%) Network Security
3 35 (9.23%) DNS
4 32 (8.44%) TCP/IP
5 30 (7.92%) VPN
6 28 (7.39%) Intrusion Detection
7 21 (5.54%) DHCP
8 11 (2.90%) SAN
8 11 (2.90%) WAN
9 9 (2.37%) LAN
10 8 (2.11%) HTTP
11 7 (1.85%) FTP
11 7 (1.85%) SMTP
12 4 (1.06%) Wireshark
13 3 (0.79%) Internet
13 3 (0.79%) Wireless
14 2 (0.53%) NGFW
14 2 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
15 1 (0.26%) DMZ
15 1 (0.26%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.79%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.79%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.53%) Power BI
2 2 (0.53%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.26%) Apache Cassandra
3 1 (0.26%) DTS
3 1 (0.26%) GIS
3 1 (0.26%) Metadata
3 1 (0.26%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.26%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 3 (0.79%) JIRA
2 1 (0.26%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.26%) Git
2 1 (0.26%) MSBuild
General
1 144 (37.99%) Social Skills
2 69 (18.21%) Analytical Skills
3 58 (15.30%) Finance
4 21 (5.54%) Public Sector
5 18 (4.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 18 (4.75%) Law
6 17 (4.49%) Legal
7 15 (3.96%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (2.64%) Retail
9 8 (2.11%) Advertising
9 8 (2.11%) Banking
9 8 (2.11%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (1.58%) Aerospace
10 6 (1.58%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.58%) Telecoms
11 5 (1.32%) Local Government
11 5 (1.32%) Police
12 4 (1.06%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.79%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 106 (27.97%) Analyst
2 65 (17.15%) Security Analyst
3 59 (15.57%) Security Engineer
4 50 (13.19%) Lead
5 48 (12.66%) Senior
6 35 (9.23%) SOC Analyst
7 34 (8.97%) Security Manager
8 29 (7.65%) Operations Manager
9 28 (7.39%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 25 (6.60%) Cybersecurity Engineer
10 25 (6.60%) Operational Security Manager
10 25 (6.60%) Security Operations Manager
11 22 (5.80%) Senior Analyst
12 19 (5.01%) SOC Manager
13 17 (4.49%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 16 (4.22%) Senior Security Analyst
15 15 (3.96%) Head of Security
16 12 (3.17%) Senior Security Engineer
17 11 (2.90%) Information Security Analyst
17 11 (2.90%) Information Security Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.11%) Elastic Stack
2 6 (1.58%) .NET
2 6 (1.58%) LDAP
3 5 (1.32%) Software Packaging
4 4 (1.06%) HTML
4 4 (1.06%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.79%) React
6 2 (0.53%) ADO.NET
6 2 (0.53%) AWS CDK
6 2 (0.53%) Django
6 2 (0.53%) EDI
6 2 (0.53%) OAuth
6 2 (0.53%) OpenID
6 2 (0.53%) SAML
7 1 (0.26%) 802.1X
7 1 (0.26%) ASP.NET
7 1 (0.26%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 115 (30.34%) Security Operations Centre
2 88 (23.22%) Cyber Threat
3 62 (16.36%) Security Posture
4 29 (7.65%) Cyber Defence
5 23 (6.07%) Management Information System
6 13 (3.43%) Cyberattack
7 12 (3.17%) Self-Motivation
8 10 (2.64%) Cloud Security Posture
8 10 (2.64%) Virtual Team
9 9 (2.37%) Data Centre
9 9 (2.37%) Insider Threat
10 8 (2.11%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (2.11%) Operational Technology
11 6 (1.58%) Client/Server
11 6 (1.58%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 5 (1.32%) Hybrid Cloud
12 5 (1.32%) NHS
13 4 (1.06%) CMDB
13 4 (1.06%) Data Structures
13 4 (1.06%) Tandem
Operating Systems
1 71 (18.73%) Windows
2 44 (11.61%) Linux
3 22 (5.80%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.90%) Windows Server 2019
5 10 (2.64%) Windows Server 2012
6 3 (0.79%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.26%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.26%) Unix
7 1 (0.26%) VMS
7 1 (0.26%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.26%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 206 (54.35%) Cybersecurity
2 190 (50.13%) Incident Response
3 154 (40.63%) SIEM
4 114 (30.08%) Information Security
5 85 (22.43%) Vulnerability Management
6 79 (20.84%) Threat Intelligence
7 77 (20.32%) Problem-Solving
8 72 (19.00%) Continuous Improvement
9 67 (17.68%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
10 62 (16.36%) Cloud Security
11 47 (12.40%) Incident Management
12 45 (11.87%) Threat Detection
13 44 (11.61%) MITRE ATT&CK
14 42 (11.08%) DevOps
15 39 (10.29%) Vulnerability Assessment
16 36 (9.50%) Mentoring
17 35 (9.23%) ITIL
18 34 (8.97%) Penetration Testing
18 34 (8.97%) Risk Management
18 34 (8.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 27 (7.12%) Python
2 18 (4.75%) PowerShell
3 16 (4.22%) Bash
4 15 (3.96%) Kusto Query Language
5 13 (3.43%) SQL
6 4 (1.06%) C#
7 3 (0.79%) Java
7 3 (0.79%) Perl
8 1 (0.26%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.26%) PHP
8 1 (0.26%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 74 (19.53%) CISSP
1 74 (19.53%) Security Cleared
2 72 (19.00%) Degree
3 48 (12.66%) SC Cleared
4 45 (11.87%) CISM
5 43 (11.35%) CompTIA Security+
6 25 (6.60%) Cisco Certification
6 25 (6.60%) DV Cleared
7 21 (5.54%) GCIA
7 21 (5.54%) GCIH
8 18 (4.75%) CCNA
8 18 (4.75%) CCNP
8 18 (4.75%) GIAC
9 16 (4.22%) CEH
10 14 (3.69%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (3.69%) SANS
11 12 (3.17%) Computer Science Degree
12 11 (2.90%) AWS Certification
12 11 (2.90%) Network+ Certification
13 10 (2.64%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (22.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 82 (21.64%) NIST
3 57 (15.04%) GDPR
4 53 (13.98%) Cyber Essentials
5 19 (5.01%) GRC
6 16 (4.22%) PCI DSS
7 13 (3.43%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 8 (2.11%) SLA
9 6 (1.58%) Accessibility
9 6 (1.58%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 6 (1.58%) QA
10 5 (1.32%) NCSC
11 4 (1.06%) COBIT
11 4 (1.06%) Data Quality
12 3 (0.79%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.53%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.26%) NIST 800
14 1 (0.26%) SOC 1
System Software
1 34 (8.97%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.69%) VMware ESXi
2 14 (3.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (2.64%) Docker
4 8 (2.11%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.79%) Firmware
6 1 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 20 (5.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (5.01%) Kubernetes
3 15 (3.96%) QRadar
4 11 (2.90%) SCCM
5 10 (2.64%) CSIRT
5 10 (2.64%) vCenter Server
6 9 (2.37%) Nessus
6 9 (2.37%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (2.11%) Terraform
8 5 (1.32%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 4 (1.06%) Ansible
9 4 (1.06%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.53%) CASB
10 2 (0.53%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 2 (0.53%) Kibana
11 1 (0.26%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.26%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 124 (32.72%) Microsoft
2 39 (10.29%) Splunk
3 28 (7.39%) VMware
4 16 (4.22%) CrowdStrike
5 14 (3.69%) ServiceNow
5 14 (3.69%) Tenable
6 11 (2.90%) SolarWinds
7 10 (2.64%) 3PAR
7 10 (2.64%) NetApp
7 10 (2.64%) Veeam
8 9 (2.37%) Rapid7
9 8 (2.11%) Qualys
10 7 (1.85%) LogRhythm
11 6 (1.58%) Cisco
11 6 (1.58%) Palo Alto
12 4 (1.06%) Foundry
12 4 (1.06%) Palantir
12 4 (1.06%) Zscaler
13 3 (0.79%) AlienVault
13 3 (0.79%) Proofpoint