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

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 227 366 299
Rank change year-on-year +139 -67 -16
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 952 352 721
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.85% 0.71% 0.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.16% 0.80% 1.14%
Number of salaries quoted 678 262 420
10th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £38,880
25th Percentile £53,338 £47,750 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £64,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.53% +7.50% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £98,250 £96,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +18.18% - -12.00%

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 82,210 43,908 63,272
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.10% 88.55% 80.74%
Number of salaries quoted 57,176 24,796 36,704
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,875
25th Percentile £41,500 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £76,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -2.78%

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 September 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 September 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 +127 856 £70,000 +7.69% 694
UK excluding London +105 579 £65,000 +18.18% 378
London +87 324 £75,000 -3.23% 395
Work from Home +72 261 £70,000 +7.69% 281
South East +90 206 £58,000 -7.20% 116
North of England +14 120 £70,000 +19.15% 85
Midlands -10 88 £65,000 +25.00% 39
North West +41 79 £75,000 +36.36% 58
East Midlands +21 59 £65,000 +6.34% 17
South West -39 51 £65,000 +27.31% 55
East of England -14 49 £61,250 -10.58% 33
Yorkshire -23 37 £58,750 -9.62% 24
Wales -36 36 £45,000 -35.71% 10
West Midlands -50 29 £67,500 +29.81% 22
Scotland +29 28 £75,000 +30.43% 32
North East -64 4 £75,000 +30.43% 4
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 13

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 15 (1.58%) SharePoint
2 5 (0.53%) Confluence
3 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.32%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.11%) IIS
Applications
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.32%) Distributed Ledger
Cloud Services
1 198 (20.80%) Azure
2 123 (12.92%) AWS
3 103 (10.82%) Microsoft 365
4 81 (8.51%) Azure Sentinel
4 81 (8.51%) Entra ID
5 48 (5.04%) GCP
6 30 (3.15%) Microsoft Purview
7 24 (2.52%) Azure Logic Apps
8 18 (1.89%) Mimecast
9 17 (1.79%) SaaS
10 14 (1.47%) Anthropic Claude
11 12 (1.26%) Zapier
12 9 (0.95%) Amazon GuardDuty
13 8 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
13 8 (0.84%) IaaS
14 7 (0.74%) Cloudflare
14 7 (0.74%) PaaS
15 6 (0.63%) GitHub Actions
15 6 (0.63%) Microsoft Copilot
15 6 (0.63%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 151 (15.86%) Firewall
2 102 (10.71%) Network Security
3 55 (5.78%) WAN
4 53 (5.57%) LAN
5 48 (5.04%) VPN
6 46 (4.83%) TCP/IP
7 36 (3.78%) DNS
8 31 (3.26%) Wi-Fi
9 28 (2.94%) Internet
10 26 (2.73%) Cisco Nexus
11 24 (2.52%) Intrusion Detection
12 20 (2.10%) HTTP
13 14 (1.47%) SMTP
13 14 (1.47%) SSL
14 13 (1.37%) FTP
15 12 (1.26%) Cisco ISE
16 6 (0.63%) IPsec
16 6 (0.63%) NGFW
16 6 (0.63%) SD-WAN
17 5 (0.53%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.63%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.53%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.32%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.32%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.21%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.11%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.11%) Big Data
5 1 (0.11%) Data Mining
Development Applications
1 10 (1.05%) JIRA
2 5 (0.53%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.21%) Maven
3 2 (0.21%) Team Foundation Server
3 2 (0.21%) Yeoman
General
1 196 (20.59%) Social Skills
2 109 (11.45%) Analytical Skills
3 102 (10.71%) Finance
4 43 (4.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 43 (4.52%) Legal
5 40 (4.20%) Law
6 39 (4.10%) Public Sector
7 35 (3.68%) Aerospace
8 30 (3.15%) Retail
9 17 (1.79%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (1.68%) Military
11 14 (1.47%) Banking
12 9 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
12 9 (0.95%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.63%) Police
14 5 (0.53%) Advertising
14 5 (0.53%) Manufacturing
14 5 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.42%) Digital Health
15 4 (0.42%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 235 (24.68%) Analyst
2 171 (17.96%) Senior
3 158 (16.60%) Security Analyst
4 132 (13.87%) Security Engineer
5 124 (13.03%) Security Manager
6 118 (12.39%) Lead
7 99 (10.40%) Senior Analyst
8 80 (8.40%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 75 (7.88%) SOC Analyst
10 67 (7.04%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 65 (6.83%) Senior Security Analyst
12 59 (6.20%) Architect
12 59 (6.20%) Cybersecurity Engineer
12 59 (6.20%) Operational Security Manager
12 59 (6.20%) Security Operations Manager
13 57 (5.99%) Operations Manager
14 50 (5.25%) SOC Engineer
15 44 (4.62%) Security Specialist
16 39 (4.10%) Security Architect
17 36 (3.78%) Senior Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.05%) Terraform
2 17 (1.79%) LDAP
3 15 (1.58%) ModSecurity
4 9 (0.95%) REST
5 6 (0.63%) ARM Templates
5 6 (0.63%) Regular Expression
6 5 (0.53%) SOAP
7 4 (0.42%) JSON
7 4 (0.42%) OpenID
7 4 (0.42%) SAML
8 3 (0.32%) Kafka
8 3 (0.32%) Smart Contracts
9 2 (0.21%) HTML
9 2 (0.21%) RESTful
10 1 (0.11%) CSS
10 1 (0.11%) TAPI
10 1 (0.11%) Unreal Engine
10 1 (0.11%) WebRTC
10 1 (0.11%) WPF
10 1 (0.11%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 218 (22.90%) Security Operations Centre
2 173 (18.17%) Security Posture
3 87 (9.14%) Cyber Defence
4 81 (8.51%) Cyber Threat
5 64 (6.72%) Management Information System
6 38 (3.99%) CSOC
7 35 (3.68%) Onboarding
8 34 (3.57%) Cloud Native
9 31 (3.26%) Data Centre
10 20 (2.10%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 17 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.58%) Cloud Security Posture
13 13 (1.37%) Hybrid Cloud
14 12 (1.26%) Cyberattack
14 12 (1.26%) Social Media
15 11 (1.16%) AI Agents
16 10 (1.05%) Cyber Security Posture
17 9 (0.95%) Client/Server
17 9 (0.95%) Virtual Team
18 8 (0.84%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 92 (9.66%) Windows
2 65 (6.83%) Linux
3 9 (0.95%) Windows 10
3 9 (0.95%) Windows Server
4 8 (0.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (0.74%) Unix
6 5 (0.53%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.42%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.11%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 559 (58.72%) Cybersecurity
2 351 (36.87%) SIEM
3 343 (36.03%) Incident Response
4 243 (25.53%) Vulnerability Management
5 220 (23.11%) Continuous Improvement
6 206 (21.64%) Information Security
7 182 (19.12%) Cloud Security
8 159 (16.70%) Threat Detection
9 143 (15.02%) Risk Management
10 125 (13.13%) Problem-Solving
11 123 (12.92%) Threat Intelligence
12 107 (11.24%) AI
12 107 (11.24%) Security Monitoring
13 101 (10.61%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
14 94 (9.87%) SOAR
15 92 (9.66%) Stakeholder Management
16 89 (9.35%) Disaster Recovery
17 88 (9.24%) Mentoring
18 85 (8.93%) Incident Management
19 84 (8.82%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 101 (10.61%) PowerShell
2 90 (9.45%) Python
3 44 (4.62%) Kusto Query Language
4 22 (2.31%) Bash
5 12 (1.26%) SQL
6 11 (1.16%) C++
7 10 (1.05%) Perl
8 9 (0.95%) Search Processing Language
9 8 (0.84%) JavaScript
10 6 (0.63%) Bicep
10 6 (0.63%) C
11 5 (0.53%) Java
12 4 (0.42%) Go
13 3 (0.32%) C#
13 3 (0.32%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.11%) MATLAB
14 1 (0.11%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 195 (20.48%) Security Cleared
2 147 (15.44%) CISSP
3 132 (13.87%) SC Cleared
4 81 (8.51%) CompTIA Security+
5 77 (8.09%) CISM
5 77 (8.09%) Degree
6 53 (5.57%) Cisco Certification
6 53 (5.57%) DV Cleared
7 45 (4.73%) GIAC
8 43 (4.52%) CEH
9 30 (3.15%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 30 (3.15%) CompTIA CySA+
10 24 (2.52%) Computer Science Degree
11 23 (2.42%) GCIH
11 23 (2.42%) SANS
12 22 (2.31%) GCIA
13 21 (2.21%) CCSP
14 20 (2.10%) AWS Certification
15 19 (2.00%) CCNP
15 19 (2.00%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 202 (21.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 162 (17.02%) NIST
3 73 (7.67%) GDPR
4 65 (6.83%) GRC
5 55 (5.78%) Cyber Essentials
6 37 (3.89%) PCI DSS
7 23 (2.42%) SOC 2
8 20 (2.10%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 17 (1.79%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 15 (1.58%) SLA
11 14 (1.47%) NCSC
12 11 (1.16%) Data Quality
13 7 (0.74%) NIST 800
14 5 (0.53%) Accessibility
15 4 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 3 (0.32%) ISO 22301
16 3 (0.32%) ISO 9001
17 2 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
17 2 (0.21%) COBIT
17 2 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 33 (3.47%) Active Directory
2 8 (0.84%) Docker
2 8 (0.84%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (0.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.21%) Firmware
5 1 (0.11%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 37 (3.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (3.36%) Single Sign-On
3 30 (3.15%) QRadar
4 25 (2.63%) Kubernetes
5 17 (1.79%) SCCM
6 8 (0.84%) Ansible
7 7 (0.74%) FortiGate
7 7 (0.74%) Graylog
7 7 (0.74%) Nessus
8 5 (0.53%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (0.53%) McAfee ePO
8 5 (0.53%) Nagios
8 5 (0.53%) Red Hat Satellite
9 3 (0.32%) CASB
9 3 (0.32%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 3 (0.32%) Kibana
9 3 (0.32%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.32%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
10 2 (0.21%) Grafana
10 2 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 260 (27.31%) Microsoft
2 83 (8.72%) Splunk
3 67 (7.04%) Palo Alto
4 62 (6.51%) Cisco
5 57 (5.99%) Qualys
6 52 (5.46%) CrowdStrike
7 47 (4.94%) ServiceNow
8 26 (2.73%) Aruba
9 25 (2.63%) Fortinet
10 23 (2.42%) Google
10 23 (2.42%) Tenable
11 17 (1.79%) Rapid7
12 16 (1.68%) OpenAI
13 12 (1.26%) Meraki
13 12 (1.26%) Zscaler
14 10 (1.05%) CyberArk
14 10 (1.05%) SolarWinds
15 9 (0.95%) iManage
15 9 (0.95%) LogRhythm
15 9 (0.95%) Red Hat