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

6 months to
27 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 221 343 276
Rank change year-on-year +122 -67 -3
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 1,009 366 755
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.86% 0.74% 0.99%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.18% 0.83% 1.22%
Number of salaries quoted 690 268 430
10th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,000
25th Percentile £53,750 £48,165 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £80,625 £78,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £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 85,859 44,048 62,135
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.06% 88.76% 81.73%
Number of salaries quoted 59,233 24,687 33,999
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £41,500 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £58,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -5.17% -3.33%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £95,090
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 27 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
Top 16 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 27 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 +128 909 £70,000 +7.69% 902
UK excluding London +106 601 £65,000 +18.18% 546
London +99 359 £77,500 - 436
Work from Home +84 277 £70,000 +3.70% 403
South East +72 217 £60,000 -5.88% 173
North of England +33 127 £70,000 +21.74% 146
North West +42 91 £75,000 +50.00% 94
Midlands -7 90 £65,000 +23.81% 54
East Midlands +19 60 £65,000 +6.34% 27
South West -45 52 £65,000 +27.31% 59
East of England -10 50 £61,250 -14.63% 40
Yorkshire -10 36 £62,500 -3.85% 39
Wales -39 35 £45,000 -18.18% 6
West Midlands -52 30 £67,500 +28.57% 27
Scotland +38 29 £75,000 +13.12% 51
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 26

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 18 (1.78%) SharePoint
2 8 (0.79%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.40%) Confluence
4 3 (0.30%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.20%) IIS
6 1 (0.099%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.099%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.099%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.30%) Distributed Ledger
2 1 (0.099%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 217 (21.51%) Azure
2 135 (13.38%) AWS
3 106 (10.51%) Microsoft 365
4 99 (9.81%) Entra ID
5 85 (8.42%) Azure Sentinel
6 62 (6.14%) GCP
7 36 (3.57%) Microsoft Purview
8 26 (2.58%) Azure Logic Apps
9 25 (2.48%) SaaS
10 18 (1.78%) Mimecast
11 14 (1.39%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.19%) Zapier
13 10 (0.99%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (0.89%) IaaS
14 9 (0.89%) Microsoft Copilot
15 8 (0.79%) Amazon GuardDuty
15 8 (0.79%) Cloudflare
16 7 (0.69%) PaaS
17 6 (0.59%) Google Workspace
17 6 (0.59%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 158 (15.66%) Firewall
2 107 (10.60%) Network Security
3 58 (5.75%) WAN
4 56 (5.55%) LAN
5 49 (4.86%) TCP/IP
5 49 (4.86%) VPN
6 39 (3.87%) DNS
7 31 (3.07%) Wi-Fi
8 27 (2.68%) Internet
9 25 (2.48%) Cisco Nexus
10 23 (2.28%) HTTP
10 23 (2.28%) Intrusion Detection
11 16 (1.59%) SMTP
12 15 (1.49%) FTP
13 14 (1.39%) SSL
14 12 (1.19%) Cisco ISE
15 7 (0.69%) Wireless
16 6 (0.59%) IPsec
16 6 (0.59%) NGFW
16 6 (0.59%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.50%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.40%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
3 3 (0.30%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.30%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.20%) Power BI
4 2 (0.20%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.099%) Big Data
5 1 (0.099%) Data Mining
5 1 (0.099%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 9 (0.89%) JIRA
2 6 (0.59%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.30%) Maven
3 3 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (0.20%) Yeoman
5 1 (0.099%) Git
5 1 (0.099%) GitLab
General
1 207 (20.52%) Social Skills
2 120 (11.89%) Finance
3 115 (11.40%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (5.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 48 (4.76%) Law
6 45 (4.46%) Legal
6 45 (4.46%) Public Sector
7 42 (4.16%) Aerospace
8 41 (4.06%) Retail
9 28 (2.78%) Banking
10 21 (2.08%) Military
11 19 (1.88%) Influencing Skills
12 11 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
13 9 (0.89%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.59%) Investment Banking
14 6 (0.59%) Police
15 5 (0.50%) Advertising
15 5 (0.50%) Aviation
15 5 (0.50%) Back Office
15 5 (0.50%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 253 (25.07%) Analyst
2 190 (18.83%) Senior
3 174 (17.24%) Security Analyst
4 142 (14.07%) Security Engineer
5 140 (13.88%) Lead
6 126 (12.49%) Security Manager
7 105 (10.41%) Senior Analyst
8 83 (8.23%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 80 (7.93%) SOC Analyst
10 72 (7.14%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 70 (6.94%) Senior Security Analyst
12 66 (6.54%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 63 (6.24%) Architect
14 60 (5.95%) Operational Security Manager
14 60 (5.95%) Security Operations Manager
15 52 (5.15%) Operations Manager
16 46 (4.56%) SOC Engineer
17 43 (4.26%) Senior Security Engineer
18 42 (4.16%) Security Specialist
19 40 (3.96%) Operations Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (3.57%) Terraform
2 20 (1.98%) LDAP
3 16 (1.59%) ModSecurity
4 14 (1.39%) REST
5 7 (0.69%) Regular Expression
6 6 (0.59%) ARM Templates
6 6 (0.59%) JSON
6 6 (0.59%) SOAP
7 4 (0.40%) OpenID
7 4 (0.40%) SAML
8 3 (0.30%) HTML
8 3 (0.30%) Kafka
8 3 (0.30%) SailPoint
8 3 (0.30%) Smart Contracts
9 2 (0.20%) CSS
9 2 (0.20%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.20%) RESTful
9 2 (0.20%) XML
10 1 (0.099%) WPF
10 1 (0.099%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 228 (22.60%) Security Operations Centre
2 184 (18.24%) Security Posture
3 92 (9.12%) Cyber Threat
4 89 (8.82%) Cyber Defence
5 71 (7.04%) Management Information System
6 44 (4.36%) Data Centre
7 40 (3.96%) CSOC
8 39 (3.87%) Cloud Native
9 36 (3.57%) Onboarding
10 23 (2.28%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 18 (1.78%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.49%) Cloud Security Posture
13 14 (1.39%) Hybrid Cloud
14 13 (1.29%) AI Agents
15 12 (1.19%) Social Media
16 11 (1.09%) Cyberattack
16 11 (1.09%) PKI
17 10 (0.99%) Cyber Security Posture
17 10 (0.99%) Virtual Team
18 9 (0.89%) Client/Server
Operating Systems
1 95 (9.42%) Windows
2 71 (7.04%) Linux
3 12 (1.19%) Windows Server
4 11 (1.09%) Mac OS
5 9 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (0.79%) Unix
7 7 (0.69%) Windows 10
8 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.50%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.099%) CentOS
10 1 (0.099%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 595 (58.97%) Cybersecurity
2 363 (35.98%) Incident Response
3 358 (35.48%) SIEM
4 262 (25.97%) Vulnerability Management
5 238 (23.59%) Continuous Improvement
6 233 (23.09%) Information Security
7 188 (18.63%) Cloud Security
8 175 (17.34%) Threat Detection
9 152 (15.06%) Risk Management
10 136 (13.48%) Problem-Solving
11 134 (13.28%) Threat Intelligence
12 121 (11.99%) AI
13 120 (11.89%) Security Monitoring
14 115 (11.40%) Stakeholder Management
15 108 (10.70%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
16 96 (9.51%) Mentoring
17 95 (9.42%) SOAR
18 92 (9.12%) Incident Management
19 91 (9.02%) Disaster Recovery
20 84 (8.33%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 109 (10.80%) PowerShell
2 102 (10.11%) Python
3 51 (5.05%) Kusto Query Language
4 29 (2.87%) Bash
5 15 (1.49%) SQL
6 13 (1.29%) C++
7 12 (1.19%) Perl
8 10 (0.99%) Search Processing Language
9 9 (0.89%) Go
9 9 (0.89%) JavaScript
10 8 (0.79%) Bicep
11 6 (0.59%) C
11 6 (0.59%) Java
12 4 (0.40%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.30%) C#
14 1 (0.099%) MATLAB
14 1 (0.099%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 203 (20.12%) Security Cleared
2 158 (15.66%) CISSP
3 136 (13.48%) SC Cleared
4 83 (8.23%) CISM
5 81 (8.03%) Degree
6 78 (7.73%) CompTIA Security+
7 61 (6.05%) DV Cleared
8 48 (4.76%) Cisco Certification
9 45 (4.46%) GIAC
10 37 (3.67%) CEH
11 33 (3.27%) CompTIA CySA+
12 26 (2.58%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 26 (2.58%) AWS Certification
13 25 (2.48%) SANS
14 24 (2.38%) Computer Science Degree
15 23 (2.28%) GCIA
15 23 (2.28%) GCIH
16 19 (1.88%) Azure Certification
17 18 (1.78%) CCNP
17 18 (1.78%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 219 (21.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 167 (16.55%) NIST
3 72 (7.14%) GDPR
4 71 (7.04%) Cyber Essentials
5 65 (6.44%) GRC
6 48 (4.76%) PCI DSS
7 27 (2.68%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 23 (2.28%) SOC 2
9 20 (1.98%) NCSC
10 19 (1.88%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 17 (1.68%) SLA
12 12 (1.19%) Data Quality
13 6 (0.59%) NIST 800
14 5 (0.50%) Accessibility
15 3 (0.30%) COBIT
15 3 (0.30%) ISO 22301
15 3 (0.30%) ISO 9001
15 3 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
16 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27005
16 2 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 40 (3.96%) Active Directory
2 13 (1.29%) Docker
3 9 (0.89%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.099%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.099%) NFS
5 1 (0.099%) Snort
5 1 (0.099%) VMware Workstation
5 1 (0.099%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 37 (3.67%) Kubernetes
1 37 (3.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (3.57%) Single Sign-On
3 29 (2.87%) QRadar
4 15 (1.49%) SCCM
5 9 (0.89%) Ansible
6 7 (0.69%) FortiGate
6 7 (0.69%) Graylog
6 7 (0.69%) Nessus
7 5 (0.50%) McAfee ePO
7 5 (0.50%) Nagios
7 5 (0.50%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.40%) Kibana
8 4 (0.40%) Red Hat Satellite
9 3 (0.30%) CASB
9 3 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 3 (0.30%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 3 (0.30%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
10 2 (0.20%) Istio
10 2 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 273 (27.06%) Microsoft
2 84 (8.33%) Splunk
3 67 (6.64%) Palo Alto
4 60 (5.95%) Cisco
5 56 (5.55%) CrowdStrike
6 55 (5.45%) Qualys
7 46 (4.56%) ServiceNow
8 29 (2.87%) Google
9 26 (2.58%) Aruba
10 24 (2.38%) Fortinet
11 22 (2.18%) Tenable
12 16 (1.59%) OpenAI
13 15 (1.49%) Rapid7
14 13 (1.29%) Meraki
15 12 (1.19%) Zscaler
16 10 (0.99%) VMware
17 8 (0.79%) CyberArk
17 8 (0.79%) iManage
17 8 (0.79%) Red Hat
17 8 (0.79%) SolarWinds