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

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 298 283 337
Rank change year-on-year -15 +54 -7
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 511 413 757
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.65% 1.01% 0.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.84% 1.08% 0.98%
Number of salaries quoted 314 312 611
10th Percentile £45,000 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £51,232 £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 £80,625 £77,500
90th Percentile £94,250 £110,000 £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 60,590 38,104 77,432
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 76.71% 93.07% 86.51%
Number of salaries quoted 37,239 22,363 57,730
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,250
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% -10.57%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -7.83%

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 31 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 31 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 +13 475 £70,000 +12.00% 153
UK excluding London +11 298 £65,000 +18.18% 113
Work from Home +50 225 £62,500 - 74
London -16 176 £75,000 - 63
South East +12 91 £65,000 +8.33% 41
North of England -25 77 £65,000 +30.00% 25
Midlands -11 56 £54,000 -1.82% 13
South West -23 38 £75,000 +30.05% 16
Yorkshire -31 33 £50,000 +5.26% 5
North West -10 31 £65,500 +15.42% 17
West Midlands -19 30 £65,000 +18.18% 9
East Midlands - 26 £42,000 - 4
East of England -33 17 £80,000 +68.42% 12
North East -10 13 £75,000 +66.67% 3
Scotland -38 9 £65,000 +4.00% 4
Wales -22 8 £76,500 -12.57% 4
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 7 (1.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.17%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.39%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 1 (0.20%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 116 (22.70%) Azure
2 65 (12.72%) AWS
3 43 (8.41%) Microsoft 365
4 37 (7.24%) Azure Sentinel
5 36 (7.05%) GCP
6 24 (4.70%) SaaS
7 19 (3.72%) Entra ID
8 15 (2.94%) Mimecast
9 12 (2.35%) Microsoft Purview
10 11 (2.15%) GitHub
10 11 (2.15%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (2.15%) IaaS
10 11 (2.15%) PaaS
11 7 (1.37%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.17%) Datadog
13 4 (0.78%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.78%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.78%) Power Platform
13 4 (0.78%) Tessian
14 3 (0.59%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 77 (15.07%) Firewall
2 65 (12.72%) Network Security
3 30 (5.87%) VPN
4 20 (3.91%) Intrusion Detection
5 12 (2.35%) DNS
6 11 (2.15%) TCP/IP
7 6 (1.17%) DHCP
8 5 (0.98%) Cisco ISE
8 5 (0.98%) SAN
9 4 (0.78%) Cisco Nexus
9 4 (0.78%) HTTPS
9 4 (0.78%) Internet
9 4 (0.78%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.59%) SCCP
10 3 (0.59%) WAN
11 2 (0.39%) DKIM
11 2 (0.39%) DMARC
11 2 (0.39%) LAN
11 2 (0.39%) SSL
12 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%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.20%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.20%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (1.17%) CircleCI
1 6 (1.17%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.78%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.78%) Metasploit
3 3 (0.59%) JIRA
4 1 (0.20%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 124 (24.27%) Social Skills
2 81 (15.85%) Finance
3 71 (13.89%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (7.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 27 (5.28%) Law
6 21 (4.11%) Public Sector
7 20 (3.91%) Legal
8 18 (3.52%) Retail
9 17 (3.33%) Banking
10 16 (3.13%) Influencing Skills
11 11 (2.15%) Financial Institution
12 10 (1.96%) Back Office
13 8 (1.57%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (1.57%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.98%) Advertising
15 3 (0.59%) Aviation
15 3 (0.59%) Documentation Skills
15 3 (0.59%) Games
15 3 (0.59%) Pharmaceutical
16 1 (0.20%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 115 (22.50%) Lead
2 103 (20.16%) Analyst
3 72 (14.09%) Security Analyst
4 65 (12.72%) Security Manager
5 54 (10.57%) Senior
6 51 (9.98%) Security Engineer
7 39 (7.63%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 34 (6.65%) Operational Security Manager
8 34 (6.65%) Security Operations Manager
9 32 (6.26%) Operations Manager
10 29 (5.68%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 25 (4.89%) SOC Analyst
12 21 (4.11%) SOC Manager
13 20 (3.91%) SOC Engineer
14 19 (3.72%) Head of Security
15 18 (3.52%) Consultant
16 17 (3.33%) Infrastructure Manager
17 16 (3.13%) Architect
17 16 (3.13%) Security Specialist
18 15 (2.94%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (1.57%) ARM Templates
2 2 (0.39%) LDAP
2 2 (0.39%) REST
3 1 (0.20%) EDI
3 1 (0.20%) Flash
3 1 (0.20%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.20%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 196 (38.36%) Security Operations Centre
2 103 (20.16%) Cyber Threat
3 78 (15.26%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 73 (14.29%) Operational Technology
5 69 (13.50%) Security Posture
6 47 (9.20%) Cyber Defence
7 23 (4.50%) Cloud Native
8 21 (4.11%) Management Information System
9 13 (2.54%) CSOC
10 10 (1.96%) Analytical Mindset
10 10 (1.96%) Onboarding
11 7 (1.37%) Cyber Security Posture
12 6 (1.17%) Driving Licence
12 6 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
12 6 (1.17%) 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
14 4 (0.78%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 71 (13.89%) Windows
2 46 (9.00%) Linux
3 16 (3.13%) Windows 10
4 12 (2.35%) Unix
4 12 (2.35%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.98%) Mac OS
5 5 (0.98%) Windows Server 2012
5 5 (0.98%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.78%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.20%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (41.10%) Cybersecurity
2 207 (40.51%) Incident Response
3 178 (34.83%) SIEM
4 150 (29.35%) Threat Intelligence
5 136 (26.61%) Vulnerability Management
6 134 (26.22%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 114 (22.31%) Risk Management
8 104 (20.35%) Continuous Improvement
8 104 (20.35%) Mentoring
9 103 (20.16%) Roadmaps
10 99 (19.37%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 98 (19.18%) Stakeholder Management
12 87 (17.03%) ITIL
13 85 (16.63%) Cloud Security
14 84 (16.44%) Information Security
15 81 (15.85%) Cyber Intelligence
16 79 (15.46%) Coaching
17 72 (14.09%) Business Strategy
18 71 (13.89%) Technology Roadmap
19 69 (13.50%) Change Advisory Board
Programming Languages
1 79 (15.46%) PowerShell
2 69 (13.50%) Python
3 23 (4.50%) Bash
4 16 (3.13%) Kusto Query Language
5 11 (2.15%) Bicep
5 11 (2.15%) 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++
8 1 (0.20%) Java
Qualifications
1 80 (15.66%) CISSP
2 71 (13.89%) Security Cleared
3 60 (11.74%) Degree
4 58 (11.35%) SC Cleared
5 42 (8.22%) CompTIA Security+
6 36 (7.05%) GIAC
7 35 (6.85%) CISM
8 27 (5.28%) Cisco Certification
9 23 (4.50%) CEH
10 21 (4.11%) GCIH
11 19 (3.72%) CompTIA CySA+
12 18 (3.52%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 17 (3.33%) Computer Science Degree
14 16 (3.13%) CREST Certified
15 13 (2.54%) Azure Certification
15 13 (2.54%) CISA
15 13 (2.54%) DV Cleared
16 11 (2.15%) CCSP
17 9 (1.76%) CCNA
17 9 (1.76%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (32.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 165 (32.29%) NIST
3 68 (13.31%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 49 (9.59%) GDPR
5 35 (6.85%) Cyber Essentials
6 34 (6.65%) GRC
6 34 (6.65%) PCI DSS
7 21 (4.11%) SOC 2
8 20 (3.91%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 14 (2.74%) NCSC
10 9 (1.76%) SLA
11 6 (1.17%) SOC 3
12 4 (0.78%) COBIT
12 4 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 3 (0.59%) Accessibility
13 3 (0.59%) ITGC
14 1 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
14 1 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 1 (0.20%) HIPAA
System Software
1 18 (3.52%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.54%) Docker
3 5 (0.98%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.39%) Firmware
6 1 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 27 (5.28%) Terraform
2 25 (4.89%) Kubernetes
3 21 (4.11%) SCCM
4 16 (3.13%) Microsoft Intune
4 16 (3.13%) QRadar
5 14 (2.74%) Ansible
6 6 (1.17%) Grafana
6 6 (1.17%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (0.98%) CASB
7 5 (0.98%) Computer Incident Response Team
7 5 (0.98%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.59%) ArcSight ESM
8 3 (0.59%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 3 (0.59%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.20%) Host Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.20%) Nessus
9 1 (0.20%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 147 (28.77%) Microsoft
2 43 (8.41%) ServiceNow
3 36 (7.05%) Splunk
4 22 (4.31%) CrowdStrike
5 21 (4.11%) SolarWinds
6 13 (2.54%) Cisco
6 13 (2.54%) Qualys
7 11 (2.15%) Tenable
8 9 (1.76%) VMware
9 7 (1.37%) Okta
10 6 (1.17%) Google
10 6 (1.17%) NetApp
10 6 (1.17%) Palo Alto
10 6 (1.17%) Sophos
10 6 (1.17%) Zscaler
11 5 (0.98%) 3PAR
11 5 (0.98%) CheckPoint
11 5 (0.98%) Fortinet
11 5 (0.98%) LogRhythm
11 5 (0.98%) Veeam