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

6 months to
12 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 228 388 318
Rank change year-on-year +160 -70 -28
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 901 335 706
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.85% 0.67% 0.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.16% 0.75% 1.04%
Number of salaries quoted 653 246 470
10th Percentile £42,750 £40,000 £38,742
25th Percentile £53,200 £47,750 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,250 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.45% +3.75% -4.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £80,938
90th Percentile £96,000 £96,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +18.18% +4.76% -12.50%

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 77,915 44,448 67,793
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.48% 89.27% 81.15%
Number of salaries quoted 53,724 25,250 43,771
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £48,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +14.58% -4.00% -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 12 August 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 12 August 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 +152 807 £70,000 +12.00% 687
UK excluding London +105 556 £65,000 +18.18% 388
London +91 295 £75,000 -6.25% 373
Work from Home +87 244 £70,000 +14.29% 316
South East +99 194 £59,000 -5.60% 122
North of England +25 122 £70,000 +19.15% 110
Midlands +9 86 £65,000 +23.81% 47
North West +35 79 £75,000 +36.36% 71
East Midlands +33 57 £61,750 +1.02% 18
East of England -15 49 £67,500 +8.87% 14
South West -40 42 £65,000 +27.31% 49
Yorkshire -3 38 £55,000 -12.00% 33
Wales -23 35 £42,250 -23.18% 10
West Midlands -42 29 £67,500 +28.57% 29
Scotland +33 27 £75,000 +30.43% 33
North East -55 5 £75,000 +17.65% 8
Northern Ireland - 3 £42,500 - 10

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 9 (1.00%) SharePoint
2 5 (0.55%) Confluence
3 3 (0.33%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.33%) Distributed Ledger
Cloud Services
1 179 (19.87%) Azure
2 108 (11.99%) AWS
3 86 (9.54%) Microsoft 365
4 74 (8.21%) Azure Sentinel
5 54 (5.99%) Entra ID
6 41 (4.55%) GCP
7 21 (2.33%) Microsoft Purview
8 20 (2.22%) Azure Logic Apps
9 19 (2.11%) SaaS
10 16 (1.78%) Mimecast
11 14 (1.55%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.33%) Zapier
13 9 (1.00%) Amazon GuardDuty
14 8 (0.89%) AWS CloudFormation
15 7 (0.78%) IaaS
15 7 (0.78%) PaaS
16 6 (0.67%) Cloudflare
16 6 (0.67%) GitHub
16 6 (0.67%) Google Workspace
16 6 (0.67%) Sumo Logic
Communications & Networking
1 140 (15.54%) Firewall
2 102 (11.32%) Network Security
3 48 (5.33%) WAN
4 47 (5.22%) TCP/IP
5 46 (5.11%) LAN
6 41 (4.55%) VPN
7 36 (4.00%) DNS
8 27 (3.00%) Wi-Fi
9 25 (2.77%) Intrusion Detection
10 24 (2.66%) Cisco Nexus
10 24 (2.66%) Internet
11 18 (2.00%) HTTP
12 12 (1.33%) FTP
12 12 (1.33%) SMTP
12 12 (1.33%) SSL
13 10 (1.11%) Cisco ISE
14 6 (0.67%) NGFW
14 6 (0.67%) SD-WAN
15 5 (0.55%) IPsec
15 5 (0.55%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.67%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.55%) MongoDB
3 3 (0.33%) Hadoop
3 3 (0.33%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.22%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.11%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.11%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 5 (0.55%) JIRA
2 4 (0.44%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.44%) Metasploit
3 3 (0.33%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.11%) Yeoman
General
1 182 (20.20%) Social Skills
2 106 (11.76%) Analytical Skills
3 97 (10.77%) Finance
4 49 (5.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 40 (4.44%) Legal
6 39 (4.33%) Law
7 36 (4.00%) Public Sector
8 29 (3.22%) Aerospace
9 26 (2.89%) Retail
10 18 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
11 13 (1.44%) Banking
11 13 (1.44%) Military
12 8 (0.89%) Financial Institution
13 7 (0.78%) Documentation Skills
14 6 (0.67%) Advertising
14 6 (0.67%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (0.67%) Police
15 4 (0.44%) Games
15 4 (0.44%) Manufacturing
15 4 (0.44%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 221 (24.53%) Analyst
2 153 (16.98%) Security Analyst
3 150 (16.65%) Senior
4 124 (13.76%) Security Manager
5 108 (11.99%) Lead
5 108 (11.99%) Security Engineer
6 88 (9.77%) Senior Analyst
7 83 (9.21%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 65 (7.21%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 62 (6.88%) SOC Analyst
10 61 (6.77%) Operational Security Manager
10 61 (6.77%) Security Operations Manager
11 59 (6.55%) Senior Security Analyst
12 57 (6.33%) Operations Manager
12 57 (6.33%) SOC Engineer
13 51 (5.66%) Architect
14 50 (5.55%) Cybersecurity Engineer
15 42 (4.66%) Security Specialist
16 35 (3.88%) Security Architect
17 33 (3.66%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (1.78%) LDAP
2 10 (1.11%) ModSecurity
3 6 (0.67%) ARM Templates
3 6 (0.67%) Regular Expression
4 5 (0.55%) REST
5 4 (0.44%) OpenID
5 4 (0.44%) SAML
6 3 (0.33%) JSON
6 3 (0.33%) Kafka
6 3 (0.33%) Smart Contracts
7 2 (0.22%) HTML
7 2 (0.22%) RESTful
8 1 (0.11%) CSS
8 1 (0.11%) Elastic Stack
8 1 (0.11%) SOAP
8 1 (0.11%) TAPI
8 1 (0.11%) Unreal Engine
8 1 (0.11%) WebRTC
8 1 (0.11%) WPF
8 1 (0.11%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 213 (23.64%) Security Operations Centre
2 160 (17.76%) Security Posture
3 89 (9.88%) Cyber Defence
4 72 (7.99%) Cyber Threat
5 58 (6.44%) Management Information System
6 46 (5.11%) CSOC
7 33 (3.66%) Onboarding
8 32 (3.55%) Cloud Native
9 24 (2.66%) Data Centre
10 17 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.66%) Cyberattack
12 14 (1.55%) Cloud Security Posture
12 14 (1.55%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 12 (1.33%) AI Agents
13 12 (1.33%) Hybrid Cloud
13 12 (1.33%) Social Media
14 9 (1.00%) Client/Server
14 9 (1.00%) Cyber Security Posture
15 8 (0.89%) Insider Threat
16 7 (0.78%) Cyber Kill Chain
Operating Systems
1 96 (10.65%) Windows
2 67 (7.44%) Linux
3 13 (1.44%) Unix
4 12 (1.33%) Windows 10
5 8 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.67%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.55%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.44%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.44%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.11%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 513 (56.94%) Cybersecurity
2 338 (37.51%) SIEM
3 327 (36.29%) Incident Response
4 211 (23.42%) Continuous Improvement
4 211 (23.42%) Vulnerability Management
5 188 (20.87%) Information Security
6 168 (18.65%) Cloud Security
7 145 (16.09%) Threat Detection
8 125 (13.87%) Risk Management
8 125 (13.87%) Threat Intelligence
9 111 (12.32%) Problem-Solving
10 102 (11.32%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
11 97 (10.77%) AI
12 94 (10.43%) SOAR
13 88 (9.77%) Security Monitoring
14 84 (9.32%) Stakeholder Management
15 78 (8.66%) Mentoring
15 78 (8.66%) Penetration Testing
16 77 (8.55%) Incident Management
17 76 (8.44%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 103 (11.43%) PowerShell
2 93 (10.32%) Python
3 40 (4.44%) Kusto Query Language
4 24 (2.66%) Bash
5 11 (1.22%) SQL
6 10 (1.11%) C++
7 9 (1.00%) Perl
7 9 (1.00%) Search Processing Language
8 8 (0.89%) Bicep
9 6 (0.67%) C
10 5 (0.55%) Java
10 5 (0.55%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.33%) C#
11 3 (0.33%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.22%) Go
13 1 (0.11%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 187 (20.75%) Security Cleared
2 136 (15.09%) CISSP
3 130 (14.43%) SC Cleared
4 82 (9.10%) CompTIA Security+
5 70 (7.77%) Degree
6 65 (7.21%) CISM
7 51 (5.66%) Cisco Certification
8 48 (5.33%) GIAC
9 43 (4.77%) DV Cleared
10 42 (4.66%) CEH
11 29 (3.22%) CompTIA CySA+
12 28 (3.11%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 27 (3.00%) SANS
14 26 (2.89%) GCIH
15 23 (2.55%) GCIA
16 21 (2.33%) CISA
16 21 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
17 20 (2.22%) CCNP
18 19 (2.11%) CCSP
19 18 (2.00%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 185 (20.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 155 (17.20%) NIST
3 74 (8.21%) GDPR
4 57 (6.33%) GRC
5 51 (5.66%) Cyber Essentials
6 29 (3.22%) PCI DSS
7 24 (2.66%) SOC 2
8 21 (2.33%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 18 (2.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 17 (1.89%) SLA
11 14 (1.55%) NCSC
12 10 (1.11%) Data Quality
13 5 (0.55%) Accessibility
13 5 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 4 (0.44%) NIST 800
15 2 (0.22%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (0.22%) COBIT
15 2 (0.22%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.22%) ISO 9001
15 2 (0.22%) PMO
System Software
1 23 (2.55%) Active Directory
2 8 (0.89%) Docker
2 8 (0.89%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.67%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.22%) Firmware
5 1 (0.11%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 32 (3.55%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (3.22%) Terraform
3 27 (3.00%) QRadar
4 24 (2.66%) Kubernetes
5 22 (2.44%) Single Sign-On
6 20 (2.22%) SCCM
7 11 (1.22%) Ansible
8 7 (0.78%) FortiGate
8 7 (0.78%) Nessus
9 6 (0.67%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 6 (0.67%) Graylog
10 5 (0.55%) Red Hat Satellite
11 4 (0.44%) McAfee ePO
11 4 (0.44%) Nagios
12 3 (0.33%) Computer Incident Response Team
12 3 (0.33%) Kibana
13 2 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
13 2 (0.22%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.11%) CASB
14 1 (0.11%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 241 (26.75%) Microsoft
2 76 (8.44%) Splunk
3 57 (6.33%) Palo Alto
4 56 (6.22%) Cisco
5 52 (5.77%) Qualys
6 47 (5.22%) CrowdStrike
6 47 (5.22%) ServiceNow
7 27 (3.00%) Fortinet
8 22 (2.44%) Aruba
8 22 (2.44%) Tenable
9 16 (1.78%) Google
9 16 (1.78%) OpenAI
10 15 (1.66%) Rapid7
11 12 (1.33%) SolarWinds
12 11 (1.22%) Zscaler
13 10 (1.11%) Sophos
14 9 (1.00%) iManage
14 9 (1.00%) Red Hat
15 8 (0.89%) CyberArk
15 8 (0.89%) LogRhythm