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

6 months to
15 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 269 263 282
Rank change year-on-year -6 +19 +7
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 471 616 572
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.78% 1.15% 1.03%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.97% 1.27% 1.15%
Number of salaries quoted 277 411 453
10th Percentile £42,300 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £47,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £69,750 £65,000 £63,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.31% +3.17% -6.67%
75th Percentile £82,500 £82,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £96,000 £112,500 £94,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £63,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +14.55% -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 48,808 48,616 49,870
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.95% 90.71% 89.93%
Number of salaries quoted 28,796 23,669 37,967
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £77,715
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £51,971
% change year-on-year -9.09% +5.83% -5.51%

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 January 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 15 January 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 +10 439 £70,000 +7.69% 208
UK excluding London +7 282 £63,000 +14.55% 182
Work from Home +55 227 £65,000 +8.33% 105
London -10 165 £77,500 +3.33% 46
South East +50 107 £62,500 - 60
Midlands +42 55 £52,500 -2.21% 23
North of England -36 53 £65,250 +29.70% 35
West Midlands +23 37 £50,750 -5.47% 9
North West +13 28 £63,000 +26.00% 19
South West +5 27 £75,000 +30.05% 17
East of England +14 22 £74,250 +23.75% 33
East Midlands - 18 £60,000 - 13
Yorkshire -52 16 £67,500 +28.57% 10
Scotland -35 10 £75,000 +30.43% 9
North East +13 9 £105,000 +108.71% 6
Wales +4 6 £48,250 -31.37% 8
Northern Ireland -12 3 £32,500 -35.40% 3

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 (1.91%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (1.70%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.21%) Confluence
3 1 (0.21%) IIS
Applications
1 4 (0.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.21%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 106 (22.51%) Azure
2 70 (14.86%) AWS
3 46 (9.77%) Microsoft 365
4 32 (6.79%) GCP
5 28 (5.94%) Azure Sentinel
6 20 (4.25%) Entra ID
7 13 (2.76%) SaaS
8 11 (2.34%) PaaS
9 10 (2.12%) Mimecast
10 9 (1.91%) Microsoft Purview
11 7 (1.49%) GitHub
11 7 (1.49%) IaaS
12 6 (1.27%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.27%) GitHub Actions
12 6 (1.27%) Tessian
13 5 (1.06%) AWS CloudFormation
14 3 (0.64%) Datadog
14 3 (0.64%) OneDrive
14 3 (0.64%) Power Platform
15 2 (0.42%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 85 (18.05%) Firewall
2 61 (12.95%) Network Security
3 35 (7.43%) VPN
4 33 (7.01%) DNS
5 24 (5.10%) TCP/IP
6 22 (4.67%) DHCP
7 21 (4.46%) Intrusion Detection
8 14 (2.97%) SAN
9 7 (1.49%) Wireshark
10 5 (1.06%) WAN
11 4 (0.85%) LAN
11 4 (0.85%) Wireless
12 3 (0.64%) Internet
12 3 (0.64%) SCCP
12 3 (0.64%) SSL
13 2 (0.42%) DKIM
13 2 (0.42%) DMARC
13 2 (0.42%) HTTP
14 1 (0.21%) SD-WAN
14 1 (0.21%) UWB
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
1 2 (0.42%) Metadata
1 2 (0.42%) Power BI
2 1 (0.21%) Apache Cassandra
2 1 (0.21%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.21%) MySQL
2 1 (0.21%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.21%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 3 (0.64%) CircleCI
1 3 (0.64%) Jenkins
2 2 (0.42%) JIRA
3 1 (0.21%) Burp Suite
3 1 (0.21%) Git
3 1 (0.21%) IDA Disassembler
3 1 (0.21%) MSBuild
General
1 134 (28.45%) Social Skills
2 86 (18.26%) Finance
3 62 (13.16%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (7.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 25 (5.31%) Legal
6 19 (4.03%) Law
7 17 (3.61%) Banking
8 14 (2.97%) Retail
9 12 (2.55%) Public Sector
10 10 (2.12%) Financial Institution
11 8 (1.70%) Advertising
12 7 (1.49%) Back Office
12 7 (1.49%) Documentation Skills
12 7 (1.49%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (1.06%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.64%) Aviation
16 2 (0.42%) Manufacturing
16 2 (0.42%) Pharmaceutical
16 2 (0.42%) Police
Job Titles
1 117 (24.84%) Lead
2 92 (19.53%) Analyst
3 63 (13.38%) Security Engineer
4 62 (13.16%) Security Analyst
5 60 (12.74%) Senior
6 44 (9.34%) Security Manager
7 29 (6.16%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 28 (5.94%) SOC Analyst
9 25 (5.31%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 25 (5.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 23 (4.88%) Cybersecurity Engineer
10 23 (4.88%) Operations Manager
11 21 (4.46%) Operational Security Manager
11 21 (4.46%) Security Operations Manager
12 20 (4.25%) Senior Analyst
12 20 (4.25%) Senior Security Engineer
13 16 (3.40%) Information Analyst
13 16 (3.40%) Information Security Analyst
13 16 (3.40%) Senior Security Analyst
13 16 (3.40%) SOC Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.27%) ARM Templates
2 4 (0.85%) Elastic Stack
2 4 (0.85%) OpenTelemetry
3 2 (0.42%) Django
3 2 (0.42%) HTML
3 2 (0.42%) LDAP
3 2 (0.42%) OAuth
3 2 (0.42%) OpenID
3 2 (0.42%) REST
3 2 (0.42%) SAML
4 1 (0.21%) .NET
4 1 (0.21%) ASP.NET
4 1 (0.21%) AWS CDK
4 1 (0.21%) EDI
4 1 (0.21%) Flash
4 1 (0.21%) SOAP
4 1 (0.21%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 167 (35.46%) Security Operations Centre
2 123 (26.11%) Cyber Threat
3 78 (16.56%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 72 (15.29%) Operational Technology
5 62 (13.16%) Security Posture
6 22 (4.67%) Cyber Defence
7 19 (4.03%) Management Information System
8 15 (3.18%) Cloud Native
9 10 (2.12%) Onboarding
9 10 (2.12%) Virtual Team
10 9 (1.91%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.91%) Cyberattack
10 9 (1.91%) Data Centre
11 8 (1.70%) Data Protection Act
11 8 (1.70%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (1.49%) Cyber Security Posture
12 7 (1.49%) Insider Threat
13 6 (1.27%) Data Structures
14 5 (1.06%) PKI
14 5 (1.06%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 78 (16.56%) Windows
2 48 (10.19%) Linux
3 31 (6.58%) Windows Server
4 14 (2.97%) Windows Server 2019
5 13 (2.76%) Windows Server 2012
6 10 (2.12%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.64%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.64%) Unix
8 1 (0.21%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 195 (41.40%) Cybersecurity
1 195 (41.40%) Incident Response
2 159 (33.76%) SIEM
3 143 (30.36%) Vulnerability Management
4 142 (30.15%) Threat Intelligence
5 119 (25.27%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
6 105 (22.29%) Risk Management
7 104 (22.08%) Mentoring
8 102 (21.66%) Information Security
9 95 (20.17%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
10 93 (19.75%) Roadmaps
10 93 (19.75%) Stakeholder Management
11 91 (19.32%) ITIL
12 90 (19.11%) Continuous Improvement
13 82 (17.41%) Business Strategy
13 82 (17.41%) Cyber Intelligence
14 76 (16.14%) Coaching
15 72 (15.29%) Technology Roadmap
16 71 (15.07%) Problem-Solving
17 69 (14.65%) Change Advisory Board
Programming Languages
1 51 (10.83%) PowerShell
2 47 (9.98%) Python
3 19 (4.03%) Bash
4 18 (3.82%) Kusto Query Language
5 16 (3.40%) SQL
6 7 (1.49%) Bicep
7 2 (0.42%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.42%) Perl
8 1 (0.21%) C
8 1 (0.21%) C#
8 1 (0.21%) C++
8 1 (0.21%) PHP
8 1 (0.21%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 80 (16.99%) CISSP
2 60 (12.74%) Degree
3 57 (12.10%) Security Cleared
4 44 (9.34%) CompTIA Security+
5 41 (8.70%) SC Cleared
6 33 (7.01%) Cisco Certification
7 32 (6.79%) CISM
8 23 (4.88%) GIAC
9 22 (4.67%) GCIH
10 20 (4.25%) CCNA
11 18 (3.82%) GCIA
12 17 (3.61%) CCNP
12 17 (3.61%) CEH
13 15 (3.18%) Microsoft Certification
14 13 (2.76%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 13 (2.76%) Computer Science Degree
14 13 (2.76%) DV Cleared
15 11 (2.34%) Azure Certification
15 11 (2.34%) CompTIA CySA+
16 10 (2.12%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 168 (35.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 158 (33.55%) NIST
3 68 (14.44%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 65 (13.80%) GDPR
5 58 (12.31%) Cyber Essentials
6 30 (6.37%) PCI DSS
7 25 (5.31%) GRC
8 23 (4.88%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 12 (2.55%) SOC 2
10 10 (2.12%) NCSC
10 10 (2.12%) SLA
11 6 (1.27%) Accessibility
12 5 (1.06%) QA
13 4 (0.85%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.64%) ITGC
14 3 (0.64%) SOC 3
15 2 (0.42%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 1 (0.21%) COBIT
16 1 (0.21%) HIPAA
System Software
1 33 (7.01%) Active Directory
2 17 (3.61%) VMware ESXi
3 13 (2.76%) Docker
4 11 (2.34%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (1.27%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.21%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 22 (4.67%) SCCM
1 22 (4.67%) Terraform
2 20 (4.25%) Kubernetes
3 19 (4.03%) Microsoft Intune
4 18 (3.82%) QRadar
5 13 (2.76%) vCenter Server
6 11 (2.34%) Ansible
7 10 (2.12%) CSIRT
7 10 (2.12%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.27%) Nessus
9 5 (1.06%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 4 (0.85%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 4 (0.85%) Prometheus
11 3 (0.64%) ArcSight ESM
11 3 (0.64%) CASB
11 3 (0.64%) Grafana
Vendors
1 118 (25.05%) Microsoft
2 30 (6.37%) ServiceNow
3 29 (6.16%) Splunk
4 28 (5.94%) VMware
5 23 (4.88%) SolarWinds
6 22 (4.67%) CrowdStrike
7 13 (2.76%) 3PAR
7 13 (2.76%) NetApp
7 13 (2.76%) Veeam
8 11 (2.34%) Tenable
9 10 (2.12%) Qualys
10 8 (1.70%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.06%) ArcSight
11 5 (1.06%) Google
12 4 (0.85%) Foundry
12 4 (0.85%) LogRhythm
12 4 (0.85%) McAfee
12 4 (0.85%) Palantir
12 4 (0.85%) Rapid7
13 3 (0.64%) LogLogic