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

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 272 309 353
Rank change year-on-year +37 +44 -20
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 611 395 764
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.70% 0.94% 0.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.92% 1.01% 0.94%
Number of salaries quoted 390 293 609
10th Percentile £42,675 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £49,000 £47,649
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £60,500
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +3.31% -6.92%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £78,750
90th Percentile £92,500 £109,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £64,210 £55,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +16.74% +1.85% -6.59%

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 66,065 38,941 81,145
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.24% 92.85% 85.83%
Number of salaries quoted 40,765 22,745 59,274
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.57%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -8.90%

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 22 April 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 22 April 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 +31 558 £70,000 +12.00% 213
UK excluding London +42 374 £64,210 +16.74% 152
Work from Home +73 253 £60,000 -4.00% 87
London +24 192 £75,000 - 87
North of England +14 110 £70,000 +28.44% 39
South East +5 103 £52,500 -12.50% 48
Midlands -17 67 £50,000 -9.09% 19
North West +9 55 £70,000 +16.67% 21
Yorkshire -35 43 £50,000 -2.44% 12
South West -35 41 £67,500 +22.73% 22
East Midlands -12 36 £45,000 -37.93% 13
West Midlands -29 31 £67,500 +22.73% 5
East of England -29 22 £80,000 +68.42% 14
Wales -6 20 £25,000 -71.43% 6
North East -34 12 £75,000 +66.67% 8
Scotland -24 8 £61,710 +0.75% 6
Northern Ireland -36 3 £35,750 - 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 7 (1.15%) Microsoft Exchange
1 7 (1.15%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.16%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 1 (0.16%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 128 (20.95%) Azure
2 63 (10.31%) AWS
3 58 (9.49%) Microsoft 365
4 50 (8.18%) Azure Sentinel
5 31 (5.07%) GCP
6 29 (4.75%) Entra ID
7 22 (3.60%) SaaS
8 16 (2.62%) Mimecast
9 14 (2.29%) Microsoft Purview
10 11 (1.80%) GitHub
10 11 (1.80%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (1.80%) IaaS
10 11 (1.80%) PaaS
11 8 (1.31%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (0.98%) Datadog
13 4 (0.65%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.65%) Azure Logic Apps
13 4 (0.65%) Dynamics 365
13 4 (0.65%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.65%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 87 (14.24%) Firewall
2 65 (10.64%) Network Security
3 30 (4.91%) VPN
4 21 (3.44%) Intrusion Detection
5 20 (3.27%) TCP/IP
6 19 (3.11%) DNS
7 7 (1.15%) Cisco ISE
7 7 (1.15%) WAN
8 5 (0.82%) DHCP
8 5 (0.82%) LAN
9 4 (0.65%) Cisco Nexus
9 4 (0.65%) HTTPS
9 4 (0.65%) Internet
9 4 (0.65%) SAN
9 4 (0.65%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.49%) HTTP
10 3 (0.49%) SCCP
10 3 (0.49%) SD-WAN
11 2 (0.33%) SMTP
11 2 (0.33%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.49%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.49%) Power BI
2 1 (0.16%) Metadata
2 1 (0.16%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.16%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.16%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (0.98%) CircleCI
1 6 (0.98%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.65%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.65%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.33%) JIRA
General
1 146 (23.90%) Social Skills
2 87 (14.24%) Analytical Skills
3 80 (13.09%) Finance
4 51 (8.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 31 (5.07%) Law
6 28 (4.58%) Retail
7 23 (3.76%) Public Sector
8 18 (2.95%) Legal
9 15 (2.45%) Influencing Skills
10 14 (2.29%) Banking
11 10 (1.64%) Financial Institution
12 8 (1.31%) Back Office
12 8 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (1.15%) Police
13 7 (1.15%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.82%) Aviation
15 4 (0.65%) Advertising
16 3 (0.49%) Documentation Skills
16 3 (0.49%) Pharmaceutical
17 2 (0.33%) Games
Job Titles
1 124 (20.29%) Analyst
2 120 (19.64%) Lead
3 84 (13.75%) Security Analyst
4 74 (12.11%) Security Engineer
5 73 (11.95%) Security Manager
6 62 (10.15%) Senior
7 47 (7.69%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 40 (6.55%) Operational Security Manager
8 40 (6.55%) Security Operations Manager
9 38 (6.22%) Operations Manager
10 34 (5.56%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 31 (5.07%) SOC Analyst
11 31 (5.07%) SOC Engineer
12 25 (4.09%) Architect
13 22 (3.60%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 22 (3.60%) Infrastructure Manager
14 20 (3.27%) Consultant
14 20 (3.27%) IT Analyst
14 20 (3.27%) Security Architect
15 19 (3.11%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (1.31%) ARM Templates
2 6 (0.98%) Regular Expression
3 4 (0.65%) REST
4 3 (0.49%) LDAP
5 1 (0.16%) EDI
5 1 (0.16%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.16%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 207 (33.88%) Security Operations Centre
2 105 (17.18%) Cyber Threat
3 84 (13.75%) Security Posture
4 77 (12.60%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 73 (11.95%) Operational Technology
6 51 (8.35%) Cyber Defence
7 33 (5.40%) Management Information System
8 22 (3.60%) CSOC
9 20 (3.27%) Cloud Native
10 16 (2.62%) Onboarding
11 11 (1.80%) Cyberattack
12 10 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
12 10 (1.64%) Self-Motivation
13 9 (1.47%) Data Centre
14 7 (1.15%) Cyber Security Posture
14 7 (1.15%) Hybrid Cloud
15 6 (0.98%) Driving Licence
15 6 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
15 6 (0.98%) Insider Threat
15 6 (0.98%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 81 (13.26%) Windows
2 47 (7.69%) Linux
3 21 (3.44%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.80%) Unix
4 11 (1.80%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.82%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.65%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.65%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (0.65%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.16%) CentOS
7 1 (0.16%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.16%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 266 (43.54%) Cybersecurity
2 224 (36.66%) Incident Response
3 212 (34.70%) SIEM
4 160 (26.19%) Threat Intelligence
5 154 (25.20%) Vulnerability Management
6 146 (23.90%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 123 (20.13%) Risk Management
8 118 (19.31%) Continuous Improvement
9 115 (18.82%) Mentoring
10 114 (18.66%) Roadmaps
11 107 (17.51%) Cloud Security
11 107 (17.51%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
12 98 (16.04%) Stakeholder Management
13 96 (15.71%) ITIL
14 95 (15.55%) Information Security
15 84 (13.75%) Cyber Intelligence
16 80 (13.09%) Coaching
17 76 (12.44%) Problem-Solving
18 75 (12.27%) Threat Detection
19 71 (11.62%) SABSA
Programming Languages
1 96 (15.71%) PowerShell
2 81 (13.26%) Python
3 24 (3.93%) Bash
4 20 (3.27%) Kusto Query Language
5 11 (1.80%) Bicep
6 8 (1.31%) SQL
7 3 (0.49%) Perl
7 3 (0.49%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.33%) C
8 2 (0.33%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.16%) C++
9 1 (0.16%) Java
Qualifications
1 93 (15.22%) Security Cleared
2 89 (14.57%) CISSP
3 81 (13.26%) SC Cleared
4 60 (9.82%) Degree
5 46 (7.53%) CompTIA Security+
6 42 (6.87%) GIAC
7 34 (5.56%) CISM
8 30 (4.91%) Cisco Certification
9 23 (3.76%) CEH
10 21 (3.44%) SANS
11 19 (3.11%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 18 (2.95%) CompTIA CySA+
12 18 (2.95%) Computer Science Degree
12 18 (2.95%) GCIH
13 16 (2.62%) CREST Certified
14 12 (1.96%) Azure Certification
14 12 (1.96%) CISA
15 11 (1.80%) CCNA
15 11 (1.80%) CCSP
15 11 (1.80%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 172 (28.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 170 (27.82%) NIST
3 68 (11.13%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 50 (8.18%) GDPR
5 40 (6.55%) GRC
6 37 (6.06%) Cyber Essentials
7 32 (5.24%) PCI DSS
8 21 (3.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 19 (3.11%) SOC 2
10 14 (2.29%) NCSC
11 9 (1.47%) SLA
12 6 (0.98%) SOC 3
13 4 (0.65%) COBIT
13 4 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 4 (0.65%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.49%) ITGC
15 1 (0.16%) Accessibility
15 1 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
15 1 (0.16%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 1 (0.16%) HIPAA
System Software
1 20 (3.27%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.13%) Docker
3 4 (0.65%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.33%) Firmware
5 2 (0.33%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.16%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 27 (4.42%) SCCM
2 25 (4.09%) Terraform
3 24 (3.93%) Kubernetes
3 24 (3.93%) QRadar
4 23 (3.76%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (2.29%) Ansible
6 7 (1.15%) Computer Incident Response Team
6 7 (1.15%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (0.98%) Grafana
8 5 (0.82%) CASB
8 5 (0.82%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (0.82%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.49%) ArcSight ESM
9 3 (0.49%) CSIRT
10 2 (0.33%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.16%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.16%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 177 (28.97%) Microsoft
2 55 (9.00%) ServiceNow
3 42 (6.87%) Splunk
4 30 (4.91%) CrowdStrike
5 25 (4.09%) SolarWinds
6 17 (2.78%) Cisco
7 15 (2.45%) Qualys
8 10 (1.64%) Tenable
9 9 (1.47%) VMware
10 8 (1.31%) Sophos
11 7 (1.15%) Fortinet
11 7 (1.15%) Okta
11 7 (1.15%) Palo Alto
12 6 (0.98%) Google
12 6 (0.98%) Rapid7
12 6 (0.98%) Zscaler
13 5 (0.82%) CheckPoint
13 5 (0.82%) LogRhythm
13 5 (0.82%) NetApp
13 5 (0.82%) Veeam