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

6 months to
18 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 274 311 354
Rank change year-on-year +37 +43 -23
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 592 397 771
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.68% 0.95% 0.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.91% 1.03% 0.95%
Number of salaries quoted 372 296 614
10th Percentile £43,850 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £48,791 £47,724
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £61,439
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +1.73% -5.48%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,563 £78,750
90th Percentile £93,625 £110,000 £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 65,329 38,670 81,283
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.37% 92.92% 85.97%
Number of salaries quoted 40,301 22,594 59,579
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.51%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.94% +5.20% -8.41%

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 18 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 18 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 +47 546 £70,000 +12.00% 175
UK excluding London +43 359 £64,210 +16.74% 126
Work from Home +60 248 £60,000 -2.04% 85
London +23 188 £75,000 - 74
North of England +2 106 £65,000 +20.37% 32
South East +8 101 £62,500 +4.17% 50
Midlands -8 64 £47,750 -13.18% 14
North West +8 51 £70,000 +16.67% 20
Yorkshire -42 43 £50,000 - 8
South West -29 41 £67,500 +22.73% 17
East Midlands -13 36 £45,000 -37.93% 7
West Midlands -31 28 £65,000 +18.18% 6
East of England -34 22 £80,000 +68.42% 7
Wales -17 15 £25,000 -71.43% 6
North East -23 12 £75,000 +66.67% 6
Scotland -32 8 £61,710 +0.75% 3
Northern Ireland -38 2 £32,500 - 1

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 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
1 7 (1.18%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.17%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 1 (0.17%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 125 (21.11%) Azure
2 62 (10.47%) AWS
3 55 (9.29%) Microsoft 365
4 48 (8.11%) Azure Sentinel
5 33 (5.57%) GCP
6 27 (4.56%) Entra ID
7 24 (4.05%) SaaS
8 15 (2.53%) Mimecast
9 14 (2.36%) Microsoft Purview
10 12 (2.03%) IaaS
10 12 (2.03%) PaaS
11 11 (1.86%) GitHub
11 11 (1.86%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (1.52%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (1.01%) Datadog
14 4 (0.68%) Azure DevOps
14 4 (0.68%) Dynamics 365
14 4 (0.68%) OneDrive
14 4 (0.68%) Power Platform
15 3 (0.51%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 85 (14.36%) Firewall
2 63 (10.64%) Network Security
3 29 (4.90%) VPN
4 23 (3.89%) Intrusion Detection
5 19 (3.21%) TCP/IP
6 18 (3.04%) DNS
7 7 (1.18%) WAN
8 5 (0.84%) Cisco ISE
8 5 (0.84%) DHCP
8 5 (0.84%) LAN
9 4 (0.68%) Cisco Nexus
9 4 (0.68%) HTTPS
9 4 (0.68%) Internet
9 4 (0.68%) SAN
9 4 (0.68%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.51%) SCCP
10 3 (0.51%) SD-WAN
11 2 (0.34%) HTTP
11 2 (0.34%) SMTP
11 2 (0.34%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.51%) Power BI
2 1 (0.17%) Metadata
2 1 (0.17%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.17%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (1.01%) CircleCI
1 6 (1.01%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.68%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.68%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.34%) JIRA
General
1 144 (24.32%) Social Skills
2 88 (14.86%) Analytical Skills
3 84 (14.19%) Finance
4 53 (8.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 32 (5.41%) Law
6 26 (4.39%) Retail
7 23 (3.89%) Public Sector
8 17 (2.87%) Legal
9 16 (2.70%) Banking
10 15 (2.53%) Influencing Skills
11 12 (2.03%) Financial Institution
12 10 (1.69%) Back Office
13 8 (1.35%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (1.18%) Police
14 7 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
15 5 (0.84%) Aviation
16 4 (0.68%) Advertising
17 3 (0.51%) Documentation Skills
17 3 (0.51%) Pharmaceutical
18 2 (0.34%) Games
Job Titles
1 121 (20.44%) Analyst
1 121 (20.44%) Lead
2 83 (14.02%) Security Analyst
3 72 (12.16%) Security Engineer
4 71 (11.99%) Security Manager
5 61 (10.30%) Senior
6 47 (7.94%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 38 (6.42%) Operational Security Manager
7 38 (6.42%) Security Operations Manager
8 36 (6.08%) Operations Manager
9 32 (5.41%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 31 (5.24%) SOC Engineer
11 30 (5.07%) SOC Analyst
12 22 (3.72%) Architect
13 21 (3.55%) Cybersecurity Engineer
13 21 (3.55%) Infrastructure Manager
14 20 (3.38%) IT Analyst
15 19 (3.21%) Cloud Engineer
15 19 (3.21%) Consultant
16 18 (3.04%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.52%) ARM Templates
2 6 (1.01%) Regular Expression
3 3 (0.51%) LDAP
3 3 (0.51%) REST
4 1 (0.17%) EDI
4 1 (0.17%) SailPoint
4 1 (0.17%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 207 (34.97%) Security Operations Centre
2 105 (17.74%) Cyber Threat
3 80 (13.51%) Security Posture
4 77 (13.01%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 73 (12.33%) Operational Technology
6 51 (8.61%) Cyber Defence
7 32 (5.41%) Management Information System
8 23 (3.89%) Cloud Native
9 22 (3.72%) CSOC
10 16 (2.70%) Onboarding
11 11 (1.86%) Cyberattack
12 10 (1.69%) Analytical Mindset
12 10 (1.69%) Data Centre
12 10 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
13 7 (1.18%) Cyber Security Posture
13 7 (1.18%) Driving Licence
13 7 (1.18%) Hybrid Cloud
14 6 (1.01%) Enterprise Software
14 6 (1.01%) Insider Threat
14 6 (1.01%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 79 (13.34%) Windows
2 46 (7.77%) Linux
3 20 (3.38%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.86%) Unix
4 11 (1.86%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.84%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.68%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (0.68%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.17%) CentOS
7 1 (0.17%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.17%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 255 (43.07%) Cybersecurity
2 217 (36.66%) Incident Response
3 206 (34.80%) SIEM
4 156 (26.35%) Threat Intelligence
5 148 (25.00%) Vulnerability Management
6 141 (23.82%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 121 (20.44%) Risk Management
8 120 (20.27%) Continuous Improvement
9 114 (19.26%) Mentoring
9 114 (19.26%) Roadmaps
10 103 (17.40%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 102 (17.23%) Cloud Security
12 96 (16.22%) Stakeholder Management
13 95 (16.05%) Information Security
14 92 (15.54%) ITIL
15 84 (14.19%) Cyber Intelligence
16 80 (13.51%) Coaching
17 77 (13.01%) Problem-Solving
18 72 (12.16%) Threat Detection
19 71 (11.99%) Technology Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 95 (16.05%) PowerShell
2 80 (13.51%) Python
3 24 (4.05%) Bash
4 20 (3.38%) Kusto Query Language
5 12 (2.03%) Bicep
6 8 (1.35%) SQL
7 3 (0.51%) Perl
7 3 (0.51%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.34%) C
8 2 (0.34%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.17%) C++
9 1 (0.17%) Java
Qualifications
1 90 (15.20%) Security Cleared
2 88 (14.86%) CISSP
3 79 (13.34%) SC Cleared
4 63 (10.64%) Degree
5 45 (7.60%) CompTIA Security+
6 41 (6.93%) GIAC
7 34 (5.74%) CISM
8 30 (5.07%) Cisco Certification
9 23 (3.89%) CEH
10 21 (3.55%) SANS
11 19 (3.21%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 19 (3.21%) Computer Science Degree
12 18 (3.04%) CompTIA CySA+
12 18 (3.04%) GCIH
13 15 (2.53%) CREST Certified
14 12 (2.03%) CISA
15 11 (1.86%) CCNA
15 11 (1.86%) CCSP
15 11 (1.86%) DV Cleared
15 11 (1.86%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 168 (28.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 167 (28.21%) NIST
3 68 (11.49%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 50 (8.45%) GDPR
5 37 (6.25%) Cyber Essentials
6 35 (5.91%) GRC
7 33 (5.57%) PCI DSS
8 21 (3.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 21 (3.55%) SOC 2
9 14 (2.36%) NCSC
10 11 (1.86%) SLA
11 6 (1.01%) SOC 3
12 4 (0.68%) COBIT
12 4 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 4 (0.68%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 3 (0.51%) ITGC
14 2 (0.34%) Accessibility
15 1 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
15 1 (0.17%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 1 (0.17%) HIPAA
System Software
1 18 (3.04%) Active Directory
2 14 (2.36%) Docker
3 4 (0.68%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.51%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.34%) Firmware
5 2 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.17%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 28 (4.73%) Terraform
2 27 (4.56%) Kubernetes
3 26 (4.39%) SCCM
4 23 (3.89%) Microsoft Intune
5 22 (3.72%) QRadar
6 14 (2.36%) Ansible
7 7 (1.18%) Computer Incident Response Team
8 6 (1.01%) Grafana
9 5 (0.84%) CASB
9 5 (0.84%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 5 (0.84%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (0.84%) vCenter Server
10 3 (0.51%) ArcSight ESM
10 3 (0.51%) CSIRT
11 2 (0.34%) FortiGate
12 1 (0.17%) Host Intrusion Detection System
12 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 173 (29.22%) Microsoft
2 54 (9.12%) ServiceNow
3 40 (6.76%) Splunk
4 25 (4.22%) CrowdStrike
5 24 (4.05%) SolarWinds
6 16 (2.70%) Qualys
7 15 (2.53%) Cisco
8 11 (1.86%) Tenable
9 9 (1.52%) VMware
10 8 (1.35%) Sophos
11 7 (1.18%) Fortinet
11 7 (1.18%) Okta
12 6 (1.01%) Google
12 6 (1.01%) Zscaler
13 5 (0.84%) CheckPoint
13 5 (0.84%) LogRhythm
13 5 (0.84%) NetApp
13 5 (0.84%) Palo Alto
13 5 (0.84%) Rapid7
13 5 (0.84%) Veeam