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

6 months to
15 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 285 309 355
Rank change year-on-year +24 +46 -21
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 568 396 757
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.67% 0.96% 0.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.88% 1.04% 0.94%
Number of salaries quoted 356 297 607
10th Percentile £44,250 £42,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £50,393 £47,724
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £62,500 £62,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% +0.81% -4.62%
75th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £92,500 £110,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £55,000 £54,500
% change year-on-year +18.18% +0.92% -5.73%

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 64,523 38,250 80,347
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.56% 92.93% 86.07%
Number of salaries quoted 39,734 22,522 59,066
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% -10.54%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -8.26%

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 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 15 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 +37 525 £70,000 +12.00% 152
UK excluding London +29 344 £65,000 +18.18% 119
Work from Home +58 243 £60,000 -4.00% 92
London -4 179 £75,000 - 62
South East +8 100 £61,250 +2.08% 40
North of England -16 97 £65,000 +22.07% 29
Midlands -11 65 £50,000 -9.09% 12
North West +3 46 £65,500 +10.55% 15
South West -33 40 £70,000 +24.26% 17
Yorkshire -41 39 £50,000 - 10
East Midlands - 35 £45,000 - 7
West Midlands -24 30 £65,000 +18.18% 5
East of England -27 20 £80,000 +68.42% 11
Wales -19 12 £40,000 -54.29% 11
North East -21 12 £75,000 +66.67% 5
Scotland -32 8 £64,210 +2.74% 3
Northern Ireland -38 2 £32,500 -

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 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.06%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.18%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 120 (21.13%) Azure
2 63 (11.09%) AWS
3 49 (8.63%) Microsoft 365
4 45 (7.92%) Azure Sentinel
5 34 (5.99%) GCP
6 24 (4.23%) SaaS
7 23 (4.05%) Entra ID
8 15 (2.64%) Mimecast
9 12 (2.11%) IaaS
9 12 (2.11%) Microsoft Purview
9 12 (2.11%) PaaS
10 11 (1.94%) GitHub
10 11 (1.94%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (1.41%) AWS CloudFormation
12 6 (1.06%) Datadog
13 4 (0.70%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.70%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.70%) Power Platform
14 3 (0.53%) Azure Logic Apps
14 3 (0.53%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 79 (13.91%) Firewall
2 63 (11.09%) Network Security
3 29 (5.11%) VPN
4 23 (4.05%) Intrusion Detection
5 15 (2.64%) DNS
5 15 (2.64%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.06%) WAN
7 5 (0.88%) Cisco ISE
7 5 (0.88%) DHCP
8 4 (0.70%) Cisco Nexus
8 4 (0.70%) HTTPS
8 4 (0.70%) Internet
8 4 (0.70%) LAN
8 4 (0.70%) SAN
8 4 (0.70%) Wireshark
9 3 (0.53%) SCCP
9 3 (0.53%) SD-WAN
10 2 (0.35%) DKIM
10 2 (0.35%) DMARC
10 2 (0.35%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.53%) Power BI
2 1 (0.18%) Metadata
2 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.18%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 6 (1.06%) CircleCI
1 6 (1.06%) Jenkins
2 4 (0.70%) Bitbucket
2 4 (0.70%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.35%) JIRA
4 1 (0.18%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 138 (24.30%) Social Skills
2 86 (15.14%) Analytical Skills
3 82 (14.44%) Finance
4 52 (9.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 31 (5.46%) Law
6 24 (4.23%) Retail
7 22 (3.87%) Public Sector
8 18 (3.17%) Legal
9 17 (2.99%) Banking
10 15 (2.64%) Influencing Skills
11 11 (1.94%) Financial Institution
12 10 (1.76%) Back Office
13 8 (1.41%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (1.06%) Police
14 6 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
15 4 (0.70%) Advertising
15 4 (0.70%) Aviation
16 3 (0.53%) Documentation Skills
16 3 (0.53%) Games
16 3 (0.53%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 117 (20.60%) Analyst
2 116 (20.42%) Lead
3 83 (14.61%) Security Analyst
4 71 (12.50%) Security Manager
5 66 (11.62%) Security Engineer
6 60 (10.56%) Senior
7 47 (8.27%) Cybersecurity Analyst
8 38 (6.69%) Operational Security Manager
8 38 (6.69%) Security Operations Manager
9 36 (6.34%) Operations Manager
10 33 (5.81%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 27 (4.75%) SOC Analyst
11 27 (4.75%) SOC Engineer
12 20 (3.52%) Architect
12 20 (3.52%) Consultant
12 20 (3.52%) Infrastructure Manager
12 20 (3.52%) IT Analyst
13 19 (3.35%) SOC Manager
14 18 (3.17%) Cloud Engineer
14 18 (3.17%) Cybersecurity Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.58%) ARM Templates
2 5 (0.88%) Regular Expression
3 3 (0.53%) REST
4 2 (0.35%) LDAP
5 1 (0.18%) EDI
5 1 (0.18%) Flash
5 1 (0.18%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.18%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 204 (35.92%) Security Operations Centre
2 103 (18.13%) Cyber Threat
3 78 (13.73%) Security Posture
4 77 (13.56%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 72 (12.68%) Operational Technology
6 50 (8.80%) Cyber Defence
7 30 (5.28%) Management Information System
8 23 (4.05%) Cloud Native
9 22 (3.87%) CSOC
10 15 (2.64%) Onboarding
11 10 (1.76%) Analytical Mindset
11 10 (1.76%) Cyberattack
12 9 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
13 8 (1.41%) Data Centre
14 7 (1.23%) Cyber Security Posture
14 7 (1.23%) Driving Licence
15 6 (1.06%) Enterprise Software
15 6 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
15 6 (1.06%) Life Science
15 6 (1.06%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 74 (13.03%) Windows
2 46 (8.10%) Linux
3 19 (3.35%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.94%) Unix
4 11 (1.94%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.88%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.70%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.70%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.18%) CentOS
7 1 (0.18%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 242 (42.61%) Cybersecurity
2 212 (37.32%) Incident Response
3 198 (34.86%) SIEM
4 154 (27.11%) Threat Intelligence
5 143 (25.18%) Vulnerability Management
6 138 (24.30%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
7 118 (20.77%) Risk Management
8 117 (20.60%) Continuous Improvement
9 110 (19.37%) Mentoring
9 110 (19.37%) Roadmaps
10 103 (18.13%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
11 97 (17.08%) Stakeholder Management
12 96 (16.90%) Cloud Security
13 91 (16.02%) ITIL
14 88 (15.49%) Information Security
15 81 (14.26%) Cyber Intelligence
16 80 (14.08%) Coaching
17 73 (12.85%) Problem-Solving
18 71 (12.50%) Technology Roadmap
18 71 (12.50%) Threat Detection
Programming Languages
1 90 (15.85%) PowerShell
2 76 (13.38%) Python
3 22 (3.87%) Bash
4 20 (3.52%) Kusto Query Language
5 12 (2.11%) Bicep
6 9 (1.58%) SQL
7 3 (0.53%) C
7 3 (0.53%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.35%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.35%) Perl
9 1 (0.18%) C++
9 1 (0.18%) Java
Qualifications
1 86 (15.14%) Security Cleared
2 82 (14.44%) CISSP
3 75 (13.20%) SC Cleared
4 61 (10.74%) Degree
5 40 (7.04%) CompTIA Security+
6 37 (6.51%) GIAC
7 33 (5.81%) CISM
8 28 (4.93%) Cisco Certification
9 21 (3.70%) CEH
10 18 (3.17%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 18 (3.17%) GCIH
10 18 (3.17%) SANS
11 17 (2.99%) CompTIA CySA+
11 17 (2.99%) Computer Science Degree
12 16 (2.82%) CREST Certified
13 12 (2.11%) Azure Certification
13 12 (2.11%) CISA
13 12 (2.11%) DV Cleared
14 11 (1.94%) CCSP
15 10 (1.76%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (29.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 166 (29.23%) NIST
2 68 (11.97%) ISO/IEC 27005
3 51 (8.98%) GDPR
4 36 (6.34%) Cyber Essentials
5 35 (6.16%) GRC
6 34 (5.99%) PCI DSS
7 21 (3.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 21 (3.70%) SOC 2
8 14 (2.46%) NCSC
9 11 (1.94%) SLA
10 6 (1.06%) SOC 3
11 4 (0.70%) COBIT
11 4 (0.70%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 4 (0.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.53%) ITGC
13 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
13 1 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 1 (0.18%) HIPAA
System Software
1 17 (2.99%) Active Directory
2 14 (2.46%) Docker
3 4 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.35%) Firmware
5 2 (0.35%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.18%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 27 (4.75%) Terraform
2 25 (4.40%) Kubernetes
3 24 (4.23%) SCCM
4 19 (3.35%) QRadar
5 18 (3.17%) Microsoft Intune
6 14 (2.46%) Ansible
7 6 (1.06%) Grafana
8 5 (0.88%) CASB
8 5 (0.88%) Computer Incident Response Team
8 5 (0.88%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.88%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.53%) ArcSight ESM
9 3 (0.53%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 3 (0.53%) CSIRT
10 2 (0.35%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.18%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 164 (28.87%) Microsoft
2 51 (8.98%) ServiceNow
3 38 (6.69%) Splunk
4 24 (4.23%) CrowdStrike
5 23 (4.05%) SolarWinds
6 15 (2.64%) Qualys
7 14 (2.46%) Cisco
8 11 (1.94%) Tenable
9 9 (1.58%) VMware
10 7 (1.23%) Fortinet
10 7 (1.23%) Okta
10 7 (1.23%) Sophos
11 6 (1.06%) Zscaler
12 5 (0.88%) CheckPoint
12 5 (0.88%) Google
12 5 (0.88%) LogRhythm
12 5 (0.88%) NetApp
12 5 (0.88%) Palo Alto
12 5 (0.88%) Rapid7
12 5 (0.88%) Veeam