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 vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 359 288 284
Rank change year-on-year -71 -4 +43
Permanent jobs citing Security Operations 357 729 708
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.73% 0.94% 1.15%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.82% 1.16% 1.21%
Number of salaries quoted 264 428 570
10th Percentile £37,500 £39,664 £36,250
25th Percentile £47,750 £49,688 £50,490
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £60,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% -4.00% -6.72%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,750 £76,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £97,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £56,000 £55,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +1.82% -12.00% -

All Process and 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 43,561 62,745 58,381
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 88.66% 80.90% 94.42%
Number of salaries quoted 24,438 36,124 43,818
10th Percentile £28,500 £32,000 £32,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £42,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £54,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% -2.78% +2.86%

Security Operations
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Security Operations as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Security Operations 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 September 2025.

Salary histogram for Security Operations in the UK

Security Operations
Top 16 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 September 2025. 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 -44 335 £65,000 +1.56% 298
UK excluding London -78 208 £56,000 +1.82% 265
London -7 129 £77,500 +1.31% 84
Work from Home -45 123 £67,500 +12.50% 142
South East -2 65 £63,750 +6.25% 99
Midlands +45 48 £51,500 -1.90% 45
West Midlands +60 44 £51,500 +1.42% 27
North of England -69 41 £60,000 +9.09% 43
East of England +1 29 £68,500 +14.17% 41
North West -31 23 £55,000 - 21
South West +23 17 £51,058 -18.31% 19
Yorkshire -25 14 £65,000 +9.47% 21
Scotland +1 7 £60,000 +19.26% 18
East Midlands +15 4 £61,125 +16.43% 16
North East +1 4 £57,500 +27.78% 3
Wales +14 2 £70,000 +39.57% 6

Security Operations
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 10 (2.80%) SharePoint
2 8 (2.24%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 8 (2.24%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.28%) C-CURE
1 1 (0.28%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 84 (23.53%) Azure
2 52 (14.57%) Microsoft 365
3 45 (12.61%) AWS
4 29 (8.12%) Azure Sentinel
5 17 (4.76%) Entra ID
6 11 (3.08%) GCP
7 9 (2.52%) SaaS
8 7 (1.96%) Amazon ECS
8 7 (1.96%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (1.96%) Microsoft Purview
9 5 (1.40%) Mimecast
9 5 (1.40%) PaaS
10 4 (1.12%) Cloud Computing
11 3 (0.84%) Google App Engine
12 2 (0.56%) Amazon EC2
12 2 (0.56%) Amazon ECR
12 2 (0.56%) IaaS
12 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Copilot
12 2 (0.56%) Route 53
12 2 (0.56%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 92 (25.77%) Firewall
2 43 (12.04%) Network Security
3 31 (8.68%) TCP/IP
4 30 (8.40%) DNS
5 29 (8.12%) VPN
6 27 (7.56%) Intrusion Detection
7 17 (4.76%) DHCP
8 12 (3.36%) WAN
9 9 (2.52%) LAN
10 8 (2.24%) FTP
10 8 (2.24%) HTTP
10 8 (2.24%) SAN
10 8 (2.24%) SMTP
11 4 (1.12%) Internet
11 4 (1.12%) Wireshark
12 3 (0.84%) DMARC
12 3 (0.84%) NGFW
12 3 (0.84%) Wireless
13 2 (0.56%) DKIM
13 2 (0.56%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.84%) Elasticsearch
1 3 (0.84%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.56%) Power BI
2 2 (0.56%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.28%) DTS
3 1 (0.28%) GIS
Development Applications
1 2 (0.56%) JIRA
2 1 (0.28%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.28%) Jaeger
General
1 132 (36.97%) Social Skills
2 66 (18.49%) Analytical Skills
3 51 (14.29%) Finance
4 19 (5.32%) Law
5 18 (5.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 16 (4.48%) Documentation Skills
6 16 (4.48%) Public Sector
7 12 (3.36%) Legal
7 12 (3.36%) Retail
8 8 (2.24%) Banking
9 7 (1.96%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (1.96%) Police
10 6 (1.68%) Aerospace
10 6 (1.68%) Financial Institution
11 5 (1.40%) Local Government
11 5 (1.40%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (1.40%) Telecoms
12 4 (1.12%) Advertising
13 3 (0.84%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.84%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 115 (32.21%) Analyst
2 72 (20.17%) Security Analyst
3 47 (13.17%) Security Engineer
4 45 (12.61%) Senior
5 37 (10.36%) SOC Analyst
6 36 (10.08%) Lead
7 33 (9.24%) Security Manager
8 28 (7.84%) Operations Manager
9 27 (7.56%) Cybersecurity Analyst
10 24 (6.72%) Operational Security Manager
10 24 (6.72%) Security Operations Manager
11 21 (5.88%) Cybersecurity Engineer
12 20 (5.60%) Senior Analyst
13 17 (4.76%) IT Analyst
14 16 (4.48%) SOC Manager
15 14 (3.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 14 (3.92%) Senior Security Analyst
16 13 (3.64%) Information Analyst
16 13 (3.64%) Information Security Analyst
16 13 (3.64%) IT Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (1.96%) LDAP
2 6 (1.68%) .NET
2 6 (1.68%) Elastic Stack
3 5 (1.40%) Software Packaging
4 4 (1.12%) HTML
5 3 (0.84%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.84%) React
6 2 (0.56%) ADO.NET
6 2 (0.56%) AWS CDK
6 2 (0.56%) Django
6 2 (0.56%) EDI
6 2 (0.56%) OAuth
6 2 (0.56%) OpenID
6 2 (0.56%) SAML
7 1 (0.28%) 802.1X
7 1 (0.28%) Middleware
7 1 (0.28%) REST
7 1 (0.28%) Spring
7 1 (0.28%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 114 (31.93%) Security Operations Centre
2 88 (24.65%) Cyber Threat
3 58 (16.25%) Security Posture
4 32 (8.96%) Cyber Defence
5 25 (7.00%) Management Information System
6 15 (4.20%) Cyberattack
7 13 (3.64%) Self-Motivation
8 12 (3.36%) Data Centre
9 10 (2.80%) Cloud Security Posture
9 10 (2.80%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (2.80%) Virtual Team
10 9 (2.52%) Insider Threat
11 7 (1.96%) Client/Server
11 7 (1.96%) Operational Technology
12 5 (1.40%) Cyber Kill Chain
12 5 (1.40%) NHS
13 4 (1.12%) Analytical Mindset
13 4 (1.12%) CMDB
13 4 (1.12%) Cyber Security Posture
13 4 (1.12%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 69 (19.33%) Windows
2 42 (11.76%) Linux
3 20 (5.60%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.24%) Windows Server 2019
5 7 (1.96%) Windows Server 2012
6 3 (0.84%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.56%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.28%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.28%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.28%) VMS
8 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 202 (56.58%) Cybersecurity
2 171 (47.90%) Incident Response
3 140 (39.22%) SIEM
4 106 (29.69%) Information Security
5 84 (23.53%) Vulnerability Management
6 82 (22.97%) Threat Intelligence
7 74 (20.73%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 73 (20.45%) Problem-Solving
9 67 (18.77%) Continuous Improvement
10 64 (17.93%) Cloud Security
11 46 (12.89%) Incident Management
12 45 (12.61%) MITRE ATT&CK
13 40 (11.20%) Vulnerability Assessment
14 38 (10.64%) Threat Detection
15 37 (10.36%) Risk Management
16 34 (9.52%) Penetration Testing
17 33 (9.24%) ITIL
17 33 (9.24%) Security Monitoring
18 32 (8.96%) DevOps
18 32 (8.96%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 27 (7.56%) Python
2 22 (6.16%) PowerShell
3 16 (4.48%) Bash
4 12 (3.36%) Kusto Query Language
5 11 (3.08%) SQL
6 4 (1.12%) Java
6 4 (1.12%) Perl
7 3 (0.84%) C#
8 1 (0.28%) C++
8 1 (0.28%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 64 (17.93%) CISSP
2 62 (17.37%) Degree
2 62 (17.37%) Security Cleared
3 41 (11.48%) SC Cleared
4 40 (11.20%) CISM
5 38 (10.64%) CompTIA Security+
6 25 (7.00%) DV Cleared
7 23 (6.44%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (5.04%) GCIA
9 17 (4.76%) GCIH
9 17 (4.76%) GIAC
10 16 (4.48%) CCNA
10 16 (4.48%) CCNP
11 15 (4.20%) CEH
12 13 (3.64%) SANS
13 11 (3.08%) Microsoft Certification
14 10 (2.80%) AWS Certification
14 10 (2.80%) CISA
15 8 (2.24%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 8 (2.24%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 79 (22.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 73 (20.45%) NIST
3 56 (15.69%) GDPR
4 49 (13.73%) Cyber Essentials
5 20 (5.60%) GRC
6 14 (3.92%) PCI DSS
7 10 (2.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 10 (2.80%) SLA
8 7 (1.96%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 6 (1.68%) QA
10 4 (1.12%) Accessibility
10 4 (1.12%) COBIT
10 4 (1.12%) Data Quality
11 3 (0.84%) NCSC
12 2 (0.56%) ISO 22301
12 2 (0.56%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
13 1 (0.28%) SOC 1
System Software
1 36 (10.08%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (2.52%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (2.24%) Docker
4 8 (2.24%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.84%) Firmware
5 3 (0.84%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 23 (6.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (4.76%) Kubernetes
3 15 (4.20%) QRadar
4 10 (2.80%) CSIRT
5 8 (2.24%) Nessus
5 8 (2.24%) SCCM
6 7 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
6 7 (1.96%) vCenter Server
7 5 (1.40%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 4 (1.12%) Terraform
9 2 (0.56%) Ansible
9 2 (0.56%) CASB
9 2 (0.56%) Computer Incident Response Team
9 2 (0.56%) Kibana
9 2 (0.56%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.28%) Kiali
10 1 (0.28%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.28%) Puppet
10 1 (0.28%) RSA Archer
10 1 (0.28%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 124 (34.73%) Microsoft
2 40 (11.20%) Splunk
3 25 (7.00%) VMware
4 14 (3.92%) CrowdStrike
5 13 (3.64%) Tenable
6 12 (3.36%) ServiceNow
7 8 (2.24%) Qualys
7 8 (2.24%) Rapid7
8 7 (1.96%) 3PAR
8 7 (1.96%) NetApp
8 7 (1.96%) SolarWinds
8 7 (1.96%) Veeam
9 6 (1.68%) Cisco
10 5 (1.40%) LogRhythm
11 4 (1.12%) Palo Alto
11 4 (1.12%) Zscaler
12 3 (0.84%) Proofpoint
13 2 (0.56%) Foundry
13 2 (0.56%) TippingPoint
13 2 (0.56%) Trend Micro