Security Specialist Job Trends

Security Specialist
UK

The median Security Specialist salary in the UK is £60,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 16 May 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 569 594 756
Rank change year-on-year +25 +162 -24
Permanent jobs requiring a Security Specialist 146 60 137
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.16% 0.14% 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.17% 0.15% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 88 27 101
10th Percentile £40,000 £47,000 £42,500
25th Percentile £45,000 £56,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £72,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -17.24% +26.09% -11.54%
75th Percentile £81,563 £87,500 £68,750
90th Percentile £92,500 £97,000 £80,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £48,029 £60,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -19.95% +20.00% -13.04%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 85,212 39,160 91,339
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.30% 89.49% 94.62%
Number of salaries quoted 56,182 22,791 67,021
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,344 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.48% +4.69% -5.66%

Security Specialist
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Security Specialist' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Security Specialist job vacancy trend in the UK

Security Specialist
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Security Specialist job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Security Specialist job vacancies in the UK

Security Specialist
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Specialist over the 6 months to 16 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Specialist in the UK

Security Specialist
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Specialist within the UK over the 6 months to 16 May 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 +24 134 £60,000 -17.24% 27
UK excluding London +4 92 £48,029 -19.95% 22
Work from Home +39 51 £60,000 -31.43% 13
London +13 48 £90,000 +12.50% 13
Midlands - 30 £45,000 -
South East -12 18 £65,000 -13.33% 13
North of England -16 18 £55,000 -1.79%
East Midlands - 16 £45,000 -
West Midlands - 14 - -
North West +12 12 £55,000 -8.33%
East of England -12 12 £45,000 - 3
South West -43 8 £60,000 +26.32% 2
Yorkshire -48 6 £27,500 -31.25%
Scotland -2 4 £40,000 -23.08% 4
Northern Ireland -37 2 - -

Security Specialist Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 16 May 2026, Security Specialist job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Security Specialist in the job title.

1 92 (63.01%) Cybersecurity
2 36 (24.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 33 (22.60%) Information Security
4 26 (17.81%) Security Operations
5 25 (17.12%) Vulnerability Management
6 24 (16.44%) NIST
6 24 (16.44%) SIEM
7 23 (15.75%) Security Cleared
8 21 (14.38%) Azure
8 21 (14.38%) Disaster Recovery
9 20 (13.70%) Firewall
10 18 (12.33%) CEH
10 18 (12.33%) Incident Response
10 18 (12.33%) PowerShell
11 16 (10.96%) Microsoft
12 15 (10.27%) Cisco Certification
12 15 (10.27%) CISSP
12 15 (10.27%) Network Security
12 15 (10.27%) Penetration Testing
12 15 (10.27%) Risk Management
12 15 (10.27%) Security Management
13 14 (9.59%) Incident Management
13 14 (9.59%) SC Cleared
14 13 (8.90%) Problem-Solving
14 13 (8.90%) VMware
15 12 (8.22%) Cyber Essentials
15 12 (8.22%) GRC
15 12 (8.22%) Python
16 11 (7.53%) BCP
16 11 (7.53%) Cisco

Security Specialist Skill Set
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 3 (2.05%) Drupal
1 3 (2.05%) nginx
1 3 (2.05%) WordPress
2 2 (1.37%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 2 (1.37%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (1.37%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (1.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 2 (1.37%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.37%) SAP GRC
2 1 (0.68%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 21 (14.38%) Azure
2 11 (7.53%) Nutanix
3 9 (6.16%) AWS
3 9 (6.16%) Microsoft 365
4 6 (4.11%) Mimecast
5 3 (2.05%) Google Workspace
5 3 (2.05%) SaaS
6 2 (1.37%) Microsoft Purview
6 2 (1.37%) OpenShift
6 2 (1.37%) Rubrik
7 1 (0.68%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.68%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 20 (13.70%) Firewall
2 15 (10.27%) Network Security
3 9 (6.16%) VPN
4 7 (4.79%) Cisco ISE
5 5 (3.42%) Intrusion Detection
6 4 (2.74%) Cisco Nexus
7 2 (1.37%) BGP
7 2 (1.37%) DNS
7 2 (1.37%) Internet
7 2 (1.37%) OSPF
7 2 (1.37%) TCP/IP
7 2 (1.37%) VLAN
7 2 (1.37%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.05%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 4 (2.74%) Burp Suite
1 4 (2.74%) Metasploit
2 3 (2.05%) JIRA
3 1 (0.68%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.68%) Maven
General
1 17 (11.64%) Social Skills
2 14 (9.59%) Finance
3 11 (7.53%) Law
4 8 (5.48%) Retail
5 7 (4.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (2.74%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (2.74%) Automotive
6 4 (2.74%) Marketing
6 4 (2.74%) Public Sector
7 3 (2.05%) Advertising
7 3 (2.05%) Local Government
7 3 (2.05%) Police
8 2 (1.37%) Banking
8 2 (1.37%) Legal
9 1 (0.68%) Billing
9 1 (0.68%) Cyber-Physical System
9 1 (0.68%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.68%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.68%) Portuguese Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.68%) Elastic Stack
1 1 (0.68%) JSP
1 1 (0.68%) React
1 1 (0.68%) Spring
1 1 (0.68%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 11 (7.53%) Hybrid Cloud
2 8 (5.48%) Management Information System
3 7 (4.79%) Security Posture
4 5 (3.42%) Cyber Threat
5 4 (2.74%) Cyber Defence
5 4 (2.74%) Insider Threat
5 4 (2.74%) Operational Technology
6 3 (2.05%) Data Centre
6 3 (2.05%) Onboarding
6 3 (2.05%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (2.05%) Virtual Team
7 1 (0.68%) PMI
7 1 (0.68%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 7 (4.79%) Windows
2 4 (2.74%) Linux
3 2 (1.37%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.68%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (63.01%) Cybersecurity
2 33 (22.60%) Information Security
3 26 (17.81%) Security Operations
4 25 (17.12%) Vulnerability Management
5 24 (16.44%) SIEM
6 21 (14.38%) Disaster Recovery
7 18 (12.33%) Incident Response
8 15 (10.27%) Penetration Testing
8 15 (10.27%) Risk Management
8 15 (10.27%) Security Management
9 14 (9.59%) Incident Management
10 13 (8.90%) Problem-Solving
11 11 (7.53%) BCP
11 11 (7.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 11 (7.53%) Resilience Testing
11 11 (7.53%) Runbook
11 11 (7.53%) Test Automation
12 10 (6.85%) Threat Detection
13 8 (5.48%) Data Loss Prevention
13 8 (5.48%) Ethical Hacking
Programming Languages
1 18 (12.33%) PowerShell
2 12 (8.22%) Python
3 1 (0.68%) Java
3 1 (0.68%) JavaScript
3 1 (0.68%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 23 (15.75%) Security Cleared
2 18 (12.33%) CEH
3 15 (10.27%) Cisco Certification
3 15 (10.27%) CISSP
4 14 (9.59%) SC Cleared
5 10 (6.85%) CCNA
6 8 (5.48%) Degree
6 8 (5.48%) DV Cleared
7 7 (4.79%) CISM
8 6 (4.11%) CCNP
9 5 (3.42%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.74%) BPSS Clearance
10 4 (2.74%) CISMP
10 4 (2.74%) CompTIA Security+
10 4 (2.74%) CREST Certified
10 4 (2.74%) GIAC
10 4 (2.74%) GPEN
10 4 (2.74%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (2.74%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 4 (2.74%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (24.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 24 (16.44%) NIST
3 12 (8.22%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (8.22%) GRC
4 11 (7.53%) ISO 22301
5 6 (4.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 5 (3.42%) PCI DSS
7 4 (2.74%) Actionable Recommendations
7 4 (2.74%) NIST 800
8 3 (2.05%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.68%) Def Stans
9 1 (0.68%) GDPR
System Software
1 4 (2.74%) Docker
2 3 (2.05%) Active Directory
3 2 (1.37%) EMC RecoverPoint
3 2 (1.37%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (2.74%) Nmap
2 3 (2.05%) Kubernetes
2 3 (2.05%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (2.05%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (1.37%) AirWatch
3 2 (1.37%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
3 2 (1.37%) FortiGate
3 2 (1.37%) RSA Archer
3 2 (1.37%) VxRail
4 1 (0.68%) CSIRT
Vendors
1 16 (10.96%) Microsoft
2 13 (8.90%) VMware
3 11 (7.53%) Cisco
3 11 (7.53%) Commvault
4 9 (6.16%) Zscaler
5 7 (4.79%) CheckPoint
5 7 (4.79%) Splunk
6 6 (4.11%) Fortinet
6 6 (4.11%) Sophos
7 4 (2.74%) Google
7 4 (2.74%) Okta
8 3 (2.05%) SAP
9 2 (1.37%) CrowdStrike
9 2 (1.37%) CyberArk
9 2 (1.37%) Netskope
9 2 (1.37%) Palo Alto