Senior Security Engineer Job Trends

Senior Security Engineer
UK

The median Senior Security Engineer salary in the UK is £72,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 October 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 590 628 583
Rank change year-on-year +38 -45 +48
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Security Engineer 217 38 162
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.18% 0.077% 0.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.20% 0.086% 0.24%
Number of salaries quoted 112 34 132
10th Percentile £47,500 £47,250 £46,808
25th Percentile £62,500 £62,500 £60,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £72,500 £76,000 £85,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.61% -10.59% +21.43%
75th Percentile £81,250 £90,000 £95,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £102,750 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +7.69% +8.33% -

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 109,855 44,157 67,766
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.55% 89.76% 95.36%
Number of salaries quoted 74,567 25,766 38,707
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,500 £53,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.35% -2.73% -8.33%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -8.00% -4.76%

Senior Security Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Senior Security Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Security Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Senior Security Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Senior Security Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Security Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Senior Security Engineer over the 6 months to 14 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Senior Security Engineer in the UK

Senior Security Engineer
Top 14 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Senior Security Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 14 October 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
UK excluding London +4 157 £70,000 +7.69% 110
England -14 157 £74,000 -2.63% 244
Work from Home +15 75 £70,000 +7.69% 99
Scotland - 53 £45,000 - 15
London -27 51 £85,000 -5.56% 143
South East -16 35 £65,000 - 15
South West - 30 £70,000 - 17
North of England -38 24 £72,500 +11.54% 22
North West -18 13 £75,000 +15.38% 15
East of England -23 11 £75,000 +28.11% 15
Yorkshire - 11 £66,250 - 2
Midlands - 4 £66,250 - 17
East Midlands - 2 - - 9
West Midlands - 2 £66,250 - 8

Senior Security Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 14 October 2026, Senior Security Engineer 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 Senior Security Engineer in the job title.

1 107 (49.31%) Cybersecurity
2 95 (43.78%) Firewall
3 69 (31.80%) Network Security
4 65 (29.95%) Cloud Security
5 62 (28.57%) Business Continuity
6 60 (27.65%) Decision-Making
7 57 (26.27%) BCP
7 57 (26.27%) Business Continuity Planning
8 54 (24.88%) Vulnerability Remediation
9 51 (23.50%) Project Delivery
10 49 (22.58%) Network Architecture
10 49 (22.58%) VLAN
11 47 (21.66%) Security Operations
12 46 (21.20%) Capacity Planning
12 46 (21.20%) Economics
13 42 (19.35%) Vulnerability Management
14 34 (15.67%) Azure
15 33 (15.21%) SIEM
16 32 (14.75%) AWS
17 29 (13.36%) CI/CD
17 29 (13.36%) Cisco
17 29 (13.36%) Microsoft
17 29 (13.36%) Terraform
18 28 (12.90%) Incident Response
19 27 (12.44%) Information Security
19 27 (12.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
19 27 (12.44%) Penetration Testing
20 26 (11.98%) Application Security
20 26 (11.98%) Infrastructure as Code
21 25 (11.52%) Problem-Solving

Senior Security Engineer 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:

Business Applications
1 1 (0.46%) C-CURE
Cloud Services
1 34 (15.67%) Azure
2 32 (14.75%) AWS
3 18 (8.29%) GCP
4 14 (6.45%) Entra ID
5 13 (5.99%) Microsoft 365
6 10 (4.61%) Amazon S3
6 10 (4.61%) AWS Lambda
6 10 (4.61%) SaaS
6 10 (4.61%) Serverless
7 9 (4.15%) Microsoft Purview
8 7 (3.23%) Azure Sentinel
9 6 (2.76%) Azure Logic Apps
9 6 (2.76%) GitHub
9 6 (2.76%) GitHub Actions
10 5 (2.30%) Amazon EKS
10 5 (2.30%) Google Compute Engine
10 5 (2.30%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 5 (2.30%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 4 (1.84%) Mimecast
12 2 (0.92%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 95 (43.78%) Firewall
2 69 (31.80%) Network Security
3 49 (22.58%) VLAN
4 20 (9.22%) VPN
5 17 (7.83%) Wi-Fi
6 16 (7.37%) Internet
7 14 (6.45%) LAN
7 14 (6.45%) WAN
8 12 (5.53%) Cisco Nexus
9 10 (4.61%) Intrusion Detection
10 9 (4.15%) BGP
11 7 (3.23%) TCP/IP
12 6 (2.76%) DNS
13 4 (1.84%) Cisco ASA
13 4 (1.84%) Cisco Firepower
14 3 (1.38%) OSPF
14 3 (1.38%) Remote Desktop
14 3 (1.38%) Wireless
14 3 (1.38%) Wireless Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.30%) Amazon RDS
1 5 (2.30%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.46%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 9 (4.15%) TeamCity
2 4 (1.84%) Jenkins
3 3 (1.38%) Burp Suite
3 3 (1.38%) Maven
3 3 (1.38%) Metasploit
3 3 (1.38%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (0.92%) GitLab
5 1 (0.46%) Git
5 1 (0.46%) JIRA
5 1 (0.46%) Snyk
5 1 (0.46%) SonarQube
General
1 74 (34.10%) Social Skills
2 24 (11.06%) Finance
3 11 (5.07%) Public Sector
4 10 (4.61%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (2.76%) Banking
5 6 (2.76%) Retail
6 5 (2.30%) Back Office
6 5 (2.30%) Financial Institution
7 4 (1.84%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (1.38%) Digital Health
8 3 (1.38%) Digital Healthcare
9 2 (0.92%) Automotive
9 2 (0.92%) Marketing
10 1 (0.46%) Analytical Skills
10 1 (0.46%) Billing
10 1 (0.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (13.36%) Terraform
2 9 (4.15%) Node.js
3 5 (2.30%) JSON
4 4 (1.84%) eBPF
5 3 (1.38%) JSON Schema
5 3 (1.38%) LDAP
5 3 (1.38%) Regular Expression
5 3 (1.38%) RESTful
5 3 (1.38%) XML
5 3 (1.38%) XMPP
6 2 (0.92%) Ajax
6 2 (0.92%) JWT
6 2 (0.92%) OAuth
6 2 (0.92%) OAuth2
6 2 (0.92%) OpenID
6 2 (0.92%) Pulumi
6 2 (0.92%) SAML
7 1 (0.46%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 37 (17.05%) Cloud Native
2 21 (9.68%) Security Posture
3 19 (8.76%) CCTV
4 14 (6.45%) Driving Licence
5 10 (4.61%) Management Information System
5 10 (4.61%) PKI
6 9 (4.15%) Cyber Threat
7 8 (3.69%) Security Operations Centre
8 6 (2.76%) Blog
8 6 (2.76%) Distributed Systems
9 4 (1.84%) Data Centre
9 4 (1.84%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 4 (1.84%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.38%) Cloud Security Posture
10 3 (1.38%) Hybrid Cloud
10 3 (1.38%) NHS
10 3 (1.38%) PMI
10 3 (1.38%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.92%) Onboarding
12 1 (0.46%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 8 (3.69%) Linux
2 3 (1.38%) Kali Linux
2 3 (1.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 3 (1.38%) Windows
2 3 (1.38%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (49.31%) Cybersecurity
2 65 (29.95%) Cloud Security
3 62 (28.57%) Business Continuity
4 60 (27.65%) Decision-Making
5 57 (26.27%) BCP
5 57 (26.27%) Business Continuity Planning
6 54 (24.88%) Vulnerability Remediation
7 51 (23.50%) Project Delivery
8 49 (22.58%) Network Architecture
9 47 (21.66%) Security Operations
10 46 (21.20%) Capacity Planning
10 46 (21.20%) Economics
11 42 (19.35%) Vulnerability Management
12 33 (15.21%) SIEM
13 29 (13.36%) CI/CD
14 28 (12.90%) Incident Response
15 27 (12.44%) Information Security
15 27 (12.44%) Penetration Testing
16 26 (11.98%) Application Security
16 26 (11.98%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 24 (11.06%) Python
2 12 (5.53%) Bash
3 11 (5.07%) PowerShell
4 9 (4.15%) Go
5 7 (3.23%) Kusto Query Language
6 6 (2.76%) Java
7 5 (2.30%) C++
7 5 (2.30%) SQL
8 3 (1.38%) Search Processing Language
8 3 (1.38%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.92%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.92%) Rust
10 1 (0.46%) Objective-C
10 1 (0.46%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 20 (9.22%) Cisco Certification
2 19 (8.76%) CISSP
3 16 (7.37%) Security Cleared
4 12 (5.53%) DV Cleared
5 11 (5.07%) CCNA
5 11 (5.07%) CISM
6 9 (4.15%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 8 (3.69%) CCSP
7 8 (3.69%) CompTIA Security+
8 6 (2.76%) CCNP
8 6 (2.76%) Degree
9 5 (2.30%) AWS Certification
9 5 (2.30%) Azure Certification
9 5 (2.30%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (1.84%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (1.38%) CASP
11 3 (1.38%) CCIE
11 3 (1.38%) City & Guilds
11 3 (1.38%) PMI Certification
11 3 (1.38%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (12.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (6.45%) NIST
3 13 (5.99%) SOC 2
4 9 (4.15%) GDPR
5 5 (2.30%) PCI DSS
6 4 (1.84%) GRC
7 3 (1.38%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (1.38%) QA
8 1 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.46%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.46%) NCSC
System Software
1 12 (5.53%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.38%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 14 (6.45%) Grafana
2 13 (5.99%) Kubernetes
3 11 (5.07%) Ansible
4 9 (4.15%) Cilium
4 9 (4.15%) Microsoft Intune
4 9 (4.15%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.38%) Nessus
5 3 (1.38%) Nmap
5 3 (1.38%) Progress Chef
5 3 (1.38%) SCCM
5 3 (1.38%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.46%) CASB
Vendors
1 29 (13.36%) Cisco
1 29 (13.36%) Microsoft
2 22 (10.14%) Palo Alto
3 16 (7.37%) Qualys
4 11 (5.07%) Aruba
5 7 (3.23%) Splunk
6 6 (2.76%) Google
6 6 (2.76%) RedGate
6 6 (2.76%) Tenable
7 4 (1.84%) Arista
7 4 (1.84%) Red Hat
8 3 (1.38%) CrowdStrike
8 3 (1.38%) Fortinet
8 3 (1.38%) LexisNexis
8 3 (1.38%) McAfee
8 3 (1.38%) Okta
8 3 (1.38%) Rapid7
8 3 (1.38%) VMware
9 2 (0.92%) OpenAI
10 1 (0.46%) Cribl.io