SOC Analyst Job Trends

Security Operations Centre Analyst
UK

The median Security Operations Centre Analyst salary in the UK is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 20 February 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 628 596 666
Rank change year-on-year -32 +70 +222
Permanent jobs requiring a SOC Analyst 37 94 132
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.054% 0.19% 0.18%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.059% 0.21% 0.19%
Number of salaries quoted 32 62 101
10th Percentile £31,500 £37,075 £37,500
25th Percentile £36,438 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £52,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.46% -3.70% +2.86%
75th Percentile £60,313 £67,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £70,000 £70,000 £66,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +5.56% -16.67% +8.00%

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 62,593 44,758 70,993
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.28% 91.51% 94.81%
Number of salaries quoted 39,515 23,479 55,477
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £39,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -4.76%

SOC Analyst
Job Vacancy Trend

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

SOC Analyst job vacancy trend in the UK

SOC Analyst
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for SOC Analyst job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for SOC Analyst job vacancies in the UK

SOC Analyst
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing SOC Analyst over the 6 months to 20 February 2026.

Salary histogram for SOC Analyst in the UK

SOC Analyst
Top 11 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing SOC Analyst within the UK over the 6 months to 20 February 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 -27 36 £45,000 -13.46% 43
UK excluding London -51 18 £47,500 +5.56% 42
London +34 17 £43,750 -32.69% 6
Work from Home +40 13 £42,500 -34.62% 29
South East -22 8 £39,000 -11.36% 19
South West -10 5 £50,000 +17.65% 6
West Midlands +12 2 £55,000 -15.38% 2
East of England +1 2 £57,500 +6.48% 7
Midlands -20 2 £55,000 +22.22% 3
North West -3 1 - - 2
North of England -18 1 - - 4

SOC Analyst Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 20 February 2026, SOC Analyst 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 SOC Analyst in the job title.

1 27 (72.97%) Security Operations
2 23 (62.16%) Incident Response
3 21 (56.76%) SIEM
4 16 (43.24%) Cybersecurity
5 15 (40.54%) Security Cleared
6 13 (35.14%) Microsoft
6 13 (35.14%) SC Cleared
7 12 (32.43%) Firewall
8 10 (27.03%) Threat Intelligence
9 9 (24.32%) Degree
9 9 (24.32%) PowerShell
9 9 (24.32%) Python
10 8 (21.62%) CISSP
10 8 (21.62%) CompTIA Security+
10 8 (21.62%) Continuous Improvement
11 7 (18.92%) Azure
11 7 (18.92%) Information Security
11 7 (18.92%) Linux
11 7 (18.92%) Problem-Solving
12 6 (16.22%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (16.22%) MITRE ATT&CK
12 6 (16.22%) Security Monitoring
12 6 (16.22%) Threat Detection
13 5 (13.51%) AWS
13 5 (13.51%) Bash
13 5 (13.51%) CompTIA CySA+
13 5 (13.51%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
13 5 (13.51%) GCP
13 5 (13.51%) Kalman Filter
13 5 (13.51%) Kusto Query Language

SOC Analyst 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:

Cloud Services
1 7 (18.92%) Azure
2 5 (13.51%) AWS
2 5 (13.51%) GCP
3 4 (10.81%) Azure Sentinel
3 4 (10.81%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (2.70%) Azure Logic Apps
4 1 (2.70%) Datadog
4 1 (2.70%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 12 (32.43%) Firewall
2 4 (10.81%) VPN
3 2 (5.41%) TCP/IP
4 1 (2.70%) Network Security
4 1 (2.70%) SCCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.70%) Power BI
General
1 14 (37.84%) Social Skills
2 11 (29.73%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (16.22%) Finance
4 2 (5.41%) Legal
5 1 (2.70%) Banking
5 1 (2.70%) Law
Miscellaneous
1 16 (43.24%) Security Operations Centre
2 8 (21.62%) Security Posture
3 6 (16.22%) Analytical Mindset
4 3 (8.11%) Cyber Security Posture
5 2 (5.41%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (5.41%) Insider Threat
6 1 (2.70%) Client/Server
6 1 (2.70%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 1 (2.70%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (2.70%) MISP
6 1 (2.70%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 7 (18.92%) Linux
2 5 (13.51%) Windows
3 1 (2.70%) Mac OS
3 1 (2.70%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (72.97%) Security Operations
2 23 (62.16%) Incident Response
3 21 (56.76%) SIEM
4 16 (43.24%) Cybersecurity
5 10 (27.03%) Threat Intelligence
6 8 (21.62%) Continuous Improvement
7 7 (18.92%) Information Security
7 7 (18.92%) Problem-Solving
8 6 (16.22%) MITRE ATT&CK
8 6 (16.22%) Security Monitoring
8 6 (16.22%) Threat Detection
9 5 (13.51%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
9 5 (13.51%) Kalman Filter
9 5 (13.51%) Threat and Vulnerability Management
9 5 (13.51%) Vulnerability Management
9 5 (13.51%) Web Filtering
10 4 (10.81%) Analytics
10 4 (10.81%) Protective Monitoring
10 4 (10.81%) Root Cause Analysis
10 4 (10.81%) Threat Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (24.32%) PowerShell
1 9 (24.32%) Python
2 5 (13.51%) Bash
2 5 (13.51%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 15 (40.54%) Security Cleared
2 13 (35.14%) SC Cleared
3 9 (24.32%) Degree
4 8 (21.62%) CISSP
4 8 (21.62%) CompTIA Security+
5 6 (16.22%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (13.51%) CompTIA CySA+
7 4 (10.81%) GIAC
7 4 (10.81%) SSCP
8 3 (8.11%) DV Cleared
8 3 (8.11%) GCIA
8 3 (8.11%) GCIH
9 2 (5.41%) A+ Certification
9 2 (5.41%) CEH
9 2 (5.41%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (2.70%) CISM
10 1 (2.70%) CREST Certified
10 1 (2.70%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (8.11%) NIST
2 2 (5.41%) GDPR
2 2 (5.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 2 (5.41%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 1 (2.70%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (13.51%) QRadar
2 1 (2.70%) CSIRT
Vendors
1 13 (35.14%) Microsoft
2 4 (10.81%) LogRhythm
2 4 (10.81%) Palo Alto
3 3 (8.11%) CrowdStrike
4 1 (2.70%) Splunk