Vulnerability Research Job Trends

Vulnerability Research
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Vulnerability Research skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 632 688 702
Rank change year-on-year +56 +14 +291
Permanent jobs citing Vulnerability Research 17 23 11
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.028% 0.043% 0.020%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.035% 0.047% 0.022%
Number of salaries quoted 8 0 8
10th Percentile - - £31,250
25th Percentile £70,000 - £33,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £86,750 - £53,325
Median % change year-on-year - - -35.36%
75th Percentile £95,313 - £67,813
90th Percentile £103,000 - £76,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £82,500 - £51,650
% change year-on-year - - -40.12%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Vulnerability Research 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 48,808 48,616 49,870
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.95% 90.71% 89.93%
Number of salaries quoted 28,796 23,669 37,967
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £77,715
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £51,971
% change year-on-year -9.09% +5.83% -5.51%

Vulnerability Research
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Vulnerability Research relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Vulnerability Research job vacancy trend in the UK

Vulnerability Research
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Vulnerability Research.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Vulnerability Research

Vulnerability Research
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Vulnerability Research over the 6 months to 15 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Vulnerability Research in the UK

Vulnerability Research
Top 9 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Vulnerability Research within the UK over the 6 months to 15 January 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 +54 17 £86,750 - 48
UK excluding London +28 15 £82,500 - 47
South West - 8 £76,250 - 11
Work from Home +60 7 £82,500 - 14
Midlands +4 6 - - 6
West Midlands +3 6 - -
London - 2 £112,500 - 3
North West - 1 £95,000 - 3
North of England - 1 £95,000 - 9

Vulnerability Research
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 1 (5.88%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 2 (11.76%) 2G
1 2 (11.76%) 4G
1 2 (11.76%) 5G
1 2 (11.76%) DNS
1 2 (11.76%) HTTP
1 2 (11.76%) ICMP
1 2 (11.76%) Software-Defined Radio
1 2 (11.76%) TCP/IP
Development Applications
1 5 (29.41%) IDA Disassembler
General
1 6 (35.29%) Telecoms
2 5 (29.41%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (11.76%) Social Skills
4 1 (5.88%) Banking
4 1 (5.88%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 13 (76.47%) Vulnerability Researcher
2 7 (41.18%) Senior
3 1 (5.88%) Lead
3 1 (5.88%) Penetration Tester
3 1 (5.88%) Senior Penetration Tester
3 1 (5.88%) Software Engineer
3 1 (5.88%) Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (11.76%) Flash
Miscellaneous
1 4 (23.53%) Linux Command Line
2 2 (11.76%) Arduino
2 2 (11.76%) Cyber Threat
2 2 (11.76%) Embedded Systems
2 2 (11.76%) Raspberry Pi
3 1 (5.88%) ARM Cortex
3 1 (5.88%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 6 (35.29%) Linux
2 2 (11.76%) Windows
3 1 (5.88%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (41.18%) Cybersecurity
2 6 (35.29%) Reverse Engineering
3 5 (29.41%) Prototyping
4 4 (23.53%) Embedded Software Development
4 4 (23.53%) Problem-Solving
5 3 (17.65%) Penetration Testing
5 3 (17.65%) Rapid Prototyping
6 2 (11.76%) Advanced Persistent Threat
6 2 (11.76%) Business Development
6 2 (11.76%) Red Team
6 2 (11.76%) Strategic Planning
7 1 (5.88%) Actionable Insight
7 1 (5.88%) Blue Team
7 1 (5.88%) Containerisation
7 1 (5.88%) Data Extraction
7 1 (5.88%) Information Security
7 1 (5.88%) MITRE ATT&CK
7 1 (5.88%) Offensive Security
7 1 (5.88%) OWASP
7 1 (5.88%) Purple Team
Programming Languages
1 6 (35.29%) C
1 6 (35.29%) C++
1 6 (35.29%) Python
2 2 (11.76%) Bash
2 2 (11.76%) PowerShell
3 1 (5.88%) C#
3 1 (5.88%) Groovy
3 1 (5.88%) Java
Qualifications
1 9 (52.94%) Security Cleared
2 6 (35.29%) DV Cleared
3 3 (17.65%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (5.88%) NIST
System Software
1 1 (5.88%) Active Directory
1 1 (5.88%) Firmware