Hybrid/Remote Penetration Testing Job Trends

Penetration Testing
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for remote or hybrid work requiring Penetration Testing skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 351 354 344
Rank change year-on-year +3 -10 -14
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 106 66 131
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.43% 0.40% 0.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.42% 0.69%
Number of salaries quoted 76 59 78
10th Percentile £44,250 £50,000 £48,750
25th Percentile £53,750 £59,375 £52,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £76,000 £69,384 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.54% +6.74% +4.00%
75th Percentile £85,313 £78,125 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £88,333 £89,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £69,384 £65,000
% change year-on-year +0.89% +6.74% +4.00%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Work from Home

Penetration Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with remote or hybrid options requiring process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 20,041 15,592 19,047
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 80.56% 93.83% 88.21%
Number of salaries quoted 14,244 8,414 11,252
10th Percentile £33,750 £29,750 £35,700
25th Percentile £44,447 £40,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% -4.17% -4.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £102,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -

Penetration Testing
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Penetration Testing and offering remote or hybrid work options relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Penetration Testing job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

Penetration Testing
Salary Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Penetration Testing.

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing
Salary Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Penetration Testing over the 6 months to 11 October 2026.

Penetration Testing salary histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid work options

Penetration Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Remote/Hybrid Jobs 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 1 (0.94%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 26 (24.53%) Azure
2 24 (22.64%) AWS
3 10 (9.43%) GCP
4 5 (4.72%) Microsoft 365
5 2 (1.89%) Azure Sentinel
5 2 (1.89%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.89%) Mimecast
5 2 (1.89%) Power Platform
5 2 (1.89%) SaaS
6 1 (0.94%) Amazon EMR
6 1 (0.94%) Azure AI
6 1 (0.94%) Azure Databricks
6 1 (0.94%) Azure Synapse Analytics
6 1 (0.94%) Copilot Studio
6 1 (0.94%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.94%) Microsoft Purview
6 1 (0.94%) Power Automate
6 1 (0.94%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 28 (26.42%) Firewall
2 12 (11.32%) Cisco Nexus
2 12 (11.32%) Wi-Fi
3 10 (9.43%) Wireless
4 5 (4.72%) Network Security
5 3 (2.83%) Wireless Security
6 2 (1.89%) Broadband
6 2 (1.89%) TCP/IP
6 2 (1.89%) WAN
7 1 (0.94%) DKIM
7 1 (0.94%) DMARC
7 1 (0.94%) DNS
7 1 (0.94%) HTTP
7 1 (0.94%) Internet
7 1 (0.94%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (0.94%) LAN
7 1 (0.94%) SD-WAN
7 1 (0.94%) VLAN
7 1 (0.94%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.94%) Data Lake
1 1 (0.94%) Data Vault
1 1 (0.94%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.94%) Power BI
1 1 (0.94%) Power Query
1 1 (0.94%) SQL Server
1 1 (0.94%) SQL Server Integration Services
1 1 (0.94%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 14 (13.21%) Burp Suite
2 13 (12.26%) Metasploit
3 4 (3.77%) JIRA
4 3 (2.83%) Jenkins
4 3 (2.83%) Maven
4 3 (2.83%) Team Foundation Server
5 2 (1.89%) Git
6 1 (0.94%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.94%) Gatling
6 1 (0.94%) GitLab
6 1 (0.94%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.94%) JUnit
6 1 (0.94%) Postman
6 1 (0.94%) Selenium
General
1 48 (45.28%) Social Skills
2 18 (16.98%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (10.38%) Law
4 10 (9.43%) Retail
5 9 (8.49%) Finance
6 6 (5.66%) Banking
6 6 (5.66%) Public Sector
7 5 (4.72%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (3.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (3.77%) Legal
9 2 (1.89%) Marketing
10 1 (0.94%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 34 (32.08%) Penetration Tester
1 34 (32.08%) Tester
2 29 (27.36%) Senior
3 21 (19.81%) Analyst
4 16 (15.09%) Senior Analyst
5 15 (14.15%) Security Analyst
6 12 (11.32%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 12 (11.32%) Network Analyst
6 12 (11.32%) Senior Network Analyst
7 10 (9.43%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
7 10 (9.43%) Senior Security Analyst
8 8 (7.55%) Architect
9 7 (6.60%) Head of Security
9 7 (6.60%) Security Specialist
10 6 (5.66%) Consultant
10 6 (5.66%) Network Security Analyst
10 6 (5.66%) Security Consultant
10 6 (5.66%) Security Engineer
10 6 (5.66%) Security Manager
10 6 (5.66%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.89%) RESTful
2 1 (0.94%) CSS
2 1 (0.94%) HTML
2 1 (0.94%) Lightning Web Components
2 1 (0.94%) OAuth
2 1 (0.94%) Playwright
2 1 (0.94%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 34 (32.08%) Security Posture
2 15 (14.15%) Cyber Threat
3 9 (8.49%) Mobile App
4 8 (7.55%) Management Information System
4 8 (7.55%) Operational Technology
5 6 (5.66%) Insider Threat
6 5 (4.72%) Security Operations Centre
7 4 (3.77%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 4 (3.77%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (2.83%) Cloud Native
8 3 (2.83%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 3 (2.83%) PMI
9 2 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.89%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (1.89%) Social Media
10 1 (0.94%) AI Agents
10 1 (0.94%) CSOC
10 1 (0.94%) Cyber Defence
10 1 (0.94%) Cyber Security Posture
10 1 (0.94%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 11 (10.38%) Android
1 11 (10.38%) Apple iOS
1 11 (10.38%) Linux
1 11 (10.38%) Windows
2 5 (4.72%) Kali Linux
3 4 (3.77%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.89%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (68.87%) Cybersecurity
2 50 (47.17%) Vulnerability Management
3 35 (33.02%) Incident Response
3 35 (33.02%) Information Security
4 30 (28.30%) Cloud Security
5 26 (24.53%) Security Testing
6 24 (22.64%) SIEM
7 22 (20.75%) Problem-Solving
7 22 (20.75%) Red Team
8 21 (19.81%) AI
8 21 (19.81%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
8 21 (19.81%) Risk Management
8 21 (19.81%) Threat Intelligence
9 20 (18.87%) Offensive Security
9 20 (18.87%) Security Operations
10 18 (16.98%) Data Security
11 16 (15.09%) Security Architecture
11 16 (15.09%) Threat Modelling
12 15 (14.15%) Application Security
12 15 (14.15%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 16 (15.09%) Python
2 9 (8.49%) PowerShell
3 4 (3.77%) Go
3 4 (3.77%) Java
4 3 (2.83%) JavaScript
5 2 (1.89%) PHP
6 1 (0.94%) Apex Code
6 1 (0.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 1 (0.94%) SQL
Qualifications
1 32 (30.19%) Security Cleared
2 29 (27.36%) SC Cleared
3 20 (18.87%) CISM
3 20 (18.87%) CISSP
4 19 (17.92%) CREST Certified
5 12 (11.32%) CHECK Team Member
5 12 (11.32%) OSCP
6 8 (7.55%) GIAC
7 7 (6.60%) CHECK Team Leader
8 5 (4.72%) CompTIA Security+
8 5 (4.72%) Degree
9 4 (3.77%) CEH
10 3 (2.83%) PMI Certification
11 2 (1.89%) CCSAS
11 2 (1.89%) CISA
11 2 (1.89%) Cyber Scheme
11 2 (1.89%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (1.89%) Tigerscheme
12 1 (0.94%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.94%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (40.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (23.58%) NIST
3 18 (16.98%) Cyber Essentials
4 17 (16.04%) GDPR
5 15 (14.15%) GRC
6 12 (11.32%) PCI DSS
7 6 (5.66%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (3.77%) Def Stans
8 4 (3.77%) NIST 800
8 4 (3.77%) SOC 2
9 3 (2.83%) NCSC
10 2 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (1.89%) QA
11 1 (0.94%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.94%) IASME
11 1 (0.94%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.94%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.94%) WCAG
System Software
1 2 (1.89%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.94%) Docker
Systems Management
1 13 (12.26%) Nmap
2 9 (8.49%) Kubernetes
3 3 (2.83%) Progress Chef
4 2 (1.89%) Nessus
5 1 (0.94%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.94%) Network Intrusion Detection System
5 1 (0.94%) OpenVAS
Vendors
1 21 (19.81%) Microsoft
2 18 (16.98%) Qualys
3 12 (11.32%) Aruba
3 12 (11.32%) Cisco
3 12 (11.32%) Palo Alto
4 5 (4.72%) CrowdStrike
5 4 (3.77%) Splunk
6 3 (2.83%) New Relic
6 3 (2.83%) SolarWinds
6 3 (2.83%) Zerto
7 2 (1.89%) Tenable
7 2 (1.89%) Zscaler
8 1 (0.94%) Databricks
8 1 (0.94%) Foundry
8 1 (0.94%) MuleSoft
8 1 (0.94%) Okta
8 1 (0.94%) OpenAI
8 1 (0.94%) Salesforce