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 4 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 358 360 357
Rank change year-on-year +2 -3 -16
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 107 64 134
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.43% 0.38% 0.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.40% 0.68%
Number of salaries quoted 75 57 82
10th Percentile £44,100 £50,750 £47,500
25th Percentile £53,750 £61,250 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £76,000 £69,384 £64,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.54% +7.57% -0.77%
75th Percentile £85,625 £78,750 £74,688
90th Percentile £100,000 £88,333 £88,850
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 20,083 15,814 19,645
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 80.74% 93.84% 88.19%
Number of salaries quoted 14,322 8,472 11,653
10th Percentile £33,750 £29,750 £35,500
25th Percentile £44,460 £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 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £100,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £59,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -6.78% -1.67%

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 4 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 (0.93%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 26 (24.30%) AWS
2 24 (22.43%) Azure
3 12 (11.21%) GCP
4 5 (4.67%) Microsoft 365
5 3 (2.80%) SaaS
6 2 (1.87%) Entra ID
6 2 (1.87%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.93%) Amazon EKS
7 1 (0.93%) Amazon EMR
7 1 (0.93%) AWS CloudFormation
7 1 (0.93%) Azure AI
7 1 (0.93%) Azure Databricks
7 1 (0.93%) Azure Synapse Analytics
7 1 (0.93%) Copilot Studio
7 1 (0.93%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.93%) Microsoft Purview
7 1 (0.93%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.93%) Power Automate
7 1 (0.93%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 28 (26.17%) Firewall
2 12 (11.21%) Cisco Nexus
2 12 (11.21%) Wi-Fi
3 10 (9.35%) Wireless
4 5 (4.67%) Network Security
5 3 (2.80%) Wireless Security
6 2 (1.87%) Broadband
6 2 (1.87%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.93%) DKIM
7 1 (0.93%) DMARC
7 1 (0.93%) DNS
7 1 (0.93%) HTTP
7 1 (0.93%) Internet
7 1 (0.93%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (0.93%) LAN
7 1 (0.93%) VLAN
7 1 (0.93%) VPN
7 1 (0.93%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.93%) Data Lake
1 1 (0.93%) Data Vault
1 1 (0.93%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.93%) Power BI
1 1 (0.93%) Power Query
1 1 (0.93%) SQL Server
1 1 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
1 1 (0.93%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 13 (12.15%) Burp Suite
2 12 (11.21%) Metasploit
3 4 (3.74%) JIRA
4 3 (2.80%) Jenkins
4 3 (2.80%) Maven
4 3 (2.80%) Team Foundation Server
5 2 (1.87%) Git
6 1 (0.93%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.93%) Gatling
6 1 (0.93%) GitLab
6 1 (0.93%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.93%) JUnit
6 1 (0.93%) Postman
6 1 (0.93%) Selenium
General
1 50 (46.73%) Social Skills
2 17 (15.89%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (12.15%) Law
4 11 (10.28%) Retail
5 9 (8.41%) Finance
6 8 (7.48%) Banking
7 7 (6.54%) Public Sector
8 6 (5.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (4.67%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (3.74%) Legal
11 2 (1.87%) Marketing
12 1 (0.93%) Back Office
12 1 (0.93%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 36 (33.64%) Penetration Tester
1 36 (33.64%) Tester
2 29 (27.10%) Senior
3 21 (19.63%) Analyst
4 16 (14.95%) Senior Analyst
5 15 (14.02%) Security Analyst
6 12 (11.21%) Cybersecurity Analyst
6 12 (11.21%) Network Analyst
6 12 (11.21%) Senior Network Analyst
7 10 (9.35%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
7 10 (9.35%) Senior Security Analyst
8 8 (7.48%) Architect
9 7 (6.54%) Consultant
9 7 (6.54%) Head of Security
9 7 (6.54%) Security Consultant
10 6 (5.61%) Network Security Analyst
10 6 (5.61%) Security Engineer
10 6 (5.61%) Security Specialist
11 5 (4.67%) Security Manager
11 5 (4.67%) Senior Penetration Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.87%) RESTful
2 1 (0.93%) CSS
2 1 (0.93%) HTML
2 1 (0.93%) Lightning Web Components
2 1 (0.93%) OAuth
2 1 (0.93%) Playwright
2 1 (0.93%) PySpark
2 1 (0.93%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 33 (30.84%) Security Posture
2 13 (12.15%) Cyber Threat
3 10 (9.35%) Mobile App
4 8 (7.48%) Operational Technology
5 7 (6.54%) Management Information System
6 5 (4.67%) Insider Threat
6 5 (4.67%) Security Operations Centre
7 4 (3.74%) Cloud Native
7 4 (3.74%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 4 (3.74%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (2.80%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 3 (2.80%) PMI
9 2 (1.87%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.87%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (1.87%) Social Media
10 1 (0.93%) AI Agents
10 1 (0.93%) CSOC
10 1 (0.93%) Cyber Defence
10 1 (0.93%) Cyber Security Posture
10 1 (0.93%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 13 (12.15%) Android
1 13 (12.15%) Apple iOS
2 12 (11.21%) Linux
2 12 (11.21%) Windows
3 5 (4.67%) Kali Linux
4 4 (3.74%) Windows Server
5 2 (1.87%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (67.29%) Cybersecurity
2 49 (45.79%) Vulnerability Management
3 35 (32.71%) Information Security
4 34 (31.78%) Incident Response
5 31 (28.97%) Cloud Security
6 27 (25.23%) Security Testing
7 23 (21.50%) SIEM
8 22 (20.56%) Red Team
9 21 (19.63%) AI
9 21 (19.63%) Problem-Solving
9 21 (19.63%) Risk Management
10 19 (17.76%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
10 19 (17.76%) Offensive Security
10 19 (17.76%) Threat Intelligence
11 18 (16.82%) Data Security
11 18 (16.82%) Security Operations
12 17 (15.89%) Application Security
12 17 (15.89%) Threat Modelling
13 16 (14.95%) Security Architecture
14 14 (13.08%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 18 (16.82%) Python
2 9 (8.41%) PowerShell
3 6 (5.61%) Go
3 6 (5.61%) Java
4 3 (2.80%) JavaScript
5 2 (1.87%) PHP
6 1 (0.93%) Apex Code
6 1 (0.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 1 (0.93%) SQL
Qualifications
1 32 (29.91%) Security Cleared
2 29 (27.10%) SC Cleared
3 22 (20.56%) CREST Certified
4 20 (18.69%) CISM
4 20 (18.69%) CISSP
5 14 (13.08%) OSCP
6 12 (11.21%) CHECK Team Member
7 8 (7.48%) GIAC
8 7 (6.54%) CHECK Team Leader
9 5 (4.67%) CompTIA Security+
9 5 (4.67%) Degree
10 4 (3.74%) CEH
11 3 (2.80%) PMI Certification
12 2 (1.87%) CCSAS
12 2 (1.87%) CISA
12 2 (1.87%) Cyber Scheme
12 2 (1.87%) DV Cleared
12 2 (1.87%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (1.87%) Tigerscheme
13 1 (0.93%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (40.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (23.36%) NIST
3 17 (15.89%) Cyber Essentials
3 17 (15.89%) GDPR
4 15 (14.02%) GRC
5 13 (12.15%) PCI DSS
6 5 (4.67%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (3.74%) Def Stans
7 4 (3.74%) NIST 800
7 4 (3.74%) SOC 2
8 3 (2.80%) NCSC
9 2 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (1.87%) QA
10 1 (0.93%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.93%) IASME
10 1 (0.93%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.93%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.93%) WCAG
System Software
1 3 (2.80%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.93%) Docker
Systems Management
1 12 (11.21%) Nmap
2 10 (9.35%) Kubernetes
3 3 (2.80%) Progress Chef
4 2 (1.87%) Nessus
5 1 (0.93%) Network Intrusion Detection System
5 1 (0.93%) OpenVAS
Vendors
1 19 (17.76%) Microsoft
2 18 (16.82%) Qualys
3 12 (11.21%) Aruba
3 12 (11.21%) Cisco
3 12 (11.21%) Palo Alto
4 5 (4.67%) CrowdStrike
5 4 (3.74%) Splunk
6 3 (2.80%) New Relic
6 3 (2.80%) SolarWinds
6 3 (2.80%) Zerto
7 1 (0.93%) Databricks
7 1 (0.93%) Foundry
7 1 (0.93%) MuleSoft
7 1 (0.93%) OpenAI
7 1 (0.93%) Salesforce
7 1 (0.93%) Tenable
7 1 (0.93%) Zscaler