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 9 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 339 369 356
Rank change year-on-year +30 -13 +6
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 128 67 148
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.56% 0.41% 0.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.68% 0.44% 0.68%
Number of salaries quoted 91 59 125
10th Percentile £45,000 £51,000 £41,250
25th Percentile £50,625 £56,875 £48,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £75,000 £70,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +16.67% -5.88%
75th Percentile £90,000 £87,554 £73,750
90th Percentile £107,500 £101,000 £87,500
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% +8.33%

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 18,803 15,374 21,834
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 82.94% 92.93% 87.74%
Number of salaries quoted 13,559 9,059 15,712
10th Percentile £35,000 £29,750 £35,000
25th Percentile £44,972 £40,750 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £58,500 £59,747
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.09% -4.40%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 9 August 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 (0.78%) Apache
1 1 (0.78%) Confluence
1 1 (0.78%) Drupal
1 1 (0.78%) IIS
1 1 (0.78%) nginx
1 1 (0.78%) SharePoint
1 1 (0.78%) WordPress
Business Applications
1 1 (0.78%) Magento
Cloud Services
1 39 (30.47%) AWS
2 38 (29.69%) Azure
3 17 (13.28%) GCP
4 5 (3.91%) Microsoft 365
5 4 (3.13%) Amazon EKS
5 4 (3.13%) AWS CloudFormation
5 4 (3.13%) Azure DevOps
5 4 (3.13%) Entra ID
5 4 (3.13%) SaaS
6 3 (2.34%) Mimecast
7 2 (1.56%) Azure Key Vault
7 2 (1.56%) Figma
8 1 (0.78%) AWS Control Tower
8 1 (0.78%) Azure AI
8 1 (0.78%) Azure Monitor
8 1 (0.78%) Copilot Studio
8 1 (0.78%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (0.78%) Microsoft Copilot
8 1 (0.78%) Microsoft Purview
8 1 (0.78%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 36 (28.13%) Firewall
2 15 (11.72%) Cisco Nexus
3 14 (10.94%) Network Security
4 12 (9.38%) Wi-Fi
5 7 (5.47%) VPN
6 4 (3.13%) DNS
6 4 (3.13%) VLAN
6 4 (3.13%) Wireless
7 3 (2.34%) Cisco ISE
7 3 (2.34%) Intrusion Detection
8 2 (1.56%) Broadband
8 2 (1.56%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.78%) HTTP
9 1 (0.78%) Internet
9 1 (0.78%) LAN
9 1 (0.78%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.78%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.78%) InterSystems Cache
1 1 (0.78%) Redis
1 1 (0.78%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 9 (7.03%) Burp Suite
2 8 (6.25%) Metasploit
3 4 (3.13%) JIRA
4 3 (2.34%) Git
5 2 (1.56%) Bitbucket
5 2 (1.56%) Gatling
5 2 (1.56%) NUnit
6 1 (0.78%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.78%) GitLab
6 1 (0.78%) IDA Disassembler
6 1 (0.78%) JMeter
6 1 (0.78%) JUnit
6 1 (0.78%) Postman
6 1 (0.78%) Selenium
6 1 (0.78%) Vagrant
General
1 50 (39.06%) Social Skills
2 16 (12.50%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (10.94%) Public Sector
4 13 (10.16%) Law
5 12 (9.38%) Banking
6 11 (8.59%) Finance
6 11 (8.59%) Retail
7 7 (5.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (2.34%) Back Office
8 3 (2.34%) Financial Institution
8 3 (2.34%) Legal
9 2 (1.56%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.56%) Social Housing
10 1 (0.78%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 32 (25.00%) Penetration Tester
1 32 (25.00%) Tester
2 25 (19.53%) Senior
3 22 (17.19%) Analyst
4 16 (12.50%) Security Analyst
4 16 (12.50%) Senior Analyst
5 13 (10.16%) Consultant
5 13 (10.16%) Cybersecurity Analyst
5 13 (10.16%) Security Consultant
6 12 (9.38%) Network Analyst
6 12 (9.38%) Senior Network Analyst
7 10 (7.81%) Senior Cybersecurity Analyst
7 10 (7.81%) Senior Security Analyst
8 9 (7.03%) Architect
9 8 (6.25%) Security Manager
9 8 (6.25%) Security Specialist
10 7 (5.47%) Client Director
10 7 (5.47%) Services Director
11 6 (4.69%) Cybersecurity Consultant
11 6 (4.69%) Security Penetration Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.13%) RESTful
2 3 (2.34%) .NET
2 3 (2.34%) .NET Framework
3 2 (1.56%) AngularJS
3 2 (1.56%) ASP.NET
3 2 (1.56%) ASP.NET Core
3 2 (1.56%) Entity Framework
3 2 (1.56%) OpenAPI
3 2 (1.56%) RxJS
3 2 (1.56%) Swagger
3 2 (1.56%) Vitest
4 1 (0.78%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.78%) Memcached
4 1 (0.78%) OAuth
4 1 (0.78%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 34 (26.56%) Security Posture
2 18 (14.06%) Cyber Threat
3 12 (9.38%) Mobile App
4 8 (6.25%) Management Information System
5 6 (4.69%) Blog
5 6 (4.69%) Cloud Native
6 5 (3.91%) Operational Technology
7 4 (3.13%) Cyber Defence
7 4 (3.13%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 4 (3.13%) Insider Threat
7 4 (3.13%) Public Cloud
8 3 (2.34%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (1.56%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (1.56%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (1.56%) Housing Association
9 2 (1.56%) Security Operations Centre
9 2 (1.56%) Social Media
10 1 (0.78%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 20 (15.63%) Linux
2 19 (14.84%) Windows
3 14 (10.94%) Android
3 14 (10.94%) Apple iOS
4 5 (3.91%) Windows Server
5 4 (3.13%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (61.72%) Cybersecurity
2 47 (36.72%) Vulnerability Management
3 41 (32.03%) Incident Response
4 34 (26.56%) Information Security
5 32 (25.00%) Cloud Security
6 30 (23.44%) Red Team
7 28 (21.88%) SIEM
8 24 (18.75%) Risk Management
9 22 (17.19%) Problem-Solving
9 22 (17.19%) Security Testing
10 20 (15.63%) Threat Modelling
11 18 (14.06%) AI
11 18 (14.06%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
11 18 (14.06%) Threat Intelligence
12 17 (13.28%) Security Architecture
13 16 (12.50%) Offensive Security
13 16 (12.50%) OWASP
13 16 (12.50%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 15 (11.72%) Application Security
14 15 (11.72%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 19 (14.84%) Python
2 14 (10.94%) PowerShell
3 10 (7.81%) Go
3 10 (7.81%) Java
4 4 (3.13%) Bash
5 3 (2.34%) C
5 3 (2.34%) C#
5 3 (2.34%) C++
5 3 (2.34%) Objective-C
5 3 (2.34%) Perl
5 3 (2.34%) PHP
5 3 (2.34%) Ruby
5 3 (2.34%) Rust
6 2 (1.56%) Bicep
6 2 (1.56%) JavaScript
6 2 (1.56%) SQL
6 2 (1.56%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 36 (28.13%) Security Cleared
2 32 (25.00%) SC Cleared
3 30 (23.44%) CREST Certified
4 21 (16.41%) CISSP
5 18 (14.06%) CISM
5 18 (14.06%) OSCP
6 10 (7.81%) CHECK Team Member
6 10 (7.81%) Degree
7 9 (7.03%) CEH
8 8 (6.25%) GIAC
9 7 (5.47%) DV Cleared
10 6 (4.69%) CCNP
10 6 (4.69%) CHECK Team Leader
10 6 (4.69%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (3.91%) CompTIA Security+
12 4 (3.13%) CCNA
13 3 (2.34%) GXPN
13 3 (2.34%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 3 (2.34%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 3 (2.34%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (41.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (24.22%) NIST
3 22 (17.19%) Cyber Essentials
3 22 (17.19%) GDPR
3 22 (17.19%) PCI DSS
4 14 (10.94%) GRC
5 8 (6.25%) Actionable Recommendations
6 7 (5.47%) NCSC
7 5 (3.91%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (3.13%) Def Stans
8 4 (3.13%) NIST 800
8 4 (3.13%) SOC 2
9 3 (2.34%) Data Quality
10 2 (1.56%) Accessibility
10 2 (1.56%) QA
11 1 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.78%) WCAG
System Software
1 10 (7.81%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.56%) Docker
Systems Management
1 10 (7.81%) Kubernetes
2 8 (6.25%) Nmap
3 5 (3.91%) Terraform
4 3 (2.34%) CSIRT
5 2 (1.56%) Nessus
6 1 (0.78%) Ansible
6 1 (0.78%) Consul
6 1 (0.78%) OpenVAS
6 1 (0.78%) Packer
6 1 (0.78%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.78%) Puppet
Vendors
1 26 (20.31%) Microsoft
2 17 (13.28%) Qualys
3 15 (11.72%) Cisco
3 15 (11.72%) Palo Alto
4 12 (9.38%) Aruba
5 7 (5.47%) Splunk
6 6 (4.69%) Fortinet
6 6 (4.69%) Sophos
7 4 (3.13%) CrowdStrike
8 3 (2.34%) CheckPoint
8 3 (2.34%) New Relic
8 3 (2.34%) Okta
8 3 (2.34%) SolarWinds
8 3 (2.34%) Zerto
8 3 (2.34%) Zscaler
9 2 (1.56%) DevExpress
9 2 (1.56%) Google
10 1 (0.78%) Foundry
10 1 (0.78%) OpenAI
10 1 (0.78%) TOWER Software