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 23 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 309 292 281
Rank change year-on-year -17 -11 +172
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 68 144 191
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.44% 0.84% 0.97%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.90% 1.02%
Number of salaries quoted 58 91 165
10th Percentile £48,165 £50,000 £42,600
25th Percentile £52,188 £57,250 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £61,250 £65,000 £64,902
Median % change year-on-year -5.77% +0.15% -3.85%
75th Percentile £70,000 £87,500 £87,500
90th Percentile £77,500 £93,250 £90,000
UK median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £64,902
% change year-on-year +7.69% +0.15% -6.21%

All Process and 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 13,571 16,022 18,664
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 88.79% 92.92% 94.88%
Number of salaries quoted 8,676 9,671 15,007
10th Percentile £30,000 £36,250 £36,250
25th Percentile £41,000 £46,250 £46,306
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £62,500 £60,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +3.31% -3.20%
75th Percentile £78,839 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -3.23%

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 23 December 2025.

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 3 (4.41%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (4.41%) SharePoint
2 1 (1.47%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (10.29%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (10.29%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.47%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 16 (23.53%) Azure
2 11 (16.18%) AWS
3 7 (10.29%) Power Platform
4 5 (7.35%) Entra ID
5 4 (5.88%) Microsoft 365
6 3 (4.41%) GCP
6 3 (4.41%) IBM Cloud
7 1 (1.47%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (1.47%) GitHub
7 1 (1.47%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 19 (27.94%) Firewall
2 17 (25.00%) TCP/IP
3 11 (16.18%) Network Security
4 9 (13.24%) Wireshark
5 8 (11.76%) VPN
6 7 (10.29%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (5.88%) Ethernet
8 3 (4.41%) VLAN
9 2 (2.94%) DNS
9 2 (2.94%) HTTP
10 1 (1.47%) ICMP
10 1 (1.47%) Modbus
10 1 (1.47%) NAS
10 1 (1.47%) SAN
10 1 (1.47%) SSH
10 1 (1.47%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (10.29%) Power BI
1 7 (10.29%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 12 (17.65%) Burp Suite
1 12 (17.65%) Metasploit
2 1 (1.47%) IDA Disassembler
2 1 (1.47%) JIRA
General
1 25 (36.76%) Social Skills
2 13 (19.12%) Analytical Skills
3 9 (13.24%) Public Sector
4 6 (8.82%) Banking
4 6 (8.82%) Retail
5 5 (7.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (5.88%) Electronics
6 4 (5.88%) Finance
7 2 (2.94%) Law
8 1 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (1.47%) Investment Banking
8 1 (1.47%) Manufacturing
8 1 (1.47%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 13 (19.12%) Tester
2 12 (17.65%) Analyst
2 12 (17.65%) Penetration Tester
3 11 (16.18%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 11 (16.18%) Security Engineer
3 11 (16.18%) Senior
4 8 (11.76%) Auditor
4 8 (11.76%) IT Auditor
4 8 (11.76%) IT Manager
4 8 (11.76%) Security Analyst
4 8 (11.76%) Senior Security Engineer
5 7 (10.29%) Audit Manager
5 7 (10.29%) Internal Audit Manager
5 7 (10.29%) Internal Auditor
5 7 (10.29%) IT Audit Manager
5 7 (10.29%) Security Specialist
6 4 (5.88%) Cybersecurity Consultant
6 4 (5.88%) Information Security Analyst
6 4 (5.88%) Infrastructure Manager
6 4 (5.88%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.47%) JSON
1 1 (1.47%) PyTorch
1 1 (1.47%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 13 (19.12%) Security Posture
2 11 (16.18%) Security Operations Centre
3 6 (8.82%) Cyber Defence
3 6 (8.82%) Cyber Kill Chain
3 6 (8.82%) Cyber Threat
3 6 (8.82%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (7.35%) Operational Technology
5 4 (5.88%) Analytical Mindset
5 4 (5.88%) Enterprise Software
5 4 (5.88%) Insider Threat
6 3 (4.41%) PKI
6 3 (4.41%) SCADA
6 3 (4.41%) Virtual Team
7 2 (2.94%) Cloud Native
7 2 (2.94%) Cyberattack
8 1 (1.47%) Arduino
8 1 (1.47%) Embedded Systems
8 1 (1.47%) Linux Command Line
8 1 (1.47%) Mobile App
8 1 (1.47%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 16 (23.53%) Windows
2 14 (20.59%) Linux
3 7 (10.29%) Unix
4 3 (4.41%) Android
4 3 (4.41%) Apple iOS
4 3 (4.41%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (63.24%) Cybersecurity
2 27 (39.71%) Incident Response
3 18 (26.47%) SIEM
4 17 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
5 16 (23.53%) Information Security
5 16 (23.53%) ITIL
6 15 (22.06%) Security Operations
7 12 (17.65%) Application Security
7 12 (17.65%) Red Team
8 11 (16.18%) Analytics
8 11 (16.18%) Data Analysis
8 11 (16.18%) SDLC
8 11 (16.18%) Threat Intelligence
8 11 (16.18%) Vulnerability Management
9 10 (14.71%) Business Intelligence
10 9 (13.24%) Vulnerability Assessment
11 8 (11.76%) Data Loss Prevention
11 8 (11.76%) DevOps
11 8 (11.76%) IT Audit
11 8 (11.76%) Security Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 14 (20.59%) Python
2 7 (10.29%) R
2 7 (10.29%) SQL
3 6 (8.82%) C
3 6 (8.82%) C++
4 2 (2.94%) Go
4 2 (2.94%) Java
5 1 (1.47%) Bash
5 1 (1.47%) C#
5 1 (1.47%) JavaScript
5 1 (1.47%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 24 (35.29%) CISSP
2 20 (29.41%) Security Cleared
3 17 (25.00%) SC Cleared
4 15 (22.06%) CREST Certified
5 13 (19.12%) CompTIA Security+
5 13 (19.12%) Degree
5 13 (19.12%) OSCP
6 12 (17.65%) CCNA
6 12 (17.65%) Cisco Certification
6 12 (17.65%) GCIA
7 11 (16.18%) CHECK Team Member
8 9 (13.24%) CISA
8 9 (13.24%) GIAC
9 8 (11.76%) CCNP
9 8 (11.76%) SANS
10 7 (10.29%) ACCA
10 7 (10.29%) CIMA
10 7 (10.29%) Cyber Scheme
10 7 (10.29%) MCP
10 7 (10.29%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (44.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (16.18%) Cyber Essentials
2 11 (16.18%) NIST
3 5 (7.35%) GDPR
4 4 (5.88%) Actionable Recommendations
5 3 (4.41%) GRC
6 2 (2.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 2 (2.94%) NIST 800
7 1 (1.47%) PCI DSS
7 1 (1.47%) QA
System Software
1 5 (7.35%) Active Directory
2 3 (4.41%) Firmware
2 3 (4.41%) VMware ESXi
2 3 (4.41%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 12 (17.65%) Nessus
1 12 (17.65%) Nmap
2 4 (5.88%) QRadar
3 3 (4.41%) Proxmox
4 2 (2.94%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.47%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (1.47%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 19 (27.94%) Microsoft
2 7 (10.29%) Cisco
2 7 (10.29%) Oracle
3 4 (5.88%) Splunk
4 3 (4.41%) Fortinet
4 3 (4.41%) IBM
4 3 (4.41%) VMware
5 2 (2.94%) Qualys
6 1 (1.47%) Palo Alto
6 1 (1.47%) Tanium
6 1 (1.47%) Tenable
6 1 (1.47%) Zscaler