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 24 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 337 342 335
Rank change year-on-year +5 -7 +156
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 73 139 182
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.45% 0.69% 0.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.78% 0.83%
Number of salaries quoted 65 82 171
10th Percentile £48,899 £48,875 £42,500
25th Percentile £57,000 £56,250 £50,504
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £69,384 £65,000 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +6.74% +4.00% -6.37%
75th Percentile £77,500 £79,375 £77,500
90th Percentile £88,333 £88,850 £90,000
UK median annual salary £69,384 £65,000 £64,902
% change year-on-year +6.74% +0.15% -6.75%

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 15,305 17,765 21,873
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 93.62% 88.05% 95.14%
Number of salaries quoted 8,409 10,685 17,722
10th Percentile £29,750 £36,000 £37,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £46,250 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £62,500 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% - -
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £81,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK median annual salary £54,625 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.96% - -

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 24 October 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 (4.11%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (4.11%) SharePoint
2 1 (1.37%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (9.59%) Microsoft Excel
1 7 (9.59%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.37%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 13 (17.81%) Azure
2 7 (9.59%) AWS
2 7 (9.59%) Power Platform
3 6 (8.22%) Entra ID
4 4 (5.48%) Microsoft 365
5 3 (4.11%) IBM Cloud
6 2 (2.74%) Azure Key Vault
6 2 (2.74%) Azure Logic Apps
6 2 (2.74%) Azure Stack
6 2 (2.74%) PaaS
7 1 (1.37%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (1.37%) GitHub
7 1 (1.37%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 27 (36.99%) Network Security
2 20 (27.40%) Firewall
3 9 (12.33%) TCP/IP
4 8 (10.96%) Wireshark
5 7 (9.59%) VPN
5 7 (9.59%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (5.48%) Ethernet
7 3 (4.11%) VLAN
8 1 (1.37%) DNS
8 1 (1.37%) HTTP
8 1 (1.37%) ICMP
8 1 (1.37%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (1.37%) Modbus
8 1 (1.37%) NAS
8 1 (1.37%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (9.59%) Power BI
1 7 (9.59%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 3 (4.11%) Burp Suite
1 3 (4.11%) Metasploit
2 1 (1.37%) GitLab
2 1 (1.37%) IDA Disassembler
2 1 (1.37%) JIRA
General
1 39 (53.42%) Social Skills
2 15 (20.55%) Analytical Skills
2 15 (20.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 9 (12.33%) Finance
4 8 (10.96%) Influencing Skills
4 8 (10.96%) Legal
5 4 (5.48%) Electronics
6 3 (4.11%) Law
6 3 (4.11%) Manufacturing
6 3 (4.11%) Retail
7 2 (2.74%) Organisational Skills
8 1 (1.37%) Banking
8 1 (1.37%) Military
8 1 (1.37%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 15 (20.55%) Architect
1 15 (20.55%) Security Architect
2 14 (19.18%) Analyst
3 13 (17.81%) Security Engineer
4 12 (16.44%) Senior
5 11 (15.07%) Cybersecurity Engineer
6 9 (12.33%) Lead
6 9 (12.33%) Security Analyst
6 9 (12.33%) Senior Security Engineer
7 8 (10.96%) IT Manager
7 8 (10.96%) Principal Architect
7 8 (10.96%) Principal Security Architect
8 7 (9.59%) Audit Manager
8 7 (9.59%) Auditor
8 7 (9.59%) Internal Audit Manager
8 7 (9.59%) Internal Auditor
8 7 (9.59%) IT Audit Manager
8 7 (9.59%) IT Auditor
8 7 (9.59%) Lead Security Architect
8 7 (9.59%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.37%) JSON
1 1 (1.37%) ModSecurity
1 1 (1.37%) PyTorch
1 1 (1.37%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 9 (12.33%) Security Operations Centre
2 7 (9.59%) Operational Technology
3 6 (8.22%) Cyber Defence
3 6 (8.22%) Cyber Kill Chain
3 6 (8.22%) Cyber Threat
3 6 (8.22%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (6.85%) Analytical Mindset
5 4 (5.48%) Mobile App
5 4 (5.48%) SCADA
5 4 (5.48%) Security Posture
6 3 (4.11%) Cyberattack
6 3 (4.11%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (4.11%) PKI
6 3 (4.11%) Virtual Team
7 2 (2.74%) Insider Threat
7 2 (2.74%) Management Information System
8 1 (1.37%) Cloud Native
8 1 (1.37%) Distributed Systems
8 1 (1.37%) Linux Command Line
8 1 (1.37%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 17 (23.29%) Windows
2 13 (17.81%) Linux
3 7 (9.59%) Unix
4 3 (4.11%) Windows Server
5 2 (2.74%) VMS
6 1 (1.37%) Android
6 1 (1.37%) Apple iOS
6 1 (1.37%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (78.08%) Cybersecurity
2 24 (32.88%) Incident Response
3 23 (31.51%) Information Security
4 20 (27.40%) SIEM
5 19 (26.03%) Security Management
6 18 (24.66%) Risk Management
7 16 (21.92%) Information Security Management
7 16 (21.92%) Problem-Solving
7 16 (21.92%) Risk Assessment
7 16 (21.92%) SABSA
7 16 (21.92%) TOGAF
8 15 (20.55%) Architectural Patterns
8 15 (20.55%) Information Assurance
8 15 (20.55%) ITIL
8 15 (20.55%) Security Architecture
9 14 (19.18%) Security Operations
10 12 (16.44%) Analytics
10 12 (16.44%) Vulnerability Management
11 11 (15.07%) Data Analysis
11 11 (15.07%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 15 (20.55%) Python
2 9 (12.33%) SQL
3 7 (9.59%) R
4 5 (6.85%) C
4 5 (6.85%) C++
5 2 (2.74%) JavaScript
5 2 (2.74%) PowerShell
6 1 (1.37%) C#
6 1 (1.37%) Java
Qualifications
1 32 (43.84%) Security Cleared
2 30 (41.10%) SC Cleared
3 21 (28.77%) CISSP
4 12 (16.44%) GCIA
5 11 (15.07%) CompTIA Security+
6 10 (13.70%) CCNA
6 10 (13.70%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (12.33%) SANS
8 8 (10.96%) CCNP
8 8 (10.96%) CISA
8 8 (10.96%) Degree
9 7 (9.59%) ACCA
9 7 (9.59%) CIMA
9 7 (9.59%) GIAC
10 6 (8.22%) OSCP
11 5 (6.85%) CEH
11 5 (6.85%) DV Cleared
11 5 (6.85%) MCP
11 5 (6.85%) Microsoft Certification
12 4 (5.48%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (57.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (34.25%) NIST
3 16 (21.92%) NCSC
4 11 (15.07%) Cyber Essentials
5 9 (12.33%) QA
6 5 (6.85%) GDPR
7 2 (2.74%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (2.74%) NIST 800
8 1 (1.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 5 (6.85%) Active Directory
2 3 (4.11%) Firmware
2 3 (4.11%) VMware ESXi
2 3 (4.11%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (5.48%) Nessus
1 4 (5.48%) QRadar
2 3 (4.11%) Proxmox
3 2 (2.74%) Nmap
4 1 (1.37%) Kubernetes
4 1 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (1.37%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 19 (26.03%) Microsoft
2 8 (10.96%) Oracle
3 5 (6.85%) Cisco
4 4 (5.48%) Splunk
5 3 (4.11%) Fortinet
5 3 (4.11%) IBM
5 3 (4.11%) VMware
6 1 (1.37%) Apple
6 1 (1.37%) Palo Alto
6 1 (1.37%) Tanium
6 1 (1.37%) Tenable
6 1 (1.37%) Zscaler