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 29 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 307 303 326
Rank change year-on-year -4 +23 +112
Permanent jobs citing Penetration Testing 73 142 218
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.46% 0.87% 0.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.92% 0.91%
Number of salaries quoted 61 90 190
10th Percentile £42,500 £51,125 £42,500
25th Percentile £48,165 £59,063 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £66,250 £64,902
Median % change year-on-year -9.43% +2.08% -3.85%
75th Percentile £72,500 £88,438 £87,500
90th Percentile £77,500 £93,250 £92,750
UK median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% -3.70%

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 13,689 15,415 23,848
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 86.83% 94.43% 92.92%
Number of salaries quoted 8,688 9,091 19,584
10th Percentile £30,000 £36,250 £35,000
25th Percentile £42,500 £47,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £62,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +4.17% -4.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £96,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,444
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.45% -8.09%

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 29 January 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 3 (4.11%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (4.11%) SharePoint
2 1 (1.37%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (6.85%) Microsoft Excel
1 5 (6.85%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.37%) GNU Octave
Cloud Services
1 18 (24.66%) AWS
2 17 (23.29%) Azure
3 6 (8.22%) GCP
4 5 (6.85%) Entra ID
4 5 (6.85%) Power Platform
5 4 (5.48%) Microsoft 365
6 3 (4.11%) IBM Cloud
7 1 (1.37%) GitHub
7 1 (1.37%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 14 (19.18%) Firewall
1 14 (19.18%) TCP/IP
2 9 (12.33%) Wireshark
3 8 (10.96%) VPN
4 7 (9.59%) Network Security
5 4 (5.48%) Ethernet
5 4 (5.48%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (4.11%) DMARC
6 3 (4.11%) VLAN
7 2 (2.74%) DNS
7 2 (2.74%) HTTP
8 1 (1.37%) ICMP
8 1 (1.37%) Modbus
8 1 (1.37%) SSH
8 1 (1.37%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (6.85%) Power BI
1 5 (6.85%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 16 (21.92%) Burp Suite
1 16 (21.92%) Metasploit
2 1 (1.37%) IDA Disassembler
2 1 (1.37%) JIRA
General
1 32 (43.84%) Social Skills
2 11 (15.07%) Analytical Skills
2 11 (15.07%) Public Sector
2 11 (15.07%) Retail
3 10 (13.70%) Banking
4 8 (10.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 6 (8.22%) Finance
6 4 (5.48%) Electronics
6 4 (5.48%) Law
7 3 (4.11%) Marketing
8 1 (1.37%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (1.37%) Investment Banking
8 1 (1.37%) Legal
8 1 (1.37%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 19 (26.03%) Tester
2 18 (24.66%) Penetration Tester
3 12 (16.44%) Senior
4 11 (15.07%) Security Specialist
5 10 (13.70%) Analyst
6 9 (12.33%) IT Manager
7 7 (9.59%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 7 (9.59%) Security Engineer
7 7 (9.59%) Threat Intelligence Specialist
8 6 (8.22%) Auditor
8 6 (8.22%) IT Auditor
8 6 (8.22%) Security Analyst
8 6 (8.22%) Senior Penetration Tester
8 6 (8.22%) Senior Tester
9 5 (6.85%) Audit Manager
9 5 (6.85%) Consultant
9 5 (6.85%) Internal Auditor
9 5 (6.85%) IT Audit Manager
9 5 (6.85%) Security Consultant
9 5 (6.85%) Security Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.37%) .NET
1 1 (1.37%) JSON
1 1 (1.37%) PyTorch
1 1 (1.37%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 20 (27.40%) Security Posture
2 7 (9.59%) Insider Threat
2 7 (9.59%) Security Operations Centre
3 6 (8.22%) Cyber Threat
4 5 (6.85%) Mobile App
4 5 (6.85%) Self-Motivation
5 4 (5.48%) Analytical Mindset
5 4 (5.48%) Cyber Defence
5 4 (5.48%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 4 (5.48%) Data Centre
5 4 (5.48%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (4.11%) Cyberattack
6 3 (4.11%) Operational Technology
6 3 (4.11%) PKI
7 2 (2.74%) Cloud Native
8 1 (1.37%) Driving Licence
8 1 (1.37%) Embedded Systems
8 1 (1.37%) Linux Command Line
8 1 (1.37%) Public Cloud
8 1 (1.37%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 15 (20.55%) Windows
2 13 (17.81%) Linux
3 6 (8.22%) Android
3 6 (8.22%) Apple iOS
4 5 (6.85%) Unix
5 3 (4.11%) Windows Server
6 1 (1.37%) Kali Linux
6 1 (1.37%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (64.38%) Cybersecurity
2 26 (35.62%) Incident Response
3 21 (28.77%) Information Security
4 16 (21.92%) Red Team
4 16 (21.92%) SIEM
5 14 (19.18%) Offensive Security
5 14 (19.18%) Problem-Solving
5 14 (19.18%) Threat Intelligence
6 12 (16.44%) Application Security
7 11 (15.07%) ITIL
7 11 (15.07%) SDLC
7 11 (15.07%) Security Operations
7 11 (15.07%) Vulnerability Management
8 10 (13.70%) Ethical Hacking
9 9 (12.33%) Actionable Insight
9 9 (12.33%) Analytics
9 9 (12.33%) Data Analysis
10 8 (10.96%) Data Loss Prevention
10 8 (10.96%) Security Testing
10 8 (10.96%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 14 (19.18%) Python
2 8 (10.96%) C
2 8 (10.96%) C++
3 5 (6.85%) Java
3 5 (6.85%) R
3 5 (6.85%) SQL
4 4 (5.48%) Go
5 3 (4.11%) C#
6 1 (1.37%) Bash
6 1 (1.37%) JavaScript
6 1 (1.37%) Perl
6 1 (1.37%) PowerShell
6 1 (1.37%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 23 (31.51%) CISSP
1 23 (31.51%) CREST Certified
2 22 (30.14%) OSCP
3 20 (27.40%) Security Cleared
4 19 (26.03%) Degree
5 15 (20.55%) SC Cleared
6 13 (17.81%) CHECK Team Member
6 13 (17.81%) CompTIA Security+
6 13 (17.81%) GIAC
7 12 (16.44%) CCNA
7 12 (16.44%) Cisco Certification
8 10 (13.70%) GPEN
8 10 (13.70%) MCP
8 10 (13.70%) Microsoft Certification
9 9 (12.33%) Cyber Scheme
9 9 (12.33%) GCIA
10 8 (10.96%) CEH
11 7 (9.59%) CISA
11 7 (9.59%) CISMP
11 7 (9.59%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (35.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (13.70%) Cyber Essentials
3 9 (12.33%) Actionable Recommendations
3 9 (12.33%) GDPR
3 9 (12.33%) NIST
4 5 (6.85%) GRC
5 4 (5.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 2 (2.74%) NIST 800
7 1 (1.37%) PCI DSS
7 1 (1.37%) QA
System Software
1 6 (8.22%) Active Directory
2 3 (4.11%) VMware ESXi
2 3 (4.11%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 15 (20.55%) Nmap
2 13 (17.81%) Nessus
3 5 (6.85%) Kubernetes
4 4 (5.48%) QRadar
5 3 (4.11%) Proxmox
6 2 (2.74%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (1.37%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 19 (26.03%) Microsoft
2 7 (9.59%) Cisco
3 5 (6.85%) Oracle
4 4 (5.48%) Splunk
5 3 (4.11%) IBM
5 3 (4.11%) Veeam
5 3 (4.11%) VMware
6 2 (2.74%) Qualys