Penetration Tester Salary UK: How Junior Testers Reach £80K

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Key Takeaways

• Median Pay Is £65,000: UK permanent penetration tester ads show a £65,000 median, up 10.64% from last year.
• Entry Pay Starts Near £34K: Testers with under a year’s experience report £33,822 average total pay, according to PayScale.
• £80K Is the Upper Quartile: One quarter of UK penetration tester ads pay £80,000 or more; the top tenth reach £90,000.
• CREST and OSCP Outrank CEH: CREST appears in 33% of penetration tester ads, OSCP in 20% and CEH in just 3%.
• Remote Roles Pay the Most: Remote penetration tester ads carry an £80,000 median, ahead of London at £65,000.
• Penetration Tester Job Ready Bootcamp trains you in Kali Linux, web attacks and report writing through live classes and labs.

If you ask people what gets a penetration tester paid in the UK, they’ll name CEH. The job ads say otherwise. In the last six months, only 3% of UK penetration tester ads asked for CEH, while 33% asked for CREST and 20% for OSCP.

That gap matters, because the penetration tester salary UK employers offer depends heavily on which credentials and clearances you hold. The median sits at £65,000, yet the spread runs from about £34K for beginners to £90K at the top. This guide breaks down each step and what moves you up it. Fortray UK helps career changers and IT professionals train for offensive security roles through live, lab-based programmes.

What Is the Average Penetration Tester Salary in the UK?

The average penetration tester salary in the UK is £65,000 for advertised permanent roles. ITJobsWatch puts the median at £65,000 in the six months to October 2026, up from £58,750 a year earlier, across 131 quoted salaries.

Demand rebounded too. Permanent pen tester ads jumped from 33 to 169 year on year. Pen testing is still a specialist niche, making up 2% of core cyber job postings in 2025, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. But employers report “continuing demand for specialist technical skills such as penetration testing.”