The 2025 Barclay Simpson Salary Survey reveals a continued slowdown in salary growth across the cybersecurity and data privacy sectors, with compensation packages remaining largely unchanged since 2023.

After experiencing significant increases during 2021 and 2022, the market has stabilised, with many senior professionals and contractors moving to permanent roles accepting lower compensation in exchange for greater job security.

James Lawrence, Principal Consultant at Barclay Simpson, explains that an oversupply of experienced candidates has created intense competition for available positions.

He says: “Senior professionals are struggling to secure higher-paying roles because there are currently too many experienced candidates in the market competing for a limited number of positions.”

Remote Work and Flexibility Now More Valued Than Salaries & Bonuses

This dynamic has led some professionals to explore opportunities abroad, particularly in Asia and the Middle East where demand remains strong.

The business continuity and operational resilience sector stands as an exception to this trend, with salaries seeing modest growth in 2024 due to sustained demand driven by regulatory requirements.

However, for most roles, employers remain conservative with compensation.

Seventy-seven percent of organisations plan to increase base salaries by just 1-4% over the next year, while 11% anticipate implementing no increases at all. Similarly, only 13% of firms expect to pay higher bonuses compared to last year.

While salary remains the primary factor for professionals considering new opportunities, its importance has declined from 45% in 2023 to 37% in 2025.

Remote work options have grown significantly in importance, with 40% of candidates now valuing flexible arrangements more than annual bonuses (33%). This shift in priorities is further emphasised by the finding that 74% of professionals would consider changing jobs if their current employer did not accommodate their preferred remote or flexible working arrangements.

Employers are beginning to recognise the impact of their workplace policies, with 32% acknowledging some recruitment and retention challenges related to their hybrid and remote work approaches.

An additional 12% report significant hiring difficulties stemming from inflexible policies. Although the current job market favors employers, the cyclical nature of recruitment suggests this dynamic will eventually shift.

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Organisations that fail to adapt to evolving candidate expectations around flexibility may soon find themselves at a disadvantage when competing for top talent in a more candidate-driven market.

Cybersecurity and data privacy salaries

Taking a look at salary breakdowns (full tables below), we can see that fully remote salaries often match London rates for specialist/leadership roles.

Contract day rates remain strong, particularly for CISO/Head of roles. GRC and operational roles show the smallest regional variations – also the data shows that privacy professionals command salaries comparable to technical security roles.

Leadership Roles (Source: Barclay Simpson)

Governance, Risk & Compliance (Source: Barclay Simpson)

Security Architecture & Engineering (Source: Barclay Simpson)

Cyber Defence (Source: Barclay Simpson)

Data Protection & Privacy (Source: Barclay Simpson)