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Build an offshore SOC team that monitors your estate, not everyone's
What offshore SOC analysts do
Alert triage
Reviews SIEM and EDR alerts, closes false positives and documents why.
Investigation
Pivots across logs, identity and endpoint data to scope suspicious activity.
Escalation
Hands confirmed incidents to your responders with evidence and a timeline.
Detection tuning
Improves rules and suppressions so the queue stays manageable.
Threat hunting
Proactive searches mapped to MITRE ATT&CK.
Reporting
Shift handovers, weekly metrics and monthly service reviews.
Common platforms: Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR, Splunk, Elastic, QRadar, CrowdStrike and SentinelOne. Around four in ten UK SOC analyst ads over the period asked for SIEM experience, and Splunk and Microsoft appeared most often.
How many SOC analysts do you need?
| Coverage | Hours per week | Typical analysts | TalentDock from / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK business hours | 40-50 | 1-2 | £1,695-£3,390 |
| Extended hours (e.g. 06:00-22:00 UK, weekdays) | 80 | 2-3 | £3,390-£5,085 |
| 24/7, one seat | 168 | 5-6 plus a lead | £8,475-£10,170 plus lead |
Round-the-clock cover needs at least five people per seat once shifts, leave and sickness are included. Sri Lanka’s 4.5-5.5 hour lead over the UK makes early-morning and evening UK cover a normal working day there.
Dedicated SOC team vs managed SOC and SOC as a service
| Dedicated offshore SOC team | Managed SOC / SOC as a service | UK in-house SOC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Named analysts who only work for you | Provider analysts shared across clients | Your employees |
| Tools | Yours | Usually the provider's | Yours |
| Knowledge of your estate | Deep, builds over time | Generic, playbook-driven | Deep |
| Tuning and engineering | Included in the role | Often extra or limited | Included |
| Cost | Low per analyst | Per device, user or log volume | Highest |
| 24/7 from day one | Only with 5+ analysts | Yes | Only with 5+ analysts |
A managed SOC is the quickest route to 24/7 cover. A dedicated team suits organisations that want control, context and hands-on tuning, and many run a hybrid: offshore analysts in the day and evening, with a managed service overnight. More in MSSP vs dedicated security team.
A typical offshore SOC team
SOC lead
Owns the queue, quality, handovers and escalation to your UK contact.
SOC analysts (L1-L2)
Triage, investigation and tuning on rota.
Leads containment when an alert becomes an incident.
Feeds the SOC with context and new detections.
Offshore SOC analyst cost vs a UK hire
| Option | Figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| UK SOC analyst salary | £41,250 / £53,000 / £65,000 | 25th / 50th / 75th percentile, IT Jobs Watch, 143 UK ads, six months to 26 Sep 2026 |
| UK employer cost at the median | ≈ £5,125 a month | Salary + employer NICs + minimum pension, before recruitment and equipment |
| TalentDock offshore SOC analyst | From £1,695 a month | All-in: employment, equipment, HR, replacement cover |
A 24/7 seat staffed by five TalentDock analysts starts at £8,475 a month, against roughly £25,600 a month for five UK analysts at the median. See offshore cybersecurity cost.
Frequently asked questions
What is an outsourced SOC?
Security monitoring run by people outside your organisation: either a managed SOC service or dedicated analysts employed by a provider who work only for you.
How much does an offshore SOC analyst cost?
From £1,695 a month all-in with TalentDock, against about £5,125 a month to employ a UK SOC analyst at the £53,000 median.
Can you provide 24/7 SOC coverage?
Yes, with a team of at least five analysts per seat. Many clients start with extended hours and add overnight cover later.
Do analysts use our SIEM or yours?
Yours. They work in your Sentinel, Splunk or other tooling, so detections and data stay with you.
Is this a managed SOC service?
No. You direct the analysts; we employ and manage them. If you need a contractual 24/7 service on a provider platform, a managed SOC may suit better.
Who responds to a real incident?
Analysts escalate to your named responders or an incident response specialist, following your playbooks.
IT Jobs Watch, UK permanent job-advert statistics for SOC analysts, six months to 26 September 2026; TalentDock pricing, September 2026.
Related roles and guides
Plan your offshore SOC team
Tell us your SIEM, alert volume and the hours you need covered. We will propose a team and an all-in monthly cost.
Offshore teams for UK businesses, managed end to end. Dedicated talent in Sri Lanka & the Philippines, trained to your standards.
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