Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in Central London

Security Clearance
London > Central London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Central London with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 31 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 16 15
Rank change year-on-year +12 -1 +3
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 430 216 224
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 17.15% 10.78% 9.72%
As % of the Qualifications category 65.35% 42.60% 40.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 321 148 142
10th Percentile £425 £358 £401
25th Percentile £466 £450 £476
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £539
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -2.55% +1.65%
75th Percentile £638 £614 £638
90th Percentile £700 £694 £738
London median daily rate £550 £530 £538
% change year-on-year +3.77% -1.40% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 3 1
10th Percentile £23.05 £18.67 -
25th Percentile £28.38 £21.06 £20.22
Median hourly rate £40.50 £25.08 £20.82
Median % change year-on-year +61.52% +20.47% -55.24%
75th Percentile £54.38 £45.34 £21.41
90th Percentile £60.75 £57.48 -
London median hourly rate £55.00 £25.15 £23.08
% change year-on-year +118.69% +8.99% -61.54%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Central London

Security Cleared falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in Central London.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 658 507 548
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 26.25% 25.31% 23.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 474 335 344
10th Percentile £408 £313 £363
25th Percentile £463 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £563
Median % change year-on-year - -2.22% +2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £666 £650
90th Percentile £734 £745 £766
London median daily rate £548 £530 £538
% change year-on-year +3.40% -1.40% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 11 4
10th Percentile £19.44 £25.04 £20.31
25th Percentile £24.25 £26.00 £20.43
Median hourly rate £32.07 £34.48 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.00% +43.67% +33.33%
75th Percentile £56.63 £57.96 £27.00
90th Percentile £61.25 £65.57 -
London median hourly rate £52.75 £25.15 £32.29
% change year-on-year +109.74% -22.11% -41.29%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in Central London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Security Cleared relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London.

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in Central London

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Security Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in Central London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in Central London over the 6 months to 31 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in Central London

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Security Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in Central London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in Central London over the 6 months to 31 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in Central London

Security Cleared
Contract Job Locations in Central London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Security Cleared within the Central London region over the 6 months to 31 August 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
City of London +12 385 £550 +4.76% 56
City of Westminster +1 31 £575 -4.17% 33
West End of London +3 30 £600 +3.45% 25
Southwark - 9 £600 -
Lambeth - 1 - -
Security Cleared
London

Security Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Central London 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 16 (3.72%) SharePoint
2 13 (3.02%) Confluence
3 6 (1.40%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.70%) Apache
5 2 (0.47%) Exchange Server 2013
5 2 (0.47%) nginx
6 1 (0.23%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.23%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.23%) CMS
6 1 (0.23%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.23%) SharePoint 2013
6 1 (0.23%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.23%) WordPress
Applications
1 8 (1.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.47%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.47%) Revit
3 2 (0.47%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.23%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (1.40%) Dynamics CRM
1 6 (1.40%) Oracle EBS
2 3 (0.70%) Exchequer
2 3 (0.70%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.70%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.47%) iTrent
3 2 (0.47%) Oracle ERP
3 2 (0.47%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.47%) Oracle SCM
3 2 (0.47%) SAP ERP
3 2 (0.47%) Temenos T24
4 1 (0.23%) Findur
4 1 (0.23%) Integrated Workplace Management System
4 1 (0.23%) Oracle Payroll
4 1 (0.23%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.23%) SAP Payroll
4 1 (0.23%) SAP PM
4 1 (0.23%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 124 (28.84%) Azure
2 61 (14.19%) AWS
3 39 (9.07%) GCP
4 35 (8.14%) GitHub
5 32 (7.44%) Power Platform
6 27 (6.28%) GitHub Actions
7 21 (4.88%) Azure DevOps
8 15 (3.49%) Azure AKS
9 12 (2.79%) Azure Data Factory
9 12 (2.79%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 11 (2.56%) Microsoft 365
10 11 (2.56%) PaaS
10 11 (2.56%) SaaS
10 11 (2.56%) Serverless
11 10 (2.33%) Azure Databricks
11 10 (2.33%) OCI
11 10 (2.33%) PowerApps
12 9 (2.09%) Power Automate
13 8 (1.86%) Azure Monitor
13 8 (1.86%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.19%) DNS
2 17 (3.95%) Firewall
3 10 (2.33%) VPN
4 8 (1.86%) Network Security
5 6 (1.40%) Internet
6 5 (1.16%) DHCP
7 4 (0.93%) LAN
8 3 (0.70%) SMTP
9 2 (0.47%) FTP
9 2 (0.47%) HTTPS
9 2 (0.47%) NGFW
9 2 (0.47%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (0.47%) SAN
9 2 (0.47%) TCP/IP
9 2 (0.47%) VSAN
9 2 (0.47%) WAN
10 1 (0.23%) NAS
10 1 (0.23%) OpenVPN
10 1 (0.23%) Software-Defined Networking
10 1 (0.23%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.19%) Power BI
1 18 (4.19%) SQL Server
2 7 (1.63%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 6 (1.40%) Amazon Athena
3 6 (1.40%) NoSQL
3 6 (1.40%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (1.16%) Amazon RDS
4 5 (1.16%) Data Lake
4 5 (1.16%) Metadata
4 5 (1.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 4 (0.93%) BigQuery
5 4 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (0.93%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.70%) Big Data
6 3 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
6 3 (0.70%) Oracle Database
6 3 (0.70%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 3 (0.70%) Tableau
7 2 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.47%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 28 (6.51%) Git
2 20 (4.65%) Jenkins
3 16 (3.72%) JIRA
4 14 (3.26%) GitLab
5 7 (1.63%) Postman
5 7 (1.63%) Visual Studio
6 6 (1.40%) Selenium
7 5 (1.16%) Cypress.io
7 5 (1.16%) JMeter
7 5 (1.16%) JUnit
7 5 (1.16%) Mockito
7 5 (1.16%) Visual Studio Code
8 3 (0.70%) Oracle Forms
8 3 (0.70%) REST Assured
8 3 (0.70%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.47%) Claude Code
9 2 (0.47%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.47%) eggPlant
9 2 (0.47%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.23%) Gradle
General
1 113 (26.28%) Public Sector
2 96 (22.33%) Social Skills
3 43 (10.00%) Finance
4 32 (7.44%) Military
5 24 (5.58%) Analytical Skills
6 18 (4.19%) Banking
6 18 (4.19%) Law
7 14 (3.26%) Influencing Skills
8 9 (2.09%) Police
9 7 (1.63%) Retail
10 6 (1.40%) Legal
10 6 (1.40%) Telecoms
11 5 (1.16%) Marketing
12 4 (0.93%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.93%) Financial Institution
12 4 (0.93%) Local Government
13 3 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 3 (0.70%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.47%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 92 (21.40%) Architect
2 51 (11.86%) Developer
3 41 (9.53%) Lead
4 39 (9.07%) Senior
5 27 (6.28%) Cloud Engineer
6 24 (5.58%) Data Architect
7 22 (5.12%) Consultant
8 21 (4.88%) Analyst
9 20 (4.65%) Solutions Architect
10 19 (4.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 15 (3.49%) Azure Engineer
12 14 (3.26%) DevOps Engineer
12 14 (3.26%) Technical Architect
13 12 (2.79%) Data Engineer
14 11 (2.56%) Senior Developer
14 11 (2.56%) Tester
15 10 (2.33%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (2.33%) GCP Engineer
15 10 (2.33%) Security Architect
15 10 (2.33%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (10.47%) Terraform
2 22 (5.12%) REST
3 19 (4.42%) .NET
4 13 (3.02%) SOAP
5 11 (2.56%) Spring
5 11 (2.56%) Spring Boot
6 10 (2.33%) RESTful
7 9 (2.09%) HTML
7 9 (2.09%) JSON
7 9 (2.09%) Kafka
7 9 (2.09%) XML
8 8 (1.86%) PySpark
8 8 (1.86%) React
8 8 (1.86%) Web Services
9 7 (1.63%) Node.js
10 6 (1.40%) Middleware
10 6 (1.40%) Oracle Fusion
10 6 (1.40%) Swagger
11 5 (1.16%) .NET Framework
11 5 (1.16%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 31 (7.21%) Cloud Native
2 14 (3.26%) Data Centre
3 13 (3.02%) Legacy Systems
4 12 (2.79%) Onboarding
5 10 (2.33%) Management Information System
5 10 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (1.86%) Distributed Systems
7 7 (1.63%) AI Agents
7 7 (1.63%) Public Cloud
8 6 (1.40%) Clustering
8 6 (1.40%) Low-Code
8 6 (1.40%) Replication
9 5 (1.16%) Mobile App
9 5 (1.16%) PKI
10 4 (0.93%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (0.93%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (0.93%) Private Cloud
10 4 (0.93%) Taxonomies
11 3 (0.70%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 31 (7.21%) Windows
2 24 (5.58%) Linux
3 17 (3.95%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.93%) VMS
5 3 (0.70%) Mac OS
5 3 (0.70%) Unix
5 3 (0.70%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.47%) Android
6 2 (0.47%) OpenVMS
6 2 (0.47%) Windows 7
6 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
6 2 (0.47%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.47%) zOS
7 1 (0.23%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.23%) CentOS
7 1 (0.23%) MVS
7 1 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.23%) SUSE
7 1 (0.23%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (20.93%) DevOps
2 89 (20.70%) CI/CD
3 69 (16.05%) Agile
4 61 (14.19%) Infrastructure as Code
5 57 (13.26%) Migration
6 55 (12.79%) Stakeholder Management
7 53 (12.33%) AI
8 52 (12.09%) Containerisation
9 42 (9.77%) Continuous Improvement
10 37 (8.60%) Problem-Solving
11 36 (8.37%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 33 (7.67%) Data Modelling
13 32 (7.44%) Test Automation
14 31 (7.21%) Microservices
15 27 (6.28%) Cybersecurity
15 27 (6.28%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 26 (6.05%) Platform Engineering
17 25 (5.81%) Observability
18 24 (5.58%) Digital Transformation Programme
18 24 (5.58%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 52 (12.09%) Python
2 41 (9.53%) SQL
3 34 (7.91%) Java
4 26 (6.05%) C#
5 25 (5.81%) PowerShell
6 19 (4.42%) JavaScript
7 15 (3.49%) TypeScript
8 11 (2.56%) Bash
9 7 (1.63%) Bicep
10 5 (1.16%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.16%) Ruby
11 4 (0.93%) R
12 3 (0.70%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.47%) ActionScript
13 2 (0.47%) ActionScript 2.0
13 2 (0.47%) JCL
13 2 (0.47%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.23%) C++
14 1 (0.23%) REXX
14 1 (0.23%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 348 (80.93%) SC Cleared
2 54 (12.56%) DV Cleared
3 15 (3.49%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (2.56%) Degree
5 7 (1.63%) CISSP
6 6 (1.40%) Azure Certification
6 6 (1.40%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.16%) CISM
7 5 (1.16%) DBS Check
8 4 (0.93%) CTC Cleared
9 2 (0.47%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.47%) CEH
9 2 (0.47%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (0.47%) GIAC
9 2 (0.47%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (0.47%) OSCP
9 2 (0.47%) PMP
9 2 (0.47%) TOGAF Certification
10 1 (0.23%) CompTIA CySA+
10 1 (0.23%) RIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (6.98%) QA
2 16 (3.72%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.72%) NCSC
3 13 (3.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (3.02%) NIST
4 11 (2.56%) Accessibility
5 7 (1.63%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 5 (1.16%) GDPR
6 5 (1.16%) Government Security Classifications
7 4 (0.93%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 4 (0.93%) SLA
8 3 (0.70%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.47%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 2 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
9 2 (0.47%) GMP
9 2 (0.47%) GRC
9 2 (0.47%) GxP
9 2 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 17025
9 2 (0.47%) PMO
System Software
1 26 (6.05%) Docker
2 20 (4.65%) Active Directory
2 20 (4.65%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (2.33%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (1.86%) Virtual Machines
5 6 (1.40%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.16%) vSphere
7 3 (0.70%) BitLocker
7 3 (0.70%) Microsoft App-V
7 3 (0.70%) Terminal Services
8 2 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.47%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.23%) Firmware
9 1 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.23%) UAG
9 1 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 66 (15.35%) Kubernetes
2 21 (4.88%) Ansible
3 13 (3.02%) Prometheus
4 11 (2.56%) Grafana
5 9 (2.09%) vCenter Server
6 7 (1.63%) SCCM
7 6 (1.40%) Puppet
8 5 (1.16%) Istio
9 4 (0.93%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.70%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.70%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.70%) Nagios
10 3 (0.70%) SCOM
10 3 (0.70%) vMotion
10 3 (0.70%) WSUS
11 2 (0.47%) NetBackup
11 2 (0.47%) PowerCLI
11 2 (0.47%) Rundeck
12 1 (0.23%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 75 (17.44%) Microsoft
2 30 (6.98%) Oracle
3 27 (6.28%) Google
4 25 (5.81%) VMware
5 21 (4.88%) Databricks
5 21 (4.88%) ServiceNow
6 10 (2.33%) SAP
7 7 (1.63%) Dynatrace
7 7 (1.63%) Salesforce
8 6 (1.40%) Splunk
8 6 (1.40%) webMethods
9 5 (1.16%) IBM
10 4 (0.93%) Citrix
10 4 (0.93%) Fortinet
10 4 (0.93%) MuleSoft
10 4 (0.93%) OpenAI
10 4 (0.93%) Palo Alto
10 4 (0.93%) Remedy
11 3 (0.70%) AppDynamics
11 3 (0.70%) Foundry