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 18 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 16 19
Rank change year-on-year +12 +3 -2
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 435 216 204
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 17.10% 10.55% 8.89%
As % of the Qualifications category 65.71% 42.52% 38.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 328 148 133
10th Percentile £425 £350 £405
25th Percentile £465 £456 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -2.78% +3.85%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £717 £738
London median daily rate £550 £530 £538
% change year-on-year +3.77% -1.49% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 3 1
10th Percentile £26.60 £18.67 -
25th Percentile £37.25 £21.06 £20.22
Median hourly rate £60.00 £25.08 £20.82
Median % change year-on-year +139.28% +20.47% +15.64%
75th Percentile £70.88 £45.34 £21.41
90th Percentile £74.40 £57.48 -
London median hourly rate £57.25 £25.15 £22.00
% change year-on-year +127.63% +14.32% -63.33%

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 662 508 527
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 26.02% 24.82% 22.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 482 337 336
10th Percentile £405 £314 £369
25th Percentile £463 £453 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £563
Median % change year-on-year - -2.22% +2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £675 £657
90th Percentile £734 £763 £775
London median daily rate £545 £530 £538
% change year-on-year +2.83% -1.40% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 12 5
10th Percentile £19.45 £25.11 £20.33
25th Percentile £26.63 £26.13 £20.50
Median hourly rate £42.53 £31.78 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year +33.86% +17.69% +50.00%
75th Percentile £60.31 £55.06 -
90th Percentile £68.53 £65.39 £37.05
London median hourly rate £53.50 £25.15 £30.00
% change year-on-year +112.72% -16.17% -45.45%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 +12 390 £550 +4.76% 78
City of Westminster +3 32 £575 -4.17% 8
West End of London +3 29 £604 +4.09% 11
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 19 (4.37%) SharePoint
2 13 (2.99%) Confluence
3 5 (1.15%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.69%) Apache
5 2 (0.46%) Exchange Server 2013
5 2 (0.46%) 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 (1.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.46%) AutoCAD
3 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.46%) Revit
3 2 (0.46%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.23%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (1.38%) Oracle EBS
2 4 (0.92%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.46%) Exchequer
4 2 (0.46%) iTrent
4 2 (0.46%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.46%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.46%) Oracle SCM
4 2 (0.46%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.46%) Temenos T24
5 1 (0.23%) Findur
5 1 (0.23%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 1 (0.23%) Oracle Payroll
5 1 (0.23%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.23%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.23%) SAP PM
5 1 (0.23%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 120 (27.59%) Azure
2 65 (14.94%) AWS
3 43 (9.89%) GCP
4 37 (8.51%) GitHub
5 31 (7.13%) Power Platform
6 28 (6.44%) GitHub Actions
7 22 (5.06%) Azure DevOps
8 15 (3.45%) Azure AKS
9 13 (2.99%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 13 (2.99%) Microsoft 365
10 11 (2.53%) Azure Data Factory
10 11 (2.53%) PaaS
10 11 (2.53%) SaaS
11 10 (2.30%) OCI
11 10 (2.30%) Serverless
12 9 (2.07%) Power Automate
12 9 (2.07%) PowerApps
13 8 (1.84%) Azure Monitor
14 7 (1.61%) Amazon S3
15 6 (1.38%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.14%) DNS
1 18 (4.14%) Firewall
2 10 (2.30%) VPN
3 8 (1.84%) Network Security
4 6 (1.38%) Internet
5 5 (1.15%) DHCP
6 4 (0.92%) LAN
7 3 (0.69%) NGFW
7 3 (0.69%) SMTP
8 2 (0.46%) FTP
8 2 (0.46%) HTTPS
8 2 (0.46%) Reverse Proxy
8 2 (0.46%) SAN
8 2 (0.46%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.46%) VSAN
8 2 (0.46%) WAN
9 1 (0.23%) Software-Defined Networking
9 1 (0.23%) Structured Cabling
9 1 (0.23%) VLAN
9 1 (0.23%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (3.91%) Power BI
2 16 (3.68%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.61%) Amazon Athena
4 6 (1.38%) Data Lake
4 6 (1.38%) NoSQL
4 6 (1.38%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
5 5 (1.15%) BigQuery
5 5 (1.15%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (1.15%) Metadata
5 5 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 4 (0.92%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.92%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 4 (0.92%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.69%) Big Data
7 3 (0.69%) Elasticsearch
7 3 (0.69%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.46%) Amazon QuickSight
8 2 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 27 (6.21%) Git
2 20 (4.60%) Jenkins
3 17 (3.91%) JIRA
4 15 (3.45%) GitLab
5 7 (1.61%) Postman
6 6 (1.38%) Selenium
6 6 (1.38%) Visual Studio
7 5 (1.15%) Cypress.io
7 5 (1.15%) JMeter
7 5 (1.15%) JUnit
7 5 (1.15%) Mockito
8 4 (0.92%) Visual Studio Code
9 3 (0.69%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.69%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.46%) Claude Code
10 2 (0.46%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.46%) eggPlant
10 2 (0.46%) Oracle Forms
10 2 (0.46%) SoapUI
11 1 (0.23%) Vite
General
1 110 (25.29%) Public Sector
2 96 (22.07%) Social Skills
3 43 (9.89%) Finance
4 27 (6.21%) Military
5 25 (5.75%) Analytical Skills
6 17 (3.91%) Law
7 16 (3.68%) Banking
8 13 (2.99%) Influencing Skills
9 10 (2.30%) Police
10 6 (1.38%) Retail
10 6 (1.38%) Telecoms
11 5 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.15%) Legal
12 4 (0.92%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 3 (0.69%) Local Government
13 3 (0.69%) Marketing
13 3 (0.69%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.46%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 93 (21.38%) Architect
2 53 (12.18%) Developer
3 42 (9.66%) Lead
4 40 (9.20%) Senior
5 28 (6.44%) Cloud Engineer
6 23 (5.29%) Data Architect
7 22 (5.06%) Analyst
8 20 (4.60%) Consultant
9 19 (4.37%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 19 (4.37%) Solutions Architect
10 15 (3.45%) Azure Engineer
11 14 (3.22%) Data Engineer
11 14 (3.22%) DevOps Engineer
11 14 (3.22%) Technical Architect
12 12 (2.76%) Platform Engineer
13 11 (2.53%) Business Analyst
13 11 (2.53%) GCP Engineer
13 11 (2.53%) Senior Developer
13 11 (2.53%) Tester
14 10 (2.30%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (4.14%) REST
2 17 (3.91%) .NET
3 11 (2.53%) SOAP
3 11 (2.53%) Spring
3 11 (2.53%) Spring Boot
4 10 (2.30%) HTML
4 10 (2.30%) RESTful
5 9 (2.07%) Kafka
6 8 (1.84%) JSON
6 8 (1.84%) PySpark
6 8 (1.84%) React
6 8 (1.84%) XML
7 7 (1.61%) Node.js
8 6 (1.38%) Oracle Fusion
8 6 (1.38%) Swagger
8 6 (1.38%) Web Services
9 5 (1.15%) Middleware
9 5 (1.15%) Playwright
10 4 (0.92%) CSS
10 4 (0.92%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 31 (7.13%) Cloud Native
2 14 (3.22%) Data Centre
3 13 (2.99%) Onboarding
4 12 (2.76%) Legacy Systems
5 9 (2.07%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (1.84%) Distributed Systems
6 8 (1.84%) Management Information System
7 7 (1.61%) AI Agents
7 7 (1.61%) Public Cloud
8 6 (1.38%) Clustering
8 6 (1.38%) Low-Code
9 5 (1.15%) Mobile App
9 5 (1.15%) PKI
10 4 (0.92%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.92%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (0.92%) NHS
10 4 (0.92%) Private Cloud
10 4 (0.92%) Replication
10 4 (0.92%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 29 (6.67%) Windows
2 24 (5.52%) Linux
3 17 (3.91%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.92%) VMS
5 3 (0.69%) Unix
5 3 (0.69%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.46%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.46%) OpenVMS
6 2 (0.46%) Windows 7
6 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2008
6 2 (0.46%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.23%) AIX
7 1 (0.23%) Android
7 1 (0.23%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.23%) CentOS
7 1 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.23%) Solaris
7 1 (0.23%) SUSE
7 1 (0.23%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (20.92%) DevOps
2 89 (20.46%) CI/CD
3 67 (15.40%) Agile
4 65 (14.94%) Infrastructure as Code
5 55 (12.64%) Migration
6 53 (12.18%) AI
6 53 (12.18%) Stakeholder Management
7 52 (11.95%) Containerisation
8 42 (9.66%) Continuous Improvement
9 36 (8.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 33 (7.59%) Test Automation
11 32 (7.36%) Data Modelling
11 32 (7.36%) Problem-Solving
12 30 (6.90%) Platform Engineering
13 29 (6.67%) Microservices
14 26 (5.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 25 (5.75%) Analytics
15 25 (5.75%) Observability
16 24 (5.52%) Cybersecurity
16 24 (5.52%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 50 (11.49%) Python
2 41 (9.43%) SQL
3 34 (7.82%) Java
4 26 (5.98%) C#
5 24 (5.52%) PowerShell
6 20 (4.60%) JavaScript
7 13 (2.99%) TypeScript
8 11 (2.53%) Bash
9 7 (1.61%) Bicep
10 5 (1.15%) Ruby
11 4 (0.92%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 3 (0.69%) Apex Code
12 3 (0.69%) R
13 2 (0.46%) ActionScript
13 2 (0.46%) ActionScript 2.0
13 2 (0.46%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.23%) C++
14 1 (0.23%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.23%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.23%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 361 (82.99%) SC Cleared
2 55 (12.64%) DV Cleared
3 16 (3.68%) BPSS Clearance
4 8 (1.84%) Degree
5 7 (1.61%) CISSP
6 6 (1.38%) Azure Certification
7 5 (1.15%) CISM
7 5 (1.15%) DBS Check
7 5 (1.15%) Microsoft Certification
8 4 (0.92%) CTC Cleared
9 3 (0.69%) GIAC
10 2 (0.46%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.46%) CEH
10 2 (0.46%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.46%) CompTIA CySA+
10 2 (0.46%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (0.46%) ITIL Certification
10 2 (0.46%) OSCP
10 2 (0.46%) PMP
11 1 (0.23%) CHECK Team Leader
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (6.90%) QA
2 16 (3.68%) Data Quality
3 15 (3.45%) NCSC
4 14 (3.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (2.99%) NIST
6 11 (2.53%) Accessibility
7 7 (1.61%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (1.15%) GDPR
8 5 (1.15%) Government Security Classifications
9 4 (0.92%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 3 (0.69%) NIST 800
10 3 (0.69%) SLA
11 2 (0.46%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 2 (0.46%) GMP
11 2 (0.46%) GRC
11 2 (0.46%) GxP
11 2 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 2 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.46%) PMO
System Software
1 26 (5.98%) Docker
2 19 (4.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (4.14%) Active Directory
4 10 (2.30%) VMware ESXi
5 8 (1.84%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (1.15%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.15%) vSphere
7 3 (0.69%) BitLocker
7 3 (0.69%) Microsoft App-V
7 3 (0.69%) Terminal Services
8 2 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.46%) 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 68 (15.63%) Kubernetes
2 48 (11.03%) Terraform
3 21 (4.83%) Ansible
4 13 (2.99%) Prometheus
5 11 (2.53%) Grafana
6 9 (2.07%) vCenter Server
7 6 (1.38%) Puppet
7 6 (1.38%) SCCM
8 5 (1.15%) Istio
9 4 (0.92%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.69%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.69%) Nagios
10 3 (0.69%) vMotion
10 3 (0.69%) WSUS
11 2 (0.46%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.46%) NetBackup
11 2 (0.46%) SCOM
12 1 (0.23%) Salt
12 1 (0.23%) SELinux
Vendors
1 72 (16.55%) Microsoft
2 30 (6.90%) Oracle
3 28 (6.44%) Google
4 24 (5.52%) VMware
5 20 (4.60%) Databricks
5 20 (4.60%) ServiceNow
6 10 (2.30%) SAP
7 7 (1.61%) Dynatrace
7 7 (1.61%) Salesforce
8 6 (1.38%) webMethods
9 5 (1.15%) Splunk
10 4 (0.92%) Citrix
10 4 (0.92%) Fortinet
10 4 (0.92%) MuleSoft
10 4 (0.92%) OpenAI
10 4 (0.92%) Palo Alto
10 4 (0.92%) Remedy
11 3 (0.69%) AppDynamics
11 3 (0.69%) Cisco
11 3 (0.69%) IBM