Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Security Clearance
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North of England 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 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -1 +3 -2
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 864 587 590
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.30% 18.13% 12.47%
As % of the Qualifications category 55.03% 55.22% 48.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 600 369 388
10th Percentile £356 £263 £397
25th Percentile £413 £400 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £589 £588 £650
90th Percentile £688 £653 £725
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -1.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 22 71
10th Percentile £22.68 £21.43 -
25th Percentile £41.94 £25.26 £10.95
Median hourly rate £61.57 £55.28 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year +11.39% +281.21% -57.04%
75th Percentile £71.50 £70.31 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £85.26 £73.75
England median hourly rate £55.00 £57.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
North of England

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 the North of England.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,570 1,063 1,223
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 25.99% 32.83% 25.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,067 652 670
10th Percentile £315 £230 £275
25th Percentile £400 £363 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £480 £511
Median % change year-on-year -0.83% -6.09% -2.65%
75th Percentile £576 £575 £630
90th Percentile £675 £665 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 52 161
10th Percentile £22.68 £17.44 £10.95
25th Percentile £36.70 £22.66 £12.75
Median hourly rate £56.50 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +73.85% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £70.00 £58.91 £34.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.28 £51.91
England median hourly rate £47.00 £50.00 £39.96
% change year-on-year -6.00% +25.13% -20.08%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in the North of England

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Security Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the North of England over the 6 months to 18 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in the North of England

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Security Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in the North of England over the 6 months to 18 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in the North of England

Security Cleared
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

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 North of England region over the 6 months to 18 April 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
North West -1 529 £500 - 161
Yorkshire -1 209 £488 -7.14% 65
North East +1 161 £450 -6.25% 62
Security Cleared
England

Security Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England 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 39 (4.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 19 (2.20%) Confluence
3 17 (1.97%) SharePoint
4 13 (1.50%) Apache Spark
5 12 (1.39%) Apache
6 9 (1.04%) Apache Airflow
6 9 (1.04%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.58%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.35%) MTS
9 2 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.23%) CICS
9 2 (0.23%) CMS
9 2 (0.23%) SAS
10 1 (0.12%) nginx
10 1 (0.12%) OpenStack
Applications
1 23 (2.66%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.46%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.46%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.23%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.12%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.12%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 10 (1.16%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.58%) SAP VC
3 3 (0.35%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.35%) SAP QM
4 2 (0.23%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.23%) Primavera
4 2 (0.23%) SAP MM
4 2 (0.23%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.12%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.12%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.12%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 170 (19.68%) AWS
2 109 (12.62%) Azure
3 47 (5.44%) GitHub
4 39 (4.51%) GCP
4 39 (4.51%) Microsoft 365
5 34 (3.94%) Serverless
6 32 (3.70%) Power Platform
7 29 (3.36%) GitHub Actions
8 26 (3.01%) OpenShift
9 24 (2.78%) Entra ID
10 23 (2.66%) AWS Lambda
11 20 (2.31%) Amazon S3
12 19 (2.20%) Azure DevOps
13 17 (1.97%) Amazon EKS
14 16 (1.85%) Amazon EC2
15 15 (1.74%) SaaS
16 12 (1.39%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 12 (1.39%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 10 (1.16%) Google Workspace
18 8 (0.93%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 67 (7.75%) Firewall
2 42 (4.86%) VLAN
3 35 (4.05%) DNS
4 26 (3.01%) Network Security
5 25 (2.89%) WAN
6 21 (2.43%) Wi-Fi
7 19 (2.20%) LAN
8 17 (1.97%) DHCP
9 16 (1.85%) Wireless
10 14 (1.62%) VPN
11 13 (1.50%) BGP
11 13 (1.50%) SAN
12 12 (1.39%) TCP/IP
13 11 (1.27%) WebEx
14 10 (1.16%) NAS
15 9 (1.04%) Skype
16 8 (0.93%) Internet
16 8 (0.93%) Software-Defined Networking
17 7 (0.81%) Cisco IOS
17 7 (0.81%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (4.63%) PostgreSQL
2 28 (3.24%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.89%) Power BI
4 23 (2.66%) MongoDB
5 20 (2.31%) Relational Database
6 18 (2.08%) Oracle Database
7 13 (1.50%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.39%) MySQL
9 11 (1.27%) Metadata
10 10 (1.16%) Data Warehouse
11 9 (1.04%) Elasticsearch
12 8 (0.93%) Amazon RDS
12 8 (0.93%) DynamoDB
12 8 (0.93%) Oracle Database 12c
12 8 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 6 (0.69%) Big Data
13 6 (0.69%) Data Lake
13 6 (0.69%) Tableau
14 5 (0.58%) Delta Lake
14 5 (0.58%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 49 (5.67%) Jenkins
2 48 (5.56%) GitLab
3 38 (4.40%) Git
4 32 (3.70%) JIRA
5 15 (1.74%) Selenium
6 14 (1.62%) SonarQube
7 13 (1.50%) Gatling
8 11 (1.27%) Postman
9 9 (1.04%) Cucumber
9 9 (1.04%) REST Assured
10 6 (0.69%) Artifactory
10 6 (0.69%) Maven
10 6 (0.69%) MSI
11 5 (0.58%) Cypress.io
12 4 (0.46%) ERwin
12 4 (0.46%) JMeter
12 4 (0.46%) Serenity BDD
13 3 (0.35%) Mockito
14 2 (0.23%) Mocha
14 2 (0.23%) SoapUI
General
1 274 (31.71%) Public Sector
2 167 (19.33%) Social Skills
3 57 (6.60%) Analytical Skills
3 57 (6.60%) Finance
4 43 (4.98%) Military
5 28 (3.24%) Documentation Skills
6 26 (3.01%) Legal
7 18 (2.08%) Aerospace
7 18 (2.08%) Banking
8 12 (1.39%) Manufacturing
9 10 (1.16%) Presentation Skills
10 9 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (1.04%) Influencing Skills
11 8 (0.93%) Telecoms
12 7 (0.81%) Electronics
13 5 (0.58%) Marketing
14 4 (0.46%) Aviation
15 3 (0.35%) Law
15 3 (0.35%) Organisational Skills
16 2 (0.23%) Corporate Banking
Job Titles
1 107 (12.38%) Developer
2 97 (11.23%) Architect
3 83 (9.61%) Senior
4 74 (8.56%) Lead
5 63 (7.29%) Analyst
6 45 (5.21%) DevOps Engineer
7 36 (4.17%) Platform Engineer
8 35 (4.05%) Network Engineer
9 34 (3.94%) Java Developer
10 33 (3.82%) Consultant
11 31 (3.59%) Administrator
11 31 (3.59%) Business Analyst
12 30 (3.47%) Data Engineer
13 29 (3.36%) AWS Engineer
13 29 (3.36%) DBA
13 29 (3.36%) Software Engineer
14 25 (2.89%) Technical Architect
15 24 (2.78%) Test Engineer
16 19 (2.20%) Lead Architect
17 18 (2.08%) Coordinator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.40%) Spring
2 34 (3.94%) Kafka
3 33 (3.82%) Spring Boot
4 28 (3.24%) Node.js
5 26 (3.01%) Playwright
6 21 (2.43%) REST
7 20 (2.31%) RESTful
8 17 (1.97%) OAuth
9 16 (1.85%) AngularJS
9 16 (1.85%) JSON
10 12 (1.39%) Quarkus
10 12 (1.39%) React
11 11 (1.27%) 802.1X
11 11 (1.27%) Elastic Stack
12 10 (1.16%) Jest
12 10 (1.16%) XMPP
13 9 (1.04%) .NET
13 9 (1.04%) HTML
13 9 (1.04%) JWT
14 8 (0.93%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 60 (6.94%) Product Ownership
2 40 (4.63%) Data Centre
3 24 (2.78%) Cloud Native
4 23 (2.66%) Replication
5 21 (2.43%) Onboarding
6 16 (1.85%) Clustering
7 14 (1.62%) Security Posture
8 12 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
8 12 (1.39%) NHS
9 11 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
9 11 (1.27%) Operational Technology
10 10 (1.16%) Cyber Threat
10 10 (1.16%) Management Information System
11 7 (0.81%) Legacy Systems
12 6 (0.69%) Driving Licence
12 6 (0.69%) Mobile App
12 6 (0.69%) Private Cloud
12 6 (0.69%) Public Cloud
13 5 (0.58%) Fat Client
13 5 (0.58%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 72 (8.33%) Windows
2 60 (6.94%) Linux
3 26 (3.01%) Unix
4 25 (2.89%) Windows Server
5 23 (2.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 22 (2.55%) Windows 10
7 15 (1.74%) Solaris
8 12 (1.39%) Android
9 10 (1.16%) Mac OS
10 9 (1.04%) Apple iOS
10 9 (1.04%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.35%) AIX
11 3 (0.35%) Amazon Linux
11 3 (0.35%) Oracle Linux
11 3 (0.35%) VMS
12 2 (0.23%) Mac OS X
13 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.12%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (18.87%) Agile
2 131 (15.16%) DevOps
3 114 (13.19%) CI/CD
4 93 (10.76%) Problem-Solving
5 85 (9.84%) Continuous Improvement
6 82 (9.49%) Test Automation
7 81 (9.38%) Stakeholder Management
8 76 (8.80%) Migration
9 68 (7.87%) Service Management
10 64 (7.41%) Cybersecurity
11 62 (7.18%) ITSM
12 61 (7.06%) High Availability
12 61 (7.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 59 (6.83%) Microservices
14 57 (6.60%) Roadmaps
15 55 (6.37%) Project Delivery
15 55 (6.37%) Software Engineering
16 54 (6.25%) Platform Engineering
17 49 (5.67%) Infrastructure as Code
18 48 (5.56%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 128 (14.81%) Python
2 115 (13.31%) Java
3 64 (7.41%) PowerShell
4 56 (6.48%) SQL
5 46 (5.32%) JavaScript
6 27 (3.13%) TypeScript
7 24 (2.78%) Bash
8 13 (1.50%) Scala
9 11 (1.27%) Perl
10 10 (1.16%) VB
11 9 (1.04%) C#
11 9 (1.04%) VBScript
12 7 (0.81%) Go
12 7 (0.81%) Ruby
13 6 (0.69%) Kotlin
13 6 (0.69%) Rust
14 5 (0.58%) Groovy
14 5 (0.58%) Kusto Query Language
15 3 (0.35%) C
15 3 (0.35%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 607 (70.25%) SC Cleared
2 95 (11.00%) DV Cleared
3 77 (8.91%) BPSS Clearance
4 41 (4.75%) Cisco Certification
5 40 (4.63%) Degree
6 37 (4.28%) CCNP
7 33 (3.82%) CCNA
8 16 (1.85%) CISSP
9 14 (1.62%) Azure Certification
9 14 (1.62%) Microsoft Certification
10 12 (1.39%) AWS Certification
10 12 (1.39%) Computer Science Degree
11 11 (1.27%) ITIL Certification
12 9 (1.04%) CCDP
12 9 (1.04%) CISM
12 9 (1.04%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 8 (0.93%) MCSA
13 8 (0.93%) MCSE
13 8 (0.93%) VCAP
14 6 (0.69%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (4.17%) QA
2 31 (3.59%) NIST
3 24 (2.78%) Accessibility
4 20 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 18 (2.08%) Data Quality
5 18 (2.08%) SLA
6 12 (1.39%) GRC
6 12 (1.39%) JSP 440
7 10 (1.16%) GDPR
8 9 (1.04%) NCSC
9 7 (0.81%) PMO
10 4 (0.46%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.46%) WCAG
11 3 (0.35%) IFRS
11 3 (0.35%) PSD2
12 2 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.23%) IFRS 17
12 2 (0.23%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.23%) RMADS
12 2 (0.23%) SOC 2
System Software
1 70 (8.10%) Docker
2 39 (4.51%) Active Directory
3 17 (1.97%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
4 11 (1.27%) VMware ESXi
4 11 (1.27%) vSphere
5 9 (1.04%) BitLocker
6 5 (0.58%) Firmware
7 3 (0.35%) NFS
8 2 (0.23%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.23%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
9 1 (0.12%) EMC RecoverPoint
9 1 (0.12%) GPFS
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.12%) SRDF
9 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.12%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 88 (10.19%) Terraform
2 85 (9.84%) Kubernetes
3 29 (3.36%) Ansible
4 28 (3.24%) Grafana
5 19 (2.20%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.85%) SCCM
7 15 (1.74%) Argo
8 10 (1.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 10 (1.16%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.04%) Oracle RMAN
10 8 (0.93%) HAProxy
11 6 (0.69%) Packer
11 6 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
12 5 (0.58%) Microsoft Intune
13 3 (0.35%) CASB
13 3 (0.35%) FortiGate
13 3 (0.35%) NetBackup
13 3 (0.35%) Norton AntiVirus
13 3 (0.35%) Rancher
14 1 (0.12%) Istio
Vendors
1 100 (11.57%) Microsoft
2 66 (7.64%) Cisco
3 55 (6.37%) Oracle
4 52 (6.02%) ServiceNow
5 39 (4.51%) SAP
6 30 (3.47%) Palo Alto
7 29 (3.36%) Splunk
8 26 (3.01%) Red Hat
9 23 (2.66%) VMware
10 15 (1.74%) Databricks
11 14 (1.62%) Citrix
11 14 (1.62%) Google
12 10 (1.16%) NetApp
13 9 (1.04%) Dell
13 9 (1.04%) Salesforce
14 8 (0.93%) Aruba
14 8 (0.93%) Meraki
14 8 (0.93%) SolarWinds
15 7 (0.81%) IBM
16 6 (0.69%) HP