Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in the North West

Security Clearance
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North West with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 20 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 2 2
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 524 418 432
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 16.47% 21.56% 15.71%
As % of the Qualifications category 56.89% 58.96% 53.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 345 247 277
10th Percentile £355 £242 £350
25th Percentile £420 £413 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £626 £588 £672
90th Percentile £750 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -0.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 18 59
10th Percentile £23.17 £25.26 -
25th Percentile £35.00 £32.51 £10.95
Median hourly rate £63.14 £59.29 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year +6.49% +308.90% -57.04%
75th Percentile £74.26 £75.63 £46.18
90th Percentile £75.48 £85.85 £73.75
England median hourly rate £55.00 £57.50 £53.03
% change year-on-year -4.35% +8.43% -11.62%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
North West

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 West.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 921 709 810
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 28.95% 36.57% 29.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 611 411 460
10th Percentile £315 £225 £247
25th Percentile £400 £388 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £490 £514
Median % change year-on-year -2.37% -4.62% +0.74%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £656
90th Percentile £688 £650 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 86 43 121
10th Percentile £23.92 £17.95 £10.95
25th Percentile £35.14 £25.26 £11.77
Median hourly rate £49.12 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +51.13% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £72.25 £60.00 £38.43
90th Percentile £80.13 £82.85 £51.91
England median hourly rate £47.50 £50.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -5.00% +25.00% -23.08%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in the North West

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the North West over the 6 months to 20 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in the North West

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in the North West over the 6 months to 20 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in the North West

Security Cleared
Contract Job Locations in the North West

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 West region over the 6 months to 20 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
Manchester -6 168 £500 - 114
Lancashire +3 129 £623 +43.02% 36
Cumbria 0 112 £481 -10.88% 16
Cheshire -5 80 £450 +28.57% 17
Merseyside -12 28 £625 +13.64% 5
Security Cleared
England

Security Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 32 (6.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (2.29%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.72%) Skype for Business
4 8 (1.53%) Confluence
5 6 (1.15%) Apache Spark
6 5 (0.95%) Apache
7 4 (0.76%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.57%) MTS
9 2 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.38%) CICS
9 2 (0.38%) SAS
10 1 (0.19%) CMS
10 1 (0.19%) nginx
10 1 (0.19%) OpenStack
Applications
1 18 (3.44%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.91%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.38%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.38%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.19%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 9 (1.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.95%) SAP VC
3 3 (0.57%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.57%) SAP QM
4 2 (0.38%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.38%) Primavera
4 2 (0.38%) SAP MM
4 2 (0.38%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 77 (14.69%) AWS
2 50 (9.54%) Azure
3 28 (5.34%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (3.44%) GCP
5 14 (2.67%) Entra ID
5 14 (2.67%) Serverless
6 13 (2.48%) Power Platform
7 11 (2.10%) GitHub
8 9 (1.72%) SaaS
9 8 (1.53%) Amazon EKS
9 8 (1.53%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (1.34%) Amazon S3
10 7 (1.34%) Google Workspace
11 5 (0.95%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (0.76%) Amazon EC2
12 4 (0.76%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (0.76%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (0.76%) Google Drive
12 4 (0.76%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 60 (11.45%) Firewall
2 42 (8.02%) VLAN
3 26 (4.96%) DNS
4 24 (4.58%) Network Security
4 24 (4.58%) WAN
5 21 (4.01%) Wi-Fi
6 18 (3.44%) LAN
7 16 (3.05%) DHCP
8 13 (2.48%) BGP
9 12 (2.29%) VPN
9 12 (2.29%) Wireless
10 10 (1.91%) SAN
10 10 (1.91%) WebEx
11 9 (1.72%) Skype
11 9 (1.72%) TCP/IP
12 8 (1.53%) Software-Defined Networking
13 7 (1.34%) Cisco IOS
13 7 (1.34%) Structured Cabling
14 6 (1.15%) NAS
14 6 (1.15%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (3.82%) PostgreSQL
2 13 (2.48%) Power BI
3 11 (2.10%) MySQL
3 11 (2.10%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.91%) MongoDB
4 10 (1.91%) NoSQL
4 10 (1.91%) Oracle Database
5 9 (1.72%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (1.72%) Relational Database
6 8 (1.53%) Metadata
7 6 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 5 (0.95%) Oracle Database 12c
9 4 (0.76%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.76%) Hadoop
9 4 (0.76%) Tableau
10 3 (0.57%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.57%) Data Lake
10 3 (0.57%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.38%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.38%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 24 (4.58%) GitLab
2 18 (3.44%) Git
3 15 (2.86%) JIRA
4 7 (1.34%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.76%) MSI
5 4 (0.76%) Postman
5 4 (0.76%) Selenium
6 3 (0.57%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.38%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.38%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.38%) Gatling
7 2 (0.38%) Jasmine
7 2 (0.38%) JMeter
7 2 (0.38%) Mockito
7 2 (0.38%) Serenity BDD
7 2 (0.38%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.19%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.19%) InstallShield
8 1 (0.19%) Mocha
8 1 (0.19%) Rational DOORS
General
1 156 (29.77%) Public Sector
2 116 (22.14%) Social Skills
3 35 (6.68%) Analytical Skills
4 32 (6.11%) Finance
5 23 (4.39%) Documentation Skills
6 22 (4.20%) Military
7 19 (3.63%) Legal
8 12 (2.29%) Aerospace
8 12 (2.29%) Banking
9 8 (1.53%) Manufacturing
10 7 (1.34%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.76%) Aviation
11 4 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.57%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.57%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.38%) Corporate Banking
13 2 (0.38%) Electronics
13 2 (0.38%) Law
13 2 (0.38%) Retail
13 2 (0.38%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 70 (13.36%) Architect
2 56 (10.69%) Developer
3 51 (9.73%) Lead
4 35 (6.68%) Network Engineer
5 31 (5.92%) Senior
6 29 (5.53%) Administrator
6 29 (5.53%) Analyst
7 23 (4.39%) Platform Engineer
8 22 (4.20%) Consultant
9 20 (3.82%) DBA
9 20 (3.82%) Technical Architect
10 18 (3.44%) Lead Architect
11 16 (3.05%) Coordinator
11 16 (3.05%) Data Engineer
11 16 (3.05%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 14 (2.67%) Unix Engineer
13 13 (2.48%) Engagement Manager
13 13 (2.48%) Java Developer
13 13 (2.48%) Software Engineer
13 13 (2.48%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (5.34%) Spring
2 24 (4.58%) Spring Boot
3 15 (2.86%) Node.js
4 13 (2.48%) Kafka
4 13 (2.48%) RESTful
5 11 (2.10%) 802.1X
6 10 (1.91%) OAuth
7 9 (1.72%) XMPP
8 7 (1.34%) HTML
8 7 (1.34%) JSON
8 7 (1.34%) Playwright
8 7 (1.34%) REST
9 6 (1.15%) Apache NiFi
9 6 (1.15%) CSS
9 6 (1.15%) Hibernate
9 6 (1.15%) OAuth2
9 6 (1.15%) React
9 6 (1.15%) XML
10 5 (0.95%) Middleware
10 5 (0.95%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 38 (7.25%) Product Ownership
2 33 (6.30%) Data Centre
3 16 (3.05%) Onboarding
3 16 (3.05%) Replication
4 14 (2.67%) Clustering
5 10 (1.91%) Cloud Native
5 10 (1.91%) Operational Technology
6 9 (1.72%) Cyber Threat
7 7 (1.34%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.15%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.15%) Private Cloud
9 5 (0.95%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (0.95%) Driving Licence
9 5 (0.95%) Fat Client
9 5 (0.95%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.95%) Mobile App
9 5 (0.95%) Security Posture
9 5 (0.95%) Thin Client
10 4 (0.76%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.57%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 56 (10.69%) Windows
2 35 (6.68%) Linux
3 23 (4.39%) Windows Server
4 21 (4.01%) Windows 10
5 20 (3.82%) Unix
6 15 (2.86%) Solaris
7 14 (2.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 9 (1.72%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.57%) AIX
9 3 (0.57%) Android
9 3 (0.57%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.38%) Mac OS X
10 2 (0.38%) VMS
11 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (14.50%) Agile
2 64 (12.21%) Problem-Solving
3 55 (10.50%) ITSM
4 53 (10.11%) Migration
5 52 (9.92%) CI/CD
5 52 (9.92%) Continuous Improvement
6 51 (9.73%) DevOps
7 50 (9.54%) Service Management
8 49 (9.35%) Project Delivery
8 49 (9.35%) Stakeholder Management
9 47 (8.97%) High Availability
10 45 (8.59%) Cybersecurity
11 40 (7.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 35 (6.68%) Disaster Recovery
13 33 (6.30%) Platform Engineering
14 30 (5.73%) Containerisation
14 30 (5.73%) Microservices
14 30 (5.73%) Risk Management
14 30 (5.73%) Test Automation
15 29 (5.53%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 57 (10.88%) Python
2 50 (9.54%) PowerShell
3 48 (9.16%) Java
4 26 (4.96%) SQL
5 21 (4.01%) JavaScript
6 14 (2.67%) Bash
6 14 (2.67%) TypeScript
7 10 (1.91%) Perl
8 9 (1.72%) VB
8 9 (1.72%) VBScript
9 5 (0.95%) Go
9 5 (0.95%) Rust
10 4 (0.76%) Ruby
11 3 (0.57%) C#
12 2 (0.38%) AWK
12 2 (0.38%) COBOL
12 2 (0.38%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.38%) Kusto Query Language
13 1 (0.19%) ABAP
13 1 (0.19%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 344 (65.65%) SC Cleared
2 74 (14.12%) DV Cleared
3 51 (9.73%) BPSS Clearance
4 38 (7.25%) Cisco Certification
5 35 (6.68%) CCNP
6 34 (6.49%) Degree
7 32 (6.11%) CCNA
8 14 (2.67%) Microsoft Certification
9 13 (2.48%) CISSP
10 11 (2.10%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.72%) AWS Certification
12 8 (1.53%) Azure Certification
12 8 (1.53%) CCDP
12 8 (1.53%) ITIL Certification
12 8 (1.53%) MCSA
12 8 (1.53%) MCSE
12 8 (1.53%) VCAP
12 8 (1.53%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 7 (1.34%) CISM
14 6 (1.15%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.39%) NIST
2 17 (3.24%) QA
3 15 (2.86%) Accessibility
4 13 (2.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 12 (2.29%) JSP 440
5 12 (2.29%) SLA
6 7 (1.34%) Data Quality
7 6 (1.15%) GDPR
8 5 (0.95%) NCSC
9 4 (0.76%) GRC
9 4 (0.76%) PMO
9 4 (0.76%) WCAG
10 3 (0.57%) IFRS
11 2 (0.38%) IFRS 17
11 2 (0.38%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.38%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.38%) PSD2
12 1 (0.19%) Basel III
12 1 (0.19%) RMADS
12 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 33 (6.30%) Active Directory
2 29 (5.53%) Docker
3 15 (2.86%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (1.91%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (1.91%) VMware ESXi
4 10 (1.91%) vSphere
5 9 (1.72%) BitLocker
6 4 (0.76%) Firmware
7 2 (0.38%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.19%) GPFS
8 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.19%) NFS
8 1 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 35 (6.68%) Kubernetes
2 29 (5.53%) Terraform
3 15 (2.86%) SCCM
4 14 (2.67%) Ansible
5 9 (1.72%) vCenter Server
6 8 (1.53%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 8 (1.53%) Grafana
7 6 (1.15%) Oracle RMAN
7 6 (1.15%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.38%) Norton AntiVirus
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco Prime
12 1 (0.19%) Data Guard
12 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Nagios
12 1 (0.19%) vRealize
Vendors
1 72 (13.74%) Microsoft
2 61 (11.64%) Cisco
3 38 (7.25%) Oracle
4 32 (6.11%) SAP
4 32 (6.11%) ServiceNow
5 30 (5.73%) Palo Alto
6 20 (3.82%) VMware
7 13 (2.48%) Citrix
8 11 (2.10%) Red Hat
9 8 (1.53%) Aruba
9 8 (1.53%) Google
9 8 (1.53%) Meraki
10 6 (1.15%) CheckPoint
10 6 (1.15%) Ekahau
10 6 (1.15%) IBM
10 6 (1.15%) Splunk
11 5 (0.95%) SolarWinds
12 4 (0.76%) Dell
12 4 (0.76%) RedGate
12 4 (0.76%) Veritas