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 26 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 2 2
Rank change year-on-year -2 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 515 428 455
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 16.77% 21.77% 16.21%
As % of the Qualifications category 56.84% 59.94% 53.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 335 237 296
10th Percentile £343 £230 £375
25th Percentile £412 £412 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £500 £515
Median % change year-on-year -2.00% -2.91% -1.90%
75th Percentile £605 £575 £650
90th Percentile £696 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £545 £550
% change year-on-year -3.67% -0.91% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 20 68
10th Percentile £22.68 £25.26 -
25th Percentile £28.50 £35.44 £10.95
Median hourly rate £60.61 £60.00 £26.25
Median % change year-on-year +1.02% +128.61% -22.24%
75th Percentile £74.26 £74.38 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.57 £85.80 £68.50
England median hourly rate £47.50 £60.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year -20.83% +9.09% -8.33%

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 906 714 853
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 29.50% 36.32% 30.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 601 403 498
10th Percentile £263 £211 £265
25th Percentile £376 £388 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £475 £513
Median % change year-on-year -1.22% -7.32% +2.50%
75th Percentile £576 £575 £650
90th Percentile £669 £650 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 46 131
10th Percentile £21.46 £22.72 £10.95
25th Percentile £30.00 £25.51 £11.89
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £69.45 £60.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £82.00 £50.00
England median hourly rate £35.00 £50.00 £38.85
% change year-on-year -30.00% +28.70% -22.30%

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 26 March 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 26 March 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 26 March 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 -4 157 £475 -5.00% 107
Lancashire +2 122 £550 +26.36% 48
Cumbria 0 114 £496 -5.84% 14
Cheshire -4 85 £450 +28.57% 17
Merseyside -9 28 £563 +2.27% 4
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 24 (4.66%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (1.75%) Confluence
2 9 (1.75%) Skype for Business
3 8 (1.55%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.17%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.97%) Apache
6 3 (0.58%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.58%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.58%) MTS
7 2 (0.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.39%) CICS
7 2 (0.39%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.19%) CMS
8 1 (0.19%) nginx
8 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 22 (4.27%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.94%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.58%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.39%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.39%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.19%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 11 (2.14%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.97%) SAP VC
3 4 (0.78%) SAP MM
4 3 (0.58%) SAP QM
5 2 (0.39%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.39%) Primavera
5 2 (0.39%) Remedy ITSM
5 2 (0.39%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 69 (13.40%) AWS
2 44 (8.54%) Azure
3 24 (4.66%) Microsoft 365
4 15 (2.91%) GCP
4 15 (2.91%) Power Platform
5 14 (2.72%) GitHub
6 12 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
6 12 (2.33%) Entra ID
7 8 (1.55%) Amazon EKS
7 8 (1.55%) Serverless
8 6 (1.17%) Amazon S3
8 6 (1.17%) GitHub Actions
9 5 (0.97%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (0.78%) Amazon EC2
10 4 (0.78%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (0.78%) OneDrive
10 4 (0.78%) OpenShift
10 4 (0.78%) SaaS
11 3 (0.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 3 (0.58%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 69 (13.40%) Firewall
2 40 (7.77%) VLAN
3 30 (5.83%) WAN
4 28 (5.44%) Wi-Fi
5 23 (4.47%) DNS
5 23 (4.47%) Network Security
6 18 (3.50%) LAN
7 16 (3.11%) VPN
8 14 (2.72%) DHCP
8 14 (2.72%) Wireless
9 13 (2.52%) BGP
9 13 (2.52%) SAN
10 12 (2.33%) TCP/IP
11 10 (1.94%) Cisco ISE
11 10 (1.94%) NetScaler
11 10 (1.94%) WebEx
12 9 (1.75%) Skype
13 8 (1.55%) Software-Defined Networking
14 6 (1.17%) SNMP
15 5 (0.97%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (3.11%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (2.72%) Power BI
3 12 (2.33%) SQL Server
4 11 (2.14%) MySQL
5 10 (1.94%) MongoDB
5 10 (1.94%) NoSQL
6 9 (1.75%) Elasticsearch
6 9 (1.75%) Relational Database
7 6 (1.17%) Oracle Database
7 6 (1.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 5 (0.97%) Metadata
9 4 (0.78%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.78%) Hadoop
9 4 (0.78%) Tableau
10 3 (0.58%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.58%) Oracle Database 12c
10 3 (0.58%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.39%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.39%) Redis
11 2 (0.39%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 25 (4.85%) GitLab
2 21 (4.08%) Git
3 15 (2.91%) JIRA
4 8 (1.55%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.78%) Postman
6 3 (0.58%) Selenium
7 2 (0.39%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.39%) Gatling
7 2 (0.39%) Jasmine
7 2 (0.39%) JMeter
7 2 (0.39%) Mockito
7 2 (0.39%) MSI
7 2 (0.39%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.39%) Serenity BDD
7 2 (0.39%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.19%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.19%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.19%) InstallShield
8 1 (0.19%) Mocha
8 1 (0.19%) Rational DOORS
General
1 154 (29.90%) Public Sector
2 117 (22.72%) Social Skills
3 37 (7.18%) Finance
4 34 (6.60%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (3.69%) Documentation Skills
5 19 (3.69%) Military
6 15 (2.91%) Legal
7 12 (2.33%) Aerospace
7 12 (2.33%) Banking
8 11 (2.14%) Manufacturing
9 6 (1.17%) Electronics
9 6 (1.17%) Marketing
9 6 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (1.17%) Telecoms
10 5 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (0.78%) Aviation
11 4 (0.78%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.39%) Corporate Banking
13 2 (0.39%) Law
Job Titles
1 63 (12.23%) Architect
2 53 (10.29%) Developer
3 45 (8.74%) Network Engineer
4 34 (6.60%) Senior
5 33 (6.41%) Analyst
5 33 (6.41%) Lead
6 30 (5.83%) Consultant
7 27 (5.24%) Administrator
8 22 (4.27%) Platform Engineer
9 20 (3.88%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 17 (3.30%) Technical Architect
11 16 (3.11%) DBA
11 16 (3.11%) DevOps Engineer
11 16 (3.11%) Engagement Manager
12 14 (2.72%) Data Engineer
12 14 (2.72%) Support Engineer
13 13 (2.52%) Software Engineer
14 12 (2.33%) Business Analyst
14 12 (2.33%) Java Developer
15 10 (1.94%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (4.66%) Spring
2 22 (4.27%) Spring Boot
3 16 (3.11%) 802.1X
4 13 (2.52%) Kafka
4 13 (2.52%) RESTful
5 9 (1.75%) HTML
5 9 (1.75%) Node.js
5 9 (1.75%) XMPP
6 8 (1.55%) CSS
6 8 (1.55%) JSON
7 7 (1.36%) Playwright
7 7 (1.36%) XML
8 6 (1.17%) Apache NiFi
8 6 (1.17%) Hibernate
8 6 (1.17%) React
9 5 (0.97%) AngularJS
9 5 (0.97%) Middleware
9 5 (0.97%) OAuth
9 5 (0.97%) REST
9 5 (0.97%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 48 (9.32%) Data Centre
2 37 (7.18%) Product Ownership
3 19 (3.69%) Onboarding
4 16 (3.11%) Replication
5 14 (2.72%) Clustering
6 12 (2.33%) Cyber Threat
7 9 (1.75%) Operational Technology
8 7 (1.36%) Cloud Native
8 7 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (1.17%) Private Cloud
10 5 (0.97%) Driving Licence
10 5 (0.97%) Fat Client
10 5 (0.97%) Mobile App
10 5 (0.97%) Security Posture
10 5 (0.97%) Thin Client
11 4 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (0.78%) Management Information System
12 3 (0.58%) Analytical Mindset
12 3 (0.58%) Handset
12 3 (0.58%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 62 (12.04%) Windows
2 42 (8.16%) Linux
3 23 (4.47%) Windows Server
4 20 (3.88%) Windows 10
5 17 (3.30%) Unix
6 14 (2.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.14%) Solaris
8 9 (1.75%) Windows 7
9 7 (1.36%) Android
10 5 (0.97%) Mac OS
11 3 (0.58%) AIX
11 3 (0.58%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.39%) Mac OS X
12 2 (0.39%) VMS
13 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (13.79%) Agile
2 65 (12.62%) Problem-Solving
3 53 (10.29%) DevOps
4 49 (9.51%) CI/CD
4 49 (9.51%) ITSM
5 48 (9.32%) Service Management
6 47 (9.13%) Cybersecurity
7 46 (8.93%) Continuous Improvement
8 43 (8.35%) Project Delivery
9 42 (8.16%) Migration
9 42 (8.16%) Stakeholder Management
10 40 (7.77%) High Availability
11 35 (6.80%) Containerisation
12 33 (6.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 32 (6.21%) Platform Engineering
14 31 (6.02%) Disaster Recovery
14 31 (6.02%) Risk Management
15 29 (5.63%) Project Management
15 29 (5.63%) Test Automation
16 28 (5.44%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 59 (11.46%) Python
2 54 (10.49%) PowerShell
3 42 (8.16%) Java
4 24 (4.66%) SQL
5 21 (4.08%) Bash
6 15 (2.91%) JavaScript
7 13 (2.52%) Perl
7 13 (2.52%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.75%) VB
8 9 (1.75%) VBScript
9 5 (0.97%) Rust
10 4 (0.78%) Ruby
11 3 (0.58%) C#
11 3 (0.58%) Go
12 2 (0.39%) AWK
12 2 (0.39%) COBOL
12 2 (0.39%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.39%) Kusto Query Language
13 1 (0.19%) ABAP
13 1 (0.19%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 344 (66.80%) SC Cleared
2 67 (13.01%) DV Cleared
3 53 (10.29%) BPSS Clearance
4 38 (7.38%) Degree
5 35 (6.80%) Cisco Certification
6 33 (6.41%) CCNP
7 30 (5.83%) CCNA
8 13 (2.52%) Microsoft Certification
9 12 (2.33%) CISSP
9 12 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
10 10 (1.94%) AWS Certification
11 8 (1.55%) CCDP
11 8 (1.55%) CISM
11 8 (1.55%) ITIL Certification
11 8 (1.55%) MCSA
11 8 (1.55%) MCSE
11 8 (1.55%) VCAP
11 8 (1.55%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 6 (1.17%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 6 (1.17%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.47%) NIST
2 16 (3.11%) Accessibility
3 14 (2.72%) QA
4 13 (2.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 12 (2.33%) SLA
6 10 (1.94%) JSP 440
7 8 (1.55%) NCSC
8 6 (1.17%) Data Quality
9 5 (0.97%) GDPR
9 5 (0.97%) PMO
9 5 (0.97%) WCAG
10 4 (0.78%) GRC
11 3 (0.58%) IFRS
12 2 (0.39%) IFRS 17
12 2 (0.39%) PSD2
13 1 (0.19%) Basel III
13 1 (0.19%) CRD IV
13 1 (0.19%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 1 (0.19%) NIST 800
13 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 32 (6.21%) Docker
2 29 (5.63%) Active Directory
3 20 (3.88%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.14%) vSphere
5 10 (1.94%) Virtual Machines
5 10 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (1.75%) BitLocker
7 4 (0.78%) Firmware
8 2 (0.39%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.19%) GPFS
9 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
9 1 (0.19%) NFS
9 1 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 34 (6.60%) Kubernetes
2 31 (6.02%) Terraform
3 19 (3.69%) SCCM
4 14 (2.72%) Ansible
5 9 (1.75%) vCenter Server
6 8 (1.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 7 (1.36%) Grafana
7 7 (1.36%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (0.97%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.78%) Norton AntiVirus
9 4 (0.78%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (0.58%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco Prime
12 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Nagios
12 1 (0.19%) vRealize
12 1 (0.19%) VxRail
Vendors
1 73 (14.17%) Cisco
2 71 (13.79%) Microsoft
3 37 (7.18%) Palo Alto
4 35 (6.80%) SAP
5 32 (6.21%) Oracle
6 30 (5.83%) ServiceNow
7 26 (5.05%) VMware
8 15 (2.91%) Citrix
9 14 (2.72%) Meraki
10 11 (2.14%) Red Hat
11 8 (1.55%) Aruba
11 8 (1.55%) Dell
12 7 (1.36%) IBM
13 6 (1.17%) CheckPoint
13 6 (1.17%) CyberArk
13 6 (1.17%) Ekahau
13 6 (1.17%) HP
13 6 (1.17%) Splunk
14 5 (0.97%) McAfee
14 5 (0.97%) Symantec