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 10 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 3 3
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 -2
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 538 396 407
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 15.73% 19.96% 14.55%
As % of the Qualifications category 56.34% 56.33% 52.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 349 232 243
10th Percentile £360 £232 £375
25th Percentile £425 £412 £453
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £665
90th Percentile £776 £700 £725
England median daily rate £525 £537 £550
% change year-on-year -2.23% -2.36% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 25 64
10th Percentile £22.68 £25.15 -
25th Percentile £27.82 £25.26 £10.95
Median hourly rate £61.06 £32.00 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year +90.80% +120.69% -65.88%
75th Percentile £74.26 £60.00 £51.22
90th Percentile £83.75 £68.00 £73.75
England median hourly rate £58.50 £32.00 £56.89
% change year-on-year +82.81% -43.75% -5.19%

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 955 703 773
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 27.92% 35.43% 27.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 627 410 425
10th Percentile £343 £230 £300
25th Percentile £400 £399 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £491 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.99% -1.80% -2.44%
75th Percentile £608 £579 £634
90th Percentile £688 £675 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £536
% change year-on-year - -2.05% -2.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 48 133
10th Percentile £22.68 £17.44 £10.95
25th Percentile £29.99 £22.13 £12.00
Median hourly rate £43.96 £29.27 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +50.19% +82.25% -60.43%
75th Percentile £74.26 £59.93 £43.10
90th Percentile £102.93 £74.50 £67.60
England median hourly rate £48.61 £32.00 £40.29
% change year-on-year +51.91% -20.57% -26.75%

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 10 June 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 10 June 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 10 June 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 -9 172 £525 +8.19% 93
Cumbria 0 159 £481 -8.68% 22
Lancashire +3 99 £735 +64.43% 30
Cheshire +10 83 £447 +27.71% 13
Merseyside -22 18 £638 +6.25% 2
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 25 (4.65%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (2.04%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.04%) Skype for Business
3 7 (1.30%) Confluence
4 5 (0.93%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.56%) Apache
5 3 (0.56%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.37%) CICS
6 2 (0.37%) Oracle Workflow
7 1 (0.19%) IIS
7 1 (0.19%) NetWeaver
7 1 (0.19%) nginx
7 1 (0.19%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.19%) SAS
7 1 (0.19%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 18 (3.35%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.86%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.56%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.19%) Quicktime
5 1 (0.19%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 5 (0.93%) Oracle Payables
1 5 (0.93%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.37%) Oracle Cash Management
3 2 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.37%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.37%) Primavera
3 2 (0.37%) SAP MM
3 2 (0.37%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.19%) Dynamics AX
4 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.19%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 87 (16.17%) AWS
2 63 (11.71%) Azure
3 24 (4.46%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (3.35%) SaaS
5 15 (2.79%) GCP
5 15 (2.79%) Power Platform
6 14 (2.60%) Serverless
7 11 (2.04%) OCI
8 10 (1.86%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (1.86%) Entra ID
8 10 (1.86%) GitHub
9 9 (1.67%) Google Workspace
10 7 (1.30%) Google Drive
11 6 (1.12%) Amazon S3
12 5 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
13 4 (0.74%) Amazon EKS
13 4 (0.74%) OpenShift
14 3 (0.56%) Azure Key Vault
14 3 (0.56%) Azure Monitor
14 3 (0.56%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 66 (12.27%) Firewall
2 41 (7.62%) VLAN
3 30 (5.58%) Network Security
3 30 (5.58%) Wireless
4 29 (5.39%) DNS
5 23 (4.28%) WAN
6 22 (4.09%) DHCP
6 22 (4.09%) Structured Cabling
7 18 (3.35%) Wi-Fi
8 17 (3.16%) NAS
8 17 (3.16%) SAN
9 16 (2.97%) Cisco IOS
9 16 (2.97%) LAN
9 16 (2.97%) NX-OS
10 11 (2.04%) Skype
10 11 (2.04%) VPN
11 9 (1.67%) BGP
12 8 (1.49%) BIG-IP
12 8 (1.49%) OSPF
12 8 (1.49%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (2.60%) Oracle Database
2 13 (2.42%) PostgreSQL
2 13 (2.42%) Power BI
3 12 (2.23%) MongoDB
3 12 (2.23%) Relational Database
4 9 (1.67%) Elasticsearch
4 9 (1.67%) SQL Server
5 6 (1.12%) Metadata
5 6 (1.12%) MySQL
6 5 (0.93%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.74%) Hadoop
7 4 (0.74%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.74%) RDBMS
7 4 (0.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 4 (0.74%) Tableau
8 3 (0.56%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.56%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.37%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle Exadata
9 2 (0.37%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 29 (5.39%) GitLab
2 13 (2.42%) Selenium
3 12 (2.23%) JIRA
4 9 (1.67%) Git
4 9 (1.67%) Jenkins
4 9 (1.67%) REST Assured
5 6 (1.12%) Gatling
6 5 (0.93%) Cucumber
6 5 (0.93%) MSI
6 5 (0.93%) Serenity BDD
7 3 (0.56%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.56%) JMeter
7 3 (0.56%) Postman
8 2 (0.37%) JDeveloper
8 2 (0.37%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.37%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.19%) ClearCase
9 1 (0.19%) Mockito
9 1 (0.19%) Rational Robot
9 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 137 (25.46%) Public Sector
2 116 (21.56%) Social Skills
3 37 (6.88%) Military
4 30 (5.58%) Documentation Skills
5 29 (5.39%) Finance
6 28 (5.20%) Analytical Skills
7 14 (2.60%) Aerospace
8 13 (2.42%) Legal
9 9 (1.67%) Banking
10 8 (1.49%) Manufacturing
11 7 (1.30%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (0.74%) Aviation
12 4 (0.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (0.74%) Retail
13 2 (0.37%) Corporate Banking
13 2 (0.37%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.37%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.37%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.19%) Marketing
14 1 (0.19%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 76 (14.13%) Architect
2 72 (13.38%) Lead
3 41 (7.62%) Network Engineer
4 32 (5.95%) Analyst
5 31 (5.76%) Developer
6 30 (5.58%) Senior
6 30 (5.58%) Unix Engineer
7 25 (4.65%) Administrator
7 25 (4.65%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 23 (4.28%) Consultant
9 21 (3.90%) Technical Architect
10 19 (3.53%) Data Engineer
10 19 (3.53%) Lead Architect
10 19 (3.53%) Wintel Engineer
11 18 (3.35%) DevOps Engineer
12 17 (3.16%) DBA
13 15 (2.79%) Coordinator
14 13 (2.42%) Business Analyst
14 13 (2.42%) Security Architect
14 13 (2.42%) Security Assurance Coordinator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (4.83%) Spring
2 23 (4.28%) Spring Boot
3 16 (2.97%) Node.js
4 15 (2.79%) Kafka
5 10 (1.86%) OAuth
6 9 (1.67%) REST
7 8 (1.49%) Playwright
8 7 (1.30%) 802.1X
9 6 (1.12%) OpenID
9 6 (1.12%) RESTful
10 5 (0.93%) Apache NiFi
10 5 (0.93%) Leaflet
10 5 (0.93%) Nunjucks
10 5 (0.93%) Spring Cloud
10 5 (0.93%) Web Services
11 4 (0.74%) AWS CDK
11 4 (0.74%) React
11 4 (0.74%) XML
12 3 (0.56%) .NET
12 3 (0.56%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 41 (7.62%) Data Centre
2 25 (4.65%) Clustering
3 24 (4.46%) Onboarding
3 24 (4.46%) Replication
4 19 (3.53%) Product Ownership
5 16 (2.97%) Cloud Native
5 16 (2.97%) Operational Technology
6 9 (1.67%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (1.49%) Management Information System
8 7 (1.30%) Cyber Threat
9 6 (1.12%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (0.93%) Private Cloud
10 5 (0.93%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.74%) Data Protection Act
11 4 (0.74%) Driving Licence
11 4 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (0.74%) Mobile App
12 3 (0.56%) Freedom of Information
12 3 (0.56%) PKI
12 3 (0.56%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 56 (10.41%) Windows
2 36 (6.69%) Unix
3 31 (5.76%) Solaris
4 25 (4.65%) Linux
5 24 (4.46%) Windows Server
6 19 (3.53%) Windows 10
7 11 (2.04%) Windows 7
8 4 (0.74%) AIX
8 4 (0.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.56%) VMS
10 2 (0.37%) Android
10 2 (0.37%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.19%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (13.20%) Agile
2 67 (12.45%) DevOps
3 63 (11.71%) High Availability
3 63 (11.71%) Project Delivery
4 62 (11.52%) CI/CD
5 59 (10.97%) Continuous Improvement
6 58 (10.78%) Stakeholder Management
7 55 (10.22%) ITSM
7 55 (10.22%) Migration
8 50 (9.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 48 (8.92%) Disaster Recovery
10 47 (8.74%) Cybersecurity
10 47 (8.74%) Service Management
11 46 (8.55%) Problem-Solving
12 34 (6.32%) Risk Management
13 32 (5.95%) Technical Leadership
14 31 (5.76%) Test Automation
15 28 (5.20%) Microservices
16 23 (4.28%) Information Assurance
16 23 (4.28%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 61 (11.34%) Python
2 48 (8.92%) Java
3 46 (8.55%) PowerShell
4 24 (4.46%) SQL
5 23 (4.28%) JavaScript
6 12 (2.23%) TypeScript
7 11 (2.04%) VB
7 11 (2.04%) VBScript
8 5 (0.93%) Go
8 5 (0.93%) Rust
9 3 (0.56%) Bash
10 2 (0.37%) C#
10 2 (0.37%) COBOL
10 2 (0.37%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.19%) ABAP
11 1 (0.19%) Perl
11 1 (0.19%) Ruby
11 1 (0.19%) Scala
11 1 (0.19%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.19%) VB6
Qualifications
1 383 (71.19%) SC Cleared
2 66 (12.27%) DV Cleared
3 45 (8.36%) Cisco Certification
4 42 (7.81%) CCNA
5 36 (6.69%) CCNP
6 31 (5.76%) BPSS Clearance
7 22 (4.09%) Degree
7 22 (4.09%) Microsoft Certification
8 16 (2.97%) MCSA
8 16 (2.97%) MCSE
8 16 (2.97%) VCAP
8 16 (2.97%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 15 (2.79%) Network+ Certification
9 15 (2.79%) Server+ Certification
10 13 (2.42%) CISSP
11 9 (1.67%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.67%) Azure Certification
11 9 (1.67%) ITIL Certification
12 7 (1.30%) CISM
13 6 (1.12%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (5.02%) NIST
2 21 (3.90%) PMO
3 19 (3.53%) Accessibility
4 16 (2.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 15 (2.79%) QA
5 15 (2.79%) SLA
6 12 (2.23%) JSP 440
7 11 (2.04%) GDPR
7 11 (2.04%) GRC
8 9 (1.67%) Data Quality
9 8 (1.49%) NCSC
10 6 (1.12%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.56%) WCAG
12 2 (0.37%) IFRS
12 2 (0.37%) IFRS 17
12 2 (0.37%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.19%) PSD2
13 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 26 (4.83%) Active Directory
2 23 (4.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (3.90%) Docker
3 21 (3.90%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (3.72%) VMware ESXi
5 19 (3.53%) vSphere
6 12 (2.23%) BitLocker
7 2 (0.37%) Oracle RAC
7 2 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.19%) GPFS
8 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.19%) NFS
8 1 (0.19%) Squid
Systems Management
1 40 (7.43%) Terraform
2 29 (5.39%) Ansible
3 27 (5.02%) Kubernetes
4 19 (3.53%) vCenter Server
5 16 (2.97%) SCCM
6 9 (1.67%) Grafana
7 7 (1.30%) Oracle RMAN
7 7 (1.30%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
9 3 (0.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 2 (0.37%) Data Guard
10 2 (0.37%) WSUS
11 1 (0.19%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.19%) Nagios
11 1 (0.19%) NetApp OnCommand
11 1 (0.19%) Netcool
11 1 (0.19%) Norton AntiVirus
11 1 (0.19%) Tivoli
11 1 (0.19%) VxRail
11 1 (0.19%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 70 (13.01%) Cisco
2 64 (11.90%) Microsoft
3 47 (8.74%) Oracle
4 38 (7.06%) ServiceNow
5 30 (5.58%) Palo Alto
6 28 (5.20%) SAP
7 24 (4.46%) VMware
8 14 (2.60%) Aruba
9 10 (1.86%) Google
10 8 (1.49%) F5
11 7 (1.30%) Splunk
12 6 (1.12%) Arista
12 6 (1.12%) CheckPoint
13 5 (0.93%) Ekahau
13 5 (0.93%) IBM
13 5 (0.93%) SolarWinds
14 4 (0.74%) Citrix
14 4 (0.74%) Dell
14 4 (0.74%) RedGate
15 3 (0.56%) Remedy