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 16 September 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 4 3 2
Rank change year-on-year -1 -1 +9
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 374 396 513
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the North West 17.37% 16.75% 18.10%
As % of the Qualifications category 51.37% 61.97% 60.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 210 229 346
10th Percentile £334 £294 £384
25th Percentile £426 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +6.00% -9.09% +1.85%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £638
90th Percentile £709 £765 £700
England median daily rate £538 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -2.27% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 36 21
10th Percentile £18.87 £17.27 £34.75
25th Percentile £22.16 £21.92 £45.88
Median hourly rate £26.26 £41.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -35.95% -11.22% -18.52%
75th Percentile £51.16 £55.25 £55.85
90th Percentile £67.25 £71.54 £70.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £61.60 £60.00
% change year-on-year -59.17% +2.67% +7.14%

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 728 639 844
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 33.81% 27.03% 29.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 442 355 543
10th Percentile £313 £294 £300
25th Percentile £405 £403 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £503 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.09% -4.29% +0.96%
75th Percentile £619 £604 £630
90th Percentile £716 £693 £700
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 57 65
10th Percentile £15.17 £16.71 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.87 £22.22 £19.35
Median hourly rate £27.00 £46.18 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -41.53% +0.65% +27.44%
75th Percentile £58.27 £55.79 £46.18
90th Percentile £71.91 £81.77 £56.84
England median hourly rate £25.15 £54.50 £54.53
% change year-on-year -53.85% -0.06% +21.18%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Job postings citing Security Cleared as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Job vacancy trend for Security Cleared 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 16 September 2025.

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 16 September 2025.

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 16 September 2025. 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 -2 156 £535 +6.47% 122
Cumbria 0 86 £519 +3.80% 15
Cheshire +1 56 £438 -9.79% 64
Lancashire 0 52 £550 +57.14% 96
Merseyside -6 18 £750 +84.62% 23
Security Cleared
England

Security Cleared
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 9 (2.41%) Confluence
2 5 (1.34%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.07%) Exchange Server 2010
3 4 (1.07%) IIS
3 4 (1.07%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.07%) Skype for Business
4 3 (0.80%) Resin
5 2 (0.53%) Apache
5 2 (0.53%) NetWeaver
5 2 (0.53%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.27%) Documentum
6 1 (0.27%) FileNet
6 1 (0.27%) OpenStack
Applications
1 20 (5.35%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (4.55%) Siemens NX
3 9 (2.41%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.34%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.80%) PTC Creo
5 3 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.27%) SPSS
6 1 (0.27%) Stata
Business Applications
1 17 (4.55%) Teamcenter
2 11 (2.94%) SAP S/4HANA
3 6 (1.60%) SAP EHS
4 2 (0.53%) Maximo
4 2 (0.53%) SAP EWM
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.27%) Primavera
5 1 (0.27%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.27%) SAP PS
Cloud Services
1 43 (11.50%) AWS
2 34 (9.09%) SaaS
3 33 (8.82%) Azure
4 22 (5.88%) Google Workspace
5 18 (4.81%) Microsoft 365
6 9 (2.41%) Power Platform
7 8 (2.14%) GCP
8 7 (1.87%) Amazon EC2
8 7 (1.87%) Serverless
9 6 (1.60%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 6 (1.60%) Amazon SQS
9 6 (1.60%) Entra ID
10 5 (1.34%) Amazon S3
10 5 (1.34%) AWS Lambda
10 5 (1.34%) IaaS
10 5 (1.34%) PaaS
11 4 (1.07%) Amazon EMR
11 4 (1.07%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.07%) Kong
11 4 (1.07%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 28 (7.49%) Firewall
2 12 (3.21%) DNS
3 11 (2.94%) BGP
3 11 (2.94%) Wi-Fi
4 9 (2.41%) IPsec
4 9 (2.41%) OSPF
4 9 (2.41%) WAN
5 8 (2.14%) Cisco ASA
5 8 (2.14%) Cisco Firepower
5 8 (2.14%) EIGRP
5 8 (2.14%) HSRP
6 7 (1.87%) SAN
6 7 (1.87%) TCP/IP
7 6 (1.60%) Cisco ISE
7 6 (1.60%) NetScaler
8 5 (1.34%) DHCP
9 4 (1.07%) DMZ
9 4 (1.07%) NAS
9 4 (1.07%) PSTN
9 4 (1.07%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (4.28%) PostgreSQL
2 15 (4.01%) Relational Database
3 8 (2.14%) MongoDB
4 6 (1.60%) NoSQL
4 6 (1.60%) Power BI
5 5 (1.34%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (1.34%) MySQL
6 4 (1.07%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (1.07%) DynamoDB
6 4 (1.07%) Redis
6 4 (1.07%) Siebel EIM
7 3 (0.80%) Amazon Aurora
7 3 (0.80%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.80%) BigQuery
7 3 (0.80%) RDBMS
7 3 (0.80%) SQL Server
8 2 (0.53%) Amazon Athena
8 2 (0.53%) DB2
8 2 (0.53%) Metadata
8 2 (0.53%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 22 (5.88%) Jenkins
2 17 (4.55%) Git
2 17 (4.55%) GitLab
2 17 (4.55%) JIRA
3 12 (3.21%) Gradle
4 10 (2.67%) JUnit
5 9 (2.41%) Liquibase
5 9 (2.41%) Mockito
6 8 (2.14%) SonarQube
7 7 (1.87%) Rational DOORS
8 5 (1.34%) Artifactory
9 4 (1.07%) Eclipse
9 4 (1.07%) gulp
9 4 (1.07%) Maven
10 3 (0.80%) Cypress.io
10 3 (0.80%) Grunt
10 3 (0.80%) ScriptRunner
11 2 (0.53%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.53%) Selenium
11 2 (0.53%) SonarLint
General
1 133 (35.56%) Public Sector
2 78 (20.86%) Social Skills
3 39 (10.43%) Analytical Skills
4 31 (8.29%) Finance
4 31 (8.29%) Manufacturing
5 27 (7.22%) Military
6 15 (4.01%) Aerospace
6 15 (4.01%) Documentation Skills
7 13 (3.48%) Electronics
8 12 (3.21%) Banking
8 12 (3.21%) Telecoms
9 11 (2.94%) Marketing
10 7 (1.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 6 (1.60%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (1.34%) Aviation
13 4 (1.07%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.27%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.27%) General Ledger
14 1 (0.27%) Law
Job Titles
1 45 (12.03%) Architect
2 36 (9.63%) Consultant
2 36 (9.63%) Senior
3 35 (9.36%) Developer
4 29 (7.75%) Analyst
5 23 (6.15%) Lead
6 22 (5.88%) Network Engineer
7 18 (4.81%) Software Engineer
8 17 (4.55%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (4.01%) Administrator
10 12 (3.21%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 11 (2.94%) Senior Architect
12 10 (2.67%) Domain Architect
12 10 (2.67%) Network Architect
12 10 (2.67%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (2.67%) Senior Network Architect
12 10 (2.67%) Siebel Developer
12 10 (2.67%) Technical Architect
13 9 (2.41%) AWS Engineer
13 9 (2.41%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.28%) Kafka
2 15 (4.01%) React
3 14 (3.74%) Node.js
3 14 (3.74%) Spring Boot
4 12 (3.21%) Spring
4 12 (3.21%) XML
5 9 (2.41%) OpenAPI
5 9 (2.41%) SOAP
5 9 (2.41%) Swagger
5 9 (2.41%) Web Services
6 7 (1.87%) 802.1X
6 7 (1.87%) JSON
7 6 (1.60%) REST
7 6 (1.60%) SAP Fiori
8 5 (1.34%) AngularJS
8 5 (1.34%) JMS
8 5 (1.34%) RESTful
9 4 (1.07%) CSS
9 4 (1.07%) CSS3
9 4 (1.07%) HTML5
Miscellaneous
1 25 (6.68%) Hybrid Cloud
2 17 (4.55%) Data Centre
2 17 (4.55%) Onboarding
3 11 (2.94%) Analytical Mindset
4 9 (2.41%) Product Ownership
5 7 (1.87%) Cloud Native
5 7 (1.87%) Management Information System
6 5 (1.34%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (1.34%) Fibre Optics
7 4 (1.07%) Blackberry
7 4 (1.07%) CSOC
7 4 (1.07%) Cyber Threat
7 4 (1.07%) Handset
7 4 (1.07%) Operational Technology
7 4 (1.07%) Security Operations Centre
8 3 (0.80%) Digital Signage
8 3 (0.80%) Distributed Systems
8 3 (0.80%) Low-Code
8 3 (0.80%) N-Tier
8 3 (0.80%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 24 (6.42%) Windows
2 19 (5.08%) Linux
3 7 (1.87%) Windows 10
4 6 (1.60%) Android
4 6 (1.60%) Windows Server 2019
5 5 (1.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (1.34%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.80%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.53%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.53%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.27%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.27%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (14.17%) Agile
2 47 (12.57%) Stakeholder Management
3 41 (10.96%) DevOps
3 41 (10.96%) Problem-Solving
4 36 (9.63%) CI/CD
5 33 (8.82%) User Experience
6 31 (8.29%) Mentoring
6 31 (8.29%) Migration
7 29 (7.75%) Software Engineering
8 25 (6.68%) Containerisation
8 25 (6.68%) Cybersecurity
8 25 (6.68%) Microservices
9 22 (5.88%) Coaching
10 21 (5.61%) Change Management
11 20 (5.35%) CAD
12 19 (5.08%) Business Intelligence
12 19 (5.08%) Customer Service
12 19 (5.08%) ITIL
12 19 (5.08%) Mobile Device Management
13 18 (4.81%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 34 (9.09%) Java
2 31 (8.29%) Python
3 24 (6.42%) SQL
4 14 (3.74%) TypeScript
5 11 (2.94%) C++
6 10 (2.67%) JavaScript
7 8 (2.14%) PowerShell
8 6 (1.60%) Bash
9 5 (1.34%) Perl
10 4 (1.07%) C
10 4 (1.07%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.80%) Go
11 3 (0.80%) Groovy
11 3 (0.80%) PHP
11 3 (0.80%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.53%) Kusto Query Language
12 2 (0.53%) Rust
13 1 (0.27%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.27%) R
13 1 (0.27%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 293 (78.34%) SC Cleared
2 51 (13.64%) BPSS Clearance
3 13 (3.48%) Degree
4 11 (2.94%) DBS Check
5 7 (1.87%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.34%) BC Cleared
7 4 (1.07%) Azure Certification
8 3 (0.80%) CCNP
8 3 (0.80%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (0.80%) CISM
8 3 (0.80%) CISSP
8 3 (0.80%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 2 (0.53%) CCDP
9 2 (0.53%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.53%) CTC Cleared
9 2 (0.53%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
9 2 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (0.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.27%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.01%) NIST
2 13 (3.48%) Data Quality
3 11 (2.94%) SLA
4 8 (2.14%) Accessibility
5 5 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (1.07%) IEC 61508
6 4 (1.07%) ISO 26262
6 4 (1.07%) QA
7 3 (0.80%) IEC 62304
8 2 (0.53%) COBIT
8 2 (0.53%) GDPR
9 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.27%) IEC 61131
9 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 1 (0.27%) NCSC
9 1 (0.27%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.27%) PMO
System Software
1 27 (7.22%) Docker
2 11 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (2.67%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.07%) UAG
4 4 (1.07%) VMware NSX
5 3 (0.80%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.53%) Firmware
6 2 (0.53%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.53%) vSphere
7 1 (0.27%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 27 (7.22%) Terraform
2 18 (4.81%) Kubernetes
3 13 (3.48%) Ansible
4 8 (2.14%) Microsoft Intune
5 7 (1.87%) SCCM
5 7 (1.87%) SELinux
6 5 (1.34%) Nessus
6 5 (1.34%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.34%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.80%) Grafana
7 3 (0.80%) Packer
7 3 (0.80%) Podman
8 2 (0.53%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Clustering
8 2 (0.53%) NetApp OnCommand
8 2 (0.53%) Norton AntiVirus
8 2 (0.53%) PowerCLI
8 2 (0.53%) QRadar
8 2 (0.53%) vMotion
8 2 (0.53%) WSUS
Vendors
1 61 (16.31%) Microsoft
2 42 (11.23%) SAP
3 26 (6.95%) Google
4 21 (5.61%) Cisco
5 19 (5.08%) Palo Alto
6 15 (4.01%) VMware
7 13 (3.48%) Oracle
7 13 (3.48%) Splunk
8 12 (3.21%) ServiceNow
9 10 (2.67%) CheckPoint
9 10 (2.67%) Siebel
9 10 (2.67%) Siemens
10 9 (2.41%) Meraki
11 8 (2.14%) IBM
12 7 (1.87%) Atlassian
13 6 (1.60%) SolarWinds
14 5 (1.34%) Axway
14 5 (1.34%) Qualys
14 5 (1.34%) Twitter
14 5 (1.34%) webMethods