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 1 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 2 2
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 +2
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 527 423 475
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 20.09% 20.05% 16.50%
As % of the Qualifications category 60.71% 60.52% 54.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 364 235 345
10th Percentile £316 £294 £361
25th Percentile £425 £397 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £475 £545
Median % change year-on-year +7.89% -12.84% +3.81%
75th Percentile £627 £575 £640
90th Percentile £705 £659 £720
England median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -3.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 22 42
10th Percentile £15.50 £25.26 £14.50
25th Percentile £25.15 £37.00 £33.48
Median hourly rate £52.78 £49.50 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +6.62% +7.19% +63.76%
75th Percentile £68.67 £72.22 £60.69
90th Percentile £74.26 £85.26 £73.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £59.00
% change year-on-year -58.08% +1.69% -1.67%

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 868 699 879
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 33.09% 33.13% 30.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 597 387 545
10th Percentile £223 £230 £256
25th Percentile £375 £375 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £475 £530
Median % change year-on-year -0.21% -10.38% +6.00%
75th Percentile £582 £568 £650
90th Percentile £685 £650 £720
England median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 42 95
10th Percentile £18.20 £24.02 £13.48
25th Percentile £27.58 £27.19 £16.25
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £35.95
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -9.60% +27.48%
75th Percentile £66.25 £54.56 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £74.63 £64.50
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £46.18
% change year-on-year -45.54% - +2.62%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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 1 February 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 -5 156 £488 +5.41% 85
Cheshire +6 120 £600 +49.88% 8
Lancashire +1 108 £550 +34.47% 38
Cumbria 0 106 £500 -1.19% 10
Merseyside -4 27 £500 +37.46% 6
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 21 (3.98%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (1.90%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.71%) Confluence
3 9 (1.71%) Skype for Business
4 4 (0.76%) Apache
4 4 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.57%) MTS
6 2 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 2 (0.38%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.38%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.38%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.19%) CMS
7 1 (0.19%) nginx
7 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 26 (4.93%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.38%) Siemens NX
5 1 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.19%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 60 (11.39%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.90%) SAP EHS
2 10 (1.90%) SAP VC
3 9 (1.71%) SAP MM
3 9 (1.71%) SAP QM
4 2 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.38%) SAP EWM
4 2 (0.38%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.19%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.19%) SAP SD
5 1 (0.19%) SAP Travel Management
5 1 (0.19%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 68 (12.90%) AWS
2 49 (9.30%) Azure
3 32 (6.07%) Microsoft 365
4 21 (3.98%) GCP
5 17 (3.23%) Power Platform
6 15 (2.85%) GitHub
7 14 (2.66%) SaaS
8 12 (2.28%) Entra ID
9 11 (2.09%) Serverless
10 9 (1.71%) Azure DevOps
11 8 (1.52%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 7 (1.33%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (1.14%) Amazon EC2
13 6 (1.14%) Amazon EKS
13 6 (1.14%) Amazon SQS
13 6 (1.14%) AWS Lambda
13 6 (1.14%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (0.95%) Amazon S3
14 5 (0.95%) OneDrive
14 5 (0.95%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 63 (11.95%) Firewall
2 32 (6.07%) VLAN
3 30 (5.69%) WAN
4 29 (5.50%) Wi-Fi
5 25 (4.74%) Network Security
6 23 (4.36%) DNS
7 17 (3.23%) VPN
8 16 (3.04%) LAN
9 15 (2.85%) SAN
10 13 (2.47%) BGP
10 13 (2.47%) Cisco ISE
10 13 (2.47%) NetScaler
10 13 (2.47%) TCP/IP
11 10 (1.90%) DHCP
12 9 (1.71%) Skype
13 8 (1.52%) Software-Defined Networking
13 8 (1.52%) Unified Communications
14 7 (1.33%) Internet
14 7 (1.33%) WebEx
14 7 (1.33%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (3.04%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (2.28%) Power BI
2 12 (2.28%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.90%) NoSQL
3 10 (1.90%) SAP HANA
4 9 (1.71%) MySQL
5 8 (1.52%) MongoDB
6 7 (1.33%) Data Warehouse
6 7 (1.33%) DynamoDB
7 6 (1.14%) Redis
7 6 (1.14%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.95%) BigQuery
8 5 (0.95%) Metadata
9 4 (0.76%) RDBMS
10 3 (0.57%) Amazon Aurora
10 3 (0.57%) Big Data
10 3 (0.57%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 2 (0.38%) Amazon RDS
11 2 (0.38%) Amazon Redshift
11 2 (0.38%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 30 (5.69%) GitLab
2 27 (5.12%) Git
3 14 (2.66%) Jenkins
3 14 (2.66%) JIRA
4 6 (1.14%) SonarQube
5 4 (0.76%) Rational DOORS
5 4 (0.76%) Selenium
6 3 (0.57%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.57%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.57%) Gatling
6 3 (0.57%) JMeter
6 3 (0.57%) Postman
6 3 (0.57%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.38%) Gradle
7 2 (0.38%) Grunt
7 2 (0.38%) gulp
7 2 (0.38%) Jasmine
7 2 (0.38%) MSI
7 2 (0.38%) Serenity BDD
7 2 (0.38%) SonarLint
General
1 169 (32.07%) Public Sector
2 117 (22.20%) Social Skills
3 34 (6.45%) Analytical Skills
3 34 (6.45%) Finance
4 19 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
4 19 (3.61%) Military
5 14 (2.66%) Manufacturing
6 11 (2.09%) Telecoms
7 10 (1.90%) Electronics
7 10 (1.90%) Legal
8 9 (1.71%) Marketing
9 6 (1.14%) Aerospace
9 6 (1.14%) Banking
9 6 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.14%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.57%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.38%) Law
12 1 (0.19%) Corporate Banking
Job Titles
1 74 (14.04%) Consultant
2 70 (13.28%) Architect
3 47 (8.92%) Developer
4 43 (8.16%) Network Engineer
5 39 (7.40%) SAP Consultant
5 39 (7.40%) Senior
6 35 (6.64%) Analyst
7 25 (4.74%) Technical Architect
8 23 (4.36%) Management Consultant
9 21 (3.98%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 20 (3.80%) Lead
11 19 (3.61%) Administrator
12 17 (3.23%) Platform Engineer
13 16 (3.04%) DevOps Engineer
14 14 (2.66%) IT Support
14 14 (2.66%) Support Engineer
15 13 (2.47%) Business Analyst
16 11 (2.09%) AWS Engineer
16 11 (2.09%) Java Developer
17 10 (1.90%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.98%) SAP Fiori
2 18 (3.42%) Spring Boot
3 17 (3.23%) Spring
4 15 (2.85%) JSON
4 15 (2.85%) RESTful
5 14 (2.66%) 802.1X
6 13 (2.47%) Node.js
7 12 (2.28%) Web Services
7 12 (2.28%) XML
8 11 (2.09%) HTML
8 11 (2.09%) REST
9 10 (1.90%) BAPI
10 9 (1.71%) CSS
10 9 (1.71%) Kafka
11 8 (1.52%) Playwright
12 7 (1.33%) React
12 7 (1.33%) SOAP
13 6 (1.14%) Hibernate
13 6 (1.14%) OAuth
13 6 (1.14%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 54 (10.25%) Data Centre
2 30 (5.69%) Product Ownership
3 29 (5.50%) Onboarding
4 13 (2.47%) Replication
5 11 (2.09%) Clustering
5 11 (2.09%) Cyber Threat
6 9 (1.71%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (1.52%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.14%) Driving Licence
9 5 (0.95%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (0.95%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.95%) Low-Code
9 5 (0.95%) Operational Technology
9 5 (0.95%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (0.76%) Mobile App
10 4 (0.76%) SCADA
10 4 (0.76%) Security Posture
11 3 (0.57%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.57%) Handset
11 3 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 72 (13.66%) Windows
2 36 (6.83%) Linux
3 23 (4.36%) Windows 10
3 23 (4.36%) Windows Server
4 16 (3.04%) Unix
5 11 (2.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (1.71%) Solaris
6 9 (1.71%) Windows 7
7 8 (1.52%) Android
8 7 (1.33%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.76%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.38%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.19%) VMS
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (12.71%) Agile
2 66 (12.52%) Problem-Solving
3 55 (10.44%) CI/CD
4 51 (9.68%) DevOps
5 46 (8.73%) ITSM
6 45 (8.54%) Migration
6 45 (8.54%) Stakeholder Management
7 42 (7.97%) Cybersecurity
7 42 (7.97%) Service Management
8 40 (7.59%) Containerisation
9 35 (6.64%) Continuous Improvement
9 35 (6.64%) Validation
10 34 (6.45%) High Availability
10 34 (6.45%) Project Delivery
11 33 (6.26%) Test Automation
12 30 (5.69%) Disaster Recovery
13 26 (4.93%) Microservices
13 26 (4.93%) User Experience
14 25 (4.74%) Platform Engineering
14 25 (4.74%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 63 (11.95%) Python
2 48 (9.11%) PowerShell
3 38 (7.21%) Java
4 22 (4.17%) Bash
5 16 (3.04%) Perl
6 13 (2.47%) JavaScript
6 13 (2.47%) TypeScript
7 12 (2.28%) SQL
8 11 (2.09%) ABAP
9 9 (1.71%) VB
9 9 (1.71%) VBScript
10 4 (0.76%) C
10 4 (0.76%) C++
10 4 (0.76%) Go
10 4 (0.76%) Ruby
11 3 (0.57%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.57%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.38%) AWK
12 2 (0.38%) C#
12 2 (0.38%) PHP
Qualifications
1 380 (72.11%) SC Cleared
2 64 (12.14%) BPSS Clearance
3 45 (8.54%) DV Cleared
4 36 (6.83%) Degree
5 26 (4.93%) CCNP
5 26 (4.93%) Cisco Certification
6 19 (3.61%) CCNA
7 11 (2.09%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (1.90%) Computer Science Degree
9 9 (1.71%) CCDP
9 9 (1.71%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 8 (1.52%) CISSP
10 8 (1.52%) MCSA
10 8 (1.52%) MCSE
10 8 (1.52%) VCAP
11 7 (1.33%) CISM
12 6 (1.14%) Azure Certification
12 6 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
13 5 (0.95%) CompTIA Security+
13 5 (0.95%) CTC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (3.80%) NIST
2 18 (3.42%) Accessibility
3 12 (2.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (1.71%) Data Quality
4 9 (1.71%) SLA
5 7 (1.33%) NCSC
6 6 (1.14%) JSP 440
6 6 (1.14%) QA
7 4 (0.76%) IEC 61508
7 4 (0.76%) ISO 26262
7 4 (0.76%) WCAG
8 3 (0.57%) GDPR
8 3 (0.57%) IEC 62304
8 3 (0.57%) IFRS
9 2 (0.38%) IEC 61131
9 2 (0.38%) IFRS 17
9 2 (0.38%) PMO
9 2 (0.38%) PSD2
10 1 (0.19%) GRC
10 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 38 (7.21%) Docker
2 30 (5.69%) Active Directory
3 19 (3.61%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (1.90%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (1.90%) vSphere
5 9 (1.71%) BitLocker
5 9 (1.71%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.76%) Firmware
7 2 (0.38%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 37 (7.02%) Kubernetes
2 33 (6.26%) Terraform
3 26 (4.93%) SCCM
4 15 (2.85%) Ansible
5 13 (2.47%) Microsoft Intune
6 11 (2.09%) vCenter Server
7 8 (1.52%) Grafana
8 7 (1.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 6 (1.14%) Norton AntiVirus
9 6 (1.14%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.38%) Packer
12 1 (0.19%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.19%) Argo
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Nagios
12 1 (0.19%) QRadar
12 1 (0.19%) vRealize
Vendors
1 79 (14.99%) SAP
2 74 (14.04%) Microsoft
3 73 (13.85%) Cisco
4 37 (7.02%) Palo Alto
5 32 (6.07%) Oracle
6 31 (5.88%) ServiceNow
7 25 (4.74%) VMware
8 19 (3.61%) Meraki
9 12 (2.28%) Adobe
10 11 (2.09%) Citrix
10 11 (2.09%) Dell
11 10 (1.90%) Red Hat
12 8 (1.52%) Splunk
13 7 (1.33%) HP
13 7 (1.33%) IBM
13 7 (1.33%) McAfee
13 7 (1.33%) Symantec
14 6 (1.14%) Apple
14 6 (1.14%) Google
14 6 (1.14%) NetApp