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 30 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 3 3
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 785 394 397
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 19.99% 18.22% 16.84%
As % of the Qualifications category 63.31% 53.32% 60.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 528 240 218
10th Percentile £357 £348 £294
25th Percentile £440 £431 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £553 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.07% +10.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £605
90th Percentile £688 £724 £704
England median daily rate £550 £538 £550
% change year-on-year +2.33% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 47 37
10th Percentile £26.25 £16.45 £18.03
25th Percentile £30.03 £22.16 £22.22
Median hourly rate £48.00 £27.38 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +75.34% -40.72% -
75th Percentile £72.08 £54.00 £55.79
90th Percentile £83.75 £68.35 £77.09
England median hourly rate £65.00 £25.15 £61.71
% change year-on-year +158.45% -59.24% +2.84%

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 1,240 739 658
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 31.58% 34.17% 27.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 791 468 346
10th Percentile £305 £311 £294
25th Percentile £422 £410 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £600
90th Percentile £675 £723 £686
England median daily rate £530 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +0.95% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 127 72 58
10th Percentile £17.99 £15.50 £17.68
25th Percentile £28.50 £19.72 £22.71
Median hourly rate £43.96 £28.32 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +55.21% -38.67% +0.33%
75th Percentile £63.88 £59.79 £57.45
90th Percentile £80.00 £71.32 £81.48
England median hourly rate £51.25 £25.15 £53.00
% change year-on-year +103.78% -52.55% -1.09%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 30 September 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 +2 302 £574 +4.27% 316
Cumbria 0 201 £499 -3.86% 15
Lancashire 0 170 £600 +9.09% 71
Cheshire 0 95 £528 -15.60% 29
Merseyside -19 14 £625 -16.67% 7
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 27 (3.44%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (2.93%) SharePoint
3 15 (1.91%) Skype for Business
4 12 (1.53%) SAS
5 6 (0.76%) Confluence
6 5 (0.64%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.38%) Apache
7 3 (0.38%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.25%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.25%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.25%) SharePoint 2013
9 1 (0.13%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.13%) IIS
9 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.13%) nginx
9 1 (0.13%) SharePoint 2010
9 1 (0.13%) Traefik
Applications
1 27 (3.44%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.38%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.38%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.13%) Navisworks
4 1 (0.13%) ProjectWise
4 1 (0.13%) Revit
Business Applications
1 10 (1.27%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.02%) Oracle Payables
3 5 (0.64%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (0.64%) SAP HR
3 5 (0.64%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.38%) SAP MDG
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.25%) SAP PLM
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Assets
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle E-Business Tax
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle General Ledger
6 1 (0.13%) Primavera
6 1 (0.13%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.13%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.13%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 113 (14.39%) Azure
2 108 (13.76%) AWS
3 37 (4.71%) Microsoft 365
4 31 (3.95%) Azure DevOps
4 31 (3.95%) Power Platform
5 28 (3.57%) SuccessFactors
6 24 (3.06%) Entra ID
7 20 (2.55%) GitHub
8 19 (2.42%) OCI
8 19 (2.42%) Serverless
9 18 (2.29%) GCP
9 18 (2.29%) SaaS
10 15 (1.91%) Azure Monitor
11 12 (1.53%) GitHub Actions
12 11 (1.40%) Google Workspace
13 9 (1.15%) Azure AKS
14 8 (1.02%) AWS Lambda
14 8 (1.02%) Power Automate
15 7 (0.89%) Amazon ECS
15 7 (0.89%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 62 (7.90%) Firewall
2 38 (4.84%) Wireless
3 36 (4.59%) VPN
4 32 (4.08%) Network Security
5 31 (3.95%) WAN
6 26 (3.31%) DNS
6 26 (3.31%) Wi-Fi
7 25 (3.18%) BGP
7 25 (3.18%) OSPF
8 23 (2.93%) LAN
9 21 (2.68%) Cisco ASA
9 21 (2.68%) VLAN
10 20 (2.55%) DHCP
11 19 (2.42%) Structured Cabling
12 18 (2.29%) EIGRP
12 18 (2.29%) NetScaler
12 18 (2.29%) Skype
13 17 (2.17%) Cisco Firepower
14 16 (2.04%) SAN
15 14 (1.78%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (5.99%) SQL Server
2 30 (3.82%) MySQL
3 25 (3.18%) PostgreSQL
4 22 (2.80%) Oracle Database
5 17 (2.17%) MongoDB
6 16 (2.04%) Power BI
7 15 (1.91%) Relational Database
8 11 (1.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 10 (1.27%) RDBMS
10 8 (1.02%) Oracle Exadata
11 6 (0.76%) NoSQL
12 5 (0.64%) Data Warehouse
13 4 (0.51%) Metadata
14 3 (0.38%) Data Lake
14 3 (0.38%) DynamoDB
14 3 (0.38%) Oracle Database 12c
15 2 (0.25%) Amazon QuickSight
15 2 (0.25%) Amazon Redshift
15 2 (0.25%) Big Data
15 2 (0.25%) Oracle BI Publisher
Development Applications
1 33 (4.20%) GitLab
2 17 (2.17%) Git
3 14 (1.78%) Selenium
4 13 (1.66%) Jenkins
5 12 (1.53%) Cucumber
6 11 (1.40%) REST Assured
7 10 (1.27%) JIRA
8 5 (0.64%) Gatling
9 4 (0.51%) MSI
9 4 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
10 3 (0.38%) JUnit
10 3 (0.38%) Mockito
10 3 (0.38%) Serenity BDD
10 3 (0.38%) TestNG
10 3 (0.38%) Toad
10 3 (0.38%) WebDriver
11 2 (0.25%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.25%) Rational DOORS
11 2 (0.25%) Team Foundation Server
11 2 (0.25%) Visual Studio Coded UI
General
1 142 (18.09%) Social Skills
2 128 (16.31%) Public Sector
3 55 (7.01%) Military
4 47 (5.99%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (2.93%) Finance
6 21 (2.68%) Documentation Skills
7 20 (2.55%) Manufacturing
8 19 (2.42%) Legal
9 13 (1.66%) Organisational Skills
10 9 (1.15%) Aerospace
11 8 (1.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (0.89%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.64%) Police
14 4 (0.51%) Retail
15 3 (0.38%) General Ledger
15 3 (0.38%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.38%) Local Government
16 2 (0.25%) Billing
16 2 (0.25%) Marketing
16 2 (0.25%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 111 (14.14%) Architect
2 103 (13.12%) Lead
3 71 (9.04%) Consultant
4 64 (8.15%) Senior
5 62 (7.90%) Network Engineer
6 50 (6.37%) DBA
7 45 (5.73%) Analyst
8 42 (5.35%) Unix Engineer
9 39 (4.97%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 38 (4.84%) Administrator
10 38 (4.84%) Developer
11 31 (3.95%) SQL DBA
12 30 (3.82%) Technical Architect
13 27 (3.44%) DevOps Engineer
14 23 (2.93%) Security Architect
15 22 (2.80%) Lead Architect
16 21 (2.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 20 (2.55%) Desktop Engineer
17 20 (2.55%) Senior Consultant
18 17 (2.17%) Oracle DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (7.39%) Terraform
2 22 (2.80%) Node.js
3 20 (2.55%) REST
4 17 (2.17%) Spring
4 17 (2.17%) Spring Boot
5 15 (1.91%) OAuth
6 14 (1.78%) Kafka
7 8 (1.02%) Oracle GoldenGate
7 8 (1.02%) Playwright
8 7 (0.89%) RESTful
9 6 (0.76%) AWS CDK
9 6 (0.76%) OpenID
10 5 (0.64%) Nunjucks
10 5 (0.64%) SOAP
10 5 (0.64%) XML
11 4 (0.51%) .NET
11 4 (0.51%) PySpark
12 3 (0.38%) JAX-RS
12 3 (0.38%) OAuth2
12 3 (0.38%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 41 (5.22%) Onboarding
2 30 (3.82%) Data Centre
3 28 (3.57%) Clustering
4 25 (3.18%) Replication
5 24 (3.06%) Cloud Native
6 16 (2.04%) CMDB
7 14 (1.78%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (1.66%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
10 11 (1.40%) Management Information System
10 11 (1.40%) Public Cloud
11 10 (1.27%) PKI
11 10 (1.27%) Product Ownership
12 8 (1.02%) Operational Technology
13 7 (0.89%) Security Operations Centre
14 6 (0.76%) Cyber Threat
14 6 (0.76%) Data Protection Act
14 6 (0.76%) Driving Licence
15 5 (0.64%) Distributed Systems
15 5 (0.64%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 84 (10.70%) Windows
2 57 (7.26%) Unix
3 53 (6.75%) Solaris
4 39 (4.97%) Windows 10
4 39 (4.97%) Windows Server
5 38 (4.84%) Linux
6 19 (2.42%) Windows 7
7 11 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 8 (1.02%) AIX
9 5 (0.64%) Android
9 5 (0.64%) CentOS
9 5 (0.64%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2003
10 3 (0.38%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.25%) VMS
11 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (12.74%) Cybersecurity
2 98 (12.48%) Stakeholder Management
3 91 (11.59%) DevOps
4 88 (11.21%) ITIL
5 87 (11.08%) Migration
6 83 (10.57%) CI/CD
7 79 (10.06%) Continuous Improvement
8 75 (9.55%) Service Management
9 67 (8.54%) ITSM
10 65 (8.28%) Agile
11 58 (7.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 55 (7.01%) Problem-Solving
13 53 (6.75%) Project Delivery
14 52 (6.62%) Roadmaps
15 51 (6.50%) High Availability
15 51 (6.50%) Technical Leadership
16 50 (6.37%) Incident Management
17 48 (6.11%) Infrastructure as Code
18 42 (5.35%) Disaster Recovery
18 42 (5.35%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 66 (8.41%) SQL
2 62 (7.90%) Python
3 58 (7.39%) PowerShell
4 44 (5.61%) Java
5 22 (2.80%) JavaScript
6 16 (2.04%) VBScript
7 15 (1.91%) VB
8 11 (1.40%) T-SQL
9 10 (1.27%) Bicep
9 10 (1.27%) TypeScript
10 8 (1.02%) Bash
11 5 (0.64%) C#
12 3 (0.38%) Go
12 3 (0.38%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.25%) ABAP
13 2 (0.25%) Objective-C
13 2 (0.25%) PL/SQL
13 2 (0.25%) Search Processing Language
13 2 (0.25%) Swift
13 2 (0.25%) VB6
Qualifications
1 652 (83.06%) SC Cleared
2 71 (9.04%) BPSS Clearance
3 43 (5.48%) Microsoft Certification
4 39 (4.97%) DV Cleared
5 29 (3.69%) Cisco Certification
6 26 (3.31%) CCNA
7 25 (3.18%) Degree
8 22 (2.80%) DBS Check
9 21 (2.68%) Azure Certification
10 16 (2.04%) CCNP
11 11 (1.40%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 11 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
11 11 (1.40%) Server+ Certification
12 9 (1.15%) CISSP
13 8 (1.02%) MCSA
13 8 (1.02%) MCSE
13 8 (1.02%) VCAP
13 8 (1.02%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 6 (0.76%) AWS Certification
14 6 (0.76%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (4.97%) NIST
2 37 (4.71%) SLA
3 34 (4.33%) NCSC
4 26 (3.31%) GRC
5 25 (3.18%) PMO
6 23 (2.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 18 (2.29%) Data Quality
8 13 (1.66%) Accessibility
8 13 (1.66%) QA
9 11 (1.40%) GDPR
10 6 (0.76%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.25%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.25%) IEC 61508
11 2 (0.25%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.25%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.25%) WCAG
12 1 (0.13%) COBIT
12 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 51 (6.50%) Active Directory
2 31 (3.95%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (3.69%) Docker
4 25 (3.18%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (2.68%) Hyper-V
6 16 (2.04%) BitLocker
6 16 (2.04%) Oracle RAC
7 13 (1.66%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 10 (1.27%) VMware ESXi
8 10 (1.27%) vSphere
9 7 (0.89%) XenApp
9 7 (0.89%) XenDesktop
10 4 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.13%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.13%) Squid
11 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.13%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 34 (4.33%) Ansible
2 32 (4.08%) Kubernetes
3 31 (3.95%) SCCM
4 16 (2.04%) Data Guard
5 11 (1.40%) Oracle RMAN
6 10 (1.27%) Grafana
6 10 (1.27%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (1.27%) SCOM
6 10 (1.27%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.15%) Prometheus
8 8 (1.02%) Failover Clustering
8 8 (1.02%) SysTrack
9 6 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.51%) Nagios
10 4 (0.51%) Oracle ZFS
11 3 (0.38%) McAfee ePO
11 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Clustering
12 2 (0.25%) CASB
12 2 (0.25%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
12 2 (0.25%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 134 (17.07%) Microsoft
2 76 (9.68%) Oracle
3 72 (9.17%) ServiceNow
4 63 (8.03%) Cisco
5 56 (7.13%) SAP
6 37 (4.71%) Palo Alto
7 36 (4.59%) VMware
8 22 (2.80%) Citrix
9 18 (2.29%) CheckPoint
10 15 (1.91%) F5
11 13 (1.66%) Google
12 12 (1.53%) Splunk
13 10 (1.27%) Aruba
14 8 (1.02%) Meraki
14 8 (1.02%) Nexthink
15 6 (0.76%) Databricks
15 6 (0.76%) Ivanti
16 5 (0.64%) Arista
16 5 (0.64%) Qualtrics
16 5 (0.64%) Remedy