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

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 2 2
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 547 423 457
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 18.31% 20.97% 16.10%
As % of the Qualifications category 59.46% 59.75% 52.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 365 239 295
10th Percentile £353 £230 £368
25th Percentile £420 £404 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £638 £582 £643
90th Percentile £716 £650 £698
England median daily rate £525 £548 £550
% change year-on-year -4.20% -0.36% -2.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 21 69
10th Percentile £21.46 £25.26 -
25th Percentile £25.77 £37.00 £10.95
Median hourly rate £56.44 £60.00 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year -5.93% +90.48% +6.24%
75th Percentile £71.50 £74.75 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £85.78 £67.75
England median hourly rate £27.50 £60.00 £53.50
% change year-on-year -54.17% +12.15% -10.83%

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 920 708 877
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 30.79% 35.10% 30.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 616 396 512
10th Percentile £249 £211 £258
25th Percentile £381 £389 £421
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £479 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year -4.25% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £580 £649
90th Percentile £688 £653 £720
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 87 46 132
10th Percentile £21.21 £23.36 £10.95
25th Percentile £29.25 £27.19 £13.44
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +102.37% -55.39%
75th Percentile £68.67 £60.00 £43.83
90th Percentile £74.26 £82.00 £50.00
England median hourly rate £27.69 £51.50 £38.85
% change year-on-year -46.23% +32.56% -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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -4 161 £475 -5.00% 93
Lancashire +2 123 £550 +26.36% 34
Cumbria 0 116 £499 -2.44% 9
Cheshire +6 111 £595 +70.07% 14
Merseyside -10 29 £623 +13.18% 5
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 (4.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (1.83%) Confluence
3 9 (1.65%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.65%) Skype for Business
4 6 (1.10%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.91%) Apache
6 4 (0.73%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.55%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.55%) MTS
8 2 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.37%) CICS
8 2 (0.37%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.18%) CMS
9 1 (0.18%) nginx
9 1 (0.18%) SAS
Applications
1 24 (4.39%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.37%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.37%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.18%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.18%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 49 (8.96%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.01%) SAP MM
3 10 (1.83%) SAP VC
4 9 (1.65%) SAP QM
5 4 (0.73%) SAP EHS
6 2 (0.37%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.37%) Primavera
6 2 (0.37%) Remedy ITSM
6 2 (0.37%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.18%) SAP SD
7 1 (0.18%) SAP Travel Management
7 1 (0.18%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 71 (12.98%) AWS
2 45 (8.23%) Azure
3 27 (4.94%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (3.11%) Power Platform
5 16 (2.93%) GCP
6 13 (2.38%) GitHub
7 12 (2.19%) Entra ID
8 10 (1.83%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.46%) Amazon EKS
9 8 (1.46%) Serverless
10 7 (1.28%) SaaS
11 6 (1.10%) Amazon S3
11 6 (1.10%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (0.91%) Azure Monitor
12 5 (0.91%) OCI
13 4 (0.73%) Amazon EC2
13 4 (0.73%) AWS CloudFormation
13 4 (0.73%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.73%) OpenShift
14 3 (0.55%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 69 (12.61%) Firewall
2 40 (7.31%) VLAN
3 30 (5.48%) WAN
3 30 (5.48%) Wi-Fi
4 25 (4.57%) DNS
5 23 (4.20%) Network Security
6 18 (3.29%) LAN
7 16 (2.93%) VPN
8 15 (2.74%) Wireless
9 14 (2.56%) DHCP
10 13 (2.38%) SAN
10 13 (2.38%) TCP/IP
11 12 (2.19%) BGP
12 10 (1.83%) Cisco ISE
12 10 (1.83%) NetScaler
12 10 (1.83%) WebEx
13 9 (1.65%) Skype
14 8 (1.46%) Software-Defined Networking
15 6 (1.10%) SNMP
15 6 (1.10%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.93%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (2.56%) Power BI
3 11 (2.01%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.83%) MongoDB
4 10 (1.83%) MySQL
4 10 (1.83%) NoSQL
4 10 (1.83%) SAP HANA
5 9 (1.65%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (1.65%) Relational Database
6 6 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 5 (0.91%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.73%) Data Warehouse
8 4 (0.73%) Hadoop
8 4 (0.73%) Metadata
9 3 (0.55%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.55%) DynamoDB
9 3 (0.55%) Oracle Database 12c
9 3 (0.55%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.55%) Redis
9 3 (0.55%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (4.75%) GitLab
2 21 (3.84%) Git
3 15 (2.74%) JIRA
4 9 (1.65%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.73%) Postman
6 3 (0.55%) Mockito
6 3 (0.55%) Selenium
7 2 (0.37%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.37%) Gatling
7 2 (0.37%) Jasmine
7 2 (0.37%) JMeter
7 2 (0.37%) MSI
7 2 (0.37%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.37%) Serenity BDD
7 2 (0.37%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.18%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.18%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.18%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.18%) MLflow
8 1 (0.18%) Rational DOORS
General
1 162 (29.62%) Public Sector
2 117 (21.39%) Social Skills
3 38 (6.95%) Finance
4 34 (6.22%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (3.47%) Documentation Skills
6 15 (2.74%) Legal
6 15 (2.74%) Military
7 13 (2.38%) Manufacturing
8 12 (2.19%) Aerospace
9 11 (2.01%) Banking
10 8 (1.46%) Electronics
10 8 (1.46%) Telecoms
11 7 (1.28%) Marketing
12 5 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (0.73%) Aviation
13 4 (0.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
14 2 (0.37%) Corporate Banking
14 2 (0.37%) Law
Job Titles
1 66 (12.07%) Consultant
2 65 (11.88%) Architect
3 53 (9.69%) Developer
4 45 (8.23%) Network Engineer
5 42 (7.68%) Senior
6 34 (6.22%) SAP Consultant
7 33 (6.03%) Analyst
8 27 (4.94%) Administrator
9 24 (4.39%) Lead
10 22 (4.02%) Platform Engineer
11 20 (3.66%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 18 (3.29%) Technical Architect
13 16 (2.93%) Management Consultant
14 15 (2.74%) DBA
14 15 (2.74%) DevOps Engineer
15 14 (2.56%) Data Engineer
15 14 (2.56%) Engagement Manager
15 14 (2.56%) Support Engineer
16 13 (2.38%) Software Engineer
17 12 (2.19%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (4.20%) Spring
2 21 (3.84%) Spring Boot
3 16 (2.93%) 802.1X
4 15 (2.74%) SAP Fiori
5 14 (2.56%) Kafka
5 14 (2.56%) RESTful
6 12 (2.19%) Web Services
7 10 (1.83%) HTML
7 10 (1.83%) JSON
8 9 (1.65%) BAPI
8 9 (1.65%) Node.js
8 9 (1.65%) XML
8 9 (1.65%) XMPP
9 8 (1.46%) CSS
10 7 (1.28%) Playwright
10 7 (1.28%) REST
11 6 (1.10%) Apache NiFi
11 6 (1.10%) Hibernate
11 6 (1.10%) OAuth
11 6 (1.10%) React
Miscellaneous
1 53 (9.69%) Data Centre
2 37 (6.76%) Product Ownership
3 25 (4.57%) Onboarding
4 16 (2.93%) Replication
5 14 (2.56%) Clustering
6 10 (1.83%) Cyber Threat
7 8 (1.46%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.28%) Cloud Native
9 5 (0.91%) Driving Licence
9 5 (0.91%) Fat Client
9 5 (0.91%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.91%) Mobile App
9 5 (0.91%) Operational Technology
9 5 (0.91%) Security Posture
9 5 (0.91%) Thin Client
10 3 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.55%) Distributed Systems
10 3 (0.55%) Handset
10 3 (0.55%) Low-Code
10 3 (0.55%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 65 (11.88%) Windows
2 45 (8.23%) Linux
3 24 (4.39%) Windows Server
4 20 (3.66%) Windows 10
5 19 (3.47%) Unix
6 14 (2.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.01%) Solaris
8 9 (1.65%) Windows 7
9 8 (1.46%) Android
10 6 (1.10%) Mac OS
11 3 (0.55%) AIX
11 3 (0.55%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.37%) Mac OS X
13 1 (0.18%) VMS
13 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (12.80%) Agile
2 65 (11.88%) Problem-Solving
3 52 (9.51%) DevOps
4 48 (8.78%) CI/CD
4 48 (8.78%) ITSM
5 47 (8.59%) Service Management
6 46 (8.41%) Migration
7 45 (8.23%) Continuous Improvement
7 45 (8.23%) Cybersecurity
8 43 (7.86%) Project Delivery
8 43 (7.86%) Stakeholder Management
9 40 (7.31%) High Availability
10 35 (6.40%) Containerisation
11 34 (6.22%) Platform Engineering
12 33 (6.03%) Test Automation
13 31 (5.67%) Disaster Recovery
14 30 (5.48%) Change Management
14 30 (5.48%) Risk Management
14 30 (5.48%) Validation
15 27 (4.94%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 63 (11.52%) Python
2 53 (9.69%) PowerShell
3 42 (7.68%) Java
4 24 (4.39%) SQL
5 21 (3.84%) Bash
6 16 (2.93%) JavaScript
7 14 (2.56%) TypeScript
8 13 (2.38%) Perl
9 10 (1.83%) ABAP
10 9 (1.65%) VB
10 9 (1.65%) VBScript
11 5 (0.91%) Rust
12 4 (0.73%) Ruby
13 3 (0.55%) C#
13 3 (0.55%) Go
14 2 (0.37%) AWK
14 2 (0.37%) COBOL
14 2 (0.37%) Kotlin
14 2 (0.37%) Kusto Query Language
15 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 381 (69.65%) SC Cleared
2 63 (11.52%) DV Cleared
3 61 (11.15%) BPSS Clearance
4 40 (7.31%) Degree
5 35 (6.40%) Cisco Certification
6 33 (6.03%) CCNP
7 30 (5.48%) CCNA
8 13 (2.38%) Computer Science Degree
8 13 (2.38%) Microsoft Certification
9 11 (2.01%) CISSP
10 9 (1.65%) AWS Certification
11 8 (1.46%) CCDP
11 8 (1.46%) CISM
11 8 (1.46%) MCSA
11 8 (1.46%) MCSE
11 8 (1.46%) VCAP
11 8 (1.46%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 7 (1.28%) ITIL Certification
13 6 (1.10%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 5 (0.91%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (3.84%) NIST
2 17 (3.11%) Accessibility
3 16 (2.93%) QA
4 12 (2.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (1.83%) SLA
6 9 (1.65%) JSP 440
7 8 (1.46%) NCSC
8 6 (1.10%) Data Quality
9 5 (0.91%) WCAG
10 3 (0.55%) GDPR
10 3 (0.55%) GRC
10 3 (0.55%) IFRS
10 3 (0.55%) PMO
11 2 (0.37%) IFRS 17
11 2 (0.37%) PSD2
12 1 (0.18%) Basel III
12 1 (0.18%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.18%) IEC 61131
12 1 (0.18%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.18%) SOC 2
System Software
1 33 (6.03%) Docker
2 32 (5.85%) Active Directory
3 20 (3.66%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.01%) vSphere
5 10 (1.83%) Virtual Machines
5 10 (1.83%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (1.65%) BitLocker
7 4 (0.73%) Firmware
8 2 (0.37%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.18%) GPFS
9 1 (0.18%) Hyper-V
9 1 (0.18%) NFS
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 35 (6.40%) Kubernetes
2 30 (5.48%) Terraform
3 21 (3.84%) SCCM
4 14 (2.56%) Ansible
5 9 (1.65%) Microsoft Intune
5 9 (1.65%) vCenter Server
6 8 (1.46%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 7 (1.28%) Grafana
8 5 (0.91%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.73%) Norton AntiVirus
9 4 (0.73%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (0.55%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.18%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.18%) Cisco Prime
12 1 (0.18%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Clustering
12 1 (0.18%) Nagios
12 1 (0.18%) vRealize
12 1 (0.18%) VxRail
Vendors
1 74 (13.53%) Cisco
2 73 (13.35%) Microsoft
3 71 (12.98%) SAP
4 36 (6.58%) Oracle
4 36 (6.58%) Palo Alto
5 32 (5.85%) ServiceNow
6 26 (4.75%) VMware
7 15 (2.74%) Citrix
8 14 (2.56%) Meraki
9 12 (2.19%) Adobe
10 11 (2.01%) Red Hat
11 9 (1.65%) Dell
11 9 (1.65%) IBM
12 8 (1.46%) Aruba
13 7 (1.28%) HP
14 6 (1.10%) CheckPoint
14 6 (1.10%) CyberArk
14 6 (1.10%) Ekahau
14 6 (1.10%) Splunk
15 5 (0.91%) Symantec