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 14 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 2 3 2
Rank change year-on-year +1 -1 +6
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 495 387 478
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 20.35% 16.27% 17.46%
As % of the Qualifications category 57.09% 58.20% 59.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 313 187 341
10th Percentile £303 £258 £360
25th Percentile £431 £350 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £475 £538
Median % change year-on-year +13.68% -11.74% +2.51%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £638
90th Percentile £716 £688 £688
England median daily rate £533 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -3.18% - -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 64 36 29
10th Percentile £17.61 £18.03 £34.62
25th Percentile £22.16 £22.22 £45.88
Median hourly rate £38.47 £37.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +3.97% -19.88% +98.97%
75th Percentile £68.38 £53.19 £50.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £70.87 £63.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £59.68
% change year-on-year -58.08% +0.54% -0.53%

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 867 665 803
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 35.64% 27.96% 29.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 558 331 533
10th Percentile £213 £259 £250
25th Percentile £400 £398 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% +2.39%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £638
90th Percentile £716 £680 £700
England median daily rate £525 £530 £550
% change year-on-year -0.94% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 104 55 68
10th Percentile £15.50 £19.00 £16.25
25th Percentile £21.46 £24.18 £30.00
Median hourly rate £45.46 £37.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +22.86% -19.88% +102.06%
75th Percentile £67.40 £55.25 £46.89
90th Percentile £74.26 £74.28 £55.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £50.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year -49.70% -4.76% +16.67%

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 14 November 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 14 November 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 14 November 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 +4 178 £500 +11.23% 104
Cheshire +16 110 £625 +20.77% 11
Cumbria 0 91 £515 +1.78% 7
Lancashire 0 89 £550 +69.23% 57
Merseyside -11 18 £629 +214.38% 9
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 17 (3.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (2.22%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.41%) Confluence
4 5 (1.01%) Apache
4 5 (1.01%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.81%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.61%) MTS
6 3 (0.61%) Resin
7 2 (0.40%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.40%) IIS
7 2 (0.40%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.40%) NetWeaver
7 2 (0.40%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.40%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.20%) CMS
Applications
1 25 (5.05%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (3.64%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (2.63%) Siemens NX
4 5 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.61%) PTC Creo
5 3 (0.61%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.20%) SPSS
6 1 (0.20%) Stata
Business Applications
1 60 (12.12%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (2.63%) Teamcenter
3 10 (2.02%) SAP EHS
3 10 (2.02%) SAP VC
4 9 (1.82%) SAP MM
4 9 (1.82%) SAP QM
5 2 (0.40%) Maximo
5 2 (0.40%) SAP EWM
6 1 (0.20%) Primavera
6 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.20%) SAP HCM
6 1 (0.20%) SAP PS
6 1 (0.20%) SAP SD
6 1 (0.20%) SAP Travel Management
6 1 (0.20%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 57 (11.52%) AWS
2 46 (9.29%) Azure
3 36 (7.27%) SaaS
4 35 (7.07%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (3.64%) Google Workspace
6 14 (2.83%) Power Platform
7 13 (2.63%) GCP
8 10 (2.02%) Entra ID
9 8 (1.62%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.62%) GitHub
10 6 (1.21%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 6 (1.21%) Amazon EC2
10 6 (1.21%) OneDrive
10 6 (1.21%) Serverless
11 5 (1.01%) Amazon S3
11 5 (1.01%) Amazon SQS
11 5 (1.01%) AWS CloudFormation
11 5 (1.01%) AWS Lambda
11 5 (1.01%) PaaS
12 4 (0.81%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 35 (7.07%) Firewall
2 21 (4.24%) DNS
3 20 (4.04%) Wi-Fi
4 17 (3.43%) WAN
5 16 (3.23%) VLAN
6 11 (2.22%) BGP
6 11 (2.22%) SAN
6 11 (2.22%) TCP/IP
7 10 (2.02%) VPN
8 9 (1.82%) NetScaler
9 8 (1.62%) Cisco ISE
9 8 (1.62%) DHCP
9 8 (1.62%) LAN
9 8 (1.62%) Software-Defined Networking
9 8 (1.62%) Unified Communications
10 7 (1.41%) Network Security
11 6 (1.21%) WebEx
11 6 (1.21%) Wireless
12 5 (1.01%) HTTPS
12 5 (1.01%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.22%) PostgreSQL
2 9 (1.82%) SAP HANA
3 8 (1.62%) Power BI
4 7 (1.41%) Data Warehouse
4 7 (1.41%) MySQL
4 7 (1.41%) SQL Server
5 6 (1.21%) MongoDB
5 6 (1.21%) Redis
5 6 (1.21%) Relational Database
6 5 (1.01%) BigQuery
6 5 (1.01%) DynamoDB
6 5 (1.01%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.81%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.61%) Amazon Aurora
8 3 (0.61%) Amazon Redshift
8 3 (0.61%) Big Data
8 3 (0.61%) Metadata
9 2 (0.40%) Amazon Athena
9 2 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.40%) Looker
Development Applications
1 21 (4.24%) Git
2 16 (3.23%) GitLab
2 16 (3.23%) JIRA
3 14 (2.83%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.62%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (1.41%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.81%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.61%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.61%) Gradle
7 3 (0.61%) Grunt
7 3 (0.61%) gulp
7 3 (0.61%) Maven
8 2 (0.40%) Selenium
8 2 (0.40%) SonarLint
9 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.20%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.20%) Gatling
9 1 (0.20%) MLflow
9 1 (0.20%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.20%) REST Assured
General
1 142 (28.69%) Public Sector
2 118 (23.84%) Social Skills
3 53 (10.71%) Analytical Skills
4 34 (6.87%) Finance
5 27 (5.45%) Manufacturing
6 25 (5.05%) Military
7 19 (3.84%) Documentation Skills
8 14 (2.83%) Aerospace
9 9 (1.82%) Banking
9 9 (1.82%) Electronics
9 9 (1.82%) Legal
9 9 (1.82%) Telecoms
10 8 (1.62%) Marketing
11 7 (1.41%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.21%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (1.01%) Aviation
14 2 (0.40%) Law
15 1 (0.20%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 89 (17.98%) Consultant
2 57 (11.52%) Architect
3 42 (8.48%) SAP Consultant
4 41 (8.28%) Senior
5 39 (7.88%) Developer
6 32 (6.46%) Analyst
7 25 (5.05%) Management Consultant
8 22 (4.44%) Administrator
8 22 (4.44%) Lead
8 22 (4.44%) Network Engineer
9 19 (3.84%) Technical Architect
10 18 (3.64%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 17 (3.43%) IT Support
12 15 (3.03%) Platform Engineer
13 14 (2.83%) Desktop Support
13 14 (2.83%) Software Engineer
14 13 (2.63%) AWS Engineer
14 13 (2.63%) DevOps Engineer
15 11 (2.22%) Support Engineer
15 11 (2.22%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.04%) SAP Fiori
2 16 (3.23%) Web Services
3 13 (2.63%) XML
4 12 (2.42%) JSON
5 11 (2.22%) Node.js
6 10 (2.02%) BAPI
6 10 (2.02%) SOAP
7 9 (1.82%) 802.1X
8 8 (1.62%) HTML
8 8 (1.62%) REST
9 7 (1.41%) Kafka
10 6 (1.21%) CSS
10 6 (1.21%) RESTful
10 6 (1.21%) XMPP
11 5 (1.01%) JMS
11 5 (1.01%) SAP TM
11 5 (1.01%) Spring Boot
12 4 (0.81%) AngularJS
12 4 (0.81%) React
12 4 (0.81%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 40 (8.08%) Data Centre
2 28 (5.66%) Onboarding
3 22 (4.44%) Hybrid Cloud
4 20 (4.04%) Product Ownership
5 14 (2.83%) Analytical Mindset
6 9 (1.82%) Cyber Threat
7 8 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.41%) Cloud Native
9 6 (1.21%) Low-Code
10 5 (1.01%) Driving Licence
10 5 (1.01%) Fibre Optics
10 5 (1.01%) Management Information System
10 5 (1.01%) Video Conferencing
11 4 (0.81%) CSOC
11 4 (0.81%) Distributed Systems
11 4 (0.81%) Operational Technology
11 4 (0.81%) SCADA
11 4 (0.81%) Security Operations Centre
12 3 (0.61%) Legacy Systems
12 3 (0.61%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 55 (11.11%) Windows
2 33 (6.67%) Linux
3 18 (3.64%) Windows 10
4 13 (2.63%) Windows Server
5 11 (2.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 7 (1.41%) Android
6 7 (1.41%) Windows 7
7 6 (1.21%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.81%) Unix
9 3 (0.61%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (13.13%) Problem-Solving
2 50 (10.10%) Cybersecurity
3 47 (9.49%) Agile
4 42 (8.48%) Stakeholder Management
5 41 (8.28%) DevOps
6 38 (7.68%) CI/CD
6 38 (7.68%) User Experience
7 37 (7.47%) Service Management
8 35 (7.07%) ITSM
9 31 (6.26%) Mentoring
10 29 (5.86%) Containerisation
10 29 (5.86%) Customer Service
10 29 (5.86%) Migration
11 25 (5.05%) Continuous Improvement
11 25 (5.05%) Validation
12 24 (4.85%) Risk Management
13 23 (4.65%) Change Management
13 23 (4.65%) Infrastructure as Code
13 23 (4.65%) Logistics
13 23 (4.65%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 55 (11.11%) Python
2 32 (6.46%) PowerShell
3 27 (5.45%) Java
4 24 (4.85%) Bash
5 17 (3.43%) Perl
6 15 (3.03%) SQL
7 11 (2.22%) ABAP
7 11 (2.22%) JavaScript
8 8 (1.62%) C++
8 8 (1.62%) TypeScript
9 5 (1.01%) VB
9 5 (1.01%) VBScript
10 4 (0.81%) C
11 3 (0.61%) Go
11 3 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.61%) PHP
11 3 (0.61%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.40%) AWK
12 2 (0.40%) C#
12 2 (0.40%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 393 (79.39%) SC Cleared
2 83 (16.77%) BPSS Clearance
3 25 (5.05%) Degree
4 16 (3.23%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.02%) CCNP
5 10 (2.02%) Cisco Certification
6 9 (1.82%) CCDP
7 8 (1.62%) CCNA
8 6 (1.21%) CTC Cleared
8 6 (1.21%) DBS Check
9 5 (1.01%) Azure Certification
9 5 (1.01%) BC Cleared
9 5 (1.01%) CISM
9 5 (1.01%) CISSP
10 4 (0.81%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.81%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (0.61%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 2 (0.40%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
12 2 (0.40%) CompTIA Security+
12 2 (0.40%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.84%) NIST
2 11 (2.22%) Data Quality
3 8 (1.62%) Accessibility
4 7 (1.41%) QA
5 6 (1.21%) NCSC
6 5 (1.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.01%) SLA
7 4 (0.81%) IEC 61508
7 4 (0.81%) ISO 26262
8 3 (0.61%) IEC 62304
8 3 (0.61%) PMO
9 2 (0.40%) COBIT
9 2 (0.40%) GDPR
9 2 (0.40%) IEC 61131
10 1 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 30 (6.06%) Docker
2 24 (4.85%) Active Directory
3 17 (3.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.01%) BitLocker
5 4 (0.81%) UAG
6 3 (0.61%) vSphere
7 2 (0.40%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 32 (6.46%) Terraform
2 29 (5.86%) Kubernetes
3 22 (4.44%) SCCM
4 15 (3.03%) Microsoft Intune
5 12 (2.42%) Ansible
6 7 (1.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 5 (1.01%) Norton AntiVirus
8 4 (0.81%) Grafana
8 4 (0.81%) Nessus
8 4 (0.81%) SELinux
9 3 (0.61%) Packer
9 3 (0.61%) Podman
9 3 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.40%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.40%) PowerCLI
10 2 (0.40%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.40%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.20%) AirWatch
11 1 (0.20%) QRadar
11 1 (0.20%) vRealize
Vendors
1 89 (17.98%) SAP
2 87 (17.58%) Microsoft
3 33 (6.67%) Cisco
4 25 (5.05%) Google
5 24 (4.85%) ServiceNow
5 24 (4.85%) VMware
6 19 (3.84%) Oracle
7 17 (3.43%) Palo Alto
8 11 (2.22%) Citrix
8 11 (2.22%) Meraki
8 11 (2.22%) Red Hat
9 10 (2.02%) IBM
9 10 (2.02%) Siemens
10 9 (1.82%) Adobe
10 9 (1.82%) Splunk
11 8 (1.62%) Dell
12 6 (1.21%) Apple
12 6 (1.21%) Axway
12 6 (1.21%) CyberArk
12 6 (1.21%) Dynatrace