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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 2 3
Rank change year-on-year 0 +1 0
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 535 441 404
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 18.60% 21.01% 14.35%
As % of the Qualifications category 59.18% 61.08% 48.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 357 251 274
10th Percentile £347 £230 £400
25th Percentile £420 £386 £464
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -13.64% +4.76%
75th Percentile £626 £575 £649
90th Percentile £703 £665 £694
England median daily rate £525 £540 £550
% change year-on-year -2.78% -1.82% -2.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 21 51
10th Percentile £20.79 £25.26 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.15 £37.00 £14.50
Median hourly rate £54.61 £54.51 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +0.18% +18.81% +22.35%
75th Percentile £71.75 £73.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £85.78 £73.75
England median hourly rate £25.77 £60.00 £55.80
% change year-on-year -57.05% +7.53% -7.00%

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 904 722 831
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 31.42% 34.40% 29.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 605 405 485
10th Percentile £247 £211 £248
25th Percentile £381 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £478 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.42% -8.95% +4.90%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £649
90th Percentile £680 £662 £702
England median daily rate £520 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 87 42 117
10th Percentile £20.02 £24.02 £11.49
25th Percentile £29.25 £27.19 £15.00
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +25.00% -30.67%
75th Percentile £68.67 £60.00 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.13 £63.75
England median hourly rate £25.77 £50.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -48.46% +25.00% -18.78%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -6 160 £480 +2.13% 83
Cheshire +6 114 £593 +69.29% 7
Cumbria 0 113 £499 -4.77% 13
Lancashire +1 111 £550 +34.47% 29
Merseyside -7 30 £623 +71.13% 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 (4.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (1.87%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.68%) Confluence
3 9 (1.68%) Skype for Business
4 6 (1.12%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.93%) Apache
6 4 (0.75%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.56%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.56%) MTS
8 2 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.37%) CICS
8 2 (0.37%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.19%) CMS
9 1 (0.19%) nginx
9 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 24 (4.49%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.37%) Siemens NX
5 1 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.19%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.19%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 50 (9.35%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.87%) SAP MM
2 10 (1.87%) SAP VC
3 9 (1.68%) SAP QM
4 5 (0.93%) SAP EHS
5 2 (0.37%) Remedy ITSM
5 2 (0.37%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
6 1 (0.19%) Primavera
6 1 (0.19%) SAP SD
6 1 (0.19%) SAP Travel Management
6 1 (0.19%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 69 (12.90%) AWS
2 46 (8.60%) Azure
3 32 (5.98%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (3.36%) Power Platform
5 16 (2.99%) GCP
6 13 (2.43%) Entra ID
6 13 (2.43%) GitHub
7 11 (2.06%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.68%) SaaS
9 8 (1.50%) Amazon EKS
10 7 (1.31%) Amazon S3
10 7 (1.31%) Serverless
11 6 (1.12%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (0.93%) Amazon EC2
12 5 (0.93%) AWS CloudFormation
12 5 (0.93%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (0.75%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 4 (0.75%) OCI
13 4 (0.75%) OneDrive
13 4 (0.75%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 69 (12.90%) Firewall
2 39 (7.29%) VLAN
3 31 (5.79%) Wi-Fi
4 29 (5.42%) WAN
5 28 (5.23%) DNS
6 24 (4.49%) Network Security
7 17 (3.18%) LAN
7 17 (3.18%) VPN
8 14 (2.62%) DHCP
8 14 (2.62%) Wireless
9 13 (2.43%) SAN
9 13 (2.43%) TCP/IP
10 12 (2.24%) BGP
11 10 (1.87%) Cisco ISE
11 10 (1.87%) NetScaler
11 10 (1.87%) WebEx
12 9 (1.68%) Skype
13 8 (1.50%) Software-Defined Networking
13 8 (1.50%) Unified Communications
14 7 (1.31%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.43%) Power BI
2 12 (2.24%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (1.87%) SAP HANA
4 9 (1.68%) Elasticsearch
4 9 (1.68%) MongoDB
4 9 (1.68%) NoSQL
4 9 (1.68%) SQL Server
5 8 (1.50%) Relational Database
6 7 (1.31%) Data Warehouse
6 7 (1.31%) MySQL
7 6 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 4 (0.75%) DynamoDB
8 4 (0.75%) Hadoop
8 4 (0.75%) Metadata
8 4 (0.75%) Redis
9 3 (0.56%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.56%) Big Data
9 3 (0.56%) BigQuery
10 2 (0.37%) Data Lake
10 2 (0.37%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (5.23%) GitLab
2 24 (4.49%) Git
3 15 (2.80%) JIRA
4 10 (1.87%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.56%) Cypress.io
5 3 (0.56%) Mockito
5 3 (0.56%) Postman
5 3 (0.56%) Selenium
6 2 (0.37%) Gatling
6 2 (0.37%) Jasmine
6 2 (0.37%) JMeter
6 2 (0.37%) MSI
6 2 (0.37%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.37%) Serenity BDD
6 2 (0.37%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.19%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.19%) CircleCI
7 1 (0.19%) Grunt
7 1 (0.19%) gulp
7 1 (0.19%) MLflow
General
1 160 (29.91%) Public Sector
2 116 (21.68%) Social Skills
3 37 (6.92%) Finance
4 34 (6.36%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (2.99%) Documentation Skills
6 15 (2.80%) Legal
7 14 (2.62%) Military
8 12 (2.24%) Manufacturing
9 10 (1.87%) Aerospace
9 10 (1.87%) Banking
10 8 (1.50%) Electronics
10 8 (1.50%) Telecoms
11 7 (1.31%) Marketing
12 5 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (0.93%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (0.56%) Aviation
13 3 (0.56%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.37%) Corporate Banking
14 2 (0.37%) Law
Job Titles
1 65 (12.15%) Consultant
2 63 (11.78%) Architect
3 53 (9.91%) Developer
4 45 (8.41%) Network Engineer
5 42 (7.85%) Senior
6 34 (6.36%) SAP Consultant
7 31 (5.79%) Analyst
8 27 (5.05%) Administrator
9 22 (4.11%) Lead
10 21 (3.93%) Platform Engineer
11 20 (3.74%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 17 (3.18%) Management Consultant
12 17 (3.18%) Technical Architect
13 16 (2.99%) DevOps Engineer
14 14 (2.62%) Engagement Manager
14 14 (2.62%) Support Engineer
15 13 (2.43%) Data Engineer
15 13 (2.43%) IT Support
15 13 (2.43%) Software Engineer
16 12 (2.24%) Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.93%) Spring
2 19 (3.55%) Spring Boot
3 16 (2.99%) SAP Fiori
4 15 (2.80%) 802.1X
5 13 (2.43%) Kafka
5 13 (2.43%) RESTful
6 12 (2.24%) Web Services
7 11 (2.06%) JSON
8 10 (1.87%) HTML
8 10 (1.87%) Node.js
9 9 (1.68%) BAPI
9 9 (1.68%) Playwright
9 9 (1.68%) XML
9 9 (1.68%) XMPP
10 8 (1.50%) CSS
10 8 (1.50%) REST
11 7 (1.31%) React
12 6 (1.12%) Apache NiFi
12 6 (1.12%) Hibernate
12 6 (1.12%) Jest
Miscellaneous
1 54 (10.09%) Data Centre
2 34 (6.36%) Product Ownership
3 27 (5.05%) Onboarding
4 16 (2.99%) Replication
5 14 (2.62%) Clustering
6 10 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (1.68%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.12%) Cloud Native
9 5 (0.93%) Driving Licence
9 5 (0.93%) Fat Client
9 5 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.93%) Low-Code
9 5 (0.93%) Security Posture
9 5 (0.93%) Thin Client
9 5 (0.93%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (0.75%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.56%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.56%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.56%) Distributed Systems
11 3 (0.56%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 69 (12.90%) Windows
2 44 (8.22%) Linux
3 24 (4.49%) Windows Server
4 22 (4.11%) Windows 10
5 20 (3.74%) Unix
6 14 (2.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.06%) Solaris
8 9 (1.68%) Windows 7
9 8 (1.50%) Android
10 6 (1.12%) Mac OS
11 3 (0.56%) Apple iOS
11 3 (0.56%) Mac OS X
12 2 (0.37%) AIX
13 1 (0.19%) VMS
13 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (13.08%) Agile
2 68 (12.71%) Problem-Solving
3 54 (10.09%) DevOps
4 51 (9.53%) CI/CD
5 47 (8.79%) ITSM
6 45 (8.41%) Migration
6 45 (8.41%) Service Management
7 43 (8.04%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (7.66%) Cybersecurity
9 39 (7.29%) Project Delivery
10 38 (7.10%) High Availability
10 38 (7.10%) Stakeholder Management
11 33 (6.17%) Containerisation
11 33 (6.17%) Platform Engineering
12 32 (5.98%) Test Automation
13 31 (5.79%) Disaster Recovery
14 30 (5.61%) Validation
15 29 (5.42%) Change Management
16 27 (5.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 26 (4.86%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 68 (12.71%) Python
2 54 (10.09%) PowerShell
3 41 (7.66%) Java
4 22 (4.11%) Bash
5 19 (3.55%) SQL
6 17 (3.18%) JavaScript
7 15 (2.80%) TypeScript
8 14 (2.62%) Perl
9 10 (1.87%) ABAP
10 9 (1.68%) VB
10 9 (1.68%) VBScript
11 5 (0.93%) Rust
12 4 (0.75%) Go
12 4 (0.75%) Ruby
13 3 (0.56%) C#
14 2 (0.37%) AWK
14 2 (0.37%) COBOL
14 2 (0.37%) Kusto Query Language
14 2 (0.37%) Shell Script
15 1 (0.19%) Scala
Qualifications
1 385 (71.96%) SC Cleared
2 61 (11.40%) BPSS Clearance
3 51 (9.53%) DV Cleared
4 39 (7.29%) Degree
5 34 (6.36%) Cisco Certification
6 32 (5.98%) CCNP
7 29 (5.42%) CCNA
8 13 (2.43%) Computer Science Degree
9 11 (2.06%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (1.68%) AWS Certification
10 9 (1.68%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 8 (1.50%) CCDP
11 8 (1.50%) CISSP
11 8 (1.50%) MCSA
11 8 (1.50%) MCSE
11 8 (1.50%) VCAP
12 6 (1.12%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 6 (1.12%) CISM
12 6 (1.12%) ITIL Certification
13 5 (0.93%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (3.36%) NIST
2 17 (3.18%) Accessibility
3 11 (2.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (2.06%) QA
4 9 (1.68%) SLA
5 6 (1.12%) Data Quality
5 6 (1.12%) JSP 440
5 6 (1.12%) NCSC
6 4 (0.75%) WCAG
7 3 (0.56%) GDPR
7 3 (0.56%) GRC
7 3 (0.56%) IFRS
7 3 (0.56%) PMO
8 2 (0.37%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.37%) PSD2
9 1 (0.19%) CRD IV
9 1 (0.19%) FINREP
9 1 (0.19%) IEC 61131
9 1 (0.19%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 34 (6.36%) Active Directory
1 34 (6.36%) Docker
2 20 (3.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (2.06%) vSphere
4 10 (1.87%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (1.87%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (1.68%) BitLocker
6 4 (0.75%) Firmware
7 2 (0.37%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.19%) GPFS
8 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.19%) NFS
Systems Management
1 36 (6.73%) Kubernetes
2 33 (6.17%) Terraform
3 25 (4.67%) SCCM
4 15 (2.80%) Ansible
5 11 (2.06%) Microsoft Intune
6 9 (1.68%) vCenter Server
7 8 (1.50%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (1.31%) Grafana
9 6 (1.12%) Norton AntiVirus
10 5 (0.93%) Prometheus
11 3 (0.56%) FortiGate
12 2 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.37%) vRealize
13 1 (0.19%) Cisco CUCM
13 1 (0.19%) Cisco Prime
13 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
13 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
13 1 (0.19%) Nagios
13 1 (0.19%) Packer
13 1 (0.19%) VxRail
Vendors
1 76 (14.21%) Microsoft
2 74 (13.83%) Cisco
3 70 (13.08%) SAP
4 36 (6.73%) Palo Alto
5 34 (6.36%) ServiceNow
6 30 (5.61%) Oracle
7 27 (5.05%) VMware
8 15 (2.80%) Citrix
9 14 (2.62%) Meraki
10 12 (2.24%) Adobe
11 11 (2.06%) Red Hat
12 9 (1.68%) Dell
12 9 (1.68%) IBM
13 7 (1.31%) Aruba
13 7 (1.31%) HP
13 7 (1.31%) McAfee
13 7 (1.31%) Symantec
14 6 (1.12%) CheckPoint
14 6 (1.12%) CyberArk
14 6 (1.12%) Splunk