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

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 2 2
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 528 417 435
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 16.59% 21.53% 15.86%
As % of the Qualifications category 56.90% 58.98% 53.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 347 245 280
10th Percentile £356 £250 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £626 £588 £671
90th Percentile £750 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 18 59
10th Percentile £23.67 £25.26 -
25th Percentile £38.47 £32.51 £10.95
Median hourly rate £61.57 £59.29 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% +308.90% -61.33%
75th Percentile £74.26 £75.63 £46.18
90th Percentile £75.18 £85.85 £73.75
England median hourly rate £55.00 £57.50 £53.03
% change year-on-year -4.35% +8.43% -11.62%

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 928 707 812
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 29.15% 36.50% 29.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 615 407 463
10th Percentile £317 £228 £248
25th Percentile £400 £388 £414
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £490 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.37% -4.39% -1.06%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £656
90th Percentile £688 £650 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 43 121
10th Percentile £24.66 £17.95 £10.95
25th Percentile £35.55 £25.26 £11.77
Median hourly rate £52.78 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +62.38% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £72.50 £60.00 £38.43
90th Percentile £81.50 £82.85 £51.91
England median hourly rate £47.25 £50.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -5.50% +25.00% -23.81%

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 22 April 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 22 April 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 22 April 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 -7 167 £500 - 117
Lancashire +3 128 £650 +49.34% 29
Cumbria 0 119 £481 -10.88% 16
Cheshire -3 79 £450 +28.57% 14
Merseyside -12 29 £625 +13.64% 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 32 (6.06%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (2.46%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.70%) Skype for Business
4 8 (1.52%) Confluence
5 6 (1.14%) Apache Spark
6 5 (0.95%) Apache
7 4 (0.76%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.38%) CICS
8 2 (0.38%) SAS
9 1 (0.19%) CMS
9 1 (0.19%) nginx
9 1 (0.19%) OpenStack
Applications
1 19 (3.60%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.38%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.38%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.19%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 5 (0.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.76%) SAP VC
3 3 (0.57%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.57%) SAP QM
4 2 (0.38%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.38%) Primavera
4 2 (0.38%) SAP MM
4 2 (0.38%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 78 (14.77%) AWS
2 52 (9.85%) Azure
3 29 (5.49%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (3.41%) GCP
5 15 (2.84%) Entra ID
5 15 (2.84%) Serverless
6 14 (2.65%) Power Platform
7 11 (2.08%) GitHub
8 9 (1.70%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.70%) SaaS
9 8 (1.52%) Amazon EKS
10 7 (1.33%) Amazon S3
10 7 (1.33%) Google Workspace
11 5 (0.95%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (0.76%) Amazon EC2
12 4 (0.76%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (0.76%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (0.76%) Google Drive
12 4 (0.76%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 59 (11.17%) Firewall
2 42 (7.95%) VLAN
3 26 (4.92%) DNS
4 24 (4.55%) Network Security
5 23 (4.36%) WAN
6 20 (3.79%) Wi-Fi
7 18 (3.41%) LAN
8 16 (3.03%) DHCP
9 13 (2.46%) BGP
10 12 (2.27%) VPN
10 12 (2.27%) Wireless
11 10 (1.89%) SAN
11 10 (1.89%) WebEx
12 9 (1.70%) Skype
12 9 (1.70%) TCP/IP
13 8 (1.52%) Software-Defined Networking
14 7 (1.33%) Cisco IOS
14 7 (1.33%) Structured Cabling
15 6 (1.14%) NAS
15 6 (1.14%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (3.79%) PostgreSQL
2 13 (2.46%) Power BI
3 11 (2.08%) MySQL
3 11 (2.08%) Oracle Database
3 11 (2.08%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.89%) MongoDB
4 10 (1.89%) NoSQL
5 9 (1.70%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (1.70%) Relational Database
6 8 (1.52%) Metadata
7 6 (1.14%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 5 (0.95%) Oracle Database 12c
9 4 (0.76%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.76%) Hadoop
9 4 (0.76%) Tableau
10 3 (0.57%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.57%) Data Lake
10 3 (0.57%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.38%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.38%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 24 (4.55%) GitLab
2 19 (3.60%) Git
3 14 (2.65%) JIRA
4 7 (1.33%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.14%) MSI
6 4 (0.76%) Postman
6 4 (0.76%) Selenium
7 3 (0.57%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.38%) ClearCase
8 2 (0.38%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.38%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.38%) Gatling
8 2 (0.38%) Jasmine
8 2 (0.38%) JMeter
8 2 (0.38%) Mockito
8 2 (0.38%) Serenity BDD
8 2 (0.38%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.19%) InstallShield
9 1 (0.19%) Rational Robot
9 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 157 (29.73%) Public Sector
2 116 (21.97%) Social Skills
3 35 (6.63%) Analytical Skills
4 32 (6.06%) Finance
5 23 (4.36%) Documentation Skills
5 23 (4.36%) Military
6 20 (3.79%) Legal
7 12 (2.27%) Aerospace
7 12 (2.27%) Banking
8 8 (1.52%) Manufacturing
9 7 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (0.76%) Aviation
10 4 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.57%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (0.57%) Organisational Skills
12 2 (0.38%) Corporate Banking
12 2 (0.38%) Electronics
12 2 (0.38%) Law
12 2 (0.38%) Retail
12 2 (0.38%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 71 (13.45%) Architect
2 56 (10.61%) Developer
3 52 (9.85%) Lead
4 34 (6.44%) Network Engineer
5 32 (6.06%) Analyst
6 31 (5.87%) Senior
7 28 (5.30%) Administrator
8 23 (4.36%) Platform Engineer
9 21 (3.98%) Technical Architect
10 20 (3.79%) DBA
11 19 (3.60%) Lead Architect
12 18 (3.41%) Consultant
13 16 (3.03%) Coordinator
13 16 (3.03%) Data Engineer
13 16 (3.03%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 15 (2.84%) Wintel Engineer
15 14 (2.65%) Unix Engineer
16 13 (2.46%) Business Analyst
16 13 (2.46%) Engagement Manager
16 13 (2.46%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (5.30%) Spring
2 24 (4.55%) Spring Boot
3 16 (3.03%) Node.js
4 13 (2.46%) Kafka
4 13 (2.46%) RESTful
5 11 (2.08%) 802.1X
5 11 (2.08%) OAuth
6 9 (1.70%) XMPP
7 7 (1.33%) HTML
7 7 (1.33%) JSON
7 7 (1.33%) Playwright
7 7 (1.33%) REST
7 7 (1.33%) XML
8 6 (1.14%) Apache NiFi
8 6 (1.14%) CSS
8 6 (1.14%) Hibernate
8 6 (1.14%) OAuth2
8 6 (1.14%) React
9 5 (0.95%) Middleware
9 5 (0.95%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 38 (7.20%) Product Ownership
2 33 (6.25%) Data Centre
3 22 (4.17%) Replication
4 20 (3.79%) Clustering
5 16 (3.03%) Onboarding
6 11 (2.08%) Cloud Native
7 10 (1.89%) Operational Technology
8 9 (1.70%) Cyber Threat
9 8 (1.52%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.14%) Management Information System
10 6 (1.14%) Private Cloud
11 5 (0.95%) Distributed Systems
11 5 (0.95%) Fat Client
11 5 (0.95%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (0.95%) Mobile App
11 5 (0.95%) Security Posture
11 5 (0.95%) Thin Client
12 4 (0.76%) Data Protection Act
13 3 (0.57%) Analytical Mindset
13 3 (0.57%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 65 (12.31%) Windows
2 35 (6.63%) Linux
3 29 (5.49%) Windows Server
4 21 (3.98%) Windows 10
5 20 (3.79%) Unix
6 15 (2.84%) Solaris
7 14 (2.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 9 (1.70%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.57%) AIX
9 3 (0.57%) Android
9 3 (0.57%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.38%) Mac OS X
10 2 (0.38%) VMS
11 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (14.20%) Agile
2 66 (12.50%) Problem-Solving
3 55 (10.42%) ITSM
3 55 (10.42%) Project Delivery
4 54 (10.23%) Migration
5 53 (10.04%) DevOps
5 53 (10.04%) High Availability
6 52 (9.85%) CI/CD
7 51 (9.66%) Continuous Improvement
8 50 (9.47%) Stakeholder Management
9 49 (9.28%) Service Management
10 46 (8.71%) Cybersecurity
11 41 (7.77%) Disaster Recovery
12 39 (7.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 33 (6.25%) Platform Engineering
14 31 (5.87%) Risk Management
14 31 (5.87%) Test Automation
15 30 (5.68%) Containerisation
15 30 (5.68%) Microservices
15 30 (5.68%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 57 (10.80%) PowerShell
1 57 (10.80%) Python
2 48 (9.09%) Java
3 27 (5.11%) SQL
4 22 (4.17%) JavaScript
5 15 (2.84%) TypeScript
6 14 (2.65%) Bash
7 10 (1.89%) Perl
7 10 (1.89%) VB
8 9 (1.70%) VBScript
9 5 (0.95%) Go
9 5 (0.95%) Rust
10 4 (0.76%) C#
10 4 (0.76%) Ruby
11 2 (0.38%) AWK
11 2 (0.38%) COBOL
11 2 (0.38%) Kotlin
11 2 (0.38%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.19%) ABAP
12 1 (0.19%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 351 (66.48%) SC Cleared
2 74 (14.02%) DV Cleared
3 47 (8.90%) BPSS Clearance
4 38 (7.20%) Cisco Certification
5 35 (6.63%) CCNP
6 33 (6.25%) Degree
7 32 (6.06%) CCNA
8 19 (3.60%) Microsoft Certification
9 13 (2.46%) CISSP
9 13 (2.46%) MCSA
9 13 (2.46%) MCSE
9 13 (2.46%) VCAP
9 13 (2.46%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 11 (2.08%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.70%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.70%) Azure Certification
11 9 (1.70%) ITIL Certification
12 8 (1.52%) CCDP
13 7 (1.33%) CISM
14 6 (1.14%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.36%) NIST
2 17 (3.22%) QA
3 15 (2.84%) Accessibility
4 14 (2.65%) SLA
5 13 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 12 (2.27%) JSP 440
7 7 (1.33%) Data Quality
8 6 (1.14%) GDPR
9 5 (0.95%) NCSC
10 4 (0.76%) GRC
10 4 (0.76%) PMO
10 4 (0.76%) WCAG
11 3 (0.57%) IFRS
12 2 (0.38%) IFRS 17
12 2 (0.38%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.38%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.38%) PSD2
13 1 (0.19%) Basel III
13 1 (0.19%) RMADS
13 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 33 (6.25%) Active Directory
2 29 (5.49%) Docker
3 21 (3.98%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (3.03%) Virtual Machines
4 16 (3.03%) VMware ESXi
4 16 (3.03%) vSphere
5 9 (1.70%) BitLocker
6 4 (0.76%) Firmware
7 2 (0.38%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.19%) GPFS
8 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.19%) NFS
8 1 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 35 (6.63%) Kubernetes
2 29 (5.49%) Terraform
3 19 (3.60%) Ansible
4 17 (3.22%) SCCM
5 15 (2.84%) vCenter Server
6 8 (1.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 8 (1.52%) Grafana
7 6 (1.14%) Oracle RMAN
7 6 (1.14%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.38%) Norton AntiVirus
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco CUCM
12 1 (0.19%) Cisco Prime
12 1 (0.19%) Data Guard
12 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
12 1 (0.19%) Nagios
12 1 (0.19%) vRealize
Vendors
1 78 (14.77%) Microsoft
2 67 (12.69%) Cisco
3 39 (7.39%) Oracle
4 30 (5.68%) Palo Alto
4 30 (5.68%) ServiceNow
5 28 (5.30%) SAP
6 26 (4.92%) VMware
7 13 (2.46%) Citrix
8 11 (2.08%) Red Hat
9 8 (1.52%) Aruba
9 8 (1.52%) Google
9 8 (1.52%) Meraki
10 6 (1.14%) CheckPoint
10 6 (1.14%) Ekahau
10 6 (1.14%) IBM
10 6 (1.14%) Splunk
11 5 (0.95%) SolarWinds
12 4 (0.76%) Dell
12 4 (0.76%) EMC
12 4 (0.76%) NetApp