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

6 months to
12 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 531 418 438
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 16.70% 21.68% 15.87%
As % of the Qualifications category 57.41% 59.29% 53.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 352 247 278
10th Percentile £355 £242 £350
25th Percentile £418 £409 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £625 £584 £670
90th Percentile £750 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £540 £550
% change year-on-year -2.78% -1.82% -0.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 18 61
10th Percentile £22.68 £25.26 -
25th Percentile £28.50 £32.51 £10.95
Median hourly rate £60.61 £59.29 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.23% +308.90% -61.33%
75th Percentile £74.26 £75.63 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.87 £85.85 £73.75
England median hourly rate £52.78 £57.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year -8.22% +9.52% -12.50%

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 925 705 822
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 29.10% 36.57% 29.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 615 409 470
10th Percentile £313 £229 £248
25th Percentile £394 £388 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £490 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% -4.39% +1.64%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £655
90th Percentile £680 £651 £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 £22.68 £20.50 £10.95
25th Percentile £30.49 £25.26 £11.77
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £71.50 £60.00 £38.43
90th Percentile £76.38 £82.85 £50.00
England median hourly rate £43.00 £50.00 £39.44
% change year-on-year -14.00% +26.79% -23.43%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -8 164 £488 -2.47% 107
Lancashire +2 131 £623 +43.02% 48
Cumbria 0 120 £496 -6.99% 14
Cheshire -5 79 £450 +28.57% 17
Merseyside -12 29 £625 +13.64% 4
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 (5.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (1.69%) Skype for Business
3 8 (1.51%) Confluence
4 7 (1.32%) SharePoint
5 6 (1.13%) Apache Spark
6 5 (0.94%) Apache
7 4 (0.75%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.56%) MTS
9 2 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.38%) CICS
9 2 (0.38%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.19%) CMS
10 1 (0.19%) nginx
10 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 19 (3.58%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.56%) 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 9 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.94%) SAP VC
3 3 (0.56%) SAP QM
4 2 (0.38%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.38%) Primavera
4 2 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
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 77 (14.50%) AWS
2 52 (9.79%) Azure
3 23 (4.33%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (3.20%) GCP
5 13 (2.45%) Entra ID
5 13 (2.45%) Power Platform
6 12 (2.26%) Serverless
7 11 (2.07%) GitHub
8 9 (1.69%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.51%) Amazon EKS
10 7 (1.32%) Amazon S3
11 5 (0.94%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (0.75%) Amazon EC2
12 4 (0.75%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (0.75%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (0.75%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (0.75%) OneDrive
12 4 (0.75%) OpenShift
12 4 (0.75%) SaaS
13 3 (0.56%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 71 (13.37%) Firewall
2 42 (7.91%) VLAN
3 30 (5.65%) WAN
4 27 (5.08%) Wi-Fi
5 24 (4.52%) DNS
5 24 (4.52%) Network Security
6 18 (3.39%) LAN
7 16 (3.01%) DHCP
7 16 (3.01%) VPN
8 15 (2.82%) SAN
9 13 (2.45%) BGP
9 13 (2.45%) Wireless
10 12 (2.26%) TCP/IP
11 10 (1.88%) Cisco ISE
11 10 (1.88%) NetScaler
11 10 (1.88%) WebEx
12 9 (1.69%) Skype
13 8 (1.51%) Software-Defined Networking
14 7 (1.32%) Cisco IOS
14 7 (1.32%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (3.77%) PostgreSQL
2 13 (2.45%) Power BI
3 11 (2.07%) MySQL
3 11 (2.07%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.88%) MongoDB
4 10 (1.88%) NoSQL
5 9 (1.69%) Elasticsearch
5 9 (1.69%) Oracle Database
5 9 (1.69%) Relational Database
6 7 (1.32%) Metadata
7 6 (1.13%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 5 (0.94%) Oracle Database 12c
9 4 (0.75%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.75%) Hadoop
9 4 (0.75%) Tableau
10 3 (0.56%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.56%) Data Lake
10 3 (0.56%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.38%) BigQuery
11 2 (0.38%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 24 (4.52%) GitLab
2 18 (3.39%) Git
3 13 (2.45%) JIRA
4 7 (1.32%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.75%) MSI
5 4 (0.75%) Postman
5 4 (0.75%) Selenium
6 3 (0.56%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.38%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.38%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.38%) Gatling
7 2 (0.38%) Jasmine
7 2 (0.38%) JMeter
7 2 (0.38%) Mockito
7 2 (0.38%) Serenity BDD
7 2 (0.38%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.19%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.19%) InstallShield
8 1 (0.19%) Mocha
8 1 (0.19%) Rational DOORS
General
1 152 (28.63%) Public Sector
2 122 (22.98%) Social Skills
3 35 (6.59%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (6.21%) Finance
5 22 (4.14%) Documentation Skills
6 21 (3.95%) Military
7 18 (3.39%) Legal
8 12 (2.26%) Aerospace
8 12 (2.26%) Banking
9 9 (1.69%) Manufacturing
10 7 (1.32%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (0.94%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (0.75%) Aviation
12 4 (0.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (0.75%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.56%) Electronics
13 3 (0.56%) Marketing
13 3 (0.56%) Telecoms
14 2 (0.38%) Corporate Banking
14 2 (0.38%) Law
Job Titles
1 75 (14.12%) Architect
2 56 (10.55%) Developer
3 49 (9.23%) Lead
4 45 (8.47%) Network Engineer
5 32 (6.03%) Senior
6 29 (5.46%) Analyst
7 26 (4.90%) Administrator
8 24 (4.52%) Platform Engineer
9 22 (4.14%) Technical Architect
10 20 (3.77%) Consultant
10 20 (3.77%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 19 (3.58%) DBA
12 16 (3.01%) Coordinator
12 16 (3.01%) Lead Architect
13 15 (2.82%) Data Engineer
14 14 (2.64%) Support Engineer
15 13 (2.45%) DevOps Engineer
15 13 (2.45%) Engagement Manager
15 13 (2.45%) Security Assurance Coordinator
15 13 (2.45%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (5.27%) Spring
2 24 (4.52%) Spring Boot
3 16 (3.01%) 802.1X
4 13 (2.45%) Kafka
4 13 (2.45%) Node.js
4 13 (2.45%) RESTful
5 9 (1.69%) XMPP
6 7 (1.32%) HTML
6 7 (1.32%) JSON
6 7 (1.32%) Playwright
6 7 (1.32%) REST
7 6 (1.13%) Apache NiFi
7 6 (1.13%) CSS
7 6 (1.13%) Hibernate
7 6 (1.13%) OAuth
7 6 (1.13%) React
7 6 (1.13%) XML
8 5 (0.94%) Jest
8 5 (0.94%) Leaflet
8 5 (0.94%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 47 (8.85%) Data Centre
2 38 (7.16%) Product Ownership
3 17 (3.20%) Onboarding
4 16 (3.01%) Replication
5 14 (2.64%) Clustering
6 10 (1.88%) Cyber Threat
6 10 (1.88%) Operational Technology
7 8 (1.51%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.13%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.13%) Private Cloud
9 5 (0.94%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (0.94%) Driving Licence
9 5 (0.94%) Fat Client
9 5 (0.94%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.94%) Mobile App
9 5 (0.94%) Security Posture
9 5 (0.94%) Thin Client
10 4 (0.75%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (0.75%) Management Information System
11 3 (0.56%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 61 (11.49%) Windows
2 40 (7.53%) Linux
3 23 (4.33%) Windows Server
4 22 (4.14%) Windows 10
5 16 (3.01%) Unix
6 14 (2.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.07%) Solaris
8 9 (1.69%) Windows 7
9 4 (0.75%) Android
10 3 (0.56%) AIX
10 3 (0.56%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.38%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.38%) Mac OS X
11 2 (0.38%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (14.12%) Agile
2 66 (12.43%) Problem-Solving
3 53 (9.98%) CI/CD
3 53 (9.98%) DevOps
4 52 (9.79%) ITSM
5 49 (9.23%) Continuous Improvement
5 49 (9.23%) Service Management
5 49 (9.23%) Stakeholder Management
6 46 (8.66%) Cybersecurity
7 44 (8.29%) Migration
7 44 (8.29%) Project Delivery
8 43 (8.10%) High Availability
9 38 (7.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 35 (6.59%) Containerisation
11 34 (6.40%) Platform Engineering
12 32 (6.03%) Risk Management
12 32 (6.03%) Technical Leadership
13 31 (5.84%) Disaster Recovery
14 30 (5.65%) Microservices
14 30 (5.65%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 58 (10.92%) Python
2 54 (10.17%) PowerShell
3 48 (9.04%) Java
4 25 (4.71%) SQL
5 19 (3.58%) Bash
5 19 (3.58%) JavaScript
6 13 (2.45%) Perl
7 12 (2.26%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.69%) VB
8 9 (1.69%) VBScript
9 5 (0.94%) Go
9 5 (0.94%) Rust
10 4 (0.75%) Ruby
11 3 (0.56%) C#
12 2 (0.38%) AWK
12 2 (0.38%) COBOL
12 2 (0.38%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.38%) Kusto Query Language
13 1 (0.19%) Bicep
13 1 (0.19%) Scala
Qualifications
1 348 (65.54%) SC Cleared
2 76 (14.31%) DV Cleared
3 53 (9.98%) BPSS Clearance
4 38 (7.16%) Cisco Certification
5 35 (6.59%) CCNP
5 35 (6.59%) Degree
6 32 (6.03%) CCNA
7 14 (2.64%) CISSP
7 14 (2.64%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (2.07%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (1.51%) AWS Certification
9 8 (1.51%) Azure Certification
9 8 (1.51%) CCDP
9 8 (1.51%) CISM
9 8 (1.51%) ITIL Certification
9 8 (1.51%) MCSA
9 8 (1.51%) MCSE
9 8 (1.51%) VCAP
9 8 (1.51%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 6 (1.13%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (4.71%) NIST
2 16 (3.01%) QA
3 15 (2.82%) Accessibility
4 14 (2.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 12 (2.26%) JSP 440
5 12 (2.26%) SLA
6 7 (1.32%) Data Quality
7 6 (1.13%) GDPR
7 6 (1.13%) NCSC
8 4 (0.75%) GRC
8 4 (0.75%) WCAG
9 3 (0.56%) IFRS
9 3 (0.56%) PMO
10 2 (0.38%) IFRS 17
10 2 (0.38%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.38%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.38%) PSD2
11 1 (0.19%) Basel III
11 1 (0.19%) CRD IV
11 1 (0.19%) RMADS
System Software
1 34 (6.40%) Docker
2 28 (5.27%) Active Directory
3 20 (3.77%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.07%) vSphere
5 10 (1.88%) Virtual Machines
5 10 (1.88%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (1.69%) BitLocker
7 4 (0.75%) Firmware
8 2 (0.38%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.19%) GPFS
9 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
9 1 (0.19%) NFS
9 1 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 36 (6.78%) Kubernetes
2 30 (5.65%) Terraform
3 16 (3.01%) SCCM
4 14 (2.64%) Ansible
5 9 (1.69%) vCenter Server
6 8 (1.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 8 (1.51%) Grafana
7 6 (1.13%) Oracle RMAN
7 6 (1.13%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Intune
9 3 (0.56%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.56%) Norton AntiVirus
10 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.19%) Cisco CUCM
11 1 (0.19%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.19%) Data Guard
11 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
11 1 (0.19%) vRealize
11 1 (0.19%) VxRail
Vendors
1 72 (13.56%) Cisco
2 71 (13.37%) Microsoft
3 37 (6.97%) Palo Alto
4 34 (6.40%) Oracle
5 33 (6.21%) SAP
6 31 (5.84%) ServiceNow
7 25 (4.71%) VMware
8 14 (2.64%) Citrix
8 14 (2.64%) Meraki
9 11 (2.07%) Red Hat
10 8 (1.51%) Aruba
11 6 (1.13%) CheckPoint
11 6 (1.13%) Ekahau
11 6 (1.13%) IBM
11 6 (1.13%) Splunk
12 5 (0.94%) Dell
12 5 (0.94%) Juniper
12 5 (0.94%) SolarWinds
13 4 (0.75%) F5
13 4 (0.75%) RedGate