DV Cleared Contract Job Trends in the South East

Developed Vetting (DV) Clearance
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for DV Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 15 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 14 7
Rank change year-on-year +4 -7 +12
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 517 319 724
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 11.02% 10.16% 13.16%
As % of the Qualifications category 24.28% 27.45% 29.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 377 206 507
10th Percentile £463 £383 £212
25th Percentile £500 £487 £464
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £575 £582
Median % change year-on-year - -1.20% +4.86%
75th Percentile £688 £638 £675
90th Percentile £738 £700 £788
England median daily rate £575 £588 £600
% change year-on-year -2.13% -2.08% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 19 69
10th Percentile £52.55 £41.83 £47.12
25th Percentile £65.56 £55.87 £56.16
Median hourly rate £70.00 £61.50 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year +13.83% -2.84% -2.39%
75th Percentile £121.77 £65.17 £78.00
90th Percentile - £81.22 £85.92
England median hourly rate £65.00 £63.15 £64.45
% change year-on-year +2.93% -2.02% -7.59%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

DV 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 South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 2,129 1,162 2,422
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 45.38% 37.01% 44.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,432 732 1,387
10th Percentile £289 £263 £215
25th Percentile £413 £412 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £537
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.23% -0.09%
75th Percentile £606 £629 £638
90th Percentile £725 £686 £700
England median daily rate £520 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 201 65 171
10th Percentile £15.25 £18.58 £18.32
25th Percentile £19.10 £31.25 £40.35
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% -2.67% +29.56%
75th Percentile £60.00 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £80.06 £82.17
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.37 £45.21
% change year-on-year -46.91% +4.78% +0.47%

DV Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing DV Cleared relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

DV Cleared job vacancy trend in the South East

DV Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing DV Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing DV Cleared

DV Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DV Cleared in the South East over the 6 months to 15 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DV Cleared in the South East

DV Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing DV Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing DV Cleared

DV Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DV Cleared in the South East over the 6 months to 15 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DV Cleared in the South East

DV Cleared
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DV Cleared within the South East region over the 6 months to 15 February 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
Hampshire +2 358 £600 +4.35% 87
Thames Valley -11 145 £525 -7.49% 34
Buckinghamshire +11 84 £550 +22.91% 10
Berkshire -37 59 £500 -20.00% 23
Surrey - 6 £525 - 5
Middlesex - 3 - -
Oxfordshire -13 2 - - 2
West Sussex -13 1 £570 - 1
DV Cleared
England

DV Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 23 (4.45%) SharePoint
2 21 (4.06%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.77%) Apache
4 3 (0.58%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.39%) Documentum
6 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2003
6 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2007
6 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2010
6 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.19%) Office Communications Server
6 1 (0.19%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.19%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 22 (4.26%) Microsoft Excel
1 22 (4.26%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 10 (1.93%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.39%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 11 (2.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 4 (0.77%) Primavera
4 3 (0.58%) Oracle Assets
4 3 (0.58%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (0.58%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.58%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.39%) SAP EWM
5 2 (0.39%) SAP WM
6 1 (0.19%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 28 (5.42%) Azure
2 21 (4.06%) AWS
3 15 (2.90%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (2.51%) PaaS
5 12 (2.32%) Entra ID
5 12 (2.32%) IaaS
6 7 (1.35%) GitHub
7 6 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (1.16%) GCP
8 4 (0.77%) OpenShift
9 3 (0.58%) AWS CloudFormation
9 3 (0.58%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.58%) Power Platform
9 3 (0.58%) SaaS
9 3 (0.58%) Serverless
10 2 (0.39%) Amazon OpenSearch
10 2 (0.39%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (0.39%) Cloud Computing
10 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Purview
10 2 (0.39%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 43 (8.32%) Firewall
2 24 (4.64%) Junos
3 22 (4.26%) Cisco IOS
3 22 (4.26%) Cisco ISE
4 21 (4.06%) VPN
5 20 (3.87%) DNS
6 18 (3.48%) Cisco Firepower
7 15 (2.90%) BGP
8 12 (2.32%) Network Security
8 12 (2.32%) WAN
9 11 (2.13%) LAN
10 10 (1.93%) MPLS
10 10 (1.93%) TCP/IP
11 9 (1.74%) OSPF
12 8 (1.55%) SAN
13 6 (1.16%) Ethernet VPN
13 6 (1.16%) NX-OS
14 5 (0.97%) IPsec
14 5 (0.97%) VXLAN
15 4 (0.77%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.77%) SAP Data Services
1 4 (0.77%) SAP HANA
2 3 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
2 3 (0.58%) Power BI
2 3 (0.58%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.39%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.19%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.19%) Redis
4 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 11 (2.13%) JIRA
2 6 (1.16%) Git
3 5 (0.97%) Sonatype Nexus
4 4 (0.77%) GitLab
4 4 (0.77%) Robot Framework
5 2 (0.39%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.39%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.39%) MSI
6 1 (0.19%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 102 (19.73%) Social Skills
2 60 (11.61%) Public Sector
3 40 (7.74%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (6.77%) Finance
5 22 (4.26%) Military
6 15 (2.90%) Documentation Skills
7 14 (2.71%) Legal
7 14 (2.71%) Presentation Skills
8 10 (1.93%) Law
9 2 (0.39%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.39%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.19%) Environmental Health
10 1 (0.19%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.19%) Marketing
10 1 (0.19%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.19%) Police
10 1 (0.19%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 143 (27.66%) Architect
2 39 (7.54%) Network Engineer
3 38 (7.35%) Lead
4 36 (6.96%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
4 36 (6.96%) Senior
5 32 (6.19%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 30 (5.80%) Infrastructure Architect
7 27 (5.22%) Analyst
8 25 (4.84%) Cloud Engineer
9 24 (4.64%) Tester
10 23 (4.45%) Support Engineer
11 22 (4.26%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
11 22 (4.26%) Cloud Network Engineer
11 22 (4.26%) Project Manager
12 20 (3.87%) Security Architect
12 20 (3.87%) Technical Architect
13 18 (3.48%) 3rd Line Support
13 18 (3.48%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
13 18 (3.48%) DV Cleared Project Manager
13 18 (3.48%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.16%) REST
1 6 (1.16%) SailPoint
2 4 (0.77%) BAPI
2 4 (0.77%) SAP Smart Forms
2 4 (0.77%) Web Services
3 3 (0.58%) 802.1X
3 3 (0.58%) Oracle Fusion
4 2 (0.39%) .NET
4 2 (0.39%) Apache NiFi
4 2 (0.39%) Kafka
4 2 (0.39%) OAuth
4 2 (0.39%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.39%) OpenAPI
4 2 (0.39%) OpenID
4 2 (0.39%) React
4 2 (0.39%) RESTful
4 2 (0.39%) Swagger
5 1 (0.19%) FastAPI
5 1 (0.19%) Next.js
5 1 (0.19%) Tailwind CSS
Miscellaneous
1 54 (10.44%) PKI
2 14 (2.71%) Data Centre
2 14 (2.71%) Product Ownership
3 11 (2.13%) Fat Client
3 11 (2.13%) Thin Client
4 9 (1.74%) Greenfield Project
4 9 (1.74%) Security Operations Centre
5 6 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
5 6 (1.16%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (0.97%) Onboarding
6 5 (0.97%) PMI
7 4 (0.77%) Algorithms
7 4 (0.77%) Cyberattack
7 4 (0.77%) Replication
7 4 (0.77%) Smartcard
8 3 (0.58%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.39%) Cloud Native
9 2 (0.39%) CSOC
9 2 (0.39%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 2 (0.39%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 119 (23.02%) Windows
2 65 (12.57%) Linux
3 35 (6.77%) Windows Server
4 13 (2.51%) Windows 10
5 11 (2.13%) Windows 7
6 6 (1.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.58%) Debian
7 3 (0.58%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.58%) Unix
7 3 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.19%) VMS
8 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (25.92%) Agile
2 44 (8.51%) Problem-Solving
3 41 (7.93%) ITIL
4 39 (7.54%) Project Management
4 39 (7.54%) Service Management
5 38 (7.35%) DevOps
6 37 (7.16%) Stakeholder Management
7 36 (6.96%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 32 (6.19%) ITSM
9 31 (6.00%) CI/CD
10 28 (5.42%) Decision-Making
11 25 (4.84%) Continuous Improvement
11 25 (4.84%) Cybersecurity
12 24 (4.64%) Enterprise Architecture
13 22 (4.26%) Scrum
14 21 (4.06%) Risk Management
15 20 (3.87%) Migration
15 20 (3.87%) Roadmaps
16 19 (3.68%) Collaborative Working
16 19 (3.68%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 39 (7.54%) PowerShell
2 30 (5.80%) Python
3 8 (1.55%) SQL
4 4 (0.77%) ABAP
4 4 (0.77%) Bash
4 4 (0.77%) Java
5 2 (0.39%) C#
5 2 (0.39%) Shell Script
6 1 (0.19%) Bicep
6 1 (0.19%) C
6 1 (0.19%) C++
6 1 (0.19%) Go
6 1 (0.19%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.19%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (0.19%) Rust
6 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 517 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 78 (15.09%) SC Cleared
3 13 (2.51%) Degree
4 9 (1.74%) CCNP
4 9 (1.74%) Cisco Certification
5 8 (1.55%) CISSP
6 7 (1.35%) CCNA
7 6 (1.16%) JNCIS
7 6 (1.16%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (0.97%) CISM
8 5 (0.97%) ISTQB
8 5 (0.97%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 5 (0.97%) PMI Certification
8 5 (0.97%) PMP
8 5 (0.97%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 4 (0.77%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (0.77%) CompTIA Security+
9 4 (0.77%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.77%) GIAC
10 3 (0.58%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.45%) PMO
2 19 (3.68%) NIST
3 13 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (1.93%) GRC
5 8 (1.55%) GDPR
6 7 (1.35%) NCSC
6 7 (1.35%) SLA
7 5 (0.97%) P3O
8 4 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 4 (0.77%) JSP 440
8 4 (0.77%) QA
9 3 (0.58%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.39%) GMP
11 1 (0.19%) COBIT
11 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.19%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.19%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 53 (10.25%) Active Directory
2 26 (5.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (4.84%) VMware NSX
4 11 (2.13%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (1.74%) Docker
5 9 (1.74%) vSphere
6 7 (1.35%) vCloud
7 4 (0.77%) Firmware
7 4 (0.77%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.77%) NFS
8 2 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.19%) Brightmail
9 1 (0.19%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.19%) UAG
Systems Management
1 32 (6.19%) vCenter Server
2 17 (3.29%) Ansible
3 16 (3.09%) WMI
4 14 (2.71%) Terraform
5 10 (1.93%) SCCM
6 9 (1.74%) Kubernetes
7 6 (1.16%) Forefront Identity Manager
7 6 (1.16%) NetIQ Identity Manager
7 6 (1.16%) SCOM
8 5 (0.97%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (0.97%) Podman
9 4 (0.77%) Grafana
9 4 (0.77%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.77%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.58%) Endace
10 3 (0.58%) Proxmox
10 3 (0.58%) Puppet
10 3 (0.58%) vRealize
10 3 (0.58%) vRealize Orchestrator
11 2 (0.39%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 72 (13.93%) VMware
2 65 (12.57%) Microsoft
3 50 (9.67%) Cisco
4 35 (6.77%) Juniper
5 24 (4.64%) SolarWinds
6 20 (3.87%) SAP
7 13 (2.51%) Splunk
8 11 (2.13%) Red Hat
9 10 (1.93%) Palo Alto
10 8 (1.55%) Sparx
11 7 (1.35%) Broadcom
11 7 (1.35%) F5
12 6 (1.16%) Aruba
12 6 (1.16%) BiZZdesign
12 6 (1.16%) NetIQ
12 6 (1.16%) Thales
12 6 (1.16%) Zscaler
13 5 (0.97%) NetApp
13 5 (0.97%) Nokia
13 5 (0.97%) ServiceNow