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 17 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 14 7
Rank change year-on-year +3 -7 +18
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 489 354 640
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 11.08% 10.58% 12.54%
As % of the Qualifications category 25.04% 28.16% 28.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 366 240 449
10th Percentile £463 £371 £209
25th Percentile £500 £475 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year - - +3.60%
75th Percentile £675 £638 £649
90th Percentile £738 £700 £738
England median daily rate £575 £588 £600
% change year-on-year -2.13% -2.08% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 18 57
10th Percentile £52.55 £52.95 £48.40
25th Percentile £65.56 £56.65 £55.00
Median hourly rate £70.00 £62.32 £61.65
Median % change year-on-year +12.32% +1.10% -5.16%
75th Percentile £121.77 £65.62 £70.50
90th Percentile - £78.23 £78.00
England median hourly rate £46.24 £63.15 £63.29
% change year-on-year -26.78% -0.22% -8.94%

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 1,953 1,257 2,260
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 44.25% 37.56% 44.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,316 812 1,338
10th Percentile £274 £256 £213
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £537
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.23% +0.14%
75th Percentile £600 £636 £638
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 189 70 142
10th Percentile £15.62 £19.90 £27.04
25th Percentile £19.38 £31.25 £49.79
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% -5.43% +33.33%
75th Percentile £55.00 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £77.31 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £50.00
% change year-on-year -45.54% -7.64% +11.11%

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 17 January 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 17 January 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 17 January 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 0 339 £600 +4.35% 65
Thames Valley -13 138 £550 -1.79% 18
Buckinghamshire +9 82 £550 +27.91%
Berkshire -45 55 £500 -20.00% 15
Middlesex - 5 - -
Surrey - 3 £525 - 6
Oxfordshire -10 1 - - 3
West Sussex - 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 (4.70%) SharePoint
2 18 (3.68%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.02%) Exchange Server 2003
3 5 (1.02%) Exchange Server 2007
3 5 (1.02%) Exchange Server 2010
3 5 (1.02%) Exchange Server 2013
3 5 (1.02%) Office Communications Server
3 5 (1.02%) SharePoint Server
3 5 (1.02%) Skype for Business
4 4 (0.82%) Apache
5 3 (0.61%) Documentum
5 3 (0.61%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 23 (4.70%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (3.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (2.04%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (2.04%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.41%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 14 (2.86%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.43%) SAP EWM
2 7 (1.43%) SAP WM
3 6 (1.23%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 4 (0.82%) Primavera
5 3 (0.61%) Oracle Assets
5 3 (0.61%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.61%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.61%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.20%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 26 (5.32%) Azure
2 18 (3.68%) AWS
3 13 (2.66%) Entra ID
3 13 (2.66%) Microsoft 365
4 11 (2.25%) PaaS
5 10 (2.04%) IaaS
6 7 (1.43%) Azure DevOps
6 7 (1.43%) GitHub
7 4 (0.82%) GCP
8 3 (0.61%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.61%) Serverless
9 2 (0.41%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (0.41%) Google Workspace
9 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Purview
9 2 (0.41%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.41%) OpenShift
9 2 (0.41%) Power Platform
9 2 (0.41%) PowerApps
9 2 (0.41%) SaaS
10 1 (0.20%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 39 (7.98%) Firewall
2 24 (4.91%) Cisco IOS
2 24 (4.91%) Junos
3 23 (4.70%) VPN
4 20 (4.09%) Cisco Firepower
4 20 (4.09%) Cisco ISE
5 19 (3.89%) DNS
6 12 (2.45%) SAN
7 11 (2.25%) BGP
7 11 (2.25%) LAN
8 10 (2.04%) TCP/IP
8 10 (2.04%) WAN
9 9 (1.84%) MPLS
10 6 (1.23%) DHCP
10 6 (1.23%) iSCSI
10 6 (1.23%) NX-OS
11 5 (1.02%) DDNS
11 5 (1.02%) Network Security
11 5 (1.02%) OSPF
12 4 (0.82%) S/MIME
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.82%) SAP HANA
2 3 (0.61%) SAP Data Services
3 2 (0.41%) Power BI
3 2 (0.41%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.20%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.20%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.20%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 10 (2.04%) JIRA
2 8 (1.64%) GitLab
3 7 (1.43%) Git
4 4 (0.82%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.82%) Robot Framework
4 4 (0.82%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.41%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.41%) MSI
6 1 (0.20%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.20%) Selenium
6 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 107 (21.88%) Social Skills
2 56 (11.45%) Public Sector
3 33 (6.75%) Analytical Skills
4 32 (6.54%) Finance
5 18 (3.68%) Military
6 17 (3.48%) Presentation Skills
7 14 (2.86%) Law
8 10 (2.04%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (1.64%) Legal
9 8 (1.64%) Manufacturing
10 2 (0.41%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.20%) Environmental Health
11 1 (0.20%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.20%) Marketing
11 1 (0.20%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.20%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.20%) Police
11 1 (0.20%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 129 (26.38%) Architect
2 40 (8.18%) Network Engineer
3 37 (7.57%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
4 35 (7.16%) Lead
5 34 (6.95%) 3rd Line Engineer
5 34 (6.95%) Senior
6 31 (6.34%) Infrastructure Architect
7 29 (5.93%) Support Engineer
8 27 (5.52%) Cloud Engineer
9 26 (5.32%) Analyst
10 25 (5.11%) Consultant
11 24 (4.91%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
11 24 (4.91%) Cloud Network Engineer
12 22 (4.50%) Tester
13 21 (4.29%) Project Manager
14 20 (4.09%) 3rd Line Support
14 20 (4.09%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
15 17 (3.48%) DV Cleared Project Manager
16 16 (3.27%) DevOps Engineer
17 15 (3.07%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.02%) REST
1 5 (1.02%) RESTful
1 5 (1.02%) SailPoint
2 4 (0.82%) BAPI
2 4 (0.82%) SAP Smart Forms
2 4 (0.82%) Swagger
2 4 (0.82%) Web Services
3 3 (0.61%) Oracle Fusion
4 2 (0.41%) .NET
4 2 (0.41%) Apache NiFi
5 1 (0.20%) Django
5 1 (0.20%) Elastic Stack
5 1 (0.20%) FastAPI
5 1 (0.20%) gRPC
5 1 (0.20%) Kafka
5 1 (0.20%) Keycloak
5 1 (0.20%) OAuth
5 1 (0.20%) OpenAPI
5 1 (0.20%) OpenID
5 1 (0.20%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 52 (10.63%) PKI
2 12 (2.45%) Product Ownership
3 11 (2.25%) Fat Client
3 11 (2.25%) Security Operations Centre
3 11 (2.25%) Thin Client
4 8 (1.64%) Data Centre
4 8 (1.64%) Replication
5 6 (1.23%) Greenfield Project
6 5 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
6 5 (1.02%) Cyber Threat
6 5 (1.02%) Freedom of Information Act
6 5 (1.02%) PMI
7 4 (0.82%) Algorithms
7 4 (0.82%) Cyberattack
7 4 (0.82%) Freedom of Information
7 4 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (0.82%) Onboarding
7 4 (0.82%) Smartcard
8 3 (0.61%) CSOC
8 3 (0.61%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 120 (24.54%) Windows
2 59 (12.07%) Linux
3 34 (6.95%) Windows Server
4 15 (3.07%) Windows 10
5 11 (2.25%) Windows 7
6 5 (1.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (1.02%) Unix
6 5 (1.02%) Windows Server 2003
6 5 (1.02%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (0.61%) Debian
7 3 (0.61%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (26.58%) Agile
2 40 (8.18%) ITIL
2 40 (8.18%) Problem-Solving
3 39 (7.98%) DevOps
4 38 (7.77%) Project Management
5 35 (7.16%) CI/CD
5 35 (7.16%) Service Management
5 35 (7.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 33 (6.75%) Stakeholder Management
7 30 (6.13%) ITSM
8 24 (4.91%) Cybersecurity
9 22 (4.50%) Continuous Improvement
9 22 (4.50%) Decision-Making
9 22 (4.50%) Enterprise Architecture
10 20 (4.09%) Risk Management
11 19 (3.89%) Roadmaps
11 19 (3.89%) Scrum
12 18 (3.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 18 (3.68%) Project Delivery
12 18 (3.68%) Prototyping
Programming Languages
1 44 (9.00%) PowerShell
2 33 (6.75%) Python
3 14 (2.86%) SQL
4 9 (1.84%) Java
5 7 (1.43%) Bash
6 5 (1.02%) JavaScript
7 4 (0.82%) ABAP
8 3 (0.61%) Go
9 2 (0.41%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.20%) Bicep
10 1 (0.20%) C
10 1 (0.20%) C#
10 1 (0.20%) C++
10 1 (0.20%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.20%) Rust
Qualifications
1 489 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 83 (16.97%) SC Cleared
3 15 (3.07%) Degree
4 8 (1.64%) CISSP
5 7 (1.43%) CCNP
5 7 (1.43%) Cisco Certification
5 7 (1.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 6 (1.23%) CCNA
6 6 (1.23%) CISM
6 6 (1.23%) JNCIS
6 6 (1.23%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.02%) PMI Certification
7 5 (1.02%) PMP
7 5 (1.02%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 4 (0.82%) CompTIA Security+
8 4 (0.82%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (0.82%) GIAC
8 4 (0.82%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.82%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 4 (0.82%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.89%) PMO
2 18 (3.68%) NIST
3 13 (2.66%) GDPR
4 12 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 12 (2.45%) SLA
5 10 (2.04%) GRC
6 6 (1.23%) QA
7 5 (1.02%) NCSC
7 5 (1.02%) P3O
8 4 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 4 (0.82%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.61%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.41%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.41%) COBIT
10 2 (0.41%) GMP
11 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.20%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.20%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 53 (10.84%) Active Directory
2 27 (5.52%) VMware NSX
3 23 (4.70%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.25%) VMware ESXi
5 10 (2.04%) vSphere
6 8 (1.64%) Docker
7 6 (1.23%) NFS
7 6 (1.23%) vCloud
8 5 (1.02%) Brightmail
8 5 (1.02%) ISA Server
9 4 (0.82%) Firmware
10 2 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.20%) UAG
Systems Management
1 31 (6.34%) vCenter Server
2 19 (3.89%) Ansible
3 16 (3.27%) WMI
4 14 (2.86%) Terraform
5 10 (2.04%) SCCM
6 9 (1.84%) Kubernetes
7 6 (1.23%) Microsoft Clustering
7 6 (1.23%) Proxmox
7 6 (1.23%) SCOM
7 6 (1.23%) vRealize
8 5 (1.02%) Forefront Identity Manager
8 5 (1.02%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (1.02%) NetIQ Identity Manager
8 5 (1.02%) Podman
9 4 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.61%) Grafana
10 3 (0.61%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.61%) Rundeck
10 3 (0.61%) Salt
10 3 (0.61%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 69 (14.11%) Microsoft
2 67 (13.70%) VMware
3 48 (9.82%) Cisco
4 37 (7.57%) Juniper
5 23 (4.70%) SAP
5 23 (4.70%) SolarWinds
6 13 (2.66%) Splunk
7 9 (1.84%) Red Hat
8 7 (1.43%) NetApp
8 7 (1.43%) Palo Alto
8 7 (1.43%) Sparx
9 6 (1.23%) NetIQ
9 6 (1.23%) ServiceNow
9 6 (1.23%) Thales
10 5 (1.02%) Aruba
10 5 (1.02%) Broadcom
10 5 (1.02%) F5
10 5 (1.02%) Nokia
10 5 (1.02%) Veeam
10 5 (1.02%) Zscaler