Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in the South East

Security Clearance
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 13 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 1 2 1
Rank change year-on-year +1 -1 0
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 1,659 761 1,779
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 35.02% 24.17% 32.60%
As % of the Qualifications category 77.27% 65.21% 74.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,174 519 971
10th Percentile £309 £313 £275
25th Percentile £431 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £522 £550 £560
Median % change year-on-year -5.09% -1.79% +1.82%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £688 £719
England median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -2.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 147 55 131
10th Percentile £16.35 £19.27 £27.50
25th Percentile £19.41 £33.13 £51.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £61.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -59.10% +2.49% -
75th Percentile £60.13 £65.17 £71.90
90th Percentile £95.00 £80.06 £84.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £58.00
% change year-on-year -58.08% +3.46% -3.34%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

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 South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 2,147 1,167 2,402
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 45.32% 37.06% 44.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,445 737 1,377
10th Percentile £292 £263 £215
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -
75th Percentile £600 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £520 £525 £541
% change year-on-year -0.95% -3.00% -1.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 201 67 170
10th Percentile £15.25 £18.62 £18.32
25th Percentile £19.10 £31.25 £40.17
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 £80.04 £82.26
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year -47.05% +3.53% +1.96%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in the South East

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the South East over the 6 months to 13 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in the South East

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in the South East over the 6 months to 13 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in the South East

Security 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 Security Cleared within the South East region over the 6 months to 13 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
Thames Valley +1 776 £485 -7.71% 147
Hampshire 0 715 £550 -4.35% 185
Berkshire +1 540 £450 -18.18% 91
Buckinghamshire +1 187 £550 +20.22% 43
Surrey +22 78 £525 -19.23% 31
Oxfordshire +9 49 £325 -48.00% 21
West Sussex +7 42 £537 -14.76% 10
Kent +6 27 £441 +60.45% 24
Sussex -1 6 £475 +9.83% 7
Middlesex - 4 - -
East Sussex +1 3 £588 +6.82% 5
Isle of Wight - 1 £81 -
Security Cleared
England

Security 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 46 (2.77%) SharePoint
2 40 (2.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (0.90%) Confluence
4 5 (0.30%) Apache
5 4 (0.24%) ArcGIS
5 4 (0.24%) IIS
5 4 (0.24%) Oracle Workflow
6 3 (0.18%) Documentum
6 3 (0.18%) MS Project Server
7 2 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.12%) GeoServer
7 2 (0.12%) NetWeaver
7 2 (0.12%) SAP EP
7 2 (0.12%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.12%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.060%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.060%) Apache Pulsar
8 1 (0.060%) Exchange Server 2007
8 1 (0.060%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.060%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 60 (3.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 59 (3.56%) Microsoft Office
3 34 (2.05%) Microsoft Project
4 28 (1.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (0.60%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.060%) CATIA
6 1 (0.060%) PTC Creo
6 1 (0.060%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 29 (1.75%) SAP S/4HANA
1 29 (1.75%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 6 (0.36%) Oracle Assets
2 6 (0.36%) Oracle Payables
2 6 (0.36%) SAP HR
2 6 (0.36%) SAP Payroll
3 5 (0.30%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 5 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
3 5 (0.30%) SAP HCM
3 5 (0.30%) SAP PSCD
4 4 (0.24%) Oracle ERP
4 4 (0.24%) Primavera
4 4 (0.24%) SAP BRIM
4 4 (0.24%) SAP Hybris
5 3 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.18%) SAP WM
6 2 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.12%) SAP CRM
6 2 (0.12%) SAP PS
6 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 250 (15.07%) Azure
2 187 (11.27%) AWS
3 81 (4.88%) GCP
4 69 (4.16%) Microsoft 365
5 63 (3.80%) Entra ID
6 37 (2.23%) Azure DevOps
6 37 (2.23%) OpenShift
7 34 (2.05%) GitHub
8 31 (1.87%) Power Platform
9 22 (1.33%) IaaS
10 20 (1.21%) PaaS
11 19 (1.15%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (1.15%) OneDrive
12 15 (0.90%) Cloud Computing
13 13 (0.78%) SaaS
14 11 (0.66%) AWS CloudFormation
14 11 (0.66%) Power Automate
14 11 (0.66%) Serverless
15 10 (0.60%) Datadog
15 10 (0.60%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 119 (7.17%) Firewall
2 73 (4.40%) DNS
3 52 (3.13%) WAN
4 50 (3.01%) LAN
5 46 (2.77%) Network Security
6 45 (2.71%) BGP
7 43 (2.59%) DHCP
8 40 (2.41%) OSPF
9 38 (2.29%) TCP/IP
9 38 (2.29%) VPN
10 27 (1.63%) VLAN
11 24 (1.45%) IPsec
11 24 (1.45%) Wireless
12 23 (1.39%) Cisco IOS
12 23 (1.39%) Cisco ISE
12 23 (1.39%) Junos
13 21 (1.27%) Structured Cabling
14 20 (1.21%) Cisco Firepower
15 18 (1.08%) MPLS
16 13 (0.78%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (1.69%) Power BI
2 27 (1.63%) SQL Server
3 20 (1.21%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (0.66%) Metadata
5 9 (0.54%) NoSQL
5 9 (0.54%) Redis
6 8 (0.48%) Azure SQL Database
6 8 (0.48%) Relational Database
7 7 (0.42%) SAP HANA
8 6 (0.36%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.30%) Metadata Repository
9 5 (0.30%) Oracle Database
9 5 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (0.24%) MySQL
10 4 (0.24%) SAP Data Services
11 3 (0.18%) GIS
12 2 (0.12%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.12%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.12%) Geospatial Data
12 2 (0.12%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 48 (2.89%) JIRA
2 36 (2.17%) Jenkins
3 34 (2.05%) GitLab
4 30 (1.81%) Git
5 22 (1.33%) Burp Suite
5 22 (1.33%) Metasploit
6 8 (0.48%) Artifactory
7 7 (0.42%) Android Studio
8 6 (0.36%) Maven
8 6 (0.36%) SonarQube
8 6 (0.36%) Subversion
9 5 (0.30%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.30%) Gradle
9 5 (0.30%) JUnit
9 5 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
10 4 (0.24%) Cypress.io
10 4 (0.24%) Rational DOORS
10 4 (0.24%) Robot Framework
10 4 (0.24%) Storybook
10 4 (0.24%) Visual Studio
General
1 454 (27.37%) Social Skills
2 292 (17.60%) Public Sector
3 177 (10.67%) Analytical Skills
4 93 (5.61%) Finance
5 69 (4.16%) Documentation Skills
6 39 (2.35%) Military
7 35 (2.11%) Manufacturing
8 33 (1.99%) Aerospace
9 30 (1.81%) Legal
9 30 (1.81%) Telecoms
10 29 (1.75%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (1.27%) Law
12 15 (0.90%) Marketing
12 15 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
13 14 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
14 10 (0.60%) Electronics
15 9 (0.54%) Billing
16 8 (0.48%) Aviation
17 6 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.36%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 273 (16.46%) Architect
2 134 (8.08%) Senior
3 124 (7.47%) Lead
4 117 (7.05%) Analyst
5 102 (6.15%) Network Engineer
6 95 (5.73%) Consultant
7 82 (4.94%) Developer
8 59 (3.56%) Support Engineer
9 53 (3.19%) Project Manager
10 52 (3.13%) Tester
11 50 (3.01%) DevOps Engineer
12 47 (2.83%) Enterprise Architect
13 45 (2.71%) Technical Architect
14 43 (2.59%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 42 (2.53%) Cloud Engineer
16 38 (2.29%) Infrastructure Architect
17 36 (2.17%) IT Engineer
18 35 (2.11%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
18 35 (2.11%) Security Architect
19 33 (1.99%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (1.93%) LDAP
2 25 (1.51%) REST
3 24 (1.45%) React
4 17 (1.02%) .NET
4 17 (1.02%) Elastic Stack
5 16 (0.96%) JSON
5 16 (0.96%) Kafka
6 14 (0.84%) RESTful
7 13 (0.78%) AngularJS
8 12 (0.72%) Oracle Fusion
8 12 (0.72%) XML
9 11 (0.66%) Loki
10 10 (0.60%) SOAP
11 9 (0.54%) Keycloak
11 9 (0.54%) SAP Fiori
12 8 (0.48%) Spring Boot
12 8 (0.48%) Swagger
12 8 (0.48%) Web Services
12 8 (0.48%) YAML
13 7 (0.42%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 65 (3.92%) Data Centre
2 63 (3.80%) PKI
3 45 (2.71%) Onboarding
4 37 (2.23%) Management Information System
5 31 (1.87%) Product Ownership
6 30 (1.81%) Self-Motivation
7 26 (1.57%) Cloud Native
8 22 (1.33%) Analytical Mindset
9 21 (1.27%) Security Operations Centre
10 20 (1.21%) Replication
10 20 (1.21%) Security Posture
11 17 (1.02%) Driving Licence
12 16 (0.96%) PMI
12 16 (0.96%) Private Cloud
13 14 (0.84%) Legacy Systems
14 12 (0.72%) Cyber Security Posture
14 12 (0.72%) Cyber Threat
15 11 (0.66%) Distributed Systems
15 11 (0.66%) Greenfield Project
15 11 (0.66%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 262 (15.79%) Windows
2 184 (11.09%) Linux
3 67 (4.04%) Windows Server
4 40 (2.41%) Windows 10
5 25 (1.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.02%) Android
7 11 (0.66%) Unix
7 11 (0.66%) Windows 7
8 7 (0.42%) Kali Linux
9 6 (0.36%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.24%) Apple iOS
10 4 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.18%) Debian
11 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2019
12 2 (0.12%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.12%) SUSE
12 2 (0.12%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.12%) VMS
12 2 (0.12%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.060%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 277 (16.70%) Agile
2 204 (12.30%) Problem-Solving
3 176 (10.61%) DevOps
4 166 (10.01%) CI/CD
5 148 (8.92%) ITIL
5 148 (8.92%) Migration
6 141 (8.50%) Stakeholder Management
7 138 (8.32%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 133 (8.02%) Cybersecurity
9 118 (7.11%) Continuous Improvement
10 117 (7.05%) Roadmaps
11 106 (6.39%) Service Management
12 96 (5.79%) Project Management
13 88 (5.30%) ITSM
14 84 (5.06%) SIEM
15 77 (4.64%) Change Management
16 69 (4.16%) Collaborative Working
16 69 (4.16%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 65 (3.92%) Decision-Making
17 65 (3.92%) DevSecOps
Programming Languages
1 179 (10.79%) Python
2 147 (8.86%) PowerShell
3 58 (3.50%) Bash
4 56 (3.38%) Java
5 52 (3.13%) SQL
6 33 (1.99%) JavaScript
7 30 (1.81%) C#
8 18 (1.08%) C++
9 17 (1.02%) Kusto Query Language
10 13 (0.78%) TypeScript
11 10 (0.60%) Go
12 9 (0.54%) ABAP
12 9 (0.54%) C
13 8 (0.48%) PL/SQL
14 7 (0.42%) Bicep
14 7 (0.42%) Shell Script
15 6 (0.36%) Embedded C++
16 4 (0.24%) Ada
17 3 (0.18%) MATLAB
17 3 (0.18%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 1,064 (64.14%) SC Cleared
2 520 (31.34%) DV Cleared
3 100 (6.03%) Degree
4 53 (3.19%) Cisco Certification
5 52 (3.13%) CCNP
6 46 (2.77%) CISSP
7 32 (1.93%) BPSS Clearance
8 25 (1.51%) CISM
9 23 (1.39%) Azure Certification
9 23 (1.39%) CCNA
9 23 (1.39%) CEH
10 22 (1.33%) Microsoft Certification
11 20 (1.21%) GIAC
12 19 (1.15%) AWS Certification
12 19 (1.15%) PMI Certification
12 19 (1.15%) PMP
13 15 (0.90%) CHECK Team Member
14 13 (0.78%) Computer Science Degree
14 13 (0.78%) CREST Certified
14 13 (0.78%) Cyber Scheme
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (4.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (3.80%) NIST
3 59 (3.56%) GDPR
4 49 (2.95%) PMO
4 49 (2.95%) QA
5 41 (2.47%) NCSC
6 19 (1.15%) SLA
7 17 (1.02%) PCI DSS
8 16 (0.96%) Data Quality
9 13 (0.78%) GRC
9 13 (0.78%) JSP 440
10 10 (0.60%) Accessibility
10 10 (0.60%) COBIT
11 6 (0.36%) NIST 800
12 5 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 5 (0.30%) P3O
12 5 (0.30%) RMADS
13 4 (0.24%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.24%) Def Stans
14 3 (0.18%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 165 (9.95%) Active Directory
2 86 (5.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 47 (2.83%) Docker
4 35 (2.11%) vSphere
5 33 (1.99%) VMware NSX
6 19 (1.15%) VMware ESXi
7 16 (0.96%) Hyper-V
8 9 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
9 7 (0.42%) Firmware
9 7 (0.42%) vCloud
9 7 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
10 5 (0.30%) NFS
11 2 (0.12%) Oracle RAC
11 2 (0.12%) UAG
12 1 (0.060%) Brightmail
12 1 (0.060%) KVM
12 1 (0.060%) NetIQ eDirectory
12 1 (0.060%) RHEV
12 1 (0.060%) Sendmail
12 1 (0.060%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 96 (5.79%) Kubernetes
2 67 (4.04%) Terraform
3 63 (3.80%) Ansible
4 50 (3.01%) vCenter Server
5 44 (2.65%) Grafana
6 43 (2.59%) Prometheus
7 30 (1.81%) Argo
8 26 (1.57%) Nmap
9 25 (1.51%) SCCM
10 17 (1.02%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 17 (1.02%) Microsoft Intune
10 17 (1.02%) WMI
11 14 (0.84%) Kibana
12 11 (0.66%) Kustomize
12 11 (0.66%) Single Sign-On
13 8 (0.48%) Nessus
13 8 (0.48%) Red Hat Satellite
13 8 (0.48%) SCOM
14 7 (0.42%) Nagios
14 7 (0.42%) Puppet
Vendors
1 221 (13.32%) Microsoft
2 168 (10.13%) VMware
3 156 (9.40%) Cisco
4 83 (5.00%) SAP
5 60 (3.62%) ServiceNow
6 59 (3.56%) Aruba
6 59 (3.56%) Juniper
7 53 (3.19%) Red Hat
8 45 (2.71%) Splunk
9 36 (2.17%) Palo Alto
9 36 (2.17%) SolarWinds
10 32 (1.93%) Google
11 31 (1.87%) CyberArk
11 31 (1.87%) Oracle
12 30 (1.81%) Sparx
13 28 (1.69%) CheckPoint
14 25 (1.51%) BeyondTrust
15 16 (0.96%) Tanium
16 14 (0.84%) Citrix
16 14 (0.84%) Fortinet