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 5 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 2 1 1
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 +2
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 1,310 1,052 1,606
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 30.69% 26.37% 31.08%
As % of the Qualifications category 72.58% 67.96% 72.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 905 729 896
10th Percentile £275 £329 £250
25th Percentile £438 £450 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.73% - -
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £721 £700
England median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 145 66 118
10th Percentile - £21.88 £30.29
25th Percentile £18.87 £31.25 £51.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £58.17 £60.89
Median % change year-on-year -56.77% -4.46% +10.75%
75th Percentile £52.58 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £76.88 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £57.77 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.47% -3.71% -

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 1,805 1,548 2,216
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 42.29% 38.80% 42.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,183 1,023 1,305
10th Percentile £258 £263 £213
25th Percentile £413 £408 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.19%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £688 £700 £693
England median daily rate £525 £531 £550
% change year-on-year -1.04% -3.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 189 85 144
10th Percentile - £20.95 £27.50
25th Percentile £18.87 £27.00 £49.40
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% -5.43% +33.33%
75th Percentile £60.25 £64.73 £70.02
90th Percentile £90.09 £75.00 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £48.78 £52.50
% change year-on-year -48.44% -7.09% +16.67%

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 5 December 2025.

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 5 December 2025.

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 5 December 2025. 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 0 620 £550 -4.35% 204
Thames Valley -1 580 £489 -6.90% 142
Berkshire -1 408 £486 -16.49% 91
Buckinghamshire 0 124 £517 +11.18% 43
Surrey +23 50 £532 -17.36% 45
Oxfordshire +7 48 £275 -45.00% 20
West Sussex +9 31 £517 -22.00% 6
Kent +6 11 £438 - 17
Middlesex - 6 - - 2
Home Counties - 2 £872 -
Sussex -4 1 £525 +21.39% 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 35 (2.67%) SharePoint
2 31 (2.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (0.84%) Exchange Server 2010
3 11 (0.84%) Exchange Server 2013
3 11 (0.84%) Skype for Business
4 10 (0.76%) Exchange Server 2003
4 10 (0.76%) Exchange Server 2007
4 10 (0.76%) Office Communications Server
4 10 (0.76%) SharePoint Server
5 7 (0.53%) Apache
6 6 (0.46%) Confluence
7 4 (0.31%) CMS
8 3 (0.23%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.23%) Documentum
9 2 (0.15%) GeoServer
9 2 (0.15%) IIS
9 2 (0.15%) Smallworld
10 1 (0.076%) Drupal
10 1 (0.076%) Red Hat Fuse
10 1 (0.076%) SAP EP
Applications
1 48 (3.66%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (3.21%) Microsoft Excel
3 22 (1.68%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.23%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.15%) Photoshop
6 2 (0.15%) Windchill
7 1 (0.076%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 31 (2.37%) SAP S/4HANA
2 22 (1.68%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 9 (0.69%) SAP HR
3 9 (0.69%) SAP Payroll
4 8 (0.61%) SAP EWM
4 8 (0.61%) SAP WM
5 6 (0.46%) SAP HCM
6 5 (0.38%) Salesforce CRM
7 4 (0.31%) Primavera
8 3 (0.23%) SAP ERP
8 3 (0.23%) SAP PSCD
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Assets
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Cash Management
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle General Ledger
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Payables
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Receivables
9 2 (0.15%) SAP BRIM
9 2 (0.15%) SAP Hybris
9 2 (0.15%) SAP PS
10 1 (0.076%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
Cloud Services
1 163 (12.44%) Azure
2 139 (10.61%) AWS
3 64 (4.89%) GCP
4 54 (4.12%) Microsoft 365
5 35 (2.67%) OpenShift
6 30 (2.29%) Entra ID
7 23 (1.76%) GitHub
8 20 (1.53%) Power Platform
9 17 (1.30%) OneDrive
10 15 (1.15%) Amazon EKS
10 15 (1.15%) Azure DevOps
11 13 (0.99%) SaaS
12 12 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
13 10 (0.76%) IaaS
14 9 (0.69%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (0.69%) Cloud Computing
15 8 (0.61%) Amazon ECR
16 7 (0.53%) Google Ads
16 7 (0.53%) Serverless
17 6 (0.46%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 75 (5.73%) Firewall
2 52 (3.97%) DNS
3 34 (2.60%) DHCP
3 34 (2.60%) VPN
4 33 (2.52%) LAN
4 33 (2.52%) SAN
5 28 (2.14%) Cisco IOS
6 27 (2.06%) Junos
7 25 (1.91%) Cisco Firepower
7 25 (1.91%) TCP/IP
8 24 (1.83%) Cisco ISE
8 24 (1.83%) Network Security
9 23 (1.76%) WAN
10 21 (1.60%) BGP
11 17 (1.30%) OSPF
12 16 (1.22%) VLAN
12 16 (1.22%) Wireless
13 14 (1.07%) MPLS
14 13 (0.99%) iSCSI
15 12 (0.92%) Fibre Channel
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (1.30%) Power BI
2 16 (1.22%) SQL Server
3 11 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (0.61%) NoSQL
5 7 (0.53%) MongoDB
5 7 (0.53%) SAP HANA
6 6 (0.46%) Metadata
7 5 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.38%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.38%) Oracle Reports
8 4 (0.31%) MySQL
8 4 (0.31%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.23%) Redis
9 3 (0.23%) SAP Data Services
10 2 (0.15%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.15%) Geospatial Data
10 2 (0.15%) GIS
10 2 (0.15%) QGIS
10 2 (0.15%) SAP BW
11 1 (0.076%) Amazon Aurora
Development Applications
1 48 (3.66%) JIRA
2 46 (3.51%) Jenkins
3 32 (2.44%) GitLab
4 27 (2.06%) Git
5 13 (0.99%) Burp Suite
5 13 (0.99%) Metasploit
6 7 (0.53%) Artifactory
7 5 (0.38%) Android Studio
7 5 (0.38%) MSI
8 4 (0.31%) Cucumber
8 4 (0.31%) Gradle
8 4 (0.31%) Maven
8 4 (0.31%) Rational DOORS
8 4 (0.31%) Selenium
8 4 (0.31%) SoapUI
9 3 (0.23%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.23%) Postman
9 3 (0.23%) Robot Framework
9 3 (0.23%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.23%) Storybook
General
1 400 (30.53%) Social Skills
2 254 (19.39%) Public Sector
3 129 (9.85%) Analytical Skills
4 66 (5.04%) Finance
5 37 (2.82%) Documentation Skills
6 34 (2.60%) Manufacturing
7 32 (2.44%) Telecoms
8 23 (1.76%) Aerospace
8 23 (1.76%) Influencing Skills
8 23 (1.76%) Military
9 18 (1.37%) Legal
10 15 (1.15%) Presentation Skills
11 13 (0.99%) Electronics
11 13 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (0.84%) Law
12 11 (0.84%) Marketing
13 7 (0.53%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (0.38%) Banking
15 4 (0.31%) General Ledger
16 3 (0.23%) Billing
Job Titles
1 246 (18.78%) Architect
2 106 (8.09%) Consultant
3 85 (6.49%) Network Engineer
4 82 (6.26%) Senior
5 78 (5.95%) Analyst
6 74 (5.65%) Lead
7 70 (5.34%) Support Engineer
8 52 (3.97%) Developer
9 39 (2.98%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
9 39 (2.98%) IT Engineer
10 38 (2.90%) Cloud Engineer
10 38 (2.90%) Solutions Architect
11 37 (2.82%) Infrastructure Architect
11 37 (2.82%) Project Manager
12 36 (2.75%) 3rd Line Engineer
13 34 (2.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 34 (2.60%) SAP Consultant
14 33 (2.52%) Network Consultant
15 32 (2.44%) Enterprise Architect
15 32 (2.44%) Service Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (1.30%) React
2 15 (1.15%) Elastic Stack
2 15 (1.15%) LDAP
3 14 (1.07%) RESTful
4 13 (0.99%) .NET
4 13 (0.99%) REST
5 11 (0.84%) SOAP
6 9 (0.69%) Middleware
6 9 (0.69%) Web Services
7 8 (0.61%) Kafka
7 8 (0.61%) Loki
7 8 (0.61%) SAP Fiori
7 8 (0.61%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.46%) CSS
8 6 (0.46%) HTML
8 6 (0.46%) OAuth
8 6 (0.46%) Oracle Fusion
8 6 (0.46%) Swagger
9 5 (0.38%) Spring
9 5 (0.38%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 53 (4.05%) PKI
2 36 (2.75%) Management Information System
3 35 (2.67%) Onboarding
4 23 (1.76%) Cloud Native
5 22 (1.68%) Data Centre
6 19 (1.45%) Driving Licence
7 18 (1.37%) Private Cloud
8 17 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
8 17 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
9 16 (1.22%) Analytical Mindset
9 16 (1.22%) Replication
9 16 (1.22%) Security Operations Centre
10 15 (1.15%) PMI
11 10 (0.76%) Enterprise Software
11 10 (0.76%) Security Posture
11 10 (0.76%) Virtual Team
12 9 (0.69%) Distributed Systems
12 9 (0.69%) Fat Client
12 9 (0.69%) Thin Client
13 8 (0.61%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 220 (16.79%) Windows
2 129 (9.85%) Linux
3 54 (4.12%) Windows Server
4 46 (3.51%) Windows 10
5 25 (1.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 19 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
7 12 (0.92%) Windows 7
8 10 (0.76%) Windows Server 2003
9 9 (0.69%) Android
10 8 (0.61%) Ubuntu
10 8 (0.61%) Unix
10 8 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
11 7 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
12 6 (0.46%) Kali Linux
13 5 (0.38%) Debian
13 5 (0.38%) Mac OS
13 5 (0.38%) VMS
14 2 (0.15%) CentOS
14 2 (0.15%) SUSE
14 2 (0.15%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 211 (16.11%) Agile
2 164 (12.52%) ITIL
3 160 (12.21%) Problem-Solving
4 156 (11.91%) Migration
5 130 (9.92%) CI/CD
6 120 (9.16%) Service Management
7 116 (8.85%) DevOps
7 116 (8.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 97 (7.40%) Stakeholder Management
9 89 (6.79%) Cybersecurity
10 80 (6.11%) Roadmaps
11 78 (5.95%) Continuous Improvement
11 78 (5.95%) ITSM
12 74 (5.65%) Workflow
13 63 (4.81%) Collaborative Working
13 63 (4.81%) Project Delivery
14 60 (4.58%) Risk Management
15 58 (4.43%) Change Management
15 58 (4.43%) Workflow Management
16 57 (4.35%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 148 (11.30%) Python
2 106 (8.09%) PowerShell
3 63 (4.81%) SQL
4 61 (4.66%) Java
5 40 (3.05%) Bash
6 35 (2.67%) JavaScript
7 27 (2.06%) C#
8 13 (0.99%) C++
9 12 (0.92%) ABAP
10 11 (0.84%) Go
11 9 (0.69%) Shell Script
12 7 (0.53%) C
12 7 (0.53%) Kusto Query Language
13 6 (0.46%) Embedded C++
13 6 (0.46%) PL/SQL
13 6 (0.46%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.23%) PHP
14 3 (0.23%) VB
15 2 (0.15%) Ada
15 2 (0.15%) Assembly Language
Qualifications
1 833 (63.59%) SC Cleared
2 430 (32.82%) DV Cleared
3 70 (5.34%) Degree
4 36 (2.75%) CISSP
5 35 (2.67%) Cisco Certification
6 33 (2.52%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (2.29%) CCNP
8 26 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
9 22 (1.68%) AWS Certification
10 21 (1.60%) Azure Certification
11 19 (1.45%) CISM
12 18 (1.37%) CCNA
12 18 (1.37%) CEH
13 17 (1.30%) PMI Certification
14 15 (1.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 14 (1.07%) GIAC
15 14 (1.07%) MCSE
16 13 (0.99%) PMP
17 11 (0.84%) ITIL Certification
18 10 (0.76%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (4.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 55 (4.20%) GDPR
3 51 (3.89%) NIST
4 37 (2.82%) QA
5 32 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 30 (2.29%) SLA
7 24 (1.83%) PMO
8 20 (1.53%) NCSC
9 11 (0.84%) RMADS
10 10 (0.76%) COBIT
10 10 (0.76%) NIST 800
11 9 (0.69%) PCI DSS
12 8 (0.61%) JSP 440
13 6 (0.46%) GRC
14 4 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
14 4 (0.31%) Data Quality
14 4 (0.31%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.31%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.31%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.31%) P3O
System Software
1 124 (9.47%) Active Directory
2 75 (5.73%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (2.90%) vSphere
4 37 (2.82%) Docker
5 32 (2.44%) VMware NSX
6 29 (2.21%) VMware ESXi
7 14 (1.07%) NFS
8 12 (0.92%) Hyper-V
9 10 (0.76%) Brightmail
9 10 (0.76%) ISA Server
10 9 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
10 9 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
11 5 (0.38%) Firmware
12 2 (0.15%) UAG
13 1 (0.076%) NDS
13 1 (0.076%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 1 (0.076%) Sendmail
13 1 (0.076%) Terminal Services
13 1 (0.076%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 81 (6.18%) Kubernetes
2 63 (4.81%) Ansible
3 49 (3.74%) Terraform
4 37 (2.82%) vCenter Server
5 29 (2.21%) Grafana
5 29 (2.21%) Prometheus
6 25 (1.91%) SCCM
7 18 (1.37%) Argo
8 16 (1.22%) Nmap
9 14 (1.07%) WMI
10 13 (0.99%) SCOM
11 11 (0.84%) Microsoft Clustering
12 9 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 8 (0.61%) Kibana
13 8 (0.61%) Kustomize
13 8 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
13 8 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
14 7 (0.53%) NetBackup
14 7 (0.53%) Sysdig
14 7 (0.53%) vRealize
Vendors
1 197 (15.04%) Microsoft
2 139 (10.61%) Cisco
3 133 (10.15%) VMware
4 87 (6.64%) SAP
5 71 (5.42%) Juniper
6 55 (4.20%) ServiceNow
7 45 (3.44%) Red Hat
8 40 (3.05%) Aruba
9 35 (2.67%) Splunk
10 34 (2.60%) Google
11 30 (2.29%) SolarWinds
12 28 (2.14%) NetApp
13 23 (1.76%) Palo Alto
13 23 (1.76%) Sparx
14 21 (1.60%) Oracle
15 20 (1.53%) CyberArk
16 18 (1.37%) CheckPoint
17 14 (1.07%) BeyondTrust
18 13 (0.99%) HP
19 12 (0.92%) Salesforce