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

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 1 2 1
Rank change year-on-year +1 -1 0
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 1,432 837 1,648
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 33.23% 24.93% 32.78%
As % of the Qualifications category 75.41% 65.85% 73.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,011 586 934
10th Percentile £306 £313 £221
25th Percentile £445 £421 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £522 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.09% - -
75th Percentile £613 £638 £644
90th Percentile £725 £700 £700
England median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -2.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 140 57 104
10th Percentile £18.83 £22.56 £32.67
25th Percentile £19.52 £31.25 £53.54
Median hourly rate £25.15 £59.00 £60.07
Median % change year-on-year -57.37% -1.78% +9.22%
75th Percentile £60.00 £64.73 £70.50
90th Percentile £90.58 £76.58 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -58.08% - -

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 1,899 1,271 2,238
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 44.07% 37.85% 44.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,267 830 1,331
10th Percentile £273 £260 £213
25th Percentile £413 £408 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +0.47%
75th Percentile £600 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 190 70 138
10th Percentile £15.62 £19.90 £27.35
25th Percentile £19.38 £28.06 £49.96
Median hourly rate £25.15 £45.06 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.19% -24.90% +33.33%
75th Percentile £58.75 £63.48 £70.39
90th Percentile £90.09 £75.04 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £50.00
% change year-on-year -45.54% -7.64% +11.11%

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 12 January 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 12 January 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 12 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 0 657 £550 -0.18% 163
Thames Valley +1 639 £488 -7.14% 98
Berkshire 0 437 £462 -19.70% 62
Buckinghamshire +1 158 £530 +20.45% 27
Surrey +24 62 £550 -15.38% 39
Oxfordshire +6 44 £325 -44.68% 9
West Sussex +13 34 £522 -28.03% 12
Kent +9 19 £438 +143.06% 21
Middlesex - 6 - -
East Sussex +3 1 £450 -18.18% 12
Sussex -5 1 £525 +21.39% 3
Isle of Wight - 1 £81 - 8
Home Counties - 1 £1,100 -
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 40 (2.79%) SharePoint
2 34 (2.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (0.91%) Confluence
4 7 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2010
4 7 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (0.49%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2003
5 6 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2007
5 6 (0.42%) Office Communications Server
5 6 (0.42%) SharePoint Server
6 4 (0.28%) Apache
7 3 (0.21%) ArcGIS
7 3 (0.21%) CMS
7 3 (0.21%) Documentum
7 3 (0.21%) IIS
7 3 (0.21%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.14%) GeoServer
8 2 (0.14%) MS Project Server
8 2 (0.14%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.070%) Anypoint
Applications
1 55 (3.84%) Microsoft Office
2 43 (3.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 28 (1.96%) Microsoft Project
4 23 (1.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.42%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.070%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 32 (2.23%) SAP S/4HANA
2 28 (1.96%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 9 (0.63%) SAP HR
3 9 (0.63%) SAP Payroll
4 8 (0.56%) SAP EWM
4 8 (0.56%) SAP HCM
4 8 (0.56%) SAP WM
5 5 (0.35%) Oracle Assets
5 5 (0.35%) Oracle Payables
5 5 (0.35%) Salesforce CRM
6 4 (0.28%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 4 (0.28%) Primavera
7 3 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
7 3 (0.21%) Payment Gateway
7 3 (0.21%) SAP ERP
7 3 (0.21%) SAP PSCD
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Cash Management
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle General Ledger
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.14%) SAP PS
Cloud Services
1 203 (14.18%) Azure
2 166 (11.59%) AWS
3 72 (5.03%) GCP
4 65 (4.54%) Microsoft 365
5 40 (2.79%) Entra ID
6 33 (2.30%) OpenShift
7 31 (2.16%) GitHub
8 28 (1.96%) Azure DevOps
9 22 (1.54%) Power Platform
10 19 (1.33%) IaaS
11 18 (1.26%) GitHub Actions
12 17 (1.19%) OneDrive
13 16 (1.12%) PaaS
13 16 (1.12%) SaaS
14 14 (0.98%) Cloud Computing
15 10 (0.70%) Datadog
15 10 (0.70%) Serverless
16 8 (0.56%) Amazon ECR
16 8 (0.56%) Amazon EKS
16 8 (0.56%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 111 (7.75%) Firewall
2 61 (4.26%) DNS
3 42 (2.93%) VPN
3 42 (2.93%) WAN
4 39 (2.72%) LAN
5 38 (2.65%) DHCP
6 37 (2.58%) BGP
7 36 (2.51%) Network Security
7 36 (2.51%) TCP/IP
8 31 (2.16%) OSPF
9 28 (1.96%) VLAN
10 26 (1.82%) Cisco IOS
11 25 (1.75%) Junos
12 22 (1.54%) Cisco Firepower
12 22 (1.54%) Cisco ISE
13 21 (1.47%) Wireless
14 18 (1.26%) IPsec
15 17 (1.19%) SAN
16 15 (1.05%) MPLS
17 14 (0.98%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (1.33%) Power BI
2 18 (1.26%) SQL Server
3 14 (0.98%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (0.63%) Metadata
5 8 (0.56%) NoSQL
6 7 (0.49%) Azure SQL Database
6 7 (0.49%) MongoDB
6 7 (0.49%) Redis
6 7 (0.49%) SAP HANA
7 6 (0.42%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.35%) Oracle Reports
9 4 (0.28%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.21%) MySQL
10 3 (0.21%) SAP Data Services
11 2 (0.14%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.14%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
11 2 (0.14%) GIS
11 2 (0.14%) QGIS
11 2 (0.14%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 47 (3.28%) JIRA
2 37 (2.58%) Jenkins
3 35 (2.44%) GitLab
4 25 (1.75%) Git
5 20 (1.40%) Burp Suite
5 20 (1.40%) Metasploit
6 7 (0.49%) Android Studio
6 7 (0.49%) Artifactory
7 4 (0.28%) Bitbucket
7 4 (0.28%) Gradle
7 4 (0.28%) Rational DOORS
7 4 (0.28%) Robot Framework
7 4 (0.28%) Selenium
7 4 (0.28%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (0.28%) Subversion
8 3 (0.21%) JUnit
8 3 (0.21%) Maven
8 3 (0.21%) Postman
8 3 (0.21%) Storybook
General
1 408 (28.49%) Social Skills
2 247 (17.25%) Public Sector
3 146 (10.20%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (4.96%) Finance
5 49 (3.42%) Documentation Skills
6 38 (2.65%) Manufacturing
7 34 (2.37%) Military
8 30 (2.09%) Telecoms
9 20 (1.40%) Aerospace
9 20 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
10 19 (1.33%) Legal
10 19 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
11 16 (1.12%) Law
12 14 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
13 13 (0.91%) Marketing
14 12 (0.84%) Electronics
15 7 (0.49%) Pharmaceutical
16 6 (0.42%) Aviation
17 5 (0.35%) Banking
18 4 (0.28%) Billing
Job Titles
1 260 (18.16%) Architect
2 105 (7.33%) Consultant
3 98 (6.84%) Network Engineer
4 95 (6.63%) Analyst
5 94 (6.56%) Senior
6 91 (6.35%) Lead
7 67 (4.68%) Support Engineer
8 53 (3.70%) Developer
9 46 (3.21%) Tester
10 45 (3.14%) DevOps Engineer
10 45 (3.14%) Project Manager
11 43 (3.00%) Cloud Engineer
12 42 (2.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 41 (2.86%) Enterprise Architect
14 38 (2.65%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
15 37 (2.58%) Infrastructure Architect
15 37 (2.58%) IT Engineer
16 35 (2.44%) 3rd Line Engineer
16 35 (2.44%) SAP Consultant
17 33 (2.30%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (1.19%) LDAP
1 17 (1.19%) React
1 17 (1.19%) REST
2 14 (0.98%) .NET
2 14 (0.98%) Elastic Stack
3 13 (0.91%) Kafka
4 12 (0.84%) RESTful
5 11 (0.77%) Oracle Fusion
6 10 (0.70%) AngularJS
7 8 (0.56%) JSON
7 8 (0.56%) Keycloak
7 8 (0.56%) Loki
7 8 (0.56%) Middleware
7 8 (0.56%) SAP Fiori
7 8 (0.56%) Web Services
8 7 (0.49%) SOAP
8 7 (0.49%) Spring Boot
8 7 (0.49%) Vue
8 7 (0.49%) XML
9 6 (0.42%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 60 (4.19%) PKI
2 42 (2.93%) Data Centre
3 33 (2.30%) Onboarding
4 29 (2.03%) Management Information System
5 25 (1.75%) Cloud Native
6 24 (1.68%) Product Ownership
7 23 (1.61%) Security Operations Centre
8 20 (1.40%) Analytical Mindset
8 20 (1.40%) Self-Motivation
9 16 (1.12%) Private Cloud
10 15 (1.05%) Driving Licence
10 15 (1.05%) PMI
10 15 (1.05%) Security Posture
11 14 (0.98%) Legacy Systems
12 13 (0.91%) Replication
13 12 (0.84%) Cyber Security Posture
14 11 (0.77%) Fat Client
14 11 (0.77%) Thin Client
15 10 (0.70%) Cyber Threat
16 9 (0.63%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 244 (17.04%) Windows
2 147 (10.27%) Linux
3 58 (4.05%) Windows Server
4 47 (3.28%) Windows 10
5 20 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 13 (0.91%) Android
7 11 (0.77%) Windows 7
8 6 (0.42%) Kali Linux
8 6 (0.42%) Ubuntu
8 6 (0.42%) Unix
8 6 (0.42%) Windows Server 2003
9 5 (0.35%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.35%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.21%) Debian
11 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.14%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.14%) SUSE
12 2 (0.14%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 234 (16.34%) Agile
2 169 (11.80%) Problem-Solving
3 154 (10.75%) ITIL
4 150 (10.47%) DevOps
5 146 (10.20%) CI/CD
6 143 (9.99%) Migration
7 123 (8.59%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 120 (8.38%) Service Management
9 104 (7.26%) Stakeholder Management
10 103 (7.19%) Cybersecurity
11 96 (6.70%) Roadmaps
12 86 (6.01%) Continuous Improvement
13 76 (5.31%) ITSM
14 74 (5.17%) Project Management
15 71 (4.96%) Project Delivery
15 71 (4.96%) Workflow
16 68 (4.75%) SIEM
17 66 (4.61%) Change Management
18 61 (4.26%) Collaborative Working
19 60 (4.19%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 156 (10.89%) Python
2 121 (8.45%) PowerShell
3 50 (3.49%) Bash
4 49 (3.42%) SQL
5 47 (3.28%) Java
6 33 (2.30%) JavaScript
7 26 (1.82%) C#
8 14 (0.98%) ABAP
8 14 (0.98%) C++
9 11 (0.77%) Go
9 11 (0.77%) Kusto Query Language
10 7 (0.49%) PL/SQL
10 7 (0.49%) TypeScript
11 6 (0.42%) Embedded C++
12 5 (0.35%) Bicep
12 5 (0.35%) C
13 4 (0.28%) Shell Script
14 2 (0.14%) Ada
14 2 (0.14%) Assembly Language
14 2 (0.14%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 913 (63.76%) SC Cleared
2 476 (33.24%) DV Cleared
3 78 (5.45%) Degree
4 46 (3.21%) Cisco Certification
5 43 (3.00%) CCNP
6 42 (2.93%) CISSP
7 23 (1.61%) CEH
7 23 (1.61%) Microsoft Certification
8 22 (1.54%) CISM
9 20 (1.40%) BPSS Clearance
10 19 (1.33%) Azure Certification
10 19 (1.33%) CCNA
10 19 (1.33%) GIAC
11 17 (1.19%) AWS Certification
11 17 (1.19%) PMI Certification
12 16 (1.12%) PMP
13 14 (0.98%) CHECK Team Member
14 13 (0.91%) Network+ Certification
15 12 (0.84%) CREST Certified
15 12 (0.84%) Cyber Scheme
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 55 (3.84%) GDPR
2 51 (3.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 44 (3.07%) NIST
4 43 (3.00%) QA
5 38 (2.65%) PMO
6 28 (1.96%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 27 (1.89%) NCSC
8 23 (1.61%) SLA
9 16 (1.12%) PCI DSS
10 11 (0.77%) GRC
11 10 (0.70%) COBIT
11 10 (0.70%) JSP 440
12 8 (0.56%) Data Quality
13 5 (0.35%) Accessibility
13 5 (0.35%) RMADS
14 4 (0.28%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.28%) P3O
15 3 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
15 3 (0.21%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 2 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 139 (9.71%) Active Directory
2 72 (5.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 43 (3.00%) Docker
4 36 (2.51%) vSphere
5 35 (2.44%) VMware NSX
6 20 (1.40%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (0.84%) Hyper-V
8 9 (0.63%) Virtual Desktop
9 7 (0.49%) NFS
9 7 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
10 6 (0.42%) Brightmail
10 6 (0.42%) ISA Server
10 6 (0.42%) vCloud
11 5 (0.35%) Firmware
12 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
12 2 (0.14%) UAG
13 1 (0.070%) KVM
13 1 (0.070%) NetIQ eDirectory
13 1 (0.070%) RHEV
13 1 (0.070%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 91 (6.35%) Kubernetes
2 60 (4.19%) Ansible
3 59 (4.12%) Terraform
4 50 (3.49%) vCenter Server
5 36 (2.51%) Grafana
5 36 (2.51%) Prometheus
6 24 (1.68%) Argo
7 23 (1.61%) Nmap
7 23 (1.61%) SCCM
8 16 (1.12%) WMI
9 12 (0.84%) Microsoft Intune
10 10 (0.70%) Kibana
10 10 (0.70%) SCOM
10 10 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
11 8 (0.56%) Kustomize
11 8 (0.56%) vRealize
12 7 (0.49%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 7 (0.49%) Microsoft Clustering
12 7 (0.49%) Proxmox
12 7 (0.49%) Sysdig
Vendors
1 203 (14.18%) Microsoft
2 147 (10.27%) Cisco
2 147 (10.27%) VMware
3 90 (6.28%) SAP
4 63 (4.40%) Juniper
5 52 (3.63%) ServiceNow
6 51 (3.56%) Aruba
7 47 (3.28%) Red Hat
8 46 (3.21%) Splunk
9 35 (2.44%) SolarWinds
10 33 (2.30%) Palo Alto
11 30 (2.09%) Google
12 29 (2.03%) Sparx
13 25 (1.75%) CheckPoint
14 24 (1.68%) Oracle
15 22 (1.54%) CyberArk
16 15 (1.05%) BeyondTrust
17 13 (0.91%) Fortinet
18 12 (0.84%) F5
19 11 (0.77%) Citrix