DV Cleared Contract Job Trends

Developed Vetting (DV) Clearance
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for DV Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 3 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 85 31
Rank change year-on-year +34 -54 +34
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,878 851 2,444
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.96% 2.91% 5.63%
As % of the Qualifications category 12.30% 9.45% 18.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,375 590 1,751
10th Percentile £419 £441 £413
25th Percentile £513 £513 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £589 £600
Median % change year-on-year +1.91% -1.88% -
75th Percentile £688 £674 £688
90th Percentile £750 £713 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £589 £590
% change year-on-year +1.91% -0.21% -1.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 25 112
10th Percentile £16.70 £45.50 £51.28
25th Percentile £32.54 £60.75 £57.33
Median hourly rate £55.25 £78.70 £67.81
Median % change year-on-year -29.80% +16.06% +0.46%
75th Percentile £75.44 £82.10 £85.00
90th Percentile £90.13 £88.32 £87.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.25 £80.68 £68.67
% change year-on-year -31.52% +17.49% -8.19%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

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.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 15,274 9,008 13,265
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.23% 30.75% 30.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,152 5,681 8,175
10th Percentile £345 £285 £300
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -1.00% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £620 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £706 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £530
% change year-on-year -0.05% -5.61% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,105 516 1,081
10th Percentile £16.35 £18.13 £13.87
25th Percentile £21.25 £21.92 £17.88
Median hourly rate £47.50 £40.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.75% - -25.93%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.81 £61.60
90th Percentile £85.25 £80.05 £75.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.50 £40.72 £40.94
% change year-on-year +16.66% -0.55% -18.02%

DV Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend

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

DV Cleared job vacancy trend in the UK

DV Cleared
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

DV Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DV Cleared over the 6 months to 3 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DV Cleared in the UK

DV Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

DV Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DV Cleared over the 6 months to 3 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DV Cleared in the UK

DV Cleared
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

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 UK over the 6 months to 3 May 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
England +24 1,733 £588 -0.47% 484
UK excluding London +14 1,356 £600 +1.91% 397
South East +9 745 £600 +2.35% 148
London +41 375 £575 -4.17% 110
South West -4 320 £550 -8.33% 116
Work from Home +40 250 £560 -2.61% 214
East of England +14 96 £650 +18.18% 56
North of England +2 84 £700 +241.46% 39
North West +16 70 £770 +275.61% 27
Midlands -37 66 £575 -17.86% 32
West Midlands -39 50 £575 -17.86% 28
Scotland +28 42 £669 +21.55% 4
East Midlands -20 16 £550 - 4
Yorkshire -39 12 £525 -16.00% 9
Wales -8 5 - - 5
Northern Ireland - 4 £625 - 5
North East -20 2 £675 +22.73% 3

DV Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 37 (1.97%) Microsoft Exchange
2 34 (1.81%) Confluence
3 28 (1.49%) SharePoint
4 16 (0.85%) Apache
5 8 (0.43%) Apache Spark
6 7 (0.37%) Palantir Foundry
6 7 (0.37%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.32%) Mattermost
8 4 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
8 4 (0.21%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.11%) nginx
10 1 (0.053%) OpenStack
Applications
1 47 (2.50%) Microsoft Office
2 43 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (1.06%) Microsoft Project
4 14 (0.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
6 5 (0.27%) MS Visio
7 4 (0.21%) AutoCAD
7 4 (0.21%) Revit
7 4 (0.21%) SOLIDWORKS
8 2 (0.11%) Lectora
8 2 (0.11%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 28 (1.49%) SAP S/4HANA
2 25 (1.33%) Remedy ITSM
3 21 (1.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 6 (0.32%) Maximo
5 4 (0.21%) Oracle Assets
5 4 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.21%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.21%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 4 (0.21%) SAP EWM
6 3 (0.16%) SAP GRC
7 2 (0.11%) Primavera
7 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.053%) Oracle Applications
8 1 (0.053%) SAP CCM
8 1 (0.053%) SAP FI-GL
8 1 (0.053%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.053%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 175 (9.32%) AWS
2 146 (7.77%) Azure
3 51 (2.72%) GCP
4 46 (2.45%) IaaS
5 43 (2.29%) PaaS
6 40 (2.13%) GitHub
7 36 (1.92%) Azure DevOps
7 36 (1.92%) Microsoft 365
8 30 (1.60%) OpenShift
9 28 (1.49%) Serverless
10 26 (1.38%) GitHub Actions
11 16 (0.85%) Amazon S3
11 16 (0.85%) Power Platform
12 15 (0.80%) OCI
13 14 (0.75%) Amazon EC2
14 13 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
15 12 (0.64%) Azure AKS
15 12 (0.64%) Entra ID
16 11 (0.59%) Amazon ECS
16 11 (0.59%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 112 (5.96%) Firewall
2 97 (5.17%) DNS
3 71 (3.78%) Network Security
4 59 (3.14%) LAN
4 59 (3.14%) WAN
5 52 (2.77%) VPN
6 40 (2.13%) BGP
7 39 (2.08%) DHCP
8 30 (1.60%) OSPF
9 25 (1.33%) TCP/IP
10 22 (1.17%) Junos
11 20 (1.06%) VSAN
12 18 (0.96%) Ethernet VPN
12 18 (0.96%) SAN
13 17 (0.91%) Cisco ISE
13 17 (0.91%) VXLAN
14 16 (0.85%) BIG-IP
14 16 (0.85%) MPLS
15 15 (0.80%) Cisco IOS
15 15 (0.80%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (1.33%) PostgreSQL
2 24 (1.28%) SQL Server
3 23 (1.22%) Elasticsearch
4 17 (0.91%) Oracle Database
5 15 (0.80%) Amazon RDS
6 13 (0.69%) MongoDB
7 12 (0.64%) Power BI
8 9 (0.48%) Hadoop
9 8 (0.43%) Big Data
9 8 (0.43%) Metadata
9 8 (0.43%) Relational Database
10 7 (0.37%) InfluxDB
10 7 (0.37%) Redis
11 6 (0.32%) MariaDB
11 6 (0.32%) MySQL
11 6 (0.32%) NoSQL
12 5 (0.27%) Data Warehouse
12 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 4 (0.21%) SAP HANA
13 4 (0.21%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 74 (3.94%) JIRA
2 25 (1.33%) GitLab
3 24 (1.28%) Git
3 24 (1.28%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.48%) Cypress.io
4 9 (0.48%) Maven
4 9 (0.48%) Sonatype Nexus
5 7 (0.37%) Artifactory
5 7 (0.37%) Robot Framework
6 4 (0.21%) Oracle APEX
6 4 (0.21%) Selenium
7 3 (0.16%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.16%) MLflow
7 3 (0.16%) MSI
7 3 (0.16%) REST Assured
7 3 (0.16%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 3 (0.16%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.11%) ERwin
8 2 (0.11%) Gatling
8 2 (0.11%) Postman
General
1 297 (15.81%) Social Skills
2 217 (11.55%) Public Sector
3 119 (6.34%) Analytical Skills
4 83 (4.42%) Finance
5 63 (3.35%) Military
6 53 (2.82%) Documentation Skills
7 47 (2.50%) Legal
8 27 (1.44%) Presentation Skills
9 25 (1.33%) Telecoms
10 24 (1.28%) Organisational Skills
11 22 (1.17%) Police
12 21 (1.12%) Law
13 20 (1.06%) Aerospace
14 12 (0.64%) Manufacturing
15 9 (0.48%) Banking
15 9 (0.48%) Electronics
16 8 (0.43%) Marketing
17 5 (0.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 5 (0.27%) Influencing Skills
18 3 (0.16%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 332 (17.68%) Architect
2 142 (7.56%) Lead
3 136 (7.24%) Senior
4 112 (5.96%) Analyst
5 101 (5.38%) Consultant
6 97 (5.17%) Network Engineer
7 92 (4.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 84 (4.47%) Technical Architect
9 79 (4.21%) Developer
10 61 (3.25%) SOC Analyst
11 60 (3.19%) Project Manager
12 57 (3.04%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 57 (3.04%) Tester
13 56 (2.98%) Security Architect
14 51 (2.72%) DevOps Engineer
15 44 (2.34%) Software Engineer
16 41 (2.18%) DV Cleared Project Manager
17 39 (2.08%) Designer
17 39 (2.08%) Enterprise Architect
18 36 (1.92%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (2.18%) REST
2 29 (1.54%) React
3 19 (1.01%) Elastic Stack
3 19 (1.01%) Node.js
4 18 (0.96%) Apache NiFi
5 16 (0.85%) 802.1X
5 16 (0.85%) Kafka
6 14 (0.75%) AngularJS
7 13 (0.69%) .NET
7 13 (0.69%) LDAP
8 12 (0.64%) ModSecurity
8 12 (0.64%) OAuth
9 11 (0.59%) RESTful
9 11 (0.59%) Web Services
10 10 (0.53%) Flask
10 10 (0.53%) PyTorch
10 10 (0.53%) SailPoint
10 10 (0.53%) SOAP
10 10 (0.53%) Spring
11 9 (0.48%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 98 (5.22%) PKI
2 68 (3.62%) Data Centre
3 48 (2.56%) Security Operations Centre
4 37 (1.97%) Cloud Native
5 33 (1.76%) Onboarding
6 30 (1.60%) Clustering
7 28 (1.49%) Management Information System
8 25 (1.33%) Product Ownership
9 23 (1.22%) Hybrid Cloud
10 20 (1.06%) Cyberattack
11 19 (1.01%) Cyber Threat
12 18 (0.96%) Analytical Mindset
12 18 (0.96%) Public Cloud
13 16 (0.85%) Security Posture
13 16 (0.85%) Virtual Team
14 15 (0.80%) Replication
15 14 (0.75%) Driving Licence
15 14 (0.75%) Enterprise Storage
15 14 (0.75%) Greenfield Project
16 13 (0.69%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 267 (14.22%) Windows
2 211 (11.24%) Linux
3 86 (4.58%) Windows Server
4 27 (1.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 27 (1.44%) Windows 10
5 13 (0.69%) Ubuntu
6 11 (0.59%) Android
7 10 (0.53%) Mac OS
7 10 (0.53%) Windows 7
8 9 (0.48%) Unix
9 7 (0.37%) VMS
9 7 (0.37%) Windows Server 2003
10 6 (0.32%) AIX
10 6 (0.32%) CentOS
10 6 (0.32%) Windows Server 2019
11 5 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
11 5 (0.27%) Debian
12 4 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.16%) Embedded Linux
14 2 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 311 (16.56%) Agile
2 194 (10.33%) Problem-Solving
3 158 (8.41%) ITIL
4 148 (7.88%) DevOps
5 143 (7.61%) CI/CD
6 141 (7.51%) Cybersecurity
7 133 (7.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 127 (6.76%) Continuous Improvement
9 122 (6.50%) Service Management
10 119 (6.34%) Stakeholder Management
11 117 (6.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 94 (5.01%) ITSM
13 90 (4.79%) Project Delivery
14 89 (4.74%) Decision-Making
15 88 (4.69%) Infrastructure as Code
16 80 (4.26%) Risk Management
17 76 (4.05%) Project Management
18 73 (3.89%) Roadmaps
18 73 (3.89%) Scrum
18 73 (3.89%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 141 (7.51%) Python
2 112 (5.96%) PowerShell
3 68 (3.62%) SQL
4 46 (2.45%) Java
5 34 (1.81%) JavaScript
6 32 (1.70%) Bash
7 25 (1.33%) TypeScript
8 24 (1.28%) C#
9 15 (0.80%) Go
10 13 (0.69%) Shell Script
11 11 (0.59%) Bicep
11 11 (0.59%) Search Processing Language
12 10 (0.53%) C++
12 10 (0.53%) PL/SQL
13 9 (0.48%) C
14 6 (0.32%) Embedded C
14 6 (0.32%) Rust
14 6 (0.32%) VB
15 5 (0.27%) VBScript
16 4 (0.21%) PHP
Qualifications
1 1,878 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 592 (31.52%) SC Cleared
3 57 (3.04%) Degree
4 51 (2.72%) Cisco Certification
4 51 (2.72%) CISSP
5 37 (1.97%) CISM
6 26 (1.38%) CCNA
7 25 (1.33%) CompTIA Security+
8 23 (1.22%) CCNP
8 23 (1.22%) Microsoft Certification
9 19 (1.01%) CESG Certified Professional
10 18 (0.96%) Computer Science Degree
11 17 (0.91%) AWS Certification
12 16 (0.85%) BPSS Clearance
12 16 (0.85%) GIAC
13 14 (0.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 13 (0.69%) CompTIA CySA+
15 12 (0.64%) Azure Certification
15 12 (0.64%) CTC Cleared
16 11 (0.59%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (4.26%) NIST
2 62 (3.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 53 (2.82%) PMO
4 48 (2.56%) NCSC
5 43 (2.29%) QA
6 39 (2.08%) JSP 440
7 23 (1.22%) GRC
8 21 (1.12%) RMADS
8 21 (1.12%) SLA
9 12 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials
10 11 (0.59%) Data Quality
10 11 (0.59%) GDPR
10 11 (0.59%) NIST 800
11 9 (0.48%) Accessibility
11 9 (0.48%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 6 (0.32%) WCAG
13 5 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
14 4 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 4 (0.21%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.21%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 123 (6.55%) Active Directory
2 111 (5.91%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (4.95%) Docker
4 55 (2.93%) VMware NSX
5 44 (2.34%) VMware ESXi
6 36 (1.92%) Hyper-V
7 22 (1.17%) vSphere
8 13 (0.69%) BitLocker
8 13 (0.69%) vCloud
9 12 (0.64%) Firmware
10 8 (0.43%) Microsoft App-V
10 8 (0.43%) Oracle RAC
10 8 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
11 4 (0.21%) UAG
11 4 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
12 3 (0.16%) Ceph
12 3 (0.16%) GPFS
12 3 (0.16%) Lustre
12 3 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 2 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 133 (7.08%) Kubernetes
2 119 (6.34%) Terraform
3 81 (4.31%) Ansible
4 57 (3.04%) vCenter Server
5 38 (2.02%) SCCM
6 25 (1.33%) Grafana
7 24 (1.28%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 24 (1.28%) Single Sign-On
8 20 (1.06%) Prometheus
9 15 (0.80%) FortiGate
9 15 (0.80%) Puppet
9 15 (0.80%) SCOM
10 12 (0.64%) Nessus
10 12 (0.64%) Progress Chef
11 11 (0.59%) Nagios
11 11 (0.59%) Podman
11 11 (0.59%) WMI
12 10 (0.53%) Forefront Identity Manager
12 10 (0.53%) NetIQ Identity Manager
13 9 (0.48%) WSUS
Vendors
1 201 (10.70%) VMware
2 196 (10.44%) Microsoft
3 113 (6.02%) Cisco
4 68 (3.62%) Splunk
5 61 (3.25%) ServiceNow
6 49 (2.61%) Juniper
6 49 (2.61%) NetApp
6 49 (2.61%) SAP
7 45 (2.40%) Oracle
8 38 (2.02%) Red Hat
9 30 (1.60%) SolarWinds
10 28 (1.49%) F5
11 26 (1.38%) Remedy
12 23 (1.22%) Dell
12 23 (1.22%) Fortinet
13 22 (1.17%) Sparx
14 19 (1.01%) Palo Alto
15 16 (0.85%) Citrix
15 16 (0.85%) Google
15 16 (0.85%) IBM