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 16 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 52 82 31
Rank change year-on-year +30 -51 +44
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,852 894 2,373
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.03% 3.05% 5.41%
As % of the Qualifications category 12.23% 9.92% 17.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,319 619 1,713
10th Percentile £419 £425 £413
25th Percentile £513 £513 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £588 £600
Median % change year-on-year +2.13% -2.08% -
75th Percentile £688 £663 £688
90th Percentile £750 £713 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £588 £600
% change year-on-year +2.13% -2.08% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 22 109
10th Percentile £16.42 £43.25 £50.80
25th Percentile £32.54 £60.75 £57.33
Median hourly rate £56.25 £73.75 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.73% +13.46% -7.14%
75th Percentile £76.94 £81.91 £85.00
90th Percentile £91.03 £88.36 £87.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.25 £78.70 £67.00
% change year-on-year -28.53% +17.46% -10.67%

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 15,141 9,008 13,431
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.97% 30.75% 30.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,076 5,717 8,307
10th Percentile £350 £293 £300
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £525 £537
Median % change year-on-year -1.23% -2.23% -2.36%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £510 £525
% change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,097 499 1,029
10th Percentile £16.35 £18.50 £13.69
25th Percentile £20.82 £22.72 £17.60
Median hourly rate £45.46 £45.00 £38.95
Median % change year-on-year +1.02% +15.53% -27.87%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.67 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £47.81 £40.00
% change year-on-year -4.91% +19.51% -20.00%

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 16 April 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 16 April 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 16 April 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 +20 1,697 £585 -1.27% 400
UK excluding London +11 1,332 £600 +2.13% 340
South East +11 725 £600 +2.35% 145
London +39 368 £575 -4.17% 88
South West -3 328 £560 -6.67% 110
Work from Home +26 234 £560 -2.61% 118
North of England +1 94 £690 +236.59% 30
North West +22 76 £760 +270.73% 24
East of England +4 76 £600 +9.09% 37
Midlands -31 64 £563 -19.64% 20
West Midlands -37 46 £563 -19.64% 20
Scotland +22 43 £653 +30.60% 2
East Midlands -18 18 £625 +13.64%
Yorkshire -40 16 £538 -14.00% 4
Northern Ireland - 7 £600 - 1
Wales -13 3 - - 2
North East -18 2 £675 +22.73% 2

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 40 (2.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (1.51%) Confluence
2 28 (1.51%) SharePoint
3 19 (1.03%) Apache
4 13 (0.70%) Skype for Business
5 10 (0.54%) Palantir Foundry
6 8 (0.43%) Apache Spark
7 5 (0.27%) Mattermost
8 4 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
9 3 (0.16%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.11%) nginx
11 1 (0.054%) OpenStack
Applications
1 54 (2.92%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 21 (1.13%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
6 5 (0.27%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.11%) Lectora
7 2 (0.11%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 27 (1.46%) SAP S/4HANA
2 25 (1.35%) Remedy ITSM
3 17 (0.92%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 7 (0.38%) Maximo
5 6 (0.32%) SAP EWM
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle Assets
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle ERP
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 3 (0.16%) SAP GRC
8 2 (0.11%) Primavera
8 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
8 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
9 1 (0.054%) Oracle Applications
9 1 (0.054%) SAP CCM
9 1 (0.054%) SAP FI-GL
9 1 (0.054%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.054%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 179 (9.67%) AWS
2 139 (7.51%) Azure
3 52 (2.81%) GCP
4 46 (2.48%) IaaS
5 43 (2.32%) PaaS
6 40 (2.16%) Microsoft 365
7 38 (2.05%) GitHub
8 31 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
8 31 (1.67%) OpenShift
8 31 (1.67%) Serverless
9 25 (1.35%) GitHub Actions
10 20 (1.08%) Amazon S3
11 17 (0.92%) Amazon EC2
12 15 (0.81%) AWS Lambda
12 15 (0.81%) OCI
13 12 (0.65%) Amazon EKS
13 12 (0.65%) AWS CloudFormation
13 12 (0.65%) Azure AKS
13 12 (0.65%) Entra ID
14 11 (0.59%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 126 (6.80%) Firewall
2 107 (5.78%) DNS
3 73 (3.94%) Network Security
4 63 (3.40%) LAN
5 62 (3.35%) WAN
6 56 (3.02%) VPN
7 44 (2.38%) DHCP
8 41 (2.21%) BGP
9 31 (1.67%) OSPF
9 31 (1.67%) TCP/IP
10 24 (1.30%) Junos
11 19 (1.03%) Cisco ISE
11 19 (1.03%) SAN
12 18 (0.97%) Ethernet VPN
12 18 (0.97%) VLAN
12 18 (0.97%) VSAN
13 17 (0.92%) Cisco IOS
13 17 (0.92%) MPLS
13 17 (0.92%) VXLAN
14 16 (0.86%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
2 24 (1.30%) Elasticsearch
3 23 (1.24%) SQL Server
4 16 (0.86%) Oracle Database
5 15 (0.81%) Amazon RDS
5 15 (0.81%) MongoDB
6 11 (0.59%) Big Data
6 11 (0.59%) Hadoop
7 10 (0.54%) Power BI
8 9 (0.49%) MySQL
9 8 (0.43%) Relational Database
9 8 (0.43%) SAP HANA
10 7 (0.38%) InfluxDB
10 7 (0.38%) Metadata
10 7 (0.38%) Redis
11 6 (0.32%) MariaDB
12 5 (0.27%) NoSQL
12 5 (0.27%) SAP Data Services
12 5 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 4 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 66 (3.56%) JIRA
2 25 (1.35%) Git
3 24 (1.30%) GitLab
4 23 (1.24%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.43%) Maven
5 8 (0.43%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.32%) Artifactory
6 6 (0.32%) Robot Framework
7 5 (0.27%) Cypress.io
8 4 (0.22%) Oracle APEX
9 3 (0.16%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.16%) MLflow
9 3 (0.16%) Selenium
9 3 (0.16%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.11%) ERwin
10 2 (0.11%) MSI
10 2 (0.11%) Postman
10 2 (0.11%) REST Assured
11 1 (0.054%) JUnit
11 1 (0.054%) TestDirector
General
1 302 (16.31%) Social Skills
2 206 (11.12%) Public Sector
3 120 (6.48%) Analytical Skills
4 85 (4.59%) Finance
5 62 (3.35%) Military
6 58 (3.13%) Documentation Skills
7 48 (2.59%) Legal
8 30 (1.62%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (1.46%) Telecoms
10 23 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
11 21 (1.13%) Aerospace
11 21 (1.13%) Law
11 21 (1.13%) Police
12 16 (0.86%) Manufacturing
13 13 (0.70%) Marketing
14 12 (0.65%) Electronics
15 9 (0.49%) Banking
16 6 (0.32%) Influencing Skills
17 5 (0.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 3 (0.16%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 339 (18.30%) Architect
2 127 (6.86%) Senior
3 121 (6.53%) Lead
4 107 (5.78%) Analyst
5 94 (5.08%) Consultant
6 92 (4.97%) Network Engineer
7 88 (4.75%) Technical Architect
8 82 (4.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 76 (4.10%) Developer
10 60 (3.24%) Tester
11 58 (3.13%) SOC Analyst
12 54 (2.92%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
13 53 (2.86%) Security Architect
14 52 (2.81%) DevOps Engineer
14 52 (2.81%) Project Manager
15 42 (2.27%) Software Engineer
16 38 (2.05%) DV Cleared Project Manager
17 36 (1.94%) 3rd Line Engineer
18 35 (1.89%) Designer
18 35 (1.89%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (1.89%) REST
2 25 (1.35%) OAuth
3 23 (1.24%) React
4 20 (1.08%) Apache NiFi
5 19 (1.03%) OpenID
5 19 (1.03%) SAML
6 18 (0.97%) Node.js
6 18 (0.97%) OAuth2
7 16 (0.86%) Web Services
8 15 (0.81%) 802.1X
8 15 (0.81%) Elastic Stack
8 15 (0.81%) Kafka
9 14 (0.76%) .NET
10 13 (0.70%) AngularJS
10 13 (0.70%) LDAP
11 12 (0.65%) ModSecurity
12 11 (0.59%) SailPoint
12 11 (0.59%) SOAP
13 10 (0.54%) Flask
13 10 (0.54%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 98 (5.29%) PKI
2 68 (3.67%) Data Centre
3 47 (2.54%) Security Operations Centre
4 32 (1.73%) Management Information System
5 31 (1.67%) Cloud Native
6 30 (1.62%) Onboarding
7 28 (1.51%) Clustering
8 24 (1.30%) Product Ownership
9 23 (1.24%) Hybrid Cloud
10 20 (1.08%) Cyberattack
10 20 (1.08%) Replication
11 19 (1.03%) Analytical Mindset
11 19 (1.03%) Public Cloud
12 17 (0.92%) Cyber Threat
12 17 (0.92%) Private Cloud
13 14 (0.76%) Driving Licence
13 14 (0.76%) Enterprise Storage
13 14 (0.76%) Legacy Systems
13 14 (0.76%) Security Posture
14 13 (0.70%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 261 (14.09%) Windows
2 198 (10.69%) Linux
3 89 (4.81%) Windows Server
4 29 (1.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 28 (1.51%) Windows 10
6 13 (0.70%) Ubuntu
6 13 (0.70%) Windows 7
7 10 (0.54%) Android
7 10 (0.54%) Mac OS
8 7 (0.38%) Unix
8 7 (0.38%) VMS
8 7 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
9 6 (0.32%) CentOS
10 5 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
10 5 (0.27%) Debian
10 5 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.16%) Embedded Linux
13 2 (0.11%) Rocky
13 2 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 302 (16.31%) Agile
2 200 (10.80%) Problem-Solving
3 155 (8.37%) ITIL
4 154 (8.32%) Cybersecurity
5 148 (7.99%) DevOps
6 138 (7.45%) CI/CD
7 129 (6.97%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 127 (6.86%) Service Management
9 114 (6.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 110 (5.94%) Stakeholder Management
11 109 (5.89%) Continuous Improvement
12 96 (5.18%) ITSM
13 83 (4.48%) Infrastructure as Code
13 83 (4.48%) Project Delivery
14 79 (4.27%) Risk Management
15 73 (3.94%) Decision-Making
15 73 (3.94%) Identity Access Management
15 73 (3.94%) SIEM
16 70 (3.78%) Containerisation
17 69 (3.73%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 140 (7.56%) Python
2 119 (6.43%) PowerShell
3 58 (3.13%) SQL
4 46 (2.48%) Java
5 34 (1.84%) Bash
6 33 (1.78%) JavaScript
7 20 (1.08%) C#
8 19 (1.03%) TypeScript
9 15 (0.81%) Shell Script
10 14 (0.76%) Go
11 11 (0.59%) Bicep
12 9 (0.49%) C++
13 8 (0.43%) C
13 8 (0.43%) VB
14 7 (0.38%) PL/SQL
14 7 (0.38%) VBScript
15 6 (0.32%) ABAP
15 6 (0.32%) Embedded C
15 6 (0.32%) Rust
16 4 (0.22%) PHP
Qualifications
1 1,852 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 591 (31.91%) SC Cleared
3 57 (3.08%) Degree
4 54 (2.92%) CISSP
5 49 (2.65%) Cisco Certification
6 39 (2.11%) CISM
7 37 (2.00%) Microsoft Certification
8 27 (1.46%) CompTIA Security+
9 24 (1.30%) CCNP
10 22 (1.19%) CCNA
11 20 (1.08%) CESG Certified Professional
12 19 (1.03%) BPSS Clearance
13 18 (0.97%) AWS Certification
13 18 (0.97%) Computer Science Degree
13 18 (0.97%) GIAC
14 14 (0.76%) Azure Certification
15 13 (0.70%) CEH
15 13 (0.70%) CompTIA CySA+
15 13 (0.70%) CTC Cleared
16 12 (0.65%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (4.64%) NIST
2 64 (3.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 49 (2.65%) NCSC
4 42 (2.27%) PMO
4 42 (2.27%) QA
5 36 (1.94%) JSP 440
6 23 (1.24%) GRC
7 20 (1.08%) RMADS
8 15 (0.81%) NIST 800
8 15 (0.81%) SLA
9 14 (0.76%) GDPR
10 11 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
10 11 (0.59%) Data Quality
11 10 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 5 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
12 5 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 5 (0.27%) P3O
13 4 (0.22%) Accessibility
14 3 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 128 (6.91%) Active Directory
2 103 (5.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 92 (4.97%) Docker
4 53 (2.86%) VMware NSX
5 43 (2.32%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (1.67%) Hyper-V
7 22 (1.19%) vSphere
8 15 (0.81%) BitLocker
9 12 (0.65%) vCloud
10 10 (0.54%) Firmware
11 8 (0.43%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
13 5 (0.27%) Oracle RAC
14 4 (0.22%) UAG
14 4 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
15 3 (0.16%) Ceph
15 3 (0.16%) GPFS
15 3 (0.16%) Lustre
15 3 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 2 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 136 (7.34%) Kubernetes
2 118 (6.37%) Terraform
3 78 (4.21%) Ansible
4 57 (3.08%) vCenter Server
5 36 (1.94%) SCCM
6 35 (1.89%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 35 (1.89%) Single Sign-On
7 25 (1.35%) Grafana
8 20 (1.08%) Prometheus
9 15 (0.81%) FortiGate
10 14 (0.76%) Puppet
11 12 (0.65%) SCOM
12 11 (0.59%) Progress Chef
12 11 (0.59%) WMI
13 10 (0.54%) Forefront Identity Manager
13 10 (0.54%) NetIQ Identity Manager
13 10 (0.54%) Podman
14 9 (0.49%) Nessus
15 8 (0.43%) vMotion
15 8 (0.43%) VxRail
Vendors
1 211 (11.39%) Microsoft
2 197 (10.64%) VMware
3 110 (5.94%) Cisco
4 59 (3.19%) Splunk
5 58 (3.13%) SAP
5 58 (3.13%) ServiceNow
6 53 (2.86%) Juniper
7 49 (2.65%) NetApp
8 47 (2.54%) Oracle
9 42 (2.27%) Red Hat
10 27 (1.46%) F5
10 27 (1.46%) Remedy
11 25 (1.35%) SolarWinds
12 23 (1.24%) Fortinet
13 22 (1.19%) Dell
14 19 (1.03%) Google
14 19 (1.03%) Palo Alto
15 18 (0.97%) Sparx
16 17 (0.92%) Citrix
17 16 (0.86%) Atlassian