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

6 months to
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 53 76 31
Rank change year-on-year +23 -45 +47
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,837 929 2,361
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.06% 3.18% 5.38%
As % of the Qualifications category 12.22% 10.37% 17.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,288 643 1,710
10th Percentile £424 £420 £412
25th Percentile £512 £513 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £588 £588 £600
Median % change year-on-year - -2.08% -
75th Percentile £688 £663 £693
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 50 23 108
10th Percentile £16.35 £37.50 £50.40
25th Percentile £35.00 £57.44 £57.33
Median hourly rate £56.25 £63.75 £64.15
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% -0.62% -8.36%
75th Percentile £77.31 £81.18 £80.00
90th Percentile £91.63 £83.59 £87.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £57.00 £73.75 £65.75
% change year-on-year -22.71% +12.17% -12.33%

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 15,031 8,959 13,459
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.24% 30.64% 30.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,957 5,714 8,339
10th Percentile £343 £300 £300
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.43% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,102 489 1,015
10th Percentile £16.35 £18.50 £13.69
25th Percentile £20.54 £23.50 £17.55
Median hourly rate £37.50 £45.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +20.00% -30.56%
75th Percentile £69.19 £67.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.00 £81.01 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.00 £47.81 £39.92
% change year-on-year -22.60% +19.75% -19.39%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 +14 1,682 £575 -4.17% 411
UK excluding London +7 1,310 £600 +2.13% 355
South East +10 711 £600 +2.35% 151
London +18 367 £575 -4.17% 80
South West -1 334 £563 -6.25% 104
Work from Home +32 231 £560 -2.61% 131
North of England -8 90 £680 +231.71% 40
North West +16 72 £700 +241.46% 35
East of England +6 70 £575 +4.55% 34
Midlands -31 66 £588 -16.07% 17
West Midlands -32 49 £569 -18.75% 15
Scotland -4 41 £653 +26.80% 6
East Midlands -20 17 £638 +15.91% 1
Yorkshire -38 16 £538 -14.00% 4
Northern Ireland - 7 £600 -
Wales -11 3 - - 8
North East -17 2 £675 +22.73% 1

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 39 (2.12%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (1.80%) SharePoint
3 25 (1.36%) Confluence
4 23 (1.25%) Apache
5 17 (0.93%) Skype for Business
6 13 (0.71%) Palantir Foundry
7 8 (0.44%) Apache Spark
8 5 (0.27%) Mattermost
9 4 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
11 1 (0.054%) OpenStack
Applications
1 54 (2.94%) Microsoft Office
2 42 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 23 (1.25%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (0.71%) 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 26 (1.42%) SAP S/4HANA
2 25 (1.36%) Remedy ITSM
3 17 (0.93%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 7 (0.38%) Maximo
5 6 (0.33%) 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%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.11%) Primavera
8 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
8 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
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
1 176 (9.58%) AWS
2 142 (7.73%) Azure
3 53 (2.89%) GCP
4 46 (2.50%) IaaS
5 43 (2.34%) PaaS
6 41 (2.23%) GitHub
6 41 (2.23%) Microsoft 365
7 34 (1.85%) OpenShift
7 34 (1.85%) Serverless
8 33 (1.80%) Azure DevOps
9 25 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
10 20 (1.09%) Amazon S3
11 18 (0.98%) Amazon EC2
12 16 (0.87%) AWS Lambda
13 15 (0.82%) OCI
14 14 (0.76%) Azure Sentinel
14 14 (0.76%) Power Platform
15 13 (0.71%) AWS CloudFormation
16 12 (0.65%) Amazon ECS
16 12 (0.65%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 129 (7.02%) Firewall
2 105 (5.72%) DNS
3 76 (4.14%) Network Security
4 64 (3.48%) LAN
5 61 (3.32%) WAN
6 58 (3.16%) VPN
7 42 (2.29%) BGP
8 41 (2.23%) DHCP
9 35 (1.91%) TCP/IP
10 32 (1.74%) OSPF
11 25 (1.36%) Junos
12 20 (1.09%) Cisco ISE
13 19 (1.03%) Skype
13 19 (1.03%) VLAN
14 18 (0.98%) Cisco IOS
14 18 (0.98%) Ethernet VPN
14 18 (0.98%) MPLS
15 17 (0.93%) SAN
15 17 (0.93%) VXLAN
16 16 (0.87%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (1.74%) PostgreSQL
2 26 (1.42%) Elasticsearch
3 20 (1.09%) SQL Server
4 16 (0.87%) Amazon RDS
5 15 (0.82%) Oracle Database
6 14 (0.76%) Big Data
6 14 (0.76%) MongoDB
7 13 (0.71%) Hadoop
8 12 (0.65%) Power BI
9 8 (0.44%) MySQL
9 8 (0.44%) Redis
9 8 (0.44%) Relational Database
9 8 (0.44%) SAP HANA
10 7 (0.38%) InfluxDB
10 7 (0.38%) Metadata
11 5 (0.27%) MariaDB
11 5 (0.27%) SAP Data Services
12 4 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
12 4 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
12 4 (0.22%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 62 (3.38%) JIRA
2 25 (1.36%) GitLab
3 24 (1.31%) Git
3 24 (1.31%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.49%) Maven
5 8 (0.44%) Artifactory
5 8 (0.44%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.33%) Robot Framework
7 5 (0.27%) Cypress.io
8 4 (0.22%) Oracle APEX
8 4 (0.22%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.16%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.16%) MLflow
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
10 2 (0.11%) Selenium
11 1 (0.054%) Atlassian Bamboo
General
1 313 (17.04%) Social Skills
2 204 (11.11%) Public Sector
3 125 (6.80%) Analytical Skills
4 86 (4.68%) Finance
5 63 (3.43%) Military
6 54 (2.94%) Documentation Skills
7 50 (2.72%) Legal
8 30 (1.63%) Presentation Skills
9 29 (1.58%) Telecoms
10 23 (1.25%) Aerospace
10 23 (1.25%) Law
11 22 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
12 21 (1.14%) Police
13 16 (0.87%) Manufacturing
14 14 (0.76%) Marketing
15 13 (0.71%) Electronics
16 9 (0.49%) Banking
17 6 (0.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.33%) Influencing Skills
18 2 (0.11%) Multimedia
Job Titles
1 337 (18.35%) Architect
2 123 (6.70%) Senior
3 119 (6.48%) Lead
4 109 (5.93%) Analyst
5 94 (5.12%) Consultant
6 92 (5.01%) Network Engineer
7 85 (4.63%) Technical Architect
8 74 (4.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 72 (3.92%) Developer
10 61 (3.32%) Tester
11 56 (3.05%) SOC Analyst
12 54 (2.94%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
13 52 (2.83%) Security Architect
14 51 (2.78%) DevOps Engineer
15 47 (2.56%) Project Manager
16 38 (2.07%) Software Engineer
17 36 (1.96%) 3rd Line Engineer
17 36 (1.96%) Solutions Architect
18 35 (1.91%) Infrastructure Architect
19 34 (1.85%) DV Cleared Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (2.07%) REST
2 25 (1.36%) Apache NiFi
2 25 (1.36%) OAuth
3 23 (1.25%) React
4 19 (1.03%) OpenID
4 19 (1.03%) SAML
5 18 (0.98%) Kafka
5 18 (0.98%) OAuth2
6 16 (0.87%) Node.js
6 16 (0.87%) Web Services
7 15 (0.82%) 802.1X
8 14 (0.76%) Elastic Stack
9 13 (0.71%) LDAP
10 12 (0.65%) .NET
10 12 (0.65%) Flask
10 12 (0.65%) ModSecurity
11 11 (0.60%) FastAPI
11 11 (0.60%) SailPoint
11 11 (0.60%) SOAP
11 11 (0.60%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 102 (5.55%) PKI
2 65 (3.54%) Data Centre
3 47 (2.56%) Security Operations Centre
4 34 (1.85%) Management Information System
5 29 (1.58%) Cloud Native
6 28 (1.52%) Clustering
7 24 (1.31%) Hybrid Cloud
7 24 (1.31%) Onboarding
7 24 (1.31%) Product Ownership
8 20 (1.09%) Analytical Mindset
8 20 (1.09%) Cyber Threat
8 20 (1.09%) Cyberattack
8 20 (1.09%) Replication
9 16 (0.87%) Public Cloud
10 15 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
10 15 (0.82%) Private Cloud
11 14 (0.76%) Driving Licence
11 14 (0.76%) Enterprise Storage
11 14 (0.76%) Security Posture
12 13 (0.71%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 255 (13.88%) Windows
2 192 (10.45%) Linux
3 83 (4.52%) Windows Server
4 28 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 28 (1.52%) Windows 10
5 14 (0.76%) Windows 7
6 13 (0.71%) Ubuntu
7 10 (0.54%) Mac OS
8 9 (0.49%) Android
9 7 (0.38%) Unix
9 7 (0.38%) VMS
9 7 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
10 6 (0.33%) CentOS
11 5 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
12 4 (0.22%) Debian
12 4 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.16%) Embedded Linux
13 3 (0.16%) Windows Server 2016
14 2 (0.11%) Rocky
15 1 (0.054%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 303 (16.49%) Agile
2 206 (11.21%) Problem-Solving
3 167 (9.09%) Cybersecurity
4 156 (8.49%) DevOps
5 152 (8.27%) ITIL
6 135 (7.35%) CI/CD
7 129 (7.02%) Service Management
8 123 (6.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 114 (6.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 110 (5.99%) Continuous Improvement
11 107 (5.82%) Stakeholder Management
12 97 (5.28%) ITSM
13 82 (4.46%) Infrastructure as Code
13 82 (4.46%) Risk Management
14 80 (4.35%) Project Delivery
15 77 (4.19%) SIEM
16 75 (4.08%) Incident Response
17 72 (3.92%) Containerisation
17 72 (3.92%) Decision-Making
17 72 (3.92%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 146 (7.95%) Python
2 120 (6.53%) PowerShell
3 59 (3.21%) SQL
4 49 (2.67%) Java
5 32 (1.74%) JavaScript
6 27 (1.47%) Bash
7 19 (1.03%) TypeScript
8 18 (0.98%) C#
9 16 (0.87%) Shell Script
10 15 (0.82%) Go
11 11 (0.60%) Bicep
12 10 (0.54%) C++
13 8 (0.44%) C
13 8 (0.44%) VB
14 7 (0.38%) PL/SQL
14 7 (0.38%) VBScript
15 6 (0.33%) ABAP
15 6 (0.33%) Embedded C
15 6 (0.33%) Rust
16 4 (0.22%) PHP
Qualifications
1 1,837 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 581 (31.63%) SC Cleared
3 63 (3.43%) CISSP
4 61 (3.32%) Degree
5 50 (2.72%) Cisco Certification
6 42 (2.29%) CISM
7 35 (1.91%) Microsoft Certification
8 28 (1.52%) CompTIA Security+
9 24 (1.31%) CCNP
10 22 (1.20%) CESG Certified Professional
11 21 (1.14%) CCNA
12 19 (1.03%) AWS Certification
12 19 (1.03%) BPSS Clearance
12 19 (1.03%) Computer Science Degree
13 18 (0.98%) GIAC
14 16 (0.87%) CompTIA CySA+
15 14 (0.76%) Azure Certification
16 13 (0.71%) CEH
16 13 (0.71%) CTC Cleared
16 13 (0.71%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (4.68%) NIST
2 70 (3.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 56 (3.05%) NCSC
4 43 (2.34%) PMO
5 42 (2.29%) QA
6 40 (2.18%) JSP 440
7 23 (1.25%) GRC
8 19 (1.03%) RMADS
9 16 (0.87%) GDPR
10 14 (0.76%) NIST 800
10 14 (0.76%) SLA
11 13 (0.71%) Data Quality
12 11 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials
12 11 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 6 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 6 (0.33%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 6 (0.33%) P3O
14 5 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
15 4 (0.22%) Accessibility
16 3 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 122 (6.64%) Active Directory
2 95 (5.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 91 (4.95%) Docker
4 51 (2.78%) VMware NSX
5 40 (2.18%) VMware ESXi
6 27 (1.47%) Hyper-V
7 22 (1.20%) vSphere
8 15 (0.82%) BitLocker
9 12 (0.65%) vCloud
10 10 (0.54%) Firmware
11 8 (0.44%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
13 5 (0.27%) Oracle RAC
14 3 (0.16%) Ceph
14 3 (0.16%) GPFS
14 3 (0.16%) Lustre
14 3 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
14 3 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
15 2 (0.11%) UAG
15 2 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 138 (7.51%) Kubernetes
2 115 (6.26%) Terraform
3 80 (4.35%) Ansible
4 54 (2.94%) vCenter Server
5 35 (1.91%) Single Sign-On
6 34 (1.85%) SCCM
7 33 (1.80%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 28 (1.52%) Grafana
9 23 (1.25%) Prometheus
10 15 (0.82%) FortiGate
11 14 (0.76%) Puppet
12 12 (0.65%) Progress Chef
12 12 (0.65%) WMI
13 11 (0.60%) SCOM
14 10 (0.54%) Forefront Identity Manager
14 10 (0.54%) NetIQ Identity Manager
15 9 (0.49%) Nessus
16 8 (0.44%) Podman
16 8 (0.44%) vMotion
16 8 (0.44%) VxRail
Vendors
1 214 (11.65%) Microsoft
2 189 (10.29%) VMware
3 110 (5.99%) Cisco
4 60 (3.27%) Splunk
5 58 (3.16%) SAP
6 56 (3.05%) ServiceNow
7 55 (2.99%) Juniper
8 48 (2.61%) NetApp
9 47 (2.56%) Oracle
10 43 (2.34%) Red Hat
11 27 (1.47%) F5
11 27 (1.47%) Remedy
12 26 (1.42%) SolarWinds
13 23 (1.25%) Fortinet
14 22 (1.20%) Dell
15 20 (1.09%) Palo Alto
16 18 (0.98%) Sparx
17 16 (0.87%) Citrix
17 16 (0.87%) Google
17 16 (0.87%) Palantir