Security Cleared Job Trends in the South East

Security Clearance
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 11 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 10 11
Rank change year-on-year -15 +1 +8
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 688 930 1,580
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.70% 12.95% 11.16%
As % of the Qualifications category 21.54% 26.56% 32.10%
Number of salaries quoted 447 646 1,251
10th Percentile £39,000 £41,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £50,000 £47,500 £42,200
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £59,509 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.23% +8.20% +14.58%
75th Percentile £77,375 £77,500 £67,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £85,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £65,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +8.33% +4.35% +3.41%

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 permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the South East.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 3,194 3,502 4,922
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 26.48% 48.75% 34.77%
Number of salaries quoted 1,428 1,561 3,350
10th Percentile £28,500 £32,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £38,000 £45,000 £36,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,875 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -6.30% +9.52% +5.00%
75th Percentile £70,313 £75,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £85,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -4.35%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Security Cleared relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in the South East

Security Cleared
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Security Cleared.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the South East over the 6 months to 11 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Cleared in the South East

Security Cleared
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Cleared within the South East region over the 6 months to 11 March 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Hampshire -1 366 £65,000 +12.07% 173
Thames Valley +5 212 £60,000 +0.40% 172
Berkshire +6 130 £62,500 +4.17% 100
Surrey -21 62 £55,000 -12.00% 29
Buckinghamshire +9 58 £60,000 +4.19% 52
Oxfordshire +10 24 £65,000 +30.00% 31
West Sussex +2 20 £35,000 -12.50% 13
Kent -15 15 £39,000 -37.60% 24
Sussex - 10 £85,000 - 2
Home Counties 0 1 - -
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 42 (6.10%) SharePoint
2 32 (4.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 23 (3.34%) Exchange Server 2003
4 5 (0.73%) WordPress
5 4 (0.58%) Apache
5 4 (0.58%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.44%) Appian
6 3 (0.44%) Confluence
7 1 (0.15%) Apache Qpid
7 1 (0.15%) Camunda
7 1 (0.15%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.15%) SAS
Applications
1 31 (4.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (3.78%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.73%) Adobe XD
4 2 (0.29%) Adobe After Effects
4 2 (0.29%) Adobe Captivate
4 2 (0.29%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.29%) Adobe Premiere
4 2 (0.29%) Elementor
4 2 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.29%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.15%) CATIA
5 1 (0.15%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.15%) OrCAD
5 1 (0.15%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 3 (0.44%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.15%) Primavera
2 1 (0.15%) Q-Pulse
2 1 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.15%) SAP GTS
2 1 (0.15%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.15%) SAP Payroll
2 1 (0.15%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.15%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 74 (10.76%) Azure
2 61 (8.87%) AWS
3 39 (5.67%) Microsoft 365
4 29 (4.22%) Power Platform
5 28 (4.07%) Azure DevOps
6 22 (3.20%) GCP
7 19 (2.76%) PowerApps
8 17 (2.47%) Dynamics 365
9 11 (1.60%) Amazon EKS
10 9 (1.31%) GitHub
10 9 (1.31%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
10 9 (1.31%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 8 (1.16%) Serverless
12 7 (1.02%) Amazon EC2
12 7 (1.02%) Amazon ECS
12 7 (1.02%) OpenShift
13 6 (0.87%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (0.73%) AWS CloudFormation
14 5 (0.73%) Entra ID
14 5 (0.73%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 59 (8.58%) Firewall
2 57 (8.28%) DNS
3 33 (4.80%) DHCP
4 24 (3.49%) Structured Cabling
5 17 (2.47%) Cisco Firepower
5 17 (2.47%) VPN
5 17 (2.47%) WAN
6 16 (2.33%) Junos
7 14 (2.03%) Cisco ISE
8 13 (1.89%) BGP
8 13 (1.89%) Cisco IOS
9 12 (1.74%) LAN
10 11 (1.60%) Network Security
11 10 (1.45%) NX-OS
11 10 (1.45%) Wi-Fi
12 9 (1.31%) MPLS
12 9 (1.31%) TCP/IP
13 7 (1.02%) SNMP
14 6 (0.87%) Cisco ASA
15 5 (0.73%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (3.63%) Oracle Database
2 24 (3.49%) Oracle Database 10g
3 21 (3.05%) Power BI
4 11 (1.60%) PostgreSQL
5 8 (1.16%) Relational Database
5 8 (1.16%) SQL Server
6 6 (0.87%) RDBMS
7 3 (0.44%) Airbyte
7 3 (0.44%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.29%) Big Data
8 2 (0.29%) MySQL
9 1 (0.15%) Data Lake
9 1 (0.15%) DynamoDB
9 1 (0.15%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.15%) Geospatial Data
9 1 (0.15%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.15%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.15%) Redis
9 1 (0.15%) SAP Data Services
9 1 (0.15%) SAS Visual Analytics
Development Applications
1 29 (4.22%) Git
2 27 (3.92%) GitLab
3 21 (3.05%) Jenkins
3 21 (3.05%) Selenium
4 19 (2.76%) Robot Framework
5 17 (2.47%) Snyk
6 16 (2.33%) JIRA
7 8 (1.16%) JUnit
8 7 (1.02%) Mockito
9 6 (0.87%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 6 (0.87%) JMeter
9 6 (0.87%) Subversion
10 5 (0.73%) Axure RP
10 5 (0.73%) Balsamiq
11 3 (0.44%) Cypress.io
12 2 (0.29%) Artifactory
12 2 (0.29%) Rational DOORS
12 2 (0.29%) Rational Rhapsody
12 2 (0.29%) Visual Studio
12 2 (0.29%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 186 (27.03%) Social Skills
2 89 (12.94%) Analytical Skills
3 61 (8.87%) Public Sector
4 55 (7.99%) Finance
5 28 (4.07%) Aeronautics
5 28 (4.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 28 (4.07%) Law
6 22 (3.20%) Manufacturing
7 17 (2.47%) Telecoms
8 15 (2.18%) Aerospace
9 13 (1.89%) Aviation
9 13 (1.89%) Electronics
10 12 (1.74%) Marketing
11 11 (1.60%) Legal
11 11 (1.60%) Military
11 11 (1.60%) Organisational Skills
12 10 (1.45%) Banking
13 9 (1.31%) Documentation Skills
13 9 (1.31%) Games
14 8 (1.16%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 92 (13.37%) Architect
2 80 (11.63%) Senior
3 59 (8.58%) Lead
4 45 (6.54%) Developer
5 40 (5.81%) Consultant
5 40 (5.81%) Systems Engineer
6 36 (5.23%) Analyst
7 35 (5.09%) Business Manager
8 34 (4.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 33 (4.80%) Business Systems Manager
9 33 (4.80%) Systems Manager
10 32 (4.65%) Network Engineer
10 32 (4.65%) Support Engineer
11 31 (4.51%) Software Engineer
12 29 (4.22%) Systems Support
13 25 (3.63%) 3rd Line Support
14 24 (3.49%) Data Engineer
15 18 (2.62%) Cloud Engineer
16 15 (2.18%) Applications Architect
16 15 (2.18%) Salesforce Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.05%) REST
2 17 (2.47%) .NET
3 14 (2.03%) HTML
3 14 (2.03%) SOAP
4 13 (1.89%) XML
5 12 (1.74%) JSON
6 11 (1.60%) Spring
7 10 (1.45%) Kafka
7 10 (1.45%) Middleware
7 10 (1.45%) React
8 9 (1.31%) Lightning Web Components
8 9 (1.31%) Spring Boot
8 9 (1.31%) Visualforce
9 8 (1.16%) Web Services
10 7 (1.02%) Hibernate
11 6 (0.87%) ActiveMQ
11 6 (0.87%) Apache Camel
11 6 (0.87%) jQuery
11 6 (0.87%) WireMock
12 4 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 35 (5.09%) Robotics
2 28 (4.07%) PKI
2 28 (4.07%) Product Ownership
3 18 (2.62%) Cloud Native
4 15 (2.18%) Data Centre
5 14 (2.03%) Security Posture
6 13 (1.89%) Driving Licence
7 11 (1.60%) Onboarding
8 10 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
8 10 (1.45%) Security Operations Centre
9 8 (1.16%) Self-Motivation
10 7 (1.02%) e-Learning
11 6 (0.87%) Enterprise Software
11 6 (0.87%) Fibre Optics
11 6 (0.87%) Management Information System
12 5 (0.73%) Algorithms
12 5 (0.73%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (0.73%) Embedded Systems
12 5 (0.73%) FPGA
12 5 (0.73%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 119 (17.30%) Windows
2 64 (9.30%) Linux
3 59 (8.58%) Windows Server
4 25 (3.63%) Unix
5 24 (3.49%) HPUX
5 24 (3.49%) Solaris
6 23 (3.34%) Windows 7
6 23 (3.34%) Windows Server 2003
7 22 (3.20%) Windows Server 2008
8 10 (1.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (1.45%) Windows Server 2016
9 8 (1.16%) Android
10 6 (0.87%) Ubuntu
11 5 (0.73%) CentOS
12 4 (0.58%) Apple iOS
12 4 (0.58%) Windows 10
12 4 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (19.48%) Agile
2 78 (11.34%) Software Engineering
3 75 (10.90%) Continuous Improvement
4 74 (10.76%) CI/CD
4 74 (10.76%) Problem-Solving
5 71 (10.32%) DevOps
6 68 (9.88%) Project Management
7 54 (7.85%) AI
8 50 (7.27%) Mentoring
9 44 (6.40%) Risk Management
10 43 (6.25%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 43 (6.25%) Process Improvement
11 42 (6.10%) Cybersecurity
12 39 (5.67%) Decision-Making
13 38 (5.52%) Test Automation
14 37 (5.38%) Scrum
15 35 (5.09%) Contract Negotiation
15 35 (5.09%) Infrastructure as Code
15 35 (5.09%) IT Strategy
16 34 (4.94%) Strategic Planning
Programming Languages
1 75 (10.90%) Python
2 39 (5.67%) PowerShell
3 36 (5.23%) Java
4 31 (4.51%) JavaScript
5 25 (3.63%) SQL
6 22 (3.20%) Perl
7 19 (2.76%) VBA
8 18 (2.62%) C++
9 14 (2.03%) C#
10 13 (1.89%) Rust
11 10 (1.45%) Bash
11 10 (1.45%) C
12 9 (1.31%) Apex Code
12 9 (1.31%) Shell Script
13 5 (0.73%) Ladder Logic
13 5 (0.73%) PL/SQL
14 4 (0.58%) MATLAB
14 4 (0.58%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.29%) Go
15 2 (0.29%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 432 (62.79%) SC Cleared
2 274 (39.83%) DV Cleared
3 102 (14.83%) Degree
4 26 (3.78%) Master's Degree
5 16 (2.33%) HNC
6 14 (2.03%) APMP
6 14 (2.03%) MBA
7 13 (1.89%) Cisco Certification
8 12 (1.74%) BPSS Clearance
8 12 (1.74%) CCNA
8 12 (1.74%) CISSP
9 11 (1.60%) Microsoft Certification
10 10 (1.45%) CCNP
11 9 (1.31%) DBS Check
12 7 (1.02%) CISM
12 7 (1.02%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (1.02%) CRISC
12 7 (1.02%) ISTQB
13 6 (0.87%) Azure Certification
14 5 (0.73%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (4.80%) SLA
2 18 (2.62%) GDPR
3 17 (2.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 13 (1.89%) NIST
4 13 (1.89%) QA
5 10 (1.45%) Accessibility
5 10 (1.45%) NCSC
6 9 (1.31%) GRC
7 6 (0.87%) PMO
8 5 (0.73%) WCAG
9 4 (0.58%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.58%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.44%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.44%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.29%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 2 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 2 (0.29%) RMADS
12 1 (0.15%) COBIT
12 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
System Software
1 67 (9.74%) Active Directory
2 29 (4.22%) Docker
3 25 (3.63%) VMware NSX
4 22 (3.20%) VMware Infrastructure
5 17 (2.47%) Firmware
6 13 (1.89%) vSphere
7 6 (0.87%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.44%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.44%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.29%) Terminal Server
10 1 (0.15%) Apache ZooKeeper
10 1 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 38 (5.52%) Terraform
2 37 (5.38%) Kubernetes
3 33 (4.80%) Ansible
4 23 (3.34%) vCenter Server
5 11 (1.60%) SCCM
5 11 (1.60%) SCOM
6 10 (1.45%) Grafana
7 9 (1.31%) Prometheus
7 9 (1.31%) vRealize
8 7 (1.02%) Endace
8 7 (1.02%) Nessus
9 6 (0.87%) Kibana
10 5 (0.73%) ZABBIX
11 4 (0.58%) WSUS
12 3 (0.44%) Jamf Pro
12 3 (0.44%) Nagios
12 3 (0.44%) QRadar
13 2 (0.29%) SCSM
13 2 (0.29%) Sysdig
13 2 (0.29%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 92 (13.37%) Microsoft
2 72 (10.47%) VMware
3 48 (6.98%) Cisco
4 36 (5.23%) Juniper
4 36 (5.23%) Oracle
5 20 (2.91%) Splunk
6 19 (2.76%) Salesforce
7 17 (2.47%) Black Duck
7 17 (2.47%) Coverity
8 16 (2.33%) SolarWinds
9 13 (1.89%) Google
10 11 (1.60%) CheckPoint
10 11 (1.60%) SAP
11 10 (1.45%) Broadcom
11 10 (1.45%) ServiceNow
12 9 (1.31%) F5
12 9 (1.31%) LogRhythm
12 9 (1.31%) Palo Alto
13 8 (1.16%) Adobe
13 8 (1.16%) MuleSoft