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 8 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 14 10
Rank change year-on-year 0 -4 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,419 855 1,645
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.52% 9.51% 13.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 37.31% 23.74% 39.53%
Number of salaries quoted 890 482 955
10th Percentile £39,000 £30,800 £39,500
25th Percentile £51,250 £45,125 £44,106
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £57,500 £59,000
Median % change year-on-year +21.74% -2.54% +9.75%
75th Percentile £85,000 £74,563 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £87,150 £87,500
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +16.67% - -

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 3,803 3,601 4,161
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.15% 40.05% 33.57%
Number of salaries quoted 2,292 1,615 1,977
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £33,000
25th Percentile £41,750 £35,854 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £56,525
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -11.54% +7.56%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -0.95%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 -1 746 £75,000 +23.97% 423
Thames Valley +24 392 £70,000 +27.27% 368
Berkshire +28 270 £70,000 +27.27% 236
Surrey +6 193 £50,000 +33.33% 95
Buckinghamshire +17 104 £55,000 +4.76% 82
West Sussex -17 35 £45,000 +25.87% 55
Kent -21 25 £47,500 -13.64% 14
Oxfordshire -28 19 £100,000 +17.65% 70
East Sussex -9 6 £70,000 +40.00% 14
Isle of Wight - 6 £70,000 - 2
Sussex -7 5 £65,000 +23.81% 14
Middlesex +12 3 £65,000 -
Home Counties - 2 £80,000 -
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 14 (0.99%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.78%) Apache
3 7 (0.49%) Confluence
4 6 (0.42%) SAS
5 5 (0.35%) nginx
6 4 (0.28%) IIS
7 3 (0.21%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.21%) Palantir Foundry
8 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.070%) Kinematics
Applications
1 33 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (2.04%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (1.34%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (1.27%) Simulink
5 7 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.49%) SOLIDWORKS
6 5 (0.35%) Solid Edge
7 4 (0.28%) Mathcad
7 4 (0.28%) Mathematica
8 3 (0.21%) Chatbot
8 3 (0.21%) MS Visio
9 2 (0.14%) AutoCAD
9 2 (0.14%) Lectora
9 2 (0.14%) OrCAD
9 2 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
9 2 (0.14%) UserZoom
10 1 (0.070%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.070%) CATIA
10 1 (0.070%) Revit
Business Applications
1 8 (0.56%) Primavera
2 7 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.28%) SAP PM
3 4 (0.28%) Workday HCM
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
4 2 (0.14%) SAP CO
4 2 (0.14%) SAP FI
4 2 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
4 2 (0.14%) SAP MM
4 2 (0.14%) SAP PP
4 2 (0.14%) SAP PS
4 2 (0.14%) SAP QM
4 2 (0.14%) Siebel CRM
4 2 (0.14%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.070%) ENOVIA
5 1 (0.070%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 212 (14.94%) Azure
2 160 (11.28%) AWS
3 60 (4.23%) Microsoft 365
4 46 (3.24%) Entra ID
5 39 (2.75%) GCP
6 26 (1.83%) Cloud Computing
7 25 (1.76%) Power Platform
8 21 (1.48%) OpenShift
9 19 (1.34%) GitHub
10 15 (1.06%) Serverless
11 14 (0.99%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (0.99%) GitHub Actions
12 11 (0.78%) Azure AKS
12 11 (0.78%) Azure DevOps
13 10 (0.70%) Azure Stack
14 8 (0.56%) SaaS
15 7 (0.49%) Amazon EKS
16 6 (0.42%) Cloudflare
16 6 (0.42%) PowerApps
17 5 (0.35%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 123 (8.67%) Firewall
2 73 (5.14%) DNS
3 58 (4.09%) WAN
4 52 (3.66%) Network Security
5 50 (3.52%) LAN
6 48 (3.38%) TCP/IP
7 44 (3.10%) VPN
8 20 (1.41%) DHCP
8 20 (1.41%) VLAN
9 19 (1.34%) HTTP
10 18 (1.27%) BGP
11 16 (1.13%) ATM
12 15 (1.06%) Intrusion Detection
13 13 (0.92%) OSPF
13 13 (0.92%) VoIP
14 12 (0.85%) SD-WAN
15 11 (0.78%) NGFW
15 11 (0.78%) SSL
16 10 (0.70%) Software-Defined Radio
16 10 (0.70%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
2 23 (1.62%) Power BI
3 17 (1.20%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.06%) MySQL
5 10 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
5 10 (0.70%) SQL Server
6 7 (0.49%) Big Data
7 4 (0.28%) GIS
7 4 (0.28%) Metadata
7 4 (0.28%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.28%) Redis
8 3 (0.21%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.21%) Oracle Database
8 3 (0.21%) Tableau
9 2 (0.14%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.14%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.14%) Oracle Database 12c
9 2 (0.14%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.14%) Siebel EIM
Development Applications
1 63 (4.44%) Git
2 39 (2.75%) GitLab
3 23 (1.62%) JIRA
4 17 (1.20%) Jenkins
5 14 (0.99%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.70%) JMeter
7 8 (0.56%) LabVIEW
8 7 (0.49%) Rational DOORS
9 6 (0.42%) Gatling
9 6 (0.42%) LoadRunner
10 5 (0.35%) JUnit
10 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
11 4 (0.28%) Bitbucket
12 3 (0.21%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.21%) Selenium
13 2 (0.14%) Cucumber
13 2 (0.14%) Cypress.io
13 2 (0.14%) Mockito
13 2 (0.14%) Subversion
13 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
General
1 322 (22.69%) Social Skills
2 204 (14.38%) Aerospace
3 162 (11.42%) Analytical Skills
4 137 (9.65%) Finance
5 130 (9.16%) Public Sector
6 79 (5.57%) Military
7 76 (5.36%) Electronics
7 76 (5.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 64 (4.51%) Manufacturing
9 41 (2.89%) Organisational Skills
10 39 (2.75%) Aviation
11 37 (2.61%) Retail
12 26 (1.83%) Telecoms
13 25 (1.76%) Law
14 23 (1.62%) Legal
15 22 (1.55%) Documentation Skills
16 20 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
17 18 (1.27%) Police
18 14 (0.99%) Aeronautics
19 12 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 205 (14.45%) Architect
2 195 (13.74%) Senior
3 135 (9.51%) Lead
4 116 (8.17%) Software Engineer
5 105 (7.40%) Systems Engineer
6 95 (6.69%) Analyst
7 82 (5.78%) Security Architect
8 54 (3.81%) Consultant
9 44 (3.10%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 42 (2.96%) Developer
11 36 (2.54%) Project Manager
12 35 (2.47%) Senior Software Engineer
13 34 (2.40%) Network Engineer
14 33 (2.33%) Security Analyst
15 32 (2.26%) Senior Manager
16 29 (2.04%) Electrical Engineer
16 29 (2.04%) Platform Engineer
16 29 (2.04%) Solutions Architect
17 28 (1.97%) Azure Engineer
17 28 (1.97%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (4.23%) Terraform
2 40 (2.82%) ModSecurity
3 30 (2.11%) LDAP
4 28 (1.97%) React
5 23 (1.62%) .NET
6 18 (1.27%) HTML
7 16 (1.13%) CSS
8 14 (0.99%) Kafka
8 14 (0.99%) Regular Expression
9 13 (0.92%) OAuth
9 13 (0.92%) OpenID
9 13 (0.92%) SAML
9 13 (0.92%) XMPP
10 11 (0.78%) Spring
11 10 (0.70%) ARM Templates
12 9 (0.63%) Web Services
13 8 (0.56%) .NET Core
13 8 (0.56%) AngularJS
13 8 (0.56%) Entity Framework
13 8 (0.56%) Loki
Miscellaneous
1 65 (4.58%) Cloud Native
2 61 (4.30%) Onboarding
3 60 (4.23%) Data Centre
4 46 (3.24%) Algorithms
4 46 (3.24%) Driving Licence
5 43 (3.03%) Social Media
6 38 (2.68%) Self-Motivation
7 37 (2.61%) Management Information System
8 35 (2.47%) Security Operations Centre
9 34 (2.40%) Cyber Threat
10 33 (2.33%) Product Ownership
10 33 (2.33%) Robotics
11 29 (2.04%) Cyber Defence
11 29 (2.04%) Embedded Systems
12 27 (1.90%) FPGA
13 22 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
14 20 (1.41%) Hybrid Cloud
15 18 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
15 18 (1.27%) Private Cloud
16 17 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 185 (13.04%) Linux
2 153 (10.78%) Windows
3 69 (4.86%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 14 (0.99%) Ubuntu
6 10 (0.70%) CentOS
6 10 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
7 9 (0.63%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (0.42%) Windows 10
9 5 (0.35%) Android
9 5 (0.35%) Debian
10 4 (0.28%) Unix
11 3 (0.21%) AIX
11 3 (0.21%) Rocky
12 2 (0.14%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.070%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.070%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (16.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 208 (14.66%) Problem-Solving
3 206 (14.52%) Agile
4 183 (12.90%) Software Engineering
5 176 (12.40%) Validation
6 165 (11.63%) Cybersecurity
7 141 (9.94%) CI/CD
8 140 (9.87%) Mentoring
9 129 (9.09%) AI
9 129 (9.09%) Stakeholder Management
10 113 (7.96%) Decision-Making
11 111 (7.82%) DevOps
12 107 (7.54%) Technical Leadership
13 89 (6.27%) ITIL
14 85 (5.99%) SIEM
15 82 (5.78%) Incident Response
16 79 (5.57%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 76 (5.36%) Infrastructure as Code
17 76 (5.36%) Verification and Validation
18 75 (5.29%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 168 (11.84%) Python
2 95 (6.69%) C++
3 56 (3.95%) C
4 53 (3.74%) C#
5 51 (3.59%) PowerShell
6 47 (3.31%) Bash
7 44 (3.10%) Java
8 40 (2.82%) JavaScript
9 36 (2.54%) MATLAB
10 28 (1.97%) TypeScript
11 27 (1.90%) Rust
11 27 (1.90%) SQL
12 20 (1.41%) Embedded C
13 16 (1.13%) Embedded C++
14 14 (0.99%) Go
14 14 (0.99%) PHP
15 12 (0.85%) Shell Script
16 11 (0.78%) Ada
17 8 (0.56%) Perl
18 7 (0.49%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 847 (59.69%) SC Cleared
2 562 (39.61%) DV Cleared
3 218 (15.36%) Degree
4 69 (4.86%) CISSP
5 67 (4.72%) BPSS Clearance
6 45 (3.17%) Cisco Certification
7 36 (2.54%) CISM
8 33 (2.33%) Master's Degree
9 32 (2.26%) Azure Certification
9 32 (2.26%) CCNP
9 32 (2.26%) HNC
10 20 (1.41%) CompTIA Security+
11 19 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
11 19 (1.34%) HND
11 19 (1.34%) PhD
12 17 (1.20%) GIAC
13 15 (1.06%) CCNA
13 15 (1.06%) CREST Certified
13 15 (1.06%) PMI Certification
14 13 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (3.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 39 (2.75%) NIST
2 39 (2.75%) SLA
3 35 (2.47%) QA
4 26 (1.83%) Accessibility
5 19 (1.34%) ISO 9001
5 19 (1.34%) NCSC
6 15 (1.06%) Def Stans
7 13 (0.92%) GDPR
8 12 (0.85%) NIST 800
9 11 (0.78%) PMO
10 10 (0.70%) MISRA
11 9 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 7 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
12 7 (0.49%) GRC
13 6 (0.42%) Data Quality
13 6 (0.42%) JSP 440
13 6 (0.42%) NEBOSH
14 5 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 3 (0.21%) WCAG
System Software
1 81 (5.71%) Active Directory
2 67 (4.72%) Docker
3 33 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
4 28 (1.97%) Firmware
5 26 (1.83%) vSphere
6 21 (1.48%) VMware ESXi
7 18 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
8 15 (1.06%) Hyper-V
9 12 (0.85%) VMware NSX
10 6 (0.42%) Embedded Firmware
11 5 (0.35%) Squid
12 4 (0.28%) KVM
13 2 (0.14%) UAG
13 2 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
14 1 (0.070%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 111 (7.82%) Kubernetes
2 52 (3.66%) Ansible
3 23 (1.62%) Single Sign-On
4 21 (1.48%) Microsoft Intune
5 20 (1.41%) Grafana
6 16 (1.13%) Kibana
7 13 (0.92%) Prometheus
8 10 (0.70%) vCenter Server
9 9 (0.63%) Podman
10 8 (0.56%) Argo
10 8 (0.56%) Kustomize
11 7 (0.49%) Graylog
11 7 (0.49%) Puppet
12 6 (0.42%) Istio
12 6 (0.42%) QRadar
12 6 (0.42%) SCCM
13 5 (0.35%) Nessus
13 5 (0.35%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
14 4 (0.28%) Docker Swarm
14 4 (0.28%) Nagios
Vendors
1 151 (10.64%) Microsoft
2 75 (5.29%) VMware
3 53 (3.74%) Cisco
4 40 (2.82%) Thales
5 33 (2.33%) ServiceNow
6 27 (1.90%) Red Hat
7 25 (1.76%) Oracle
8 23 (1.62%) Splunk
9 22 (1.55%) EMC
9 22 (1.55%) Fortinet
10 21 (1.48%) SAP
11 18 (1.27%) Palo Alto
12 14 (0.99%) Google
13 13 (0.92%) ForgeRock
13 13 (0.92%) Okta
14 11 (0.78%) Veeam
15 10 (0.70%) McAfee
15 10 (0.70%) NVIDIA
16 9 (0.63%) Dynatrace
17 8 (0.56%) CrowdStrike