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

6 months to
13 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 15 10
Rank change year-on-year +2 -5 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,438 842 1,610
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.58% 9.44% 13.32%
As % of the Qualifications category 37.83% 23.92% 39.70%
Number of salaries quoted 888 476 932
10th Percentile £39,000 £31,000 £40,000
25th Percentile £51,250 £45,581 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £58,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +20.69% -3.33% +11.61%
75th Percentile £85,000 £74,813 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £87,375 £87,500
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +16.67% - +1.78%

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 3,801 3,520 4,055
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.04% 39.48% 33.55%
Number of salaries quoted 2,288 1,612 1,900
10th Percentile £30,175 £30,000 £33,750
25th Percentile £41,750 £35,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -13.04% +9.42%
75th Percentile £75,000 £69,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £86,375
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -0.86%

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 13 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 13 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 -1 752 £74,750 +23.30% 272
Thames Valley +19 403 £70,000 +27.27% 253
Berkshire +24 277 £71,250 +29.55% 169
Surrey +13 192 £52,500 +40.00% 72
Buckinghamshire +15 106 £55,000 - 51
West Sussex -17 40 £45,000 +32.35% 30
Kent -15 24 £47,500 -13.64% 9
Oxfordshire -35 21 £100,000 +17.65% 53
East Sussex -4 6 £70,000 +40.00% 3
Isle of Wight - 6 £70,000 - 4
Sussex -9 5 £65,000 +23.81% 9
Middlesex +16 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 13 (0.90%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.76%) Apache
3 8 (0.56%) 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%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.070%) Kinematics
9 1 (0.070%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.070%) WebLogic
Applications
1 33 (2.29%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (1.32%) Microsoft Project
4 17 (1.18%) Simulink
5 7 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.49%) SOLIDWORKS
6 5 (0.35%) Mathematica
6 5 (0.35%) Solid Edge
7 4 (0.28%) Mathcad
8 3 (0.21%) Chatbot
8 3 (0.21%) MS Visio
9 2 (0.14%) AutoCAD
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%) Lectora
10 1 (0.070%) Revit
Business Applications
1 10 (0.70%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.56%) Primavera
3 6 (0.42%) SAP PM
4 4 (0.28%) Workday HCM
5 3 (0.21%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.21%) SAP FI
5 3 (0.21%) SAP FI/CO
5 3 (0.21%) SAP MM
5 3 (0.21%) SAP PP
5 3 (0.21%) SAP PS
5 3 (0.21%) SAP QM
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.14%) Siebel CRM
6 2 (0.14%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.070%) ENOVIA
7 1 (0.070%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 221 (15.37%) Azure
2 165 (11.47%) AWS
3 62 (4.31%) Microsoft 365
4 49 (3.41%) Entra ID
5 40 (2.78%) GCP
6 26 (1.81%) Cloud Computing
7 25 (1.74%) Power Platform
8 24 (1.67%) OpenShift
9 18 (1.25%) GitHub
10 16 (1.11%) Azure Sentinel
11 15 (1.04%) Serverless
12 14 (0.97%) GitHub Actions
13 13 (0.90%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (0.76%) Azure AKS
14 11 (0.76%) Azure Stack
15 9 (0.63%) SaaS
16 7 (0.49%) Amazon EKS
17 6 (0.42%) Cloudflare
17 6 (0.42%) PaaS
17 6 (0.42%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 124 (8.62%) Firewall
2 75 (5.22%) DNS
3 57 (3.96%) WAN
4 51 (3.55%) Network Security
5 50 (3.48%) TCP/IP
6 49 (3.41%) LAN
7 45 (3.13%) VPN
8 22 (1.53%) DHCP
9 20 (1.39%) VLAN
10 19 (1.32%) HTTP
11 17 (1.18%) BGP
12 16 (1.11%) ATM
13 15 (1.04%) Intrusion Detection
14 12 (0.83%) OSPF
14 12 (0.83%) SD-WAN
14 12 (0.83%) VoIP
15 11 (0.76%) NGFW
15 11 (0.76%) SSL
16 10 (0.70%) Software-Defined Radio
16 10 (0.70%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (1.95%) PostgreSQL
2 23 (1.60%) Power BI
3 17 (1.18%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.04%) MySQL
5 10 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
6 9 (0.63%) Big Data
6 9 (0.63%) SQL Server
7 4 (0.28%) GIS
7 4 (0.28%) Metadata
7 4 (0.28%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.28%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.28%) Redis
8 3 (0.21%) NoSQL
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 61 (4.24%) Git
2 38 (2.64%) GitLab
3 24 (1.67%) JIRA
4 17 (1.18%) Jenkins
5 12 (0.83%) 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%) Bitbucket
10 5 (0.35%) JUnit
10 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
11 4 (0.28%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.21%) Selenium
13 2 (0.14%) Android Studio
13 2 (0.14%) Cypress.io
13 2 (0.14%) Mockito
13 2 (0.14%) Subversion
13 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
General
1 327 (22.74%) Social Skills
2 218 (15.16%) Aerospace
3 163 (11.34%) Analytical Skills
4 138 (9.60%) Finance
5 136 (9.46%) Public Sector
6 81 (5.63%) Military
7 78 (5.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 77 (5.35%) Electronics
9 70 (4.87%) Manufacturing
10 42 (2.92%) Retail
11 41 (2.85%) Organisational Skills
12 40 (2.78%) Aviation
13 28 (1.95%) Legal
14 26 (1.81%) Law
14 26 (1.81%) Telecoms
15 22 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
16 19 (1.32%) Influencing Skills
17 18 (1.25%) Police
18 15 (1.04%) Aeronautics
19 13 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 209 (14.53%) Architect
2 198 (13.77%) Senior
3 141 (9.81%) Lead
4 115 (8.00%) Software Engineer
5 104 (7.23%) Systems Engineer
6 95 (6.61%) Analyst
7 81 (5.63%) Security Architect
8 56 (3.89%) Consultant
9 46 (3.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 38 (2.64%) Developer
11 34 (2.36%) Project Manager
11 34 (2.36%) Senior Software Engineer
12 33 (2.29%) Security Analyst
13 32 (2.23%) Network Engineer
14 30 (2.09%) Senior Manager
14 30 (2.09%) Solutions Architect
15 29 (2.02%) Azure Engineer
15 29 (2.02%) Electrical Engineer
15 29 (2.02%) Platform Engineer
16 28 (1.95%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (4.52%) Terraform
2 40 (2.78%) ModSecurity
3 31 (2.16%) LDAP
4 28 (1.95%) React
5 20 (1.39%) .NET
6 18 (1.25%) HTML
7 16 (1.11%) CSS
8 14 (0.97%) Kafka
8 14 (0.97%) OAuth
8 14 (0.97%) OpenID
8 14 (0.97%) Regular Expression
8 14 (0.97%) SAML
9 13 (0.90%) ARM Templates
9 13 (0.90%) XMPP
10 10 (0.70%) Loki
10 10 (0.70%) Spring
11 9 (0.63%) Web Services
12 8 (0.56%) .NET Core
12 8 (0.56%) AngularJS
12 8 (0.56%) Entity Framework
Miscellaneous
1 68 (4.73%) Cloud Native
2 62 (4.31%) Onboarding
3 60 (4.17%) Data Centre
4 46 (3.20%) Algorithms
4 46 (3.20%) Driving Licence
5 43 (2.99%) Social Media
6 42 (2.92%) Management Information System
7 38 (2.64%) Product Ownership
8 37 (2.57%) Self-Motivation
9 36 (2.50%) Robotics
10 35 (2.43%) Security Operations Centre
11 33 (2.29%) Cyber Threat
12 30 (2.09%) Embedded Systems
13 29 (2.02%) Cyber Defence
13 29 (2.02%) FPGA
14 22 (1.53%) Enterprise Software
14 22 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
15 19 (1.32%) Private Cloud
16 18 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
16 18 (1.25%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 187 (13.00%) Linux
2 155 (10.78%) Windows
3 71 (4.94%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 14 (0.97%) 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%) Embedded Linux
12 2 (0.14%) macOS
13 1 (0.070%) Robot Operating System
13 1 (0.070%) Solaris
13 1 (0.070%) VMS
13 1 (0.070%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 236 (16.41%) Continuous Improvement
2 216 (15.02%) Problem-Solving
3 210 (14.60%) Agile
4 184 (12.80%) Software Engineering
5 180 (12.52%) Validation
6 168 (11.68%) Cybersecurity
7 150 (10.43%) CI/CD
8 143 (9.94%) Mentoring
9 132 (9.18%) AI
10 130 (9.04%) Stakeholder Management
11 114 (7.93%) DevOps
12 113 (7.86%) Decision-Making
12 113 (7.86%) Technical Leadership
13 93 (6.47%) ITIL
14 85 (5.91%) Incident Response
14 85 (5.91%) SIEM
15 81 (5.63%) Infrastructure as Code
16 80 (5.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 78 (5.42%) Verification and Validation
18 76 (5.29%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 166 (11.54%) Python
2 96 (6.68%) C++
3 58 (4.03%) C
4 53 (3.69%) PowerShell
5 51 (3.55%) C#
6 49 (3.41%) Bash
7 43 (2.99%) Java
8 40 (2.78%) JavaScript
9 36 (2.50%) MATLAB
10 28 (1.95%) SQL
11 27 (1.88%) Rust
12 26 (1.81%) TypeScript
13 22 (1.53%) Embedded C
14 17 (1.18%) Embedded C++
15 14 (0.97%) Go
15 14 (0.97%) PHP
16 12 (0.83%) Shell Script
17 11 (0.76%) Ada
18 8 (0.56%) Perl
19 7 (0.49%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 858 (59.67%) SC Cleared
2 564 (39.22%) DV Cleared
3 227 (15.79%) Degree
4 70 (4.87%) BPSS Clearance
4 70 (4.87%) CISSP
5 45 (3.13%) Cisco Certification
6 38 (2.64%) Azure Certification
7 37 (2.57%) CISM
8 36 (2.50%) Master's Degree
9 33 (2.29%) HNC
10 31 (2.16%) CCNP
11 23 (1.60%) PhD
12 22 (1.53%) Computer Science Degree
13 20 (1.39%) CompTIA Security+
14 19 (1.32%) HND
15 17 (1.18%) GIAC
16 16 (1.11%) PMI Certification
17 15 (1.04%) CREST Certified
18 14 (0.97%) CCNA
18 14 (0.97%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (3.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 41 (2.85%) NIST
3 39 (2.71%) SLA
4 37 (2.57%) QA
5 27 (1.88%) Accessibility
6 21 (1.46%) ISO 9001
6 21 (1.46%) NCSC
7 15 (1.04%) Def Stans
8 14 (0.97%) GDPR
9 13 (0.90%) NIST 800
10 11 (0.76%) MISRA
11 10 (0.70%) PMO
12 9 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 8 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
14 7 (0.49%) GRC
14 7 (0.49%) JSP 440
15 6 (0.42%) Data Quality
16 5 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 5 (0.35%) NEBOSH
17 3 (0.21%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 84 (5.84%) Active Directory
2 66 (4.59%) Docker
3 34 (2.36%) VMware Infrastructure
4 29 (2.02%) Firmware
5 26 (1.81%) vSphere
6 21 (1.46%) VMware ESXi
7 18 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
8 15 (1.04%) Hyper-V
9 11 (0.76%) 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
1 118 (8.21%) Kubernetes
2 55 (3.82%) Ansible
3 23 (1.60%) Microsoft Intune
3 23 (1.60%) Single Sign-On
4 22 (1.53%) Grafana
5 16 (1.11%) Kibana
6 15 (1.04%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.70%) Argo
7 10 (0.70%) Kustomize
7 10 (0.70%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.63%) Podman
9 8 (0.56%) Istio
9 8 (0.56%) Puppet
9 8 (0.56%) SCCM
10 7 (0.49%) Graylog
11 6 (0.42%) QRadar
12 5 (0.35%) Nessus
12 5 (0.35%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 4 (0.28%) Docker Swarm
13 4 (0.28%) Nagios
Vendors
1 156 (10.85%) Microsoft
2 75 (5.22%) VMware
3 52 (3.62%) Cisco
4 47 (3.27%) Thales
5 33 (2.29%) ServiceNow
6 30 (2.09%) Red Hat
7 27 (1.88%) Oracle
8 24 (1.67%) SAP
9 23 (1.60%) EMC
9 23 (1.60%) Splunk
10 21 (1.46%) Fortinet
11 18 (1.25%) Palo Alto
12 14 (0.97%) Google
13 13 (0.90%) ForgeRock
13 13 (0.90%) Okta
14 11 (0.76%) Veeam
15 10 (0.70%) CrowdStrike
15 10 (0.70%) McAfee
15 10 (0.70%) NVIDIA
16 9 (0.63%) Dynatrace