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 30 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 12 10
Rank change year-on-year -8 -2 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,049 848 1,648
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.41% 9.80% 11.31%
As % of the Qualifications category 30.54% 23.94% 36.18%
Number of salaries quoted 749 510 1,156
10th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £36,750
25th Percentile £52,500 £46,250 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +9.09% +6.80%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £70,438
90th Percentile £99,000 £87,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,875 £57,500
% change year-on-year +14.99% +5.87% -4.17%

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 3,435 3,542 4,555
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.98% 40.92% 31.27%
Number of salaries quoted 2,003 1,621 2,805
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,300 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +16.96% -2.29% -
75th Percentile £76,250 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £83,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%

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 30 July 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 30 July 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 -3 521 £75,000 +15.38% 200
Thames Valley +23 333 £67,500 +22.73% 120
Berkshire +21 214 £70,000 +16.67% 79
Surrey -2 125 £52,500 +31.25% 42
Buckinghamshire +37 98 £55,000 +4.76% 31
West Sussex -9 29 £35,000 -6.67% 8
Oxfordshire -21 21 £82,500 +59.42% 12
Kent -33 17 £52,500 -4.55% 11
Sussex +2 11 £85,000 +61.90% 1
East Sussex -11 5 £70,000 +40.00% 1
Middlesex +38 2 £65,000 - 2
Home Counties - 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 13 (1.24%) SharePoint
2 10 (0.95%) Apache
3 7 (0.67%) Confluence
4 6 (0.57%) SAS
5 5 (0.48%) nginx
6 3 (0.29%) IIS
7 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.095%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.095%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.095%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 25 (2.38%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (1.53%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.53%) Simulink
3 4 (0.38%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.29%) Mathcad
4 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.19%) Lectora
Business Applications
1 2 (0.19%) Primavera
1 2 (0.19%) Workday HCM
2 1 (0.095%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.095%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.095%) SAP MDG
2 1 (0.095%) SAP MM
2 1 (0.095%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.095%) Siebel CRM
2 1 (0.095%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.095%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 172 (16.40%) Azure
2 103 (9.82%) AWS
3 52 (4.96%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (3.72%) GCP
5 28 (2.67%) Entra ID
6 22 (2.10%) Serverless
7 20 (1.91%) Power Platform
8 17 (1.62%) GitHub
9 16 (1.53%) OpenShift
10 15 (1.43%) Azure DevOps
11 14 (1.33%) Amazon EKS
12 13 (1.24%) GitHub Actions
13 12 (1.14%) Azure Sentinel
14 11 (1.05%) Azure AKS
15 10 (0.95%) Amazon EC2
15 10 (0.95%) Azure Stack
15 10 (0.95%) PowerApps
16 7 (0.67%) AWS Lambda
16 7 (0.67%) SaaS
17 6 (0.57%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 111 (10.58%) Firewall
2 70 (6.67%) DNS
3 62 (5.91%) WAN
4 50 (4.77%) LAN
5 41 (3.91%) TCP/IP
6 40 (3.81%) VPN
7 33 (3.15%) Network Security
8 21 (2.00%) BGP
9 17 (1.62%) ATM
9 17 (1.62%) HTTP
10 16 (1.53%) VLAN
11 14 (1.33%) VoIP
12 13 (1.24%) OSPF
13 12 (1.14%) MQTT
13 12 (1.14%) NGFW
13 12 (1.14%) SD-WAN
14 11 (1.05%) NetScaler
14 11 (1.05%) SAN
15 10 (0.95%) MPLS
15 10 (0.95%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (2.29%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (1.81%) Power BI
3 16 (1.53%) Relational Database
4 13 (1.24%) SQL Server
5 11 (1.05%) MySQL
6 5 (0.48%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.38%) GIS
7 4 (0.38%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.38%) Redis
8 3 (0.29%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.19%) Metadata
9 2 (0.19%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.19%) Oracle Database 12c
10 1 (0.095%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.095%) NoSQL
10 1 (0.095%) RDBMS
10 1 (0.095%) Siebel EIM
10 1 (0.095%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 68 (6.48%) Git
2 52 (4.96%) GitLab
3 27 (2.57%) JIRA
4 25 (2.38%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.33%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.05%) SonarQube
7 8 (0.76%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.57%) Artifactory
9 5 (0.48%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.48%) JMeter
9 5 (0.48%) JUnit
10 4 (0.38%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.38%) Selenium
11 3 (0.29%) Android Studio
11 3 (0.29%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 3 (0.29%) LabVIEW
12 2 (0.19%) Cypress.io
12 2 (0.19%) LoadRunner
12 2 (0.19%) Subversion
12 2 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 234 (22.31%) Social Skills
2 104 (9.91%) Analytical Skills
3 100 (9.53%) Finance
4 94 (8.96%) Public Sector
5 63 (6.01%) Aerospace
6 51 (4.86%) Electronics
7 43 (4.10%) Military
8 36 (3.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 27 (2.57%) Manufacturing
9 27 (2.57%) Organisational Skills
10 25 (2.38%) Aviation
11 22 (2.10%) Telecoms
12 21 (2.00%) Documentation Skills
13 19 (1.81%) Law
14 12 (1.14%) Games
15 10 (0.95%) Aeronautics
15 10 (0.95%) Banking
15 10 (0.95%) Influencing Skills
16 9 (0.86%) Legal
17 8 (0.76%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 151 (14.39%) Architect
2 150 (14.30%) Senior
3 117 (11.15%) Software Engineer
4 68 (6.48%) Lead
5 65 (6.20%) Developer
6 64 (6.10%) Analyst
7 52 (4.96%) Security Architect
8 45 (4.29%) Systems Engineer
9 42 (4.00%) Consultant
10 41 (3.91%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 38 (3.62%) Network Engineer
12 36 (3.43%) Senior Software Engineer
13 35 (3.34%) Applications Architect
14 29 (2.76%) Azure Engineer
15 26 (2.48%) Support Engineer
16 25 (2.38%) Data Engineer
16 25 (2.38%) Security Engineer
16 25 (2.38%) Solutions Architect
17 24 (2.29%) Java Developer
18 23 (2.19%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (2.67%) .NET
1 28 (2.67%) LDAP
1 28 (2.67%) React
2 23 (2.19%) Regular Expression
3 19 (1.81%) XMPP
4 17 (1.62%) REST
5 16 (1.53%) Kafka
5 16 (1.53%) Spring
6 14 (1.33%) JSON
6 14 (1.33%) ModSecurity
7 12 (1.14%) Elastic Stack
7 12 (1.14%) Web Services
8 11 (1.05%) ARM Templates
9 9 (0.86%) HTML
9 9 (0.86%) Spring Boot
9 9 (0.86%) XML
9 9 (0.86%) YAML
10 8 (0.76%) AngularJS
10 8 (0.76%) CSS
10 8 (0.76%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 35 (3.34%) Cloud Native
2 34 (3.24%) Data Centre
3 33 (3.15%) Driving Licence
3 33 (3.15%) Onboarding
4 30 (2.86%) Product Ownership
5 28 (2.67%) Algorithms
6 24 (2.29%) Social Media
7 23 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
8 21 (2.00%) Cyber Threat
8 21 (2.00%) FPGA
8 21 (2.00%) PKI
9 20 (1.91%) Embedded Systems
10 19 (1.81%) Robotics
11 18 (1.72%) Cyber Defence
11 18 (1.72%) Management Information System
11 18 (1.72%) Security Operations Centre
12 17 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
13 15 (1.43%) Hybrid Cloud
14 14 (1.33%) Distributed Systems
14 14 (1.33%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 187 (17.83%) Linux
2 138 (13.16%) Windows
3 82 (7.82%) Windows Server
4 34 (3.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.81%) Ubuntu
6 16 (1.53%) CentOS
7 10 (0.95%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.67%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.57%) Android
9 6 (0.57%) Windows 10
10 4 (0.38%) Debian
10 4 (0.38%) Unix
11 3 (0.29%) AIX
12 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.095%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 175 (16.68%) Agile
2 162 (15.44%) Software Engineering
3 127 (12.11%) Continuous Improvement
3 127 (12.11%) Problem-Solving
4 121 (11.53%) CI/CD
5 120 (11.44%) Cybersecurity
6 110 (10.49%) DevOps
7 80 (7.63%) Validation
8 78 (7.44%) Decision-Making
9 74 (7.05%) SIEM
10 73 (6.96%) AI
11 72 (6.86%) ITIL
11 72 (6.86%) Mentoring
12 69 (6.58%) Stakeholder Management
13 61 (5.82%) Technical Leadership
14 60 (5.72%) Containerisation
15 58 (5.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 57 (5.43%) Infrastructure as Code
17 55 (5.24%) Platform Engineering
18 50 (4.77%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 154 (14.68%) Python
2 75 (7.15%) C++
3 57 (5.43%) Java
4 47 (4.48%) C
4 47 (4.48%) PowerShell
5 44 (4.19%) C#
6 36 (3.43%) Bash
7 32 (3.05%) SQL
8 28 (2.67%) JavaScript
9 23 (2.19%) Rust
10 22 (2.10%) TypeScript
11 20 (1.91%) MATLAB
12 14 (1.33%) Embedded C
12 14 (1.33%) Embedded C++
13 13 (1.24%) PHP
13 13 (1.24%) Shell Script
14 11 (1.05%) Go
14 11 (1.05%) PL/SQL
15 10 (0.95%) Ada
15 10 (0.95%) VBA
Qualifications
1 677 (64.54%) SC Cleared
2 385 (36.70%) DV Cleared
3 155 (14.78%) Degree
4 39 (3.72%) BPSS Clearance
5 38 (3.62%) Cisco Certification
6 35 (3.34%) CISSP
7 26 (2.48%) CCNP
7 26 (2.48%) HNC
8 22 (2.10%) Master's Degree
9 18 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
10 16 (1.53%) CompTIA Security+
10 16 (1.53%) GIAC
11 15 (1.43%) Azure Certification
11 15 (1.43%) CREST Certified
12 14 (1.33%) CCNA
13 13 (1.24%) CISM
14 12 (1.14%) GCIA
14 12 (1.14%) OSCP
15 11 (1.05%) Microsoft Certification
16 10 (0.95%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (2.67%) QA
2 27 (2.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 27 (2.57%) SLA
3 21 (2.00%) NCSC
4 15 (1.43%) NIST
5 14 (1.33%) ISO 9001
6 13 (1.24%) GDPR
7 11 (1.05%) Accessibility
7 11 (1.05%) PMO
8 10 (0.95%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 9 (0.86%) Def Stans
10 6 (0.57%) MISRA
11 5 (0.48%) JSP 440
11 5 (0.48%) NEBOSH
12 4 (0.38%) GRC
12 4 (0.38%) NIST 800
13 3 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
13 3 (0.29%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 73 (6.96%) Docker
2 69 (6.58%) Active Directory
3 35 (3.34%) vSphere
4 28 (2.67%) VMware Infrastructure
5 22 (2.10%) Firmware
6 14 (1.33%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (1.14%) Virtual Machines
7 12 (1.14%) VMware NSX
8 9 (0.86%) Hyper-V
9 5 (0.48%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.48%) Squid
10 3 (0.29%) KVM
11 2 (0.19%) UAG
12 1 (0.095%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.095%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 94 (8.96%) Kubernetes
2 67 (6.39%) Terraform
3 56 (5.34%) Ansible
4 17 (1.62%) Grafana
5 16 (1.53%) Kibana
5 16 (1.53%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (1.43%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.95%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.86%) Podman
8 9 (0.86%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (0.76%) Nessus
10 7 (0.67%) Nagios
10 7 (0.67%) Puppet
11 6 (0.57%) Graylog
12 5 (0.48%) Argo
12 5 (0.48%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.48%) Kustomize
12 5 (0.48%) Packer
12 5 (0.48%) QRadar
13 4 (0.38%) Istio
Vendors
1 136 (12.96%) Microsoft
2 75 (7.15%) VMware
3 46 (4.39%) Cisco
4 32 (3.05%) Oracle
5 31 (2.96%) Red Hat
6 30 (2.86%) Splunk
7 27 (2.57%) ServiceNow
8 16 (1.53%) Palo Alto
9 15 (1.43%) Fortinet
9 15 (1.43%) McAfee
10 14 (1.33%) Google
11 12 (1.14%) Citrix
12 11 (1.05%) AppDynamics
12 11 (1.05%) IBM
13 10 (0.95%) EMC
13 10 (0.95%) NVIDIA
14 9 (0.86%) Tenable
15 8 (0.76%) CrowdStrike
15 8 (0.76%) Juniper
15 8 (0.76%) NetApp