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

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 18 12 10
Rank change year-on-year -6 -2 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,096 853 1,596
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.54% 9.81% 11.45%
As % of the Qualifications category 31.54% 24.44% 36.94%
Number of salaries quoted 776 503 1,085
10th Percentile £39,000 £37,500 £38,928
25th Percentile £52,500 £46,250 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £55,500
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +8.11% +5.71%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £71,250
90th Percentile £98,750 £87,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +16.67% +4.35% -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 3,475 3,490 4,320
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.74% 40.13% 31.01%
Number of salaries quoted 2,050 1,629 2,608
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,719
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -2.86% -
75th Percentile £76,250 £70,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £85,000
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 6 August 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 6 August 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 -2 556 £75,000 +17.19% 267
Thames Valley +26 337 £67,500 +22.73% 163
Berkshire +23 218 £70,000 +21.74% 100
Surrey -4 135 £50,000 +25.00% 53
Buckinghamshire +28 101 £55,000 +4.76% 49
West Sussex -6 28 £35,000 -6.67% 10
Oxfordshire -17 18 £92,500 +72.90% 18
Kent -34 17 £52,500 -4.55% 11
Sussex -1 9 £85,000 +61.90% 2
East Sussex -14 5 £70,000 +40.00% 2
Middlesex +41 3 £65,000 -
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 (1.28%) SharePoint
2 11 (1.00%) Apache
3 7 (0.64%) Confluence
4 6 (0.55%) SAS
5 5 (0.46%) nginx
6 3 (0.27%) IIS
7 2 (0.18%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.091%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.091%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.091%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 28 (2.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.64%) Microsoft Office
3 17 (1.55%) Simulink
4 7 (0.64%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (0.27%) Mathcad
6 3 (0.27%) Solid Edge
6 3 (0.27%) SOLIDWORKS
7 2 (0.18%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.18%) Lectora
8 1 (0.091%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.091%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (0.36%) Primavera
1 4 (0.36%) Workday HCM
2 2 (0.18%) Oracle Applications
2 2 (0.18%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.091%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.091%) SAP MDG
3 1 (0.091%) SAP MM
3 1 (0.091%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.091%) Siebel CRM
3 1 (0.091%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 183 (16.70%) Azure
2 110 (10.04%) AWS
3 55 (5.02%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (3.47%) GCP
5 31 (2.83%) Entra ID
6 22 (2.01%) Power Platform
6 22 (2.01%) Serverless
7 16 (1.46%) GitHub
7 16 (1.46%) OpenShift
8 15 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
9 14 (1.28%) Amazon EKS
10 12 (1.09%) Azure Sentinel
10 12 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
11 11 (1.00%) Azure AKS
11 11 (1.00%) PowerApps
12 10 (0.91%) Amazon EC2
12 10 (0.91%) Azure Stack
13 7 (0.64%) AWS Lambda
14 6 (0.55%) Amazon ECS
14 6 (0.55%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 112 (10.22%) Firewall
2 72 (6.57%) DNS
3 63 (5.75%) WAN
4 51 (4.65%) LAN
5 43 (3.92%) TCP/IP
6 42 (3.83%) VPN
7 37 (3.38%) Network Security
8 21 (1.92%) BGP
9 18 (1.64%) ATM
9 18 (1.64%) HTTP
10 17 (1.55%) VLAN
11 14 (1.28%) OSPF
11 14 (1.28%) VoIP
12 12 (1.09%) MQTT
12 12 (1.09%) NGFW
12 12 (1.09%) SAN
12 12 (1.09%) SD-WAN
13 11 (1.00%) NAS
13 11 (1.00%) NetScaler
13 11 (1.00%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (2.37%) PostgreSQL
2 21 (1.92%) Power BI
3 19 (1.73%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.37%) SQL Server
5 13 (1.19%) MySQL
6 5 (0.46%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.36%) GIS
7 4 (0.36%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.36%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.36%) Redis
8 2 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.18%) Metadata
8 2 (0.18%) Oracle Database 11g
8 2 (0.18%) Oracle Database 12c
8 2 (0.18%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.18%) Tableau
9 1 (0.091%) Geospatial Data
9 1 (0.091%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.091%) Siebel EIM
Development Applications
1 72 (6.57%) Git
2 50 (4.56%) GitLab
3 29 (2.65%) JIRA
4 25 (2.28%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.28%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.91%) SonarQube
7 8 (0.73%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.55%) Artifactory
9 5 (0.46%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.46%) JMeter
9 5 (0.46%) JUnit
10 4 (0.36%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.36%) Selenium
11 3 (0.27%) Android Studio
11 3 (0.27%) LabVIEW
12 2 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 2 (0.18%) Cypress.io
12 2 (0.18%) LoadRunner
12 2 (0.18%) Subversion
12 2 (0.18%) Visual Studio
General
1 254 (23.18%) Social Skills
2 122 (11.13%) Analytical Skills
3 110 (10.04%) Finance
4 102 (9.31%) Public Sector
5 83 (7.57%) Aerospace
6 55 (5.02%) Electronics
7 48 (4.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 47 (4.29%) Military
9 30 (2.74%) Manufacturing
10 29 (2.65%) Organisational Skills
11 27 (2.46%) Aviation
12 23 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
12 23 (2.10%) Telecoms
13 22 (2.01%) Law
14 12 (1.09%) Aeronautics
15 11 (1.00%) Games
15 11 (1.00%) Influencing Skills
16 10 (0.91%) Banking
17 9 (0.82%) Retail
18 8 (0.73%) Legal
Job Titles
1 159 (14.51%) Architect
2 157 (14.32%) Senior
3 121 (11.04%) Software Engineer
4 76 (6.93%) Lead
5 70 (6.39%) Analyst
6 63 (5.75%) Developer
7 53 (4.84%) Security Architect
8 49 (4.47%) Systems Engineer
9 46 (4.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 43 (3.92%) Consultant
11 39 (3.56%) Network Engineer
12 35 (3.19%) Applications Architect
12 35 (3.19%) Senior Software Engineer
13 28 (2.55%) Azure Engineer
14 27 (2.46%) Solutions Architect
15 26 (2.37%) Support Engineer
16 25 (2.28%) Security Engineer
16 25 (2.28%) SOC Analyst
17 24 (2.19%) Data Engineer
18 23 (2.10%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (2.92%) LDAP
2 30 (2.74%) .NET
3 29 (2.65%) React
4 23 (2.10%) Regular Expression
5 22 (2.01%) ModSecurity
6 19 (1.73%) XMPP
7 17 (1.55%) Kafka
7 17 (1.55%) REST
8 16 (1.46%) Spring
9 13 (1.19%) JSON
10 12 (1.09%) Elastic Stack
10 12 (1.09%) Web Services
11 11 (1.00%) ARM Templates
12 10 (0.91%) AngularJS
12 10 (0.91%) HTML
12 10 (0.91%) YAML
13 9 (0.82%) CSS
13 9 (0.82%) Spring Boot
14 8 (0.73%) OpenID
14 8 (0.73%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 42 (3.83%) Cloud Native
2 36 (3.28%) Data Centre
2 36 (3.28%) Driving Licence
2 36 (3.28%) Onboarding
3 31 (2.83%) Algorithms
3 31 (2.83%) Social Media
4 29 (2.65%) Product Ownership
5 25 (2.28%) Self-Motivation
6 23 (2.10%) Cyber Threat
6 23 (2.10%) Embedded Systems
6 23 (2.10%) FPGA
7 22 (2.01%) Management Information System
8 21 (1.92%) PKI
9 19 (1.73%) Cyber Defence
9 19 (1.73%) Robotics
9 19 (1.73%) Security Operations Centre
10 17 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
10 17 (1.55%) Legacy Systems
10 17 (1.55%) Private Cloud
11 16 (1.46%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 193 (17.61%) Linux
2 144 (13.14%) Windows
3 84 (7.66%) Windows Server
4 35 (3.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.73%) Ubuntu
6 16 (1.46%) CentOS
7 10 (0.91%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.64%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.55%) Android
9 6 (0.55%) Windows 10
10 4 (0.36%) Debian
10 4 (0.36%) Unix
11 3 (0.27%) AIX
12 2 (0.18%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.091%) Rocky
13 1 (0.091%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 187 (17.06%) Agile
2 172 (15.69%) Software Engineering
3 147 (13.41%) Problem-Solving
4 144 (13.14%) Continuous Improvement
5 127 (11.59%) Cybersecurity
6 125 (11.41%) CI/CD
7 113 (10.31%) DevOps
8 97 (8.85%) Validation
9 89 (8.12%) Decision-Making
10 81 (7.39%) AI
10 81 (7.39%) Mentoring
11 76 (6.93%) Stakeholder Management
12 75 (6.84%) ITIL
13 74 (6.75%) SIEM
14 71 (6.48%) Technical Leadership
15 67 (6.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 62 (5.66%) Containerisation
17 61 (5.57%) Infrastructure as Code
18 57 (5.20%) Platform Engineering
19 55 (5.02%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 156 (14.23%) Python
2 80 (7.30%) C++
3 56 (5.11%) Java
4 50 (4.56%) C
4 50 (4.56%) PowerShell
5 47 (4.29%) C#
6 39 (3.56%) Bash
7 31 (2.83%) JavaScript
7 31 (2.83%) SQL
8 24 (2.19%) Rust
9 23 (2.10%) TypeScript
10 21 (1.92%) MATLAB
11 16 (1.46%) Embedded C
12 15 (1.37%) Embedded C++
12 15 (1.37%) Shell Script
13 13 (1.19%) PHP
14 12 (1.09%) Go
15 11 (1.00%) Ada
15 11 (1.00%) VBA
16 10 (0.91%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 708 (64.60%) SC Cleared
2 412 (37.59%) DV Cleared
3 163 (14.87%) Degree
4 50 (4.56%) BPSS Clearance
5 41 (3.74%) CISSP
6 40 (3.65%) Cisco Certification
7 28 (2.55%) HNC
8 27 (2.46%) CCNP
9 25 (2.28%) Master's Degree
10 18 (1.64%) Azure Certification
10 18 (1.64%) CISM
10 18 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
11 17 (1.55%) CompTIA Security+
12 16 (1.46%) GIAC
13 15 (1.37%) CCNA
13 15 (1.37%) CREST Certified
14 12 (1.09%) GCIA
14 12 (1.09%) OSCP
15 11 (1.00%) Microsoft Certification
15 11 (1.00%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.01%) QA
2 30 (2.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 28 (2.55%) SLA
4 22 (2.01%) NCSC
5 20 (1.82%) NIST
6 15 (1.37%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.37%) ISO 9001
7 13 (1.19%) GDPR
8 11 (1.00%) Def Stans
8 11 (1.00%) PMO
9 10 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 8 (0.73%) MISRA
11 6 (0.55%) JSP 440
11 6 (0.55%) NIST 800
12 5 (0.46%) NEBOSH
13 4 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.36%) GRC
14 3 (0.27%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 2 (0.18%) MISRA C
System Software
1 75 (6.84%) Docker
2 74 (6.75%) Active Directory
3 36 (3.28%) vSphere
4 32 (2.92%) VMware Infrastructure
5 23 (2.10%) Firmware
6 16 (1.46%) VMware ESXi
7 14 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
8 12 (1.09%) VMware NSX
9 10 (0.91%) Hyper-V
10 5 (0.46%) Embedded Firmware
10 5 (0.46%) Squid
11 4 (0.36%) KVM
12 2 (0.18%) UAG
13 1 (0.091%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.091%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 98 (8.94%) Kubernetes
2 68 (6.20%) Terraform
3 58 (5.29%) Ansible
4 16 (1.46%) Kibana
4 16 (1.46%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (1.37%) Grafana
6 13 (1.19%) Prometheus
7 12 (1.09%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (0.91%) Podman
8 10 (0.91%) vCenter Server
9 8 (0.73%) Nessus
10 7 (0.64%) Nagios
10 7 (0.64%) Puppet
11 6 (0.55%) Graylog
11 6 (0.55%) QRadar
12 5 (0.46%) Argo
12 5 (0.46%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.46%) Kustomize
12 5 (0.46%) Packer
13 4 (0.36%) Istio
Vendors
1 139 (12.68%) Microsoft
2 79 (7.21%) VMware
3 47 (4.29%) Cisco
4 33 (3.01%) Oracle
5 31 (2.83%) Red Hat
6 30 (2.74%) ServiceNow
6 30 (2.74%) Splunk
7 16 (1.46%) Fortinet
7 16 (1.46%) Palo Alto
8 15 (1.37%) McAfee
9 13 (1.19%) Google
10 12 (1.09%) Citrix
10 12 (1.09%) EMC
11 11 (1.00%) AppDynamics
11 11 (1.00%) IBM
11 11 (1.00%) SAP
12 10 (0.91%) NVIDIA
13 9 (0.82%) Veeam
14 8 (0.73%) Juniper
14 8 (0.73%) NetApp