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

6 months to
11 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 15 10
Rank change year-on-year +3 -5 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,362 873 1,625
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.44% 9.61% 12.48%
As % of the Qualifications category 36.14% 23.82% 39.39%
Number of salaries quoted 888 484 1,001
10th Percentile £40,000 £34,275 £39,125
25th Percentile £52,500 £46,250 £42,999
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £58,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +20.69% +0.87% +9.42%
75th Percentile £85,000 £76,063 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £87,500 £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 3,769 3,665 4,125
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.60% 40.36% 31.68%
Number of salaries quoted 2,223 1,636 2,189
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £32,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £36,625 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,300 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.96% -6.73% +4.76%
75th Percentile £77,500 £68,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,213
% change year-on-year +9.09% -0.39% -6.42%

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 September 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 September 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 0 732 £75,000 +20.00% 225
Thames Valley +28 380 £70,000 +27.27% 222
Berkshire +31 262 £70,000 +27.27% 143
Surrey 0 179 £50,000 +25.00% 79
Buckinghamshire +20 106 £55,000 - 55
West Sussex -14 26 £38,000 +1.33% 24
Kent -28 18 £52,500 -4.55% 17
Oxfordshire -35 12 £100,000 +15.94% 28
East Sussex -9 6 £70,000 +40.00% 5
Sussex -6 5 £65,000 +23.81% 7
Isle of Wight - 5 £70,000 - 3
Middlesex +19 3 £65,000 - 1
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 (1.03%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.81%) Apache
3 6 (0.44%) Confluence
3 6 (0.44%) SAS
4 5 (0.37%) nginx
5 4 (0.29%) IIS
6 3 (0.22%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle Workflow
7 2 (0.15%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.073%) Kinematics
Applications
1 31 (2.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (1.84%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.32%) Simulink
4 15 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (0.44%) SOLIDWORKS
7 5 (0.37%) Solid Edge
8 4 (0.29%) Mathcad
9 3 (0.22%) Chatbot
10 2 (0.15%) Lectora
10 2 (0.15%) Mathematica
10 2 (0.15%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.073%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.073%) AutoCAD
11 1 (0.073%) CATIA
11 1 (0.073%) MS Visio
11 1 (0.073%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (0.59%) Primavera
2 4 (0.29%) Workday HCM
3 2 (0.15%) Oracle Applications
3 2 (0.15%) Siebel CRM
3 2 (0.15%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.073%) ENOVIA
4 1 (0.073%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.073%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.073%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.073%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 210 (15.42%) Azure
2 145 (10.65%) AWS
3 58 (4.26%) Microsoft 365
4 42 (3.08%) Entra ID
5 35 (2.57%) GCP
6 27 (1.98%) Power Platform
7 22 (1.62%) Serverless
8 19 (1.40%) OpenShift
9 18 (1.32%) GitHub
10 15 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
11 14 (1.03%) Amazon EKS
11 14 (1.03%) Azure Sentinel
12 13 (0.95%) GitHub Actions
13 12 (0.88%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (0.81%) Azure AKS
15 10 (0.73%) Amazon EC2
16 9 (0.66%) PowerApps
16 9 (0.66%) SaaS
17 8 (0.59%) Azure Stack
18 7 (0.51%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 125 (9.18%) Firewall
2 72 (5.29%) DNS
3 62 (4.55%) WAN
4 53 (3.89%) LAN
5 49 (3.60%) Network Security
6 44 (3.23%) TCP/IP
7 42 (3.08%) VPN
8 19 (1.40%) BGP
8 19 (1.40%) HTTP
9 18 (1.32%) ATM
9 18 (1.32%) VLAN
10 15 (1.10%) Intrusion Detection
11 14 (1.03%) DHCP
11 14 (1.03%) OSPF
12 13 (0.95%) VoIP
13 12 (0.88%) NGFW
13 12 (0.88%) SD-WAN
14 11 (0.81%) SSL
15 10 (0.73%) VSAT
16 9 (0.66%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (1.91%) PostgreSQL
2 25 (1.84%) Power BI
3 21 (1.54%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.10%) MySQL
5 11 (0.81%) SQL Server
6 9 (0.66%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.29%) GIS
7 4 (0.29%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.29%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.29%) Redis
7 4 (0.29%) Tableau
8 3 (0.22%) Big Data
9 2 (0.15%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.15%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.15%) Metadata
9 2 (0.15%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Database 12c
9 2 (0.15%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.15%) Siebel EIM
Development Applications
1 72 (5.29%) Git
2 43 (3.16%) GitLab
3 25 (1.84%) JIRA
4 24 (1.76%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.03%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.73%) SonarQube
7 8 (0.59%) JMeter
7 8 (0.59%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.44%) Artifactory
8 6 (0.44%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.37%) Gatling
9 5 (0.37%) JUnit
9 5 (0.37%) LabVIEW
9 5 (0.37%) LoadRunner
10 4 (0.29%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.29%) Selenium
11 2 (0.15%) Android Studio
11 2 (0.15%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.15%) Mockito
11 2 (0.15%) MSTest
General
1 306 (22.47%) Social Skills
2 175 (12.85%) Aerospace
3 153 (11.23%) Analytical Skills
4 136 (9.99%) Finance
5 125 (9.18%) Public Sector
6 70 (5.14%) Military
7 69 (5.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 68 (4.99%) Electronics
9 44 (3.23%) Manufacturing
10 38 (2.79%) Organisational Skills
11 37 (2.72%) Aviation
12 27 (1.98%) Law
13 26 (1.91%) Telecoms
14 25 (1.84%) Retail
15 20 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
16 18 (1.32%) Influencing Skills
17 16 (1.17%) Legal
18 15 (1.10%) Police
19 13 (0.95%) Aeronautics
19 13 (0.95%) Banking
Job Titles
1 202 (14.83%) Architect
2 185 (13.58%) Senior
3 121 (8.88%) Software Engineer
4 115 (8.44%) Lead
5 100 (7.34%) Systems Engineer
6 90 (6.61%) Analyst
7 83 (6.09%) Security Architect
8 60 (4.41%) Developer
9 49 (3.60%) Consultant
10 44 (3.23%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 39 (2.86%) Network Engineer
12 36 (2.64%) Project Manager
13 35 (2.57%) Senior Software Engineer
14 32 (2.35%) Security Analyst
14 32 (2.35%) Senior Manager
15 31 (2.28%) Azure Engineer
16 27 (1.98%) Platform Engineer
16 27 (1.98%) SOC Analyst
16 27 (1.98%) Solutions Architect
17 25 (1.84%) Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 66 (4.85%) Terraform
2 40 (2.94%) ModSecurity
3 35 (2.57%) LDAP
4 33 (2.42%) React
5 27 (1.98%) .NET
6 20 (1.47%) Regular Expression
7 19 (1.40%) XMPP
8 17 (1.25%) HTML
8 17 (1.25%) Spring
9 16 (1.17%) CSS
10 14 (1.03%) Kafka
10 14 (1.03%) REST
11 13 (0.95%) AngularJS
11 13 (0.95%) OAuth
11 13 (0.95%) OpenID
11 13 (0.95%) SAML
12 12 (0.88%) Elastic Stack
12 12 (0.88%) Web Services
13 10 (0.73%) Spring Boot
13 10 (0.73%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 56 (4.11%) Cloud Native
2 51 (3.74%) Data Centre
3 48 (3.52%) Onboarding
4 43 (3.16%) Social Media
5 42 (3.08%) Driving Licence
6 41 (3.01%) Algorithms
7 35 (2.57%) Management Information System
8 34 (2.50%) Cyber Threat
9 31 (2.28%) Product Ownership
9 31 (2.28%) Security Operations Centre
9 31 (2.28%) Self-Motivation
10 30 (2.20%) Cyber Defence
11 26 (1.91%) Embedded Systems
12 25 (1.84%) Robotics
13 24 (1.76%) FPGA
14 20 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
14 20 (1.47%) Hybrid Cloud
14 20 (1.47%) Legacy Systems
15 19 (1.40%) Private Cloud
16 18 (1.32%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 192 (14.10%) Linux
2 145 (10.65%) Windows
3 73 (5.36%) Windows Server
4 27 (1.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (1.10%) Ubuntu
6 11 (0.81%) CentOS
7 9 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.51%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.44%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.37%) Android
10 5 (0.37%) Debian
10 5 (0.37%) Unix
11 3 (0.22%) AIX
12 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.15%) Rocky
13 1 (0.073%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 205 (15.05%) Agile
2 203 (14.90%) Continuous Improvement
3 190 (13.95%) Problem-Solving
4 185 (13.58%) Software Engineering
5 170 (12.48%) Validation
6 153 (11.23%) Cybersecurity
7 138 (10.13%) CI/CD
8 118 (8.66%) Mentoring
9 117 (8.59%) DevOps
10 113 (8.30%) Stakeholder Management
11 112 (8.22%) AI
12 111 (8.15%) Decision-Making
13 94 (6.90%) Technical Leadership
14 87 (6.39%) SIEM
15 85 (6.24%) ITIL
16 76 (5.58%) Incident Response
17 72 (5.29%) Infrastructure as Code
18 70 (5.14%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 68 (4.99%) Containerisation
20 67 (4.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 159 (11.67%) Python
2 88 (6.46%) C++
3 55 (4.04%) Java
4 53 (3.89%) C#
5 52 (3.82%) C
6 51 (3.74%) PowerShell
7 42 (3.08%) Bash
8 38 (2.79%) JavaScript
9 32 (2.35%) SQL
10 29 (2.13%) TypeScript
11 28 (2.06%) MATLAB
12 23 (1.69%) Rust
13 19 (1.40%) Embedded C
14 16 (1.17%) Embedded C++
15 14 (1.03%) Go
16 13 (0.95%) PHP
16 13 (0.95%) Shell Script
17 11 (0.81%) Ada
17 11 (0.81%) Perl
18 10 (0.73%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 829 (60.87%) SC Cleared
2 540 (39.65%) DV Cleared
3 200 (14.68%) Degree
4 64 (4.70%) CISSP
5 62 (4.55%) BPSS Clearance
6 46 (3.38%) Cisco Certification
7 35 (2.57%) CISM
8 33 (2.42%) CCNP
9 30 (2.20%) Azure Certification
10 29 (2.13%) HNC
10 29 (2.13%) Master's Degree
11 20 (1.47%) CompTIA Security+
12 19 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
13 17 (1.25%) GIAC
14 16 (1.17%) CREST Certified
14 16 (1.17%) PMI Certification
15 15 (1.10%) CCNA
15 15 (1.10%) HND
16 14 (1.03%) PhD
17 13 (0.95%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (3.08%) QA
2 41 (3.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 36 (2.64%) SLA
4 32 (2.35%) NIST
5 27 (1.98%) Accessibility
6 22 (1.62%) NCSC
7 16 (1.17%) GDPR
7 16 (1.17%) ISO 9001
8 15 (1.10%) Def Stans
9 11 (0.81%) NIST 800
10 10 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 9 (0.66%) PMO
12 8 (0.59%) GRC
12 8 (0.59%) MISRA
13 6 (0.44%) JSP 440
13 6 (0.44%) NEBOSH
14 5 (0.37%) WCAG
15 4 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
15 4 (0.29%) Data Quality
16 3 (0.22%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 79 (5.80%) Active Directory
2 71 (5.21%) Docker
3 32 (2.35%) vSphere
4 31 (2.28%) VMware Infrastructure
5 23 (1.69%) Firmware
6 18 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
6 18 (1.32%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (0.88%) VMware NSX
8 11 (0.81%) Hyper-V
9 5 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.37%) Squid
10 4 (0.29%) KVM
11 2 (0.15%) UAG
12 1 (0.073%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 106 (7.78%) Kubernetes
2 57 (4.19%) Ansible
3 19 (1.40%) Kibana
3 19 (1.40%) Single Sign-On
4 18 (1.32%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.25%) Grafana
6 12 (0.88%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.81%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.66%) Podman
9 7 (0.51%) Argo
9 7 (0.51%) Graylog
9 7 (0.51%) Kustomize
9 7 (0.51%) Puppet
9 7 (0.51%) QRadar
10 6 (0.44%) Nessus
10 6 (0.44%) Packer
10 6 (0.44%) SCCM
11 5 (0.37%) Istio
12 4 (0.29%) Docker Swarm
12 4 (0.29%) Nagios
Vendors
1 145 (10.65%) Microsoft
2 78 (5.73%) VMware
3 49 (3.60%) Cisco
4 33 (2.42%) Oracle
5 31 (2.28%) Red Hat
6 30 (2.20%) ServiceNow
7 25 (1.84%) Splunk
8 22 (1.62%) Fortinet
8 22 (1.62%) Thales
9 18 (1.32%) EMC
9 18 (1.32%) Palo Alto
10 17 (1.25%) SAP
11 15 (1.10%) McAfee
12 14 (1.03%) AppDynamics
13 13 (0.95%) Google
14 12 (0.88%) ForgeRock
14 12 (0.88%) Okta
15 11 (0.81%) IBM
15 11 (0.81%) Veeam
16 10 (0.73%) NVIDIA