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

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 13 11
Rank change year-on-year -10 -2 +10
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 822 770 1,857
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.65% 9.88% 10.21%
As % of the Qualifications category 26.16% 20.94% 32.04%
Number of salaries quoted 611 488 1,375
10th Percentile £39,280 £40,000 £34,500
25th Percentile £52,500 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £58,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.38% +5.45% +10.00%
75th Percentile £83,750 £77,125 £70,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £87,500 £83,750
England median annual salary £67,500 £61,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.76% +6.96% -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 3,142 3,678 5,795
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 21.58% 47.20% 31.86%
Number of salaries quoted 1,784 1,511 3,655
10th Percentile £31,250 £31,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,500 £38,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £51,350
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +2.24% -0.43%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,200 £80,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £54,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% +0.92% -9.17%

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 12 June 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 12 June 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 -4 382 £75,000 +27.12% 175
Thames Valley +24 288 £67,500 +17.05% 144
Berkshire +15 194 £67,500 +12.50% 94
Surrey -1 80 £57,303 +27.34% 56
Buckinghamshire +40 74 £52,500 -4.55% 34
West Sussex +2 29 £35,000 -6.67% 14
Kent -22 23 £52,500 -19.23% 10
Oxfordshire -6 20 £80,000 +54.59% 23
Sussex - 12 £85,000 - 4
East Sussex -11 4 £70,000 +40.00% 2
Home Counties -2 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 21 (2.55%) SharePoint
2 6 (0.73%) Confluence
2 6 (0.73%) SAS
3 4 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.36%) Apache
5 2 (0.24%) IIS
6 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.12%) Apache Qpid
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 19 (2.31%) Microsoft Excel
1 19 (2.31%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.34%) Simulink
3 2 (0.24%) Lectora
Business Applications
1 1 (0.12%) Primavera
1 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.12%) SAP MDG
1 1 (0.12%) SAP MM
1 1 (0.12%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 117 (14.23%) Azure
2 68 (8.27%) AWS
3 44 (5.35%) Microsoft 365
4 35 (4.26%) GCP
5 20 (2.43%) Serverless
6 18 (2.19%) Entra ID
7 17 (2.07%) Power Platform
8 16 (1.95%) Amazon EKS
9 14 (1.70%) Azure DevOps
9 14 (1.70%) OpenShift
10 11 (1.34%) Amazon EC2
10 11 (1.34%) Azure AKS
11 10 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
11 10 (1.22%) PowerApps
12 9 (1.09%) GitHub
13 8 (0.97%) Azure Sentinel
13 8 (0.97%) Azure Stack
14 7 (0.85%) AWS Lambda
14 7 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
15 6 (0.73%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 86 (10.46%) Firewall
2 59 (7.18%) DNS
3 45 (5.47%) WAN
4 34 (4.14%) LAN
5 33 (4.01%) VPN
6 26 (3.16%) BGP
7 24 (2.92%) TCP/IP
8 18 (2.19%) Structured Cabling
9 17 (2.07%) HTTP
10 14 (1.70%) Network Security
11 12 (1.46%) OSPF
12 11 (1.34%) NetScaler
13 10 (1.22%) DHCP
13 10 (1.22%) MQTT
13 10 (1.22%) SSL
14 9 (1.09%) Cisco Firepower
14 9 (1.09%) MPLS
14 9 (1.09%) SAN
14 9 (1.09%) Wireshark
15 8 (0.97%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.19%) PostgreSQL
2 16 (1.95%) Power BI
3 10 (1.22%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.22%) SQL Server
4 5 (0.61%) Oracle Database
5 4 (0.49%) GIS
5 4 (0.49%) MySQL
5 4 (0.49%) Redis
6 3 (0.36%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.24%) Metadata
7 2 (0.24%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.24%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database 11g
7 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.12%) Big Data
8 1 (0.12%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.12%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.12%) Geospatial Data
8 1 (0.12%) SAS Visual Analytics
8 1 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 60 (7.30%) Git
2 53 (6.45%) GitLab
3 20 (2.43%) Jenkins
4 19 (2.31%) JIRA
5 14 (1.70%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.34%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.73%) Artifactory
8 5 (0.61%) Cucumber
8 5 (0.61%) JUnit
8 5 (0.61%) Selenium
9 4 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 3 (0.36%) Android Studio
10 3 (0.36%) Bitbucket
10 3 (0.36%) JMeter
10 3 (0.36%) Rational DOORS
11 2 (0.24%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.24%) Mockito
11 2 (0.24%) MSTest
11 2 (0.24%) Subversion
12 1 (0.12%) Mocha
General
1 168 (20.44%) Social Skills
2 78 (9.49%) Public Sector
3 73 (8.88%) Finance
4 61 (7.42%) Analytical Skills
5 36 (4.38%) Electronics
6 27 (3.28%) Military
7 23 (2.80%) Aerospace
8 22 (2.68%) Aviation
9 19 (2.31%) Manufacturing
9 19 (2.31%) Telecoms
10 18 (2.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 17 (2.07%) Law
12 15 (1.82%) Documentation Skills
12 15 (1.82%) Organisational Skills
13 11 (1.34%) Banking
14 10 (1.22%) Aeronautics
15 9 (1.09%) Games
16 8 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.85%) Retail
18 5 (0.61%) French Language
Job Titles
1 127 (15.45%) Senior
2 105 (12.77%) Architect
3 72 (8.76%) Software Engineer
4 67 (8.15%) Developer
5 51 (6.20%) Analyst
6 42 (5.11%) Lead
6 42 (5.11%) Network Engineer
7 36 (4.38%) Security Architect
8 35 (4.26%) Applications Architect
8 35 (4.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 34 (4.14%) Data Engineer
10 31 (3.77%) Systems Engineer
11 29 (3.53%) Consultant
12 27 (3.28%) Java Developer
13 26 (3.16%) Azure Engineer
14 24 (2.92%) Senior Software Engineer
15 23 (2.80%) DevOps Engineer
15 23 (2.80%) Security Engineer
15 23 (2.80%) Support Engineer
16 21 (2.55%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (3.28%) .NET
2 23 (2.80%) React
3 22 (2.68%) REST
4 21 (2.55%) LDAP
4 21 (2.55%) Regular Expression
5 17 (2.07%) XMPP
6 14 (1.70%) Spring
7 13 (1.58%) JSON
8 12 (1.46%) Elastic Stack
8 12 (1.46%) Kafka
9 9 (1.09%) SOAP
10 8 (0.97%) RabbitMQ
11 7 (0.85%) ARM Templates
11 7 (0.85%) RESTful
11 7 (0.85%) Spring Boot
11 7 (0.85%) XML
11 7 (0.85%) YAML
12 6 (0.73%) AngularJS
12 6 (0.73%) JPA
12 6 (0.73%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 28 (3.41%) Algorithms
1 28 (3.41%) Product Ownership
2 27 (3.28%) Data Centre
3 20 (2.43%) Cloud Native
3 20 (2.43%) Onboarding
3 20 (2.43%) PKI
4 19 (2.31%) Cyber Defence
4 19 (2.31%) Driving Licence
5 17 (2.07%) Cyber Threat
5 17 (2.07%) Embedded Systems
6 15 (1.82%) FPGA
7 14 (1.70%) Analytical Mindset
7 14 (1.70%) Robotics
8 13 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
9 12 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
9 12 (1.46%) Security Operations Centre
10 11 (1.34%) Fibre Optics
11 10 (1.22%) Data Structures
12 9 (1.09%) Security Posture
13 8 (0.97%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 137 (16.67%) Linux
2 104 (12.65%) Windows
3 66 (8.03%) Windows Server
4 32 (3.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (1.95%) Ubuntu
6 14 (1.70%) CentOS
7 9 (1.09%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.73%) Android
8 6 (0.73%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.36%) AIX
9 3 (0.36%) Debian
9 3 (0.36%) Unix
10 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.12%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (17.40%) Agile
2 106 (12.90%) CI/CD
3 102 (12.41%) Software Engineering
4 95 (11.56%) DevOps
5 83 (10.10%) Continuous Improvement
5 83 (10.10%) Problem-Solving
6 80 (9.73%) Cybersecurity
7 56 (6.81%) SIEM
8 50 (6.08%) Infrastructure as Code
9 49 (5.96%) Platform Engineering
10 48 (5.84%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 47 (5.72%) Mentoring
12 46 (5.60%) AI
12 46 (5.60%) Containerisation
12 46 (5.60%) Validation
13 45 (5.47%) Decision-Making
13 45 (5.47%) ITIL
14 42 (5.11%) Scrum
15 40 (4.87%) Computer Science
16 37 (4.50%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 123 (14.96%) Python
2 58 (7.06%) Java
3 51 (6.20%) C++
4 34 (4.14%) C#
4 34 (4.14%) PowerShell
5 32 (3.89%) C
6 31 (3.77%) SQL
7 23 (2.80%) JavaScript
8 21 (2.55%) Bash
9 18 (2.19%) Rust
10 16 (1.95%) MATLAB
10 16 (1.95%) TypeScript
11 13 (1.58%) Embedded C
11 13 (1.58%) Embedded C++
12 11 (1.34%) Go
12 11 (1.34%) Shell Script
13 10 (1.22%) PL/SQL
13 10 (1.22%) VBA
14 8 (0.97%) PHP
15 7 (0.85%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 521 (63.38%) SC Cleared
2 298 (36.25%) DV Cleared
3 126 (15.33%) Degree
4 25 (3.04%) HNC
5 20 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
5 20 (2.43%) Master's Degree
6 16 (1.95%) Cisco Certification
7 15 (1.82%) Computer Science Degree
8 13 (1.58%) CCNP
8 13 (1.58%) CISSP
8 13 (1.58%) CREST Certified
9 11 (1.34%) CompTIA Security+
10 9 (1.09%) CRISC
10 9 (1.09%) GIAC
10 9 (1.09%) OSCP
11 8 (0.97%) APMP
11 8 (0.97%) GCIA
11 8 (0.97%) GCIH
11 8 (0.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 8 (0.97%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.55%) SLA
2 19 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (1.95%) GDPR
4 15 (1.82%) QA
5 14 (1.70%) NCSC
6 12 (1.46%) PMO
7 11 (1.34%) NIST
8 10 (1.22%) ISO 9001
9 9 (1.09%) Def Stans
10 7 (0.85%) Accessibility
10 7 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 5 (0.61%) NEBOSH
12 4 (0.49%) JSP 440
13 3 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
14 2 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.24%) GRC
14 2 (0.24%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 2 (0.24%) NIST 800
System Software
1 63 (7.66%) Docker
2 57 (6.93%) Active Directory
3 32 (3.89%) vSphere
4 23 (2.80%) Firmware
5 19 (2.31%) VMware NSX
6 17 (2.07%) VMware Infrastructure
7 7 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.61%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.49%) Hyper-V
10 3 (0.36%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.24%) UAG
12 1 (0.12%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.12%) Terminal Server
12 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 76 (9.25%) Kubernetes
2 59 (7.18%) Terraform
3 50 (6.08%) Ansible
4 14 (1.70%) Grafana
4 14 (1.70%) Kibana
4 14 (1.70%) Prometheus
5 13 (1.58%) vCenter Server
6 9 (1.09%) Podman
7 8 (0.97%) Microsoft Intune
7 8 (0.97%) Nessus
8 7 (0.85%) Nagios
8 7 (0.85%) Puppet
9 6 (0.73%) Graylog
9 6 (0.73%) vRealize
10 5 (0.61%) Docker Swarm
10 5 (0.61%) Endace
10 5 (0.61%) Packer
10 5 (0.61%) QRadar
11 4 (0.49%) Argo
11 4 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 112 (13.63%) Microsoft
2 57 (6.93%) VMware
3 33 (4.01%) Cisco
4 31 (3.77%) Splunk
5 29 (3.53%) Red Hat
6 28 (3.41%) Oracle
7 20 (2.43%) ServiceNow
8 14 (1.70%) McAfee
9 12 (1.46%) Citrix
9 12 (1.46%) Juniper
10 11 (1.34%) Google
10 11 (1.34%) Tenable
11 10 (1.22%) CheckPoint
11 10 (1.22%) NVIDIA
12 9 (1.09%) AppDynamics
13 8 (0.97%) CrowdStrike
13 8 (0.97%) EMC
13 8 (0.97%) IBM
13 8 (0.97%) NetApp
14 7 (0.85%) SolarWinds