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

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 13 10
Rank change year-on-year -1 -3 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,184 880 1,617
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.87% 9.85% 11.74%
As % of the Qualifications category 33.54% 24.30% 37.65%
Number of salaries quoted 805 508 1,094
10th Percentile £39,000 £37,500 £39,038
25th Percentile £52,500 £46,250 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £56,252
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +6.66% +7.15%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £98,750 £87,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £58,000
% change year-on-year +16.67% +3.45% -3.33%

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 3,530 3,622 4,295
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.49% 40.56% 31.19%
Number of salaries quoted 2,090 1,653 2,555
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,813 £37,500 £41,049
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,300 £52,945
Median % change year-on-year +16.96% -3.11% +0.85%
75th Percentile £77,500 £70,000 £70,000
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 18 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 18 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 -2 618 £75,000 +15.38% 248
Thames Valley +23 349 £67,500 +22.73% 177
Berkshire +24 226 £70,000 +27.27% 103
Surrey +1 154 £50,000 +25.00% 51
Buckinghamshire +22 108 £55,000 - 43
West Sussex -13 25 £35,000 -6.67% 12
Kent -25 17 £52,500 -4.55% 28
Oxfordshire -25 15 £100,000 +53.85% 35
East Sussex -19 6 £70,000 +40.00% 1
Sussex -4 4 £67,500 +28.57% 2
Middlesex +27 3 £65,000 - 2
Isle of Wight - 2 £70,000 - 2
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 12 (1.01%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.93%) Apache
3 6 (0.51%) Confluence
3 6 (0.51%) SAS
4 5 (0.42%) nginx
5 3 (0.25%) IIS
6 2 (0.17%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.17%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.084%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 25 (2.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.52%) Simulink
3 15 (1.27%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.42%) Solid Edge
5 5 (0.42%) SOLIDWORKS
6 4 (0.34%) Mathcad
6 4 (0.34%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 3 (0.25%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.17%) Lectora
9 1 (0.084%) Adobe XD
9 1 (0.084%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.084%) MS Visio
9 1 (0.084%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 8 (0.68%) Primavera
2 4 (0.34%) Workday HCM
3 2 (0.17%) Oracle Applications
3 2 (0.17%) Siebel CRM
3 2 (0.17%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.084%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.084%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.084%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.084%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 196 (16.55%) Azure
2 126 (10.64%) AWS
3 56 (4.73%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (3.29%) GCP
5 38 (3.21%) Entra ID
6 22 (1.86%) Power Platform
6 22 (1.86%) Serverless
7 19 (1.60%) GitHub
8 18 (1.52%) OpenShift
9 14 (1.18%) Amazon EKS
9 14 (1.18%) Azure Sentinel
9 14 (1.18%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (1.10%) Azure DevOps
11 11 (0.93%) Azure AKS
12 10 (0.84%) Amazon EC2
13 9 (0.76%) PowerApps
14 8 (0.68%) Azure Stack
14 8 (0.68%) Cloud Computing
14 8 (0.68%) SaaS
15 7 (0.59%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 120 (10.14%) Firewall
2 74 (6.25%) DNS
3 64 (5.41%) WAN
4 54 (4.56%) LAN
5 45 (3.80%) TCP/IP
6 43 (3.63%) Network Security
6 43 (3.63%) VPN
7 20 (1.69%) BGP
8 18 (1.52%) HTTP
8 18 (1.52%) VLAN
9 17 (1.44%) ATM
10 14 (1.18%) OSPF
10 14 (1.18%) VoIP
11 12 (1.01%) Intrusion Detection
11 12 (1.01%) NGFW
11 12 (1.01%) SAN
11 12 (1.01%) SD-WAN
12 11 (0.93%) NAS
12 11 (0.93%) SSL
12 11 (0.93%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (2.45%) PostgreSQL
2 21 (1.77%) Relational Database
3 20 (1.69%) Power BI
4 16 (1.35%) MySQL
5 15 (1.27%) SQL Server
6 6 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.34%) GIS
7 4 (0.34%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.34%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.34%) Redis
8 3 (0.25%) Tableau
9 2 (0.17%) Big Data
9 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.17%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.17%) Metadata
9 2 (0.17%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.17%) Oracle Database 12c
9 2 (0.17%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.17%) Siebel EIM
10 1 (0.084%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 72 (6.08%) Git
2 46 (3.89%) GitLab
3 28 (2.36%) JIRA
4 25 (2.11%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.18%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.84%) SonarQube
7 9 (0.76%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.51%) Artifactory
8 6 (0.51%) JMeter
9 5 (0.42%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.42%) JUnit
10 4 (0.34%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.34%) LabVIEW
10 4 (0.34%) Selenium
11 3 (0.25%) Gatling
11 3 (0.25%) LoadRunner
12 2 (0.17%) Android Studio
12 2 (0.17%) Cypress.io
12 2 (0.17%) Mockito
12 2 (0.17%) MSTest
General
1 285 (24.07%) Social Skills
2 140 (11.82%) Analytical Skills
3 121 (10.22%) Finance
4 119 (10.05%) Public Sector
5 113 (9.54%) Aerospace
6 62 (5.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 61 (5.15%) Military
8 60 (5.07%) Electronics
9 33 (2.79%) Manufacturing
10 30 (2.53%) Organisational Skills
11 28 (2.36%) Aviation
12 26 (2.20%) Law
13 23 (1.94%) Telecoms
14 22 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
15 16 (1.35%) Influencing Skills
16 13 (1.10%) Games
16 13 (1.10%) Legal
16 13 (1.10%) Police
17 12 (1.01%) Aeronautics
17 12 (1.01%) Banking
Job Titles
1 172 (14.53%) Architect
2 171 (14.44%) Senior
3 122 (10.30%) Software Engineer
4 90 (7.60%) Lead
5 80 (6.76%) Analyst
6 71 (6.00%) Systems Engineer
7 62 (5.24%) Developer
8 61 (5.15%) Security Architect
9 49 (4.14%) Consultant
10 48 (4.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 41 (3.46%) Network Engineer
12 35 (2.96%) Applications Architect
12 35 (2.96%) Senior Software Engineer
13 29 (2.45%) Project Manager
14 28 (2.36%) Azure Engineer
15 27 (2.28%) SOC Analyst
16 26 (2.20%) Solutions Architect
17 24 (2.03%) Security Analyst
17 24 (2.03%) Senior Developer
18 23 (1.94%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (3.21%) LDAP
2 34 (2.87%) ModSecurity
3 32 (2.70%) React
4 31 (2.62%) .NET
5 23 (1.94%) Regular Expression
6 19 (1.60%) XMPP
7 17 (1.44%) Spring
8 15 (1.27%) HTML
8 15 (1.27%) Kafka
9 14 (1.18%) CSS
9 14 (1.18%) REST
10 13 (1.10%) OAuth
10 13 (1.10%) OpenID
10 13 (1.10%) SAML
11 12 (1.01%) AngularJS
11 12 (1.01%) Elastic Stack
11 12 (1.01%) JSON
12 11 (0.93%) Web Services
13 10 (0.84%) Spring Boot
13 10 (0.84%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 52 (4.39%) Cloud Native
2 43 (3.63%) Social Media
3 42 (3.55%) Data Centre
3 42 (3.55%) Onboarding
4 38 (3.21%) Driving Licence
5 32 (2.70%) Algorithms
6 29 (2.45%) Product Ownership
7 28 (2.36%) Management Information System
8 27 (2.28%) Self-Motivation
9 26 (2.20%) Cyber Threat
10 24 (2.03%) Embedded Systems
11 23 (1.94%) FPGA
11 23 (1.94%) Security Operations Centre
12 22 (1.86%) Cyber Defence
13 20 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
13 20 (1.69%) Robotics
14 19 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
14 19 (1.60%) PKI
14 19 (1.60%) Private Cloud
15 18 (1.52%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 199 (16.81%) Linux
2 146 (12.33%) Windows
3 82 (6.93%) Windows Server
4 34 (2.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (1.44%) Ubuntu
6 14 (1.18%) CentOS
7 11 (0.93%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.59%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.51%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.42%) Android
10 5 (0.42%) Unix
11 4 (0.34%) Debian
12 3 (0.25%) AIX
13 2 (0.17%) Mac OS
13 2 (0.17%) Rocky
14 1 (0.084%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (16.72%) Agile
2 178 (15.03%) Software Engineering
3 168 (14.19%) Continuous Improvement
4 165 (13.94%) Problem-Solving
5 143 (12.08%) Cybersecurity
6 130 (10.98%) Validation
7 129 (10.90%) CI/CD
8 114 (9.63%) DevOps
9 103 (8.70%) Decision-Making
10 96 (8.11%) AI
11 94 (7.94%) Mentoring
12 86 (7.26%) Stakeholder Management
13 83 (7.01%) SIEM
14 82 (6.93%) Technical Leadership
15 79 (6.67%) ITIL
16 71 (6.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 67 (5.66%) Incident Response
18 66 (5.57%) Containerisation
19 65 (5.49%) Infrastructure as Code
20 64 (5.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 155 (13.09%) Python
2 82 (6.93%) C++
3 54 (4.56%) Java
4 51 (4.31%) PowerShell
5 49 (4.14%) C
5 49 (4.14%) C#
6 41 (3.46%) Bash
7 35 (2.96%) JavaScript
8 30 (2.53%) SQL
9 27 (2.28%) TypeScript
10 23 (1.94%) Rust
11 22 (1.86%) MATLAB
12 17 (1.44%) Embedded C
13 16 (1.35%) Shell Script
14 15 (1.27%) Embedded C++
15 13 (1.10%) Go
15 13 (1.10%) PHP
16 11 (0.93%) Ada
16 11 (0.93%) Perl
17 10 (0.84%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 748 (63.18%) SC Cleared
2 454 (38.34%) DV Cleared
3 177 (14.95%) Degree
4 60 (5.07%) BPSS Clearance
5 55 (4.65%) CISSP
6 46 (3.89%) Cisco Certification
7 33 (2.79%) CCNP
8 27 (2.28%) CISM
9 26 (2.20%) HNC
10 25 (2.11%) Azure Certification
10 25 (2.11%) Master's Degree
11 20 (1.69%) CompTIA Security+
12 17 (1.44%) Computer Science Degree
12 17 (1.44%) GIAC
13 16 (1.35%) CCNA
13 16 (1.35%) CREST Certified
14 13 (1.10%) GCIA
14 13 (1.10%) PMI Certification
15 12 (1.01%) CompTIA CySA+
15 12 (1.01%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (3.46%) QA
2 34 (2.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 32 (2.70%) SLA
4 24 (2.03%) Accessibility
4 24 (2.03%) NIST
5 22 (1.86%) NCSC
6 15 (1.27%) ISO 9001
7 13 (1.10%) GDPR
8 11 (0.93%) Def Stans
9 10 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 9 (0.76%) PMO
11 7 (0.59%) MISRA
12 6 (0.51%) JSP 440
12 6 (0.51%) NIST 800
13 5 (0.42%) GRC
13 5 (0.42%) NEBOSH
14 4 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials
14 4 (0.34%) WCAG
15 3 (0.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 3 (0.25%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 81 (6.84%) Active Directory
2 74 (6.25%) Docker
3 38 (3.21%) vSphere
4 33 (2.79%) VMware Infrastructure
5 24 (2.03%) Firmware
6 18 (1.52%) VMware ESXi
7 17 (1.44%) Virtual Machines
8 12 (1.01%) VMware NSX
9 11 (0.93%) Hyper-V
10 5 (0.42%) Embedded Firmware
10 5 (0.42%) Squid
11 4 (0.34%) KVM
12 2 (0.17%) UAG
13 1 (0.084%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.084%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 102 (8.61%) Kubernetes
2 67 (5.66%) Terraform
3 56 (4.73%) Ansible
4 17 (1.44%) Kibana
4 17 (1.44%) Single Sign-On
5 16 (1.35%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (1.27%) Grafana
7 12 (1.01%) Prometheus
8 11 (0.93%) vCenter Server
9 9 (0.76%) Podman
10 8 (0.68%) Nessus
11 7 (0.59%) Graylog
11 7 (0.59%) Puppet
11 7 (0.59%) QRadar
12 6 (0.51%) Argo
12 6 (0.51%) Kustomize
12 6 (0.51%) Packer
13 5 (0.42%) Nagios
13 5 (0.42%) SCCM
14 4 (0.34%) Docker Swarm
Vendors
1 139 (11.74%) Microsoft
2 82 (6.93%) VMware
3 51 (4.31%) Cisco
4 36 (3.04%) Oracle
5 32 (2.70%) Red Hat
6 30 (2.53%) ServiceNow
7 27 (2.28%) Splunk
8 22 (1.86%) Fortinet
9 19 (1.60%) Palo Alto
10 17 (1.44%) SAP
11 16 (1.35%) Google
12 15 (1.27%) McAfee
13 12 (1.01%) AppDynamics
13 12 (1.01%) Citrix
13 12 (1.01%) EMC
13 12 (1.01%) ForgeRock
13 12 (1.01%) Okta
14 11 (0.93%) IBM
15 10 (0.84%) NVIDIA
16 9 (0.76%) Veeam