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

6 months to
10 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 12 11
Rank change year-on-year -8 -1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 963 841 1,859
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.18% 9.89% 10.83%
As % of the Qualifications category 28.94% 23.15% 34.31%
Number of salaries quoted 711 528 1,336
10th Percentile £41,000 £38,500 £35,000
25th Percentile £52,625 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £87,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year +12.00% +8.70% -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 3,328 3,633 5,418
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 21.34% 42.74% 31.56%
Number of salaries quoted 1,936 1,615 3,509
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £51,020
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +2.90% -1.89%
75th Percentile £75,000 £69,602 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £81,250 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £54,043
% change year-on-year +9.09% +1.77% -9.93%

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 10 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 10 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 -4 463 £75,000 +20.00% 263
Thames Valley +25 332 £67,500 +17.39% 161
Berkshire +17 222 £67,500 +11.11% 101
Surrey -5 95 £57,500 +35.29% 46
Buckinghamshire +33 89 £52,500 - 43
West Sussex -5 30 £35,000 -6.67% 15
Oxfordshire -13 21 £82,500 +59.42% 23
Kent -28 20 £52,500 -4.55% 13
Sussex +3 13 £85,000 +65.85% 8
East Sussex -13 4 £70,000 +40.00%
Middlesex +40 2 £65,000 - 1
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 22 (2.28%) SharePoint
2 7 (0.73%) Confluence
2 7 (0.73%) SAS
3 6 (0.62%) Apache
4 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.21%) IIS
5 2 (0.21%) nginx
6 1 (0.10%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.10%) Apache Qpid
6 1 (0.10%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.10%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 24 (2.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (1.97%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.35%) Simulink
4 2 (0.21%) Lectora
4 2 (0.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.10%) Primavera
1 1 (0.10%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.10%) SAP MDG
1 1 (0.10%) SAP MM
1 1 (0.10%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.10%) Siebel CRM
1 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 141 (14.64%) Azure
2 82 (8.52%) AWS
3 51 (5.30%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (3.95%) GCP
5 22 (2.28%) Serverless
6 21 (2.18%) Entra ID
7 20 (2.08%) Power Platform
8 16 (1.66%) Amazon EKS
8 16 (1.66%) Azure DevOps
8 16 (1.66%) OpenShift
9 15 (1.56%) GitHub
10 12 (1.25%) Azure AKS
10 12 (1.25%) GitHub Actions
10 12 (1.25%) PowerApps
11 11 (1.14%) Amazon EC2
12 10 (1.04%) Azure Sentinel
12 10 (1.04%) Azure Stack
13 7 (0.73%) AWS Lambda
14 6 (0.62%) Amazon ECS
14 6 (0.62%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 94 (9.76%) Firewall
2 64 (6.65%) DNS
3 55 (5.71%) WAN
4 43 (4.47%) LAN
5 37 (3.84%) VPN
6 31 (3.22%) TCP/IP
7 25 (2.60%) BGP
8 18 (1.87%) Network Security
9 17 (1.77%) HTTP
10 14 (1.45%) ATM
10 14 (1.45%) Structured Cabling
11 12 (1.25%) MQTT
11 12 (1.25%) OSPF
12 11 (1.14%) NetScaler
13 10 (1.04%) MPLS
13 10 (1.04%) NGFW
13 10 (1.04%) SSL
13 10 (1.04%) VLAN
14 9 (0.93%) Internet
14 9 (0.93%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.18%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (1.97%) Power BI
3 12 (1.25%) Relational Database
4 11 (1.14%) SQL Server
5 7 (0.73%) MySQL
6 5 (0.52%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.52%) Redis
7 4 (0.42%) GIS
8 3 (0.31%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.31%) Metadata
8 3 (0.31%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.21%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database 12c
10 1 (0.10%) Big Data
10 1 (0.10%) Data Lake
10 1 (0.10%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.10%) SAS Visual Analytics
10 1 (0.10%) Siebel EIM
10 1 (0.10%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 65 (6.75%) Git
2 56 (5.82%) GitLab
3 25 (2.60%) Jenkins
4 23 (2.39%) JIRA
5 15 (1.56%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.14%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.62%) Artifactory
7 6 (0.62%) JUnit
8 5 (0.52%) Cucumber
8 5 (0.52%) Selenium
9 4 (0.42%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 4 (0.42%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.42%) Rational DOORS
10 3 (0.31%) Android Studio
10 3 (0.31%) JMeter
11 2 (0.21%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.21%) Mockito
11 2 (0.21%) MSTest
11 2 (0.21%) Subversion
11 2 (0.21%) Visual Studio
General
1 196 (20.35%) Social Skills
2 95 (9.87%) Finance
3 78 (8.10%) Public Sector
4 72 (7.48%) Analytical Skills
5 41 (4.26%) Electronics
6 38 (3.95%) Aerospace
7 31 (3.22%) Military
8 23 (2.39%) Aviation
8 23 (2.39%) Organisational Skills
8 23 (2.39%) Telecoms
9 21 (2.18%) Manufacturing
10 18 (1.87%) Documentation Skills
11 15 (1.56%) Law
12 14 (1.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 13 (1.35%) Banking
13 13 (1.35%) Games
14 10 (1.04%) Aeronautics
15 8 (0.83%) Advertising
15 8 (0.83%) Influencing Skills
16 7 (0.73%) Retail
Job Titles
1 150 (15.58%) Senior
2 132 (13.71%) Architect
3 108 (11.21%) Software Engineer
4 67 (6.96%) Developer
5 64 (6.65%) Analyst
6 51 (5.30%) Lead
7 48 (4.98%) Security Architect
8 39 (4.05%) Network Engineer
9 36 (3.74%) Consultant
9 36 (3.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 36 (3.74%) Senior Software Engineer
9 36 (3.74%) Systems Engineer
10 35 (3.63%) Applications Architect
11 33 (3.43%) Data Engineer
12 30 (3.12%) Azure Engineer
13 27 (2.80%) Java Developer
14 26 (2.70%) SOC Analyst
15 25 (2.60%) Security Engineer
16 24 (2.49%) Support Engineer
17 23 (2.39%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (2.80%) .NET
2 26 (2.70%) React
3 23 (2.39%) LDAP
3 23 (2.39%) Regular Expression
4 20 (2.08%) REST
5 19 (1.97%) XMPP
6 17 (1.77%) Kafka
7 15 (1.56%) JSON
7 15 (1.56%) Spring
8 12 (1.25%) Elastic Stack
9 10 (1.04%) ARM Templates
10 9 (0.93%) Spring Boot
10 9 (0.93%) XML
11 8 (0.83%) RabbitMQ
11 8 (0.83%) Web Services
11 8 (0.83%) YAML
12 7 (0.73%) JSON Schema
12 7 (0.73%) RESTful
12 7 (0.73%) SOAP
13 6 (0.62%) Java EE
Miscellaneous
1 31 (3.22%) Product Ownership
2 30 (3.12%) Algorithms
3 28 (2.91%) Data Centre
3 28 (2.91%) Driving Licence
4 24 (2.49%) Cloud Native
4 24 (2.49%) Onboarding
5 23 (2.39%) PKI
6 20 (2.08%) FPGA
6 20 (2.08%) Self-Motivation
7 19 (1.97%) Cyber Defence
7 19 (1.97%) Cyber Threat
8 18 (1.87%) Embedded Systems
8 18 (1.87%) Robotics
9 16 (1.66%) Security Operations Centre
10 15 (1.56%) Analytical Mindset
11 13 (1.35%) Distributed Systems
12 12 (1.25%) Management Information System
13 11 (1.14%) Hybrid Cloud
14 10 (1.04%) Data Structures
15 9 (0.93%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 165 (17.13%) Linux
2 122 (12.67%) Windows
3 74 (7.68%) Windows Server
4 34 (3.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (1.77%) Ubuntu
6 14 (1.45%) CentOS
7 11 (1.14%) Windows Server 2016
8 8 (0.83%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.62%) Android
10 4 (0.42%) Debian
10 4 (0.42%) Unix
11 3 (0.31%) AIX
12 2 (0.21%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.10%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.10%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 159 (16.51%) Agile
2 144 (14.95%) Software Engineering
3 118 (12.25%) CI/CD
4 109 (11.32%) Cybersecurity
5 106 (11.01%) DevOps
6 104 (10.80%) Continuous Improvement
7 100 (10.38%) Problem-Solving
8 66 (6.85%) SIEM
9 63 (6.54%) Decision-Making
10 58 (6.02%) AI
11 57 (5.92%) Containerisation
11 57 (5.92%) ITIL
11 57 (5.92%) Mentoring
12 56 (5.82%) Validation
13 55 (5.71%) Platform Engineering
14 54 (5.61%) Infrastructure as Code
15 53 (5.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 47 (4.88%) Scrum
17 46 (4.78%) Stakeholder Management
18 45 (4.67%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 154 (15.99%) Python
2 71 (7.37%) C++
3 62 (6.44%) Java
4 44 (4.57%) C
5 43 (4.47%) PowerShell
6 39 (4.05%) C#
7 35 (3.63%) SQL
8 29 (3.01%) Bash
9 25 (2.60%) JavaScript
10 23 (2.39%) Rust
11 19 (1.97%) TypeScript
12 18 (1.87%) MATLAB
13 14 (1.45%) Embedded C
13 14 (1.45%) Embedded C++
14 13 (1.35%) Shell Script
15 12 (1.25%) PHP
15 12 (1.25%) VBA
16 11 (1.14%) Go
16 11 (1.14%) PL/SQL
17 7 (0.73%) Ada
Qualifications
1 615 (63.86%) SC Cleared
2 349 (36.24%) DV Cleared
3 143 (14.85%) Degree
4 28 (2.91%) HNC
5 25 (2.60%) BPSS Clearance
5 25 (2.60%) Master's Degree
6 24 (2.49%) Cisco Certification
6 24 (2.49%) CISSP
7 16 (1.66%) CCNP
8 15 (1.56%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (1.45%) CompTIA Security+
9 14 (1.45%) CREST Certified
9 14 (1.45%) CRISC
9 14 (1.45%) GIAC
10 12 (1.25%) OSCP
11 10 (1.04%) CCNA
11 10 (1.04%) CISM
11 10 (1.04%) GCIA
12 8 (0.83%) GCIH
12 8 (0.83%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (2.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 23 (2.39%) SLA
3 22 (2.28%) NCSC
4 16 (1.66%) GDPR
4 16 (1.66%) QA
5 14 (1.45%) ISO 9001
5 14 (1.45%) NIST
6 12 (1.25%) PMO
7 9 (0.93%) Def Stans
7 9 (0.93%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 6 (0.62%) Accessibility
9 5 (0.52%) NEBOSH
10 4 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
10 4 (0.42%) JSP 440
10 4 (0.42%) MISRA
11 3 (0.31%) GRC
11 3 (0.31%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.31%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 2 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 70 (7.27%) Docker
2 61 (6.33%) Active Directory
3 35 (3.63%) vSphere
4 25 (2.60%) Firmware
5 20 (2.08%) VMware Infrastructure
6 17 (1.77%) VMware NSX
7 11 (1.14%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (0.73%) VMware ESXi
9 6 (0.62%) Hyper-V
10 5 (0.52%) Embedded Firmware
11 2 (0.21%) Squid
11 2 (0.21%) UAG
12 1 (0.10%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.10%) Terminal Server
12 1 (0.10%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 86 (8.93%) Kubernetes
2 66 (6.85%) Terraform
3 55 (5.71%) Ansible
4 15 (1.56%) Grafana
4 15 (1.56%) Prometheus
5 14 (1.45%) Kibana
6 12 (1.25%) Microsoft Intune
7 11 (1.14%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.93%) Podman
9 8 (0.83%) Nessus
10 7 (0.73%) Nagios
10 7 (0.73%) Puppet
11 6 (0.62%) Graylog
11 6 (0.62%) QRadar
11 6 (0.62%) vRealize
12 5 (0.52%) Argo
12 5 (0.52%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.52%) Endace
12 5 (0.52%) Kustomize
12 5 (0.52%) Packer
Vendors
1 127 (13.19%) Microsoft
2 68 (7.06%) VMware
3 38 (3.95%) Cisco
4 31 (3.22%) Red Hat
4 31 (3.22%) Splunk
5 29 (3.01%) Oracle
6 23 (2.39%) ServiceNow
7 16 (1.66%) McAfee
8 14 (1.45%) Google
9 12 (1.25%) Citrix
10 11 (1.14%) Palo Alto
10 11 (1.14%) Tenable
11 10 (1.04%) IBM
11 10 (1.04%) Juniper
11 10 (1.04%) NVIDIA
12 9 (0.93%) AppDynamics
12 9 (0.93%) EMC
13 8 (0.83%) CheckPoint
13 8 (0.83%) LogRhythm
13 8 (0.83%) NetApp