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

6 months to
7 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 1,105 859 1,595
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.57% 9.86% 11.49%
As % of the Qualifications category 31.60% 24.61% 37.19%
Number of salaries quoted 775 505 1,084
10th Percentile £39,000 £37,500 £39,000
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 £72,500
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 3,497 3,490 4,289
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.79% 40.06% 30.90%
Number of salaries quoted 2,057 1,628 2,591
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,175 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,750
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 7 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 7 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 -2 559 £75,000 +17.19% 262
Thames Valley +26 341 £67,500 +22.73% 161
Berkshire +24 221 £70,000 +19.15% 100
Surrey -2 136 £50,000 +25.00% 53
Buckinghamshire +27 102 £55,000 +4.76% 50
West Sussex -7 28 £35,000 -6.67% 11
Oxfordshire -20 18 £92,500 +72.90% 15
Kent -31 17 £52,500 -4.55% 11
Sussex -3 9 £85,000 +61.90% 2
East Sussex -14 6 £70,000 +40.00% 2
Middlesex +40 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 13 (1.18%) SharePoint
2 11 (1.00%) Apache
3 7 (0.63%) Confluence
4 6 (0.54%) SAS
5 5 (0.45%) nginx
6 3 (0.27%) IIS
7 2 (0.18%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.090%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.090%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.090%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 27 (2.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (1.63%) Simulink
3 7 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.36%) Mathcad
4 4 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.27%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.27%) Solid Edge
5 3 (0.27%) SOLIDWORKS
6 2 (0.18%) Lectora
7 1 (0.090%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.090%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (0.45%) Primavera
2 4 (0.36%) Workday HCM
3 2 (0.18%) Oracle Applications
3 2 (0.18%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.090%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.090%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.090%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.090%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.090%) Siebel CRM
4 1 (0.090%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 182 (16.47%) Azure
2 112 (10.14%) AWS
3 52 (4.71%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (3.44%) GCP
5 32 (2.90%) Entra ID
6 22 (1.99%) Serverless
7 21 (1.90%) Power Platform
8 16 (1.45%) GitHub
8 16 (1.45%) OpenShift
9 15 (1.36%) Azure DevOps
10 14 (1.27%) Amazon EKS
11 12 (1.09%) Azure Sentinel
11 12 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
12 11 (1.00%) Azure AKS
13 10 (0.90%) Amazon EC2
13 10 (0.90%) Azure Stack
13 10 (0.90%) PowerApps
14 7 (0.63%) AWS Lambda
15 6 (0.54%) Amazon ECS
15 6 (0.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 113 (10.23%) Firewall
2 72 (6.52%) DNS
3 63 (5.70%) WAN
4 52 (4.71%) LAN
5 43 (3.89%) TCP/IP
6 42 (3.80%) VPN
7 38 (3.44%) Network Security
8 20 (1.81%) BGP
9 18 (1.63%) ATM
9 18 (1.63%) HTTP
10 17 (1.54%) VLAN
11 14 (1.27%) OSPF
11 14 (1.27%) 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 (2.35%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (1.81%) Power BI
3 18 (1.63%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.36%) SQL Server
5 13 (1.18%) MySQL
6 6 (0.54%) 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 (0.090%) Big Data
9 1 (0.090%) Geospatial Data
9 1 (0.090%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.090%) Siebel EIM
Development Applications
1 71 (6.43%) Git
2 50 (4.52%) GitLab
3 29 (2.62%) JIRA
4 25 (2.26%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.27%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.90%) SonarQube
7 9 (0.81%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.54%) Artifactory
8 6 (0.54%) JMeter
9 5 (0.45%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.45%) JUnit
10 4 (0.36%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.36%) LabVIEW
10 4 (0.36%) Selenium
11 3 (0.27%) Android Studio
11 3 (0.27%) Gatling
11 3 (0.27%) LoadRunner
12 2 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 2 (0.18%) Cypress.io
12 2 (0.18%) Visual Studio
General
1 255 (23.08%) Social Skills
2 121 (10.95%) Analytical Skills
3 112 (10.14%) Finance
4 107 (9.68%) Public Sector
5 86 (7.78%) Aerospace
6 57 (5.16%) Electronics
7 52 (4.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 48 (4.34%) Military
9 30 (2.71%) Manufacturing
10 29 (2.62%) Organisational Skills
11 26 (2.35%) Aviation
12 23 (2.08%) Documentation Skills
12 23 (2.08%) Telecoms
13 22 (1.99%) Law
14 11 (1.00%) Aeronautics
14 11 (1.00%) Games
14 11 (1.00%) Influencing Skills
15 10 (0.90%) Banking
16 9 (0.81%) Legal
16 9 (0.81%) Retail
Job Titles
1 160 (14.48%) Senior
2 158 (14.30%) Architect
3 121 (10.95%) Software Engineer
4 78 (7.06%) Lead
5 70 (6.33%) Analyst
6 62 (5.61%) Developer
7 54 (4.89%) Security Architect
8 52 (4.71%) Systems Engineer
9 46 (4.16%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 43 (3.89%) Consultant
11 40 (3.62%) Network Engineer
12 35 (3.17%) Applications Architect
12 35 (3.17%) Senior Software Engineer
13 27 (2.44%) Azure Engineer
13 27 (2.44%) Solutions Architect
14 26 (2.35%) Support Engineer
15 25 (2.26%) SOC Analyst
16 24 (2.17%) Project Manager
16 24 (2.17%) Security Engineer
17 23 (2.08%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (2.90%) LDAP
2 30 (2.71%) .NET
3 29 (2.62%) React
4 23 (2.08%) ModSecurity
4 23 (2.08%) Regular Expression
5 19 (1.72%) XMPP
6 17 (1.54%) Kafka
7 16 (1.45%) REST
7 16 (1.45%) Spring
8 12 (1.09%) Elastic Stack
8 12 (1.09%) JSON
8 12 (1.09%) Web Services
9 11 (1.00%) ARM Templates
10 10 (0.90%) AngularJS
10 10 (0.90%) HTML
10 10 (0.90%) YAML
11 9 (0.81%) CSS
11 9 (0.81%) Spring Boot
12 8 (0.72%) OpenID
12 8 (0.72%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 42 (3.80%) Cloud Native
2 39 (3.53%) Onboarding
3 38 (3.44%) Data Centre
4 36 (3.26%) Driving Licence
5 33 (2.99%) Social Media
6 31 (2.81%) Algorithms
7 29 (2.62%) Product Ownership
8 26 (2.35%) Self-Motivation
9 24 (2.17%) Cyber Threat
10 23 (2.08%) Management Information System
11 22 (1.99%) Embedded Systems
11 22 (1.99%) FPGA
12 20 (1.81%) PKI
13 19 (1.72%) Cyber Defence
13 19 (1.72%) Robotics
13 19 (1.72%) Security Operations Centre
14 17 (1.54%) Analytical Mindset
14 17 (1.54%) Legacy Systems
14 17 (1.54%) Private Cloud
15 16 (1.45%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 194 (17.56%) Linux
2 144 (13.03%) Windows
3 84 (7.60%) Windows Server
4 36 (3.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.72%) Ubuntu
6 16 (1.45%) CentOS
7 10 (0.90%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.63%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.54%) Android
9 6 (0.54%) Windows 10
10 4 (0.36%) Debian
10 4 (0.36%) Unix
11 3 (0.27%) AIX
12 2 (0.18%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.18%) Rocky
13 1 (0.090%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 188 (17.01%) Agile
2 171 (15.48%) Software Engineering
3 148 (13.39%) Problem-Solving
4 144 (13.03%) Continuous Improvement
5 130 (11.76%) Cybersecurity
6 126 (11.40%) CI/CD
7 113 (10.23%) DevOps
8 99 (8.96%) Validation
9 90 (8.14%) Decision-Making
10 84 (7.60%) AI
11 81 (7.33%) Mentoring
12 78 (7.06%) Stakeholder Management
13 77 (6.97%) ITIL
14 74 (6.70%) SIEM
15 71 (6.43%) Technical Leadership
16 66 (5.97%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 62 (5.61%) Containerisation
18 61 (5.52%) Infrastructure as Code
19 57 (5.16%) Platform Engineering
20 56 (5.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 153 (13.85%) Python
2 79 (7.15%) C++
3 55 (4.98%) Java
4 50 (4.52%) PowerShell
5 49 (4.43%) C
6 46 (4.16%) C#
7 40 (3.62%) Bash
8 31 (2.81%) JavaScript
9 30 (2.71%) SQL
10 24 (2.17%) Rust
11 23 (2.08%) TypeScript
12 22 (1.99%) MATLAB
13 16 (1.45%) Embedded C
13 16 (1.45%) Shell Script
14 15 (1.36%) Embedded C++
15 13 (1.18%) PHP
16 12 (1.09%) Go
17 11 (1.00%) Ada
18 10 (0.90%) PL/SQL
18 10 (0.90%) VBA
Qualifications
1 711 (64.34%) SC Cleared
2 418 (37.83%) DV Cleared
3 166 (15.02%) Degree
4 52 (4.71%) BPSS Clearance
5 42 (3.80%) Cisco Certification
5 42 (3.80%) CISSP
6 29 (2.62%) CCNP
7 28 (2.53%) HNC
8 24 (2.17%) Master's Degree
9 18 (1.63%) Azure Certification
9 18 (1.63%) CISM
9 18 (1.63%) Computer Science Degree
10 17 (1.54%) CompTIA Security+
11 16 (1.45%) CCNA
11 16 (1.45%) GIAC
12 15 (1.36%) CREST Certified
13 12 (1.09%) GCIA
13 12 (1.09%) OSCP
14 11 (1.00%) Microsoft Certification
14 11 (1.00%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (3.17%) QA
2 30 (2.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 30 (2.71%) SLA
3 22 (1.99%) NCSC
4 20 (1.81%) NIST
5 17 (1.54%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.36%) ISO 9001
7 14 (1.27%) GDPR
8 11 (1.00%) Def Stans
8 11 (1.00%) PMO
9 10 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 7 (0.63%) MISRA
11 6 (0.54%) JSP 440
11 6 (0.54%) NIST 800
12 5 (0.45%) NEBOSH
13 4 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.36%) GRC
14 3 (0.27%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.18%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 2 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 75 (6.79%) Active Directory
1 75 (6.79%) Docker
2 37 (3.35%) vSphere
3 32 (2.90%) VMware Infrastructure
4 23 (2.08%) Firmware
5 17 (1.54%) VMware ESXi
6 14 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
7 12 (1.09%) VMware NSX
8 10 (0.90%) Hyper-V
9 5 (0.45%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.45%) Squid
10 4 (0.36%) KVM
11 2 (0.18%) UAG
12 1 (0.090%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.090%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 98 (8.87%) Kubernetes
2 68 (6.15%) Terraform
3 59 (5.34%) Ansible
4 17 (1.54%) Kibana
5 16 (1.45%) Grafana
5 16 (1.45%) Microsoft Intune
6 13 (1.18%) Prometheus
7 12 (1.09%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (0.90%) Podman
8 10 (0.90%) vCenter Server
9 8 (0.72%) Nessus
10 7 (0.63%) Nagios
10 7 (0.63%) Puppet
11 6 (0.54%) Graylog
11 6 (0.54%) QRadar
12 5 (0.45%) Argo
12 5 (0.45%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.45%) Kustomize
12 5 (0.45%) Packer
13 4 (0.36%) Istio
Vendors
1 137 (12.40%) Microsoft
2 80 (7.24%) VMware
3 47 (4.25%) Cisco
4 33 (2.99%) Oracle
5 31 (2.81%) Red Hat
6 30 (2.71%) ServiceNow
7 29 (2.62%) Splunk
8 17 (1.54%) Fortinet
9 16 (1.45%) Palo Alto
10 15 (1.36%) McAfee
11 13 (1.18%) Google
12 12 (1.09%) AppDynamics
12 12 (1.09%) Citrix
12 12 (1.09%) EMC
12 12 (1.09%) SAP
13 11 (1.00%) IBM
14 10 (0.90%) NVIDIA
15 9 (0.81%) Veeam
16 8 (0.72%) CrowdStrike
16 8 (0.72%) NetApp