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

6 months to
7 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 8 7
Rank change year-on-year -13 -1 +12
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 729 1,279 1,224
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.02% 14.01% 14.65%
As % of the Qualifications category 22.29% 32.18% 37.25%
Number of salaries quoted 408 807 878
10th Percentile £33,500 £40,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £47,500 £47,500 £40,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,000 £60,000 £54,763
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% +9.56% +8.47%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £63,748
90th Percentile £86,625 £85,000 £76,625
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £56,863
% change year-on-year - +5.52% +2.45%

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 3,270 3,974 3,286
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 31.49% 43.52% 39.33%
Number of salaries quoted 1,389 1,761 2,033
10th Percentile £27,750 £35,000 £28,000
25th Percentile £37,000 £46,250 £37,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £60,000 £53,260
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +12.65% +1.74%
75th Percentile £67,500 £77,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £85,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -

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 January 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 January 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 -1 426 £60,000 - 175
Thames Valley -11 196 £60,000 +6.15% 94
Berkshire -24 101 £55,000 -6.98% 55
Buckinghamshire +35 80 £60,000 +6.67% 28
Surrey -17 76 £40,000 -36.51% 44
West Sussex +18 21 £34,000 -9.33% 9
Oxfordshire -5 15 £68,750 +52.84% 11
Kent -23 8 £39,000 -29.09% 22
Sussex - 1 £58,000 -
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 35 (4.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (3.57%) Exchange Server 2003
2 26 (3.57%) SharePoint
3 6 (0.82%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (0.82%) Appian
4 5 (0.69%) Apache
4 5 (0.69%) Confluence
4 5 (0.69%) WordPress
5 1 (0.14%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.14%) Camunda
5 1 (0.14%) IIS
Applications
1 42 (5.76%) Microsoft Office
2 32 (4.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.69%) Adobe XD
3 5 (0.69%) Windchill
4 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.27%) Adobe After Effects
5 2 (0.27%) Adobe Captivate
5 2 (0.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.27%) Adobe Illustrator
5 2 (0.27%) Adobe Premiere
5 2 (0.27%) Elementor
5 2 (0.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.27%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.14%) CATIA
6 1 (0.14%) GNU Octave
6 1 (0.14%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.14%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 20 (2.74%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 4 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.27%) C-CURE
4 1 (0.14%) Q-Pulse
4 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.14%) SAP GTS
4 1 (0.14%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.14%) SAP Payroll
4 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 74 (10.15%) Azure
2 66 (9.05%) AWS
3 26 (3.57%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (3.43%) Azure DevOps
5 23 (3.16%) Power Platform
6 15 (2.06%) Amazon EC2
6 15 (2.06%) Amazon EKS
7 13 (1.78%) Amazon ECS
7 13 (1.78%) Dynamics 365
7 13 (1.78%) Serverless
8 12 (1.65%) GCP
8 12 (1.65%) PowerApps
9 7 (0.96%) Amazon S3
9 7 (0.96%) Entra ID
9 7 (0.96%) GitHub
10 6 (0.82%) Figma
10 6 (0.82%) MinIO
10 6 (0.82%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
10 6 (0.82%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 5 (0.69%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 53 (7.27%) Firewall
2 49 (6.72%) DNS
3 27 (3.70%) DHCP
4 25 (3.43%) VPN
5 23 (3.16%) Junos
5 23 (3.16%) LAN
6 20 (2.74%) Software-Defined Radio
6 20 (2.74%) Wireless
7 19 (2.61%) WAN
7 19 (2.61%) Wi-Fi
8 18 (2.47%) Network Security
9 17 (2.33%) Cisco IOS
10 15 (2.06%) Cisco ISE
10 15 (2.06%) TCP/IP
11 14 (1.92%) VSAT
12 13 (1.78%) Cisco Firepower
13 11 (1.51%) Structured Cabling
14 10 (1.37%) NX-OS
15 9 (1.23%) BGP
16 7 (0.96%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (4.12%) Oracle Database
2 27 (3.70%) Oracle Database 10g
3 15 (2.06%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (1.78%) Power BI
4 13 (1.78%) Relational Database
5 12 (1.65%) RDBMS
6 5 (0.69%) Airbyte
7 3 (0.41%) Data Mining
7 3 (0.41%) SQL Server
8 2 (0.27%) Big Data
8 2 (0.27%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.14%) Amazon Aurora
9 1 (0.14%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.14%) DB2
9 1 (0.14%) DynamoDB
9 1 (0.14%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.14%) Neo4j
9 1 (0.14%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.14%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 53 (7.27%) Jenkins
2 50 (6.86%) Git
3 49 (6.72%) JIRA
4 27 (3.70%) Selenium
5 22 (3.02%) Robot Framework
6 20 (2.74%) Snyk
7 13 (1.78%) JUnit
7 13 (1.78%) Mockito
8 12 (1.65%) JMeter
9 11 (1.51%) GitLab
10 5 (0.69%) Axure RP
10 5 (0.69%) Balsamiq
10 5 (0.69%) Cypress.io
11 4 (0.55%) Subversion
12 3 (0.41%) MSI
12 3 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
12 3 (0.41%) WebDriver
13 2 (0.27%) Artifactory
13 2 (0.27%) SoapUI
13 2 (0.27%) TestRail
General
1 242 (33.20%) Social Skills
2 103 (14.13%) Analytical Skills
3 73 (10.01%) Finance
4 58 (7.96%) Public Sector
5 48 (6.58%) Organisational Skills
6 33 (4.53%) Manufacturing
7 29 (3.98%) Electronics
7 29 (3.98%) Telecoms
8 28 (3.84%) Law
9 27 (3.70%) Aeronautics
9 27 (3.70%) Aerospace
10 25 (3.43%) Aviation
11 23 (3.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (2.06%) Marketing
13 14 (1.92%) Automotive
14 12 (1.65%) Documentation Skills
15 11 (1.51%) Legal
15 11 (1.51%) Military
16 8 (1.10%) Advertising
16 8 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 76 (10.43%) Systems Engineer
2 75 (10.29%) Senior
3 71 (9.74%) Lead
4 67 (9.19%) Support Engineer
5 63 (8.64%) Architect
6 50 (6.86%) Business Manager
6 50 (6.86%) Business Systems Manager
6 50 (6.86%) Systems Manager
7 42 (5.76%) Technical Support
8 39 (5.35%) Analyst
8 39 (5.35%) Technical Engineer
8 39 (5.35%) Technical Support Engineer
9 38 (5.21%) Developer
9 38 (5.21%) Network Engineer
10 37 (5.08%) Systems Support
11 34 (4.66%) Consultant
12 33 (4.53%) Software Engineer
13 25 (3.43%) 3rd Line Support
13 25 (3.43%) Cloud Engineer
14 24 (3.29%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.94%) REST
2 26 (3.57%) SOAP
3 19 (2.61%) HTML
4 15 (2.06%) Spring
4 15 (2.06%) XML
5 14 (1.92%) Spring Boot
6 13 (1.78%) Hibernate
7 12 (1.65%) ActiveMQ
7 12 (1.65%) Apache Camel
7 12 (1.65%) jQuery
7 12 (1.65%) JSON
7 12 (1.65%) Web Services
7 12 (1.65%) WireMock
8 10 (1.37%) Middleware
9 9 (1.23%) .NET
10 7 (0.96%) Kafka
10 7 (0.96%) React
11 6 (0.82%) Apache NiFi
11 6 (0.82%) Lightning Web Components
11 6 (0.82%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 52 (7.13%) Robotics
2 38 (5.21%) e-Learning
3 28 (3.84%) Driving Licence
4 21 (2.88%) Product Ownership
5 19 (2.61%) PKI
6 18 (2.47%) Cloud Native
7 17 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
8 16 (2.19%) Security Operations Centre
9 15 (2.06%) Distributed Systems
9 15 (2.06%) Embedded Systems
10 14 (1.92%) Onboarding
11 13 (1.78%) Data Centre
11 13 (1.78%) Security Posture
12 12 (1.65%) MicroBlaze
12 12 (1.65%) RISC-V
13 10 (1.37%) Management Information System
13 10 (1.37%) Renewable Energy
14 8 (1.10%) FPGA
15 7 (0.96%) Low-Code
16 6 (0.82%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 108 (14.81%) Windows
2 57 (7.82%) Linux
3 39 (5.35%) Windows Server
4 33 (4.53%) Unix
5 27 (3.70%) Solaris
6 26 (3.57%) HPUX
6 26 (3.57%) Windows Server 2003
7 23 (3.16%) Windows 7
8 22 (3.02%) Windows Server 2008
9 12 (1.65%) Embedded Linux
10 8 (1.10%) Android
10 8 (1.10%) Windows Server 2016
11 5 (0.69%) Apple iOS
11 5 (0.69%) Windows 10
12 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.41%) AIX
14 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (18.93%) Agile
2 105 (14.40%) Continuous Improvement
3 99 (13.58%) Problem-Solving
4 98 (13.44%) Software Engineering
5 87 (11.93%) Project Management
6 82 (11.25%) Process Improvement
7 74 (10.15%) AI
8 65 (8.92%) Risk Management
9 62 (8.50%) CI/CD
10 56 (7.68%) Technical Leadership
11 54 (7.41%) DevOps
11 54 (7.41%) IT Strategy
12 53 (7.27%) Strategic Planning
13 52 (7.13%) Budget Management
13 52 (7.13%) Data Analysis
14 50 (6.86%) Contract Negotiation
14 50 (6.86%) Innovative Thinking
14 50 (6.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 46 (6.31%) Change Management
15 46 (6.31%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 66 (9.05%) Python
2 55 (7.54%) PowerShell
3 41 (5.62%) SQL
4 36 (4.94%) Java
5 32 (4.39%) JavaScript
6 26 (3.57%) C++
7 24 (3.29%) C#
8 22 (3.02%) Perl
9 17 (2.33%) C
10 12 (1.65%) Shell Script
10 12 (1.65%) VBA
11 11 (1.51%) MATLAB
12 10 (1.37%) Bash
13 7 (0.96%) Rust
14 6 (0.82%) Apex Code
14 6 (0.82%) Go
15 4 (0.55%) Kusto Query Language
16 3 (0.41%) TypeScript
17 2 (0.27%) Kotlin
17 2 (0.27%) VB
Qualifications
1 448 (61.45%) SC Cleared
2 237 (32.51%) DV Cleared
3 126 (17.28%) Degree
4 34 (4.66%) Cisco Certification
5 33 (4.53%) CCNA
6 21 (2.88%) JNCIA
7 18 (2.47%) CCNP
7 18 (2.47%) Master's Degree
8 17 (2.33%) BPSS Clearance
9 11 (1.51%) APMP
10 10 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
10 10 (1.37%) Microsoft Certification
11 8 (1.10%) CISSP
11 8 (1.10%) JNCIS
12 6 (0.82%) CISM
12 6 (0.82%) DBS Check
12 6 (0.82%) HNC
12 6 (0.82%) HND
12 6 (0.82%) ISTQB
12 6 (0.82%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (5.08%) QA
2 33 (4.53%) SLA
3 30 (4.12%) Def Stans
4 15 (2.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 14 (1.92%) Accessibility
6 13 (1.78%) GDPR
7 10 (1.37%) NIST
8 9 (1.23%) GRC
9 7 (0.96%) NCSC
10 6 (0.82%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.82%) WCAG
11 5 (0.69%) ISO 13485
12 4 (0.55%) JSP 440
13 3 (0.41%) NIST 800
13 3 (0.41%) PCI DSS
13 3 (0.41%) PMO
14 2 (0.27%) Data Quality
14 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 2 (0.27%) RMADS
15 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 60 (8.23%) Active Directory
2 34 (4.66%) Firmware
3 22 (3.02%) Docker
4 20 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
5 19 (2.61%) VMware NSX
6 18 (2.47%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (0.82%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (0.82%) vSphere
8 3 (0.41%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.27%) Terminal Server
9 2 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.14%) Apache ZooKeeper
Systems Management
1 34 (4.66%) Kubernetes
2 32 (4.39%) Terraform
3 27 (3.70%) Ansible
4 23 (3.16%) vCenter Server
5 12 (1.65%) Kibana
5 12 (1.65%) SCCM
6 11 (1.51%) SCOM
7 7 (0.96%) Grafana
8 6 (0.82%) Prometheus
9 5 (0.69%) Endace
9 5 (0.69%) Nessus
9 5 (0.69%) vRealize
9 5 (0.69%) ZABBIX
10 4 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.55%) WMI
11 3 (0.41%) Netcool
11 3 (0.41%) QRadar
11 3 (0.41%) WSUS
12 2 (0.27%) Argo
12 2 (0.27%) Sysdig
Vendors
1 107 (14.68%) Microsoft
2 64 (8.78%) VMware
3 54 (7.41%) Cisco
4 46 (6.31%) Juniper
5 35 (4.80%) Oracle
6 26 (3.57%) SAP
7 20 (2.74%) Black Duck
7 20 (2.74%) Sparx
8 19 (2.61%) Coverity
8 19 (2.61%) SolarWinds
9 18 (2.47%) Splunk
10 15 (2.06%) Salesforce
11 12 (1.65%) Dynatrace
12 10 (1.37%) Broadcom
13 8 (1.10%) Adobe
13 8 (1.10%) Google
14 7 (0.96%) Fortinet
14 7 (0.96%) Freshdesk
14 7 (0.96%) HP
14 7 (0.96%) ServiceNow