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

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 14 10
Rank change year-on-year +2 -4 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,347 879 1,617
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.40% 9.66% 12.44%
As % of the Qualifications category 36.11% 23.89% 39.33%
Number of salaries quoted 884 491 994
10th Percentile £40,000 £35,500 £39,125
25th Percentile £52,500 £46,250 £42,812
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £58,000 £57,250
Median % change year-on-year +20.69% +1.31% +8.94%
75th Percentile £85,000 £76,125 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,375 £87,500 £87,500
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +16.67% - -

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 3,730 3,679 4,111
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.50% 40.45% 31.62%
Number of salaries quoted 2,207 1,647 2,175
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £32,200
25th Percentile £42,500 £36,875 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -7.27% +4.76%
75th Percentile £77,500 £68,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,214
% change year-on-year +9.09% -0.39% -7.20%

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 September 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 September 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 0 724 £75,000 +20.00% 179
Thames Valley +26 379 £68,750 +25.00% 185
Berkshire +31 260 £70,000 +27.27% 127
Surrey +2 179 £50,000 +25.00% 70
Buckinghamshire +17 106 £55,000 - 45
West Sussex -19 22 £40,000 +6.67% 19
Kent -27 17 £52,500 -4.55% 11
Oxfordshire -33 13 £100,000 +17.65% 22
East Sussex -13 6 £70,000 +40.00% 1
Isle of Wight - 5 £70,000 -
Sussex -7 4 £65,000 +23.81% 7
Middlesex +20 3 £65,000 - 1
Home Counties - 2 £80,000 -
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 (0.97%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.82%) Apache
3 6 (0.45%) Confluence
3 6 (0.45%) SAS
4 5 (0.37%) nginx
5 4 (0.30%) IIS
6 3 (0.22%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle Workflow
7 2 (0.15%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.074%) Kinematics
Applications
1 30 (2.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 21 (1.56%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.34%) Simulink
4 15 (1.11%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.37%) Solid Edge
6 5 (0.37%) SOLIDWORKS
7 4 (0.30%) Mathcad
8 3 (0.22%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.15%) Lectora
9 2 (0.15%) Mathematica
9 2 (0.15%) UserZoom
10 1 (0.074%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.074%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.074%) CATIA
10 1 (0.074%) MS Visio
10 1 (0.074%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (0.59%) Primavera
2 4 (0.30%) Workday HCM
3 2 (0.15%) Oracle Applications
3 2 (0.15%) Siebel CRM
3 2 (0.15%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.074%) ENOVIA
4 1 (0.074%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.074%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.074%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.074%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 208 (15.44%) Azure
2 144 (10.69%) AWS
3 57 (4.23%) Microsoft 365
4 42 (3.12%) Entra ID
5 35 (2.60%) GCP
6 26 (1.93%) Power Platform
7 22 (1.63%) Serverless
8 19 (1.41%) OpenShift
9 18 (1.34%) GitHub
10 15 (1.11%) Cloud Computing
11 14 (1.04%) Amazon EKS
11 14 (1.04%) Azure Sentinel
12 13 (0.97%) GitHub Actions
13 12 (0.89%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (0.82%) Azure AKS
15 10 (0.74%) Amazon EC2
16 9 (0.67%) PowerApps
17 8 (0.59%) Azure Stack
17 8 (0.59%) SaaS
18 7 (0.52%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 125 (9.28%) Firewall
2 73 (5.42%) DNS
3 62 (4.60%) WAN
4 53 (3.93%) LAN
5 49 (3.64%) Network Security
6 44 (3.27%) TCP/IP
7 42 (3.12%) VPN
8 19 (1.41%) BGP
8 19 (1.41%) HTTP
9 18 (1.34%) ATM
9 18 (1.34%) VLAN
10 14 (1.04%) Intrusion Detection
10 14 (1.04%) OSPF
11 13 (0.97%) DHCP
11 13 (0.97%) VoIP
12 12 (0.89%) NGFW
12 12 (0.89%) SD-WAN
13 11 (0.82%) SSL
14 10 (0.74%) SAN
14 10 (0.74%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (1.93%) PostgreSQL
2 24 (1.78%) Power BI
3 21 (1.56%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.11%) MySQL
5 11 (0.82%) SQL Server
6 9 (0.67%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.30%) GIS
7 4 (0.30%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.30%) Redis
7 4 (0.30%) Tableau
8 2 (0.15%) Big Data
8 2 (0.15%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.15%) Geospatial Data
8 2 (0.15%) Metadata
8 2 (0.15%) NoSQL
8 2 (0.15%) Oracle Database 11g
8 2 (0.15%) Oracle Database 12c
8 2 (0.15%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.15%) Siebel EIM
Development Applications
1 72 (5.35%) Git
2 43 (3.19%) GitLab
3 25 (1.86%) JIRA
4 24 (1.78%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.04%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.74%) SonarQube
7 8 (0.59%) JMeter
7 8 (0.59%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.45%) Artifactory
8 6 (0.45%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.37%) Gatling
9 5 (0.37%) JUnit
9 5 (0.37%) LoadRunner
10 4 (0.30%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.30%) LabVIEW
10 4 (0.30%) Selenium
11 2 (0.15%) Android Studio
11 2 (0.15%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.15%) Mockito
11 2 (0.15%) MSTest
General
1 304 (22.57%) Social Skills
2 168 (12.47%) Aerospace
3 150 (11.14%) Analytical Skills
4 133 (9.87%) Finance
5 124 (9.21%) Public Sector
6 68 (5.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 68 (5.05%) Military
7 67 (4.97%) Electronics
8 40 (2.97%) Manufacturing
9 38 (2.82%) Organisational Skills
10 35 (2.60%) Aviation
11 27 (2.00%) Law
12 25 (1.86%) Telecoms
13 21 (1.56%) Documentation Skills
13 21 (1.56%) Retail
14 17 (1.26%) Influencing Skills
15 15 (1.11%) Legal
15 15 (1.11%) Police
16 13 (0.97%) Aeronautics
16 13 (0.97%) Banking
Job Titles
1 201 (14.92%) Architect
2 185 (13.73%) Senior
3 122 (9.06%) Software Engineer
4 114 (8.46%) Lead
5 99 (7.35%) Systems Engineer
6 89 (6.61%) Analyst
7 83 (6.16%) Security Architect
8 61 (4.53%) Developer
9 49 (3.64%) Consultant
10 44 (3.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 39 (2.90%) Network Engineer
12 36 (2.67%) Project Manager
13 35 (2.60%) Senior Software Engineer
14 32 (2.38%) Security Analyst
15 31 (2.30%) Azure Engineer
15 31 (2.30%) Senior Manager
16 27 (2.00%) Platform Engineer
16 27 (2.00%) SOC Analyst
17 26 (1.93%) Applications Architect
17 26 (1.93%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (4.83%) Terraform
2 40 (2.97%) ModSecurity
3 36 (2.67%) LDAP
4 33 (2.45%) React
5 28 (2.08%) .NET
6 21 (1.56%) Regular Expression
7 19 (1.41%) XMPP
8 17 (1.26%) HTML
8 17 (1.26%) Spring
9 16 (1.19%) CSS
10 14 (1.04%) Kafka
10 14 (1.04%) REST
11 13 (0.97%) AngularJS
11 13 (0.97%) OAuth
11 13 (0.97%) OpenID
11 13 (0.97%) SAML
12 12 (0.89%) Elastic Stack
12 12 (0.89%) Web Services
13 10 (0.74%) Spring Boot
13 10 (0.74%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 56 (4.16%) Cloud Native
2 51 (3.79%) Data Centre
3 48 (3.56%) Onboarding
4 43 (3.19%) Social Media
5 41 (3.04%) Algorithms
5 41 (3.04%) Driving Licence
6 33 (2.45%) Cyber Threat
7 31 (2.30%) Management Information System
7 31 (2.30%) Product Ownership
7 31 (2.30%) Security Operations Centre
7 31 (2.30%) Self-Motivation
8 29 (2.15%) Cyber Defence
9 26 (1.93%) Embedded Systems
10 24 (1.78%) FPGA
11 23 (1.71%) Robotics
12 20 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
12 20 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
13 19 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
13 19 (1.41%) Private Cloud
14 18 (1.34%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 194 (14.40%) Linux
2 145 (10.76%) Windows
3 75 (5.57%) Windows Server
4 29 (2.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (1.11%) Ubuntu
6 11 (0.82%) CentOS
7 9 (0.67%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.45%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.37%) Android
10 5 (0.37%) Debian
10 5 (0.37%) Unix
11 3 (0.22%) AIX
12 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.15%) Rocky
13 1 (0.074%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 203 (15.07%) Agile
2 199 (14.77%) Continuous Improvement
3 185 (13.73%) Problem-Solving
4 184 (13.66%) Software Engineering
5 169 (12.55%) Validation
6 150 (11.14%) Cybersecurity
7 137 (10.17%) CI/CD
8 116 (8.61%) DevOps
9 115 (8.54%) Mentoring
10 111 (8.24%) Decision-Making
11 109 (8.09%) Stakeholder Management
12 108 (8.02%) AI
13 92 (6.83%) Technical Leadership
14 88 (6.53%) SIEM
15 83 (6.16%) ITIL
16 75 (5.57%) Incident Response
17 71 (5.27%) Infrastructure as Code
18 69 (5.12%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 67 (4.97%) Containerisation
19 67 (4.97%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 159 (11.80%) Python
2 88 (6.53%) C++
3 55 (4.08%) Java
4 53 (3.93%) C#
5 52 (3.86%) C
6 51 (3.79%) PowerShell
7 42 (3.12%) Bash
8 38 (2.82%) JavaScript
9 31 (2.30%) SQL
10 29 (2.15%) TypeScript
11 27 (2.00%) MATLAB
12 23 (1.71%) Rust
13 19 (1.41%) Embedded C
14 16 (1.19%) Embedded C++
15 14 (1.04%) Go
15 14 (1.04%) Shell Script
16 13 (0.97%) PHP
17 11 (0.82%) Ada
17 11 (0.82%) Perl
18 10 (0.74%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 819 (60.80%) SC Cleared
2 537 (39.87%) DV Cleared
3 194 (14.40%) Degree
4 63 (4.68%) CISSP
5 62 (4.60%) BPSS Clearance
6 45 (3.34%) Cisco Certification
7 34 (2.52%) CISM
8 32 (2.38%) CCNP
9 30 (2.23%) Azure Certification
10 29 (2.15%) HNC
11 28 (2.08%) Master's Degree
12 20 (1.48%) CompTIA Security+
13 18 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
14 17 (1.26%) GIAC
15 16 (1.19%) CREST Certified
15 16 (1.19%) PMI Certification
16 15 (1.11%) CCNA
17 14 (1.04%) PhD
18 13 (0.97%) GCIA
18 13 (0.97%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (3.12%) QA
2 40 (2.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (2.52%) SLA
4 31 (2.30%) NIST
5 26 (1.93%) Accessibility
6 22 (1.63%) NCSC
7 15 (1.11%) GDPR
7 15 (1.11%) ISO 9001
8 14 (1.04%) Def Stans
9 10 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 10 (0.74%) NIST 800
10 9 (0.67%) PMO
11 8 (0.59%) MISRA
12 7 (0.52%) GRC
13 6 (0.45%) JSP 440
13 6 (0.45%) NEBOSH
14 5 (0.37%) WCAG
15 4 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
15 4 (0.30%) Data Quality
16 3 (0.22%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 80 (5.94%) Active Directory
2 71 (5.27%) Docker
3 34 (2.52%) vSphere
4 31 (2.30%) VMware Infrastructure
5 23 (1.71%) Firmware
6 18 (1.34%) Virtual Machines
6 18 (1.34%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (0.89%) VMware NSX
8 11 (0.82%) Hyper-V
9 5 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.37%) Squid
10 4 (0.30%) KVM
11 2 (0.15%) UAG
12 1 (0.074%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 106 (7.87%) Kubernetes
2 56 (4.16%) Ansible
3 19 (1.41%) Kibana
3 19 (1.41%) Single Sign-On
4 18 (1.34%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.26%) Grafana
6 12 (0.89%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.82%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.67%) Podman
9 7 (0.52%) Argo
9 7 (0.52%) Graylog
9 7 (0.52%) Kustomize
9 7 (0.52%) Puppet
9 7 (0.52%) QRadar
10 6 (0.45%) Nessus
10 6 (0.45%) Packer
10 6 (0.45%) SCCM
11 5 (0.37%) Istio
12 4 (0.30%) Docker Swarm
12 4 (0.30%) Nagios
Vendors
1 142 (10.54%) Microsoft
2 80 (5.94%) VMware
3 49 (3.64%) Cisco
4 33 (2.45%) Oracle
5 31 (2.30%) Red Hat
6 30 (2.23%) ServiceNow
7 25 (1.86%) Splunk
8 22 (1.63%) Fortinet
9 18 (1.34%) Palo Alto
9 18 (1.34%) Thales
10 17 (1.26%) EMC
10 17 (1.26%) SAP
11 15 (1.11%) McAfee
12 14 (1.04%) AppDynamics
13 13 (0.97%) Google
14 12 (0.89%) ForgeRock
14 12 (0.89%) Okta
15 11 (0.82%) IBM
15 11 (0.82%) Veeam
16 10 (0.74%) NVIDIA