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

6 months to
27 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 12 10
Rank change year-on-year -8 -2 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,019 850 1,666
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.30% 9.79% 11.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 30.06% 23.84% 35.90%
Number of salaries quoted 744 516 1,171
10th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £36,250
25th Percentile £52,625 £46,250 £42,999
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +9.09% +6.80%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £70,250
90th Percentile £98,375 £87,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £61,164 £57,500
% change year-on-year +14.45% +6.37% -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 3,390 3,565 4,641
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.97% 41.06% 31.41%
Number of salaries quoted 1,990 1,641 2,881
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +16.50% -1.90% -
75th Percentile £76,250 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £83,750
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 27 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 27 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 -4 502 £75,000 +17.19% 222
Thames Valley +26 326 £67,500 +22.73% 109
Berkshire +19 211 £70,000 +16.67% 67
Surrey -9 120 £55,000 +37.50% 39
Buckinghamshire +32 94 £55,000 +4.76% 32
West Sussex -6 30 £35,000 -6.67% 8
Oxfordshire -17 21 £82,500 +59.42% 13
Kent -33 17 £52,500 -4.55% 11
Sussex 0 11 £85,000 +61.90% 1
East Sussex -14 5 £70,000 +40.00%
Middlesex +43 2 £65,000 -
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 14 (1.37%) SharePoint
2 10 (0.98%) Apache
3 7 (0.69%) Confluence
3 7 (0.69%) SAS
4 5 (0.49%) nginx
5 3 (0.29%) IIS
6 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.098%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.098%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.098%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 24 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (1.57%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.47%) Simulink
4 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Lectora
5 2 (0.20%) Mathcad
6 1 (0.098%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 2 (0.20%) Workday HCM
2 1 (0.098%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.098%) Primavera
2 1 (0.098%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.098%) SAP MDG
2 1 (0.098%) SAP MM
2 1 (0.098%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.098%) Siebel CRM
2 1 (0.098%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.098%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 163 (16.00%) Azure
2 97 (9.52%) AWS
3 51 (5.00%) Microsoft 365
4 38 (3.73%) GCP
5 25 (2.45%) Entra ID
6 22 (2.16%) Serverless
7 19 (1.86%) Power Platform
8 17 (1.67%) GitHub
9 16 (1.57%) Azure DevOps
9 16 (1.57%) OpenShift
10 14 (1.37%) Amazon EKS
10 14 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
11 12 (1.18%) Azure Sentinel
12 11 (1.08%) Azure AKS
12 11 (1.08%) PowerApps
13 10 (0.98%) Amazon EC2
13 10 (0.98%) Azure Stack
14 7 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
15 6 (0.59%) Amazon ECS
15 6 (0.59%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 107 (10.50%) Firewall
2 70 (6.87%) DNS
3 62 (6.08%) WAN
4 50 (4.91%) LAN
5 40 (3.93%) TCP/IP
5 40 (3.93%) VPN
6 29 (2.85%) Network Security
7 22 (2.16%) BGP
8 18 (1.77%) HTTP
9 17 (1.67%) ATM
10 16 (1.57%) VLAN
11 13 (1.28%) OSPF
11 13 (1.28%) VoIP
12 12 (1.18%) MQTT
12 12 (1.18%) NGFW
13 11 (1.08%) NetScaler
13 11 (1.08%) SD-WAN
14 10 (0.98%) MPLS
14 10 (0.98%) SAN
14 10 (0.98%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (2.36%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (1.86%) Power BI
3 16 (1.57%) Relational Database
4 13 (1.28%) SQL Server
5 11 (1.08%) MySQL
6 5 (0.49%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.39%) GIS
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.39%) Redis
8 3 (0.29%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.20%) Metadata
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle Database 12c
10 1 (0.098%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.098%) NoSQL
10 1 (0.098%) RDBMS
10 1 (0.098%) SAS Visual Analytics
10 1 (0.098%) Siebel EIM
10 1 (0.098%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 66 (6.48%) Git
2 52 (5.10%) GitLab
3 25 (2.45%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.16%) JIRA
5 14 (1.37%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.08%) SonarQube
7 7 (0.69%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.59%) Artifactory
9 5 (0.49%) Cucumber
9 5 (0.49%) JMeter
9 5 (0.49%) JUnit
10 4 (0.39%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 4 (0.39%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.39%) Selenium
11 3 (0.29%) Android Studio
12 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
12 2 (0.20%) Gatling
12 2 (0.20%) Mockito
12 2 (0.20%) MSTest
12 2 (0.20%) Subversion
General
1 220 (21.59%) Social Skills
2 95 (9.32%) Finance
3 94 (9.22%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (8.93%) Public Sector
5 50 (4.91%) Aerospace
6 48 (4.71%) Electronics
7 35 (3.43%) Military
8 31 (3.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 26 (2.55%) Organisational Skills
10 24 (2.36%) Manufacturing
11 23 (2.26%) Aviation
12 22 (2.16%) Telecoms
13 21 (2.06%) Documentation Skills
14 18 (1.77%) Law
15 12 (1.18%) Games
16 10 (0.98%) Aeronautics
16 10 (0.98%) Banking
17 9 (0.88%) Influencing Skills
17 9 (0.88%) Legal
18 8 (0.79%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 152 (14.92%) Senior
2 143 (14.03%) Architect
3 116 (11.38%) Software Engineer
4 66 (6.48%) Developer
5 64 (6.28%) Analyst
6 60 (5.89%) Lead
7 51 (5.00%) Security Architect
8 44 (4.32%) Systems Engineer
9 42 (4.12%) Consultant
10 39 (3.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 37 (3.63%) Network Engineer
12 36 (3.53%) Senior Software Engineer
13 35 (3.43%) Applications Architect
14 29 (2.85%) Azure Engineer
15 27 (2.65%) Data Engineer
16 26 (2.55%) Support Engineer
17 25 (2.45%) Java Developer
17 25 (2.45%) Security Engineer
18 24 (2.36%) Solutions Architect
19 23 (2.26%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (2.65%) .NET
1 27 (2.65%) React
2 26 (2.55%) LDAP
3 23 (2.26%) Regular Expression
4 19 (1.86%) XMPP
5 17 (1.67%) REST
6 16 (1.57%) Kafka
7 15 (1.47%) Spring
8 14 (1.37%) JSON
9 12 (1.18%) Elastic Stack
9 12 (1.18%) Web Services
10 11 (1.08%) ARM Templates
11 9 (0.88%) HTML
11 9 (0.88%) Spring Boot
11 9 (0.88%) XML
11 9 (0.88%) YAML
12 8 (0.79%) AngularJS
12 8 (0.79%) CSS
12 8 (0.79%) ModSecurity
12 8 (0.79%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 33 (3.24%) Driving Licence
2 32 (3.14%) Cloud Native
3 31 (3.04%) Product Ownership
4 30 (2.94%) Data Centre
5 29 (2.85%) Onboarding
6 28 (2.75%) Algorithms
7 23 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
8 22 (2.16%) PKI
9 21 (2.06%) Cyber Threat
9 21 (2.06%) FPGA
10 20 (1.96%) Embedded Systems
11 19 (1.86%) Robotics
12 18 (1.77%) Cyber Defence
12 18 (1.77%) Security Operations Centre
13 17 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
14 14 (1.37%) Distributed Systems
14 14 (1.37%) Hybrid Cloud
14 14 (1.37%) Management Information System
14 14 (1.37%) Social Media
15 10 (0.98%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 185 (18.16%) Linux
2 135 (13.25%) Windows
3 80 (7.85%) Windows Server
4 34 (3.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.86%) Ubuntu
6 16 (1.57%) CentOS
7 10 (0.98%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.59%) Android
9 6 (0.59%) Windows 10
10 4 (0.39%) Debian
10 4 (0.39%) Unix
11 3 (0.29%) AIX
12 2 (0.20%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.098%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 174 (17.08%) Agile
2 159 (15.60%) Software Engineering
3 121 (11.87%) CI/CD
3 121 (11.87%) Cybersecurity
4 117 (11.48%) Continuous Improvement
5 116 (11.38%) Problem-Solving
6 109 (10.70%) DevOps
7 72 (7.07%) SIEM
8 71 (6.97%) Validation
9 70 (6.87%) Decision-Making
10 68 (6.67%) AI
10 68 (6.67%) ITIL
10 68 (6.67%) Mentoring
11 61 (5.99%) Stakeholder Management
12 58 (5.69%) Containerisation
13 56 (5.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 55 (5.40%) Platform Engineering
15 54 (5.30%) Infrastructure as Code
16 52 (5.10%) Technical Leadership
17 51 (5.00%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 153 (15.01%) Python
2 74 (7.26%) C++
3 57 (5.59%) Java
4 47 (4.61%) PowerShell
5 46 (4.51%) C
6 40 (3.93%) C#
7 35 (3.43%) Bash
8 32 (3.14%) SQL
9 28 (2.75%) JavaScript
10 23 (2.26%) Rust
11 21 (2.06%) TypeScript
12 19 (1.86%) MATLAB
13 14 (1.37%) Embedded C
13 14 (1.37%) Embedded C++
14 13 (1.28%) PHP
14 13 (1.28%) Shell Script
15 11 (1.08%) Go
15 11 (1.08%) PL/SQL
15 11 (1.08%) VBA
16 10 (0.98%) Ada
Qualifications
1 661 (64.87%) SC Cleared
2 363 (35.62%) DV Cleared
3 147 (14.43%) Degree
4 35 (3.43%) Cisco Certification
5 31 (3.04%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (2.94%) CISSP
7 25 (2.45%) HNC
8 23 (2.26%) CCNP
8 23 (2.26%) Master's Degree
9 17 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
10 16 (1.57%) CompTIA Security+
10 16 (1.57%) GIAC
11 15 (1.47%) CREST Certified
12 14 (1.37%) CCNA
13 12 (1.18%) Azure Certification
13 12 (1.18%) GCIA
13 12 (1.18%) OSCP
14 11 (1.08%) CISM
15 10 (0.98%) Microsoft Certification
15 10 (0.98%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 24 (2.36%) SLA
3 22 (2.16%) NCSC
3 22 (2.16%) QA
4 16 (1.57%) NIST
5 13 (1.28%) ISO 9001
6 12 (1.18%) GDPR
7 11 (1.08%) PMO
8 9 (0.88%) Accessibility
8 9 (0.88%) Def Stans
8 9 (0.88%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 5 (0.49%) JSP 440
9 5 (0.49%) MISRA
9 5 (0.49%) NEBOSH
10 4 (0.39%) GRC
10 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.29%) ISO 22301
12 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 70 (6.87%) Docker
2 66 (6.48%) Active Directory
3 35 (3.43%) vSphere
4 27 (2.65%) VMware Infrastructure
5 22 (2.16%) Firmware
6 14 (1.37%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (1.18%) VMware NSX
8 11 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
9 8 (0.79%) Hyper-V
10 5 (0.49%) Embedded Firmware
10 5 (0.49%) Squid
11 2 (0.20%) KVM
11 2 (0.20%) UAG
12 1 (0.098%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.098%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 90 (8.83%) Kubernetes
2 67 (6.58%) Terraform
3 56 (5.50%) Ansible
4 17 (1.67%) Grafana
5 16 (1.57%) Kibana
6 15 (1.47%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (1.47%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.98%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.88%) Podman
9 8 (0.79%) Nessus
10 7 (0.69%) Nagios
10 7 (0.69%) Puppet
10 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
11 6 (0.59%) Graylog
12 5 (0.49%) Argo
12 5 (0.49%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.49%) Kustomize
12 5 (0.49%) Packer
12 5 (0.49%) QRadar
13 4 (0.39%) Endace
Vendors
1 133 (13.05%) Microsoft
2 74 (7.26%) VMware
3 44 (4.32%) Cisco
4 31 (3.04%) Red Hat
5 30 (2.94%) Splunk
6 29 (2.85%) Oracle
7 24 (2.36%) ServiceNow
8 15 (1.47%) McAfee
9 14 (1.37%) Palo Alto
10 13 (1.28%) Fortinet
10 13 (1.28%) Google
11 12 (1.18%) Citrix
12 11 (1.08%) AppDynamics
12 11 (1.08%) IBM
13 10 (0.98%) EMC
13 10 (0.98%) NVIDIA
14 9 (0.88%) Juniper
14 9 (0.88%) Tenable
15 8 (0.79%) CrowdStrike
15 8 (0.79%) NetApp