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

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 13 11
Rank change year-on-year -7 -2 +2
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 985 834 1,738
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 6.18% 9.67% 11.11%
As % of the Qualifications category 29.54% 23.32% 35.27%
Number of salaries quoted 737 512 1,231
10th Percentile £40,600 £38,500 £36,250
25th Percentile £53,500 £46,750 £42,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +9.09% +7.11%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £87,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £70,000 £61,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year +13.82% +6.96% -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 3,335 3,576 4,928
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.93% 41.47% 31.50%
Number of salaries quoted 1,971 1,614 3,100
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,681 £37,500 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% - -
75th Percentile £76,250 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £82,500
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 21 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 21 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 -4 480 £75,000 +20.00% 219
Thames Valley +27 327 £67,500 +22.73% 121
Berkshire +26 212 £70,000 +16.67% 66
Surrey -7 105 £55,000 +37.50% 50
Buckinghamshire +40 94 £55,000 +4.76% 42
West Sussex -8 30 £35,000 -6.67% 12
Oxfordshire -16 21 £82,500 +59.42% 16
Kent -30 17 £52,500 -4.55% 9
Sussex +2 13 £85,000 +61.90% 4
East Sussex -13 5 £70,000 +40.00%
Middlesex +41 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 17 (1.73%) SharePoint
2 8 (0.81%) Apache
3 7 (0.71%) Confluence
3 7 (0.71%) SAS
4 4 (0.41%) nginx
5 3 (0.30%) IIS
5 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.10%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.10%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.10%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 25 (2.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.73%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.42%) Simulink
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Lectora
6 1 (0.10%) Mathcad
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
1 150 (15.23%) Azure
2 87 (8.83%) AWS
3 50 (5.08%) Microsoft 365
4 37 (3.76%) GCP
5 23 (2.34%) Entra ID
6 22 (2.23%) Serverless
7 19 (1.93%) Power Platform
8 16 (1.62%) OpenShift
9 15 (1.52%) Azure DevOps
9 15 (1.52%) GitHub
10 14 (1.42%) Amazon EKS
11 12 (1.22%) Azure Sentinel
11 12 (1.22%) GitHub Actions
12 11 (1.12%) Azure AKS
12 11 (1.12%) PowerApps
13 10 (1.02%) Amazon EC2
13 10 (1.02%) Azure Stack
14 7 (0.71%) AWS Lambda
15 6 (0.61%) Amazon ECS
15 6 (0.61%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 102 (10.36%) Firewall
2 68 (6.90%) DNS
3 61 (6.19%) WAN
4 49 (4.97%) LAN
5 39 (3.96%) VPN
6 38 (3.86%) TCP/IP
7 23 (2.34%) BGP
8 21 (2.13%) Network Security
9 18 (1.83%) HTTP
10 16 (1.62%) ATM
11 14 (1.42%) VLAN
12 13 (1.32%) VoIP
13 12 (1.22%) MQTT
13 12 (1.22%) NGFW
13 12 (1.22%) OSPF
14 11 (1.12%) NetScaler
15 10 (1.02%) Cisco Firepower
15 10 (1.02%) MPLS
15 10 (1.02%) SD-WAN
15 10 (1.02%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.13%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (1.93%) Power BI
3 12 (1.22%) Relational Database
4 11 (1.12%) SQL Server
5 8 (0.81%) MySQL
6 4 (0.41%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.41%) GIS
6 4 (0.41%) Oracle Database
6 4 (0.41%) Redis
7 2 (0.20%) Metadata
7 2 (0.20%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle Database 11g
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.10%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.10%) SAS Visual Analytics
8 1 (0.10%) Siebel EIM
8 1 (0.10%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 65 (6.60%) Git
2 53 (5.38%) GitLab
3 23 (2.34%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.23%) JIRA
5 16 (1.62%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.12%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.61%) Artifactory
7 6 (0.61%) Rational DOORS
8 5 (0.51%) Cucumber
8 5 (0.51%) JUnit
9 4 (0.41%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 4 (0.41%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.41%) JMeter
9 4 (0.41%) Selenium
10 3 (0.30%) Android Studio
11 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.20%) Mockito
11 2 (0.20%) MSTest
11 2 (0.20%) Visual Studio
12 1 (0.10%) TestDirector
General
1 200 (20.30%) Social Skills
2 91 (9.24%) Finance
3 79 (8.02%) Analytical Skills
4 75 (7.61%) Public Sector
5 45 (4.57%) Electronics
6 39 (3.96%) Aerospace
7 32 (3.25%) Military
8 24 (2.44%) Organisational Skills
9 23 (2.34%) Aviation
10 21 (2.13%) Manufacturing
10 21 (2.13%) Telecoms
11 19 (1.93%) Documentation Skills
12 18 (1.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 14 (1.42%) Law
14 12 (1.22%) Games
15 10 (1.02%) Aeronautics
15 10 (1.02%) Banking
16 8 (0.81%) Advertising
17 7 (0.71%) Influencing Skills
17 7 (0.71%) Retail
Job Titles
1 147 (14.92%) Senior
2 138 (14.01%) Architect
3 114 (11.57%) Software Engineer
4 65 (6.60%) Developer
5 64 (6.50%) Analyst
6 50 (5.08%) Security Architect
7 49 (4.97%) Lead
8 42 (4.26%) Systems Engineer
9 37 (3.76%) Consultant
10 36 (3.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 36 (3.65%) Network Engineer
10 36 (3.65%) Senior Software Engineer
11 35 (3.55%) Applications Architect
12 30 (3.05%) Azure Engineer
13 27 (2.74%) Data Engineer
14 26 (2.64%) Java Developer
14 26 (2.64%) Security Engineer
15 25 (2.54%) Support Engineer
16 24 (2.44%) SOC Analyst
17 23 (2.34%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (2.54%) .NET
2 24 (2.44%) React
3 23 (2.34%) LDAP
3 23 (2.34%) Regular Expression
4 19 (1.93%) XMPP
5 17 (1.73%) REST
6 15 (1.52%) Kafka
7 14 (1.42%) JSON
7 14 (1.42%) Spring
8 12 (1.22%) Elastic Stack
9 10 (1.02%) ARM Templates
9 10 (1.02%) Web Services
10 9 (0.91%) XML
11 8 (0.81%) RabbitMQ
11 8 (0.81%) Spring Boot
11 8 (0.81%) YAML
12 7 (0.71%) JSON Schema
13 6 (0.61%) HTML
13 6 (0.61%) Jakarta EE
13 6 (0.61%) JPA
Miscellaneous
1 31 (3.15%) Algorithms
1 31 (3.15%) Driving Licence
1 31 (3.15%) Product Ownership
2 28 (2.84%) Data Centre
3 25 (2.54%) Cloud Native
3 25 (2.54%) Onboarding
4 23 (2.34%) FPGA
5 22 (2.23%) PKI
6 21 (2.13%) Cyber Threat
7 20 (2.03%) Self-Motivation
8 19 (1.93%) Embedded Systems
8 19 (1.93%) Robotics
9 18 (1.83%) Cyber Defence
9 18 (1.83%) Security Operations Centre
10 17 (1.73%) Analytical Mindset
11 13 (1.32%) Distributed Systems
11 13 (1.32%) Hybrid Cloud
11 13 (1.32%) Management Information System
12 10 (1.02%) Data Structures
13 9 (0.91%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 178 (18.07%) Linux
2 130 (13.20%) Windows
3 80 (8.12%) Windows Server
4 34 (3.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.93%) Ubuntu
6 16 (1.62%) CentOS
7 11 (1.12%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.61%) Android
10 5 (0.51%) Windows 10
11 4 (0.41%) Debian
11 4 (0.41%) Unix
12 3 (0.30%) AIX
13 2 (0.20%) Mac OS
14 1 (0.10%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 160 (16.24%) Agile
2 150 (15.23%) Software Engineering
3 114 (11.57%) CI/CD
3 114 (11.57%) Cybersecurity
4 104 (10.56%) Continuous Improvement
4 104 (10.56%) DevOps
5 103 (10.46%) Problem-Solving
6 69 (7.01%) SIEM
7 63 (6.40%) ITIL
8 61 (6.19%) Decision-Making
8 61 (6.19%) Validation
9 58 (5.89%) AI
9 58 (5.89%) Mentoring
10 55 (5.58%) Containerisation
10 55 (5.58%) Stakeholder Management
11 53 (5.38%) Platform Engineering
12 52 (5.28%) Infrastructure as Code
12 52 (5.28%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 49 (4.97%) Computer Science
14 48 (4.87%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 154 (15.63%) Python
2 74 (7.51%) C++
3 57 (5.79%) Java
4 45 (4.57%) C
5 44 (4.47%) PowerShell
6 40 (4.06%) C#
7 33 (3.35%) Bash
8 31 (3.15%) SQL
9 24 (2.44%) JavaScript
10 22 (2.23%) Rust
11 19 (1.93%) MATLAB
11 19 (1.93%) TypeScript
12 14 (1.42%) Embedded C
12 14 (1.42%) Embedded C++
13 13 (1.32%) Shell Script
14 12 (1.22%) PHP
15 11 (1.12%) Go
15 11 (1.12%) PL/SQL
15 11 (1.12%) VBA
16 9 (0.91%) Ada
Qualifications
1 643 (65.28%) SC Cleared
2 352 (35.74%) DV Cleared
3 145 (14.72%) Degree
4 29 (2.94%) Cisco Certification
5 28 (2.84%) HNC
6 26 (2.64%) BPSS Clearance
7 25 (2.54%) CISSP
8 24 (2.44%) Master's Degree
9 18 (1.83%) CCNP
10 16 (1.62%) CompTIA Security+
10 16 (1.62%) GIAC
11 15 (1.52%) Computer Science Degree
12 14 (1.42%) CREST Certified
13 13 (1.32%) CCNA
14 12 (1.22%) CRISC
14 12 (1.22%) GCIA
14 12 (1.22%) OSCP
15 10 (1.02%) Microsoft Certification
16 9 (0.91%) CISM
16 9 (0.91%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (2.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 22 (2.23%) NCSC
3 21 (2.13%) SLA
4 18 (1.83%) QA
5 14 (1.42%) NIST
6 13 (1.32%) GDPR
6 13 (1.32%) ISO 9001
7 11 (1.12%) PMO
8 9 (0.91%) Def Stans
8 9 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 7 (0.71%) Accessibility
10 5 (0.51%) NEBOSH
11 4 (0.41%) JSP 440
11 4 (0.41%) MISRA
12 3 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.30%) GRC
12 3 (0.30%) ISO 22301
12 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 70 (7.11%) Docker
2 63 (6.40%) Active Directory
3 35 (3.55%) vSphere
4 23 (2.34%) Firmware
5 22 (2.23%) VMware Infrastructure
6 14 (1.42%) VMware NSX
7 11 (1.12%) Virtual Machines
7 11 (1.12%) VMware ESXi
8 7 (0.71%) Hyper-V
9 5 (0.51%) Embedded Firmware
10 4 (0.41%) Squid
11 2 (0.20%) UAG
12 1 (0.10%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.10%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 84 (8.53%) Kubernetes
2 65 (6.60%) Terraform
3 54 (5.48%) Ansible
4 16 (1.62%) Grafana
5 15 (1.52%) Kibana
5 15 (1.52%) Prometheus
6 14 (1.42%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (1.02%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.91%) Podman
9 8 (0.81%) Nessus
10 7 (0.71%) Nagios
10 7 (0.71%) Puppet
11 6 (0.61%) Graylog
12 5 (0.51%) Argo
12 5 (0.51%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.51%) Endace
12 5 (0.51%) Kustomize
12 5 (0.51%) Packer
12 5 (0.51%) QRadar
13 4 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 132 (13.40%) Microsoft
2 71 (7.21%) VMware
3 41 (4.16%) Cisco
4 31 (3.15%) Red Hat
4 31 (3.15%) Splunk
5 28 (2.84%) Oracle
6 23 (2.34%) ServiceNow
7 15 (1.52%) McAfee
8 13 (1.32%) Google
9 12 (1.22%) Citrix
9 12 (1.22%) Palo Alto
10 11 (1.12%) IBM
11 10 (1.02%) AppDynamics
11 10 (1.02%) Fortinet
11 10 (1.02%) Juniper
11 10 (1.02%) NVIDIA
11 10 (1.02%) Tenable
12 9 (0.91%) EMC
13 8 (0.81%) CrowdStrike
13 8 (0.81%) NetApp