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

6 months to
22 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 13 11
Rank change year-on-year -10 -2 +8
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 872 782 1,894
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.85% 9.88% 10.16%
As % of the Qualifications category 27.33% 21.31% 32.49%
Number of salaries quoted 649 494 1,382
10th Percentile £40,000 £40,000 £34,750
25th Percentile £52,500 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% +9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £93,350 £87,500 £83,750
England median annual salary £67,500 £62,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +8.87% +7.83% -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 3,191 3,669 5,830
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 21.40% 46.36% 31.28%
Number of salaries quoted 1,849 1,542 3,666
10th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,518 £38,288
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £51,000
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +2.94% -1.11%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £67,000
90th Percentile £87,500 £81,925 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% +1.85% -10.00%

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 22 June 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 22 June 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 -4 415 £75,000 +25.00% 173
Thames Valley +24 303 £67,500 +17.05% 119
Berkshire +16 206 £67,500 +12.50% 69
Surrey -8 80 £57,500 +27.78% 28
Buckinghamshire +36 76 £52,500 -4.55% 37
West Sussex -1 29 £35,000 -6.67% 9
Kent -25 23 £52,500 -12.50% 7
Oxfordshire -7 21 £80,000 +54.59% 17
Sussex +2 13 £85,000 +61.90% 1
East Sussex -12 4 £70,000 +40.00% 1
Middlesex +45 1 £65,000 - 1
Home Counties -2 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 23 (2.64%) SharePoint
2 6 (0.69%) Confluence
2 6 (0.69%) SAS
3 4 (0.46%) Apache
3 4 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.23%) IIS
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.11%) Apache Qpid
5 1 (0.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 21 (2.41%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.18%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.38%) Simulink
4 2 (0.23%) Lectora
Business Applications
1 1 (0.11%) Primavera
1 1 (0.11%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.11%) SAP MDG
1 1 (0.11%) SAP MM
1 1 (0.11%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 123 (14.11%) Azure
2 71 (8.14%) AWS
3 48 (5.50%) Microsoft 365
4 35 (4.01%) GCP
5 21 (2.41%) Serverless
6 20 (2.29%) Entra ID
7 19 (2.18%) Power Platform
8 15 (1.72%) Amazon EKS
8 15 (1.72%) Azure DevOps
9 14 (1.61%) OpenShift
10 12 (1.38%) PowerApps
11 11 (1.26%) Amazon EC2
11 11 (1.26%) Azure AKS
12 10 (1.15%) GitHub
13 9 (1.03%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (0.92%) Azure Stack
14 8 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
15 7 (0.80%) AWS Lambda
15 7 (0.80%) Dynamics 365
16 6 (0.69%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 87 (9.98%) Firewall
2 60 (6.88%) DNS
3 48 (5.50%) WAN
4 37 (4.24%) LAN
5 34 (3.90%) VPN
6 27 (3.10%) TCP/IP
7 24 (2.75%) BGP
8 17 (1.95%) HTTP
8 17 (1.95%) Structured Cabling
9 15 (1.72%) Network Security
10 12 (1.38%) OSPF
11 11 (1.26%) MQTT
11 11 (1.26%) NetScaler
12 10 (1.15%) Cisco Firepower
12 10 (1.15%) DHCP
12 10 (1.15%) SSL
13 9 (1.03%) MPLS
13 9 (1.03%) SAN
13 9 (1.03%) VoIP
13 9 (1.03%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.29%) PostgreSQL
2 18 (2.06%) Power BI
3 11 (1.26%) Relational Database
4 10 (1.15%) SQL Server
5 6 (0.69%) MySQL
6 5 (0.57%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.57%) Redis
7 4 (0.46%) GIS
8 3 (0.34%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.23%) Metadata
9 2 (0.23%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.23%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.23%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.23%) Oracle Database 12c
10 1 (0.11%) Big Data
10 1 (0.11%) Data Lake
10 1 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.11%) Geospatial Data
10 1 (0.11%) SAS Visual Analytics
10 1 (0.11%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 62 (7.11%) Git
2 52 (5.96%) GitLab
3 20 (2.29%) Jenkins
3 20 (2.29%) JIRA
4 15 (1.72%) Visual Studio Code
5 11 (1.26%) SonarQube
6 6 (0.69%) Artifactory
6 6 (0.69%) JUnit
7 5 (0.57%) Cucumber
7 5 (0.57%) Selenium
8 4 (0.46%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.46%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.34%) Android Studio
9 3 (0.34%) JMeter
9 3 (0.34%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.23%) Cypress.io
10 2 (0.23%) Mockito
10 2 (0.23%) MSTest
10 2 (0.23%) Subversion
11 1 (0.11%) Mocha
General
1 173 (19.84%) Social Skills
2 78 (8.94%) Finance
3 77 (8.83%) Public Sector
4 62 (7.11%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (4.36%) Electronics
6 27 (3.10%) Aerospace
6 27 (3.10%) Military
7 23 (2.64%) Aviation
8 21 (2.41%) Manufacturing
8 21 (2.41%) Telecoms
9 18 (2.06%) Organisational Skills
10 15 (1.72%) Documentation Skills
10 15 (1.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 14 (1.61%) Law
12 11 (1.26%) Banking
12 11 (1.26%) Games
13 10 (1.15%) Aeronautics
14 8 (0.92%) Influencing Skills
15 6 (0.69%) Advertising
16 5 (0.57%) Retail
Job Titles
1 138 (15.83%) Senior
2 114 (13.07%) Architect
3 85 (9.75%) Software Engineer
4 67 (7.68%) Developer
5 57 (6.54%) Analyst
6 45 (5.16%) Lead
7 41 (4.70%) Network Engineer
8 40 (4.59%) Security Architect
9 37 (4.24%) Data Engineer
10 35 (4.01%) Applications Architect
10 35 (4.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 34 (3.90%) Consultant
12 33 (3.78%) Systems Engineer
13 31 (3.56%) Senior Software Engineer
14 27 (3.10%) Azure Engineer
14 27 (3.10%) Java Developer
15 25 (2.87%) SOC Analyst
16 24 (2.75%) Security Engineer
17 23 (2.64%) Support Engineer
18 22 (2.52%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (3.10%) .NET
2 25 (2.87%) React
3 22 (2.52%) LDAP
3 22 (2.52%) Regular Expression
3 22 (2.52%) REST
4 18 (2.06%) XMPP
5 14 (1.61%) JSON
5 14 (1.61%) Spring
6 13 (1.49%) Kafka
7 12 (1.38%) Elastic Stack
8 9 (1.03%) SOAP
9 8 (0.92%) RabbitMQ
9 8 (0.92%) Spring Boot
9 8 (0.92%) XML
9 8 (0.92%) YAML
10 7 (0.80%) ARM Templates
10 7 (0.80%) RESTful
11 6 (0.69%) Java EE
11 6 (0.69%) JPA
11 6 (0.69%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 30 (3.44%) Algorithms
1 30 (3.44%) Product Ownership
2 27 (3.10%) Data Centre
3 23 (2.64%) PKI
4 22 (2.52%) Driving Licence
5 21 (2.41%) Onboarding
6 19 (2.18%) Cloud Native
7 18 (2.06%) Cyber Defence
7 18 (2.06%) Cyber Threat
7 18 (2.06%) Embedded Systems
8 17 (1.95%) FPGA
9 16 (1.83%) Self-Motivation
10 15 (1.72%) Robotics
11 14 (1.61%) Analytical Mindset
11 14 (1.61%) Security Operations Centre
12 12 (1.38%) Distributed Systems
13 11 (1.26%) Fibre Optics
14 10 (1.15%) Data Structures
15 9 (1.03%) Management Information System
16 8 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 145 (16.63%) Linux
2 108 (12.39%) Windows
3 67 (7.68%) Windows Server
4 33 (3.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (1.95%) Ubuntu
6 14 (1.61%) CentOS
7 9 (1.03%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.69%) Android
8 6 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.46%) Debian
10 3 (0.34%) AIX
10 3 (0.34%) Unix
11 1 (0.11%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.11%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (16.86%) Agile
2 118 (13.53%) Software Engineering
3 110 (12.61%) CI/CD
4 98 (11.24%) DevOps
5 90 (10.32%) Cybersecurity
6 85 (9.75%) Continuous Improvement
6 85 (9.75%) Problem-Solving
7 61 (7.00%) SIEM
8 52 (5.96%) Decision-Making
8 52 (5.96%) Mentoring
9 50 (5.73%) Infrastructure as Code
9 50 (5.73%) Validation
10 49 (5.62%) AI
10 49 (5.62%) Platform Engineering
11 48 (5.50%) Containerisation
11 48 (5.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 48 (5.50%) ITIL
12 44 (5.05%) Scrum
13 42 (4.82%) Computer Science
14 40 (4.59%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 136 (15.60%) Python
2 60 (6.88%) C++
2 60 (6.88%) Java
3 37 (4.24%) PowerShell
4 36 (4.13%) C
4 36 (4.13%) C#
5 33 (3.78%) SQL
6 25 (2.87%) JavaScript
7 23 (2.64%) Bash
8 21 (2.41%) Rust
9 17 (1.95%) MATLAB
9 17 (1.95%) TypeScript
10 14 (1.61%) Embedded C
10 14 (1.61%) Embedded C++
11 12 (1.38%) Shell Script
11 12 (1.38%) VBA
12 11 (1.26%) Go
13 10 (1.15%) PL/SQL
14 9 (1.03%) PHP
15 7 (0.80%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 553 (63.42%) SC Cleared
2 324 (37.16%) DV Cleared
3 133 (15.25%) Degree
4 26 (2.98%) HNC
5 24 (2.75%) Master's Degree
6 22 (2.52%) BPSS Clearance
7 20 (2.29%) CISSP
8 19 (2.18%) Cisco Certification
9 15 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
10 14 (1.61%) CCNP
10 14 (1.61%) CREST Certified
11 12 (1.38%) CompTIA Security+
11 12 (1.38%) CRISC
11 12 (1.38%) GIAC
12 11 (1.26%) OSCP
13 9 (1.03%) CISM
13 9 (1.03%) GCIA
14 8 (0.92%) APMP
14 8 (0.92%) GCIH
14 8 (0.92%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (2.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 22 (2.52%) SLA
3 18 (2.06%) NCSC
4 17 (1.95%) GDPR
5 15 (1.72%) QA
6 12 (1.38%) NIST
6 12 (1.38%) PMO
7 11 (1.26%) ISO 9001
8 9 (1.03%) Def Stans
9 8 (0.92%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 6 (0.69%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.57%) NEBOSH
12 4 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.46%) JSP 440
13 3 (0.34%) GRC
13 3 (0.34%) MISRA
14 2 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.23%) ISO 22301
14 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 2 (0.23%) NIST 800
System Software
1 66 (7.57%) Docker
2 59 (6.77%) Active Directory
3 33 (3.78%) vSphere
4 25 (2.87%) Firmware
5 18 (2.06%) VMware NSX
6 15 (1.72%) VMware Infrastructure
7 9 (1.03%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.57%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.46%) Hyper-V
10 3 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.23%) UAG
12 1 (0.11%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.11%) Terminal Server
12 1 (0.11%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 78 (8.94%) Kubernetes
2 60 (6.88%) Terraform
3 50 (5.73%) Ansible
4 15 (1.72%) Grafana
4 15 (1.72%) Prometheus
5 14 (1.61%) Kibana
6 13 (1.49%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.03%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.03%) Podman
8 8 (0.92%) Nessus
9 7 (0.80%) Nagios
9 7 (0.80%) Puppet
10 6 (0.69%) Graylog
10 6 (0.69%) vRealize
11 5 (0.57%) Argo
11 5 (0.57%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.57%) Endace
11 5 (0.57%) Kustomize
11 5 (0.57%) Packer
11 5 (0.57%) QRadar
Vendors
1 115 (13.19%) Microsoft
2 57 (6.54%) VMware
3 33 (3.78%) Cisco
4 31 (3.56%) Splunk
5 30 (3.44%) Red Hat
6 28 (3.21%) Oracle
7 21 (2.41%) ServiceNow
8 15 (1.72%) McAfee
9 12 (1.38%) Citrix
9 12 (1.38%) Juniper
10 11 (1.26%) Google
10 11 (1.26%) Tenable
11 10 (1.15%) NVIDIA
12 9 (1.03%) AppDynamics
12 9 (1.03%) EMC
13 8 (0.92%) CheckPoint
13 8 (0.92%) CrowdStrike
13 8 (0.92%) IBM
13 8 (0.92%) NetApp
14 7 (0.80%) Carbon Black