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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 13 11
Rank change year-on-year -10 -2 +10
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 793 767 1,826
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.50% 9.79% 10.49%
As % of the Qualifications category 23.97% 19.94% 31.96%
Number of salaries quoted 591 500 1,360
10th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £34,000
25th Percentile £52,500 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £57,670 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +17.05% +4.85% +10.00%
75th Percentile £82,500 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £87,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £65,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +8.33% +4.35% -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 3,308 3,847 5,714
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 22.96% 49.09% 32.82%
Number of salaries quoted 1,733 1,523 3,643
10th Percentile £31,250 £31,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,926 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,500 £52,000
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +0.96% +1.27%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,790 £80,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £54,995
% change year-on-year +9.09% +0.01% -8.34%

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 2 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 2 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 -3 364 £75,000 +29.31% 225
Thames Valley +24 283 £65,000 +12.71% 166
Berkshire +15 183 £67,500 +12.50% 110
Buckinghamshire +34 76 £55,000 - 36
Surrey -17 73 £57,303 +27.34% 48
West Sussex -1 29 £35,000 -6.67% 12
Oxfordshire -5 24 £70,000 +35.27% 31
Kent -21 24 £52,500 -19.23% 15
Sussex - 12 £85,000 -
East Sussex -12 4 £70,000 - 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 (2.90%) SharePoint
2 6 (0.76%) SAS
3 4 (0.50%) Confluence
3 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.38%) Apache
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.13%) Apache Qpid
5 1 (0.13%) IIS
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 22 (2.77%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (2.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (1.39%) Simulink
4 2 (0.25%) Lectora
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) Primavera
1 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
1 1 (0.13%) SAP MM
1 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 114 (14.38%) Azure
2 69 (8.70%) AWS
3 39 (4.92%) Microsoft 365
4 36 (4.54%) GCP
5 19 (2.40%) Power Platform
5 19 (2.40%) Serverless
6 17 (2.14%) Amazon EKS
7 16 (2.02%) Azure DevOps
8 12 (1.51%) Dynamics 365
9 11 (1.39%) Entra ID
9 11 (1.39%) OpenShift
9 11 (1.39%) PowerApps
10 10 (1.26%) Amazon EC2
11 9 (1.13%) Azure AKS
11 9 (1.13%) GitHub
12 7 (0.88%) AWS Lambda
12 7 (0.88%) Azure Sentinel
12 7 (0.88%) Azure Stack
13 6 (0.76%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 76 (9.58%) Firewall
2 54 (6.81%) DNS
3 38 (4.79%) WAN
4 29 (3.66%) LAN
5 27 (3.40%) VPN
6 23 (2.90%) BGP
7 18 (2.27%) Structured Cabling
7 18 (2.27%) TCP/IP
8 15 (1.89%) HTTP
8 15 (1.89%) Network Security
9 11 (1.39%) DHCP
9 11 (1.39%) NetScaler
9 11 (1.39%) OSPF
10 10 (1.26%) Cisco Firepower
10 10 (1.26%) MQTT
11 9 (1.13%) MPLS
11 9 (1.13%) SAN
11 9 (1.13%) Wireshark
12 8 (1.01%) NAS
12 8 (1.01%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.14%) Power BI
2 15 (1.89%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (1.26%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.26%) SQL Server
4 4 (0.50%) GIS
5 3 (0.38%) Elasticsearch
5 3 (0.38%) MySQL
5 3 (0.38%) Oracle Database
5 3 (0.38%) Redis
6 2 (0.25%) Metadata
7 1 (0.13%) Big Data
7 1 (0.13%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.13%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.13%) DynamoDB
7 1 (0.13%) Geospatial Data
7 1 (0.13%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.13%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Database 12c
7 1 (0.13%) SAS Visual Analytics
7 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 60 (7.57%) Git
2 49 (6.18%) GitLab
3 20 (2.52%) Jenkins
4 18 (2.27%) JIRA
5 14 (1.77%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.39%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.76%) Selenium
8 5 (0.63%) Artifactory
8 5 (0.63%) Cucumber
8 5 (0.63%) JUnit
9 4 (0.50%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 4 (0.50%) Subversion
10 3 (0.38%) Android Studio
10 3 (0.38%) Bitbucket
10 3 (0.38%) JMeter
10 3 (0.38%) Rational DOORS
10 3 (0.38%) Snyk
10 3 (0.38%) Visual Studio
11 2 (0.25%) Mockito
11 2 (0.25%) Robot Framework
General
1 166 (20.93%) Social Skills
2 79 (9.96%) Public Sector
3 75 (9.46%) Finance
4 59 (7.44%) Analytical Skills
5 37 (4.67%) Electronics
6 25 (3.15%) Aerospace
6 25 (3.15%) Military
7 21 (2.65%) Aviation
7 21 (2.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 21 (2.65%) Law
7 21 (2.65%) Manufacturing
8 17 (2.14%) Telecoms
9 16 (2.02%) Organisational Skills
10 14 (1.77%) Documentation Skills
11 11 (1.39%) Banking
12 9 (1.13%) Aeronautics
12 9 (1.13%) Games
13 8 (1.01%) Influencing Skills
13 8 (1.01%) Retail
14 5 (0.63%) French Language
Job Titles
1 126 (15.89%) Senior
2 105 (13.24%) Architect
3 70 (8.83%) Developer
4 63 (7.94%) Software Engineer
5 48 (6.05%) Lead
6 47 (5.93%) Analyst
7 41 (5.17%) Network Engineer
8 34 (4.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 33 (4.16%) Applications Architect
9 33 (4.16%) Security Architect
10 32 (4.04%) Data Engineer
11 31 (3.91%) Consultant
11 31 (3.91%) Systems Engineer
12 27 (3.40%) Java Developer
13 24 (3.03%) DevOps Engineer
14 23 (2.90%) Azure Engineer
15 22 (2.77%) Support Engineer
16 21 (2.65%) IT Engineer
16 21 (2.65%) Security Engineer
16 21 (2.65%) Senior Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.91%) .NET
2 23 (2.90%) REST
3 22 (2.77%) React
4 18 (2.27%) LDAP
4 18 (2.27%) Regular Expression
5 15 (1.89%) Spring
6 14 (1.77%) XMPP
7 12 (1.51%) JSON
7 12 (1.51%) Kafka
8 11 (1.39%) Elastic Stack
9 10 (1.26%) SOAP
10 8 (1.01%) RabbitMQ
10 8 (1.01%) RESTful
11 7 (0.88%) Middleware
11 7 (0.88%) Spring Boot
11 7 (0.88%) YAML
12 6 (0.76%) AngularJS
12 6 (0.76%) ARM Templates
12 6 (0.76%) Web Services
12 6 (0.76%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 31 (3.91%) Product Ownership
2 27 (3.40%) Algorithms
3 24 (3.03%) Data Centre
4 19 (2.40%) Onboarding
4 19 (2.40%) PKI
5 17 (2.14%) Cloud Native
5 17 (2.14%) Embedded Systems
6 16 (2.02%) Cyber Defence
6 16 (2.02%) Driving Licence
7 15 (1.89%) Cyber Threat
7 15 (1.89%) FPGA
8 13 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
8 13 (1.64%) Robotics
8 13 (1.64%) Self-Motivation
9 12 (1.51%) Distributed Systems
10 10 (1.26%) Fibre Optics
11 9 (1.13%) Security Operations Centre
11 9 (1.13%) Security Posture
12 8 (1.01%) Data Structures
12 8 (1.01%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 127 (16.02%) Linux
2 96 (12.11%) Windows
3 60 (7.57%) Windows Server
4 28 (3.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 14 (1.77%) Ubuntu
6 12 (1.51%) CentOS
7 8 (1.01%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.88%) Android
9 6 (0.76%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.38%) Debian
11 2 (0.25%) AIX
11 2 (0.25%) Unix
12 1 (0.13%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (18.54%) Agile
2 105 (13.24%) CI/CD
3 98 (12.36%) DevOps
4 95 (11.98%) Software Engineering
5 83 (10.47%) Continuous Improvement
6 82 (10.34%) Problem-Solving
7 71 (8.95%) Cybersecurity
8 48 (6.05%) SIEM
9 47 (5.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 47 (5.93%) Mentoring
9 47 (5.93%) Scrum
10 46 (5.80%) Infrastructure as Code
11 44 (5.55%) AI
11 44 (5.55%) Containerisation
12 43 (5.42%) Decision-Making
12 43 (5.42%) Platform Engineering
13 41 (5.17%) Validation
14 39 (4.92%) Computer Science
15 38 (4.79%) Microservices
16 37 (4.67%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 115 (14.50%) Python
2 57 (7.19%) Java
3 51 (6.43%) C++
4 37 (4.67%) C#
5 34 (4.29%) SQL
6 33 (4.16%) C
7 30 (3.78%) PowerShell
8 22 (2.77%) JavaScript
9 18 (2.27%) Bash
9 18 (2.27%) Rust
10 16 (2.02%) MATLAB
11 15 (1.89%) TypeScript
12 13 (1.64%) Embedded C
12 13 (1.64%) Embedded C++
13 11 (1.39%) VBA
14 10 (1.26%) PL/SQL
14 10 (1.26%) Shell Script
15 9 (1.13%) Go
16 7 (0.88%) PHP
17 6 (0.76%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 497 (62.67%) SC Cleared
2 289 (36.44%) DV Cleared
3 125 (15.76%) Degree
4 24 (3.03%) HNC
5 20 (2.52%) Master's Degree
6 14 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
6 14 (1.77%) Computer Science Degree
7 13 (1.64%) CISSP
8 12 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (1.39%) CCNP
9 11 (1.39%) CREST Certified
10 9 (1.13%) APMP
10 9 (1.13%) CompTIA Security+
10 9 (1.13%) CRISC
10 9 (1.13%) MBA
11 8 (1.01%) OSCP
12 7 (0.88%) ISACA
12 7 (0.88%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 6 (0.76%) GCIA
13 6 (0.76%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (2.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (2.02%) GDPR
2 16 (2.02%) QA
3 15 (1.89%) SLA
4 13 (1.64%) NCSC
5 12 (1.51%) NIST
5 12 (1.51%) PMO
6 10 (1.26%) ISO 9001
7 9 (1.13%) Def Stans
8 6 (0.76%) Accessibility
8 6 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 5 (0.63%) NEBOSH
10 4 (0.50%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.38%) GRC
12 2 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 2 (0.25%) ISO 22301
12 2 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 2 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.25%) NIST 800
System Software
1 60 (7.57%) Docker
2 56 (7.06%) Active Directory
3 28 (3.53%) vSphere
4 24 (3.03%) Firmware
5 19 (2.40%) VMware NSX
6 18 (2.27%) VMware Infrastructure
7 6 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.63%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.50%) Hyper-V
10 3 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.25%) Terminal Server
11 2 (0.25%) UAG
12 1 (0.13%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.13%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 70 (8.83%) Kubernetes
2 55 (6.94%) Terraform
3 48 (6.05%) Ansible
4 16 (2.02%) vCenter Server
5 12 (1.51%) Grafana
5 12 (1.51%) Kibana
5 12 (1.51%) Prometheus
6 8 (1.01%) Podman
7 7 (0.88%) Nessus
7 7 (0.88%) Puppet
7 7 (0.88%) vRealize
8 6 (0.76%) Nagios
8 6 (0.76%) SCCM
8 6 (0.76%) SCOM
9 5 (0.63%) Endace
9 5 (0.63%) Graylog
9 5 (0.63%) Packer
9 5 (0.63%) QRadar
10 4 (0.50%) Docker Swarm
11 3 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 101 (12.74%) Microsoft
2 56 (7.06%) VMware
3 35 (4.41%) Cisco
4 27 (3.40%) Splunk
5 25 (3.15%) Oracle
6 23 (2.90%) Red Hat
7 16 (2.02%) McAfee
8 14 (1.77%) Juniper
8 14 (1.77%) ServiceNow
9 13 (1.64%) Google
10 12 (1.51%) Citrix
11 11 (1.39%) Tenable
12 10 (1.26%) CheckPoint
12 10 (1.26%) SolarWinds
13 9 (1.13%) AppDynamics
13 9 (1.13%) NVIDIA
14 8 (1.01%) IBM
14 8 (1.01%) NetApp
14 8 (1.01%) Salesforce
15 7 (0.88%) Palo Alto