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

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 14 10
Rank change year-on-year 0 -4 +1
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 1,419 852 1,659
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.48% 9.47% 13.25%
As % of the Qualifications category 36.80% 23.63% 39.36%
Number of salaries quoted 901 482 966
10th Percentile £39,000 £30,800 £39,253
25th Percentile £51,250 £45,608 £43,790
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £57,500 £58,000
Median % change year-on-year +21.74% -0.86% +7.89%
75th Percentile £85,000 £74,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £87,475 £87,500
England median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +16.67% - +0.42%

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 3,856 3,606 4,215
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 20.33% 40.08% 33.66%
Number of salaries quoted 2,304 1,621 2,013
10th Percentile £30,575 £30,000 £32,750
25th Percentile £42,000 £35,854 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £56,252
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -11.11% +7.04%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £85,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -3.36%

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 4 October 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 4 October 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 -1 752 £75,000 +23.46% 393
Thames Valley +24 390 £70,000 +27.27% 433
Berkshire +27 268 £70,000 +27.27% 281
Surrey +5 190 £50,000 +33.33% 95
Buckinghamshire +16 106 £55,000 +4.76% 94
West Sussex -14 35 £41,500 +16.08% 43
Kent -19 24 £47,500 -13.64% 24
Oxfordshire -32 17 £100,000 +17.65% 69
East Sussex -3 6 £70,000 +40.00% 17
Sussex -9 6 £65,000 +23.81% 5
Isle of Wight - 6 £70,000 - 2
Middlesex +17 3 £65,000 - 3
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 15 (1.06%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.78%) Apache
3 7 (0.49%) Confluence
4 6 (0.42%) SAS
5 5 (0.35%) nginx
6 4 (0.28%) IIS
7 3 (0.21%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.21%) Palantir Foundry
8 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.070%) Kinematics
Applications
1 33 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
2 30 (2.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (1.34%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (1.27%) Simulink
5 7 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.49%) SOLIDWORKS
6 5 (0.35%) Solid Edge
7 4 (0.28%) Mathcad
7 4 (0.28%) Mathematica
8 3 (0.21%) Chatbot
8 3 (0.21%) MS Visio
9 2 (0.14%) AutoCAD
9 2 (0.14%) Lectora
9 2 (0.14%) OrCAD
9 2 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
9 2 (0.14%) UserZoom
10 1 (0.070%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.070%) CATIA
10 1 (0.070%) Revit
Business Applications
1 8 (0.56%) Primavera
2 7 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.28%) SAP PM
3 4 (0.28%) Workday HCM
4 3 (0.21%) SAP MM
5 2 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.14%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.14%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
5 2 (0.14%) SAP PP
5 2 (0.14%) SAP PS
5 2 (0.14%) SAP QM
5 2 (0.14%) Siebel CRM
5 2 (0.14%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.070%) ENOVIA
6 1 (0.070%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 211 (14.87%) Azure
2 152 (10.71%) AWS
3 62 (4.37%) Microsoft 365
4 45 (3.17%) Entra ID
5 38 (2.68%) GCP
6 26 (1.83%) Power Platform
7 21 (1.48%) Cloud Computing
8 20 (1.41%) OpenShift
9 19 (1.34%) GitHub
10 15 (1.06%) Serverless
11 14 (0.99%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (0.99%) GitHub Actions
12 12 (0.85%) Azure DevOps
13 11 (0.78%) Azure AKS
14 10 (0.70%) Azure Stack
15 8 (0.56%) SaaS
16 7 (0.49%) Amazon EKS
16 7 (0.49%) PowerApps
17 6 (0.42%) Cloudflare
17 6 (0.42%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 122 (8.60%) Firewall
2 72 (5.07%) DNS
3 59 (4.16%) WAN
4 52 (3.66%) Network Security
5 51 (3.59%) LAN
6 45 (3.17%) TCP/IP
7 43 (3.03%) VPN
8 20 (1.41%) DHCP
8 20 (1.41%) VLAN
9 19 (1.34%) HTTP
10 18 (1.27%) BGP
11 17 (1.20%) ATM
12 15 (1.06%) Intrusion Detection
13 13 (0.92%) OSPF
13 13 (0.92%) VoIP
14 12 (0.85%) SD-WAN
15 11 (0.78%) NGFW
15 11 (0.78%) SSL
16 10 (0.70%) Software-Defined Radio
16 10 (0.70%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
2 24 (1.69%) Power BI
3 18 (1.27%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.06%) MySQL
5 10 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
5 10 (0.70%) SQL Server
6 7 (0.49%) Big Data
7 4 (0.28%) GIS
7 4 (0.28%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.28%) Redis
8 3 (0.21%) Metadata
8 3 (0.21%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.21%) Oracle Database
8 3 (0.21%) Tableau
9 2 (0.14%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.14%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.14%) Oracle Database 12c
9 2 (0.14%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.14%) Siebel EIM
Development Applications
1 64 (4.51%) Git
2 39 (2.75%) GitLab
3 23 (1.62%) JIRA
4 17 (1.20%) Jenkins
5 14 (0.99%) Visual Studio Code
6 10 (0.70%) JMeter
7 7 (0.49%) LabVIEW
7 7 (0.49%) Rational DOORS
8 6 (0.42%) Gatling
8 6 (0.42%) LoadRunner
9 5 (0.35%) JUnit
9 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.28%) Bitbucket
10 4 (0.28%) Selenium
11 3 (0.21%) Artifactory
12 2 (0.14%) Android Studio
12 2 (0.14%) Cucumber
12 2 (0.14%) MLflow
12 2 (0.14%) Subversion
12 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
General
1 321 (22.62%) Social Skills
2 202 (14.24%) Aerospace
3 162 (11.42%) Analytical Skills
4 137 (9.65%) Finance
5 131 (9.23%) Public Sector
6 79 (5.57%) Military
7 76 (5.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 73 (5.14%) Electronics
9 62 (4.37%) Manufacturing
10 41 (2.89%) Organisational Skills
11 40 (2.82%) Aviation
12 36 (2.54%) Retail
13 26 (1.83%) Law
13 26 (1.83%) Telecoms
14 23 (1.62%) Legal
15 21 (1.48%) Documentation Skills
16 20 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
17 18 (1.27%) Police
18 14 (0.99%) Aeronautics
19 12 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 204 (14.38%) Architect
2 195 (13.74%) Senior
3 133 (9.37%) Lead
4 117 (8.25%) Software Engineer
5 105 (7.40%) Systems Engineer
6 97 (6.84%) Analyst
7 83 (5.85%) Security Architect
8 55 (3.88%) Consultant
9 45 (3.17%) Developer
9 45 (3.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 36 (2.54%) Project Manager
11 35 (2.47%) Network Engineer
11 35 (2.47%) Senior Software Engineer
12 33 (2.33%) Security Analyst
13 32 (2.26%) Senior Manager
14 29 (2.04%) Azure Engineer
14 29 (2.04%) Platform Engineer
15 28 (1.97%) Solutions Architect
16 27 (1.90%) Tester
17 26 (1.83%) Senior Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (4.16%) Terraform
2 40 (2.82%) ModSecurity
3 29 (2.04%) LDAP
4 28 (1.97%) React
5 24 (1.69%) .NET
6 18 (1.27%) HTML
7 16 (1.13%) CSS
8 14 (0.99%) Kafka
8 14 (0.99%) Regular Expression
9 13 (0.92%) XMPP
10 12 (0.85%) OAuth
10 12 (0.85%) OpenID
10 12 (0.85%) SAML
10 12 (0.85%) Spring
11 10 (0.70%) ARM Templates
12 9 (0.63%) Web Services
13 8 (0.56%) .NET Core
13 8 (0.56%) AngularJS
13 8 (0.56%) Entity Framework
14 7 (0.49%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 64 (4.51%) Cloud Native
2 56 (3.95%) Onboarding
3 55 (3.88%) Data Centre
4 46 (3.24%) Algorithms
4 46 (3.24%) Driving Licence
5 43 (3.03%) Social Media
6 38 (2.68%) Self-Motivation
7 37 (2.61%) Management Information System
8 34 (2.40%) Cyber Threat
8 34 (2.40%) Security Operations Centre
9 33 (2.33%) Product Ownership
10 32 (2.26%) Robotics
11 29 (2.04%) Cyber Defence
12 28 (1.97%) Embedded Systems
13 25 (1.76%) FPGA
14 20 (1.41%) Enterprise Software
14 20 (1.41%) Hybrid Cloud
15 18 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
15 18 (1.27%) Private Cloud
16 17 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 184 (12.97%) Linux
2 153 (10.78%) Windows
3 69 (4.86%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 14 (0.99%) Ubuntu
6 10 (0.70%) CentOS
6 10 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
7 9 (0.63%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (0.42%) Windows 10
9 5 (0.35%) Android
9 5 (0.35%) Debian
10 4 (0.28%) Unix
11 3 (0.21%) AIX
11 3 (0.21%) Rocky
12 2 (0.14%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.070%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.070%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 223 (15.72%) Continuous Improvement
2 205 (14.45%) Agile
2 205 (14.45%) Problem-Solving
3 183 (12.90%) Software Engineering
4 174 (12.26%) Validation
5 163 (11.49%) Cybersecurity
6 139 (9.80%) CI/CD
7 130 (9.16%) Mentoring
8 128 (9.02%) Stakeholder Management
9 126 (8.88%) AI
10 115 (8.10%) Decision-Making
11 112 (7.89%) DevOps
12 101 (7.12%) Technical Leadership
13 89 (6.27%) ITIL
14 84 (5.92%) SIEM
15 80 (5.64%) Incident Response
16 77 (5.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 75 (5.29%) Service Management
18 74 (5.21%) Infrastructure as Code
18 74 (5.21%) Verification and Validation
Programming Languages
1 168 (11.84%) Python
2 95 (6.69%) C++
3 55 (3.88%) C
4 54 (3.81%) C#
5 51 (3.59%) PowerShell
6 46 (3.24%) Bash
6 46 (3.24%) Java
7 40 (2.82%) JavaScript
8 36 (2.54%) MATLAB
9 28 (1.97%) SQL
9 28 (1.97%) TypeScript
10 27 (1.90%) Rust
11 20 (1.41%) Embedded C
12 16 (1.13%) Embedded C++
13 14 (0.99%) Go
13 14 (0.99%) PHP
14 12 (0.85%) Shell Script
15 11 (0.78%) Ada
16 8 (0.56%) Perl
17 7 (0.49%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 852 (60.04%) SC Cleared
2 562 (39.61%) DV Cleared
3 214 (15.08%) Degree
4 68 (4.79%) CISSP
5 67 (4.72%) BPSS Clearance
6 45 (3.17%) Cisco Certification
7 35 (2.47%) CISM
8 34 (2.40%) Master's Degree
9 32 (2.26%) CCNP
9 32 (2.26%) HNC
10 30 (2.11%) Azure Certification
11 20 (1.41%) CompTIA Security+
12 19 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
12 19 (1.34%) HND
12 19 (1.34%) PhD
13 17 (1.20%) GIAC
14 15 (1.06%) CCNA
14 15 (1.06%) CREST Certified
14 15 (1.06%) PMI Certification
15 13 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (2.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 39 (2.75%) SLA
3 38 (2.68%) NIST
4 36 (2.54%) QA
5 27 (1.90%) Accessibility
6 19 (1.34%) ISO 9001
6 19 (1.34%) NCSC
7 15 (1.06%) Def Stans
8 13 (0.92%) GDPR
9 12 (0.85%) NIST 800
10 11 (0.78%) PMO
11 10 (0.70%) MISRA
12 9 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 7 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
13 7 (0.49%) GRC
14 6 (0.42%) JSP 440
14 6 (0.42%) NEBOSH
15 5 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 5 (0.35%) Data Quality
16 4 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 80 (5.64%) Active Directory
2 67 (4.72%) Docker
3 33 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
4 26 (1.83%) Firmware
4 26 (1.83%) vSphere
5 21 (1.48%) VMware ESXi
6 18 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
7 15 (1.06%) Hyper-V
8 12 (0.85%) VMware NSX
9 6 (0.42%) Embedded Firmware
10 5 (0.35%) Squid
11 4 (0.28%) KVM
12 2 (0.14%) UAG
12 2 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.070%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 107 (7.54%) Kubernetes
2 51 (3.59%) Ansible
3 21 (1.48%) Microsoft Intune
3 21 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
4 19 (1.34%) Grafana
5 16 (1.13%) Kibana
6 12 (0.85%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.70%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.63%) Podman
9 7 (0.49%) Argo
9 7 (0.49%) Graylog
9 7 (0.49%) Kustomize
9 7 (0.49%) Puppet
10 6 (0.42%) QRadar
10 6 (0.42%) SCCM
11 5 (0.35%) Istio
11 5 (0.35%) Nessus
11 5 (0.35%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 4 (0.28%) Docker Swarm
12 4 (0.28%) Nagios
Vendors
1 150 (10.57%) Microsoft
2 74 (5.21%) VMware
3 53 (3.74%) Cisco
4 39 (2.75%) Thales
5 33 (2.33%) ServiceNow
6 26 (1.83%) Oracle
6 26 (1.83%) Red Hat
7 23 (1.62%) Splunk
8 22 (1.55%) Fortinet
8 22 (1.55%) SAP
9 21 (1.48%) EMC
10 18 (1.27%) Palo Alto
11 14 (0.99%) Google
12 12 (0.85%) ForgeRock
12 12 (0.85%) Okta
13 11 (0.78%) Veeam
14 10 (0.70%) McAfee
14 10 (0.70%) NVIDIA
15 9 (0.63%) Dynatrace
16 8 (0.56%) CrowdStrike