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

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 13 11
Rank change year-on-year -9 -2 +8
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 888 788 1,874
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 5.92% 9.94% 10.28%
As % of the Qualifications category 27.59% 21.55% 32.49%
Number of salaries quoted 661 492 1,374
10th Percentile £41,110 £40,000 £34,750
25th Percentile £52,500 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £87,500 £83,750
England median annual salary £67,500 £62,371 £57,500
% change year-on-year +8.22% +8.47% -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 3,219 3,656 5,768
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 21.44% 46.10% 31.64%
Number of salaries quoted 1,867 1,545 3,642
10th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £52,000 £51,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% +1.96% -1.11%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £81,250 £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 25 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 25 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 -4 425 £75,000 +23.97% 186
Thames Valley +25 306 £67,500 +17.39% 113
Berkshire +18 208 £67,500 +12.50% 68
Surrey -6 82 £58,750 +30.56% 27
Buckinghamshire +33 77 £52,500 -2.33% 36
West Sussex 0 30 £35,000 -6.67% 11
Kent -23 23 £52,500 -12.50% 7
Oxfordshire -8 21 £80,000 +54.59% 14
Sussex +1 13 £85,000 +61.90% 3
East Sussex -8 4 £70,000 +40.00% 1
Middlesex +45 1 £65,000 - 2
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 (2.59%) SharePoint
2 7 (0.79%) SAS
3 6 (0.68%) Confluence
4 4 (0.45%) Apache
4 4 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.23%) IIS
6 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.11%) Apache Qpid
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 21 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.14%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.35%) 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
1 125 (14.08%) Azure
2 73 (8.22%) AWS
3 48 (5.41%) Microsoft 365
4 37 (4.17%) GCP
5 21 (2.36%) Serverless
6 20 (2.25%) Entra ID
7 19 (2.14%) Power Platform
8 16 (1.80%) Amazon EKS
9 15 (1.69%) Azure DevOps
9 15 (1.69%) OpenShift
10 12 (1.35%) Azure AKS
10 12 (1.35%) PowerApps
11 11 (1.24%) Amazon EC2
11 11 (1.24%) GitHub
12 9 (1.01%) Azure Sentinel
12 9 (1.01%) GitHub Actions
13 8 (0.90%) Azure Stack
14 7 (0.79%) AWS Lambda
15 6 (0.68%) Amazon ECS
15 6 (0.68%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 87 (9.80%) Firewall
2 61 (6.87%) DNS
3 48 (5.41%) WAN
4 37 (4.17%) LAN
5 34 (3.83%) VPN
6 28 (3.15%) TCP/IP
7 24 (2.70%) BGP
8 17 (1.91%) HTTP
9 16 (1.80%) Structured Cabling
10 15 (1.69%) Network Security
11 12 (1.35%) OSPF
12 11 (1.24%) DHCP
12 11 (1.24%) MQTT
12 11 (1.24%) NetScaler
13 10 (1.13%) SSL
14 9 (1.01%) ATM
14 9 (1.01%) MPLS
14 9 (1.01%) SAN
14 9 (1.01%) VoIP
14 9 (1.01%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.36%) PostgreSQL
2 18 (2.03%) Power BI
3 12 (1.35%) Relational Database
4 10 (1.13%) SQL Server
5 7 (0.79%) MySQL
6 5 (0.56%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.56%) Redis
7 4 (0.45%) 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 (6.98%) Git
2 53 (5.97%) GitLab
3 22 (2.48%) Jenkins
4 20 (2.25%) JIRA
5 15 (1.69%) Visual Studio Code
6 11 (1.24%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.68%) Artifactory
7 6 (0.68%) JUnit
8 5 (0.56%) Cucumber
8 5 (0.56%) Selenium
9 4 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 4 (0.45%) Bitbucket
10 3 (0.34%) Android Studio
10 3 (0.34%) JMeter
10 3 (0.34%) Rational DOORS
11 2 (0.23%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.23%) Mockito
11 2 (0.23%) MSTest
11 2 (0.23%) Subversion
12 1 (0.11%) Mocha
General
1 176 (19.82%) Social Skills
2 80 (9.01%) Public Sector
3 78 (8.78%) Finance
4 64 (7.21%) Analytical Skills
5 39 (4.39%) Electronics
6 30 (3.38%) Aerospace
7 27 (3.04%) Military
8 23 (2.59%) Aviation
9 21 (2.36%) Manufacturing
9 21 (2.36%) Telecoms
10 18 (2.03%) Organisational Skills
11 16 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
11 16 (1.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 14 (1.58%) Law
13 11 (1.24%) Banking
13 11 (1.24%) Games
14 10 (1.13%) Aeronautics
15 8 (0.90%) Influencing Skills
16 7 (0.79%) Advertising
17 5 (0.56%) Legal
Job Titles
1 139 (15.65%) Senior
2 117 (13.18%) Architect
3 88 (9.91%) Software Engineer
4 68 (7.66%) Developer
5 59 (6.64%) Analyst
6 45 (5.07%) Lead
7 43 (4.84%) Security Architect
8 40 (4.50%) Network Engineer
9 38 (4.28%) Data Engineer
10 36 (4.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 35 (3.94%) Applications Architect
12 34 (3.83%) Consultant
12 34 (3.83%) Systems Engineer
13 32 (3.60%) Senior Software Engineer
14 27 (3.04%) Azure Engineer
14 27 (3.04%) Java Developer
15 26 (2.93%) SOC Analyst
16 24 (2.70%) Security Engineer
17 23 (2.59%) DevOps Engineer
17 23 (2.59%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (3.04%) .NET
2 26 (2.93%) React
3 22 (2.48%) LDAP
3 22 (2.48%) Regular Expression
3 22 (2.48%) REST
4 18 (2.03%) XMPP
5 15 (1.69%) Spring
6 14 (1.58%) JSON
7 13 (1.46%) Kafka
8 12 (1.35%) Elastic Stack
9 9 (1.01%) SOAP
9 9 (1.01%) Spring Boot
10 8 (0.90%) RabbitMQ
10 8 (0.90%) XML
10 8 (0.90%) YAML
11 7 (0.79%) ARM Templates
11 7 (0.79%) RESTful
12 6 (0.68%) Java EE
12 6 (0.68%) JPA
12 6 (0.68%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 30 (3.38%) Algorithms
1 30 (3.38%) Product Ownership
2 26 (2.93%) Data Centre
3 23 (2.59%) Driving Licence
4 22 (2.48%) PKI
5 21 (2.36%) Onboarding
6 19 (2.14%) Cloud Native
6 19 (2.14%) Cyber Defence
7 18 (2.03%) Cyber Threat
7 18 (2.03%) Embedded Systems
7 18 (2.03%) FPGA
8 16 (1.80%) Self-Motivation
9 15 (1.69%) Robotics
9 15 (1.69%) Security Operations Centre
10 14 (1.58%) Analytical Mindset
11 12 (1.35%) Distributed Systems
12 10 (1.13%) Data Structures
12 10 (1.13%) Fibre Optics
13 9 (1.01%) Management Information System
14 8 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 146 (16.44%) Linux
2 109 (12.27%) Windows
3 67 (7.55%) Windows Server
4 33 (3.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (1.91%) Ubuntu
6 14 (1.58%) CentOS
7 9 (1.01%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.68%) Android
8 6 (0.68%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.45%) Debian
10 3 (0.34%) AIX
10 3 (0.34%) Unix
11 1 (0.11%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.11%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (16.78%) Agile
2 121 (13.63%) Software Engineering
3 112 (12.61%) CI/CD
4 100 (11.26%) DevOps
5 93 (10.47%) Cybersecurity
6 87 (9.80%) Problem-Solving
7 85 (9.57%) Continuous Improvement
8 62 (6.98%) SIEM
9 53 (5.97%) Mentoring
10 52 (5.86%) AI
10 52 (5.86%) Decision-Making
11 51 (5.74%) Infrastructure as Code
12 50 (5.63%) Validation
13 49 (5.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 49 (5.52%) Platform Engineering
14 48 (5.41%) Containerisation
14 48 (5.41%) ITIL
15 44 (4.95%) Scrum
16 42 (4.73%) Computer Science
17 40 (4.50%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 137 (15.43%) Python
2 61 (6.87%) Java
3 60 (6.76%) C++
4 38 (4.28%) PowerShell
5 36 (4.05%) C
5 36 (4.05%) C#
6 33 (3.72%) SQL
7 26 (2.93%) JavaScript
8 24 (2.70%) Bash
9 21 (2.36%) Rust
10 18 (2.03%) TypeScript
11 17 (1.91%) MATLAB
12 14 (1.58%) Embedded C
12 14 (1.58%) Embedded C++
13 12 (1.35%) Shell Script
13 12 (1.35%) VBA
14 11 (1.24%) Go
15 10 (1.13%) PL/SQL
16 9 (1.01%) PHP
17 7 (0.79%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 566 (63.74%) SC Cleared
2 327 (36.82%) DV Cleared
3 134 (15.09%) Degree
4 26 (2.93%) HNC
5 24 (2.70%) Master's Degree
6 23 (2.59%) BPSS Clearance
7 20 (2.25%) CISSP
8 19 (2.14%) Cisco Certification
9 15 (1.69%) Computer Science Degree
10 14 (1.58%) CCNP
10 14 (1.58%) CREST Certified
11 12 (1.35%) CompTIA Security+
11 12 (1.35%) CRISC
11 12 (1.35%) GIAC
12 11 (1.24%) OSCP
13 9 (1.01%) CISM
13 9 (1.01%) GCIA
14 8 (0.90%) APMP
14 8 (0.90%) GCIH
14 8 (0.90%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (2.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 22 (2.48%) SLA
3 19 (2.14%) NCSC
4 17 (1.91%) GDPR
5 15 (1.69%) QA
6 13 (1.46%) NIST
7 12 (1.35%) PMO
8 11 (1.24%) ISO 9001
9 9 (1.01%) Def Stans
10 8 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 6 (0.68%) Accessibility
12 5 (0.56%) NEBOSH
13 4 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.45%) JSP 440
14 3 (0.34%) GRC
14 3 (0.34%) MISRA
15 2 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 2 (0.23%) ISO 22301
15 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 15288
15 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 67 (7.55%) Docker
2 59 (6.64%) Active Directory
3 33 (3.72%) vSphere
4 24 (2.70%) Firmware
5 17 (1.91%) VMware NSX
6 15 (1.69%) VMware Infrastructure
7 9 (1.01%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.56%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.45%) 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 79 (8.90%) Kubernetes
2 62 (6.98%) Terraform
3 51 (5.74%) Ansible
4 15 (1.69%) Grafana
4 15 (1.69%) Prometheus
5 14 (1.58%) Kibana
6 12 (1.35%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.01%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.01%) Podman
8 8 (0.90%) Nessus
9 7 (0.79%) Nagios
9 7 (0.79%) Puppet
10 6 (0.68%) Graylog
10 6 (0.68%) QRadar
10 6 (0.68%) vRealize
11 5 (0.56%) Argo
11 5 (0.56%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.56%) Endace
11 5 (0.56%) Kustomize
11 5 (0.56%) Packer
Vendors
1 115 (12.95%) Microsoft
2 57 (6.42%) VMware
3 32 (3.60%) Cisco
4 31 (3.49%) Splunk
5 30 (3.38%) Red Hat
6 28 (3.15%) Oracle
7 21 (2.36%) ServiceNow
8 15 (1.69%) McAfee
9 13 (1.46%) Google
10 12 (1.35%) Citrix
11 11 (1.24%) Juniper
11 11 (1.24%) Tenable
12 10 (1.13%) NVIDIA
13 9 (1.01%) AppDynamics
13 9 (1.01%) EMC
13 9 (1.01%) IBM
14 8 (0.90%) CheckPoint
14 8 (0.90%) LogRhythm
14 8 (0.90%) NetApp
14 8 (0.90%) Palo Alto