Security Cleared Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Security Clearance
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 24 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 54 8
Rank change year-on-year +27 -46 0
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 326 178 724
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 5.16% 4.97% 12.42%
As % of the Qualifications category 25.96% 11.79% 37.32%
Number of salaries quoted 195 119 431
10th Percentile £41,110 £38,500 £34,750
25th Percentile £52,500 £45,608 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,500 £55,000 £52,550
Median % change year-on-year +22.73% +4.66% +10.63%
75th Percentile £81,250 £75,375 £63,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £85,750 £75,000
South East median annual salary £70,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +16.67% +9.09% +6.80%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,256 1,510 1,940
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 19.88% 42.17% 33.28%
Number of salaries quoted 731 479 1,146
10th Percentile £32,750 £29,950 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £40,000 £39,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -4.76% +2.24%
75th Percentile £72,500 £67,500 £69,313
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £83,750
South East median annual salary £60,000 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +14.29% - -

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Security Cleared relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Security Cleared
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Security Cleared.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 24 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Security Cleared in the Thames Valley

Security Cleared
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Security Cleared within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 24 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
Berkshire +24 209 £70,000 +16.67% 79
Buckinghamshire +42 96 £55,000 +4.76% 35
Oxfordshire -13 21 £82,500 +59.42% 14
Security Cleared
South East

Security Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 5 (1.53%) Apache
1 5 (1.53%) nginx
2 3 (0.92%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.31%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.31%) Confluence
Applications
1 7 (2.15%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.92%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Primavera
1 1 (0.31%) SAP MDG
1 1 (0.31%) SAP MM
1 1 (0.31%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 58 (17.79%) Azure
2 41 (12.58%) AWS
3 17 (5.21%) GCP
4 12 (3.68%) Azure Sentinel
4 12 (3.68%) Serverless
5 11 (3.37%) Amazon EKS
5 11 (3.37%) Microsoft 365
6 10 (3.07%) Entra ID
7 8 (2.45%) OpenShift
8 7 (2.15%) Amazon EC2
8 7 (2.15%) AWS Lambda
9 6 (1.84%) Amazon ECS
10 5 (1.53%) Amazon S3
10 5 (1.53%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (1.53%) Cloudflare
10 5 (1.53%) GitHub
10 5 (1.53%) Power Platform
11 4 (1.23%) Azure Logic Apps
11 4 (1.23%) Google Analytics
12 3 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 62 (19.02%) DNS
2 51 (15.64%) Firewall
3 17 (5.21%) TCP/IP
4 13 (3.99%) VPN
5 11 (3.37%) NetScaler
6 10 (3.07%) HTTP
7 8 (2.45%) NAS
7 8 (2.45%) SAN
7 8 (2.45%) Wireshark
8 7 (2.15%) LAN
8 7 (2.15%) Network Security
8 7 (2.15%) SSL
8 7 (2.15%) WAN
9 6 (1.84%) Remote Desktop
9 6 (1.84%) Structured Cabling
10 5 (1.53%) Cisco Firepower
10 5 (1.53%) Cisco Nexus
10 5 (1.53%) NGFW
10 5 (1.53%) SD-WAN
11 3 (0.92%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (4.29%) PostgreSQL
2 10 (3.07%) SQL Server
3 8 (2.45%) Relational Database
4 5 (1.53%) MySQL
4 5 (1.53%) Power BI
5 4 (1.23%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.61%) Metadata
6 2 (0.61%) Oracle Database 11g
6 2 (0.61%) Oracle Database 12c
7 1 (0.31%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.31%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.31%) Redis
7 1 (0.31%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 14 (4.29%) Jenkins
2 11 (3.37%) Git
3 9 (2.76%) JIRA
4 8 (2.45%) GitLab
5 5 (1.53%) JUnit
5 5 (1.53%) SonarQube
6 4 (1.23%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.92%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.61%) JMeter
8 2 (0.61%) Mockito
9 1 (0.31%) Mocha
9 1 (0.31%) Selenium
9 1 (0.31%) Storybook
9 1 (0.31%) Subversion
9 1 (0.31%) TestDirector
General
1 69 (21.17%) Social Skills
2 45 (13.80%) Public Sector
3 43 (13.19%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (11.35%) Finance
5 17 (5.21%) Manufacturing
6 12 (3.68%) Law
6 12 (3.68%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (2.76%) Aerospace
7 9 (2.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 7 (2.15%) Retail
9 6 (1.84%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (1.84%) Games
9 6 (1.84%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.53%) Banking
10 5 (1.53%) French Language
11 4 (1.23%) Aviation
11 4 (1.23%) Legal
12 3 (0.92%) Electronics
13 2 (0.61%) Military
13 2 (0.61%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 71 (21.78%) Architect
2 46 (14.11%) Senior
3 38 (11.66%) Analyst
4 36 (11.04%) Developer
5 33 (10.12%) Applications Architect
6 27 (8.28%) Security Architect
7 26 (7.98%) Lead
8 17 (5.21%) Java Developer
8 17 (5.21%) SOC Analyst
9 13 (3.99%) Senior Developer
9 13 (3.99%) Software Engineer
10 12 (3.68%) Support Specialist
11 11 (3.37%) .NET Developer
11 11 (3.37%) DevOps Engineer
11 11 (3.37%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.37%) Senior .NET Developer
12 10 (3.07%) Technical Leader
13 9 (2.76%) Cyber Threat Analyst
13 9 (2.76%) Infrastructure Support
13 9 (2.76%) Network Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (7.06%) Regular Expression
2 21 (6.44%) LDAP
3 19 (5.83%) XMPP
4 17 (5.21%) .NET
5 14 (4.29%) Spring
6 11 (3.37%) JSON
6 11 (3.37%) React
6 11 (3.37%) REST
7 9 (2.76%) Spring Boot
7 9 (2.76%) Web Services
8 8 (2.45%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (2.45%) RabbitMQ
9 7 (2.15%) JSON Schema
9 7 (2.15%) XML
10 6 (1.84%) HTML
10 6 (1.84%) Jakarta EE
10 6 (1.84%) JPA
11 5 (1.53%) AngularJS
11 5 (1.53%) Loki
12 4 (1.23%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 21 (6.44%) Cloud Native
2 19 (5.83%) Cyber Threat
3 17 (5.21%) Cyber Defence
4 13 (3.99%) Onboarding
5 12 (3.68%) PKI
5 12 (3.68%) Security Operations Centre
6 10 (3.07%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (2.76%) Distributed Systems
8 8 (2.45%) Product Ownership
9 7 (2.15%) Data Centre
9 7 (2.15%) Driving Licence
9 7 (2.15%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (1.84%) CSOC
10 6 (1.84%) Management Information System
10 6 (1.84%) Private Cloud
11 5 (1.53%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (1.53%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (1.23%) Hackathon
12 4 (1.23%) Security Posture
13 3 (0.92%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 74 (22.70%) Linux
2 67 (20.55%) Windows
3 37 (11.35%) Windows Server
4 27 (8.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (1.53%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.92%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (19.02%) Continuous Improvement
2 60 (18.40%) Cybersecurity
3 48 (14.72%) SIEM
4 36 (11.04%) Problem-Solving
4 36 (11.04%) Validation
5 31 (9.51%) Agile
6 28 (8.59%) DevOps
7 26 (7.98%) Stakeholder Management
8 24 (7.36%) CI/CD
9 23 (7.06%) Application Security
9 23 (7.06%) Platform Engineering
10 21 (6.44%) Mentoring
11 20 (6.13%) Containerisation
11 20 (6.13%) ITIL
12 19 (5.83%) Incident Response
13 18 (5.52%) Service Delivery
13 18 (5.52%) Software Engineering
14 17 (5.21%) Architectural Design
14 17 (5.21%) Incident Management
14 17 (5.21%) Threat Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 36 (11.04%) Python
2 24 (7.36%) Java
3 16 (4.91%) SQL
4 14 (4.29%) PowerShell
5 11 (3.37%) Shell Script
6 10 (3.07%) Bash
7 7 (2.15%) C
7 7 (2.15%) JavaScript
7 7 (2.15%) PL/SQL
7 7 (2.15%) Search Processing Language
8 6 (1.84%) Kusto Query Language
8 6 (1.84%) TypeScript
9 5 (1.53%) C#
9 5 (1.53%) Groovy
10 4 (1.23%) C++
11 3 (0.92%) Pascal
11 3 (0.92%) Perl
11 3 (0.92%) Rust
12 2 (0.61%) Go
12 2 (0.61%) Ladder Logic
Qualifications
1 193 (59.20%) SC Cleared
2 129 (39.57%) DV Cleared
3 31 (9.51%) Degree
4 15 (4.60%) CISSP
5 14 (4.29%) CompTIA Security+
6 13 (3.99%) GIAC
7 12 (3.68%) GCIA
8 10 (3.07%) CREST Certified
8 10 (3.07%) OSCP
8 10 (3.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 8 (2.45%) GCIH
9 8 (2.45%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (2.15%) CRISC
10 7 (2.15%) GCED
10 7 (2.15%) SANS
11 6 (1.84%) CompTIA CySA+
12 5 (1.53%) Azure Certification
12 5 (1.53%) CCNP
12 5 (1.53%) Cisco Certification
12 5 (1.53%) ISACA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.76%) NCSC
2 7 (2.15%) GDPR
3 6 (1.84%) QA
4 5 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (1.53%) NEBOSH
4 5 (1.53%) PMO
5 4 (1.23%) ISO 9001
5 4 (1.23%) MISRA
6 3 (0.92%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.92%) ISO 22301
6 3 (0.92%) SLA
7 2 (0.61%) COBIT
7 2 (0.61%) COSO
7 2 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 2 (0.61%) NIST
7 2 (0.61%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.31%) Data Quality
System Software
1 48 (14.72%) Active Directory
2 28 (8.59%) vSphere
3 16 (4.91%) Docker
4 8 (2.45%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (2.15%) VMware NSX
6 5 (1.53%) Firmware
6 5 (1.53%) Squid
6 5 (1.53%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.31%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 22 (6.75%) Kubernetes
2 14 (4.29%) Kibana
3 10 (3.07%) Terraform
4 9 (2.76%) Ansible
5 6 (1.84%) Graylog
6 5 (1.53%) Argo
6 5 (1.53%) Grafana
6 5 (1.53%) Kustomize
6 5 (1.53%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.53%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.23%) Packer
8 3 (0.92%) Istio
8 3 (0.92%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.61%) QRadar
9 2 (0.61%) vRealize
10 1 (0.31%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 1 (0.31%) SCCM
10 1 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 77 (23.62%) Microsoft
2 43 (13.19%) VMware
3 24 (7.36%) Red Hat
4 16 (4.91%) Oracle
5 15 (4.60%) McAfee
5 15 (4.60%) Splunk
6 12 (3.68%) Citrix
7 11 (3.37%) Google
8 9 (2.76%) AppDynamics
8 9 (2.76%) Cisco
9 8 (2.45%) CrowdStrike
9 8 (2.45%) IBM
9 8 (2.45%) NetApp
9 8 (2.45%) ServiceNow
10 7 (2.15%) Carbon Black
11 5 (1.53%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.53%) Veeam
12 4 (1.23%) CA Agile Central
12 4 (1.23%) Fortinet
12 4 (1.23%) SAP