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

	6 months to 17 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	20	43	11
Rank change year-on-year	+23	-32	-5
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared	417	212	523
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley	5.44%	5.60%	11.84%
As % of the Qualifications category	30.59%	13.78%	35.51%
Number of salaries quoted	201	123	229
10^th Percentile	£41,250	£37,700	£37,575
25^th Percentile	£55,000	£45,000	£41,263
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£70,000	£55,000	£55,000
Median % change year-on-year	+27.27%	-	+4.66%
75^th Percentile	£92,500	£73,750	£72,500
90^th Percentile	£100,000	£84,750	£77,750
South East median annual salary	£70,000	£58,000	£60,000
% change year-on-year	+20.69%	-3.33%	+11.61%

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.

	6 months to 17 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications	1,363	1,538	1,473
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley	17.79%	40.61%	33.36%
Number of salaries quoted	807	495	589
10^th Percentile	£33,696	£29,500	£35,750
25^th Percentile	£41,681	£36,052	£45,000
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£56,000	£47,500	£59,125
Median % change year-on-year	+17.89%	-19.66%	+9.98%
75^th Percentile	£71,250	£67,250	£75,000
90^th Percentile	£90,000	£81,250	£85,000
South East median annual salary	£60,000	£50,000	£57,500
% change year-on-year	+20.00%	-13.04%	+9.42%

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 Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

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 17 October 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 17 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
Berkshire	+27	282	£75,000	+36.36%	198
Buckinghamshire	+15	112	£60,000	+9.09%	61
Oxfordshire	-28	24	£100,000	+17.65%	68
Security Cleared South East

Security Cleared Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 17 October 2026, job vacancies citing Security Cleared also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the Thames Valley region with a requirement for Security Cleared.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	SC Cleared	57.1%	238
2	DV Cleared	34.5%	144
3	Continuous Improvement	19.9%	83
4	Microsoft	18.2%	76
5	Degree	17.5%	73
6	Linux	16.5%	69
7	AWS	15.8%	66
7	Cybersecurity	15.8%	66
9	Windows	15.1%	63
10	Azure	14.4%	60
11	Validation	14.1%	59
12	Mentoring	13.7%	57
13	Problem-Solving	13.2%	55
14	DNS	12.2%	51
15	Stakeholder Management	11.8%	49
16	Firewall	10.3%	43
16	Python	10.3%	43
18	Active Directory	9.8%	41
19	SIEM	9.1%	38
19	VMware	9.1%	38
21	CI/CD	8.9%	37
22	Technical Leadership	8.4%	35
23	AI	8.2%	34
23	Root Cause Analysis	8.2%	34
25	Kalman Filter	7.7%	32
26	Agile	7.4%	31
26	Software Engineering	7.4%	31
28	Service Delivery	7.0%	29
29	Preventative Maintenance	6.5%	27
30	Kubernetes	6.2%	26

Security Cleared Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Qualifications

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	SC Cleared	57.1%	238
2	DV Cleared	34.5%	144
3	Degree	17.5%	73
4	CISSP	4.1%	17
5	CompTIA Security+	3.8%	16
6	GIAC	3.4%	14
7	GCIA	3.1%	13
8	Master's Degree	2.9%	12
9	Azure Certification	2.6%	11
10	PhD	2.4%	10
10	VMware Certified Professional (VCP)	2.4%	10
12	BPSS Clearance	2.2%	9
13	CREST Certified	1.9%	8
13	GCIH	1.9%	8
13	OSCP	1.9%	8
16	CompTIA CySA+	1.7%	7
16	Computer Science Degree	1.7%	7
16	GCED	1.7%	7
16	Microsoft Certification	1.7%	7
16	SANS	1.7%	7