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 29 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 44 11
Rank change year-on-year +25 -33 -5
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 402 218 586
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 5.38% 5.75% 12.30%
As % of the Qualifications category 29.34% 13.58% 35.82%
Number of salaries quoted 209 132 268
10th Percentile £41,000 £38,500 £38,655
25th Percentile £52,500 £45,000 £41,263
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +27.27% - +4.66%
75th Percentile £85,000 £73,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £83,750 £80,000
South East median annual salary £70,000 £57,500 £58,000
% change year-on-year +21.74% -0.86% +7.89%

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 1,370 1,605 1,636
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 18.33% 42.35% 34.33%
Number of salaries quoted 807 492 661
10th Percentile £33,750 £29,525 £35,750
25th Percentile £41,750 £37,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £47,500 £56,525
Median % change year-on-year +21.05% -15.97% +5.14%
75th Percentile £72,500 £66,558 £75,000
90th Percentile £86,250 £81,250 £83,750
South East median annual salary £60,000 £50,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +20.00% -9.09% +4.76%

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 29 September 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 29 September 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 +26 279 £71,250 +29.55% 212
Buckinghamshire +19 109 £55,000 +4.76% 69
Oxfordshire -34 15 £100,000 +15.94% 38
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 (1.24%) Apache
1 5 (1.24%) nginx
2 4 (1.00%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.75%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.25%) Confluence
5 1 (0.25%) Kinematics
Applications
1 9 (2.24%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.24%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.00%) Mathematica
3 4 (1.00%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.75%) Solid Edge
4 3 (0.75%) SOLIDWORKS
5 2 (0.50%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.50%) UserZoom
6 1 (0.25%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.25%) CATIA
6 1 (0.25%) OrCAD
6 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (0.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.50%) SAP MM
2 2 (0.50%) SAP PM
3 1 (0.25%) ENOVIA
3 1 (0.25%) SAP MDG
3 1 (0.25%) SAP PP
3 1 (0.25%) SAP PS
3 1 (0.25%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 59 (14.68%) AWS
2 58 (14.43%) Azure
3 16 (3.98%) Cloud Computing
4 14 (3.48%) Azure Sentinel
4 14 (3.48%) Serverless
5 13 (3.23%) Amazon EKS
5 13 (3.23%) Entra ID
5 13 (3.23%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (2.99%) OpenShift
7 11 (2.74%) GCP
8 8 (1.99%) Amazon ECS
8 8 (1.99%) AWS Lambda
9 7 (1.74%) Amazon EC2
9 7 (1.74%) Google Analytics
9 7 (1.74%) Power Platform
10 6 (1.49%) Amazon S3
10 6 (1.49%) Cloudflare
10 6 (1.49%) GitHub
11 5 (1.24%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (1.24%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 52 (12.94%) DNS
2 44 (10.95%) Firewall
3 18 (4.48%) TCP/IP
4 13 (3.23%) VPN
5 10 (2.49%) HTTP
6 9 (2.24%) Network Security
7 8 (1.99%) LAN
7 8 (1.99%) SSL
8 7 (1.74%) WAN
9 5 (1.24%) Cisco Firepower
9 5 (1.24%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (1.24%) NetScaler
9 5 (1.24%) NGFW
9 5 (1.24%) SD-WAN
10 4 (1.00%) NAS
10 4 (1.00%) Remote Desktop
10 4 (1.00%) SAN
10 4 (1.00%) Wireshark
11 2 (0.50%) FTP
11 2 (0.50%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.23%) PostgreSQL
2 10 (2.49%) Relational Database
3 7 (1.74%) Power BI
4 5 (1.24%) MySQL
5 4 (1.00%) Oracle Database
5 4 (1.00%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.75%) Big Data
7 2 (0.50%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.50%) Oracle Database 11g
7 2 (0.50%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.25%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.25%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.25%) Metadata
8 1 (0.25%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.25%) Redis
8 1 (0.25%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 16 (3.98%) Jenkins
2 11 (2.74%) Git
3 9 (2.24%) GitLab
4 7 (1.74%) JIRA
5 5 (1.24%) JUnit
5 5 (1.24%) SonarQube
6 4 (1.00%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.75%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.75%) JMeter
8 2 (0.50%) MLflow
8 2 (0.50%) Mockito
8 2 (0.50%) Selenium
9 1 (0.25%) Axure RP
9 1 (0.25%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.25%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.25%) Mocha
9 1 (0.25%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.25%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.25%) Storybook
General
1 70 (17.41%) Social Skills
2 54 (13.43%) Public Sector
3 45 (11.19%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (10.20%) Finance
5 39 (9.70%) Aerospace
6 26 (6.47%) Manufacturing
7 24 (5.97%) Retail
8 15 (3.73%) Electronics
8 15 (3.73%) Organisational Skills
9 14 (3.48%) Law
10 8 (1.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.99%) Legal
11 6 (1.49%) Banking
12 5 (1.24%) French Language
13 4 (1.00%) Games
13 4 (1.00%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.00%) Marketing
13 4 (1.00%) Military
13 4 (1.00%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (1.00%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 62 (15.42%) Architect
2 54 (13.43%) Senior
3 38 (9.45%) Analyst
4 29 (7.21%) Lead
5 27 (6.72%) Developer
6 25 (6.22%) Support Specialist
7 18 (4.48%) Java Developer
7 18 (4.48%) SOC Analyst
8 17 (4.23%) Electrical Engineer
8 17 (4.23%) Security Architect
8 17 (4.23%) Systems Engineer
9 15 (3.73%) Applications Architect
9 15 (3.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (3.73%) Mechanical Engineer
10 14 (3.48%) Senior Manager
11 13 (3.23%) DevOps Engineer
11 13 (3.23%) Infrastructure Support
12 12 (2.99%) Designer
12 12 (2.99%) Software Engineer
12 12 (2.99%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (3.98%) Spring
2 15 (3.73%) Regular Expression
3 14 (3.48%) LDAP
3 14 (3.48%) XMPP
4 12 (2.99%) Terraform
5 11 (2.74%) .NET
5 11 (2.74%) Spring Boot
6 10 (2.49%) HTML
6 10 (2.49%) REST
6 10 (2.49%) Web Services
7 9 (2.24%) JSON
7 9 (2.24%) React
8 8 (1.99%) CSS
8 8 (1.99%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (1.99%) RabbitMQ
9 7 (1.74%) Loki
10 6 (1.49%) Jakarta EE
10 6 (1.49%) JPA
11 5 (1.24%) RESTful
11 5 (1.24%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 27 (6.72%) Onboarding
2 25 (6.22%) Cloud Native
3 22 (5.47%) Data Centre
4 21 (5.22%) Cyber Threat
5 18 (4.48%) Cyber Defence
6 15 (3.73%) Product Ownership
7 14 (3.48%) Security Operations Centre
8 13 (3.23%) Driving Licence
9 10 (2.49%) Analytical Mindset
9 10 (2.49%) Hybrid Cloud
9 10 (2.49%) PKI
10 9 (2.24%) Distributed Systems
11 7 (1.74%) CSOC
11 7 (1.74%) Embedded Systems
11 7 (1.74%) Hackathon
12 6 (1.49%) Algorithms
12 6 (1.49%) Synthetic Data
13 5 (1.24%) Management Information System
13 5 (1.24%) Private Cloud
14 3 (0.75%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 68 (16.92%) Linux
2 63 (15.67%) Windows
3 25 (6.22%) Windows Server
4 19 (4.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (1.24%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.75%) Rocky
7 2 (0.50%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (18.41%) Continuous Improvement
2 69 (17.16%) Cybersecurity
3 55 (13.68%) Validation
4 50 (12.44%) Problem-Solving
5 48 (11.94%) Stakeholder Management
6 44 (10.95%) Mentoring
7 41 (10.20%) SIEM
8 37 (9.20%) Agile
9 36 (8.96%) CI/CD
10 35 (8.71%) DevOps
11 29 (7.21%) Service Delivery
12 28 (6.97%) AI
12 28 (6.97%) Technical Leadership
13 26 (6.47%) Software Engineering
14 25 (6.22%) Root Cause Analysis
15 24 (5.97%) Decision-Making
16 23 (5.72%) Analytics
17 22 (5.47%) Incident Response
17 22 (5.47%) Kalman Filter
18 20 (4.98%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 46 (11.44%) Python
2 28 (6.97%) Java
3 17 (4.23%) PowerShell
4 14 (3.48%) Bash
5 12 (2.99%) C++
5 12 (2.99%) SQL
6 11 (2.74%) C#
6 11 (2.74%) JavaScript
7 10 (2.49%) C
7 10 (2.49%) Shell Script
8 8 (1.99%) Rust
9 7 (1.74%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (1.74%) Search Processing Language
10 6 (1.49%) MATLAB
10 6 (1.49%) TypeScript
11 5 (1.24%) Groovy
12 4 (1.00%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.75%) Perl
13 3 (0.75%) R
14 2 (0.50%) Go
Qualifications
1 246 (61.19%) SC Cleared
2 129 (32.09%) DV Cleared
3 56 (13.93%) Degree
4 16 (3.98%) CISSP
4 16 (3.98%) CompTIA Security+
5 14 (3.48%) GIAC
6 13 (3.23%) GCIA
7 10 (2.49%) CREST Certified
7 10 (2.49%) Master's Degree
7 10 (2.49%) OSCP
7 10 (2.49%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 8 (1.99%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (1.99%) GCIH
8 8 (1.99%) PhD
9 7 (1.74%) CompTIA CySA+
9 7 (1.74%) GCED
9 7 (1.74%) SANS
10 6 (1.49%) CRISC
10 6 (1.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 5 (1.24%) CTC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (1.99%) MISRA
2 7 (1.74%) NCSC
2 7 (1.74%) QA
3 6 (1.49%) ISO 9001
3 6 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (1.24%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.24%) NEBOSH
5 4 (1.00%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.75%) ISO 22301
6 3 (0.75%) PMO
6 3 (0.75%) WCAG
7 2 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (0.50%) COBIT
7 2 (0.50%) COSO
7 2 (0.50%) GDPR
7 2 (0.50%) NIST
7 2 (0.50%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.50%) SLA
8 1 (0.25%) ARP4754
8 1 (0.25%) ARP4761
System Software
1 40 (9.95%) Active Directory
2 22 (5.47%) vSphere
3 15 (3.73%) Docker
4 11 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (1.99%) Firmware
5 8 (1.99%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (1.74%) VMware NSX
7 6 (1.49%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.24%) Squid
9 2 (0.50%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 30 (7.46%) Kubernetes
2 14 (3.48%) Kibana
3 13 (3.23%) Ansible
4 8 (1.99%) Grafana
5 7 (1.74%) Argo
5 7 (1.74%) Graylog
5 7 (1.74%) Kustomize
5 7 (1.74%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.24%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.00%) Istio
7 4 (1.00%) Packer
7 4 (1.00%) SCCM
8 3 (0.75%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.50%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.50%) QRadar
9 2 (0.50%) vRealize
Vendors
1 77 (19.15%) Microsoft
2 38 (9.45%) VMware
3 22 (5.47%) Red Hat
3 22 (5.47%) Thales
4 15 (3.73%) Splunk
5 11 (2.74%) McAfee
6 10 (2.49%) Cisco
7 9 (2.24%) AppDynamics
7 9 (2.24%) IBM
7 9 (2.24%) Oracle
7 9 (2.24%) ServiceNow
8 8 (1.99%) CrowdStrike
8 8 (1.99%) Google
9 7 (1.74%) Carbon Black
10 6 (1.49%) Citrix
10 6 (1.49%) EMC
11 5 (1.24%) Fortinet
11 5 (1.24%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.24%) SAP
11 5 (1.24%) Veeam