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

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 45 11
Rank change year-on-year +23 -34 -5
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared 393 215 586
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 5.23% 5.64% 12.39%
As % of the Qualifications category 28.94% 13.51% 36.00%
Number of salaries quoted 203 130 268
10th Percentile £40,000 £38,400 £38,016
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 £83,875 £79,605
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 1,358 1,591 1,628
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 18.08% 41.74% 34.42%
Number of salaries quoted 807 491 656
10th Percentile £33,750 £29,500 £35,375
25th Percentile £41,750 £37,500 £43,911
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 £66,705 £75,000
90th Percentile £86,750 £81,250 £85,000
South East median annual salary £60,000 £50,000 £56,000
% change year-on-year +20.00% -10.71% +6.67%

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 3 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 3 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 +27 270 £70,000 +27.27% 275
Buckinghamshire +18 107 £55,000 +4.76% 96
Oxfordshire -31 17 £100,000 +15.94% 62
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 (1.27%) Apache
1 5 (1.27%) nginx
2 4 (1.02%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.76%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.25%) Confluence
5 1 (0.25%) Kinematics
5 1 (0.25%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 8 (2.04%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.27%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.02%) Mathematica
3 4 (1.02%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.76%) Solid Edge
4 3 (0.76%) SOLIDWORKS
5 2 (0.51%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.51%) 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 4 (1.02%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.76%) SAP MM
2 3 (0.76%) SAP PM
3 2 (0.51%) SAP PP
3 2 (0.51%) SAP QM
4 1 (0.25%) ENOVIA
4 1 (0.25%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.25%) SAP PS
Cloud Services
1 54 (13.74%) AWS
2 53 (13.49%) Azure
3 18 (4.58%) Cloud Computing
4 14 (3.56%) Azure Sentinel
5 13 (3.31%) Entra ID
6 12 (3.05%) GCP
6 12 (3.05%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (3.05%) OpenShift
7 6 (1.53%) Cloudflare
7 6 (1.53%) GitHub
7 6 (1.53%) Google Analytics
7 6 (1.53%) Power Platform
8 5 (1.27%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.27%) Azure Logic Apps
8 5 (1.27%) Serverless
9 4 (1.02%) Amazon ECS
9 4 (1.02%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (1.02%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (0.51%) Amazon EC2
11 1 (0.25%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 50 (12.72%) DNS
2 43 (10.94%) Firewall
3 17 (4.33%) TCP/IP
4 13 (3.31%) VPN
5 9 (2.29%) HTTP
5 9 (2.29%) Network Security
6 8 (2.04%) SSL
7 7 (1.78%) LAN
8 6 (1.53%) WAN
9 5 (1.27%) Cisco Firepower
9 5 (1.27%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (1.27%) NGFW
9 5 (1.27%) SD-WAN
10 4 (1.02%) NAS
10 4 (1.02%) NetScaler
10 4 (1.02%) SAN
10 4 (1.02%) Wireshark
11 3 (0.76%) Remote Desktop
12 2 (0.51%) Software-Defined Radio
13 1 (0.25%) DNSSEC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.31%) PostgreSQL
2 7 (1.78%) Relational Database
3 6 (1.53%) Power BI
4 5 (1.27%) Big Data
4 5 (1.27%) MySQL
5 4 (1.02%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.76%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.51%) Metadata
7 2 (0.51%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.51%) Oracle Database 11g
7 2 (0.51%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.25%) Amazon Athena
8 1 (0.25%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.25%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.25%) Redis
8 1 (0.25%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (1.78%) Jenkins
2 5 (1.27%) JUnit
3 4 (1.02%) GitLab
4 3 (0.76%) JIRA
4 3 (0.76%) JMeter
5 2 (0.51%) Git
5 2 (0.51%) MLflow
5 2 (0.51%) Mockito
5 2 (0.51%) Selenium
6 1 (0.25%) Axure RP
6 1 (0.25%) Balsamiq
6 1 (0.25%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.25%) Mocha
6 1 (0.25%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.25%) Rational Rhapsody
6 1 (0.25%) Storybook
General
1 67 (17.05%) Social Skills
2 47 (11.96%) Public Sector
3 44 (11.20%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (10.18%) Aerospace
5 39 (9.92%) Finance
6 27 (6.87%) Manufacturing
7 25 (6.36%) Retail
8 17 (4.33%) Electronics
9 14 (3.56%) Law
9 14 (3.56%) Organisational Skills
10 9 (2.29%) Legal
11 8 (2.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.27%) Banking
12 5 (1.27%) French Language
12 5 (1.27%) Military
12 5 (1.27%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (1.02%) Games
13 4 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.02%) Marketing
13 4 (1.02%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 60 (15.27%) Architect
2 57 (14.50%) Senior
3 36 (9.16%) Analyst
4 28 (7.12%) Lead
5 25 (6.36%) Support Specialist
6 20 (5.09%) Developer
7 19 (4.83%) Electrical Engineer
8 17 (4.33%) Mechanical Engineer
8 17 (4.33%) SOC Analyst
8 17 (4.33%) Systems Engineer
9 16 (4.07%) Security Architect
10 15 (3.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 15 (3.82%) Senior Manager
11 14 (3.56%) Applications Architect
12 13 (3.31%) Infrastructure Support
13 12 (3.05%) Designer
13 12 (3.05%) Technical Leader
14 11 (2.80%) Java Developer
14 11 (2.80%) Software Engineer
15 9 (2.29%) Infrastructure Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (3.56%) Regular Expression
2 13 (3.31%) XMPP
3 12 (3.05%) LDAP
4 11 (2.80%) .NET
4 11 (2.80%) Spring
5 10 (2.54%) HTML
6 8 (2.04%) CSS
7 7 (1.78%) Loki
7 7 (1.78%) Spring Boot
8 6 (1.53%) Web Services
9 5 (1.27%) JSON
9 5 (1.27%) XML
10 4 (1.02%) JSON Schema
10 4 (1.02%) React
11 3 (0.76%) FastAPI
11 3 (0.76%) OpenTelemetry
11 3 (0.76%) PyTorch
11 3 (0.76%) RESTful
11 3 (0.76%) TensorFlow
11 3 (0.76%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 28 (7.12%) Onboarding
2 26 (6.62%) Cloud Native
3 24 (6.11%) Data Centre
4 20 (5.09%) Cyber Threat
5 17 (4.33%) Cyber Defence
6 15 (3.82%) Product Ownership
7 14 (3.56%) Security Operations Centre
8 13 (3.31%) Driving Licence
9 10 (2.54%) Hybrid Cloud
9 10 (2.54%) PKI
10 9 (2.29%) Analytical Mindset
11 7 (1.78%) CSOC
11 7 (1.78%) Embedded Systems
11 7 (1.78%) Hackathon
12 6 (1.53%) Algorithms
12 6 (1.53%) Synthetic Data
13 5 (1.27%) Management Information System
13 5 (1.27%) Private Cloud
14 4 (1.02%) Robotics
14 4 (1.02%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 64 (16.28%) Linux
2 62 (15.78%) Windows
3 24 (6.11%) Windows Server
4 18 (4.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (1.27%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.76%) Rocky
7 2 (0.51%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (18.07%) Continuous Improvement
2 67 (17.05%) Cybersecurity
3 55 (13.99%) Validation
4 49 (12.47%) Problem-Solving
5 48 (12.21%) Stakeholder Management
6 46 (11.70%) Mentoring
7 39 (9.92%) SIEM
8 29 (7.38%) AI
8 29 (7.38%) CI/CD
9 28 (7.12%) Agile
9 28 (7.12%) Service Delivery
9 28 (7.12%) Technical Leadership
10 27 (6.87%) Root Cause Analysis
11 26 (6.62%) DevOps
12 25 (6.36%) Software Engineering
13 24 (6.11%) Kalman Filter
14 23 (5.85%) Decision-Making
15 22 (5.60%) Incident Response
16 21 (5.34%) Analytics
17 20 (5.09%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 43 (10.94%) Python
2 19 (4.83%) Java
3 17 (4.33%) PowerShell
4 14 (3.56%) Bash
5 13 (3.31%) C++
6 12 (3.05%) C#
7 11 (2.80%) C
7 11 (2.80%) JavaScript
8 9 (2.29%) Rust
8 9 (2.29%) Shell Script
9 8 (2.04%) SQL
10 7 (1.78%) Kusto Query Language
10 7 (1.78%) Search Processing Language
11 6 (1.53%) MATLAB
11 6 (1.53%) TypeScript
12 4 (1.02%) R
13 2 (0.51%) Go
14 1 (0.25%) ABAP
14 1 (0.25%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 235 (59.80%) SC Cleared
2 131 (33.33%) DV Cleared
3 57 (14.50%) Degree
4 16 (4.07%) CISSP
4 16 (4.07%) CompTIA Security+
5 14 (3.56%) GIAC
6 13 (3.31%) GCIA
7 10 (2.54%) Master's Degree
7 10 (2.54%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 9 (2.29%) CREST Certified
8 9 (2.29%) OSCP
9 8 (2.04%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (2.04%) GCIH
9 8 (2.04%) PhD
10 7 (1.78%) CompTIA CySA+
10 7 (1.78%) GCED
10 7 (1.78%) SANS
11 6 (1.53%) CRISC
11 6 (1.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 5 (1.27%) CTC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (2.04%) MISRA
2 6 (1.53%) ISO 9001
2 6 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (1.53%) NCSC
3 5 (1.27%) Accessibility
3 5 (1.27%) Data Quality
3 5 (1.27%) NEBOSH
4 3 (0.76%) ISO 22301
4 3 (0.76%) WCAG
5 2 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
5 2 (0.51%) COBIT
5 2 (0.51%) COSO
5 2 (0.51%) GDPR
5 2 (0.51%) NIST
5 2 (0.51%) PCI DSS
5 2 (0.51%) PMO
5 2 (0.51%) QA
5 2 (0.51%) SLA
6 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 1 (0.25%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 38 (9.67%) Active Directory
2 21 (5.34%) vSphere
3 11 (2.80%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.29%) Docker
5 8 (2.04%) Firmware
5 8 (2.04%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (1.78%) VMware NSX
7 6 (1.53%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.27%) Squid
9 2 (0.51%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.51%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 22 (5.60%) Kubernetes
2 10 (2.54%) Kibana
3 8 (2.04%) Grafana
4 7 (1.78%) Argo
4 7 (1.78%) Graylog
4 7 (1.78%) Kustomize
4 7 (1.78%) Prometheus
5 5 (1.27%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (1.02%) Ansible
6 4 (1.02%) Istio
6 4 (1.02%) SCCM
7 3 (0.76%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.51%) Oracle RMAN
8 2 (0.51%) vRealize
9 1 (0.25%) QRadar
Vendors
1 72 (18.32%) Microsoft
2 37 (9.41%) VMware
3 23 (5.85%) Thales
4 21 (5.34%) Red Hat
5 13 (3.31%) Splunk
6 10 (2.54%) Cisco
6 10 (2.54%) McAfee
7 9 (2.29%) ServiceNow
8 8 (2.04%) CrowdStrike
9 7 (1.78%) Carbon Black
9 7 (1.78%) Google
10 6 (1.53%) EMC
10 6 (1.53%) SAP
11 5 (1.27%) Citrix
11 5 (1.27%) Fortinet
11 5 (1.27%) Oracle
11 5 (1.27%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.27%) Veeam
12 4 (1.02%) CA Agile Central
12 4 (1.02%) NetApp