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 citing Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 25 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

	6 months to 25 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	19	43	11
Rank change year-on-year	+24	-32	-7
Permanent jobs citing Security Cleared	444	209	515
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley	5.74%	5.48%	11.80%
As % of the Qualifications category	31.87%	13.85%	35.35%
Number of salaries quoted	196	119	226
10^th Percentile	£41,341	£38,300	£37,940
25^th Percentile	£58,135	£45,000	£41,263
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£75,000	£55,000	£55,626
Median % change year-on-year	+36.36%	-1.13%	+5.85%
75^th Percentile	£100,000	£73,750	£72,500
90^th Percentile	-	£86,000	£79,093
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 citing academic qualifications or professional certifications in the Thames Valley.

	6 months to 25 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Permanent vacancies citing academic qualifications or professional certifications	1,393	1,509	1,457
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley	18.01%	39.59%	33.37%
Number of salaries quoted	793	494	584
10^th Percentile	£33,750	£29,000	£35,750
25^th Percentile	£42,000	£35,589	£45,000
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£56,000	£47,250	£59,199
Median % change year-on-year	+18.52%	-20.18%	+10.12%
75^th Percentile	£72,500	£66,250	£75,000
90^th Percentile	£94,750	£80,875	£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 25 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 25 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	Job Ads Past 6 Months	Median Salary Past 6 Months	Median Salary % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Jobs
Berkshire	+31	293	£80,000	+45.45%	225
Buckinghamshire	+22	114	£62,500	+13.64%	54
Oxfordshire	-15	38	£97,500	+14.71%	65
Security Cleared South East

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

For the 6 months to 25 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 citing Security Cleared.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	SC Cleared	57.4%	255
2	DV Cleared	33.6%	149
3	Degree	18.9%	84
4	Continuous Improvement	17.1%	76
5	AWS	16.9%	75
6	Microsoft	15.1%	67
7	Linux	14.6%	65
8	Mentoring	14.2%	63
9	Cybersecurity	13.7%	61
10	Validation	13.5%	60
11	Azure	12.6%	56
12	Windows	11.9%	53
13	Problem-Solving	11.5%	51
14	Stakeholder Management	11.0%	49
15	Python	9.7%	43
16	CI/CD	9.5%	42
17	Software Engineering	9.2%	41
18	AI	8.8%	39
18	DNS	8.8%	39
18	Kalman Filter	8.8%	39
18	Root Cause Analysis	8.8%	39
22	Firewall	8.1%	36
22	Technical Leadership	8.1%	36
24	Active Directory	7.4%	33
24	Preventative Maintenance	7.4%	33
24	VMware	7.4%	33
27	Network Design	7.2%	32
27	Thales	7.2%	32
29	Cloud Computing	7.0%	31
29	Data Centre Operations	7.0%	31

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	57.4%	255
2	DV Cleared	33.6%	149
3	Degree	18.9%	84
4	CISSP	3.6%	16
4	Master's Degree	3.6%	16
6	Azure Certification	2.9%	13
6	PhD	2.9%	13
8	CompTIA Security+	2.7%	12
8	GIAC	2.7%	12
10	GCIA	2.5%	11
11	BPSS Clearance	2.3%	10
11	VMware Certified Professional (VCP)	2.3%	10
13	Microsoft Certification	1.8%	8
14	OSCP	1.6%	7
15	AWS Certification	1.4%	6
15	CompTIA CySA+	1.4%	6
15	CREST Certified	1.4%	6
15	GCED	1.4%	6
15	GCIH	1.4%	6
15	SANS	1.4%	6