SC Cleared Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Security Check (SC) Clearance
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for SC Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 21 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 45 69 61
Rank change year-on-year +24 -8 +6
Permanent jobs citing SC Cleared 2,187 1,204 2,904
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.22% 3.99% 3.65%
As % of the Qualifications category 16.84% 9.53% 14.89%
Number of salaries quoted 1,643 824 2,125
10th Percentile £41,110 £35,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £50,000 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £58,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% +6.36% -7.56%
75th Percentile £80,000 £73,750 £66,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £83,750 £79,225
UK median annual salary £67,500 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +12.50% +4.35% -8.00%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

SC 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 UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 12,984 12,638 19,501
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 19.13% 41.92% 24.48%
Number of salaries quoted 6,479 5,056 12,348
10th Percentile £28,750 £27,500 £27,338
25th Percentile £39,000 £35,000 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,138 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.70% +0.28% -4.76%
75th Percentile £72,500 £66,254 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £78,750 £80,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £53,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% +3.77% -11.67%

SC Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing SC Cleared relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

SC Cleared job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

SC Cleared
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing SC Cleared.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing SC Cleared in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 21 June 2026.

Salary histogram for SC Cleared in the UK excluding London

SC Cleared
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing SC Cleared within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 21 June 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
South West +14 592 £70,000 +13.14% 183
South East -8 552 £70,000 +21.74% 283
North of England +105 434 £62,500 +13.64% 172
Midlands +38 308 £57,500 -11.54% 88
North West +116 242 £67,500 +14.41% 92
West Midlands +3 199 £60,000 -11.11% 63
Yorkshire +15 130 £62,500 +38.89% 46
Wales +3 125 £55,000 - 39
East of England +5 108 £65,000 +18.18% 45
East Midlands +31 107 £52,500 +0.96% 25
Scotland +40 67 £75,000 +20.00% 26
North East +3 62 £55,500 -20.01% 37
Northern Ireland -28 7 £63,500 -25.43% 23
SC Cleared
UK

SC Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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
1 108 (4.94%) Microsoft Exchange
2 48 (2.19%) SharePoint
3 20 (0.91%) Apache
4 18 (0.82%) SAS
5 15 (0.69%) Apache Spark
6 13 (0.59%) Apache Airflow
7 10 (0.46%) Confluence
7 10 (0.46%) Jupyter
8 8 (0.37%) Skype for Business
9 6 (0.27%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 3 (0.14%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.091%) Exchange Server 2013
12 1 (0.046%) Apache Qpid
12 1 (0.046%) Appian
12 1 (0.046%) JBoss
12 1 (0.046%) Site Server
Applications
1 87 (3.98%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (1.42%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.41%) Simulink
5 4 (0.18%) Windchill
6 3 (0.14%) Stateflow
7 1 (0.046%) CATIA
7 1 (0.046%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.046%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
2 6 (0.27%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.046%) Integrated Workplace Management System
3 1 (0.046%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.046%) SAP BPC
3 1 (0.046%) SAP EWM
3 1 (0.046%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.046%) SAP HCM
3 1 (0.046%) SAP MM
3 1 (0.046%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 499 (22.82%) Azure
2 301 (13.76%) AWS
3 272 (12.44%) Microsoft 365
4 81 (3.70%) Entra ID
5 78 (3.57%) GCP
6 48 (2.19%) Power Platform
7 47 (2.15%) Serverless
8 45 (2.06%) GitHub
9 44 (2.01%) SaaS
10 41 (1.87%) Azure DevOps
10 41 (1.87%) Dynamics 365
11 35 (1.60%) Amazon S3
12 32 (1.46%) Azure Sentinel
13 31 (1.42%) AWS CloudFormation
14 25 (1.14%) Amazon EC2
15 24 (1.10%) AWS Lambda
16 22 (1.01%) PaaS
17 21 (0.96%) Amazon ECS
17 21 (0.96%) Amazon EKS
18 19 (0.87%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 140 (6.40%) DNS
2 130 (5.94%) Firewall
3 116 (5.30%) DHCP
4 69 (3.16%) WAN
5 64 (2.93%) VPN
6 51 (2.33%) LAN
7 50 (2.29%) Network Security
7 50 (2.29%) TCP/IP
8 31 (1.42%) Wi-Fi
9 28 (1.28%) BGP
9 28 (1.28%) Structured Cabling
10 23 (1.05%) VLAN
11 20 (0.91%) HTTP
12 19 (0.87%) SD-WAN
13 18 (0.82%) MPLS
14 17 (0.78%) VoIP
15 16 (0.73%) Cisco Firepower
16 13 (0.59%) Broadband
17 12 (0.55%) ATM
18 11 (0.50%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 84 (3.84%) Amazon RDS
2 41 (1.87%) Power BI
3 31 (1.42%) PostgreSQL
4 23 (1.05%) DynamoDB
5 21 (0.96%) Big Data
6 18 (0.82%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (0.73%) Relational Database
8 15 (0.69%) Amazon Athena
9 14 (0.64%) MongoDB
10 13 (0.59%) NoSQL
11 11 (0.50%) SQL Server
12 10 (0.46%) Elasticsearch
12 10 (0.46%) Redis
13 9 (0.41%) Data Lake
13 9 (0.41%) GIS
14 8 (0.37%) Metadata
15 7 (0.32%) Amazon Redshift
15 7 (0.32%) MySQL
15 7 (0.32%) Pentaho
16 6 (0.27%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 78 (3.57%) Git
2 69 (3.16%) GitLab
3 40 (1.83%) Jenkins
4 32 (1.46%) JIRA
5 21 (0.96%) JUnit
6 17 (0.78%) SonarQube
7 16 (0.73%) Maven
8 15 (0.69%) Cypress.io
8 15 (0.69%) Selenium
8 15 (0.69%) Visual Studio Code
9 12 (0.55%) Mockito
10 9 (0.41%) Burp Suite
10 9 (0.41%) Metasploit
11 8 (0.37%) Cucumber
12 6 (0.27%) JMeter
12 6 (0.27%) Postman
13 5 (0.23%) Artifactory
13 5 (0.23%) Claude Code
13 5 (0.23%) REST Assured
14 3 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
General
1 497 (22.73%) Social Skills
2 275 (12.57%) Public Sector
3 227 (10.38%) Analytical Skills
4 132 (6.04%) Finance
5 129 (5.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 56 (2.56%) Telecoms
7 42 (1.92%) Aerospace
7 42 (1.92%) Manufacturing
8 37 (1.69%) Electronics
9 36 (1.65%) Back Office
9 36 (1.65%) Military
10 35 (1.60%) Legal
10 35 (1.60%) Organisational Skills
11 34 (1.55%) Law
12 30 (1.37%) Aviation
13 26 (1.19%) Retail
14 18 (0.82%) Documentation Skills
15 12 (0.55%) Games
15 12 (0.55%) Influencing Skills
16 10 (0.46%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 359 (16.42%) Senior
2 210 (9.60%) Architect
3 184 (8.41%) Developer
4 177 (8.09%) Software Engineer
5 173 (7.91%) Consultant
6 160 (7.32%) Analyst
7 127 (5.81%) Systems Engineer
8 96 (4.39%) Support Engineer
9 95 (4.34%) Cloud Engineer
10 92 (4.21%) Data Engineer
10 92 (4.21%) Security Consultant
11 89 (4.07%) Lead
12 79 (3.61%) Network Engineer
13 76 (3.48%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 73 (3.34%) Senior Developer
15 68 (3.11%) Java Developer
15 68 (3.11%) Security Architect
16 67 (3.06%) IT Engineer
17 65 (2.97%) IT Support
18 57 (2.61%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (2.65%) .NET
2 48 (2.19%) REST
3 39 (1.78%) React
3 39 (1.78%) Spring
4 35 (1.60%) Spring Boot
5 26 (1.19%) AngularJS
6 22 (1.01%) Node.js
7 18 (0.82%) Kafka
8 17 (0.78%) HTML
8 17 (0.78%) PySpark
8 17 (0.78%) RESTful
9 14 (0.64%) CSS
9 14 (0.64%) Playwright
10 13 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
10 13 (0.59%) Jest
11 12 (0.55%) YAML
12 11 (0.50%) RabbitMQ
13 10 (0.46%) SOAP
13 10 (0.46%) Web Services
14 9 (0.41%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 99 (4.53%) Legacy Systems
2 77 (3.52%) Data Centre
3 74 (3.38%) Driving Licence
4 73 (3.34%) Onboarding
5 70 (3.20%) Cloud Native
6 48 (2.19%) Security Posture
7 45 (2.06%) Product Ownership
8 43 (1.97%) Security Operations Centre
9 41 (1.87%) Self-Motivation
10 37 (1.69%) Management Information System
11 27 (1.23%) Fibre Optics
12 25 (1.14%) CSOC
12 25 (1.14%) Embedded Systems
13 24 (1.10%) Robotics
14 22 (1.01%) PKI
15 20 (0.91%) Algorithms
15 20 (0.91%) Cyber Threat
16 19 (0.87%) Analytical Mindset
17 18 (0.82%) Distributed Systems
17 18 (0.82%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 289 (13.21%) Windows
2 251 (11.48%) Linux
3 139 (6.36%) Windows Server
4 86 (3.93%) Windows Server 2016
5 68 (3.11%) Windows 10
6 24 (1.10%) Unix
7 19 (0.87%) Android
8 17 (0.78%) Mac OS
9 13 (0.59%) CentOS
10 11 (0.50%) Ubuntu
11 7 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 6 (0.27%) Debian
13 5 (0.23%) AIX
13 5 (0.23%) Apple iOS
13 5 (0.23%) Embedded Linux
14 3 (0.14%) Solaris
14 3 (0.14%) VMS
15 2 (0.091%) Mac OS X
15 2 (0.091%) Windows 7
16 1 (0.046%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 318 (14.54%) Cybersecurity
2 306 (13.99%) Agile
2 306 (13.99%) Problem-Solving
3 252 (11.52%) Continuous Improvement
4 246 (11.25%) Software Engineering
5 236 (10.79%) DevOps
6 215 (9.83%) ITIL
7 210 (9.60%) CI/CD
8 160 (7.32%) Mentoring
9 151 (6.90%) Customer Service
10 142 (6.49%) Migration
11 132 (6.04%) Infrastructure as Code
12 126 (5.76%) Analytics
13 123 (5.62%) Customer Experience
14 120 (5.49%) AI
15 119 (5.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 114 (5.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 106 (4.85%) Decision-Making
17 106 (4.85%) Technical Leadership
18 104 (4.76%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 249 (11.39%) Python
2 153 (7.00%) Java
3 110 (5.03%) SQL
4 95 (4.34%) C++
5 83 (3.80%) PowerShell
6 67 (3.06%) Bash
7 59 (2.70%) JavaScript
8 56 (2.56%) C#
9 36 (1.65%) TypeScript
10 34 (1.55%) C
11 19 (0.87%) Groovy
11 19 (0.87%) Rust
12 16 (0.73%) PL/SQL
12 16 (0.73%) Scala
13 15 (0.69%) Kusto Query Language
13 15 (0.69%) MATLAB
14 13 (0.59%) Bicep
14 13 (0.59%) VBA
15 12 (0.55%) Embedded C
16 8 (0.37%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 2,187 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 404 (18.47%) DV Cleared
3 217 (9.92%) Degree
4 67 (3.06%) BPSS Clearance
5 52 (2.38%) CISSP
6 46 (2.10%) Cisco Certification
7 45 (2.06%) CTC Cleared
8 38 (1.74%) CISM
9 35 (1.60%) Microsoft Certification
10 30 (1.37%) AWS Certification
10 30 (1.37%) Azure Certification
10 30 (1.37%) CompTIA Security+
11 27 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
11 27 (1.23%) CREST Certified
11 27 (1.23%) HNC
11 27 (1.23%) Master's Degree
12 22 (1.01%) CCNP
13 18 (0.82%) SANS
14 17 (0.78%) OSCP
15 16 (0.73%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 127 (5.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 121 (5.53%) Cyber Essentials
3 106 (4.85%) PCI DSS
4 77 (3.52%) SLA
5 68 (3.11%) NIST
6 60 (2.74%) QA
7 48 (2.19%) GDPR
8 43 (1.97%) NCSC
9 32 (1.46%) Accessibility
10 31 (1.42%) Data Quality
11 29 (1.33%) JSP 440
12 26 (1.19%) GRC
13 22 (1.01%) ISO 9001
14 20 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 20 (0.91%) PMO
15 19 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 17 (0.78%) Def Stans
17 13 (0.59%) Actionable Recommendations
18 12 (0.55%) NIST 800
19 11 (0.50%) WCAG
System Software
1 187 (8.55%) Active Directory
2 117 (5.35%) Docker
3 112 (5.12%) Hyper-V
4 80 (3.66%) Terminal Server
5 51 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
6 32 (1.46%) Firmware
7 20 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
8 16 (0.73%) VMware NSX
9 14 (0.64%) vSphere
10 9 (0.41%) Embedded Firmware
11 6 (0.27%) BitLocker
12 5 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
13 4 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
14 1 (0.046%) Citrix Hypervisor
14 1 (0.046%) IAG
14 1 (0.046%) Oracle RAC
14 1 (0.046%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 155 (7.09%) Terraform
2 120 (5.49%) Kubernetes
3 83 (3.80%) Ansible
4 37 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
5 23 (1.05%) Grafana
6 22 (1.01%) Prometheus
7 19 (0.87%) SCCM
8 16 (0.73%) Proxmox
9 15 (0.69%) Puppet
10 14 (0.64%) Kibana
10 14 (0.64%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 12 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
12 11 (0.50%) Nessus
12 11 (0.50%) vCenter Server
13 9 (0.41%) Argo
13 9 (0.41%) Nmap
14 7 (0.32%) HP Fortify
14 7 (0.32%) QRadar
15 6 (0.27%) Graylog
15 6 (0.27%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 425 (19.43%) Microsoft
2 160 (7.32%) VMware
3 114 (5.21%) Cisco
4 112 (5.12%) Splunk
5 91 (4.16%) SolarWinds
6 81 (3.70%) Veeam
7 80 (3.66%) Brocade
7 80 (3.66%) Nimble Storage
7 80 (3.66%) Tanium
8 46 (2.10%) ServiceNow
9 45 (2.06%) Oracle
10 32 (1.46%) Google
11 20 (0.91%) Red Hat
12 19 (0.87%) Fortinet
12 19 (0.87%) HP
13 15 (0.69%) CheckPoint
14 14 (0.64%) Aruba
14 14 (0.64%) Citrix
14 14 (0.64%) Juniper
14 14 (0.64%) Tenable