BPSS Clearance Job Trends

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Clearance
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for BPSS Clearance qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 14 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 196 270 278
Rank change year-on-year +74 +8 +340
Permanent jobs citing BPSS Clearance 839 525 856
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.13% 1.20% 1.02%
As % of the Qualifications category 4.08% 3.06% 3.68%
Number of salaries quoted 362 290 679
10th Percentile £32,750 £40,000 £25,950
25th Percentile £45,000 £46,147 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,625 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -10.20%
75th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £77,500 £70,924 £77,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.55% +10.00% +14.61%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

BPSS Clearance 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.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 20,568 17,149 23,255
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 27.75% 39.32% 27.61%
Number of salaries quoted 8,344 7,452 16,145
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £43,750 £38,734
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £59,430 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.45% +8.05% -4.35%
75th Percentile £76,050 £75,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £92,500 £88,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -

BPSS Clearance
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing BPSS Clearance relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

BPSS Clearance job vacancy trend in the UK

BPSS Clearance
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BPSS Clearance.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BPSS Clearance

BPSS Clearance
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing BPSS Clearance over the 6 months to 14 March 2026.

Salary histogram for BPSS Clearance in the UK

BPSS Clearance
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing BPSS Clearance within the UK over the 6 months to 14 March 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
UK excluding London +46 744 £52,500 -4.55% 276
England +65 726 £52,750 -4.09% 277
North of England +10 278 £52,750 +2.86% 54
North West +6 270 £51,000 +0.18% 30
South East +74 202 £55,320 +0.58% 75
Work from Home +56 117 £60,000 -7.69% 145
Midlands -44 85 £55,250 -15.00% 17
South West -34 69 £38,750 -33.19% 64
West Midlands -10 60 £52,750 -18.85% 14
Scotland +29 55 £49,550 +3.61% 27
London +38 43 £64,000 +42.22% 63
East of England +34 35 £75,900 +59.18% 46
East Midlands -47 25 £75,900 +73.49% 3
Wales -12 15 £51,935 -20.10% 3
Yorkshire -39 6 £75,900 +38.52% 10
Northern Ireland - 5 - -
North East - 2 - - 14

BPSS Clearance
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 26 (3.10%) Confluence
2 25 (2.98%) SharePoint
3 18 (2.15%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (0.72%) CMS
5 3 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.36%) WordPress
6 2 (0.24%) WinCC
7 1 (0.12%) nginx
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle Workflow
7 1 (0.12%) SugarCRM
Applications
1 38 (4.53%) Simulink
2 25 (2.98%) Microsoft Office
3 22 (2.62%) CATIA
4 19 (2.26%) Microsoft Excel
5 11 (1.31%) Abaqus
6 10 (1.19%) SOLIDWORKS
7 9 (1.07%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.60%) MS Visio
9 4 (0.48%) Adobe After Effects
9 4 (0.48%) Adobe Illustrator
9 4 (0.48%) Adobe Premiere
9 4 (0.48%) Photoshop
9 4 (0.48%) Siemens NX
9 4 (0.48%) Trello
10 3 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 3 (0.36%) Windchill
11 2 (0.24%) Camtasia
11 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
12 1 (0.12%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 18 (2.15%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (1.79%) SAP ERP
3 8 (0.95%) SAP QM
4 5 (0.60%) Oracle ERP
4 5 (0.60%) Teamcenter
5 4 (0.48%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (0.48%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 4 (0.48%) Infor LN
5 4 (0.48%) SAP IBP
6 3 (0.36%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.36%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.36%) SAP FI/CO
7 2 (0.24%) Infor CloudSuite
8 1 (0.12%) Oracle 11i
8 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.12%) SAP BPC
Cloud Services
1 52 (6.20%) Azure
2 29 (3.46%) Microsoft 365
3 22 (2.62%) AWS
4 18 (2.15%) Entra ID
5 14 (1.67%) GCP
6 12 (1.43%) IaaS
7 9 (1.07%) GitHub
7 9 (1.07%) PaaS
7 9 (1.07%) Power Platform
8 8 (0.95%) SaaS
9 7 (0.83%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 6 (0.72%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (0.60%) Azure Sentinel
12 4 (0.48%) Amazon EC2
12 4 (0.48%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (0.48%) Google Analytics
12 4 (0.48%) Google Data Studio
12 4 (0.48%) Google Sheets
12 4 (0.48%) Google Tag Manager
12 4 (0.48%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 24 (2.86%) Firewall
2 21 (2.50%) VPN
3 16 (1.91%) WAN
4 15 (1.79%) SAN
5 13 (1.55%) DNS
5 13 (1.55%) LAN
6 11 (1.31%) Profibus
7 10 (1.19%) SSH
7 10 (1.19%) TCP/IP
7 10 (1.19%) Wi-Fi
8 8 (0.95%) DHCP
8 8 (0.95%) Wireshark
9 7 (0.83%) ATM
9 7 (0.83%) Multicast
9 7 (0.83%) tcpdump
9 7 (0.83%) VoIP
10 4 (0.48%) SD-WAN
10 4 (0.48%) SNA
10 4 (0.48%) WLAN
11 3 (0.36%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.07%) Power BI
2 8 (0.95%) MongoDB
2 8 (0.95%) SQL Server
3 7 (0.83%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (0.83%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (0.83%) Relational Database
3 7 (0.83%) Tableau
4 6 (0.72%) MySQL
4 6 (0.72%) NoSQL
5 5 (0.60%) RDBMS
6 4 (0.48%) Amazon Redshift
6 4 (0.48%) Apache Cassandra
6 4 (0.48%) Azure SQL Database
6 4 (0.48%) BigQuery
6 4 (0.48%) Power Query
7 3 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.36%) Delta Lake
7 3 (0.36%) Metadata
8 2 (0.24%) Data Vault
8 2 (0.24%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 132 (15.73%) Rational DOORS
2 72 (8.58%) JIRA
3 15 (1.79%) Git
4 7 (0.83%) GitLab
5 5 (0.60%) Apache Continuum
6 4 (0.48%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.36%) LabVIEW
7 3 (0.36%) Rational Rhapsody
8 2 (0.24%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.24%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.24%) JIRA Agile
8 2 (0.24%) JUnit
8 2 (0.24%) Maven
8 2 (0.24%) Mockito
8 2 (0.24%) Oracle APEX
8 2 (0.24%) Rational Statemate
9 1 (0.12%) Gatling
9 1 (0.12%) JMeter
9 1 (0.12%) Locust
9 1 (0.12%) NUnit
General
1 146 (17.40%) Social Skills
2 89 (10.61%) Manufacturing
3 88 (10.49%) Electronics
4 64 (7.63%) Analytical Skills
5 62 (7.39%) Finance
6 60 (7.15%) Public Sector
7 50 (5.96%) Military
8 38 (4.53%) Aerospace
8 38 (4.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 38 (4.53%) Legal
9 27 (3.22%) Avionics
9 27 (3.22%) Documentation Skills
10 14 (1.67%) Automotive
11 13 (1.55%) Telecoms
12 11 (1.31%) Marketing
12 11 (1.31%) Presentation Skills
13 9 (1.07%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (0.83%) Local Government
14 7 (0.83%) Publishing
15 6 (0.72%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 284 (33.85%) Senior
2 264 (31.47%) Systems Engineer
3 174 (20.74%) Principal Engineer
4 121 (14.42%) Principal Systems Engineer
5 107 (12.75%) Senior Systems Engineer
6 65 (7.75%) Lead
7 45 (5.36%) Architect
8 30 (3.58%) Senior Electrical Engineer
9 28 (3.34%) Analyst
9 28 (3.34%) Developer
9 28 (3.34%) IT Engineer
10 23 (2.74%) Integration Engineer
10 23 (2.74%) Support Engineer
11 21 (2.50%) Field Engineer
11 21 (2.50%) Team Leader
12 20 (2.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 20 (2.38%) Solutions Architect
13 18 (2.15%) Instrumentation Engineer
14 17 (2.03%) Systems Manager
15 16 (1.91%) Systems Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (1.79%) Middleware
2 12 (1.43%) OLE
3 10 (1.19%) Node.js
4 9 (1.07%) CSS
4 9 (1.07%) HTML
5 8 (0.95%) SAP Fiori
5 8 (0.95%) XML
6 7 (0.83%) JSON
6 7 (0.83%) REST
7 5 (0.60%) .NET
8 4 (0.48%) Oracle Fusion
8 4 (0.48%) React
8 4 (0.48%) SOAP
9 3 (0.36%) .NET Framework
9 3 (0.36%) ASP.NET
9 3 (0.36%) Elastic Stack
9 3 (0.36%) OpenGL
9 3 (0.36%) RESTful
9 3 (0.36%) Spring
9 3 (0.36%) Vulkan
Miscellaneous
1 79 (9.42%) Management Information System
2 27 (3.22%) Driving Licence
3 22 (2.62%) Algorithms
4 19 (2.26%) Data Centre
5 15 (1.79%) Analytical Mindset
5 15 (1.79%) Onboarding
5 15 (1.79%) Smartphone
6 14 (1.67%) Product Ownership
7 13 (1.55%) SCADA
8 12 (1.43%) Acoustics
9 9 (1.07%) e-Learning
10 7 (0.83%) Analogue Electronics
10 7 (0.83%) Augmented Reality
11 6 (0.72%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (0.72%) Replication
12 5 (0.60%) Enterprise Software
12 5 (0.60%) IoT
12 5 (0.60%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (0.60%) Social Media
13 4 (0.48%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 36 (4.29%) Linux
2 31 (3.69%) Windows
3 8 (0.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (0.60%) Unix
5 4 (0.48%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.36%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.24%) Android
8 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.12%) SUSE
8 1 (0.12%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 290 (34.56%) Systems Engineering
2 149 (17.76%) Agile
3 127 (15.14%) Validation
4 118 (14.06%) Requirements Management
5 115 (13.71%) Problem-Solving
6 97 (11.56%) Continuous Improvement
7 77 (9.18%) Verification and Validation
8 75 (8.94%) Mathematics
9 73 (8.70%) Coaching
9 73 (8.70%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
10 69 (8.22%) Cybersecurity
10 69 (8.22%) Technical Leadership
11 67 (7.99%) Mentoring
12 65 (7.75%) Physics
13 61 (7.27%) Software Engineering
14 49 (5.84%) ERP
14 49 (5.84%) Waterfall
15 46 (5.48%) ITIL
16 45 (5.36%) Computer Science
17 44 (5.24%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 53 (6.32%) MATLAB
2 36 (4.29%) Python
3 25 (2.98%) Java
3 25 (2.98%) JavaScript
4 23 (2.74%) C
5 18 (2.15%) SQL
6 16 (1.91%) C#
7 15 (1.79%) C++
8 12 (1.43%) TypeScript
9 11 (1.31%) Ada
10 10 (1.19%) PowerShell
11 9 (1.07%) ABAP
11 9 (1.07%) Shell Script
12 6 (0.72%) Ada 95
13 5 (0.60%) Bicep
14 3 (0.36%) Bash
14 3 (0.36%) GLSL
14 3 (0.36%) PL/SQL
14 3 (0.36%) VB
15 2 (0.24%) PHP
Qualifications
1 399 (47.56%) Degree
2 115 (13.71%) Security Cleared
3 81 (9.65%) Chartered Engineer
4 70 (8.34%) SC Cleared
5 64 (7.63%) HNC
6 41 (4.89%) HND
7 35 (4.17%) Master's Degree
8 30 (3.58%) Microsoft Certification
9 28 (3.34%) Cisco Certification
9 28 (3.34%) Computer Science Degree
10 21 (2.50%) CCNA
10 21 (2.50%) Numerate Degree
11 16 (1.91%) A+ Certification
11 16 (1.91%) RIBA
12 15 (1.79%) MCSE
12 15 (1.79%) Network+ Certification
13 10 (1.19%) CISSP
14 9 (1.07%) ACCA
14 9 (1.07%) CIMA
14 9 (1.07%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 89 (10.61%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 42 (5.01%) ISO/IEC 12207
3 21 (2.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (2.38%) QA
5 19 (2.26%) IEC 61508
6 17 (2.03%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (1.43%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 9 (1.07%) Data Quality
9 8 (0.95%) Accessibility
9 8 (0.95%) GDPR
10 7 (0.83%) Def Stans
10 7 (0.83%) NIST
11 6 (0.72%) HAZOP
11 6 (0.72%) IEC 61131
12 5 (0.60%) NEBOSH
12 5 (0.60%) PMO
13 4 (0.48%) IFRS
13 4 (0.48%) NCSC
13 4 (0.48%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.36%) GRC
System Software
1 16 (1.91%) Docker
2 12 (1.43%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (0.95%) Active Directory
4 7 (0.83%) KVM
5 6 (0.72%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.60%) Firmware
6 5 (0.60%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 15 (1.79%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.67%) Functional Safety
3 13 (1.55%) Microsoft Intune
4 12 (1.43%) Ansible
5 10 (1.19%) Terraform
6 7 (0.83%) Puppet
7 5 (0.60%) SCOM
8 4 (0.48%) Grafana
8 4 (0.48%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.36%) BMC PATROL
9 3 (0.36%) SCCM
10 2 (0.24%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.12%) Data Guard
11 1 (0.12%) Nessus
11 1 (0.12%) Nmap
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle RMAN
11 1 (0.12%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 80 (9.54%) IBM
2 75 (8.94%) Microsoft
3 55 (6.56%) Siemens
4 38 (4.53%) SAP
5 19 (2.26%) Cisco
6 18 (2.15%) Google
7 17 (2.03%) Oracle
8 15 (1.79%) Dell
9 13 (1.55%) EMC
10 12 (1.43%) VMware
11 10 (1.19%) Meraki
12 8 (0.95%) ConnectWise
12 8 (0.95%) Sophos
13 7 (0.83%) Fortinet
13 7 (0.83%) Infor
13 7 (0.83%) Mentor Graphics
13 7 (0.83%) Salesforce
14 6 (0.72%) Allen-Bradley
14 6 (0.72%) Cognos
15 4 (0.48%) Adobe