Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in Reading

Security Clearance
Berkshire > Reading

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Reading with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 18 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 4 1
Rank change year-on-year +2 -3 +4
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 198 172 301
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 26.65% 19.44% 30.01%
As % of the Qualifications category 70.71% 60.56% 72.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 154 93 209
10th Percentile £255 £425 £205
25th Percentile £306 £558 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £625 £550
Median % change year-on-year -23.88% +13.64% -3.51%
75th Percentile £547 £663 £615
90th Percentile £632 £700 £663
Berkshire median daily rate £450 £571 £524
% change year-on-year -21.19% +9.02% -10.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 4 13
10th Percentile £65.00 £61.63 £52.90
25th Percentile £76.00 £61.71 £56.65
Median hourly rate £90.00 £68.20 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +31.97% +10.71% -5.23%
75th Percentile £97.50 £75.45 £63.29
90th Percentile £121.77 £76.49 £64.66
Berkshire median hourly rate £73.50 £63.15 £61.60
% change year-on-year +16.39% +2.52% +12.00%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Reading

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 contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in Reading.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 280 284 416
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 37.69% 32.09% 41.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 197 141 281
10th Percentile £255 £281 £205
25th Percentile £350 £463 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £625 £525
Median % change year-on-year -23.20% +19.05% -4.55%
75th Percentile £551 £663 £615
90th Percentile £640 £700 £675
Berkshire median daily rate £450 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 4 13
10th Percentile £66.00 £61.63 £52.90
25th Percentile £81.00 £61.71 £56.65
Median hourly rate £90.00 £68.20 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +31.97% +10.71% -5.23%
75th Percentile £97.50 £75.45 £63.29
90th Percentile £118.62 £76.49 £64.66
Berkshire median hourly rate £72.00 £61.76 £60.57
% change year-on-year +16.58% +1.96% +10.13%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in Reading

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Security Cleared relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading.

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in Reading

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in Reading

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in Reading over the 6 months to 18 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in Reading

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Reading citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in Reading

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in Reading over the 6 months to 18 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in Reading

Security Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Reading 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 (2.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.52%) Confluence
3 2 (1.01%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.51%) CMS
4 1 (0.51%) Drupal
4 1 (0.51%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.51%) WordPress
Applications
1 4 (2.02%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.01%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.51%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 3 (1.52%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (1.01%) SAP HCM
2 2 (1.01%) SAP PS
3 1 (0.51%) Primavera
3 1 (0.51%) SAP EWM
3 1 (0.51%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 44 (22.22%) Azure
2 38 (19.19%) AWS
3 19 (9.60%) Entra ID
4 16 (8.08%) GCP
5 15 (7.58%) OneDrive
6 9 (4.55%) Microsoft 365
7 6 (3.03%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (2.53%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (2.02%) Azure Sentinel
9 4 (2.02%) IaaS
9 4 (2.02%) OpenShift
9 4 (2.02%) Power Automate
9 4 (2.02%) Power Platform
10 3 (1.52%) Azure AKS
10 3 (1.52%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (1.52%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.52%) GitHub
10 3 (1.52%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (1.52%) PaaS
11 2 (1.01%) AWS Control Tower
Communications & Networking
1 11 (5.56%) Firewall
2 10 (5.05%) Unified Communications
3 9 (4.55%) 4G
3 9 (4.55%) Wi-Fi
4 6 (3.03%) DNS
5 5 (2.53%) DHCP
5 5 (2.53%) LAN
5 5 (2.53%) WebEx
5 5 (2.53%) Wireless
6 4 (2.02%) Cisco Nexus
6 4 (2.02%) WLAN
7 3 (1.52%) Network Security
7 3 (1.52%) TCP/IP
8 2 (1.01%) DWDM
9 1 (0.51%) BGP
9 1 (0.51%) CTI
9 1 (0.51%) Internet
9 1 (0.51%) Intranet
9 1 (0.51%) OSPF
9 1 (0.51%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.53%) NoSQL
2 2 (1.01%) Power BI
3 1 (0.51%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 7 (3.54%) JIRA
2 5 (2.53%) Jenkins
3 3 (1.52%) Android Studio
3 3 (1.52%) Bitbucket
3 3 (1.52%) Subversion
4 2 (1.01%) Burp Suite
4 2 (1.01%) Metasploit
4 2 (1.01%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.51%) Git
5 1 (0.51%) GitLab
5 1 (0.51%) Rational DOORS
General
1 59 (29.80%) Social Skills
2 50 (25.25%) Public Sector
3 18 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (4.55%) Military
5 8 (4.04%) Finance
6 6 (3.03%) Legal
7 2 (1.01%) Aerospace
7 2 (1.01%) Telecoms
8 1 (0.51%) Billing
8 1 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (0.51%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.51%) Pharmaceutical
8 1 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 46 (23.23%) Consultant
2 33 (16.67%) Network Consultant
3 17 (8.59%) Architect
4 14 (7.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 13 (6.57%) Senior
6 11 (5.56%) Cloud Engineer
6 11 (5.56%) Developer
7 10 (5.05%) Network Engineer
7 10 (5.05%) Tester
8 9 (4.55%) Infrastructure Support
8 9 (4.55%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
8 9 (4.55%) Support Engineer
9 8 (4.04%) Project Manager
10 7 (3.54%) Analyst
10 7 (3.54%) Android Developer
10 7 (3.54%) Platform Engineer
10 7 (3.54%) Technical Architect
11 6 (3.03%) Cloud Consultant
11 6 (3.03%) Technology Consultant
11 6 (3.03%) Windows Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.02%) Loki
2 3 (1.52%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.01%) AngularJS
3 2 (1.01%) jQuery
3 2 (1.01%) Node.js
3 2 (1.01%) OAuth
3 2 (1.01%) OAuth2
3 2 (1.01%) OpenID
3 2 (1.01%) React
3 2 (1.01%) SAML
3 2 (1.01%) Web Services
4 1 (0.51%) .NET
4 1 (0.51%) Elastic Stack
4 1 (0.51%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.51%) REST
4 1 (0.51%) RESTful
4 1 (0.51%) SailPoint
4 1 (0.51%) Spring
4 1 (0.51%) Spring Boot
4 1 (0.51%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 11 (5.56%) Cloud Native
2 10 (5.05%) PKI
3 9 (4.55%) Data Centre
4 6 (3.03%) Onboarding
4 6 (3.03%) PMI
5 5 (2.53%) Driving Licence
5 5 (2.53%) Handset
6 4 (2.02%) Management Information System
6 4 (2.02%) Security Operations Centre
6 4 (2.02%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.02%) Virtual Team
7 3 (1.52%) Mobile App
8 1 (0.51%) Cyber Threat
8 1 (0.51%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.51%) Fibre Optics
8 1 (0.51%) Greenfield Project
8 1 (0.51%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (0.51%) Private Cloud
8 1 (0.51%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.51%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 40 (20.20%) Windows
2 25 (12.63%) Linux
3 14 (7.07%) Windows 10
4 9 (4.55%) Android
5 4 (2.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (2.02%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.01%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.51%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (24.24%) Roadmaps
2 44 (22.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 38 (19.19%) Migration
4 37 (18.69%) CI/CD
5 30 (15.15%) Collaborative Working
6 23 (11.62%) Problem-Solving
7 22 (11.11%) ITSM
8 21 (10.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 20 (10.10%) ITIL
9 20 (10.10%) Service Management
10 18 (9.09%) Agile
11 16 (8.08%) Continuous Improvement
11 16 (8.08%) Cybersecurity
12 15 (7.58%) Change Management
12 15 (7.58%) DevOps
12 15 (7.58%) DevSecOps
12 15 (7.58%) Infrastructure as Code
13 13 (6.57%) Validation
14 12 (6.06%) Project Management
15 11 (5.56%) Performance Metrics
Programming Languages
1 25 (12.63%) Python
2 20 (10.10%) PowerShell
3 9 (4.55%) Bash
4 6 (3.03%) Java
5 5 (2.53%) Bicep
5 5 (2.53%) SQL
6 4 (2.02%) C#
6 4 (2.02%) JavaScript
7 2 (1.01%) Ada
7 2 (1.01%) Assembly Language
7 2 (1.01%) C
7 2 (1.01%) Kusto Query Language
7 2 (1.01%) MATLAB
8 1 (0.51%) Go
8 1 (0.51%) PHP
Qualifications
1 154 (77.78%) SC Cleared
2 28 (14.14%) DV Cleared
3 17 (8.59%) AWS Certification
4 14 (7.07%) Degree
5 10 (5.05%) Azure Certification
6 9 (4.55%) CISSP
7 7 (3.54%) PMP
8 6 (3.03%) MAPM
8 6 (3.03%) PMI Certification
9 5 (2.53%) APMP
9 5 (2.53%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (2.53%) TOGAF Certification
10 4 (2.02%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 4 (2.02%) CCNP
10 4 (2.02%) GIAC
11 3 (1.52%) CFCE
11 3 (1.52%) GCFA
11 3 (1.52%) GCIA
11 3 (1.52%) GCIH
11 3 (1.52%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (4.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 9 (4.55%) NCSC
2 7 (3.54%) QA
3 6 (3.03%) NIST
4 5 (2.53%) GDPR
5 4 (2.02%) PMO
5 4 (2.02%) SLA
6 3 (1.52%) PCI DSS
7 2 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (1.01%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.51%) Def Stans
8 1 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
8 1 (0.51%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.51%) PSD2
System Software
1 30 (15.15%) Active Directory
2 8 (4.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (3.54%) Docker
4 5 (2.53%) vSphere
5 3 (1.52%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.01%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.51%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.51%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.51%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 15 (7.58%) Kubernetes
2 13 (6.57%) SCCM
3 12 (6.06%) Terraform
4 8 (4.04%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (2.53%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (2.02%) Ansible
6 4 (2.02%) Argo
6 4 (2.02%) Cisco CUCM
6 4 (2.02%) Grafana
6 4 (2.02%) Kustomize
6 4 (2.02%) Prometheus
7 3 (1.52%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 3 (1.52%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 2 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (1.01%) Nessus
8 2 (1.01%) Nmap
9 1 (0.51%) Cisco UCCE
9 1 (0.51%) Kibana
9 1 (0.51%) vRealize
9 1 (0.51%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 52 (26.26%) Cisco
2 43 (21.72%) Microsoft
3 34 (17.17%) Aruba
4 16 (8.08%) ServiceNow
5 13 (6.57%) VMware
6 12 (6.06%) Google
7 4 (2.02%) LogRhythm
7 4 (2.02%) Red Hat
7 4 (2.02%) SAP
8 3 (1.52%) ArcSight
8 3 (1.52%) Atlassian
8 3 (1.52%) Coverity
8 3 (1.52%) Splunk
8 3 (1.52%) Thales
9 2 (1.01%) Citrix
9 2 (1.01%) CloudEndure
9 2 (1.01%) F5
9 2 (1.01%) Juniper
9 2 (1.01%) Nokia
9 2 (1.01%) Tanium