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 5 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 1 7 1
Rank change year-on-year +6 -6 +3
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 333 122 360
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 34.76% 16.83% 31.77%
As % of the Qualifications category 82.63% 59.22% 72.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 214 65 225
10th Percentile £252 £403 £205
25th Percentile £310 £525 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £625 £575
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +8.70% -1.88%
75th Percentile £588 £688 £619
90th Percentile £688 £700 £688
Berkshire median daily rate £450 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -18.18% - -6.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 2 30
10th Percentile £72.70 £63.30 £50.33
25th Percentile £80.75 £65.62 £56.31
Median hourly rate £84.00 £69.48 £61.62
Median % change year-on-year +20.91% +12.74% -5.20%
75th Percentile £93.25 £73.33 £81.24
90th Percentile £97.50 £75.65 £87.53
Berkshire median hourly rate £83.00 £61.63 £62.75
% change year-on-year +34.68% -1.79% -2.98%

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 403 206 498
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 42.07% 28.41% 43.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 252 104 280
10th Percentile £255 £287 £205
25th Percentile £339 £430 £270
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +9.09% -3.51%
75th Percentile £588 £675 £615
90th Percentile £675 £700 £688
Berkshire median daily rate £450 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -14.29% +2.44% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 70 2 32
10th Percentile £73.26 £63.30 £42.00
25th Percentile £80.75 £65.62 £52.90
Median hourly rate £84.00 £69.48 £60.87
Median % change year-on-year +20.91% +14.14% -6.35%
75th Percentile £94.69 £73.33 £74.91
90th Percentile £97.75 £75.65 £87.53
Berkshire median hourly rate £83.00 £61.50 £61.60
% change year-on-year +34.97% -0.17% -4.75%

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 5 March 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 5 March 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 8 (2.40%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.80%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.90%) Confluence
4 1 (0.30%) Apache
4 1 (0.30%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 6 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.60%) Lectora
4 1 (0.30%) CATIA
4 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.30%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 5 (1.50%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.60%) SAP HCM
2 2 (0.60%) SAP PS
2 2 (0.60%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 49 (14.71%) Azure
2 37 (11.11%) AWS
3 20 (6.01%) Entra ID
4 17 (5.11%) OneDrive
5 16 (4.80%) GCP
6 13 (3.90%) Microsoft 365
7 10 (3.00%) Power Platform
8 6 (1.80%) Azure DevOps
8 6 (1.80%) Azure Sentinel
8 6 (1.80%) Power Automate
9 5 (1.50%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.20%) OpenShift
10 4 (1.20%) PowerApps
10 4 (1.20%) Viva Engage
11 3 (0.90%) Azure AKS
11 3 (0.90%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (0.90%) GitHub
11 3 (0.90%) GitHub Actions
11 3 (0.90%) IaaS
11 3 (0.90%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 19 (5.71%) Firewall
2 13 (3.90%) LAN
2 13 (3.90%) Unified Communications
3 12 (3.60%) DNS
4 11 (3.30%) DHCP
5 9 (2.70%) 4G
5 9 (2.70%) Cisco ISE
5 9 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (2.70%) Wireless
6 8 (2.40%) BGP
6 8 (2.40%) OSPF
7 7 (2.10%) BIG-IP
7 7 (2.10%) VXLAN
7 7 (2.10%) WAN
8 6 (1.80%) Cisco Nexus
8 6 (1.80%) Ethernet VPN
8 6 (1.80%) Junos
8 6 (1.80%) Network Security
9 5 (1.50%) WebEx
9 5 (1.50%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.40%) Power BI
2 4 (1.20%) NoSQL
2 4 (1.20%) SQL Server
3 3 (0.90%) Data Warehouse
3 3 (0.90%) Oracle Database
3 3 (0.90%) Oracle Database 12c
3 3 (0.90%) Tableau
4 1 (0.30%) MySQL
4 1 (0.30%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 22 (6.61%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (2.10%) JIRA
3 5 (1.50%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.20%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.90%) Android Studio
5 3 (0.90%) Subversion
6 2 (0.60%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.60%) GitLab
6 2 (0.60%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.30%) Git
7 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio
General
1 82 (24.62%) Social Skills
2 53 (15.92%) Public Sector
3 52 (15.62%) Aerospace
4 17 (5.11%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (5.11%) Finance
5 11 (3.30%) Military
6 7 (2.10%) Legal
7 5 (1.50%) Advertising
8 4 (1.20%) Manufacturing
9 3 (0.90%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.60%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (0.60%) Local Government
11 1 (0.30%) Avionics
11 1 (0.30%) Billing
11 1 (0.30%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.30%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 55 (16.52%) Consultant
2 35 (10.51%) Senior
3 33 (9.91%) Network Consultant
4 29 (8.71%) Architect
5 25 (7.51%) Lead
6 23 (6.91%) Delivery Manager
6 23 (6.91%) Network Engineer
6 23 (6.91%) Product Manager
7 20 (6.01%) Product Delivery Manager
8 14 (4.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (4.20%) IT Manager
9 13 (3.90%) Analyst
9 13 (3.90%) Support Engineer
9 13 (3.90%) Systems Engineer
10 12 (3.60%) SIEM Engineer
11 11 (3.30%) Developer
11 11 (3.30%) Systems Delivery Manager
11 11 (3.30%) Systems Manager
12 10 (3.00%) Project Manager
12 10 (3.00%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.80%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.20%) Elastic Stack
2 4 (1.20%) Loki
3 3 (0.90%) ARM Templates
3 3 (0.90%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 2 (0.60%) AngularJS
4 2 (0.60%) jQuery
4 2 (0.60%) Node.js
4 2 (0.60%) OAuth
4 2 (0.60%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.60%) OpenID
4 2 (0.60%) React
4 2 (0.60%) SAML
4 2 (0.60%) Web Services
5 1 (0.30%) HTML
5 1 (0.30%) iOS SDK
5 1 (0.30%) LAMP
5 1 (0.30%) REST
5 1 (0.30%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.30%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 17 (5.11%) Product Ownership
2 16 (4.80%) PKI
3 14 (4.20%) Data Centre
4 13 (3.90%) Onboarding
5 10 (3.00%) Cloud Native
5 10 (3.00%) Data Structures
5 10 (3.00%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.40%) Virtual Team
7 7 (2.10%) PMI
7 7 (2.10%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.80%) Clustering
8 6 (1.80%) Security Operations Centre
9 5 (1.50%) Driving Licence
9 5 (1.50%) Handset
10 4 (1.20%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.20%) Video Conferencing
11 3 (0.90%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (0.90%) Greenfield Project
11 3 (0.90%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.90%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 47 (14.11%) Windows
2 28 (8.41%) Linux
3 14 (4.20%) Windows 10
4 10 (3.00%) Android
5 4 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.20%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.90%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.90%) Unix
7 2 (0.60%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (22.52%) Roadmaps
2 63 (18.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 52 (15.62%) Continuous Improvement
4 48 (14.41%) Migration
5 42 (12.61%) ITIL
6 41 (12.31%) CI/CD
7 38 (11.41%) Agile
8 37 (11.11%) ITSM
8 37 (11.11%) Service Management
9 36 (10.81%) Cybersecurity
10 33 (9.91%) Collaborative Working
11 30 (9.01%) Scaled Agile Framework
11 30 (9.01%) Stakeholder Management
12 26 (7.81%) Computer Science
12 26 (7.81%) Configuration Management
12 26 (7.81%) Problem-Solving
12 26 (7.81%) Systems Engineering
13 25 (7.51%) Validation
14 23 (6.91%) SIEM
15 22 (6.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 36 (10.81%) Python
2 31 (9.31%) PowerShell
3 11 (3.30%) Kusto Query Language
4 9 (2.70%) Bash
5 8 (2.40%) SQL
6 5 (1.50%) Bicep
7 4 (1.20%) JavaScript
8 3 (0.90%) C#
8 3 (0.90%) Java
8 3 (0.90%) Korn
8 3 (0.90%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.60%) PHP
10 1 (0.30%) Ada
10 1 (0.30%) Assembly Language
10 1 (0.30%) C
10 1 (0.30%) C++
10 1 (0.30%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.30%) Perl
Qualifications
1 237 (71.17%) SC Cleared
2 43 (12.91%) DV Cleared
3 39 (11.71%) Degree
4 17 (5.11%) AWS Certification
5 11 (3.30%) Azure Certification
5 11 (3.30%) PMP
6 10 (3.00%) PMI Certification
7 9 (2.70%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (2.70%) CISSP
8 7 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (2.10%) MAPM
9 6 (1.80%) TOGAF Certification
10 5 (1.50%) APMP
10 5 (1.50%) GIAC
11 4 (1.20%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 4 (1.20%) CCNP
11 4 (1.20%) JNCIP
12 3 (0.90%) CFCE
12 3 (0.90%) GCIA
12 3 (0.90%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.01%) NIST
2 19 (5.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.20%) NCSC
4 8 (2.40%) NIST 800
5 7 (2.10%) QA
6 6 (1.80%) GDPR
7 4 (1.20%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.20%) Data Quality
7 4 (1.20%) PMO
7 4 (1.20%) SLA
8 3 (0.90%) DO-254
8 3 (0.90%) IEC 61508
8 3 (0.90%) ISO 26262
8 3 (0.90%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.60%) Def Stans
9 2 (0.60%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.60%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 32 (9.61%) Active Directory
2 7 (2.10%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.50%) Docker
4 4 (1.20%) vSphere
5 3 (0.90%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.90%) Oracle RAC
6 2 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.30%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 13 (3.90%) Kubernetes
1 13 (3.90%) SCCM
2 12 (3.60%) Terraform
3 8 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (2.10%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (1.80%) FortiGate
6 4 (1.20%) Ansible
6 4 (1.20%) Argo
6 4 (1.20%) Cisco CUCM
6 4 (1.20%) Grafana
6 4 (1.20%) Kustomize
6 4 (1.20%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.90%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 3 (0.90%) Nessus
7 3 (0.90%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 3 (0.90%) Oracle RMAN
7 3 (0.90%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 2 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.60%) Kibana
8 2 (0.60%) Nmap
Vendors
1 65 (19.52%) Cisco
2 54 (16.22%) Microsoft
3 34 (10.21%) Aruba
4 26 (7.81%) ServiceNow
5 16 (4.80%) Juniper
6 15 (4.50%) IBM
7 14 (4.20%) Google
8 12 (3.60%) VMware
9 10 (3.00%) F5
9 10 (3.00%) Splunk
10 6 (1.80%) LogRhythm
10 6 (1.80%) SolarWinds
11 5 (1.50%) Extreme Networks
11 5 (1.50%) SAP
11 5 (1.50%) Tanium
12 4 (1.20%) Palo Alto
12 4 (1.20%) Red Hat
13 3 (0.90%) ArcSight
13 3 (0.90%) Atlassian
13 3 (0.90%) Oracle