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

6 months to
30 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 1 7 1
Rank change year-on-year +6 -6 +2
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 361 105 365
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 36.14% 16.38% 30.57%
As % of the Qualifications category 82.05% 58.66% 70.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 204 65 232
10th Percentile £255 £403 £205
25th Percentile £362 £581 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £650 £600
Median % change year-on-year -23.08% +8.33% +2.39%
75th Percentile £599 £700 £653
90th Percentile £700 £723 £693
Berkshire median daily rate £460 £575 £575
% change year-on-year -20.00% - -1.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 2 37
10th Percentile £72.28 £63.30 £51.41
25th Percentile £80.75 £65.62 £56.50
Median hourly rate £84.00 £69.48 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year +20.91% +9.77% -2.63%
75th Percentile £88.00 £73.33 £85.65
90th Percentile £97.00 £75.65 £87.53
Berkshire median hourly rate £83.58 £61.79 £63.00
% change year-on-year +35.26% -1.92% -2.59%

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 440 179 520
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading 44.04% 27.93% 43.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 252 98 280
10th Percentile £255 £344 £205
25th Percentile £384 £489 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £625 £575
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +8.70% +0.88%
75th Percentile £607 £700 £650
90th Percentile £690 - £688
Berkshire median daily rate £475 £550 £525
% change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% -5.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 99 5 39
10th Percentile £71.44 £65.06 £42.00
25th Percentile £80.75 - £54.58
Median hourly rate £84.00 £70.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% +12.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £88.00 - £85.02
90th Percentile £97.50 £74.31 £87.53
Berkshire median hourly rate £83.00 £62.47 £61.60
% change year-on-year +32.86% +1.41% -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 30 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 30 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 6 (1.66%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (1.11%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.83%) Confluence
4 1 (0.28%) Apache
4 1 (0.28%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 7 (1.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.66%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.55%) Lectora
5 1 (0.28%) CATIA
5 1 (0.28%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.28%) Siemens NX
5 1 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 12 (3.32%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.83%) Teamcenter
3 2 (0.55%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.28%) iTrent
4 1 (0.28%) Primavera
4 1 (0.28%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 42 (11.63%) Azure
2 30 (8.31%) AWS
3 15 (4.16%) Entra ID
4 14 (3.88%) GCP
5 9 (2.49%) OneDrive
5 9 (2.49%) Power Platform
6 7 (1.94%) Azure DevOps
6 7 (1.94%) Microsoft 365
7 6 (1.66%) Azure Sentinel
8 5 (1.39%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.11%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.11%) Power Automate
9 4 (1.11%) Viva Engage
10 3 (0.83%) Azure AKS
10 3 (0.83%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (0.83%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (0.83%) GitHub
10 3 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (0.83%) IaaS
10 3 (0.83%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 21 (5.82%) Firewall
2 16 (4.43%) LAN
3 14 (3.88%) DNS
4 13 (3.60%) DHCP
5 12 (3.32%) Cisco ISE
6 11 (3.05%) BGP
6 11 (3.05%) OSPF
7 10 (2.77%) BIG-IP
7 10 (2.77%) Unified Communications
7 10 (2.77%) VXLAN
7 10 (2.77%) WAN
8 9 (2.49%) Ethernet VPN
8 9 (2.49%) Junos
9 8 (2.22%) Wireless
10 6 (1.66%) 4G
10 6 (1.66%) Network Security
10 6 (1.66%) Wi-Fi
11 5 (1.39%) Cisco Nexus
12 4 (1.11%) WebEx
12 4 (1.11%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.94%) Power BI
2 5 (1.39%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.11%) Oracle Database
3 4 (1.11%) Oracle Database 12c
4 3 (0.83%) Data Warehouse
4 3 (0.83%) Tableau
5 2 (0.55%) SAP Data Services
6 1 (0.28%) MySQL
6 1 (0.28%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.28%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 38 (10.53%) Rational DOORS
2 5 (1.39%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.11%) Bitbucket
4 3 (0.83%) Android Studio
4 3 (0.83%) JIRA
4 3 (0.83%) Subversion
5 2 (0.55%) Burp Suite
5 2 (0.55%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.28%) Git
6 1 (0.28%) GitLab
6 1 (0.28%) JUnit
6 1 (0.28%) Liquibase
6 1 (0.28%) Mockito
6 1 (0.28%) TestDirector
General
1 77 (21.33%) Social Skills
2 73 (20.22%) Aerospace
3 51 (14.13%) Public Sector
4 20 (5.54%) Finance
5 14 (3.88%) Analytical Skills
6 13 (3.60%) Military
7 7 (1.94%) Advertising
8 6 (1.66%) Legal
8 6 (1.66%) Manufacturing
9 3 (0.83%) Influencing Skills
9 3 (0.83%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.55%) Local Government
11 1 (0.28%) Avionics
11 1 (0.28%) Billing
11 1 (0.28%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.28%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 58 (16.07%) Consultant
2 42 (11.63%) Product Manager
3 41 (11.36%) Delivery Manager
4 38 (10.53%) Product Delivery Manager
5 36 (9.97%) Lead
6 35 (9.70%) Senior
7 33 (9.14%) Network Consultant
8 31 (8.59%) Architect
9 23 (6.37%) Network Engineer
10 22 (6.09%) Systems Delivery Manager
10 22 (6.09%) Systems Manager
11 18 (4.99%) Systems Engineer
12 14 (3.88%) IT Manager
13 12 (3.32%) Analyst
13 12 (3.32%) SIEM Engineer
13 12 (3.32%) Support Engineer
14 11 (3.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (2.77%) Project Manager
15 10 (2.77%) Senior Network Engineer
15 10 (2.77%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (2.49%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.11%) Elastic Stack
2 4 (1.11%) Loki
2 4 (1.11%) Oracle GoldenGate
3 3 (0.83%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.55%) OAuth
4 2 (0.55%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.55%) OpenID
4 2 (0.55%) SAML
5 1 (0.28%) .NET
5 1 (0.28%) CSS
5 1 (0.28%) HTML
5 1 (0.28%) HTML5 Canvas
5 1 (0.28%) iOS SDK
5 1 (0.28%) LAMP
5 1 (0.28%) MERN Stack
5 1 (0.28%) Middleware
5 1 (0.28%) React
5 1 (0.28%) REST
5 1 (0.28%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 33 (9.14%) Product Ownership
2 22 (6.09%) Data Structures
3 19 (5.26%) PKI
4 16 (4.43%) Data Centre
5 13 (3.60%) Onboarding
6 12 (3.32%) Management Information System
7 11 (3.05%) Virtual Team
8 10 (2.77%) Cloud Native
9 9 (2.49%) Clustering
10 7 (1.94%) PMI
11 6 (1.66%) Driving Licence
11 6 (1.66%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (1.39%) Greenfield Project
12 5 (1.39%) Handset
13 4 (1.11%) Security Operations Centre
13 4 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
14 3 (0.83%) Data Protection Act
14 3 (0.83%) Mobile App
14 3 (0.83%) Operational Technology
14 3 (0.83%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 39 (10.80%) Windows
2 25 (6.93%) Linux
3 8 (2.22%) Android
4 6 (1.66%) Windows 10
5 4 (1.11%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (1.11%) Unix
6 3 (0.83%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.28%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (21.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
2 77 (21.33%) Roadmaps
3 68 (18.84%) Continuous Improvement
4 59 (16.34%) Migration
5 53 (14.68%) Agile
6 48 (13.30%) Systems Engineering
7 47 (13.02%) Scaled Agile Framework
8 46 (12.74%) ITIL
9 45 (12.47%) Computer Science
10 40 (11.08%) CI/CD
11 39 (10.80%) Cybersecurity
12 38 (10.53%) Configuration Management
12 38 (10.53%) PRINCE2
12 38 (10.53%) Service Management
13 36 (9.97%) Change Control
13 36 (9.97%) ITSM
14 33 (9.14%) Collaborative Working
14 33 (9.14%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
14 33 (9.14%) Programme Management
15 32 (8.86%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 30 (8.31%) Python
2 26 (7.20%) PowerShell
3 11 (3.05%) Kusto Query Language
4 8 (2.22%) Bash
5 5 (1.39%) Bicep
5 5 (1.39%) SQL
6 4 (1.11%) Korn
6 4 (1.11%) Shell Script
7 3 (0.83%) C++
8 2 (0.55%) C#
8 2 (0.55%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.55%) PHP
9 1 (0.28%) Perl
9 1 (0.28%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 243 (67.31%) SC Cleared
2 61 (16.90%) DV Cleared
3 58 (16.07%) Degree
4 13 (3.60%) AWS Certification
5 11 (3.05%) Cisco Certification
5 11 (3.05%) PMP
6 10 (2.77%) Azure Certification
6 10 (2.77%) PMI Certification
7 9 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.22%) CISSP
9 7 (1.94%) MAPM
10 6 (1.66%) TOGAF Certification
11 5 (1.39%) APMP
12 4 (1.11%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 4 (1.11%) GIAC
12 4 (1.11%) JNCIA
12 4 (1.11%) JNCIP
12 4 (1.11%) JNCIS
13 3 (0.83%) CCNP
13 3 (0.83%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.37%) NIST
2 22 (6.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (3.88%) NCSC
4 11 (3.05%) NIST 800
5 7 (1.94%) Data Quality
6 5 (1.39%) GDPR
6 5 (1.39%) PMO
7 4 (1.11%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.11%) SLA
8 3 (0.83%) DO-254
8 3 (0.83%) IEC 61508
8 3 (0.83%) ISO 26262
8 3 (0.83%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.83%) QA
9 2 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.55%) Def Stans
9 2 (0.55%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
System Software
1 21 (5.82%) Active Directory
2 7 (1.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.39%) Docker
4 4 (1.11%) Oracle RAC
4 4 (1.11%) vSphere
5 3 (0.83%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.28%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 11 (3.05%) Kubernetes
1 11 (3.05%) Terraform
2 9 (2.49%) FortiGate
3 7 (1.94%) SCCM
4 6 (1.66%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (1.66%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (1.11%) Argo
5 4 (1.11%) Grafana
5 4 (1.11%) Kustomize
5 4 (1.11%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 4 (1.11%) Oracle RMAN
5 4 (1.11%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.83%) Ansible
6 3 (0.83%) Cisco CUCM
6 3 (0.83%) Nessus
6 3 (0.83%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 2 (0.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.55%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 2 (0.55%) Kibana
7 2 (0.55%) Nmap
Vendors
1 65 (18.01%) Cisco
2 43 (11.91%) Microsoft
3 34 (9.42%) Aruba
4 29 (8.03%) IBM
5 19 (5.26%) Juniper
6 18 (4.99%) ServiceNow
7 17 (4.71%) SAP
8 14 (3.88%) Google
9 13 (3.60%) F5
10 12 (3.32%) Splunk
10 12 (3.32%) VMware
11 9 (2.49%) SolarWinds
12 8 (2.22%) Extreme Networks
13 6 (1.66%) Oracle
14 5 (1.39%) LogRhythm
14 5 (1.39%) Tanium
15 4 (1.11%) Palo Alto
15 4 (1.11%) Red Hat
15 4 (1.11%) Siemens
16 3 (0.83%) Coverity