Cleared Talent Radar
WHERE IS CLEARED TALENT EASIEST — AND HARDEST — TO FIND?
Security-cleared talent is not one market. Availability changes by capability, clearance level, location, working pattern and how quickly someone needs to start.Our Talent Radar interprets current advertised demand and wider market evidence to give a simple outlook on where sourcing pressure is greatest.
MARKET OUTLOOK
SC — HIGH DEMAND ↑
More than 9,000 UK contract advertisements cited SC clearance in the latest six-month period — almost double the equivalent period a year earlier.
OUTLOOK: A large active market, but intense competition for specialists who combine current clearance, the right technical or professional capability and immediate availability.
DV — SMALLER & MORE SPECIALIST
DV appeared alongside 7.9% of current SC contract advertisements. It is a substantially narrower and more specialist market than SC.
OUTLOOK: Requirements that genuinely need active DV can reduce the addressable population very quickly.
CAPABILITY HEATMAP
HIGH PRESSURE — Cloud, DevOps & Engineering
AWS · Azure · DevOps · Kubernetes · Terraform · CI/CD · Software Engineering
Cloud and engineering capabilities feature heavily across current SC demand. AWS appears in 19.4% of SC adverts, Azure in 19.1%, DevOps in 16.8%, Kubernetes in 9.2% and Terraform in 9.0%.
OUTLOOK: Strong demand + specialist technical capability + clearance = high sourcing pressure.
CONSTRAINED — Programme, Project & Delivery
Programme Managers · Project Managers · Delivery Managers · PMO
There is a broader underlying professional population than in highly specialist engineering, but clearance, government or defence experience, location and availability can narrow it rapidly.
OUTLOOK: Talent exists, but precise combinations of clearance + domain + immediate availability remain constrained.
CONSTRAINED — Business Analysis, Change & Transformation
Business Analysts · Change Managers · Transformation Leads · Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder Management appears in 13.6% of current SC advertisements and Stakeholder Engagement in 10.1%.
OUTLOOK: Broader skills market, but materially smaller once secure-environment experience and current clearance are added.
SPECIALIST — Commercial & Procurement
Commercial Managers · Procurement Specialists · Contract Management
The underlying commercial market is broader, but supply tightens where current clearance must be combined with public-sector, defence, complex procurement or specialist contract experience.
OUTLOOK: Often constrained; highly specific domain requirements can push the search into high-pressure territory.
BETTER AVAILABILITY — Infrastructure & Support
Infrastructure · Networks · Desktop · Deployment · Technical Support
Some infrastructure and support disciplines have a broader established population than scarce cloud, engineering and DV specialist capability.
OUTLOOK: Generally better availability, although location, onsite attendance and active clearance can still make individual searches difficult.
THE TALENT TRAP
A requirement can move quickly from “we need a Project Manager” to “we need a Project Manager with this exact experience, in this location, onsite three days a week, available immediately and already holding transferable SC.”
Every additional constraint reduces the addressable talent pool.
The solution may be another cleared specialist — or it may be widening the search to someone with the right capability who can appropriately enter the clearance process.
WHAT ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO FIND?
Tell us the role, capability, location and clearance requirement. We can compare it with the market and search across our wider security-cleared and specialist networks.
