Issue 09
Every other Tuesday, the ClearMatch agent reports what it saw in the Cleared GovCon job market: total volume, who's hiring, what skills are in demand, where the work sits. Anonymized aggregate intelligence built from the same daily scan the agent runs for every Cleared candidate on the platform. No promotional fluff.
Issue 08 tracked 44,281 Cleared roles across 678 employer career pages. This issue reads 47,033 across 778.
That is a 6.2% increase, and it is a quieter fortnight than the last one. Almost half of the gain comes from a single employer. Lockheed Martin moved its careers platform in August, and Issue 08 caught only a partial read of the new board; this issue is the first with a full fourteen days of it at depth. Lockheed alone accounts for 1,229 of the 2,752 role increase. The other half is coverage: 100 more employer career pages. Underlying demand at the employers we were already reading previously is close to flat.
Scan Volume
In the last 14 days, the agent scanned 94,305 GovCon contractor postings across 778 vetted employer careers pages.
Of those, 47,033 explicitly required Secret-or-above clearance. Roles surfaced to cleared candidates after scoring: 6,946.
Every count and share in this memo reflects the GovCon employer career pages the agent tracks — a large and growing sample, not the entire Cleared market. Figures like “share of demand” are of that tracked set.
Clearance Mix
Of the 47,033 cleared roles:
| Tier | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Secret | 24,114 | 51.3% |
| TS | 7,275 | 15.5% |
| TS/SCI | 7,630 | 16.2% |
| TS/SCI + CI Poly | 3,892 | 8.3% |
| TS/SCI + Full Scope Poly | 4,122 | 8.8% |
Secret takes 51.3% of Cleared roles (24,114), up from 50.5% last issue. Above it, 33.3% sits at TS/SCI or higher (15,644): TS/SCI proper at 16.2% (7,630), Full Scope Poly at 8.8% (4,122), CI Poly at 8.3% (3,892). Straight TS holds 15.5% (7,275), unchanged as a share.
The drift toward Secret is Lockheed arriving. Their Cleared postings are Secret-topped, so a full read of that board lands mostly on the bottom rung and compresses the shares above it. TS/SCI-and-above grew in absolute terms again, 15,055 to 15,644, while losing seven tenths of a point of share. Two issues running, the same pattern: the pie gets bigger at the bottom and the top of the stack keeps growing without keeping pace.
Confidential-tier roles excluded from totals above (58 in window — functionally rare in modern GovCon).
Top Hiring Contractors
GovCon employers with the most cleared (Secret+) postings:
| # | Contractor | Cleared | Most common tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northrop Grumman | 3,307 | Secret |
| 2 | Lockheed Martin | 2,174 | Secret |
| 3 | RTX (Raytheon / Collins / Pratt & Whitney) | 1,922 | Secret |
| 4 | Booz Allen Hamilton | 1,791 | Secret |
| 5 | CACI | 1,473 | TS/SCI |
| 6 | Leidos | 1,379 | Secret |
| 7 | Anduril Industries | 1,306 | Secret |
| 8 | Amentum | 1,197 | Secret |
| 9 | Peraton | 1,169 | TS/SCI |
| 10 | GDIT (General Dynamics IT) | 935 | Secret |
Northrop Grumman holds #1 at 3,307 Cleared roles, flat on last issue. The change is directly beneath it: Lockheed Martin takes #2 with 2,174, up from tenth place and 945. RTX (1,922) and Booz Allen Hamilton (1,791) each slip a rank without losing volume.
Lockheed's move is our reading, not their hiring. This issue is the confirmation: a full fourteen days of that board, read at depth, puts them back among the primes where their program volume has always sat. Nothing about Lockheed's hiring doubled in a fortnight.
Below them: CACI at 1,473, Leidos 1,379, then Anduril Industries slipping to #7 at 1,306 from #4 and 1,437. Amentum takes 1,197, Peraton 1,169, and GDIT closes the table at 935. SAIC and BAE Systems stay out for a second issue.
The top 10 hold 35.4% of Cleared demand, up from 35.2%. That ends three straight issues of falling concentration, and the entire reversal is Lockheed re-entering at full size.
Coverage went from 678 employer career pages to 778. The additions are mid-market and below, which is where the work is hardest to find on your own.
Cyber and SIGINT, weighted to Maryland: FEDITC, IPSecure, Excentium, Jovian Concepts, Markesman Group, SSATI, Riptide Technology, Information Gateways, WarCollar Industries. Intelligence analysis and mission support: Praescient Analytics, DarkStar Intelligence, Chopine Analytic Solutions, S2 Analytical Solutions, IAMUS Consulting. Research and advanced engineering: IonQ, Toyon Research Corporation, CUBRC, MRSL Real-Time Systems Laboratory, Envisioneering, SynMax. Mission services at scale: COLSA Corporation, Core4ce, KeyLogic Systems, Nou Systems, ITA International, DAWSON, OST Inc., Canvas Inc, Obsidian Solutions Group, Metrea. And more tribal and 8(a) holdings: Shee Atiká Government Services, Hui Huliau, Command Holdings, Tamayo Federal Solutions.
One of the new names lands on a table immediately. Yorktown Systems Group enters the Public Trust top ten at #8 with 137 roles on its first fortnight in the scan, which is a fair illustration of what the standing caveat costs: a firm hiring at that volume was invisible here until this issue. A handful of majors and FFRDCs are still outside the scan, so the true Cleared market remains larger than what is counted.
Top Job Titles
The roles employers post most across the cleared pool:
| # | Title | Cleared postings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Engineer | 1,172 |
| 2 | Systems Engineer | 1,160 |
| 3 | Program Manager | 431 |
| 4 | Systems Administrator | 419 |
| 5 | Network Engineer | 381 |
| 6 | Data Scientist | 288 |
| 7 | Software Developer | 231 |
| 8 | Electrical Engineer | 207 |
| 9 | DevOps Engineer | 191 |
| 10 | Information Systems Security Officer | 181 |
Software Engineer holds #1 at 1,172 Cleared roles with Systems Engineer at 1,160, and the gap between them closed from 56 roles to 12. After Issue 08 reversed their order, they are now effectively tied. Program Manager is #3 at 431.
Systems Administrator (419) stays ahead of Network Engineer (381) for a second issue, which settles a rung that flipped twice in the three issues before it. The movement worth noting is lower down: Information Systems Security Officer reads 181, up from 163, and DevOps Engineer 191 from 176, both growing faster than the market. Data Scientist takes 288. Software Developer (231) and Electrical Engineer (207) are the only two titles on the table to fall in absolute terms, both by single digits.
Titles are normalized before counting: seniority prefixes and level suffixes are merged into the base title, and clearance or work-mode tags are stripped — “Sr. Systems Engineer II (TS/SCI)” counts toward “Systems Engineer.”
Geographic Concentration
Where the cleared roles are based:
| Region | Cleared roles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| DC Metro | 15,751 | 40.3% |
| Los Angeles Metro | 1,952 | 5.0% |
| Huntsville | 1,511 | 3.9% |
| Massachusetts | 923 | 2.4% |
| Remote-eligible | 725 | 1.9% |
| Tampa | 678 | 1.7% |
| Colorado Springs | 683 | 1.7% |
| Overseas | 652 | 1.7% |
| Tucson | 580 | 1.5% |
| Denver Metro | 433 | 1.1% |
| Hawaii / INDOPACOM | 408 | 1.0% |
| San Antonio | 305 | 0.8% |
| St. Louis | 169 | 0.4% |
| Augusta | 108 | 0.3% |
| Other (distributed) | 14,208 | 36.4% |
DC Metro is 40.3% of Cleared roles (15,751), the first time this memo has printed it above forty after 39.7% last issue and 33% in Issue 04. Los Angeles Metro holds #2 at 5.0% (1,952), a fractional slip from 5.3% as Anduril's volume eased, with Huntsville at 3.9% (1,511) closing the gap behind it.
Behind them: Massachusetts 2.4% (923), Colorado Springs 1.7% (683), Tampa 1.7% (678), Overseas 1.7% (652), Tucson 1.5% (580), Denver Metro 1.1% (433), Hawaii / INDOPACOM 1.0% (408). "Other" is 36.4% (14,208), which is the plant-site geography of the primes and where most of Lockheed's new volume lands. Remote-eligible Cleared work is 1.9% (725), up from 1.6%, and still the number to hold against the Public Trust section below.
Locations are drawn from the postings themselves where available. About 16.9% of Cleared roles this fortnight carried no structured location and are excluded from the regional breakdown. That is a step back from last issue's 14%, and the newly added boards are the reason: smaller employers post less structured location data than the primes do.
Top Skills In Demand
Most frequently required across the cleared role pool:
| # | Skill | Cleared roles requiring |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python | 8,865 |
| 2 | AWS | 6,868 |
| 3 | C++ | 4,040 |
| 4 | Kubernetes | 3,257 |
| 5 | Docker | 3,253 |
Python leads by a wide margin at 8,865 Cleared roles. AWS holds #2 (6,868) and C++ #3 (4,040), still the defense-industrial tell. At the bottom of the table Kubernetes (3,257) now edges Docker (3,253) by four roles, reversing last issue's 29-role gap in the other direction.
That is the third consecutive issue where these two finish inside the noise band, and at this point the reversal is not the finding. Cleared job descriptions ask for the container runtime and the orchestrator at the same rate, and have done all quarter.
Skill demand is measured across a set of in-demand GovCon skills we track, refreshed each quarter as the market shifts.
Adjacent Market: Public Trust
Public Trust isn’t a security clearance — it’s the federal suitability tier for civilian fed work (CISA, IRS, VA, USDA, HHS) handling sensitive-but-unclassified information. Included separately because many cleared candidates dual-purpose this pool between cleared engagements, and the demand signal is its own market.
In the last 14 days: 4,197 Public Trust-eligible postings.
Top hiring contractors
| Contractor | Count |
|---|---|
| Guidehouse | 295 |
| Leidos | 267 |
| Akima | 250 |
| Amentum | 214 |
| Peraton | 191 |
| SAIC | 160 |
| CACI | 156 |
| Yorktown Systems Group | 137 |
| Steampunk | 111 |
| GDIT (General Dynamics IT) | 96 |
Top regions
| Region | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Other (distributed) | 1,651 | 39.3% |
| DC Metro | 1,362 | 32.5% |
| Remote-eligible | 508 | 12.1% |
| San Antonio | 59 | 1.4% |
| Denver Metro | 34 | 0.8% |
| Colorado Springs | 22 | 0.5% |
| Los Angeles Metro | 20 | 0.5% |
| Hawaii / INDOPACOM | 18 | 0.4% |
| Overseas | 18 | 0.4% |
| Huntsville | 13 | 0.3% |
| Tucson | 7 | 0.2% |
| Massachusetts | 6 | 0.1% |
| Augusta | 5 | 0.1% |
| St. Louis | 3 | 0.1% |
| Tampa | 1 | 0.0% |
Public Trust reads 4,197 roles, up from 3,874. Guidehouse holds the top seat at 295, then Leidos (267), Akima (250), Amentum (214), Peraton (191), SAIC (160) and CACI (156). Yorktown Systems Group enters at #8 with 137 in its first fortnight on the scan, then Steampunk (111) and GDIT (96).
GDIT is the mover in the other direction, falling from #8 to #10 as its Public Trust count went from 134 to 96. ICF International drops off the table entirely. Neither firm changed how it posts; both were passed by employers that grew or arrived.
The remote gap holds as the durable finding across five issues. 12.1% of Public Trust postings are remote-eligible against 1.9% of Cleared ones. Both numbers rose this fortnight and the ratio barely moved. The SCIF dependency is structural, and it is not loosening.
Public Trust counts reflect JD postings that explicitly name "Public Trust," "MBI," or "Tier 1/2/4." Many civilian fed contractor roles are PT-eligible in practice but don't use that language in the listing — the agency runs the suitability investigation post-hire. Actual PT-eligible volume is materially higher than the explicit count shown here.
Founder Note
Last issue's topline moved because we changed how we count. This issue's moved because one employer came back into focus.
Here is the specific version. Lockheed Martin sits at #2 on the contractor table with 2,174 Cleared roles, against 945 last issue. They did not add 1,229 Cleared roles in fourteen days. They moved their careers platform in August, we lost depth on the board while it moved, and Issue 08 published a partial read with a note attached saying so. This issue is the first with a clean fourteen days behind it. If you strip Lockheed out of both issues, the rest of the scan grew 1,523 roles on 100 additional employer career pages, which is coverage doing roughly what coverage does and a Cleared market that is close to flat.
The flat part is worth sitting with. Two issues ago the count jumped 29%, and it would be easy to read this memo as a market in expansion. It isn't. What has been expanding is our view of it. The primes we have read cleanly all year (Northrop, RTX, Booz Allen, CACI, Leidos) are within a few percent of where they were a fortnight ago, and Anduril actually came down. Volume at the top of this market is steady right now.
The number I keep returning to is 1.9%. That is the share of Cleared roles that are remote-eligible, against 12.1% of Public Trust ones, and five issues of data have not moved that ratio. Every conversation about flexible work in this industry runs into the same wall, and the wall is a physical room with a door. If you hold a clearance and want to work from your house, the honest read of this memo is that the work exists, it is Public Trust, and it pays differently. You should have the number before you start.
— Rahul Pandhi Founder, ClearMatch