Issue 13
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 12 tracked 58,150 Cleared roles across 1,232 employer career pages. This issue reads 61,060 across 1,328.
That is a 5.0% increase, up from last issue's 3.9%, and the composition flipped. Last issue, 1,403 of 2,189 new roles sat on employer pages the scan had never read. This issue, new pages hold 1,243 of 2,910, and the nine employers that stayed on the contractor table added 1,259 on their own. More of this fortnight's growth came from companies already in the scan than from the scan getting wider.
Two of those companies are most of it. Lockheed added 366 Cleared roles and Anduril 488, which is 854 of that 1,259.
Several patterns the last two issues leaned on reversed, and the sections below take them one at a time. The short version: Secret stopped gaining share, the top of the clearance stack stopped losing it, Peraton dropped out of the top ten, and both Public Trust movers Issue 12 named snapped straight back.
Scan Volume
In the last 14 days, the agent scanned 126,347 GovCon contractor postings across 1,328 vetted employer careers pages.
Of those, 61,060 explicitly required Secret-or-above clearance. Roles surfaced to cleared candidates after scoring: 20,021.
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 61,060 cleared roles:
| Tier | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Secret | 32,488 | 53.2% |
| TS | 9,579 | 15.7% |
| TS/SCI | 9,397 | 15.4% |
| TS/SCI + CI Poly | 4,872 | 8.0% |
| TS/SCI + Full Scope Poly | 4,724 | 7.7% |
Secret takes 53.2% of Cleared roles (32,488), down from 53.6% after five straight issues of gaining share. It added 1,299 roles, 45% of the fortnight's increase against three quarters last issue.
CI Poly passed Full Scope Poly. TS/SCI + CI Poly reads 8.0% (4,872) after adding 661 roles, the largest gain of any tier in the stack. Full Scope Poly reads 7.7% (4,724) and added 48, a fortnight after shedding 13. Two issues running, FSP is the slowest-moving tier here.
Above Secret: straight TS at 15.7% (9,579), up 581. TS/SCI proper at 15.4% (9,397), up 321.
TS/SCI and above now totals 18,993 against 17,963, which is 31.1% of the Cleared market against 30.9%. That interrupts a five-issue slide: 36.0% in Issue 07, then 34.0%, 33.3%, 32.5%, 31.6%, 30.9%, and 31.1% now. Two tenths of a point is small enough to be composition rather than a turn, and one issue does not undo five. It is still the first time since Issue 07 that the top of the stack has gained any share at all.
Confidential-tier roles excluded from totals above (76 in window — functionally rare in modern GovCon).
Top Hiring Contractors
GovCon employers with the most cleared (Secret+) postings:
| # | Contractor | Cleared | Most common tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lockheed Martin | 4,187 | Secret |
| 2 | Northrop Grumman | 3,211 | Secret |
| 3 | RTX (Raytheon / Collins / Pratt & Whitney) | 2,158 | Secret |
| 4 | Booz Allen Hamilton | 1,930 | Secret |
| 5 | Anduril Industries | 1,669 | Secret |
| 6 | Leidos | 1,556 | Secret |
| 7 | CACI | 1,389 | Secret |
| 8 | Amentum | 1,216 | Secret |
| 9 | L3Harris | 1,146 | Secret |
| 10 | GDIT (General Dynamics IT) | 1,061 | Secret |
Peraton is out of the top ten for the first time. It sat at #9 with 1,082 Cleared roles last issue after a 66-role drop, and this issue it falls below GDIT, which arrives at #10 with 1,061. Peraton was also the only employer on this table whose most common requirement was TS/SCI rather than Secret. All ten now lead with Secret.
Lockheed Martin holds #1 at 4,187, up 366. Northrop Grumman gives back 131 to 3,211 and keeps #2. RTX stays #3 at 2,158, down 46. Booz Allen Hamilton holds #4 at 1,930, up 205.
Anduril Industries is the fortnight's largest gain, up 488 to 1,669, climbing from #8 to #5 past Leidos, CACI and Amentum. Leidos takes #6 at 1,556, CACI #7 at 1,389, Amentum #8 at 1,216 on a 15-role gain. L3Harris closes the table at 1,146, up 101.
Two of the nine employers that stayed lost roles, against four of ten last issue. The top 10 hold 32.0% of Cleared demand, up from 31.4%, which had itself fallen from 31.7% the issue before.
Coverage went from 1,232 employer career pages to 1,328, adding 96 after last issue's 139.
Behind those pages sit 102 new seed entries, two of which are rebrands of employers already in the scan rather than new coverage: Entarian (Sev1Tech) and Endurion (Quiet Professionals). The other 100 hold 1,243 Cleared roles out of 2,898 postings, and 23 of them carry no Cleared roles at all today.
Base-2 Solutions is the largest arrival at 233 Cleared roles out of 233 postings — every req on the board names a clearance. Sandia National Laboratories is next at 133 of 136. Then Textron (106 of 210), Inversion Space (80 of 87), Esri (75 of 493) and Quantum Sky Engineering (59 of 78), with Avid Technology Professionals at 52.
Sandia is worth sitting with, because last issue this section warned that labs hire in volume and hire uncleared. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Fermilab and HRL Laboratories arrived with 134 postings and eight Cleared roles between them. Sandia arrived with 136 postings and 133 Cleared roles. Both readings are correct. The difference is the program, not the institution: Sandia is an NNSA weapons lab and its reqs are gated accordingly, where an open-science lab's are not. Read the mission, not the word "laboratory."
The rest is specialist and small. Cyber: CyberPoint International (25 of 25), CyberWERX (7 of 7), Hunter Strategy, Hypori and BridgePhase. Space and propulsion: Paradigm Max Q (11), Northwood Space (5 of 67), Frontier Aerospace. Alaska Native and tribal holdings: Pueo Business Solutions (8 of 29), Sugpiat Defense (5), Kaihonua (4). Services and engineering: Strategic Analytix (23 of 23), Horizon Industries (22 of 36), Helm Point Solutions (16 of 16), Significance Inc (16), Apex TK (15), Cohere Technology Group (15), Assertive Professionals (14).
One group is worth naming for what it does not hold. TurbineOne, Zeromark, Allen Control Systems, Palladyne AI and Modern Intelligence arrived with 41 postings between them and zero Cleared roles. These are the autonomy and counter-drone names that get written about constantly, and their open reqs this fortnight are uncleared engineering. Beehive Industries is the largest zero-Cleared arrival on its own at 88 postings. If you are cleared and watching defense tech, the hiring and the headlines are not in the same place yet.
Top Job Titles
The roles employers post most across the cleared pool:
| # | Title | Cleared postings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Engineer | 1,484 |
| 2 | Systems Engineer | 1,377 |
| 3 | Program Manager | 570 |
| 4 | Systems Administrator | 519 |
| 5 | Network Engineer | 459 |
| 6 | Engineer | 380 |
| 7 | Data Scientist | 368 |
| 8 | Software Developer | 337 |
| 9 | Electrical Engineer | 306 |
| 10 | Information Systems Security Officer | 279 |
Software Engineer holds #1 at 1,484 Cleared roles, Systems Engineer #2 at 1,377. The gap between them widened from 44 roles to 107. Program Manager is #3 at 570, up 28.
Issue 12 said this section would stop naming a title of the fortnight until one moved three issues in a row. One has, and this memo had been walking past it. Electrical Engineer has risen in four consecutive issues: 232, 250, 259, and now 306. It has held #9 the whole time, directly below the titles this section kept writing about, and its 47-role gain is the second largest on the table.
Data Scientist has also risen four issues running, 338 to 356 to 362 to 368, but the increments are shrinking. Its 6-role gain is the smallest anywhere on the table, and the generic Engineer title broke their tie by adding 18 to 380. The two finished level at 362 last issue.
ISSO added 27 to reach 279 and is up two issues running. Software Developer added 40 to 337 after giving back 6 last issue, so its run is still broken. Systems Administrator (519) and Network Engineer (459) hold the middle.
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 | 22,404 | 37.4% |
| Los Angeles Metro | 2,510 | 4.2% |
| Huntsville | 2,246 | 3.7% |
| Massachusetts | 1,461 | 2.4% |
| Denver Metro | 1,316 | 2.2% |
| Remote-eligible | 1,166 | 1.9% |
| Colorado Springs | 1,014 | 1.7% |
| Tampa | 717 | 1.2% |
| Overseas | 681 | 1.1% |
| Tucson | 605 | 1.0% |
| San Antonio | 481 | 0.8% |
| Hawaii / INDOPACOM | 397 | 0.7% |
| St. Louis | 228 | 0.4% |
| Augusta | 169 | 0.3% |
| Other (distributed) | 24,564 | 41.0% |
Denver Metro is confirmed. Last issue it went from 532 Cleared roles to 973 and passed Colorado Springs, and the founder note asked you to treat it as a number to check rather than a trend to act on. It added another 343 to reach 1,316, which is 2.2% of Cleared roles, and its lead over Colorado Springs (1,014) widened from 51 roles to 302.
"Other" holds 41.0% of Cleared roles (24,564) against DC Metro's 37.4% (22,404), the second issue running where the plants, yards, ranges and lab sites outweigh the DMV. The gap between the two went from 1,074 roles to 2,160. DC Metro added 1,563 roles.
Los Angeles Metro added 368 to 2,510 and holds 4.2%, tracking Anduril's 488. Huntsville added 181 to 2,246 and holds 3.7%. Then: Massachusetts 2.4% (1,461), Remote-eligible 1.9% (1,166), Colorado Springs 1.7% (1,014), Tampa 1.2% (717), Overseas 1.1% (681), Tucson 1.0% (605), San Antonio 0.8% (481), Hawaii / INDOPACOM 0.7% (397), St. Louis 0.4% (228), Augusta 0.3% (169).
Five regions lost roles: Tucson (30), Overseas (10), Hawaii / INDOPACOM (10), Augusta (7) and Tampa (6). Tampa had landed on exactly 723 for two issues running and finally moved.
Locations are drawn from the postings themselves where available. This fortnight 1.8% of Cleared roles carried no structured location and are excluded from the regional breakdown, against 14.4% two issues ago and 6.1% last issue. The scan places 59,959 Cleared roles to a region instead of 54,597. As in Issue 12, that improvement pushes every named region's share down slightly even where its count went up, so count changes in this section are comparable with last issue's and share changes are only roughly so. The distortion is smaller than last issue — 4.3 points of coverage gained against 8.3 — and at 98.2% there is little room left for it to recur.
Top Skills In Demand
Most frequently required across the cleared role pool:
| # | Skill | Cleared roles requiring |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python | 11,942 |
| 2 | AWS | 8,340 |
| 3 | C++ | 5,650 |
| 4 | Kubernetes | 4,240 |
| 5 | Docker | 4,049 |
| 6 | Azure | 3,632 |
| 7 | Machine Learning | 3,177 |
| 8 | Cisco | 2,694 |
| 9 | Ansible | 2,534 |
| 10 | RMF | 2,532 |
Python leads at 11,942 Cleared roles, up 9.5%. AWS holds #2 at 8,340 and grew 9.6% after two issues as the slowest of the five at around 1%. C++ is #3 at 5,650, up 6.7%.
Kubernetes (4,240) and Docker (4,049) separated for the first time, by 191 roles after six issues of finishing within a few dozen of each other. Kubernetes grew 11.2% against Docker's 7.1%.
Read all five rates against the market rather than on their own. Cleared roles grew 5.0% this fortnight and every tracked skill grew faster than that, which says the roles joining the scan are more technical than the ones already in it, not that any single skill surged. On the same basis, the Kubernetes and Docker split is one fortnight of divergence in a pair that has moved together all year, so this section will keep treating it as a tie until it holds.
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: 4,854 Public Trust-eligible postings.
Top hiring contractors
| Contractor | Count |
|---|---|
| Guidehouse | 268 |
| Amentum | 252 |
| Leidos | 251 |
| Peraton | 218 |
| SAIC | 214 |
| CACI | 158 |
| Akima | 156 |
| Yorktown Systems Group | 135 |
| GDIT (General Dynamics IT) | 133 |
| Steampunk | 122 |
Top regions
| Region | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Other (distributed) | 1,965 | 40.5% |
| DC Metro | 1,897 | 39.1% |
| Remote-eligible | 718 | 14.8% |
| San Antonio | 42 | 0.9% |
| Denver Metro | 35 | 0.7% |
| Hawaii / INDOPACOM | 33 | 0.7% |
| Los Angeles Metro | 21 | 0.4% |
| Tampa | 21 | 0.4% |
| Overseas | 18 | 0.4% |
| Huntsville | 16 | 0.3% |
| Massachusetts | 9 | 0.2% |
| Tucson | 8 | 0.2% |
| Colorado Springs | 6 | 0.1% |
| Augusta | 4 | 0.1% |
| St. Louis | 2 | 0.0% |
Public Trust reads 4,854 roles, up from 4,788. That is 1.4% growth against the Cleared market's 5.0%. Guidehouse holds the top seat at 268, down 15.
Both movers Issue 12 named snapped back. SAIC added 84 to reach 214 and climbs from #9 to #5, after losing 42 and falling from #6 to #9 last issue. GDIT gave back 28 to 133 and falls from #6 to #9, after adding 40 and climbing from #10 to #6 last issue. The two have now spent two fortnights trading the same pair of positions.
Amentum passes Leidos for #2 by a single role, 252 to 251. Peraton takes #4 at 218, up 12. Then CACI 158, Akima 156, Yorktown Systems Group 135. Steampunk arrives at #10 with 122, displacing Koniag Government Services.
Yorktown's streak ended. It had posted exactly 137 Public Trust roles in four consecutive issues. This issue it reads 135.
The remote spread widened again. 14.8% of Public Trust postings are remote-eligible against 1.9% of Cleared ones, from 13.9% and 2.0% last issue, so the gap went from 11.9 points to 12.9, the widest in the nine issues this section has tracked it. The finding has not moved: civilian-agency work is where remote Cleared-adjacent hiring lives.
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
Two weeks ago I asked you to treat Denver Metro as a number to confirm rather than a trend to act on. It had gone from 532 Cleared roles to 973 in a single fortnight, which is usually what it looks like when our scan finds rows it had been missing rather than when a city starts hiring. It added another 343 this fortnight, to 1,316, and widened its lead over Colorado Springs from 51 roles to 302. Two consecutive fortnights of that size is not a reading artifact. Denver is real, and if you are cleared and mobile it is the most improved place on this map.
The thing I should not have been watching is any job title sitting between 250 and 300 roles. I named ISSO in Issue 10 and it went flat. I named Software Developer in Issue 11 and it gave back six roles. In Issue 12 I promised no more titles of the fortnight until something moved three issues in a row, which was the right rule and also an admission that I had been reading noise out loud. Applying it this issue turned up a title I have never once mentioned: Electrical Engineer, up in four straight issues, 232 to 250 to 259 to 306. It had been sitting at #9 the entire time, directly underneath the titles I kept writing about. The rule worked by pointing at something boring and consistent instead of something that had just moved.
On volume, the composition flipped. 2,910 Cleared roles added, 1,243 of them on employer pages the scan had never read, and 1,259 across the nine companies that stayed on the contractor table. That is the first issue in a while where more of the growth came from employers already in the scan than from the scan getting wider, and I would like to tell you the cleared market grew 5% this fortnight. What I can tell you is that two companies did. Lockheed added 366 and Anduril 488, which is 854 of that 1,259. The other seven on the table net 405 between them. That beats the 37 roles the other eight managed last issue, so the top of this market is no longer flat. It is also not hiring broadly.
Peraton falling out of the top ten is the change I will be watching. It was #9 at 1,082 last issue after a 66-role drop, and it now sits below GDIT at 1,061. It was also the only employer on that table that asked for TS/SCI more often than Secret, so its exit means all ten of the largest cleared employers now lead with Secret. If you hold TS/SCI or above, the biggest boards are not where your clearance is scarcest.
Two more notes on my own record. Both Public Trust movers I called out last issue reversed exactly. SAIC's 42-role fall became an 84-role climb, GDIT's 40-role climb became a 28-role fall, and they traded #5 and #9 back. In a table where eighty roles separate fifth place from ninth, a fortnight of movement is weather. I will keep reporting those ranks and stop narrating them.
And the top of the clearance stack gained share for the first time since Issue 07, 30.9% to 31.1%. That is two tenths of a point and I would not normally raise it, except that I have spent five issues telling you it was sliding. If it slides again next issue, this was noise, and I will say so.
— Rahul Pandhi Founder, ClearMatch