Despite the fact that IT job postings are down a bit over last year’s numbers, the demand for cleared IT professionals is still high, particularly in specific regions. The following five regions make up those with higher than average job opportunities with great salaries.
Chicago
The market for nanotechnology is expected to hit more than $26 billion in the next year, and defense contractors are part of that growth. Companies like Honeywell Sensing and Control and Boeing already make up Chicago’s nanoindustry profile.
In terms of numbers alone, Northrop Grumman comes out on top, with openings for cleared personnel in business development, engineering, cost control analysis, logistics and software engineers. Keep in mind that defense contract dollars are awarded well outside the big name companies, so cleared professionals may want to check out LGS Innovations, Precision Solutions, Computers Universal, Advanced Integrated Software Technology, Inc. and Alion Science and Technology Corps, all of which look for security cleared personnel.
Southern California
About $25 billion dollars in military and defense spending flow into San Diego, where cleared jobs abound.
Centurum Inc.’s search for cleared IT professionals can only be described as intense. The company’s dozens of openings range from depot electronics technicians and calibration technicians to acquisition specialists, quality assurance inspectors and managers, engineers, logisticians and more. April postings for Northrop Grumman, also in the dozens, include demand for software developers and engineers, network communications professionals, a variety of engineering jobs and electronic integration lab technicians. Also hiring: Booz Allen Hamilton, TASC, Pragmatics and Camber Corporation.
More than 25 defense and aerospace companies operate throughout Orange County, where clearances are at a premium. The largest employers include Argo Tech Corp, Be Aerospace, C&D Aerospace Group, General Dynamics, Parker Aerospace, Raytheon Missile Systems and Boeing.
Orange County may be small in size, but it’s the third most populous region in California, also expensive. The national cost of living index average is 100. In Orange County, it is 157. That means housing and other expenses are 57 percent higher here.
North Texas
The Silicon Prairie stretches across Dallas, Fort Worth and smaller North Texas cities and towns, where the demand for software and systems engineers and related cleared IT jobs remain hot.
Despite defense cuts, Fort Worth’s Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopter and Naval Air Station Fort Worth, JRB remain major employers in the aerospace industry. Other good spots for cleared professionals include CSC in Fort Worth and Raytheon, with its Network Centric Systems headquarters in McKinney and its Intelligence and Information Systems headquarters in Garland. Arlington is home to L3 Communications, while Boeing has a presence in both Dallas and Richardson.
Another boon for North Texas: The cost of living is lower than the national average in all categories, from housing to utilities and food prices.
Northwest Florida
This 16-county region brings in more than $5 billion in defense related services, supporting about one third of northwest Florida’s entire gross regional product. With eight military installations, the accompanying defense contractor presence is huge.
Northrop Grumman dominates in Panama City, with job openings for cleared energy, civil, mechanical and network engineers. Other large employers with an ongoing need for cleared IT professionals include General Dynamics Land Systems and SynTech, which supplies fuel management systems to the Department of Defense. Cleared jobs and major DoD contract awards always go hand in hand, so cleared veterans may want to look at companies like Benedict Engineering, Computer Servants, Edge Technology Distributors, Flightline Group and D3 Air and Space Operations.
As for the cost of living, it’s about average, with the median home price about $159,000.
Washington, DC
When it comes to jobs for cleared professionals, DC reigns. There may be no other region as military friendly as the DC area, where military service and a security clearance are both considered the most valuable assets among hiring managers.
The region extends way beyond the city limits to include Maryland and Northern Virginia, which collectively provide the most public and private sector cleared job opportunities, and not just in IT. Great places to look: The federal government has cleared IT opportunities in most all agencies, while top defense contractors include General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, CACI, BAE Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton and SAIC to name a few.
As for pay, six figure salaries are the norm given the cost of living, where the median home price is $245,000. But job opportunities continue to grow here, and so does the demand for security clearances.
