Cloud Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

Cloud Engineer
UK > England

The median Cloud Engineer daily rate in England is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 6 July 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
6 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 218 290 318
Rank change year-on-year +72 +28 -42
Contract jobs requiring a Cloud Engineer 545 224 244
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.23% 0.84% 0.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.34% 0.92% 0.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 364 173 172
10th Percentile £400 £400 £388
25th Percentile £462 £425 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £625 £588 £625
90th Percentile £688 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £550
% change year-on-year +4.00% -9.09% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 3 3
10th Percentile £66.22 £32.50 -
25th Percentile £73.75 £36.25 £27.50
Median hourly rate £77.00 £45.00 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +71.11% +50.00% -
75th Percentile £81.25 £55.00 £32.50
90th Percentile - £59.50 -
UK median hourly rate £77.00 £45.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year +71.11% +50.00% -

All Contract IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title 40,797 24,455 34,589
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.41% 92.13% 92.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,949 15,940 22,636
10th Percentile £325 £290 £300
25th Percentile £419 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £638
90th Percentile £735 £748 £750
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,946 1,154 2,533
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.85 £12.88
25th Percentile £21.93 £17.98 £16.86
Median hourly rate £45.00 £28.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +60.71% -30.00% -9.20%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.12 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £74.53
UK median hourly rate £43.00 £26.45 £37.50
% change year-on-year +62.57% -29.47% -14.05%

Cloud Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Cloud Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Cloud Engineer job vacancy trend in England

Cloud Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in England

Cloud Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cloud Engineer in England over the 6 months to 6 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cloud Engineer in England

Cloud Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in England

Cloud Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cloud Engineer in England over the 6 months to 6 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cloud Engineer in England

Cloud Engineer
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cloud Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 6 July 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
London +56 298 £525 - 68
North of England -26 80 £500 +11.11% 36
South East -9 74 £538 +7.50% 39
Midlands -31 44 £513 +7.89% 41
North West -20 40 £475 +14.87% 21
Yorkshire -22 33 £475 -2.56% 14
West Midlands -38 25 £525 - 25
East of England -11 22 £505 +60.32% 8
East Midlands -9 18 £450 -5.26% 16
South West -20 15 £550 -2.22% 24
North East -39 7 £525 +5.00% 1
Cloud Engineer
UK

Cloud Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 6 July 2026, Cloud Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Cloud Engineer in the job title.

1 275 (50.46%) Azure
2 251 (46.06%) Terraform
3 229 (42.02%) AWS
4 208 (38.17%) CI/CD
5 198 (36.33%) Infrastructure as Code
6 177 (32.48%) DevOps
7 148 (27.16%) Security Cleared
8 130 (23.85%) Python
9 122 (22.39%) Cloud Security
10 115 (21.10%) GCP
10 115 (21.10%) SC Cleared
11 113 (20.73%) Microsoft
12 111 (20.37%) Kubernetes
13 109 (20.00%) PowerShell
14 99 (18.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 92 (16.88%) Platform Engineering
16 83 (15.23%) Windows
17 81 (14.86%) Migration
18 79 (14.50%) Google
19 77 (14.13%) GitHub
20 68 (12.48%) Agile
21 67 (12.29%) AI
22 65 (11.93%) Firewall
23 60 (11.01%) Containerisation
24 59 (10.83%) DNS
24 59 (10.83%) Docker
25 56 (10.28%) Bash
25 56 (10.28%) Serverless
26 53 (9.72%) SQL
27 52 (9.54%) Active Directory

Cloud Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 12 (2.20%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.10%) Confluence
3 5 (0.92%) Apache
3 5 (0.92%) nginx
4 4 (0.73%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.55%) IIS
5 3 (0.55%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.37%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.37%) CloudStack
7 1 (0.18%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.18%) Apache Pulsar
7 1 (0.18%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.18%) SAS
7 1 (0.18%) Traefik
Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Aladdin
Cloud Services
1 275 (50.46%) Azure
2 229 (42.02%) AWS
3 115 (21.10%) GCP
4 77 (14.13%) GitHub
5 56 (10.28%) Serverless
6 52 (9.54%) Entra ID
7 49 (8.99%) GitHub Actions
8 40 (7.34%) Azure AKS
8 40 (7.34%) IaaS
9 39 (7.16%) PaaS
10 37 (6.79%) Amazon S3
10 37 (6.79%) Azure DevOps
11 35 (6.42%) AWS CloudFormation
12 34 (6.24%) AWS Lambda
12 34 (6.24%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 32 (5.87%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 30 (5.50%) Amazon EC2
15 29 (5.32%) SaaS
16 28 (5.14%) Amazon ECS
17 25 (4.59%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 65 (11.93%) Firewall
2 59 (10.83%) DNS
3 30 (5.50%) VPN
4 25 (4.59%) Network Security
5 15 (2.75%) WAN
6 13 (2.39%) DHCP
7 12 (2.20%) TCP/IP
8 6 (1.10%) Reverse Proxy
8 6 (1.10%) SD-WAN
9 5 (0.92%) Internet
9 5 (0.92%) SSL
9 5 (0.92%) VLAN
10 4 (0.73%) BGP
10 4 (0.73%) LAN
10 4 (0.73%) Software-Defined Networking
11 3 (0.55%) IPv4
11 3 (0.55%) OSPF
11 3 (0.55%) SAN
11 3 (0.55%) SMTP
12 2 (0.37%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (3.85%) SQL Server
2 11 (2.02%) Amazon RDS
2 11 (2.02%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (1.65%) Amazon Athena
4 8 (1.47%) DynamoDB
5 7 (1.28%) BigQuery
6 6 (1.10%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.92%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.73%) Amazon QuickSight
8 4 (0.73%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.55%) Big Data
9 3 (0.55%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.55%) MySQL
9 3 (0.55%) Oracle Database 12c
10 2 (0.37%) Metadata
10 2 (0.37%) Relational Database
11 1 (0.18%) InfluxDB
11 1 (0.18%) Neo4j
11 1 (0.18%) NoSQL
11 1 (0.18%) Redis
Development Applications
1 38 (6.97%) GitLab
2 37 (6.79%) Jenkins
3 36 (6.61%) Git
4 11 (2.02%) JIRA
5 9 (1.65%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.55%) Selenium
6 3 (0.55%) Team Foundation Server
7 2 (0.37%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.37%) Claude Code
7 2 (0.37%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.37%) Liquibase
7 2 (0.37%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.18%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.18%) Chocolatey
8 1 (0.18%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.18%) Postman
8 1 (0.18%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.18%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.18%) sqlmap
8 1 (0.18%) TestRail
General
1 62 (11.38%) Finance
2 59 (10.83%) Social Skills
3 47 (8.62%) Public Sector
4 22 (4.04%) Banking
5 17 (3.12%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (1.28%) Investment Banking
8 6 (1.10%) Legal
9 5 (0.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (0.92%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (0.73%) Law
10 4 (0.73%) Military
10 4 (0.73%) Pharmaceutical
11 3 (0.55%) Local Government
11 3 (0.55%) Retail
12 2 (0.37%) Aerospace
12 2 (0.37%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.37%) International Banking
12 2 (0.37%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.37%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (3.67%) REST
2 12 (2.20%) OAuth
2 12 (2.20%) OAuth2
3 9 (1.65%) ARM Templates
3 9 (1.65%) Spring
3 9 (1.65%) Spring Boot
4 8 (1.47%) Kafka
4 8 (1.47%) Node.js
5 7 (1.28%) .NET
5 7 (1.28%) OpenID
5 7 (1.28%) React
6 6 (1.10%) YAML
7 5 (0.92%) Model Context Protocol
7 5 (0.92%) Playwright
8 4 (0.73%) AWS CDK
8 4 (0.73%) Express.js
8 4 (0.73%) FastAPI
8 4 (0.73%) Flask
8 4 (0.73%) Jest
9 3 (0.55%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 100 (18.35%) Cloud Native
2 34 (6.24%) Hybrid Cloud
3 29 (5.32%) Security Posture
4 26 (4.77%) Public Cloud
5 19 (3.49%) Data Centre
6 15 (2.75%) Enterprise Cloud
7 14 (2.57%) Cloud Security Posture
8 13 (2.39%) Management Information System
9 12 (2.20%) Onboarding
10 11 (2.02%) Distributed Systems
11 9 (1.65%) Self-Motivation
12 8 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
13 6 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
13 6 (1.10%) Product Ownership
14 5 (0.92%) Linux Command Line
14 5 (0.92%) Private Cloud
15 4 (0.73%) AI Agents
15 4 (0.73%) Cyber Threat
15 4 (0.73%) Virtual Team
16 3 (0.55%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 83 (15.23%) Windows
2 49 (8.99%) Linux
3 47 (8.62%) Windows Server
4 19 (3.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.47%) Ubuntu
6 7 (1.28%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (0.55%) CentOS
8 2 (0.37%) VMS
8 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.18%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (38.17%) CI/CD
2 198 (36.33%) Infrastructure as Code
3 177 (32.48%) DevOps
4 122 (22.39%) Cloud Security
5 99 (18.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 92 (16.88%) Platform Engineering
7 81 (14.86%) Migration
8 68 (12.48%) Agile
9 67 (12.29%) AI
10 60 (11.01%) Containerisation
11 48 (8.81%) Observability
12 43 (7.89%) Technical Leadership
13 42 (7.71%) Infrastructure Automation
13 42 (7.71%) Software Engineering
14 38 (6.97%) Continuous Improvement
14 38 (6.97%) Problem-Solving
15 36 (6.61%) Cybersecurity
15 36 (6.61%) DevSecOps
16 31 (5.69%) Change Management
17 30 (5.50%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 130 (23.85%) Python
2 109 (20.00%) PowerShell
3 56 (10.28%) Bash
4 53 (9.72%) SQL
5 43 (7.89%) Bicep
6 29 (5.32%) Java
7 16 (2.94%) C#
8 10 (1.83%) TypeScript
9 9 (1.65%) Go
9 9 (1.65%) JavaScript
10 5 (0.92%) Groovy
11 2 (0.37%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.37%) Ruby
12 1 (0.18%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.18%) C
12 1 (0.18%) Cypher
12 1 (0.18%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.18%) Perl
12 1 (0.18%) R
12 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 148 (27.16%) Security Cleared
2 115 (21.10%) SC Cleared
3 43 (7.89%) Azure Certification
4 42 (7.71%) DV Cleared
5 29 (5.32%) AWS Certification
6 19 (3.49%) Degree
7 12 (2.20%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 12 (2.20%) CISSP
7 12 (2.20%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (1.83%) Cisco Certification
9 8 (1.47%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (1.10%) CCNP
11 4 (0.73%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 4 (0.73%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 4 (0.73%) CCIE
11 4 (0.73%) MCSE
12 3 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (0.55%) CCSP
12 3 (0.55%) TOGAF Certification
13 2 (0.37%) Citrix Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (2.20%) NIST
2 10 (1.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (1.47%) QA
4 7 (1.28%) GDPR
5 6 (1.10%) NCSC
5 6 (1.10%) PCI DSS
6 5 (0.92%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.37%) SLA
8 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.18%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.18%) GRC
8 1 (0.18%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.18%) WCAG
System Software
1 59 (10.83%) Docker
2 52 (9.54%) Active Directory
3 25 (4.59%) VMware Infrastructure
4 24 (4.40%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (3.85%) VMware ESXi
6 19 (3.49%) VMware NSX
7 14 (2.57%) Virtual Desktop
7 14 (2.57%) vSphere
8 12 (2.20%) vCloud
9 10 (1.83%) Hyper-V
10 7 (1.28%) Squid
11 4 (0.73%) Firmware
12 3 (0.55%) Dovecot
12 3 (0.55%) NFS
12 3 (0.55%) Postfix
13 2 (0.37%) Ceph
13 2 (0.37%) KVM
Systems Management
1 251 (46.06%) Terraform
2 111 (20.37%) Kubernetes
3 41 (7.52%) Ansible
4 19 (3.49%) Grafana
4 19 (3.49%) Prometheus
5 18 (3.30%) vCenter Server
6 16 (2.94%) SCOM
7 15 (2.75%) Microsoft Intune
8 13 (2.39%) Progress Chef
9 12 (2.20%) Puppet
9 12 (2.20%) Single Sign-On
10 9 (1.65%) Istio
10 9 (1.65%) Packer
11 4 (0.73%) HAProxy
11 4 (0.73%) Salt
11 4 (0.73%) Suricata
12 3 (0.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.55%) vRealize
12 3 (0.55%) VxRail
13 2 (0.37%) SELinux
Vendors
1 113 (20.73%) Microsoft
2 79 (14.50%) Google
3 45 (8.26%) VMware
4 22 (4.04%) Oracle
5 15 (2.75%) Red Hat
5 15 (2.75%) Zscaler
6 11 (2.02%) Palo Alto
6 11 (2.02%) ServiceNow
7 9 (1.65%) Cisco
7 9 (1.65%) Salesforce
8 8 (1.47%) Dynatrace
9 7 (1.28%) CrowdStrike
9 7 (1.28%) Fortinet
10 6 (1.10%) OpenAI
10 6 (1.10%) Splunk
11 5 (0.92%) Broadcom
11 5 (0.92%) Citrix
11 5 (0.92%) Databricks
11 5 (0.92%) Rapid7
11 5 (0.92%) SolarWinds
212 Cloud Engineer jobs in England