Operational Technology Contracts in England

Operational Technology (OT)
UK > England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Operational Technology in contract job vacancies in England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Operational Technology over the 6 months leading up to 22 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 339 406 457
Rank change year-on-year +67 +51 +224
Contract jobs citing Operational Technology 128 136 184
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.53% 0.37% 0.38%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.56% 1.22% 1.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 90 89 115
10th Percentile £437 £361 £350
25th Percentile £513 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £583 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year +1.30% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £638 £674 £680
90th Percentile £732 £878 £775
UK median daily rate £575 £575 £570
% change year-on-year - +0.88% -4.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 2 0
10th Percentile £70.24 - -
25th Percentile £72.40 £62.50 -
Median hourly rate £78.40 £65.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +20.62% - -
75th Percentile £82.00 £67.50 -
90th Percentile £82.72 - -
UK median hourly rate £83.20 £65.00 -
% change year-on-year +28.00% - -

All Generic Skills
England

Operational Technology falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 8,195 11,160 16,152
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.16% 30.70% 33.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,356 7,317 11,230
10th Percentile £300 £268 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £550 £571
Median % change year-on-year -2.32% -3.64% +3.77%
75th Percentile £673 £675 £698
90th Percentile £788 £800 £800
UK median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.42% -2.18% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 333 818 572
10th Percentile £15.84 £12.25 £9.80
25th Percentile £19.97 £15.17 £10.63
Median hourly rate £33.00 £34.11 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year -3.24% +51.68% -15.15%
75th Percentile £63.75 £61.30 £63.19
90th Percentile £83.88 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £31.76 £31.50 £22.26
% change year-on-year +0.83% +41.54% -19.07%

Operational Technology
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Operational Technology as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Operational Technology in England

Operational Technology
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Operational Technology in England.

Daily rate trend for Operational Technology in England

Operational Technology
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Operational Technology in England over the 6 months to 22 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Operational Technology in England

Operational Technology
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Operational Technology in England.

Hourly rate trend for Operational Technology in England

Operational Technology
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 Operational Technology within the England region over the 6 months to 22 May 2025. 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
Midlands +31 39 £600 +17.07% 50
West Midlands +30 39 £600 +17.07% 24
South East +44 30 £600 +19.88% 73
London +35 29 £525 -19.23% 84
North of England +17 15 £575 -11.54% 55
East of England +26 8 £450 +12.50% 12
North East +6 7 £575 -4.17% 10
North West +12 6 £400 -58.44% 20
Yorkshire +6 3 £613 -5.77% 27
South West +12 1 £575 -1.71% 25
Operational Technology
UK

Operational Technology
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 3 (2.34%) ThingWorx
2 1 (0.78%) SAS
2 1 (0.78%) SharePoint
Applications
1 7 (5.47%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (2.34%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (2.34%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 16 (12.50%) Azure
2 10 (7.81%) AWS
3 2 (1.56%) Azure Sentinel
3 2 (1.56%) Entra ID
3 2 (1.56%) GCP
3 2 (1.56%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.78%) Azure Stack
4 1 (0.78%) Boomi
4 1 (0.78%) IaaS
4 1 (0.78%) OpenShift
4 1 (0.78%) Power Platform
4 1 (0.78%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 22 (17.19%) Firewall
2 6 (4.69%) 4G
2 6 (4.69%) Modbus
2 6 (4.69%) Network Security
2 6 (4.69%) VPN
3 5 (3.91%) WAN
4 4 (3.13%) Intrusion Detection
4 4 (3.13%) ISDN
4 4 (3.13%) LAN
4 4 (3.13%) MPLS
4 4 (3.13%) MQTT
4 4 (3.13%) PSTN
5 2 (1.56%) 5G
5 2 (1.56%) ADSL
5 2 (1.56%) Ethernet
5 2 (1.56%) Internet
5 2 (1.56%) LoRaWAN
5 2 (1.56%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.78%) Cisco ISE
6 1 (0.78%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.47%) GIS
2 4 (3.13%) SQL Server
3 3 (2.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 2 (1.56%) Big Data
5 1 (0.78%) Power BI
General
1 50 (39.06%) Social Skills
2 26 (20.31%) Analytical Skills
3 18 (14.06%) Presentation Skills
4 9 (7.03%) Finance
5 7 (5.47%) Manufacturing
5 7 (5.47%) Public Sector
6 6 (4.69%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (4.69%) Pharmaceutical
7 4 (3.13%) Legal
8 2 (1.56%) Automotive
8 2 (1.56%) Military
8 2 (1.56%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.78%) Back Office
9 1 (0.78%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.78%) Front Office
9 1 (0.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.78%) Law
Job Titles
1 29 (22.66%) Architect
2 26 (20.31%) Analyst
3 14 (10.94%) Consultant
4 13 (10.16%) Security Architect
5 9 (7.03%) Project Manager
5 9 (7.03%) Security Analyst
6 7 (5.47%) Solutions Architect
7 6 (4.69%) Lead
7 6 (4.69%) Security Manager
7 6 (4.69%) Systems Analyst
8 5 (3.91%) Security Consultant
8 5 (3.91%) Security Engineer
8 5 (3.91%) Senior
8 5 (3.91%) Solutions Consultant
9 4 (3.13%) Business Analyst
9 4 (3.13%) Change Analyst
9 4 (3.13%) Delivery Manager
9 4 (3.13%) Network Architect
9 4 (3.13%) Risk Analyst
9 4 (3.13%) Security Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (4.69%) SOAP
2 2 (1.56%) ADO
3 1 (0.78%) IBM Integration Bus
3 1 (0.78%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 38 (29.69%) SCADA
2 15 (11.72%) Management Information System
3 12 (9.38%) IoT
4 9 (7.03%) Industrial Internet of Things
5 7 (5.47%) Security Posture
6 4 (3.13%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (3.13%) Product Ownership
7 3 (2.34%) CCTV
7 3 (2.34%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (2.34%) Data Structures
7 3 (2.34%) Renewable Energy
7 3 (2.34%) Replication
8 2 (1.56%) Data Centre
8 2 (1.56%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (1.56%) FMCG
8 2 (1.56%) NB-IoT
8 2 (1.56%) Onboarding
8 2 (1.56%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
9 1 (0.78%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 12 (9.38%) Linux
2 8 (6.25%) Windows
3 7 (5.47%) Apple iOS
4 2 (1.56%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (49.22%) Cybersecurity
2 33 (25.78%) Stakeholder Management
3 23 (17.97%) Risk Management
4 17 (13.28%) Project Delivery
5 16 (12.50%) Problem-Solving
6 15 (11.72%) Change Management
7 14 (10.94%) Security Architecture
8 12 (9.38%) Agile
9 11 (8.59%) Computer Science
10 10 (7.81%) Collaborative Working
10 10 (7.81%) Incident Management
10 10 (7.81%) Process Improvement
10 10 (7.81%) Programme Management
10 10 (7.81%) Risk Assessment
10 10 (7.81%) Roadmaps
11 9 (7.03%) Cyber Resilience
11 9 (7.03%) Regulatory Compliance
11 9 (7.03%) Security Management
11 9 (7.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 9 (7.03%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 8 (6.25%) Perl
1 8 (6.25%) PL/SQL
1 8 (6.25%) SQL
2 1 (0.78%) Java
2 1 (0.78%) Kusto Query Language
2 1 (0.78%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 18 (14.06%) CISSP
1 18 (14.06%) Degree
2 17 (13.28%) Security Cleared
3 13 (10.16%) CISM
3 13 (10.16%) SC Cleared
4 7 (5.47%) Computer Science Degree
5 6 (4.69%) CISA
6 4 (3.13%) Cisco Certification
6 4 (3.13%) CRISC
6 4 (3.13%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
7 3 (2.34%) CCNA
7 3 (2.34%) CompTIA Security+
7 3 (2.34%) Master's Degree
7 3 (2.34%) PMI Certification
7 3 (2.34%) SANS
8 2 (1.56%) APMG
8 2 (1.56%) GIAC
8 2 (1.56%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (1.56%) MCP
8 2 (1.56%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (21.09%) NIST
2 21 (16.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (10.16%) NCSC
4 9 (7.03%) NIST 800
5 7 (5.47%) GRC
5 7 (5.47%) GxP
6 2 (1.56%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (1.56%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (1.56%) GDPR
6 2 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 1 (0.78%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.78%) PMO
7 1 (0.78%) QA
System Software
1 10 (7.81%) Active Directory
2 7 (5.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.56%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.78%) KVM
4 1 (0.78%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 2 (1.56%) Ansible
1 2 (1.56%) CSIRT
1 2 (1.56%) Kubernetes
2 1 (0.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (0.78%) SCCM
2 1 (0.78%) SCOM
2 1 (0.78%) VxRail
Vendors
1 22 (17.19%) Microsoft
2 7 (5.47%) ServiceNow
2 7 (5.47%) VMware
3 3 (2.34%) Cisco
3 3 (2.34%) NEC
4 2 (1.56%) Dell
5 1 (0.78%) AlgoSec
5 1 (0.78%) DataCore
5 1 (0.78%) IBM
5 1 (0.78%) MuleSoft
5 1 (0.78%) Red Hat
5 1 (0.78%) Siemens
5 1 (0.78%) Tufin
5 1 (0.78%) Veeam