Public Sector Contract Job Trends in Northern Ireland

Public Sector
UK > Northern Ireland

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Sector in contract job vacancies in Northern Ireland. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Sector over the 6 months leading up to 27 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 16 9
Rank change year-on-year 0 -7 +4
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 16 18 19
As % of all contract jobs in Northern Ireland 7.77% 10.59% 12.50%
As % of the General category 14.29% 13.64% 25.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 9 9 8
10th Percentile £106 £402 £447
25th Percentile £378 £463 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £650 £520 £625
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -16.80% +357.88%
75th Percentile £694 £600 £650
90th Percentile - £655 -
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 6 5
10th Percentile £12.58 £12.66 -
25th Percentile £12.98 £13.19 £16.12
Median hourly rate £13.66 £15.05 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -9.27% -28.33% +50.97%
75th Percentile £14.33 £15.33 £23.00
90th Percentile £14.73 - £23.56
UK median hourly rate £23.83 £22.27 £21.86
% change year-on-year +6.98% +1.88% +7.05%

All General Skills
Northern Ireland

Public Sector falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in Northern Ireland.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 112 132 74
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland 54.37% 77.65% 48.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 64 94 33
10th Percentile £213 £158 £188
25th Percentile £385 £284 £281
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £425 £435
Median % change year-on-year +11.76% -2.30% +5.45%
75th Percentile £625 £552 £569
90th Percentile £694 £625 £650
UK median daily rate £513 £514 £525
% change year-on-year -0.29% -2.10% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 11 22
10th Percentile - £12.66 -
25th Percentile £14.50 £14.78 £12.25
Median hourly rate £24.00 £15.05 £15.75
Median % change year-on-year +59.47% -4.44% +1.61%
75th Percentile £26.69 £44.65 £23.54
90th Percentile £34.25 £78.47 £31.08
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £27.45 £30.00
% change year-on-year +9.29% -8.50% -7.69%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in Northern Ireland

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Public Sector relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland.

Public Sector job vacancy trend in Northern Ireland

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in Northern Ireland

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Public Sector.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in Northern Ireland

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in Northern Ireland over the 6 months to 27 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in Northern Ireland

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in Northern Ireland

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Public Sector.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Northern Ireland citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Contract Job Locations in Northern Ireland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Public Sector within the Northern Ireland region over the 6 months to 27 May 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
County Antrim -1 13 £669 +28.61% 19
County Armagh - 1 £385 -
Public Sector
UK

Public Sector
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Northern Ireland 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 2 (12.50%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (18.75%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (12.50%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (6.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (6.25%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 3 (18.75%) AWS
1 3 (18.75%) Azure
1 3 (18.75%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 2 (12.50%) Internet
1 2 (12.50%) LAN
1 2 (12.50%) WAN
1 2 (12.50%) WLAN
2 1 (6.25%) Cisco Wireless
2 1 (6.25%) Firewall
2 1 (6.25%) Intranet
2 1 (6.25%) MPLS
2 1 (6.25%) SD-WAN
2 1 (6.25%) SNA
2 1 (6.25%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 2 (12.50%) JIRA
General
1 6 (37.50%) Social Skills
2 2 (12.50%) Organisational Skills
3 1 (6.25%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 5 (31.25%) Developer
1 5 (31.25%) Salesforce Developer
2 4 (25.00%) Architect
3 3 (18.75%) Senior
4 2 (12.50%) Coordinator
4 2 (12.50%) Enterprise Architect
4 2 (12.50%) Network Engineer
4 2 (12.50%) Project Coordinator
4 2 (12.50%) Senior Developer
4 2 (12.50%) Senior Salesforce Developer
4 2 (12.50%) Solutions Architect
5 1 (6.25%) Administrator
5 1 (6.25%) Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) ICT Technician
5 1 (6.25%) Senior Network Engineer
5 1 (6.25%) Support Analyst
5 1 (6.25%) Support Officer
5 1 (6.25%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (31.25%) Lightning Web Components
1 5 (31.25%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 2 (12.50%) Data Protection Act
1 2 (12.50%) Onboarding
2 1 (6.25%) Driving Licence
2 1 (6.25%) e-Learning
2 1 (6.25%) Management Information System
2 1 (6.25%) Public Cloud
2 1 (6.25%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 1 (6.25%) Windows
1 1 (6.25%) Windows Server
1 1 (6.25%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (18.75%) Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ)
1 3 (18.75%) Mentoring
2 2 (12.50%) Agile
2 2 (12.50%) API Integration
2 2 (12.50%) CI/CD
2 2 (12.50%) Coaching
2 2 (12.50%) Data Modelling
2 2 (12.50%) Data Protection
2 2 (12.50%) DevOps
2 2 (12.50%) Logistics
2 2 (12.50%) Project Management
2 2 (12.50%) Sprint Planning
2 2 (12.50%) Sprint Retrospective
2 2 (12.50%) Technical Leadership
3 1 (6.25%) Customer Engagement
3 1 (6.25%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (6.25%) Master Data Management
3 1 (6.25%) Mathematics
3 1 (6.25%) Network Architecture
3 1 (6.25%) Statistics
Programming Languages
1 5 (31.25%) Apex Code
2 1 (6.25%) Python
Qualifications
1 5 (31.25%) SC Cleared
1 5 (31.25%) Security Cleared
2 3 (18.75%) Degree
3 2 (12.50%) CCNP
3 2 (12.50%) Cisco Certification
4 1 (6.25%) CCIE
4 1 (6.25%) CCSP
4 1 (6.25%) HNC
4 1 (6.25%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (12.50%) PMO
Systems Management
1 1 (6.25%) Ansible
1 1 (6.25%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 5 (31.25%) Salesforce
2 3 (18.75%) Cisco
2 3 (18.75%) Microsoft
2 3 (18.75%) Pardot
3 2 (12.50%) Huawei
4 1 (6.25%) CheckPoint
4 1 (6.25%) Fortinet