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 12 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 12 11 6
Rank change year-on-year -1 -5 +26
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 29 26 25
As % of all contract jobs in Northern Ireland 11.46% 13.20% 15.82%
As % of the General category 19.21% 19.85% 20.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 10 5 8
10th Percentile £113 - £189
25th Percentile £209 £170 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £185 £536
Median % change year-on-year +170.27% -65.48% +78.62%
75th Percentile £583 £538 £545
90th Percentile £678 £605 £573
UK median daily rate £500 £505 £525
% change year-on-year -0.99% -3.81% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 15 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £12.31 - £12.25
Median hourly rate £13.60 £15.48 £12.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.14% +23.84% -
75th Percentile £15.33 £23.94 £12.75
90th Percentile £17.80 £24.18 -
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £22.56 £22.00
% change year-on-year -6.91% +2.55% +15.79%

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 common skills in Northern Ireland.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 151 131 125
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Northern Ireland 59.68% 66.50% 79.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 75 53 70
10th Percentile £197 £143 £156
25th Percentile £310 £167 £253
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £438 £400
Median % change year-on-year +8.57% +9.38% -18.37%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £531
90th Percentile £638 £575 £603
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 22 10
10th Percentile £12.31 - £11.08
25th Percentile £13.57 £15.48 £12.49
Median hourly rate £15.33 £22.56 £13.46
Median % change year-on-year -32.05% +67.61% +31.70%
75th Percentile £17.00 £24.18 £15.49
90th Percentile £26.34 - £18.08
UK median hourly rate £24.34 £29.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year -16.07% -3.33% +20.00%

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 12 November 2025.

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
Hourly Rate Histogram in Northern Ireland

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Public Sector in Northern Ireland over the 6 months to 12 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Public Sector in Northern Ireland

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 12 November 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
County Antrim +6 28 £500 +194.12% 16
County Down - 1 £115 -
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 1 (3.45%) Apache Spark
1 1 (3.45%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (27.59%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (20.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (6.90%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 3 (10.34%) AWS
2 2 (6.90%) Amazon S3
3 1 (3.45%) AWS Lambda
3 1 (3.45%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 2 (6.90%) Firewall
2 1 (3.45%) Internet
2 1 (3.45%) Intranet
2 1 (3.45%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (6.90%) Amazon QuickSight
1 2 (6.90%) GIS
1 2 (6.90%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (3.45%) Data Hub
2 1 (3.45%) Metadata
2 1 (3.45%) NoSQL
2 1 (3.45%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 1 (3.45%) GitLab
1 1 (3.45%) JIRA
1 1 (3.45%) Postman
1 1 (3.45%) TestRail
General
1 15 (51.72%) Social Skills
2 8 (27.59%) Finance
3 6 (20.69%) Telecoms
4 4 (13.79%) Electronics
4 4 (13.79%) Manufacturing
4 4 (13.79%) Marketing
4 4 (13.79%) Organisational Skills
5 2 (6.90%) Analytical Skills
6 1 (3.45%) Legal
6 1 (3.45%) Retail
Job Titles
1 8 (27.59%) Information Governance Officer
1 8 (27.59%) Information Officer
2 4 (13.79%) Support Officer
3 3 (10.34%) Compliance Officer
3 3 (10.34%) Installation Technician
3 3 (10.34%) Project Manager
4 2 (6.90%) Consultant
4 2 (6.90%) Project Assistant
4 2 (6.90%) Project Support Assistant
4 2 (6.90%) Senior
4 2 (6.90%) Support Assistant
4 2 (6.90%) Test Manager
5 1 (3.45%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
5 1 (3.45%) AWS Data Engineer
5 1 (3.45%) Data Engineer
5 1 (3.45%) IT Support
5 1 (3.45%) IT Technician
5 1 (3.45%) Lead
5 1 (3.45%) Lead Data Architect
5 1 (3.45%) Salesforce Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.45%) Apache Avro
1 1 (3.45%) JSON
1 1 (3.45%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 5 (17.24%) Freedom of Information
2 4 (13.79%) Driving Licence
3 3 (10.34%) Management Information System
4 1 (3.45%) Operational Technology
4 1 (3.45%) SCADA
4 1 (3.45%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 1 (3.45%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (34.48%) Mathematics
2 9 (31.03%) Data Protection
3 8 (27.59%) Information Governance
4 6 (20.69%) Continuous Improvement
4 6 (20.69%) Data Security
4 6 (20.69%) Informatics
5 5 (17.24%) Problem-Solving
5 5 (17.24%) Programme Management
5 5 (17.24%) Records Management
6 4 (13.79%) Business Intelligence
6 4 (13.79%) Digital Marketing
6 4 (13.79%) Migration
6 4 (13.79%) Test Automation
7 3 (10.34%) Collaborative Culture
7 3 (10.34%) Collaborative Working
7 3 (10.34%) Data Analysis
7 3 (10.34%) Data Migration
7 3 (10.34%) Project Management
7 3 (10.34%) Service Delivery
7 3 (10.34%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 2 (6.90%) Python
1 2 (6.90%) SQL
2 1 (3.45%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 8 (27.59%) Security Cleared
2 7 (24.14%) HND
3 6 (20.69%) Degree
4 5 (17.24%) HNC
4 5 (17.24%) SC Cleared
5 2 (6.90%) AWS Certification
5 2 (6.90%) ISTQB
6 1 (3.45%) CCNP
6 1 (3.45%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (3.45%) DV Cleared
6 1 (3.45%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
6 1 (3.45%) PMI Certification
6 1 (3.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (27.59%) GDPR
2 3 (10.34%) SLA
3 2 (6.90%) Data Quality
3 2 (6.90%) QA
4 1 (3.45%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 1 (3.45%) NIST
System Software
1 1 (3.45%) Active Directory
1 1 (3.45%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 1 (3.45%) AirWatch
1 1 (3.45%) FortiGate
1 1 (3.45%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 13 (44.83%) Microsoft
2 4 (13.79%) SAP
3 1 (3.45%) Avaya
3 1 (3.45%) Cisco
3 1 (3.45%) Citrix
3 1 (3.45%) Fujitsu
3 1 (3.45%) HP
3 1 (3.45%) Salesforce