PKI Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term PKI in contract job vacancies in the UK excluding London. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited PKI over the 6 months leading up to 14 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 247 236 116
Rank change year-on-year -11 -120 +88
Contract jobs citing PKI 232 134 345
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.85% 0.88% 1.88%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.78% 2.57% 6.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 165 111 249
10th Percentile £417 £350 £363
25th Percentile £463 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
75th Percentile £626 £600 £608
90th Percentile £700 £649 £638
UK median daily rate £550 £550 £538
% change year-on-year - +2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 1
10th Percentile £61.87 - -
25th Percentile £81.42 - £36.75
Median hourly rate £98.82 - £38.50
75th Percentile £99.12 - £40.25
90th Percentile £100.00 - -
UK median hourly rate £98.82 - £23.80
% change year-on-year - - -68.05%

All Generic Skills
UK excluding London

PKI 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 the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 8,356 5,222 5,285
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 30.48% 34.15% 28.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,999 3,104 3,161
10th Percentile £300 £230 £218
25th Percentile £406 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £575 £608
90th Percentile £688 £656 £700
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 783 410 491
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.78 £12.15
25th Percentile £19.23 £18.29 £18.00
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +46.53% -33.33% +10.86%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.38 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.10 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.50 £29.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year +47.46% -34.44% +11.23%

PKI
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing PKI relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

PKI job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

PKI
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing PKI.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing PKI

PKI
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing PKI in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 14 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for PKI in the UK excluding London

PKI
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing PKI.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing PKI

PKI
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing PKI in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 14 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for PKI in the UK excluding London

PKI
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing PKI within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 14 August 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
South East -2 107 £590 +2.61% 19
North of England -26 52 £500 +0.81% 21
Scotland +17 30 £481 -10.01% 1
North West -26 29 £484 -1.68% 11
South West -71 25 £697 +21.13% 11
Yorkshire -17 23 £500 -16.67% 8
Midlands -68 7 £475 +18.75% 6
East of England -17 6 £500 -4.76% 3
West Midlands -73 6 £475 +18.75% 5
Wales - 6 £463 -
East Midlands -20 1 £475 - 1
PKI
UK

PKI
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 10 (4.31%) SharePoint
2 8 (3.45%) Confluence
2 8 (3.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.16%) IIS
4 3 (1.29%) Apache
4 3 (1.29%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.29%) Tomcat
4 3 (1.29%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.43%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.43%) nginx
Applications
1 4 (1.72%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 12 (5.17%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.43%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 57 (24.57%) Azure
2 40 (17.24%) Entra ID
3 39 (16.81%) AWS
4 20 (8.62%) GCP
5 17 (7.33%) Power Platform
6 14 (6.03%) Microsoft 365
7 6 (2.59%) Azure Key Vault
8 4 (1.72%) AWS KMS
8 4 (1.72%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (1.72%) OpenShift
9 3 (1.29%) GitHub
10 2 (0.86%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (0.86%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (0.86%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 1 (0.43%) Azure Logic Apps
11 1 (0.43%) GitHub Actions
11 1 (0.43%) Kong
11 1 (0.43%) OCI
11 1 (0.43%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.43%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 80 (34.48%) DNS
2 69 (29.74%) Firewall
3 59 (25.43%) DHCP
4 34 (14.66%) LAN
5 33 (14.22%) WAN
6 32 (13.79%) BGP
7 29 (12.50%) OSPF
8 25 (10.78%) TCP/IP
9 21 (9.05%) BIG-IP
9 21 (9.05%) Ethernet VPN
9 21 (9.05%) Junos
9 21 (9.05%) VPN
9 21 (9.05%) VXLAN
10 20 (8.62%) Cisco ISE
11 18 (7.76%) SSL
11 18 (7.76%) VSAN
12 16 (6.90%) IPsec
13 13 (5.60%) Cisco ASA
13 13 (5.60%) Cisco Firepower
13 13 (5.60%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (10.34%) SQL Server
2 12 (5.17%) Power BI
3 1 (0.43%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.43%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 10 (4.31%) JIRA
2 5 (2.16%) Git
3 4 (1.72%) Jenkins
4 3 (1.29%) Robot Framework
4 3 (1.29%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.86%) Burp Suite
5 2 (0.86%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.86%) Gatling
5 2 (0.86%) GitLab
5 2 (0.86%) Gradle
5 2 (0.86%) LoadRunner
5 2 (0.86%) MSI
5 2 (0.86%) REST Assured
5 2 (0.86%) SonarQube
General
1 35 (15.09%) Social Skills
2 24 (10.34%) Finance
3 18 (7.76%) Public Sector
4 15 (6.47%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (3.88%) Banking
6 8 (3.45%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (2.16%) Military
7 5 (2.16%) Police
8 3 (1.29%) Retail
9 2 (0.86%) Corporate Banking
9 2 (0.86%) Investment Banking
9 2 (0.86%) Legal
9 2 (0.86%) Retail Banking
10 1 (0.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.43%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.43%) Law
Job Titles
1 62 (26.72%) Senior
2 39 (16.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 25 (10.78%) Network Engineer
4 22 (9.48%) Architect
5 19 (8.19%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
5 19 (8.19%) Senior Network Engineer
6 17 (7.33%) Support Engineer
7 15 (6.47%) Platform Engineer
8 13 (5.60%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 13 (5.60%) Firewall Specialist
8 13 (5.60%) Network Specialist
8 13 (5.60%) Storage Engineer
9 10 (4.31%) Lead
10 8 (3.45%) Senior Architect
11 7 (3.02%) Principal Engineer
11 7 (3.02%) VMware Engineer
12 6 (2.59%) Cloud Engineer
12 6 (2.59%) Solutions Architect
13 5 (2.16%) Citrix Engineer
13 5 (2.16%) Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (12.50%) 802.1X
2 17 (7.33%) LDAP
2 17 (7.33%) OpenID
3 15 (6.47%) SAML
4 14 (6.03%) OAuth
5 13 (5.60%) REST
6 8 (3.45%) .NET
6 8 (3.45%) .NET Framework
6 8 (3.45%) XML
7 6 (2.59%) OAuth2
8 5 (2.16%) RabbitMQ
9 4 (1.72%) JSON
10 2 (0.86%) FIDO
10 2 (0.86%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.86%) ModSecurity
10 2 (0.86%) Node.js
10 2 (0.86%) Playwright
10 2 (0.86%) Quarkus
10 2 (0.86%) React
10 2 (0.86%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 41 (17.67%) Data Centre
2 38 (16.38%) Clustering
3 12 (5.17%) Public Cloud
4 8 (3.45%) Cloud Native
4 8 (3.45%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (3.45%) Self-Motivation
5 7 (3.02%) Linux Command Line
6 6 (2.59%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (2.59%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (2.59%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.59%) Onboarding
7 5 (2.16%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.72%) Fat Client
8 4 (1.72%) Fibre Optics
8 4 (1.72%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.72%) Security Posture
8 4 (1.72%) Tandem
8 4 (1.72%) Thin Client
9 3 (1.29%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 129 (55.60%) Windows
2 64 (27.59%) Linux
2 64 (27.59%) Windows Server
3 8 (3.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (3.02%) Unix
4 7 (3.02%) Windows Server 2016
5 6 (2.59%) Debian
5 6 (2.59%) Windows Server 2012
6 5 (2.16%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (1.29%) CentOS
8 2 (0.86%) Android
8 2 (0.86%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.86%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.86%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.43%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.43%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.43%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (40.09%) Identity Access Management
2 49 (21.12%) ITIL
3 46 (19.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 45 (19.40%) Problem-Solving
5 43 (18.53%) High Availability
6 35 (15.09%) Agile
7 34 (14.66%) Technical Leadership
8 33 (14.22%) ITSM
9 32 (13.79%) Cybersecurity
9 32 (13.79%) Service Management
10 31 (13.36%) DevSecOps
10 31 (13.36%) Infrastructure as Code
11 30 (12.93%) CI/CD
12 29 (12.50%) Zero Trust
13 28 (12.07%) Continuous Improvement
14 27 (11.64%) Observability
15 26 (11.21%) Load Balancing
15 26 (11.21%) Platform Engineering
16 25 (10.78%) Mentoring
17 23 (9.91%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 70 (30.17%) PowerShell
2 44 (18.97%) Python
3 21 (9.05%) Bash
4 12 (5.17%) JavaScript
4 12 (5.17%) SQL
5 11 (4.74%) C#
6 6 (2.59%) Java
7 2 (0.86%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.43%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 137 (59.05%) Security Cleared
2 91 (39.22%) DV Cleared
3 52 (22.41%) SC Cleared
4 34 (14.66%) Cisco Certification
5 16 (6.90%) Degree
6 14 (6.03%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (5.17%) CCNP
7 12 (5.17%) CISSP
7 12 (5.17%) VCAP
8 11 (4.74%) MCSE
9 7 (3.02%) AWS Certification
9 7 (3.02%) Azure Certification
9 7 (3.02%) JNCIA
9 7 (3.02%) JNCIP
9 7 (3.02%) JNCIS
10 6 (2.59%) CISM
11 5 (2.16%) GIAC
11 5 (2.16%) ISTQB
11 5 (2.16%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 5 (2.16%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (8.62%) NIST
2 12 (5.17%) NCSC
3 11 (4.74%) SLA
4 10 (4.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 6 (2.59%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (1.29%) JSP 440
7 2 (0.86%) GDPR
7 2 (0.86%) ISA99
7 2 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 2 (0.86%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.43%) QA
System Software
1 105 (45.26%) Active Directory
2 57 (24.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (14.66%) VMware NSX
4 25 (10.78%) Hyper-V
5 20 (8.62%) Docker
6 15 (6.47%) vSphere
7 3 (1.29%) Firmware
7 3 (1.29%) OpenAM
8 2 (0.86%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.86%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.86%) XenApp
8 2 (0.86%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.43%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
9 1 (0.43%) KVM
Systems Management
1 40 (17.24%) Ansible
1 40 (17.24%) Terraform
2 37 (15.95%) Kubernetes
3 21 (9.05%) FortiGate
4 17 (7.33%) Single Sign-On
5 16 (6.90%) vCenter Server
6 14 (6.03%) VxRail
7 13 (5.60%) Avamar
7 13 (5.60%) SCOM
8 9 (3.88%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (3.02%) Istio
9 7 (3.02%) SCCM
10 5 (2.16%) Failover Clustering
10 5 (2.16%) WSUS
11 4 (1.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (1.72%) Cisco CUCM
11 4 (1.72%) WMI
12 2 (0.86%) Kibana
13 1 (0.43%) CASB
13 1 (0.43%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 85 (36.64%) Microsoft
2 72 (31.03%) VMware
3 52 (22.41%) Cisco
4 28 (12.07%) SolarWinds
5 26 (11.21%) Juniper
6 25 (10.78%) F5
6 25 (10.78%) Thales
7 22 (9.48%) Okta
7 22 (9.48%) Splunk
8 21 (9.05%) ServiceNow
9 20 (8.62%) Extreme Networks
10 16 (6.90%) BeyondTrust
11 13 (5.60%) Dell
12 12 (5.17%) BMC
12 12 (5.17%) Remedy
13 11 (4.74%) Palo Alto
14 9 (3.88%) Citrix
15 8 (3.45%) IBM
16 7 (3.02%) CheckPoint
17 6 (2.59%) Google