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 30 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 249 238 109
Rank change year-on-year -11 -129 +114
Contract jobs citing PKI 223 131 365
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.82% 0.87% 1.92%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.71% 2.58% 6.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 155 108 261
10th Percentile £413 £350 £363
25th Percentile £463 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -1.35%
75th Percentile £614 £600 £608
90th Percentile £662 £638 £638
UK median daily rate £550 £550 £544
% change year-on-year - +1.15% -4.61%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 1
10th Percentile £61.87 - -
25th Percentile £72.07 - £36.75
Median hourly rate £91.91 - £38.50
75th Percentile £99.12 - £40.25
90th Percentile £100.00 - -
UK median hourly rate £91.91 - £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 8,228 5,069 5,523
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 30.41% 33.60% 29.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,979 3,009 3,312
10th Percentile £299 £225 £219
25th Percentile £404 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £575 £600
90th Percentile £688 £650 £700
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 727 402 545
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £20.55 £18.51 £15.13
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +46.53% -29.41% -5.56%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.38 £67.38
90th Percentile £85.40 £80.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £29.75 £41.13
% change year-on-year +47.76% -27.66% +15.85%

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 30 July 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 30 July 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 30 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
South East +3 108 £590 +2.61% 15
North of England -41 41 £500 +1.63% 18
Scotland +8 29 £481 -10.09% 1
South West -60 25 £615 +6.91% 13
North West -40 22 £418 -15.14% 8
Yorkshire - 19 £500 - 11
Midlands -70 12 £463 +8.82% 3
West Midlands -76 11 £450 +5.88% 2
Wales - 6 £463 - 1
East of England -15 4 £400 -23.81% 1
East Midlands -11 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 (4.48%) SharePoint
2 8 (3.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (3.14%) Confluence
4 5 (2.24%) IIS
5 3 (1.35%) Apache
5 3 (1.35%) Exchange Server 2010
5 3 (1.35%) Tomcat
5 3 (1.35%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.45%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 5 (2.24%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (5.83%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.45%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.45%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 56 (25.11%) Azure
2 39 (17.49%) Entra ID
3 33 (14.80%) AWS
4 18 (8.07%) Power Platform
5 15 (6.73%) GCP
5 15 (6.73%) Microsoft 365
6 5 (2.24%) Azure Key Vault
7 4 (1.79%) Azure DevOps
7 4 (1.79%) OpenShift
8 3 (1.35%) AWS KMS
8 3 (1.35%) GitHub
9 2 (0.90%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (0.90%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 2 (0.90%) OneDrive
10 1 (0.45%) Anthos
10 1 (0.45%) Apigee
10 1 (0.45%) Google Workspace
10 1 (0.45%) OCI
10 1 (0.45%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.45%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 79 (35.43%) DNS
2 65 (29.15%) Firewall
3 57 (25.56%) DHCP
4 35 (15.70%) BGP
4 35 (15.70%) LAN
4 35 (15.70%) WAN
5 31 (13.90%) OSPF
6 23 (10.31%) BIG-IP
6 23 (10.31%) Ethernet VPN
6 23 (10.31%) Junos
6 23 (10.31%) VXLAN
7 22 (9.87%) Cisco ISE
7 22 (9.87%) VPN
8 20 (8.97%) TCP/IP
9 18 (8.07%) SSL
10 16 (7.17%) IPsec
11 14 (6.28%) VSAN
12 13 (5.83%) Cisco ASA
12 13 (5.83%) Network Security
13 12 (5.38%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (10.76%) SQL Server
2 13 (5.83%) Power BI
3 1 (0.45%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 10 (4.48%) JIRA
2 4 (1.79%) Jenkins
3 3 (1.35%) Git
3 3 (1.35%) Robot Framework
3 3 (1.35%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.90%) Burp Suite
4 2 (0.90%) Cucumber
4 2 (0.90%) Gatling
4 2 (0.90%) GitLab
4 2 (0.90%) Gradle
4 2 (0.90%) LoadRunner
4 2 (0.90%) MSI
4 2 (0.90%) REST Assured
4 2 (0.90%) SonarQube
General
1 32 (14.35%) Social Skills
2 19 (8.52%) Finance
2 19 (8.52%) Public Sector
3 14 (6.28%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (3.14%) Military
5 6 (2.69%) Banking
5 6 (2.69%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (1.79%) Police
7 3 (1.35%) Retail
8 2 (0.90%) Corporate Banking
8 2 (0.90%) Investment Banking
8 2 (0.90%) Legal
8 2 (0.90%) Retail Banking
9 1 (0.45%) Back Office
9 1 (0.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.45%) Law
Job Titles
1 61 (27.35%) Senior
2 40 (17.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 27 (12.11%) Network Engineer
4 25 (11.21%) Architect
5 20 (8.97%) Senior Network Engineer
6 19 (8.52%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 14 (6.28%) Firewall Specialist
7 14 (6.28%) Network Specialist
7 14 (6.28%) Support Engineer
8 13 (5.83%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 13 (5.83%) Storage Engineer
9 10 (4.48%) Lead
10 9 (4.04%) Senior Architect
11 8 (3.59%) Platform Engineer
12 7 (3.14%) VMware Engineer
13 6 (2.69%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
13 6 (2.69%) ITSM Architect
13 6 (2.69%) Principal Engineer
13 6 (2.69%) Solutions Architect
14 5 (2.24%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (13.90%) 802.1X
2 17 (7.62%) OpenID
3 16 (7.17%) LDAP
4 15 (6.73%) OAuth
4 15 (6.73%) SAML
5 14 (6.28%) REST
6 7 (3.14%) .NET
6 7 (3.14%) .NET Framework
6 7 (3.14%) OAuth2
6 7 (3.14%) XML
7 5 (2.24%) RabbitMQ
8 4 (1.79%) JSON
9 3 (1.35%) SailPoint
10 2 (0.90%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.90%) Node.js
10 2 (0.90%) Playwright
10 2 (0.90%) Quarkus
10 2 (0.90%) React
10 2 (0.90%) Spring
10 2 (0.90%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 40 (17.94%) Clustering
2 38 (17.04%) Data Centre
3 9 (4.04%) Public Cloud
4 8 (3.59%) Hybrid Cloud
5 7 (3.14%) Linux Command Line
6 6 (2.69%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (2.69%) Onboarding
6 6 (2.69%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (2.24%) Cloud Native
7 5 (2.24%) Management Information System
8 4 (1.79%) Distributed Systems
8 4 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.79%) Fat Client
8 4 (1.79%) Fibre Optics
8 4 (1.79%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.79%) Security Posture
8 4 (1.79%) Thin Client
9 3 (1.35%) Enterprise Cloud
9 3 (1.35%) Private Cloud
9 3 (1.35%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 125 (56.05%) Windows
2 63 (28.25%) Windows Server
3 55 (24.66%) Linux
4 7 (3.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (2.69%) Debian
5 6 (2.69%) Windows Server 2012
5 6 (2.69%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (2.24%) Unix
6 5 (2.24%) Windows Server 2019
7 2 (0.90%) Android
7 2 (0.90%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.90%) CentOS
7 2 (0.90%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.90%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.45%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.45%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.45%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (39.46%) Identity Access Management
2 48 (21.52%) ITIL
3 44 (19.73%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 43 (19.28%) Problem-Solving
5 41 (18.39%) High Availability
6 36 (16.14%) Agile
7 34 (15.25%) ITSM
8 31 (13.90%) Service Management
9 30 (13.45%) Cybersecurity
9 30 (13.45%) Zero Trust
10 28 (12.56%) Technical Leadership
11 27 (12.11%) Observability
12 26 (11.66%) CI/CD
13 25 (11.21%) Infrastructure as Code
13 25 (11.21%) Load Balancing
14 24 (10.76%) Continuous Improvement
15 22 (9.87%) DevSecOps
15 22 (9.87%) Identity Management
16 20 (8.97%) RBAC
17 19 (8.52%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 66 (29.60%) PowerShell
2 40 (17.94%) Python
3 17 (7.62%) Bash
4 13 (5.83%) JavaScript
4 13 (5.83%) SQL
5 11 (4.93%) C#
6 6 (2.69%) Java
7 1 (0.45%) Go
7 1 (0.45%) PHP
7 1 (0.45%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 133 (59.64%) Security Cleared
2 90 (40.36%) DV Cleared
3 47 (21.08%) SC Cleared
4 32 (14.35%) Cisco Certification
5 15 (6.73%) Degree
6 14 (6.28%) Microsoft Certification
7 11 (4.93%) CCNP
7 11 (4.93%) MCSE
8 9 (4.04%) CISSP
9 8 (3.59%) VCAP
10 7 (3.14%) Azure Certification
10 7 (3.14%) JNCIA
10 7 (3.14%) JNCIP
10 7 (3.14%) JNCIS
11 5 (2.24%) GIAC
12 4 (1.79%) AWS Certification
12 4 (1.79%) CISM
12 4 (1.79%) ISTQB
12 4 (1.79%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 4 (1.79%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (8.97%) NIST
2 12 (5.38%) NCSC
3 10 (4.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (4.48%) SLA
4 7 (3.14%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.90%) GDPR
5 2 (0.90%) ISA99
5 2 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 2 (0.90%) JSP 440
5 2 (0.90%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.45%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 96 (43.05%) Active Directory
2 54 (24.22%) VMware Infrastructure
3 30 (13.45%) VMware NSX
4 25 (11.21%) Hyper-V
5 19 (8.52%) Docker
6 11 (4.93%) vSphere
7 3 (1.35%) Firmware
7 3 (1.35%) OpenAM
7 3 (1.35%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.90%) KVM
8 2 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.90%) XenApp
8 2 (0.90%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.45%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
Systems Management
1 35 (15.70%) Ansible
2 34 (15.25%) Terraform
3 30 (13.45%) Kubernetes
4 23 (10.31%) FortiGate
5 17 (7.62%) Single Sign-On
5 17 (7.62%) vCenter Server
6 14 (6.28%) SCOM
7 13 (5.83%) Avamar
8 10 (4.48%) VxRail
9 9 (4.04%) Microsoft Intune
10 8 (3.59%) SCCM
11 5 (2.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (2.24%) Failover Clustering
11 5 (2.24%) WSUS
12 4 (1.79%) Cisco CUCM
12 4 (1.79%) Istio
12 4 (1.79%) WMI
13 2 (0.90%) Kibana
13 2 (0.90%) Prometheus
14 1 (0.45%) CASB
Vendors
1 80 (35.87%) Microsoft
2 70 (31.39%) VMware
3 53 (23.77%) Cisco
4 30 (13.45%) SolarWinds
5 29 (13.00%) Juniper
6 26 (11.66%) F5
7 23 (10.31%) Splunk
7 23 (10.31%) Thales
8 22 (9.87%) Extreme Networks
8 22 (9.87%) ServiceNow
9 19 (8.52%) Okta
10 13 (5.83%) BeyondTrust
10 13 (5.83%) BMC
10 13 (5.83%) Dell
10 13 (5.83%) Remedy
11 11 (4.93%) Palo Alto
12 9 (4.04%) Citrix
13 7 (3.14%) IBM
14 5 (2.24%) CheckPoint
14 5 (2.24%) NetApp