Cloud Engineer Contract Job Trends

Cloud Engineer
UK

The median Cloud Engineer daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 10 June 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 218 308 326
Rank change year-on-year +90 +18 -56
Contract jobs requiring a Cloud Engineer 586 234 279
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.18% 0.80% 0.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.28% 0.86% 0.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 391 180 190
10th Percentile £400 £400 £400
25th Percentile £462 £445 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £623 £575 £625
90th Percentile £688 £638 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £520 £500 £510
% change year-on-year +4.00% -1.96% -7.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 1 3
10th Percentile £32.96 - -
25th Percentile £71.00 £42.50 £27.50
Median hourly rate £76.50 £45.00 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +70.00% +50.00% -41.18%
75th Percentile £81.25 £47.50 £32.50
90th Percentile £85.00 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £76.00 - £30.00

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 45,686 27,116 40,535
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.32% 92.32% 92.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,799 17,461 26,079
10th Percentile £325 £288 £280
25th Percentile £413 £402 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.68% -4.76% -2.60%
75th Percentile £620 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,044 1,132 2,932
10th Percentile £15.05 £13.87 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.65 £17.79 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £27.70 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +53.43% -26.13% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £61.60
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +73.72% -37.13% -5.88%

Cloud Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Cloud Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Cloud Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Cloud Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Cloud Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cloud Engineer over the 6 months to 10 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cloud Engineer in the UK

Cloud Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Cloud Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Cloud Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cloud Engineer over the 6 months to 10 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cloud Engineer in the UK

Cloud Engineer
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cloud Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 10 June 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
England +76 491 £525 +5.00% 130
London +56 290 £538 +7.50% 49
UK excluding London +23 230 £520 +4.00% 94
Work from Home +9 148 £540 +8.00% 89
North of England -37 65 £500 +8.11% 21
South East -37 59 £538 +7.50% 40
Scotland +16 43 £451 -14.19% 1
North West -20 33 £500 +20.92% 16
Midlands -49 27 £525 +5.00% 7
Yorkshire -33 25 £481 -3.75% 5
West Midlands -35 23 £525 - 6
East of England -8 22 £505 +2.54% 5
South West -13 15 £550 -2.22% 20
North East -25 7 £525 +5.00%
East Midlands -30 4 £425 -10.53% 1

Cloud Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 10 June 2026, Cloud Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Cloud Engineer in the job title.

1 272 (46.42%) Azure
2 270 (46.08%) Terraform
3 261 (44.54%) AWS
4 241 (41.13%) CI/CD
5 225 (38.40%) Infrastructure as Code
6 199 (33.96%) DevOps
7 145 (24.74%) Security Cleared
8 144 (24.57%) Python
9 139 (23.72%) Kubernetes
10 133 (22.70%) GCP
11 122 (20.82%) Cloud Security
12 116 (19.80%) SC Cleared
13 108 (18.43%) Microsoft
14 107 (18.26%) Platform Engineering
15 106 (18.09%) GitHub
16 97 (16.55%) Google
17 95 (16.21%) PowerShell
18 93 (15.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
19 86 (14.68%) Migration
20 73 (12.46%) Containerisation
21 71 (12.12%) GitHub Actions
21 71 (12.12%) Windows
22 68 (11.60%) AI
23 65 (11.09%) Agile
24 64 (10.92%) Firewall
25 63 (10.75%) Docker
26 60 (10.24%) Serverless
27 58 (9.90%) Observability
28 57 (9.73%) Bash
29 56 (9.56%) Problem-Solving

Cloud Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 7 (1.19%) Apache
1 7 (1.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.02%) Confluence
3 5 (0.85%) nginx
4 4 (0.68%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.51%) IIS
5 3 (0.51%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.51%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.34%) CloudStack
7 1 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.17%) Apache Pulsar
7 1 (0.17%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.17%) SAS
7 1 (0.17%) Traefik
Business Applications
1 1 (0.17%) Aladdin
Cloud Services
1 272 (46.42%) Azure
2 261 (44.54%) AWS
3 133 (22.70%) GCP
4 106 (18.09%) GitHub
5 71 (12.12%) GitHub Actions
6 60 (10.24%) Serverless
7 47 (8.02%) Entra ID
8 46 (7.85%) Azure DevOps
9 44 (7.51%) AWS CloudFormation
10 39 (6.66%) Amazon S3
10 39 (6.66%) Azure AKS
10 39 (6.66%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 38 (6.48%) IaaS
11 38 (6.48%) PaaS
12 36 (6.14%) AWS Lambda
13 35 (5.97%) Amazon EKS
14 31 (5.29%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 30 (5.12%) Amazon ECS
16 28 (4.78%) Amazon EC2
17 23 (3.92%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 64 (10.92%) Firewall
2 46 (7.85%) DNS
3 28 (4.78%) Network Security
4 27 (4.61%) VPN
5 9 (1.54%) DHCP
6 8 (1.37%) TCP/IP
6 8 (1.37%) WAN
7 5 (0.85%) Reverse Proxy
7 5 (0.85%) SSL
8 4 (0.68%) SD-WAN
8 4 (0.68%) Software-Defined Networking
8 4 (0.68%) VLAN
9 3 (0.51%) BGP
9 3 (0.51%) Internet
9 3 (0.51%) SMTP
10 2 (0.34%) DKIM
10 2 (0.34%) Kerberos
10 2 (0.34%) SAN
10 2 (0.34%) VSAN
10 2 (0.34%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (2.39%) Amazon Athena
1 14 (2.39%) SQL Server
2 13 (2.22%) DynamoDB
3 12 (2.05%) BigQuery
4 10 (1.71%) Amazon RDS
5 8 (1.37%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (1.02%) Amazon Redshift
6 6 (1.02%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.85%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.68%) Amazon QuickSight
8 4 (0.68%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.51%) Big Data
9 3 (0.51%) Metadata
9 3 (0.51%) MySQL
9 3 (0.51%) Oracle Database 12c
9 3 (0.51%) Relational Database
10 2 (0.34%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.34%) Power BI
10 2 (0.34%) Redis
10 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 51 (8.70%) GitLab
1 51 (8.70%) Jenkins
2 40 (6.83%) Git
3 12 (2.05%) JIRA
4 10 (1.71%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.51%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.51%) Selenium
5 3 (0.51%) Team Foundation Server
6 2 (0.34%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.34%) Claude Code
6 2 (0.34%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.34%) Liquibase
6 2 (0.34%) Postman
6 2 (0.34%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.17%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.17%) Gatling
7 1 (0.17%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.17%) sqlmap
7 1 (0.17%) TestRail
7 1 (0.17%) Travis CI
General
1 78 (13.31%) Social Skills
2 60 (10.24%) Finance
3 45 (7.68%) Public Sector
4 23 (3.92%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (3.41%) Banking
6 13 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
7 12 (2.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.54%) Retail
9 6 (1.02%) Investment Banking
9 6 (1.02%) Legal
9 6 (1.02%) Telecoms
10 5 (0.85%) Pharmaceutical
10 5 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.68%) Law
11 4 (0.68%) Local Government
11 4 (0.68%) Marketing
11 4 (0.68%) Military
12 3 (0.51%) Financial Institution
12 3 (0.51%) Police
13 2 (0.34%) Billing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (3.41%) REST
2 14 (2.39%) Node.js
2 14 (2.39%) React
2 14 (2.39%) Spring
2 14 (2.39%) Spring Boot
3 12 (2.05%) OAuth
3 12 (2.05%) OAuth2
4 11 (1.88%) Kafka
5 9 (1.54%) .NET
5 9 (1.54%) OpenTelemetry
6 7 (1.19%) ARM Templates
6 7 (1.19%) OpenID
7 6 (1.02%) AngularJS
7 6 (1.02%) LangChain
7 6 (1.02%) Oracle Fusion
8 5 (0.85%) AWS CDK
8 5 (0.85%) Model Context Protocol
8 5 (0.85%) Playwright
8 5 (0.85%) YAML
9 4 (0.68%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 113 (19.28%) Cloud Native
2 29 (4.95%) Hybrid Cloud
2 29 (4.95%) Public Cloud
3 24 (4.10%) Data Centre
4 21 (3.58%) Security Posture
5 17 (2.90%) Enterprise Cloud
6 15 (2.56%) Onboarding
7 12 (2.05%) Distributed Systems
7 12 (2.05%) Enterprise Software
8 11 (1.88%) Product Ownership
9 10 (1.71%) Management Information System
10 9 (1.54%) Cloud Security Posture
11 8 (1.37%) Data Protection Act
11 8 (1.37%) Self-Motivation
12 6 (1.02%) Cyber Threat
13 5 (0.85%) Private Cloud
14 4 (0.68%) Legacy Systems
14 4 (0.68%) Virtual Team
15 3 (0.51%) CMDB
15 3 (0.51%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 71 (12.12%) Windows
2 39 (6.66%) Linux
2 39 (6.66%) Windows Server
3 11 (1.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (0.85%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.51%) CentOS
5 3 (0.51%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.34%) VMS
6 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.17%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 241 (41.13%) CI/CD
2 225 (38.40%) Infrastructure as Code
3 199 (33.96%) DevOps
4 122 (20.82%) Cloud Security
5 107 (18.26%) Platform Engineering
6 93 (15.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 86 (14.68%) Migration
8 73 (12.46%) Containerisation
9 68 (11.60%) AI
10 65 (11.09%) Agile
11 58 (9.90%) Observability
12 56 (9.56%) Problem-Solving
13 50 (8.53%) Infrastructure Automation
13 50 (8.53%) Software Engineering
14 49 (8.36%) Continuous Improvement
15 45 (7.68%) Technical Leadership
16 43 (7.34%) Cybersecurity
17 41 (7.00%) DevSecOps
18 33 (5.63%) Deployment Automation
18 33 (5.63%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 144 (24.57%) Python
2 95 (16.21%) PowerShell
3 57 (9.73%) Bash
4 46 (7.85%) SQL
5 39 (6.66%) Bicep
6 32 (5.46%) Java
7 15 (2.56%) C#
8 11 (1.88%) Go
8 11 (1.88%) JavaScript
9 9 (1.54%) TypeScript
10 5 (0.85%) Groovy
11 2 (0.34%) Ruby
12 1 (0.17%) Cypher
12 1 (0.17%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.17%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.17%) Perl
12 1 (0.17%) R
12 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 145 (24.74%) Security Cleared
2 116 (19.80%) SC Cleared
3 44 (7.51%) Azure Certification
4 35 (5.97%) AWS Certification
5 30 (5.12%) DV Cleared
6 19 (3.24%) Degree
7 15 (2.56%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 14 (2.39%) Microsoft Certification
9 13 (2.22%) CISSP
10 12 (2.05%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (1.54%) Cisco Certification
12 8 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (1.19%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
14 6 (1.02%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 5 (0.85%) TOGAF Certification
16 4 (0.68%) CCSP
16 4 (0.68%) MCSE
17 3 (0.51%) CCNP
17 3 (0.51%) CISM
17 3 (0.51%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (2.39%) NIST
2 11 (1.88%) GDPR
2 11 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (1.88%) NCSC
3 10 (1.71%) QA
4 6 (1.02%) PCI DSS
5 5 (0.85%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.34%) SLA
7 2 (0.34%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.17%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.17%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.17%) GRC
8 1 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 63 (10.75%) Docker
2 43 (7.34%) Active Directory
3 20 (3.41%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (2.90%) Virtual Desktop
4 17 (2.90%) VMware NSX
5 16 (2.73%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (2.73%) VMware ESXi
6 14 (2.39%) vSphere
7 10 (1.71%) Hyper-V
8 9 (1.54%) vCloud
9 7 (1.19%) Squid
10 3 (0.51%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.51%) Firmware
10 3 (0.51%) Postfix
11 2 (0.34%) Ceph
11 2 (0.34%) KVM
11 2 (0.34%) NFS
Systems Management
1 270 (46.08%) Terraform
2 139 (23.72%) Kubernetes
3 37 (6.31%) Ansible
4 24 (4.10%) Grafana
5 21 (3.58%) Prometheus
6 18 (3.07%) Single Sign-On
7 15 (2.56%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (2.39%) Argo
8 14 (2.39%) Istio
8 14 (2.39%) Progress Chef
9 13 (2.22%) vCenter Server
10 11 (1.88%) Puppet
10 11 (1.88%) SCOM
11 7 (1.19%) Packer
12 6 (1.02%) Cilium
13 4 (0.68%) HAProxy
13 4 (0.68%) Salt
13 4 (0.68%) Suricata
14 3 (0.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 2 (0.34%) SELinux
Vendors
1 108 (18.43%) Microsoft
2 97 (16.55%) Google
3 36 (6.14%) VMware
4 23 (3.92%) Oracle
5 15 (2.56%) Palo Alto
5 15 (2.56%) Zscaler
6 12 (2.05%) Red Hat
7 9 (1.54%) Cisco
8 8 (1.37%) Dynatrace
9 7 (1.19%) Databricks
9 7 (1.19%) Salesforce
9 7 (1.19%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.19%) Splunk
10 6 (1.02%) Okta
10 6 (1.02%) OpenAI
11 5 (0.85%) Citrix
11 5 (0.85%) Fortinet
11 5 (0.85%) Rapid7
12 4 (0.68%) Juniper
12 4 (0.68%) PeopleSoft