Cloud Engineer Contract Job Trends

Cloud Engineer
UK

The median Cloud Engineer daily rate in the UK is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 November 2025.

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

6 months to
2 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 289 324 247
Rank change year-on-year +35 -77 +4
Contract jobs requiring a Cloud Engineer 308 239 482
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.90% 0.65% 1.03%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.99% 0.70% 1.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 236 138 347
10th Percentile £400 £383 £425
25th Percentile £425 £430 £465
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -2.65%
75th Percentile £575 £645 £631
90th Percentile £640 £700 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £550
% change year-on-year - -9.09% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 0 2
10th Percentile £29.00 - £69.43
25th Percentile £29.50 - £72.31
Median hourly rate £45.00 - £79.25
75th Percentile £86.25 - £85.81
90th Percentile £110.00 - £88.48
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £88.50

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 31,114 33,947 44,122
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.91% 92.88% 93.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,696 20,467 30,059
10th Percentile £278 £300 £300
25th Percentile £402 £412 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £723 £738 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,755 1,285 1,535
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.04 £14.88
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.19 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £37.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.93% -16.67% +57.89%
75th Percentile £51.25 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £37.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -32.03% -16.85% +85.42%

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 2 November 2025.

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 2 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Cloud Engineer in the UK

Cloud Engineer
Top 16 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 2 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
England +21 261 £500 -9.09% 149
UK excluding London +36 150 £500 - 149
London +10 131 £513 -10.87% 49
Work from Home +14 88 £500 -4.76% 96
North of England -9 54 £500 +21.21% 36
South East +32 43 £500 -1.48% 53
Yorkshire -15 30 £516 +25.15% 7
Scotland +18 25 £525 +5.00% 13
Midlands -11 25 £525 +31.25% 20
North West -17 20 £425 -5.50% 26
West Midlands -17 18 £533 +4.41% 16
South West +4 7 £538 -12.24% 10
East of England -5 7 £431 +36.26% 10
East Midlands -9 7 £488 +21.88% 4
North East - 4 £500 - 3
Wales - 2 £375 - 9

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

For the 6 months to 2 November 2025, 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.

1 162 (52.60%) AWS
2 151 (49.03%) DevOps
3 143 (46.43%) CI/CD
4 133 (43.18%) Azure
5 132 (42.86%) Terraform
6 128 (41.56%) Python
7 121 (39.29%) Infrastructure as Code
8 90 (29.22%) Kubernetes
9 86 (27.92%) Security Cleared
10 78 (25.32%) GCP
11 64 (20.78%) Docker
11 64 (20.78%) Microsoft
12 60 (19.48%) Containerisation
13 59 (19.16%) Jenkins
14 58 (18.83%) SC Cleared
15 56 (18.18%) Agile
15 56 (18.18%) Problem-Solving
16 53 (17.21%) Cloud Security
17 52 (16.88%) GitHub
18 50 (16.23%) Linux
19 46 (14.94%) Serverless
20 42 (13.64%) GitLab
20 42 (13.64%) Google
21 41 (13.31%) Ansible
21 41 (13.31%) Bash
21 41 (13.31%) SQL
22 40 (12.99%) Windows
23 38 (12.34%) Go
24 36 (11.69%) High Availability
24 36 (11.69%) Infrastructure Automation

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 14 (4.55%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.62%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (1.62%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.30%) Apache Spark
3 4 (1.30%) Confluence
4 3 (0.97%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.65%) Apache
5 2 (0.65%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.32%) Apache Superset
6 1 (0.32%) CMS
6 1 (0.32%) DataSynapse
6 1 (0.32%) Headless CMS
6 1 (0.32%) nginx
6 1 (0.32%) WebLogic
Business Applications
1 2 (0.65%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.65%) Magento
1 2 (0.65%) Payment Gateway
1 2 (0.65%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 162 (52.60%) AWS
2 133 (43.18%) Azure
3 78 (25.32%) GCP
4 52 (16.88%) GitHub
5 46 (14.94%) Serverless
6 33 (10.71%) GitHub Actions
7 29 (9.42%) AWS CloudFormation
8 26 (8.44%) Amazon S3
9 25 (8.12%) Entra ID
10 24 (7.79%) Microsoft 365
11 22 (7.14%) AWS Lambda
12 18 (5.84%) Amazon EKS
12 18 (5.84%) Azure DevOps
12 18 (5.84%) IaaS
13 17 (5.52%) PaaS
14 15 (4.87%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 14 (4.55%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 13 (4.22%) Amazon EC2
17 12 (3.90%) Azure Monitor
17 12 (3.90%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.74%) Firewall
2 22 (7.14%) VPN
3 16 (5.19%) Cisco Firepower
3 16 (5.19%) Cisco IOS
3 16 (5.19%) Cisco ISE
3 16 (5.19%) DNS
3 16 (5.19%) Junos
4 14 (4.55%) Network Security
5 7 (2.27%) WAN
6 5 (1.62%) TCP/IP
7 3 (0.97%) BGP
7 3 (0.97%) LAN
7 3 (0.97%) SAN
8 2 (0.65%) MPLS
8 2 (0.65%) OSPF
8 2 (0.65%) Remote Desktop
8 2 (0.65%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.65%) SSL
8 2 (0.65%) Wi-Fi
9 1 (0.32%) IPv6
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (11.36%) NoSQL
2 32 (10.39%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (3.25%) Power BI
4 9 (2.92%) Data Warehouse
4 9 (2.92%) DynamoDB
5 8 (2.60%) BigQuery
6 6 (1.95%) Amazon Redshift
6 6 (1.95%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (1.95%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (1.62%) Amazon RDS
7 5 (1.62%) Looker
7 5 (1.62%) Tableau
8 4 (1.30%) Big Data
8 4 (1.30%) SQL Server
9 3 (0.97%) Amazon Athena
9 3 (0.97%) Amazon Aurora
9 3 (0.97%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.65%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.65%) Data Lake
11 1 (0.32%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 59 (19.16%) Jenkins
2 42 (13.64%) GitLab
3 21 (6.82%) Git
4 20 (6.49%) JIRA
4 20 (6.49%) Liquibase
5 3 (0.97%) MLflow
5 3 (0.97%) SonarQube
6 2 (0.65%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.65%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.65%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.32%) Gemini Tracker
7 1 (0.32%) Postman
7 1 (0.32%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.32%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 79 (25.65%) Social Skills
2 59 (19.16%) Finance
3 37 (12.01%) Analytical Skills
3 37 (12.01%) Banking
4 23 (7.47%) Public Sector
5 11 (3.57%) Financial Institution
6 8 (2.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 8 (2.60%) Telecoms
7 6 (1.95%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (1.62%) Aviation
8 5 (1.62%) Local Government
8 5 (1.62%) Pharmaceutical
9 3 (0.97%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.65%) Law
10 2 (0.65%) Marketing
10 2 (0.65%) Military
10 2 (0.65%) Retail
11 1 (0.32%) Billing
11 1 (0.32%) Electronics
11 1 (0.32%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (9.42%) REST
2 25 (8.12%) Elastic Stack
3 18 (5.84%) RESTful
4 15 (4.87%) Kafka
5 12 (3.90%) ARM Templates
5 12 (3.90%) AWS CDK
6 7 (2.27%) Node.js
7 6 (1.95%) FastAPI
7 6 (1.95%) Lambda Expressions
7 6 (1.95%) pytest
7 6 (1.95%) SAML
8 5 (1.62%) JSON
8 5 (1.62%) OpenID
8 5 (1.62%) React
9 4 (1.30%) OpenAPI
9 4 (1.30%) scikit-learn
9 4 (1.30%) TensorFlow
9 4 (1.30%) Web Services
9 4 (1.30%) XSD
10 3 (0.97%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 44 (14.29%) Cloud Native
2 29 (9.42%) Public Cloud
3 20 (6.49%) Distributed Systems
4 11 (3.57%) Data Protection Act
5 6 (1.95%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (1.62%) Data Centre
6 5 (1.62%) Genomics
6 5 (1.62%) Hybrid Cloud
6 5 (1.62%) PKI
6 5 (1.62%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.30%) Life Science
7 4 (1.30%) Security Posture
7 4 (1.30%) Virtual Team
8 3 (0.97%) AI Agents
8 3 (0.97%) Algorithms
8 3 (0.97%) Cloud Security Posture
8 3 (0.97%) Distributed Computing
9 2 (0.65%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 2 (0.65%) Management Information System
9 2 (0.65%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 50 (16.23%) Linux
2 40 (12.99%) Windows
3 23 (7.47%) Windows Server
4 9 (2.92%) Unix
5 3 (0.97%) VMS
6 1 (0.32%) Alpine Linux
6 1 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.32%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 151 (49.03%) DevOps
2 143 (46.43%) CI/CD
3 121 (39.29%) Infrastructure as Code
4 60 (19.48%) Containerisation
5 56 (18.18%) Agile
5 56 (18.18%) Problem-Solving
6 53 (17.21%) Cloud Security
7 36 (11.69%) High Availability
7 36 (11.69%) Infrastructure Automation
7 36 (11.69%) Migration
8 34 (11.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 29 (9.42%) Continuous Integration
10 28 (9.09%) Service Management
11 25 (8.12%) Microservices
12 24 (7.79%) Cost Optimisation
13 22 (7.14%) Software Engineering
14 21 (6.82%) Computer Science
14 21 (6.82%) Cybersecurity
15 20 (6.49%) AI
15 20 (6.49%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 128 (41.56%) Python
2 41 (13.31%) Bash
2 41 (13.31%) SQL
3 38 (12.34%) Go
4 32 (10.39%) PowerShell
5 27 (8.77%) Java
6 14 (4.55%) JavaScript
6 14 (4.55%) Perl
7 12 (3.90%) Bicep
8 10 (3.25%) Shell Script
9 5 (1.62%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.65%) C#
10 2 (0.65%) Korn
10 2 (0.65%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.65%) Ruby
10 2 (0.65%) Scala
10 2 (0.65%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.65%) VB
11 1 (0.32%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.32%) C
Qualifications
1 86 (27.92%) Security Cleared
2 58 (18.83%) SC Cleared
3 32 (10.39%) AWS Certification
4 29 (9.42%) Azure Certification
4 29 (9.42%) Degree
4 29 (9.42%) DV Cleared
5 20 (6.49%) Computer Science Degree
6 17 (5.52%) Master's Degree
7 11 (3.57%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (3.25%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 5 (1.62%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 4 (1.30%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.65%) AWS Certified Developer
11 2 (0.65%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.65%) CCSP
12 1 (0.32%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
12 1 (0.32%) CCNA
12 1 (0.32%) CCNP
12 1 (0.32%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (3.90%) QA
2 11 (3.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (3.57%) NIST
3 8 (2.60%) GDPR
4 6 (1.95%) PCI DSS
5 4 (1.30%) HIPAA
5 4 (1.30%) NCSC
6 3 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.97%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.65%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.32%) FedRAMP
8 1 (0.32%) JSP 440
System Software
1 64 (20.78%) Docker
2 30 (9.74%) Active Directory
3 16 (5.19%) VMware NSX
4 6 (1.95%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (1.62%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (1.62%) vSphere
6 4 (1.30%) VMware Infrastructure
7 3 (0.97%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.65%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.32%) Ceph
9 1 (0.32%) iptables
9 1 (0.32%) KVM
9 1 (0.32%) Squid
Systems Management
1 132 (42.86%) Terraform
2 90 (29.22%) Kubernetes
3 41 (13.31%) Ansible
4 27 (8.77%) Grafana
5 24 (7.79%) Prometheus
6 16 (5.19%) vCenter Server
7 7 (2.27%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (2.27%) Puppet
8 6 (1.95%) Argo
8 6 (1.95%) Kibana
8 6 (1.95%) logstash
8 6 (1.95%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (1.30%) Podman
10 3 (0.97%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.97%) Nessus
10 3 (0.97%) Proxmox
10 3 (0.97%) QRadar
11 2 (0.65%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.65%) Istio
11 2 (0.65%) Packer
Vendors
1 64 (20.78%) Microsoft
2 42 (13.64%) Google
3 22 (7.14%) Splunk
4 20 (6.49%) Cisco
5 17 (5.52%) Juniper
5 17 (5.52%) SolarWinds
6 12 (3.90%) Zscaler
7 8 (2.60%) Oracle
8 7 (2.27%) Palo Alto
8 7 (2.27%) ServiceNow
9 6 (1.95%) Darktrace
9 6 (1.95%) SAP
9 6 (1.95%) VMware
10 5 (1.62%) Databricks
11 4 (1.30%) MuleSoft
11 4 (1.30%) Salesforce
12 3 (0.97%) Atlassian
12 3 (0.97%) Axway
12 3 (0.97%) Qualys
13 2 (0.65%) Proofpoint