Operational Technology Contracts

Operational Technology (OT)
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Operational Technology in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Operational Technology over the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 370 428 477
Rank change year-on-year +58 +49 +226
Contract jobs citing Operational Technology 151 174 239
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.52% 0.40% 0.40%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.52% 1.31% 1.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 107 124 154
10th Percentile £415 £325 £341
25th Percentile £505 £436 £457
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £575 £570
Median % change year-on-year - +0.88% -3.59%
75th Percentile £641 £691 £680
90th Percentile £750 £800 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £595 £550 £550
% change year-on-year +8.18% - -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 0
10th Percentile £71.68 - -
25th Percentile £76.00 £62.50 -
Median hourly rate £83.20 £65.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +28.00% - -
75th Percentile - £67.50 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £83.20 £65.00 -
% change year-on-year +28.00% - -

All Generic Skills
UK

Operational Technology 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 9,915 13,252 19,898
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.91% 30.40% 33.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,331 8,505 13,670
10th Percentile £300 £263 £308
25th Percentile £413 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.42% -2.18% -
75th Percentile £650 £660 £680
90th Percentile £775 £788 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £496 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -0.90% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 394 910 640
10th Percentile £16.46 £12.25 £9.80
25th Percentile £21.00 £15.17 £10.63
Median hourly rate £32.05 £30.00 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year +6.83% +33.42% -18.24%
75th Percentile £63.75 £60.66 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.99 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.93 £27.75 £22.00
% change year-on-year +11.46% +26.14% +9.64%

Operational Technology
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Operational Technology as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Operational Technology in the UK

Operational Technology
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Operational Technology.

Daily rate trend for Operational Technology in the UK

Operational Technology
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Operational Technology over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Operational Technology in the UK

Operational Technology
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Operational Technology.

Hourly rate trend for Operational Technology in the UK

Operational Technology
Top 15 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Operational Technology within the UK over the 6 months to 30 April 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 +57 132 £575 +2.22% 188
UK excluding London +26 97 £595 +8.18% 155
Work from Home +52 64 £600 - 86
Midlands +32 38 £600 +29.73% 40
West Midlands +26 38 £600 +29.73% 27
London +38 36 £575 -11.54% 49
South East +37 27 £595 +18.88% 34
North of England +27 15 £575 -11.54% 42
East of England +34 9 £450 +12.50% 11
North East +3 7 £575 -4.17% 7
Scotland -9 7 £472 -24.48% 16
North West +11 6 £400 -58.44% 16
Yorkshire +12 3 £613 -5.77% 19
South West +28 1 £575 +2.22% 13
Wales - 1 £650 - 2

Operational Technology
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 1 (0.66%) SAS
1 1 (0.66%) SharePoint
1 1 (0.66%) ThingWorx
Applications
1 7 (4.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.99%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.99%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 20 (13.25%) Azure
2 12 (7.95%) AWS
3 4 (2.65%) GCP
4 2 (1.32%) AWS CloudFormation
4 2 (1.32%) Entra ID
4 2 (1.32%) Microsoft 365
4 2 (1.32%) Microsoft Purview
5 1 (0.66%) Azure Sentinel
5 1 (0.66%) Azure Stack
5 1 (0.66%) Boomi
5 1 (0.66%) IaaS
5 1 (0.66%) OpenShift
5 1 (0.66%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 26 (17.22%) Firewall
2 10 (6.62%) Network Security
3 8 (5.30%) Modbus
4 7 (4.64%) VPN
5 5 (3.31%) Intrusion Detection
5 5 (3.31%) LAN
5 5 (3.31%) MQTT
5 5 (3.31%) WAN
6 4 (2.65%) 4G
6 4 (2.65%) Ethernet
6 4 (2.65%) ISDN
6 4 (2.65%) MPLS
6 4 (2.65%) PSTN
7 3 (1.99%) Cisco Firepower
7 3 (1.99%) Internet
8 2 (1.32%) 5G
8 2 (1.32%) Cisco ISE
8 2 (1.32%) LoRaWAN
8 2 (1.32%) NGFW
8 2 (1.32%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.64%) GIS
2 4 (2.65%) SQL Server
3 3 (1.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 2 (1.32%) Big Data
5 1 (0.66%) Metadata
General
1 50 (33.11%) Social Skills
2 26 (17.22%) Analytical Skills
3 17 (11.26%) Presentation Skills
4 12 (7.95%) Finance
4 12 (7.95%) Public Sector
5 11 (7.28%) Manufacturing
6 7 (4.64%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (3.97%) Pharmaceutical
8 4 (2.65%) Legal
9 2 (1.32%) Automotive
9 2 (1.32%) Military
9 2 (1.32%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.66%) Back Office
10 1 (0.66%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.66%) Front Office
10 1 (0.66%) Law
Job Titles
1 38 (25.17%) Architect
2 25 (16.56%) Analyst
3 19 (12.58%) Consultant
4 18 (11.92%) Security Architect
5 10 (6.62%) Lead
5 10 (6.62%) Project Manager
6 8 (5.30%) Security Analyst
6 8 (5.30%) Security Manager
6 8 (5.30%) Solutions Architect
7 7 (4.64%) Technical Architect
8 6 (3.97%) Network Engineer
8 6 (3.97%) Security Consultant
8 6 (3.97%) Security Engineer
8 6 (3.97%) Senior
9 5 (3.31%) Cybersecurity Analyst
9 5 (3.31%) Cybersecurity Manager
9 5 (3.31%) Network Architect
9 5 (3.31%) Security Project Manager
9 5 (3.31%) Solutions Consultant
9 5 (3.31%) Systems Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (3.97%) SOAP
2 2 (1.32%) ADO
2 2 (1.32%) SAML
3 1 (0.66%) IBM Integration Bus
3 1 (0.66%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 42 (27.81%) SCADA
2 17 (11.26%) Management Information System
3 11 (7.28%) Security Posture
4 10 (6.62%) IoT
5 9 (5.96%) Industrial Internet of Things
6 6 (3.97%) Cyber Threat
7 4 (2.65%) Product Ownership
7 4 (2.65%) Renewable Energy
8 3 (1.99%) CCTV
8 3 (1.99%) Data Protection Act
8 3 (1.99%) Data Structures
8 3 (1.99%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.99%) FMCG
8 3 (1.99%) Low-Code
8 3 (1.99%) Replication
9 2 (1.32%) Cloud Native
9 2 (1.32%) Cyberattack
9 2 (1.32%) NB-IoT
9 2 (1.32%) PMI
9 2 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 13 (8.61%) Linux
2 10 (6.62%) Windows
3 7 (4.64%) Apple iOS
4 2 (1.32%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (49.01%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (23.18%) Stakeholder Management
3 27 (17.88%) Risk Management
4 18 (11.92%) Project Delivery
4 18 (11.92%) Security Architecture
5 17 (11.26%) Problem-Solving
6 16 (10.60%) Change Management
7 14 (9.27%) Roadmaps
8 12 (7.95%) Agile
8 12 (7.95%) Risk Assessment
8 12 (7.95%) Security Management
9 11 (7.28%) Computer Science
9 11 (7.28%) Incident Management
9 11 (7.28%) Project Management
9 11 (7.28%) Regulatory Compliance
9 11 (7.28%) SIEM
9 11 (7.28%) Threat Modelling
10 10 (6.62%) Collaborative Working
10 10 (6.62%) Programme Management
10 10 (6.62%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.96%) Perl
1 9 (5.96%) PL/SQL
1 9 (5.96%) SQL
2 1 (0.66%) Java
2 1 (0.66%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 23 (15.23%) CISSP
2 21 (13.91%) Degree
2 21 (13.91%) Security Cleared
3 19 (12.58%) CISM
4 17 (11.26%) SC Cleared
5 8 (5.30%) CISA
5 8 (5.30%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (3.31%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (3.31%) CRISC
6 5 (3.31%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
7 4 (2.65%) Azure Certification
7 4 (2.65%) PMI Certification
8 3 (1.99%) CCNP
8 3 (1.99%) CompTIA Security+
8 3 (1.99%) GIAC
8 3 (1.99%) Master's Degree
8 3 (1.99%) SANS
8 3 (1.99%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (1.32%) CCNA
9 2 (1.32%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (21.85%) NIST
2 24 (15.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (9.27%) NCSC
4 12 (7.95%) NIST 800
5 7 (4.64%) GRC
5 7 (4.64%) GxP
6 4 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 3 (1.99%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (1.99%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (1.32%) GDPR
8 2 (1.32%) PMO
9 1 (0.66%) GMP
9 1 (0.66%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.66%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.66%) QA
System Software
1 13 (8.61%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.66%) KVM
4 1 (0.66%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 3 (1.99%) Microsoft Intune
1 3 (1.99%) SCCM
2 2 (1.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 2 (1.32%) Ansible
2 2 (1.32%) CSIRT
2 2 (1.32%) Kubernetes
2 2 (1.32%) Nagios
2 2 (1.32%) Terraform
3 1 (0.66%) SCOM
3 1 (0.66%) VxRail
Vendors
1 24 (15.89%) Microsoft
2 9 (5.96%) ServiceNow
3 8 (5.30%) Cisco
4 7 (4.64%) VMware
5 3 (1.99%) Siemens
6 2 (1.32%) AlgoSec
6 2 (1.32%) Dell
6 2 (1.32%) NEC
6 2 (1.32%) Palo Alto
6 2 (1.32%) Qualys
6 2 (1.32%) Snow
6 2 (1.32%) Tufin
7 1 (0.66%) DataCore
7 1 (0.66%) Fortinet
7 1 (0.66%) Meraki
7 1 (0.66%) MuleSoft
7 1 (0.66%) Rockwell
7 1 (0.66%) SolarWinds
7 1 (0.66%) Veeam
7 1 (0.66%) Wonderware