PKI Contract Job Trends

Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI)
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term PKI in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited PKI over the 6 months leading up to 3 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 374 337 229
Rank change year-on-year -37 -108 +92
Contract jobs citing PKI 289 206 469
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.66% 1.08%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.70% 1.90% 3.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 162 328
10th Percentile £416 £358 £363
25th Percentile £463 £466 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.82%
75th Percentile £638 £611 £616
90th Percentile £700 £684 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £550 £550
% change year-on-year - - -1.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 4
10th Percentile £47.22 - -
25th Percentile £56.01 - -
Median hourly rate £71.33 - £23.80
75th Percentile £72.27 - £27.91
90th Percentile £72.43 - £35.32
UK excluding London median hourly rate £71.33 - £38.50
% change year-on-year - - +156.67%

All Generic Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 16,974 10,834 13,148
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.95% 34.64% 30.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,364 6,746 8,352
10th Percentile £313 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £539
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.51% -2.09%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £663
90th Percentile £749 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 869 499 919
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.55 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £19.00 £15.39
Median hourly rate £43.50 £31.00 £36.05
Median % change year-on-year +40.32% -14.00% +60.20%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.55 £62.25
90th Percentile £87.16 £78.71 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £35.65
% change year-on-year +46.53% -15.85% +58.44%

PKI
Job Vacancy Trend

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

PKI job vacancy trend in the UK

PKI
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

PKI
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing PKI over the 6 months to 3 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for PKI in the UK

PKI
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

PKI
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing PKI over the 6 months to 3 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for PKI in the UK

PKI
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 PKI within the UK over the 6 months to 3 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
England -66 244 £560 +1.82% 80
UK excluding London -41 191 £550 - 80
South East +3 104 £590 +2.61% 24
London -58 72 £575 +0.66% 15
Work from Home -45 67 £550 +0.46% 29
North of England -48 34 £425 -13.62% 14
North West -29 23 £418 -15.14% 7
Scotland +8 22 £490 -8.41% 9
South West -57 15 £538 -6.52% 20
Midlands -69 11 £450 +17.65% 6
Yorkshire - 11 £500 - 6
West Midlands -70 10 £400 +4.58% 4
East of England -22 4 £400 -23.81% 2
Wales - 3 £525 - 7
East Midlands -14 1 £475 - 2

PKI
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 12 (4.15%) Microsoft Exchange
1 12 (4.15%) SharePoint
2 10 (3.46%) Confluence
3 7 (2.42%) IIS
4 3 (1.04%) Apache
4 3 (1.04%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.04%) Tomcat
4 3 (1.04%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.35%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 5 (1.73%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 10 (3.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.35%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 89 (30.80%) Azure
2 65 (22.49%) AWS
3 53 (18.34%) Entra ID
4 22 (7.61%) Microsoft 365
5 19 (6.57%) GCP
6 17 (5.88%) Power Platform
7 11 (3.81%) IaaS
8 10 (3.46%) Azure Key Vault
8 10 (3.46%) OpenShift
8 10 (3.46%) PaaS
9 7 (2.42%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (1.73%) AWS KMS
10 5 (1.73%) GitHub
10 5 (1.73%) SaaS
11 3 (1.04%) Amazon EKS
12 2 (0.69%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.69%) GitHub Actions
12 2 (0.69%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 2 (0.69%) OneDrive
12 2 (0.69%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 81 (28.03%) DNS
2 63 (21.80%) Firewall
3 56 (19.38%) DHCP
4 39 (13.49%) BGP
5 37 (12.80%) WAN
6 33 (11.42%) LAN
6 33 (11.42%) VPN
7 30 (10.38%) OSPF
8 25 (8.65%) Ethernet VPN
8 25 (8.65%) Network Security
8 25 (8.65%) VXLAN
9 24 (8.30%) BIG-IP
10 23 (7.96%) Cisco ISE
10 23 (7.96%) Junos
11 21 (7.27%) SSL
12 12 (4.15%) Cisco ASA
12 12 (4.15%) IPsec
13 11 (3.81%) MPLS
13 11 (3.81%) SSH
14 10 (3.46%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.88%) SQL Server
2 12 (4.15%) Power BI
3 9 (3.11%) Elasticsearch
4 5 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.38%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (1.38%) MongoDB
5 4 (1.38%) MySQL
6 3 (1.04%) Big Data
6 3 (1.04%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.69%) Db2
7 2 (0.69%) Metadata
8 1 (0.35%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.35%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.50%) JIRA
2 8 (2.77%) GitLab
3 6 (2.08%) Git
3 6 (2.08%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.38%) Robot Framework
4 4 (1.38%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (1.04%) Terragrunt
6 2 (0.69%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.69%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.69%) Gatling
6 2 (0.69%) Gradle
6 2 (0.69%) LoadRunner
6 2 (0.69%) MSI
6 2 (0.69%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.69%) SonarQube
General
1 45 (15.57%) Social Skills
2 32 (11.07%) Finance
3 30 (10.38%) Public Sector
4 13 (4.50%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (3.81%) Documentation Skills
6 7 (2.42%) Banking
7 6 (2.08%) Legal
8 5 (1.73%) Military
8 5 (1.73%) Retail
9 3 (1.04%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (0.69%) Corporate Banking
10 2 (0.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.69%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.69%) Police
10 2 (0.69%) Retail Banking
11 1 (0.35%) Back Office
11 1 (0.35%) Law
11 1 (0.35%) Local Government
11 1 (0.35%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.35%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 54 (18.69%) Senior
2 45 (15.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 35 (12.11%) Architect
4 25 (8.65%) Network Engineer
5 19 (6.57%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 17 (5.88%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 16 (5.54%) Lead
8 15 (5.19%) Support Engineer
9 14 (4.84%) Firewall Specialist
9 14 (4.84%) Network Specialist
9 14 (4.84%) Senior Network Engineer
9 14 (4.84%) Storage Engineer
10 11 (3.81%) DevOps Engineer
11 10 (3.46%) Analyst
11 10 (3.46%) Senior Architect
12 9 (3.11%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (3.11%) Linux Engineer
12 9 (3.11%) Security Engineer
13 7 (2.42%) Solutions Architect
14 6 (2.08%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (11.42%) 802.1X
2 23 (7.96%) OpenID
3 20 (6.92%) LDAP
3 20 (6.92%) SAML
4 16 (5.54%) OAuth
5 14 (4.84%) REST
6 7 (2.42%) JSON
6 7 (2.42%) OAuth2
6 7 (2.42%) RabbitMQ
7 5 (1.73%) Kafka
7 5 (1.73%) SailPoint
8 4 (1.38%) Keycloak
9 3 (1.04%) FIDO
9 3 (1.04%) Microsoft Graph
9 3 (1.04%) SPIFFE
10 2 (0.69%) .NET Core
10 2 (0.69%) eBPF
10 2 (0.69%) Loki
10 2 (0.69%) Quarkus
10 2 (0.69%) WebAuthn
Miscellaneous
1 47 (16.26%) Clustering
2 33 (11.42%) Data Centre
3 12 (4.15%) Onboarding
4 10 (3.46%) Cloud Native
4 10 (3.46%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (3.11%) Enterprise Storage
5 9 (3.11%) Linux Command Line
6 8 (2.77%) Distributed Systems
6 8 (2.77%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.77%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.42%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (2.08%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (2.08%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.08%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.73%) Fat Client
9 5 (1.73%) Private Cloud
9 5 (1.73%) Smartcard
9 5 (1.73%) Thin Client
10 4 (1.38%) Algorithms
10 4 (1.38%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 136 (47.06%) Windows
2 76 (26.30%) Linux
3 71 (24.57%) Windows Server
4 11 (3.81%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (3.11%) Ubuntu
5 9 (3.11%) Unix
6 6 (2.08%) Debian
6 6 (2.08%) Windows Server 2003
6 6 (2.08%) Windows Server 2012
6 6 (2.08%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (1.38%) Android
7 4 (1.38%) Windows Server 2016
8 3 (1.04%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.04%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.69%) CentOS
9 2 (0.69%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.35%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.35%) VMS
10 1 (0.35%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.35%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (29.07%) Identity Access Management
2 52 (17.99%) ITIL
3 49 (16.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 45 (15.57%) High Availability
5 42 (14.53%) Cybersecurity
6 40 (13.84%) Agile
6 40 (13.84%) Problem-Solving
7 39 (13.49%) Zero Trust
8 37 (12.80%) DevOps
9 36 (12.46%) Observability
10 31 (10.73%) Load Balancing
11 29 (10.03%) ITSM
11 29 (10.03%) Key Management
12 28 (9.69%) Cryptography
12 28 (9.69%) Service Management
13 26 (9.00%) CI/CD
13 26 (9.00%) Infrastructure as Code
14 25 (8.65%) RBAC
15 24 (8.30%) Project Delivery
16 22 (7.61%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 66 (22.84%) PowerShell
2 47 (16.26%) Python
3 13 (4.50%) SQL
4 11 (3.81%) JavaScript
5 9 (3.11%) Bash
5 9 (3.11%) Java
6 8 (2.77%) C#
7 4 (1.38%) PHP
8 3 (1.04%) C++
8 3 (1.04%) Go
9 2 (0.69%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 153 (52.94%) Security Cleared
2 88 (30.45%) DV Cleared
3 66 (22.84%) SC Cleared
4 32 (11.07%) Cisco Certification
5 21 (7.27%) Degree
6 14 (4.84%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (4.50%) CISSP
8 11 (3.81%) MCSE
9 10 (3.46%) Azure Certification
9 10 (3.46%) CCNP
10 9 (3.11%) GIAC
11 8 (2.77%) CISM
11 8 (2.77%) CompTIA Security+
12 7 (2.42%) JNCIA
12 7 (2.42%) JNCIP
12 7 (2.42%) JNCIS
13 5 (1.73%) Master's Degree
13 5 (1.73%) SSCP
14 4 (1.38%) CCNA
14 4 (1.38%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (11.07%) NIST
2 22 (7.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.88%) NCSC
4 10 (3.46%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (2.77%) SLA
6 7 (2.42%) QA
7 4 (1.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.38%) GDPR
8 3 (1.04%) PCI DSS
8 3 (1.04%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.69%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.69%) ISA99
9 2 (0.69%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (0.69%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.69%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.69%) RMADS
10 1 (0.35%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.35%) GMP
10 1 (0.35%) GRC
10 1 (0.35%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 106 (36.68%) Active Directory
2 54 (18.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (10.03%) Docker
4 22 (7.61%) Hyper-V
5 18 (6.23%) VMware NSX
6 17 (5.88%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (3.46%) BitLocker
8 9 (3.11%) Microsoft App-V
9 8 (2.77%) Virtual Machines
10 4 (1.38%) Firmware
10 4 (1.38%) OpenSSH
10 4 (1.38%) Terminal Services
10 4 (1.38%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (1.04%) KVM
11 3 (1.04%) OpenAM
12 2 (0.69%) NFS
12 2 (0.69%) vSphere
12 2 (0.69%) XenApp
12 2 (0.69%) XenDesktop
13 1 (0.35%) iptables
Systems Management
1 45 (15.57%) Ansible
2 40 (13.84%) Kubernetes
3 35 (12.11%) Terraform
4 27 (9.34%) vCenter Server
5 24 (8.30%) Single Sign-On
6 23 (7.96%) FortiGate
7 15 (5.19%) Microsoft Intune
8 13 (4.50%) Puppet
8 13 (4.50%) SCOM
9 10 (3.46%) Prometheus
10 9 (3.11%) Avamar
10 9 (3.11%) Grafana
10 9 (3.11%) vMotion
11 8 (2.77%) SCCM
12 7 (2.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (1.73%) CA Single Sign-On
13 5 (1.73%) Failover Clustering
13 5 (1.73%) Kibana
13 5 (1.73%) WMI
13 5 (1.73%) WSUS
Vendors
1 104 (35.99%) Microsoft
2 72 (24.91%) VMware
3 58 (20.07%) Cisco
4 36 (12.46%) Splunk
5 30 (10.38%) Juniper
6 28 (9.69%) F5
7 27 (9.34%) SolarWinds
8 23 (7.96%) ServiceNow
9 22 (7.61%) Extreme Networks
10 20 (6.92%) Okta
11 19 (6.57%) Citrix
12 17 (5.88%) Thales
13 13 (4.50%) BeyondTrust
14 12 (4.15%) Palo Alto
15 11 (3.81%) Dell
15 11 (3.81%) NetApp
16 10 (3.46%) BMC
16 10 (3.46%) Remedy
17 7 (2.42%) Google
17 7 (2.42%) IBM