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

6 months to
30 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 376 314 201
Rank change year-on-year -62 -113 +110
Contract jobs citing PKI 281 214 514
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.60% 0.73% 1.18%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.85% 2.16% 3.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 194 162 353
10th Percentile £413 £408 £363
25th Percentile £475 £492 £455
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £675 £630 £638
90th Percentile £825 £725 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £565 £550
% change year-on-year -2.65% +2.73% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 4
10th Percentile £61.41 - -
25th Percentile £70.50 - £23.80
Median hourly rate £79.50 - £31.15
75th Percentile £96.25 - £47.06
90th Percentile £101.65 - £59.33
UK excluding London median hourly rate £79.50 - £50.75
% change year-on-year - - +45.00%

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 15,220 9,928 13,274
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.26% 33.97% 30.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,481 6,347 8,519
10th Percentile £306 £300 £263
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £657
90th Percentile £738 £775 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £494 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% -1.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 727 391 910
10th Percentile £16.01 £16.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.86 £21.11 £15.17
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +8.33% +33.42%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £60.66
90th Percentile £86.00 £83.20 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.77 £31.76 £27.75
% change year-on-year +53.56% +14.45% +26.14%

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 30 April 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 30 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for PKI in the UK

PKI
Top 14 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 30 April 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 -54 248 £561 -2.39% 34
UK excluding London -66 169 £550 -2.65% 26
South East +6 100 £600 +4.35% 14
London -25 81 £605 +12.66% 11
Work from Home -37 72 £600 +10.09% 16
North of England -69 23 £482 -29.25% 1
South West -56 19 £556 -3.26% 1
West Midlands -63 15 £450 +5.88%
Midlands -73 15 £450 +5.88% 4
North West -32 13 £417 -15.24%
Yorkshire -53 10 £482 -33.52% 1
Scotland 0 9 £451 -15.72% 1
East of England -37 5 £475 -9.52% 3
Wales -11 1 £550 +20.22% 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 18 (6.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (2.14%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.78%) Confluence
3 5 (1.78%) IIS
4 3 (1.07%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.07%) nginx
5 2 (0.71%) Apache
5 2 (0.71%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.71%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.36%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 3 (1.07%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 7 (2.49%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.36%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 67 (23.84%) Azure
2 64 (22.78%) AWS
3 29 (10.32%) Entra ID
3 29 (10.32%) Microsoft 365
4 24 (8.54%) IaaS
5 12 (4.27%) Power Platform
6 11 (3.91%) GCP
7 10 (3.56%) OpenShift
8 9 (3.20%) PaaS
9 8 (2.85%) AWS KMS
9 8 (2.85%) SaaS
10 7 (2.49%) Azure Key Vault
11 5 (1.78%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (1.42%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (1.42%) Power Automate
12 4 (1.42%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 3 (1.07%) GitHub
13 3 (1.07%) Route 53
14 2 (0.71%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 75 (26.69%) DNS
2 67 (23.84%) Firewall
3 48 (17.08%) DHCP
4 40 (14.23%) BGP
5 34 (12.10%) WAN
6 32 (11.39%) VPN
7 29 (10.32%) LAN
7 29 (10.32%) OSPF
8 28 (9.96%) Cisco ISE
9 27 (9.61%) Junos
9 27 (9.61%) Network Security
10 26 (9.25%) Ethernet VPN
10 26 (9.25%) VXLAN
11 25 (8.90%) BIG-IP
12 21 (7.47%) SSL
13 11 (3.91%) MPLS
13 11 (3.91%) TCP/IP
14 10 (3.56%) Cisco IOS
15 8 (2.85%) IPsec
15 8 (2.85%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.56%) Elasticsearch
2 8 (2.85%) SQL Server
3 7 (2.49%) Power BI
4 2 (0.71%) Metadata
4 2 (0.71%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.71%) MySQL
5 1 (0.36%) Amazon QuickSight
5 1 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.36%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.36%) RDBMS
5 1 (0.36%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 11 (3.91%) JIRA
2 9 (3.20%) GitLab
3 6 (2.14%) Robot Framework
4 4 (1.42%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.42%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (1.07%) Terragrunt
6 2 (0.71%) Git
7 1 (0.36%) JUnit
7 1 (0.36%) MSI
General
1 30 (10.68%) Analytical Skills
1 30 (10.68%) Social Skills
2 25 (8.90%) Public Sector
3 24 (8.54%) Finance
4 6 (2.14%) Military
5 5 (1.78%) Banking
5 5 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (1.42%) Retail
7 3 (1.07%) Legal
8 2 (0.71%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.71%) Local Government
9 1 (0.36%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.36%) Back Office
9 1 (0.36%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.36%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.36%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 70 (24.91%) Architect
2 44 (15.66%) Senior
3 41 (14.59%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 23 (8.19%) Network Engineer
5 17 (6.05%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 16 (5.69%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 14 (4.98%) Firewall Specialist
7 14 (4.98%) Network Specialist
8 11 (3.91%) Security Engineer
9 10 (3.56%) Senior Architect
9 10 (3.56%) Senior Network Engineer
9 10 (3.56%) Support Engineer
10 9 (3.20%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (2.85%) Administrator
11 8 (2.85%) Consultant
12 7 (2.49%) DevOps Engineer
12 7 (2.49%) NetApp Engineer
12 7 (2.49%) Security Consultant
12 7 (2.49%) Storage Engineer
13 6 (2.14%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (11.39%) 802.1X
2 28 (9.96%) REST
3 23 (8.19%) JSON
4 17 (6.05%) OpenID
5 16 (5.69%) SAML
6 14 (4.98%) LDAP
7 13 (4.63%) OAuth
8 7 (2.49%) OAuth2
9 4 (1.42%) Elastic Stack
10 3 (1.07%) SailPoint
11 2 (0.71%) CSS
11 2 (0.71%) eBPF
11 2 (0.71%) HTML
11 2 (0.71%) Kafka
11 2 (0.71%) Loki
11 2 (0.71%) Microsoft Graph
11 2 (0.71%) SPIFFE
11 2 (0.71%) Web Services
12 1 (0.36%) Keycloak
12 1 (0.36%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 40 (14.23%) Clustering
2 28 (9.96%) Data Centre
3 17 (6.05%) Self-Motivation
4 11 (3.91%) Enterprise Storage
4 11 (3.91%) Onboarding
5 10 (3.56%) Algorithms
5 10 (3.56%) Hybrid Cloud
5 10 (3.56%) Public Cloud
6 6 (2.14%) Cloud Native
6 6 (2.14%) Operational Technology
6 6 (2.14%) Private Cloud
7 5 (1.78%) Fat Client
7 5 (1.78%) Management Information System
7 5 (1.78%) Smartcard
7 5 (1.78%) Thin Client
8 3 (1.07%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.07%) Security Posture
9 2 (0.71%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (0.71%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 2 (0.71%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 106 (37.72%) Windows
2 56 (19.93%) Linux
3 47 (16.73%) Windows Server
4 10 (3.56%) Windows Server 2012
5 7 (2.49%) Ubuntu
5 7 (2.49%) Windows Server 2003
6 6 (2.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (1.78%) Windows 7
7 5 (1.78%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (1.42%) CentOS
8 4 (1.42%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.71%) Debian
9 2 (0.71%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.36%) Android
10 1 (0.36%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.36%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.36%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.36%) Solaris
10 1 (0.36%) Unix
10 1 (0.36%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (22.06%) Agile
2 57 (20.28%) Identity Access Management
3 51 (18.15%) Key Management
4 47 (16.73%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 41 (14.59%) High Availability
6 40 (14.23%) Cybersecurity
7 37 (13.17%) CI/CD
7 37 (13.17%) ITIL
8 36 (12.81%) Observability
9 35 (12.46%) Problem-Solving
10 33 (11.74%) Load Balancing
11 31 (11.03%) DevOps
12 29 (10.32%) Infrastructure as Code
13 27 (9.61%) Change Management
14 25 (8.90%) Migration
14 25 (8.90%) Zero Trust
15 23 (8.19%) Configuration Management
15 23 (8.19%) Cryptography
15 23 (8.19%) Service Management
16 22 (7.83%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 70 (24.91%) PowerShell
2 36 (12.81%) Python
3 17 (6.05%) SQL
4 15 (5.34%) Bash
5 9 (3.20%) JavaScript
6 8 (2.85%) C#
7 5 (1.78%) Java
8 4 (1.42%) PHP
9 3 (1.07%) C++
9 3 (1.07%) Go
10 1 (0.36%) Perl
10 1 (0.36%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 185 (65.84%) Security Cleared
2 96 (34.16%) DV Cleared
3 81 (28.83%) SC Cleared
4 30 (10.68%) Cisco Certification
5 20 (7.12%) Degree
6 16 (5.69%) CISSP
7 15 (5.34%) CISM
8 10 (3.56%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (2.85%) CompTIA Security+
9 8 (2.85%) GIAC
10 7 (2.49%) CCNP
10 7 (2.49%) JNCIA
10 7 (2.49%) JNCIP
10 7 (2.49%) JNCIS
11 6 (2.14%) AWS Certification
12 5 (1.78%) Azure Certification
12 5 (1.78%) CCNA
12 5 (1.78%) Computer Science Degree
12 5 (1.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 4 (1.42%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (8.54%) NIST
2 17 (6.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.98%) NCSC
4 10 (3.56%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.49%) PCI DSS
6 6 (2.14%) GDPR
7 5 (1.78%) QA
7 5 (1.78%) SLA
8 4 (1.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (1.07%) RMADS
10 2 (0.71%) ISA99
10 2 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (0.71%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.36%) GMP
11 1 (0.36%) GxP
11 1 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.36%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.36%) SOC 2
System Software
1 87 (30.96%) Active Directory
2 49 (17.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (6.76%) Docker
4 18 (6.41%) Hyper-V
5 17 (6.05%) VMware ESXi
6 14 (4.98%) VMware NSX
7 10 (3.56%) BitLocker
8 9 (3.20%) Firmware
9 8 (2.85%) Microsoft App-V
10 7 (2.49%) Virtual Machines
11 4 (1.42%) vSphere
12 3 (1.07%) KVM
12 3 (1.07%) Sendmail
12 3 (1.07%) XenApp
13 2 (0.71%) OpenSSH
13 2 (0.71%) XenDesktop
14 1 (0.36%) Embedded Firmware
14 1 (0.36%) iptables
14 1 (0.36%) Squid
14 1 (0.36%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 40 (14.23%) Ansible
2 39 (13.88%) Terraform
3 37 (13.17%) Kubernetes
4 23 (8.19%) FortiGate
5 21 (7.47%) vCenter Server
6 20 (7.12%) Single Sign-On
7 12 (4.27%) Microsoft Intune
8 11 (3.91%) Prometheus
9 10 (3.56%) Grafana
9 10 (3.56%) Puppet
10 8 (2.85%) vMotion
11 7 (2.49%) WSUS
12 6 (2.14%) SCCM
12 6 (2.14%) SCOM
13 5 (1.78%) WMI
14 4 (1.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 3 (1.07%) CA Single Sign-On
16 2 (0.71%) Cilium
16 2 (0.71%) PingFederate
16 2 (0.71%) Suricata
Vendors
1 82 (29.18%) Microsoft
2 68 (24.20%) VMware
3 54 (19.22%) Cisco
4 40 (14.23%) Splunk
5 34 (12.10%) Juniper
6 29 (10.32%) SolarWinds
7 28 (9.96%) F5
8 22 (7.83%) Extreme Networks
9 16 (5.69%) Citrix
10 15 (5.34%) ServiceNow
11 12 (4.27%) Palo Alto
12 10 (3.56%) NetApp
12 10 (3.56%) Okta
12 10 (3.56%) Thales
13 9 (3.20%) BeyondTrust
14 8 (2.85%) ForeScout
15 7 (2.49%) Aruba
15 7 (2.49%) BMC
15 7 (2.49%) Broadcom
15 7 (2.49%) Remedy