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 12 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 377 336 224
Rank change year-on-year -41 -112 +97
Contract jobs citing PKI 303 214 475
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.66% 1.11%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.72% 1.89% 3.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 207 169 334
10th Percentile £413 £358 £363
25th Percentile £463 £463 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.66%
75th Percentile £638 £613 £608
90th Percentile £700 £686 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £550 £550
% change year-on-year - - -1.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 4
10th Percentile £53.08 - -
25th Percentile £70.67 - -
Median hourly rate £72.54 - £23.80
75th Percentile £100.00 - £27.91
90th Percentile - - £35.32
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.54 - £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 17,567 11,298 13,045
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.17% 34.59% 30.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,757 7,022 8,270
10th Percentile £313 £300 £281
25th Percentile £414 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.37% -2.23%
75th Percentile £626 £649 £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 882 527 878
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.48 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.92 £18.87 £15.50
Median hourly rate £43.96 £31.00 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +41.81% -15.07% +32.25%
75th Percentile £70.00 £58.75 £62.50
90th Percentile £87.47 £77.98 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £31.76 £36.05
% change year-on-year +38.41% -11.89% +2.99%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -60 252 £555 +0.86% 84
UK excluding London -36 200 £550 - 80
South East -7 103 £575 - 24
Work from Home -40 74 £550 +0.46% 31
London -45 74 £600 +4.35% 16
North of England -54 35 £446 -9.30% 11
North West -33 23 £418 -15.14% 7
Scotland +1 22 £490 -8.41% 11
South West -64 20 £539 -6.30% 24
Midlands -54 12 £450 +12.50% 6
Yorkshire - 12 £500 - 4
West Midlands -69 11 £450 +12.50% 4
Wales - 6 £463 - 2
East of England -23 4 £400 -23.81% 2
East Midlands -15 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 (3.96%) Microsoft Exchange
1 12 (3.96%) SharePoint
2 10 (3.30%) Confluence
3 7 (2.31%) IIS
4 4 (1.32%) Apache
5 3 (0.99%) Exchange Server 2010
5 3 (0.99%) Tomcat
5 3 (0.99%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.33%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 5 (1.65%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 11 (3.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.33%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.33%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 95 (31.35%) Azure
2 71 (23.43%) AWS
3 56 (18.48%) Entra ID
4 24 (7.92%) Microsoft 365
5 19 (6.27%) GCP
6 18 (5.94%) Power Platform
7 11 (3.63%) IaaS
8 10 (3.30%) Azure Key Vault
8 10 (3.30%) OpenShift
8 10 (3.30%) PaaS
9 7 (2.31%) Azure DevOps
10 6 (1.98%) SaaS
11 5 (1.65%) AWS KMS
11 5 (1.65%) GitHub
12 4 (1.32%) Amazon EKS
13 3 (0.99%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 3 (0.99%) OCI
14 2 (0.66%) Azure Sentinel
14 2 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
14 2 (0.66%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 89 (29.37%) DNS
2 68 (22.44%) Firewall
3 62 (20.46%) DHCP
4 39 (12.87%) BGP
5 36 (11.88%) WAN
6 34 (11.22%) VPN
7 33 (10.89%) LAN
8 30 (9.90%) OSPF
9 25 (8.25%) Ethernet VPN
9 25 (8.25%) VXLAN
10 24 (7.92%) BIG-IP
11 23 (7.59%) Junos
12 22 (7.26%) Cisco ISE
12 22 (7.26%) Network Security
12 22 (7.26%) SSL
13 15 (4.95%) TCP/IP
14 13 (4.29%) Cisco ASA
14 13 (4.29%) IPsec
15 12 (3.96%) Wireless
16 11 (3.63%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.94%) SQL Server
2 13 (4.29%) Power BI
3 9 (2.97%) Elasticsearch
4 5 (1.65%) MongoDB
4 5 (1.65%) MySQL
4 5 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.32%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (1.32%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.99%) Big Data
6 3 (0.99%) Db2
6 3 (0.99%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.66%) Metadata
7 2 (0.66%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.29%) JIRA
2 9 (2.97%) Git
3 8 (2.64%) GitLab
4 6 (1.98%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.99%) Robot Framework
5 3 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (0.99%) Terragrunt
6 2 (0.66%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.66%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.66%) Gatling
6 2 (0.66%) Gradle
6 2 (0.66%) LoadRunner
6 2 (0.66%) MSI
6 2 (0.66%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.66%) SonarQube
General
1 48 (15.84%) Social Skills
2 35 (11.55%) Finance
3 33 (10.89%) Public Sector
4 15 (4.95%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (3.63%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (2.97%) Banking
7 7 (2.31%) Legal
8 5 (1.65%) Military
8 5 (1.65%) Retail
9 4 (1.32%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (0.99%) Police
11 2 (0.66%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (0.66%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.66%) Retail Banking
12 1 (0.33%) Back Office
12 1 (0.33%) Law
12 1 (0.33%) Local Government
12 1 (0.33%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.33%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 62 (20.46%) Senior
2 50 (16.50%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 32 (10.56%) Architect
4 25 (8.25%) Network Engineer
5 19 (6.27%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 18 (5.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 16 (5.28%) Lead
8 15 (4.95%) Senior Network Engineer
8 15 (4.95%) Storage Engineer
9 14 (4.62%) Firewall Specialist
9 14 (4.62%) Network Specialist
9 14 (4.62%) Support Engineer
10 13 (4.29%) DevOps Engineer
11 10 (3.30%) Analyst
11 10 (3.30%) Senior Architect
12 9 (2.97%) Linux Engineer
12 9 (2.97%) Security Engineer
13 8 (2.64%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
14 7 (2.31%) Solutions Architect
14 7 (2.31%) VMware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (10.56%) 802.1X
2 23 (7.59%) OpenID
3 22 (7.26%) SAML
4 21 (6.93%) LDAP
5 16 (5.28%) OAuth
6 15 (4.95%) REST
7 7 (2.31%) JSON
7 7 (2.31%) OAuth2
7 7 (2.31%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (1.98%) Kafka
9 5 (1.65%) SailPoint
10 4 (1.32%) Keycloak
10 4 (1.32%) Web Services
11 3 (0.99%) FIDO
11 3 (0.99%) Microsoft Graph
11 3 (0.99%) Middleware
11 3 (0.99%) SPIFFE
12 2 (0.66%) RESTful
12 2 (0.66%) Ruby on Rails
12 2 (0.66%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 47 (15.51%) Clustering
2 37 (12.21%) Data Centre
3 13 (4.29%) Onboarding
4 10 (3.30%) Cloud Native
4 10 (3.30%) Distributed Systems
4 10 (3.30%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (2.97%) Linux Command Line
6 8 (2.64%) Enterprise Storage
6 8 (2.64%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.64%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
7 7 (2.31%) Security Posture
8 6 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.98%) Operational Technology
9 5 (1.65%) Private Cloud
9 5 (1.65%) Smartcard
10 4 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.32%) Fat Client
10 4 (1.32%) Mainframe
10 4 (1.32%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 146 (48.18%) Windows
2 82 (27.06%) Linux
3 77 (25.41%) Windows Server
4 11 (3.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 10 (3.30%) Unix
6 9 (2.97%) Ubuntu
7 8 (2.64%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (2.31%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (1.98%) Debian
9 6 (1.98%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (1.65%) Windows Server 2003
11 4 (1.32%) Android
12 3 (0.99%) Apple iOS
12 3 (0.99%) Mac OS
13 2 (0.66%) CentOS
13 2 (0.66%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.33%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.33%) VMS
14 1 (0.33%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (29.04%) Identity Access Management
2 55 (18.15%) ITIL
3 54 (17.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 49 (16.17%) Cybersecurity
5 47 (15.51%) High Availability
6 45 (14.85%) Problem-Solving
7 41 (13.53%) Zero Trust
8 40 (13.20%) DevOps
9 39 (12.87%) Agile
10 38 (12.54%) Observability
11 34 (11.22%) Infrastructure as Code
12 32 (10.56%) CI/CD
12 32 (10.56%) ITSM
13 31 (10.23%) Cryptography
13 31 (10.23%) Load Balancing
14 30 (9.90%) Service Management
15 28 (9.24%) Key Management
16 27 (8.91%) RBAC
17 24 (7.92%) Project Delivery
17 24 (7.92%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 70 (23.10%) PowerShell
2 50 (16.50%) Python
3 15 (4.95%) Bash
4 14 (4.62%) SQL
5 11 (3.63%) JavaScript
6 9 (2.97%) Java
7 8 (2.64%) C#
8 4 (1.32%) PHP
9 3 (0.99%) C++
9 3 (0.99%) Go
10 2 (0.66%) Ruby
10 2 (0.66%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 155 (51.16%) Security Cleared
2 90 (29.70%) DV Cleared
3 68 (22.44%) SC Cleared
4 32 (10.56%) Cisco Certification
5 20 (6.60%) Degree
6 18 (5.94%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (3.96%) CISSP
8 11 (3.63%) Azure Certification
8 11 (3.63%) MCSE
9 10 (3.30%) CCNP
10 8 (2.64%) CompTIA Security+
10 8 (2.64%) GIAC
11 7 (2.31%) CISM
11 7 (2.31%) JNCIA
11 7 (2.31%) JNCIP
11 7 (2.31%) JNCIS
12 5 (1.65%) Master's Degree
12 5 (1.65%) SSCP
13 4 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
13 4 (1.32%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (11.22%) NIST
2 24 (7.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.61%) NCSC
4 10 (3.30%) Cyber Essentials
5 9 (2.97%) QA
6 8 (2.64%) SLA
7 4 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.32%) GDPR
8 3 (0.99%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.99%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.66%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.66%) ISA99
9 2 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (0.66%) ITGC
9 2 (0.66%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.66%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.66%) RMADS
9 2 (0.66%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.33%) GRC
10 1 (0.33%) PSD2
System Software
1 118 (38.94%) Active Directory
2 59 (19.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (11.22%) Docker
4 27 (8.91%) Hyper-V
5 21 (6.93%) VMware NSX
6 16 (5.28%) VMware ESXi
7 9 (2.97%) BitLocker
8 8 (2.64%) Microsoft App-V
8 8 (2.64%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (1.65%) vSphere
10 4 (1.32%) Firmware
10 4 (1.32%) OpenSSH
10 4 (1.32%) Terminal Services
10 4 (1.32%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (0.99%) KVM
11 3 (0.99%) NFS
11 3 (0.99%) OpenAM
12 2 (0.66%) XenApp
12 2 (0.66%) XenDesktop
13 1 (0.33%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 49 (16.17%) Ansible
2 47 (15.51%) Kubernetes
3 41 (13.53%) Terraform
4 28 (9.24%) vCenter Server
5 26 (8.58%) Single Sign-On
6 23 (7.59%) FortiGate
7 15 (4.95%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (4.95%) SCOM
8 12 (3.96%) Puppet
9 11 (3.63%) Avamar
9 11 (3.63%) Prometheus
10 10 (3.30%) Grafana
11 8 (2.64%) SCCM
11 8 (2.64%) vMotion
12 7 (2.31%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 6 (1.98%) CA Single Sign-On
13 6 (1.98%) Kibana
14 5 (1.65%) Failover Clustering
14 5 (1.65%) WSUS
15 4 (1.32%) VxRail
Vendors
1 111 (36.63%) Microsoft
2 76 (25.08%) VMware
3 57 (18.81%) Cisco
4 36 (11.88%) Splunk
5 30 (9.90%) Juniper
6 28 (9.24%) F5
7 27 (8.91%) SolarWinds
8 24 (7.92%) ServiceNow
9 22 (7.26%) Extreme Networks
10 20 (6.60%) Okta
11 19 (6.27%) Thales
12 18 (5.94%) Citrix
13 15 (4.95%) BeyondTrust
14 13 (4.29%) Dell
15 11 (3.63%) BMC
15 11 (3.63%) Palo Alto
15 11 (3.63%) Remedy
16 10 (3.30%) CyberArk
16 10 (3.30%) NetApp
17 7 (2.31%) IBM