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

6 months to
3 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 347 306 201
Rank change year-on-year -41 -105 +114
Contract jobs citing PKI 292 227 502
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.65% 0.78% 1.14%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.99% 2.31% 3.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 202 147 334
10th Percentile £412 £407 £363
25th Percentile £490 £472 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £564 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% +4.55% -8.33%
75th Percentile £694 £629 £638
90th Percentile £838 £725 £721
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 2
10th Percentile £61.41 - £38.93
25th Percentile £70.50 - £42.19
Median hourly rate £79.50 - £50.75
75th Percentile £96.25 - £60.69
90th Percentile £101.65 - £64.78
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 14,665 9,844 13,371
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.69% 33.85% 30.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,210 6,304 8,569
10th Percentile £300 £288 £263
25th Percentile £410 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £536
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.05% -2.55%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £769 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £497 £500
% change year-on-year -4.34% -0.69% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 687 376 885
10th Percentile £15.74 £16.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £19.34 £22.26 £15.25
Median hourly rate £45.00 £32.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.46% +18.18% +22.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.81 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.40 £83.20 £66.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £31.76 £25.39
% change year-on-year +43.14% +25.10% +15.40%

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 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 3 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 3 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 -23 266 £600 +4.35% 52
UK excluding London -86 172 £550 -4.35% 44
South East +14 105 £600 - 20
London -21 91 £625 +19.05% 11
Work from Home -20 81 £638 +10.33% 22
South West -56 20 £563 -2.17% 6
North of England -59 20 £485 -33.17% 7
West Midlands -66 18 £400 -5.88% 2
Midlands -66 18 £400 -5.88% 5
North West -39 10 £510 -12.26% 3
Yorkshire -57 10 £482 -33.52% 4
East of England -32 6 £475 -9.52% 5
Scotland -24 5 £550 +2.90% 1
Wales -9 1 £550 +20.22% 3

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 22 (7.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.40%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.05%) Confluence
4 3 (1.03%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.03%) nginx
5 2 (0.68%) IIS
6 1 (0.34%) Apache
6 1 (0.34%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.34%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.34%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.34%) WebSphere
Applications
1 5 (1.71%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 6 (2.05%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.34%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 68 (23.29%) Azure
2 55 (18.84%) AWS
3 33 (11.30%) IaaS
4 32 (10.96%) Microsoft 365
5 30 (10.27%) Entra ID
6 12 (4.11%) Power Platform
7 11 (3.77%) GCP
8 10 (3.42%) PaaS
9 9 (3.08%) OpenShift
10 8 (2.74%) SaaS
11 6 (2.05%) AWS KMS
12 5 (1.71%) AWS CloudFormation
12 5 (1.71%) Azure Key Vault
12 5 (1.71%) GitHub
12 5 (1.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 4 (1.37%) Amazon EKS
13 4 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (1.37%) OneDrive
13 4 (1.37%) Power Automate
14 3 (1.03%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 72 (24.66%) Firewall
2 70 (23.97%) DNS
3 45 (15.41%) DHCP
4 43 (14.73%) BGP
5 35 (11.99%) VPN
5 35 (11.99%) WAN
6 28 (9.59%) OSPF
7 27 (9.25%) LAN
8 25 (8.56%) Junos
9 24 (8.22%) Cisco ISE
9 24 (8.22%) Ethernet VPN
9 24 (8.22%) Network Security
9 24 (8.22%) VXLAN
10 23 (7.88%) BIG-IP
11 19 (6.51%) SSL
12 15 (5.14%) MPLS
13 12 (4.11%) IPsec
14 11 (3.77%) Cisco IOS
14 11 (3.77%) TCP/IP
15 8 (2.74%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.42%) Elasticsearch
2 9 (3.08%) SQL Server
3 6 (2.05%) Power BI
4 2 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.68%) Metadata
4 2 (0.68%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.34%) Amazon QuickSight
5 1 (0.34%) MySQL
5 1 (0.34%) RDBMS
5 1 (0.34%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 12 (4.11%) JIRA
2 7 (2.40%) GitLab
3 6 (2.05%) Robot Framework
4 4 (1.37%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.37%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.34%) Git
5 1 (0.34%) JUnit
5 1 (0.34%) MSI
5 1 (0.34%) Terragrunt
General
1 41 (14.04%) Analytical Skills
2 34 (11.64%) Social Skills
3 26 (8.90%) Public Sector
4 24 (8.22%) Finance
5 7 (2.40%) Military
6 6 (2.05%) Banking
7 5 (1.71%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.03%) Legal
9 2 (0.68%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.68%) Local Government
9 2 (0.68%) Retail
10 1 (0.34%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.34%) Back Office
10 1 (0.34%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.34%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.34%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 88 (30.14%) Architect
2 44 (15.07%) Senior
3 41 (14.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 19 (6.51%) 3rd Line Engineer
5 18 (6.16%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
6 17 (5.82%) Network Engineer
7 13 (4.45%) Network Specialist
8 12 (4.11%) Firewall Specialist
8 12 (4.11%) Support Engineer
9 11 (3.77%) Security Engineer
10 10 (3.42%) Senior Architect
11 9 (3.08%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (3.08%) Cloud Engineer
11 9 (3.08%) Senior Network Engineer
12 8 (2.74%) 3rd Line Support
12 8 (2.74%) Administrator
12 8 (2.74%) Consultant
12 8 (2.74%) Platform Manager
12 8 (2.74%) Systems Administrator
12 8 (2.74%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (12.67%) REST
2 30 (10.27%) JSON
3 23 (7.88%) 802.1X
4 16 (5.48%) OpenID
5 15 (5.14%) LDAP
5 15 (5.14%) SAML
6 11 (3.77%) OAuth
7 6 (2.05%) OAuth2
8 4 (1.37%) Elastic Stack
9 3 (1.03%) Microsoft Graph
9 3 (1.03%) SailPoint
10 2 (0.68%) CSS
10 2 (0.68%) eBPF
10 2 (0.68%) HTML
10 2 (0.68%) Kafka
10 2 (0.68%) Loki
10 2 (0.68%) Web Services
11 1 (0.34%) AWS CDK
11 1 (0.34%) cloud-init
11 1 (0.34%) Keycloak
Miscellaneous
1 35 (11.99%) Clustering
2 27 (9.25%) Data Centre
3 26 (8.90%) Self-Motivation
4 11 (3.77%) Enterprise Storage
5 10 (3.42%) Algorithms
5 10 (3.42%) Public Cloud
6 9 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (2.40%) Fat Client
7 7 (2.40%) Management Information System
7 7 (2.40%) Onboarding
7 7 (2.40%) Private Cloud
7 7 (2.40%) Thin Client
8 6 (2.05%) Operational Technology
9 5 (1.71%) Smartcard
10 4 (1.37%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.37%) Replication
11 3 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (0.68%) Analytical Mindset
12 2 (0.68%) CESG
12 2 (0.68%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 106 (36.30%) Windows
2 56 (19.18%) Linux
3 49 (16.78%) Windows Server
4 9 (3.08%) Windows Server 2012
5 7 (2.40%) Windows 7
5 7 (2.40%) Windows Server 2003
6 6 (2.05%) CentOS
6 6 (2.05%) Ubuntu
7 5 (1.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 4 (1.37%) Windows 10
9 3 (1.03%) Unix
9 3 (1.03%) VMS
9 3 (1.03%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.68%) Android
10 2 (0.68%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.34%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.34%) Debian
11 1 (0.34%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (26.03%) Agile
2 61 (20.89%) Key Management
3 57 (19.52%) Identity Access Management
4 48 (16.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 43 (14.73%) Cybersecurity
6 38 (13.01%) ITIL
7 37 (12.67%) Problem-Solving
8 34 (11.64%) CI/CD
9 33 (11.30%) Observability
10 32 (10.96%) Load Balancing
11 31 (10.62%) Configuration Management
11 31 (10.62%) High Availability
12 30 (10.27%) Change Management
13 27 (9.25%) DevOps
14 26 (8.90%) Cryptography
14 26 (8.90%) Service Management
15 25 (8.56%) Infrastructure as Code
15 25 (8.56%) Migration
16 22 (7.53%) Platform Engineering
17 21 (7.19%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 83 (28.42%) PowerShell
2 38 (13.01%) Python
3 17 (5.82%) SQL
4 13 (4.45%) Bash
5 8 (2.74%) C#
5 8 (2.74%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.37%) PHP
7 3 (1.03%) C++
7 3 (1.03%) Java
8 2 (0.68%) Go
8 2 (0.68%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.34%) Perl
Qualifications
1 204 (69.86%) Security Cleared
2 103 (35.27%) DV Cleared
3 92 (31.51%) SC Cleared
4 24 (8.22%) Cisco Certification
4 24 (8.22%) Degree
5 17 (5.82%) CISSP
6 16 (5.48%) CISM
7 14 (4.79%) Microsoft Certification
8 8 (2.74%) GIAC
9 7 (2.40%) JNCIA
9 7 (2.40%) JNCIP
9 7 (2.40%) JNCIS
10 6 (2.05%) AWS Certification
10 6 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (2.05%) MCSE
11 5 (1.71%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.71%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 4 (1.37%) APMG
12 4 (1.37%) CompTIA Security+
12 4 (1.37%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.85%) NIST
2 17 (5.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (5.48%) NCSC
4 11 (3.77%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.40%) GDPR
5 7 (2.40%) PCI DSS
6 5 (1.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 5 (1.71%) QA
7 4 (1.37%) SLA
8 3 (1.03%) RMADS
9 2 (0.68%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 2 (0.68%) ISA99
9 2 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (0.68%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.34%) GMP
10 1 (0.34%) GxP
10 1 (0.34%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.34%) SOC 2
System Software
1 88 (30.14%) Active Directory
2 48 (16.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (6.85%) Docker
4 17 (5.82%) Hyper-V
4 17 (5.82%) VMware ESXi
5 13 (4.45%) VMware NSX
6 10 (3.42%) BitLocker
7 9 (3.08%) Firmware
8 8 (2.74%) Microsoft App-V
9 4 (1.37%) vSphere
10 3 (1.03%) Sendmail
10 3 (1.03%) Virtual Machines
11 2 (0.68%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
11 2 (0.68%) KVM
12 1 (0.34%) Embedded Firmware
12 1 (0.34%) NFS
12 1 (0.34%) Squid
12 1 (0.34%) Terminal Services
12 1 (0.34%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 37 (12.67%) Ansible
2 33 (11.30%) Kubernetes
3 32 (10.96%) Terraform
4 23 (7.88%) vCenter Server
5 22 (7.53%) FortiGate
6 17 (5.82%) Single Sign-On
7 14 (4.79%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (3.08%) Prometheus
8 9 (3.08%) Puppet
9 8 (2.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 8 (2.74%) Grafana
9 8 (2.74%) vMotion
10 7 (2.40%) SCOM
10 7 (2.40%) WMI
10 7 (2.40%) WSUS
11 6 (2.05%) SCCM
12 3 (1.03%) CA Single Sign-On
13 2 (0.68%) Jamf Pro
13 2 (0.68%) PingFederate
13 2 (0.68%) Suricata
Vendors
1 89 (30.48%) Microsoft
2 70 (23.97%) VMware
3 52 (17.81%) Cisco
4 39 (13.36%) Splunk
5 37 (12.67%) Juniper
6 27 (9.25%) SolarWinds
7 26 (8.90%) F5
8 21 (7.19%) Extreme Networks
9 13 (4.45%) Citrix
9 13 (4.45%) ServiceNow
10 12 (4.11%) Palo Alto
11 10 (3.42%) Thales
12 9 (3.08%) NetApp
13 7 (2.40%) Broadcom
14 6 (2.05%) BMC
14 6 (2.05%) Netskope
14 6 (2.05%) Okta
14 6 (2.05%) Remedy
15 5 (1.71%) BeyondTrust
15 5 (1.71%) Red Hat