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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 377 345 207
Rank change year-on-year -32 -138 +104
Contract jobs citing PKI 269 184 490
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.55% 0.64% 1.14%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.71% 1.86% 3.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 182 147 341
10th Percentile £413 £417 £363
25th Percentile £460 £513 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £625
90th Percentile £724 £691 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -
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 15,747 9,881 12,980
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.29% 34.15% 30.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,727 6,266 8,332
10th Percentile £313 £294 £270
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 765 403 925
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.89 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.00 £20.21 £15.22
Median hourly rate £41.00 £33.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +24.24% -5.71% +57.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £86.90 £82.25 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £32.05 £34.21
% change year-on-year +40.41% -6.31% +55.50%

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 2 June 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 2 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for PKI in the UK

PKI
Top 13 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 2 June 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 -63 231 £550 -4.35% 75
UK excluding London -45 174 £550 -4.35% 53
South East 0 98 £600 +4.35% 21
London -50 68 £550 -5.98% 28
Work from Home -39 59 £555 -3.48% 33
North of England -54 31 £482 -2.03% 5
Scotland +12 18 £540 +0.93%
North West -28 18 £418 -15.04% 2
Midlands -63 14 £466 +6.51% 7
West Midlands -66 14 £466 +6.51% 3
Yorkshire -49 13 £485 -33.17% 3
South West -60 13 £538 -8.12% 10
East of England -34 4 £400 -23.81% 4

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 9 (3.35%) SharePoint
2 8 (2.97%) Confluence
3 6 (2.23%) IIS
4 5 (1.86%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (1.12%) Apache
5 3 (1.12%) Tomcat
5 3 (1.12%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.74%) nginx
7 1 (0.37%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 4 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 10 (3.72%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.37%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.37%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 80 (29.74%) Azure
2 65 (24.16%) AWS
3 38 (14.13%) Entra ID
4 25 (9.29%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (6.32%) Power Platform
6 16 (5.95%) GCP
7 10 (3.72%) OpenShift
8 9 (3.35%) Azure Key Vault
9 8 (2.97%) AWS KMS
10 7 (2.60%) Amazon EKS
10 7 (2.60%) IaaS
10 7 (2.60%) PaaS
11 6 (2.23%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (1.49%) GitHub
12 4 (1.49%) SaaS
12 4 (1.49%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 3 (1.12%) Route 53
14 2 (0.74%) Azure Sentinel
14 2 (0.74%) OneDrive
14 2 (0.74%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 72 (26.77%) DNS
2 62 (23.05%) Firewall
3 47 (17.47%) DHCP
4 39 (14.50%) BGP
5 36 (13.38%) WAN
6 33 (12.27%) VPN
7 32 (11.90%) LAN
8 29 (10.78%) Network Security
8 29 (10.78%) OSPF
9 26 (9.67%) Ethernet VPN
9 26 (9.67%) VXLAN
10 25 (9.29%) BIG-IP
11 24 (8.92%) Cisco ISE
12 23 (8.55%) Junos
13 22 (8.18%) SSL
14 10 (3.72%) Cisco ASA
14 10 (3.72%) IPsec
14 10 (3.72%) MPLS
15 9 (3.35%) TCP/IP
16 8 (2.97%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (4.83%) SQL Server
2 12 (4.46%) Power BI
3 9 (3.35%) Elasticsearch
4 5 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.49%) MongoDB
5 4 (1.49%) MySQL
6 2 (0.74%) Metadata
6 2 (0.74%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.37%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.37%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.37%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 11 (4.09%) GitLab
1 11 (4.09%) JIRA
2 6 (2.23%) Robot Framework
3 5 (1.86%) Git
3 5 (1.86%) Jenkins
3 5 (1.86%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (1.12%) Terragrunt
5 2 (0.74%) MSI
6 1 (0.37%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.37%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.37%) Gatling
6 1 (0.37%) Gradle
6 1 (0.37%) JUnit
6 1 (0.37%) LoadRunner
6 1 (0.37%) REST Assured
6 1 (0.37%) SonarQube
General
1 33 (12.27%) Social Skills
2 29 (10.78%) Finance
3 28 (10.41%) Public Sector
4 11 (4.09%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (2.23%) Banking
7 4 (1.49%) Military
7 4 (1.49%) Retail
8 2 (0.74%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (0.74%) Legal
8 2 (0.74%) Local Government
9 1 (0.37%) Back Office
9 1 (0.37%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.37%) Law
9 1 (0.37%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.37%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 45 (16.73%) Senior
2 38 (14.13%) Architect
3 36 (13.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 22 (8.18%) Network Engineer
5 18 (6.69%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 15 (5.58%) Storage Engineer
7 14 (5.20%) Firewall Specialist
7 14 (5.20%) Network Specialist
8 13 (4.83%) Senior Network Engineer
9 12 (4.46%) Security Engineer
10 10 (3.72%) DevOps Engineer
10 10 (3.72%) Senior Architect
10 10 (3.72%) Support Engineer
11 9 (3.35%) Linux Engineer
11 9 (3.35%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 8 (2.97%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
12 8 (2.97%) Analyst
12 8 (2.97%) Lead
13 7 (2.60%) Administrator
13 7 (2.60%) NetApp Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (12.64%) 802.1X
2 17 (6.32%) OpenID
3 15 (5.58%) LDAP
3 15 (5.58%) SAML
4 14 (5.20%) REST
5 13 (4.83%) OAuth
6 7 (2.60%) JSON
7 6 (2.23%) OAuth2
8 5 (1.86%) RabbitMQ
9 4 (1.49%) Kafka
9 4 (1.49%) SailPoint
10 3 (1.12%) Elastic Stack
10 3 (1.12%) Keycloak
10 3 (1.12%) Microsoft Graph
10 3 (1.12%) SPIFFE
11 2 (0.74%) .NET Core
11 2 (0.74%) Blazor
11 2 (0.74%) CSS
11 2 (0.74%) eBPF
11 2 (0.74%) Loki
Miscellaneous
1 43 (15.99%) Clustering
2 28 (10.41%) Data Centre
3 12 (4.46%) Enterprise Storage
4 11 (4.09%) Hybrid Cloud
5 10 (3.72%) Onboarding
6 9 (3.35%) Algorithms
6 9 (3.35%) Cloud Native
7 8 (2.97%) Management Information System
7 8 (2.97%) Public Cloud
8 6 (2.23%) Linux Command Line
8 6 (2.23%) Operational Technology
9 5 (1.86%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.86%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.86%) Private Cloud
10 4 (1.49%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (1.49%) Smartcard
11 3 (1.12%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (1.12%) Legacy Systems
11 3 (1.12%) Security Posture
11 3 (1.12%) Tandem
Operating Systems
1 122 (45.35%) Windows
2 65 (24.16%) Linux
3 60 (22.30%) Windows Server
4 9 (3.35%) Ubuntu
5 7 (2.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (2.60%) Windows Server 2003
6 6 (2.23%) Debian
6 6 (2.23%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (1.49%) Unix
7 4 (1.49%) Windows Server 2016
8 3 (1.12%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (0.74%) CentOS
9 2 (0.74%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.37%) Android
10 1 (0.37%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.37%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.37%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.37%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (28.62%) Identity Access Management
2 46 (17.10%) Agile
2 46 (17.10%) High Availability
3 44 (16.36%) ITIL
4 43 (15.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 41 (15.24%) Cybersecurity
6 38 (14.13%) Observability
7 35 (13.01%) Load Balancing
8 34 (12.64%) DevOps
8 34 (12.64%) Problem-Solving
9 33 (12.27%) CI/CD
9 33 (12.27%) Key Management
10 31 (11.52%) Zero Trust
11 28 (10.41%) Change Management
11 28 (10.41%) Infrastructure as Code
12 26 (9.67%) ITSM
12 26 (9.67%) RBAC
12 26 (9.67%) Service Management
13 23 (8.55%) Migration
14 22 (8.18%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 55 (20.45%) PowerShell
2 40 (14.87%) Python
3 15 (5.58%) SQL
4 12 (4.46%) JavaScript
5 11 (4.09%) Bash
6 8 (2.97%) C#
7 7 (2.60%) Java
8 4 (1.49%) PHP
9 3 (1.12%) C++
9 3 (1.12%) Go
10 1 (0.37%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 154 (57.25%) Security Cleared
2 95 (35.32%) DV Cleared
3 60 (22.30%) SC Cleared
4 30 (11.15%) Cisco Certification
5 21 (7.81%) CISSP
6 19 (7.06%) CISM
7 15 (5.58%) Degree
8 10 (3.72%) GIAC
8 10 (3.72%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (2.97%) CompTIA Security+
10 7 (2.60%) Azure Certification
10 7 (2.60%) CCNP
10 7 (2.60%) JNCIA
10 7 (2.60%) JNCIP
10 7 (2.60%) JNCIS
11 6 (2.23%) MCSE
12 5 (1.86%) CCNA
13 4 (1.49%) APMG
13 4 (1.49%) Network+ Certification
13 4 (1.49%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (11.52%) NIST
2 21 (7.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (4.83%) NCSC
4 10 (3.72%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (2.97%) PCI DSS
6 7 (2.60%) QA
7 6 (2.23%) SLA
8 5 (1.86%) GDPR
9 4 (1.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (1.12%) RMADS
11 2 (0.74%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.74%) ISA99
11 2 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (0.74%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.74%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.37%) GMP
12 1 (0.37%) GRC
12 1 (0.37%) GxP
12 1 (0.37%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.37%) SOC 2
System Software
1 86 (31.97%) Active Directory
2 49 (18.22%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (8.18%) Docker
4 17 (6.32%) Hyper-V
4 17 (6.32%) VMware NSX
5 14 (5.20%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (3.35%) BitLocker
7 8 (2.97%) Microsoft App-V
8 7 (2.60%) Virtual Machines
9 4 (1.49%) Firmware
10 3 (1.12%) KVM
10 3 (1.12%) vSphere
11 2 (0.74%) OpenSSH
11 2 (0.74%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.74%) XenApp
11 2 (0.74%) XenDesktop
12 1 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
12 1 (0.37%) iptables
12 1 (0.37%) Squid
12 1 (0.37%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 46 (17.10%) Ansible
2 40 (14.87%) Kubernetes
2 40 (14.87%) Terraform
3 23 (8.55%) FortiGate
3 23 (8.55%) vCenter Server
4 22 (8.18%) Single Sign-On
5 15 (5.58%) Microsoft Intune
6 13 (4.83%) Prometheus
7 12 (4.46%) Grafana
7 12 (4.46%) Puppet
7 12 (4.46%) SCOM
8 8 (2.97%) Avamar
8 8 (2.97%) vMotion
9 7 (2.60%) SCCM
10 5 (1.86%) WMI
11 4 (1.49%) WSUS
12 3 (1.12%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (1.12%) CA Single Sign-On
13 2 (0.74%) Istio
13 2 (0.74%) PingFederate
Vendors
1 81 (30.11%) Microsoft
2 70 (26.02%) VMware
3 55 (20.45%) Cisco
4 41 (15.24%) Splunk
5 29 (10.78%) Juniper
6 28 (10.41%) SolarWinds
7 27 (10.04%) F5
8 22 (8.18%) Extreme Networks
9 20 (7.43%) ServiceNow
10 19 (7.06%) Citrix
11 17 (6.32%) Thales
12 15 (5.58%) Palo Alto
13 14 (5.20%) Okta
14 10 (3.72%) BMC
14 10 (3.72%) Dell
14 10 (3.72%) NetApp
14 10 (3.72%) Remedy
15 8 (2.97%) BeyondTrust
15 8 (2.97%) ForeScout
16 7 (2.60%) Aruba