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

6 months to
6 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 382 346 217
Rank change year-on-year -36 -129 +98
Contract jobs citing PKI 292 208 471
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.65% 1.09%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.71% 1.89% 3.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 199 164 331
10th Percentile £415 £358 £363
25th Percentile £463 £472 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.66%
75th Percentile £638 £613 £608
90th Percentile £700 £687 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £550 £550
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 17,044 10,990 13,132
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.90% 34.57% 30.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,404 6,835 8,329
10th Percentile £313 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £627 £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 867 506 908
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.50 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.74 £18.88 £15.39
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.90 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year +42.25% -14.21% +40.38%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.50 £62.00
90th Percentile £87.16 £77.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £35.83
% change year-on-year +46.53% -16.26% +32.69%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -64 246 £560 +1.77% 80
UK excluding London -46 193 £550 - 80
South East +10 105 £590 +2.61% 24
London -63 73 £550 -4.35% 15
Work from Home -48 67 £550 +0.92% 29
North of England -52 34 £425 -13.62% 14
North West -30 23 £418 -15.14% 7
Scotland 0 22 £490 -8.41% 9
South West -59 15 £538 -6.52% 20
Midlands -68 11 £450 +17.65% 6
Yorkshire - 11 £500 - 6
West Midlands -65 10 £400 +4.58% 4
East of England -29 4 £400 -23.81% 2
Wales - 4 £513 - 7
East Midlands -18 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 (4.11%) Microsoft Exchange
1 12 (4.11%) SharePoint
2 10 (3.42%) Confluence
3 7 (2.40%) IIS
4 3 (1.03%) Apache
4 3 (1.03%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.03%) Tomcat
4 3 (1.03%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.34%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 5 (1.71%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 10 (3.42%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.34%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.34%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 90 (30.82%) Azure
2 66 (22.60%) AWS
3 53 (18.15%) Entra ID
4 22 (7.53%) Microsoft 365
5 19 (6.51%) GCP
6 17 (5.82%) Power Platform
7 12 (4.11%) IaaS
8 11 (3.77%) PaaS
9 10 (3.42%) Azure Key Vault
9 10 (3.42%) OpenShift
10 7 (2.40%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (2.05%) SaaS
12 5 (1.71%) AWS KMS
12 5 (1.71%) GitHub
13 3 (1.03%) Amazon EKS
14 2 (0.68%) Azure Monitor
14 2 (0.68%) Azure Sentinel
14 2 (0.68%) GitHub Actions
14 2 (0.68%) OneDrive
14 2 (0.68%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 82 (28.08%) DNS
2 64 (21.92%) Firewall
3 57 (19.52%) DHCP
4 39 (13.36%) BGP
5 37 (12.67%) WAN
6 33 (11.30%) LAN
6 33 (11.30%) VPN
7 30 (10.27%) OSPF
8 25 (8.56%) Ethernet VPN
8 25 (8.56%) Network Security
8 25 (8.56%) VXLAN
9 24 (8.22%) BIG-IP
10 23 (7.88%) Cisco ISE
10 23 (7.88%) Junos
11 21 (7.19%) SSL
12 12 (4.11%) Cisco ASA
12 12 (4.11%) IPsec
13 11 (3.77%) MPLS
13 11 (3.77%) SSH
14 10 (3.42%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.82%) SQL Server
2 12 (4.11%) Power BI
3 9 (3.08%) Elasticsearch
4 5 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.37%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (1.37%) MongoDB
5 4 (1.37%) MySQL
6 3 (1.03%) Big Data
6 3 (1.03%) Db2
6 3 (1.03%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.68%) Metadata
8 1 (0.34%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.34%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.45%) JIRA
2 8 (2.74%) GitLab
3 6 (2.05%) Git
3 6 (2.05%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.37%) Robot Framework
4 4 (1.37%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (1.03%) Terragrunt
6 2 (0.68%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.68%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.68%) Gatling
6 2 (0.68%) Gradle
6 2 (0.68%) LoadRunner
6 2 (0.68%) MSI
6 2 (0.68%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.68%) SonarQube
General
1 46 (15.75%) Social Skills
2 33 (11.30%) Finance
3 30 (10.27%) Public Sector
4 13 (4.45%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (3.77%) Documentation Skills
6 7 (2.40%) Banking
7 6 (2.05%) Legal
8 5 (1.71%) Military
8 5 (1.71%) Retail
9 4 (1.37%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (0.68%) Corporate Banking
10 2 (0.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.68%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.68%) Police
10 2 (0.68%) Retail Banking
11 1 (0.34%) Back Office
11 1 (0.34%) Law
11 1 (0.34%) Local Government
11 1 (0.34%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.34%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 54 (18.49%) Senior
2 46 (15.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 35 (11.99%) Architect
4 25 (8.56%) Network Engineer
5 20 (6.85%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 17 (5.82%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 16 (5.48%) Lead
8 15 (5.14%) Storage Engineer
8 15 (5.14%) Support Engineer
9 14 (4.79%) Firewall Specialist
9 14 (4.79%) Network Specialist
9 14 (4.79%) Senior Network Engineer
10 11 (3.77%) DevOps Engineer
11 10 (3.42%) Analyst
11 10 (3.42%) Senior Architect
12 9 (3.08%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (3.08%) Linux Engineer
12 9 (3.08%) Security Engineer
13 7 (2.40%) Solutions Architect
14 6 (2.05%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (11.30%) 802.1X
2 23 (7.88%) OpenID
3 21 (7.19%) LDAP
4 20 (6.85%) SAML
5 16 (5.48%) OAuth
6 14 (4.79%) REST
7 7 (2.40%) JSON
7 7 (2.40%) OAuth2
7 7 (2.40%) RabbitMQ
8 5 (1.71%) Kafka
8 5 (1.71%) SailPoint
9 4 (1.37%) Keycloak
10 3 (1.03%) FIDO
10 3 (1.03%) Microsoft Graph
10 3 (1.03%) Middleware
10 3 (1.03%) SPIFFE
11 2 (0.68%) Node.js
11 2 (0.68%) React
11 2 (0.68%) Spring
11 2 (0.68%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 47 (16.10%) Clustering
2 34 (11.64%) Data Centre
3 12 (4.11%) Onboarding
4 10 (3.42%) Cloud Native
4 10 (3.42%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (3.08%) Distributed Systems
5 9 (3.08%) Enterprise Storage
5 9 (3.08%) Linux Command Line
6 8 (2.74%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.74%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.40%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (2.05%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (2.05%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.05%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.71%) Fat Client
9 5 (1.71%) Private Cloud
9 5 (1.71%) Smartcard
9 5 (1.71%) Thin Client
10 4 (1.37%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.37%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 139 (47.60%) Windows
2 76 (26.03%) Linux
3 73 (25.00%) Windows Server
4 11 (3.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 10 (3.42%) Unix
6 9 (3.08%) Ubuntu
7 6 (2.05%) Debian
7 6 (2.05%) Windows Server 2003
7 6 (2.05%) Windows Server 2012
7 6 (2.05%) Windows Server 2019
8 5 (1.71%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (1.37%) Android
10 3 (1.03%) Apple iOS
10 3 (1.03%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.68%) CentOS
11 2 (0.68%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.34%) Data ONTAP
12 1 (0.34%) VMS
12 1 (0.34%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.34%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (28.77%) Identity Access Management
2 53 (18.15%) ITIL
3 50 (17.12%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 45 (15.41%) High Availability
5 43 (14.73%) Cybersecurity
6 41 (14.04%) Problem-Solving
7 40 (13.70%) Agile
8 39 (13.36%) Zero Trust
9 37 (12.67%) DevOps
10 36 (12.33%) Observability
11 31 (10.62%) Load Balancing
12 30 (10.27%) ITSM
13 29 (9.93%) Key Management
14 28 (9.59%) Cryptography
14 28 (9.59%) Service Management
15 26 (8.90%) CI/CD
15 26 (8.90%) Infrastructure as Code
16 25 (8.56%) RBAC
17 24 (8.22%) Project Delivery
18 23 (7.88%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 66 (22.60%) PowerShell
2 47 (16.10%) Python
3 13 (4.45%) SQL
4 11 (3.77%) JavaScript
5 9 (3.08%) Bash
5 9 (3.08%) Java
6 8 (2.74%) C#
7 4 (1.37%) PHP
8 3 (1.03%) C++
8 3 (1.03%) Go
9 2 (0.68%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 154 (52.74%) Security Cleared
2 89 (30.48%) DV Cleared
3 66 (22.60%) SC Cleared
4 32 (10.96%) Cisco Certification
5 21 (7.19%) Degree
6 15 (5.14%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (4.45%) CISSP
8 11 (3.77%) MCSE
9 10 (3.42%) Azure Certification
9 10 (3.42%) CCNP
10 9 (3.08%) GIAC
11 8 (2.74%) CISM
11 8 (2.74%) CompTIA Security+
12 7 (2.40%) JNCIA
12 7 (2.40%) JNCIP
12 7 (2.40%) JNCIS
13 5 (1.71%) Master's Degree
13 5 (1.71%) SSCP
14 4 (1.37%) CCNA
14 4 (1.37%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (10.96%) NIST
2 22 (7.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.82%) NCSC
4 10 (3.42%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (2.74%) SLA
6 7 (2.40%) QA
7 4 (1.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.37%) GDPR
8 3 (1.03%) PCI DSS
8 3 (1.03%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.68%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.68%) ISA99
9 2 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (0.68%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.68%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.68%) RMADS
10 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.34%) GMP
10 1 (0.34%) GRC
10 1 (0.34%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 108 (36.99%) Active Directory
2 55 (18.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (9.93%) Docker
4 22 (7.53%) Hyper-V
5 18 (6.16%) VMware NSX
6 17 (5.82%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (3.42%) BitLocker
8 9 (3.08%) Microsoft App-V
9 8 (2.74%) Virtual Machines
10 4 (1.37%) Firmware
10 4 (1.37%) OpenSSH
10 4 (1.37%) Terminal Services
10 4 (1.37%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (1.03%) KVM
11 3 (1.03%) NFS
11 3 (1.03%) OpenAM
12 2 (0.68%) vSphere
12 2 (0.68%) XenApp
12 2 (0.68%) XenDesktop
13 1 (0.34%) iptables
Systems Management
1 45 (15.41%) Ansible
2 40 (13.70%) Kubernetes
3 35 (11.99%) Terraform
4 28 (9.59%) vCenter Server
5 24 (8.22%) Single Sign-On
6 23 (7.88%) FortiGate
7 15 (5.14%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (4.79%) SCOM
9 13 (4.45%) Puppet
10 10 (3.42%) Avamar
10 10 (3.42%) Prometheus
11 9 (3.08%) Grafana
11 9 (3.08%) vMotion
12 8 (2.74%) SCCM
13 7 (2.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 6 (2.05%) CA Single Sign-On
15 5 (1.71%) Failover Clustering
15 5 (1.71%) Kibana
15 5 (1.71%) WMI
15 5 (1.71%) WSUS
Vendors
1 106 (36.30%) Microsoft
2 73 (25.00%) VMware
3 58 (19.86%) Cisco
4 36 (12.33%) Splunk
5 30 (10.27%) Juniper
6 28 (9.59%) F5
7 27 (9.25%) SolarWinds
8 23 (7.88%) ServiceNow
9 22 (7.53%) Extreme Networks
10 20 (6.85%) Okta
11 19 (6.51%) Citrix
12 18 (6.16%) Thales
13 13 (4.45%) BeyondTrust
14 12 (4.11%) Dell
14 12 (4.11%) Palo Alto
15 11 (3.77%) NetApp
16 10 (3.42%) BMC
16 10 (3.42%) Remedy
17 7 (2.40%) Google
17 7 (2.40%) IBM