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

6 months to
8 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 363 338 192
Rank change year-on-year -25 -146 +113
Contract jobs citing PKI 276 195 511
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.67% 1.18%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.81% 1.97% 3.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 184 150 354
10th Percentile £413 £419 £363
25th Percentile £463 £513 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -7.30%
75th Percentile £650 £626 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £550 £550
% change year-on-year - - -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 3
10th Percentile £61.41 - -
25th Percentile £70.50 - -
Median hourly rate £79.50 - £23.80
75th Percentile £96.25 - £32.03
90th Percentile £101.65 - £36.96
UK excluding London median hourly rate £79.50 - £38.50
% change year-on-year - - +10.00%

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 15,287 9,893 13,124
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.21% 33.99% 30.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,524 6,312 8,441
10th Percentile £308 £300 £266
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.60% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £738 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.55% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 721 394 904
10th Percentile £16.01 £16.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.00 £21.01 £15.17
Median hourly rate £45.00 £32.50 £31.13
Median % change year-on-year +38.46% +4.42% +38.43%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £87.50 £83.20 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £50.00 £31.76 £28.50
% change year-on-year +57.43% +11.44% +29.55%

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 8 May 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 8 May 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 8 May 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 -52 240 £550 -2.65% 54
UK excluding London -47 177 £550 - 40
South East 0 106 £610 +6.09% 19
London -37 68 £550 -1.08% 19
Work from Home -29 62 £561 +0.22% 32
North of England -53 25 £454 -33.43% 4
South West -64 17 £550 -4.35% 3
West Midlands -60 15 £450 +5.88% 2
Midlands -73 15 £450 +5.88% 6
North West -32 14 £418 -15.14% 2
Scotland 0 11 £451 -15.79% 1
Yorkshire -43 11 £482 -33.52% 2
East of England -29 5 £475 -9.52% 5
Wales -9 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 16 (5.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (2.17%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.81%) Confluence
3 5 (1.81%) IIS
4 3 (1.09%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.09%) nginx
5 2 (0.72%) Apache
5 2 (0.72%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.72%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.36%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 8 (2.90%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.36%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 69 (25.00%) Azure
2 66 (23.91%) AWS
3 30 (10.87%) Entra ID
4 27 (9.78%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (4.71%) Power Platform
6 12 (4.35%) GCP
6 12 (4.35%) IaaS
7 10 (3.62%) OpenShift
8 8 (2.90%) AWS KMS
8 8 (2.90%) Azure Key Vault
8 8 (2.90%) PaaS
8 8 (2.90%) SaaS
9 5 (1.81%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.45%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.45%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.45%) Power Automate
10 4 (1.45%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 3 (1.09%) GitHub
11 3 (1.09%) Route 53
12 2 (0.72%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 73 (26.45%) DNS
2 66 (23.91%) Firewall
3 46 (16.67%) DHCP
4 40 (14.49%) BGP
5 34 (12.32%) WAN
6 32 (11.59%) VPN
7 29 (10.51%) LAN
7 29 (10.51%) OSPF
8 28 (10.14%) Cisco ISE
9 27 (9.78%) Junos
9 27 (9.78%) Network Security
10 26 (9.42%) Ethernet VPN
10 26 (9.42%) VXLAN
11 25 (9.06%) BIG-IP
12 22 (7.97%) SSL
13 11 (3.99%) MPLS
13 11 (3.99%) TCP/IP
14 10 (3.62%) Cisco IOS
15 8 (2.90%) IPsec
15 8 (2.90%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.62%) Elasticsearch
2 9 (3.26%) SQL Server
3 8 (2.90%) Power BI
4 2 (0.72%) Metadata
4 2 (0.72%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.72%) 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 (3.99%) JIRA
2 9 (3.26%) GitLab
3 7 (2.54%) Robot Framework
4 5 (1.81%) Sonatype Nexus
5 4 (1.45%) Jenkins
6 3 (1.09%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.72%) Git
7 2 (0.72%) MSI
8 1 (0.36%) JUnit
General
1 28 (10.14%) Finance
1 28 (10.14%) Social Skills
2 24 (8.70%) Public Sector
3 16 (5.80%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (1.81%) Banking
4 5 (1.81%) Documentation Skills
4 5 (1.81%) Military
5 4 (1.45%) Retail
6 3 (1.09%) Legal
7 2 (0.72%) Financial Institution
7 2 (0.72%) Local Government
8 1 (0.36%) Aerospace
8 1 (0.36%) Back Office
8 1 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 1 (0.36%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (0.36%) Law
8 1 (0.36%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.36%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 56 (20.29%) Architect
2 46 (16.67%) Senior
3 41 (14.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 23 (8.33%) Network Engineer
5 20 (7.25%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 16 (5.80%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 14 (5.07%) Firewall Specialist
7 14 (5.07%) Network Specialist
8 11 (3.99%) Security Engineer
8 11 (3.99%) Senior Architect
8 11 (3.99%) Support Engineer
9 10 (3.62%) Senior Network Engineer
9 10 (3.62%) Storage Engineer
10 9 (3.26%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (2.90%) Administrator
11 8 (2.90%) Consultant
12 7 (2.54%) DevOps Engineer
12 7 (2.54%) Lead
12 7 (2.54%) NetApp Engineer
12 7 (2.54%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (11.59%) 802.1X
2 17 (6.16%) REST
3 16 (5.80%) OpenID
4 15 (5.43%) SAML
5 14 (5.07%) LDAP
6 13 (4.71%) OAuth
7 11 (3.99%) JSON
8 7 (2.54%) OAuth2
9 4 (1.45%) Elastic Stack
9 4 (1.45%) SailPoint
10 3 (1.09%) RabbitMQ
11 2 (0.72%) CSS
11 2 (0.72%) eBPF
11 2 (0.72%) HTML
11 2 (0.72%) Kafka
11 2 (0.72%) Loki
11 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Graph
11 2 (0.72%) SPIFFE
11 2 (0.72%) Web Services
12 1 (0.36%) Jinja
Miscellaneous
1 41 (14.86%) Clustering
2 28 (10.14%) Data Centre
3 12 (4.35%) Enterprise Storage
4 11 (3.99%) Onboarding
5 10 (3.62%) Algorithms
5 10 (3.62%) Hybrid Cloud
5 10 (3.62%) Public Cloud
6 7 (2.54%) Cloud Native
7 6 (2.17%) Operational Technology
8 5 (1.81%) Fat Client
8 5 (1.81%) Management Information System
8 5 (1.81%) Private Cloud
8 5 (1.81%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.81%) Smartcard
8 5 (1.81%) Thin Client
9 4 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (1.09%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.09%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (1.09%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.72%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 114 (41.30%) Windows
2 59 (21.38%) Linux
3 54 (19.57%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.90%) Windows Server 2012
5 7 (2.54%) Ubuntu
5 7 (2.54%) Windows Server 2003
6 6 (2.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (2.17%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (1.81%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (1.09%) CentOS
9 3 (1.09%) Debian
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
10 1 (0.36%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (22.46%) Identity Access Management
2 53 (19.20%) Agile
3 46 (16.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 41 (14.86%) High Availability
4 41 (14.86%) Key Management
5 39 (14.13%) Cybersecurity
6 37 (13.41%) ITIL
6 37 (13.41%) Problem-Solving
7 36 (13.04%) CI/CD
7 36 (13.04%) Observability
8 33 (11.96%) Load Balancing
9 31 (11.23%) DevOps
10 29 (10.51%) Infrastructure as Code
11 27 (9.78%) Change Management
12 26 (9.42%) ITSM
13 25 (9.06%) Migration
13 25 (9.06%) Zero Trust
14 24 (8.70%) Service Management
15 22 (7.97%) Cryptography
15 22 (7.97%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 63 (22.83%) PowerShell
2 41 (14.86%) Python
3 17 (6.16%) SQL
4 15 (5.43%) Bash
5 10 (3.62%) JavaScript
6 8 (2.90%) C#
7 5 (1.81%) Java
8 4 (1.45%) PHP
9 3 (1.09%) C++
9 3 (1.09%) Go
10 1 (0.36%) Perl
10 1 (0.36%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 175 (63.41%) Security Cleared
2 101 (36.59%) DV Cleared
3 68 (24.64%) SC Cleared
4 30 (10.87%) Cisco Certification
5 18 (6.52%) Degree
6 17 (6.16%) CISSP
7 15 (5.43%) CISM
8 9 (3.26%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (2.90%) CompTIA Security+
9 8 (2.90%) GIAC
10 7 (2.54%) CCNP
10 7 (2.54%) JNCIA
10 7 (2.54%) JNCIP
10 7 (2.54%) JNCIS
11 6 (2.17%) AWS Certification
11 6 (2.17%) Azure Certification
12 5 (1.81%) CCNA
12 5 (1.81%) Computer Science Degree
13 4 (1.45%) Network+ Certification
13 4 (1.45%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (9.06%) NIST
2 18 (6.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (5.07%) NCSC
4 10 (3.62%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.54%) PCI DSS
6 6 (2.17%) GDPR
7 5 (1.81%) QA
7 5 (1.81%) SLA
8 4 (1.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (1.09%) RMADS
10 2 (0.72%) ISA99
10 2 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (0.72%) JSP 440
10 2 (0.72%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.36%) GMP
11 1 (0.36%) GRC
11 1 (0.36%) GxP
11 1 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.36%) SOC 2
System Software
1 89 (32.25%) Active Directory
2 52 (18.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (7.97%) Docker
4 18 (6.52%) Hyper-V
5 16 (5.80%) VMware ESXi
6 15 (5.43%) VMware NSX
7 10 (3.62%) BitLocker
8 8 (2.90%) Firmware
8 8 (2.90%) Microsoft App-V
9 7 (2.54%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (1.09%) KVM
10 3 (1.09%) Sendmail
10 3 (1.09%) vSphere
10 3 (1.09%) XenApp
11 2 (0.72%) OpenSSH
11 2 (0.72%) XenDesktop
12 1 (0.36%) Embedded Firmware
12 1 (0.36%) iptables
12 1 (0.36%) Squid
12 1 (0.36%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 45 (16.30%) Ansible
2 41 (14.86%) Terraform
3 40 (14.49%) Kubernetes
4 23 (8.33%) FortiGate
4 23 (8.33%) vCenter Server
5 20 (7.25%) Single Sign-On
6 11 (3.99%) Prometheus
7 10 (3.62%) Grafana
7 10 (3.62%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (3.62%) Puppet
8 8 (2.90%) SCOM
8 8 (2.90%) vMotion
9 7 (2.54%) WMI
10 6 (2.17%) SCCM
10 6 (2.17%) WSUS
11 4 (1.45%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (1.09%) Avamar
12 3 (1.09%) CA Single Sign-On
13 2 (0.72%) Cilium
13 2 (0.72%) Suricata
Vendors
1 84 (30.43%) Microsoft
2 73 (26.45%) VMware
3 55 (19.93%) Cisco
4 40 (14.49%) Splunk
5 34 (12.32%) Juniper
6 29 (10.51%) SolarWinds
7 27 (9.78%) F5
8 22 (7.97%) Extreme Networks
9 17 (6.16%) Citrix
10 16 (5.80%) ServiceNow
11 13 (4.71%) Thales
12 12 (4.35%) Okta
12 12 (4.35%) Palo Alto
13 10 (3.62%) NetApp
14 9 (3.26%) BeyondTrust
15 8 (2.90%) BMC
15 8 (2.90%) ForeScout
15 8 (2.90%) Remedy
16 7 (2.54%) Aruba
16 7 (2.54%) Broadcom