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

6 months to
29 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 359 302 208
Rank change year-on-year -57 -94 +107
Contract jobs citing PKI 292 227 494
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.66% 0.78% 1.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.99% 2.29% 3.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 146 327
10th Percentile £409 £407 £363
25th Percentile £490 £469 £464
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £558 £550
Median % change year-on-year +3.14% +1.36% -8.33%
75th Percentile £695 £630 £638
90th Percentile £838 £725 £738
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 14,686 9,907 13,416
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.97% 33.83% 30.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,216 6,349 8,577
10th Percentile £300 £291 £258
25th Percentile £410 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year -4.29% -1.41% -3.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 690 379 886
10th Percentile £15.71 £16.95 £12.26
25th Percentile £19.26 £22.39 £15.39
Median hourly rate £42.22 £32.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.91% +18.18% +22.22%
75th Percentile £69.39 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.41 £83.20 £67.44
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 29 March 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 29 March 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 29 March 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 -20 267 £600 +4.35% 52
UK excluding London -73 173 £550 -4.35% 44
South East +23 105 £600 - 20
London -13 91 £625 +19.05% 11
Work from Home -2 80 £643 +11.83% 22
West Midlands -52 23 £400 -5.88% 2
Midlands -63 23 £400 -5.88% 5
South West -58 19 £606 +5.43% 6
North of England -60 18 £482 -32.35% 7
Yorkshire -56 10 £482 -33.52% 4
North West -38 8 £444 -11.25% 3
Scotland -25 5 £550 +2.90% 1
East of England -26 5 £550 - 5
Wales -10 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 6 (2.05%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.71%) 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 5 (1.71%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.34%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 64 (21.92%) Azure
2 55 (18.84%) AWS
3 32 (10.96%) IaaS
3 32 (10.96%) Microsoft 365
4 28 (9.59%) Entra ID
5 10 (3.42%) Power Platform
6 9 (3.08%) OpenShift
6 9 (3.08%) PaaS
7 8 (2.74%) GCP
7 8 (2.74%) SaaS
8 5 (1.71%) AWS CloudFormation
8 5 (1.71%) GitHub
8 5 (1.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 4 (1.37%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (1.37%) AWS KMS
9 4 (1.37%) Power Automate
10 3 (1.03%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (1.03%) Azure Key Vault
10 3 (1.03%) OneDrive
10 3 (1.03%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 75 (25.68%) Firewall
2 68 (23.29%) DNS
3 45 (15.41%) BGP
4 43 (14.73%) DHCP
5 36 (12.33%) WAN
6 35 (11.99%) VPN
7 27 (9.25%) OSPF
8 26 (8.90%) LAN
8 26 (8.90%) Network Security
9 24 (8.22%) Ethernet VPN
9 24 (8.22%) Junos
9 24 (8.22%) VXLAN
10 23 (7.88%) Cisco ISE
11 22 (7.53%) BIG-IP
12 17 (5.82%) MPLS
12 17 (5.82%) SSL
13 14 (4.79%) IPsec
14 11 (3.77%) Cisco IOS
14 11 (3.77%) TCP/IP
15 8 (2.74%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (3.08%) Elasticsearch
1 9 (3.08%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.71%) Power BI
3 2 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (0.68%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.34%) Amazon QuickSight
4 1 (0.34%) Metadata
4 1 (0.34%) MySQL
4 1 (0.34%) RDBMS
4 1 (0.34%) Redis
4 1 (0.34%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 11 (3.77%) JIRA
2 8 (2.74%) GitLab
3 6 (2.05%) Robot Framework
4 4 (1.37%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (1.03%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.34%) Git
6 1 (0.34%) JUnit
6 1 (0.34%) Terragrunt
General
1 40 (13.70%) Analytical Skills
2 35 (11.99%) Social Skills
3 27 (9.25%) Public Sector
4 21 (7.19%) Finance
5 7 (2.40%) Military
6 6 (2.05%) Banking
6 6 (2.05%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.03%) Legal
7 3 (1.03%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (0.68%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.68%) Local Government
9 1 (0.34%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.34%) Back Office
9 1 (0.34%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.34%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.34%) Retail
9 1 (0.34%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 89 (30.48%) Architect
2 43 (14.73%) Senior
3 38 (13.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 19 (6.51%) 3rd Line Engineer
5 17 (5.82%) Network Engineer
5 17 (5.82%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
6 13 (4.45%) Support Engineer
7 12 (4.11%) Network Specialist
8 11 (3.77%) Firewall Specialist
8 11 (3.77%) Security Engineer
9 10 (3.42%) Cloud Engineer
10 9 (3.08%) 3rd Line Support
10 9 (3.08%) Administrator
10 9 (3.08%) Platform Manager
10 9 (3.08%) Senior Architect
10 9 (3.08%) Senior Network Engineer
10 9 (3.08%) Systems Administrator
10 9 (3.08%) Systems Manager
10 9 (3.08%) Wintel Administrator
10 9 (3.08%) Wintel Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (12.33%) REST
2 30 (10.27%) JSON
3 22 (7.53%) 802.1X
4 14 (4.79%) LDAP
5 13 (4.45%) OpenID
6 12 (4.11%) SAML
7 8 (2.74%) OAuth
8 5 (1.71%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (1.71%) OAuth2
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%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.68%) Web Services
11 1 (0.34%) AWS CDK
11 1 (0.34%) WPF
11 1 (0.34%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 31 (10.62%) Clustering
2 27 (9.25%) Data Centre
3 26 (8.90%) Self-Motivation
4 10 (3.42%) Public Cloud
5 9 (3.08%) Algorithms
5 9 (3.08%) Enterprise Storage
5 9 (3.08%) Fat Client
5 9 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (3.08%) Thin Client
6 7 (2.40%) Management Information System
6 7 (2.40%) Onboarding
7 6 (2.05%) Operational Technology
7 6 (2.05%) Private Cloud
8 5 (1.71%) Smartcard
9 4 (1.37%) Replication
9 4 (1.37%) Security Operations Centre
9 4 (1.37%) Security Posture
10 3 (1.03%) Cloud Native
10 3 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
11 2 (0.68%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 104 (35.62%) Windows
2 57 (19.52%) Linux
3 47 (16.10%) Windows Server
4 9 (3.08%) Windows Server 2012
5 8 (2.74%) Windows 7
6 7 (2.40%) Ubuntu
7 6 (2.05%) CentOS
7 6 (2.05%) Windows Server 2003
8 5 (1.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (1.37%) Windows 10
10 3 (1.03%) Unix
10 3 (1.03%) VMS
10 3 (1.03%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.68%) Android
11 2 (0.68%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.34%) Debian
12 1 (0.34%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.34%) Solaris
12 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (26.71%) Agile
2 59 (20.21%) Key Management
3 57 (19.52%) Identity Access Management
4 45 (15.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 43 (14.73%) Cybersecurity
6 35 (11.99%) CI/CD
6 35 (11.99%) ITIL
7 34 (11.64%) Problem-Solving
8 32 (10.96%) Observability
9 31 (10.62%) Configuration Management
9 31 (10.62%) Load Balancing
10 30 (10.27%) Change Management
11 28 (9.59%) High Availability
12 26 (8.90%) DevOps
12 26 (8.90%) Infrastructure as Code
13 24 (8.22%) Cryptography
13 24 (8.22%) Service Management
14 23 (7.88%) Migration
15 21 (7.19%) Security Architecture
15 21 (7.19%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 81 (27.74%) PowerShell
2 40 (13.70%) Python
3 17 (5.82%) SQL
4 13 (4.45%) Bash
5 8 (2.74%) C#
6 7 (2.40%) JavaScript
7 4 (1.37%) PHP
8 3 (1.03%) C++
9 2 (0.68%) Go
9 2 (0.68%) Java
9 2 (0.68%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.34%) Perl
Qualifications
1 205 (70.21%) Security Cleared
2 104 (35.62%) DV Cleared
3 93 (31.85%) SC Cleared
4 24 (8.22%) Degree
5 23 (7.88%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (5.82%) CISSP
7 16 (5.48%) CISM
8 14 (4.79%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (2.74%) GIAC
10 7 (2.40%) JNCIA
10 7 (2.40%) JNCIP
10 7 (2.40%) JNCIS
11 6 (2.05%) AWS Certification
11 6 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (2.05%) MCSE
12 5 (1.71%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 4 (1.37%) APMG
13 4 (1.37%) Azure Certification
13 4 (1.37%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (1.37%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (6.51%) NIST
2 17 (5.82%) NCSC
3 14 (4.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (3.42%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (2.05%) GDPR
5 6 (2.05%) 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
9 2 (0.68%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.34%) GMP
10 1 (0.34%) GxP
10 1 (0.34%) SOC 2
System Software
1 86 (29.45%) Active Directory
2 46 (15.75%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (7.19%) Docker
4 16 (5.48%) VMware ESXi
5 15 (5.14%) Hyper-V
6 14 (4.79%) VMware NSX
7 9 (3.08%) BitLocker
7 9 (3.08%) Firmware
8 7 (2.40%) 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 32 (10.96%) Kubernetes
2 32 (10.96%) Terraform
3 22 (7.53%) FortiGate
3 22 (7.53%) vCenter Server
4 16 (5.48%) Single Sign-On
5 13 (4.45%) Microsoft Intune
6 9 (3.08%) Prometheus
7 8 (2.74%) Grafana
7 8 (2.74%) Puppet
7 8 (2.74%) WMI
8 7 (2.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (2.40%) SCOM
8 7 (2.40%) vMotion
8 7 (2.40%) WSUS
9 6 (2.05%) SCCM
10 4 (1.37%) QRadar
11 3 (1.03%) Podman
11 3 (1.03%) Proxmox
12 2 (0.68%) Cilium
Vendors
1 87 (29.79%) Microsoft
2 69 (23.63%) VMware
3 51 (17.47%) Cisco
4 42 (14.38%) Splunk
5 37 (12.67%) Juniper
6 26 (8.90%) SolarWinds
7 25 (8.56%) F5
8 20 (6.85%) Extreme Networks
9 13 (4.45%) Palo Alto
10 12 (4.11%) Citrix
11 10 (3.42%) ServiceNow
11 10 (3.42%) Thales
12 8 (2.74%) Google
13 7 (2.40%) Broadcom
13 7 (2.40%) NetApp
14 6 (2.05%) Netskope
14 6 (2.05%) Okta
15 5 (1.71%) BeyondTrust
15 5 (1.71%) Red Hat
15 5 (1.71%) Zscaler