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

6 months to
27 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 325 324 225
Rank change year-on-year -1 -99 +109
Contract jobs citing PKI 285 209 467
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.75% 0.67% 1.05%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.19% 2.07% 3.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 215 116 281
10th Percentile £400 £413 £400
25th Percentile £482 £475 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £585
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% -1.71% -6.40%
75th Percentile £688 £652 £675
90th Percentile £838 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £563 £563
% change year-on-year -2.22% - +0.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 5
10th Percentile £74.80 - £46.38
25th Percentile £82.00 - -
Median hourly rate £90.00 - £55.00
75th Percentile £100.00 - £56.40
90th Percentile £103.30 - £63.06
UK excluding London median hourly rate £90.00 - £55.00

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 13,004 10,104 13,636
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.16% 32.50% 30.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,208 5,982 8,903
10th Percentile £278 £263 £255
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £527 £538
Median % change year-on-year -5.08% -2.00% -3.15%
75th Percentile £625 £659 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 621 307 740
10th Percentile £15.00 £18.95 £14.00
25th Percentile £18.28 £23.60 £17.38
Median hourly rate £28.13 £35.00 £34.61
Median % change year-on-year -19.64% +1.14% +53.90%
75th Percentile £61.57 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.35 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -15.38% -7.14% +69.04%

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 27 January 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 27 January 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 27 January 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 +19 263 £550 -4.35% 70
UK excluding London -60 159 £550 -2.22% 60
London +46 99 £600 - 21
Work from Home -2 78 £700 +19.15% 34
South East +2 66 £600 -0.83% 27
South West -39 37 £550 +0.18% 10
West Midlands -13 31 £400 -5.88% 2
Midlands -33 31 £400 -5.88% 3
North of England -53 17 £487 -32.83% 13
North West -24 9 £444 -8.97% 4
Yorkshire -43 8 £487 -32.83% 7
Scotland -17 6 £650 +48.57% 2
East of England - 3 £550 - 4
Wales -3 1 £550 +20.22% 1

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 38 (13.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 14 (4.91%) SharePoint
3 7 (2.46%) Confluence
3 7 (2.46%) IIS
4 6 (2.11%) Skype for Business
5 4 (1.40%) SharePoint Server
6 3 (1.05%) Exchange Server 2010
6 3 (1.05%) nginx
7 1 (0.35%) Apache
7 1 (0.35%) JBoss
Applications
1 16 (5.61%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.70%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 50 (17.54%) Azure
2 47 (16.49%) AWS
3 29 (10.18%) IaaS
4 24 (8.42%) Entra ID
5 22 (7.72%) Microsoft 365
6 11 (3.86%) GitHub
7 9 (3.16%) AWS CloudFormation
7 9 (3.16%) OpenShift
8 8 (2.81%) GCP
8 8 (2.81%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 7 (2.46%) SaaS
10 6 (2.11%) PaaS
11 5 (1.75%) AWS KMS
12 4 (1.40%) Amazon ECS
12 4 (1.40%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (1.40%) AWS Fargate
12 4 (1.40%) Power Platform
13 3 (1.05%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (1.05%) Azure Key Vault
13 3 (1.05%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 57 (20.00%) Firewall
2 56 (19.65%) DNS
3 38 (13.33%) BGP
3 38 (13.33%) VPN
4 30 (10.53%) IPsec
5 29 (10.18%) Network Security
6 28 (9.82%) WAN
7 25 (8.77%) DHCP
7 25 (8.77%) MPLS
8 24 (8.42%) SSL
9 16 (5.61%) Skype
10 12 (4.21%) OSPF
11 10 (3.51%) TCP/IP
12 9 (3.16%) S/MIME
13 8 (2.81%) Cisco IOS
13 8 (2.81%) HTTPS
14 7 (2.46%) Junos
14 7 (2.46%) LAN
15 6 (2.11%) Cisco ISE
15 6 (2.11%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.86%) SQL Server
2 6 (2.11%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (1.40%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (1.40%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.35%) Amazon QuickSight
4 1 (0.35%) Redis
Development Applications
1 12 (4.21%) GitLab
1 12 (4.21%) JIRA
2 6 (2.11%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.40%) Robot Framework
3 4 (1.40%) Sonatype Nexus
3 4 (1.40%) Terragrunt
4 2 (0.70%) Git
5 1 (0.35%) CircleCI
5 1 (0.35%) JUnit
5 1 (0.35%) MSI
General
1 48 (16.84%) Analytical Skills
2 46 (16.14%) Social Skills
3 33 (11.58%) Public Sector
4 22 (7.72%) Finance
5 12 (4.21%) Military
6 6 (2.11%) Banking
7 5 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (1.40%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.70%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.70%) Legal
9 2 (0.70%) Local Government
10 1 (0.35%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.35%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 89 (31.23%) Architect
2 31 (10.88%) Senior
3 25 (8.77%) 3rd Line Engineer
3 25 (8.77%) Support Engineer
4 24 (8.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 19 (6.67%) 3rd Line Support
6 18 (6.32%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
7 17 (5.96%) Network Engineer
7 17 (5.96%) Wintel Engineer
8 16 (5.61%) Security Architect
9 14 (4.91%) Administrator
9 14 (4.91%) Platform Manager
9 14 (4.91%) Systems Administrator
9 14 (4.91%) Systems Manager
9 14 (4.91%) Wintel Administrator
9 14 (4.91%) Wintel Systems Administrator
10 12 (4.21%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (3.51%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 10 (3.51%) Lead
12 9 (3.16%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (10.88%) REST
2 28 (9.82%) JSON
3 15 (5.26%) OpenID
4 10 (3.51%) OAuth
4 10 (3.51%) SAML
5 9 (3.16%) LDAP
5 9 (3.16%) OAuth2
6 6 (2.11%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (1.75%) Kafka
8 4 (1.40%) AWS CDK
8 4 (1.40%) cloud-init
8 4 (1.40%) Keycloak
9 3 (1.05%) CSS
9 3 (1.05%) HTML
9 3 (1.05%) JDBC
9 3 (1.05%) SOAP
10 2 (0.70%) .NET
10 2 (0.70%) 802.1X
10 2 (0.70%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.70%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 29 (10.18%) Self-Motivation
2 13 (4.56%) Fat Client
2 13 (4.56%) Thin Client
3 11 (3.86%) Algorithms
4 10 (3.51%) Data Centre
5 8 (2.81%) Private Cloud
6 7 (2.46%) Management Information System
7 5 (1.75%) Public Cloud
7 5 (1.75%) Replication
7 5 (1.75%) Smartcard
8 4 (1.40%) Clustering
8 4 (1.40%) Enterprise Storage
8 4 (1.40%) Legacy Applications
8 4 (1.40%) Onboarding
8 4 (1.40%) Security Operations Centre
8 4 (1.40%) Security Posture
9 3 (1.05%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.05%) Cyber Defence
9 3 (1.05%) Taxonomies
10 2 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 93 (32.63%) Windows
2 49 (17.19%) Linux
3 45 (15.79%) Windows Server
4 13 (4.56%) Windows 10
5 11 (3.86%) Windows 7
6 9 (3.16%) Windows Server 2012
7 7 (2.46%) CentOS
8 6 (2.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (2.11%) Unix
9 5 (1.75%) Windows Server 2008
9 5 (1.75%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (1.75%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.40%) Ubuntu
11 3 (1.05%) VMS
11 3 (1.05%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.35%) Android
12 1 (0.35%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (27.72%) Agile
2 66 (23.16%) Key Management
3 37 (12.98%) ITIL
4 35 (12.28%) Change Management
5 33 (11.58%) CI/CD
6 31 (10.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 30 (10.53%) Configuration Management
8 29 (10.18%) Identity Access Management
8 29 (10.18%) Problem-Solving
9 28 (9.82%) Cybersecurity
9 28 (9.82%) DevOps
10 25 (8.77%) Information Security
10 25 (8.77%) SIEM
11 24 (8.42%) Incident Response
11 24 (8.42%) Platform Engineering
11 24 (8.42%) Security Architecture
11 24 (8.42%) Service Management
12 23 (8.07%) Containerisation
13 22 (7.72%) Cryptography
13 22 (7.72%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 70 (24.56%) PowerShell
2 44 (15.44%) Python
3 21 (7.37%) SQL
4 19 (6.67%) Bash
5 8 (2.81%) C++
6 6 (2.11%) JavaScript
6 6 (2.11%) Perl
7 5 (1.75%) Java
7 5 (1.75%) Shell Script
8 4 (1.40%) Go
9 3 (1.05%) C#
10 1 (0.35%) Bicep
10 1 (0.35%) C
10 1 (0.35%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.35%) PHP
Qualifications
1 198 (69.47%) Security Cleared
2 103 (36.14%) SC Cleared
3 91 (31.93%) DV Cleared
4 34 (11.93%) Degree
5 25 (8.77%) Microsoft Certification
6 23 (8.07%) CISSP
7 20 (7.02%) Cisco Certification
8 17 (5.96%) CISM
9 15 (5.26%) CCNP
10 12 (4.21%) MCSE
11 10 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (2.81%) Master's Degree
13 7 (2.46%) ITIL Certification
14 6 (2.11%) AWS Certification
14 6 (2.11%) CCNA
14 6 (2.11%) GIAC
14 6 (2.11%) IISP
14 6 (2.11%) ISACA
14 6 (2.11%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 5 (1.75%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (5.61%) NCSC
2 14 (4.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (4.91%) NIST
3 11 (3.86%) PCI DSS
4 7 (2.46%) GDPR
5 4 (1.40%) RMADS
5 4 (1.40%) SLA
6 3 (1.05%) JSP 440
7 2 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.70%) FIPS 140-2
7 2 (0.70%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.70%) NIST 800
7 2 (0.70%) SOC 1
8 1 (0.35%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.35%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.35%) PSD2
8 1 (0.35%) SOC 2
System Software
1 91 (31.93%) Active Directory
2 46 (16.14%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (6.67%) Docker
4 12 (4.21%) Firmware
4 12 (4.21%) VMware ESXi
5 11 (3.86%) Hyper-V
5 11 (3.86%) VMware NSX
6 9 (3.16%) vSphere
7 5 (1.75%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (1.75%) Virtual Servers
8 4 (1.40%) BitLocker
8 4 (1.40%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (1.05%) Microsoft App-V
9 3 (1.05%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.70%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
11 1 (0.35%) NFS
11 1 (0.35%) Squid
11 1 (0.35%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 29 (10.18%) Ansible
1 29 (10.18%) Terraform
2 28 (9.82%) Kubernetes
3 22 (7.72%) vCenter Server
4 20 (7.02%) Single Sign-On
5 14 (4.91%) WSUS
6 13 (4.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 13 (4.56%) Microsoft Intune
7 12 (4.21%) SCCM
7 12 (4.21%) WMI
8 10 (3.51%) SCOM
9 5 (1.75%) Grafana
9 5 (1.75%) Prometheus
10 4 (1.40%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (1.40%) Packer
10 4 (1.40%) Podman
10 4 (1.40%) QRadar
11 3 (1.05%) FortiGate
11 3 (1.05%) Puppet
11 3 (1.05%) vMotion
Vendors
1 96 (33.68%) Microsoft
2 71 (24.91%) VMware
3 41 (14.39%) Cisco
4 34 (11.93%) Juniper
5 22 (7.72%) Splunk
6 15 (5.26%) SolarWinds
6 15 (5.26%) Veeam
7 12 (4.21%) Thales
8 10 (3.51%) Palo Alto
9 8 (2.81%) Okta
10 7 (2.46%) Broadcom
10 7 (2.46%) Citrix
10 7 (2.46%) Dell
11 6 (2.11%) Fortinet
11 6 (2.11%) Google
12 5 (1.75%) Aruba
12 5 (1.75%) CheckPoint
12 5 (1.75%) CyberArk
12 5 (1.75%) Red Hat
12 5 (1.75%) ServiceNow