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

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 385 335 227
Rank change year-on-year -50 -108 +94
Contract jobs citing PKI 284 204 465
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.55% 0.67% 1.08%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.69% 1.93% 3.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 192 161 326
10th Percentile £413 £358 £363
25th Percentile £463 £463 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.82%
75th Percentile £638 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £685 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £550 £550
% change year-on-year - - -1.35%
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 16,850 10,570 13,038
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.83% 34.54% 30.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,306 6,585 8,276
10th Percentile £313 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £539
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.64% -1.95%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 860 488 927
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.54 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.97 £15.32
Median hourly rate £42.15 £31.29 £35.65
Median % change year-on-year +34.73% -12.24% +58.44%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.52 £62.25
90th Percentile £86.34 £79.13 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.50 £35.58
% change year-on-year +44.13% -14.27% +58.11%

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 30 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 30 June 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 30 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 -65 239 £555 +0.86% 47
UK excluding London -39 187 £550 - 50
South East -6 101 £590 +2.61% 19
London -76 71 £550 -3.72% 10
Work from Home -46 65 £550 - 22
North of England -54 33 £422 -14.33% 11
North West -33 23 £418 -15.14% 6
Scotland +2 22 £490 -8.41% 7
South West -58 15 £538 -6.52% 7
Midlands -68 11 £450 +17.65% 1
West Midlands -63 10 £400 +4.58%
Yorkshire - 10 £533 - 4
East of England -26 4 £400 -23.81% 1
Wales - 3 £525 - 4
East Midlands -16 1 £475 - 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 12 (4.23%) Microsoft Exchange
1 12 (4.23%) SharePoint
2 10 (3.52%) Confluence
3 7 (2.46%) IIS
4 3 (1.06%) Apache
4 3 (1.06%) Exchange Server 2010
4 3 (1.06%) Tomcat
4 3 (1.06%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.35%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 5 (1.76%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 10 (3.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.35%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 89 (31.34%) Azure
2 65 (22.89%) AWS
3 52 (18.31%) Entra ID
4 21 (7.39%) Microsoft 365
5 20 (7.04%) GCP
6 17 (5.99%) Power Platform
7 11 (3.87%) Azure Key Vault
7 11 (3.87%) IaaS
8 10 (3.52%) OpenShift
8 10 (3.52%) PaaS
9 7 (2.46%) Azure DevOps
10 6 (2.11%) AWS KMS
11 5 (1.76%) GitHub
11 5 (1.76%) SaaS
12 3 (1.06%) Amazon EKS
13 2 (0.70%) Azure Monitor
13 2 (0.70%) Azure Sentinel
13 2 (0.70%) GitHub Actions
13 2 (0.70%) OneDrive
13 2 (0.70%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 80 (28.17%) DNS
2 61 (21.48%) Firewall
3 55 (19.37%) DHCP
4 38 (13.38%) BGP
5 37 (13.03%) WAN
6 32 (11.27%) LAN
7 31 (10.92%) VPN
8 29 (10.21%) OSPF
9 26 (9.15%) Network Security
10 25 (8.80%) Ethernet VPN
10 25 (8.80%) VXLAN
11 24 (8.45%) BIG-IP
11 24 (8.45%) Cisco ISE
12 23 (8.10%) Junos
13 20 (7.04%) SSL
14 11 (3.87%) Cisco ASA
14 11 (3.87%) IPsec
14 11 (3.87%) MPLS
14 11 (3.87%) SSH
15 9 (3.17%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.99%) SQL Server
2 12 (4.23%) Power BI
3 9 (3.17%) Elasticsearch
4 5 (1.76%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.41%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (1.41%) MongoDB
5 4 (1.41%) MySQL
6 3 (1.06%) Big Data
6 3 (1.06%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.70%) Db2
7 2 (0.70%) Metadata
8 1 (0.35%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.35%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.58%) JIRA
2 8 (2.82%) GitLab
3 6 (2.11%) Git
3 6 (2.11%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.41%) Robot Framework
4 4 (1.41%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (1.06%) Terragrunt
6 2 (0.70%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.70%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.70%) Gatling
6 2 (0.70%) Gradle
6 2 (0.70%) LoadRunner
6 2 (0.70%) MSI
6 2 (0.70%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.70%) SonarQube
General
1 43 (15.14%) Social Skills
2 33 (11.62%) Finance
3 28 (9.86%) Public Sector
4 12 (4.23%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (3.87%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (2.82%) Banking
7 5 (1.76%) Legal
7 5 (1.76%) Military
7 5 (1.76%) Retail
8 3 (1.06%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.70%) Corporate Banking
9 2 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (0.70%) Investment Banking
9 2 (0.70%) Local Government
9 2 (0.70%) Retail Banking
10 1 (0.35%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.35%) Law
10 1 (0.35%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.35%) Police
10 1 (0.35%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 53 (18.66%) Senior
2 46 (16.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 31 (10.92%) Architect
4 24 (8.45%) Network Engineer
5 18 (6.34%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 17 (5.99%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 16 (5.63%) Lead
8 15 (5.28%) Support Engineer
9 14 (4.93%) Firewall Specialist
9 14 (4.93%) Network Specialist
10 13 (4.58%) Senior Network Engineer
10 13 (4.58%) Storage Engineer
11 11 (3.87%) DevOps Engineer
12 10 (3.52%) Analyst
12 10 (3.52%) Security Engineer
12 10 (3.52%) Senior Architect
13 9 (3.17%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
13 9 (3.17%) Linux Engineer
14 6 (2.11%) ITSM Architect
14 6 (2.11%) VMware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (11.97%) 802.1X
2 23 (8.10%) OpenID
3 20 (7.04%) LDAP
3 20 (7.04%) SAML
4 16 (5.63%) OAuth
5 14 (4.93%) REST
6 7 (2.46%) JSON
6 7 (2.46%) OAuth2
6 7 (2.46%) RabbitMQ
7 5 (1.76%) Kafka
8 4 (1.41%) Keycloak
8 4 (1.41%) SailPoint
9 3 (1.06%) FIDO
9 3 (1.06%) Microsoft Graph
9 3 (1.06%) SPIFFE
10 2 (0.70%) .NET Core
10 2 (0.70%) eBPF
10 2 (0.70%) Loki
10 2 (0.70%) Quarkus
10 2 (0.70%) WebAuthn
Miscellaneous
1 47 (16.55%) Clustering
2 32 (11.27%) Data Centre
3 12 (4.23%) Onboarding
4 10 (3.52%) Cloud Native
4 10 (3.52%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (3.17%) Enterprise Storage
5 9 (3.17%) Linux Command Line
6 8 (2.82%) Distributed Systems
6 8 (2.82%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.82%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.46%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (2.11%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (2.11%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.11%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.76%) Algorithms
9 5 (1.76%) Fat Client
9 5 (1.76%) Private Cloud
9 5 (1.76%) Thin Client
10 4 (1.41%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.41%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 136 (47.89%) Windows
2 75 (26.41%) Linux
3 70 (24.65%) Windows Server
4 11 (3.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (3.17%) Ubuntu
5 9 (3.17%) Unix
6 6 (2.11%) Debian
6 6 (2.11%) Windows Server 2003
6 6 (2.11%) Windows Server 2012
6 6 (2.11%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (1.41%) Android
7 4 (1.41%) Windows Server 2016
8 3 (1.06%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.06%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.70%) CentOS
9 2 (0.70%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.35%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.35%) VMS
10 1 (0.35%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.35%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (28.87%) Identity Access Management
2 52 (18.31%) ITIL
3 50 (17.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 44 (15.49%) High Availability
5 43 (15.14%) Cybersecurity
6 41 (14.44%) Problem-Solving
7 40 (14.08%) Agile
8 38 (13.38%) Zero Trust
9 37 (13.03%) DevOps
10 36 (12.68%) Observability
11 31 (10.92%) Load Balancing
12 29 (10.21%) Key Management
13 28 (9.86%) ITSM
13 28 (9.86%) Service Management
14 27 (9.51%) Infrastructure as Code
14 27 (9.51%) RBAC
15 26 (9.15%) CI/CD
15 26 (9.15%) Cryptography
16 24 (8.45%) Project Delivery
17 22 (7.75%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 67 (23.59%) PowerShell
2 47 (16.55%) Python
3 13 (4.58%) SQL
4 11 (3.87%) JavaScript
5 9 (3.17%) Bash
5 9 (3.17%) Java
6 8 (2.82%) C#
7 4 (1.41%) PHP
8 3 (1.06%) C++
8 3 (1.06%) Go
9 2 (0.70%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 150 (52.82%) Security Cleared
2 88 (30.99%) DV Cleared
3 63 (22.18%) SC Cleared
4 31 (10.92%) Cisco Certification
5 21 (7.39%) Degree
6 14 (4.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (4.23%) CISSP
8 11 (3.87%) MCSE
9 10 (3.52%) Azure Certification
10 9 (3.17%) CCNP
10 9 (3.17%) GIAC
11 8 (2.82%) CISM
11 8 (2.82%) CompTIA Security+
12 7 (2.46%) JNCIA
12 7 (2.46%) JNCIP
12 7 (2.46%) JNCIS
13 5 (1.76%) Master's Degree
13 5 (1.76%) SSCP
14 4 (1.41%) CCNA
14 4 (1.41%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (10.56%) NIST
2 20 (7.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.93%) NCSC
4 10 (3.52%) Cyber Essentials
5 9 (3.17%) SLA
6 7 (2.46%) QA
7 4 (1.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.41%) GDPR
7 4 (1.41%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.70%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.70%) ISA99
8 2 (0.70%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
8 2 (0.70%) NIST 800
8 2 (0.70%) RMADS
8 2 (0.70%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.35%) GMP
9 1 (0.35%) GRC
9 1 (0.35%) GxP
9 1 (0.35%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.35%) JSP 440
System Software
1 103 (36.27%) Active Directory
2 53 (18.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 28 (9.86%) Docker
4 22 (7.75%) Hyper-V
5 18 (6.34%) VMware NSX
6 17 (5.99%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (3.52%) BitLocker
8 9 (3.17%) Microsoft App-V
9 8 (2.82%) Virtual Machines
10 5 (1.76%) Firmware
11 4 (1.41%) Terminal Services
11 4 (1.41%) Virtual Desktop
12 3 (1.06%) KVM
12 3 (1.06%) OpenAM
12 3 (1.06%) OpenSSH
13 2 (0.70%) NFS
13 2 (0.70%) vSphere
13 2 (0.70%) XenApp
13 2 (0.70%) XenDesktop
14 1 (0.35%) iptables
Systems Management
1 46 (16.20%) Ansible
2 41 (14.44%) Kubernetes
3 36 (12.68%) Terraform
4 26 (9.15%) Single Sign-On
4 26 (9.15%) vCenter Server
5 23 (8.10%) FortiGate
6 16 (5.63%) Microsoft Intune
7 13 (4.58%) Puppet
8 12 (4.23%) SCOM
9 10 (3.52%) Prometheus
10 9 (3.17%) Grafana
10 9 (3.17%) vMotion
11 8 (2.82%) Avamar
11 8 (2.82%) SCCM
12 7 (2.46%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (1.76%) CA Single Sign-On
13 5 (1.76%) Failover Clustering
13 5 (1.76%) Kibana
13 5 (1.76%) WMI
13 5 (1.76%) WSUS
Vendors
1 101 (35.56%) Microsoft
2 71 (25.00%) VMware
3 58 (20.42%) Cisco
4 36 (12.68%) Splunk
5 30 (10.56%) Juniper
6 28 (9.86%) F5
7 27 (9.51%) SolarWinds
8 23 (8.10%) ServiceNow
9 22 (7.75%) Extreme Networks
10 19 (6.69%) Citrix
10 19 (6.69%) Okta
11 17 (5.99%) Thales
12 12 (4.23%) BeyondTrust
12 12 (4.23%) Palo Alto
13 11 (3.87%) NetApp
14 10 (3.52%) BMC
14 10 (3.52%) Dell
14 10 (3.52%) Remedy
15 8 (2.82%) ForeScout
16 7 (2.46%) Google