Public Cloud Contract Job Trends

Public Cloud
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Cloud in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Cloud over the 6 months leading up to 16 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 325 316 281
Rank change year-on-year -9 -35 -34
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 380 226 348
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.70% 0.82%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.17% 2.01% 2.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 146 238
10th Percentile £419 £396 £445
25th Percentile £500 £475 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year - +4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £682 £694 £734
90th Percentile £729 £750 £829
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £500 £599
% change year-on-year +20.00% -16.49% -0.21%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 2 2
10th Percentile - £45.25 £38.28
25th Percentile £71.25 £49.38 £40.56
Median hourly rate £72.50 £57.50 £46.25
Median % change year-on-year +26.09% +24.32% -40.71%
75th Percentile £73.75 £64.38 £52.06
90th Percentile - £67.75 £54.43
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £70.00 £38.50
% change year-on-year - +81.82% -50.64%

All Generic Skills
UK

Public Cloud 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 17,477 11,249 13,009
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.21% 34.62% 30.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,713 6,956 8,273
10th Percentile £318 £300 £282
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £627 £649 £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 888 533 862
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.48 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.97 £18.87 £15.50
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.81 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +42.70% -15.60% +15.87%
75th Percentile £70.23 £58.75 £63.44
90th Percentile £87.64 £77.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £31.49 £36.50
% change year-on-year +39.60% -13.73% -7.57%

Public Cloud
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Public Cloud relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Public Cloud job vacancy trend in the UK

Public Cloud
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Public Cloud.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Public Cloud

Public Cloud
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Cloud over the 6 months to 16 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Cloud in the UK

Public Cloud
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Public Cloud.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Public Cloud

Public Cloud
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Public Cloud within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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 +19 315 £600 -0.33% 86
UK excluding London +14 212 £600 +20.00% 49
London -67 108 £600 -8.57% 54
Work from Home -13 105 £610 +13.49% 45
North of England -32 73 £625 +35.14% 11
South East -21 54 £590 -1.67% 5
Midlands -28 40 £625 +16.39% 5
Yorkshire -22 38 £625 +48.81% 4
North West -33 32 £625 +31.58% 4
East Midlands +12 28 £631 +32.89% 2
South West -6 25 £613 +11.36% 11
Scotland -26 13 £500 - 2
West Midlands -51 8 £450 -26.53% 3
North East -32 7 £625 - 3
East of England -20 6 £475 -13.64%
Northern Ireland - 2 £385 - 14
Wales -10 1 - - 1

Public Cloud
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 10 (2.63%) Apache
1 10 (2.63%) Confluence
2 6 (1.58%) OpenStack
3 5 (1.32%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.32%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.79%) CloudStack
4 3 (0.79%) SAS
5 2 (0.53%) IIS
5 2 (0.53%) nginx
5 2 (0.53%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.53%) Palantir Foundry
5 2 (0.53%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.26%) WebLogic
Applications
1 10 (2.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.11%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.32%) MS Visio
4 4 (1.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.53%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.26%) Houdini
6 1 (0.26%) NUKE
6 1 (0.26%) Weka
Business Applications
1 90 (23.68%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.58%) SAP Business One
2 6 (1.58%) SAP SD
3 5 (1.32%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.05%) iTrent
4 4 (1.05%) Oracle ERP
4 4 (1.05%) SAP FI
5 3 (0.79%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.79%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.53%) SAP FI-GL
7 1 (0.26%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.26%) Oracle SCM
7 1 (0.26%) SAP FI-AR
7 1 (0.26%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 144 (37.89%) Azure
2 124 (32.63%) AWS
3 77 (20.26%) GCP
4 31 (8.16%) GitHub
5 27 (7.11%) SuccessFactors
6 19 (5.00%) IaaS
6 19 (5.00%) OCI
6 19 (5.00%) PaaS
7 17 (4.47%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 16 (4.21%) SaaS
9 15 (3.95%) OpenShift
9 15 (3.95%) Serverless
10 13 (3.42%) GitHub Actions
11 11 (2.89%) Amazon EKS
11 11 (2.89%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (2.89%) Power Platform
12 9 (2.37%) Azure DevOps
13 7 (1.84%) Microsoft 365
14 6 (1.58%) Entra ID
15 5 (1.32%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 29 (7.63%) DNS
2 28 (7.37%) Firewall
3 22 (5.79%) Network Security
4 14 (3.68%) TCP/IP
5 13 (3.42%) LAN
5 13 (3.42%) VPN
5 13 (3.42%) WAN
6 9 (2.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 9 (2.37%) VSAN
7 8 (2.11%) SAN
8 7 (1.84%) BGP
8 7 (1.84%) MPLS
8 7 (1.84%) NAS
9 6 (1.58%) DHCP
10 5 (1.32%) Wi-Fi
10 5 (1.32%) Wireless
11 4 (1.05%) SNMP
11 4 (1.05%) TACACS
12 3 (0.79%) HTTPS
12 3 (0.79%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (4.21%) Oracle Database
2 12 (3.16%) RDBMS
2 12 (3.16%) Relational Database
3 11 (2.89%) Oracle Exadata
4 10 (2.63%) Power BI
5 4 (1.05%) BigQuery
5 4 (1.05%) BusinessObjects
5 4 (1.05%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (1.05%) MySQL
5 4 (1.05%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.79%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.53%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.53%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.26%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.26%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.26%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.26%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 39 (10.26%) Git
2 30 (7.89%) Jenkins
3 23 (6.05%) GitLab
4 15 (3.95%) JIRA
5 7 (1.84%) Postman
6 6 (1.58%) JUnit
7 5 (1.32%) SoapUI
8 4 (1.05%) Cucumber
8 4 (1.05%) Hudson
9 3 (0.79%) Liquibase
9 3 (0.79%) Selenium
9 3 (0.79%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.53%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.26%) Ant
11 1 (0.26%) LSMW
11 1 (0.26%) Maven
11 1 (0.26%) MSI
11 1 (0.26%) PVCS
11 1 (0.26%) Snyk
General
1 121 (31.84%) Finance
2 66 (17.37%) Social Skills
3 55 (14.47%) Public Sector
4 27 (7.11%) Banking
5 22 (5.79%) Analytical Skills
6 21 (5.53%) Local Government
7 11 (2.89%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (2.63%) General Ledger
9 7 (1.84%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.84%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.58%) Military
11 5 (1.32%) Billing
11 5 (1.32%) Investment Banking
11 5 (1.32%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.79%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.79%) Retail
13 2 (0.53%) Automotive
13 2 (0.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.53%) Legal
13 2 (0.53%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 89 (23.42%) Architect
2 58 (15.26%) Senior
3 57 (15.00%) Lead
4 42 (11.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 33 (8.68%) Solutions Architect
6 25 (6.58%) Cloud Engineer
6 25 (6.58%) DevOps Engineer
7 23 (6.05%) Consultant
8 22 (5.79%) Technical Architect
9 18 (4.74%) GCP Engineer
10 16 (4.21%) Azure Specialist
11 15 (3.95%) Cloud Architect
11 15 (3.95%) SAP Consultant
12 14 (3.68%) Developer
13 13 (3.42%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 12 (3.16%) SAP Architect
15 11 (2.89%) Azure Engineer
15 11 (2.89%) SAP S/4HANA Consultant
16 10 (2.63%) Azure Architect
16 10 (2.63%) SAP Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.00%) Middleware
2 15 (3.95%) Kafka
2 15 (3.95%) REST
2 15 (3.95%) Spring Boot
3 11 (2.89%) Oracle GoldenGate
3 11 (2.89%) Spring
4 9 (2.37%) OAuth
5 8 (2.11%) Oracle Fusion
5 8 (2.11%) SAP Fiori
6 7 (1.84%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (1.84%) React
7 6 (1.58%) JSON
7 6 (1.58%) NumPy
7 6 (1.58%) Pandas
7 6 (1.58%) SOAP
7 6 (1.58%) Web Services
8 4 (1.05%) JWT
8 4 (1.05%) NETCONF
8 4 (1.05%) PyTorch
8 4 (1.05%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 44 (11.58%) Cloud Native
2 24 (6.32%) Hybrid Cloud
3 21 (5.53%) Data Centre
4 20 (5.26%) Private Cloud
5 10 (2.63%) Onboarding
5 10 (2.63%) PKI
6 7 (1.84%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.58%) AI Agents
7 6 (1.58%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.05%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.05%) Data Structures
8 4 (1.05%) Legacy Applications
8 4 (1.05%) Linux Command Line
8 4 (1.05%) Management Information System
8 4 (1.05%) Security Posture
9 3 (0.79%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (0.53%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.53%) Enterprise Cloud
10 2 (0.53%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 59 (15.53%) Linux
2 28 (7.37%) Windows
3 11 (2.89%) AIX
4 10 (2.63%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.37%) Ubuntu
6 8 (2.11%) Unix
7 6 (1.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (1.58%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (1.05%) Debian
9 3 (0.79%) CentOS
9 3 (0.79%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.26%) Android
10 1 (0.26%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.26%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (26.58%) CI/CD
2 100 (26.32%) DevOps
3 99 (26.05%) Infrastructure as Code
4 95 (25.00%) Migration
5 63 (16.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 58 (15.26%) Stakeholder Management
7 52 (13.68%) Agile
8 39 (10.26%) Data Migration
8 39 (10.26%) Microservices
9 37 (9.74%) Containerisation
10 36 (9.47%) Analytics
11 35 (9.21%) ERP
12 34 (8.95%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 33 (8.68%) User Acceptance Testing
14 30 (7.89%) Cloud Security
14 30 (7.89%) Problem-Solving
14 30 (7.89%) Project Delivery
15 29 (7.63%) Infrastructure Automation
15 29 (7.63%) Validation
16 28 (7.37%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 74 (19.47%) Python
2 26 (6.84%) Java
2 26 (6.84%) PowerShell
3 17 (4.47%) Bash
4 16 (4.21%) SQL
5 8 (2.11%) Bicep
5 8 (2.11%) JavaScript
6 7 (1.84%) Go
7 6 (1.58%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.32%) Ruby
8 5 (1.32%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.53%) C++
9 2 (0.53%) Groovy
9 2 (0.53%) Perl
10 1 (0.26%) C#
10 1 (0.26%) Kotlin
10 1 (0.26%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.26%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 93 (24.47%) Security Cleared
2 78 (20.53%) SC Cleared
3 31 (8.16%) Cisco Certification
4 22 (5.79%) DV Cleared
5 15 (3.95%) CCNP
6 12 (3.16%) Degree
7 11 (2.89%) AWS Certification
7 11 (2.89%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 10 (2.63%) CISSP
9 9 (2.37%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 9 (2.37%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 9 (2.37%) Azure Certification
10 8 (2.11%) SAP Certification
11 7 (1.84%) ACCA
11 7 (1.84%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (1.84%) CIMA
11 7 (1.84%) CISM
12 6 (1.58%) VCAP
13 5 (1.32%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 5 (1.32%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (3.95%) NIST
2 14 (3.68%) NCSC
3 12 (3.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (2.63%) GDPR
5 8 (2.11%) QA
6 5 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.32%) GRC
7 3 (0.79%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.79%) Government Security Classifications
7 3 (0.79%) ISO 20022
8 2 (0.53%) Disclosure Scotland
8 2 (0.53%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.53%) PMO
9 1 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.26%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.26%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.26%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.26%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.26%) RMADS
System Software
1 24 (6.32%) Docker
2 22 (5.79%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (3.95%) VMware NSX
4 13 (3.42%) Active Directory
5 12 (3.16%) Oracle RAC
6 9 (2.37%) VMware ESXi
7 7 (1.84%) Postfix
7 7 (1.84%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (1.58%) vSphere
9 5 (1.32%) NFS
9 5 (1.32%) Varnish
10 4 (1.05%) Hyper-V
10 4 (1.05%) Sendmail
11 2 (0.53%) Dovecot
11 2 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.26%) Firmware
12 1 (0.26%) GPFS
12 1 (0.26%) Lustre
12 1 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
12 1 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 87 (22.89%) Terraform
2 59 (15.53%) Kubernetes
3 47 (12.37%) Ansible
4 16 (4.21%) Istio
5 14 (3.68%) Prometheus
6 12 (3.16%) Data Guard
6 12 (3.16%) Grafana
6 12 (3.16%) Oracle RMAN
7 8 (2.11%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (1.84%) HAProxy
9 6 (1.58%) Packer
9 6 (1.58%) vCenter Server
10 4 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (1.05%) Argo
10 4 (1.05%) Kubeflow
10 4 (1.05%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.79%) Check_MK
11 3 (0.79%) SCCM
12 2 (0.53%) Red Hat Satellite
12 2 (0.53%) systemd
Vendors
1 99 (26.05%) SAP
2 54 (14.21%) Microsoft
3 44 (11.58%) Google
4 41 (10.79%) Oracle
5 35 (9.21%) VMware
6 19 (5.00%) F5
7 17 (4.47%) Cisco
8 13 (3.42%) Ariba
9 12 (3.16%) Red Hat
10 10 (2.63%) Juniper
10 10 (2.63%) ServiceNow
11 9 (2.37%) Fortinet
12 8 (2.11%) Splunk
13 5 (1.32%) Citrix
13 5 (1.32%) CyberArk
13 5 (1.32%) MuleSoft
13 5 (1.32%) Veeam
14 4 (1.05%) Broadcom
14 4 (1.05%) Concur
14 4 (1.05%) Palo Alto