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 19 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 333 331 282
Rank change year-on-year -2 -49 -31
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 369 231 348
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.70% 0.70% 0.83%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.10% 2.03% 2.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 243 151 236
10th Percentile £425 £391 £445
25th Percentile £503 £475 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year - +4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £688 £691 £725
90th Percentile £734 £750 £831
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £500 £596
% change year-on-year +20.00% -16.07% -0.71%
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 17,606 11,360 12,874
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.24% 34.66% 30.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,783 7,035 8,225
10th Percentile £316 £300 £292
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £539
Median % change year-on-year - -2.51% -2.09%
75th Percentile £630 £645 £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 894 536 803
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.33 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.37 £18.87 £15.92
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +46.53% -20.00% +7.14%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.88 £63.75
90th Percentile £87.40 £77.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +46.53% -25.00% -11.11%

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 19 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 19 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 -8 304 £600 -0.33% 93
UK excluding London -1 203 £600 +20.00% 63
London -75 107 £600 -8.57% 49
Work from Home -8 101 £610 +13.59% 49
North of England -27 71 £625 +31.58% 14
South East -27 56 £590 -1.67% 12
Yorkshire -24 35 £625 +39.66% 4
North West -31 33 £625 +31.58% 4
Midlands -28 30 £638 +18.72% 6
South West -15 26 £675 +22.73% 13
East Midlands +1 19 £638 +34.21% 2
Scotland -31 13 £500 - 2
West Midlands -56 8 £450 -26.53% 4
North East -30 7 £625 - 6
East of England -15 6 £475 -13.64%
Northern Ireland - 2 £385 - 15
Wales -15 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 (2.71%) Apache
1 10 (2.71%) Confluence
2 6 (1.63%) OpenStack
3 5 (1.36%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.36%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.81%) CloudStack
4 3 (0.81%) SAS
5 2 (0.54%) IIS
5 2 (0.54%) nginx
5 2 (0.54%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.54%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.27%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 10 (2.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.17%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.36%) MS Visio
4 4 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.54%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.54%) Houdini
5 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.54%) NUKE
5 2 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.27%) Weka
Business Applications
1 79 (21.41%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.63%) SAP Business One
2 6 (1.63%) SAP SD
3 5 (1.36%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.08%) iTrent
4 4 (1.08%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.81%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.54%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.54%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.54%) SAP FI-GL
7 1 (0.27%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle SCM
7 1 (0.27%) SAP FI-AR
7 1 (0.27%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 145 (39.30%) Azure
2 126 (34.15%) AWS
3 74 (20.05%) GCP
4 28 (7.59%) GitHub
5 27 (7.32%) SuccessFactors
6 20 (5.42%) OCI
7 19 (5.15%) IaaS
7 19 (5.15%) PaaS
8 16 (4.34%) SaaS
9 15 (4.07%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 15 (4.07%) OpenShift
10 14 (3.79%) Serverless
11 13 (3.52%) GitHub Actions
12 11 (2.98%) Amazon EKS
12 11 (2.98%) AWS CloudFormation
13 10 (2.71%) Power Platform
14 8 (2.17%) Azure DevOps
15 7 (1.90%) Microsoft 365
16 6 (1.63%) Entra ID
17 5 (1.36%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 31 (8.40%) DNS
2 29 (7.86%) Firewall
3 22 (5.96%) Network Security
4 15 (4.07%) TCP/IP
5 14 (3.79%) VPN
6 13 (3.52%) LAN
6 13 (3.52%) WAN
7 10 (2.71%) VSAN
8 9 (2.44%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 8 (2.17%) DHCP
10 7 (1.90%) BGP
10 7 (1.90%) MPLS
10 7 (1.90%) SAN
11 6 (1.63%) NAS
12 5 (1.36%) Wi-Fi
12 5 (1.36%) Wireless
13 4 (1.08%) SNMP
13 4 (1.08%) TACACS
14 3 (0.81%) HTTPS
14 3 (0.81%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (4.61%) Oracle Database
2 13 (3.52%) RDBMS
2 13 (3.52%) Relational Database
3 12 (3.25%) Oracle Exadata
4 9 (2.44%) Power BI
5 4 (1.08%) BigQuery
5 4 (1.08%) BusinessObjects
5 4 (1.08%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (1.08%) MySQL
5 4 (1.08%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.81%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.54%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.54%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.27%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.27%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.27%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.27%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 38 (10.30%) Git
2 28 (7.59%) Jenkins
3 23 (6.23%) GitLab
4 14 (3.79%) JIRA
5 7 (1.90%) Postman
6 6 (1.63%) JUnit
7 5 (1.36%) SoapUI
8 4 (1.08%) Cucumber
8 4 (1.08%) Hudson
9 3 (0.81%) Liquibase
9 3 (0.81%) Selenium
9 3 (0.81%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.81%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.54%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.27%) LSMW
11 1 (0.27%) Maven
11 1 (0.27%) MSI
11 1 (0.27%) PVCS
11 1 (0.27%) REST Assured
11 1 (0.27%) Snyk
General
1 109 (29.54%) Finance
2 58 (15.72%) Social Skills
3 48 (13.01%) Public Sector
4 26 (7.05%) Banking
5 21 (5.69%) Analytical Skills
6 14 (3.79%) Local Government
7 11 (2.98%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.17%) General Ledger
9 7 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.90%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.63%) Military
11 5 (1.36%) Billing
11 5 (1.36%) Investment Banking
11 5 (1.36%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.81%) Legal
12 3 (0.81%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.81%) Retail
13 2 (0.54%) Automotive
13 2 (0.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.54%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 86 (23.31%) Architect
2 57 (15.45%) Senior
3 49 (13.28%) Lead
4 44 (11.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 30 (8.13%) Solutions Architect
6 25 (6.78%) DevOps Engineer
7 24 (6.50%) Cloud Engineer
8 22 (5.96%) Technical Architect
9 19 (5.15%) Consultant
10 16 (4.34%) Azure Specialist
10 16 (4.34%) GCP Engineer
11 14 (3.79%) Developer
11 14 (3.79%) SAP Consultant
11 14 (3.79%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 13 (3.52%) Cloud Architect
13 12 (3.25%) Azure Engineer
14 10 (2.71%) Analyst
14 10 (2.71%) Azure Architect
14 10 (2.71%) SAP S/4HANA Consultant
14 10 (2.71%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.34%) Middleware
2 15 (4.07%) Kafka
2 15 (4.07%) REST
2 15 (4.07%) Spring Boot
3 12 (3.25%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 11 (2.98%) Spring
5 9 (2.44%) OAuth
6 8 (2.17%) Oracle Fusion
6 8 (2.17%) SAP Fiori
7 7 (1.90%) Elastic Stack
7 7 (1.90%) React
8 6 (1.63%) JSON
8 6 (1.63%) NumPy
8 6 (1.63%) Pandas
8 6 (1.63%) SOAP
8 6 (1.63%) Web Services
9 4 (1.08%) .NET
9 4 (1.08%) OpenID
9 4 (1.08%) XML
9 4 (1.08%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 44 (11.92%) Cloud Native
2 24 (6.50%) Hybrid Cloud
3 22 (5.96%) Data Centre
4 21 (5.69%) Private Cloud
5 11 (2.98%) PKI
6 10 (2.71%) Onboarding
7 7 (1.90%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (1.63%) AI Agents
8 6 (1.63%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.63%) Virtual Team
9 4 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.08%) Data Structures
9 4 (1.08%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (1.08%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (1.08%) Security Posture
10 3 (0.81%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.54%) Distributed Systems
11 2 (0.54%) Greenfield Project
11 2 (0.54%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 61 (16.53%) Linux
2 30 (8.13%) Windows
3 12 (3.25%) AIX
4 10 (2.71%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.44%) Ubuntu
6 8 (2.17%) Unix
7 6 (1.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (1.63%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (1.08%) Debian
9 3 (0.81%) CentOS
9 3 (0.81%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (0.81%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.27%) Android
10 1 (0.27%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (27.10%) CI/CD
2 99 (26.83%) Infrastructure as Code
3 96 (26.02%) DevOps
4 93 (25.20%) Migration
5 65 (17.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 52 (14.09%) Agile
7 49 (13.28%) Stakeholder Management
8 39 (10.57%) Microservices
9 37 (10.03%) Containerisation
9 37 (10.03%) Data Migration
10 35 (9.49%) ERP
11 31 (8.40%) Cloud Security
11 31 (8.40%) Project Delivery
11 31 (8.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 30 (8.13%) Infrastructure Automation
13 29 (7.86%) Problem-Solving
13 29 (7.86%) Validation
14 28 (7.59%) Analytics
14 28 (7.59%) Identity Access Management
15 26 (7.05%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 71 (19.24%) Python
2 27 (7.32%) PowerShell
3 26 (7.05%) Java
4 17 (4.61%) Bash
5 15 (4.07%) SQL
6 9 (2.44%) Bicep
7 8 (2.17%) JavaScript
8 7 (1.90%) Go
9 6 (1.63%) Shell Script
10 5 (1.36%) Ruby
10 5 (1.36%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.54%) C++
11 2 (0.54%) Groovy
11 2 (0.54%) Perl
12 1 (0.27%) C#
12 1 (0.27%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.27%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.27%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 97 (26.29%) Security Cleared
2 81 (21.95%) SC Cleared
3 31 (8.40%) Cisco Certification
4 24 (6.50%) DV Cleared
5 15 (4.07%) CCNP
6 12 (3.25%) AWS Certification
6 12 (3.25%) Degree
7 11 (2.98%) CISSP
7 11 (2.98%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 9 (2.44%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (2.44%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 9 (2.44%) Azure Certification
9 8 (2.17%) CISM
10 7 (1.90%) ACCA
10 7 (1.90%) CIMA
10 7 (1.90%) SAP Certification
10 7 (1.90%) VCAP
11 5 (1.36%) CCIE
11 5 (1.36%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 5 (1.36%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.07%) NCSC
1 15 (4.07%) NIST
2 12 (3.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (2.71%) GDPR
4 8 (2.17%) QA
5 5 (1.36%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (1.36%) GRC
6 4 (1.08%) Government Security Classifications
7 3 (0.81%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.81%) ISO 20022
8 2 (0.54%) Disclosure Scotland
8 2 (0.54%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (0.54%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.54%) PMO
9 1 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.27%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.27%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.27%) RMADS
System Software
1 24 (6.50%) Docker
1 24 (6.50%) VMware Infrastructure
2 16 (4.34%) VMware NSX
3 14 (3.79%) Active Directory
4 13 (3.52%) Oracle RAC
5 9 (2.44%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (2.17%) vSphere
7 7 (1.90%) Postfix
7 7 (1.90%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.36%) NFS
8 5 (1.36%) Varnish
9 4 (1.08%) Hyper-V
9 4 (1.08%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.54%) Dovecot
10 2 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.27%) Firmware
11 1 (0.27%) GPFS
11 1 (0.27%) Lustre
11 1 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 87 (23.58%) Terraform
2 58 (15.72%) Kubernetes
3 48 (13.01%) Ansible
4 14 (3.79%) Istio
5 13 (3.52%) Data Guard
5 13 (3.52%) Oracle RMAN
5 13 (3.52%) Prometheus
6 12 (3.25%) Grafana
7 8 (2.17%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (1.90%) HAProxy
9 6 (1.63%) Packer
9 6 (1.63%) vCenter Server
10 4 (1.08%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (1.08%) Argo
10 4 (1.08%) Kubeflow
10 4 (1.08%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.81%) Check_MK
11 3 (0.81%) SCCM
12 2 (0.54%) systemd
13 1 (0.27%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 88 (23.85%) SAP
2 55 (14.91%) Microsoft
3 42 (11.38%) Oracle
4 41 (11.11%) Google
5 37 (10.03%) VMware
6 18 (4.88%) F5
7 17 (4.61%) Cisco
8 13 (3.52%) Ariba
9 11 (2.98%) Red Hat
10 10 (2.71%) Juniper
10 10 (2.71%) ServiceNow
11 9 (2.44%) Fortinet
12 8 (2.17%) Splunk
13 5 (1.36%) Citrix
13 5 (1.36%) CyberArk
13 5 (1.36%) MuleSoft
13 5 (1.36%) Veeam
14 4 (1.08%) Broadcom
14 4 (1.08%) Concur
14 4 (1.08%) Palo Alto