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

6 months to
27 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 355 357 253
Rank change year-on-year +2 -104 +5
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 348 202 363
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.65% 0.62% 0.94%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.93% 1.75% 3.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 233 130 231
10th Percentile £440 £357 £444
25th Percentile £513 £438 £490
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £688 £668 £738
90th Percentile £780 £751 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £500 £576
% change year-on-year +20.00% -13.12% -4.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 3
10th Percentile - - £39.80
25th Percentile £71.25 £42.50 £44.38
Median hourly rate £72.50 £45.00 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year +61.11% -16.67% -30.77%
75th Percentile £73.75 £47.50 £57.00
90th Percentile - - £57.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £48.25
% change year-on-year - - -38.14%

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 18,031 11,571 11,769
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.58% 35.33% 30.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,896 7,111 7,439
10th Percentile £322 £300 £300
25th Percentile £423 £406 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% -5.45% -
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £750 £763 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,062 576 568
10th Percentile £14.68 £15.13 £12.30
25th Percentile £19.25 £18.87 £18.46
Median hourly rate £40.98 £30.00 £44.52
Median % change year-on-year +36.60% -32.61% +1.66%
75th Percentile £68.75 £57.50 £68.98
90th Percentile £83.98 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £48.75
% change year-on-year +46.53% -38.46% +6.39%

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 27 August 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 27 August 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 +22 286 £600 +1.27% 476
UK excluding London -2 199 £600 +20.00% 250
Work from Home -5 101 £622 +20.19% 157
London -58 93 £615 -4.95% 312
North of England -32 73 £563 +25.00% 64
South East -21 49 £590 -14.18% 27
Yorkshire -23 45 £550 +36.82% 25
Midlands -26 35 £638 +18.72% 33
North West -36 24 £613 +36.11% 27
East Midlands 0 20 £638 +34.21% 9
South West -25 20 £675 +10.20% 46
Scotland -30 15 £520 +4.00% 54
West Midlands -41 11 £675 +10.12% 24
North East -34 8 £600 - 12
East of England -21 6 £475 -28.30% 2
Wales -16 1 - - 3
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 21

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 9 (2.59%) Apache
2 5 (1.44%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.15%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (0.86%) CloudStack
4 3 (0.86%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 3 (0.86%) SAS
4 3 (0.86%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.57%) Confluence
5 2 (0.57%) IIS
5 2 (0.57%) nginx
5 2 (0.57%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.29%) WebLogic
Applications
1 12 (3.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.30%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.15%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.57%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.57%) Houdini
4 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.57%) NUKE
4 2 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.29%) Weka
Business Applications
1 80 (22.99%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.72%) SAP Business One
2 6 (1.72%) SAP SD
3 5 (1.44%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.15%) iTrent
5 3 (0.86%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.57%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.57%) SAP FI-GL
7 1 (0.29%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle SCM
7 1 (0.29%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.29%) SAP FI-AR
7 1 (0.29%) SAP MDG
7 1 (0.29%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.29%) SAP PS
Cloud Services
1 143 (41.09%) Azure
2 127 (36.49%) AWS
3 61 (17.53%) GCP
4 24 (6.90%) SuccessFactors
5 21 (6.03%) GitHub
6 20 (5.75%) OCI
7 19 (5.46%) SaaS
8 15 (4.31%) IaaS
9 13 (3.74%) GitHub Actions
9 13 (3.74%) OpenShift
9 13 (3.74%) PaaS
10 11 (3.16%) Entra ID
11 10 (2.87%) Amazon EKS
11 10 (2.87%) Azure DevOps
11 10 (2.87%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 10 (2.87%) Serverless
12 7 (2.01%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (1.72%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (1.72%) Microsoft 365
14 4 (1.15%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 27 (7.76%) Firewall
2 26 (7.47%) DNS
3 19 (5.46%) Network Security
4 17 (4.89%) TCP/IP
5 15 (4.31%) VSAN
6 13 (3.74%) LAN
6 13 (3.74%) WAN
7 12 (3.45%) VPN
8 11 (3.16%) DHCP
9 8 (2.30%) BGP
10 7 (2.01%) SAN
11 6 (1.72%) NAS
12 5 (1.44%) VLAN
12 5 (1.44%) Wi-Fi
13 4 (1.15%) MPLS
13 4 (1.15%) SNMP
13 4 (1.15%) TACACS
14 3 (0.86%) HTTPS
14 3 (0.86%) SSH
14 3 (0.86%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.17%) Oracle Database
2 14 (4.02%) RDBMS
2 14 (4.02%) Relational Database
3 13 (3.74%) Oracle Exadata
4 8 (2.30%) MySQL
5 5 (1.44%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (1.15%) BigQuery
6 4 (1.15%) BusinessObjects
6 4 (1.15%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.57%) Amazon Redshift
7 2 (0.57%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.57%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.57%) Power BI
7 2 (0.57%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.29%) Big Data
8 1 (0.29%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.29%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.29%) SAP Data Services
8 1 (0.29%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 37 (10.63%) Git
2 17 (4.89%) Jenkins
3 15 (4.31%) GitLab
4 6 (1.72%) JUnit
5 4 (1.15%) Hudson
5 4 (1.15%) Postman
6 3 (0.86%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.86%) JIRA
6 3 (0.86%) Selenium
6 3 (0.86%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.86%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.29%) LSMW
7 1 (0.29%) MSI
7 1 (0.29%) PVCS
7 1 (0.29%) SoapUI
General
1 97 (27.87%) Finance
2 59 (16.95%) Social Skills
3 38 (10.92%) Public Sector
4 21 (6.03%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (5.46%) Banking
6 9 (2.59%) General Ledger
6 9 (2.59%) Local Government
7 8 (2.30%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (2.01%) Financial Institution
8 7 (2.01%) Military
8 7 (2.01%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (1.72%) Billing
9 6 (1.72%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.44%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.15%) Automotive
11 4 (1.15%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.86%) Legal
12 3 (0.86%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.86%) Police
12 3 (0.86%) Retail
Job Titles
1 89 (25.57%) Architect
2 59 (16.95%) Senior
3 46 (13.22%) Lead
4 37 (10.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 33 (9.48%) Solutions Architect
6 22 (6.32%) Consultant
7 21 (6.03%) Developer
7 21 (6.03%) DevOps Engineer
8 20 (5.75%) Technical Architect
9 17 (4.89%) SAP Consultant
9 17 (4.89%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 15 (4.31%) Azure Specialist
10 15 (4.31%) Cloud Architect
10 15 (4.31%) Cloud Engineer
11 12 (3.45%) Azure Engineer
11 12 (3.45%) Python Developer
12 11 (3.16%) Azure Architect
12 11 (3.16%) Network Engineer
13 10 (2.87%) Platform Engineer
13 10 (2.87%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 81 (23.28%) Terraform
2 16 (4.60%) Kafka
2 16 (4.60%) Spring Boot
3 13 (3.74%) Middleware
3 13 (3.74%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 12 (3.45%) Spring
5 9 (2.59%) SAP Fiori
6 8 (2.30%) REST
7 6 (1.72%) NumPy
7 6 (1.72%) OAuth
7 6 (1.72%) Pandas
8 5 (1.44%) .NET
8 5 (1.44%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (1.44%) JSON
8 5 (1.44%) OpenID
8 5 (1.44%) Oracle Fusion
8 5 (1.44%) React
9 4 (1.15%) 802.1X
9 4 (1.15%) NETCONF
9 4 (1.15%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 47 (13.51%) Cloud Native
2 32 (9.20%) Hybrid Cloud
3 28 (8.05%) Data Centre
4 25 (7.18%) Private Cloud
5 16 (4.60%) PKI
6 9 (2.59%) Onboarding
7 8 (2.30%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (2.01%) AI Agents
8 7 (2.01%) Management Information System
9 6 (1.72%) Data Structures
9 6 (1.72%) Linux Command Line
10 5 (1.44%) Legacy Applications
11 4 (1.15%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.15%) Data Protection Act
11 4 (1.15%) Enterprise Software
11 4 (1.15%) Robotics
11 4 (1.15%) Security Posture
11 4 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
12 3 (0.86%) Enterprise Cloud
12 3 (0.86%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 67 (19.25%) Linux
2 36 (10.34%) Windows
3 13 (3.74%) AIX
4 10 (2.87%) Ubuntu
5 8 (2.30%) Unix
5 8 (2.30%) Windows Server
6 6 (1.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.15%) Debian
7 4 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (0.86%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.57%) CentOS
10 1 (0.29%) Android
10 1 (0.29%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.29%) VMS
10 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (28.74%) Migration
2 90 (25.86%) Infrastructure as Code
3 82 (23.56%) CI/CD
4 74 (21.26%) DevOps
5 60 (17.24%) Stakeholder Management
6 53 (15.23%) Agile
7 52 (14.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 45 (12.93%) Data Migration
9 35 (10.06%) Microservices
10 34 (9.77%) ERP
11 31 (8.91%) Validation
12 30 (8.62%) Architectural Patterns
12 30 (8.62%) Infrastructure Automation
13 29 (8.33%) Identity Access Management
14 28 (8.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 27 (7.76%) Cloud Security
16 26 (7.47%) Observability
16 26 (7.47%) Technical Leadership
17 25 (7.18%) Containerisation
17 25 (7.18%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 67 (19.25%) Python
2 29 (8.33%) PowerShell
3 28 (8.05%) Java
4 21 (6.03%) Bash
5 12 (3.45%) SQL
6 10 (2.87%) JavaScript
7 9 (2.59%) Bicep
8 5 (1.44%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.86%) ABAP
9 3 (0.86%) Go
9 3 (0.86%) Ruby
10 2 (0.57%) Groovy
10 2 (0.57%) Perl
10 2 (0.57%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.29%) C#
11 1 (0.29%) C++
11 1 (0.29%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.29%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 93 (26.72%) Security Cleared
2 77 (22.13%) SC Cleared
3 29 (8.33%) DV Cleared
4 24 (6.90%) Cisco Certification
5 13 (3.74%) CCNP
6 12 (3.45%) AWS Certification
7 11 (3.16%) Degree
7 11 (3.16%) VCAP
7 11 (3.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 9 (2.59%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (2.30%) Azure Certification
10 7 (2.01%) ACCA
10 7 (2.01%) CIMA
10 7 (2.01%) CISSP
11 6 (1.72%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 5 (1.44%) JNCIS
13 4 (1.15%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (1.15%) JNCIE
13 4 (1.15%) JNCIP
13 4 (1.15%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (2.87%) NCSC
2 9 (2.59%) NIST
3 7 (2.01%) Data Quality
3 7 (2.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (2.01%) QA
4 5 (1.44%) GRC
4 5 (1.44%) ISO 20022
5 4 (1.15%) GDPR
5 4 (1.15%) ISO 15022
6 3 (0.86%) Government Security Classifications
6 3 (0.86%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 2 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.57%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.57%) PMO
8 1 (0.29%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.29%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.29%) ISO 22301
8 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.29%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 30 (8.62%) VMware Infrastructure
2 21 (6.03%) VMware NSX
3 18 (5.17%) Active Directory
4 17 (4.89%) Docker
5 14 (4.02%) Oracle RAC
6 12 (3.45%) vSphere
7 11 (3.16%) VMware ESXi
8 7 (2.01%) Virtual Machines
9 6 (1.72%) Postfix
10 4 (1.15%) Hyper-V
10 4 (1.15%) NFS
10 4 (1.15%) Varnish
11 3 (0.86%) Sendmail
12 2 (0.57%) Dovecot
13 1 (0.29%) Firmware
13 1 (0.29%) GPFS
13 1 (0.29%) Lustre
13 1 (0.29%) Microsoft App-V
13 1 (0.29%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 53 (15.23%) Kubernetes
2 48 (13.79%) Ansible
3 14 (4.02%) Data Guard
3 14 (4.02%) Oracle RMAN
4 12 (3.45%) Prometheus
5 10 (2.87%) Grafana
5 10 (2.87%) Istio
5 10 (2.87%) vCenter Server
6 7 (2.01%) Packer
6 7 (2.01%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.72%) HAProxy
8 5 (1.44%) VxRail
9 4 (1.15%) Kubeflow
9 4 (1.15%) systemd
10 3 (0.86%) Check_MK
11 2 (0.57%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 2 (0.57%) Argo
12 1 (0.29%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.29%) CASB
12 1 (0.29%) Cilium
Vendors
1 88 (25.29%) SAP
2 60 (17.24%) Microsoft
3 47 (13.51%) Oracle
4 40 (11.49%) VMware
5 29 (8.33%) Google
6 17 (4.89%) Cisco
7 12 (3.45%) Ariba
7 12 (3.45%) Juniper
8 8 (2.30%) F5
8 8 (2.30%) Red Hat
8 8 (2.30%) Splunk
9 7 (2.01%) Fortinet
10 5 (1.44%) Citrix
10 5 (1.44%) Concur
10 5 (1.44%) CyberArk
10 5 (1.44%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.15%) Broadcom
11 4 (1.15%) Dynatrace
11 4 (1.15%) MikroTik
11 4 (1.15%) MuleSoft