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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 316 322 298
Rank change year-on-year +6 -24 -53
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 380 226 332
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.74% 0.73% 0.77%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.25% 2.12% 2.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 146 228
10th Percentile £413 £403 £445
25th Percentile £500 £482 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £580
Median % change year-on-year - +3.45% -9.02%
75th Percentile £688 £694 £750
90th Percentile £725 £753 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £525 £600
% change year-on-year +14.29% -12.50% -3.42%
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 16,874 10,638 13,036
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.83% 34.59% 30.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,321 6,631 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 863 492 927
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.59 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.97 £15.32
Median hourly rate £42.30 £31.29 £35.65
Median % change year-on-year +35.21% -12.24% +58.44%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.52 £62.25
90th Percentile £86.98 £78.75 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.50 £35.58
% change year-on-year +44.13% -14.27% +58.11%

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 1 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 1 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 +8 316 £600 -2.04% 86
UK excluding London +21 205 £600 +14.29% 52
London -67 114 £600 -9.43% 42
Work from Home +8 105 £610 +13.49% 45
North of England -26 71 £576 +21.25% 21
South East -26 53 £590 -1.67% 9
Midlands -28 37 £613 +14.06% 3
Yorkshire -20 36 £638 +34.21% 9
North West -22 32 £388 -23.42% 8
South West -5 28 £675 +22.73% 10
East Midlands +8 25 £625 +31.58% 1
Scotland -18 11 £425 -15.00% 4
West Midlands -46 8 £450 -22.58% 2
North East -28 5 £650 - 5
East of England -22 4 £593 +7.73%
Northern Ireland - 2 £385 - 5
Wales -15 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 5 (1.32%) Apache Airflow
2 5 (1.32%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.05%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.05%) SAS
4 3 (0.79%) CloudStack
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 8 (2.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.58%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (0.79%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.53%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.26%) Houdini
5 1 (0.26%) NUKE
5 1 (0.26%) Weka
Business Applications
1 86 (22.63%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.58%) Oracle ERP
2 6 (1.58%) SAP Business One
3 5 (1.32%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.05%) iTrent
4 4 (1.05%) SAP FI
4 4 (1.05%) SAP SD
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
1 152 (40.00%) Azure
2 114 (30.00%) AWS
3 87 (22.89%) GCP
4 36 (9.47%) GitHub
5 25 (6.58%) SuccessFactors
6 21 (5.53%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 20 (5.26%) IaaS
7 20 (5.26%) PaaS
8 18 (4.74%) OCI
9 17 (4.47%) GitHub Actions
10 15 (3.95%) SaaS
10 15 (3.95%) Serverless
11 11 (2.89%) Azure DevOps
11 11 (2.89%) OpenShift
12 10 (2.63%) AWS CloudFormation
12 10 (2.63%) Power Platform
13 9 (2.37%) Amazon EKS
14 7 (1.84%) Cloud Computing
14 7 (1.84%) Microsoft 365
15 6 (1.58%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 30 (7.89%) DNS
2 28 (7.37%) Firewall
3 23 (6.05%) Network Security
4 14 (3.68%) VPN
5 11 (2.89%) LAN
5 11 (2.89%) WAN
6 9 (2.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 9 (2.37%) TCP/IP
7 8 (2.11%) SAN
8 7 (1.84%) NAS
8 7 (1.84%) VSAN
9 5 (1.32%) MPLS
9 5 (1.32%) Wireless
10 4 (1.05%) BGP
10 4 (1.05%) DHCP
10 4 (1.05%) Kerberos
11 3 (0.79%) BIG-IP
11 3 (0.79%) HTTPS
11 3 (0.79%) SSH
11 3 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.42%) Oracle Database
2 9 (2.37%) Power BI
2 9 (2.37%) Relational Database
3 8 (2.11%) Oracle Exadata
3 8 (2.11%) RDBMS
4 7 (1.84%) SQL Server
5 5 (1.32%) BigQuery
5 5 (1.32%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (1.05%) BusinessObjects
7 3 (0.79%) Data Vault
7 3 (0.79%) Delta Lake
7 3 (0.79%) MySQL
7 3 (0.79%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.53%) NoSQL
8 2 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.53%) SAP HANA
9 1 (0.26%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.26%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.26%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 36 (9.47%) Jenkins
2 27 (7.11%) Git
3 20 (5.26%) GitLab
4 19 (5.00%) JIRA
5 9 (2.37%) Postman
6 6 (1.58%) SoapUI
7 4 (1.05%) Cucumber
7 4 (1.05%) Hudson
7 4 (1.05%) JUnit
8 3 (0.79%) Liquibase
8 3 (0.79%) Selenium
8 3 (0.79%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.79%) TeamCity
9 1 (0.26%) LSMW
9 1 (0.26%) Maven
9 1 (0.26%) MSI
9 1 (0.26%) PVCS
9 1 (0.26%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.26%) Snyk
General
1 115 (30.26%) Finance
2 63 (16.58%) Social Skills
3 53 (13.95%) Public Sector
4 31 (8.16%) Banking
5 21 (5.53%) Local Government
6 16 (4.21%) Analytical Skills
7 11 (2.89%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (2.63%) General Ledger
9 7 (1.84%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.58%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (1.58%) Investment Banking
10 6 (1.58%) Military
11 3 (0.79%) Billing
11 3 (0.79%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.79%) Retail
11 3 (0.79%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.53%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.26%) Corporate Banking
13 1 (0.26%) German Language
13 1 (0.26%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 92 (24.21%) Architect
2 55 (14.47%) Lead
3 52 (13.68%) Senior
4 38 (10.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 31 (8.16%) Solutions Architect
6 27 (7.11%) Cloud Engineer
7 23 (6.05%) GCP Engineer
8 20 (5.26%) Azure Specialist
8 20 (5.26%) DevOps Engineer
8 20 (5.26%) Technical Architect
9 19 (5.00%) Consultant
10 17 (4.47%) Cloud Architect
11 13 (3.42%) Developer
11 13 (3.42%) SAP Consultant
12 12 (3.16%) Azure Architect
12 12 (3.16%) SAP Architect
13 11 (2.89%) Analyst
13 11 (2.89%) Azure Engineer
14 10 (2.63%) Data Engineer
14 10 (2.63%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.00%) Middleware
2 17 (4.47%) REST
3 14 (3.68%) Kafka
4 13 (3.42%) Spring Boot
5 10 (2.63%) OAuth
5 10 (2.63%) Oracle Fusion
6 8 (2.11%) JSON
6 8 (2.11%) SOAP
6 8 (2.11%) Spring
7 7 (1.84%) Elastic Stack
7 7 (1.84%) JWT
7 7 (1.84%) Oracle GoldenGate
7 7 (1.84%) Web Services
8 6 (1.58%) NumPy
8 6 (1.58%) Pandas
8 6 (1.58%) SAP Fiori
8 6 (1.58%) XML
8 6 (1.58%) XSLT
9 5 (1.32%) React
10 4 (1.05%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 48 (12.63%) Cloud Native
2 20 (5.26%) Data Centre
2 20 (5.26%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (4.74%) Private Cloud
4 10 (2.63%) Onboarding
5 8 (2.11%) Data Structures
5 8 (2.11%) PKI
6 7 (1.84%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.58%) AI Agents
7 6 (1.58%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.32%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (1.05%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.05%) Security Posture
10 3 (0.79%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.79%) Reinsurance
10 3 (0.79%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.53%) Analytical Mindset
11 2 (0.53%) Cyber Threat
11 2 (0.53%) Greenfield Project
11 2 (0.53%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 54 (14.21%) Linux
2 31 (8.16%) Windows
3 10 (2.63%) Unix
3 10 (2.63%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.84%) AIX
4 7 (1.84%) Ubuntu
5 6 (1.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (1.58%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.05%) Debian
7 3 (0.79%) CentOS
7 3 (0.79%) VMS
7 3 (0.79%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.26%) Android
8 1 (0.26%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (26.84%) DevOps
2 95 (25.00%) CI/CD
2 95 (25.00%) Infrastructure as Code
3 92 (24.21%) Migration
4 57 (15.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 55 (14.47%) Stakeholder Management
6 51 (13.42%) Agile
7 40 (10.53%) Analytics
8 37 (9.74%) Containerisation
8 37 (9.74%) Microservices
9 36 (9.47%) ERP
10 35 (9.21%) User Acceptance Testing
11 33 (8.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 32 (8.42%) Data Migration
13 30 (7.89%) Cloud Security
14 29 (7.63%) Validation
15 28 (7.37%) Problem-Solving
15 28 (7.37%) Project Delivery
16 27 (7.11%) Identity Access Management
17 25 (6.58%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 75 (19.74%) Python
2 24 (6.32%) Java
2 24 (6.32%) PowerShell
3 19 (5.00%) SQL
4 15 (3.95%) Bash
5 8 (2.11%) Bicep
6 6 (1.58%) Go
6 6 (1.58%) Shell Script
7 5 (1.32%) Ruby
8 4 (1.05%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.05%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.53%) C++
9 2 (0.53%) Groovy
9 2 (0.53%) Perl
9 2 (0.53%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.26%) C#
10 1 (0.26%) Kotlin
10 1 (0.26%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 88 (23.16%) Security Cleared
2 72 (18.95%) SC Cleared
3 27 (7.11%) Cisco Certification
4 19 (5.00%) DV Cleared
5 13 (3.42%) CCNP
6 12 (3.16%) Degree
7 10 (2.63%) AWS Certification
7 10 (2.63%) CISSP
8 9 (2.37%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (2.37%) Azure Certification
8 9 (2.37%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 8 (2.11%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 8 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (2.11%) SAP Certification
10 7 (1.84%) ACCA
10 7 (1.84%) CIMA
10 7 (1.84%) CISM
11 5 (1.32%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 5 (1.32%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 5 (1.32%) ISTQB
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 6 (1.58%) Data Quality
7 5 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.32%) GRC
8 3 (0.79%) Government Security Classifications
8 3 (0.79%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.53%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.53%) PMO
9 2 (0.53%) SLA
10 1 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.26%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.26%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 22301
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 1 (0.26%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.26%) RMADS
System Software
1 26 (6.84%) Docker
2 24 (6.32%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.42%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.42%) VMware NSX
4 9 (2.37%) Oracle RAC
5 8 (2.11%) Hyper-V
6 7 (1.84%) Postfix
6 7 (1.84%) Virtual Machines
7 6 (1.58%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (1.58%) vSphere
8 5 (1.32%) NFS
8 5 (1.32%) Varnish
9 4 (1.05%) Sendmail
10 2 (0.53%) Dovecot
10 2 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.26%) Firmware
11 1 (0.26%) GPFS
11 1 (0.26%) Lustre
11 1 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 86 (22.63%) Terraform
2 63 (16.58%) Kubernetes
3 40 (10.53%) Ansible
4 19 (5.00%) Istio
5 13 (3.42%) Prometheus
6 11 (2.89%) Grafana
7 9 (2.37%) Data Guard
7 9 (2.37%) Oracle RMAN
8 8 (2.11%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (1.84%) HAProxy
10 4 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (1.05%) Argo
10 4 (1.05%) Kubeflow
10 4 (1.05%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (1.05%) Packer
10 4 (1.05%) vCenter Server
11 3 (0.79%) Check_MK
11 3 (0.79%) SCCM
12 2 (0.53%) Puppet
12 2 (0.53%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 95 (25.00%) SAP
2 53 (13.95%) Google
3 51 (13.42%) Microsoft
4 43 (11.32%) Oracle
5 36 (9.47%) VMware
6 17 (4.47%) F5
7 13 (3.42%) Ariba
7 13 (3.42%) Cisco
8 11 (2.89%) Red Hat
9 10 (2.63%) ServiceNow
10 8 (2.11%) Splunk
11 7 (1.84%) Fortinet
12 6 (1.58%) Juniper
13 5 (1.32%) Citrix
13 5 (1.32%) CyberArk
13 5 (1.32%) Databricks
13 5 (1.32%) MuleSoft
13 5 (1.32%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.32%) Veeam
14 4 (1.05%) Foundry