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

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 346 333 272
Rank change year-on-year -13 -61 -25
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 359 227 348
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.68% 0.69% 0.86%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.03% 2.00% 2.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 147 235
10th Percentile £445 £410 £445
25th Percentile £513 £469 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £593 £575
Median % change year-on-year +1.27% +3.04% -7.63%
75th Percentile £688 £691 £750
90th Percentile £738 £750 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £610 £500 £600
% change year-on-year +22.00% -16.67% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 2 3
10th Percentile - £45.25 £39.80
25th Percentile £71.25 £49.38 £44.38
Median hourly rate £72.50 £57.50 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year +26.09% +6.48% -30.77%
75th Percentile £73.75 £64.38 £57.00
90th Percentile - £67.75 £57.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £70.00 £48.25
% change year-on-year - +45.08% -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 17,666 11,332 12,451
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.35% 34.63% 30.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,816 6,988 7,995
10th Percentile £316 £300 £300
25th Percentile £416 £406 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year - -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £630 £643 £675
90th Percentile £749 £775 £802
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 905 547 720
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.13 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.60 £18.87 £16.25
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +46.53% -25.00% +6.67%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £86.80 £77.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £41.50
% change year-on-year +46.53% -27.71% -9.77%

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 25 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 25 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 +6 295 £610 +1.16% 164
UK excluding London +15 200 £610 +22.00% 82
Work from Home -17 101 £610 +13.59% 64
London -67 101 £600 -11.11% 98
North of England -35 70 £625 +35.14% 25
South East -27 56 £590 -1.67% 22
Yorkshire -24 35 £625 +39.66% 8
Midlands -29 32 £638 +18.72% 8
North West -35 32 £625 +35.14% 12
South West -11 23 £675 +22.73% 11
East Midlands -1 18 £638 +34.21% 3
Scotland -35 13 £500 - 2
West Midlands -46 11 £562 -8.20% 5
North East -36 7 £625 - 5
East of England -17 6 £475 -13.64%
Wales -17 1 - - 2
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 12

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 (2.79%) Apache
1 10 (2.79%) Confluence
2 6 (1.67%) OpenStack
3 5 (1.39%) Apache Airflow
4 4 (1.11%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.84%) CloudStack
5 3 (0.84%) SAS
6 2 (0.56%) IIS
6 2 (0.56%) nginx
6 2 (0.56%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 2 (0.56%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.28%) WebLogic
Applications
1 9 (2.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.23%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.11%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.56%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.56%) Houdini
4 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.56%) NUKE
4 2 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.28%) Weka
Business Applications
1 77 (21.45%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.67%) SAP Business One
2 6 (1.67%) SAP SD
3 5 (1.39%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.11%) iTrent
4 4 (1.11%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.84%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.56%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.56%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.56%) SAP FI-GL
7 1 (0.28%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.28%) Oracle SCM
7 1 (0.28%) SAP FI-AR
7 1 (0.28%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 144 (40.11%) Azure
2 125 (34.82%) AWS
3 71 (19.78%) GCP
4 26 (7.24%) SuccessFactors
5 24 (6.69%) GitHub
6 20 (5.57%) OCI
7 19 (5.29%) IaaS
8 18 (5.01%) PaaS
9 15 (4.18%) SaaS
10 14 (3.90%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 14 (3.90%) OpenShift
10 14 (3.90%) Serverless
11 12 (3.34%) Amazon EKS
12 11 (3.06%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (3.06%) GitHub Actions
13 9 (2.51%) Azure DevOps
14 6 (1.67%) Amazon ECS
14 6 (1.67%) Microsoft 365
15 5 (1.39%) Entra ID
16 4 (1.11%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 31 (8.64%) DNS
2 27 (7.52%) Firewall
3 20 (5.57%) Network Security
4 14 (3.90%) TCP/IP
4 14 (3.90%) VPN
5 12 (3.34%) LAN
5 12 (3.34%) WAN
6 11 (3.06%) VSAN
7 9 (2.51%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 8 (2.23%) DHCP
9 6 (1.67%) BGP
9 6 (1.67%) SAN
10 5 (1.39%) MPLS
10 5 (1.39%) NAS
10 5 (1.39%) Wi-Fi
11 4 (1.11%) SNMP
11 4 (1.11%) TACACS
11 4 (1.11%) VLAN
11 4 (1.11%) Wireless
12 3 (0.84%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (4.74%) Oracle Database
2 13 (3.62%) RDBMS
2 13 (3.62%) Relational Database
3 12 (3.34%) Oracle Exadata
4 8 (2.23%) MySQL
5 5 (1.39%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (1.11%) BigQuery
6 4 (1.11%) BusinessObjects
6 4 (1.11%) SQL Server
7 3 (0.84%) NoSQL
7 3 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.84%) Power BI
8 2 (0.56%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.56%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.56%) SAP HANA
9 1 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.28%) Big Data
9 1 (0.28%) Data Lake
9 1 (0.28%) DynamoDB
9 1 (0.28%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 38 (10.58%) Git
2 26 (7.24%) Jenkins
3 20 (5.57%) GitLab
4 13 (3.62%) JIRA
5 7 (1.95%) Postman
6 6 (1.67%) JUnit
7 5 (1.39%) SoapUI
8 4 (1.11%) Hudson
9 3 (0.84%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.84%) Liquibase
9 3 (0.84%) Selenium
9 3 (0.84%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.84%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.56%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.28%) Ant
11 1 (0.28%) LSMW
11 1 (0.28%) Maven
11 1 (0.28%) MSI
11 1 (0.28%) PVCS
11 1 (0.28%) Snyk
General
1 104 (28.97%) Finance
2 54 (15.04%) Social Skills
3 45 (12.53%) Public Sector
4 25 (6.96%) Banking
5 20 (5.57%) Analytical Skills
6 14 (3.90%) Local Government
7 9 (2.51%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.23%) General Ledger
9 7 (1.95%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.95%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.67%) Military
11 5 (1.39%) Billing
11 5 (1.39%) Telecoms
12 4 (1.11%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.84%) Automotive
13 3 (0.84%) Legal
13 3 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (0.84%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.84%) Retail
14 2 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 89 (24.79%) Architect
2 58 (16.16%) Senior
3 48 (13.37%) Lead
4 44 (12.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 34 (9.47%) Solutions Architect
6 26 (7.24%) DevOps Engineer
7 23 (6.41%) Cloud Engineer
8 22 (6.13%) Technical Architect
9 18 (5.01%) Consultant
10 16 (4.46%) GCP Engineer
11 15 (4.18%) Azure Specialist
11 15 (4.18%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 14 (3.90%) Cloud Architect
12 14 (3.90%) Developer
13 13 (3.62%) SAP Consultant
14 12 (3.34%) Azure Engineer
15 10 (2.79%) Azure Architect
15 10 (2.79%) Security Engineer
16 9 (2.51%) Analyst
16 9 (2.51%) Network Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.46%) Kafka
2 15 (4.18%) Middleware
2 15 (4.18%) Spring Boot
3 14 (3.90%) REST
4 12 (3.34%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 10 (2.79%) Spring
6 8 (2.23%) Elastic Stack
6 8 (2.23%) OAuth
6 8 (2.23%) Oracle Fusion
6 8 (2.23%) SAP Fiori
7 7 (1.95%) JSON
8 6 (1.67%) NumPy
8 6 (1.67%) Pandas
8 6 (1.67%) React
8 6 (1.67%) SOAP
8 6 (1.67%) Web Services
9 4 (1.11%) JWT
9 4 (1.11%) NETCONF
9 4 (1.11%) PyTorch
9 4 (1.11%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 42 (11.70%) Cloud Native
2 24 (6.69%) Hybrid Cloud
3 22 (6.13%) Data Centre
3 22 (6.13%) Private Cloud
4 13 (3.62%) PKI
5 10 (2.79%) Onboarding
6 7 (1.95%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.67%) AI Agents
7 6 (1.67%) Management Information System
7 6 (1.67%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.39%) Data Structures
8 5 (1.39%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (1.11%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.11%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.11%) Legacy Applications
9 4 (1.11%) Security Posture
10 3 (0.84%) Robotics
10 3 (0.84%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.56%) Enterprise Cloud
11 2 (0.56%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 63 (17.55%) Linux
2 30 (8.36%) Windows
3 12 (3.34%) AIX
4 10 (2.79%) Ubuntu
5 9 (2.51%) Unix
5 9 (2.51%) Windows Server
6 6 (1.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (1.39%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (1.11%) Debian
9 3 (0.84%) CentOS
9 3 (0.84%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.56%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.28%) Android
11 1 (0.28%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.28%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (27.30%) Infrastructure as Code
2 97 (27.02%) CI/CD
2 97 (27.02%) Migration
3 94 (26.18%) DevOps
4 65 (18.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 57 (15.88%) Agile
6 48 (13.37%) Stakeholder Management
7 39 (10.86%) Microservices
8 38 (10.58%) Data Migration
9 36 (10.03%) Containerisation
10 35 (9.75%) ERP
11 31 (8.64%) Infrastructure Automation
12 30 (8.36%) Cloud Security
12 30 (8.36%) Project Delivery
13 29 (8.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 29 (8.08%) Validation
14 27 (7.52%) Identity Access Management
14 27 (7.52%) Problem-Solving
15 24 (6.69%) Architectural Patterns
15 24 (6.69%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 68 (18.94%) Python
2 30 (8.36%) Java
3 28 (7.80%) PowerShell
4 18 (5.01%) Bash
5 13 (3.62%) SQL
6 11 (3.06%) JavaScript
7 9 (2.51%) Bicep
8 6 (1.67%) Go
8 6 (1.67%) Shell Script
9 5 (1.39%) Ruby
10 4 (1.11%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.56%) C++
11 2 (0.56%) Groovy
11 2 (0.56%) Perl
12 1 (0.28%) C#
12 1 (0.28%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.28%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.28%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 93 (25.91%) Security Cleared
2 77 (21.45%) SC Cleared
3 30 (8.36%) Cisco Certification
4 25 (6.96%) DV Cleared
5 14 (3.90%) CCNP
6 13 (3.62%) AWS Certification
7 12 (3.34%) Degree
8 11 (3.06%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 10 (2.79%) CISSP
10 9 (2.51%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 9 (2.51%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 9 (2.51%) Azure Certification
11 8 (2.23%) VCAP
12 7 (1.95%) ACCA
12 7 (1.95%) CIMA
12 7 (1.95%) CISM
13 6 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
13 6 (1.67%) SAP Certification
14 5 (1.39%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
14 5 (1.39%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.18%) NCSC
1 15 (4.18%) NIST
2 12 (3.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (2.79%) GDPR
4 8 (2.23%) QA
5 5 (1.39%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (1.39%) GRC
6 4 (1.11%) Data Quality
6 4 (1.11%) Government Security Classifications
6 4 (1.11%) ISO 20022
7 3 (0.84%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.56%) Disclosure Scotland
8 2 (0.56%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (0.56%) PMO
9 1 (0.28%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.28%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 24 (6.69%) VMware Infrastructure
2 23 (6.41%) Docker
3 17 (4.74%) VMware NSX
4 14 (3.90%) Active Directory
5 13 (3.62%) Oracle RAC
6 9 (2.51%) VMware ESXi
7 8 (2.23%) vSphere
8 7 (1.95%) Postfix
9 5 (1.39%) NFS
9 5 (1.39%) Varnish
9 5 (1.39%) Virtual Machines
10 4 (1.11%) Hyper-V
10 4 (1.11%) Sendmail
11 2 (0.56%) Dovecot
12 1 (0.28%) Firmware
12 1 (0.28%) GPFS
12 1 (0.28%) Lustre
12 1 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
12 1 (0.28%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 1 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 86 (23.96%) Terraform
2 59 (16.43%) Kubernetes
3 48 (13.37%) Ansible
4 13 (3.62%) Data Guard
4 13 (3.62%) Istio
4 13 (3.62%) Oracle RMAN
4 13 (3.62%) Prometheus
5 12 (3.34%) Grafana
6 7 (1.95%) HAProxy
6 7 (1.95%) Packer
6 7 (1.95%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.67%) vCenter Server
8 4 (1.11%) Argo
8 4 (1.11%) Kubeflow
9 3 (0.84%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.84%) Check_MK
9 3 (0.84%) systemd
10 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.56%) SCCM
10 2 (0.56%) VxRail
Vendors
1 86 (23.96%) SAP
2 53 (14.76%) Microsoft
3 47 (13.09%) Oracle
4 40 (11.14%) Google
5 37 (10.31%) VMware
6 16 (4.46%) Cisco
6 16 (4.46%) F5
7 13 (3.62%) Ariba
8 10 (2.79%) Juniper
8 10 (2.79%) ServiceNow
9 9 (2.51%) Red Hat
9 9 (2.51%) Splunk
10 7 (1.95%) Fortinet
11 5 (1.39%) Citrix
11 5 (1.39%) Concur
11 5 (1.39%) CyberArk
12 4 (1.11%) Broadcom
12 4 (1.11%) Commvault
12 4 (1.11%) MuleSoft
12 4 (1.11%) Veeam