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 2 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 303 306 301
Rank change year-on-year +3 -5 -71
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 369 232 302
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.76% 0.80% 0.70%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.34% 2.35% 2.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 147 205
10th Percentile £400 £410 £450
25th Percentile £500 £510 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £590 £600 £600
Median % change year-on-year -1.67% - -5.88%
75th Percentile £675 £694 £750
90th Percentile £725 £758 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £590 £550 £625
% change year-on-year +7.27% -12.00% -
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 15,747 9,881 12,980
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.29% 34.15% 30.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,727 6,266 8,332
10th Percentile £313 £294 £270
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 765 403 925
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.89 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.00 £20.21 £15.22
Median hourly rate £41.00 £33.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +24.24% -5.71% +57.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £86.90 £82.25 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £32.05 £34.21
% change year-on-year +40.41% -6.31% +55.50%

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 2 June 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 16 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 2 June 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 -17 298 £600 -2.28% 140
UK excluding London +15 196 £590 +7.27% 86
London -80 105 £600 -7.69% 65
Work from Home +13 103 £610 +5.40% 90
North of England -35 60 £550 +2.42% 20
South East -23 54 £575 -5.35% 22
Midlands -27 37 £625 +16.39% 17
North West -19 33 £350 -34.82% 9
South West -3 29 £675 +22.73% 12
East Midlands -6 27 £625 +31.58% 13
Yorkshire -39 27 £576 +19.67% 9
Scotland -9 12 £425 -15.00% 7
West Midlands -56 6 £525 -9.68% 4
East of England -37 3 £593 +3.04% 2
Northern Ireland - 2 £385 - 5
Wales -16 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%) Confluence
2 9 (2.44%) Apache
3 6 (1.63%) SAS
4 5 (1.36%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.36%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.54%) CloudStack
5 2 (0.54%) IIS
5 2 (0.54%) nginx
5 2 (0.54%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.54%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.54%) Palantir Foundry
5 2 (0.54%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.08%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.08%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.27%) Weka
Business Applications
1 81 (21.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.71%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (1.63%) SAP Business One
4 5 (1.36%) SAP ERP
4 5 (1.36%) SAP FI
5 4 (1.08%) iTrent
5 4 (1.08%) SAP CO
5 4 (1.08%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.54%) SAP FI-GL
6 2 (0.54%) SAP SD
7 1 (0.27%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle SCM
7 1 (0.27%) SAP FI-AR
Cloud Services
1 156 (42.28%) Azure
2 104 (28.18%) AWS
3 91 (24.66%) GCP
4 37 (10.03%) GitHub
5 25 (6.78%) IaaS
5 25 (6.78%) PaaS
6 23 (6.23%) SuccessFactors
7 22 (5.96%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 20 (5.42%) OCI
9 17 (4.61%) GitHub Actions
10 15 (4.07%) Serverless
11 14 (3.79%) SaaS
12 10 (2.71%) AWS CloudFormation
13 9 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
13 9 (2.44%) Cloud Computing
13 9 (2.44%) Microsoft 365
13 9 (2.44%) Power Platform
14 7 (1.90%) OpenShift
15 6 (1.63%) Azure Sentinel
15 6 (1.63%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 36 (9.76%) DNS
2 34 (9.21%) Firewall
3 24 (6.50%) Network Security
4 17 (4.61%) VPN
5 10 (2.71%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 10 (2.71%) LAN
5 10 (2.71%) WAN
6 8 (2.17%) TCP/IP
7 7 (1.90%) SAN
8 6 (1.63%) Kerberos
8 6 (1.63%) NAS
8 6 (1.63%) VSAN
9 5 (1.36%) DHCP
9 5 (1.36%) Wireless
10 4 (1.08%) NetScaler
11 3 (0.81%) BIG-IP
11 3 (0.81%) MPLS
11 3 (0.81%) SD-WAN
12 2 (0.54%) Multicast
12 2 (0.54%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.44%) Oracle Database
2 8 (2.17%) Power BI
3 7 (1.90%) Data Warehouse
4 6 (1.63%) SQL Server
5 5 (1.36%) BigQuery
5 5 (1.36%) Oracle Exadata
5 5 (1.36%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.08%) BusinessObjects
7 3 (0.81%) Data Vault
7 3 (0.81%) Delta Lake
7 3 (0.81%) MySQL
7 3 (0.81%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.54%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.54%) NoSQL
8 2 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.27%) Apache Cassandra
9 1 (0.27%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
9 1 (0.27%) SAP Data Services
9 1 (0.27%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 36 (9.76%) Jenkins
2 20 (5.42%) Git
2 20 (5.42%) JIRA
3 16 (4.34%) GitLab
4 14 (3.79%) Postman
5 9 (2.44%) SoapUI
6 4 (1.08%) Cucumber
6 4 (1.08%) Hudson
6 4 (1.08%) TeamCity
7 3 (0.81%) JUnit
7 3 (0.81%) Liquibase
8 2 (0.54%) Selenium
8 2 (0.54%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.54%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.27%) Ant
9 1 (0.27%) LSMW
9 1 (0.27%) Maven
9 1 (0.27%) MSI
9 1 (0.27%) PVCS
9 1 (0.27%) Snyk
General
1 105 (28.46%) Finance
2 64 (17.34%) Social Skills
3 49 (13.28%) Public Sector
4 35 (9.49%) Banking
5 18 (4.88%) Local Government
6 15 (4.07%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (3.25%) General Ledger
8 11 (2.98%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (1.90%) Financial Institution
9 7 (1.90%) Investment Banking
10 6 (1.63%) Military
11 5 (1.36%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (1.08%) German Language
13 3 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 3 (0.81%) Retail
14 2 (0.54%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.54%) Public Speaking
14 2 (0.54%) Telecoms
15 1 (0.27%) Legal
15 1 (0.27%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 93 (25.20%) Architect
2 46 (12.47%) Lead
3 44 (11.92%) Senior
4 35 (9.49%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 31 (8.40%) Solutions Architect
6 28 (7.59%) Cloud Engineer
7 25 (6.78%) GCP Engineer
8 21 (5.69%) Azure Specialist
9 20 (5.42%) Technical Architect
10 17 (4.61%) DevOps Engineer
11 16 (4.34%) Cloud Architect
11 16 (4.34%) Consultant
12 13 (3.52%) SAP Architect
13 12 (3.25%) Azure Architect
14 11 (2.98%) Analyst
14 11 (2.98%) Developer
14 11 (2.98%) Infrastructure Architect
14 11 (2.98%) SAP Consultant
14 11 (2.98%) SAP Solutions Architect
15 10 (2.71%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (6.78%) REST
2 21 (5.69%) Middleware
3 16 (4.34%) OAuth
4 15 (4.07%) Oracle Fusion
5 14 (3.79%) SOAP
6 13 (3.52%) JSON
7 12 (3.25%) JWT
7 12 (3.25%) Web Services
8 11 (2.98%) XML
8 11 (2.98%) XSLT
9 9 (2.44%) Kafka
9 9 (2.44%) Spring Boot
10 6 (1.63%) NumPy
10 6 (1.63%) Pandas
11 5 (1.36%) Elastic Stack
11 5 (1.36%) React
12 4 (1.08%) PyTorch
12 4 (1.08%) SAML
12 4 (1.08%) Spring
12 4 (1.08%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 46 (12.47%) Cloud Native
2 21 (5.69%) Data Centre
3 19 (5.15%) Private Cloud
4 16 (4.34%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (2.17%) Data Structures
5 8 (2.17%) PKI
6 7 (1.90%) Legacy Systems
6 7 (1.90%) Onboarding
7 6 (1.63%) Security Posture
7 6 (1.63%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.36%) Legacy Applications
9 3 (0.81%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (0.81%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (0.81%) Management Information System
9 3 (0.81%) Reinsurance
10 2 (0.54%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.54%) Enterprise Storage
10 2 (0.54%) Grid Computing
10 2 (0.54%) Market Risk
10 2 (0.54%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 47 (12.74%) Linux
2 29 (7.86%) Windows
3 11 (2.98%) Unix
3 11 (2.98%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 8 (2.17%) Windows Server 2019
5 6 (1.63%) Ubuntu
6 5 (1.36%) VMS
6 5 (1.36%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (1.08%) Debian
8 3 (0.81%) CentOS
8 3 (0.81%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.54%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 109 (29.54%) DevOps
2 90 (24.39%) CI/CD
3 86 (23.31%) Migration
4 85 (23.04%) Infrastructure as Code
5 54 (14.63%) Agile
6 52 (14.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 52 (14.09%) Stakeholder Management
7 41 (11.11%) ERP
8 40 (10.84%) Analytics
9 39 (10.57%) Containerisation
10 35 (9.49%) Microservices
11 34 (9.21%) User Acceptance Testing
12 30 (8.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 29 (7.86%) Cloud Security
14 28 (7.59%) Data Migration
15 27 (7.32%) Validation
16 26 (7.05%) Identity Access Management
16 26 (7.05%) Problem-Solving
16 26 (7.05%) Project Delivery
17 25 (6.78%) Architectural Patterns
Programming Languages
1 70 (18.97%) Python
2 22 (5.96%) SQL
3 20 (5.42%) PowerShell
4 18 (4.88%) Java
5 13 (3.52%) Bash
6 7 (1.90%) Bicep
6 7 (1.90%) Shell Script
7 6 (1.63%) Go
8 5 (1.36%) Ruby
9 4 (1.08%) JavaScript
9 4 (1.08%) PL/SQL
9 4 (1.08%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.54%) C++
10 2 (0.54%) Perl
11 1 (0.27%) C#
11 1 (0.27%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.27%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 88 (23.85%) Security Cleared
2 73 (19.78%) SC Cleared
3 22 (5.96%) Cisco Certification
4 17 (4.61%) DV Cleared
5 12 (3.25%) CCNP
6 11 (2.98%) Degree
7 10 (2.71%) CISSP
8 9 (2.44%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (2.44%) AWS Certification
8 9 (2.44%) SAP Certification
9 8 (2.17%) Azure Certification
9 8 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (1.90%) ACCA
10 7 (1.90%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 7 (1.90%) CIMA
10 7 (1.90%) CISM
10 7 (1.90%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 6 (1.63%) ISTQB
12 5 (1.36%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 5 (1.36%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.79%) NIST
2 13 (3.52%) NCSC
3 11 (2.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (2.71%) GDPR
5 8 (2.17%) QA
6 5 (1.36%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.36%) Data Quality
6 5 (1.36%) GRC
6 5 (1.36%) SLA
7 2 (0.54%) Government Security Classifications
7 2 (0.54%) ISO 15022
7 2 (0.54%) ISO 20022
7 2 (0.54%) PMO
8 1 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.27%) COBIT
8 1 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.27%) ISO 22301
8 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.27%) RMADS
System Software
1 27 (7.32%) Docker
2 25 (6.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (3.79%) Active Directory
4 12 (3.25%) Hyper-V
4 12 (3.25%) VMware NSX
5 7 (1.90%) Postfix
6 6 (1.63%) vSphere
7 5 (1.36%) NFS
7 5 (1.36%) Oracle RAC
7 5 (1.36%) Varnish
7 5 (1.36%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (1.08%) Sendmail
8 4 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.54%) Dovecot
10 1 (0.27%) Firmware
10 1 (0.27%) GPFS
10 1 (0.27%) Lustre
10 1 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
10 1 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 74 (20.05%) Terraform
2 62 (16.80%) Kubernetes
3 34 (9.21%) Ansible
4 20 (5.42%) Istio
5 10 (2.71%) Prometheus
6 9 (2.44%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (2.17%) Grafana
8 7 (1.90%) HAProxy
9 6 (1.63%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Intune
10 5 (1.36%) Data Guard
10 5 (1.36%) Oracle RMAN
11 4 (1.08%) Kubeflow
11 4 (1.08%) SCCM
12 3 (0.81%) Argo
12 3 (0.81%) Puppet
12 3 (0.81%) vCenter Server
13 2 (0.54%) Check_MK
13 2 (0.54%) Packer
13 2 (0.54%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 93 (25.20%) SAP
2 52 (14.09%) Google
3 48 (13.01%) Microsoft
4 40 (10.84%) Oracle
5 37 (10.03%) VMware
6 18 (4.88%) Ariba
6 18 (4.88%) F5
7 12 (3.25%) Red Hat
8 10 (2.71%) Cisco
8 10 (2.71%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.90%) MuleSoft
10 6 (1.63%) Splunk
10 6 (1.63%) Veeam
11 5 (1.36%) Citrix
11 5 (1.36%) Databricks
11 5 (1.36%) Palo Alto
12 4 (1.08%) Fortinet
12 4 (1.08%) Juniper
13 3 (0.81%) Commvault
13 3 (0.81%) Foundry