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

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 335 329 276
Rank change year-on-year -6 -53 -20
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 365 224 348
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.69% 0.69% 0.84%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.08% 1.98% 2.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 240 146 237
10th Percentile £428 £409 £445
25th Percentile £513 £475 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year - +4.35% -7.63%
75th Percentile £688 £694 £750
90th Percentile £738 £750 £830
UK excluding London median daily rate £610 £525 £600
% change year-on-year +16.19% -12.50% -
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 17,530 11,293 12,651
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.24% 34.61% 30.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,731 6,977 8,104
10th Percentile £316 £300 £300
25th Percentile £417 £406 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year - -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £631 £644 £665
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 885 539 760
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.29 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.00 £18.87 £15.87
Median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +46.53% -21.05% +8.57%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £87.16 £77.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £31.49 £40.00
% change year-on-year +39.60% -21.28% -11.91%

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 22 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 22 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 +14 300 £610 - 163
UK excluding London 0 199 £610 +16.19% 99
London -70 106 £600 -9.43% 92
Work from Home -4 100 £610 +13.59% 82
North of England -26 71 £625 +31.58% 30
South East -18 56 £590 -1.67% 19
Yorkshire -22 35 £625 +39.66% 11
North West -27 33 £625 +23.52% 11
Midlands -30 31 £638 +18.72% 9
South West -17 22 £675 +22.73% 13
East Midlands +2 18 £638 +25.99% 4
Scotland -32 13 £500 - 3
West Midlands -48 10 £562 -8.20% 5
North East -30 7 £625 - 8
East of England -19 6 £475 -13.64%
Wales -18 1 - - 2
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 23

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 (2.74%) Apache
1 10 (2.74%) Confluence
2 6 (1.64%) OpenStack
3 5 (1.37%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.37%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.82%) CloudStack
4 3 (0.82%) SAS
5 2 (0.55%) IIS
5 2 (0.55%) nginx
5 2 (0.55%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.55%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 9 (2.47%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.19%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.10%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.55%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.55%) Houdini
4 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.55%) NUKE
4 2 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.27%) Weka
Business Applications
1 78 (21.37%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.64%) SAP Business One
2 6 (1.64%) SAP SD
3 5 (1.37%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.10%) iTrent
4 4 (1.10%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.82%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.55%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.55%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.55%) 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
1 147 (40.27%) Azure
2 126 (34.52%) AWS
3 73 (20.00%) GCP
4 28 (7.67%) SuccessFactors
5 26 (7.12%) GitHub
6 20 (5.48%) OCI
7 19 (5.21%) IaaS
7 19 (5.21%) PaaS
8 16 (4.38%) SaaS
9 15 (4.11%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 14 (3.84%) OpenShift
11 13 (3.56%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (3.56%) Serverless
12 11 (3.01%) Amazon EKS
12 11 (3.01%) AWS CloudFormation
13 9 (2.47%) Azure DevOps
14 7 (1.92%) Microsoft 365
15 6 (1.64%) Entra ID
16 5 (1.37%) Amazon ECS
16 5 (1.37%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 32 (8.77%) DNS
2 29 (7.95%) Firewall
3 23 (6.30%) Network Security
4 16 (4.38%) TCP/IP
5 15 (4.11%) VPN
6 12 (3.29%) LAN
6 12 (3.29%) WAN
7 10 (2.74%) VSAN
8 9 (2.47%) DHCP
8 9 (2.47%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 7 (1.92%) BGP
9 7 (1.92%) SAN
10 6 (1.64%) MPLS
10 6 (1.64%) NAS
11 5 (1.37%) Wi-Fi
12 4 (1.10%) SNMP
12 4 (1.10%) TACACS
12 4 (1.10%) VLAN
12 4 (1.10%) Wireless
13 3 (0.82%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (4.66%) Oracle Database
2 13 (3.56%) RDBMS
2 13 (3.56%) Relational Database
3 12 (3.29%) Oracle Exadata
4 7 (1.92%) MySQL
5 4 (1.10%) BigQuery
5 4 (1.10%) BusinessObjects
5 4 (1.10%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (1.10%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.82%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (0.82%) Power BI
7 2 (0.55%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.55%) 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 39 (10.68%) Git
2 27 (7.40%) Jenkins
3 21 (5.75%) GitLab
4 14 (3.84%) JIRA
5 7 (1.92%) Postman
6 6 (1.64%) JUnit
7 5 (1.37%) SoapUI
8 4 (1.10%) Hudson
9 3 (0.82%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.82%) Liquibase
9 3 (0.82%) Selenium
9 3 (0.82%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.82%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.55%) 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
1 108 (29.59%) Finance
2 56 (15.34%) Social Skills
3 45 (12.33%) Public Sector
4 25 (6.85%) Banking
5 22 (6.03%) Analytical Skills
6 14 (3.84%) Local Government
7 10 (2.74%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.19%) General Ledger
9 7 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.92%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.64%) Military
11 5 (1.37%) Billing
11 5 (1.37%) Telecoms
12 4 (1.10%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.82%) Automotive
13 3 (0.82%) Legal
13 3 (0.82%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.82%) Retail
14 2 (0.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 89 (24.38%) Architect
2 59 (16.16%) Senior
3 48 (13.15%) Lead
4 45 (12.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 33 (9.04%) Solutions Architect
6 26 (7.12%) DevOps Engineer
7 24 (6.58%) Cloud Engineer
8 22 (6.03%) Technical Architect
9 18 (4.93%) Consultant
10 16 (4.38%) GCP Engineer
11 15 (4.11%) Azure Specialist
11 15 (4.11%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 14 (3.84%) Developer
13 13 (3.56%) Azure Engineer
13 13 (3.56%) Cloud Architect
13 13 (3.56%) SAP Consultant
14 10 (2.74%) Analyst
14 10 (2.74%) Azure Architect
14 10 (2.74%) Security Engineer
15 9 (2.47%) Network Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.38%) Kafka
2 15 (4.11%) Middleware
2 15 (4.11%) Spring Boot
3 14 (3.84%) REST
4 12 (3.29%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 10 (2.74%) Spring
6 8 (2.19%) OAuth
6 8 (2.19%) Oracle Fusion
6 8 (2.19%) SAP Fiori
7 7 (1.92%) Elastic Stack
7 7 (1.92%) JSON
8 6 (1.64%) NumPy
8 6 (1.64%) Pandas
8 6 (1.64%) React
8 6 (1.64%) SOAP
8 6 (1.64%) Web Services
9 4 (1.10%) NETCONF
9 4 (1.10%) OpenConfig
9 4 (1.10%) RESTCONF
9 4 (1.10%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 45 (12.33%) Cloud Native
2 24 (6.58%) Hybrid Cloud
3 23 (6.30%) Private Cloud
4 22 (6.03%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.29%) PKI
6 10 (2.74%) Onboarding
7 7 (1.92%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (1.64%) AI Agents
8 6 (1.64%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.64%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.37%) Linux Command Line
10 4 (1.10%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.10%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.10%) Data Structures
10 4 (1.10%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (1.10%) Security Posture
10 4 (1.10%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (0.82%) Robotics
12 2 (0.55%) Market Risk
12 2 (0.55%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 63 (17.26%) Linux
2 30 (8.22%) Windows
3 12 (3.29%) AIX
4 10 (2.74%) Ubuntu
4 10 (2.74%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.47%) Unix
6 6 (1.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.64%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (1.10%) Debian
8 3 (0.82%) CentOS
8 3 (0.82%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.27%) Android
9 1 (0.27%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (27.67%) Infrastructure as Code
2 99 (27.12%) CI/CD
3 98 (26.85%) DevOps
3 98 (26.85%) Migration
4 67 (18.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 58 (15.89%) Agile
6 48 (13.15%) Stakeholder Management
7 39 (10.68%) Microservices
8 38 (10.41%) Data Migration
9 36 (9.86%) Containerisation
10 35 (9.59%) ERP
11 32 (8.77%) Infrastructure Automation
12 31 (8.49%) Project Delivery
13 30 (8.22%) Cloud Security
13 30 (8.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 30 (8.22%) Validation
14 29 (7.95%) Problem-Solving
15 28 (7.67%) Identity Access Management
16 25 (6.85%) Technical Leadership
16 25 (6.85%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 69 (18.90%) Python
2 29 (7.95%) Java
3 28 (7.67%) PowerShell
4 18 (4.93%) Bash
5 14 (3.84%) SQL
6 10 (2.74%) JavaScript
7 9 (2.47%) Bicep
8 7 (1.92%) Go
9 6 (1.64%) Shell Script
10 5 (1.37%) Ruby
11 4 (1.10%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.55%) C++
12 2 (0.55%) Groovy
12 2 (0.55%) Perl
13 1 (0.27%) C#
13 1 (0.27%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.27%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.27%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 93 (25.48%) Security Cleared
2 77 (21.10%) SC Cleared
3 31 (8.49%) Cisco Certification
4 24 (6.58%) DV Cleared
5 15 (4.11%) CCNP
6 12 (3.29%) AWS Certification
6 12 (3.29%) Degree
7 11 (3.01%) CISSP
7 11 (3.01%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 9 (2.47%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (2.47%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 9 (2.47%) Azure Certification
9 8 (2.19%) CISM
10 7 (1.92%) ACCA
10 7 (1.92%) CIMA
10 7 (1.92%) VCAP
11 6 (1.64%) SAP Certification
12 5 (1.37%) BPSS Clearance
12 5 (1.37%) CCIE
12 5 (1.37%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.11%) NCSC
1 15 (4.11%) NIST
2 12 (3.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (2.74%) GDPR
4 8 (2.19%) QA
5 5 (1.37%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (1.37%) GRC
6 4 (1.10%) Government Security Classifications
6 4 (1.10%) ISO 20022
7 3 (0.82%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.82%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.55%) Disclosure Scotland
8 2 (0.55%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (0.55%) PMO
9 1 (0.27%) Accessibility
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%) RMADS
System Software
1 24 (6.58%) Docker
1 24 (6.58%) VMware Infrastructure
2 16 (4.38%) VMware NSX
3 14 (3.84%) Active Directory
4 13 (3.56%) Oracle RAC
5 9 (2.47%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (2.19%) vSphere
7 7 (1.92%) Postfix
8 6 (1.64%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (1.37%) NFS
9 5 (1.37%) Varnish
10 4 (1.10%) Hyper-V
10 4 (1.10%) Sendmail
11 2 (0.55%) Dovecot
11 2 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.27%) Firmware
12 1 (0.27%) GPFS
12 1 (0.27%) Lustre
12 1 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
12 1 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 88 (24.11%) Terraform
2 60 (16.44%) Kubernetes
3 49 (13.42%) Ansible
4 14 (3.84%) Istio
5 13 (3.56%) Data Guard
5 13 (3.56%) Oracle RMAN
5 13 (3.56%) Prometheus
6 12 (3.29%) Grafana
7 7 (1.92%) HAProxy
7 7 (1.92%) Packer
7 7 (1.92%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.64%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.10%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (1.10%) Argo
9 4 (1.10%) Kubeflow
9 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Intune
10 3 (0.82%) Check_MK
10 3 (0.82%) SCCM
10 3 (0.82%) systemd
11 1 (0.27%) CASB
Vendors
1 87 (23.84%) SAP
2 56 (15.34%) Microsoft
3 46 (12.60%) Oracle
4 41 (11.23%) Google
5 37 (10.14%) VMware
6 18 (4.93%) F5
7 17 (4.66%) Cisco
8 13 (3.56%) Ariba
9 11 (3.01%) Juniper
10 10 (2.74%) Red Hat
10 10 (2.74%) ServiceNow
11 9 (2.47%) Splunk
12 8 (2.19%) Fortinet
13 5 (1.37%) Citrix
13 5 (1.37%) Concur
13 5 (1.37%) CyberArk
13 5 (1.37%) MuleSoft
13 5 (1.37%) Veeam
14 4 (1.10%) Broadcom
14 4 (1.10%) Palo Alto