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

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 307 320 298
Rank change year-on-year +13 -22 -55
Contract jobs citing Public Cloud 374 222 329
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.74% 0.75% 0.75%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.29% 2.16% 2.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 241 143 224
10th Percentile £400 £405 £447
25th Percentile £500 £500 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £590 £600 £580
Median % change year-on-year -1.67% +3.45% -9.02%
75th Percentile £675 £697 £750
90th Percentile £725 £761 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £537 £600
% change year-on-year +11.73% -10.50% -2.83%
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 16,367 10,268 13,118
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.47% 34.50% 29.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,026 6,438 8,323
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.24% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £631 £650 £660
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 845 450 944
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.84 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £19.97 £15.24
Median hourly rate £42.71 £32.95 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.63% -7.20% +57.88%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.80 £81.43 £72.31
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £31.91 £35.00
% change year-on-year +37.78% -8.84% +59.09%

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 18 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 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 18 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 -3 309 £600 -2.76% 66
UK excluding London +19 203 £600 +11.73% 45
London -55 109 £600 -10.28% 26
Work from Home +5 99 £610 +9.66% 35
North of England -25 67 £550 +2.42% 22
South East -16 55 £590 -1.67% 6
Midlands -24 37 £613 +14.06% 3
North West -18 33 £350 -34.82% 7
Yorkshire -34 32 £625 +29.87% 8
South West +2 29 £675 +22.73% 8
East Midlands -2 25 £625 +31.58%
Scotland -19 11 £425 -15.00% 2
West Midlands -45 8 £450 -22.58% 3
East of England -30 3 £593 +3.04%
North East -34 3 £650 - 8
Northern Ireland - 2 £385 - 3
Wales -15 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 (2.67%) Confluence
2 9 (2.41%) Apache
3 5 (1.34%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.34%) SAS
3 5 (1.34%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.53%) CloudStack
4 2 (0.53%) IIS
4 2 (0.53%) nginx
4 2 (0.53%) OpenStack
4 2 (0.53%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.53%) Palantir Foundry
4 2 (0.53%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 6 (1.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.07%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.07%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.53%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.27%) Weka
Business Applications
1 84 (22.46%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.60%) Oracle ERP
2 6 (1.60%) SAP Business One
3 5 (1.34%) SAP ERP
4 4 (1.07%) iTrent
4 4 (1.07%) SAP FI
5 3 (0.80%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.80%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.53%) SAP FI-GL
6 2 (0.53%) SAP SD
7 1 (0.27%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle SCM
7 1 (0.27%) SAP FI-AR
Cloud Services
1 158 (42.25%) Azure
2 110 (29.41%) AWS
3 92 (24.60%) GCP
4 39 (10.43%) GitHub
5 24 (6.42%) SuccessFactors
6 23 (6.15%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 20 (5.35%) PaaS
8 19 (5.08%) GitHub Actions
8 19 (5.08%) IaaS
9 16 (4.28%) OCI
10 15 (4.01%) Serverless
11 14 (3.74%) SaaS
12 11 (2.94%) Azure DevOps
13 10 (2.67%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (2.41%) Cloud Computing
14 9 (2.41%) Power Platform
15 8 (2.14%) Microsoft 365
16 6 (1.60%) Amazon EKS
16 6 (1.60%) Entra ID
16 6 (1.60%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 33 (8.82%) DNS
2 31 (8.29%) Firewall
3 24 (6.42%) Network Security
4 16 (4.28%) VPN
5 10 (2.67%) LAN
5 10 (2.67%) WAN
6 9 (2.41%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 7 (1.87%) SAN
7 7 (1.87%) TCP/IP
8 6 (1.60%) NAS
8 6 (1.60%) VSAN
9 5 (1.34%) Kerberos
9 5 (1.34%) Wireless
10 4 (1.07%) DHCP
11 3 (0.80%) BIG-IP
11 3 (0.80%) MPLS
11 3 (0.80%) NetScaler
11 3 (0.80%) SD-WAN
12 2 (0.53%) BGP
12 2 (0.53%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.94%) Oracle Database
2 8 (2.14%) Power BI
3 6 (1.60%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (1.60%) Oracle Exadata
3 6 (1.60%) Relational Database
3 6 (1.60%) SQL Server
4 5 (1.34%) BigQuery
4 5 (1.34%) RDBMS
5 4 (1.07%) BusinessObjects
6 3 (0.80%) Data Vault
6 3 (0.80%) Delta Lake
6 3 (0.80%) MySQL
7 2 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.53%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.53%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.27%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.27%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.27%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 37 (9.89%) Jenkins
2 24 (6.42%) Git
3 19 (5.08%) JIRA
4 18 (4.81%) GitLab
5 9 (2.41%) Postman
6 6 (1.60%) SoapUI
7 4 (1.07%) Cucumber
7 4 (1.07%) Hudson
7 4 (1.07%) JUnit
7 4 (1.07%) TeamCity
8 3 (0.80%) Liquibase
8 3 (0.80%) Selenium
8 3 (0.80%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.80%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.27%) LSMW
9 1 (0.27%) Maven
9 1 (0.27%) MSI
9 1 (0.27%) PVCS
9 1 (0.27%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.27%) Snyk
General
1 111 (29.68%) Finance
2 61 (16.31%) Social Skills
3 52 (13.90%) Public Sector
4 34 (9.09%) Banking
5 21 (5.61%) Local Government
6 13 (3.48%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (3.21%) General Ledger
8 11 (2.94%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (1.87%) Financial Institution
10 6 (1.60%) Investment Banking
10 6 (1.60%) Military
11 4 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (0.80%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.80%) Retail
13 2 (0.53%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.27%) Billing
14 1 (0.27%) Corporate Banking
14 1 (0.27%) German Language
14 1 (0.27%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.27%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 93 (24.87%) Architect
2 51 (13.64%) Lead
3 49 (13.10%) Senior
4 37 (9.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 31 (8.29%) Solutions Architect
6 28 (7.49%) Cloud Engineer
7 25 (6.68%) GCP Engineer
8 21 (5.61%) Azure Specialist
8 21 (5.61%) DevOps Engineer
9 20 (5.35%) Technical Architect
10 16 (4.28%) Cloud Architect
10 16 (4.28%) Consultant
11 13 (3.48%) Developer
12 12 (3.21%) Azure Architect
12 12 (3.21%) Azure Engineer
12 12 (3.21%) SAP Architect
13 11 (2.94%) Analyst
13 11 (2.94%) SAP Consultant
14 10 (2.67%) Infrastructure Architect
14 10 (2.67%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (5.35%) Middleware
2 17 (4.55%) REST
3 13 (3.48%) Kafka
4 12 (3.21%) Spring Boot
5 10 (2.67%) OAuth
5 10 (2.67%) Oracle Fusion
6 8 (2.14%) JSON
6 8 (2.14%) SOAP
7 7 (1.87%) JWT
7 7 (1.87%) Web Services
8 6 (1.60%) Elastic Stack
8 6 (1.60%) NumPy
8 6 (1.60%) Pandas
8 6 (1.60%) Spring
8 6 (1.60%) XML
8 6 (1.60%) XSLT
9 5 (1.34%) React
10 4 (1.07%) Oracle GoldenGate
10 4 (1.07%) SAP Fiori
10 4 (1.07%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 49 (13.10%) Cloud Native
2 18 (4.81%) Data Centre
3 17 (4.55%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (4.55%) Private Cloud
4 9 (2.41%) Onboarding
5 8 (2.14%) PKI
6 7 (1.87%) Data Structures
6 7 (1.87%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.60%) Legacy Applications
7 6 (1.60%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.07%) AI Agents
8 4 (1.07%) Security Posture
9 3 (0.80%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (0.80%) Management Information System
9 3 (0.80%) Reinsurance
9 3 (0.80%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (0.53%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.53%) Enterprise Storage
10 2 (0.53%) Grid Computing
10 2 (0.53%) Market Risk
Operating Systems
1 51 (13.64%) Linux
2 30 (8.02%) Windows
3 11 (2.94%) Unix
4 10 (2.67%) Windows Server
5 7 (1.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (1.87%) Windows Server 2019
6 6 (1.60%) Ubuntu
7 5 (1.34%) VMS
8 4 (1.07%) AIX
8 4 (1.07%) Debian
8 4 (1.07%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (0.80%) CentOS
9 3 (0.80%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (28.34%) DevOps
2 96 (25.67%) CI/CD
3 94 (25.13%) Infrastructure as Code
4 89 (23.80%) Migration
5 55 (14.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 54 (14.44%) Agile
7 53 (14.17%) Stakeholder Management
8 39 (10.43%) Analytics
9 38 (10.16%) Containerisation
10 36 (9.63%) ERP
10 36 (9.63%) User Acceptance Testing
11 35 (9.36%) Microservices
12 30 (8.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 29 (7.75%) Data Migration
14 28 (7.49%) Cloud Security
14 28 (7.49%) Validation
15 27 (7.22%) Identity Access Management
16 25 (6.68%) Cybersecurity
16 25 (6.68%) Problem-Solving
16 25 (6.68%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 71 (18.98%) Python
2 22 (5.88%) Java
2 22 (5.88%) PowerShell
3 20 (5.35%) SQL
4 13 (3.48%) Bash
5 8 (2.14%) Bicep
6 6 (1.60%) Go
6 6 (1.60%) Shell Script
7 5 (1.34%) Ruby
8 4 (1.07%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.07%) TypeScript
9 3 (0.80%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.53%) C++
10 2 (0.53%) Perl
11 1 (0.27%) C#
11 1 (0.27%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.27%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 87 (23.26%) Security Cleared
2 71 (18.98%) SC Cleared
3 24 (6.42%) Cisco Certification
4 19 (5.08%) DV Cleared
5 13 (3.48%) Degree
6 12 (3.21%) CCNP
7 10 (2.67%) CISSP
8 9 (2.41%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (2.41%) AWS Certification
9 8 (2.14%) Azure Certification
9 8 (2.14%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (2.14%) SAP Certification
10 7 (1.87%) ACCA
10 7 (1.87%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 7 (1.87%) CIMA
10 7 (1.87%) CISM
10 7 (1.87%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 6 (1.60%) ISTQB
12 5 (1.34%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 5 (1.34%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.01%) NIST
2 14 (3.74%) NCSC
3 12 (3.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (2.67%) GDPR
5 8 (2.14%) QA
6 5 (1.34%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.34%) Data Quality
6 5 (1.34%) GRC
7 3 (0.80%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.53%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.53%) ISO 20022
8 2 (0.53%) PMO
8 2 (0.53%) SLA
9 1 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.27%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.27%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.27%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.27%) RMADS
System Software
1 28 (7.49%) Docker
2 25 (6.68%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.48%) Active Directory
4 12 (3.21%) VMware NSX
5 11 (2.94%) Hyper-V
6 7 (1.87%) Oracle RAC
6 7 (1.87%) Postfix
7 6 (1.60%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.34%) NFS
8 5 (1.34%) Varnish
8 5 (1.34%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (1.34%) vSphere
9 4 (1.07%) Sendmail
10 3 (0.80%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.53%) Dovecot
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 84 (22.46%) Terraform
2 63 (16.84%) Kubernetes
3 38 (10.16%) Ansible
4 21 (5.61%) Istio
5 12 (3.21%) Prometheus
6 10 (2.67%) Grafana
7 8 (2.14%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (1.87%) Data Guard
8 7 (1.87%) HAProxy
8 7 (1.87%) Oracle RMAN
9 5 (1.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (1.34%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (1.07%) Argo
10 4 (1.07%) Kubeflow
10 4 (1.07%) Packer
11 3 (0.80%) SCCM
11 3 (0.80%) vCenter Server
12 2 (0.53%) Check_MK
12 2 (0.53%) Puppet
12 2 (0.53%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 93 (24.87%) SAP
2 54 (14.44%) Google
3 50 (13.37%) Microsoft
4 39 (10.43%) Oracle
5 37 (9.89%) VMware
6 16 (4.28%) F5
7 14 (3.74%) Ariba
8 11 (2.94%) Red Hat
9 10 (2.67%) Cisco
10 9 (2.41%) ServiceNow
11 7 (1.87%) Splunk
12 6 (1.60%) MuleSoft
13 5 (1.34%) Citrix
13 5 (1.34%) Databricks
13 5 (1.34%) Palo Alto
13 5 (1.34%) Veeam
14 4 (1.07%) CyberArk
14 4 (1.07%) Fortinet
14 4 (1.07%) Juniper
15 3 (0.80%) Foundry