SSL Contract Job Trends

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring SSL skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 459 357 360
Rank change year-on-year -102 +3 +105
Contract jobs citing SSL 174 154 214
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.53% 0.50%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 3.80% 4.16% 3.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 85 123
10th Percentile £325 £338 £400
25th Percentile £361 £400 £452
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -8.70% +4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £638
90th Percentile £688 £696 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -13.91% -4.17% +20.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 6 5
10th Percentile £52.15 £80.34 £40.40
25th Percentile £55.00 £80.59 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -20.10% +77.31% -27.44%
75th Percentile £75.00 £81.91 -
90th Percentile £80.25 £83.05 £58.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £45.88
% change year-on-year -20.10% +77.31% -26.73%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

SSL falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,577 3,706 5,394
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.53% 12.69% 12.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,833 2,291 3,215
10th Percentile £263 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £362 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -4.85%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £694
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 245 162 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.82 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £37.50 £36.57 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.54% -8.57% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £58.73 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £25.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year +69.00% -45.51% +154.89%

SSL
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing SSL relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

SSL job vacancy trend in the UK

SSL
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SSL.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SSL

SSL
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SSL over the 6 months to 19 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SSL in the UK

SSL
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SSL.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SSL

SSL
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SSL over the 6 months to 19 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SSL in the UK

SSL
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SSL within the UK over the 6 months to 19 May 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 -84 148 £500 -4.76% 43
UK excluding London -69 113 £495 -13.91% 38
North of England -25 57 £630 +17.66% 9
Work from Home -48 51 £515 -1.90% 18
West Midlands -26 42 £340 -
Midlands -35 42 £340 -5.03% 2
London -72 39 £520 - 14
North West -5 36 £620 +3.33% 5
Yorkshire -42 20 £675 +63.64% 4
South East -65 14 £475 -13.24% 20
East of England -37 9 £488 -18.75%
Scotland +1 8 £600 +1.05% 2
North East -22 2 £413 -25.00%
South West -30 1 £500 -7.83% 3

SSL
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 20 (11.49%) Confluence
2 8 (4.60%) TPMS
3 3 (1.72%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (1.15%) IBM HTTP Server
4 2 (1.15%) IIS
4 2 (1.15%) Oracle HTTP Server
4 2 (1.15%) WebSphere
4 2 (1.15%) WebSphere Application Server
4 2 (1.15%) WebSphere Portal
5 1 (0.57%) Apache
5 1 (0.57%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.57%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.57%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.57%) CMS
5 1 (0.57%) Drupal
5 1 (0.57%) Umbraco
Applications
1 9 (5.17%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.57%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 45 (25.86%) Azure
2 38 (21.84%) AWS
3 16 (9.20%) GCP
4 15 (8.62%) Entra ID
5 12 (6.90%) GitHub
5 12 (6.90%) SaaS
6 11 (6.32%) Amazon EKS
7 7 (4.02%) Microsoft 365
7 7 (4.02%) OpenShift
7 7 (4.02%) Serverless
7 7 (4.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 6 (3.45%) IaaS
9 5 (2.87%) PaaS
10 4 (2.30%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (1.72%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.72%) Datadog
11 3 (1.72%) Kong
12 2 (1.15%) Akamai
12 2 (1.15%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 2 (1.15%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 94 (54.02%) DNS
2 68 (39.08%) TCP/IP
3 65 (37.36%) HTTP
4 62 (35.63%) Firewall
5 49 (28.16%) BIG-IP
6 40 (22.99%) VPN
7 36 (20.69%) Wireshark
8 34 (19.54%) Network Security
9 31 (17.82%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 29 (16.67%) WAN
11 27 (15.52%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
11 27 (15.52%) IPsec
12 20 (11.49%) LAN
13 17 (9.77%) DHCP
13 17 (9.77%) HTTPS
13 17 (9.77%) Internet
14 16 (9.20%) SSH
15 14 (8.05%) Wireless
16 13 (7.47%) Cisco Nexus
16 13 (7.47%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (7.47%) MongoDB
2 10 (5.75%) DocumentDB
2 10 (5.75%) NoSQL
3 4 (2.30%) Metadata
4 3 (1.72%) MariaDB
4 3 (1.72%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.72%) Redis
5 2 (1.15%) SQL Server
6 1 (0.57%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (0.57%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.57%) SQLite
6 1 (0.57%) SQLPlus
Development Applications
1 27 (15.52%) Fiddler
2 26 (14.94%) JIRA
3 9 (5.17%) Git
4 4 (2.30%) Browser DevTools
4 4 (2.30%) GitLab
4 4 (2.30%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (1.72%) Jenkins
6 2 (1.15%) git-flow
6 2 (1.15%) Introscope
7 1 (0.57%) Crashlytics
7 1 (0.57%) fastlane
7 1 (0.57%) JUnit
7 1 (0.57%) Xcode
7 1 (0.57%) XCTest
7 1 (0.57%) XCUITest
General
1 30 (17.24%) Finance
2 24 (13.79%) Banking
2 24 (13.79%) Social Skills
3 19 (10.92%) Investment Banking
4 18 (10.34%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (9.77%) Public Sector
6 13 (7.47%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (4.60%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.15%) Financial Institution
8 2 (1.15%) Legal
8 2 (1.15%) Retail
9 1 (0.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.57%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.57%) Marketing
9 1 (0.57%) Military
9 1 (0.57%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 57 (32.76%) Network Engineer
2 28 (16.09%) Web Engineer
3 25 (14.37%) Security Engineer
4 21 (12.07%) IP Network Engineer
5 20 (11.49%) Senior
6 18 (10.34%) Blue Coat Engineer
7 12 (6.90%) Architect
8 11 (6.32%) Network Security Engineer
9 10 (5.75%) Developer
9 10 (5.75%) Junior
10 9 (5.17%) Junior Network Engineer
11 8 (4.60%) Analyst
11 8 (4.60%) Cryptography Engineer
11 8 (4.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 7 (4.02%) Full-Stack Developer
13 6 (3.45%) Technical Architect
14 5 (2.87%) Senior Network Engineer
14 5 (2.87%) Senior Technical Architect
14 5 (2.87%) SOC Analyst
14 5 (2.87%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (16.09%) SAML
2 25 (14.37%) LDAP
3 13 (7.47%) HTML
3 13 (7.47%) Kafka
3 13 (7.47%) OpenID
4 11 (6.32%) OAuth
5 10 (5.75%) OAuth2
5 10 (5.75%) RESTful
5 10 (5.75%) Spring
5 10 (5.75%) Spring Boot
6 9 (5.17%) Node.js
7 7 (4.02%) REST
7 7 (4.02%) Web Services
8 6 (3.45%) 802.1X
9 5 (2.87%) XACML
10 3 (1.72%) Middleware
10 3 (1.72%) SignalR
11 2 (1.15%) RabbitMQ
11 2 (1.15%) WebSphere MQ
11 2 (1.15%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (13.79%) Management Information System
2 19 (10.92%) PKI
3 12 (6.90%) Security Posture
4 11 (6.32%) Cloud Security Posture
4 11 (6.32%) Cyber Threat
5 10 (5.75%) Clustering
5 10 (5.75%) Data Centre
5 10 (5.75%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 7 (4.02%) Analytical Mindset
6 7 (4.02%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (2.87%) Algorithms
7 5 (2.87%) CSOC
7 5 (2.87%) Cyberattack
7 5 (2.87%) Security Operations Centre
8 4 (2.30%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.72%) Enterprise Storage
9 3 (1.72%) SCADA
9 3 (1.72%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (1.15%) Cyber Defence
10 2 (1.15%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 35 (20.11%) Windows
2 28 (16.09%) Linux
3 13 (7.47%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.02%) Unix
5 6 (3.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (2.30%) CatOS
7 3 (1.72%) Mac OS
8 2 (1.15%) Oracle Linux
8 2 (1.15%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 2 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.57%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.57%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.57%) VMS
9 1 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.57%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 38 (21.84%) Load Balancing
2 37 (21.26%) Cybersecurity
2 37 (21.26%) Data Loss Prevention
3 29 (16.67%) Change Management
4 28 (16.09%) CI/CD
5 27 (15.52%) Malware Detection/Protection
6 26 (14.94%) DevOps
6 26 (14.94%) High Availability
7 25 (14.37%) Cloud Security
7 25 (14.37%) ITIL
8 23 (13.22%) Identity Access Management
8 23 (13.22%) Migration
9 21 (12.07%) SIEM
10 20 (11.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 17 (9.77%) Observability
11 17 (9.77%) Roadmaps
12 16 (9.20%) Key Management
12 16 (9.20%) Runbook
13 15 (8.62%) Microservices
13 15 (8.62%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 33 (18.97%) Python
2 15 (8.62%) PowerShell
2 15 (8.62%) SQL
3 12 (6.90%) Bash
3 12 (6.90%) JavaScript
4 4 (2.30%) Java
5 3 (1.72%) PL/SQL
6 2 (1.15%) Groovy
6 2 (1.15%) Jython
6 2 (1.15%) Perl
7 1 (0.57%) C
7 1 (0.57%) Go
7 1 (0.57%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.57%) Swift
Qualifications
1 52 (29.89%) Security Cleared
2 39 (22.41%) SC Cleared
3 17 (9.77%) CISSP
4 13 (7.47%) Cisco Certification
4 13 (7.47%) DV Cleared
5 12 (6.90%) CCNP
5 12 (6.90%) Degree
6 9 (5.17%) CISM
7 8 (4.60%) FFIEC
8 7 (4.02%) CompTIA Security+
9 4 (2.30%) Azure Certification
9 4 (2.30%) MCSA
9 4 (2.30%) MCSE
9 4 (2.30%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (1.15%) CCIE
10 2 (1.15%) HND
10 2 (1.15%) Postgraduate
11 1 (0.57%) CCA
11 1 (0.57%) CCIP
11 1 (0.57%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (8.05%) GDPR
2 13 (7.47%) NIST
3 11 (6.32%) PCI DSS
4 8 (4.60%) GLBA
5 3 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (1.15%) Accessibility
6 2 (1.15%) SLA
7 1 (0.57%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.57%) DICOM
7 1 (0.57%) HL7
7 1 (0.57%) NCSC
7 1 (0.57%) RMADS
System Software
1 42 (24.14%) VMware Infrastructure
2 40 (22.99%) Active Directory
3 19 (10.92%) Firmware
3 19 (10.92%) VMware NSX
4 12 (6.90%) Docker
5 11 (6.32%) Virtual Machines
6 10 (5.75%) Hyper-V
7 6 (3.45%) RACF
8 4 (2.30%) Squid
8 4 (2.30%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (1.72%) Ceph
9 3 (1.72%) vSphere
10 2 (1.15%) ProxySG
10 2 (1.15%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (1.15%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.57%) KVM
11 1 (0.57%) XenApp
11 1 (0.57%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 26 (14.94%) Ansible
1 26 (14.94%) Single Sign-On
2 18 (10.34%) Kubernetes
3 14 (8.05%) Terraform
4 13 (7.47%) CASB
5 10 (5.75%) FortiGate
6 5 (2.87%) Grafana
7 4 (2.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 4 (2.30%) CA Single Sign-On
7 4 (2.30%) Nessus
7 4 (2.30%) PingFederate
8 2 (1.15%) CA Wily
8 2 (1.15%) Packer
8 2 (1.15%) Prometheus
8 2 (1.15%) Tivoli
9 1 (0.57%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
9 1 (0.57%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.57%) Puppet
9 1 (0.57%) QRadar
Vendors
1 56 (32.18%) F5
2 54 (31.03%) VMware
3 35 (20.11%) Blue Coat
4 34 (19.54%) Microsoft
5 31 (17.82%) Cisco
6 28 (16.09%) McAfee
7 23 (13.22%) Palo Alto
8 21 (12.07%) CheckPoint
9 19 (10.92%) NetApp
10 18 (10.34%) Zscaler
11 15 (8.62%) ServiceNow
11 15 (8.62%) Splunk
12 9 (5.17%) Juniper
12 9 (5.17%) Thales
13 8 (4.60%) Citrix
13 8 (4.60%) Fortinet
13 8 (4.60%) Netskope
13 8 (4.60%) SolarWinds
14 7 (4.02%) CrowdStrike
15 6 (3.45%) Oracle