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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 453 388 386
Rank change year-on-year -65 -2 +60
Contract jobs citing SSL 202 148 204
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.39% 0.48% 0.47%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 4.12% 3.89% 3.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 117 88 123
10th Percentile £334 £335 £353
25th Percentile £425 £375 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £575
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% -9.57% +9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £607 £638
90th Percentile £651 £693 £742
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £600
% change year-on-year +5.00% -16.67% +23.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 6 5
10th Percentile - £80.34 £40.40
25th Percentile - £80.59 -
Median hourly rate - £81.35 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year - +77.31% -27.44%
75th Percentile - £81.91 -
90th Percentile - £83.05 £47.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £81.35 £45.88
% change year-on-year - +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 4,900 3,805 5,424
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.52% 12.29% 12.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,984 2,324 3,203
10th Percentile £250 £230 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -1.38%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £474 £490
% change year-on-year +1.95% -3.22% +3.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 305 179 430
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.87
25th Percentile £19.34 £23.37 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.44 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -41.24% - +114.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.38 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £80.20 £73.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.22 £36.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year -28.16% -23.16% +115.91%

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 2 July 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
Top 15 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 2 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 -83 171 £525 +2.94% 43
UK excluding London -50 135 £525 +5.00% 36
North of England -19 72 £600 +20.00% 10
Work from Home -51 52 £550 +2.33% 28
North West -9 45 £600 +69.49% 8
London -95 45 £525 -2.33% 15
Midlands -26 37 £375 +4.75% 7
West Midlands -32 36 £358 - 4
Yorkshire -29 26 £600 +20.00% 2
South East -51 21 £475 +26.67% 15
Scotland +2 14 £600 +14.29%
East of England -26 6 £450 -20.00% 2
North East -30 2 £413 -22.90%
South West -34 2 - - 1
East Midlands -21 1 £475 +32.68% 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 12 (5.94%) Confluence
2 3 (1.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.49%) TPMS
3 2 (0.99%) IBM HTTP Server
3 2 (0.99%) IIS
3 2 (0.99%) Oracle HTTP Server
3 2 (0.99%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.99%) WebSphere
3 2 (0.99%) WebSphere Application Server
3 2 (0.99%) WebSphere Portal
4 1 (0.50%) Apache
4 1 (0.50%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.50%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.50%) ArcGIS
Applications
1 8 (3.96%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.50%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 1 (0.50%) Houdini
3 1 (0.50%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 1 (0.50%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.50%) Infor LN
Cloud Services
1 67 (33.17%) Azure
2 40 (19.80%) AWS
3 28 (13.86%) Entra ID
4 18 (8.91%) GCP
5 12 (5.94%) GitHub
6 11 (5.45%) SaaS
7 10 (4.95%) Datadog
7 10 (4.95%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (4.46%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (4.46%) IaaS
9 8 (3.96%) Serverless
9 8 (3.96%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 6 (2.97%) Azure Key Vault
10 6 (2.97%) Power Platform
11 5 (2.48%) Azure Logic Apps
11 5 (2.48%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (1.98%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 4 (1.98%) AWS KMS
12 4 (1.98%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (1.98%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 102 (50.50%) DNS
2 78 (38.61%) Firewall
3 63 (31.19%) TCP/IP
4 57 (28.22%) HTTP
5 50 (24.75%) VPN
6 45 (22.28%) Network Security
7 43 (21.29%) BIG-IP
8 41 (20.30%) WAN
9 33 (16.34%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 31 (15.35%) IPsec
11 29 (14.36%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
11 29 (14.36%) Wireshark
12 23 (11.39%) LAN
13 21 (10.40%) DHCP
14 20 (9.90%) HTTPS
15 19 (9.41%) Internet
16 18 (8.91%) BGP
17 17 (8.42%) Wireless
18 16 (7.92%) SD-WAN
19 13 (6.44%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (3.47%) SQL Server
2 5 (2.48%) MongoDB
2 5 (2.48%) MySQL
2 5 (2.48%) Power BI
2 5 (2.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 4 (1.98%) MariaDB
3 4 (1.98%) Metadata
3 4 (1.98%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.99%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.99%) SQLPlus
5 1 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.50%) DocumentDB
5 1 (0.50%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 21 (10.40%) Fiddler
1 21 (10.40%) JIRA
2 12 (5.94%) Jenkins
3 8 (3.96%) Git
4 4 (1.98%) Browser DevTools
4 4 (1.98%) GitLab
4 4 (1.98%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.99%) Introscope
General
1 43 (21.29%) Finance
2 37 (18.32%) Banking
3 27 (13.37%) Social Skills
4 24 (11.88%) Legal
5 18 (8.91%) Investment Banking
6 14 (6.93%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (5.94%) Public Sector
8 11 (5.45%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (3.47%) Telecoms
10 5 (2.48%) Publishing
11 2 (0.99%) Retail
12 1 (0.50%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.50%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.50%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.50%) Military
12 1 (0.50%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.50%) Police
Job Titles
1 57 (28.22%) Network Engineer
2 24 (11.88%) Security Engineer
3 22 (10.89%) Administrator
3 22 (10.89%) Web Engineer
4 21 (10.40%) Senior
5 20 (9.90%) IP Network Engineer
6 17 (8.42%) Blue Coat Engineer
7 16 (7.92%) Architect
8 10 (4.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 10 (4.95%) Network Security Engineer
9 9 (4.46%) Network Architect
9 9 (4.46%) Senior Network Engineer
10 7 (3.47%) Lead
11 6 (2.97%) DBA
11 6 (2.97%) Linux Engineer
12 5 (2.48%) DevOps Engineer
12 5 (2.48%) Junior
12 5 (2.48%) SQL DBA
12 5 (2.48%) Technical Architect
12 5 (2.48%) Windows Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (15.35%) SAML
2 20 (9.90%) Middleware
3 17 (8.42%) ISPF
4 16 (7.92%) LDAP
5 11 (5.45%) OAuth
5 11 (5.45%) OpenID
6 10 (4.95%) 802.1X
7 9 (4.46%) OAuth2
8 7 (3.47%) Kafka
9 6 (2.97%) Web Services
10 5 (2.48%) CSS
11 4 (1.98%) HTML
11 4 (1.98%) XACML
12 3 (1.49%) JMS
12 3 (1.49%) REST
12 3 (1.49%) XML
13 2 (0.99%) JDBC
13 2 (0.99%) JSON
13 2 (0.99%) RabbitMQ
13 2 (0.99%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 31 (15.35%) Clustering
2 21 (10.40%) PKI
3 19 (9.41%) Management Information System
4 17 (8.42%) Data Centre
4 17 (8.42%) Mainframe
5 14 (6.93%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 13 (6.44%) Security Posture
7 11 (5.45%) Cloud Security Posture
8 10 (4.95%) Onboarding
9 9 (4.46%) Enterprise Software
10 8 (3.96%) Cyber Threat
10 8 (3.96%) Replication
11 7 (3.47%) Self-Motivation
12 6 (2.97%) Hybrid Cloud
13 4 (1.98%) Algorithms
14 3 (1.49%) SCADA
15 2 (0.99%) Cyber Defence
15 2 (0.99%) Enterprise Storage
15 2 (0.99%) Product Ownership
15 2 (0.99%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 45 (22.28%) Windows
2 38 (18.81%) Linux
3 24 (11.88%) Windows Server
4 17 (8.42%) zOS
5 13 (6.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (4.46%) Unix
7 4 (1.98%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (1.49%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.99%) CatOS
9 2 (0.99%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.99%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 2 (0.99%) VMS
10 1 (0.50%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (27.72%) ITIL
2 44 (21.78%) Load Balancing
3 36 (17.82%) DevOps
4 33 (16.34%) High Availability
5 31 (15.35%) Cybersecurity
5 31 (15.35%) Data Loss Prevention
6 30 (14.85%) SIEM
7 27 (13.37%) CI/CD
8 26 (12.87%) Zero Trust
9 24 (11.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 23 (11.39%) Change Management
10 23 (11.39%) Cloud Security
10 23 (11.39%) Performance Optimisation
11 21 (10.40%) Malware Detection/Protection
12 20 (9.90%) Migration
13 18 (8.91%) Infrastructure as Code
14 17 (8.42%) Agile
14 17 (8.42%) Problem-Solving
15 16 (7.92%) Project Delivery
15 16 (7.92%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 47 (23.27%) Python
2 25 (12.38%) SQL
3 24 (11.88%) PowerShell
4 21 (10.40%) Bash
5 6 (2.97%) Java
6 5 (2.48%) Groovy
6 5 (2.48%) Perl
6 5 (2.48%) T-SQL
7 4 (1.98%) ActionScript
8 3 (1.49%) JavaScript
8 3 (1.49%) PL/SQL
8 3 (1.49%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.99%) Jython
10 1 (0.50%) C
10 1 (0.50%) Cypher
10 1 (0.50%) Go
10 1 (0.50%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 46 (22.77%) Security Cleared
2 32 (15.84%) SC Cleared
3 19 (9.41%) Degree
4 14 (6.93%) Cisco Certification
4 14 (6.93%) CISSP
5 13 (6.44%) CCNP
6 12 (5.94%) DV Cleared
7 10 (4.95%) Azure Certification
8 9 (4.46%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (3.47%) CompTIA Security+
10 6 (2.97%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (2.48%) CCIE
11 5 (2.48%) MCSE
12 4 (1.98%) CISM
12 4 (1.98%) MCSA
13 3 (1.49%) FFIEC
13 3 (1.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 1 (0.50%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 1 (0.50%) AWS Certification
14 1 (0.50%) CCIE Security
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.44%) NIST
2 11 (5.45%) GDPR
3 6 (2.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.98%) PCI DSS
4 4 (1.98%) SLA
5 3 (1.49%) GLBA
6 2 (0.99%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (0.99%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.50%) DICOM
7 1 (0.50%) HL7
7 1 (0.50%) NCSC
7 1 (0.50%) RMADS
System Software
1 47 (23.27%) VMware Infrastructure
2 46 (22.77%) Active Directory
3 21 (10.40%) RACF
3 21 (10.40%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (9.90%) Firmware
5 14 (6.93%) Hyper-V
5 14 (6.93%) VMware NSX
6 7 (3.47%) vSphere
7 6 (2.97%) Docker
7 6 (2.97%) Squid
7 6 (2.97%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (1.98%) Ceph
9 2 (0.99%) Apache ZooKeeper
9 2 (0.99%) ProxySG
9 2 (0.99%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.99%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.99%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.50%) KVM
10 1 (0.50%) OpenSSH
Systems Management
1 36 (17.82%) Ansible
2 26 (12.87%) Single Sign-On
3 20 (9.90%) Terraform
4 17 (8.42%) OMEGAMON
5 13 (6.44%) CASB
6 12 (5.94%) Kubernetes
7 11 (5.45%) Grafana
8 9 (4.46%) FortiGate
9 7 (3.47%) Prometheus
9 7 (3.47%) Puppet
10 5 (2.48%) SCOM
11 4 (1.98%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (1.98%) CA Single Sign-On
11 4 (1.98%) Nessus
11 4 (1.98%) Packer
11 4 (1.98%) PingFederate
12 3 (1.49%) Microsoft Intune
12 3 (1.49%) systemd
12 3 (1.49%) yum
13 2 (0.99%) CA Wily
Vendors
1 52 (25.74%) VMware
2 50 (24.75%) F5
3 40 (19.80%) Microsoft
4 36 (17.82%) Cisco
5 29 (14.36%) Blue Coat
6 25 (12.38%) Palo Alto
7 24 (11.88%) McAfee
7 24 (11.88%) ServiceNow
7 24 (11.88%) Zscaler
8 20 (9.90%) IBM
9 18 (8.91%) NetApp
10 16 (7.92%) CheckPoint
11 15 (7.43%) Fortinet
12 12 (5.94%) Splunk
13 10 (4.95%) Juniper
14 9 (4.46%) SolarWinds
15 7 (3.47%) Citrix
15 7 (3.47%) Oracle
15 7 (3.47%) Ping Identity
15 7 (3.47%) Red Hat