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 21 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 448 338 364
Rank change year-on-year -110 +26 +92
Contract jobs citing SSL 171 184 229
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.39% 0.63% 0.52%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 3.86% 4.75% 3.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 102 115 117
10th Percentile £331 £350 £393
25th Percentile £363 £449 £432
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -8.70% +4.55%
75th Percentile £609 £625 £638
90th Percentile £688 £651 £693
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £575 £609
% change year-on-year -13.04% -5.54% +22.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 5 7
10th Percentile £52.15 - -
25th Percentile £55.00 £80.34 £45.88
Median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.10% +30.16% +0.81%
75th Percentile £75.00 £82.10 £66.12
90th Percentile £80.25 £83.24 £66.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £81.35 £62.50
% change year-on-year -20.10% +30.16% +0.81%

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 4,427 3,871 5,902
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.10% 13.20% 13.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,857 2,372 3,559
10th Percentile £213 £213 £205
25th Percentile £375 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £490 £475
Median % change year-on-year - +3.16% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £475
Number of hourly rates quoted 192 143 394
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £14.00
25th Percentile £18.38 £21.46 £18.00
Median hourly rate £32.52 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.09% - +84.21%
75th Percentile £66.31 £63.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.25 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year +29.05% -29.16% +148.00%

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 21 March 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 21 March 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 21 March 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 -107 142 £500 -9.09% 33
UK excluding London -70 112 £500 -13.04% 28
North of England -25 65 £648 +17.82% 4
Work from Home -47 53 £454 -4.42% 21
North West +5 40 £620 +14.81% 4
Midlands -29 39 £358 -21.86% 3
West Midlands -29 39 £358 -21.86% 3
London -77 32 £515 +10.75% 8
Yorkshire -40 25 £675 +28.75%
South East -68 12 £425 -32.00% 10
Scotland +2 8 £600 +16.50% 1
East of England -30 8 £427 -28.83% 10
North East -19 1 - -
South West -31 1 £500 -

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 14 (8.19%) Confluence
2 12 (7.02%) TPMS
3 3 (1.75%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.58%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.58%) CMS
4 1 (0.58%) Drupal
4 1 (0.58%) IBM HTTP Server
4 1 (0.58%) IIS
4 1 (0.58%) Oracle HTTP Server
4 1 (0.58%) Umbraco
4 1 (0.58%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.58%) WebSphere Application Server
4 1 (0.58%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 8 (4.68%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.58%) RMDS
Cloud Services
1 38 (22.22%) AWS
2 37 (21.64%) Azure
3 14 (8.19%) GitHub
4 13 (7.60%) SaaS
5 12 (7.02%) GCP
6 11 (6.43%) Amazon EKS
7 9 (5.26%) Serverless
8 8 (4.68%) Entra ID
8 8 (4.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 6 (3.51%) IaaS
10 5 (2.92%) OpenShift
10 5 (2.92%) PaaS
11 4 (2.34%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (1.75%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 3 (1.75%) Amazon EC2
12 3 (1.75%) Amazon ELB
12 3 (1.75%) Amazon S3
12 3 (1.75%) Azure DevOps
12 3 (1.75%) Kong
12 3 (1.75%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 85 (49.71%) DNS
2 65 (38.01%) TCP/IP
3 59 (34.50%) HTTP
4 55 (32.16%) Firewall
5 44 (25.73%) BIG-IP
6 38 (22.22%) Wireshark
7 35 (20.47%) VPN
8 30 (17.54%) Network Security
9 26 (15.20%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 25 (14.62%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
10 25 (14.62%) IPsec
11 23 (13.45%) WAN
12 20 (11.70%) SSH
13 16 (9.36%) HTTPS
13 16 (9.36%) LAN
13 16 (9.36%) SNMP
14 15 (8.77%) Internet
15 12 (7.02%) DHCP
15 12 (7.02%) Wireless
16 10 (5.85%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (7.60%) MongoDB
2 10 (5.85%) DocumentDB
2 10 (5.85%) NoSQL
3 5 (2.92%) PostgreSQL
3 5 (2.92%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.75%) MariaDB
4 3 (1.75%) Redis
5 1 (0.58%) Amazon QuickSight
5 1 (0.58%) Apache Cassandra
5 1 (0.58%) SQLite
5 1 (0.58%) SQLPlus
Development Applications
1 31 (18.13%) Fiddler
2 18 (10.53%) JIRA
3 10 (5.85%) Git
4 7 (4.09%) Jenkins
5 6 (3.51%) GitLab
6 2 (1.17%) Browser DevTools
6 2 (1.17%) git-flow
6 2 (1.17%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.58%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.58%) CircleCI
7 1 (0.58%) Crashlytics
7 1 (0.58%) fastlane
7 1 (0.58%) Introscope
7 1 (0.58%) JUnit
7 1 (0.58%) Subversion
7 1 (0.58%) Xcode
7 1 (0.58%) XCTest
7 1 (0.58%) XCUITest
General
1 28 (16.37%) Analytical Skills
2 26 (15.20%) Banking
3 25 (14.62%) Finance
4 24 (14.04%) Social Skills
5 20 (11.70%) Investment Banking
6 17 (9.94%) Public Sector
7 15 (8.77%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (2.92%) Telecoms
9 2 (1.17%) Financial Institution
9 2 (1.17%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.17%) Legal
9 2 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.58%) Billing
10 1 (0.58%) Marketing
10 1 (0.58%) Military
Job Titles
1 57 (33.33%) Network Engineer
2 33 (19.30%) Web Engineer
3 22 (12.87%) Blue Coat Engineer
4 21 (12.28%) IP Network Engineer
5 20 (11.70%) Senior
6 18 (10.53%) Architect
7 14 (8.19%) Developer
8 13 (7.60%) Security Engineer
9 12 (7.02%) Cryptography Engineer
9 12 (7.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 12 (7.02%) Junior
10 11 (6.43%) Junior Network Engineer
11 9 (5.26%) Analyst
11 9 (5.26%) Full-Stack Developer
12 7 (4.09%) Consultant
13 6 (3.51%) Network Architect
13 6 (3.51%) Senior Architect
13 6 (3.51%) Technical Architect
14 5 (2.92%) DevOps Engineer
14 5 (2.92%) Senior Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (13.45%) LDAP
2 21 (12.28%) SAML
3 12 (7.02%) OAuth
4 11 (6.43%) HTML
4 11 (6.43%) Kafka
4 11 (6.43%) OpenID
4 11 (6.43%) REST
4 11 (6.43%) RESTful
5 10 (5.85%) OAuth2
5 10 (5.85%) Spring
5 10 (5.85%) Spring Boot
6 9 (5.26%) Node.js
7 6 (3.51%) Web Services
8 5 (2.92%) XACML
9 4 (2.34%) .NET
9 4 (2.34%) 802.1X
10 3 (1.75%) GraphQL
10 3 (1.75%) JSON
10 3 (1.75%) SignalR
11 2 (1.17%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 28 (16.37%) Management Information System
2 18 (10.53%) PKI
3 12 (7.02%) Security Posture
4 11 (6.43%) Cloud Security Posture
5 10 (5.85%) Data Centre
6 9 (5.26%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (4.09%) Cyber Threat
7 7 (4.09%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 5 (2.92%) CSOC
8 5 (2.92%) Cyberattack
8 5 (2.92%) Security Operations Centre
9 3 (1.75%) Clustering
9 3 (1.75%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (1.75%) Enterprise Storage
9 3 (1.75%) SCADA
10 2 (1.17%) Algorithms
10 2 (1.17%) Hybrid Cloud
10 2 (1.17%) Linux Command Line
10 2 (1.17%) Onboarding
10 2 (1.17%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 39 (22.81%) Windows
2 32 (18.71%) Linux
3 15 (8.77%) Windows Server
4 5 (2.92%) Unix
5 4 (2.34%) CatOS
5 4 (2.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.17%) Apple iOS
6 2 (1.17%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.17%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.58%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.58%) Oracle Linux
7 1 (0.58%) Solaris
7 1 (0.58%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 41 (23.98%) Data Loss Prevention
2 40 (23.39%) Cybersecurity
2 40 (23.39%) Load Balancing
3 32 (18.71%) CI/CD
4 31 (18.13%) Malware Detection/Protection
5 26 (15.20%) Cloud Security
6 24 (14.04%) DevOps
7 23 (13.45%) Change Management
7 23 (13.45%) Identity Access Management
8 21 (12.28%) Observability
8 21 (12.28%) Roadmaps
9 20 (11.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 20 (11.70%) Problem-Solving
9 20 (11.70%) Stakeholder Management
10 18 (10.53%) High Availability
10 18 (10.53%) Key Management
10 18 (10.53%) Migration
10 18 (10.53%) SIEM
11 17 (9.94%) ITIL
11 17 (9.94%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 37 (21.64%) Python
2 20 (11.70%) SQL
3 16 (9.36%) JavaScript
4 14 (8.19%) PowerShell
5 12 (7.02%) Bash
6 7 (4.09%) Java
7 3 (1.75%) C#
8 2 (1.17%) Perl
8 2 (1.17%) PHP
8 2 (1.17%) PL/SQL
8 2 (1.17%) Swift
9 1 (0.58%) C
9 1 (0.58%) Jython
9 1 (0.58%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 56 (32.75%) Security Cleared
2 44 (25.73%) SC Cleared
3 16 (9.36%) Degree
4 15 (8.77%) CISSP
4 15 (8.77%) DV Cleared
5 12 (7.02%) FFIEC
6 11 (6.43%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (5.26%) CCNP
8 7 (4.09%) CISM
9 6 (3.51%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (2.92%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (2.34%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (2.34%) MCSA
11 4 (2.34%) MCSE
12 3 (1.75%) TOGAF Certification
13 2 (1.17%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 2 (1.17%) CCSP
13 2 (1.17%) HND
13 2 (1.17%) Master's Degree
13 2 (1.17%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (11.11%) GDPR
2 16 (9.36%) PCI DSS
3 14 (8.19%) NIST
4 12 (7.02%) GLBA
5 4 (2.34%) HIPAA
6 3 (1.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (1.17%) Accessibility
7 2 (1.17%) Data Quality
7 2 (1.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.58%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.58%) NCSC
8 1 (0.58%) RMADS
8 1 (0.58%) SLA
System Software
1 38 (22.22%) VMware Infrastructure
2 30 (17.54%) Active Directory
3 21 (12.28%) Firmware
4 18 (10.53%) Docker
4 18 (10.53%) VMware NSX
5 7 (4.09%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (2.92%) Hyper-V
6 5 (2.92%) ProxySG
6 5 (2.92%) RACF
7 3 (1.75%) Ceph
7 3 (1.75%) Squid
7 3 (1.75%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (1.17%) NDS
8 2 (1.17%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 2 (1.17%) vSphere
9 1 (0.58%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.58%) XenApp
9 1 (0.58%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 29 (16.96%) Ansible
2 22 (12.87%) Kubernetes
3 18 (10.53%) Single Sign-On
4 15 (8.77%) Terraform
5 13 (7.60%) CASB
6 5 (2.92%) FortiGate
7 4 (2.34%) Nessus
8 2 (1.17%) Grafana
8 2 (1.17%) SCCM
8 2 (1.17%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.58%) BladeLogic
9 1 (0.58%) CA Wily
9 1 (0.58%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Intune
9 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.58%) Puppet
9 1 (0.58%) QRadar
9 1 (0.58%) Red Hat Satellite
9 1 (0.58%) SCOM
9 1 (0.58%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 57 (33.33%) F5
2 51 (29.82%) VMware
3 40 (23.39%) Blue Coat
4 34 (19.88%) McAfee
5 30 (17.54%) Microsoft
6 28 (16.37%) Cisco
7 23 (13.45%) CheckPoint
8 22 (12.87%) NetApp
8 22 (12.87%) Palo Alto
9 18 (10.53%) Splunk
10 15 (8.77%) Thales
11 11 (6.43%) Zscaler
12 10 (5.85%) Juniper
13 8 (4.68%) ServiceNow
14 7 (4.09%) CrowdStrike
14 7 (4.09%) OpenText
14 7 (4.09%) Oracle
15 6 (3.51%) Citrix
15 6 (3.51%) Fortinet
15 6 (3.51%) Symantec