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 14 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 368 370 391
Rank change year-on-year +2 +21 +73
Contract jobs citing SSL 218 196 227
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.60% 0.57% 0.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 5.50% 4.49% 3.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 136 123 117
10th Percentile £350 £376 £350
25th Percentile £400 £452 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.27% - +3.77%
75th Percentile £653 £644 £627
90th Percentile £700 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £487 £549 £481
% change year-on-year -11.34% +14.32% +7.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 0 14
10th Percentile £45.00 - £55.35
25th Percentile £48.94 - £60.56
Median hourly rate £65.00 - £65.98
75th Percentile £77.19 - £66.18
90th Percentile £84.88 - £67.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 - £65.98
% change year-on-year - - +14.82%

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 3,962 4,367 6,132
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.87% 12.63% 13.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,579 2,551 3,788
10th Percentile £206 £220 £210
25th Percentile £356 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £582 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 187 155 341
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.64 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.34 £22.45 £22.00
Median hourly rate £36.00 £39.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.86% -28.18% +32.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.38 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.25 £76.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £41.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year +3.66% -27.42% +25.53%

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 14 December 2025.

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 14 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for SSL in the UK

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 14 December 2025. 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 +6 194 £550 -4.35% 106
UK excluding London -42 106 £487 -11.34% 100
London +19 83 £575 +9.52% 18
Work from Home +6 68 £525 -4.55% 23
North of England -12 51 £575 +4.55% 26
Midlands -15 34 £380 -16.94% 18
North West -5 33 £520 +35.06% 19
West Midlands -6 33 £380 -16.94% 9
East of England -10 18 £567 +31.10% 22
Yorkshire -38 17 £675 +22.73% 6
South East -22 11 £430 -31.20% 26
Scotland -14 5 £525 +1.94% 1
South West -14 3 £557 +31.06% 8
North East -14 1 £550 -6.78% 1
East Midlands -26 1 - - 9

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 24 (11.01%) Confluence
2 7 (3.21%) TPMS
3 6 (2.75%) Apache
4 4 (1.83%) JBoss
5 2 (0.92%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.92%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.92%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.92%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.92%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.92%) WebLogic
6 1 (0.46%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.46%) IIS
6 1 (0.46%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (1.38%) MS Visio
2 2 (0.92%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (5.96%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.46%) RMDS
Cloud Services
1 58 (26.61%) AWS
2 27 (12.39%) Azure
3 25 (11.47%) Virtual Private Cloud
4 24 (11.01%) Amazon S3
5 22 (10.09%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 22 (10.09%) Amazon EC2
5 22 (10.09%) Amazon ELB
6 16 (7.34%) GCP
6 16 (7.34%) GitHub
7 8 (3.67%) Amazon EKS
8 7 (3.21%) Entra ID
8 7 (3.21%) Serverless
9 5 (2.29%) Amazon ECS
9 5 (2.29%) AWS CloudFormation
9 5 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
9 5 (2.29%) OpenShift
10 4 (1.83%) Apigee
10 4 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (1.83%) Microsoft 365
11 3 (1.38%) Firebase
Communications & Networking
1 103 (47.25%) DNS
2 85 (38.99%) Firewall
3 83 (38.07%) TCP/IP
4 68 (31.19%) VPN
5 65 (29.82%) Network Security
6 60 (27.52%) HTTP
7 27 (12.39%) WAN
8 25 (11.47%) Wireshark
9 23 (10.55%) IPsec
10 22 (10.09%) Wireless
11 21 (9.63%) BIG-IP
12 19 (8.72%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 17 (7.80%) HTTPS
14 16 (7.34%) BGP
15 15 (6.88%) DMVPN
15 15 (6.88%) FTP
15 15 (6.88%) OSPF
15 15 (6.88%) SMTP
16 14 (6.42%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 14 (6.42%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (4.59%) NoSQL
1 10 (4.59%) SQL Server
2 8 (3.67%) Apache Cassandra
2 8 (3.67%) DocumentDB
2 8 (3.67%) MongoDB
3 7 (3.21%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.38%) Redis
4 3 (1.38%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.92%) Big Data
5 2 (0.92%) Delta Lake
5 2 (0.92%) Hadoop
5 2 (0.92%) Parquet
6 1 (0.46%) Mixpanel
Development Applications
1 36 (16.51%) Git
2 32 (14.68%) Jenkins
3 27 (12.39%) JIRA
4 19 (8.72%) GitLab
5 18 (8.26%) Fiddler
6 4 (1.83%) Robot Framework
7 2 (0.92%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.92%) git-flow
7 2 (0.92%) MLflow
7 2 (0.92%) Poetry
7 2 (0.92%) PyCharm
7 2 (0.92%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.92%) Visual Studio Code
8 1 (0.46%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.46%) Postman
8 1 (0.46%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.46%) Subversion
General
1 46 (21.10%) Social Skills
2 37 (16.97%) Analytical Skills
3 31 (14.22%) Finance
4 22 (10.09%) Banking
4 22 (10.09%) Public Sector
5 16 (7.34%) Investment Banking
6 11 (5.05%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (3.67%) Telecoms
8 5 (2.29%) Financial Institution
9 4 (1.83%) Military
10 3 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.92%) Advertising
11 2 (0.92%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.92%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.46%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.46%) Italian Language
12 1 (0.46%) Law
12 1 (0.46%) Legal
12 1 (0.46%) Polish Language
12 1 (0.46%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 50 (22.94%) Network Engineer
2 41 (18.81%) Senior
3 30 (13.76%) Developer
4 27 (12.39%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 22 (10.09%) Architect
6 18 (8.26%) Security Engineer
7 16 (7.34%) Analyst
7 16 (7.34%) DevOps Engineer
8 15 (6.88%) SOC Analyst
8 15 (6.88%) Web Engineer
9 13 (5.96%) Consultant
9 13 (5.96%) Senior DevOps
9 13 (5.96%) Senior DevOps Engineer
10 12 (5.50%) Full-Stack Developer
11 11 (5.05%) Blue Coat Engineer
11 11 (5.05%) Network Security Engineer
12 10 (4.59%) ServiceNow Architect
13 9 (4.13%) Cryptography Engineer
13 9 (4.13%) IP Network Engineer
13 9 (4.13%) Python Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (19.72%) LDAP
2 34 (15.60%) REST
3 27 (12.39%) SOAP
4 25 (11.47%) SAML
5 23 (10.55%) JSON
6 20 (9.17%) HTML
7 17 (7.80%) AngularJS
7 17 (7.80%) OAuth
8 14 (6.42%) Web Services
9 13 (5.96%) Apache Camel
9 13 (5.96%) HTML5
9 13 (5.96%) JDBC
9 13 (5.96%) jQuery
9 13 (5.96%) Kafka
9 13 (5.96%) ODBC
9 13 (5.96%) RabbitMQ
10 12 (5.50%) RESTful
11 11 (5.05%) 802.1X
12 10 (4.59%) XML
13 8 (3.67%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 30 (13.76%) Management Information System
2 29 (13.30%) PKI
3 17 (7.80%) Analytical Mindset
3 17 (7.80%) Data Centre
4 15 (6.88%) Cyberattack
5 13 (5.96%) CSOC
5 13 (5.96%) Cyber Threat
5 13 (5.96%) Security Operations Centre
6 12 (5.50%) Onboarding
7 5 (2.29%) Cloud Security Posture
7 5 (2.29%) Private Cloud
7 5 (2.29%) Security Posture
8 4 (1.83%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.38%) Algorithms
9 3 (1.38%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.38%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 2 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
10 2 (0.92%) Replication
10 2 (0.92%) Virtual Team
11 1 (0.46%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 59 (27.06%) Linux
2 36 (16.51%) Windows
3 20 (9.17%) Unix
4 9 (4.13%) Windows Server
5 7 (3.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (1.83%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.92%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.92%) CatOS
7 2 (0.92%) CentOS
7 2 (0.92%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.92%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.46%) Android
8 1 (0.46%) Solaris
8 1 (0.46%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (30.28%) DevOps
2 45 (20.64%) CI/CD
3 39 (17.89%) High Availability
4 35 (16.06%) Cybersecurity
5 34 (15.60%) Incident Response
6 32 (14.68%) Infrastructure as Code
6 32 (14.68%) Load Balancing
7 31 (14.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 31 (14.22%) Root Cause Analysis
8 30 (13.76%) Infrastructure Automation
9 29 (13.30%) Problem-Solving
10 26 (11.93%) Agile
10 26 (11.93%) Test Automation
11 24 (11.01%) Change Management
11 24 (11.01%) Microservices
12 22 (10.09%) Cloud Security
12 22 (10.09%) Continuous Improvement
12 22 (10.09%) Identity Access Management
12 22 (10.09%) Migration
13 21 (9.63%) Key Management
Programming Languages
1 73 (33.49%) Python
2 34 (15.60%) Bash
3 32 (14.68%) JavaScript
4 20 (9.17%) PowerShell
5 16 (7.34%) Java
6 14 (6.42%) SQL
7 12 (5.50%) Perl
8 3 (1.38%) C#
9 2 (0.92%) Groovy
9 2 (0.92%) PHP
9 2 (0.92%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.46%) C
10 1 (0.46%) C++
10 1 (0.46%) Kotlin
10 1 (0.46%) Objective-C
10 1 (0.46%) Swift
Qualifications
1 91 (41.74%) Security Cleared
2 77 (35.32%) SC Cleared
3 17 (7.80%) CISSP
3 17 (7.80%) DV Cleared
4 13 (5.96%) Degree
5 11 (5.05%) Cisco Certification
5 11 (5.05%) Microsoft Certification
6 7 (3.21%) CCNP
6 7 (3.21%) CISM
6 7 (3.21%) FFIEC
7 6 (2.75%) MCSE
8 5 (2.29%) CCSA
8 5 (2.29%) CompTIA Security+
8 5 (2.29%) MCSA
9 4 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (1.38%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 3 (1.38%) RHCE
11 2 (0.92%) CCSP
11 2 (0.92%) CEH
11 2 (0.92%) JNCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (7.80%) GDPR
2 14 (6.42%) PCI DSS
3 9 (4.13%) NIST
4 7 (3.21%) GLBA
5 6 (2.75%) HIPAA
6 4 (1.83%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 3 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.92%) Accessibility
8 2 (0.92%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.92%) FIPS 140-2
8 2 (0.92%) QA
9 1 (0.46%) SLA
9 1 (0.46%) SOC 2
System Software
1 44 (20.18%) Docker
2 26 (11.93%) Active Directory
3 17 (7.80%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (6.88%) Firmware
5 7 (3.21%) VMware NSX
6 5 (2.29%) NDS
6 5 (2.29%) NetIQ eDirectory
7 4 (1.83%) ProxySG
7 4 (1.83%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.46%) Embedded Firmware
8 1 (0.46%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.46%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.46%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.46%) vSphere
8 1 (0.46%) XenApp
8 1 (0.46%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 56 (25.69%) Ansible
2 42 (19.27%) Terraform
3 32 (14.68%) Kubernetes
4 25 (11.47%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (3.21%) CASB
6 6 (2.75%) Nessus
7 4 (1.83%) CA Spectrum
7 4 (1.83%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.83%) SCCM
8 3 (1.38%) FortiGate
8 3 (1.38%) Nagios
8 3 (1.38%) SCOM
9 2 (0.92%) Argo
9 2 (0.92%) Istio
9 2 (0.92%) McAfee ePO
9 2 (0.92%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.92%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.92%) Rsyslog
10 1 (0.46%) SCOrch
10 1 (0.46%) VxRail
Vendors
1 78 (35.78%) F5
2 45 (20.64%) CheckPoint
3 37 (16.97%) Blue Coat
4 32 (14.68%) Cisco
5 31 (14.22%) Palo Alto
6 25 (11.47%) VMware
7 23 (10.55%) McAfee
7 23 (10.55%) Microsoft
7 23 (10.55%) Splunk
8 21 (9.63%) Juniper
9 18 (8.26%) Remedy
9 18 (8.26%) ServiceNow
10 14 (6.42%) NetApp
11 13 (5.96%) BMC
11 13 (5.96%) HP
11 13 (5.96%) Ivanti
11 13 (5.96%) Oracle
12 12 (5.50%) Thales
13 11 (5.05%) Fortinet
13 11 (5.05%) Zscaler