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 5 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 450 364 415
Rank change year-on-year -86 +51 -3
Contract jobs citing SSL 217 190 157
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.58% 0.40%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 4.37% 4.81% 3.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 124 118 98
10th Percentile £370 £350 £400
25th Percentile £450 £380 £476
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £600
Median % change year-on-year - -12.50% +10.60%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £638
90th Percentile £650 £700 £741
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £611
% change year-on-year +5.00% -18.17% +25.72%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 13 3
10th Percentile - £45.00 £38.58
25th Percentile - £55.00 £41.32
Median hourly rate - £80.68 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year - +75.84% -30.46%
75th Percentile - £82.10 £47.32
90th Percentile - £84.80 £48.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £80.68 £45.88
% change year-on-year - +75.84% -26.00%

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 4,970 3,953 4,763
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.34% 12.01% 12.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,953 2,417 2,892
10th Percentile £250 £235 £220
25th Percentile £400 £373 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 353 195 327
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.27
Median hourly rate £26.66 £50.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -46.68% +5.26% -5.79%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.60 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.66 £45.00 £53.69
% change year-on-year -40.76% -16.18% -6.49%

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 5 August 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 5 August 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 -114 187 £525 - 45
UK excluding London -56 138 £525 +5.00% 21
Work from Home -51 65 £550 +4.76% 26
North of England -14 64 £600 +20.00% 6
London -78 63 £550 -6.78% 31
North West -15 44 £600 - 5
Midlands -38 36 £390 +8.94% 5
West Midlands -37 34 £380 +3.40% 4
South East -57 28 £488 +30.00% 6
Yorkshire -36 19 £600 +20.00%
Scotland +1 18 £600 +14.29% 1
East of England -30 6 £450 -26.53%
East Midlands -11 2 £475 +32.68% 1
South West -49 2 - -
North East -39 1 £413 -20.67% 1

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 15 (6.91%) Confluence
2 3 (1.38%) Apache
3 2 (0.92%) IBM HTTP Server
3 2 (0.92%) IIS
3 2 (0.92%) Oracle HTTP Server
3 2 (0.92%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.92%) WebSphere
3 2 (0.92%) WebSphere Application Server
3 2 (0.92%) WebSphere Portal
4 1 (0.46%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.46%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.46%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.46%) JBoss
4 1 (0.46%) nginx
Applications
1 5 (2.30%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.38%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.92%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 2 (0.92%) Houdini
3 2 (0.92%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 3 (1.38%) Infor LN
2 2 (0.92%) Dynamics GP
3 1 (0.46%) Oracle Assets
3 1 (0.46%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.46%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.46%) Oracle Receivables
3 1 (0.46%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 75 (34.56%) Azure
2 40 (18.43%) AWS
3 33 (15.21%) Entra ID
4 20 (9.22%) GCP
5 15 (6.91%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (6.91%) Microsoft 365
6 13 (5.99%) GitHub
7 12 (5.53%) Datadog
8 10 (4.61%) SaaS
9 9 (4.15%) Power Platform
9 9 (4.15%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 8 (3.69%) Azure Monitor
11 7 (3.23%) IaaS
12 6 (2.76%) Azure Key Vault
12 6 (2.76%) GitHub Actions
13 5 (2.30%) Akamai
13 5 (2.30%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 5 (2.30%) AWS CloudFormation
13 5 (2.30%) AWS KMS
13 5 (2.30%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 106 (48.85%) DNS
2 80 (36.87%) Firewall
3 60 (27.65%) TCP/IP
4 54 (24.88%) VPN
5 52 (23.96%) HTTP
6 51 (23.50%) Network Security
7 41 (18.89%) WAN
8 34 (15.67%) BIG-IP
9 32 (14.75%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 30 (13.82%) IPsec
11 28 (12.90%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
12 23 (10.60%) DHCP
13 22 (10.14%) Wireshark
14 21 (9.68%) LAN
15 20 (9.22%) HTTPS
15 20 (9.22%) Internet
16 19 (8.76%) BGP
17 18 (8.29%) Wireless
18 16 (7.37%) SD-WAN
19 11 (5.07%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (5.53%) SQL Server
2 10 (4.61%) MySQL
3 7 (3.23%) Power BI
3 7 (3.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 6 (2.76%) MariaDB
4 6 (2.76%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (2.30%) MongoDB
6 4 (1.84%) Metadata
7 3 (1.38%) SQLPlus
8 2 (0.92%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 2 (0.92%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.46%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.46%) Neo4j
9 1 (0.46%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.46%) Sybase ASE
Development Applications
1 26 (11.98%) JIRA
2 17 (7.83%) Fiddler
3 16 (7.37%) Jenkins
4 12 (5.53%) Git
5 6 (2.76%) GitLab
5 6 (2.76%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (2.30%) Browser DevTools
7 2 (0.92%) Introscope
7 2 (0.92%) Maven
8 1 (0.46%) Ant
8 1 (0.46%) Atlassian Bamboo
General
1 48 (22.12%) Finance
2 37 (17.05%) Banking
3 31 (14.29%) Social Skills
4 25 (11.52%) Legal
5 21 (9.68%) Analytical Skills
6 17 (7.83%) Investment Banking
7 13 (5.99%) Public Sector
8 10 (4.61%) Telecoms
9 8 (3.69%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (2.76%) Publishing
11 3 (1.38%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.92%) Retail
13 1 (0.46%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.46%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.46%) Marketing
13 1 (0.46%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.46%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.46%) Police
13 1 (0.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 54 (24.88%) Network Engineer
2 29 (13.36%) Security Engineer
3 24 (11.06%) Administrator
3 24 (11.06%) Senior
4 19 (8.76%) IP Network Engineer
5 18 (8.29%) Web Engineer
6 16 (7.37%) Blue Coat Engineer
7 12 (5.53%) Network Security Engineer
7 12 (5.53%) Senior Network Engineer
8 11 (5.07%) Architect
9 10 (4.61%) Lead
10 8 (3.69%) DBA
10 8 (3.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 8 (3.69%) Linux Engineer
10 8 (3.69%) Network Architect
11 7 (3.23%) SQL DBA
12 6 (2.76%) Developer
12 6 (2.76%) DevOps Engineer
13 5 (2.30%) Cloud Engineer
13 5 (2.30%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (12.44%) SAML
2 23 (10.60%) Middleware
3 17 (7.83%) ISPF
4 14 (6.45%) LDAP
5 13 (5.99%) 802.1X
6 12 (5.53%) OAuth
7 9 (4.15%) OAuth2
8 7 (3.23%) Kafka
8 7 (3.23%) OpenID
8 7 (3.23%) XML
9 6 (2.76%) JSON
9 6 (2.76%) REST
9 6 (2.76%) SOAP
9 6 (2.76%) Web Services
10 4 (1.84%) CSS
10 4 (1.84%) EDI
11 3 (1.38%) EDIFACT
11 3 (1.38%) JMS
11 3 (1.38%) XSLT
12 2 (0.92%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 34 (15.67%) Clustering
2 29 (13.36%) PKI
3 19 (8.76%) Management Information System
4 18 (8.29%) Mainframe
5 15 (6.91%) Data Centre
6 14 (6.45%) Onboarding
7 12 (5.53%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 12 (5.53%) Security Posture
8 11 (5.07%) Cloud Security Posture
9 10 (4.61%) Cyber Threat
9 10 (4.61%) Enterprise Software
9 10 (4.61%) Replication
9 10 (4.61%) Self-Motivation
10 7 (3.23%) Hybrid Cloud
11 5 (2.30%) Linux Command Line
12 4 (1.84%) Algorithms
12 4 (1.84%) Data Structures
12 4 (1.84%) Distributed Applications
12 4 (1.84%) Fibre Optics
12 4 (1.84%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 51 (23.50%) Windows
2 48 (22.12%) Linux
3 26 (11.98%) Windows Server
4 20 (9.22%) zOS
5 15 (6.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (5.07%) Unix
7 4 (1.84%) Mac OS
7 4 (1.84%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.92%) Oracle Linux
8 2 (0.92%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 2 (0.92%) VMS
9 1 (0.46%) Amazon Linux
9 1 (0.46%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.46%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (27.19%) ITIL
2 45 (20.74%) Load Balancing
3 42 (19.35%) DevOps
4 35 (16.13%) High Availability
5 31 (14.29%) SIEM
6 29 (13.36%) CI/CD
7 27 (12.44%) Data Loss Prevention
7 27 (12.44%) Zero Trust
8 26 (11.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 25 (11.52%) Change Management
10 24 (11.06%) Performance Optimisation
10 24 (11.06%) Performance Tuning
10 24 (11.06%) Problem-Solving
11 23 (10.60%) Cybersecurity
12 22 (10.14%) Cloud Security
13 20 (9.22%) Migration
14 19 (8.76%) Infrastructure as Code
15 17 (7.83%) Malware Detection/Protection
16 16 (7.37%) Project Delivery
16 16 (7.37%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 51 (23.50%) Python
2 30 (13.82%) SQL
3 27 (12.44%) PowerShell
4 22 (10.14%) Bash
5 8 (3.69%) Groovy
5 8 (3.69%) Java
5 8 (3.69%) Perl
5 8 (3.69%) Shell Script
6 7 (3.23%) T-SQL
7 5 (2.30%) ActionScript
7 5 (2.30%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.84%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.92%) Jython
10 1 (0.46%) ActionScript 2.0
10 1 (0.46%) C
10 1 (0.46%) C#
10 1 (0.46%) Cypher
10 1 (0.46%) Go
10 1 (0.46%) R
10 1 (0.46%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 61 (28.11%) Security Cleared
2 42 (19.35%) SC Cleared
3 20 (9.22%) Degree
4 18 (8.29%) DV Cleared
5 15 (6.91%) Azure Certification
6 13 (5.99%) CISSP
7 12 (5.53%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (5.53%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (5.07%) CCNP
9 8 (3.69%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (3.23%) CompTIA Security+
11 6 (2.76%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 6 (2.76%) MCSE
12 4 (1.84%) CCIE
12 4 (1.84%) MCSA
13 3 (1.38%) CISM
14 2 (0.92%) RHCSA
15 1 (0.46%) CCIP
15 1 (0.46%) CCSE
15 1 (0.46%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (5.53%) NIST
2 8 (3.69%) GDPR
3 7 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (3.23%) SLA
4 2 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.46%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.46%) DICOM
5 1 (0.46%) HL7
5 1 (0.46%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 50 (23.04%) VMware Infrastructure
2 49 (22.58%) Active Directory
3 22 (10.14%) Virtual Machines
4 19 (8.76%) Firmware
4 19 (8.76%) Hyper-V
5 17 (7.83%) RACF
6 11 (5.07%) VMware NSX
7 9 (4.15%) Docker
8 8 (3.69%) vSphere
9 7 (3.23%) Squid
10 6 (2.76%) Ceph
10 6 (2.76%) VMware ESXi
11 3 (1.38%) Virtual Servers
12 2 (0.92%) Apache ZooKeeper
12 2 (0.92%) ProxySG
12 2 (0.92%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 2 (0.92%) Virtual Desktop
13 1 (0.46%) KVM
13 1 (0.46%) OpenSSH
Systems Management
1 42 (19.35%) Ansible
2 24 (11.06%) Terraform
3 20 (9.22%) Single Sign-On
4 17 (7.83%) OMEGAMON
5 15 (6.91%) Grafana
5 15 (6.91%) Kubernetes
6 13 (5.99%) CASB
7 9 (4.15%) Prometheus
8 8 (3.69%) Puppet
9 7 (3.23%) SCOM
10 6 (2.76%) FortiGate
11 4 (1.84%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (1.84%) CA Single Sign-On
11 4 (1.84%) Cisco CUCM
11 4 (1.84%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (1.84%) Nessus
11 4 (1.84%) Packer
11 4 (1.84%) PingFederate
11 4 (1.84%) systemd
12 3 (1.38%) yum
Vendors
1 56 (25.81%) VMware
2 48 (22.12%) F5
3 37 (17.05%) Cisco
4 36 (16.59%) Microsoft
5 31 (14.29%) ServiceNow
6 28 (12.90%) Blue Coat
6 28 (12.90%) Zscaler
7 25 (11.52%) Palo Alto
8 23 (10.60%) IBM
9 20 (9.22%) McAfee
10 17 (7.83%) NetApp
11 15 (6.91%) CheckPoint
12 14 (6.45%) Fortinet
13 12 (5.53%) Juniper
14 11 (5.07%) Oracle
14 11 (5.07%) SolarWinds
14 11 (5.07%) Splunk
15 10 (4.61%) Red Hat
16 8 (3.69%) Citrix
17 7 (3.23%) Dynatrace