Specialist skills in cloud technology, data and artificial intelligence are attracting some of the highest advertised salaries in the UK jobs market, according to new analysis of job vacancies.
The research, carried out by Managed247, compared salaries associated with different hard skills against an overall median advertised salary of £40,557.50.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) came out highest in the analysis, with roles requiring the skill carrying a median advertised salary of £70,539. That is £29,981.50, or 73.9%, above the overall median.
Other skills towards the top of the table were also concentrated around cloud infrastructure, data and AI. Model evaluation was associated with a median salary of £70,029, Redshift £68,999, model training £68,974, cloud architecture £68,555 and cloud migration £68,520.
For sectors such as construction equipment, where machine control, telematics, automation, connected equipment and data are playing an increasing role, the figures point to the competition employers face for people with specialist digital expertise.
The analysis also shows that the skills appearing most frequently in job adverts are not necessarily those commanding the highest salaries.
Excel was the most commonly requested hard skill, appearing in 173,063 adverts, but roles requiring it had a median advertised salary of £35,350. That is £5,207.50, or 12.8%, below the overall median used in the study.
AWS, by comparison, appeared in 4,364 adverts but was associated with a median salary of £70,539.
Python combined relatively high demand with a strong salary premium. It appeared in 51,846 job adverts and carried a median advertised salary of £58,230, £17,672.50 or 43.6% above the overall median.
It also featured among some of the highest-paying vacancies. Of the adverts in the analysis offering salaries above £150,000, 83 required Python. Those roles had a median advertised salary of £156,199.50.
The figures also suggest a significant difference between general and more specialist AI capability.
Artificial intelligence appeared in 48,998 adverts, with a median advertised salary of £46,513. More specific skills attracted considerably higher figures, including £67,683 for GenAI, £68,974.50 for model training and £70,029.50 for model evaluation.
Compared with the £46,513 median for roles requiring general AI skills, GenAI was £21,170 higher, model training £22,461.50 higher and model evaluation £23,516.50 higher.
Against the overall median across the analysis, GenAI was 66.9% higher and model evaluation 72.7% higher.
High salaries were not confined to technology-based skills. Risk management appeared in 72,191 job adverts, making it the third most commonly requested hard skill in the analysis.
It was also required in 81 adverts offering salaries above £150,000, where the median advertised salary was £159,060.50.
Location also made a difference. Python roles advertised in London had a median salary of £69,367.50, around £11,000 above the national median for jobs requiring Python, while AWS roles in Manchester had a median salary of £61,603.75.
John Pepper, CEO and founder of Managed247, said:
“The findings highlight an important distinction between skills that are useful across the job market and those employers are willing to pay a significant premium for.
“Excel remains incredibly valuable because it is used across such a wide range of careers, but the biggest salary premiums are increasingly concentrated around specialist areas such as cloud infrastructure, machine learning and generative AI.
“For anyone thinking about their next career move, developing deeper expertise in a specialist market could be a valuable way to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.”
