SFIA Skills & Day Rates

SFIA Skills & Day Rates

Conversational knowledge about the SFIA 8 framework, skill levels, day rate benchmarks, role mappings, and Lot 3 (Cloud Support) service team compositions for G-Cloud submissions.

Purpose

Provide instant answers to common questions about SFIA levels, typical day rates, role-to-skill mappings, and team compositions without requiring document generation. This covers the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) version 8 as used in G-Cloud Lot 3 submissions.

When to Use

Activate when users ask about:

• What SFIA level a specific role maps to
• Day rate ranges for a given SFIA level or role
• How to map DDaT (Digital, Data and Technology) roles to SFIA skills
• Team compositions for common Lot 3 service types
• AI skills framework and how it maps to SFIA
• What skills/roles are needed for a specific type of cloud support service

Quick Reference: SFIA Levels

Level	Title	Autonomy	Typical Role	Day Rate Range
1	Follow	Under supervision	—	—
2	Assist	Routine direction	—	—
3	Apply	General direction	Junior Consultant	£300–£450
4	Enable	Autonomous	Consultant	£450–£600
5	Ensure/Advise	Broad autonomy	Senior Consultant	£600–£850
6	Initiate/Influence	Full autonomy	Principal Consultant	£850–£1,200
7	Set Strategy/Inspire	Accountable	Director/Partner	£1,200–£2,000+

Rates vary by skill scarcity, location, and clearance requirements.

Quick Reference: Common Role Mappings

Role	SFIA Skills	Typical Level
Solution Architect	ARCH, TECH	5–6
Cloud Consultant	CNSL, ARCH	5–6
DevOps Engineer	CFMG, RELM, DLMG	4–5
Security Engineer	SCTY, SCAD, PENT	4–5
Project Manager	PRMG	5
Business Analyst	BUAN	4–5
Data Engineer	DENG, DBDS, DBAD	4–5
Service Manager	CSMG, SLMO, ITOP	4–5

Quick Reference: DDaT to SFIA

DDaT Role	SFIA Skills
Software Developer	PROG, SWDN, TEST
DevOps Engineer	CFMG, RELM, DLMG
Data Engineer	DENG, DBDS, DBAD
Security Engineer	SCTY, SCAD, PENT
Technical Architect	ARCH, TECH
Service Manager	CSMG, SLMO, ITOP
Business Analyst	BUAN
Product Manager	PROD
Delivery Manager	PRMG

Quick Reference: AI Role Day Rates

Role	SFIA Level	Day Rate Range
AI Support Analyst	3	£350–£500
AI/ML Engineer	4–5	£550–£800
AI Solution Architect	5–6	£800–£1,200
AI Strategy Consultant	6	£1,000–£1,500
AI Ethics/Governance Lead	5–6	£800–£1,200
AI Director/Partner	7	£1,500–£2,500+

AI-specific skills command 10–25% premium over equivalent non-AI roles.

Common Lot 3 Service Archetypes

Cloud Migration Service

Architect (ARCH 5–6) + Migration Engineer (DLMG 4–5) + DevOps (CFMG 4–5) + Test Engineer (TEST 4) + PM (PRMG 5)

Managed Cloud Service

Cloud Ops (ITOP 3–5) + Monitoring (SLMO 3–4) + Problem Manager (PBMG 4–5) + Security (SCTY 4–5) + Service Manager (CSMG 4–5)

Cloud Consultancy

Consultant (CNSL 5–6) + Architect (ARCH 5–6) + Strategy (STPL 5–6) + BA (BUAN 4–5) + Change Manager (CHMG 4–5)

Cloud Security Service

Security Consultant (SCTY 5–6) + Assessor (INAS 5–6) + Pen Tester (PENT 4–5) + Security Engineer (SCAD 4–5) + BC/DR (BURM 5)

Answering Questions

When answering SFIA and day rate questions:

1. Check the quick reference tables above first for common lookups
2. Consult references/sfia-skills.md for the full skill catalogue (30+ skills across 6 categories), detailed team compositions, the UK Government AI Skills Framework (3 domains, 3 levels, adoption pathway), and AI-enabled service combinations
3. Always note that rates are indicative — actual rates vary by skill scarcity, geographic location, security clearance requirements, and market conditions
4. Map roles to specific SFIA skill codes when possible (e.g., ARCH for Solution Architecture, not just "architecture")
5. For AI roles, reference both the SFIA level and the AI Skills Framework level (Entry/Mid/Managerial)

Related Commands

These ArcKit commands use SFIA data:

Command	SFIA Usage
/arckit:sdd-lot3	Maps service roles to SFIA skills and levels (reads sfia-skills.md reference)
/arckit:pricing	Day rates informed by SFIA level benchmarks

Additional Resources

Reference Files

• references/sfia-skills.md — Complete SFIA 8 reference with all cloud-relevant skills across 6 categories (Strategy & Architecture, Change & Transformation, Development & Implementation, Delivery & Operation, Security & Privacy, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure), full team composition tables for 4 service archetypes plus 4 AI-enabled service types, DDaT role mappings, the UK Government AI Skills Framework, AI skills adoption pathway, and SFIA skills enhanced by AI. Consult for any skill code, team composition, or AI framework detail not covered by the quick reference tables above.