Kafka Contract Job Trends in England

Apache Kafka
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Kafka skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 103 129
Rank change year-on-year -40 +26 +31
Contract jobs citing Kafka 885 714 616
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.92% 2.57% 1.88%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 9.02% 10.22% 7.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 572 481 400
10th Percentile £376 £375 £410
25th Percentile £425 £456 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £617
Median % change year-on-year - -10.90% -8.56%
75th Percentile £638 £688 £738
90th Percentile £737 £775 £810
UK median daily rate £545 £550 £600
% change year-on-year -0.91% -8.33% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 4 7
10th Percentile £47.10 £40.58 £24.34
25th Percentile £56.25 £48.56 £26.20
Median hourly rate £72.50 £59.25 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +22.36% +111.61% -64.10%
75th Percentile £77.00 £75.31 £33.88
90th Percentile £87.00 £96.13 £39.35
UK median hourly rate £77.00 £59.25 £28.00
% change year-on-year +29.96% +111.61% -64.10%

All Software Libraries and Frameworks
England

Kafka falls under the Software Libraries and Frameworks category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring technical specification, industry standards, software libraries and framework skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for technical specification, industry standards, software libraries and framework skills 9,810 6,989 8,157
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 21.28% 25.17% 24.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,442 4,764 5,468
10th Percentile £375 £354 £363
25th Percentile £440 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £520 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.92% -5.45% -2.22%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £673
90th Percentile £738 £750 £800
UK median daily rate £525 £513 £550
% change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 269 163 177
10th Percentile £29.07 £31.32 £27.45
25th Percentile £51.25 £42.75 £43.00
Median hourly rate £67.47 £54.70 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +23.35% -12.48% -3.85%
75th Percentile £76.00 £65.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £70.00 £74.46
UK median hourly rate £66.66 £53.25 £61.60
% change year-on-year +25.18% -13.56% -2.99%

Kafka
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Kafka relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Kafka job vacancy trend in England

Kafka
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Kafka.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Kafka

Kafka
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Kafka in England over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Kafka in England

Kafka
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Kafka.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Kafka

Kafka
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Kafka in England over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Kafka in England

Kafka
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Kafka within the England region over the 6 months to 16 September 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
London -44 530 £575 -5.00% 867
North of England -21 187 £500 +5.26% 163
Yorkshire -1 95 £501 -12.96% 41
North West -32 73 £550 +17.77% 104
South East -39 62 £460 +5.75% 77
Midlands -45 35 £500 +13.51% 44
East of England +1 28 £500 -2.44% 31
South West -28 27 £500 -9.09% 51
North East -23 24 £425 -8.55% 18
West Midlands -51 22 £700 +40.00% 32
East Midlands -11 13 £495 +19.28% 12
Kafka
UK

Kafka
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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
1 114 (12.88%) Apache Spark
2 65 (7.34%) Apache Airflow
3 57 (6.44%) Apache
4 23 (2.60%) Confluence
5 15 (1.69%) Camunda
6 7 (0.79%) OpenStack
6 7 (0.79%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 5 (0.56%) CMS
7 5 (0.56%) SharePoint
8 4 (0.45%) Apache Pulsar
8 4 (0.45%) MQSeries
9 3 (0.34%) nginx
10 2 (0.23%) Anypoint
10 2 (0.23%) Apache Pig
10 2 (0.23%) Mule
10 2 (0.23%) PowerExchange
11 1 (0.11%) CICS
11 1 (0.11%) Luigi
11 1 (0.11%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 1 (0.11%) Traefik
Applications
1 6 (0.68%) CPLEX
2 2 (0.23%) Mingle
Business Applications
1 3 (0.34%) SAP S/4HANA
1 3 (0.34%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.23%) Endur
2 2 (0.23%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.11%) Actimize
3 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.11%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.11%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.11%) SAP IS-U
Cloud Services
1 494 (55.82%) AWS
2 325 (36.72%) Azure
3 214 (24.18%) GCP
4 149 (16.84%) GitHub
5 95 (10.73%) GitHub Actions
6 86 (9.72%) Serverless
7 70 (7.91%) AWS Lambda
8 64 (7.23%) Amazon S3
8 64 (7.23%) Azure DevOps
9 57 (6.44%) Amazon EKS
10 55 (6.21%) OpenShift
11 54 (6.10%) Snowflake
12 42 (4.75%) Amazon SQS
13 41 (4.63%) dbt
14 37 (4.18%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 33 (3.73%) Amazon ECS
16 31 (3.50%) Azure Data Factory
17 29 (3.28%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 26 (2.94%) Power Platform
19 22 (2.49%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 24 (2.71%) HTTP
2 13 (1.47%) DNS
3 11 (1.24%) Network Security
4 9 (1.02%) TCP/IP
5 6 (0.68%) MQTT
5 6 (0.68%) SSH
6 5 (0.56%) 4G
6 5 (0.56%) 5G
7 4 (0.45%) SSL
8 3 (0.34%) Firewall
8 3 (0.34%) Internet
9 2 (0.23%) Kerberos
9 2 (0.23%) SAN
10 1 (0.11%) Broadband
10 1 (0.11%) FIX Connectivity
10 1 (0.11%) MIMO
10 1 (0.11%) RTP
10 1 (0.11%) VPN
10 1 (0.11%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 158 (17.85%) PostgreSQL
2 146 (16.50%) MongoDB
3 118 (13.33%) NoSQL
4 77 (8.70%) Relational Database
5 65 (7.34%) Data Warehouse
6 57 (6.44%) SQL Server
7 50 (5.65%) Redis
8 42 (4.75%) Data Lake
9 39 (4.41%) MySQL
10 38 (4.29%) Big Data
11 36 (4.07%) BigQuery
12 34 (3.84%) Elasticsearch
13 29 (3.28%) Flink
13 29 (3.28%) Metadata
14 25 (2.82%) Power BI
15 24 (2.71%) Delta Lake
16 22 (2.49%) Amazon Redshift
16 22 (2.49%) DynamoDB
17 21 (2.37%) Apache Cassandra
18 20 (2.26%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 186 (21.02%) Jenkins
2 147 (16.61%) Git
3 138 (15.59%) GitLab
4 61 (6.89%) JUnit
5 60 (6.78%) Gradle
6 50 (5.65%) Mockito
7 45 (5.08%) Selenium
8 41 (4.63%) JIRA
9 37 (4.18%) Maven
10 32 (3.62%) SonarQube
11 28 (3.16%) Cucumber
12 23 (2.60%) REST Assured
13 22 (2.49%) Postman
14 18 (2.03%) JMeter
15 14 (1.58%) Liquibase
16 13 (1.47%) Gatling
16 13 (1.47%) LoadRunner
17 12 (1.36%) Claude Code
17 12 (1.36%) Cypress.io
17 12 (1.36%) SoapUI
General
1 224 (25.31%) Finance
2 157 (17.74%) Social Skills
3 140 (15.82%) Banking
4 85 (9.60%) Analytical Skills
5 68 (7.68%) Public Sector
6 34 (3.84%) Retail
7 18 (2.03%) Front Office
7 18 (2.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 17 (1.92%) Investment Banking
8 17 (1.92%) Telecoms
9 15 (1.69%) Financial Institution
10 11 (1.24%) Law
11 9 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
11 9 (1.02%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (1.02%) Publishing
12 8 (0.90%) Billing
12 8 (0.90%) Military
13 7 (0.79%) Automotive
13 7 (0.79%) Games
13 7 (0.79%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 268 (30.28%) Developer
2 209 (23.62%) Senior
3 140 (15.82%) Java Developer
4 123 (13.90%) Architect
5 102 (11.53%) Data Engineer
6 83 (9.38%) Lead
7 66 (7.46%) Java Engineer
8 61 (6.89%) Senior Developer
9 58 (6.55%) Software Engineer
10 47 (5.31%) DevOps Engineer
11 42 (4.75%) Solutions Architect
12 39 (4.41%) Full-Stack Developer
12 39 (4.41%) Senior Java Developer
13 37 (4.18%) Senior Data Engineer
14 32 (3.62%) Python Developer
15 30 (3.39%) Senior Java Engineer
16 28 (3.16%) AWS Engineer
16 28 (3.16%) Test Engineer
17 27 (3.05%) Python Engineer
17 27 (3.05%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 234 (26.44%) Spring Boot
2 232 (26.21%) Spring
3 204 (23.05%) REST
4 188 (21.24%) Terraform
5 120 (13.56%) RESTful
6 115 (12.99%) React
7 107 (12.09%) RabbitMQ
8 68 (7.68%) JSON
9 49 (5.54%) HTML
9 49 (5.54%) Node.js
10 46 (5.20%) GraphQL
10 46 (5.20%) OAuth
11 45 (5.08%) .NET
12 43 (4.86%) PySpark
13 39 (4.41%) Elastic Stack
13 39 (4.41%) Swagger
14 38 (4.29%) Middleware
14 38 (4.29%) Redux
15 37 (4.18%) CSS
15 37 (4.18%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 214 (24.18%) Cloud Native
2 195 (22.03%) Distributed Systems
3 62 (7.01%) Product Ownership
4 37 (4.18%) Enterprise Software
5 34 (3.84%) Onboarding
6 31 (3.50%) Data Structures
7 30 (3.39%) AI Agents
8 29 (3.28%) Self-Motivation
9 23 (2.60%) Algorithms
10 22 (2.49%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 21 (2.37%) Legacy Systems
12 17 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
12 17 (1.92%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 17 (1.92%) Replication
13 15 (1.69%) Greenfield Project
13 15 (1.69%) Private Cloud
14 13 (1.47%) Equities
14 13 (1.47%) Management Information System
14 13 (1.47%) Public Cloud
15 12 (1.36%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 115 (12.99%) Linux
2 55 (6.21%) Unix
3 16 (1.81%) Windows
4 8 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (0.68%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.56%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.34%) VMS
8 2 (0.23%) Android
8 2 (0.23%) CentOS
8 2 (0.23%) Debian
9 1 (0.11%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.11%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.11%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.11%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 499 (56.38%) CI/CD
2 367 (41.47%) Event-Driven
3 365 (41.24%) Microservices
4 325 (36.72%) DevOps
5 310 (35.03%) Agile
6 254 (28.70%) Event-Driven Architecture
7 243 (27.46%) Observability
8 204 (23.05%) Test Automation
9 194 (21.92%) Containerisation
10 190 (21.47%) Infrastructure as Code
11 167 (18.87%) Software Engineering
12 149 (16.84%) AI
13 147 (16.61%) Data Pipeline
14 126 (14.24%) Data Modelling
15 120 (13.56%) Problem-Solving
15 120 (13.56%) Technical Leadership
16 111 (12.54%) Continuous Improvement
17 106 (11.98%) ETL
18 102 (11.53%) Analytics
19 100 (11.30%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 402 (45.42%) Java
2 307 (34.69%) Python
3 285 (32.20%) SQL
4 94 (10.62%) JavaScript
5 86 (9.72%) TypeScript
6 69 (7.80%) Bash
7 57 (6.44%) C#
8 43 (4.86%) Go
9 38 (4.29%) Scala
10 27 (3.05%) PL/SQL
11 26 (2.94%) PowerShell
12 23 (2.60%) Kotlin
13 22 (2.49%) Shell Script
14 10 (1.13%) Groovy
15 8 (0.90%) Rust
16 7 (0.79%) C++
16 7 (0.79%) PHP
16 7 (0.79%) Search Processing Language
17 6 (0.68%) Kusto Query Language
18 5 (0.56%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 201 (22.71%) Security Cleared
2 158 (17.85%) SC Cleared
3 57 (6.44%) Degree
4 36 (4.07%) Computer Science Degree
5 21 (2.37%) BPSS Clearance
5 21 (2.37%) DV Cleared
6 12 (1.36%) Azure Certification
7 10 (1.13%) AWS Certification
7 10 (1.13%) Master's Degree
8 8 (0.90%) ISTQB
9 6 (0.68%) DBS Check
9 6 (0.68%) ISEB
10 5 (0.56%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 4 (0.45%) TOGAF Certification
12 3 (0.34%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 3 (0.34%) PhD
13 2 (0.23%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Certification
13 2 (0.23%) SnowPro
14 1 (0.11%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (8.36%) Data Quality
2 69 (7.80%) QA
3 29 (3.28%) ISO 20022
4 27 (3.05%) Accessibility
5 15 (1.69%) GDPR
6 13 (1.47%) SEPA
7 5 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
7 5 (0.56%) ISO 15022
7 5 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (0.45%) SLA
8 4 (0.45%) WCAG
9 3 (0.34%) NIST
10 2 (0.23%) GRC
10 2 (0.23%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.23%) IFRS
10 2 (0.23%) IFRS 17
10 2 (0.23%) MiFID
10 2 (0.23%) PSD2
10 2 (0.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.23%) Solvency II
System Software
1 324 (36.61%) Docker
2 16 (1.81%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (0.90%) Apache ZooKeeper
4 2 (0.23%) Apache Flume
4 2 (0.23%) HDFS
5 1 (0.11%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.11%) etcd
Systems Management
1 399 (45.08%) Kubernetes
2 114 (12.88%) Grafana
3 108 (12.20%) Prometheus
4 64 (7.23%) Ansible
5 24 (2.71%) Control-M
6 20 (2.26%) Argo
7 12 (1.36%) Kibana
7 12 (1.36%) Kustomize
8 11 (1.24%) Istio
9 10 (1.13%) Puppet
10 8 (0.90%) logstash
10 8 (0.90%) Podman
11 6 (0.68%) Rancher
11 6 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
12 5 (0.56%) Check_MK
12 5 (0.56%) HP Fortify
13 4 (0.45%) Bosun
13 4 (0.45%) Consul
14 3 (0.34%) Cilium
15 2 (0.23%) linkerd
Vendors
1 103 (11.64%) Oracle
2 76 (8.59%) Databricks
3 55 (6.21%) IBM
4 50 (5.65%) Microsoft
5 47 (5.31%) Splunk
6 43 (4.86%) Google
7 28 (3.16%) Confluent
8 27 (3.05%) Dynatrace
8 27 (3.05%) Informatica
9 20 (2.26%) VMware
10 18 (2.03%) MuleSoft
10 18 (2.03%) OpenAI
11 16 (1.81%) SAP
12 13 (1.47%) Solace
13 12 (1.36%) Salesforce
13 12 (1.36%) TIBCO
14 11 (1.24%) New Relic
15 9 (1.02%) Veracode
16 8 (0.90%) Sybase
16 8 (0.90%) WSO2