Linux Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Linux
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Linux skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 35 50
Rank change year-on-year -35 +15 -5
Contract jobs citing Linux 265 250 151
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 3.47% 6.04% 3.63%
As % of the Operating Systems category 30.85% 37.71% 28.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 161 177 88
10th Percentile £358 £315 £360
25th Percentile £418 £368 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -13.64% +4.76%
75th Percentile £620 £575 £620
90th Percentile £650 £680 £691
England median daily rate £525 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +0.96% -5.45% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 5
10th Percentile £19.56 £44.75 -
25th Percentile £25.00 £48.96 £47.00
Median hourly rate £25.84 £55.97 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -53.83% +6.61% +133.33%
75th Percentile £47.12 £62.99 £68.18
90th Percentile £48.10 £67.19 £75.62
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year - -3.70% +8.00%

All Operating Systems
North of England

Linux falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring operating system skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 859 663 528
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 11.25% 16.03% 12.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 570 461 300
10th Percentile £185 £170 £178
25th Percentile £281 £220 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £435 £400 £441
Median % change year-on-year +8.75% -9.35% +0.28%
75th Percentile £528 £520 £558
90th Percentile £615 £612 £626
England median daily rate £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 26 38
10th Percentile £13.89 £13.00 £15.22
25th Percentile £16.90 £15.50 £16.06
Median hourly rate £19.00 £18.15 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.68% +3.71% -17.88%
75th Percentile £37.56 £19.58 £23.92
90th Percentile £95.00 £33.55 £51.00
England median hourly rate £32.29 £24.25 £60.72
% change year-on-year +33.15% -60.06% +30.04%

Linux
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

Linux job vacancy trend in the North of England

Linux
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Linux.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Linux

Linux
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Linux in the North of England over the 6 months to 10 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Linux in the North of England

Linux
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Linux.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Linux

Linux
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Linux in the North of England over the 6 months to 10 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Linux in the North of England

Linux
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Linux within the North of England region over the 6 months to 10 October 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
North West -22 133 £497 +24.25% 114
Yorkshire -35 108 £521 +4.25% 65
North East -17 32 £480 -10.70% 32
Linux
England

Linux
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of 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 13 (4.91%) Confluence
2 4 (1.51%) Apache
2 4 (1.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.13%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.13%) IBM Transformation Extender
3 3 (1.13%) nginx
3 3 (1.13%) OpenStack
3 3 (1.13%) WebSphere
4 2 (0.75%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.75%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.75%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.75%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.38%) CMS
5 1 (0.38%) SAS
5 1 (0.38%) Traefik
Applications
1 6 (2.26%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.75%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.38%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 98 (36.98%) AWS
2 77 (29.06%) Azure
3 50 (18.87%) GCP
4 26 (9.81%) GitHub
5 19 (7.17%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (6.79%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 17 (6.42%) OCI
8 15 (5.66%) AWS CloudFormation
8 15 (5.66%) OpenShift
9 13 (4.91%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 12 (4.53%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 12 (4.53%) Amazon ECS
10 12 (4.53%) Amazon EKS
10 12 (4.53%) Serverless
11 11 (4.15%) Entra ID
12 9 (3.40%) AWS Lambda
12 9 (3.40%) Azure Monitor
12 9 (3.40%) GitHub Actions
13 8 (3.02%) AWS KMS
14 7 (2.64%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 30 (11.32%) Firewall
2 19 (7.17%) DNS
2 19 (7.17%) Network Security
3 13 (4.91%) TCP/IP
4 9 (3.40%) SAN
5 8 (3.02%) SD-WAN
5 8 (3.02%) WAN
6 7 (2.64%) Wireless
7 6 (2.26%) DHCP
7 6 (2.26%) VPN
8 4 (1.51%) 3GPP
8 4 (1.51%) RTP
8 4 (1.51%) Wireshark
9 3 (1.13%) Fibre Channel
9 3 (1.13%) iSCSI
9 3 (1.13%) NAS
9 3 (1.13%) SNMP
9 3 (1.13%) SSL
9 3 (1.13%) VLAN
10 2 (0.75%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.68%) Oracle Database
2 17 (6.42%) RDBMS
2 17 (6.42%) Relational Database
3 14 (5.28%) Oracle Exadata
4 11 (4.15%) NoSQL
4 11 (4.15%) SQL Server
5 9 (3.40%) MongoDB
6 6 (2.26%) Elasticsearch
6 6 (2.26%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (1.89%) Data Lake
8 4 (1.51%) DynamoDB
8 4 (1.51%) Power BI
8 4 (1.51%) Sybase ASE
9 3 (1.13%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (1.13%) Big Data
9 3 (1.13%) BusinessObjects
9 3 (1.13%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.75%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.75%) Apache Hive
10 2 (0.75%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 42 (15.85%) Git
2 27 (10.19%) GitLab
3 20 (7.55%) Jenkins
3 20 (7.55%) JIRA
4 7 (2.64%) Sonatype Nexus
5 6 (2.26%) Mockito
6 5 (1.89%) Cucumber
6 5 (1.89%) SonarQube
7 4 (1.51%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.75%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.75%) Burp Suite
8 2 (0.75%) Gatling
8 2 (0.75%) Gradle
8 2 (0.75%) LoadRunner
8 2 (0.75%) Maven
8 2 (0.75%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.75%) Toad
9 1 (0.38%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.38%) Jaeger
9 1 (0.38%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 59 (22.26%) Social Skills
2 57 (21.51%) Finance
3 28 (10.57%) Banking
4 23 (8.68%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (8.68%) Public Sector
5 8 (3.02%) Legal
6 7 (2.64%) Military
7 6 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (1.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (1.51%) Corporate Banking
9 4 (1.51%) Law
9 4 (1.51%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (1.51%) Telecoms
10 3 (1.13%) Aviation
10 3 (1.13%) Fire and Rescue
10 3 (1.13%) Investment Banking
10 3 (1.13%) Police
11 1 (0.38%) Electronics
11 1 (0.38%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 39 (14.72%) Senior
2 31 (11.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 25 (9.43%) Developer
3 25 (9.43%) Linux Engineer
4 22 (8.30%) DevOps Engineer
4 22 (8.30%) Security Engineer
5 20 (7.55%) Cloud Engineer
6 14 (5.28%) Consultant
6 14 (5.28%) Unix Engineer
7 13 (4.91%) Lead
8 12 (4.53%) AWS Engineer
9 11 (4.15%) Cloud Security Engineer
9 11 (4.15%) DBA
10 10 (3.77%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 10 (3.77%) Support Engineer
10 10 (3.77%) Unix Linux Engineer
11 9 (3.40%) Java Developer
11 9 (3.40%) Senior Developer
12 8 (3.02%) Architect
12 8 (3.02%) Security Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 99 (37.36%) Terraform
2 16 (6.04%) REST
3 15 (5.66%) Kafka
4 14 (5.28%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 11 (4.15%) .NET
5 11 (4.15%) JSON
5 11 (4.15%) Middleware
6 9 (3.40%) Django
7 8 (3.02%) ARM Templates
7 8 (3.02%) YAML
8 6 (2.26%) ActiveMQ
8 6 (2.26%) JAX-RS
8 6 (2.26%) RabbitMQ
9 5 (1.89%) Flask
9 5 (1.89%) Node.js
10 4 (1.51%) .NET Core
10 4 (1.51%) Azure Blueprints
10 4 (1.51%) Redfish
10 4 (1.51%) RESTful
10 4 (1.51%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 37 (13.96%) Cloud Native
2 22 (8.30%) Linux Command Line
3 21 (7.92%) Data Centre
4 20 (7.55%) PKI
4 20 (7.55%) Security Posture
5 18 (6.79%) Public Cloud
6 17 (6.42%) Replication
7 15 (5.66%) Management Information System
8 14 (5.28%) Onboarding
9 13 (4.91%) Mainframe
10 12 (4.53%) Data Protection Act
10 12 (4.53%) Hybrid Cloud
11 10 (3.77%) Distributed Systems
11 10 (3.77%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (3.40%) Enterprise Cloud
13 7 (2.64%) Operational Technology
14 6 (2.26%) Cloud Security Posture
14 6 (2.26%) SCADA
15 5 (1.89%) Clustering
15 5 (1.89%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 83 (31.32%) Windows
2 67 (25.28%) Unix
3 59 (22.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 26 (9.81%) Windows Server
5 22 (8.30%) AIX
6 18 (6.79%) Solaris
7 8 (3.02%) CentOS
8 6 (2.26%) VMS
9 5 (1.89%) Ubuntu
10 4 (1.51%) zOS
11 3 (1.13%) HPUX
11 3 (1.13%) Oracle Linux
11 3 (1.13%) SUSE
12 2 (0.75%) CoreOS
12 2 (0.75%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.75%) Mac OS X
12 2 (0.75%) OpenVMS
12 2 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.38%) Check Point GAiA
13 1 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (39.25%) CI/CD
2 95 (35.85%) Infrastructure as Code
3 76 (28.68%) DevOps
4 60 (22.64%) Agile
5 55 (20.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 53 (20.00%) Observability
7 46 (17.36%) Continuous Improvement
8 45 (16.98%) Migration
9 43 (16.23%) Change Management
10 39 (14.72%) Cloud Security
10 39 (14.72%) Infrastructure Automation
11 38 (14.34%) High Availability
12 37 (13.96%) Disaster Recovery
13 36 (13.58%) Stakeholder Management
14 32 (12.08%) Problem-Solving
15 30 (11.32%) Cybersecurity
15 30 (11.32%) ITIL
16 28 (10.57%) Containerisation
17 27 (10.19%) Performance Tuning
17 27 (10.19%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 108 (40.75%) Python
2 71 (26.79%) Bash
3 67 (25.28%) PowerShell
4 43 (16.23%) Java
5 38 (14.34%) SQL
6 17 (6.42%) Shell Script
7 15 (5.66%) Bicep
8 11 (4.15%) Go
9 10 (3.77%) C#
9 10 (3.77%) JavaScript
10 7 (2.64%) Search Processing Language
11 4 (1.51%) Groovy
11 4 (1.51%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (1.13%) Kotlin
12 3 (1.13%) Rust
12 3 (1.13%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.75%) DCL
13 2 (0.75%) JCL
13 2 (0.75%) Perl
13 2 (0.75%) REXX
Qualifications
1 55 (20.75%) Security Cleared
2 44 (16.60%) SC Cleared
3 33 (12.45%) Degree
4 26 (9.81%) CISSP
5 22 (8.30%) AWS Certification
6 21 (7.92%) Azure Certification
7 6 (2.26%) CISM
7 6 (2.26%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (1.89%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (1.89%) CompTIA Security+
8 5 (1.89%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 4 (1.51%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (1.51%) CEH
9 4 (1.51%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (1.13%) A+ Certification
10 3 (1.13%) DV Cleared
10 3 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (1.13%) Network+ Certification
10 3 (1.13%) OSCP
10 3 (1.13%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (1.51%) GRC
1 4 (1.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 4 (1.51%) NIST
2 3 (1.13%) SLA
3 2 (0.75%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.75%) HIPAA
3 2 (0.75%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.38%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.38%) California Consumer Privacy Act
4 1 (0.38%) Def Stans
4 1 (0.38%) GDPR
4 1 (0.38%) NCSC
4 1 (0.38%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.38%) WCAG
System Software
1 49 (18.49%) Docker
2 37 (13.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 28 (10.57%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (7.55%) Active Directory
5 18 (6.79%) Oracle RAC
6 14 (5.28%) KVM
7 13 (4.91%) VMware ESXi
8 10 (3.77%) vSphere
9 9 (3.40%) Hyper-V
10 8 (3.02%) NFS
11 7 (2.64%) Firmware
12 6 (2.26%) Virtual Servers
13 4 (1.51%) Ceph
14 3 (1.13%) GPFS
14 3 (1.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 2 (0.75%) NDS
15 2 (0.75%) NetIQ eDirectory
15 2 (0.75%) Time Sharing Option
15 2 (0.75%) Veritas Volume Manager
16 1 (0.38%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 77 (29.06%) Kubernetes
2 72 (27.17%) Ansible
3 22 (8.30%) Prometheus
4 21 (7.92%) Grafana
5 19 (7.17%) Data Guard
6 18 (6.79%) Oracle RMAN
6 18 (6.79%) Progress Chef
7 8 (3.02%) Istio
7 8 (3.02%) VxRail
8 6 (2.26%) Packer
8 6 (2.26%) Tivoli
8 6 (2.26%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.51%) Argo
9 4 (1.51%) Dell DRAC
9 4 (1.51%) McAfee ePO
9 4 (1.51%) Nessus
9 4 (1.51%) Oracle ZFS
9 4 (1.51%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 4 (1.51%) ZABBIX
10 3 (1.13%) vRealize
Vendors
1 43 (16.23%) Microsoft
1 43 (16.23%) Oracle
2 39 (14.72%) VMware
3 37 (13.96%) Red Hat
4 24 (9.06%) Google
5 23 (8.68%) Splunk
6 19 (7.17%) IBM
7 17 (6.42%) Cisco
8 13 (4.91%) Dell
9 10 (3.77%) ServiceNow
10 8 (3.02%) Dynatrace
11 7 (2.64%) Fortinet
12 6 (2.26%) Tenable
13 5 (1.89%) AppDynamics
13 5 (1.89%) Databricks
13 5 (1.89%) Juniper
14 4 (1.51%) Carbon Black
14 4 (1.51%) McAfee
14 4 (1.51%) Sybase
15 3 (1.13%) Palo Alto