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 18 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 56 38 51
Rank change year-on-year -18 +13 -4
Contract jobs citing Linux 286 228 156
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 3.78% 5.70% 3.76%
As % of the Operating Systems category 32.69% 36.31% 29.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 158 103
10th Percentile £358 £316 £360
25th Percentile £418 £367 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -13.64% +4.76%
75th Percentile £615 £610 £631
90th Percentile £650 £700 £698
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 4
10th Percentile £19.90 £44.75 -
25th Percentile £25.84 £48.96 £47.00
Median hourly rate £47.12 £55.97 £50.75
Median % change year-on-year -15.81% +10.29% +125.56%
75th Percentile £48.75 £62.99 £62.33
90th Percentile £49.50 £67.19 £73.29
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 875 628 527
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 11.55% 15.69% 12.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 582 425 329
10th Percentile £181 £170 £184
25th Percentile £240 £255 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £428 £400 £450
Median % change year-on-year +6.94% -11.11% +5.88%
75th Percentile £525 £525 £588
90th Percentile £615 £624 £690
England median daily rate £465 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +3.33% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 29 40
10th Percentile £13.95 £13.00 £14.21
25th Percentile £16.90 £15.50 £15.91
Median hourly rate £19.00 £18.21 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.37% +4.03% -16.67%
75th Percentile £47.53 £18.87 £22.22
90th Percentile £178.75 £25.43 £34.35
England median hourly rate £38.50 £25.15 £57.50
% change year-on-year +53.08% -56.26% +20.22%

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 18 September 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 18 September 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 18 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
North West -12 142 £497 +23.63% 115
Yorkshire -29 119 £516 +3.25% 38
North East -20 33 £470 -18.26% 37
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 (4.55%) Confluence
2 4 (1.40%) Apache
2 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.05%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.05%) nginx
3 3 (1.05%) OpenStack
3 3 (1.05%) WebSphere
4 2 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.70%) IBM Transformation Extender
4 2 (0.70%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.70%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.70%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.35%) CICS
5 1 (0.35%) CMS
5 1 (0.35%) SAS
5 1 (0.35%) Traefik
Applications
1 6 (2.10%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.70%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.35%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 105 (36.71%) AWS
2 83 (29.02%) Azure
3 52 (18.18%) GCP
4 29 (10.14%) GitHub
5 19 (6.64%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (6.29%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 18 (6.29%) OpenShift
7 17 (5.94%) OCI
8 14 (4.90%) Amazon ECS
8 14 (4.90%) Amazon EKS
8 14 (4.90%) AWS CloudFormation
9 13 (4.55%) Serverless
9 13 (4.55%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 12 (4.20%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 11 (3.85%) AWS Lambda
11 11 (3.85%) Entra ID
11 11 (3.85%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (3.15%) Azure Monitor
13 8 (2.80%) AWS KMS
14 7 (2.45%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 31 (10.84%) Firewall
2 19 (6.64%) DNS
3 18 (6.29%) Network Security
4 13 (4.55%) SAN
5 11 (3.85%) TCP/IP
6 8 (2.80%) SD-WAN
6 8 (2.80%) WAN
6 8 (2.80%) Wireless
7 6 (2.10%) 3GPP
7 6 (2.10%) DHCP
7 6 (2.10%) RTP
7 6 (2.10%) VPN
7 6 (2.10%) VSAN
7 6 (2.10%) Wireshark
8 5 (1.75%) NAS
9 3 (1.05%) Fibre Channel
9 3 (1.05%) FTP
9 3 (1.05%) HTTP
9 3 (1.05%) iSCSI
9 3 (1.05%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.04%) Oracle Database
2 16 (5.59%) RDBMS
2 16 (5.59%) Relational Database
3 14 (4.90%) Oracle Exadata
4 12 (4.20%) MongoDB
4 12 (4.20%) NoSQL
5 9 (3.15%) SQL Server
6 6 (2.10%) DynamoDB
6 6 (2.10%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (1.75%) Data Lake
7 5 (1.75%) Sybase ASE
8 4 (1.40%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.40%) Power BI
9 3 (1.05%) Amazon Aurora
9 3 (1.05%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (1.05%) Big Data
9 3 (1.05%) BusinessObjects
9 3 (1.05%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (1.05%) Oracle Database 12c
10 2 (0.70%) Amazon Athena
Development Applications
1 43 (15.03%) Git
2 25 (8.74%) GitLab
3 22 (7.69%) JIRA
4 20 (6.99%) Jenkins
5 9 (3.15%) Mockito
6 7 (2.45%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (2.10%) TeamCity
8 5 (1.75%) Cucumber
8 5 (1.75%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.70%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.70%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.70%) Gatling
9 2 (0.70%) Gradle
9 2 (0.70%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.70%) Maven
9 2 (0.70%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.70%) Toad
10 1 (0.35%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.35%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.35%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 64 (22.38%) Social Skills
2 60 (20.98%) Finance
3 28 (9.79%) Banking
4 26 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
5 25 (8.74%) Public Sector
6 10 (3.50%) Legal
7 7 (2.45%) Military
8 6 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.75%) Aviation
9 5 (1.75%) Fire and Rescue
9 5 (1.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.75%) Police
10 4 (1.40%) Corporate Banking
10 4 (1.40%) Investment Banking
10 4 (1.40%) Law
11 3 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.05%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.35%) Electronics
12 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.35%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 46 (16.08%) Senior
2 30 (10.49%) Developer
2 30 (10.49%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 29 (10.14%) Linux Engineer
4 22 (7.69%) DevOps Engineer
4 22 (7.69%) Security Engineer
5 19 (6.64%) Cloud Engineer
6 16 (5.59%) Unix Engineer
7 14 (4.90%) Consultant
8 13 (4.55%) Java Developer
8 13 (4.55%) Lead
9 12 (4.20%) AWS Engineer
9 12 (4.20%) Senior Developer
10 11 (3.85%) Cloud Security Engineer
10 11 (3.85%) DBA
11 10 (3.50%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (3.50%) Software Engineer
11 10 (3.50%) Support Engineer
11 10 (3.50%) Unix Linux Engineer
12 9 (3.15%) Senior Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 100 (34.97%) Terraform
2 16 (5.59%) Kafka
3 15 (5.24%) REST
4 14 (4.90%) .NET
4 14 (4.90%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 11 (3.85%) JSON
6 9 (3.15%) ActiveMQ
6 9 (3.15%) Django
6 9 (3.15%) JAX-RS
6 9 (3.15%) Middleware
7 8 (2.80%) ARM Templates
7 8 (2.80%) YAML
8 6 (2.10%) .NET Core
8 6 (2.10%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (2.10%) Redfish
9 5 (1.75%) Flask
9 5 (1.75%) Node.js
10 4 (1.40%) LDAP
10 4 (1.40%) RESTful
10 4 (1.40%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 36 (12.59%) Cloud Native
2 25 (8.74%) Data Centre
3 23 (8.04%) Linux Command Line
4 19 (6.64%) PKI
4 19 (6.64%) Security Posture
5 18 (6.29%) Replication
6 17 (5.94%) Public Cloud
7 14 (4.90%) Hybrid Cloud
7 14 (4.90%) Legacy Systems
7 14 (4.90%) Management Information System
8 12 (4.20%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (4.20%) Mainframe
9 11 (3.85%) Distributed Systems
10 9 (3.15%) Onboarding
11 8 (2.80%) Enterprise Cloud
12 6 (2.10%) Cloud Security Posture
13 5 (1.75%) Operational Technology
13 5 (1.75%) Private Cloud
13 5 (1.75%) Robotics
14 4 (1.40%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 92 (32.17%) Windows
2 72 (25.17%) Unix
3 65 (22.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 28 (9.79%) Windows Server
5 26 (9.09%) AIX
6 20 (6.99%) Solaris
7 8 (2.80%) Ubuntu
7 8 (2.80%) VMS
8 7 (2.45%) CentOS
9 6 (2.10%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (1.75%) HPUX
10 5 (1.75%) SUSE
11 4 (1.40%) Mac OS
11 4 (1.40%) Mac OS X
11 4 (1.40%) zOS
12 2 (0.70%) CoreOS
12 2 (0.70%) OpenVMS
12 2 (0.70%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.35%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 105 (36.71%) CI/CD
2 94 (32.87%) Infrastructure as Code
3 76 (26.57%) DevOps
4 69 (24.13%) Agile
5 51 (17.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 50 (17.48%) Observability
7 47 (16.43%) Continuous Improvement
7 47 (16.43%) Migration
8 44 (15.38%) Change Management
9 40 (13.99%) High Availability
10 39 (13.64%) Infrastructure Automation
11 37 (12.94%) Cloud Security
12 34 (11.89%) Problem-Solving
13 32 (11.19%) ITIL
14 31 (10.84%) Disaster Recovery
15 30 (10.49%) Stakeholder Management
16 29 (10.14%) Performance Tuning
16 29 (10.14%) Test Automation
17 28 (9.79%) Root Cause Analysis
17 28 (9.79%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 111 (38.81%) Python
2 77 (26.92%) Bash
3 76 (26.57%) PowerShell
4 48 (16.78%) Java
5 42 (14.69%) SQL
6 18 (6.29%) Shell Script
7 15 (5.24%) Bicep
8 13 (4.55%) C#
9 11 (3.85%) JavaScript
10 9 (3.15%) Go
11 5 (1.75%) Search Processing Language
12 4 (1.40%) Groovy
12 4 (1.40%) Kotlin
12 4 (1.40%) Kusto Query Language
13 3 (1.05%) JCL
13 3 (1.05%) Rust
13 3 (1.05%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.70%) C++
14 2 (0.70%) Perl
14 2 (0.70%) REXX
Qualifications
1 59 (20.63%) Security Cleared
2 47 (16.43%) SC Cleared
3 34 (11.89%) Degree
4 27 (9.44%) CISSP
5 21 (7.34%) AWS Certification
5 21 (7.34%) Azure Certification
6 7 (2.45%) CompTIA Security+
7 6 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (2.10%) CISM
7 6 (2.10%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (2.10%) RHCE
8 5 (1.75%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (1.40%) CEH
9 4 (1.40%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 3 (1.05%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (1.05%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (1.05%) Network+ Certification
10 3 (1.05%) OSCP
10 3 (1.05%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (1.75%) GRC
2 5 (1.75%) HIPAA
3 4 (1.40%) NIST
3 4 (1.40%) SLA
4 3 (1.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 2 (0.70%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.70%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.35%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 1 (0.35%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.35%) GDPR
6 1 (0.35%) NCSC
6 1 (0.35%) QA
6 1 (0.35%) SOC 2
6 1 (0.35%) WCAG
System Software
1 53 (18.53%) Docker
2 41 (14.34%) VMware Infrastructure
3 31 (10.84%) Virtual Machines
4 23 (8.04%) Active Directory
5 17 (5.94%) Oracle RAC
5 17 (5.94%) VMware ESXi
6 15 (5.24%) vSphere
7 13 (4.55%) KVM
8 10 (3.50%) Firmware
8 10 (3.50%) NFS
9 8 (2.80%) Hyper-V
10 6 (2.10%) VMware NSX
11 4 (1.40%) Ceph
11 4 (1.40%) Virtual Servers
12 3 (1.05%) GPFS
12 3 (1.05%) Time Sharing Option
12 3 (1.05%) Veritas Volume Manager
13 2 (0.70%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 1 (0.35%) HDFS
14 1 (0.35%) NetIQ eDirectory
Systems Management
1 79 (27.62%) Ansible
2 77 (26.92%) Kubernetes
3 20 (6.99%) Grafana
3 20 (6.99%) Progress Chef
3 20 (6.99%) Prometheus
4 19 (6.64%) Oracle RMAN
5 18 (6.29%) Data Guard
6 9 (3.15%) vCenter Server
7 8 (2.80%) Packer
8 7 (2.45%) Istio
9 6 (2.10%) Dell DRAC
9 6 (2.10%) Tivoli
9 6 (2.10%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 6 (2.10%) VxRail
10 5 (1.75%) vMotion
10 5 (1.75%) vRealize
11 4 (1.40%) Argo
11 4 (1.40%) Oracle ZFS
11 4 (1.40%) PowerCLI
11 4 (1.40%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 45 (15.73%) Oracle
2 44 (15.38%) VMware
3 42 (14.69%) Microsoft
4 40 (13.99%) Red Hat
5 24 (8.39%) Google
6 20 (6.99%) Splunk
7 18 (6.29%) IBM
8 16 (5.59%) Cisco
9 11 (3.85%) Dell
10 9 (3.15%) ServiceNow
11 7 (2.45%) Dynatrace
12 6 (2.10%) Tenable
13 5 (1.75%) AppDynamics
13 5 (1.75%) Databricks
13 5 (1.75%) Fortinet
13 5 (1.75%) HP
13 5 (1.75%) Juniper
13 5 (1.75%) Sybase
14 4 (1.40%) CyberArk
15 3 (1.05%) Broadcom