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 26 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 38 43 46
Rank change year-on-year +5 +3 -30
Contract jobs citing Linux 285 166 193
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 6.19% 4.24% 4.06%
As % of the Operating Systems category 39.58% 30.35% 29.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 210 88 119
10th Percentile £312 £360 £313
25th Percentile £363 £463 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £555 £505
Median % change year-on-year -14.41% +9.90% -8.18%
75th Percentile £550 £638 £599
90th Percentile £680 £738 £650
England median daily rate £514 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -6.59% - -6.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 7 14
10th Percentile £47.55 £44.40 £16.58
25th Percentile £55.97 £47.00 £21.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £52.50 £42.04
Median % change year-on-year +33.33% +24.89% -5.91%
75th Percentile £72.13 £74.38 £46.63
90th Percentile £73.41 £82.66 £63.75
England median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year -2.26% +6.40% -3.85%

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 720 547 650
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 15.65% 13.99% 13.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 523 296 420
10th Percentile £155 £178 £174
25th Percentile £203 £275 £244
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £375 £440 £425
Median % change year-on-year -14.77% +3.53% -5.56%
75th Percentile £503 £558 £545
90th Percentile £618 £638 £613
England median daily rate £450 £475 £480
% change year-on-year -5.26% -1.04% -5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 38 52
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.06 £17.72
Median hourly rate £19.50 £19.57 £21.31
Median % change year-on-year -0.33% -8.19% +2.55%
75th Percentile £24.10 £24.18 £45.88
90th Percentile £61.58 £52.58 £64.88
England median hourly rate £23.00 £60.00 £34.75
% change year-on-year -61.67% +72.66% +39.00%

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 26 November 2025.

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 26 November 2025.

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 26 November 2025. 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
Yorkshire +13 161 £500 -19.16% 44
North West -2 120 £429 -18.33% 69
North East -8 10 £550 +16.83% 18
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 25 (8.77%) JBoss
2 23 (8.07%) Apache
3 19 (6.67%) WebSphere
4 14 (4.91%) WebSphere Application Server
5 11 (3.86%) IIS
6 10 (3.51%) iPlanet
7 9 (3.16%) Tomcat
8 7 (2.46%) Microsoft Exchange
9 6 (2.11%) OpenStack
9 6 (2.11%) SharePoint
10 5 (1.75%) TPMS
11 3 (1.05%) Apache Airflow
11 3 (1.05%) Apache Spark
12 2 (0.70%) CICS
12 2 (0.70%) Confluence
13 1 (0.35%) CMS
13 1 (0.35%) Documentum
13 1 (0.35%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 11 (3.86%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.35%) Finacle
1 1 (0.35%) SAP S/4HANA
1 1 (0.35%) SAP SCM
Cloud Services
1 101 (35.44%) AWS
2 63 (22.11%) GCP
3 40 (14.04%) Azure
4 37 (12.98%) OpenShift
4 37 (12.98%) Serverless
5 21 (7.37%) GitHub
6 17 (5.96%) SaaS
7 16 (5.61%) IaaS
7 16 (5.61%) PaaS
8 14 (4.91%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (3.86%) Google Workspace
10 10 (3.51%) Entra ID
11 9 (3.16%) Amazon EC2
12 8 (2.81%) AWS CloudFormation
13 6 (2.11%) AWS KMS
13 6 (2.11%) AWS Lambda
13 6 (2.11%) Microsoft 365
14 5 (1.75%) Amazon ECS
14 5 (1.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 4 (1.40%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 71 (24.91%) Firewall
2 23 (8.07%) Network Security
3 16 (5.61%) SSL
4 15 (5.26%) TCP/IP
5 14 (4.91%) DNS
6 10 (3.51%) Kerberos
7 9 (3.16%) SNMP
8 7 (2.46%) SAN
8 7 (2.46%) VLAN
8 7 (2.46%) VPN
9 6 (2.11%) BGP
9 6 (2.11%) Software-Defined Networking
9 6 (2.11%) WebEx
10 5 (1.75%) NAS
10 5 (1.75%) SSH
11 4 (1.40%) DHCP
11 4 (1.40%) HTTP
12 2 (0.70%) Calico
12 2 (0.70%) HTTPS
12 2 (0.70%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (12.63%) NoSQL
2 26 (9.12%) Oracle Database
2 26 (9.12%) PostgreSQL
3 25 (8.77%) SQL Server
4 20 (7.02%) Relational Database
5 18 (6.32%) MongoDB
6 5 (1.75%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (1.75%) Apache Cassandra
6 5 (1.75%) MySQL
7 4 (1.40%) RDBMS
8 3 (1.05%) Apache Hive
8 3 (1.05%) DynamoDB
8 3 (1.05%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (1.05%) Hadoop
8 3 (1.05%) HBase
9 2 (0.70%) Siebel EIM
10 1 (0.35%) BusinessObjects
10 1 (0.35%) Oracle Database 10g
10 1 (0.35%) Oracle Database 11g
10 1 (0.35%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 93 (32.63%) Jenkins
2 51 (17.89%) Git
3 48 (16.84%) GitLab
4 23 (8.07%) Liquibase
4 23 (8.07%) Sonatype Nexus
5 19 (6.67%) JIRA
6 18 (6.32%) Mockito
7 14 (4.91%) Bitbucket Server
7 14 (4.91%) CA Release Automation
8 10 (3.51%) Maven
9 8 (2.81%) Gradle
10 7 (2.46%) JUnit
10 7 (2.46%) Postman
11 6 (2.11%) Bitbucket
12 5 (1.75%) CircleCI
12 5 (1.75%) SonarQube
13 4 (1.40%) Rational DOORS
13 4 (1.40%) TeamCity
14 2 (0.70%) Artifactory
14 2 (0.70%) Octopus Deploy
General
1 83 (29.12%) Social Skills
2 79 (27.72%) Finance
3 53 (18.60%) Banking
4 28 (9.82%) Public Sector
5 26 (9.12%) Analytical Skills
6 25 (8.77%) Financial Institution
7 9 (3.16%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (2.46%) Legal
9 4 (1.40%) Games
10 2 (0.70%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (0.70%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.35%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.35%) Retail
11 1 (0.35%) Wholesale Banking
Job Titles
1 50 (17.54%) Developer
2 49 (17.19%) Senior
3 36 (12.63%) Java Developer
4 31 (10.88%) DevOps Engineer
5 30 (10.53%) Platform Engineer
6 26 (9.12%) Software Engineer
7 20 (7.02%) Linux Engineer
8 19 (6.67%) AWS Engineer
8 19 (6.67%) Cloud Engineer
9 16 (5.61%) Lead
9 16 (5.61%) Senior Developer
9 16 (5.61%) Senior Java Developer
10 14 (4.91%) GCP Engineer
11 13 (4.56%) Support Engineer
12 12 (4.21%) IT Engineer
12 12 (4.21%) IT Support
12 12 (4.21%) IT Support Engineer
13 10 (3.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 10 (3.51%) Senior Software Engineer
14 9 (3.16%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (15.09%) REST
2 42 (14.74%) Elastic Stack
3 33 (11.58%) RESTful
4 23 (8.07%) Kafka
5 18 (6.32%) ActiveMQ
5 18 (6.32%) JAX-RS
6 17 (5.96%) LDAP
7 14 (4.91%) OAuth
8 13 (4.56%) Node.js
8 13 (4.56%) Spring Boot
9 12 (4.21%) SAML
9 12 (4.21%) Spring
10 11 (3.86%) OpenID
11 10 (3.51%) AngularJS
11 10 (3.51%) FastAPI
11 10 (3.51%) SOAP
12 9 (3.16%) Middleware
13 6 (2.11%) XMPP
14 5 (1.75%) Spring Cloud
15 4 (1.40%) React
Miscellaneous
1 30 (10.53%) Cloud Native
1 30 (10.53%) Distributed Systems
1 30 (10.53%) Public Cloud
2 12 (4.21%) Data Centre
2 12 (4.21%) Product Ownership
3 11 (3.86%) Onboarding
4 7 (2.46%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (2.46%) NHS
5 5 (1.75%) Hybrid Cloud
5 5 (1.75%) Legacy Applications
5 5 (1.75%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (1.75%) PKI
5 5 (1.75%) Private Cloud
6 4 (1.40%) Security Posture
7 3 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (1.05%) Cloud Security Posture
8 2 (0.70%) Derivative
8 2 (0.70%) Enterprise Cloud
8 2 (0.70%) Replication
8 2 (0.70%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 108 (37.89%) Windows
2 65 (22.81%) Unix
3 37 (12.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 35 (12.28%) Windows Server
5 22 (7.72%) Mac OS X
6 6 (2.11%) Solaris
7 3 (1.05%) AIX
7 3 (1.05%) Amazon Linux
7 3 (1.05%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 3 (1.05%) VMS
8 2 (0.70%) Android
8 2 (0.70%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.70%) CentOS
8 2 (0.70%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.70%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.70%) zOS
9 1 (0.35%) MVS
9 1 (0.35%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.35%) SUSE
9 1 (0.35%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (39.30%) DevOps
2 101 (35.44%) CI/CD
3 94 (32.98%) Containerisation
4 82 (28.77%) Agile
5 72 (25.26%) Microservices
6 66 (23.16%) Infrastructure as Code
6 66 (23.16%) Problem-Solving
7 46 (16.14%) Cybersecurity
8 41 (14.39%) Observability
9 38 (13.33%) Software Engineering
9 38 (13.33%) Test Automation
10 37 (12.98%) Infrastructure Automation
11 36 (12.63%) High Availability
11 36 (12.63%) Root Cause Analysis
12 34 (11.93%) Continuous Integration
13 33 (11.58%) Computer Science
13 33 (11.58%) Cryptography
13 33 (11.58%) Platform Engineering
14 31 (10.88%) Data Security
15 28 (9.82%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 142 (49.82%) Python
2 68 (23.86%) Java
3 63 (22.11%) Bash
4 40 (14.04%) PowerShell
5 35 (12.28%) Go
6 33 (11.58%) Shell Script
7 21 (7.37%) SQL
8 19 (6.67%) Perl
9 17 (5.96%) PHP
10 14 (4.91%) Groovy
11 7 (2.46%) C++
12 4 (1.40%) C#
12 4 (1.40%) PL/SQL
12 4 (1.40%) Ruby
13 3 (1.05%) C
13 3 (1.05%) Delphi
13 3 (1.05%) Kusto Query Language
13 3 (1.05%) Search Processing Language
14 2 (0.70%) JavaScript
14 2 (0.70%) Rust
Qualifications
1 60 (21.05%) Security Cleared
2 49 (17.19%) SC Cleared
3 35 (12.28%) Degree
4 30 (10.53%) Computer Science Degree
5 28 (9.82%) Master's Degree
6 21 (7.37%) AWS Certification
7 17 (5.96%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.81%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 8 (2.81%) CCDP
8 8 (2.81%) CCNA
8 8 (2.81%) CCNP
8 8 (2.81%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (1.75%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 5 (1.75%) FFIEC
10 4 (1.40%) CISSP
10 4 (1.40%) CompTIA Security+
10 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (1.05%) AWS Certified Developer
11 3 (1.05%) MCSA
11 3 (1.05%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (2.11%) GDPR
1 6 (2.11%) NIST
2 5 (1.75%) GLBA
2 5 (1.75%) PCI DSS
3 3 (1.05%) HIPAA
3 3 (1.05%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.35%) NCSC
4 1 (0.35%) SLA
System Software
1 103 (36.14%) Docker
2 40 (14.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (13.33%) Active Directory
4 12 (4.21%) vSphere
5 10 (3.51%) Oracle RAC
6 8 (2.81%) Tivoli Directory Server
7 7 (2.46%) Veritas Cluster Server
8 5 (1.75%) KVM
8 5 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (1.40%) Virtual Machines
9 4 (1.40%) VMware NSX
10 3 (1.05%) HDFS
10 3 (1.05%) Hyper-V
10 3 (1.05%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.70%) Virtual Servers
12 1 (0.35%) Ceph
12 1 (0.35%) NFS
12 1 (0.35%) QEMU
12 1 (0.35%) SRDF
12 1 (0.35%) Xen
Systems Management
1 100 (35.09%) Kubernetes
2 83 (29.12%) Ansible
3 71 (24.91%) Terraform
4 58 (20.35%) Grafana
5 46 (16.14%) Prometheus
6 18 (6.32%) Progress Chef
7 12 (4.21%) Puppet
8 11 (3.86%) CA Single Sign-On
9 10 (3.51%) CA Wily
9 10 (3.51%) Data Guard
9 10 (3.51%) yum
10 9 (3.16%) Single Sign-On
11 8 (2.81%) Tivoli
12 7 (2.46%) NetBackup
12 7 (2.46%) Oracle RMAN
13 5 (1.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (1.75%) EMC NetWorker
13 5 (1.75%) Packer
13 5 (1.75%) vCenter Server
13 5 (1.75%) vRealize
Vendors
1 65 (22.81%) Splunk
2 64 (22.46%) Oracle
3 59 (20.70%) Microsoft
4 50 (17.54%) VMware
5 37 (12.98%) Google
6 31 (10.88%) Red Hat
7 26 (9.12%) AppDynamics
8 21 (7.37%) IBM
9 16 (5.61%) Citrix
10 13 (4.56%) Cisco
10 13 (4.56%) F5
11 11 (3.86%) Broadcom
12 10 (3.51%) CyberArk
13 7 (2.46%) MuleSoft
13 7 (2.46%) Veritas
14 5 (1.75%) Cloudera
14 5 (1.75%) Palo Alto
15 4 (1.40%) EMC
15 4 (1.40%) Juniper
15 4 (1.40%) Thales