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 13 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 33 54
Rank change year-on-year -34 +21 -11
Contract jobs citing Linux 267 254 150
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 3.48% 6.12% 3.63%
As % of the Operating Systems category 30.94% 38.02% 28.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 163 179 88
10th Percentile £358 £316 £360
25th Percentile £418 £368 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £476 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.04% -13.45% +4.76%
75th Percentile £618 £586 £615
90th Percentile £650 £680 £691
England median daily rate £525 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +1.01% -5.50% -2.06%
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 863 668 518
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 11.25% 16.10% 12.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 574 465 291
10th Percentile £185 £163 £178
25th Percentile £277 £214 £288
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £435 £400 £438
Median % change year-on-year +8.75% -8.57% -0.57%
75th Percentile £528 £523 £550
90th Percentile £615 £614 £622
England median daily rate £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 27 39
10th Percentile £13.89 £13.00 £15.22
25th Percentile £16.90 £15.50 £16.13
Median hourly rate £19.00 £18.87 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +0.69% +7.83% -18.24%
75th Percentile £37.56 £20.65 £24.18
90th Percentile £95.00 £34.03 £51.00
England median hourly rate £32.29 £24.00 £60.72
% change year-on-year +34.54% -60.47% +25.44%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -26 132 £500 +24.38% 106
Yorkshire -36 111 £518 +3.50% 63
North East -16 32 £480 -10.70% 27
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 (4.87%) Confluence
2 5 (1.87%) Apache
2 5 (1.87%) Apache Spark
3 4 (1.50%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (1.12%) IBM Transformation Extender
4 3 (1.12%) nginx
4 3 (1.12%) OpenStack
4 3 (1.12%) WebSphere
5 2 (0.75%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.75%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.75%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.75%) WebLogic
6 1 (0.37%) CMS
6 1 (0.37%) SAS
6 1 (0.37%) Traefik
Applications
1 6 (2.25%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.75%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.37%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 99 (37.08%) AWS
2 78 (29.21%) Azure
3 50 (18.73%) GCP
4 27 (10.11%) GitHub
5 19 (7.12%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (6.74%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 17 (6.37%) OCI
8 16 (5.99%) OpenShift
9 15 (5.62%) AWS CloudFormation
10 13 (4.87%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 13 (4.87%) Serverless
10 13 (4.87%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 12 (4.49%) Amazon ECS
11 12 (4.49%) Amazon EKS
12 11 (4.12%) Entra ID
13 10 (3.75%) AWS Lambda
13 10 (3.75%) Azure Monitor
14 9 (3.37%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (3.00%) AWS KMS
16 7 (2.62%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 30 (11.24%) Firewall
2 19 (7.12%) DNS
2 19 (7.12%) Network Security
3 13 (4.87%) TCP/IP
4 9 (3.37%) SAN
5 8 (3.00%) SD-WAN
5 8 (3.00%) WAN
6 7 (2.62%) Wireless
7 6 (2.25%) DHCP
7 6 (2.25%) VPN
8 4 (1.50%) 3GPP
8 4 (1.50%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (1.50%) iSCSI
8 4 (1.50%) RTP
8 4 (1.50%) VLAN
8 4 (1.50%) Wireshark
9 3 (1.12%) NAS
9 3 (1.12%) SNMP
9 3 (1.12%) SSL
10 2 (0.75%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.61%) Oracle Database
2 17 (6.37%) RDBMS
2 17 (6.37%) Relational Database
3 14 (5.24%) Oracle Exadata
4 11 (4.12%) SQL Server
5 10 (3.75%) NoSQL
6 9 (3.37%) MongoDB
7 6 (2.25%) Data Lake
7 6 (2.25%) Elasticsearch
7 6 (2.25%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.50%) DynamoDB
8 4 (1.50%) Power BI
8 4 (1.50%) Sybase ASE
9 3 (1.12%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (1.12%) Big Data
9 3 (1.12%) BusinessObjects
9 3 (1.12%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.75%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.75%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.75%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 45 (16.85%) Git
2 28 (10.49%) GitLab
3 22 (8.24%) Jenkins
4 20 (7.49%) JIRA
5 8 (3.00%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (2.25%) Mockito
7 5 (1.87%) Cucumber
7 5 (1.87%) SonarQube
8 4 (1.50%) TeamCity
9 2 (0.75%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.75%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.75%) Gatling
9 2 (0.75%) Gradle
9 2 (0.75%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.75%) Maven
9 2 (0.75%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.75%) Toad
10 1 (0.37%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.37%) Jaeger
10 1 (0.37%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 59 (22.10%) Social Skills
2 58 (21.72%) Finance
3 28 (10.49%) Banking
4 23 (8.61%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (8.61%) Public Sector
5 8 (3.00%) Legal
6 7 (2.62%) Military
7 6 (2.25%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (1.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (1.50%) Corporate Banking
9 4 (1.50%) Law
9 4 (1.50%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (1.50%) Telecoms
10 3 (1.12%) Aviation
10 3 (1.12%) Fire and Rescue
10 3 (1.12%) Investment Banking
10 3 (1.12%) Police
11 1 (0.37%) Electronics
11 1 (0.37%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 39 (14.61%) Senior
2 31 (11.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 25 (9.36%) Developer
4 24 (8.99%) Linux Engineer
5 23 (8.61%) DevOps Engineer
6 22 (8.24%) Security Engineer
7 20 (7.49%) Cloud Engineer
8 14 (5.24%) Consultant
8 14 (5.24%) Unix Engineer
9 13 (4.87%) Lead
10 12 (4.49%) AWS Engineer
11 11 (4.12%) Cloud Security Engineer
11 11 (4.12%) DBA
12 10 (3.75%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.75%) Support Engineer
12 10 (3.75%) Unix Linux Engineer
13 9 (3.37%) Java Developer
13 9 (3.37%) Senior Developer
14 8 (3.00%) Security Consultant
14 8 (3.00%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 102 (38.20%) Terraform
2 16 (5.99%) Kafka
2 16 (5.99%) REST
3 14 (5.24%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 12 (4.49%) Middleware
5 11 (4.12%) .NET
5 11 (4.12%) JSON
6 9 (3.37%) Django
7 8 (3.00%) ARM Templates
7 8 (3.00%) YAML
8 6 (2.25%) ActiveMQ
8 6 (2.25%) JAX-RS
8 6 (2.25%) RabbitMQ
9 5 (1.87%) Flask
9 5 (1.87%) Node.js
10 4 (1.50%) .NET Core
10 4 (1.50%) Azure Blueprints
10 4 (1.50%) Redfish
10 4 (1.50%) RESTful
10 4 (1.50%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 37 (13.86%) Cloud Native
2 22 (8.24%) Linux Command Line
3 21 (7.87%) Data Centre
4 20 (7.49%) PKI
4 20 (7.49%) Security Posture
5 18 (6.74%) Public Cloud
6 17 (6.37%) Replication
7 15 (5.62%) Management Information System
7 15 (5.62%) Onboarding
8 14 (5.24%) Mainframe
9 13 (4.87%) Data Protection Act
10 12 (4.49%) Hybrid Cloud
11 10 (3.75%) Distributed Systems
11 10 (3.75%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (3.37%) Enterprise Cloud
13 7 (2.62%) Operational Technology
14 6 (2.25%) Cloud Security Posture
14 6 (2.25%) SCADA
15 5 (1.87%) Clustering
15 5 (1.87%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 82 (30.71%) Windows
2 66 (24.72%) Unix
3 60 (22.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 25 (9.36%) Windows Server
5 22 (8.24%) AIX
6 18 (6.74%) Solaris
7 8 (3.00%) CentOS
8 6 (2.25%) VMS
9 5 (1.87%) Ubuntu
10 4 (1.50%) macOS
10 4 (1.50%) zOS
11 3 (1.12%) HPUX
11 3 (1.12%) Oracle Linux
11 3 (1.12%) SUSE
12 2 (0.75%) CoreOS
12 2 (0.75%) OpenVMS
12 2 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.37%) Check Point GAiA
13 1 (0.37%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (39.70%) CI/CD
2 97 (36.33%) Infrastructure as Code
3 77 (28.84%) DevOps
4 60 (22.47%) Agile
5 55 (20.60%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 53 (19.85%) Observability
7 46 (17.23%) Continuous Improvement
8 45 (16.85%) Migration
9 43 (16.10%) Change Management
10 39 (14.61%) Cloud Security
10 39 (14.61%) Infrastructure Automation
11 38 (14.23%) Disaster Recovery
11 38 (14.23%) High Availability
12 36 (13.48%) Stakeholder Management
13 32 (11.99%) Problem-Solving
14 31 (11.61%) Cybersecurity
15 30 (11.24%) ITIL
16 29 (10.86%) Containerisation
17 28 (10.49%) Software Engineering
18 27 (10.11%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 111 (41.57%) Python
2 72 (26.97%) Bash
3 69 (25.84%) PowerShell
4 43 (16.10%) Java
5 39 (14.61%) SQL
6 18 (6.74%) Shell Script
7 15 (5.62%) Bicep
8 11 (4.12%) Go
9 10 (3.75%) C#
9 10 (3.75%) JavaScript
10 7 (2.62%) Search Processing Language
11 4 (1.50%) Groovy
11 4 (1.50%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (1.12%) Kotlin
12 3 (1.12%) Rust
12 3 (1.12%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.75%) DCL
13 2 (0.75%) JCL
13 2 (0.75%) Perl
13 2 (0.75%) REXX
Qualifications
1 55 (20.60%) Security Cleared
2 44 (16.48%) SC Cleared
3 33 (12.36%) Degree
4 26 (9.74%) CISSP
5 22 (8.24%) AWS Certification
6 21 (7.87%) Azure Certification
7 6 (2.25%) CISM
7 6 (2.25%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (1.87%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (1.87%) CompTIA Security+
8 5 (1.87%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 4 (1.50%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (1.50%) CEH
9 4 (1.50%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (1.12%) A+ Certification
10 3 (1.12%) DV Cleared
10 3 (1.12%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (1.12%) Network+ Certification
10 3 (1.12%) OSCP
10 3 (1.12%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (1.50%) GRC
1 4 (1.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 4 (1.50%) NIST
2 3 (1.12%) SLA
3 2 (0.75%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.75%) HIPAA
3 2 (0.75%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.37%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.37%) California Consumer Privacy Act
4 1 (0.37%) Def Stans
4 1 (0.37%) GDPR
4 1 (0.37%) NCSC
4 1 (0.37%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.37%) WCAG
System Software
1 49 (18.35%) Docker
2 37 (13.86%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (10.86%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (7.49%) Active Directory
5 18 (6.74%) Oracle RAC
6 15 (5.62%) KVM
7 14 (5.24%) VMware ESXi
8 11 (4.12%) vSphere
9 9 (3.37%) NFS
10 8 (3.00%) Hyper-V
11 7 (2.62%) Firmware
12 6 (2.25%) Virtual Servers
13 4 (1.50%) Ceph
14 3 (1.12%) GPFS
14 3 (1.12%) 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 (0.37%) etcd
Systems Management
1 79 (29.59%) Kubernetes
2 73 (27.34%) Ansible
3 23 (8.61%) Prometheus
4 22 (8.24%) Grafana
5 19 (7.12%) Data Guard
6 18 (6.74%) Oracle RMAN
6 18 (6.74%) Progress Chef
7 8 (3.00%) Istio
7 8 (3.00%) VxRail
8 7 (2.62%) vCenter Server
9 6 (2.25%) Packer
9 6 (2.25%) Tivoli
10 4 (1.50%) Argo
10 4 (1.50%) Dell DRAC
10 4 (1.50%) McAfee ePO
10 4 (1.50%) Nessus
10 4 (1.50%) Oracle ZFS
10 4 (1.50%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 4 (1.50%) vMotion
10 4 (1.50%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 43 (16.10%) Microsoft
1 43 (16.10%) Oracle
2 39 (14.61%) VMware
3 38 (14.23%) Red Hat
4 24 (8.99%) Google
5 23 (8.61%) Splunk
6 20 (7.49%) IBM
7 17 (6.37%) Cisco
8 13 (4.87%) Dell
9 10 (3.75%) ServiceNow
10 8 (3.00%) Dynatrace
11 7 (2.62%) Databricks
11 7 (2.62%) Fortinet
12 6 (2.25%) Tenable
13 5 (1.87%) AppDynamics
13 5 (1.87%) Juniper
14 4 (1.50%) Carbon Black
14 4 (1.50%) McAfee
14 4 (1.50%) Sybase
15 3 (1.12%) Palo Alto