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 25 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 29 37
Rank change year-on-year -8 +8 -15
Contract jobs citing Linux 302 202 198
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 5.25% 6.33% 4.07%
As % of the Operating Systems category 39.74% 37.62% 27.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 213 118 134
10th Percentile £351 £354 £350
25th Percentile £400 £395 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £550 £490
Median % change year-on-year -10.55% +12.24% -10.91%
75th Percentile £550 £625 £582
90th Percentile £656 £750 £634
England median daily rate £518 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -5.91% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 4 11
10th Percentile - £46.17 -
25th Percentile £41.94 £54.67 £21.25
Median hourly rate £45.97 £69.59 £48.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.94% +44.98% +16.94%
75th Percentile £68.20 £81.89 £55.88
90th Percentile £74.26 £84.22 £63.75
England median hourly rate £63.14 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -2.87% +8.33% -7.69%

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 760 537 726
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 13.20% 16.84% 14.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 535 345 472
10th Percentile £136 £166 £163
25th Percentile £193 £243 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £388 £400 £414
Median % change year-on-year -3.13% -3.32% -12.89%
75th Percentile £500 £550 £518
90th Percentile £601 £633 £613
England median daily rate £450 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -13.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 17 80
10th Percentile £16.11 £15.22 -
25th Percentile £21.28 £16.25 £10.95
Median hourly rate £27.50 £22.09 £16.47
Median % change year-on-year +24.49% +34.14% -43.22%
75th Percentile £61.25 £29.00 £21.62
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.14 £48.00
England median hourly rate £22.81 £29.00 £22.00
% change year-on-year -21.34% +31.82% -23.88%

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 25 March 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 25 March 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 25 March 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
Yorkshire -18 163 £475 -13.64% 41
North West -12 130 £513 -2.38% 58
North East -15 11 £550 +4.76% 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 10 (3.31%) Confluence
1 10 (3.31%) TPMS
2 8 (2.65%) CICS
3 6 (1.99%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.99%) SharePoint
4 5 (1.66%) Apache
4 5 (1.66%) OpenStack
5 3 (0.99%) nginx
6 1 (0.33%) JBoss
6 1 (0.33%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.33%) Tomcat
Applications
1 14 (4.64%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.33%) Cloudability
1 1 (0.33%) Odoo
1 1 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 92 (30.46%) AWS
2 48 (15.89%) GCP
3 47 (15.56%) Azure
4 44 (14.57%) OpenShift
5 26 (8.61%) Serverless
6 25 (8.28%) GitHub
7 14 (4.64%) Amazon EC2
7 14 (4.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 12 (3.97%) AWS CloudFormation
9 11 (3.64%) Google Workspace
10 10 (3.31%) Entra ID
10 10 (3.31%) GitHub Actions
11 9 (2.98%) Amazon S3
11 9 (2.98%) AWS KMS
11 9 (2.98%) AWS Lambda
12 7 (2.32%) Amazon ECS
12 7 (2.32%) Amazon EKS
13 6 (1.99%) Azure DevOps
13 6 (1.99%) IaaS
14 5 (1.66%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 82 (27.15%) Firewall
2 21 (6.95%) Network Security
3 20 (6.62%) DNS
4 19 (6.29%) SAN
5 17 (5.63%) TCP/IP
6 15 (4.97%) SSL
7 14 (4.64%) SNMP
8 11 (3.64%) VPN
9 10 (3.31%) SSH
10 9 (2.98%) VLAN
11 8 (2.65%) VSAN
12 7 (2.32%) BGP
12 7 (2.32%) NAS
13 6 (1.99%) Software-Defined Networking
13 6 (1.99%) WebEx
14 4 (1.32%) DHCP
14 4 (1.32%) HTTP
14 4 (1.32%) iSCSI
15 2 (0.66%) Reverse Proxy
16 1 (0.33%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (10.93%) PostgreSQL
2 22 (7.28%) NoSQL
3 16 (5.30%) MongoDB
4 11 (3.64%) SQL Server
5 10 (3.31%) Oracle Database
6 8 (2.65%) DataStage
7 7 (2.32%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (2.32%) Relational Database
8 6 (1.99%) DB2
9 5 (1.66%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.99%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.99%) MySQL
10 3 (0.99%) Oracle Database 12c
11 2 (0.66%) RDBMS
12 1 (0.33%) Apache Cassandra
12 1 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
12 1 (0.33%) SAP BW
12 1 (0.33%) SAP HANA
12 1 (0.33%) Sybase ASE
12 1 (0.33%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 55 (18.21%) Jenkins
2 47 (15.56%) GitLab
3 25 (8.28%) JIRA
4 19 (6.29%) Git
5 11 (3.64%) Liquibase
6 9 (2.98%) Mockito
7 8 (2.65%) Jaeger
8 5 (1.66%) Bitbucket
8 5 (1.66%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.99%) CircleCI
10 2 (0.66%) Gradle
10 2 (0.66%) Maven
10 2 (0.66%) Octopus Deploy
11 1 (0.33%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.33%) Hudson
11 1 (0.33%) JUnit
General
1 96 (31.79%) Social Skills
2 80 (26.49%) Finance
3 39 (12.91%) Banking
4 31 (10.26%) Public Sector
5 22 (7.28%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (7.28%) Documentation Skills
6 21 (6.95%) Financial Institution
7 9 (2.98%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.65%) Legal
9 6 (1.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (0.99%) Law
10 3 (0.99%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.66%) Advertising
11 2 (0.66%) Games
11 2 (0.66%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.33%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.33%) Military
12 1 (0.33%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.33%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 36 (11.92%) Senior
2 31 (10.26%) Platform Engineer
3 28 (9.27%) DevOps Engineer
4 26 (8.61%) Developer
5 23 (7.62%) Software Engineer
6 22 (7.28%) Cloud Engineer
7 17 (5.63%) GCP Engineer
7 17 (5.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 16 (5.30%) Security Engineer
9 15 (4.97%) Lead
10 14 (4.64%) Java Developer
11 13 (4.30%) AWS Engineer
12 12 (3.97%) Administrator
12 12 (3.97%) IT Engineer
12 12 (3.97%) Linux Engineer
13 11 (3.64%) IT Support
13 11 (3.64%) IT Support Engineer
13 11 (3.64%) Support Engineer
14 10 (3.31%) Cryptography Engineer
15 9 (2.98%) Senior DevOps
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (10.60%) Elastic Stack
2 26 (8.61%) REST
3 20 (6.62%) Kafka
4 18 (5.96%) RESTful
5 16 (5.30%) Middleware
6 12 (3.97%) OpenTelemetry
7 9 (2.98%) JAX-RS
7 9 (2.98%) Spring Boot
7 9 (2.98%) YAML
8 8 (2.65%) ActiveMQ
9 7 (2.32%) LDAP
10 6 (1.99%) XMPP
11 5 (1.66%) Redfish
12 3 (0.99%) .NET
12 3 (0.99%) Lambda Expressions
12 3 (0.99%) Node.js
12 3 (0.99%) Spring
12 3 (0.99%) WebSockets
13 2 (0.66%) LangChain
13 2 (0.66%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 32 (10.60%) Data Centre
2 29 (9.60%) Distributed Systems
3 27 (8.94%) Cloud Native
4 21 (6.95%) Public Cloud
5 18 (5.96%) Product Ownership
6 16 (5.30%) Hybrid Cloud
6 16 (5.30%) Security Posture
7 12 (3.97%) Linux Command Line
7 12 (3.97%) Management Information System
8 10 (3.31%) Data Protection Act
9 9 (2.98%) Cloud Security Posture
10 8 (2.65%) BYOD
10 8 (2.65%) Mainframe
10 8 (2.65%) Onboarding
10 8 (2.65%) VSAM
11 7 (2.32%) Replication
12 5 (1.66%) FlexPod
12 5 (1.66%) Legacy Systems
13 4 (1.32%) EMC VMAX
14 3 (0.99%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 121 (40.07%) Windows
2 58 (19.21%) Unix
3 56 (18.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 32 (10.60%) Windows Server
5 15 (4.97%) AIX
6 13 (4.30%) Ubuntu
7 10 (3.31%) CentOS
7 10 (3.31%) Mac OS X
7 10 (3.31%) Solaris
7 10 (3.31%) VMS
8 5 (1.66%) CoreOS
8 5 (1.66%) Data ONTAP
9 3 (0.99%) Amazon Linux
10 2 (0.66%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.66%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.66%) zOS
11 1 (0.33%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (38.41%) DevOps
2 113 (37.42%) CI/CD
3 74 (24.50%) Problem-Solving
4 72 (23.84%) Containerisation
4 72 (23.84%) Infrastructure as Code
5 55 (18.21%) Observability
6 50 (16.56%) Agile
7 48 (15.89%) Cybersecurity
8 46 (15.23%) Microservices
9 40 (13.25%) Infrastructure Automation
9 40 (13.25%) Root Cause Analysis
10 38 (12.58%) Platform Engineering
11 35 (11.59%) Roadmaps
12 34 (11.26%) Test Automation
13 33 (10.93%) Migration
14 31 (10.26%) Continuous Improvement
15 30 (9.93%) Cryptography
15 30 (9.93%) High Availability
16 29 (9.60%) Computer Science
16 29 (9.60%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 143 (47.35%) Python
2 73 (24.17%) Bash
3 54 (17.88%) PowerShell
4 45 (14.90%) Java
5 38 (12.58%) SQL
6 27 (8.94%) Go
7 24 (7.95%) Perl
8 15 (4.97%) Ruby
8 15 (4.97%) Rust
9 14 (4.64%) Shell Script
10 8 (2.65%) COBOL
10 8 (2.65%) JavaScript
10 8 (2.65%) TypeScript
11 7 (2.32%) PHP
12 4 (1.32%) C#
13 3 (0.99%) C
13 3 (0.99%) Delphi
13 3 (0.99%) Groovy
14 2 (0.66%) C++
14 2 (0.66%) JCL
Qualifications
1 66 (21.85%) Security Cleared
2 48 (15.89%) SC Cleared
3 37 (12.25%) Degree
4 17 (5.63%) CISSP
4 17 (5.63%) Master's Degree
5 16 (5.30%) AWS Certification
5 16 (5.30%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (3.31%) CCNA
6 10 (3.31%) CCNP
6 10 (3.31%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (3.31%) FFIEC
7 9 (2.98%) CCDP
7 9 (2.98%) CompTIA Security+
7 9 (2.98%) RHCE
8 8 (2.65%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (2.32%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 7 (2.32%) Microsoft Certification
10 6 (1.99%) OCP
10 6 (1.99%) Oracle Certification
11 5 (1.66%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (5.30%) GDPR
2 12 (3.97%) NIST
3 11 (3.64%) PCI DSS
4 10 (3.31%) GLBA
5 7 (2.32%) SLA
6 4 (1.32%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 4 (1.32%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.66%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.66%) QA
8 1 (0.33%) GxP
System Software
1 84 (27.81%) Docker
2 46 (15.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 30 (9.93%) Virtual Machines
4 23 (7.62%) vSphere
5 22 (7.28%) Active Directory
6 15 (4.97%) KVM
7 14 (4.64%) Hyper-V
8 10 (3.31%) Firmware
8 10 (3.31%) VMware ESXi
9 9 (2.98%) NFS
10 6 (1.99%) VMware NSX
11 2 (0.66%) SRDF
11 2 (0.66%) Time Sharing Option
11 2 (0.66%) Virtual Servers
12 1 (0.33%) Ceph
12 1 (0.33%) Embedded Firmware
12 1 (0.33%) GPFS
12 1 (0.33%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.33%) QEMU
12 1 (0.33%) zsh
Systems Management
1 113 (37.42%) Kubernetes
2 100 (33.11%) Ansible
3 98 (32.45%) Terraform
4 54 (17.88%) Grafana
5 46 (15.23%) Prometheus
6 13 (4.30%) Puppet
7 11 (3.64%) vCenter Server
8 9 (2.98%) Packer
8 9 (2.98%) Progress Chef
9 8 (2.65%) Kiali
10 6 (1.99%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 6 (1.99%) EMC NetWorker
10 6 (1.99%) IBM BigFix
10 6 (1.99%) PowerCLI
11 5 (1.66%) CASB
11 5 (1.66%) Dell DRAC
11 5 (1.66%) Nessus
11 5 (1.66%) SnapMirror
11 5 (1.66%) vRealize
12 4 (1.32%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 61 (20.20%) VMware
2 56 (18.54%) Splunk
3 42 (13.91%) Red Hat
4 38 (12.58%) Microsoft
5 31 (10.26%) Google
6 21 (6.95%) Oracle
7 17 (5.63%) Cisco
7 17 (5.63%) IBM
8 10 (3.31%) Citrix
8 10 (3.31%) Thales
9 8 (2.65%) ServiceNow
10 7 (2.32%) CyberArk
10 7 (2.32%) Dell
10 7 (2.32%) NetApp
11 6 (1.99%) Broadcom
11 6 (1.99%) Remedy
12 5 (1.66%) F5
12 5 (1.66%) Palo Alto
12 5 (1.66%) Tenable
13 4 (1.32%) AppDynamics