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

6 months to
13 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 48 32 38
Rank change year-on-year -16 +6 +2
Contract jobs citing Linux 303 224 180
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 4.10% 5.63% 4.36%
As % of the Operating Systems category 35.82% 37.65% 32.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 184 154 122
10th Percentile £358 £323 £375
25th Percentile £411 £367 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £523
Median % change year-on-year - -4.31% -0.48%
75th Percentile £616 £599 £619
90th Percentile £650 £677 £674
England median daily rate £525 £525 £543
% change year-on-year - -3.31% -5.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 4
10th Percentile £18.90 - £47.53
25th Percentile £23.36 - £48.31
Median hourly rate £36.67 £70.00 £56.25
Median % change year-on-year -47.61% +24.44% +112.26%
75th Percentile £49.06 - £68.90
90th Percentile £49.63 - £75.91
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 846 595 550
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 11.45% 14.96% 13.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 565 393 356
10th Percentile £180 £180 £186
25th Percentile £240 £268 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £435 £400 £463
Median % change year-on-year +8.75% -13.51% +2.78%
75th Percentile £526 £538 £588
90th Percentile £621 £614 £769
England median daily rate £475 £450 £493
% change year-on-year +5.56% -8.63% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 21 60
10th Percentile £16.21 £13.00 -
25th Percentile £17.07 £14.20 £10.95
Median hourly rate £19.84 £18.00 £15.46
Median % change year-on-year +10.22% +16.43% -29.73%
75th Percentile £27.33 £18.87 £19.39
90th Percentile £178.75 £19.78 £24.64
England median hourly rate £35.22 £23.00 £34.50
% change year-on-year +53.13% -33.33% -13.75%

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 August 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 August 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 August 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 -10 157 £500 +25.00% 116
Yorkshire -25 126 £500 -4.76% 38
North East -19 27 £490 -14.78% 39
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 20 (6.60%) Confluence
2 4 (1.32%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.99%) Apache
3 3 (0.99%) CICS
3 3 (0.99%) OpenStack
4 2 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.66%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.66%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.33%) CMS
5 1 (0.33%) nginx
5 1 (0.33%) SAS
5 1 (0.33%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.33%) WebSphere
Applications
1 7 (2.31%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.33%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.66%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.33%) Odoo
2 1 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.33%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 109 (35.97%) AWS
2 84 (27.72%) Azure
3 49 (16.17%) GCP
4 31 (10.23%) OpenShift
5 26 (8.58%) GitHub
6 18 (5.94%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 18 (5.94%) OCI
7 17 (5.61%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 16 (5.28%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (3.96%) Amazon EKS
10 11 (3.63%) Amazon ECS
10 11 (3.63%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (3.30%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (3.30%) Serverless
12 9 (2.97%) AWS Lambda
13 8 (2.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 7 (2.31%) Azure AKS
15 6 (1.98%) Azure Sentinel
15 6 (1.98%) Entra ID
15 6 (1.98%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 33 (10.89%) Firewall
2 22 (7.26%) SAN
3 18 (5.94%) DNS
4 14 (4.62%) Network Security
5 12 (3.96%) TCP/IP
6 9 (2.97%) VSAN
7 6 (1.98%) 3GPP
7 6 (1.98%) RTP
7 6 (1.98%) SSL
7 6 (1.98%) VPN
7 6 (1.98%) Wireshark
8 5 (1.65%) NAS
9 4 (1.32%) iSCSI
10 3 (0.99%) DHCP
10 3 (0.99%) FTP
10 3 (0.99%) HTTP
10 3 (0.99%) SD-WAN
10 3 (0.99%) WAN
10 3 (0.99%) Wireless
11 2 (0.66%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (9.24%) Oracle Database
2 18 (5.94%) RDBMS
2 18 (5.94%) Relational Database
3 15 (4.95%) MongoDB
3 15 (4.95%) Oracle Exadata
4 13 (4.29%) NoSQL
5 11 (3.63%) SQL Server
6 9 (2.97%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (2.64%) Elasticsearch
8 6 (1.98%) Oracle Database 12c
9 5 (1.65%) DynamoDB
9 5 (1.65%) Sybase ASE
10 3 (0.99%) Amazon Aurora
10 3 (0.99%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.99%) BusinessObjects
10 3 (0.99%) DataStage
10 3 (0.99%) Db2
11 2 (0.66%) Big Data
11 2 (0.66%) Data Lake
11 2 (0.66%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 31 (10.23%) Git
2 30 (9.90%) JIRA
3 27 (8.91%) GitLab
4 22 (7.26%) Jenkins
5 12 (3.96%) Mockito
6 6 (1.98%) TeamCity
7 5 (1.65%) Sonatype Nexus
8 4 (1.32%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.99%) Bitbucket
10 2 (0.66%) Burp Suite
10 2 (0.66%) Gatling
10 2 (0.66%) Gradle
10 2 (0.66%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.66%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.66%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.66%) Toad
11 1 (0.33%) Claude Code
11 1 (0.33%) Hudson
11 1 (0.33%) Jaeger
11 1 (0.33%) Liquibase
General
1 65 (21.45%) Social Skills
2 63 (20.79%) Finance
3 32 (10.56%) Banking
4 26 (8.58%) Public Sector
5 21 (6.93%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (3.30%) Legal
7 6 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (1.65%) Aviation
8 5 (1.65%) Fire and Rescue
8 5 (1.65%) Military
8 5 (1.65%) Police
9 4 (1.32%) Investment Banking
9 4 (1.32%) Law
9 4 (1.32%) Telecoms
10 3 (0.99%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (0.99%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.66%) Corporate Banking
12 1 (0.33%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.33%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 46 (15.18%) Senior
2 33 (10.89%) Linux Engineer
3 31 (10.23%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 28 (9.24%) Security Engineer
5 27 (8.91%) Developer
6 22 (7.26%) DevOps Engineer
7 19 (6.27%) Cloud Engineer
8 17 (5.61%) Consultant
9 16 (5.28%) DBA
9 16 (5.28%) Java Developer
9 16 (5.28%) Unix Engineer
10 14 (4.62%) Software Engineer
11 11 (3.63%) Lead
11 11 (3.63%) Security Consultant
12 10 (3.30%) AWS Engineer
12 10 (3.30%) Data Centre Engineer
12 10 (3.30%) Senior Developer
12 10 (3.30%) Unix Linux Engineer
13 9 (2.97%) Platform Engineer
13 9 (2.97%) VMware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (5.28%) Kafka
2 15 (4.95%) Oracle GoldenGate
3 13 (4.29%) .NET
4 12 (3.96%) ActiveMQ
4 12 (3.96%) JAX-RS
5 11 (3.63%) REST
6 10 (3.30%) Redfish
7 9 (2.97%) LDAP
7 9 (2.97%) Middleware
8 8 (2.64%) YAML
9 7 (2.31%) JSON
10 6 (1.98%) .NET Core
10 6 (1.98%) Elastic Stack
10 6 (1.98%) RabbitMQ
11 5 (1.65%) ARM Templates
11 5 (1.65%) XML
12 4 (1.32%) Flash
12 4 (1.32%) Node.js
12 4 (1.32%) OpenID
12 4 (1.32%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 37 (12.21%) Cloud Native
2 29 (9.57%) Data Centre
2 29 (9.57%) Linux Command Line
3 27 (8.91%) Security Posture
4 19 (6.27%) Replication
5 14 (4.62%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (4.62%) Management Information System
5 14 (4.62%) PKI
5 14 (4.62%) Public Cloud
6 12 (3.96%) Cloud Security Posture
6 12 (3.96%) Data Protection Act
6 12 (3.96%) Hybrid Cloud
7 11 (3.63%) Mainframe
8 10 (3.30%) Distributed Systems
9 8 (2.64%) Enterprise Cloud
10 6 (1.98%) Enterprise Storage
11 5 (1.65%) Robotics
12 4 (1.32%) EMC VMAX
12 4 (1.32%) Private Cloud
13 3 (0.99%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 100 (33.00%) Windows
2 78 (25.74%) Unix
3 72 (23.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 32 (10.56%) AIX
5 24 (7.92%) Windows Server
6 22 (7.26%) Solaris
7 9 (2.97%) Ubuntu
7 9 (2.97%) VMS
8 8 (2.64%) Oracle Linux
9 7 (2.31%) Mac OS X
10 6 (1.98%) CentOS
11 5 (1.65%) CoreOS
11 5 (1.65%) HPUX
11 5 (1.65%) SUSE
11 5 (1.65%) zOS
12 3 (0.99%) Data ONTAP
13 2 (0.66%) Mac OS
13 2 (0.66%) OpenVMS
13 2 (0.66%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.66%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (33.33%) CI/CD
2 82 (27.06%) DevOps
3 80 (26.40%) Infrastructure as Code
4 68 (22.44%) Agile
5 52 (17.16%) Migration
6 49 (16.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 46 (15.18%) Continuous Improvement
8 44 (14.52%) Observability
9 41 (13.53%) Cloud Security
10 38 (12.54%) Change Management
10 38 (12.54%) High Availability
10 38 (12.54%) Infrastructure Automation
11 36 (11.88%) Test Automation
12 34 (11.22%) Performance Tuning
13 33 (10.89%) ITIL
13 33 (10.89%) Problem-Solving
13 33 (10.89%) Roadmaps
14 29 (9.57%) Runbook
15 28 (9.24%) Containerisation
15 28 (9.24%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 115 (37.95%) Python
2 79 (26.07%) Bash
3 70 (23.10%) PowerShell
4 47 (15.51%) Java
4 47 (15.51%) SQL
5 16 (5.28%) Shell Script
6 14 (4.62%) Bicep
7 13 (4.29%) JavaScript
8 12 (3.96%) C#
9 7 (2.31%) Go
10 6 (1.98%) Rust
10 6 (1.98%) TypeScript
11 5 (1.65%) JCL
12 4 (1.32%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.99%) COBOL
13 3 (0.99%) Kusto Query Language
14 2 (0.66%) C++
14 2 (0.66%) DCL
14 2 (0.66%) Perl
14 2 (0.66%) REXX
Qualifications
1 57 (18.81%) Security Cleared
2 44 (14.52%) SC Cleared
3 33 (10.89%) CISSP
4 32 (10.56%) Degree
5 21 (6.93%) AWS Certification
6 19 (6.27%) Azure Certification
7 12 (3.96%) CompTIA Security+
8 8 (2.64%) Microsoft Certification
9 6 (1.98%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 6 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.98%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.98%) RHCE
10 5 (1.65%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (1.65%) MCSE
11 4 (1.32%) CISM
11 4 (1.32%) MCSA
11 4 (1.32%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 4 (1.32%) OCP
11 4 (1.32%) Oracle Certification
12 3 (0.99%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.97%) HIPAA
2 7 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (1.98%) NIST
4 5 (1.65%) California Consumer Privacy Act
4 5 (1.65%) GDPR
5 4 (1.32%) GRC
6 3 (0.99%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.99%) QA
6 3 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 3 (0.99%) SLA
7 1 (0.33%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.33%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.33%) GxP
7 1 (0.33%) SOC 2
7 1 (0.33%) WCAG
System Software
1 58 (19.14%) Docker
2 43 (14.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 36 (11.88%) Virtual Machines
4 20 (6.60%) Active Directory
5 18 (5.94%) Oracle RAC
6 17 (5.61%) KVM
6 17 (5.61%) vSphere
7 16 (5.28%) NFS
8 12 (3.96%) VMware ESXi
9 11 (3.63%) Firmware
9 11 (3.63%) Hyper-V
10 8 (2.64%) VMware NSX
11 5 (1.65%) Time Sharing Option
12 4 (1.32%) Ceph
12 4 (1.32%) GPFS
13 3 (0.99%) Veritas Volume Manager
14 2 (0.66%) SRDF
15 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 1 (0.33%) NetIQ eDirectory
15 1 (0.33%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 101 (33.33%) Terraform
2 88 (29.04%) Ansible
3 81 (26.73%) Kubernetes
4 23 (7.59%) Oracle RMAN
5 22 (7.26%) Progress Chef
6 19 (6.27%) Data Guard
6 19 (6.27%) Grafana
6 19 (6.27%) Prometheus
7 10 (3.30%) Dell DRAC
8 9 (2.97%) Packer
9 8 (2.64%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 8 (2.64%) vCenter Server
10 7 (2.31%) PowerCLI
10 7 (2.31%) vRealize
11 5 (1.65%) Argo
11 5 (1.65%) Istio
11 5 (1.65%) Nessus
11 5 (1.65%) Puppet
12 4 (1.32%) Oracle ZFS
12 4 (1.32%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 49 (16.17%) Oracle
2 47 (15.51%) VMware
3 44 (14.52%) Red Hat
4 37 (12.21%) Microsoft
5 23 (7.59%) Google
5 23 (7.59%) IBM
6 16 (5.28%) Cisco
7 13 (4.29%) ServiceNow
7 13 (4.29%) Splunk
8 9 (2.97%) Broadcom
8 9 (2.97%) CyberArk
8 9 (2.97%) Dell
8 9 (2.97%) HP
9 8 (2.64%) Dynatrace
10 6 (1.98%) Tenable
11 5 (1.65%) Brocade
11 5 (1.65%) Remedy
11 5 (1.65%) Sybase
11 5 (1.65%) Varonis
12 4 (1.32%) SAP