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

6 months to
6 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 30 50
Rank change year-on-year -25 +20 0
Contract jobs citing Linux 286 240 152
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 3.75% 6.06% 3.72%
As % of the Operating Systems category 32.91% 38.22% 29.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 163 105
10th Percentile £358 £317 £352
25th Percentile £413 £368 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -13.64% +4.76%
75th Percentile £615 £605 £625
90th Percentile £650 £686 £695
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 4
10th Percentile £18.90 - -
25th Percentile £23.36 - £47.00
Median hourly rate £36.67 £70.00 £50.75
Median % change year-on-year -47.61% +37.93% +91.51%
75th Percentile £49.06 - £62.33
90th Percentile £49.63 - £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 869 628 509
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 11.40% 15.86% 12.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 583 420 336
10th Percentile £182 £180 £186
25th Percentile £239 £278 £310
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £400 £466
Median % change year-on-year +6.25% -14.21% +5.97%
75th Percentile £525 £538 £594
90th Percentile £615 £625 £800
England median daily rate £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 24 45
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.00 £10.95
25th Percentile £16.90 £15.18 £13.87
Median hourly rate £19.00 £17.98 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +5.69% +2.73% -17.88%
75th Percentile £43.56 £18.87 £22.00
90th Percentile £178.75 £19.77 £31.00
England median hourly rate £32.50 £24.58 £50.00
% change year-on-year +32.22% -50.84% +8.98%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -24 145 £500 +25.00% 92
Yorkshire -24 121 £508 +1.45% 36
North East -18 27 £470 -18.26% 34
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 14 (4.90%) Confluence
2 4 (1.40%) Apache
2 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.05%) OpenStack
3 3 (1.05%) WebSphere
4 2 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.70%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.70%) nginx
4 2 (0.70%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.70%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.35%) CICS
5 1 (0.35%) CMS
5 1 (0.35%) SAS
5 1 (0.35%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (2.80%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.70%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.35%) Odoo
2 1 (0.35%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.35%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 101 (35.31%) AWS
2 83 (29.02%) Azure
3 50 (17.48%) GCP
4 30 (10.49%) GitHub
5 21 (7.34%) OpenShift
6 20 (6.99%) Azure DevOps
7 18 (6.29%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 17 (5.94%) OCI
9 14 (4.90%) Amazon EKS
10 13 (4.55%) Amazon ECS
10 13 (4.55%) AWS CloudFormation
10 13 (4.55%) Serverless
11 12 (4.20%) GitHub Actions
11 12 (4.20%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 11 (3.85%) AWS Lambda
13 10 (3.50%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 9 (3.15%) Azure Monitor
14 9 (3.15%) Entra ID
15 8 (2.80%) AWS KMS
16 7 (2.45%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 29 (10.14%) Firewall
2 16 (5.59%) DNS
2 16 (5.59%) Network Security
3 14 (4.90%) SAN
4 9 (3.15%) TCP/IP
5 8 (2.80%) VSAN
6 6 (2.10%) 3GPP
6 6 (2.10%) DHCP
6 6 (2.10%) RTP
6 6 (2.10%) SD-WAN
6 6 (2.10%) WAN
6 6 (2.10%) Wireless
6 6 (2.10%) Wireshark
7 5 (1.75%) NAS
7 5 (1.75%) VPN
8 4 (1.40%) iSCSI
9 3 (1.05%) Fibre Channel
9 3 (1.05%) FTP
9 3 (1.05%) HTTP
9 3 (1.05%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (9.09%) Oracle Database
2 16 (5.59%) RDBMS
2 16 (5.59%) Relational Database
3 14 (4.90%) Oracle Exadata
4 12 (4.20%) NoSQL
5 11 (3.85%) MongoDB
6 8 (2.80%) PostgreSQL
7 7 (2.45%) SQL Server
8 6 (2.10%) DynamoDB
8 6 (2.10%) Elasticsearch
9 5 (1.75%) Oracle Database 12c
9 5 (1.75%) Sybase ASE
10 4 (1.40%) Data Lake
11 3 (1.05%) Amazon Aurora
11 3 (1.05%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (1.05%) Big Data
11 3 (1.05%) BusinessObjects
11 3 (1.05%) Data Warehouse
11 3 (1.05%) Power BI
12 2 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 40 (13.99%) Git
2 25 (8.74%) GitLab
3 22 (7.69%) JIRA
4 19 (6.64%) Jenkins
5 9 (3.15%) Mockito
6 7 (2.45%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (2.10%) TeamCity
8 5 (1.75%) SonarQube
9 4 (1.40%) Cucumber
10 3 (1.05%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.70%) Burp Suite
11 2 (0.70%) Gatling
11 2 (0.70%) Gradle
11 2 (0.70%) LoadRunner
11 2 (0.70%) Maven
11 2 (0.70%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.70%) Toad
12 1 (0.35%) Claude Code
12 1 (0.35%) Hudson
12 1 (0.35%) Jaeger
General
1 60 (20.98%) Social Skills
2 57 (19.93%) Finance
3 28 (9.79%) Banking
4 24 (8.39%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (7.69%) Public Sector
6 10 (3.50%) Legal
7 5 (1.75%) Aviation
7 5 (1.75%) Fire and Rescue
7 5 (1.75%) Military
7 5 (1.75%) Police
8 4 (1.40%) Corporate Banking
8 4 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (1.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (1.40%) Investment Banking
8 4 (1.40%) Law
9 3 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.05%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.35%) Electronics
10 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.35%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 45 (15.73%) Senior
2 31 (10.84%) Linux Engineer
3 28 (9.79%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 27 (9.44%) Developer
5 22 (7.69%) DevOps Engineer
5 22 (7.69%) Security Engineer
6 18 (6.29%) Cloud Engineer
7 17 (5.94%) Consultant
8 16 (5.59%) Unix Engineer
9 14 (4.90%) DBA
10 13 (4.55%) Java Developer
10 13 (4.55%) Lead
11 12 (4.20%) Senior Developer
12 11 (3.85%) AWS Engineer
12 11 (3.85%) Cloud Security Engineer
13 10 (3.50%) Platform Engineer
13 10 (3.50%) Security Consultant
13 10 (3.50%) Software Engineer
13 10 (3.50%) Support Engineer
13 10 (3.50%) Unix Linux Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 100 (34.97%) Terraform
2 14 (4.90%) Kafka
2 14 (4.90%) Oracle GoldenGate
3 13 (4.55%) .NET
4 12 (4.20%) REST
5 9 (3.15%) ActiveMQ
5 9 (3.15%) JAX-RS
5 9 (3.15%) JSON
6 8 (2.80%) YAML
7 7 (2.45%) ARM Templates
7 7 (2.45%) Django
7 7 (2.45%) Middleware
8 6 (2.10%) .NET Core
8 6 (2.10%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (2.10%) Redfish
9 4 (1.40%) Azure Blueprints
9 4 (1.40%) LDAP
9 4 (1.40%) Node.js
9 4 (1.40%) RESTful
9 4 (1.40%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 35 (12.24%) Cloud Native
2 25 (8.74%) Data Centre
3 22 (7.69%) Linux Command Line
4 18 (6.29%) Replication
4 18 (6.29%) Security Posture
5 16 (5.59%) Public Cloud
6 15 (5.24%) Data Protection Act
6 15 (5.24%) PKI
7 14 (4.90%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (4.55%) Management Information System
9 12 (4.20%) Hybrid Cloud
10 11 (3.85%) Distributed Systems
11 10 (3.50%) Mainframe
12 9 (3.15%) Enterprise Cloud
13 7 (2.45%) Onboarding
14 6 (2.10%) Cloud Security Posture
15 5 (1.75%) Enterprise Storage
15 5 (1.75%) Private Cloud
15 5 (1.75%) Robotics
16 4 (1.40%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 89 (31.12%) Windows
2 70 (24.48%) Unix
3 64 (22.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 26 (9.09%) AIX
5 25 (8.74%) Windows Server
6 20 (6.99%) Solaris
7 8 (2.80%) Ubuntu
7 8 (2.80%) VMS
8 7 (2.45%) Oracle Linux
9 6 (2.10%) CentOS
9 6 (2.10%) zOS
10 5 (1.75%) HPUX
10 5 (1.75%) SUSE
11 4 (1.40%) Mac OS X
12 3 (1.05%) Mac OS
13 2 (0.70%) CoreOS
13 2 (0.70%) OpenVMS
13 2 (0.70%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.35%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (36.01%) CI/CD
2 90 (31.47%) Infrastructure as Code
3 78 (27.27%) DevOps
4 67 (23.43%) Agile
5 48 (16.78%) Continuous Improvement
5 48 (16.78%) Observability
6 47 (16.43%) Migration
7 46 (16.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 43 (15.03%) Change Management
9 41 (14.34%) High Availability
10 39 (13.64%) Infrastructure Automation
11 36 (12.59%) Cloud Security
12 31 (10.84%) ITIL
12 31 (10.84%) Performance Tuning
12 31 (10.84%) Platform Engineering
13 30 (10.49%) Problem-Solving
13 30 (10.49%) Root Cause Analysis
14 29 (10.14%) Disaster Recovery
14 29 (10.14%) Runbook
15 28 (9.79%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 115 (40.21%) Python
2 79 (27.62%) Bash
3 77 (26.92%) PowerShell
4 48 (16.78%) Java
5 42 (14.69%) SQL
6 17 (5.94%) Shell Script
7 16 (5.59%) Bicep
8 12 (4.20%) C#
9 10 (3.50%) JavaScript
10 7 (2.45%) Go
11 5 (1.75%) JCL
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%) Rust
13 3 (1.05%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.70%) C++
14 2 (0.70%) Perl
14 2 (0.70%) REXX
Qualifications
1 53 (18.53%) Security Cleared
2 43 (15.03%) SC Cleared
3 35 (12.24%) Degree
4 29 (10.14%) CISSP
5 20 (6.99%) Azure Certification
6 19 (6.64%) AWS Certification
7 7 (2.45%) CompTIA Security+
8 6 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (2.10%) CISM
8 6 (2.10%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (2.10%) RHCE
9 5 (1.75%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (1.40%) CEH
10 4 (1.40%) DV Cleared
10 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 3 (1.05%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 3 (1.05%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (1.05%) ITIL Certification
11 3 (1.05%) Network+ Certification
11 3 (1.05%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (2.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (1.75%) HIPAA
2 5 (1.75%) NIST
3 4 (1.40%) GRC
3 4 (1.40%) SLA
4 3 (1.05%) PCI DSS
4 3 (1.05%) QA
4 3 (1.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.35%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
5 1 (0.35%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.35%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.35%) GDPR
5 1 (0.35%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.35%) WCAG
System Software
1 55 (19.23%) Docker
2 38 (13.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (11.89%) Virtual Machines
4 22 (7.69%) Active Directory
5 17 (5.94%) Oracle RAC
6 16 (5.59%) vSphere
7 15 (5.24%) VMware ESXi
8 13 (4.55%) KVM
9 12 (4.20%) NFS
10 10 (3.50%) Firmware
11 8 (2.80%) VMware NSX
12 7 (2.45%) Hyper-V
13 5 (1.75%) Time Sharing Option
14 4 (1.40%) Ceph
15 3 (1.05%) GPFS
15 3 (1.05%) Veritas Volume Manager
16 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 1 (0.35%) NetIQ eDirectory
16 1 (0.35%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 1 (0.35%) zsh
Systems Management
1 84 (29.37%) Ansible
2 78 (27.27%) Kubernetes
3 22 (7.69%) Grafana
3 22 (7.69%) Prometheus
4 21 (7.34%) Oracle RMAN
5 20 (6.99%) Progress Chef
6 18 (6.29%) Data Guard
7 9 (3.15%) vCenter Server
8 8 (2.80%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 7 (2.45%) Packer
10 6 (2.10%) Dell DRAC
10 6 (2.10%) Istio
10 6 (2.10%) PowerCLI
11 5 (1.75%) vMotion
11 5 (1.75%) vRealize
12 4 (1.40%) Argo
12 4 (1.40%) Oracle ZFS
12 4 (1.40%) Tivoli
13 3 (1.05%) Nagios
13 3 (1.05%) PowerBroker
Vendors
1 48 (16.78%) Oracle
2 41 (14.34%) Red Hat
2 41 (14.34%) VMware
3 39 (13.64%) Microsoft
4 23 (8.04%) Google
5 19 (6.64%) Splunk
6 18 (6.29%) IBM
7 16 (5.59%) Cisco
8 10 (3.50%) Dell
9 9 (3.15%) ServiceNow
10 7 (2.45%) Dynatrace
11 6 (2.10%) Broadcom
11 6 (2.10%) HP
12 5 (1.75%) AppDynamics
12 5 (1.75%) Brocade
12 5 (1.75%) Databricks
12 5 (1.75%) Juniper
12 5 (1.75%) Sybase
13 4 (1.40%) CyberArk
13 4 (1.40%) SAP