DevOps Contract Job Trends in the North West

DevOps
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring DevOps skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 12 17 17
Rank change year-on-year +5 0 -4
Contract jobs citing DevOps 264 176 225
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 10.60% 8.16% 8.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.98% 9.45% 9.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 207 97 159
10th Percentile £318 £354 £425
25th Percentile £400 £413 £484
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -4.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £575 £594 £625
90th Percentile £658 £656 £670
England median daily rate £525 £575 £575
% change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 5 19
10th Percentile £44.27 - -
25th Percentile - £46.18 -
Median hourly rate £45.46 £63.79 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -28.73% +38.12% -2.78%
75th Percentile - £77.50 -
90th Percentile £51.52 £83.50 £47.34
England median hourly rate £56.00 £70.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -20.00% +7.69% -0.92%

All Process and Methodology Skills
North West

DevOps falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,203 1,863 2,328
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 88.44% 86.37% 89.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,438 1,054 1,583
10th Percentile £213 £266 £290
25th Percentile £358 £390 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £574 £575 £600
90th Percentile £652 £651 £687
England median daily rate £505 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -3.81% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 108 154
10th Percentile £16.73 £16.00 £15.75
25th Percentile £20.91 £21.20 £17.81
Median hourly rate £32.00 £32.01 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year -0.03% -9.83% +37.54%
75th Percentile £51.76 £51.91 £46.18
90th Percentile £69.78 £68.65 £65.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +19.30%

DevOps
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing DevOps relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

DevOps job vacancy trend in the North West

DevOps
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DevOps.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DevOps

DevOps
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DevOps in the North West over the 6 months to 17 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for DevOps in the North West

DevOps
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DevOps.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DevOps

DevOps
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DevOps in the North West over the 6 months to 17 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for DevOps in the North West

DevOps
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DevOps within the North West region over the 6 months to 17 December 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
Manchester -1 138 £488 -11.34% 93
Cheshire +12 76 £445 +25.00% 26
Lancashire +6 32 £600 +14.29% 48
Merseyside 0 11 £510 +2.00% 12
DevOps
England

DevOps
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 17 (6.44%) Confluence
2 14 (5.30%) JBoss
3 12 (4.55%) Apache
4 11 (4.17%) IIS
5 10 (3.79%) WebSphere
6 9 (3.41%) Apache Airflow
6 9 (3.41%) iPlanet
6 9 (3.41%) WebSphere Application Server
7 6 (2.27%) CICS
8 4 (1.52%) OpenStack
9 3 (1.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 2 (0.76%) Apache Spark
10 2 (0.76%) NetWeaver
11 1 (0.38%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.38%) Mule
11 1 (0.38%) Mule ESB
11 1 (0.38%) nginx
11 1 (0.38%) SharePoint
Applications
1 6 (2.27%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (2.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.76%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.38%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (1.89%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.38%) NEC Housing
2 1 (0.38%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 137 (51.89%) AWS
2 104 (39.39%) Azure
3 46 (17.42%) Azure DevOps
4 35 (13.26%) Serverless
5 34 (12.88%) GitHub
6 30 (11.36%) GCP
7 29 (10.98%) AWS CloudFormation
8 20 (7.58%) AWS Lambda
8 20 (7.58%) GitHub Actions
8 20 (7.58%) OpenShift
9 15 (5.68%) Power Platform
10 13 (4.92%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 13 (4.92%) Amazon S3
11 12 (4.55%) Amazon ECS
11 12 (4.55%) Amazon EKS
12 10 (3.79%) Amazon SQS
13 9 (3.41%) Datadog
13 9 (3.41%) Figma
14 8 (3.03%) Azure AKS
14 8 (3.03%) Kong
Communications & Networking
1 17 (6.44%) Firewall
2 9 (3.41%) Kerberos
3 5 (1.89%) HTTPS
4 4 (1.52%) SSL
4 4 (1.52%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.52%) VPN
5 3 (1.14%) DNS
6 2 (0.76%) DHCP
6 2 (0.76%) Network Security
7 1 (0.38%) NetScaler
7 1 (0.38%) VLAN
7 1 (0.38%) VoIP
7 1 (0.38%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (4.55%) DynamoDB
1 12 (4.55%) Relational Database
2 11 (4.17%) MongoDB
2 11 (4.17%) NoSQL
3 10 (3.79%) Oracle Database
3 10 (3.79%) RDBMS
3 10 (3.79%) SQL Server
4 9 (3.41%) Data Lake
4 9 (3.41%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (3.41%) Power BI
5 8 (3.03%) Amazon RDS
6 7 (2.65%) Tableau
7 5 (1.89%) Amazon Aurora
7 5 (1.89%) Oracle Reports
8 4 (1.52%) Azure SQL Database
8 4 (1.52%) DocumentDB
9 3 (1.14%) Metadata
9 3 (1.14%) MySQL
10 2 (0.76%) Apache Cassandra
10 2 (0.76%) Redis
Development Applications
1 49 (18.56%) JIRA
2 47 (17.80%) Git
3 43 (16.29%) GitLab
4 41 (15.53%) Jenkins
5 15 (5.68%) Sonatype Nexus
6 12 (4.55%) Bitbucket Server
6 12 (4.55%) CA Release Automation
7 8 (3.03%) JUnit
8 7 (2.65%) Selenium
8 7 (2.65%) SonarQube
9 6 (2.27%) Bitbucket
9 6 (2.27%) Gradle
9 6 (2.27%) Storybook
9 6 (2.27%) Xcode
10 5 (1.89%) CircleCI
10 5 (1.89%) Cypress.io
10 5 (1.89%) Postman
11 4 (1.52%) Cucumber
12 3 (1.14%) Jasmine
12 3 (1.14%) Rational DOORS
General
1 58 (21.97%) Finance
1 58 (21.97%) Social Skills
2 45 (17.05%) Public Sector
3 30 (11.36%) Banking
4 20 (7.58%) Analytical Skills
5 5 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (1.52%) Games
7 3 (1.14%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (1.14%) Law
7 3 (1.14%) Military
8 2 (0.76%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (0.76%) Manufacturing
8 2 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (0.76%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.38%) Electronics
9 1 (0.38%) Legal
9 1 (0.38%) Publishing
9 1 (0.38%) Retail
Job Titles
1 55 (20.83%) Developer
2 44 (16.67%) DevOps Engineer
3 37 (14.02%) Senior
4 34 (12.88%) Lead
5 23 (8.71%) Platform Engineer
6 20 (7.58%) AWS Engineer
7 19 (7.20%) AWS DevOps
8 16 (6.06%) Software Engineer
9 15 (5.68%) AWS DevOps Engineer
10 14 (5.30%) Java Developer
11 12 (4.55%) Architect
12 10 (3.79%) Analyst
12 10 (3.79%) Cloud Engineer
12 10 (3.79%) Senior Developer
13 9 (3.41%) Senior DevOps
14 8 (3.03%) Azure Engineer
14 8 (3.03%) Business Analyst
14 8 (3.03%) DBA
14 8 (3.03%) Solutions Architect
15 7 (2.65%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (12.50%) Spring Boot
2 31 (11.74%) REST
3 28 (10.61%) Spring
4 27 (10.23%) JSON
5 26 (9.85%) OAuth
6 22 (8.33%) React
7 20 (7.58%) Node.js
8 19 (7.20%) XML
9 18 (6.82%) Kafka
10 17 (6.44%) HTML
10 17 (6.44%) RESTful
11 15 (5.68%) AngularJS
12 14 (5.30%) .NET
12 14 (5.30%) JMS
13 12 (4.55%) SOAP
14 10 (3.79%) Elastic Stack
14 10 (3.79%) OpenID
14 10 (3.79%) SAML
15 9 (3.41%) CSS
15 9 (3.41%) Jest
Miscellaneous
1 27 (10.23%) Cloud Native
2 15 (5.68%) Virtual Team
3 13 (4.92%) Product Ownership
4 11 (4.17%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 10 (3.79%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (3.41%) Onboarding
7 7 (2.65%) Mobile App
8 6 (2.27%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (2.27%) Mainframe
8 6 (2.27%) VSAM
9 5 (1.89%) Data Structures
9 5 (1.89%) IBM Mainframe
10 4 (1.52%) Low-Code
11 3 (1.14%) Greenfield Project
11 3 (1.14%) Synthetic Data
11 3 (1.14%) Taxonomies
12 2 (0.76%) Hybrid Cloud
12 2 (0.76%) PKI
12 2 (0.76%) Private Cloud
12 2 (0.76%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 39 (14.77%) Linux
2 19 (7.20%) Windows
3 9 (3.41%) Windows Server
4 8 (3.03%) Unix
5 6 (2.27%) Android
5 6 (2.27%) Apple iOS
5 6 (2.27%) zOS
6 4 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.38%) VMS
7 1 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.38%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (55.68%) CI/CD
2 104 (39.39%) Agile
3 61 (23.11%) Infrastructure as Code
4 60 (22.73%) Containerisation
5 45 (17.05%) Microservices
6 42 (15.91%) Problem-Solving
7 38 (14.39%) Continuous Improvement
8 37 (14.02%) Test Automation
9 30 (11.36%) Observability
9 30 (11.36%) Stakeholder Management
10 28 (10.61%) ITIL
10 28 (10.61%) SDLC
11 27 (10.23%) Change Management
11 27 (10.23%) Project Delivery
12 24 (9.09%) Cloud Security
12 24 (9.09%) Infrastructure Automation
13 23 (8.71%) Software Engineering
14 22 (8.33%) Full-Stack Development
14 22 (8.33%) Mentoring
15 21 (7.95%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 56 (21.21%) Python
2 51 (19.32%) Java
3 47 (17.80%) SQL
4 26 (9.85%) TypeScript
5 24 (9.09%) Bash
6 17 (6.44%) JavaScript
7 13 (4.92%) C#
8 12 (4.55%) Groovy
9 11 (4.17%) Shell Script
10 9 (3.41%) Go
11 8 (3.03%) Perl
11 8 (3.03%) PowerShell
12 6 (2.27%) CLIST
12 6 (2.27%) JCL
12 6 (2.27%) REXX
13 5 (1.89%) Bicep
13 5 (1.89%) C++
14 4 (1.52%) Ruby
14 4 (1.52%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.76%) PHP
Qualifications
1 51 (19.32%) Security Cleared
2 38 (14.39%) SC Cleared
3 28 (10.61%) Degree
4 15 (5.68%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
5 14 (5.30%) AWS Certification
6 11 (4.17%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (3.41%) Azure Certification
8 8 (3.03%) Computer Science Degree
9 6 (2.27%) CISSP
10 5 (1.89%) CISM
11 3 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.76%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
12 2 (0.76%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Certification
13 1 (0.38%) CompTIA Security+
13 1 (0.38%) ISEB
13 1 (0.38%) Postgraduate
13 1 (0.38%) SAFe Agilist
13 1 (0.38%) Tableau Certification
13 1 (0.38%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (10.23%) QA
2 21 (7.95%) Accessibility
3 14 (5.30%) PSD2
4 11 (4.17%) ISO 20022
4 11 (4.17%) SEPA
5 7 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (2.65%) NIST
6 4 (1.52%) GDPR
6 4 (1.52%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.14%) WCAG
8 2 (0.76%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.38%) GRC
9 1 (0.38%) HL7
9 1 (0.38%) SOC 1
9 1 (0.38%) SOC 2
System Software
1 75 (28.41%) Docker
2 14 (5.30%) Active Directory
3 9 (3.41%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (3.41%) vSphere
4 8 (3.03%) Tivoli Directory Server
5 6 (2.27%) Time Sharing Option
6 3 (1.14%) ISA Server
7 2 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.76%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 73 (27.65%) Kubernetes
2 72 (27.27%) Terraform
3 20 (7.58%) Ansible
4 16 (6.06%) Progress Chef
5 13 (4.92%) Prometheus
6 10 (3.79%) CA Single Sign-On
6 10 (3.79%) Grafana
7 9 (3.41%) CA Wily
8 8 (3.03%) Tivoli
9 7 (2.65%) Single Sign-On
10 6 (2.27%) OMEGAMON
11 5 (1.89%) CA Endevor
12 4 (1.52%) Fluentd
13 3 (1.14%) Kibana
13 3 (1.14%) Packer
13 3 (1.14%) Podman
13 3 (1.14%) SELinux
14 2 (0.76%) SCCM
15 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Intune
15 1 (0.38%) Puppet
Vendors
1 44 (16.67%) Microsoft
2 32 (12.12%) Oracle
3 26 (9.85%) Splunk
4 20 (7.58%) IBM
5 13 (4.92%) AppDynamics
6 10 (3.79%) Broadcom
6 10 (3.79%) ServiceNow
6 10 (3.79%) VMware
7 8 (3.03%) SAP
8 7 (2.65%) F5
9 6 (2.27%) Cribl.io
9 6 (2.27%) Palo Alto
10 5 (1.89%) Axway
10 5 (1.89%) Dynatrace
11 4 (1.52%) Cloudera
11 4 (1.52%) Databricks
12 3 (1.14%) Adobe
12 3 (1.14%) MuleSoft
12 3 (1.14%) Software AG
12 3 (1.14%) Veracode