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

6 months to
7 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 20 17
Rank change year-on-year +3 -3 -2
Contract jobs citing DevOps 276 173 239
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.61% 8.84% 8.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.25% 9.81% 10.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 192 128 171
10th Percentile £370 £380 £409
25th Percentile £413 £424 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £530
Median % change year-on-year - -5.66% -3.64%
75th Percentile £575 £584 £625
90th Percentile £650 £686 £825
England median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 1 3
10th Percentile £25.38 - -
25th Percentile £34.28 £67.50 -
Median hourly rate £42.69 £70.00 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -39.02% +52.57% +7.06%
75th Percentile £73.50 £72.50 -
90th Percentile £79.25 - -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year - +3.85% -0.76%

All Process & 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 2,692 1,764 2,337
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.97% 90.18% 86.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,660 1,143 1,486
10th Percentile £275 £300 £306
25th Percentile £375 £393 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.09% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £593
90th Percentile £653 £661 £690
England median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 227 107 248
10th Percentile £19.37 £16.04 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £22.87 £13.45
Median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £22.98
Median % change year-on-year +69.23% +41.46% -37.31%
75th Percentile £74.26 £61.50 £45.22
90th Percentile £85.00 £84.80 £57.50
England median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £36.34
% change year-on-year +50.00% -17.43% -2.19%

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 7 May 2026.

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 7 May 2026.

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 7 May 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
Manchester +7 171 £500 -4.76% 120
Cheshire -1 70 £465 +9.41% 17
Merseyside -16 16 £510 -2.63% 7
Lancashire +1 15 £575 - 41
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 23 (8.33%) Confluence
2 8 (2.90%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.45%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.09%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.36%) Apache
5 1 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.36%) nginx
Applications
1 10 (3.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (3.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (1.81%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (1.45%) Microsoft Office
5 3 (1.09%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.72%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.72%) Trello
Business Applications
1 2 (0.72%) NEC Housing
2 1 (0.36%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.36%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.36%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 145 (52.54%) Azure
2 133 (48.19%) AWS
3 66 (23.91%) Azure DevOps
4 47 (17.03%) Serverless
5 42 (15.22%) GCP
6 38 (13.77%) GitHub
7 26 (9.42%) GitHub Actions
8 17 (6.16%) AWS Lambda
9 16 (5.80%) Amazon EKS
9 16 (5.80%) Amazon S3
9 16 (5.80%) AWS CloudFormation
9 16 (5.80%) Azure AKS
10 15 (5.43%) Dynamics 365
10 15 (5.43%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 12 (4.35%) Amazon EC2
12 11 (3.99%) Amazon ECS
12 11 (3.99%) Entra ID
12 11 (3.99%) Microsoft 365
13 10 (3.62%) Power Platform
14 9 (3.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 17 (6.16%) Firewall
2 8 (2.90%) DNS
3 6 (2.17%) DHCP
4 5 (1.81%) BGP
4 5 (1.81%) BIG-IP
4 5 (1.81%) Ethernet VPN
4 5 (1.81%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
4 5 (1.81%) Network Security
4 5 (1.81%) OSPF
4 5 (1.81%) SD-WAN
4 5 (1.81%) TCP/IP
4 5 (1.81%) VXLAN
4 5 (1.81%) WAN
5 4 (1.45%) NetScaler
5 4 (1.45%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (1.45%) WLAN
6 2 (0.72%) VPN
7 1 (0.36%) Fibre Channel
7 1 (0.36%) Reverse Proxy
7 1 (0.36%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.33%) PostgreSQL
2 18 (6.52%) MongoDB
3 17 (6.16%) NoSQL
4 16 (5.80%) Relational Database
5 14 (5.07%) DynamoDB
6 12 (4.35%) RDBMS
7 11 (3.99%) SQL Server
8 9 (3.26%) Oracle Reports
8 9 (3.26%) Tableau
9 7 (2.54%) DocumentDB
9 7 (2.54%) Elasticsearch
9 7 (2.54%) Oracle Database
10 6 (2.17%) Amazon RDS
11 4 (1.45%) Ataccama
11 4 (1.45%) Data Lake
12 3 (1.09%) Data Vault
12 3 (1.09%) MySQL
12 3 (1.09%) Power BI
12 3 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 2 (0.72%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 44 (15.94%) GitLab
2 43 (15.58%) JIRA
3 35 (12.68%) Git
4 29 (10.51%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.90%) CircleCI
5 8 (2.90%) Cypress.io
5 8 (2.90%) Mocha
6 7 (2.54%) JUnit
7 5 (1.81%) Selenium
8 4 (1.45%) REST Assured
9 3 (1.09%) ClearCase
9 3 (1.09%) Gatling
9 3 (1.09%) Gradle
9 3 (1.09%) Jasmine
9 3 (1.09%) Maven
9 3 (1.09%) Serenity BDD
9 3 (1.09%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.72%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.72%) Flyway
10 2 (0.72%) Liquibase
General
1 60 (21.74%) Public Sector
2 59 (21.38%) Finance
3 48 (17.39%) Social Skills
4 26 (9.42%) Banking
5 19 (6.88%) Analytical Skills
6 5 (1.81%) Retail
7 4 (1.45%) Law
8 3 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.09%) Health Technology
8 3 (1.09%) Local Government
8 3 (1.09%) Military
9 2 (0.72%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.72%) Organisational Skills
9 2 (0.72%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.36%) Corporate Banking
10 1 (0.36%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.36%) Legal
10 1 (0.36%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.36%) Marketing
10 1 (0.36%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 55 (19.93%) Developer
2 41 (14.86%) DevOps Engineer
3 37 (13.41%) Senior
4 36 (13.04%) Lead
5 31 (11.23%) Architect
6 18 (6.52%) Software Engineer
7 17 (6.16%) Java Developer
7 17 (6.16%) Solutions Architect
8 16 (5.80%) Analyst
8 16 (5.80%) Azure Engineer
9 15 (5.43%) Full-Stack Developer
10 14 (5.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 13 (4.71%) Platform Engineer
11 13 (4.71%) Software Developer
12 12 (4.35%) Lead Developer
13 11 (3.99%) Azure DevOps Engineer
13 11 (3.99%) Security Engineer
13 11 (3.99%) Senior Developer
14 10 (3.62%) DBA
15 9 (3.26%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (16.67%) Spring
2 45 (16.30%) Spring Boot
3 39 (14.13%) REST
4 28 (10.14%) Node.js
4 28 (10.14%) React
5 22 (7.97%) XML
6 20 (7.25%) AngularJS
6 20 (7.25%) Kafka
7 17 (6.16%) .NET
8 15 (5.43%) JSON
8 15 (5.43%) RESTful
9 14 (5.07%) Playwright
10 13 (4.71%) Jest
11 10 (3.62%) OAuth
12 8 (2.90%) ARM Templates
12 8 (2.90%) GraphQL
12 8 (2.90%) HTML
12 8 (2.90%) Spring MVC
13 7 (2.54%) JWT
13 7 (2.54%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 53 (19.20%) Cloud Native
2 24 (8.70%) Product Ownership
3 13 (4.71%) Data Protection Act
4 11 (3.99%) Private Cloud
5 9 (3.26%) Distributed Systems
5 9 (3.26%) Onboarding
6 8 (2.90%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (2.90%) Virtual Team
7 7 (2.54%) Data Centre
7 7 (2.54%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.54%) Security Posture
7 7 (2.54%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 6 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.81%) e-Learning
9 5 (1.81%) Replication
10 4 (1.45%) Data Structures
10 4 (1.45%) Management Information System
10 4 (1.45%) NHS
11 3 (1.09%) IoT
11 3 (1.09%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 25 (9.06%) Linux
2 10 (3.62%) Windows
3 6 (2.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.45%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2012
4 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
5 2 (0.72%) VMS
6 1 (0.36%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 155 (56.16%) CI/CD
2 118 (42.75%) Agile
3 70 (25.36%) Microservices
4 65 (23.55%) Infrastructure as Code
5 58 (21.01%) Containerisation
6 51 (18.48%) Test Automation
7 44 (15.94%) Observability
8 42 (15.22%) Mentoring
9 39 (14.13%) Continuous Improvement
9 39 (14.13%) Problem-Solving
10 33 (11.96%) Stakeholder Management
11 28 (10.14%) Technical Leadership
12 27 (9.78%) Full-Stack Development
12 27 (9.78%) SDLC
13 26 (9.42%) Software Engineering
14 24 (8.70%) AI
14 24 (8.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 23 (8.33%) Platform Engineering
15 23 (8.33%) Scrum
16 22 (7.97%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 78 (28.26%) Java
2 69 (25.00%) Python
3 35 (12.68%) SQL
4 31 (11.23%) TypeScript
5 27 (9.78%) JavaScript
6 26 (9.42%) PowerShell
7 21 (7.61%) Bash
8 15 (5.43%) C#
9 10 (3.62%) Bicep
10 7 (2.54%) Rust
11 6 (2.17%) Shell Script
12 4 (1.45%) Go
13 3 (1.09%) C++
13 3 (1.09%) PL/SQL
13 3 (1.09%) Ruby
13 3 (1.09%) VB
13 3 (1.09%) VB6
14 1 (0.36%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.36%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 1 (0.36%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 56 (20.29%) Security Cleared
2 31 (11.23%) SC Cleared
3 28 (10.14%) Degree
4 24 (8.70%) AWS Certification
5 20 (7.25%) Azure Certification
5 20 (7.25%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (3.99%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 9 (3.26%) CISSP
7 9 (3.26%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (2.90%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (1.81%) DV Cleared
10 4 (1.45%) IBM Certification
11 3 (1.09%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 3 (1.09%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.72%) CCIE
12 2 (0.72%) CCNP
12 2 (0.72%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.72%) CISM
12 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (0.72%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (7.61%) QA
2 19 (6.88%) Accessibility
3 9 (3.26%) GDPR
4 8 (2.90%) ISO 20022
4 8 (2.90%) PSD2
4 8 (2.90%) WCAG
5 7 (2.54%) SEPA
6 6 (2.17%) Data Quality
6 6 (2.17%) NIST
7 3 (1.09%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (1.09%) GRC
7 3 (1.09%) HIPAA
7 3 (1.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 3 (1.09%) SLA
8 1 (0.36%) HL7
8 1 (0.36%) NEBOSH
8 1 (0.36%) PMO
8 1 (0.36%) Solvency II
System Software
1 75 (27.17%) Docker
2 9 (3.26%) Active Directory
3 6 (2.17%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (2.17%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.81%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.81%) vSphere
5 3 (1.09%) ISA Server
6 2 (0.72%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.36%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 85 (30.80%) Terraform
2 74 (26.81%) Kubernetes
3 23 (8.33%) Ansible
4 14 (5.07%) Grafana
5 13 (4.71%) Prometheus
6 8 (2.90%) Argo
7 6 (2.17%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 6 (2.17%) Istio
8 4 (1.45%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.45%) Progress Chef
8 4 (1.45%) SCCM
8 4 (1.45%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.72%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.72%) Data Guard
9 2 (0.72%) linkerd
9 2 (0.72%) Oracle RMAN
10 1 (0.36%) NetBackup
10 1 (0.36%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.36%) vRealize
10 1 (0.36%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 46 (16.67%) Microsoft
2 29 (10.51%) Oracle
3 20 (7.25%) Google
4 13 (4.71%) Splunk
5 10 (3.62%) F5
6 7 (2.54%) MuleSoft
6 7 (2.54%) Red Hat
7 6 (2.17%) Databricks
7 6 (2.17%) VMware
8 5 (1.81%) Aruba
8 5 (1.81%) IBM
8 5 (1.81%) OpenAI
8 5 (1.81%) Palo Alto
8 5 (1.81%) Veeam
9 4 (1.45%) Arista
9 4 (1.45%) CyberArk
9 4 (1.45%) ServiceNow
10 3 (1.09%) Adobe
10 3 (1.09%) Foundry
10 3 (1.09%) SAP