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

6 months to
4 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 17 14
Rank change year-on-year +1 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing DevOps 323 189 241
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.99% 9.05% 8.70%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.77% 10.21% 10.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 149 167
10th Percentile £393 £330 £413
25th Percentile £413 £393 £458
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.37% -9.52% -
75th Percentile £609 £575 £647
90th Percentile £676 £641 £835
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 2 3
10th Percentile - £70.25 -
25th Percentile £25.38 £74.38 -
Median hourly rate £42.69 £82.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -48.26% +79.82% +13.28%
75th Percentile £75.00 £89.38 -
90th Percentile £84.50 £92.75 -
England median hourly rate £68.75 £62.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year +10.00% -10.71% +6.78%

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 2,998 1,852 2,340
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.44% 88.70% 84.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,758 1,225 1,425
10th Percentile £300 £300 £303
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £588 £563 £585
90th Percentile £675 £670 £675
England median daily rate £523 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +1.46% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 277 113 267
10th Percentile £17.25 £12.96 £11.00
25th Percentile £25.38 £19.00 £15.50
Median hourly rate £50.00 £30.00 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +66.67% - -1.77%
75th Percentile £76.00 £60.00 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £81.00 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +86.88% -34.02% +1.65%

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 4 July 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 4 July 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 4 July 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 +9 209 £500 -1.38% 150
Cheshire -8 66 £487 +21.02% 13
Lancashire +5 28 £608 +10.45% 30
Merseyside -10 12 £510 -2.63% 9
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 24 (7.43%) Confluence
2 9 (2.79%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.55%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.93%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (0.93%) SAS
5 2 (0.62%) Apache
6 1 (0.31%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.31%) Camunda
6 1 (0.31%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.31%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.31%) nginx
6 1 (0.31%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 6 (1.86%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.62%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.62%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.62%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (1.55%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.31%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.31%) NEC Housing
2 1 (0.31%) SAP PM
2 1 (0.31%) SAP QM
2 1 (0.31%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.31%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 181 (56.04%) Azure
2 140 (43.34%) AWS
3 80 (24.77%) Azure DevOps
4 54 (16.72%) GCP
5 43 (13.31%) Serverless
6 42 (13.00%) GitHub
7 25 (7.74%) GitHub Actions
8 24 (7.43%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 22 (6.81%) AWS Lambda
9 22 (6.81%) Azure AKS
10 16 (4.95%) SaaS
11 15 (4.64%) Amazon EC2
11 15 (4.64%) Amazon S3
11 15 (4.64%) Dynamics 365
11 15 (4.64%) Power Platform
11 15 (4.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 12 (3.72%) Entra ID
13 11 (3.41%) Amazon EKS
13 11 (3.41%) dbt
13 11 (3.41%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 34 (10.53%) Firewall
2 10 (3.10%) BGP
2 10 (3.10%) BIG-IP
2 10 (3.10%) Ethernet VPN
2 10 (3.10%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 10 (3.10%) OSPF
2 10 (3.10%) SD-WAN
2 10 (3.10%) VXLAN
2 10 (3.10%) WAN
3 9 (2.79%) DNS
3 9 (2.79%) Wi-Fi
3 9 (2.79%) WLAN
4 7 (2.17%) Network Security
5 6 (1.86%) SSL
6 4 (1.24%) DHCP
7 3 (0.93%) TCP/IP
7 3 (0.93%) VPN
8 2 (0.62%) NetScaler
9 1 (0.31%) iSCSI
9 1 (0.31%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (8.36%) SQL Server
2 24 (7.43%) MongoDB
3 20 (6.19%) PostgreSQL
3 20 (6.19%) Relational Database
4 14 (4.33%) NoSQL
5 12 (3.72%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 10 (3.10%) RDBMS
7 9 (2.79%) DocumentDB
7 9 (2.79%) DynamoDB
8 8 (2.48%) Data Lake
8 8 (2.48%) MySQL
8 8 (2.48%) Oracle Database
9 7 (2.17%) Amazon RDS
9 7 (2.17%) Ataccama
9 7 (2.17%) Elasticsearch
9 7 (2.17%) Power BI
10 6 (1.86%) BigQuery
11 4 (1.24%) Data Vault
11 4 (1.24%) Oracle Reports
11 4 (1.24%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 58 (17.96%) GitLab
2 45 (13.93%) Git
2 45 (13.93%) Jenkins
3 39 (12.07%) JIRA
4 14 (4.33%) Selenium
5 10 (3.10%) REST Assured
6 9 (2.79%) Postman
7 8 (2.48%) Cucumber
7 8 (2.48%) Gatling
7 8 (2.48%) SonarQube
8 7 (2.17%) JUnit
9 6 (1.86%) Sonatype Nexus
10 5 (1.55%) Claude Code
10 5 (1.55%) Gradle
10 5 (1.55%) Mocha
10 5 (1.55%) Serenity BDD
11 4 (1.24%) Cypress.io
12 3 (0.93%) CircleCI
12 3 (0.93%) ClearCase
12 3 (0.93%) Maven
General
1 66 (20.43%) Finance
2 58 (17.96%) Social Skills
3 55 (17.03%) Public Sector
4 28 (8.67%) Banking
5 20 (6.19%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (2.79%) Retail
7 7 (2.17%) Military
8 4 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.93%) Health Technology
9 3 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
9 3 (0.93%) Local Government
9 3 (0.93%) Manufacturing
10 2 (0.62%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.62%) Financial Institution
10 2 (0.62%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.62%) Publishing
11 1 (0.31%) Corporate Banking
11 1 (0.31%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.31%) Retail Banking
11 1 (0.31%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 57 (17.65%) Developer
2 54 (16.72%) DevOps Engineer
3 48 (14.86%) Lead
3 48 (14.86%) Senior
4 34 (10.53%) Architect
5 18 (5.57%) Java Developer
5 18 (5.57%) Software Engineer
6 17 (5.26%) Solutions Architect
7 16 (4.95%) Azure Engineer
7 16 (4.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 16 (4.95%) Lead Developer
8 15 (4.64%) Security Engineer
8 15 (4.64%) Software Developer
9 14 (4.33%) Cloud Engineer
10 13 (4.02%) DBA
10 13 (4.02%) Senior Developer
11 12 (3.72%) Analyst
11 12 (3.72%) Platform Engineer
12 11 (3.41%) Azure DevOps Engineer
13 9 (2.79%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (13.93%) Spring
2 44 (13.62%) Spring Boot
3 31 (9.60%) Kafka
4 27 (8.36%) REST
5 26 (8.05%) Node.js
6 24 (7.43%) React
7 17 (5.26%) .NET
7 17 (5.26%) Playwright
8 15 (4.64%) JSON
9 12 (3.72%) XML
10 11 (3.41%) AngularJS
10 11 (3.41%) PySpark
11 9 (2.79%) RESTful
12 8 (2.48%) GraphQL
13 7 (2.17%) ARM Templates
14 5 (1.55%) Jest
14 5 (1.55%) LangChain
14 5 (1.55%) OAuth
14 5 (1.55%) Spring Cloud
15 4 (1.24%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 74 (22.91%) Cloud Native
2 21 (6.50%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.95%) Security Posture
4 15 (4.64%) Management Information System
5 14 (4.33%) Hybrid Cloud
6 12 (3.72%) Data Centre
7 11 (3.41%) Replication
8 10 (3.10%) Data Protection Act
8 10 (3.10%) Legacy Systems
9 8 (2.48%) Clustering
9 8 (2.48%) Onboarding
9 8 (2.48%) Public Cloud
10 7 (2.17%) AI Agents
10 7 (2.17%) Data Structures
10 7 (2.17%) Private Cloud
11 6 (1.86%) Algorithms
12 5 (1.55%) Distributed Systems
12 5 (1.55%) Linux Command Line
12 5 (1.55%) Mainframe
12 5 (1.55%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 33 (10.22%) Linux
2 23 (7.12%) Windows
3 13 (4.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 6 (1.86%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.24%) VMS
6 2 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.31%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (60.06%) CI/CD
2 118 (36.53%) Agile
3 80 (24.77%) Infrastructure as Code
4 64 (19.81%) Microservices
5 56 (17.34%) Observability
6 55 (17.03%) Test Automation
7 53 (16.41%) Containerisation
8 44 (13.62%) Continuous Improvement
9 40 (12.38%) AI
10 36 (11.15%) Problem-Solving
11 35 (10.84%) Mentoring
12 34 (10.53%) Migration
12 34 (10.53%) Software Engineering
13 33 (10.22%) Platform Engineering
13 33 (10.22%) Scrum
14 31 (9.60%) SDLC
15 29 (8.98%) Event-Driven
15 29 (8.98%) Machine Learning
15 29 (8.98%) Stakeholder Management
15 29 (8.98%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 91 (28.17%) Python
2 89 (27.55%) Java
3 47 (14.55%) PowerShell
3 47 (14.55%) SQL
4 30 (9.29%) Bash
5 26 (8.05%) JavaScript
6 22 (6.81%) C#
7 21 (6.50%) TypeScript
8 11 (3.41%) Bicep
9 10 (3.10%) T-SQL
10 7 (2.17%) Rust
11 6 (1.86%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.93%) Go
12 3 (0.93%) VB
12 3 (0.93%) VB6
13 2 (0.62%) C++
13 2 (0.62%) PL/SQL
13 2 (0.62%) PROC SQL
14 1 (0.31%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 75 (23.22%) Security Cleared
2 54 (16.72%) SC Cleared
3 33 (10.22%) Degree
4 28 (8.67%) AWS Certification
5 27 (8.36%) Azure Certification
6 19 (5.88%) BPSS Clearance
7 17 (5.26%) CISSP
8 12 (3.72%) DV Cleared
9 10 (3.10%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 8 (2.48%) Microsoft Certification
11 7 (2.17%) ITIL Certification
12 4 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
13 3 (0.93%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
13 3 (0.93%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 3 (0.93%) PMI Certification
14 2 (0.62%) CCIE
14 2 (0.62%) CCNP
14 2 (0.62%) Cisco Certification
14 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 2 (0.62%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.19%) QA
2 17 (5.26%) Accessibility
3 13 (4.02%) Data Quality
4 9 (2.79%) GDPR
5 5 (1.55%) NIST
6 4 (1.24%) ISO 20022
6 4 (1.24%) PSD2
6 4 (1.24%) SEPA
6 4 (1.24%) SLA
6 4 (1.24%) WCAG
7 3 (0.93%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.93%) GRC
7 3 (0.93%) HIPAA
7 3 (0.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 1 (0.31%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.31%) PMO
9 1 (0.31%) Solvency II
System Software
1 81 (25.08%) Docker
2 10 (3.10%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (2.17%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.24%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.93%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.93%) vSphere
6 2 (0.62%) Apache ZooKeeper
6 2 (0.62%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.31%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 112 (34.67%) Terraform
2 89 (27.55%) Kubernetes
3 34 (10.53%) Ansible
4 22 (6.81%) Grafana
5 17 (5.26%) Prometheus
6 11 (3.41%) Progress Chef
7 10 (3.10%) Argo
8 8 (2.48%) Istio
9 4 (1.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (1.24%) SCOM
9 4 (1.24%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.62%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.62%) Data Guard
10 2 (0.62%) Failover Clustering
10 2 (0.62%) linkerd
10 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.62%) Oracle RMAN
10 2 (0.62%) Packer
10 2 (0.62%) SCCM
11 1 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 66 (20.43%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.67%) Google
3 21 (6.50%) Oracle
4 16 (4.95%) Splunk
5 14 (4.33%) Red Hat
5 14 (4.33%) ServiceNow
6 13 (4.02%) F5
7 10 (3.10%) Aruba
7 10 (3.10%) Palo Alto
8 9 (2.79%) Arista
8 9 (2.79%) OpenAI
9 8 (2.48%) Databricks
9 8 (2.48%) Dynatrace
10 7 (2.17%) SAP
11 4 (1.24%) CyberArk
11 4 (1.24%) IBM
11 4 (1.24%) VMware
12 3 (0.93%) Atlassian
12 3 (0.93%) Salesforce
12 3 (0.93%) Veeam