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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 17 16
Rank change year-on-year +1 -1 -1
Contract jobs citing DevOps 285 174 234
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.57% 9.00% 8.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.30% 9.97% 10.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 193 129 171
10th Percentile £377 £363 £413
25th Percentile £413 £413 £458
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £581 £588 £650
90th Percentile £640 £673 £825
England median daily rate £525 £533 £550
% change year-on-year -1.58% -3.01% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 2 3
10th Percentile £25.38 £70.25 -
25th Percentile £28.35 £74.38 -
Median hourly rate £42.69 £82.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -48.26% +79.82% +5.95%
75th Percentile £74.50 £89.38 -
90th Percentile £82.75 £92.75 -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £67.50 £65.25
% change year-on-year - +3.45% -0.38%

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 2,768 1,745 2,276
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.27% 90.27% 85.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,659 1,137 1,438
10th Percentile £300 £300 £307
25th Percentile £393 £391 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.21% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £563 £588
90th Percentile £670 £662 £682
England median daily rate £514 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.10% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 239 96 262
10th Percentile £17.10 £14.16 £11.00
25th Percentile £25.38 £22.74 £14.00
Median hourly rate £52.78 £30.20 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.75% +16.15% -25.75%
75th Percentile £74.26 £63.10 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £84.88 £66.61
England median hourly rate £45.00 £28.00 £36.50
% change year-on-year +60.71% -23.29% -2.67%

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 27 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 27 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 27 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 +5 180 £500 -1.38% 142
Cheshire -3 64 £482 +13.44% 9
Lancashire 0 20 £575 +2.22% 43
Merseyside -13 16 £510 -2.63% 11
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 25 (8.77%) Confluence
2 8 (2.81%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.40%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.70%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.35%) Apache
5 1 (0.35%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.35%) Camunda
5 1 (0.35%) nginx
Applications
1 10 (3.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (3.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (1.75%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Office
5 3 (1.05%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.70%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.70%) Trello
Business Applications
1 2 (0.70%) NEC Housing
1 2 (0.70%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.35%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.35%) SAP QM
2 1 (0.35%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.35%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 154 (54.04%) Azure
2 129 (45.26%) AWS
3 67 (23.51%) Azure DevOps
4 48 (16.84%) GCP
5 46 (16.14%) Serverless
6 40 (14.04%) GitHub
7 23 (8.07%) GitHub Actions
8 21 (7.37%) AWS Lambda
9 20 (7.02%) Azure AKS
10 18 (6.32%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 17 (5.96%) Amazon S3
12 15 (5.26%) Amazon EC2
12 15 (5.26%) Dynamics 365
13 13 (4.56%) Amazon EKS
14 12 (4.21%) SaaS
15 11 (3.86%) Entra ID
15 11 (3.86%) Microsoft 365
15 11 (3.86%) OCI
16 10 (3.51%) dbt
16 10 (3.51%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 23 (8.07%) Firewall
2 9 (3.16%) BGP
2 9 (3.16%) BIG-IP
2 9 (3.16%) Ethernet VPN
2 9 (3.16%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 9 (3.16%) OSPF
2 9 (3.16%) SD-WAN
2 9 (3.16%) VXLAN
2 9 (3.16%) WAN
3 8 (2.81%) DNS
3 8 (2.81%) Wi-Fi
3 8 (2.81%) WLAN
4 6 (2.11%) DHCP
5 5 (1.75%) Network Security
5 5 (1.75%) TCP/IP
6 4 (1.40%) NetScaler
7 2 (0.70%) VPN
8 1 (0.35%) iSCSI
8 1 (0.35%) Reverse Proxy
8 1 (0.35%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (7.72%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (6.67%) MongoDB
3 17 (5.96%) Relational Database
4 16 (5.61%) NoSQL
5 12 (4.21%) DynamoDB
6 11 (3.86%) RDBMS
6 11 (3.86%) SQL Server
7 9 (3.16%) DocumentDB
7 9 (3.16%) Oracle Database
7 9 (3.16%) Tableau
8 7 (2.46%) Ataccama
8 7 (2.46%) Data Lake
8 7 (2.46%) Elasticsearch
9 6 (2.11%) Amazon RDS
9 6 (2.11%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (1.75%) BigQuery
10 5 (1.75%) MySQL
11 3 (1.05%) Power BI
11 3 (1.05%) Spark SQL
11 3 (1.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 56 (19.65%) GitLab
2 40 (14.04%) JIRA
3 39 (13.68%) Git
4 35 (12.28%) Jenkins
5 11 (3.86%) Selenium
6 9 (3.16%) JUnit
7 8 (2.81%) Cypress.io
7 8 (2.81%) Mocha
8 7 (2.46%) CircleCI
8 7 (2.46%) Cucumber
8 7 (2.46%) Gatling
8 7 (2.46%) REST Assured
9 6 (2.11%) SonarQube
10 5 (1.75%) Serenity BDD
11 4 (1.40%) Gradle
11 4 (1.40%) Postman
11 4 (1.40%) Sonatype Nexus
12 3 (1.05%) ClearCase
12 3 (1.05%) Maven
13 2 (0.70%) Liquibase
General
1 61 (21.40%) Public Sector
2 55 (19.30%) Finance
3 52 (18.25%) Social Skills
4 26 (9.12%) Banking
5 18 (6.32%) Analytical Skills
6 5 (1.75%) Military
6 5 (1.75%) Retail
7 3 (1.05%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.05%) Health Technology
7 3 (1.05%) Local Government
8 2 (0.70%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (0.70%) Law
9 1 (0.35%) Advertising
9 1 (0.35%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.35%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.35%) Legal
9 1 (0.35%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.35%) Publishing
9 1 (0.35%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 53 (18.60%) Developer
2 46 (16.14%) DevOps Engineer
3 43 (15.09%) Senior
4 35 (12.28%) Lead
5 34 (11.93%) Architect
6 21 (7.37%) Solutions Architect
7 19 (6.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 18 (6.32%) Software Engineer
9 17 (5.96%) Java Developer
10 16 (5.61%) Azure Engineer
11 15 (5.26%) Software Developer
12 14 (4.91%) Analyst
12 14 (4.91%) Full-Stack Developer
13 13 (4.56%) Lead Developer
14 12 (4.21%) Platform Engineer
14 12 (4.21%) Senior Developer
15 11 (3.86%) Azure DevOps Engineer
16 10 (3.51%) Security Engineer
16 10 (3.51%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 9 (3.16%) DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (15.44%) Spring
2 43 (15.09%) Spring Boot
3 32 (11.23%) React
4 31 (10.88%) REST
5 29 (10.18%) Node.js
6 22 (7.72%) Kafka
7 19 (6.67%) AngularJS
8 18 (6.32%) .NET
8 18 (6.32%) Playwright
8 18 (6.32%) XML
9 12 (4.21%) Jest
9 12 (4.21%) JSON
10 11 (3.86%) RESTful
11 10 (3.51%) PySpark
12 8 (2.81%) GraphQL
13 7 (2.46%) OAuth
14 6 (2.11%) ARM Templates
14 6 (2.11%) HTML
14 6 (2.11%) Spring MVC
15 5 (1.75%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 58 (20.35%) Cloud Native
2 27 (9.47%) Product Ownership
3 13 (4.56%) Data Protection Act
4 12 (4.21%) Hybrid Cloud
4 12 (4.21%) Private Cloud
5 11 (3.86%) Data Centre
5 11 (3.86%) Public Cloud
6 10 (3.51%) Onboarding
7 9 (3.16%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (2.46%) Distributed Systems
8 7 (2.46%) Security Posture
9 6 (2.11%) AI Agents
9 6 (2.11%) NHS
9 6 (2.11%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.75%) e-Learning
10 5 (1.75%) Mainframe
10 5 (1.75%) Replication
11 4 (1.40%) Linux Command Line
11 4 (1.40%) Management Information System
11 4 (1.40%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 25 (8.77%) Linux
2 11 (3.86%) Windows
3 6 (2.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.40%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
4 4 (1.40%) Windows Server 2019
5 2 (0.70%) VMS
6 1 (0.35%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 169 (59.30%) CI/CD
2 110 (38.60%) Agile
3 74 (25.96%) Infrastructure as Code
4 72 (25.26%) Microservices
5 55 (19.30%) Test Automation
6 53 (18.60%) Containerisation
7 47 (16.49%) Observability
8 44 (15.44%) Continuous Improvement
9 40 (14.04%) Mentoring
10 38 (13.33%) Problem-Solving
11 31 (10.88%) AI
11 31 (10.88%) Stakeholder Management
11 31 (10.88%) Technical Leadership
12 29 (10.18%) Software Engineering
13 27 (9.47%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 26 (9.12%) Platform Engineering
15 24 (8.42%) Full-Stack Development
15 24 (8.42%) Migration
15 24 (8.42%) Scrum
15 24 (8.42%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 83 (29.12%) Java
2 76 (26.67%) Python
3 34 (11.93%) SQL
4 29 (10.18%) JavaScript
4 29 (10.18%) TypeScript
5 28 (9.82%) PowerShell
6 21 (7.37%) Bash
7 14 (4.91%) C#
8 9 (3.16%) Bicep
9 7 (2.46%) Rust
10 6 (2.11%) Shell Script
11 4 (1.40%) Go
12 3 (1.05%) C++
12 3 (1.05%) PL/SQL
12 3 (1.05%) VB
12 3 (1.05%) VB6
13 2 (0.70%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.35%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.35%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 1 (0.35%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 54 (18.95%) Security Cleared
2 32 (11.23%) SC Cleared
3 24 (8.42%) Degree
4 23 (8.07%) AWS Certification
5 19 (6.67%) Azure Certification
6 18 (6.32%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (3.51%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 9 (3.16%) CISSP
9 8 (2.81%) ITIL Certification
10 7 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.75%) DV Cleared
12 4 (1.40%) IBM Certification
13 3 (1.05%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
13 3 (1.05%) PMI Certification
14 2 (0.70%) CCIE
14 2 (0.70%) CCNP
14 2 (0.70%) Cisco Certification
14 2 (0.70%) CISM
14 2 (0.70%) Microsoft Certification
14 2 (0.70%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (7.37%) Accessibility
2 17 (5.96%) QA
3 10 (3.51%) Data Quality
4 9 (3.16%) GDPR
5 8 (2.81%) WCAG
6 6 (2.11%) NIST
7 5 (1.75%) ISO 20022
7 5 (1.75%) PSD2
8 4 (1.40%) SEPA
9 3 (1.05%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 3 (1.05%) GRC
9 3 (1.05%) HIPAA
9 3 (1.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (1.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 3 (1.05%) SLA
10 1 (0.35%) HL7
10 1 (0.35%) NEBOSH
10 1 (0.35%) PMO
10 1 (0.35%) Solvency II
System Software
1 75 (26.32%) Docker
2 9 (3.16%) Active Directory
3 6 (2.11%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (2.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.75%) vSphere
5 2 (0.70%) ISA Server
5 2 (0.70%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.35%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 92 (32.28%) Terraform
2 75 (26.32%) Kubernetes
3 26 (9.12%) Ansible
4 18 (6.32%) Grafana
5 15 (5.26%) Prometheus
6 8 (2.81%) Argo
6 8 (2.81%) Istio
7 6 (2.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.40%) Progress Chef
8 4 (1.40%) SCCM
8 4 (1.40%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.70%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.70%) Data Guard
9 2 (0.70%) linkerd
9 2 (0.70%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.70%) Packer
10 1 (0.35%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.35%) vRealize
10 1 (0.35%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 48 (16.84%) Microsoft
2 25 (8.77%) Oracle
3 22 (7.72%) Google
4 14 (4.91%) F5
4 14 (4.91%) Splunk
5 9 (3.16%) Aruba
5 9 (3.16%) Palo Alto
6 8 (2.81%) Arista
6 8 (2.81%) OpenAI
7 7 (2.46%) Databricks
7 7 (2.46%) Red Hat
8 6 (2.11%) VMware
9 5 (1.75%) IBM
9 5 (1.75%) Veeam
10 4 (1.40%) CyberArk
10 4 (1.40%) MuleSoft
10 4 (1.40%) ServiceNow
11 3 (1.05%) Atlassian
11 3 (1.05%) Dynatrace
11 3 (1.05%) Foundry