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

6 months to
27 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 15 14
Rank change year-on-year -1 -1 -1
Contract jobs citing DevOps 338 195 220
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.12% 8.88% 8.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.98% 10.10% 10.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 155 147
10th Percentile £393 £326 £413
25th Percentile £413 £397 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -13.64% +4.76%
75th Percentile £634 £575 £650
90th Percentile £700 £650 £850
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 2 2
10th Percentile - £70.25 £45.91
25th Percentile £25.38 £74.38 £45.96
Median hourly rate £39.50 £82.50 £46.03
Median % change year-on-year -52.12% +79.23% -0.32%
75th Percentile £73.00 £89.38 £46.11
90th Percentile £75.00 £92.75 £46.15
England median hourly rate £67.50 £67.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +0.75% -4.29% +6.87%

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 3,078 1,931 2,102
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.03% 87.93% 84.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,815 1,249 1,286
10th Percentile £292 £270 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +9.33% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £594 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £671 £675
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 300 124 203
10th Percentile £17.25 £13.50 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £18.87 £16.06
Median hourly rate £53.00 £28.75 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +84.35% -4.17% -1.77%
75th Percentile £75.25 £56.19 £51.44
90th Percentile £85.00 £74.63 £70.67
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +86.88% -37.63% -5.12%

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 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 27 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 27 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 +4 225 £500 -4.76% 143
Cheshire -9 64 £500 +24.38% 16
Lancashire +9 30 £640 +21.33% 30
Merseyside -10 12 £568 +21.07% 7
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 22 (6.51%) Confluence
2 8 (2.37%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.48%) Apache Spark
4 4 (1.18%) SAS
5 3 (0.89%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.59%) Apache
7 1 (0.30%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.30%) Camunda
7 1 (0.30%) CMS
7 1 (0.30%) Drupal
7 1 (0.30%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.30%) NetWeaver
7 1 (0.30%) nginx
7 1 (0.30%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.30%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (1.78%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.59%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.59%) Trello
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (1.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.30%) SAP PM
2 1 (0.30%) SAP QM
2 1 (0.30%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.30%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 177 (52.37%) Azure
2 161 (47.63%) AWS
3 83 (24.56%) Azure DevOps
4 55 (16.27%) GCP
5 52 (15.38%) GitHub
6 39 (11.54%) Serverless
7 31 (9.17%) GitHub Actions
8 27 (7.99%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 21 (6.21%) AWS Lambda
10 20 (5.92%) Azure AKS
11 15 (4.44%) Amazon EKS
11 15 (4.44%) OCI
11 15 (4.44%) Power Platform
11 15 (4.44%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 14 (4.14%) SaaS
13 13 (3.85%) Azure Monitor
13 13 (3.85%) Dynamics 365
13 13 (3.85%) Entra ID
14 12 (3.55%) Amazon ECS
15 11 (3.25%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 37 (10.95%) Firewall
2 11 (3.25%) BGP
2 11 (3.25%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (3.25%) OSPF
2 11 (3.25%) SD-WAN
2 11 (3.25%) VXLAN
2 11 (3.25%) WAN
3 10 (2.96%) BIG-IP
3 10 (2.96%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
3 10 (2.96%) Network Security
4 9 (2.66%) Wi-Fi
4 9 (2.66%) WLAN
5 8 (2.37%) DNS
6 7 (2.07%) SSL
7 5 (1.48%) VPN
8 3 (0.89%) DHCP
8 3 (0.89%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.30%) MPLS
9 1 (0.30%) SAN
9 1 (0.30%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (8.28%) SQL Server
2 25 (7.40%) MongoDB
3 23 (6.80%) Relational Database
4 20 (5.92%) PostgreSQL
5 14 (4.14%) NoSQL
5 14 (4.14%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 13 (3.85%) RDBMS
7 12 (3.55%) MySQL
8 10 (2.96%) Oracle Database
9 9 (2.66%) Elasticsearch
10 8 (2.37%) Data Lake
10 8 (2.37%) Power BI
11 7 (2.07%) Ataccama
12 6 (1.78%) DynamoDB
13 5 (1.48%) BigQuery
13 5 (1.48%) Data Vault
13 5 (1.48%) DocumentDB
14 4 (1.18%) Amazon RDS
14 4 (1.18%) Oracle Exadata
14 4 (1.18%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 56 (16.57%) GitLab
2 44 (13.02%) Jenkins
3 42 (12.43%) Git
4 34 (10.06%) JIRA
5 14 (4.14%) Selenium
6 12 (3.55%) Claude Code
7 10 (2.96%) Postman
7 10 (2.96%) REST Assured
8 8 (2.37%) Cucumber
8 8 (2.37%) Gatling
8 8 (2.37%) SonarQube
9 7 (2.07%) Sonatype Nexus
10 6 (1.78%) JUnit
11 5 (1.48%) Serenity BDD
12 3 (0.89%) ClearCase
12 3 (0.89%) LoadRunner
12 3 (0.89%) Mockito
12 3 (0.89%) TestRail
12 3 (0.89%) Zephyr
13 2 (0.59%) JMeter
General
1 71 (21.01%) Finance
2 56 (16.57%) Social Skills
3 46 (13.61%) Public Sector
4 29 (8.58%) Banking
5 22 (6.51%) Analytical Skills
6 15 (4.44%) Retail
7 8 (2.37%) Military
8 3 (0.89%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (0.89%) Health Technology
8 3 (0.89%) Local Government
8 3 (0.89%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.59%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.59%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.59%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.59%) Publishing
10 1 (0.30%) Corporate Banking
10 1 (0.30%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.30%) Police
10 1 (0.30%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 64 (18.93%) Senior
2 61 (18.05%) DevOps Engineer
3 50 (14.79%) Lead
4 49 (14.50%) Developer
5 28 (8.28%) Architect
6 23 (6.80%) Software Engineer
7 19 (5.62%) Cloud Engineer
7 19 (5.62%) Security Engineer
8 16 (4.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (4.44%) Azure Engineer
9 15 (4.44%) Senior Developer
9 15 (4.44%) Senior DevOps
9 15 (4.44%) Solutions Architect
10 14 (4.14%) Analyst
10 14 (4.14%) DBA
10 14 (4.14%) Java Developer
10 14 (4.14%) Senior DevOps Engineer
11 13 (3.85%) AWS Engineer
11 13 (3.85%) Lead Developer
12 12 (3.55%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (10.36%) Spring
2 34 (10.06%) Spring Boot
3 32 (9.47%) Kafka
4 28 (8.28%) REST
5 26 (7.69%) React
6 25 (7.40%) Node.js
7 17 (5.03%) .NET
7 17 (5.03%) JSON
8 15 (4.44%) Playwright
9 12 (3.55%) PySpark
10 11 (3.25%) AngularJS
10 11 (3.25%) RESTful
10 11 (3.25%) XML
11 8 (2.37%) ARM Templates
12 7 (2.07%) Next.js
13 5 (1.48%) LangChain
13 5 (1.48%) Langfuse
13 5 (1.48%) Spring Cloud
13 5 (1.48%) YAML
14 4 (1.18%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 80 (23.67%) Cloud Native
2 20 (5.92%) Product Ownership
2 20 (5.92%) Security Posture
3 16 (4.73%) Hybrid Cloud
3 16 (4.73%) Management Information System
4 14 (4.14%) Replication
5 12 (3.55%) Data Centre
6 11 (3.25%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (2.96%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (2.66%) Clustering
8 9 (2.66%) Distributed Systems
9 8 (2.37%) Data Structures
9 8 (2.37%) Onboarding
10 7 (2.07%) AI Agents
10 7 (2.07%) Algorithms
11 6 (1.78%) Public Cloud
12 5 (1.48%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.48%) Linux Command Line
12 5 (1.48%) Mainframe
12 5 (1.48%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 41 (12.13%) Linux
2 28 (8.28%) Windows
3 17 (5.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (2.07%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.89%) VMS
6 2 (0.59%) AIX
6 2 (0.59%) Unix
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 203 (60.06%) CI/CD
2 122 (36.09%) Agile
3 93 (27.51%) Infrastructure as Code
4 70 (20.71%) Observability
5 63 (18.64%) Microservices
6 59 (17.46%) Continuous Improvement
7 57 (16.86%) Test Automation
8 55 (16.27%) Containerisation
9 52 (15.38%) AI
10 49 (14.50%) Software Engineering
11 47 (13.91%) Mentoring
12 39 (11.54%) Platform Engineering
12 39 (11.54%) Problem-Solving
12 39 (11.54%) Scrum
13 37 (10.95%) Event-Driven
13 37 (10.95%) SDLC
14 36 (10.65%) Cloud Security
14 36 (10.65%) Migration
14 36 (10.65%) Technical Leadership
15 34 (10.06%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 106 (31.36%) Python
2 84 (24.85%) Java
3 52 (15.38%) PowerShell
4 49 (14.50%) SQL
5 42 (12.43%) Bash
6 26 (7.69%) JavaScript
7 23 (6.80%) TypeScript
8 22 (6.51%) C#
9 16 (4.73%) Bicep
10 11 (3.25%) T-SQL
11 9 (2.66%) Rust
12 6 (1.78%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.89%) Go
13 3 (0.89%) VB
13 3 (0.89%) VB6
14 2 (0.59%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.59%) PROC SQL
14 2 (0.59%) Scala
15 1 (0.30%) C++
15 1 (0.30%) PHP
Qualifications
1 81 (23.96%) Security Cleared
2 62 (18.34%) SC Cleared
3 33 (9.76%) Degree
4 31 (9.17%) AWS Certification
4 31 (9.17%) Azure Certification
5 20 (5.92%) BPSS Clearance
5 20 (5.92%) CISSP
6 12 (3.55%) DV Cleared
7 10 (2.96%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 10 (2.96%) Microsoft Certification
8 6 (1.78%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (1.18%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 3 (0.89%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 3 (0.89%) CCIE
10 3 (0.89%) CCNP
10 3 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.89%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (0.89%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 2 (0.59%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (8.88%) QA
2 14 (4.14%) Accessibility
2 14 (4.14%) Data Quality
3 9 (2.66%) GDPR
4 5 (1.48%) NIST
5 3 (0.89%) California Consumer Privacy Act
5 3 (0.89%) GRC
5 3 (0.89%) HIPAA
5 3 (0.89%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 3 (0.89%) SLA
6 2 (0.59%) ISO 20022
6 2 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (0.59%) PSD2
6 2 (0.59%) SEPA
6 2 (0.59%) WCAG
7 1 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.30%) Software Quality Assurance
7 1 (0.30%) Solvency II
System Software
1 85 (25.15%) Docker
2 11 (3.25%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (2.07%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.18%) Oracle RAC
4 4 (1.18%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.59%) Apache ZooKeeper
5 2 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.59%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.59%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 132 (39.05%) Terraform
2 99 (29.29%) Kubernetes
3 39 (11.54%) Ansible
4 23 (6.80%) Grafana
5 18 (5.33%) Prometheus
6 15 (4.44%) Progress Chef
7 11 (3.25%) Argo
8 8 (2.37%) Istio
9 5 (1.48%) SCOM
10 4 (1.18%) Data Guard
10 4 (1.18%) Oracle RMAN
11 3 (0.89%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 2 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.59%) linkerd
12 2 (0.59%) Packer
13 1 (0.30%) HP Fortify
13 1 (0.30%) vCenter Server
13 1 (0.30%) vRealize
13 1 (0.30%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 63 (18.64%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.28%) Google
3 21 (6.21%) Oracle
4 18 (5.33%) Red Hat
4 18 (5.33%) Splunk
5 16 (4.73%) ServiceNow
6 12 (3.55%) F5
6 12 (3.55%) Palo Alto
7 10 (2.96%) Aruba
8 9 (2.66%) Arista
8 9 (2.66%) Databricks
8 9 (2.66%) Dynatrace
8 9 (2.66%) OpenAI
8 9 (2.66%) SAP
9 5 (1.48%) Salesforce
10 4 (1.18%) Atlassian
10 4 (1.18%) CyberArk
10 4 (1.18%) VMware
11 3 (0.89%) AppDynamics
11 3 (0.89%) MuleSoft