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

6 months to
16 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 18 20
Rank change year-on-year +4 +2 -6
Contract jobs citing DevOps 281 177 216
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 10.30% 8.50% 7.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.89% 9.57% 8.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 203 105 153
10th Percentile £358 £356 £425
25th Percentile £405 £425 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £533
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -6.19% -3.09%
75th Percentile £551 £588 £586
90th Percentile £650 £638 £650
England median daily rate £525 £575 £568
% change year-on-year -8.70% +1.32% -5.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 3 12
10th Percentile £39.53 £62.01 £45.88
25th Percentile - £65.95 £46.11
Median hourly rate £45.46 £75.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -39.39% +62.41% -2.78%
75th Percentile £45.84 £82.50 -
90th Percentile £82.75 £85.50 -
England median hourly rate £50.00 £70.97 £65.00
% change year-on-year -29.55% +9.18% -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 2,363 1,849 2,448
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 86.65% 88.77% 86.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,531 1,108 1,624
10th Percentile £213 £265 £306
25th Percentile £358 £380 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £572 £588
90th Percentile £650 £656 £675
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 201 98 216
10th Percentile £16.01 £17.48 £12.50
25th Percentile £22.85 £22.78 £15.50
Median hourly rate £42.69 £31.51 £29.22
Median % change year-on-year +35.46% +7.84% -22.08%
75th Percentile £61.25 £55.76 £46.18
90th Percentile £75.79 £75.58 £53.75
England median hourly rate £25.77 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -26.37% - -

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 16 February 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 16 February 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 16 February 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 -1 155 £500 - 121
Cheshire +8 79 £447 +14.32% 21
Lancashire 0 28 £670 +14.04% 54
Merseyside -15 12 £500 -4.31% 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 26 (9.25%) Confluence
2 8 (2.85%) Apache
3 7 (2.49%) Apache Airflow
3 7 (2.49%) IIS
3 7 (2.49%) JBoss
4 6 (2.14%) iPlanet
4 6 (2.14%) WebSphere
4 6 (2.14%) WebSphere Application Server
5 4 (1.42%) OpenStack
6 3 (1.07%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 3 (1.07%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.71%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.36%) CICS
8 1 (0.36%) nginx
Applications
1 15 (5.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (4.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.71%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.71%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.71%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.71%) NEC Housing
Cloud Services
1 148 (52.67%) AWS
2 116 (41.28%) Azure
3 45 (16.01%) Azure DevOps
4 44 (15.66%) Serverless
5 42 (14.95%) GitHub
6 38 (13.52%) GCP
7 33 (11.74%) AWS CloudFormation
8 28 (9.96%) GitHub Actions
9 26 (9.25%) AWS Lambda
10 18 (6.41%) Amazon S3
10 18 (6.41%) Power Platform
11 17 (6.05%) Amazon EKS
12 16 (5.69%) Amazon ECS
13 15 (5.34%) Amazon EC2
14 13 (4.63%) Amazon SQS
14 13 (4.63%) OpenShift
15 12 (4.27%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 10 (3.56%) Azure AKS
16 10 (3.56%) Dynamics 365
17 9 (3.20%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 20 (7.12%) Firewall
2 7 (2.49%) DNS
3 6 (2.14%) DHCP
3 6 (2.14%) Kerberos
3 6 (2.14%) TCP/IP
4 5 (1.78%) HTTPS
4 5 (1.78%) Network Security
4 5 (1.78%) VPN
5 4 (1.42%) NetScaler
5 4 (1.42%) SSL
6 1 (0.36%) Reverse Proxy
6 1 (0.36%) VLAN
6 1 (0.36%) VoIP
6 1 (0.36%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (6.41%) DynamoDB
2 15 (5.34%) NoSQL
3 13 (4.63%) MongoDB
3 13 (4.63%) Tableau
4 12 (4.27%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (3.91%) Amazon RDS
5 11 (3.91%) DocumentDB
6 10 (3.56%) Relational Database
7 8 (2.85%) Data Lake
7 8 (2.85%) Oracle Database
7 8 (2.85%) Power BI
8 6 (2.14%) RDBMS
9 5 (1.78%) Amazon Aurora
9 5 (1.78%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (1.78%) SQL Server
10 4 (1.42%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (1.07%) MySQL
12 2 (0.71%) Apache Cassandra
12 2 (0.71%) Metadata
13 1 (0.36%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 52 (18.51%) GitLab
2 50 (17.79%) JIRA
3 48 (17.08%) Git
4 38 (13.52%) Jenkins
5 10 (3.56%) CircleCI
6 8 (2.85%) Cypress.io
6 8 (2.85%) JUnit
6 8 (2.85%) Mocha
6 8 (2.85%) Sonatype Nexus
7 7 (2.49%) Gradle
8 6 (2.14%) Bitbucket Server
8 6 (2.14%) CA Release Automation
9 4 (1.42%) Selenium
9 4 (1.42%) Storybook
9 4 (1.42%) Xcode
10 3 (1.07%) Bitbucket
10 3 (1.07%) Jasmine
10 3 (1.07%) Maven
11 2 (0.71%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.71%) SonarQube
General
1 60 (21.35%) Social Skills
2 57 (20.28%) Public Sector
3 55 (19.57%) Finance
4 35 (12.46%) Banking
5 26 (9.25%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (1.42%) Games
6 4 (1.42%) Influencing Skills
6 4 (1.42%) Law
7 3 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (1.07%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (1.07%) Telecoms
8 2 (0.71%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.71%) Military
8 2 (0.71%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.36%) Advertising
9 1 (0.36%) Legal
9 1 (0.36%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.36%) Marketing
9 1 (0.36%) Retail
Job Titles
1 66 (23.49%) Developer
2 45 (16.01%) DevOps Engineer
3 41 (14.59%) Lead
4 35 (12.46%) Senior
5 26 (9.25%) Architect
6 23 (8.19%) Platform Engineer
7 17 (6.05%) AWS Engineer
7 17 (6.05%) Software Engineer
7 17 (6.05%) Solutions Architect
8 16 (5.69%) AWS DevOps
8 16 (5.69%) Java Developer
9 13 (4.63%) AWS DevOps Engineer
9 13 (4.63%) Full-Stack Developer
10 11 (3.91%) Analyst
11 10 (3.56%) Azure Engineer
11 10 (3.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 8 (2.85%) Business Analyst
13 7 (2.49%) Lead Developer
13 7 (2.49%) Security Engineer
13 7 (2.49%) Senior Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (15.66%) Spring
1 44 (15.66%) Spring Boot
2 43 (15.30%) REST
3 26 (9.25%) React
4 24 (8.54%) JSON
4 24 (8.54%) Node.js
5 23 (8.19%) OAuth
6 22 (7.83%) XML
7 21 (7.47%) Kafka
8 16 (5.69%) .NET
9 15 (5.34%) HTML
9 15 (5.34%) JMS
10 14 (4.98%) RESTful
10 14 (4.98%) SOAP
11 13 (4.63%) AngularJS
11 13 (4.63%) Jest
11 13 (4.63%) Playwright
12 9 (3.20%) Elastic Stack
13 8 (2.85%) JWT
13 8 (2.85%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 38 (13.52%) Cloud Native
2 21 (7.47%) Product Ownership
2 21 (7.47%) Virtual Team
3 12 (4.27%) Distributed Systems
3 12 (4.27%) Onboarding
3 12 (4.27%) SWIFT Messaging Network
4 11 (3.91%) Private Cloud
5 7 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (2.49%) Public Cloud
6 5 (1.78%) Data Structures
6 5 (1.78%) e-Learning
7 4 (1.42%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (1.42%) Low-Code
7 4 (1.42%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.07%) Greenfield Project
8 3 (1.07%) IoT
8 3 (1.07%) NHS
8 3 (1.07%) Taxonomies
9 2 (0.71%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (0.71%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 37 (13.17%) Linux
2 15 (5.34%) Windows
3 8 (2.85%) Windows Server
4 6 (2.14%) Unix
5 4 (1.42%) Android
5 4 (1.42%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.42%) Windows Server 2012
5 4 (1.42%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.36%) VMS
6 1 (0.36%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 167 (59.43%) CI/CD
2 119 (42.35%) Agile
3 68 (24.20%) Infrastructure as Code
4 65 (23.13%) Containerisation
5 60 (21.35%) Microservices
6 53 (18.86%) Problem-Solving
7 44 (15.66%) Continuous Improvement
8 42 (14.95%) Observability
8 42 (14.95%) Test Automation
9 39 (13.88%) Mentoring
10 37 (13.17%) Project Delivery
11 33 (11.74%) Stakeholder Management
12 27 (9.61%) Full-Stack Development
12 27 (9.61%) Software Engineering
13 24 (8.54%) ITIL
14 23 (8.19%) Cloud Security
14 23 (8.19%) SDLC
15 22 (7.83%) Platform Engineering
16 20 (7.12%) Infrastructure Automation
16 20 (7.12%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 64 (22.78%) Java
2 59 (21.00%) Python
3 46 (16.37%) SQL
4 37 (13.17%) TypeScript
5 27 (9.61%) JavaScript
6 22 (7.83%) Bash
7 15 (5.34%) C#
8 14 (4.98%) PowerShell
9 10 (3.56%) Go
10 8 (2.85%) Groovy
10 8 (2.85%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.78%) Ruby
12 4 (1.42%) Bicep
12 4 (1.42%) C++
12 4 (1.42%) Rust
13 3 (1.07%) Perl
14 2 (0.71%) T-SQL
15 1 (0.36%) ActionScript
15 1 (0.36%) PHP
15 1 (0.36%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (18.86%) Security Cleared
2 32 (11.39%) Degree
3 31 (11.03%) SC Cleared
4 20 (7.12%) AWS Certification
4 20 (7.12%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (5.34%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 10 (3.56%) Azure Certification
7 9 (3.20%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 9 (3.20%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (2.14%) CISM
8 6 (2.14%) CISSP
8 6 (2.14%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (1.42%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.42%) IBM Certification
10 2 (0.71%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 2 (0.71%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.71%) TOGAF Certification
11 1 (0.36%) CompTIA Security+
11 1 (0.36%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.36%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (8.54%) Accessibility
2 22 (7.83%) QA
3 14 (4.98%) PSD2
4 13 (4.63%) ISO 20022
5 12 (4.27%) SEPA
6 7 (2.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (2.49%) NIST
6 7 (2.49%) WCAG
7 4 (1.42%) GDPR
8 3 (1.07%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.36%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.36%) HL7
9 1 (0.36%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.36%) PMO
9 1 (0.36%) SLA
9 1 (0.36%) SOC 2
System Software
1 86 (30.60%) Docker
2 13 (4.63%) Active Directory
3 12 (4.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (4.27%) vSphere
4 6 (2.14%) Tivoli Directory Server
5 4 (1.42%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (1.07%) ISA Server
7 2 (0.71%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.71%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.36%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 87 (30.96%) Terraform
2 83 (29.54%) Kubernetes
3 16 (5.69%) Ansible
4 15 (5.34%) Grafana
4 15 (5.34%) Prometheus
5 10 (3.56%) Progress Chef
6 9 (3.20%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (2.85%) CA Single Sign-On
8 6 (2.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 6 (2.14%) CA Wily
8 6 (2.14%) Tivoli
9 5 (1.78%) SCCM
10 4 (1.42%) Fluentd
10 4 (1.42%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (1.07%) Istio
12 1 (0.36%) Argo
12 1 (0.36%) CA Endevor
12 1 (0.36%) OMEGAMON
12 1 (0.36%) Packer
12 1 (0.36%) Puppet
Vendors
1 44 (15.66%) Microsoft
2 31 (11.03%) Oracle
3 18 (6.41%) Splunk
4 16 (5.69%) IBM
5 12 (4.27%) VMware
6 11 (3.91%) F5
7 10 (3.56%) Google
8 8 (2.85%) Databricks
9 6 (2.14%) AppDynamics
9 6 (2.14%) Broadcom
9 6 (2.14%) Cribl.io
9 6 (2.14%) MuleSoft
9 6 (2.14%) Palo Alto
10 5 (1.78%) OpenAI
11 4 (1.42%) SAP
11 4 (1.42%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.42%) Veeam
12 3 (1.07%) Adobe
12 3 (1.07%) Software AG
12 3 (1.07%) webMethods