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

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 18 16
Rank change year-on-year +5 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing DevOps 271 169 227
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 10.83% 7.92% 8.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.28% 9.09% 9.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 208 90 159
10th Percentile £358 £349 £425
25th Percentile £400 £407 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year -9.00% -6.54% -6.96%
75th Percentile £576 £575 £606
90th Percentile £652 £651 £670
England median daily rate £525 £575 £575
% change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 5 19
10th Percentile £44.27 - -
25th Percentile - £46.18 -
Median hourly rate £45.46 £63.79 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -28.73% +38.12% -2.78%
75th Percentile - £77.50 -
90th Percentile £51.52 £83.50 £47.34
England median hourly rate £50.00 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -25.93% +3.85% -0.92%

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 2,207 1,859 2,354
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 88.17% 87.15% 88.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,437 1,054 1,611
10th Percentile £213 £265 £306
25th Percentile £358 £390 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +1.01%
75th Percentile £550 £571 £600
90th Percentile £650 £656 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 192 95 156
10th Percentile £16.58 £16.00 £15.75
25th Percentile £21.41 £21.05 £18.00
Median hourly rate £41.00 £30.00 £37.75
Median % change year-on-year +36.67% -20.53% +38.53%
75th Percentile £56.89 £48.59 £46.88
90th Percentile £69.94 £69.12 £64.38
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +25.35%

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 2 January 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 2 January 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 2 January 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 -2 141 £500 -2.44% 83
Cheshire +13 78 £447 +25.56% 15
Lancashire +6 31 £630 +20.00% 46
Merseyside -4 14 £505 +1.00% 4
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 21 (7.75%) Confluence
2 12 (4.43%) Apache
3 11 (4.06%) IIS
3 11 (4.06%) JBoss
4 10 (3.69%) WebSphere
5 9 (3.32%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (3.32%) iPlanet
5 9 (3.32%) WebSphere Application Server
6 4 (1.48%) OpenStack
7 3 (1.11%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.74%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.74%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.37%) Anypoint
9 1 (0.37%) CICS
9 1 (0.37%) Mule
9 1 (0.37%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.37%) nginx
9 1 (0.37%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (4.06%) Microsoft Excel
1 11 (4.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (0.74%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.37%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.37%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (1.85%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.37%) NEC Housing
2 1 (0.37%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 143 (52.77%) AWS
2 111 (40.96%) Azure
3 48 (17.71%) Azure DevOps
4 39 (14.39%) GitHub
5 36 (13.28%) GCP
6 35 (12.92%) Serverless
7 31 (11.44%) AWS CloudFormation
8 23 (8.49%) GitHub Actions
9 20 (7.38%) AWS Lambda
10 17 (6.27%) OpenShift
11 15 (5.54%) Power Platform
12 13 (4.80%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 13 (4.80%) Amazon ECS
12 13 (4.80%) Amazon EKS
12 13 (4.80%) Amazon S3
13 10 (3.69%) Amazon SQS
13 10 (3.69%) Kong
14 9 (3.32%) Datadog
14 9 (3.32%) Figma
15 8 (2.95%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 18 (6.64%) Firewall
2 9 (3.32%) Kerberos
3 5 (1.85%) HTTPS
3 5 (1.85%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.48%) DNS
4 4 (1.48%) SSL
4 4 (1.48%) VPN
5 3 (1.11%) DHCP
6 2 (0.74%) NetScaler
6 2 (0.74%) Network Security
7 1 (0.37%) VLAN
7 1 (0.37%) VoIP
7 1 (0.37%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (4.43%) DynamoDB
1 12 (4.43%) Tableau
2 11 (4.06%) MongoDB
2 11 (4.06%) NoSQL
3 10 (3.69%) Oracle Database
4 9 (3.32%) Data Lake
4 9 (3.32%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (3.32%) Power BI
4 9 (3.32%) Relational Database
5 8 (2.95%) Amazon RDS
5 8 (2.95%) SQL Server
6 7 (2.58%) RDBMS
7 5 (1.85%) Amazon Aurora
7 5 (1.85%) Oracle Reports
8 4 (1.48%) Azure SQL Database
8 4 (1.48%) DocumentDB
8 4 (1.48%) MySQL
9 3 (1.11%) Metadata
10 2 (0.74%) Apache Cassandra
10 2 (0.74%) Redis
Development Applications
1 52 (19.19%) JIRA
2 47 (17.34%) Git
3 43 (15.87%) GitLab
4 40 (14.76%) Jenkins
5 10 (3.69%) Bitbucket Server
5 10 (3.69%) CA Release Automation
5 10 (3.69%) Sonatype Nexus
6 8 (2.95%) JUnit
7 7 (2.58%) CircleCI
7 7 (2.58%) Cypress.io
8 6 (2.21%) Gradle
8 6 (2.21%) Storybook
8 6 (2.21%) Xcode
9 5 (1.85%) Postman
9 5 (1.85%) Selenium
10 3 (1.11%) Bitbucket
10 3 (1.11%) Cucumber
10 3 (1.11%) Jasmine
10 3 (1.11%) Mocha
10 3 (1.11%) Rational DOORS
General
1 61 (22.51%) Finance
1 61 (22.51%) Social Skills
2 50 (18.45%) Public Sector
3 35 (12.92%) Banking
4 24 (8.86%) Analytical Skills
5 4 (1.48%) Documentation Skills
5 4 (1.48%) Games
6 3 (1.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 3 (1.11%) Influencing Skills
6 3 (1.11%) Law
6 3 (1.11%) Military
7 2 (0.74%) Financial Institution
7 2 (0.74%) Manufacturing
7 2 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
7 2 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
7 2 (0.74%) Telecoms
8 1 (0.37%) Electronics
8 1 (0.37%) Legal
8 1 (0.37%) Marketing
8 1 (0.37%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 55 (20.30%) Developer
2 43 (15.87%) DevOps Engineer
3 39 (14.39%) Senior
4 35 (12.92%) Lead
5 19 (7.01%) Architect
5 19 (7.01%) AWS Engineer
6 18 (6.64%) AWS DevOps
6 18 (6.64%) Platform Engineer
7 15 (5.54%) Software Engineer
7 15 (5.54%) Solutions Architect
8 14 (5.17%) AWS DevOps Engineer
8 14 (5.17%) Java Developer
9 13 (4.80%) Analyst
10 10 (3.69%) Business Analyst
10 10 (3.69%) Senior Developer
11 9 (3.32%) Cloud Engineer
11 9 (3.32%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (3.32%) Senior DevOps
12 8 (2.95%) Azure Engineer
12 8 (2.95%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (13.28%) REST
2 31 (11.44%) Spring
2 31 (11.44%) Spring Boot
3 29 (10.70%) JSON
4 28 (10.33%) OAuth
5 24 (8.86%) React
6 21 (7.75%) XML
7 20 (7.38%) Node.js
8 18 (6.64%) Kafka
9 17 (6.27%) AngularJS
9 17 (6.27%) RESTful
10 15 (5.54%) .NET
10 15 (5.54%) HTML
11 14 (5.17%) JMS
11 14 (5.17%) SOAP
12 10 (3.69%) OpenID
12 10 (3.69%) Playwright
12 10 (3.69%) SAML
13 9 (3.32%) Jest
13 9 (3.32%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 28 (10.33%) Cloud Native
2 18 (6.64%) Product Ownership
3 17 (6.27%) Virtual Team
4 11 (4.06%) Distributed Systems
4 11 (4.06%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 10 (3.69%) Onboarding
6 7 (2.58%) Mobile App
7 6 (2.21%) Data Protection Act
8 5 (1.85%) Data Structures
8 5 (1.85%) Private Cloud
9 4 (1.48%) Low-Code
9 4 (1.48%) Public Cloud
10 3 (1.11%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (1.11%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (1.11%) Synthetic Data
10 3 (1.11%) Taxonomies
11 2 (0.74%) e-Learning
11 2 (0.74%) Hybrid Cloud
11 2 (0.74%) PKI
11 2 (0.74%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 35 (12.92%) Linux
2 17 (6.27%) Windows
3 10 (3.69%) Windows Server
4 8 (2.95%) Unix
5 6 (2.21%) Android
5 6 (2.21%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.37%) VMS
7 1 (0.37%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 152 (56.09%) CI/CD
2 111 (40.96%) Agile
3 64 (23.62%) Infrastructure as Code
4 62 (22.88%) Containerisation
5 47 (17.34%) Microservices
5 47 (17.34%) Problem-Solving
6 39 (14.39%) Continuous Improvement
7 37 (13.65%) Test Automation
8 34 (12.55%) Project Delivery
8 34 (12.55%) Stakeholder Management
9 30 (11.07%) ITIL
10 29 (10.70%) Observability
11 26 (9.59%) Mentoring
12 25 (9.23%) Cloud Security
12 25 (9.23%) Full-Stack Development
12 25 (9.23%) SDLC
13 24 (8.86%) Change Management
14 23 (8.49%) Infrastructure Automation
14 23 (8.49%) Software Engineering
15 20 (7.38%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 56 (20.66%) Python
2 51 (18.82%) Java
3 47 (17.34%) SQL
4 30 (11.07%) TypeScript
5 24 (8.86%) Bash
6 19 (7.01%) JavaScript
7 14 (5.17%) C#
8 12 (4.43%) Groovy
9 11 (4.06%) Shell Script
10 10 (3.69%) Go
11 9 (3.32%) PowerShell
12 5 (1.85%) Bicep
12 5 (1.85%) C++
12 5 (1.85%) Perl
12 5 (1.85%) Ruby
13 4 (1.48%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.74%) PHP
14 2 (0.74%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.74%) Scala
15 1 (0.37%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 53 (19.56%) Security Cleared
2 37 (13.65%) SC Cleared
3 32 (11.81%) Degree
4 17 (6.27%) AWS Certification
5 15 (5.54%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 13 (4.80%) BPSS Clearance
7 12 (4.43%) Azure Certification
8 11 (4.06%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (2.58%) CISSP
10 6 (2.21%) CISM
11 5 (1.85%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.74%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
12 2 (0.74%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (0.74%) IBM Certification
12 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (0.74%) TOGAF Certification
13 1 (0.37%) CompTIA Security+
13 1 (0.37%) Postgraduate
13 1 (0.37%) SAFe Agilist
13 1 (0.37%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (10.33%) QA
2 23 (8.49%) Accessibility
3 15 (5.54%) PSD2
4 12 (4.43%) ISO 20022
5 11 (4.06%) SEPA
6 8 (2.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 8 (2.95%) NIST
7 5 (1.85%) GDPR
7 5 (1.85%) WCAG
8 4 (1.48%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.74%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.37%) GRC
10 1 (0.37%) HL7
10 1 (0.37%) SOC 1
10 1 (0.37%) SOC 2
System Software
1 75 (27.68%) Docker
2 12 (4.43%) Active Directory
3 10 (3.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (3.69%) vSphere
4 8 (2.95%) Tivoli Directory Server
5 3 (1.11%) ISA Server
6 2 (0.74%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.74%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.37%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 77 (28.41%) Terraform
2 74 (27.31%) Kubernetes
3 21 (7.75%) Ansible
4 13 (4.80%) Progress Chef
4 13 (4.80%) Prometheus
5 10 (3.69%) CA Single Sign-On
5 10 (3.69%) Grafana
6 9 (3.32%) CA Wily
7 8 (2.95%) Tivoli
8 7 (2.58%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (1.48%) Fluentd
10 3 (1.11%) Istio
10 3 (1.11%) Packer
10 3 (1.11%) Podman
10 3 (1.11%) SCCM
10 3 (1.11%) SELinux
11 2 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Intune
12 1 (0.37%) CA Endevor
12 1 (0.37%) Puppet
Vendors
1 41 (15.13%) Microsoft
2 32 (11.81%) Oracle
3 23 (8.49%) Splunk
4 17 (6.27%) IBM
5 10 (3.69%) AppDynamics
5 10 (3.69%) Broadcom
5 10 (3.69%) ServiceNow
5 10 (3.69%) VMware
6 8 (2.95%) F5
7 7 (2.58%) Google
7 7 (2.58%) SAP
8 6 (2.21%) Cribl.io
8 6 (2.21%) Palo Alto
9 5 (1.85%) Dynatrace
9 5 (1.85%) MuleSoft
10 4 (1.48%) Axway
10 4 (1.48%) Databricks
11 3 (1.11%) Adobe
11 3 (1.11%) Software AG
11 3 (1.11%) webMethods