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

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 18 15 17
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 -2
Contract jobs citing DevOps 315 210 191
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 7.97% 9.57% 7.93%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.67% 10.81% 9.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 211 184 102
10th Percentile £383 £317 £356
25th Percentile £413 £384 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £450 £550
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% -18.18% +4.76%
75th Percentile £640 £556 £600
90th Percentile £725 £665 £686
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.59% -5.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 1 3
10th Percentile £37.25 - -
25th Percentile £46.80 - -
Median hourly rate £66.66 £95.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -29.83% +105.72% -
75th Percentile £73.00 - £66.84
90th Percentile £73.40 - £79.24
England median hourly rate £68.75 £67.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +2.61% -4.29% +7.69%

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 3,258 1,943 2,013
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.48% 88.52% 83.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,839 1,289 1,106
10th Percentile £299 £268 £297
25th Percentile £402 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £480
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -6.25% -4.00%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £575
90th Percentile £675 £681 £669
England median daily rate £525 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +2.54% -2.48% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 356 138 110
10th Percentile £14.52 £13.75 £16.48
25th Percentile £21.14 £17.30 £28.75
Median hourly rate £46.96 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +86.76% -40.84% +28.79%
75th Percentile £71.91 £47.12 £62.50
90th Percentile £83.75 £67.25 £73.66
England median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% -3.37%

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 4 October 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 October 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 October 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 +4 211 £528 +5.50% 391
Cheshire -19 46 £464 +9.06% 61
Lancashire -1 37 £640 +16.36% 68
Merseyside -11 9 £625 +23.76% 28
Cumbria - 3 £353 - 10
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 (6.98%) Confluence
2 7 (2.22%) SAS
2 7 (2.22%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.59%) Camunda
4 4 (1.27%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.95%) Apache
5 3 (0.95%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.32%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.32%) CMS
6 1 (0.32%) Drupal
6 1 (0.32%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.32%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.32%) nginx
6 1 (0.32%) SharePoint 2013
6 1 (0.32%) Traefik
6 1 (0.32%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.32%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (1.90%) MS Visio
2 4 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.95%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 7 (2.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.32%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.32%) SAP MM
2 1 (0.32%) SAP PM
2 1 (0.32%) SAP QM
2 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.32%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 156 (49.52%) Azure
2 144 (45.71%) AWS
3 84 (26.67%) Azure DevOps
4 51 (16.19%) GCP
5 48 (15.24%) GitHub
6 29 (9.21%) Power Platform
7 28 (8.89%) Serverless
8 27 (8.57%) GitHub Actions
9 24 (7.62%) AWS Lambda
10 23 (7.30%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 21 (6.67%) Azure AKS
12 19 (6.03%) Amazon ECS
13 18 (5.71%) Azure Monitor
14 16 (5.08%) AWS CloudFormation
15 15 (4.76%) Amazon EKS
15 15 (4.76%) OCI
16 14 (4.44%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 13 (4.13%) Entra ID
17 13 (4.13%) OpenShift
18 12 (3.81%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.52%) Firewall
2 12 (3.81%) SSL
3 11 (3.49%) BGP
3 11 (3.49%) Ethernet VPN
3 11 (3.49%) OSPF
3 11 (3.49%) SD-WAN
3 11 (3.49%) VXLAN
3 11 (3.49%) WAN
4 10 (3.17%) BIG-IP
4 10 (3.17%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 9 (2.86%) Network Security
5 9 (2.86%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (2.86%) WLAN
6 8 (2.54%) DNS
7 5 (1.59%) VPN
8 3 (0.95%) TCP/IP
9 2 (0.63%) DHCP
10 1 (0.32%) Cisco Nexus
10 1 (0.32%) HTTP
10 1 (0.32%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (11.43%) SQL Server
2 20 (6.35%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 18 (5.71%) MongoDB
3 18 (5.71%) Power BI
3 18 (5.71%) Relational Database
4 16 (5.08%) MySQL
5 11 (3.49%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (3.17%) Data Warehouse
6 10 (3.17%) Oracle Database
6 10 (3.17%) RDBMS
7 8 (2.54%) NoSQL
8 7 (2.22%) Ataccama
8 7 (2.22%) Data Lake
9 6 (1.90%) DynamoDB
10 5 (1.59%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (1.59%) BigQuery
11 4 (1.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
12 3 (0.95%) Oracle Exadata
12 3 (0.95%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 58 (18.41%) GitLab
2 47 (14.92%) Jenkins
3 43 (13.65%) Git
4 27 (8.57%) JIRA
5 15 (4.76%) JUnit
5 15 (4.76%) Selenium
6 14 (4.44%) Claude Code
6 14 (4.44%) REST Assured
7 13 (4.13%) Sonatype Nexus
8 11 (3.49%) Cucumber
8 11 (3.49%) Postman
8 11 (3.49%) SonarQube
9 9 (2.86%) Mockito
10 8 (2.54%) Maven
11 7 (2.22%) Gradle
12 6 (1.90%) Gatling
13 4 (1.27%) Bitbucket Server
13 4 (1.27%) ClearCase
14 3 (0.95%) LoadRunner
14 3 (0.95%) Zephyr
General
1 63 (20.00%) Finance
2 49 (15.56%) Social Skills
3 40 (12.70%) Public Sector
4 27 (8.57%) Banking
5 26 (8.25%) Analytical Skills
6 16 (5.08%) Retail
7 12 (3.81%) Military
8 5 (1.59%) Manufacturing
9 3 (0.95%) Aerospace
9 3 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.95%) Health Technology
10 2 (0.63%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (0.63%) Law
10 2 (0.63%) Publishing
11 1 (0.32%) Billing
11 1 (0.32%) Financial Institution
11 1 (0.32%) iGaming
11 1 (0.32%) Legal
11 1 (0.32%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.32%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 67 (21.27%) Senior
2 66 (20.95%) DevOps Engineer
3 46 (14.60%) Developer
4 42 (13.33%) Lead
5 27 (8.57%) Architect
6 25 (7.94%) Cloud Engineer
7 20 (6.35%) Senior DevOps
8 19 (6.03%) Senior DevOps Engineer
8 19 (6.03%) Software Engineer
9 17 (5.40%) AWS Engineer
9 17 (5.40%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 16 (5.08%) Security Engineer
11 15 (4.76%) Analyst
12 14 (4.44%) DBA
13 12 (3.81%) Azure Engineer
13 12 (3.81%) Consultant
13 12 (3.81%) SQL DBA
14 11 (3.49%) Java Developer
14 11 (3.49%) Solutions Architect
15 10 (3.17%) Lead DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 116 (36.83%) Terraform
2 32 (10.16%) Spring Boot
3 31 (9.84%) REST
4 29 (9.21%) Kafka
4 29 (9.21%) Spring
5 25 (7.94%) React
6 23 (7.30%) Node.js
7 17 (5.40%) JSON
8 16 (5.08%) Playwright
9 13 (4.13%) RESTful
10 12 (3.81%) .NET
11 10 (3.17%) PySpark
12 9 (2.86%) HTML
12 9 (2.86%) XML
13 8 (2.54%) Next.js
14 7 (2.22%) CSS
15 6 (1.90%) AngularJS
15 6 (1.90%) ARM Templates
16 5 (1.59%) Azure Blueprints
16 5 (1.59%) Langfuse
Miscellaneous
1 76 (24.13%) Cloud Native
2 18 (5.71%) Security Posture
3 16 (5.08%) Replication
4 15 (4.76%) Management Information System
5 13 (4.13%) Clustering
5 13 (4.13%) Data Structures
5 13 (4.13%) Hybrid Cloud
5 13 (4.13%) Onboarding
6 12 (3.81%) Distributed Systems
6 12 (3.81%) Product Ownership
7 10 (3.17%) Data Centre
8 9 (2.86%) Algorithms
9 8 (2.54%) Legacy Systems
10 6 (1.90%) Cloud Security Posture
10 6 (1.90%) Public Cloud
11 5 (1.59%) AI Agents
11 5 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
11 5 (1.59%) Enterprise Cloud
11 5 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
12 4 (1.27%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 40 (12.70%) Linux
2 34 (10.79%) Windows
3 18 (5.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 13 (4.13%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.95%) AIX
5 3 (0.95%) Unix
6 2 (0.63%) VMS
7 1 (0.32%) Android
7 1 (0.32%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.32%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 200 (63.49%) CI/CD
2 112 (35.56%) Agile
3 94 (29.84%) Infrastructure as Code
4 69 (21.90%) Observability
5 60 (19.05%) Test Automation
6 56 (17.78%) Microservices
7 55 (17.46%) Continuous Improvement
8 52 (16.51%) Containerisation
9 50 (15.87%) AI
10 49 (15.56%) Software Engineering
11 46 (14.60%) Migration
12 37 (11.75%) Platform Engineering
12 37 (11.75%) Scrum
12 37 (11.75%) Technical Leadership
13 34 (10.79%) Cloud Security
14 33 (10.48%) Event-Driven
14 33 (10.48%) Infrastructure Automation
14 33 (10.48%) Roadmaps
14 33 (10.48%) SDLC
15 32 (10.16%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 85 (26.98%) Python
2 75 (23.81%) Java
3 59 (18.73%) SQL
4 48 (15.24%) PowerShell
5 34 (10.79%) Bash
6 27 (8.57%) JavaScript
7 21 (6.67%) C#
8 20 (6.35%) TypeScript
9 18 (5.71%) Bicep
10 17 (5.40%) T-SQL
11 6 (1.90%) Search Processing Language
12 4 (1.27%) VB
12 4 (1.27%) VB6
13 3 (0.95%) Rust
13 3 (0.95%) Shell Script
14 2 (0.63%) PROC SQL
14 2 (0.63%) Scala
15 1 (0.32%) ABAP
15 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 1 (0.32%) Go
Qualifications
1 93 (29.52%) Security Cleared
2 79 (25.08%) SC Cleared
3 38 (12.06%) Degree
4 31 (9.84%) Azure Certification
5 27 (8.57%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (7.94%) AWS Certification
7 17 (5.40%) CISSP
7 17 (5.40%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (2.86%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 8 (2.54%) DV Cleared
10 7 (2.22%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.27%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 3 (0.95%) ITIL Certification
13 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
14 1 (0.32%) CCIE
14 1 (0.32%) CCNP
14 1 (0.32%) Cisco Certification
14 1 (0.32%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (10.16%) QA
2 19 (6.03%) Data Quality
3 12 (3.81%) Accessibility
4 6 (1.90%) GDPR
5 3 (0.95%) NCSC
5 3 (0.95%) PMO
6 2 (0.63%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.63%) SLA
6 2 (0.63%) WCAG
7 1 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.32%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.32%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.32%) NIST
7 1 (0.32%) P3O
7 1 (0.32%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 75 (23.81%) Docker
2 11 (3.49%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (1.90%) Active Directory
4 3 (0.95%) Oracle RAC
4 3 (0.95%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.63%) Apache ZooKeeper
6 1 (0.32%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 94 (29.84%) Kubernetes
2 35 (11.11%) Ansible
3 17 (5.40%) Grafana
4 15 (4.76%) Progress Chef
5 14 (4.44%) Prometheus
6 10 (3.17%) SCOM
7 8 (2.54%) Istio
8 6 (1.90%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (1.27%) Argo
10 3 (0.95%) Data Guard
10 3 (0.95%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (0.95%) Packer
11 2 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.32%) Consul
12 1 (0.32%) linkerd
12 1 (0.32%) Puppet
12 1 (0.32%) Rancher
12 1 (0.32%) vRealize
12 1 (0.32%) vRealize Orchestrator
12 1 (0.32%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 54 (17.14%) Microsoft
2 26 (8.25%) Google
3 20 (6.35%) ServiceNow
4 17 (5.40%) Red Hat
5 16 (5.08%) Splunk
6 15 (4.76%) Oracle
7 12 (3.81%) Palo Alto
7 12 (3.81%) SAP
8 11 (3.49%) F5
9 10 (3.17%) Aruba
9 10 (3.17%) Dynatrace
10 9 (2.86%) Arista
11 6 (1.90%) IBM
11 6 (1.90%) OpenAI
12 5 (1.59%) Atlassian
12 5 (1.59%) Informatica
12 5 (1.59%) Salesforce
12 5 (1.59%) Veracode
13 4 (1.27%) Databricks
14 3 (0.95%) MuleSoft