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

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 16 18
Rank change year-on-year +1 +2 -3
Contract jobs citing DevOps 310 180 239
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.01% 9.07% 8.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.80% 10.10% 10.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 217 136 170
10th Percentile £391 £358 £413
25th Percentile £413 £402 £452
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £494 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.29% -5.95% -
75th Percentile £591 £584 £650
90th Percentile £675 £644 £828
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 2 3
10th Percentile £25.38 £70.25 -
25th Percentile £31.32 £74.38 -
Median hourly rate £42.69 £82.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -48.26% +79.82% +13.28%
75th Percentile £74.00 £89.38 -
90th Percentile £81.00 £92.75 -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £68.75 £65.50
% change year-on-year -1.82% +4.96% -

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 2,871 1,783 2,355
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.41% 89.87% 84.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,717 1,178 1,440
10th Percentile £300 £300 £311
25th Percentile £400 £385 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -7.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £557 £588
90th Percentile £675 £663 £675
England median daily rate £515 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 248 97 275
10th Percentile £17.13 £13.23 £11.00
25th Percentile £25.38 £20.00 £14.13
Median hourly rate £55.00 £31.76 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +73.17% +13.43% -8.32%
75th Percentile £75.00 £63.40 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £83.85 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.50 £28.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year +69.64% -25.33% +4.17%

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 11 June 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 11 June 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 11 June 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 +9 193 £510 +0.59% 110
Cheshire -3 69 £468 +16.42% 15
Lancashire +5 27 £608 +8.00% 31
Merseyside -10 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 (8.06%) Confluence
2 9 (2.90%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.61%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.97%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.65%) Apache
5 2 (0.65%) SAS
6 1 (0.32%) Camunda
6 1 (0.32%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.32%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.32%) nginx
6 1 (0.32%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 10 (3.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.94%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.61%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.97%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.65%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.65%) Trello
Business Applications
1 4 (1.29%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.32%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.32%) NEC Housing
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
1 170 (54.84%) Azure
2 141 (45.48%) AWS
3 70 (22.58%) Azure DevOps
4 53 (17.10%) GCP
5 44 (14.19%) Serverless
6 38 (12.26%) GitHub
7 24 (7.74%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 23 (7.42%) AWS Lambda
8 23 (7.42%) Azure AKS
9 22 (7.10%) GitHub Actions
10 15 (4.84%) Amazon EC2
10 15 (4.84%) SaaS
11 14 (4.52%) Amazon S3
11 14 (4.52%) Dynamics 365
11 14 (4.52%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 13 (4.19%) Amazon EKS
13 12 (3.87%) Entra ID
13 12 (3.87%) Microsoft 365
14 11 (3.55%) OCI
15 10 (3.23%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 31 (10.00%) Firewall
2 10 (3.23%) BGP
2 10 (3.23%) BIG-IP
2 10 (3.23%) Ethernet VPN
2 10 (3.23%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 10 (3.23%) OSPF
2 10 (3.23%) SD-WAN
2 10 (3.23%) VXLAN
2 10 (3.23%) WAN
3 9 (2.90%) DNS
3 9 (2.90%) Wi-Fi
3 9 (2.90%) WLAN
4 7 (2.26%) Network Security
5 6 (1.94%) DHCP
6 5 (1.61%) TCP/IP
7 4 (1.29%) NetScaler
8 2 (0.65%) VPN
9 1 (0.32%) iSCSI
9 1 (0.32%) Reverse Proxy
9 1 (0.32%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (6.45%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (5.48%) MongoDB
3 16 (5.16%) Relational Database
3 16 (5.16%) SQL Server
4 14 (4.52%) NoSQL
5 9 (2.90%) DocumentDB
5 9 (2.90%) DynamoDB
5 9 (2.90%) Tableau
6 8 (2.58%) Data Lake
6 8 (2.58%) Oracle Database
6 8 (2.58%) RDBMS
7 7 (2.26%) Amazon RDS
7 7 (2.26%) Ataccama
7 7 (2.26%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (2.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (1.94%) BigQuery
9 5 (1.61%) MySQL
10 4 (1.29%) Oracle Reports
11 3 (0.97%) Data Warehouse
11 3 (0.97%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 58 (18.71%) GitLab
2 42 (13.55%) JIRA
3 37 (11.94%) Git
4 35 (11.29%) Jenkins
5 13 (4.19%) Selenium
6 9 (2.90%) REST Assured
7 8 (2.58%) JUnit
8 7 (2.26%) Cucumber
8 7 (2.26%) Gatling
8 7 (2.26%) Mocha
9 6 (1.94%) Cypress.io
9 6 (1.94%) Postman
9 6 (1.94%) SonarQube
10 5 (1.61%) CircleCI
10 5 (1.61%) Serenity BDD
11 4 (1.29%) Gradle
11 4 (1.29%) Sonatype Nexus
12 3 (0.97%) ClearCase
12 3 (0.97%) Maven
13 2 (0.65%) Liquibase
General
1 65 (20.97%) Finance
2 59 (19.03%) Public Sector
3 58 (18.71%) Social Skills
4 29 (9.35%) Banking
5 21 (6.77%) Analytical Skills
6 7 (2.26%) Retail
7 5 (1.61%) Military
8 3 (0.97%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (0.97%) Health Technology
8 3 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (0.97%) Local Government
8 3 (0.97%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.65%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.65%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.65%) Publishing
10 1 (0.32%) Advertising
10 1 (0.32%) Law
10 1 (0.32%) Retail Banking
10 1 (0.32%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 56 (18.06%) DevOps Engineer
2 52 (16.77%) Developer
3 46 (14.84%) Senior
4 42 (13.55%) Lead
5 34 (10.97%) Architect
6 21 (6.77%) Solutions Architect
7 20 (6.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 20 (6.45%) Java Developer
8 18 (5.81%) Software Engineer
9 17 (5.48%) Analyst
10 15 (4.84%) Azure Engineer
10 15 (4.84%) Security Engineer
10 15 (4.84%) Software Developer
11 14 (4.52%) Lead Developer
12 13 (4.19%) Cloud Engineer
13 12 (3.87%) Platform Engineer
13 12 (3.87%) Senior Developer
14 11 (3.55%) Azure DevOps Engineer
14 11 (3.55%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (3.23%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (14.52%) Spring
2 44 (14.19%) Spring Boot
3 29 (9.35%) REST
4 28 (9.03%) React
5 24 (7.74%) Node.js
6 21 (6.77%) Kafka
7 17 (5.48%) .NET
8 16 (5.16%) Playwright
9 15 (4.84%) XML
10 14 (4.52%) AngularJS
11 10 (3.23%) JSON
11 10 (3.23%) PySpark
12 8 (2.58%) GraphQL
12 8 (2.58%) RESTful
13 7 (2.26%) ARM Templates
13 7 (2.26%) Jest
13 7 (2.26%) OAuth
14 5 (1.61%) Spring Cloud
15 4 (1.29%) .NET Core
15 4 (1.29%) Nunjucks
Miscellaneous
1 67 (21.61%) Cloud Native
2 26 (8.39%) Product Ownership
3 13 (4.19%) Hybrid Cloud
3 13 (4.19%) Security Posture
4 12 (3.87%) Data Centre
4 12 (3.87%) Private Cloud
5 11 (3.55%) Data Protection Act
5 11 (3.55%) Management Information System
5 11 (3.55%) Public Cloud
6 9 (2.90%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.90%) Onboarding
7 7 (2.26%) AI Agents
8 6 (1.94%) Distributed Systems
8 6 (1.94%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.61%) e-Learning
9 5 (1.61%) Mainframe
9 5 (1.61%) NHS
9 5 (1.61%) Replication
10 4 (1.29%) Clustering
10 4 (1.29%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 31 (10.00%) Linux
2 19 (6.13%) Windows
3 12 (3.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.29%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.29%) Windows Server 2012
4 4 (1.29%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (0.97%) VMS
6 1 (0.32%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 187 (60.32%) CI/CD
2 115 (37.10%) Agile
3 79 (25.48%) Infrastructure as Code
4 66 (21.29%) Microservices
5 54 (17.42%) Observability
6 52 (16.77%) Containerisation
6 52 (16.77%) Test Automation
7 43 (13.87%) Continuous Improvement
8 38 (12.26%) Mentoring
8 38 (12.26%) Problem-Solving
9 33 (10.65%) Stakeholder Management
10 32 (10.32%) Software Engineering
11 31 (10.00%) AI
11 31 (10.00%) Technical Leadership
12 30 (9.68%) Migration
12 30 (9.68%) Scrum
13 29 (9.35%) Platform Engineering
14 28 (9.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 28 (9.03%) Load Balancing
15 27 (8.71%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 87 (28.06%) Java
2 84 (27.10%) Python
3 37 (11.94%) SQL
4 36 (11.61%) PowerShell
5 27 (8.71%) Bash
6 26 (8.39%) JavaScript
7 23 (7.42%) TypeScript
8 13 (4.19%) C#
9 9 (2.90%) Bicep
10 7 (2.26%) Rust
11 6 (1.94%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.94%) T-SQL
12 4 (1.29%) Go
13 3 (0.97%) VB
13 3 (0.97%) VB6
14 2 (0.65%) C++
14 2 (0.65%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.65%) PROC SQL
15 1 (0.32%) ActionScript
15 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 68 (21.94%) Security Cleared
2 46 (14.84%) SC Cleared
3 30 (9.68%) Degree
4 29 (9.35%) AWS Certification
5 25 (8.06%) Azure Certification
6 20 (6.45%) BPSS Clearance
7 15 (4.84%) CISSP
8 11 (3.55%) DV Cleared
9 10 (3.23%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 10 (3.23%) ITIL Certification
10 7 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.29%) IBM Certification
12 3 (0.97%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
12 3 (0.97%) PMI Certification
13 2 (0.65%) CCIE
13 2 (0.65%) CCNP
13 2 (0.65%) Cisco Certification
13 2 (0.65%) CISM
13 2 (0.65%) Microsoft Certification
13 2 (0.65%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (6.13%) Accessibility
2 18 (5.81%) QA
3 10 (3.23%) Data Quality
3 10 (3.23%) GDPR
4 6 (1.94%) NIST
4 6 (1.94%) WCAG
5 5 (1.61%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.61%) PSD2
6 4 (1.29%) SEPA
6 4 (1.29%) SLA
7 3 (0.97%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.97%) GRC
7 3 (0.97%) HIPAA
7 3 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.32%) NEBOSH
8 1 (0.32%) PMO
8 1 (0.32%) Solvency II
System Software
1 79 (25.48%) Docker
2 9 (2.90%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.94%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (1.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.61%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.61%) vSphere
5 2 (0.65%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 108 (34.84%) Terraform
2 86 (27.74%) Kubernetes
3 27 (8.71%) Ansible
4 18 (5.81%) Grafana
5 15 (4.84%) Prometheus
6 10 (3.23%) Progress Chef
7 8 (2.58%) Argo
7 8 (2.58%) Istio
8 6 (1.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (1.29%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (1.29%) SCCM
9 4 (1.29%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.65%) CA Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.65%) Data Guard
10 2 (0.65%) Failover Clustering
10 2 (0.65%) linkerd
10 2 (0.65%) Oracle RMAN
10 2 (0.65%) Packer
11 1 (0.32%) HP Fortify
11 1 (0.32%) vRealize
Vendors
1 54 (17.42%) Microsoft
2 28 (9.03%) Google
3 21 (6.77%) Oracle
4 15 (4.84%) F5
5 14 (4.52%) Splunk
6 13 (4.19%) Red Hat
7 10 (3.23%) Aruba
7 10 (3.23%) Palo Alto
8 9 (2.90%) Arista
8 9 (2.90%) OpenAI
9 8 (2.58%) ServiceNow
10 7 (2.26%) Databricks
11 6 (1.94%) VMware
12 5 (1.61%) IBM
12 5 (1.61%) SAP
12 5 (1.61%) Veeam
13 4 (1.29%) CyberArk
13 4 (1.29%) MuleSoft
14 3 (0.97%) Atlassian
14 3 (0.97%) Foundry