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

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 15 15
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 -2
Contract jobs citing DevOps 334 196 223
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.95% 9.01% 9.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.79% 10.25% 10.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 228 161 143
10th Percentile £387 £322 £413
25th Percentile £413 £393 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £524 £465 £550
Median % change year-on-year +12.69% -15.45% +4.76%
75th Percentile £638 £575 £650
90th Percentile £704 £671 £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 £74.60 £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 3,096 1,913 2,032
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.00% 87.95% 84.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,808 1,228 1,233
10th Percentile £279 £279 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £453 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.55% -9.35% -
75th Percentile £597 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £668 £675
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 314 126 180
10th Percentile £17.25 £13.50 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £18.87 £16.06
Median hourly rate £50.00 £27.90 £32.75
Median % change year-on-year +79.20% -14.80% -0.76%
75th Percentile £74.20 £57.57 £51.91
90th Percentile £85.00 £74.38 £70.90
England median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +78.93% -40.82% -

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 August 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 August 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 August 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 +4 221 £500 -4.76% 169
Cheshire -9 63 £500 +24.38% 47
Lancashire +7 30 £640 +42.22% 25
Merseyside -8 12 £510 +13.33% 6
Cumbria - 1 - -
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 (6.59%) Confluence
2 8 (2.40%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.50%) Apache Spark
4 4 (1.20%) SAS
5 3 (0.90%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.60%) 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%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.30%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.90%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.60%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.60%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.60%) Trello
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (1.50%) 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 (52.99%) Azure
2 156 (46.71%) AWS
3 87 (26.05%) Azure DevOps
4 56 (16.77%) GCP
5 51 (15.27%) GitHub
6 35 (10.48%) Serverless
7 31 (9.28%) GitHub Actions
8 27 (8.08%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 19 (5.69%) Azure AKS
10 18 (5.39%) AWS Lambda
11 15 (4.49%) Amazon EKS
11 15 (4.49%) Azure Monitor
11 15 (4.49%) OCI
11 15 (4.49%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 14 (4.19%) Power Platform
12 14 (4.19%) SaaS
13 13 (3.89%) Dynamics 365
13 13 (3.89%) Entra ID
14 12 (3.59%) Amazon ECS
14 12 (3.59%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 37 (11.08%) Firewall
2 11 (3.29%) BGP
2 11 (3.29%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (3.29%) OSPF
2 11 (3.29%) SD-WAN
2 11 (3.29%) VXLAN
2 11 (3.29%) WAN
3 10 (2.99%) BIG-IP
3 10 (2.99%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
4 9 (2.69%) Wi-Fi
4 9 (2.69%) WLAN
5 8 (2.40%) SSL
6 7 (2.10%) DNS
6 7 (2.10%) Network Security
7 5 (1.50%) VPN
8 2 (0.60%) DHCP
8 2 (0.60%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.30%) iSCSI
9 1 (0.30%) MPLS
9 1 (0.30%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (9.28%) SQL Server
2 24 (7.19%) MongoDB
3 22 (6.59%) Relational Database
4 19 (5.69%) PostgreSQL
5 16 (4.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 15 (4.49%) RDBMS
7 14 (4.19%) MySQL
7 14 (4.19%) NoSQL
8 10 (2.99%) Oracle Database
9 9 (2.69%) Data Lake
9 9 (2.69%) Power BI
10 8 (2.40%) Elasticsearch
11 7 (2.10%) Ataccama
12 6 (1.80%) DynamoDB
13 5 (1.50%) BigQuery
13 5 (1.50%) Data Vault
13 5 (1.50%) Data Warehouse
13 5 (1.50%) Oracle Exadata
14 4 (1.20%) Oracle Reports
14 4 (1.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 48 (14.37%) GitLab
2 42 (12.57%) Git
3 40 (11.98%) Jenkins
4 32 (9.58%) JIRA
5 14 (4.19%) Claude Code
6 12 (3.59%) Selenium
7 11 (3.29%) Postman
8 8 (2.40%) Cucumber
8 8 (2.40%) REST Assured
8 8 (2.40%) SonarQube
9 7 (2.10%) Sonatype Nexus
10 6 (1.80%) Gatling
10 6 (1.80%) JUnit
11 3 (0.90%) ClearCase
11 3 (0.90%) LoadRunner
11 3 (0.90%) Mockito
11 3 (0.90%) Serenity BDD
11 3 (0.90%) TestRail
11 3 (0.90%) Zephyr
12 2 (0.60%) Flyway
General
1 69 (20.66%) Finance
2 55 (16.47%) Social Skills
3 42 (12.57%) Public Sector
4 28 (8.38%) Banking
5 23 (6.89%) Analytical Skills
6 17 (5.09%) Retail
7 8 (2.40%) Military
8 3 (0.90%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (0.90%) Health Technology
8 3 (0.90%) Local Government
8 3 (0.90%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.60%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.60%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.60%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.60%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.60%) Publishing
10 1 (0.30%) Corporate Banking
10 1 (0.30%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.30%) Law
10 1 (0.30%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 64 (19.16%) Senior
2 62 (18.56%) DevOps Engineer
3 48 (14.37%) Lead
4 45 (13.47%) Developer
5 27 (8.08%) Architect
6 22 (6.59%) Software Engineer
7 20 (5.99%) Cloud Engineer
7 20 (5.99%) Security Engineer
8 16 (4.79%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 16 (4.79%) Senior DevOps
8 16 (4.79%) Solutions Architect
9 15 (4.49%) Azure Engineer
9 15 (4.49%) DBA
9 15 (4.49%) Senior Developer
9 15 (4.49%) Senior DevOps Engineer
10 14 (4.19%) Analyst
10 14 (4.19%) AWS Engineer
11 12 (3.59%) Principal Engineer
12 11 (3.29%) Java Developer
13 10 (2.99%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (8.98%) Kafka
2 29 (8.68%) Spring
3 28 (8.38%) Spring Boot
4 27 (8.08%) React
4 27 (8.08%) REST
5 23 (6.89%) Node.js
6 18 (5.39%) .NET
6 18 (5.39%) JSON
7 14 (4.19%) Playwright
8 12 (3.59%) PySpark
9 11 (3.29%) AngularJS
9 11 (3.29%) RESTful
9 11 (3.29%) XML
10 8 (2.40%) ARM Templates
10 8 (2.40%) Next.js
11 5 (1.50%) Langfuse
11 5 (1.50%) Spring MVC
11 5 (1.50%) YAML
12 4 (1.20%) Entity Framework
12 4 (1.20%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 78 (23.35%) Cloud Native
2 20 (5.99%) Security Posture
3 18 (5.39%) Product Ownership
4 16 (4.79%) Hybrid Cloud
4 16 (4.79%) Management Information System
4 16 (4.79%) Replication
5 12 (3.59%) Data Centre
6 11 (3.29%) Data Protection Act
6 11 (3.29%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (2.99%) Clustering
8 9 (2.69%) Data Structures
8 9 (2.69%) Distributed Systems
9 8 (2.40%) Algorithms
10 7 (2.10%) AI Agents
11 6 (1.80%) Onboarding
12 5 (1.50%) Cloud Security Posture
12 5 (1.50%) Linux Command Line
12 5 (1.50%) Mainframe
12 5 (1.50%) Public Cloud
13 4 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 39 (11.68%) Linux
2 28 (8.38%) Windows
3 17 (5.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (2.10%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.90%) AIX
5 3 (0.90%) VMS
6 2 (0.60%) Unix
7 1 (0.30%) Android
7 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 199 (59.58%) CI/CD
2 121 (36.23%) Agile
3 92 (27.54%) Infrastructure as Code
4 68 (20.36%) Observability
5 62 (18.56%) Continuous Improvement
6 57 (17.07%) Microservices
7 55 (16.47%) Test Automation
8 53 (15.87%) AI
9 50 (14.97%) Containerisation
9 50 (14.97%) Software Engineering
10 43 (12.87%) Mentoring
11 40 (11.98%) Migration
12 39 (11.68%) Scrum
13 37 (11.08%) Cloud Security
13 37 (11.08%) Platform Engineering
13 37 (11.08%) Technical Leadership
14 36 (10.78%) Problem-Solving
14 36 (10.78%) Roadmaps
14 36 (10.78%) SDLC
15 35 (10.48%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 106 (31.74%) Python
2 77 (23.05%) Java
3 53 (15.87%) PowerShell
4 52 (15.57%) SQL
5 42 (12.57%) Bash
6 26 (7.78%) JavaScript
7 23 (6.89%) C#
8 21 (6.29%) TypeScript
9 16 (4.79%) Bicep
10 13 (3.89%) T-SQL
11 8 (2.40%) Rust
12 5 (1.50%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.90%) VB
13 3 (0.90%) VB6
14 2 (0.60%) Go
14 2 (0.60%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.60%) PROC SQL
14 2 (0.60%) Scala
15 1 (0.30%) C++
15 1 (0.30%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 79 (23.65%) Security Cleared
2 63 (18.86%) SC Cleared
3 34 (10.18%) Degree
4 32 (9.58%) Azure Certification
5 29 (8.68%) AWS Certification
6 21 (6.29%) BPSS Clearance
7 20 (5.99%) CISSP
8 11 (3.29%) DV Cleared
8 11 (3.29%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (2.40%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 6 (1.80%) ITIL Certification
11 5 (1.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 3 (0.90%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
12 3 (0.90%) CCIE
12 3 (0.90%) CCNP
12 3 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
12 3 (0.90%) PMI Certification
13 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 2 (0.60%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (9.28%) QA
2 15 (4.49%) Data Quality
3 11 (3.29%) Accessibility
4 9 (2.69%) GDPR
5 5 (1.50%) NIST
6 3 (0.90%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 3 (0.90%) GRC
6 3 (0.90%) HIPAA
6 3 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 3 (0.90%) SLA
7 2 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.60%) WCAG
8 1 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.30%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.30%) PSD2
8 1 (0.30%) SEPA
8 1 (0.30%) Software Quality Assurance
8 1 (0.30%) Solvency II
System Software
1 74 (22.16%) Docker
2 11 (3.29%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (1.80%) Active Directory
4 5 (1.50%) Oracle RAC
5 3 (0.90%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.60%) Apache ZooKeeper
6 2 (0.60%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.30%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 130 (38.92%) Terraform
2 92 (27.54%) Kubernetes
3 41 (12.28%) Ansible
4 20 (5.99%) Grafana
5 16 (4.79%) Prometheus
6 15 (4.49%) Progress Chef
7 11 (3.29%) Argo
8 8 (2.40%) Istio
9 6 (1.80%) SCOM
10 5 (1.50%) Data Guard
10 5 (1.50%) Oracle RMAN
11 3 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.60%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.60%) linkerd
12 2 (0.60%) Packer
13 1 (0.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
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 64 (19.16%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.38%) Google
3 20 (5.99%) Oracle
4 18 (5.39%) Red Hat
5 17 (5.09%) ServiceNow
6 16 (4.79%) Splunk
7 12 (3.59%) Palo Alto
8 11 (3.29%) F5
9 10 (2.99%) Aruba
10 9 (2.69%) Arista
10 9 (2.69%) Dynatrace
10 9 (2.69%) SAP
11 8 (2.40%) Databricks
12 7 (2.10%) OpenAI
13 5 (1.50%) Salesforce
14 4 (1.20%) CyberArk
15 3 (0.90%) AppDynamics
15 3 (0.90%) Atlassian
15 3 (0.90%) Fortinet
15 3 (0.90%) IBM