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

6 months to
16 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 16 15
Rank change year-on-year +2 -1 -1
Contract jobs citing DevOps 310 181 243
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.92% 9.06% 8.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.69% 10.12% 10.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 137 172
10th Percentile £393 £358 £413
25th Percentile £413 £402 £458
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £492 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.63% -6.29% -
75th Percentile £589 £584 £645
90th Percentile £675 £643 £823
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 2 3
10th Percentile - £70.25 -
25th Percentile £25.38 £74.38 -
Median hourly rate £42.69 £82.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -48.26% +79.82% +13.28%
75th Percentile £75.00 £89.38 -
90th Percentile £84.50 £92.75 -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £70.00 £66.50
% change year-on-year -3.57% +5.26% +1.36%

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 2,899 1,789 2,362
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.40% 89.58% 83.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,730 1,183 1,441
10th Percentile £300 £305 £308
25th Percentile £400 £382 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -7.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £553 £585
90th Percentile £675 £667 £675
England median daily rate £518 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.46% -0.98% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 251 99 271
10th Percentile £17.13 £13.36 £11.00
25th Percentile £25.58 £19.53 £14.18
Median hourly rate £51.00 £31.76 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +60.58% +5.87% -1.77%
75th Percentile £76.00 £63.40 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £83.63 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.00 £27.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year +70.91% -26.67% +7.05%

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 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 16 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 16 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 +7 196 £500 -2.72% 133
Cheshire -6 69 £468 +14.92% 12
Lancashire +2 25 £608 +8.00% 31
Merseyside -12 15 £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
1 171 (55.16%) Azure
2 140 (45.16%) AWS
3 71 (22.90%) Azure DevOps
4 56 (18.06%) GCP
5 43 (13.87%) Serverless
6 39 (12.58%) GitHub
7 26 (8.39%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 22 (7.10%) AWS Lambda
8 22 (7.10%) GitHub Actions
9 21 (6.77%) Azure AKS
10 15 (4.84%) Amazon EC2
10 15 (4.84%) SaaS
10 15 (4.84%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 14 (4.52%) Amazon S3
11 14 (4.52%) Dynamics 365
12 12 (3.87%) Amazon EKS
13 11 (3.55%) Entra ID
13 11 (3.55%) Microsoft 365
13 11 (3.55%) OCI
14 10 (3.23%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 32 (10.32%) 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%) Wi-Fi
3 9 (2.90%) WLAN
4 8 (2.58%) DNS
5 7 (2.26%) Network Security
6 5 (1.61%) DHCP
7 4 (1.29%) TCP/IP
8 3 (0.97%) NetScaler
9 2 (0.65%) VPN
10 1 (0.32%) iSCSI
10 1 (0.32%) Reverse Proxy
10 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 55 (17.74%) GitLab
2 42 (13.55%) JIRA
3 39 (12.58%) Git
4 37 (11.94%) Jenkins
5 14 (4.52%) Selenium
6 10 (3.23%) REST Assured
7 9 (2.90%) Cucumber
7 9 (2.90%) JUnit
8 8 (2.58%) Gatling
8 8 (2.58%) SonarQube
9 7 (2.26%) Mocha
9 7 (2.26%) Postman
10 6 (1.94%) Cypress.io
10 6 (1.94%) Sonatype Nexus
11 5 (1.61%) CircleCI
11 5 (1.61%) Gradle
11 5 (1.61%) Serenity BDD
12 3 (0.97%) ClearCase
12 3 (0.97%) Maven
13 2 (0.65%) LoadRunner
General
1 66 (21.29%) Finance
2 58 (18.71%) Public Sector
2 58 (18.71%) Social Skills
3 31 (10.00%) Banking
4 22 (7.10%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (2.26%) Retail
6 5 (1.61%) Military
7 3 (0.97%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (0.97%) Health Technology
7 3 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (0.97%) Local Government
7 3 (0.97%) Manufacturing
8 2 (0.65%) Aerospace
8 2 (0.65%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (0.65%) Publishing
9 1 (0.32%) Advertising
9 1 (0.32%) Law
9 1 (0.32%) Retail Banking
9 1 (0.32%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 54 (17.42%) DevOps Engineer
2 52 (16.77%) Developer
3 47 (15.16%) Senior
4 42 (13.55%) Lead
5 34 (10.97%) Architect
6 21 (6.77%) Solutions Architect
7 20 (6.45%) Java Developer
8 19 (6.13%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 17 (5.48%) Analyst
9 17 (5.48%) Software Engineer
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%) Senior Developer
14 11 (3.55%) Azure DevOps Engineer
14 11 (3.55%) Platform Engineer
14 11 (3.55%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 10 (3.23%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (14.84%) Spring
2 45 (14.52%) Spring Boot
3 29 (9.35%) REST
4 28 (9.03%) React
5 25 (8.06%) Node.js
6 22 (7.10%) Kafka
7 17 (5.48%) .NET
7 17 (5.48%) Playwright
8 15 (4.84%) XML
9 13 (4.19%) AngularJS
10 10 (3.23%) JSON
10 10 (3.23%) PySpark
11 8 (2.58%) GraphQL
11 8 (2.58%) RESTful
12 7 (2.26%) ARM Templates
12 7 (2.26%) Jest
12 7 (2.26%) OAuth
13 5 (1.61%) Spring Cloud
14 4 (1.29%) .NET Core
14 4 (1.29%) Nunjucks
Miscellaneous
1 70 (22.58%) Cloud Native
2 26 (8.39%) Product Ownership
3 14 (4.52%) Security Posture
4 13 (4.19%) Hybrid Cloud
5 12 (3.87%) Data Centre
5 12 (3.87%) Management Information System
6 11 (3.55%) Private Cloud
6 11 (3.55%) Public Cloud
7 10 (3.23%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (2.90%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (2.90%) Onboarding
9 7 (2.26%) AI Agents
10 6 (1.94%) Distributed Systems
10 6 (1.94%) Virtual Team
11 5 (1.61%) e-Learning
11 5 (1.61%) Linux Command Line
11 5 (1.61%) Mainframe
11 5 (1.61%) NHS
11 5 (1.61%) Replication
12 4 (1.29%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 33 (10.65%) Linux
2 19 (6.13%) Windows
3 13 (4.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (0.97%) VMS
4 3 (0.97%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.97%) Windows Server 2012
4 3 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
5 1 (0.32%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 188 (60.65%) CI/CD
2 116 (37.42%) Agile
3 79 (25.48%) Infrastructure as Code
4 66 (21.29%) Microservices
5 55 (17.74%) Observability
6 53 (17.10%) Test Automation
7 51 (16.45%) Containerisation
8 44 (14.19%) Continuous Improvement
9 39 (12.58%) Problem-Solving
10 37 (11.94%) Mentoring
11 33 (10.65%) Stakeholder Management
12 31 (10.00%) AI
12 31 (10.00%) Scrum
12 31 (10.00%) Software Engineering
12 31 (10.00%) Technical Leadership
13 30 (9.68%) Migration
14 29 (9.35%) Platform Engineering
15 28 (9.03%) Cloud Security
15 28 (9.03%) Load Balancing
16 27 (8.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 88 (28.39%) Java
2 87 (28.06%) Python
3 37 (11.94%) PowerShell
3 37 (11.94%) SQL
4 29 (9.35%) Bash
5 25 (8.06%) JavaScript
6 23 (7.42%) TypeScript
7 13 (4.19%) C#
8 8 (2.58%) Bicep
9 7 (2.26%) Rust
10 6 (1.94%) Shell Script
10 6 (1.94%) T-SQL
11 4 (1.29%) Go
12 3 (0.97%) VB
12 3 (0.97%) VB6
13 2 (0.65%) C++
13 2 (0.65%) PL/SQL
13 2 (0.65%) PROC SQL
14 1 (0.32%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 68 (21.94%) Security Cleared
2 46 (14.84%) SC Cleared
3 31 (10.00%) Degree
4 30 (9.68%) AWS Certification
5 26 (8.39%) Azure Certification
6 20 (6.45%) BPSS Clearance
7 16 (5.16%) 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%) Microsoft Certification
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%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (6.13%) Accessibility
2 18 (5.81%) QA
3 11 (3.55%) Data Quality
4 10 (3.23%) GDPR
5 6 (1.94%) NIST
5 6 (1.94%) WCAG
6 5 (1.61%) ISO 20022
6 5 (1.61%) PSD2
7 4 (1.29%) SEPA
7 4 (1.29%) SLA
8 3 (0.97%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 3 (0.97%) GRC
8 3 (0.97%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.32%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.32%) PMO
9 1 (0.32%) Solvency II
System Software
1 80 (25.81%) Docker
2 8 (2.58%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.94%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (1.61%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (1.29%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (1.29%) vSphere
6 2 (0.65%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 109 (35.16%) Terraform
2 88 (28.39%) Kubernetes
3 28 (9.03%) Ansible
4 19 (6.13%) Grafana
5 15 (4.84%) Prometheus
6 11 (3.55%) Progress Chef
7 10 (3.23%) Istio
8 8 (2.58%) Argo
9 5 (1.61%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (1.29%) Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.97%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.97%) SCCM
12 2 (0.65%) CA Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.65%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.65%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.65%) linkerd
12 2 (0.65%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.65%) Packer
13 1 (0.32%) HP Fortify
13 1 (0.32%) vRealize
Vendors
1 55 (17.74%) Microsoft
2 29 (9.35%) Google
3 21 (6.77%) Oracle
4 15 (4.84%) Splunk
5 14 (4.52%) F5
5 14 (4.52%) Red Hat
6 10 (3.23%) Aruba
6 10 (3.23%) Palo Alto
7 9 (2.90%) Arista
7 9 (2.90%) OpenAI
7 9 (2.90%) ServiceNow
8 7 (2.26%) Databricks
9 5 (1.61%) Dynatrace
9 5 (1.61%) IBM
9 5 (1.61%) SAP
9 5 (1.61%) VMware
10 4 (1.29%) CyberArk
10 4 (1.29%) MuleSoft
10 4 (1.29%) Veeam
11 3 (0.97%) Foundry