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

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 14 16
Rank change year-on-year -5 +2 -1
Contract jobs citing DevOps 295 213 194
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 7.58% 9.72% 8.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.16% 10.94% 9.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 202 179 112
10th Percentile £382 £317 £361
25th Percentile £413 £385 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £470 £538
Median % change year-on-year +11.70% -12.56% +2.38%
75th Percentile £640 £575 £639
90th Percentile £712 £679 £827
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -5.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 1 2
10th Percentile £34.88 - -
25th Percentile £37.25 - -
Median hourly rate £66.66 £95.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -29.83% +105.72% -
75th Percentile £73.00 - -
90th Percentile £73.40 - -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £67.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +0.75% -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 3,220 1,947 1,977
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.78% 88.82% 83.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,862 1,284 1,148
10th Percentile £295 £300 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £594 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £677
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 333 131 107
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.51 £16.40
25th Percentile £24.72 £17.34 £27.38
Median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +88.90% -40.84% +21.43%
75th Percentile £73.25 £51.63 £57.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £71.45 £70.90
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -1.91%

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 September 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 September 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 September 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 +1 202 £525 - 427
Cheshire -18 47 £464 +13.74% 46
Lancashire -6 31 £640 +19.07% 51
Merseyside -22 7 £538 +6.44% 17
Cumbria - 1 - - 3
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 (7.12%) Confluence
2 7 (2.37%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.69%) SAS
4 4 (1.36%) Camunda
5 3 (1.02%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.68%) Apache
6 2 (0.68%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.34%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.34%) CMS
7 1 (0.34%) Drupal
7 1 (0.34%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.34%) NetWeaver
7 1 (0.34%) nginx
7 1 (0.34%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.34%) Traefik
7 1 (0.34%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.34%) WordPress
Applications
1 5 (1.69%) MS Visio
2 4 (1.36%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.68%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.34%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.34%) SAP PM
2 1 (0.34%) SAP QM
2 1 (0.34%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.34%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 149 (50.51%) Azure
2 137 (46.44%) AWS
3 75 (25.42%) Azure DevOps
4 48 (16.27%) GCP
5 44 (14.92%) GitHub
6 24 (8.14%) GitHub Actions
6 24 (8.14%) Serverless
7 22 (7.46%) Power Platform
8 21 (7.12%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 20 (6.78%) AWS Lambda
10 19 (6.44%) Azure AKS
11 17 (5.76%) Azure Monitor
12 16 (5.42%) Amazon ECS
13 15 (5.08%) OCI
14 14 (4.75%) Amazon EKS
15 13 (4.41%) AWS CloudFormation
16 12 (4.07%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 12 (4.07%) OpenShift
16 12 (4.07%) SaaS
17 11 (3.73%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 30 (10.17%) Firewall
2 12 (4.07%) SSL
3 11 (3.73%) BGP
3 11 (3.73%) Ethernet VPN
3 11 (3.73%) OSPF
3 11 (3.73%) SD-WAN
3 11 (3.73%) VXLAN
3 11 (3.73%) WAN
4 10 (3.39%) BIG-IP
4 10 (3.39%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 9 (3.05%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (3.05%) WLAN
6 8 (2.71%) DNS
6 8 (2.71%) Network Security
7 5 (1.69%) VPN
8 3 (1.02%) TCP/IP
9 2 (0.68%) DHCP
10 1 (0.34%) Cisco Nexus
10 1 (0.34%) HTTP
10 1 (0.34%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (12.20%) SQL Server
2 20 (6.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 18 (6.10%) Relational Database
4 17 (5.76%) MongoDB
5 16 (5.42%) MySQL
6 14 (4.75%) Power BI
7 11 (3.73%) PostgreSQL
8 10 (3.39%) Oracle Database
8 10 (3.39%) RDBMS
9 8 (2.71%) NoSQL
10 7 (2.37%) Ataccama
10 7 (2.37%) Data Lake
11 6 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
12 5 (1.69%) BigQuery
13 4 (1.36%) DynamoDB
13 4 (1.36%) Oracle Exadata
13 4 (1.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 3 (1.02%) Amazon Redshift
14 3 (1.02%) Azure SQL Database
14 3 (1.02%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 52 (17.63%) GitLab
2 41 (13.90%) Jenkins
3 39 (13.22%) Git
4 28 (9.49%) JIRA
5 14 (4.75%) Claude Code
6 13 (4.41%) Selenium
7 12 (4.07%) JUnit
7 12 (4.07%) REST Assured
8 11 (3.73%) Postman
8 11 (3.73%) Sonatype Nexus
9 10 (3.39%) SonarQube
10 9 (3.05%) Cucumber
11 8 (2.71%) Mockito
12 6 (2.03%) Gatling
12 6 (2.03%) Gradle
12 6 (2.03%) Maven
13 3 (1.02%) Bitbucket Server
13 3 (1.02%) ClearCase
13 3 (1.02%) Serenity BDD
13 3 (1.02%) TestRail
General
1 62 (21.02%) Finance
2 48 (16.27%) Social Skills
3 34 (11.53%) Public Sector
4 25 (8.47%) Banking
5 23 (7.80%) Analytical Skills
6 14 (4.75%) Retail
7 10 (3.39%) Military
8 3 (1.02%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.02%) Health Technology
8 3 (1.02%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.68%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.34%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.34%) iGaming
10 1 (0.34%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.34%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.34%) Legal
10 1 (0.34%) Local Government
10 1 (0.34%) Police
10 1 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.34%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 60 (20.34%) DevOps Engineer
1 60 (20.34%) Senior
2 40 (13.56%) Developer
2 40 (13.56%) Lead
3 26 (8.81%) Architect
4 22 (7.46%) Cloud Engineer
5 17 (5.76%) Senior DevOps
5 17 (5.76%) Software Engineer
6 16 (5.42%) Security Engineer
6 16 (5.42%) Senior DevOps Engineer
7 15 (5.08%) DBA
7 15 (5.08%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (4.75%) Analyst
8 14 (4.75%) AWS Engineer
8 14 (4.75%) Solutions Architect
9 12 (4.07%) Azure Engineer
9 12 (4.07%) Consultant
9 12 (4.07%) SQL DBA
10 11 (3.73%) Java Developer
11 10 (3.39%) Principal Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 108 (36.61%) Terraform
2 30 (10.17%) Spring Boot
3 28 (9.49%) Spring
4 27 (9.15%) Kafka
4 27 (9.15%) REST
5 25 (8.47%) React
6 21 (7.12%) Node.js
7 17 (5.76%) JSON
8 15 (5.08%) Playwright
9 13 (4.41%) .NET
10 10 (3.39%) PySpark
11 8 (2.71%) HTML
11 8 (2.71%) Next.js
11 8 (2.71%) RESTful
11 8 (2.71%) XML
12 7 (2.37%) AngularJS
12 7 (2.37%) ARM Templates
13 6 (2.03%) CSS
14 5 (1.69%) Azure Blueprints
14 5 (1.69%) Langfuse
Miscellaneous
1 70 (23.73%) Cloud Native
2 18 (6.10%) Replication
2 18 (6.10%) Security Posture
3 15 (5.08%) Management Information System
4 14 (4.75%) Clustering
4 14 (4.75%) Hybrid Cloud
5 13 (4.41%) Product Ownership
6 12 (4.07%) Data Structures
7 11 (3.73%) Distributed Systems
7 11 (3.73%) Onboarding
8 10 (3.39%) Data Centre
9 9 (3.05%) Legacy Systems
10 8 (2.71%) Algorithms
11 6 (2.03%) Cloud Security Posture
11 6 (2.03%) Data Protection Act
11 6 (2.03%) Public Cloud
12 5 (1.69%) AI Agents
12 5 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
13 4 (1.36%) Enterprise Cloud
13 4 (1.36%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 38 (12.88%) Linux
2 35 (11.86%) Windows
3 18 (6.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 13 (4.41%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.36%) Unix
6 3 (1.02%) AIX
6 3 (1.02%) VMS
7 1 (0.34%) Android
7 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.34%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (61.36%) CI/CD
2 105 (35.59%) Agile
3 86 (29.15%) Infrastructure as Code
4 63 (21.36%) Observability
5 55 (18.64%) Test Automation
6 53 (17.97%) Continuous Improvement
7 52 (17.63%) Microservices
8 47 (15.93%) AI
8 47 (15.93%) Software Engineering
9 45 (15.25%) Containerisation
9 45 (15.25%) Migration
10 36 (12.20%) Scrum
11 34 (11.53%) Platform Engineering
11 34 (11.53%) SDLC
11 34 (11.53%) Technical Leadership
12 33 (11.19%) Cloud Security
12 33 (11.19%) Problem-Solving
13 32 (10.85%) Roadmaps
14 30 (10.17%) Event-Driven
14 30 (10.17%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 86 (29.15%) Python
2 73 (24.75%) Java
3 53 (17.97%) SQL
4 50 (16.95%) PowerShell
5 35 (11.86%) Bash
6 25 (8.47%) JavaScript
7 19 (6.44%) C#
8 17 (5.76%) T-SQL
8 17 (5.76%) TypeScript
9 16 (5.42%) Bicep
10 4 (1.36%) Search Processing Language
10 4 (1.36%) Shell Script
11 3 (1.02%) Rust
11 3 (1.02%) VB
11 3 (1.02%) VB6
12 2 (0.68%) PROC SQL
12 2 (0.68%) Scala
13 1 (0.34%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.34%) Go
13 1 (0.34%) PHP
Qualifications
1 81 (27.46%) Security Cleared
2 70 (23.73%) SC Cleared
3 38 (12.88%) Degree
4 31 (10.51%) Azure Certification
5 27 (9.15%) BPSS Clearance
6 23 (7.80%) AWS Certification
7 17 (5.76%) CISSP
7 17 (5.76%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (3.05%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 7 (2.37%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (2.37%) DV Cleared
10 4 (1.36%) ITIL Certification
11 3 (1.02%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 1 (0.34%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
13 1 (0.34%) CCIE
13 1 (0.34%) CCNP
13 1 (0.34%) Cisco Certification
13 1 (0.34%) OCP
13 1 (0.34%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (9.15%) QA
2 16 (5.42%) Data Quality
3 10 (3.39%) Accessibility
4 6 (2.03%) GDPR
5 3 (1.02%) SLA
6 2 (0.68%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.68%) WCAG
7 1 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.34%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.34%) GRC
7 1 (0.34%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.34%) ISO 20022
7 1 (0.34%) NCSC
7 1 (0.34%) NIST
7 1 (0.34%) PSD2
7 1 (0.34%) SEPA
7 1 (0.34%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 70 (23.73%) Docker
2 11 (3.73%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (1.69%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.36%) Oracle RAC
4 4 (1.36%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.68%) Apache ZooKeeper
5 2 (0.68%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.68%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.34%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.34%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 88 (29.83%) Kubernetes
2 37 (12.54%) Ansible
3 15 (5.08%) Grafana
3 15 (5.08%) Progress Chef
4 11 (3.73%) Prometheus
5 10 (3.39%) SCOM
6 6 (2.03%) Istio
7 5 (1.69%) Argo
7 5 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.36%) Data Guard
8 4 (1.36%) Oracle RMAN
9 3 (1.02%) Packer
10 2 (0.68%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.34%) Consul
11 1 (0.34%) linkerd
11 1 (0.34%) Rancher
11 1 (0.34%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.34%) vRealize
11 1 (0.34%) vRealize Orchestrator
11 1 (0.34%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 51 (17.29%) Microsoft
2 25 (8.47%) Google
3 20 (6.78%) ServiceNow
4 18 (6.10%) Red Hat
5 15 (5.08%) Oracle
5 15 (5.08%) Splunk
6 12 (4.07%) Palo Alto
7 11 (3.73%) F5
8 10 (3.39%) Aruba
8 10 (3.39%) SAP
9 9 (3.05%) Arista
10 8 (2.71%) Dynatrace
11 6 (2.03%) OpenAI
12 5 (1.69%) Atlassian
12 5 (1.69%) IBM
12 5 (1.69%) Salesforce
13 4 (1.36%) Databricks
13 4 (1.36%) Veracode
13 4 (1.36%) VMware
14 3 (1.02%) Informatica