GCP Contract Job Trends in the North West

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring GCP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 2 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 69 101
Rank change year-on-year +10 +32 0
Contract jobs citing GCP 121 58 38
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 3.79% 2.95% 1.38%
As % of the Cloud Services category 11.83% 9.08% 4.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 87 39 27
10th Percentile £400 £460 £100
25th Percentile £450 £480 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +15.00% -13.98%
75th Percentile £621 £671 £597
90th Percentile £690 £720 £705
England median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 0
10th Percentile £20.99 - -
25th Percentile £28.57 £67.50 -
Median hourly rate £42.93 £70.00 -
Median % change year-on-year -38.67% - -
75th Percentile £58.07 £72.50 -
90th Percentile £66.13 - -
England median hourly rate £54.75 £52.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year +4.29% -4.55% -26.75%

All Cloud Computing Skills
North West

GCP falls under the Cloud Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring cloud computing skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for cloud computing skills 1,023 639 882
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 32.04% 32.47% 32.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 688 497 638
10th Percentile £230 £250 £284
25th Percentile £375 £400 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £472 £475 £487
Median % change year-on-year -0.63% -2.46% -2.60%
75th Percentile £581 £551 £575
90th Percentile £650 £638 £638
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 12 65
10th Percentile £24.19 - £13.00
25th Percentile £25.47 £26.88 -
Median hourly rate £62.50 £28.88 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +116.45% +79.79% -48.61%
75th Percentile £77.50 £50.66 £20.00
90th Percentile £95.00 £75.88 £43.75
England median hourly rate £46.40 £25.50 £20.77
% change year-on-year +81.96% +22.77% -35.70%

GCP
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing GCP relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

GCP job vacancy trend in the North West

GCP
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing GCP.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing GCP

GCP
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing GCP in the North West over the 6 months to 2 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for GCP in the North West

GCP
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing GCP.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing GCP

GCP
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing GCP in the North West over the 6 months to 2 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for GCP in the North West

GCP
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 GCP within the North West region over the 6 months to 2 May 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 +3 71 £550 -5.90% 65
Cheshire +16 43 £556 +6.97% 8
Lancashire -7 4 £513 -3.30% 13
Cumbria - 2 £525 -
Merseyside -24 1 - - 8
GCP
England

GCP
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 2 (1.65%) Apache
1 2 (1.65%) Microsoft Exchange
1 2 (1.65%) SAS
1 2 (1.65%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.83%) Apache Airflow
2 1 (0.83%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (3.31%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.83%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 94 (77.69%) Azure
2 91 (75.21%) AWS
3 13 (10.74%) GitHub
3 13 (10.74%) Google Kubernetes Engine
4 8 (6.61%) Apigee
4 8 (6.61%) AWS CloudFormation
4 8 (6.61%) Entra ID
4 8 (6.61%) Power Platform
5 7 (5.79%) GitHub Actions
5 7 (5.79%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 6 (4.96%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (4.13%) Akamai
7 5 (4.13%) Google Analytics
7 5 (4.13%) Google Tag Manager
7 5 (4.13%) Microsoft 365
8 4 (3.31%) Azure AKS
9 3 (2.48%) Amazon EKS
9 3 (2.48%) Kong
9 3 (2.48%) Serverless
9 3 (2.48%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 10 (8.26%) Firewall
2 8 (6.61%) DNS
3 7 (5.79%) HTTP
4 4 (3.31%) TCP/IP
5 3 (2.48%) HTTPS
5 3 (2.48%) Internet
5 3 (2.48%) Network Security
5 3 (2.48%) VPN
6 2 (1.65%) BGP
6 2 (1.65%) DKIM
6 2 (1.65%) DMARC
6 2 (1.65%) OSPF
7 1 (0.83%) BIG-IP
7 1 (0.83%) Cisco ASA
7 1 (0.83%) Cisco Firepower
7 1 (0.83%) DNSSEC
7 1 (0.83%) Ethernet VPN
7 1 (0.83%) SSL
7 1 (0.83%) VoIP
7 1 (0.83%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (9.92%) BigQuery
2 7 (5.79%) Looker
2 7 (5.79%) Power BI
3 4 (3.31%) NoSQL
3 4 (3.31%) Snowflake Schema
4 3 (2.48%) Data Warehouse
4 3 (2.48%) Tableau
5 2 (1.65%) MongoDB
5 2 (1.65%) MySQL
6 1 (0.83%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.83%) Cloud Spanner
6 1 (0.83%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.83%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 13 (10.74%) Jenkins
2 7 (5.79%) Git
2 7 (5.79%) GitLab
2 7 (5.79%) Postman
3 6 (4.96%) Selenium
4 3 (2.48%) JIRA
4 3 (2.48%) JMeter
5 2 (1.65%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.83%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.83%) CircleCI
6 1 (0.83%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.83%) Fiddler
6 1 (0.83%) REST Assured
6 1 (0.83%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.83%) Snyk
6 1 (0.83%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.83%) Spinnaker
General
1 31 (25.62%) Social Skills
2 27 (22.31%) Finance
3 18 (14.88%) Banking
3 18 (14.88%) Public Sector
4 11 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (2.48%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (1.65%) Financial Institution
6 2 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 2 (1.65%) Military
6 2 (1.65%) Retail
7 1 (0.83%) Advertising
7 1 (0.83%) Automotive
7 1 (0.83%) Electronics
7 1 (0.83%) Manufacturing
7 1 (0.83%) Marketing
7 1 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (0.83%) Publishing
7 1 (0.83%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 32 (26.45%) Architect
2 21 (17.36%) Senior
3 11 (9.09%) Analyst
3 11 (9.09%) Security Engineer
3 11 (9.09%) Solutions Architect
4 10 (8.26%) GCP Engineer
5 7 (5.79%) Cloud Engineer
5 7 (5.79%) DevOps Engineer
5 7 (5.79%) Security Architect
6 6 (4.96%) Lead
7 5 (4.13%) Applications Architect
7 5 (4.13%) Cloud Architect
7 5 (4.13%) Data Engineer
7 5 (4.13%) Data Scientist
7 5 (4.13%) Developer
7 5 (4.13%) Governance Manager
7 5 (4.13%) Integration Engineer
7 5 (4.13%) Platform Engineer
8 4 (3.31%) Data Analyst
8 4 (3.31%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (11.57%) OAuth
2 10 (8.26%) Kafka
2 10 (8.26%) REST
2 10 (8.26%) Spring
2 10 (8.26%) Spring Boot
3 8 (6.61%) RESTful
4 7 (5.79%) JWT
4 7 (5.79%) OAuth2
5 6 (4.96%) OpenID
5 6 (4.96%) React
6 5 (4.13%) XGBoost
7 4 (3.31%) JSON
7 4 (3.31%) RabbitMQ
8 3 (2.48%) Hibernate
8 3 (2.48%) JAX-RS
8 3 (2.48%) Node.js
8 3 (2.48%) SAML
8 3 (2.48%) XML
9 2 (1.65%) AngularJS
9 2 (1.65%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 14 (11.57%) Cloud Native
2 7 (5.79%) Distributed Systems
2 7 (5.79%) Private Cloud
3 6 (4.96%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
3 6 (4.96%) Product Ownership
4 5 (4.13%) e-Learning
4 5 (4.13%) Security Posture
5 4 (3.31%) Virtual Team
6 3 (2.48%) Data Centre
6 3 (2.48%) Data Protection Act
6 3 (2.48%) Management Information System
6 3 (2.48%) PKI
6 3 (2.48%) Public Cloud
7 2 (1.65%) CCTV
7 2 (1.65%) Clustering
7 2 (1.65%) Credit Risk
7 2 (1.65%) Enterprise Software
7 2 (1.65%) Freedom of Information
7 2 (1.65%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (1.65%) Mobile Banking
Operating Systems
1 10 (8.26%) Windows
2 5 (4.13%) Linux
3 4 (3.31%) Mac OS
3 4 (3.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (2.48%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.83%) Android
5 1 (0.83%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.83%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (40.50%) CI/CD
2 39 (32.23%) DevOps
3 31 (25.62%) Agile
4 24 (19.83%) Analytics
4 24 (19.83%) Microservices
5 23 (19.01%) Infrastructure as Code
6 21 (17.36%) Continuous Improvement
6 21 (17.36%) Problem-Solving
7 20 (16.53%) Containerisation
8 17 (14.05%) DevSecOps
9 16 (13.22%) Observability
9 16 (13.22%) Technical Leadership
10 15 (12.40%) Cloud Security
10 15 (12.40%) Event-Driven
11 14 (11.57%) Roadmaps
11 14 (11.57%) Stakeholder Management
11 14 (11.57%) Zero Trust
12 13 (10.74%) Risk Management
12 13 (10.74%) SIEM
12 13 (10.74%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 43 (35.54%) Python
2 27 (22.31%) Java
3 13 (10.74%) Bash
3 13 (10.74%) PowerShell
4 9 (7.44%) SQL
5 8 (6.61%) JavaScript
6 7 (5.79%) Go
7 5 (4.13%) TypeScript
8 4 (3.31%) Bicep
9 2 (1.65%) C#
9 2 (1.65%) R
10 1 (0.83%) Scala
Qualifications
1 17 (14.05%) Security Cleared
2 15 (12.40%) Azure Certification
3 12 (9.92%) AWS Certification
4 8 (6.61%) CISSP
4 8 (6.61%) Degree
5 7 (5.79%) Cisco Certification
5 7 (5.79%) Computer Science Degree
5 7 (5.79%) SC Cleared
6 5 (4.13%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 5 (4.13%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (3.31%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (3.31%) IBM Certification
8 3 (2.48%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
8 3 (2.48%) GIAC
8 3 (2.48%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (1.65%) CCNP
9 2 (1.65%) CEH
9 2 (1.65%) CISM
9 2 (1.65%) DV Cleared
10 1 (0.83%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (9.09%) Data Quality
1 11 (9.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 9 (7.44%) NIST
3 8 (6.61%) QA
4 7 (5.79%) Accessibility
4 7 (5.79%) GDPR
5 4 (3.31%) ISO 20022
6 3 (2.48%) PCI DSS
7 2 (1.65%) PSD2
8 1 (0.83%) COBIT
8 1 (0.83%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.83%) PERC
8 1 (0.83%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.83%) SEPA
8 1 (0.83%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.83%) WCAG
System Software
1 28 (23.14%) Docker
2 8 (6.61%) Active Directory
3 3 (2.48%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 39 (32.23%) Kubernetes
2 28 (23.14%) Terraform
3 9 (7.44%) Prometheus
4 8 (6.61%) Grafana
5 6 (4.96%) Ansible
5 6 (4.96%) Istio
6 5 (4.13%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (3.31%) Argo
7 4 (3.31%) Progress Chef
8 3 (2.48%) Microsoft Intune
8 3 (2.48%) SCCM
9 2 (1.65%) linkerd
10 1 (0.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 41 (33.88%) Google
2 17 (14.05%) Microsoft
3 9 (7.44%) Splunk
4 4 (3.31%) Confluent
4 4 (3.31%) IBM
4 4 (3.31%) Red Hat
4 4 (3.31%) VMware
5 3 (2.48%) Citrix
5 3 (2.48%) MuleSoft
5 3 (2.48%) PagerDuty
6 2 (1.65%) CyberArk
6 2 (1.65%) Dynatrace
6 2 (1.65%) Okta
6 2 (1.65%) Palo Alto
6 2 (1.65%) Pega
7 1 (0.83%) Checkmarx
7 1 (0.83%) F5
7 1 (0.83%) Fortinet
7 1 (0.83%) Infoblox
7 1 (0.83%) Veracode