Kubernetes Contract Job Trends in the North West
Kubernetes (k8s)
England > North West
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Kubernetes skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 44 | 38 | 47 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -6 | +9 | 0 |
| Contract jobs citing Kubernetes | 177 | 117 | 73 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the North West | 4.38% | 5.12% | 3.09% |
| As % of the Systems Management category | 35.26% | 39.66% | 32.44% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 112 | 90 | 41 |
| 10th Percentile | £405 | £315 | £356 |
| 25th Percentile | £447 | £369 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £463 | £550 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +18.92% | -15.91% | +2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £618 | £618 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £709 | £676 | £675 |
| England median daily rate | £550 | £525 | £575 |
| % change year-on-year | +4.76% | -8.70% | -4.17% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| 10th Percentile | - | £75.65 | - |
| 25th Percentile | £75.00 | £78.88 | - |
| Median hourly rate | £77.00 | £87.00 | £46.18 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -11.49% | +88.39% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £79.94 | £92.38 | £57.18 |
| 90th Percentile | £89.88 | £93.95 | £63.78 |
| England median hourly rate | £70.00 | £67.00 | £60.64 |
| % change year-on-year | +4.48% | +10.48% | -13.37% |
All Systems Management Skills
North West
Kubernetes falls under the Systems Management category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring systems management skills in the North West.
| 6 months to 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for systems management skills | 502 | 295 | 225 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West | 12.41% | 12.90% | 9.51% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 360 | 195 | 129 |
| 10th Percentile | £294 | £256 | £213 |
| 25th Percentile | £399 | £344 | £356 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £480 | £435 | £475 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +10.34% | -8.42% | -4.04% |
| 75th Percentile | £575 | £581 | £565 |
| 90th Percentile | £638 | £650 | £600 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -4.55% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 18 | 16 | 11 |
| 10th Percentile | £39.36 | - | £21.05 |
| 25th Percentile | £62.50 | £15.50 | £24.18 |
| Median hourly rate | £75.00 | £18.87 | £31.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +297.46% | -39.13% | -32.87% |
| 75th Percentile | £77.00 | £63.40 | £47.47 |
| 90th Percentile | £89.13 | £75.88 | £68.18 |
| England median hourly rate | £65.00 | £34.00 | £36.17 |
| % change year-on-year | +91.18% | -5.99% | -27.67% |
Kubernetes Job Vacancy Trend in the North West
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Kubernetes relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.
Kubernetes Daily Rate Trend in the North West
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Kubernetes.
Kubernetes Daily Rate Histogram in the North West
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Kubernetes in the North West over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.
Kubernetes Hourly Rate Trend in the North West
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Kubernetes.
Kubernetes Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Kubernetes in the North West over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.
Kubernetes 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 Kubernetes within the North West region over the 6 months to 21 October 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 | 132 | £550 | +10.00% | 142 |
| Cheshire | -11 | 26 | £500 | +23.46% | 14 |
| Lancashire | - | 9 | £712 | - | 4 |
| Merseyside | -13 | 5 | £538 | +5.39% | 7 |
| Cumbria | - | 2 | £376 | - | |
| Kubernetes England |
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Kubernetes Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Systems Management
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ansible | 10.2% | 18 |
| 2 | Progress Chef | 8.5% | 15 |
| 3 | Grafana | 7.3% | 13 |
| 4 | Istio | 5.6% | 10 |
| 4 | Prometheus | 5.6% | 10 |
| 6 | Argo | 2.3% | 4 |
| 7 | Kibana | 1.1% | 2 |
| 7 | Packer | 1.1% | 2 |
| 9 | Consul | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | HAProxy | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | Jamf Pro | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | linkerd | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | Puppet | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | Rancher | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | Single Sign-On | 0.6% | 1 |
| 9 | ZABBIX | 0.6% | 1 |