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

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 36 33 71
Rank change year-on-year -3 +38 -34
Contract jobs citing Kubernetes 165 101 71
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.18% 5.21% 2.59%
As % of the Systems Management category 37.33% 32.69% 24.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 113 80 58
10th Percentile £380 £393 £406
25th Percentile £447 £456 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -10.42%
75th Percentile £600 £584 £669
90th Percentile £649 £626 £696
England median daily rate £525 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -8.70% +4.55% -12.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 0 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £52.50 - £52.50
Median hourly rate £55.00 - £55.00
75th Percentile £61.81 - £57.50
90th Percentile £68.13 - -
England median hourly rate £65.00 £60.00 £62.00
% change year-on-year +8.33% -3.23% -13.89%

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for systems management skills 442 309 286
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.89% 15.95% 10.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 297 207 215
10th Percentile £313 £258 £243
25th Percentile £400 £385 £383
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £588 £550 £588
90th Percentile £650 £638 £658
England median daily rate £503 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.29% - -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 4 15
10th Percentile £39.53 £47.43 £16.64
25th Percentile £52.50 £56.31 -
Median hourly rate £55.00 £68.75 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +287.98% -47.50%
75th Percentile £70.00 £79.44 £59.38
90th Percentile £74.26 £82.93 £93.00
England median hourly rate £56.50 £27.25 £30.00
% change year-on-year +107.34% -9.17% -47.83%

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 job vacancy trend 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.

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 22 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Kubernetes in the North West

Kubernetes
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

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

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 22 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Kubernetes in the North West

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 22 April 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 -5 107 £531 +6.23% 62
Cheshire +8 45 £481 +1.32% 5
Merseyside - 6 £330 - 3
Lancashire -17 5 £550 -8.33% 19
Cumbria - 2 £525 - 1
Kubernetes
England

Kubernetes
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 11 (6.67%) Confluence
2 7 (4.24%) Apache Spark
3 4 (2.42%) Apache
4 1 (0.61%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 2 (1.21%) Chatbot
Cloud Services
1 108 (65.45%) AWS
2 76 (46.06%) Azure
3 44 (26.67%) GCP
4 29 (17.58%) GitHub
5 20 (12.12%) Serverless
6 19 (11.52%) OpenShift
7 17 (10.30%) Amazon EKS
8 16 (9.70%) GitHub Actions
9 13 (7.88%) Azure DevOps
9 13 (7.88%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 10 (6.06%) AWS Lambda
10 10 (6.06%) Azure AKS
11 9 (5.45%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (4.85%) Amazon EC2
12 8 (4.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 7 (4.24%) Amazon S3
14 6 (3.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 6 (3.64%) Amazon ECS
14 6 (3.64%) Apigee
15 5 (3.03%) Amazon ECR
Communications & Networking
1 17 (10.30%) Firewall
2 6 (3.64%) Network Security
3 5 (3.03%) DNS
4 4 (2.42%) DHCP
4 4 (2.42%) HTTP
4 4 (2.42%) HTTPS
4 4 (2.42%) NetScaler
4 4 (2.42%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.82%) BGP
5 3 (1.82%) Software-Defined Networking
5 3 (1.82%) VLAN
5 3 (1.82%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (15.15%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (8.48%) NoSQL
3 8 (4.85%) MySQL
3 8 (4.85%) Relational Database
4 7 (4.24%) DocumentDB
4 7 (4.24%) SQL Server
5 5 (3.03%) MongoDB
6 4 (2.42%) DynamoDB
6 4 (2.42%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (2.42%) Hadoop
7 3 (1.82%) BigQuery
7 3 (1.82%) Data Lake
8 2 (1.21%) Apache Cassandra
8 2 (1.21%) RDBMS
8 2 (1.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.61%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 49 (29.70%) GitLab
2 30 (18.18%) Git
3 28 (16.97%) Jenkins
4 17 (10.30%) JIRA
5 12 (7.27%) Gradle
5 12 (7.27%) IntelliJ
6 8 (4.85%) Postman
7 4 (2.42%) Selenium
7 4 (2.42%) SonarQube
8 3 (1.82%) Bitbucket
8 3 (1.82%) JMeter
9 2 (1.21%) Mocha
9 2 (1.21%) Snyk
10 1 (0.61%) Android Studio
10 1 (0.61%) CircleCI
10 1 (0.61%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.61%) fastlane
10 1 (0.61%) MLflow
10 1 (0.61%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.61%) Spinnaker
General
1 41 (24.85%) Finance
2 32 (19.39%) Public Sector
3 21 (12.73%) Social Skills
4 18 (10.91%) Banking
5 12 (7.27%) Analytical Skills
6 2 (1.21%) Financial Institution
6 2 (1.21%) Health Technology
6 2 (1.21%) Retail
7 1 (0.61%) Automotive
7 1 (0.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 42 (25.45%) Developer
2 25 (15.15%) Software Engineer
3 23 (13.94%) Senior
4 21 (12.73%) Java Developer
5 20 (12.12%) Security Engineer
6 18 (10.91%) DevOps Engineer
7 16 (9.70%) Architect
7 16 (9.70%) Java Engineer
7 16 (9.70%) Lead
8 15 (9.09%) Java Software Engineer
8 15 (9.09%) Platform Engineer
9 12 (7.27%) Lead Developer
10 11 (6.67%) Cloud Engineer
11 10 (6.06%) Software Developer
12 9 (5.45%) AWS Engineer
12 9 (5.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 7 (4.24%) AWS Architect
13 7 (4.24%) Azure Engineer
13 7 (4.24%) Cloud Architect
14 6 (3.64%) Lead Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (35.76%) Spring
2 53 (32.12%) Spring Boot
3 25 (15.15%) REST
4 23 (13.94%) RESTful
5 21 (12.73%) Kafka
6 18 (10.91%) Node.js
7 15 (9.09%) OpenTelemetry
8 11 (6.67%) Hibernate
9 8 (4.85%) OAuth
10 7 (4.24%) GraphQL
10 7 (4.24%) JSON
10 7 (4.24%) React
11 6 (3.64%) JMS
11 6 (3.64%) JWT
11 6 (3.64%) Nunjucks
12 5 (3.03%) Express.js
12 5 (3.03%) OAuth2
13 4 (2.42%) JAX-RS
13 4 (2.42%) RabbitMQ
13 4 (2.42%) Spring Security
Miscellaneous
1 43 (26.06%) Cloud Native
2 14 (8.48%) Security Posture
3 9 (5.45%) Distributed Systems
4 7 (4.24%) Management Information System
4 7 (4.24%) Product Ownership
4 7 (4.24%) Public Cloud
4 7 (4.24%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 6 (3.64%) Cloud Security Posture
5 6 (3.64%) Linux Command Line
5 6 (3.64%) Private Cloud
6 3 (1.82%) AI Agents
6 3 (1.82%) Analytical Mindset
6 3 (1.82%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.82%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (1.82%) Legacy Systems
6 3 (1.82%) NHS
6 3 (1.82%) Onboarding
7 2 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (1.21%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.21%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 27 (16.36%) Linux
2 11 (6.67%) Windows
3 9 (5.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (4.24%) Windows Server
5 4 (2.42%) Unix
5 4 (2.42%) Windows Server 2012
5 4 (2.42%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.61%) Android
6 1 (0.61%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.61%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (61.21%) CI/CD
2 79 (47.88%) DevOps
3 72 (43.64%) Containerisation
4 53 (32.12%) Infrastructure as Code
5 51 (30.91%) Agile
6 46 (27.88%) Microservices
7 36 (21.82%) Problem-Solving
8 34 (20.61%) Observability
9 33 (20.00%) Software Engineering
10 26 (15.76%) Test Automation
11 22 (13.33%) Event-Driven
12 21 (12.73%) Cloud Security
13 18 (10.91%) Continuous Improvement
14 17 (10.30%) DevSecOps
15 16 (9.70%) Platform Engineering
16 15 (9.09%) Event-Driven Architecture
17 14 (8.48%) API Design
17 14 (8.48%) Code Quality
17 14 (8.48%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 13 (7.88%) API Development
Programming Languages
1 76 (46.06%) Java
2 61 (36.97%) Python
3 25 (15.15%) SQL
4 24 (14.55%) Bash
5 23 (13.94%) PowerShell
6 16 (9.70%) TypeScript
7 12 (7.27%) Kotlin
8 10 (6.06%) Go
8 10 (6.06%) JavaScript
9 8 (4.85%) Bicep
10 4 (2.42%) C#
10 4 (2.42%) PHP
10 4 (2.42%) Ruby
11 3 (1.82%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.61%) C
12 1 (0.61%) C++
12 1 (0.61%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.61%) Swift
Qualifications
1 35 (21.21%) Security Cleared
2 25 (15.15%) SC Cleared
3 14 (8.48%) Azure Certification
3 14 (8.48%) Degree
4 11 (6.67%) Computer Science Degree
5 10 (6.06%) AWS Certification
6 8 (4.85%) CISSP
7 7 (4.24%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (2.42%) CISM
8 4 (2.42%) DV Cleared
9 3 (1.82%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 3 (1.82%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.61%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.61%) OCP
10 1 (0.61%) Oracle Certification
10 1 (0.61%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (8.48%) GDPR
2 11 (6.67%) QA
3 9 (5.45%) NIST
4 8 (4.85%) ISO 20022
4 8 (4.85%) PSD2
5 7 (4.24%) Accessibility
5 7 (4.24%) SEPA
6 6 (3.64%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 6 (3.64%) HIPAA
7 5 (3.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (3.03%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 4 (2.42%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.61%) WCAG
System Software
1 104 (63.03%) Docker
2 6 (3.64%) Active Directory
3 5 (3.03%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (3.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.03%) vSphere
4 4 (2.42%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.61%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.61%) zsh
Systems Management
1 58 (35.15%) Terraform
2 35 (21.21%) Grafana
3 17 (10.30%) Prometheus
4 7 (4.24%) Argo
5 6 (3.64%) Istio
6 5 (3.03%) Ansible
7 4 (2.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 4 (2.42%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (2.42%) Progress Chef
7 4 (2.42%) SCCM
8 3 (1.82%) Fluentd
9 2 (1.21%) linkerd
9 2 (1.21%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.61%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 20 (12.12%) Microsoft
2 14 (8.48%) Oracle
3 12 (7.27%) Splunk
4 11 (6.67%) Google
5 10 (6.06%) Red Hat
6 6 (3.64%) Varonis
6 6 (3.64%) VMware
7 4 (2.42%) Confluent
7 4 (2.42%) CyberArk
7 4 (2.42%) F5
7 4 (2.42%) Veeam
8 3 (1.82%) Cribl.io
8 3 (1.82%) PagerDuty
9 2 (1.21%) Atlassian
9 2 (1.21%) Checkmarx
9 2 (1.21%) Dynatrace
9 2 (1.21%) OpenAI
9 2 (1.21%) Ping Identity
9 2 (1.21%) SAP
9 2 (1.21%) Veracode