Cloud Native Contract Job Trends in the South East

Cloud Native
England > South East

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Cloud Native in contract job vacancies in the South East. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Cloud Native over the 6 months leading up to 16 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 118 118 144
Rank change year-on-year 0 +26 +45
Contract jobs citing Cloud Native 117 42 39
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.73% 1.18% 0.80%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.76% 3.69% 2.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 74 27 23
10th Percentile £352 £352 £335
25th Percentile £431 £401 £457
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £450 £495
Median % change year-on-year +12.22% -9.09% -20.80%
75th Percentile £623 £588 £529
90th Percentile £733 £714 £666
England median daily rate £550 £525 £600
% change year-on-year +4.76% -12.50% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 0
10th Percentile £64.60 - -
25th Percentile £66.25 - -
Median hourly rate £67.50 - -
75th Percentile £68.75 - -
90th Percentile £69.80 - -
England median hourly rate £72.25 £51.25 £85.00
% change year-on-year +40.98% -39.71% +8.97%

All Generic Skills
South East

Cloud Native falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 2,030 1,138 1,422
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 29.99% 31.98% 29.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,266 703 845
10th Percentile £281 £204 £213
25th Percentile £412 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £511
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.19% +2.24%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £638
90th Percentile £700 £665 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 206 101 145
10th Percentile £15.61 £15.13 £11.99
25th Percentile £22.50 £16.95 £22.40
Median hourly rate £55.00 £33.05 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +66.41% -42.37% +14.70%
75th Percentile £83.94 £58.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £80.00 £75.16
England median hourly rate £43.50 £31.18 £47.50
% change year-on-year +39.51% -34.36% +10.47%

Cloud Native
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cloud Native relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Cloud Native job vacancy trend in the South East

Cloud Native
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Cloud Native.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Cloud Native

Cloud Native
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cloud Native in the South East over the 6 months to 16 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cloud Native in the South East

Cloud Native
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Cloud Native.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Cloud Native

Cloud Native
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cloud Native within the South East region over the 6 months to 16 August 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
Thames Valley -23 56 £530 +6.00% 14
Berkshire -21 33 £425 -12.82% 13
Hampshire -3 27 £588 +37.91% 10
Surrey -7 17 £475 +11.76% 4
Buckinghamshire -21 15 £550 -15.38% 1
Middlesex - 8 - -
Oxfordshire - 8 £530 -
West Sussex -20 6 £400 +17.65% 2
East Sussex - 4 £459 -
Sussex - 1 £600 -
Cloud Native
England

Cloud Native
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 5 (4.27%) OpenStack
2 3 (2.56%) Confluence
3 2 (1.71%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.85%) CMS
4 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.85%) SAS
Applications
1 6 (5.13%) CPLEX
2 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.85%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.85%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.85%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 78 (66.67%) Azure
2 70 (59.83%) AWS
3 29 (24.79%) GCP
4 17 (14.53%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (12.82%) GitHub
6 10 (8.55%) Azure Monitor
7 9 (7.69%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 9 (7.69%) GitHub Actions
7 9 (7.69%) SaaS
8 7 (5.98%) Datadog
9 6 (5.13%) Amazon S3
9 6 (5.13%) AWS CloudFormation
9 6 (5.13%) Azure Service Bus
9 6 (5.13%) Boomi
9 6 (5.13%) iPaaS
9 6 (5.13%) OpenShift
9 6 (5.13%) Serverless
9 6 (5.13%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 5 (4.27%) Amazon ECS
10 5 (4.27%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 10 (8.55%) DNS
1 10 (8.55%) Firewall
2 9 (7.69%) BGP
2 9 (7.69%) LAN
2 9 (7.69%) MPLS
2 9 (7.69%) VPN
2 9 (7.69%) WAN
3 8 (6.84%) Network Security
4 6 (5.13%) HTTP
4 6 (5.13%) TCP/IP
5 4 (3.42%) BIG-IP
5 4 (3.42%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (3.42%) Cisco Firepower
5 4 (3.42%) Cisco Nexus
5 4 (3.42%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 4 (3.42%) IPsec
5 4 (3.42%) OSPF
5 4 (3.42%) SD-WAN
5 4 (3.42%) VLAN
6 3 (2.56%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (13.68%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (11.97%) Relational Database
3 10 (8.55%) NoSQL
4 6 (5.13%) MongoDB
5 5 (4.27%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (3.42%) DynamoDB
7 3 (2.56%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (2.56%) Metadata
8 2 (1.71%) Big Data
8 2 (1.71%) Data Lake
8 2 (1.71%) Spark SQL
9 1 (0.85%) Amazon Athena
9 1 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.85%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.85%) BusinessObjects
9 1 (0.85%) MySQL
9 1 (0.85%) Parquet
9 1 (0.85%) Pentaho
9 1 (0.85%) Power BI
9 1 (0.85%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 15 (12.82%) Git
2 9 (7.69%) Jenkins
3 5 (4.27%) GitLab
4 4 (3.42%) JIRA
5 2 (1.71%) Cucumber
5 2 (1.71%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.85%) JUnit
6 1 (0.85%) Mockito
General
1 58 (49.57%) Social Skills
2 24 (20.51%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (8.55%) Public Sector
4 9 (7.69%) Finance
5 5 (4.27%) Aerospace
5 5 (4.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 5 (4.27%) Telecoms
6 3 (2.56%) Organisational Skills
7 2 (1.71%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (1.71%) Financial Institution
7 2 (1.71%) Influencing Skills
7 2 (1.71%) Legal
8 1 (0.85%) Automotive
8 1 (0.85%) Aviation
8 1 (0.85%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 31 (26.50%) Architect
2 18 (15.38%) Senior
3 17 (14.53%) Developer
4 12 (10.26%) Cloud Engineer
4 12 (10.26%) Lead
4 12 (10.26%) Solutions Architect
5 9 (7.69%) Java Engineer
5 9 (7.69%) Technical Leader
6 8 (6.84%) DevOps Engineer
6 8 (6.84%) Network Architect
7 7 (5.98%) Azure Engineer
7 7 (5.98%) Python Developer
7 7 (5.98%) Software Engineer
8 6 (5.13%) Service Owner
8 6 (5.13%) Technical Architect
9 5 (4.27%) IP Architect
10 4 (3.42%) Java Developer
10 4 (3.42%) Platform Engineer
10 4 (3.42%) Senior Software Engineer
11 3 (2.56%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (17.09%) REST
2 16 (13.68%) OAuth
2 16 (13.68%) RESTful
3 15 (12.82%) GraphQL
4 14 (11.97%) Kafka
5 13 (11.11%) RabbitMQ
6 12 (10.26%) OpenAPI
6 12 (10.26%) Swagger
7 11 (9.40%) Django
8 10 (8.55%) JSON
8 10 (8.55%) JWT
9 9 (7.69%) SOAP
10 8 (6.84%) OAuth2
10 8 (6.84%) React
10 8 (6.84%) SAML
11 7 (5.98%) OpenID
12 6 (5.13%) .NET
12 6 (5.13%) CSS
12 6 (5.13%) Middleware
12 6 (5.13%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 22 (18.80%) Distributed Systems
2 11 (9.40%) Hybrid Cloud
2 11 (9.40%) Product Ownership
3 9 (7.69%) Data Structures
4 8 (6.84%) Enterprise Software
5 6 (5.13%) Algorithms
5 6 (5.13%) CMDB
5 6 (5.13%) Virtual Team
6 4 (3.42%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (3.42%) Onboarding
6 4 (3.42%) Private Cloud
6 4 (3.42%) Security Posture
7 3 (2.56%) Data Centre
7 3 (2.56%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 3 (2.56%) Management Information System
7 3 (2.56%) Public Cloud
8 2 (1.71%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (1.71%) Cyberattack
8 2 (1.71%) Mobile App
8 2 (1.71%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 14 (11.97%) Linux
2 12 (10.26%) Windows
3 5 (4.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (1.71%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.85%) Android
5 1 (0.85%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 60 (51.28%) DevOps
2 50 (42.74%) CI/CD
3 47 (40.17%) Agile
4 42 (35.90%) Problem-Solving
5 35 (29.91%) Continuous Improvement
6 33 (28.21%) Infrastructure as Code
7 32 (27.35%) Containerisation
8 31 (26.50%) Microservices
9 29 (24.79%) Software Engineering
10 27 (23.08%) Roadmaps
11 26 (22.22%) Test Automation
12 20 (17.09%) Observability
12 20 (17.09%) Stakeholder Management
13 19 (16.24%) Analytics
13 19 (16.24%) Enterprise Architecture
14 18 (15.38%) AI
15 16 (13.68%) Cloud Security
15 16 (13.68%) DevSecOps
15 16 (13.68%) Event-Driven
15 16 (13.68%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 43 (36.75%) Python
2 20 (17.09%) Java
2 20 (17.09%) PowerShell
3 17 (14.53%) Bash
4 12 (10.26%) SQL
5 7 (5.98%) JavaScript
6 6 (5.13%) Bicep
7 3 (2.56%) Go
8 2 (1.71%) C#
8 2 (1.71%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.85%) Google Apps Script
9 1 (0.85%) Korn
9 1 (0.85%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.85%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.85%) Swift
9 1 (0.85%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.85%) VBA
Qualifications
1 33 (28.21%) Security Cleared
2 27 (23.08%) SC Cleared
3 13 (11.11%) Degree
4 9 (7.69%) AWS Certification
4 9 (7.69%) Azure Certification
4 9 (7.69%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (6.84%) Cisco Certification
6 7 (5.98%) CCIE
6 7 (5.98%) DV Cleared
7 6 (5.13%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (4.27%) JNCIE
8 5 (4.27%) Master's Degree
8 5 (4.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 4 (3.42%) CISM
9 4 (3.42%) CISSP
9 4 (3.42%) OSCP
10 3 (2.56%) CCNP
10 3 (2.56%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (1.71%) GCIA
11 2 (1.71%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (17.09%) QA
2 5 (4.27%) Accessibility
2 5 (4.27%) NCSC
3 3 (2.56%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.56%) GDPR
3 3 (2.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (1.71%) Disclosure Scotland
4 2 (1.71%) NIST
4 2 (1.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.85%) GRC
5 1 (0.85%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 27 (23.08%) Docker
2 6 (5.13%) IAG
2 6 (5.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (3.42%) Hyper-V
3 4 (3.42%) VMware NSX
4 3 (2.56%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.85%) Citrix Hypervisor
5 1 (0.85%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 41 (35.04%) Kubernetes
2 35 (29.91%) Terraform
3 32 (27.35%) Ansible
4 8 (6.84%) Progress Chef
4 8 (6.84%) Puppet
5 4 (3.42%) Istio
6 2 (1.71%) Grafana
6 2 (1.71%) linkerd
7 1 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.85%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.85%) QRadar
7 1 (0.85%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 34 (29.06%) Microsoft
2 12 (10.26%) Google
3 10 (8.55%) Dynatrace
4 9 (7.69%) VMware
5 7 (5.98%) Informatica
5 7 (5.98%) Oracle
5 7 (5.98%) ServiceNow
6 6 (5.13%) IBM
6 6 (5.13%) MuleSoft
6 6 (5.13%) Nexthink
6 6 (5.13%) TIBCO
6 6 (5.13%) WSO2
7 5 (4.27%) Cisco
7 5 (4.27%) Databricks
8 4 (3.42%) F5
8 4 (3.42%) Palo Alto
8 4 (3.42%) SolarWinds
9 3 (2.56%) Red Hat
9 3 (2.56%) SAP
10 1 (0.85%) CheckPoint