DevOps Contract Job Trends in the South East

DevOps
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East 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 24 14 17
Rank change year-on-year -10 +3 -3
Contract jobs citing DevOps 453 334 378
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.84% 9.59% 8.23%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.49% 10.76% 9.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 299 223 287
10th Percentile £363 £365 £425
25th Percentile £457 £413 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £588
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -14.89% -2.08%
75th Percentile £625 £588 £650
90th Percentile £700 £625 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -5.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 0 7
10th Percentile £38.25 - £81.83
25th Percentile £61.87 - £84.67
Median hourly rate £67.70 - £87.46
75th Percentile £83.75 - -
90th Percentile £95.00 - -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £67.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +0.75% -4.29% +7.69%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

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 South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 5,333 3,105 3,793
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 80.56% 89.17% 82.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,207 1,936 2,272
10th Percentile £281 £220 £255
25th Percentile £425 £379 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -1.14%
75th Percentile £619 £600 £625
90th Percentile £713 £650 £688
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 621 305 254
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.35 £16.08
25th Percentile £17.23 £15.50 £31.44
Median hourly rate £52.43 £21.25 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +146.71% -62.95% +9.24%
75th Percentile £70.00 £50.00 £71.86
90th Percentile £87.16 £69.65 £78.75
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 South East

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

DevOps job vacancy trend in the South East

DevOps
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

DevOps
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DevOps in the South East over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DevOps in the South East

DevOps
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

DevOps
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DevOps in the South East over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DevOps in the South East

DevOps
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 DevOps within the South East 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
Thames Valley -11 252 £548 +9.50% 258
Berkshire -10 185 £550 +10.00% 145
Hampshire -18 95 £575 +4.55% 104
Buckinghamshire -4 62 £492 +19.27% 51
Surrey +13 56 £468 -6.50% 86
West Sussex -8 23 £309 -37.80% 46
East Sussex +2 17 £480 +6.56% 21
Middlesex -10 10 - - 4
Oxfordshire -27 5 £800 +45.45% 63
Sussex - 2 £625 - 1
DevOps
England

DevOps
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 24 (5.30%) Confluence
2 7 (1.55%) Apache Spark
3 6 (1.32%) Documentum
3 6 (1.32%) SharePoint
4 5 (1.10%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.88%) CMS
5 4 (0.88%) Umbraco
6 3 (0.66%) Apache
6 3 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.66%) WebSphere
6 3 (0.66%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.44%) Apache Superset
7 2 (0.44%) JBoss
7 2 (0.44%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.22%) CICS
8 1 (0.22%) CIMPLICITY
8 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.22%) OpenEdge
8 1 (0.22%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 1 (0.22%) SAS
Applications
1 12 (2.65%) Microsoft Project
2 6 (1.32%) CPLEX
3 3 (0.66%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.66%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.44%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 5 (1.10%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.88%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.44%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.22%) Infor SunSystems
4 1 (0.22%) Oracle EBS R12
4 1 (0.22%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.22%) SAP FI-AR
4 1 (0.22%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.22%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 320 (70.64%) Azure
2 172 (37.97%) Azure DevOps
3 143 (31.57%) AWS
4 56 (12.36%) GCP
5 54 (11.92%) GitHub
6 42 (9.27%) Power Platform
7 39 (8.61%) GitHub Actions
8 35 (7.73%) Azure Monitor
9 34 (7.51%) OpenShift
10 26 (5.74%) Entra ID
11 23 (5.08%) SaaS
12 19 (4.19%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 18 (3.97%) Serverless
14 17 (3.75%) Azure Logic Apps
15 16 (3.53%) Azure AKS
15 16 (3.53%) Azure Sentinel
16 12 (2.65%) Datadog
16 12 (2.65%) Dynamics 365
17 11 (2.43%) Amazon EKS
17 11 (2.43%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 23 (5.08%) DNS
1 23 (5.08%) Firewall
2 17 (3.75%) VPN
3 14 (3.09%) TCP/IP
4 13 (2.87%) DHCP
5 10 (2.21%) Network Security
6 8 (1.77%) LAN
6 8 (1.77%) WAN
7 7 (1.55%) BGP
7 7 (1.55%) MPLS
8 5 (1.10%) SSH
9 3 (0.66%) Software-Defined Networking
10 2 (0.44%) HTTP
10 2 (0.44%) OSPF
10 2 (0.44%) SD-WAN
10 2 (0.44%) VXLAN
11 1 (0.22%) NGFW
11 1 (0.22%) SNMP
11 1 (0.22%) SONET
11 1 (0.22%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (7.06%) Power BI
2 23 (5.08%) PostgreSQL
3 22 (4.86%) NoSQL
4 17 (3.75%) Relational Database
5 15 (3.31%) Data Warehouse
5 15 (3.31%) SQL Server
6 7 (1.55%) DynamoDB
6 7 (1.55%) Metadata
6 7 (1.55%) Tableau
7 6 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
7 6 (1.32%) Big Data
7 6 (1.32%) MongoDB
8 5 (1.10%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.66%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.66%) DocumentDB
9 3 (0.66%) MySQL
9 3 (0.66%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.66%) Parquet
9 3 (0.66%) Redis
10 2 (0.44%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 66 (14.57%) Git
2 47 (10.38%) Jenkins
3 44 (9.71%) GitLab
4 35 (7.73%) JIRA
5 7 (1.55%) Selenium
6 6 (1.32%) Gradle
6 6 (1.32%) JUnit
7 5 (1.10%) Bitbucket
7 5 (1.10%) Maven
7 5 (1.10%) NUnit
8 4 (0.88%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.66%) JMeter
9 3 (0.66%) Postman
9 3 (0.66%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.66%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.66%) SpecFlow
9 3 (0.66%) TeamCity
9 3 (0.66%) WebDriver
10 2 (0.44%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.44%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 135 (29.80%) Social Skills
2 55 (12.14%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (9.05%) Public Sector
4 38 (8.39%) Aerospace
4 38 (8.39%) Finance
5 16 (3.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 12 (2.65%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.21%) Billing
8 7 (1.55%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (1.32%) Telecoms
10 5 (1.10%) Legal
10 5 (1.10%) Military
11 3 (0.66%) Banking
11 3 (0.66%) Manufacturing
11 3 (0.66%) Publishing
12 2 (0.44%) Automotive
12 2 (0.44%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.22%) Back Office
13 1 (0.22%) Retail
Job Titles
1 72 (15.89%) Senior
2 63 (13.91%) Architect
3 61 (13.47%) Developer
4 51 (11.26%) DevOps Engineer
5 46 (10.15%) Lead
6 41 (9.05%) Azure Engineer
7 27 (5.96%) Analyst
7 27 (5.96%) Azure DevOps Engineer
8 25 (5.52%) Cloud Engineer
9 23 (5.08%) Platform Engineer
10 20 (4.42%) Technical Leader
11 19 (4.19%) Data Engineer
12 16 (3.53%) Technical Architect
13 15 (3.31%) Business Analyst
13 15 (3.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 14 (3.09%) DevSecOps Engineer
14 14 (3.09%) Senior Manager
15 13 (2.87%) Cloud Architect
16 12 (2.65%) Programme Manager
16 12 (2.65%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 104 (22.96%) Terraform
2 49 (10.82%) .NET
3 44 (9.71%) REST
4 31 (6.84%) RESTful
5 30 (6.62%) OAuth
6 24 (5.30%) React
7 21 (4.64%) ARM Templates
8 20 (4.42%) OpenID
9 17 (3.75%) OAuth2
9 17 (3.75%) SAML
10 15 (3.31%) .NET Framework
10 15 (3.31%) Kafka
11 14 (3.09%) .NET Core
11 14 (3.09%) CSS
11 14 (3.09%) Entity Framework
11 14 (3.09%) HTML
12 13 (2.87%) ADO
12 13 (2.87%) Django
13 12 (2.65%) Middleware
13 12 (2.65%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 56 (12.36%) Cloud Native
2 36 (7.95%) Hybrid Cloud
3 34 (7.51%) Product Ownership
4 23 (5.08%) Onboarding
5 19 (4.19%) Distributed Systems
6 14 (3.09%) Data Structures
6 14 (3.09%) Enterprise Software
7 12 (2.65%) CMDB
7 12 (2.65%) Management Information System
8 7 (1.55%) Algorithms
8 7 (1.55%) Mobile App
8 7 (1.55%) Public Cloud
9 6 (1.32%) PKI
10 5 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (1.10%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.88%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (0.88%) ARM Cortex
11 4 (0.88%) Data Protection Act
11 4 (0.88%) Virtual Team
12 3 (0.66%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 49 (10.82%) Linux
2 34 (7.51%) Windows
3 15 (3.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 15 (3.31%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.66%) Apple iOS
4 3 (0.66%) CentOS
4 3 (0.66%) Ubuntu
5 2 (0.44%) Android
6 1 (0.22%) Oracle Linux
6 1 (0.22%) Rocky
6 1 (0.22%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
6 1 (0.22%) Unix
6 1 (0.22%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 253 (55.85%) CI/CD
2 192 (42.38%) Agile
3 116 (25.61%) Infrastructure as Code
4 89 (19.65%) Continuous Improvement
5 88 (19.43%) Problem-Solving
6 83 (18.32%) Stakeholder Management
7 74 (16.34%) Containerisation
8 70 (15.45%) Analytics
9 67 (14.79%) Test Automation
10 62 (13.69%) Technical Leadership
11 61 (13.47%) Platform Engineering
12 57 (12.58%) Microservices
13 56 (12.36%) DevSecOps
14 55 (12.14%) Software Engineering
15 50 (11.04%) Cybersecurity
15 50 (11.04%) Scrum
16 48 (10.60%) Observability
17 47 (10.38%) Roadmaps
18 45 (9.93%) Mentoring
19 42 (9.27%) Software Delivery
Programming Languages
1 130 (28.70%) Python
2 70 (15.45%) SQL
3 65 (14.35%) PowerShell
4 49 (10.82%) Bash
5 45 (9.93%) Java
6 43 (9.49%) C#
6 43 (9.49%) JavaScript
7 32 (7.06%) Bicep
8 13 (2.87%) TypeScript
9 9 (1.99%) Kusto Query Language
9 9 (1.99%) X++
10 6 (1.32%) Scala
11 4 (0.88%) C++
11 4 (0.88%) R
12 3 (0.66%) Go
12 3 (0.66%) Perl
13 2 (0.44%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.44%) BeanShell
13 2 (0.44%) Groovy
13 2 (0.44%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 206 (45.47%) Security Cleared
2 156 (34.44%) SC Cleared
3 47 (10.38%) Degree
3 47 (10.38%) DV Cleared
4 32 (7.06%) Azure Certification
5 19 (4.19%) AWS Certification
5 19 (4.19%) CISSP
5 19 (4.19%) Computer Science Degree
6 17 (3.75%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (2.87%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (2.43%) Master's Degree
9 10 (2.21%) CISM
9 10 (2.21%) ITIL Certification
10 7 (1.55%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 7 (1.55%) CCIE
11 6 (1.32%) RHCE
12 5 (1.10%) CCNP
12 5 (1.10%) CEH
12 5 (1.10%) ISTQB
12 5 (1.10%) JNCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 52 (11.48%) QA
2 20 (4.42%) Data Quality
3 19 (4.19%) NIST
4 17 (3.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 15 (3.31%) NCSC
6 14 (3.09%) Accessibility
7 13 (2.87%) GDPR
8 8 (1.77%) PMO
9 7 (1.55%) WCAG
10 5 (1.10%) Cyber Essentials
10 5 (1.10%) GRC
11 4 (0.88%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.66%) SLA
13 2 (0.44%) PCI DSS
14 1 (0.22%) Actionable Recommendations
14 1 (0.22%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.22%) OpenSCAP
14 1 (0.22%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 76 (16.78%) Docker
2 26 (5.74%) Active Directory
3 13 (2.87%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.21%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (1.77%) Hyper-V
5 8 (1.77%) IAG
6 3 (0.66%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.44%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.22%) RACF
8 1 (0.22%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.22%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 115 (25.39%) Kubernetes
2 70 (15.45%) Ansible
3 20 (4.42%) Grafana
4 13 (2.87%) Prometheus
5 6 (1.32%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.88%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 4 (0.88%) Istio
6 4 (0.88%) SCCM
7 3 (0.66%) Argo
8 2 (0.44%) CASB
8 2 (0.44%) Forefront Identity Manager
8 2 (0.44%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.44%) Kibana
8 2 (0.44%) NetIQ Identity Manager
8 2 (0.44%) Packer
8 2 (0.44%) Puppet
8 2 (0.44%) Rancher
8 2 (0.44%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.44%) SCOM
8 2 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 121 (26.71%) Microsoft
2 22 (4.86%) VMware
3 21 (4.64%) Databricks
3 21 (4.64%) ServiceNow
4 19 (4.19%) Google
4 19 (4.19%) Red Hat
5 16 (3.53%) Dynatrace
5 16 (3.53%) Oracle
6 12 (2.65%) Splunk
7 8 (1.77%) Nexthink
8 7 (1.55%) CyberArk
8 7 (1.55%) SAP
9 6 (1.32%) Salesforce
10 5 (1.10%) AppDynamics
10 5 (1.10%) BeyondTrust
11 4 (0.88%) Cisco
11 4 (0.88%) CrowdStrike
11 4 (0.88%) IBM
11 4 (0.88%) MuleSoft
12 2 (0.44%) NetIQ