Kubernetes Contract Job Trends in the South East

Kubernetes (k8s)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Kubernetes skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 52 57
Rank change year-on-year -18 +5 -5
Contract jobs citing Kubernetes 214 141 161
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.22% 4.03% 3.26%
As % of the Systems Management category 28.69% 28.78% 22.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 152 89 116
10th Percentile £358 £354 £409
25th Percentile £444 £413 £458
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £580 £588 £630
90th Percentile £700 £619 £675
England median daily rate £538 £538 £550
% change year-on-year - -2.27% -10.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 0 1
10th Percentile £62.50 - -
25th Percentile - - £36.75
Median hourly rate £70.00 - £38.50
75th Percentile - - £40.25
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £70.00 £67.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year +4.48% -0.74% -6.90%

All Systems Management Skills
South East

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 South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for systems management skills 746 490 725
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.21% 14.00% 14.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 328 534
10th Percentile £310 £266 £278
25th Percentile £413 £400 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -11.11%
75th Percentile £606 £588 £608
90th Percentile £714 £623 £675
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -7.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 7 10
10th Percentile £19.90 £18.87 £21.63
25th Percentile £31.25 £23.44 £30.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £32.77 £37.08
Median % change year-on-year +98.35% -11.63% -32.58%
75th Percentile £70.00 £69.00 £47.56
90th Percentile £70.40 £85.65 £53.45
England median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £35.08
% change year-on-year +18.18% +56.77% -31.55%

Kubernetes
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Kubernetes job vacancy trend in the South East

Kubernetes
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Kubernetes
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Kubernetes in the South East over the 6 months to 3 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Kubernetes in the South East

Kubernetes
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Kubernetes
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 Kubernetes within the South East region over the 6 months to 3 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 -33 81 £460 -4.91% 57
Hampshire -13 74 £550 +7.32% 33
Berkshire -29 56 £460 -6.60% 20
Surrey +9 45 £475 -12.84% 19
Buckinghamshire -24 20 £398 +28.02% 11
West Sussex -14 7 £400 +28.00% 5
Middlesex -13 5 - - 2
Oxfordshire -17 5 £825 +57.14% 26
East Sussex 0 2 £330 -28.65% 4
Kubernetes
England

Kubernetes
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 7 (3.27%) Apache Airflow
1 7 (3.27%) Apache Spark
1 7 (3.27%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.40%) Confluence
2 3 (1.40%) Palantir Foundry
3 1 (0.47%) Apache Pulsar
3 1 (0.47%) IIS
3 1 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 6 (2.80%) CPLEX
Business Applications
1 1 (0.47%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 116 (54.21%) AWS
2 112 (52.34%) Azure
3 46 (21.50%) GCP
3 46 (21.50%) OpenShift
4 34 (15.89%) Azure DevOps
5 31 (14.49%) GitHub
6 23 (10.75%) GitHub Actions
7 16 (7.48%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 16 (7.48%) Amazon EKS
8 14 (6.54%) Serverless
9 13 (6.07%) Azure AKS
10 11 (5.14%) Entra ID
11 10 (4.67%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (3.74%) Azure Monitor
12 8 (3.74%) Datadog
12 8 (3.74%) SaaS
13 6 (2.80%) Amazon S3
13 6 (2.80%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (2.34%) Azure Key Vault
15 4 (1.87%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 10 (4.67%) DNS
2 9 (4.21%) Firewall
2 9 (4.21%) VPN
3 8 (3.74%) Network Security
4 6 (2.80%) 5G
4 6 (2.80%) Diameter Protocol
4 6 (2.80%) LTE
4 6 (2.80%) Radio Access Network
4 6 (2.80%) VoLTE
4 6 (2.80%) VoWiFi
4 6 (2.80%) Wireshark
5 4 (1.87%) MQTT
5 4 (1.87%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.40%) HTTP
7 2 (0.93%) BGP
7 2 (0.93%) DHCP
7 2 (0.93%) Intrusion Detection
7 2 (0.93%) Software-Defined Networking
8 1 (0.47%) Remote Desktop
8 1 (0.47%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (13.08%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (7.94%) NoSQL
3 11 (5.14%) Relational Database
4 8 (3.74%) Big Data
4 8 (3.74%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (2.80%) MongoDB
6 5 (2.34%) Elasticsearch
6 5 (2.34%) Oracle Database
7 4 (1.87%) DocumentDB
7 4 (1.87%) DynamoDB
8 3 (1.40%) Redis
8 3 (1.40%) SQL Server
9 2 (0.93%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.93%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.93%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.93%) Spark SQL
10 1 (0.47%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.47%) Couchbase
10 1 (0.47%) InfluxDB
10 1 (0.47%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 33 (15.42%) Git
2 32 (14.95%) GitLab
3 30 (14.02%) SonarQube
4 28 (13.08%) Jenkins
5 8 (3.74%) MLflow
6 5 (2.34%) NUnit
7 4 (1.87%) Jaeger
7 4 (1.87%) JIRA
8 3 (1.40%) JUnit
8 3 (1.40%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.47%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.47%) Gradle
9 1 (0.47%) JMeter
9 1 (0.47%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.47%) Maven
9 1 (0.47%) Mockito
9 1 (0.47%) NeoLoad
9 1 (0.47%) Octopus Deploy
9 1 (0.47%) Selenium
9 1 (0.47%) Subversion
General
1 52 (24.30%) Social Skills
2 20 (9.35%) Public Sector
3 17 (7.94%) Finance
4 15 (7.01%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (4.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 7 (3.27%) Telecoms
7 5 (2.34%) Aerospace
7 5 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.40%) Banking
8 3 (1.40%) Manufacturing
8 3 (1.40%) Publishing
9 2 (0.93%) Automotive
9 2 (0.93%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.93%) Military
9 2 (0.93%) Organisational Skills
9 2 (0.93%) Retail
10 1 (0.47%) Advertising
10 1 (0.47%) Health Technology
10 1 (0.47%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 46 (21.50%) Developer
2 26 (12.15%) Architect
2 26 (12.15%) Platform Engineer
3 21 (9.81%) Java Developer
4 16 (7.48%) DevOps Engineer
5 13 (6.07%) Senior
6 11 (5.14%) Azure Engineer
6 11 (5.14%) Site Reliability Engineer
6 11 (5.14%) Software Engineer
7 10 (4.67%) Analyst
7 10 (4.67%) DevSecOps Engineer
7 10 (4.67%) Java Engineer
7 10 (4.67%) Lead
7 10 (4.67%) Security Analyst
8 8 (3.74%) Cloud Architect
8 8 (3.74%) Site Engineer
9 7 (3.27%) .NET Developer
9 7 (3.27%) Azure DevOps Engineer
9 7 (3.27%) Python Developer
10 6 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (17.76%) Kafka
2 29 (13.55%) AngularJS
3 26 (12.15%) RESTful
4 24 (11.21%) REST
5 23 (10.75%) Quarkus
6 17 (7.94%) React
7 16 (7.48%) .NET
8 13 (6.07%) Spring
9 11 (5.14%) Django
9 11 (5.14%) Spring Boot
9 11 (5.14%) YAML
10 10 (4.67%) OAuth
10 10 (4.67%) OAuth2
11 9 (4.21%) OpenAPI
11 9 (4.21%) Swagger
12 8 (3.74%) .NET Framework
12 8 (3.74%) pytest
12 8 (3.74%) RabbitMQ
13 7 (3.27%) ASP.NET Web API
13 7 (3.27%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 33 (15.42%) Cloud Native
2 21 (9.81%) Distributed Systems
3 16 (7.48%) Hybrid Cloud
4 10 (4.67%) Data Structures
5 9 (4.21%) Onboarding
6 7 (3.27%) Algorithms
7 6 (2.80%) Enterprise Cloud
7 6 (2.80%) Product Ownership
8 5 (2.34%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.87%) AI Agents
9 4 (1.87%) CMDB
9 4 (1.87%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.87%) Security Posture
10 2 (0.93%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.93%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.93%) Distributed Computing
10 2 (0.93%) FMCG
10 2 (0.93%) Operational Technology
10 2 (0.93%) PKI
10 2 (0.93%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 51 (23.83%) Linux
2 17 (7.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 9 (4.21%) Unix
4 5 (2.34%) Windows
5 3 (1.40%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.47%) Android
6 1 (0.47%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (66.82%) CI/CD
2 100 (46.73%) DevOps
3 97 (45.33%) Containerisation
4 88 (41.12%) Agile
5 61 (28.50%) DevSecOps
6 58 (27.10%) Infrastructure as Code
7 47 (21.96%) Software Engineering
8 46 (21.50%) Problem-Solving
9 43 (20.09%) Platform Engineering
9 43 (20.09%) Scrum
10 38 (17.76%) Continuous Improvement
10 38 (17.76%) Test Automation
11 36 (16.82%) AI
12 34 (15.89%) Machine Learning
12 34 (15.89%) Microservices
13 33 (15.42%) Site Reliability Engineering
14 32 (14.95%) SDLC
15 28 (13.08%) Observability
16 27 (12.62%) Analytics
16 27 (12.62%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 96 (44.86%) Python
2 50 (23.36%) Java
3 40 (18.69%) Bash
4 30 (14.02%) PowerShell
5 21 (9.81%) JavaScript
6 20 (9.35%) SQL
7 17 (7.94%) Go
8 13 (6.07%) TypeScript
9 12 (5.61%) Bicep
9 12 (5.61%) C#
10 4 (1.87%) Rust
10 4 (1.87%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.93%) Groovy
11 2 (0.93%) Scala
12 1 (0.47%) Korn
12 1 (0.47%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 104 (48.60%) Security Cleared
2 91 (42.52%) SC Cleared
3 15 (7.01%) Degree
4 12 (5.61%) Azure Certification
4 12 (5.61%) DV Cleared
5 10 (4.67%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (3.74%) AWS Certification
7 7 (3.27%) RHCE
8 6 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (1.87%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 4 (1.87%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (1.87%) CISSP
9 4 (1.87%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (1.87%) Master's Degree
10 3 (1.40%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 3 (1.40%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 2 (0.93%) CCSP
12 1 (0.47%) CCNA
12 1 (0.47%) CCNP
12 1 (0.47%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (17.76%) QA
2 9 (4.21%) NIST
3 7 (3.27%) NCSC
3 7 (3.27%) PCI DSS
4 6 (2.80%) Cyber Essentials
4 6 (2.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 6 (2.80%) GDPR
4 6 (2.80%) SLA
5 5 (2.34%) GRC
5 5 (2.34%) IASME
5 5 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 5 (2.34%) NIST 800
6 4 (1.87%) Accessibility
6 4 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.40%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.47%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.47%) JSP 440
System Software
1 97 (45.33%) Docker
2 9 (4.21%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.87%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.87%) IAG
4 3 (1.40%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.93%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.93%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 1 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 63 (29.44%) Terraform
2 30 (14.02%) Ansible
3 29 (13.55%) Grafana
4 27 (12.62%) Argo
5 25 (11.68%) Prometheus
6 9 (4.21%) Rancher
7 6 (2.80%) Istio
7 6 (2.80%) Puppet
8 5 (2.34%) Podman
9 2 (0.93%) CASB
9 2 (0.93%) Kibana
9 2 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.47%) linkerd
10 1 (0.47%) Nessus
10 1 (0.47%) QRadar
Vendors
1 39 (18.22%) Red Hat
2 24 (11.21%) Microsoft
3 18 (8.41%) Google
4 11 (5.14%) Oracle
5 10 (4.67%) VMware
6 9 (4.21%) Dynatrace
7 8 (3.74%) Splunk
8 6 (2.80%) BT
8 6 (2.80%) Ericsson
8 6 (2.80%) Huawei
8 6 (2.80%) Nokia
9 5 (2.34%) Tenable
10 4 (1.87%) Foundry
10 4 (1.87%) Nexthink
10 4 (1.87%) NVIDIA
10 4 (1.87%) OpenAI
10 4 (1.87%) ServiceNow
11 3 (1.40%) Databricks
11 3 (1.40%) MuleSoft
11 3 (1.40%) Palantir