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 6 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 68 51 60
Rank change year-on-year -17 +9 -6
Contract jobs citing Kubernetes 217 140 157
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.25% 4.00% 3.16%
As % of the Systems Management category 28.78% 28.63% 21.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 148 89 113
10th Percentile £358 £354 £415
25th Percentile £427 £413 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £582 £588 £630
90th Percentile £713 £619 £675
England median daily rate £539 £534 £550
% change year-on-year +0.89% -2.91% -10.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 0 1
10th Percentile £62.50 - -
25th Percentile £69.15 - £36.75
Median hourly rate £70.00 - £38.50
75th Percentile - - £40.25
90th Percentile £70.35 - -
England median hourly rate £70.00 £67.00 £67.25
% change year-on-year +4.48% -0.37% -7.56%

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 754 489 730
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.29% 13.97% 14.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 329 537
10th Percentile £310 £260 £272
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -11.03%
75th Percentile £610 £588 £608
90th Percentile £725 £625 £675
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -7.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 7 10
10th Percentile £22.75 £18.87 £21.63
25th Percentile £35.22 £23.44 £30.50
Median hourly rate £67.24 £32.77 £37.08
Median % change year-on-year +105.17% -11.63% -32.58%
75th Percentile £70.00 £69.00 £47.56
90th Percentile £71.50 £85.65 £53.45
England median hourly rate £65.45 £54.75 £36.17
% change year-on-year +19.54% +51.39% -31.11%

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 6 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Kubernetes in the South East over the 6 months to 6 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Kubernetes in the South East

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 6 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 -30 89 £455 -5.94% 63
Hampshire -16 71 £550 +7.32% 47
Berkshire -24 64 £455 -7.61% 27
Surrey +6 45 £475 -12.84% 12
Buckinghamshire -23 20 £398 +28.02% 13
Middlesex -14 6 - - 2
Oxfordshire -18 5 £825 +57.14% 23
West Sussex -19 4 £270 -13.60% 9
East Sussex +2 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 8 (3.69%) OpenStack
2 7 (3.23%) Apache Airflow
2 7 (3.23%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.38%) Palantir Foundry
4 2 (0.92%) Confluence
5 1 (0.46%) Apache
5 1 (0.46%) Apache Superset
5 1 (0.46%) IIS
5 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 6 (2.76%) CPLEX
Cloud Services
1 115 (53.00%) Azure
2 114 (52.53%) AWS
3 50 (23.04%) OpenShift
4 44 (20.28%) GCP
5 36 (16.59%) Azure DevOps
6 34 (15.67%) GitHub
7 25 (11.52%) GitHub Actions
8 16 (7.37%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 15 (6.91%) Amazon EKS
10 14 (6.45%) Serverless
11 12 (5.53%) Azure AKS
12 11 (5.07%) Entra ID
13 10 (4.61%) Azure Monitor
14 9 (4.15%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (4.15%) Datadog
14 9 (4.15%) SaaS
15 6 (2.76%) Amazon S3
15 6 (2.76%) AWS Lambda
16 5 (2.30%) Azure Key Vault
16 5 (2.30%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 12 (5.53%) DNS
2 11 (5.07%) VPN
3 10 (4.61%) Firewall
4 8 (3.69%) Network Security
5 7 (3.23%) LTE
6 6 (2.76%) 5G
6 6 (2.76%) Diameter Protocol
6 6 (2.76%) Radio Access Network
6 6 (2.76%) TCP/IP
6 6 (2.76%) VoLTE
6 6 (2.76%) VoWiFi
6 6 (2.76%) Wireshark
7 4 (1.84%) DHCP
7 4 (1.84%) MQTT
8 3 (1.38%) BGP
8 3 (1.38%) Software-Defined Networking
9 2 (0.92%) HTTP
9 2 (0.92%) Intrusion Detection
10 1 (0.46%) 2G
10 1 (0.46%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (12.90%) PostgreSQL
2 16 (7.37%) NoSQL
3 12 (5.53%) Relational Database
4 8 (3.69%) Big Data
4 8 (3.69%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (2.76%) MongoDB
6 5 (2.30%) Elasticsearch
6 5 (2.30%) Oracle Database
7 4 (1.84%) DocumentDB
7 4 (1.84%) DynamoDB
8 3 (1.38%) Redis
8 3 (1.38%) SQL Server
9 2 (0.92%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.92%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.92%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.92%) Power BI
9 2 (0.92%) Spark SQL
10 1 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.46%) Couchbase
10 1 (0.46%) InfluxDB
Development Applications
1 33 (15.21%) Git
1 33 (15.21%) GitLab
2 30 (13.82%) SonarQube
3 29 (13.36%) Jenkins
4 8 (3.69%) MLflow
5 5 (2.30%) NUnit
6 4 (1.84%) Jaeger
7 3 (1.38%) JIRA
7 3 (1.38%) JUnit
7 3 (1.38%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.46%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.46%) Gradle
8 1 (0.46%) JMeter
8 1 (0.46%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.46%) Maven
8 1 (0.46%) Mockito
8 1 (0.46%) NeoLoad
8 1 (0.46%) Octopus Deploy
8 1 (0.46%) Selenium
8 1 (0.46%) Subversion
General
1 56 (25.81%) Social Skills
2 20 (9.22%) Analytical Skills
2 20 (9.22%) Public Sector
3 14 (6.45%) Finance
4 11 (5.07%) Aerospace
5 9 (4.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 9 (4.15%) Telecoms
6 5 (2.30%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.38%) Manufacturing
7 3 (1.38%) Publishing
8 2 (0.92%) Automotive
8 2 (0.92%) Banking
8 2 (0.92%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.92%) Military
8 2 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (0.92%) Retail
9 1 (0.46%) Health Technology
9 1 (0.46%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.46%) Local Government
9 1 (0.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 43 (19.82%) Developer
2 26 (11.98%) Architect
3 25 (11.52%) Platform Engineer
4 18 (8.29%) Java Developer
5 16 (7.37%) DevOps Engineer
5 16 (7.37%) Senior
6 12 (5.53%) DevSecOps Engineer
6 12 (5.53%) Lead
7 11 (5.07%) Azure Engineer
7 11 (5.07%) Software Engineer
8 10 (4.61%) Analyst
8 10 (4.61%) Java Engineer
8 10 (4.61%) Security Analyst
8 10 (4.61%) Site Reliability Engineer
9 8 (3.69%) Cloud Architect
10 7 (3.23%) .NET Developer
10 7 (3.23%) Azure DevOps Engineer
10 7 (3.23%) Python Developer
10 7 (3.23%) Site Engineer
10 7 (3.23%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (16.13%) Kafka
2 29 (13.36%) AngularJS
3 25 (11.52%) RESTful
4 24 (11.06%) REST
5 23 (10.60%) Quarkus
6 17 (7.83%) React
7 16 (7.37%) .NET
8 11 (5.07%) Django
8 11 (5.07%) YAML
9 10 (4.61%) OAuth
9 10 (4.61%) Spring
10 9 (4.15%) ARM Templates
10 9 (4.15%) OAuth2
10 9 (4.15%) OpenAPI
10 9 (4.15%) Swagger
11 8 (3.69%) .NET Framework
11 8 (3.69%) pytest
11 8 (3.69%) Spring Boot
12 7 (3.23%) ASP.NET Web API
12 7 (3.23%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 34 (15.67%) Cloud Native
2 20 (9.22%) Distributed Systems
2 20 (9.22%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (4.15%) Data Structures
4 8 (3.69%) Onboarding
5 7 (3.23%) Algorithms
5 7 (3.23%) Enterprise Cloud
5 7 (3.23%) Product Ownership
6 5 (2.30%) CMDB
6 5 (2.30%) Enterprise Software
7 4 (1.84%) AI Agents
7 4 (1.84%) Public Cloud
7 4 (1.84%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.38%) Distributed Computing
9 2 (0.92%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (0.92%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.92%) FMCG
9 2 (0.92%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (0.92%) Management Information System
9 2 (0.92%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 54 (24.88%) Linux
2 17 (7.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 10 (4.61%) Unix
4 6 (2.76%) Windows
5 5 (2.30%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.46%) Android
6 1 (0.46%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (64.98%) CI/CD
2 104 (47.93%) DevOps
3 96 (44.24%) Containerisation
4 88 (40.55%) Agile
5 65 (29.95%) DevSecOps
6 60 (27.65%) Infrastructure as Code
7 47 (21.66%) Problem-Solving
7 47 (21.66%) Software Engineering
8 44 (20.28%) Platform Engineering
9 42 (19.35%) Scrum
10 40 (18.43%) Continuous Improvement
11 39 (17.97%) AI
11 39 (17.97%) Test Automation
12 37 (17.05%) Machine Learning
13 33 (15.21%) SDLC
14 31 (14.29%) Microservices
15 30 (13.82%) Analytics
15 30 (13.82%) Observability
15 30 (13.82%) Site Reliability Engineering
16 27 (12.44%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 103 (47.47%) Python
2 47 (21.66%) Java
3 43 (19.82%) Bash
4 36 (16.59%) PowerShell
5 21 (9.68%) JavaScript
6 20 (9.22%) SQL
7 15 (6.91%) Go
8 13 (5.99%) Bicep
8 13 (5.99%) TypeScript
9 12 (5.53%) C#
10 4 (1.84%) Rust
10 4 (1.84%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.92%) Groovy
11 2 (0.92%) Scala
12 1 (0.46%) Korn
Qualifications
1 108 (49.77%) Security Cleared
2 95 (43.78%) SC Cleared
3 14 (6.45%) Azure Certification
3 14 (6.45%) Degree
4 12 (5.53%) DV Cleared
5 9 (4.15%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (3.69%) AWS Certification
7 7 (3.23%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (3.23%) RHCE
8 6 (2.76%) CISSP
9 5 (2.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 5 (2.30%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (2.30%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (1.84%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 4 (1.84%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 4 (1.84%) Master's Degree
11 3 (1.38%) CCSP
12 2 (0.92%) CEH
12 2 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (0.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (17.51%) QA
2 10 (4.61%) NIST
3 8 (3.69%) NCSC
4 7 (3.23%) Cyber Essentials
4 7 (3.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 7 (3.23%) GDPR
5 6 (2.76%) PCI DSS
5 6 (2.76%) SLA
6 5 (2.30%) GRC
6 5 (2.30%) IASME
6 5 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 5 (2.30%) NIST 800
7 4 (1.84%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.84%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.46%) JSP 440
System Software
1 97 (44.70%) Docker
2 12 (5.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (2.30%) Hyper-V
3 5 (2.30%) IAG
4 4 (1.84%) Active Directory
5 2 (0.92%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.46%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 1 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 66 (30.41%) Terraform
2 37 (17.05%) Ansible
3 28 (12.90%) Grafana
4 27 (12.44%) Argo
5 24 (11.06%) Prometheus
6 9 (4.15%) Rancher
7 6 (2.76%) Istio
7 6 (2.76%) Puppet
8 5 (2.30%) Podman
9 2 (0.92%) CASB
9 2 (0.92%) Kibana
9 2 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.46%) Nessus
10 1 (0.46%) QRadar
Vendors
1 40 (18.43%) Red Hat
2 30 (13.82%) Microsoft
3 19 (8.76%) Google
4 13 (5.99%) VMware
5 11 (5.07%) Oracle
6 10 (4.61%) Dynatrace
7 7 (3.23%) Splunk
8 6 (2.76%) BT
8 6 (2.76%) Ericsson
8 6 (2.76%) Huawei
8 6 (2.76%) Nokia
9 5 (2.30%) Nexthink
9 5 (2.30%) ServiceNow
9 5 (2.30%) Tenable
10 4 (1.84%) Databricks
10 4 (1.84%) Foundry
10 4 (1.84%) NVIDIA
10 4 (1.84%) OpenAI
11 3 (1.38%) Ab Initio
11 3 (1.38%) Teradata