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 10 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 66 53 59
Rank change year-on-year -13 +6 -1
Contract jobs citing Kubernetes 199 123 178
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.07% 3.67% 3.15%
As % of the Systems Management category 27.34% 26.34% 22.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 142 79 127
10th Percentile £360 £334 £413
25th Percentile £425 £413 £474
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £511 £500 £575
Median % change year-on-year +2.25% -13.04% -4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £628
90th Percentile £688 £621 £675
England median daily rate £538 £541 £550
% change year-on-year -0.69% -1.59% -10.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 0 2
10th Percentile £62.50 - £37.70
25th Percentile £66.25 - £39.13
Median hourly rate £70.00 - £43.00
75th Percentile - - £46.63
90th Percentile - - £47.90
England median hourly rate £70.00 £67.00 £67.25
% change year-on-year +4.48% -0.37% -7.88%

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 728 467 776
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.24% 13.92% 13.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 502 323 560
10th Percentile £301 £250 £250
25th Percentile £402 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £700 £634 £675
England median daily rate £519 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +1.18% -2.38% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 5 14
10th Percentile £17.20 - £14.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £18.87 £17.56
Median hourly rate £58.74 £28.00 £37.33
Median % change year-on-year +109.77% -25.00% -32.12%
75th Percentile £70.00 £32.77 £48.75
90th Percentile - £46.11 £52.10
England median hourly rate £63.14 £54.50 £31.25
% change year-on-year +15.84% +74.40% -44.44%

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 10 July 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 10 July 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 -29 78 £402 -11.57% 40
Hampshire -8 72 £550 +4.81% 43
Berkshire -25 56 £401 -15.50% 18
Surrey +1 37 £505 -7.34% 11
Buckinghamshire -21 17 £392 +26.09% 9
Middlesex -8 5 £475 -25.20% 1
West Sussex -19 5 £500 +66.67% 6
Oxfordshire -23 5 £825 +71.43% 14
East Sussex -3 1 - - 2
Home Counties - 1 - - 1
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 10 (5.03%) Apache Spark
2 7 (3.52%) OpenStack
3 6 (3.02%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (1.51%) Confluence
4 3 (1.51%) Palantir Foundry
5 2 (1.01%) Apache Pulsar
6 1 (0.50%) IIS
6 1 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 6 (3.02%) CPLEX
Business Applications
1 1 (0.50%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 106 (53.27%) AWS
2 99 (49.75%) Azure
3 47 (23.62%) GCP
3 47 (23.62%) OpenShift
4 25 (12.56%) Azure DevOps
5 22 (11.06%) GitHub
6 16 (8.04%) Serverless
7 15 (7.54%) GitHub Actions
8 14 (7.04%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 12 (6.03%) Amazon EKS
10 11 (5.53%) Azure AKS
11 10 (5.03%) Entra ID
12 9 (4.52%) Amazon S3
12 9 (4.52%) AWS Lambda
13 8 (4.02%) Azure Monitor
13 8 (4.02%) SaaS
14 7 (3.52%) AWS CloudFormation
14 7 (3.52%) Snowflake
15 5 (2.51%) Datadog
15 5 (2.51%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 9 (4.52%) Firewall
2 8 (4.02%) DNS
2 8 (4.02%) Network Security
3 6 (3.02%) 5G
3 6 (3.02%) Diameter Protocol
3 6 (3.02%) LTE
3 6 (3.02%) Radio Access Network
3 6 (3.02%) VoLTE
3 6 (3.02%) VoWiFi
3 6 (3.02%) VPN
3 6 (3.02%) Wireshark
4 4 (2.01%) HTTP
4 4 (2.01%) MQTT
5 3 (1.51%) TCP/IP
6 2 (1.01%) BGP
6 2 (1.01%) Intrusion Detection
6 2 (1.01%) SNMP
7 1 (0.50%) HTTPS
7 1 (0.50%) SAN
7 1 (0.50%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (14.07%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (8.54%) NoSQL
3 12 (6.03%) Big Data
4 11 (5.53%) Relational Database
5 8 (4.02%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (3.02%) DynamoDB
6 6 (3.02%) MongoDB
7 4 (2.01%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (2.01%) Redis
8 3 (1.51%) DocumentDB
8 3 (1.51%) Oracle Database
9 2 (1.01%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (1.01%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (1.01%) Spark SQL
9 2 (1.01%) SQL Server
10 1 (0.50%) Amazon Athena
10 1 (0.50%) Amazon QuickSight
10 1 (0.50%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.50%) Hadoop
10 1 (0.50%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 28 (14.07%) Git
2 26 (13.07%) GitLab
2 26 (13.07%) SonarQube
3 22 (11.06%) Jenkins
4 9 (4.52%) MLflow
5 5 (2.51%) NUnit
6 4 (2.01%) Jaeger
7 3 (1.51%) JIRA
7 3 (1.51%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (1.01%) JUnit
9 1 (0.50%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.50%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.50%) JMeter
9 1 (0.50%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.50%) Mockito
9 1 (0.50%) NeoLoad
9 1 (0.50%) Selenium
General
1 55 (27.64%) Social Skills
2 21 (10.55%) Public Sector
3 18 (9.05%) Finance
4 14 (7.04%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (3.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (3.02%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (3.02%) Telecoms
7 3 (1.51%) Manufacturing
7 3 (1.51%) Military
8 2 (1.01%) Aerospace
8 2 (1.01%) Automotive
8 2 (1.01%) Financial Institution
8 2 (1.01%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.01%) Publishing
8 2 (1.01%) Retail
9 1 (0.50%) Advertising
9 1 (0.50%) Banking
9 1 (0.50%) Health Technology
9 1 (0.50%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.50%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 40 (20.10%) Developer
2 24 (12.06%) Platform Engineer
3 21 (10.55%) Java Developer
4 20 (10.05%) Architect
5 15 (7.54%) DevOps Engineer
6 13 (6.53%) Site Reliability Engineer
7 12 (6.03%) Software Engineer
8 11 (5.53%) Senior
9 10 (5.03%) Analyst
9 10 (5.03%) Java Engineer
9 10 (5.03%) Security Analyst
9 10 (5.03%) Site Engineer
10 9 (4.52%) Azure Engineer
10 9 (4.52%) DevSecOps Engineer
11 7 (3.52%) Python Developer
12 6 (3.02%) Azure DevOps Engineer
12 6 (3.02%) Cloud Architect
13 5 (2.51%) .NET Developer
13 5 (2.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 5 (2.51%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (16.58%) Kafka
2 26 (13.07%) AngularJS
3 23 (11.56%) RESTful
4 19 (9.55%) Quarkus
5 16 (8.04%) REST
6 15 (7.54%) React
7 14 (7.04%) .NET
7 14 (7.04%) Spring
8 13 (6.53%) Spring Boot
9 11 (5.53%) YAML
10 9 (4.52%) Django
10 9 (4.52%) Loki
11 8 (4.02%) OAuth
11 8 (4.02%) OAuth2
11 8 (4.02%) OpenAPI
11 8 (4.02%) pytest
11 8 (4.02%) Swagger
12 7 (3.52%) Node.js
12 7 (3.52%) OpenTelemetry
12 7 (3.52%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 33 (16.58%) Cloud Native
2 27 (13.57%) Distributed Systems
3 11 (5.53%) Hybrid Cloud
4 10 (5.03%) Data Structures
4 10 (5.03%) Onboarding
5 8 (4.02%) Algorithms
6 6 (3.02%) Product Ownership
7 5 (2.51%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (2.01%) CMDB
8 4 (2.01%) Enterprise Cloud
8 4 (2.01%) Public Cloud
8 4 (2.01%) Security Posture
9 2 (1.01%) AI Agents
9 2 (1.01%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (1.01%) Distributed Computing
9 2 (1.01%) FMCG
9 2 (1.01%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (1.01%) Operational Technology
9 2 (1.01%) PKI
9 2 (1.01%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 47 (23.62%) Linux
2 15 (7.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 10 (5.03%) Unix
4 4 (2.01%) Windows
5 1 (0.50%) Android
5 1 (0.50%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.50%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (67.34%) CI/CD
2 90 (45.23%) Containerisation
3 87 (43.72%) DevOps
4 72 (36.18%) Agile
5 53 (26.63%) Infrastructure as Code
6 47 (23.62%) DevSecOps
7 45 (22.61%) Problem-Solving
8 41 (20.60%) Software Engineering
9 39 (19.60%) Site Reliability Engineering
10 38 (19.10%) Platform Engineering
11 35 (17.59%) Scrum
12 30 (15.08%) AI
12 30 (15.08%) Continuous Improvement
12 30 (15.08%) Microservices
13 29 (14.57%) Machine Learning
13 29 (14.57%) Observability
14 28 (14.07%) High Availability
14 28 (14.07%) Test Automation
15 24 (12.06%) SDLC
16 22 (11.06%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 98 (49.25%) Python
2 52 (26.13%) Java
3 42 (21.11%) Bash
4 26 (13.07%) PowerShell
5 21 (10.55%) Go
6 19 (9.55%) SQL
7 17 (8.54%) JavaScript
8 10 (5.03%) TypeScript
9 9 (4.52%) Bicep
9 9 (4.52%) C#
10 4 (2.01%) Rust
10 4 (2.01%) Shell Script
11 2 (1.01%) Groovy
11 2 (1.01%) Scala
12 1 (0.50%) C
12 1 (0.50%) C++
12 1 (0.50%) Korn
12 1 (0.50%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 97 (48.74%) Security Cleared
2 84 (42.21%) SC Cleared
3 16 (8.04%) Degree
4 11 (5.53%) DV Cleared
5 10 (5.03%) Azure Certification
6 9 (4.52%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (3.52%) RHCE
8 6 (3.02%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (2.01%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (2.01%) Master's Degree
10 3 (1.51%) AWS Certification
10 3 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (1.51%) CISSP
11 2 (1.01%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 2 (1.01%) CCSP
11 2 (1.01%) Microsoft Certification
12 1 (0.50%) CCNA
12 1 (0.50%) CCNP
12 1 (0.50%) OCP
12 1 (0.50%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (14.07%) QA
2 7 (3.52%) NIST
2 7 (3.52%) PCI DSS
3 6 (3.02%) SLA
4 5 (2.51%) Cyber Essentials
4 5 (2.51%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 5 (2.51%) GDPR
4 5 (2.51%) IASME
4 5 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
4 5 (2.51%) NCSC
4 5 (2.51%) NIST 800
5 4 (2.01%) GRC
6 3 (1.51%) Data Quality
7 2 (1.01%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.50%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.50%) ISO 8583
8 1 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.50%) JSP 440
System Software
1 81 (40.70%) Docker
2 8 (4.02%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (2.01%) Active Directory
3 4 (2.01%) IAG
4 2 (1.01%) Hyper-V
4 2 (1.01%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (1.01%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.50%) Citrix Hypervisor
5 1 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 53 (26.63%) Terraform
2 33 (16.58%) Grafana
3 32 (16.08%) Prometheus
4 25 (12.56%) Argo
5 24 (12.06%) Ansible
6 10 (5.03%) Rancher
7 7 (3.52%) Puppet
8 6 (3.02%) Istio
9 5 (2.51%) Podman
10 3 (1.51%) Kustomize
11 2 (1.01%) CASB
11 2 (1.01%) Kibana
11 2 (1.01%) linkerd
11 2 (1.01%) Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.50%) Fluentd
12 1 (0.50%) Kubeflow
12 1 (0.50%) Nessus
12 1 (0.50%) Packer
12 1 (0.50%) Salt
Vendors
1 34 (17.09%) Red Hat
2 17 (8.54%) Microsoft
3 14 (7.04%) Google
4 9 (4.52%) VMware
5 8 (4.02%) Oracle
6 7 (3.52%) Ericsson
7 6 (3.02%) BT
7 6 (3.02%) Dynatrace
7 6 (3.02%) Huawei
7 6 (3.02%) Nokia
8 5 (2.51%) Ab Initio
8 5 (2.51%) Splunk
8 5 (2.51%) Tenable
8 5 (2.51%) Teradata
9 4 (2.01%) Foundry
9 4 (2.01%) Nexthink
9 4 (2.01%) NVIDIA
9 4 (2.01%) OpenAI
9 4 (2.01%) ServiceNow
10 3 (1.51%) Databricks