Linux Contract Job Trends in the South East

Linux
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Linux skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 28 21
Rank change year-on-year -4 -7 0
Contract jobs citing Linux 309 202 387
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.47% 6.74% 6.92%
As % of the Operating Systems category 41.37% 38.85% 39.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 226 147 264
10th Percentile £327 £400 £350
25th Percentile £401 £463 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £532
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +3.48% -3.36%
75th Percentile £584 £600 £600
90th Percentile £643 £663 £638
England median daily rate £518 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -5.91% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 15 23
10th Percentile £12.50 £47.43 £22.65
25th Percentile £16.80 £53.94 £41.50
Median hourly rate £47.50 £60.50 £62.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.49% -2.42% -4.62%
75th Percentile £52.25 £63.13 £68.13
90th Percentile £67.50 £68.75 £74.00
England median hourly rate £63.14 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -2.87% +8.33% -7.69%

All Operating Systems
South East

Linux falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring operating system skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 747 520 983
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 13.24% 17.36% 17.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 506 369 642
10th Percentile £204 £205 £200
25th Percentile £356 £350 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -6.25%
75th Percentile £568 £600 £575
90th Percentile £650 £663 £649
England median daily rate £450 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -12.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 37 66
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.68 £16.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £16.95 £17.77
Median hourly rate £25.00 £28.00 £31.25
Median % change year-on-year -10.71% -10.40% -35.43%
75th Percentile £52.58 £62.50 £61.90
90th Percentile £75.00 £67.50 £70.00
England median hourly rate £27.50 £25.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year +10.00% +19.05% -27.96%

Linux
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Linux job vacancy trend in the South East

Linux
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Linux
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Linux in the South East over the 6 months to 14 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Linux in the South East

Linux
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Linux
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Linux in the South East over the 6 months to 14 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Linux in the South East

Linux
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 Linux within the South East region over the 6 months to 14 April 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 +4 173 £450 -6.44% 75
Berkshire -4 110 £405 -16.45% 35
Hampshire -13 96 £525 -8.70% 53
Buckinghamshire +10 44 £550 +30.80% 16
Surrey -3 26 £400 -20.00% 18
Oxfordshire -5 19 £450 -18.18% 24
East Sussex - 5 £459 - 1
Sussex - 5 - -
West Sussex -15 3 £525 -4.55% 4
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Linux
England

Linux
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 15 (4.85%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.97%) Apache
2 3 (0.97%) Confluence
3 2 (0.65%) Appian
3 2 (0.65%) IBM HTTP Server
3 2 (0.65%) Oracle HTTP Server
3 2 (0.65%) WebSphere
3 2 (0.65%) WebSphere Application Server
3 2 (0.65%) WebSphere Portal
4 1 (0.32%) SAS
4 1 (0.32%) SharePoint
Applications
1 6 (1.94%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.97%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.32%) Oracle EBS
1 1 (0.32%) Oracle EBS R12
1 1 (0.32%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 72 (23.30%) AWS
2 61 (19.74%) Azure
3 32 (10.36%) OpenShift
4 22 (7.12%) GitHub
5 15 (4.85%) GitHub Actions
6 14 (4.53%) Microsoft 365
7 13 (4.21%) SaaS
8 11 (3.56%) Cloud Computing
8 11 (3.56%) GCP
8 11 (3.56%) IaaS
9 9 (2.91%) Amazon EKS
10 8 (2.59%) AWS CloudFormation
10 8 (2.59%) Entra ID
11 7 (2.27%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (1.94%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 6 (1.94%) Amazon S3
12 6 (1.94%) Google Workspace
12 6 (1.94%) Sauce Labs
13 5 (1.62%) Amazon ECR
14 4 (1.29%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 34 (11.00%) DNS
2 26 (8.41%) Firewall
3 21 (6.80%) TCP/IP
4 15 (4.85%) WAN
5 13 (4.21%) LAN
6 11 (3.56%) SAN
7 9 (2.91%) VSAN
7 9 (2.91%) Wireless
8 7 (2.27%) DHCP
8 7 (2.27%) Network Security
8 7 (2.27%) SSH
9 6 (1.94%) NAS
10 5 (1.62%) BGP
10 5 (1.62%) Ethernet VPN
10 5 (1.62%) OSPF
10 5 (1.62%) VPN
11 4 (1.29%) Software-Defined Radio
12 3 (0.97%) Cisco Nexus
12 3 (0.97%) HTTP
12 3 (0.97%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (8.41%) SQL Server
2 22 (7.12%) MySQL
3 19 (6.15%) PostgreSQL
3 19 (6.15%) Relational Database
4 9 (2.91%) Oracle Database
5 8 (2.59%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (1.62%) Redis
7 4 (1.29%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.97%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.97%) Oracle Database 12c
9 2 (0.65%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.65%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.65%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.65%) SAP HANA
9 2 (0.65%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 1 (0.32%) Amazon Aurora
10 1 (0.32%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.32%) GIS
10 1 (0.32%) Oracle Exadata
10 1 (0.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 30 (9.71%) Jenkins
2 14 (4.53%) Git
2 14 (4.53%) GitLab
2 14 (4.53%) JIRA
3 11 (3.56%) Eclipse
4 9 (2.91%) JUnit
5 8 (2.59%) JMeter
5 8 (2.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (2.27%) Cucumber
7 6 (1.94%) Android Studio
7 6 (1.94%) Browser DevTools
7 6 (1.94%) Xcode
8 5 (1.62%) Artifactory
8 5 (1.62%) Burp Suite
8 5 (1.62%) Maven
8 5 (1.62%) Subversion
9 3 (0.97%) Jaeger
10 2 (0.65%) Introscope
10 2 (0.65%) Metasploit
10 2 (0.65%) Robot Framework
General
1 64 (20.71%) Social Skills
2 30 (9.71%) Public Sector
3 20 (6.47%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (6.47%) Military
4 14 (4.53%) Finance
5 13 (4.21%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (3.24%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.29%) Financial Institution
7 4 (1.29%) Law
8 3 (0.97%) Legal
8 3 (0.97%) Manufacturing
8 3 (0.97%) Retail
8 3 (0.97%) Telecoms
9 2 (0.65%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.32%) Advertising
10 1 (0.32%) Back Office
10 1 (0.32%) Banking
10 1 (0.32%) Electronics
10 1 (0.32%) Front Office
10 1 (0.32%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 35 (11.33%) Architect
1 35 (11.33%) Linux Engineer
2 34 (11.00%) Senior
3 26 (8.41%) Analyst
4 23 (7.44%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 19 (6.15%) Developer
6 18 (5.83%) Software Engineer
7 16 (5.18%) DevOps Engineer
8 15 (4.85%) Technical Architect
8 15 (4.85%) Technical Support
9 13 (4.21%) SOC Analyst
9 13 (4.21%) Tester
10 12 (3.88%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.56%) Administrator
11 11 (3.56%) Lead
11 11 (3.56%) Support Engineer
12 10 (3.24%) DBA
13 8 (2.59%) Infrastructure Architect
13 8 (2.59%) Network Engineer
13 8 (2.59%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.85%) Kafka
2 13 (4.21%) Elastic Stack
3 12 (3.88%) XML
4 11 (3.56%) Middleware
4 11 (3.56%) YAML
5 9 (2.91%) JSON
5 9 (2.91%) Loki
5 9 (2.91%) Spring
6 7 (2.27%) .NET
6 7 (2.27%) CSS
6 7 (2.27%) Hibernate
6 7 (2.27%) React
7 6 (1.94%) Ajax
7 6 (1.94%) AngularJS
7 6 (1.94%) GraphQL
8 5 (1.62%) Keycloak
9 4 (1.29%) OpenTelemetry
9 4 (1.29%) REST
9 4 (1.29%) Yocto
10 3 (0.97%) Oracle GoldenGate
Miscellaneous
1 22 (7.12%) Onboarding
2 17 (5.50%) Cloud Native
3 16 (5.18%) PKI
4 14 (4.53%) Data Centre
4 14 (4.53%) Public Cloud
5 13 (4.21%) Management Information System
5 13 (4.21%) Security Operations Centre
6 10 (3.24%) Hybrid Cloud
6 10 (3.24%) Replication
6 10 (3.24%) Security Posture
7 9 (2.91%) Legacy Systems
8 8 (2.59%) Cyberattack
8 8 (2.59%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (2.27%) Product Ownership
10 6 (1.94%) Mobile App
11 5 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
11 5 (1.62%) Clustering
12 4 (1.29%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (1.29%) Linux Command Line
12 4 (1.29%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 153 (49.51%) Windows
2 45 (14.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 39 (12.62%) Unix
4 37 (11.97%) Windows Server
5 15 (4.85%) Ubuntu
6 8 (2.59%) Embedded Linux
6 8 (2.59%) Windows Server 2016
7 6 (1.94%) Android
8 5 (1.62%) Debian
8 5 (1.62%) Kali Linux
9 4 (1.29%) CentOS
9 4 (1.29%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 4 (1.29%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.65%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.65%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.65%) SUSE
10 2 (0.65%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.32%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.32%) Solaris
11 1 (0.32%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (26.21%) CI/CD
2 60 (19.42%) DevOps
3 50 (16.18%) Agile
4 44 (14.24%) SIEM
5 39 (12.62%) Containerisation
6 38 (12.30%) Problem-Solving
7 32 (10.36%) Cybersecurity
8 30 (9.71%) Computer Science
8 30 (9.71%) Infrastructure as Code
9 29 (9.39%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 28 (9.06%) Incident Response
11 24 (7.77%) ITIL
11 24 (7.77%) Migration
11 24 (7.77%) Platform Engineering
11 24 (7.77%) Security Operations
12 23 (7.44%) High Availability
13 22 (7.12%) Observability
13 22 (7.12%) Software Engineering
14 21 (6.80%) DevSecOps
14 21 (6.80%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 97 (31.39%) Python
2 54 (17.48%) PowerShell
3 45 (14.56%) Bash
4 31 (10.03%) Java
5 25 (8.09%) SQL
6 23 (7.44%) Perl
7 19 (6.15%) JavaScript
8 13 (4.21%) C++
9 11 (3.56%) C
10 8 (2.59%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.94%) C#
12 4 (1.29%) Embedded C++
12 4 (1.29%) Go
12 4 (1.29%) Rust
13 3 (0.97%) Ada
13 3 (0.97%) Embedded C
13 3 (0.97%) Korn
14 2 (0.65%) Jython
14 2 (0.65%) PHP
14 2 (0.65%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 197 (63.75%) Security Cleared
2 131 (42.39%) SC Cleared
3 72 (23.30%) DV Cleared
4 37 (11.97%) Degree
5 21 (6.80%) Computer Science Degree
6 11 (3.56%) RHCE
7 8 (2.59%) AWS Certification
7 8 (2.59%) Cisco Certification
7 8 (2.59%) CISSP
8 7 (2.27%) CCNP
9 6 (1.94%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.94%) CompTIA CySA+
9 6 (1.94%) CompTIA Security+
9 6 (1.94%) ISTQB
9 6 (1.94%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 5 (1.62%) GCFA
10 5 (1.62%) GCIA
10 5 (1.62%) GCIH
11 4 (1.29%) CEH
11 4 (1.29%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (8.41%) NIST
2 19 (6.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (3.88%) GDPR
4 7 (2.27%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (1.94%) QA
6 5 (1.62%) NCSC
7 4 (1.29%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.97%) GRC
8 3 (0.97%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.97%) SLA
9 2 (0.65%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.65%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.32%) DICOM
10 1 (0.32%) HL7
System Software
1 59 (19.09%) VMware Infrastructure
2 47 (15.21%) Active Directory
3 24 (7.77%) Docker
4 19 (6.15%) vSphere
5 17 (5.50%) VMware NSX
6 13 (4.21%) Hyper-V
7 7 (2.27%) Firmware
8 6 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (1.62%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.97%) Embedded Firmware
10 3 (0.97%) Oracle RAC
11 2 (0.65%) UAG
12 1 (0.32%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.32%) GPFS
12 1 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 59 (19.09%) Ansible
2 51 (16.50%) Kubernetes
3 46 (14.89%) Terraform
4 29 (9.39%) Grafana
5 27 (8.74%) Prometheus
6 15 (4.85%) Argo
7 13 (4.21%) vCenter Server
8 10 (3.24%) Red Hat Satellite
9 9 (2.91%) Progress Chef
10 8 (2.59%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (2.27%) Puppet
12 6 (1.94%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
12 6 (1.94%) Rancher
13 5 (1.62%) Data Guard
13 5 (1.62%) Nessus
13 5 (1.62%) Nmap
13 5 (1.62%) Sysdig
13 5 (1.62%) WSUS
14 4 (1.29%) Kustomize
15 3 (0.97%) Istio
Vendors
1 88 (28.48%) VMware
2 68 (22.01%) Red Hat
3 61 (19.74%) Microsoft
4 42 (13.59%) Oracle
5 35 (11.33%) Splunk
6 15 (4.85%) BeyondTrust
7 13 (4.21%) CyberArk
8 12 (3.88%) Cisco
9 8 (2.59%) MuleSoft
10 7 (2.27%) NVIDIA
10 7 (2.27%) Palo Alto
10 7 (2.27%) ServiceNow
11 6 (1.94%) HP
11 6 (1.94%) Pure Storage
11 6 (1.94%) SAP
12 5 (1.62%) ArcSight
12 5 (1.62%) Citrix
12 5 (1.62%) Dell
12 5 (1.62%) Mellanox
12 5 (1.62%) NetApp