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 9 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 31 22
Rank change year-on-year +7 -9 +7
Contract jobs citing Linux 298 219 368
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.90% 6.40% 7.49%
As % of the Operating Systems category 41.85% 37.56% 38.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 212 136 246
10th Percentile £204 £350 £309
25th Percentile £360 £420 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £538 £613 £600
90th Percentile £630 £675 £664
England median daily rate £513 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -6.82% - -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 12 36
10th Percentile - £55.11 £42.30
25th Percentile £12.50 £60.81 £55.00
Median hourly rate £16.00 £62.50 £64.00
Median % change year-on-year -74.40% -2.34% +10.82%
75th Percentile £48.75 £65.51 £70.47
90th Percentile £76.05 £70.83 £76.53
England median hourly rate £63.14 £66.50 £60.00
% change year-on-year -5.06% +10.83% -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 712 583 963
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 16.50% 17.04% 19.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 506 397 651
10th Percentile £190 £200 £163
25th Percentile £255 £263 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £425 £400
Median % change year-on-year +5.18% +6.25% -15.79%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £571
90th Percentile £638 £650 £638
England median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - -6.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 26 73
10th Percentile £12.50 £22.50 £19.40
25th Percentile £15.62 £33.50 £30.00
Median hourly rate £20.79 £57.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year -63.52% -0.87% +194.87%
75th Percentile £48.75 £63.44 £70.00
90th Percentile £81.60 £73.13 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £52.50 £31.00
% change year-on-year -52.10% +69.35% +24.00%

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 9 January 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 9 January 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 9 January 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 +15 135 £450 -5.26% 168
Berkshire +11 115 £425 -6.39% 101
Hampshire -3 90 £500 -13.04% 72
Surrey +4 51 £208 -58.50% 57
Buckinghamshire +6 14 £600 +41.18% 31
Sussex - 9 - - 2
West Sussex -7 6 £513 -29.31% 41
Oxfordshire -11 6 £388 -24.39% 36
Middlesex - 5 - - 1
East Sussex - 3 - - 38
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 7 (2.35%) Mattermost
1 7 (2.35%) Skype for Business
2 4 (1.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.67%) Apache
3 2 (0.67%) JBoss
4 1 (0.34%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.34%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.34%) Confluence
4 1 (0.34%) Gunicorn
4 1 (0.34%) nginx
4 1 (0.34%) SharePoint
Applications
1 22 (7.38%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.34%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (2.35%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.67%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.34%) Oracle EBS R12
3 1 (0.34%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 82 (27.52%) AWS
2 60 (20.13%) Azure
3 33 (11.07%) OpenShift
4 27 (9.06%) GitHub
5 22 (7.38%) SaaS
6 20 (6.71%) GCP
7 19 (6.38%) Sauce Labs
8 14 (4.70%) AWS CloudFormation
8 14 (4.70%) Cloud Computing
8 14 (4.70%) Google Workspace
9 13 (4.36%) GitHub Actions
9 13 (4.36%) IaaS
10 8 (2.68%) Amazon ECR
10 8 (2.68%) OCI
10 8 (2.68%) Serverless
11 7 (2.35%) Amazon EKS
11 7 (2.35%) AWS Lambda
11 7 (2.35%) Microsoft 365
12 6 (2.01%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (2.01%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 37 (12.42%) DNS
2 30 (10.07%) TCP/IP
3 23 (7.72%) Firewall
4 20 (6.71%) DHCP
5 18 (6.04%) Wireless
6 13 (4.36%) VLAN
7 9 (3.02%) SAN
8 8 (2.68%) Network Security
9 7 (2.35%) LAN
9 7 (2.35%) Skype
9 7 (2.35%) WAN
9 7 (2.35%) Wireshark
10 5 (1.68%) NAS
11 4 (1.34%) NFC
11 4 (1.34%) PPP
12 3 (1.01%) HTTP
12 3 (1.01%) SSL
13 2 (0.67%) Internet
13 2 (0.67%) VoIP
13 2 (0.67%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (11.07%) Relational Database
2 32 (10.74%) MySQL
3 18 (6.04%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (4.03%) Amazon RDS
5 11 (3.69%) NoSQL
6 10 (3.36%) SQL Server
7 9 (3.02%) Oracle Database
8 6 (2.01%) Amazon Redshift
8 6 (2.01%) Couchbase
9 4 (1.34%) Redis
10 3 (1.01%) Oracle Exadata
10 3 (1.01%) Oracle Reports
10 3 (1.01%) RDBMS
10 3 (1.01%) SAP HANA
11 2 (0.67%) Elasticsearch
11 2 (0.67%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 1 (0.34%) Big Data
12 1 (0.34%) Hadoop
12 1 (0.34%) Oracle Database 12c
12 1 (0.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 39 (13.09%) Jenkins
2 23 (7.72%) Eclipse
3 20 (6.71%) Browser DevTools
3 20 (6.71%) Git
4 19 (6.38%) Android Studio
4 19 (6.38%) Xcode
5 14 (4.70%) GitLab
6 10 (3.36%) JIRA
6 10 (3.36%) JMeter
7 9 (3.02%) Burp Suite
7 9 (3.02%) Cucumber
7 9 (3.02%) JUnit
7 9 (3.02%) Sonatype Nexus
8 7 (2.35%) Artifactory
8 7 (2.35%) Metasploit
9 4 (1.34%) Valgrind
10 2 (0.67%) Subversion
10 2 (0.67%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.34%) LoadRunner
11 1 (0.34%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 98 (32.89%) Social Skills
2 30 (10.07%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (6.38%) Finance
4 18 (6.04%) Public Sector
5 16 (5.37%) Military
6 13 (4.36%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (2.01%) Legal
8 4 (1.34%) Banking
8 4 (1.34%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.01%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.67%) Back Office
10 2 (0.67%) Front Office
11 1 (0.34%) Electronics
11 1 (0.34%) French Language
11 1 (0.34%) German Language
11 1 (0.34%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.34%) Law
11 1 (0.34%) Retail
Job Titles
1 44 (14.77%) Support Engineer
2 35 (11.74%) Technical Support
3 31 (10.40%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 30 (10.07%) Architect
5 27 (9.06%) Analyst
6 26 (8.72%) Senior
7 22 (7.38%) DevOps Engineer
7 22 (7.38%) Technical Engineer
7 22 (7.38%) Technical Support Engineer
8 20 (6.71%) UX Engineer
9 19 (6.38%) Infrastructure Support
9 19 (6.38%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
10 16 (5.37%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
10 16 (5.37%) Software Engineer
10 16 (5.37%) Tester
11 14 (4.70%) Developer
11 14 (4.70%) IT Support
12 13 (4.36%) Infrastructure Architect
12 13 (4.36%) SOC Analyst
13 12 (4.03%) Support Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (7.05%) Kafka
2 20 (6.71%) Ajax
2 20 (6.71%) AngularJS
2 20 (6.71%) CSS
2 20 (6.71%) GraphQL
2 20 (6.71%) React
3 15 (5.03%) Elastic Stack
4 11 (3.69%) XML
5 10 (3.36%) JSON
5 10 (3.36%) Loki
6 9 (3.02%) Spring
7 8 (2.68%) Hibernate
7 8 (2.68%) REST
7 8 (2.68%) YAML
8 7 (2.35%) Middleware
9 5 (1.68%) Web Services
10 3 (1.01%) Keycloak
10 3 (1.01%) Oracle GoldenGate
10 3 (1.01%) Swagger
11 2 (0.67%) Jinja
Miscellaneous
1 20 (6.71%) Cloud Native
1 20 (6.71%) Mobile App
2 14 (4.70%) Analytical Mindset
2 14 (4.70%) Replication
3 13 (4.36%) Enterprise Software
3 13 (4.36%) PKI
4 12 (4.03%) Security Operations Centre
5 8 (2.68%) Virtual Team
6 7 (2.35%) Management Information System
7 6 (2.01%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (2.01%) Onboarding
8 5 (1.68%) CAN bus
8 5 (1.68%) Data Centre
8 5 (1.68%) Security Posture
9 4 (1.34%) Cyberattack
9 4 (1.34%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (1.34%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.34%) Smartcard
10 3 (1.01%) Clustering
11 2 (0.67%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 147 (49.33%) Windows
2 56 (18.79%) Unix
3 41 (13.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 19 (6.38%) Android
5 15 (5.03%) Windows Server
6 14 (4.70%) Ubuntu
7 9 (3.02%) Kali Linux
8 7 (2.35%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (1.68%) CentOS
9 5 (1.68%) Mac OS
9 5 (1.68%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (1.01%) Debian
11 2 (0.67%) SUSE
11 2 (0.67%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.34%) Solaris
12 1 (0.34%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (29.53%) CI/CD
2 67 (22.48%) DevOps
3 50 (16.78%) Problem-Solving
4 47 (15.77%) Agile
5 43 (14.43%) ITIL
6 39 (13.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 38 (12.75%) Containerisation
7 38 (12.75%) Infrastructure as Code
8 32 (10.74%) OO
9 26 (8.72%) Continuous Improvement
10 24 (8.05%) Incident Response
10 24 (8.05%) Observability
10 24 (8.05%) SIEM
10 24 (8.05%) User Experience
11 23 (7.72%) Cybersecurity
12 22 (7.38%) Computer Science
12 22 (7.38%) DevSecOps
12 22 (7.38%) High Availability
12 22 (7.38%) Performance Tuning
12 22 (7.38%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 117 (39.26%) Python
2 55 (18.46%) Java
3 51 (17.11%) Bash
4 50 (16.78%) PowerShell
5 43 (14.43%) SQL
6 40 (13.42%) JavaScript
7 38 (12.75%) Perl
8 15 (5.03%) Shell Script
9 14 (4.70%) C#
10 12 (4.03%) C++
11 5 (1.68%) Embedded C++
12 4 (1.34%) C
12 4 (1.34%) PL/SQL
12 4 (1.34%) Search Processing Language
13 3 (1.01%) Go
14 2 (0.67%) Ada
14 2 (0.67%) Assembly Language
14 2 (0.67%) MATLAB
15 1 (0.34%) Delphi
15 1 (0.34%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 147 (49.33%) Security Cleared
2 87 (29.19%) SC Cleared
3 57 (19.13%) DV Cleared
4 25 (8.39%) Degree
5 20 (6.71%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (4.70%) Azure Certification
7 12 (4.03%) CISSP
7 12 (4.03%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (3.69%) Network+ Certification
8 11 (3.69%) Server+ Certification
9 9 (3.02%) CEH
9 9 (3.02%) GCFA
9 9 (3.02%) GCIH
10 8 (2.68%) OSCP
11 7 (2.35%) AWS Certification
11 7 (2.35%) GCIA
11 7 (2.35%) GPEN
11 7 (2.35%) ITIL Certification
11 7 (2.35%) RHCE
12 6 (2.01%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.69%) GDPR
1 11 (3.69%) NIST
1 11 (3.69%) QA
2 9 (3.02%) HIPAA
3 8 (2.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.34%) SOC 2
5 2 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.34%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.34%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 17025
6 1 (0.34%) SLA
System Software
1 57 (19.13%) VMware Infrastructure
2 34 (11.41%) Docker
3 22 (7.38%) Active Directory
4 21 (7.05%) vSphere
5 17 (5.70%) Hyper-V
6 12 (4.03%) Virtual Machines
7 8 (2.68%) VMware NSX
8 4 (1.34%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (1.01%) Oracle RAC
10 2 (0.67%) KVM
11 1 (0.34%) Firmware
11 1 (0.34%) GPFS
11 1 (0.34%) NDS
11 1 (0.34%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 1 (0.34%) NFS
Systems Management
1 72 (24.16%) Ansible
2 61 (20.47%) Kubernetes
3 55 (18.46%) Terraform
4 26 (8.72%) Grafana
5 24 (8.05%) Prometheus
6 18 (6.04%) Argo
7 14 (4.70%) Red Hat Satellite
8 13 (4.36%) Progress Chef
9 10 (3.36%) vCenter Server
10 9 (3.02%) Nmap
10 9 (3.02%) Puppet
10 9 (3.02%) SCOM
11 8 (2.68%) Kustomize
12 7 (2.35%) HP SiteScope
12 7 (2.35%) Sysdig
13 6 (2.01%) Data Guard
13 6 (2.01%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
13 6 (2.01%) Oracle RMAN
13 6 (2.01%) Podman
13 6 (2.01%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 86 (28.86%) VMware
2 83 (27.85%) Microsoft
3 61 (20.47%) Red Hat
4 51 (17.11%) Splunk
5 44 (14.77%) Oracle
6 20 (6.71%) ServiceNow
7 9 (3.02%) Cisco
8 8 (2.68%) CrowdStrike
9 7 (2.35%) IBM
9 7 (2.35%) Remedy
10 6 (2.01%) ArcSight
10 6 (2.01%) Confluent
10 6 (2.01%) Pure Storage
11 5 (1.68%) Google
11 5 (1.68%) LogRhythm
11 5 (1.68%) NetApp
12 4 (1.34%) MuleSoft
12 4 (1.34%) SAP
12 4 (1.34%) Zscaler
13 3 (1.01%) Mellanox