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 26 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 31 18
Rank change year-on-year -3 -13 +1
Contract jobs citing Linux 303 179 438
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 4.87% 5.85% 7.69%
As % of the Operating Systems category 40.40% 32.31% 43.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 221 135 290
10th Percentile £300 £402 £350
25th Percentile £413 £463 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £529 £533
Median % change year-on-year -3.03% -0.84% +2.50%
75th Percentile £595 £600 £608
90th Percentile £650 £626 £650
England median daily rate £513 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -6.82% - -7.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 7 27
10th Percentile £27.45 £38.98 £26.25
25th Percentile £43.81 £51.78 £48.13
Median hourly rate £50.00 £57.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% -17.86% +7.69%
75th Percentile £57.50 £59.44 -
90th Percentile £68.30 £61.08 £75.00
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

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 750 554 1,011
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.06% 18.10% 17.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 493 388 641
10th Percentile £204 £199 £205
25th Percentile £313 £324 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £480
Median % change year-on-year -3.06% +2.08% +6.67%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £595
90th Percentile £644 £660 £663
England median daily rate £459 £463 £475
% change year-on-year -0.76% -2.63% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 40 67
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.20 £15.95
25th Percentile £19.49 £15.50 £17.85
Median hourly rate £32.50 £18.82 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +72.69% -60.38% -15.56%
75th Percentile £53.46 £28.00 £69.84
90th Percentile £60.00 £58.69 £73.75
England median hourly rate £32.50 £19.27 £24.18
% change year-on-year +68.66% -20.31% -44.73%

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 26 June 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 26 June 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 26 June 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 +9 187 £473 -5.50% 42
Berkshire -8 86 £414 -17.20% 20
Hampshire -11 86 £550 - 63
Buckinghamshire +4 63 £536 +2.17% 8
Oxfordshire +1 38 £450 -18.18% 14
Surrey -17 22 £208 -56.32% 25
West Sussex -20 3 £459 -14.60% 8
East Sussex - 3 £459 - 2
Middlesex - 1 £198 - 1
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Sussex - 1 - - 3
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 (4.95%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.98%) OpenStack
3 5 (1.65%) Apache Airflow
4 4 (1.32%) Apache
4 4 (1.32%) WebSphere
4 4 (1.32%) WebSphere Application Server
5 3 (0.99%) Confluence
5 3 (0.99%) IIS
5 3 (0.99%) nginx
5 3 (0.99%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.66%) Appian
6 2 (0.66%) IBM HTTP Server
6 2 (0.66%) JBoss
6 2 (0.66%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 2 (0.66%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.66%) WebSphere Portal
7 1 (0.33%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (1.32%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 65 (21.45%) Azure
2 59 (19.47%) AWS
3 25 (8.25%) Entra ID
4 20 (6.60%) Microsoft 365
5 14 (4.62%) OpenShift
6 12 (3.96%) SaaS
7 11 (3.63%) GCP
8 10 (3.30%) GitHub
9 9 (2.97%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (2.31%) Azure Sentinel
10 7 (2.31%) IaaS
10 7 (2.31%) PaaS
11 6 (1.98%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 5 (1.65%) Amazon EKS
12 5 (1.65%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (1.32%) Serverless
14 3 (0.99%) Cloudflare
14 3 (0.99%) Sauce Labs
15 2 (0.66%) Amazon EC2
15 2 (0.66%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 24 (7.92%) DNS
2 21 (6.93%) Firewall
3 13 (4.29%) VSAN
3 13 (4.29%) WAN
4 11 (3.63%) LAN
5 10 (3.30%) Network Security
6 9 (2.97%) Cisco ASA
6 9 (2.97%) Cisco Firepower
7 8 (2.64%) SAN
7 8 (2.64%) SSH
7 8 (2.64%) Wireless
7 8 (2.64%) Wireshark
8 7 (2.31%) Software-Defined Radio
8 7 (2.31%) TCP/IP
8 7 (2.31%) VPN
9 6 (1.98%) Cisco Nexus
9 6 (1.98%) Diameter Protocol
9 6 (1.98%) LTE
9 6 (1.98%) Radio Access Network
9 6 (1.98%) VoWiFi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (10.23%) SQL Server
2 20 (6.60%) MySQL
3 13 (4.29%) Relational Database
4 9 (2.97%) Oracle Database
5 7 (2.31%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.65%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (1.32%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.99%) Oracle Database 11g
8 3 (0.99%) Redis
9 2 (0.66%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.66%) DataStage
9 2 (0.66%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.66%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.66%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.66%) Vitess
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.33%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
10 1 (0.33%) Pentaho
10 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 17 (5.61%) GitLab
2 12 (3.96%) Jenkins
2 12 (3.96%) JIRA
3 9 (2.97%) Git
4 7 (2.31%) Eclipse
5 5 (1.65%) Maven
5 5 (1.65%) MLflow
6 4 (1.32%) Jaeger
6 4 (1.32%) SonarQube
6 4 (1.32%) Subversion
7 3 (0.99%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.99%) Browser DevTools
7 3 (0.99%) Xcode
8 2 (0.66%) Burp Suite
8 2 (0.66%) Introscope
8 2 (0.66%) JUnit
8 2 (0.66%) Robot Framework
9 1 (0.33%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.33%) MSI
9 1 (0.33%) Storybook
General
1 45 (14.85%) Social Skills
2 36 (11.88%) Public Sector
3 21 (6.93%) Analytical Skills
4 18 (5.94%) Documentation Skills
5 16 (5.28%) Military
6 9 (2.97%) Finance
7 7 (2.31%) Retail
8 6 (1.98%) Manufacturing
9 4 (1.32%) Financial Institution
9 4 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.99%) Law
10 3 (0.99%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.66%) Legal
12 1 (0.33%) Advertising
12 1 (0.33%) Electronics
12 1 (0.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 44 (14.52%) Senior
2 43 (14.19%) Linux Engineer
3 33 (10.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 18 (5.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
5 17 (5.61%) Analyst
5 17 (5.61%) Architect
6 16 (5.28%) Developer
7 15 (4.95%) Technical Support
8 13 (4.29%) Network Engineer
8 13 (4.29%) Software Engineer
8 13 (4.29%) Support Engineer
9 12 (3.96%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
9 12 (3.96%) Technical Architect
10 11 (3.63%) Citrix Engineer
10 11 (3.63%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
10 11 (3.63%) Platform Engineer
10 11 (3.63%) Technical Engineer
10 11 (3.63%) Technical Support Engineer
11 10 (3.30%) DBA
12 9 (2.97%) Infrastructure Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (3.96%) YAML
2 9 (2.97%) Kafka
3 8 (2.64%) Middleware
4 7 (2.31%) .NET
4 7 (2.31%) Keycloak
4 7 (2.31%) Yocto
5 6 (1.98%) LDAP
5 6 (1.98%) Loki
6 5 (1.65%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (1.65%) GraphQL
6 5 (1.65%) OpenTelemetry
7 4 (1.32%) 802.1X
7 4 (1.32%) CSS
7 4 (1.32%) gRPC
7 4 (1.32%) LAMP
7 4 (1.32%) Protocol Buffers
7 4 (1.32%) React
7 4 (1.32%) RESTful
7 4 (1.32%) Web Services
7 4 (1.32%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 35 (11.55%) Onboarding
2 21 (6.93%) PKI
3 15 (4.95%) Data Centre
3 15 (4.95%) Public Cloud
4 14 (4.62%) Management Information System
5 13 (4.29%) Product Ownership
6 11 (3.63%) Hybrid Cloud
7 10 (3.30%) Security Posture
8 9 (2.97%) Legacy Systems
9 8 (2.64%) Embedded Systems
9 8 (2.64%) Operational Technology
10 7 (2.31%) Device Driver
10 7 (2.31%) SCADA
10 7 (2.31%) Security Operations Centre
11 6 (1.98%) Cloud Native
11 6 (1.98%) Cyber Defence
11 6 (1.98%) MicroBlaze
11 6 (1.98%) Replication
11 6 (1.98%) RISC-V
12 5 (1.65%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 143 (47.19%) Windows
2 65 (21.45%) Unix
3 41 (13.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 38 (12.54%) Windows Server
5 14 (4.62%) Ubuntu
6 11 (3.63%) Embedded Linux
7 8 (2.64%) Debian
8 6 (1.98%) CentOS
9 5 (1.65%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (1.65%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.99%) Android
11 3 (0.99%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.66%) Kali Linux
12 2 (0.66%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.66%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.33%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.33%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.33%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (19.14%) CI/CD
2 52 (17.16%) SIEM
3 39 (12.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 39 (12.87%) Problem-Solving
4 38 (12.54%) ITIL
5 35 (11.55%) DevOps
6 33 (10.89%) Agile
6 33 (10.89%) Cybersecurity
6 33 (10.89%) Runbook
7 31 (10.23%) Computer Science
8 28 (9.24%) Containerisation
8 28 (9.24%) High Availability
9 27 (8.91%) Infrastructure as Code
9 27 (8.91%) ITSM
10 25 (8.25%) Change Control
11 24 (7.92%) DevSecOps
11 24 (7.92%) Migration
12 22 (7.26%) Privileged Access Management
12 22 (7.26%) Root Cause Analysis
13 21 (6.93%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 95 (31.35%) Python
2 65 (21.45%) PowerShell
3 41 (13.53%) Bash
4 22 (7.26%) SQL
5 19 (6.27%) Java
6 18 (5.94%) C
6 18 (5.94%) JavaScript
7 16 (5.28%) Perl
8 15 (4.95%) C++
9 11 (3.63%) Shell Script
10 7 (2.31%) Rust
11 5 (1.65%) Go
12 4 (1.32%) Embedded C++
13 3 (0.99%) Ada
13 3 (0.99%) Embedded C
13 3 (0.99%) Korn
13 3 (0.99%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.99%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.66%) C#
14 2 (0.66%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 197 (65.02%) Security Cleared
2 141 (46.53%) SC Cleared
3 71 (23.43%) DV Cleared
4 50 (16.50%) Degree
5 16 (5.28%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (4.62%) Cisco Certification
6 14 (4.62%) RHCE
7 11 (3.63%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.64%) CCNP
9 7 (2.31%) AWS Certification
9 7 (2.31%) CISSP
9 7 (2.31%) GIAC
9 7 (2.31%) RHCSA
10 6 (1.98%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 6 (1.98%) CESG Certified Professional
10 6 (1.98%) CISM
10 6 (1.98%) CRISC
10 6 (1.98%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 6 (1.98%) LFCS
10 6 (1.98%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (14.19%) NIST
2 32 (10.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.62%) Cyber Essentials
4 11 (3.63%) SLA
5 9 (2.97%) NCSC
6 6 (1.98%) ISO 31000
7 5 (1.65%) GDPR
7 5 (1.65%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.32%) GRC
9 3 (0.99%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.99%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.33%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.33%) DICOM
10 1 (0.33%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.33%) HL7
10 1 (0.33%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 69 (22.77%) Active Directory
2 44 (14.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (8.25%) VMware NSX
4 17 (5.61%) Docker
5 11 (3.63%) Hyper-V
6 10 (3.30%) Firmware
6 10 (3.30%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (1.98%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (1.65%) Oracle RAC
8 5 (1.65%) vSphere
9 3 (0.99%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.99%) Postfix
9 3 (0.99%) UAG
10 1 (0.33%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.33%) KVM
10 1 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 43 (14.19%) Ansible
2 36 (11.88%) Kubernetes
3 33 (10.89%) Terraform
4 17 (5.61%) Grafana
4 17 (5.61%) Prometheus
5 12 (3.96%) Red Hat Satellite
6 10 (3.30%) Puppet
7 9 (2.97%) Oracle RMAN
8 7 (2.31%) vCenter Server
9 6 (1.98%) Rancher
10 5 (1.65%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (1.32%) Data Guard
11 4 (1.32%) Istio
11 4 (1.32%) Podman
11 4 (1.32%) Progress Chef
11 4 (1.32%) WSUS
12 3 (0.99%) Argo
12 3 (0.99%) HAProxy
12 3 (0.99%) Nessus
12 3 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 76 (25.08%) VMware
2 52 (17.16%) Microsoft
3 49 (16.17%) Red Hat
4 42 (13.86%) Oracle
5 25 (8.25%) BeyondTrust
6 23 (7.59%) Cisco
7 22 (7.26%) CyberArk
8 17 (5.61%) Citrix
9 16 (5.28%) Splunk
10 14 (4.62%) Palo Alto
11 13 (4.29%) ServiceNow
12 10 (3.30%) NVIDIA
13 7 (2.31%) SolarWinds
14 6 (1.98%) BT
14 6 (1.98%) CheckPoint
14 6 (1.98%) Ericsson
14 6 (1.98%) Fortinet
14 6 (1.98%) Google
14 6 (1.98%) Huawei
14 6 (1.98%) Nokia