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

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 36 36 22
Rank change year-on-year 0 -14 -3
Contract jobs citing Linux 348 185 373
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.21% 5.24% 7.60%
As % of the Operating Systems category 41.83% 31.41% 42.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 256 142 256
10th Percentile £341 £325 £350
25th Percentile £425 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £509 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -3.10% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £643 - £638
England median daily rate £525 £525 £548
% change year-on-year - -4.11% -4.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 5 22
10th Percentile £43.81 £32.94 £35.18
25th Percentile £50.00 £51.06 £57.19
Median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -21.43% +17.89%
75th Percentile £67.47 £58.75 -
90th Percentile £73.86 - £73.38
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year - -3.70% +3.85%

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 832 589 879
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.45% 16.68% 17.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 552 416 580
10th Percentile £204 £190 £205
25th Percentile £358 £259 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £473
Median % change year-on-year - +0.37% +11.35%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £638 £650 £638
England median daily rate £470 £454 £490
% change year-on-year +3.47% -7.20% -2.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 52 47
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.12 £16.32
25th Percentile £21.15 £16.95 £24.42
Median hourly rate £42.71 £18.87 £57.25
Median % change year-on-year +126.31% -67.04% +4.09%
75th Percentile £59.00 £28.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.47 £58.75 £71.50
England median hourly rate £33.32 £23.00 £34.50
% change year-on-year +44.85% -33.33% -16.96%

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 10 August 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 10 August 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 10 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 +15 194 £518 +8.95% 85
Hampshire -9 106 £550 - 65
Berkshire -13 82 £440 -2.22% 33
Buckinghamshire +12 69 £536 +1.50% 14
Oxfordshire +10 43 £525 +44.83% 38
Surrey -18 34 £304 -36.05% 20
West Sussex -19 8 £425 -22.73% 13
Middlesex -14 4 £198 - 2
Isle of Wight - 1 - - 1
East Sussex - 1 £459 - 7
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 10 (2.87%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (2.59%) Apache
3 8 (2.30%) Confluence
3 8 (2.30%) nginx
4 6 (1.72%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.72%) OpenStack
5 4 (1.15%) WebSphere
5 4 (1.15%) WebSphere Application Server
6 3 (0.86%) IIS
6 3 (0.86%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.57%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.57%) JBoss
7 2 (0.57%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.57%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.57%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle Service Bus
8 1 (0.29%) SAS
8 1 (0.29%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.15%) Microsoft Project
2 3 (0.86%) Houdini
2 3 (0.86%) NUKE
3 2 (0.57%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.29%) CINEMA 4D
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 99 (28.45%) Azure
2 76 (21.84%) AWS
3 33 (9.48%) Entra ID
4 22 (6.32%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (4.89%) OpenShift
6 14 (4.02%) Azure Sentinel
7 13 (3.74%) SaaS
8 12 (3.45%) Azure Monitor
9 11 (3.16%) GCP
10 10 (2.87%) IaaS
11 9 (2.59%) GitHub
12 8 (2.30%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (2.30%) PaaS
13 6 (1.72%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 5 (1.44%) Amazon EKS
14 5 (1.44%) Azure DevOps
15 4 (1.15%) Cloudflare
15 4 (1.15%) Serverless
16 3 (0.86%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 3 (0.86%) Sauce Labs
Communications & Networking
1 45 (12.93%) DNS
2 44 (12.64%) Firewall
3 28 (8.05%) DHCP
4 22 (6.32%) VPN
5 20 (5.75%) TCP/IP
6 16 (4.60%) WAN
7 15 (4.31%) LAN
8 14 (4.02%) Network Security
9 13 (3.74%) VSAN
10 10 (2.87%) Cisco ASA
10 10 (2.87%) Cisco Firepower
10 10 (2.87%) SSH
11 9 (2.59%) SAN
11 9 (2.59%) SSL
12 8 (2.30%) Wireless
13 7 (2.01%) LTE
13 7 (2.01%) Software-Defined Radio
13 7 (2.01%) Wireshark
14 6 (1.72%) Diameter Protocol
14 6 (1.72%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (8.33%) SQL Server
2 18 (5.17%) Oracle Database
3 12 (3.45%) MySQL
4 7 (2.01%) DataStage
5 6 (1.72%) Oracle Database 12c
6 5 (1.44%) Oracle Database 11g
6 5 (1.44%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.44%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.15%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.57%) Electronic Patient Records
8 2 (0.57%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.57%) Oracle Database 10g
8 2 (0.57%) Redis
8 2 (0.57%) Vitess
9 1 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.29%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.29%) Metadata
9 1 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.29%) Pentaho
9 1 (0.29%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 23 (6.61%) JIRA
2 19 (5.46%) GitLab
3 12 (3.45%) Jenkins
4 11 (3.16%) Git
5 7 (2.01%) Eclipse
6 6 (1.72%) MLflow
7 5 (1.44%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (1.44%) Bitbucket
8 4 (1.15%) Jaeger
8 4 (1.15%) Maven
8 4 (1.15%) SonarQube
8 4 (1.15%) Subversion
9 3 (0.86%) Android Studio
9 3 (0.86%) Browser DevTools
9 3 (0.86%) Xcode
10 2 (0.57%) Introscope
10 2 (0.57%) Robot Framework
11 1 (0.29%) MSI
11 1 (0.29%) Octopus Deploy
11 1 (0.29%) Rational DOORS
General
1 59 (16.95%) Social Skills
2 34 (9.77%) Public Sector
3 33 (9.48%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (5.75%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (3.16%) Military
6 10 (2.87%) Finance
7 8 (2.30%) Aerospace
8 7 (2.01%) Retail
9 6 (1.72%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.44%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.15%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.15%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.29%) Automotive
12 1 (0.29%) Electronics
12 1 (0.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.29%) Legal
12 1 (0.29%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 52 (14.94%) Linux Engineer
2 49 (14.08%) Senior
3 46 (13.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 24 (6.90%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
5 23 (6.61%) Architect
6 22 (6.32%) Platform Engineer
7 20 (5.75%) Developer
8 16 (4.60%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (4.31%) Cloud Engineer
10 13 (3.74%) Support Engineer
11 12 (3.45%) DBA
11 12 (3.45%) Network Engineer
12 11 (3.16%) Analyst
12 11 (3.16%) Citrix Engineer
12 11 (3.16%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
12 11 (3.16%) Embedded Engineer
12 11 (3.16%) Software Engineer
12 11 (3.16%) Technical Engineer
12 11 (3.16%) Technical Support
12 11 (3.16%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.02%) Kafka
2 13 (3.74%) YAML
3 10 (2.87%) ARM Templates
3 10 (2.87%) Middleware
4 8 (2.30%) LDAP
4 8 (2.30%) Yocto
5 6 (1.72%) Keycloak
5 6 (1.72%) Loki
6 5 (1.44%) .NET
6 5 (1.44%) GraphQL
6 5 (1.44%) OpenTelemetry
7 4 (1.15%) 802.1X
7 4 (1.15%) gRPC
7 4 (1.15%) Protocol Buffers
7 4 (1.15%) RESTful
7 4 (1.15%) XML
8 3 (0.86%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.86%) CSS
8 3 (0.86%) LEMP Stack
8 3 (0.86%) React
Miscellaneous
1 45 (12.93%) Onboarding
2 26 (7.47%) Hybrid Cloud
3 23 (6.61%) PKI
4 18 (5.17%) Management Information System
4 18 (5.17%) Public Cloud
5 14 (4.02%) Product Ownership
6 12 (3.45%) Cloud Native
6 12 (3.45%) Data Centre
7 11 (3.16%) Device Driver
7 11 (3.16%) Embedded Systems
8 10 (2.87%) Operational Technology
9 9 (2.59%) SCADA
10 8 (2.30%) Replication
10 8 (2.30%) Security Posture
11 7 (2.01%) MicroBlaze
11 7 (2.01%) RISC-V
12 6 (1.72%) ARM Cortex
12 6 (1.72%) Cyber Defence
12 6 (1.72%) Enterprise Cloud
12 6 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 159 (45.69%) Windows
2 67 (19.25%) Unix
3 53 (15.23%) Windows Server
4 51 (14.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 18 (5.17%) Embedded Linux
5 18 (5.17%) Ubuntu
6 10 (2.87%) Windows 10
7 9 (2.59%) CentOS
8 8 (2.30%) Debian
9 7 (2.01%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (1.44%) Mac OS
10 5 (1.44%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (1.15%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.86%) Android
12 3 (0.86%) Solaris
12 3 (0.86%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.57%) AIX
13 2 (0.57%) HPUX
13 2 (0.57%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.29%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (19.25%) CI/CD
2 54 (15.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 53 (15.23%) ITIL
4 47 (13.51%) DevOps
4 47 (13.51%) SIEM
5 42 (12.07%) Infrastructure as Code
6 40 (11.49%) Problem-Solving
7 39 (11.21%) Agile
8 38 (10.92%) Containerisation
8 38 (10.92%) Cybersecurity
9 37 (10.63%) Migration
9 37 (10.63%) Platform Engineering
10 34 (9.77%) Runbook
11 32 (9.20%) ITSM
11 32 (9.20%) Root Cause Analysis
12 31 (8.91%) High Availability
13 30 (8.62%) Continuous Improvement
14 28 (8.05%) Computer Science
14 28 (8.05%) DevSecOps
15 25 (7.18%) Change Control
Programming Languages
1 111 (31.90%) Python
2 89 (25.57%) PowerShell
3 66 (18.97%) Bash
4 24 (6.90%) SQL
5 23 (6.61%) C
6 19 (5.46%) C++
7 14 (4.02%) Java
7 14 (4.02%) Shell Script
8 11 (3.16%) JavaScript
9 10 (2.87%) Bicep
9 10 (2.87%) Perl
10 7 (2.01%) Embedded C++
11 6 (1.72%) Embedded C
11 6 (1.72%) PL/SQL
12 5 (1.44%) Go
13 4 (1.15%) Rust
14 3 (0.86%) Korn
15 2 (0.57%) Jython
15 2 (0.57%) Scala
15 2 (0.57%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 210 (60.34%) Security Cleared
2 156 (44.83%) SC Cleared
3 75 (21.55%) DV Cleared
4 48 (13.79%) Degree
5 14 (4.02%) Cisco Certification
5 14 (4.02%) RHCE
6 12 (3.45%) BPSS Clearance
7 11 (3.16%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (2.30%) AWS Certification
9 7 (2.01%) CCNP
9 7 (2.01%) CISM
9 7 (2.01%) CISSP
9 7 (2.01%) RHCSA
10 6 (1.72%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 6 (1.72%) CESG Certified Professional
10 6 (1.72%) CRISC
10 6 (1.72%) GIAC
10 6 (1.72%) LFCS
11 5 (1.44%) CCSM
11 5 (1.44%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (12.64%) NIST
2 33 (9.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (4.31%) Cyber Essentials
4 12 (3.45%) SLA
5 11 (3.16%) NCSC
6 6 (1.72%) GDPR
6 6 (1.72%) ISO 31000
6 6 (1.72%) JSP 440
7 5 (1.44%) GRC
7 5 (1.44%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.57%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.57%) Disclosure Scotland
8 2 (0.57%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.29%) DICOM
9 1 (0.29%) HL7
9 1 (0.29%) OpenSCAP
9 1 (0.29%) QA
System Software
1 86 (24.71%) Active Directory
2 53 (15.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 28 (8.05%) Docker
4 25 (7.18%) VMware NSX
5 18 (5.17%) Hyper-V
6 16 (4.60%) VMware ESXi
7 13 (3.74%) Firmware
8 7 (2.01%) Embedded Firmware
8 7 (2.01%) Oracle RAC
9 5 (1.44%) vSphere
10 4 (1.15%) KVM
10 4 (1.15%) Virtual Machines
11 3 (0.86%) Dovecot
11 3 (0.86%) Postfix
11 3 (0.86%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 2 (0.57%) UAG
12 2 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.29%) Citrix Hypervisor
Systems Management
1 58 (16.67%) Kubernetes
2 56 (16.09%) Terraform
3 54 (15.52%) Ansible
4 19 (5.46%) Grafana
4 19 (5.46%) Prometheus
5 14 (4.02%) Puppet
6 11 (3.16%) Oracle RMAN
7 10 (2.87%) vCenter Server
8 9 (2.59%) Red Hat Satellite
8 9 (2.59%) SCCM
9 8 (2.30%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (2.30%) Progress Chef
10 7 (2.01%) Rancher
11 6 (1.72%) Data Guard
11 6 (1.72%) Istio
11 6 (1.72%) Packer
12 5 (1.44%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (1.44%) SCOM
12 5 (1.44%) WSUS
13 4 (1.15%) Podman
Vendors
1 88 (25.29%) VMware
2 76 (21.84%) Microsoft
3 49 (14.08%) Red Hat
4 48 (13.79%) Oracle
5 24 (6.90%) CyberArk
6 23 (6.61%) BeyondTrust
6 23 (6.61%) Cisco
7 21 (6.03%) ServiceNow
8 19 (5.46%) Citrix
9 17 (4.89%) Palo Alto
9 17 (4.89%) Splunk
10 12 (3.45%) IBM
10 12 (3.45%) SolarWinds
11 8 (2.30%) NVIDIA
12 7 (2.01%) Atlassian
12 7 (2.01%) CrowdStrike
12 7 (2.01%) Google
12 7 (2.01%) Nokia
12 7 (2.01%) Tenable
13 6 (1.72%) Ericsson