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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 35 31 24
Rank change year-on-year -4 -7 -2
Contract jobs citing Linux 337 208 336
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.08% 5.86% 7.10%
As % of the Operating Systems category 42.39% 34.49% 41.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 152 220
10th Percentile £305 £220 £355
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +3.50% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £638 £600 £646
England median daily rate £525 £525 £543
% change year-on-year - -3.27% -5.61%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 5 20
10th Percentile £44.13 £32.94 £34.13
25th Percentile £51.25 £51.06 £58.66
Median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -21.43% +14.29%
75th Percentile £67.47 £58.75 -
90th Percentile £71.15 - £70.38
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year - -3.70% +8.00%

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 795 603 819
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.99% 17.00% 17.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 522 423 535
10th Percentile £204 £190 £204
25th Percentile £325 £250 £330
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +5.56% +5.88%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £638 £650 £638
England median daily rate £465 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +3.33% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 53 42
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.12 £16.32
25th Percentile £20.50 £16.95 £23.50
Median hourly rate £47.54 £18.87 £55.13
Median % change year-on-year +151.93% -65.77% +0.23%
75th Percentile £60.00 £28.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.47 £58.75 -
England median hourly rate £32.50 £24.00 £39.00
% change year-on-year +35.42% -38.46% -8.24%

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 31 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 31 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 31 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 +8 176 £518 +15.00% 81
Hampshire -8 106 £550 +4.76% 49
Berkshire -9 77 £444 -1.44% 41
Buckinghamshire +6 59 £560 +5.96% 11
Oxfordshire +7 40 £525 +44.83% 30
Surrey -19 37 £455 +104.49% 35
West Sussex -16 9 £425 -22.73% 7
Middlesex -19 5 £198 -
Sussex - 2 - - 1
Isle of Wight - 1 - - 2
East Sussex - 1 £459 - 9
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 9 (2.67%) Apache
2 8 (2.37%) Confluence
2 8 (2.37%) nginx
3 6 (1.78%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (1.78%) OpenStack
4 5 (1.48%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (1.19%) WebSphere
5 4 (1.19%) WebSphere Application Server
6 3 (0.89%) IIS
6 3 (0.89%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.59%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.59%) JBoss
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.59%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.59%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle Service Bus
8 1 (0.30%) SAS
8 1 (0.30%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.19%) Microsoft Project
2 3 (0.89%) Houdini
2 3 (0.89%) NUKE
3 2 (0.59%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.30%) CINEMA 4D
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 100 (29.67%) Azure
2 72 (21.36%) AWS
3 35 (10.39%) Entra ID
4 22 (6.53%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (5.34%) OpenShift
6 15 (4.45%) Azure Monitor
7 14 (4.15%) Azure Sentinel
8 11 (3.26%) GCP
9 10 (2.97%) SaaS
10 9 (2.67%) IaaS
11 7 (2.08%) GitHub
11 7 (2.08%) PaaS
12 6 (1.78%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.78%) GitHub Actions
13 5 (1.48%) Amazon EKS
14 4 (1.19%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 4 (1.19%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 4 (1.19%) Cloudflare
14 4 (1.19%) Serverless
15 3 (0.89%) Sauce Labs
Communications & Networking
1 45 (13.35%) DNS
2 42 (12.46%) Firewall
3 32 (9.50%) DHCP
4 25 (7.42%) VPN
5 23 (6.82%) TCP/IP
6 16 (4.75%) LAN
6 16 (4.75%) WAN
7 15 (4.45%) Network Security
8 11 (3.26%) Software-Defined Radio
8 11 (3.26%) VSAN
8 11 (3.26%) Wireless
9 10 (2.97%) Cisco ASA
9 10 (2.97%) Cisco Firepower
10 9 (2.67%) SSH
10 9 (2.67%) SSL
11 8 (2.37%) SAN
12 7 (2.08%) LTE
13 6 (1.78%) Diameter Protocol
13 6 (1.78%) Radio Access Network
13 6 (1.78%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (7.12%) SQL Server
2 18 (5.34%) Oracle Database
3 11 (3.26%) MySQL
4 7 (2.08%) DataStage
5 5 (1.48%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.19%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (1.19%) Oracle Database 11g
6 4 (1.19%) Oracle Database 12c
7 3 (0.89%) PostgreSQL
8 2 (0.59%) Electronic Patient Records
8 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database 10g
8 2 (0.59%) Redis
8 2 (0.59%) Vitess
9 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.30%) Metadata
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle ODI
9 1 (0.30%) Pentaho
9 1 (0.30%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 24 (7.12%) JIRA
2 22 (6.53%) GitLab
3 14 (4.15%) Git
4 13 (3.86%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.78%) MLflow
6 5 (1.48%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (1.48%) Bitbucket
7 4 (1.19%) Eclipse
7 4 (1.19%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.89%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.89%) Browser DevTools
8 3 (0.89%) Xcode
9 2 (0.59%) Introscope
9 2 (0.59%) Jaeger
10 1 (0.30%) Maven
10 1 (0.30%) MSI
10 1 (0.30%) Octopus Deploy
10 1 (0.30%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.30%) Subversion
10 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 57 (16.91%) Social Skills
2 32 (9.50%) Analytical Skills
3 28 (8.31%) Public Sector
4 19 (5.64%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (3.26%) Aerospace
5 11 (3.26%) Finance
6 7 (2.08%) Military
6 7 (2.08%) Retail
7 5 (1.48%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.19%) Financial Institution
8 4 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.19%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.30%) Automotive
9 1 (0.30%) Banking
9 1 (0.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.30%) Legal
Job Titles
1 48 (14.24%) Linux Engineer
2 47 (13.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 46 (13.65%) Senior
4 25 (7.42%) Architect
4 25 (7.42%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
5 22 (6.53%) Platform Engineer
6 17 (5.04%) Embedded Engineer
6 17 (5.04%) Software Engineer
7 16 (4.75%) Cloud Engineer
7 16 (4.75%) Developer
7 16 (4.75%) Support Engineer
8 15 (4.45%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
9 12 (3.56%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 11 (3.26%) Citrix Engineer
10 11 (3.26%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
10 11 (3.26%) Network Engineer
10 11 (3.26%) Systems Engineer
10 11 (3.26%) Technical Engineer
10 11 (3.26%) Technical Support
10 11 (3.26%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (17.21%) Terraform
2 14 (4.15%) Kafka
3 13 (3.86%) ARM Templates
4 11 (3.26%) Yocto
5 10 (2.97%) Middleware
5 10 (2.97%) YAML
6 8 (2.37%) LDAP
7 6 (1.78%) Keycloak
8 5 (1.48%) GraphQL
9 4 (1.19%) gRPC
9 4 (1.19%) Loki
9 4 (1.19%) OpenTofu
9 4 (1.19%) Protocol Buffers
9 4 (1.19%) RESTful
10 3 (0.89%) .NET
10 3 (0.89%) Ajax
10 3 (0.89%) CSS
10 3 (0.89%) LAMP
10 3 (0.89%) React
10 3 (0.89%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 47 (13.95%) Onboarding
2 25 (7.42%) Hybrid Cloud
3 22 (6.53%) PKI
4 17 (5.04%) Management Information System
5 15 (4.45%) Embedded Systems
5 15 (4.45%) Public Cloud
6 14 (4.15%) Cloud Native
6 14 (4.15%) Device Driver
7 12 (3.56%) Product Ownership
8 10 (2.97%) MicroBlaze
8 10 (2.97%) Operational Technology
8 10 (2.97%) RISC-V
9 9 (2.67%) Data Centre
9 9 (2.67%) Enterprise Cloud
9 9 (2.67%) SCADA
10 7 (2.08%) ARM Cortex
10 7 (2.08%) Replication
11 6 (1.78%) Cyber Defence
12 5 (1.48%) Security Posture
13 4 (1.19%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 160 (47.48%) Windows
2 65 (19.29%) Unix
3 53 (15.73%) Windows Server
4 50 (14.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 21 (6.23%) Embedded Linux
6 17 (5.04%) Ubuntu
7 14 (4.15%) Windows 10
8 12 (3.56%) CentOS
9 10 (2.97%) Debian
10 7 (2.08%) Oracle Linux
11 6 (1.78%) Mac OS
12 5 (1.48%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.89%) Android
13 3 (0.89%) Solaris
13 3 (0.89%) Windows Server 2016
14 2 (0.59%) AIX
14 2 (0.59%) HPUX
14 2 (0.59%) Rocky
14 2 (0.59%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 2 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (18.40%) CI/CD
2 56 (16.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 53 (15.73%) ITIL
4 46 (13.65%) Agile
4 46 (13.65%) DevOps
5 43 (12.76%) Infrastructure as Code
5 43 (12.76%) SIEM
6 42 (12.46%) Problem-Solving
7 39 (11.57%) Cybersecurity
8 37 (10.98%) Containerisation
8 37 (10.98%) Platform Engineering
9 34 (10.09%) ITSM
10 33 (9.79%) Continuous Improvement
10 33 (9.79%) Runbook
11 32 (9.50%) Migration
11 32 (9.50%) Software Engineering
12 28 (8.31%) Computer Science
12 28 (8.31%) DevSecOps
13 26 (7.72%) Root Cause Analysis
14 24 (7.12%) Change Control
Programming Languages
1 104 (30.86%) Python
2 88 (26.11%) PowerShell
3 64 (18.99%) Bash
4 27 (8.01%) C
5 21 (6.23%) C++
6 20 (5.93%) SQL
7 15 (4.45%) Shell Script
8 13 (3.86%) Bicep
9 11 (3.26%) Java
9 11 (3.26%) JavaScript
10 10 (2.97%) Perl
11 7 (2.08%) Embedded C++
11 7 (2.08%) PL/SQL
12 6 (1.78%) Embedded C
13 4 (1.19%) Rust
14 2 (0.59%) C#
14 2 (0.59%) Go
14 2 (0.59%) Jython
14 2 (0.59%) Scala
14 2 (0.59%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 202 (59.94%) Security Cleared
2 144 (42.73%) SC Cleared
3 79 (23.44%) DV Cleared
4 45 (13.35%) Degree
5 13 (3.86%) Cisco Certification
6 12 (3.56%) Computer Science Degree
7 11 (3.26%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (2.97%) RHCE
9 7 (2.08%) AWS Certification
9 7 (2.08%) CISM
9 7 (2.08%) CISSP
10 6 (1.78%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 6 (1.78%) CCNP
10 6 (1.78%) CESG Certified Professional
10 6 (1.78%) CRISC
10 6 (1.78%) GIAC
10 6 (1.78%) ISTQB
10 6 (1.78%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 5 (1.48%) CCSE
11 5 (1.48%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (11.87%) NIST
2 31 (9.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (3.56%) SLA
4 11 (3.26%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (2.37%) NCSC
6 6 (1.78%) ISO 31000
7 4 (1.19%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.89%) GDPR
8 3 (0.89%) GRC
9 2 (0.59%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.59%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.59%) QA
10 1 (0.30%) DICOM
10 1 (0.30%) HL7
10 1 (0.30%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.30%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 84 (24.93%) Active Directory
2 48 (14.24%) VMware Infrastructure
3 32 (9.50%) Docker
4 24 (7.12%) VMware NSX
5 18 (5.34%) VMware ESXi
6 16 (4.75%) Firmware
6 16 (4.75%) Hyper-V
7 11 (3.26%) Embedded Firmware
8 6 (1.78%) Oracle RAC
8 6 (1.78%) vSphere
9 4 (1.19%) KVM
9 4 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.89%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.89%) Postfix
10 3 (0.89%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 2 (0.59%) UAG
11 2 (0.59%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 60 (17.80%) Kubernetes
2 54 (16.02%) Ansible
3 17 (5.04%) Grafana
3 17 (5.04%) Prometheus
4 14 (4.15%) Puppet
5 11 (3.26%) SCCM
5 11 (3.26%) vCenter Server
6 9 (2.67%) Red Hat Satellite
7 8 (2.37%) Oracle RMAN
7 8 (2.37%) Progress Chef
8 7 (2.08%) Microsoft Intune
9 6 (1.78%) Packer
9 6 (1.78%) WSUS
10 5 (1.48%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 5 (1.48%) Data Guard
10 5 (1.48%) Istio
10 5 (1.48%) Podman
10 5 (1.48%) SCOM
11 4 (1.19%) Argo
11 4 (1.19%) Rancher
Vendors
1 81 (24.04%) VMware
2 77 (22.85%) Microsoft
3 49 (14.54%) Oracle
4 43 (12.76%) Red Hat
5 24 (7.12%) CyberArk
6 22 (6.53%) BeyondTrust
7 21 (6.23%) ServiceNow
8 20 (5.93%) Cisco
9 19 (5.64%) Citrix
10 15 (4.45%) Splunk
11 14 (4.15%) Palo Alto
12 12 (3.56%) IBM
13 11 (3.26%) SolarWinds
14 8 (2.37%) CrowdStrike
14 8 (2.37%) Google
14 8 (2.37%) NVIDIA
15 7 (2.08%) Nokia
16 6 (1.78%) BT
16 6 (1.78%) Ericsson
16 6 (1.78%) Tanium