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 25 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 41 24 29
Rank change year-on-year -17 +5 -10
Contract jobs citing Linux 331 232 314
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.01% 6.61% 6.90%
As % of the Operating Systems category 42.93% 38.03% 38.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 230 169 197
10th Percentile £275 £206 £350
25th Percentile £442 £368 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -5.00% -0.20%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £608
90th Percentile £650 £600 £638
England median daily rate £525 £525 £540
% change year-on-year - -2.78% -6.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 6 18
10th Percentile £44.02 - £33.60
25th Percentile £51.25 £12.50 £61.76
Median hourly rate £60.00 £34.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +76.47% -51.43% +12.00%
75th Percentile £67.47 £58.44 -
90th Percentile £71.24 £58.75 £71.13
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 771 610 806
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.67% 17.38% 17.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 502 437 533
10th Percentile £204 £189 £203
25th Percentile £313 £220 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.89% - +5.88%
75th Percentile £575 £550 £575
90th Percentile £650 £614 £638
England median daily rate £470 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.43% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 48 38
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.20 £16.22
25th Percentile £20.50 £15.50 £27.19
Median hourly rate £36.97 £18.87 £57.00
Median % change year-on-year +95.92% -66.89% +1.78%
75th Percentile £60.00 £25.86 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.47 £66.03 £71.13
England median hourly rate £38.50 £25.08 £60.00
% change year-on-year +53.54% -58.21% +25.44%

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 25 September 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 25 September 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 25 September 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 -1 162 £525 +16.67% 165
Hampshire -9 112 £550 +4.76% 124
Berkshire -30 68 £468 +10.00% 63
Buckinghamshire +11 55 £563 +6.43% 25
Oxfordshire +1 39 £525 +37.70% 77
Surrey -20 37 £455 +119.28% 55
West Sussex -19 9 £425 -18.11% 26
Middlesex -18 6 £198 - 1
Sussex -3 2 - - 1
East Sussex 0 1 £459 - 15
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Home Counties - 1 £600 -
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 (2.72%) Apache
2 8 (2.42%) nginx
3 7 (2.11%) Confluence
3 7 (2.11%) IIS
4 6 (1.81%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.81%) OpenStack
5 3 (0.91%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.60%) JBoss
6 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.60%) SAS
6 2 (0.60%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.60%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.60%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle Service Bus
7 1 (0.30%) WebLogic
Applications
1 3 (0.91%) Houdini
1 3 (0.91%) NUKE
2 2 (0.60%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 1 (0.30%) CINEMA 4D
3 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 101 (30.51%) Azure
2 70 (21.15%) AWS
3 38 (11.48%) Entra ID
4 24 (7.25%) OpenShift
5 21 (6.34%) Microsoft 365
6 16 (4.83%) GCP
7 15 (4.53%) Azure Monitor
8 12 (3.63%) Azure Sentinel
9 9 (2.72%) IaaS
9 9 (2.72%) SaaS
10 8 (2.42%) Azure DevOps
11 7 (2.11%) PaaS
12 6 (1.81%) GitHub
13 5 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
14 4 (1.21%) Amazon EKS
14 4 (1.21%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 4 (1.21%) Cloudflare
14 4 (1.21%) Serverless
15 3 (0.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 3 (0.91%) Sauce Labs
Communications & Networking
1 42 (12.69%) DNS
2 39 (11.78%) Firewall
3 33 (9.97%) DHCP
4 27 (8.16%) VPN
5 21 (6.34%) TCP/IP
6 16 (4.83%) Network Security
7 12 (3.63%) LAN
8 11 (3.32%) Software-Defined Radio
8 11 (3.32%) WAN
8 11 (3.32%) Wireless
9 9 (2.72%) SSH
10 8 (2.42%) Cisco ASA
10 8 (2.42%) Cisco Firepower
10 8 (2.42%) SSL
11 7 (2.11%) LTE
12 6 (1.81%) 5G
12 6 (1.81%) Diameter Protocol
12 6 (1.81%) Radio Access Network
12 6 (1.81%) VoLTE
12 6 (1.81%) VoWiFi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (6.65%) SQL Server
2 18 (5.44%) Oracle Database
3 10 (3.02%) MySQL
4 8 (2.42%) DataStage
5 5 (1.51%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.21%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (1.21%) Oracle Database 11g
7 3 (0.91%) Oracle Database 12c
8 2 (0.60%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.60%) Oracle Database 10g
8 2 (0.60%) PostgreSQL
9 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.30%) IBM InfoSphere
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle ODI
9 1 (0.30%) Pentaho
9 1 (0.30%) Power BI
9 1 (0.30%) Redis
9 1 (0.30%) SQLite
9 1 (0.30%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 23 (6.95%) GitLab
2 22 (6.65%) JIRA
3 18 (5.44%) Git
4 15 (4.53%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.81%) MLflow
6 5 (1.51%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (1.51%) Bitbucket
7 4 (1.21%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.91%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.91%) Browser DevTools
8 3 (0.91%) Eclipse
8 3 (0.91%) Xcode
9 1 (0.30%) Jaeger
9 1 (0.30%) MSI
9 1 (0.30%) Octopus Deploy
9 1 (0.30%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 55 (16.62%) Social Skills
2 33 (9.97%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (7.85%) Public Sector
4 20 (6.04%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (3.32%) Aerospace
6 6 (1.81%) Finance
6 6 (1.81%) Military
7 5 (1.51%) Retail
8 4 (1.21%) Telecoms
9 3 (0.91%) Manufacturing
10 2 (0.60%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.30%) Automotive
11 1 (0.30%) Banking
11 1 (0.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.30%) Legal
Job Titles
1 48 (14.50%) Linux Engineer
2 45 (13.60%) Senior
3 41 (12.39%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 24 (7.25%) Architect
5 21 (6.34%) Platform Engineer
5 21 (6.34%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
6 19 (5.74%) Software Engineer
6 19 (5.74%) Support Engineer
7 18 (5.44%) Embedded Engineer
8 17 (5.14%) Developer
9 16 (4.83%) Analyst
10 15 (4.53%) Cloud Engineer
11 14 (4.23%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
12 13 (3.93%) Embedded Software Engineer
12 13 (3.93%) Systems Engineer
13 11 (3.32%) Technical Engineer
13 11 (3.32%) Technical Support
13 11 (3.32%) Technical Support Engineer
14 10 (3.02%) Citrix Engineer
14 10 (3.02%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 64 (19.34%) Terraform
2 13 (3.93%) ARM Templates
3 11 (3.32%) Kafka
3 11 (3.32%) LDAP
3 11 (3.32%) Yocto
4 10 (3.02%) YAML
5 7 (2.11%) OpenTofu
6 5 (1.51%) GraphQL
6 5 (1.51%) Keycloak
7 4 (1.21%) 802.1X
7 4 (1.21%) gRPC
7 4 (1.21%) Middleware
7 4 (1.21%) Protocol Buffers
7 4 (1.21%) RESTful
8 3 (0.91%) Ajax
8 3 (0.91%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.91%) CSS
8 3 (0.91%) LAMP
8 3 (0.91%) REST
8 3 (0.91%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 45 (13.60%) Onboarding
2 23 (6.95%) Management Information System
3 22 (6.65%) Hybrid Cloud
4 19 (5.74%) Embedded Systems
4 19 (5.74%) PKI
5 14 (4.23%) Device Driver
5 14 (4.23%) Product Ownership
6 13 (3.93%) Cloud Native
6 13 (3.93%) Public Cloud
7 11 (3.32%) Data Centre
7 11 (3.32%) Operational Technology
8 10 (3.02%) Enterprise Cloud
8 10 (3.02%) MicroBlaze
8 10 (3.02%) RISC-V
8 10 (3.02%) SCADA
9 7 (2.11%) ARM Cortex
10 6 (1.81%) Cyber Defence
11 5 (1.51%) Social Media
12 4 (1.21%) Mobile Payment
12 4 (1.21%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 160 (48.34%) Windows
2 62 (18.73%) Unix
3 55 (16.62%) Windows Server
4 51 (15.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 20 (6.04%) Ubuntu
6 18 (5.44%) Embedded Linux
7 17 (5.14%) CentOS
7 17 (5.14%) Windows 10
8 9 (2.72%) Debian
9 6 (1.81%) Mac OS
10 5 (1.51%) Oracle Linux
11 4 (1.21%) Rocky
12 3 (0.91%) Android
12 3 (0.91%) Solaris
13 2 (0.60%) AIX
13 2 (0.60%) HPUX
13 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (20.24%) CI/CD
2 56 (16.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 51 (15.41%) DevOps
4 48 (14.50%) Agile
5 47 (14.20%) Infrastructure as Code
6 46 (13.90%) ITIL
7 45 (13.60%) Cybersecurity
8 42 (12.69%) Problem-Solving
8 42 (12.69%) SIEM
9 40 (12.08%) Containerisation
10 37 (11.18%) Software Engineering
11 36 (10.88%) Platform Engineering
12 35 (10.57%) Continuous Improvement
12 35 (10.57%) ITSM
13 34 (10.27%) Runbook
14 33 (9.97%) Computer Science
15 30 (9.06%) DevSecOps
16 28 (8.46%) Change Control
17 27 (8.16%) Migration
18 23 (6.95%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 104 (31.42%) Python
2 86 (25.98%) PowerShell
3 67 (20.24%) Bash
4 28 (8.46%) C
5 20 (6.04%) SQL
6 18 (5.44%) C++
7 17 (5.14%) Shell Script
8 13 (3.93%) Bicep
9 11 (3.32%) JavaScript
10 10 (3.02%) Java
11 8 (2.42%) Perl
12 7 (2.11%) PL/SQL
13 4 (1.21%) Embedded C++
13 4 (1.21%) Rust
14 3 (0.91%) Embedded C
15 2 (0.60%) C#
15 2 (0.60%) Scala
15 2 (0.60%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.60%) VBScript
16 1 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 197 (59.52%) Security Cleared
2 129 (38.97%) SC Cleared
3 83 (25.08%) DV Cleared
4 48 (14.50%) Degree
5 15 (4.53%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (3.93%) CISM
6 13 (3.93%) CISSP
7 12 (3.63%) Computer Science Degree
8 10 (3.02%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 10 (3.02%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (3.02%) RHCE
9 8 (2.42%) GIAC
9 8 (2.42%) ISTQB
9 8 (2.42%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 6 (1.81%) AWS Certification
10 6 (1.81%) CESG Certified Professional
10 6 (1.81%) CRISC
11 5 (1.51%) CISA
11 5 (1.51%) RHCSA
11 5 (1.51%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (13.29%) NIST
2 37 (11.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (3.32%) Cyber Essentials
4 10 (3.02%) ISO 31000
4 10 (3.02%) SLA
5 6 (1.81%) GDPR
5 6 (1.81%) GRC
5 6 (1.81%) NCSC
6 5 (1.51%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.21%) ISO 9001
7 4 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 3 (0.91%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.91%) QA
9 2 (0.60%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.60%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.30%) DICOM
10 1 (0.30%) HL7
10 1 (0.30%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.30%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 82 (24.77%) Active Directory
2 38 (11.48%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (11.18%) Docker
4 18 (5.44%) VMware ESXi
5 17 (5.14%) VMware NSX
6 15 (4.53%) Firmware
6 15 (4.53%) Hyper-V
7 11 (3.32%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (1.51%) Oracle RAC
8 5 (1.51%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.51%) vSphere
9 4 (1.21%) ISA Server
9 4 (1.21%) KVM
10 3 (0.91%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.91%) Postfix
10 3 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 2 (0.60%) UAG
11 2 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 67 (20.24%) Kubernetes
2 58 (17.52%) Ansible
3 17 (5.14%) Grafana
3 17 (5.14%) Prometheus
4 14 (4.23%) Puppet
5 11 (3.32%) SCCM
5 11 (3.32%) vCenter Server
6 9 (2.72%) Red Hat Satellite
7 8 (2.42%) Progress Chef
8 7 (2.11%) Microsoft Intune
8 7 (2.11%) Oracle RMAN
8 7 (2.11%) Podman
9 6 (1.81%) Packer
10 5 (1.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 5 (1.51%) Data Guard
10 5 (1.51%) SCOM
11 4 (1.21%) CASB
11 4 (1.21%) Istio
11 4 (1.21%) NetBackup
12 3 (0.91%) Argo
Vendors
1 78 (23.56%) Microsoft
2 68 (20.54%) VMware
3 45 (13.60%) Oracle
4 41 (12.39%) Red Hat
5 24 (7.25%) CyberArk
6 22 (6.65%) BeyondTrust
7 19 (5.74%) Cisco
8 18 (5.44%) Citrix
8 18 (5.44%) ServiceNow
9 17 (5.14%) Splunk
10 12 (3.63%) CrowdStrike
10 12 (3.63%) Google
10 12 (3.63%) Palo Alto
11 11 (3.32%) IBM
12 10 (3.02%) SolarWinds
13 8 (2.42%) F5
14 7 (2.11%) Nokia
14 7 (2.11%) Tenable
15 6 (1.81%) BT
15 6 (1.81%) Huawei