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

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 42 24 26
Rank change year-on-year -18 +2 -8
Contract jobs citing Linux 328 237 299
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.03% 6.64% 6.91%
As % of the Operating Systems category 43.68% 37.38% 38.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 229 171 183
10th Percentile £275 £204 £350
25th Percentile £450 £374 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £536 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +12.93% -5.00% -3.57%
75th Percentile £610 £552 £608
90th Percentile £650 £600 £650
England median daily rate £525 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +0.96% -5.45% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 8 18
10th Percentile £44.55 - £46.11
25th Percentile £58.40 £12.50 £63.63
Median hourly rate £60.00 £13.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +361.54% -81.43% +4.07%
75th Percentile £67.47 £59.13 -
90th Percentile £70.78 £76.23 £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 751 634 781
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 11.52% 17.75% 18.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 489 451 514
10th Percentile £204 £190 £200
25th Percentile £309 £219 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £447 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.17% -0.67% +5.88%
75th Percentile £580 £541 £587
90th Percentile £638 £609 £650
England median daily rate £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 54 34
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.01 £18.10
25th Percentile £20.50 £15.50 £32.90
Median hourly rate £32.50 £18.87 £57.87
Median % change year-on-year +72.23% -67.39% +3.23%
75th Percentile £60.00 £25.15 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.47 £76.18 -
England median hourly rate £32.29 £24.25 £60.72
% change year-on-year +33.15% -60.06% +30.04%

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 October 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 October 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 October 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 -5 159 £536 +19.20% 189
Hampshire -2 113 £550 +7.32% 134
Berkshire -28 70 £500 +14.29% 77
Buckinghamshire +13 56 £575 +7.48% 35
Surrey -21 37 £455 +119.28% 56
Oxfordshire 0 33 £525 +37.70% 80
West Sussex -14 11 £425 -15.00% 36
Middlesex -17 6 £198 - 1
Sussex -3 2 - - 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 (2.74%) Apache
2 8 (2.44%) nginx
3 7 (2.13%) Confluence
3 7 (2.13%) IIS
4 6 (1.83%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.83%) OpenStack
5 4 (1.22%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.61%) JBoss
6 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.61%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.61%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.61%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle Service Bus
7 1 (0.30%) SAS
7 1 (0.30%) WebLogic
Applications
1 3 (0.91%) Houdini
1 3 (0.91%) NUKE
2 2 (0.61%) 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
1 111 (33.84%) Azure
2 70 (21.34%) AWS
3 43 (13.11%) Entra ID
4 25 (7.62%) OpenShift
5 21 (6.40%) Azure Monitor
6 20 (6.10%) Microsoft 365
7 18 (5.49%) Azure Sentinel
7 18 (5.49%) GCP
8 9 (2.74%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (2.74%) IaaS
9 8 (2.44%) SaaS
10 7 (2.13%) PaaS
11 6 (1.83%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 6 (1.83%) GitHub
12 5 (1.52%) GitHub Actions
13 4 (1.22%) Cloudflare
13 4 (1.22%) Serverless
14 3 (0.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 3 (0.91%) Amazon EKS
14 3 (0.91%) Sauce Labs
Communications & Networking
1 49 (14.94%) DNS
2 44 (13.41%) Firewall
3 40 (12.20%) DHCP
4 33 (10.06%) VPN
5 24 (7.32%) TCP/IP
6 21 (6.40%) Network Security
7 12 (3.66%) LAN
7 12 (3.66%) SSH
8 10 (3.05%) WAN
9 9 (2.74%) Software-Defined Radio
9 9 (2.74%) Wireless
10 8 (2.44%) Cisco ASA
10 8 (2.44%) Cisco Firepower
10 8 (2.44%) SSL
11 7 (2.13%) LTE
12 6 (1.83%) Diameter Protocol
12 6 (1.83%) Radio Access Network
12 6 (1.83%) VoLTE
12 6 (1.83%) VoWiFi
12 6 (1.83%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.49%) Oracle Database
2 16 (4.88%) SQL Server
3 10 (3.05%) MySQL
4 8 (2.44%) DataStage
5 5 (1.52%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.22%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (1.22%) Oracle Database 11g
7 3 (0.91%) Oracle Database 12c
8 2 (0.61%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.61%) Oracle Database 10g
8 2 (0.61%) PostgreSQL
9 1 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.30%) IBM InfoSphere
9 1 (0.30%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle ODI
9 1 (0.30%) Pentaho
9 1 (0.30%) SQLite
9 1 (0.30%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 23 (7.01%) JIRA
2 22 (6.71%) GitLab
3 19 (5.79%) Git
4 16 (4.88%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.83%) MLflow
6 5 (1.52%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (1.52%) Bitbucket
7 4 (1.22%) 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 60 (18.29%) Social Skills
2 33 (10.06%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (6.40%) Public Sector
4 13 (3.96%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (3.35%) Aerospace
6 6 (1.83%) Finance
6 6 (1.83%) Military
7 5 (1.52%) Retail
8 4 (1.22%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (0.91%) Manufacturing
9 3 (0.91%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.30%) Automotive
10 1 (0.30%) Banking
10 1 (0.30%) Electronics
10 1 (0.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.30%) Legal
Job Titles
1 47 (14.33%) Senior
2 44 (13.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 44 (13.41%) Linux Engineer
3 24 (7.32%) Architect
4 23 (7.01%) Platform Engineer
4 23 (7.01%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
5 19 (5.79%) Support Engineer
6 17 (5.18%) Developer
7 16 (4.88%) Embedded Engineer
7 16 (4.88%) Software Engineer
8 15 (4.57%) Analyst
8 15 (4.57%) Cloud Engineer
9 12 (3.66%) DevSecOps Engineer
9 12 (3.66%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
9 12 (3.66%) Systems Engineer
10 11 (3.35%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 11 (3.35%) Technical Engineer
10 11 (3.35%) Technical Support
10 11 (3.35%) Technical Support Engineer
11 10 (3.05%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (22.26%) Terraform
2 18 (5.49%) ARM Templates
3 14 (4.27%) LDAP
4 10 (3.05%) Kafka
4 10 (3.05%) YAML
5 9 (2.74%) Yocto
6 8 (2.44%) OpenTofu
7 5 (1.52%) 802.1X
7 5 (1.52%) GraphQL
7 5 (1.52%) REST
8 4 (1.22%) gRPC
8 4 (1.22%) Keycloak
8 4 (1.22%) Middleware
8 4 (1.22%) Protocol Buffers
8 4 (1.22%) RESTful
9 3 (0.91%) CSS
9 3 (0.91%) LAMP
9 3 (0.91%) LEMP Stack
9 3 (0.91%) Loki
9 3 (0.91%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 46 (14.02%) Onboarding
2 26 (7.93%) Hybrid Cloud
3 20 (6.10%) Management Information System
4 18 (5.49%) PKI
5 17 (5.18%) Embedded Systems
5 17 (5.18%) Product Ownership
6 14 (4.27%) Cloud Native
7 13 (3.96%) Data Centre
7 13 (3.96%) Public Cloud
8 12 (3.66%) Device Driver
8 12 (3.66%) Operational Technology
9 11 (3.35%) ARM Cortex
9 11 (3.35%) SCADA
10 10 (3.05%) Enterprise Cloud
11 8 (2.44%) MicroBlaze
11 8 (2.44%) RISC-V
12 6 (1.83%) Cyber Defence
13 5 (1.52%) Social Media
14 4 (1.22%) Mobile Payment
14 4 (1.22%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 165 (50.30%) Windows
2 57 (17.38%) Windows Server
3 56 (17.07%) Unix
4 50 (15.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (7.01%) Ubuntu
6 18 (5.49%) CentOS
7 17 (5.18%) Windows 10
8 16 (4.88%) Embedded Linux
9 8 (2.44%) Debian
10 7 (2.13%) Oracle Linux
11 6 (1.83%) Mac OS
11 6 (1.83%) Rocky
12 3 (0.91%) Android
12 3 (0.91%) Solaris
13 2 (0.61%) AIX
13 2 (0.61%) HPUX
13 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.30%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (22.26%) CI/CD
2 60 (18.29%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 58 (17.68%) DevOps
4 54 (16.46%) Infrastructure as Code
5 50 (15.24%) Cybersecurity
6 49 (14.94%) ITIL
7 47 (14.33%) Agile
8 42 (12.80%) Problem-Solving
9 41 (12.50%) Platform Engineering
10 39 (11.89%) Containerisation
11 37 (11.28%) Continuous Improvement
12 36 (10.98%) SIEM
13 35 (10.67%) Software Engineering
14 32 (9.76%) DevSecOps
15 31 (9.45%) ITSM
16 28 (8.54%) Computer Science
17 27 (8.23%) Runbook
18 26 (7.93%) Disaster Recovery
18 26 (7.93%) High Availability
18 26 (7.93%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 97 (29.57%) Python
2 86 (26.22%) PowerShell
3 73 (22.26%) Bash
4 27 (8.23%) C
5 19 (5.79%) SQL
6 18 (5.49%) Bicep
7 17 (5.18%) Shell Script
8 16 (4.88%) C++
9 11 (3.35%) JavaScript
10 10 (3.05%) Java
11 8 (2.44%) Perl
12 7 (2.13%) PL/SQL
13 4 (1.22%) Embedded C++
13 4 (1.22%) Rust
14 3 (0.91%) Embedded C
15 2 (0.61%) Scala
15 2 (0.61%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.61%) VBScript
16 1 (0.30%) Go
16 1 (0.30%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 193 (58.84%) Security Cleared
2 115 (35.06%) SC Cleared
3 90 (27.44%) DV Cleared
4 44 (13.41%) Degree
5 15 (4.57%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (3.96%) CISM
6 13 (3.96%) CISSP
7 11 (3.35%) Computer Science Degree
8 10 (3.05%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 10 (3.05%) RHCE
9 9 (2.74%) BPSS Clearance
10 8 (2.44%) GIAC
10 8 (2.44%) ISTQB
10 8 (2.44%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 6 (1.83%) CESG Certified Professional
11 6 (1.83%) CRISC
12 5 (1.52%) AWS Certification
12 5 (1.52%) Azure Certification
12 5 (1.52%) RHCSA
12 5 (1.52%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (10.98%) NIST
2 30 (9.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (3.35%) Cyber Essentials
3 11 (3.35%) SLA
4 10 (3.05%) ISO 31000
5 6 (1.83%) GDPR
5 6 (1.83%) GRC
5 6 (1.83%) NCSC
6 5 (1.52%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.22%) ISO 9001
7 4 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 3 (0.91%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.91%) QA
9 2 (0.61%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.61%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.30%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.30%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 86 (26.22%) Active Directory
2 38 (11.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (11.28%) Docker
4 17 (5.18%) Hyper-V
4 17 (5.18%) VMware ESXi
5 16 (4.88%) VMware NSX
6 13 (3.96%) Firmware
7 9 (2.74%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (1.52%) Oracle RAC
8 5 (1.52%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.52%) vSphere
9 4 (1.22%) ISA Server
9 4 (1.22%) KVM
9 4 (1.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 4 (1.22%) Virtual Servers
10 3 (0.91%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.91%) Postfix
11 2 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.30%) UAG
Systems Management
1 67 (20.43%) Ansible
1 67 (20.43%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.88%) Grafana
2 16 (4.88%) Prometheus
2 16 (4.88%) SCCM
3 14 (4.27%) Puppet
4 12 (3.66%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (3.05%) vCenter Server
6 9 (2.74%) Red Hat Satellite
7 8 (2.44%) Progress Chef
8 7 (2.13%) Oracle RMAN
8 7 (2.13%) Podman
9 6 (1.83%) Packer
10 5 (1.52%) Data Guard
10 5 (1.52%) SCOM
11 4 (1.22%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (1.22%) CASB
11 4 (1.22%) Istio
11 4 (1.22%) NetBackup
11 4 (1.22%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 86 (26.22%) Microsoft
2 66 (20.12%) VMware
3 42 (12.80%) Oracle
4 40 (12.20%) Red Hat
5 22 (6.71%) ServiceNow
6 20 (6.10%) Cisco
7 19 (5.79%) CyberArk
8 17 (5.18%) CrowdStrike
9 16 (4.88%) Citrix
10 15 (4.57%) BeyondTrust
10 15 (4.57%) Splunk
11 13 (3.96%) Google
11 13 (3.96%) Palo Alto
12 11 (3.35%) IBM
13 10 (3.05%) SolarWinds
14 8 (2.44%) F5
15 7 (2.13%) Nokia
15 7 (2.13%) Tenable
16 6 (1.83%) Ericsson
16 6 (1.83%) Tanium