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

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 28 18
Rank change year-on-year -6 -10 0
Contract jobs citing Linux 302 186 439
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.01% 6.22% 7.64%
As % of the Operating Systems category 40.59% 34.19% 43.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 212 141 294
10th Percentile £300 £413 £355
25th Percentile £408 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -1.69% +2.69%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £655 £626 £646
England median daily rate £510 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -7.27% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 7 26
10th Percentile £26.37 £38.98 £26.25
25th Percentile £43.81 £51.78 £47.19
Median hourly rate £48.13 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.30% -8.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £54.06 £59.44 £70.00
90th Percentile £64.20 £61.08 £75.00
England median hourly rate £63.14 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.87% - -

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 744 544 1,009
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.35% 18.21% 17.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 495 390 657
10th Percentile £204 £200 £204
25th Percentile £322 £325 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £475
Median % change year-on-year -3.06% +3.16% +5.56%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £660 £666
England median daily rate £455 £465 £475
% change year-on-year -2.15% -2.11% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 37 59
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.20 £15.98
25th Percentile £20.46 £16.95 £18.00
Median hourly rate £35.22 £18.82 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +87.14% -60.38% -17.39%
75th Percentile £52.87 £28.00 £69.38
90th Percentile £59.80 £58.75 £74.00
England median hourly rate £32.50 £18.94 £22.50
% change year-on-year +71.64% -15.84% -48.78%

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 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 10 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 10 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 +6 189 £484 -3.30% 59
Berkshire -9 85 £405 -19.00% 29
Hampshire -14 77 £563 +2.27% 60
Buckinghamshire +10 68 £560 +6.67% 10
Oxfordshire +4 36 £450 -18.18% 20
Surrey -12 27 £208 -56.32% 33
West Sussex -20 4 £580 +7.81% 4
East Sussex - 3 £459 - 2
Middlesex - 1 £198 - 4
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Sussex - 1 - - 1
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 16 (5.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.99%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.32%) Apache
3 4 (1.32%) Confluence
3 4 (1.32%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.32%) WebSphere Application Server
4 3 (0.99%) IIS
4 3 (0.99%) nginx
4 3 (0.99%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.99%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.66%) Appian
5 2 (0.66%) IBM HTTP Server
5 2 (0.66%) JBoss
5 2 (0.66%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.66%) WebSphere Portal
6 1 (0.33%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (1.32%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 67 (22.19%) Azure
2 55 (18.21%) AWS
3 24 (7.95%) Entra ID
4 23 (7.62%) Microsoft 365
5 14 (4.64%) SaaS
6 13 (4.30%) OpenShift
7 12 (3.97%) GitHub
8 11 (3.64%) GitHub Actions
9 9 (2.98%) GCP
10 8 (2.65%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 7 (2.32%) Amazon EKS
11 7 (2.32%) Azure Sentinel
11 7 (2.32%) IaaS
11 7 (2.32%) PaaS
12 5 (1.66%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (1.32%) Amazon ECS
13 4 (1.32%) Cloud Computing
13 4 (1.32%) Sauce Labs
14 3 (0.99%) Cloudflare
14 3 (0.99%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.93%) DNS
2 24 (7.95%) Firewall
3 16 (5.30%) WAN
4 14 (4.64%) LAN
5 13 (4.30%) VSAN
6 12 (3.97%) TCP/IP
7 11 (3.64%) Network Security
8 9 (2.98%) Cisco ASA
8 9 (2.98%) Cisco Firepower
8 9 (2.98%) VPN
9 8 (2.65%) SSH
9 8 (2.65%) Wireless
9 8 (2.65%) Wireshark
10 7 (2.32%) DHCP
10 7 (2.32%) SAN
10 7 (2.32%) Software-Defined Radio
11 6 (1.99%) Diameter Protocol
11 6 (1.99%) Radio Access Network
11 6 (1.99%) SSL
11 6 (1.99%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (10.26%) SQL Server
2 23 (7.62%) MySQL
3 16 (5.30%) Relational Database
4 9 (2.98%) Oracle Database
5 7 (2.32%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.66%) Oracle Database 12c
7 3 (0.99%) Elasticsearch
7 3 (0.99%) Oracle Database 11g
7 3 (0.99%) Redis
8 2 (0.66%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.66%) DataStage
8 2 (0.66%) Electronic Patient Records
8 2 (0.66%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.66%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.66%) Vitess
9 1 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.33%) DynamoDB
9 1 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.33%) Pentaho
9 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.30%) JIRA
2 11 (3.64%) GitLab
2 11 (3.64%) Jenkins
3 8 (2.65%) Eclipse
4 7 (2.32%) Git
5 5 (1.66%) Maven
6 4 (1.32%) Android Studio
6 4 (1.32%) Browser DevTools
6 4 (1.32%) Jaeger
6 4 (1.32%) Subversion
6 4 (1.32%) Xcode
7 3 (0.99%) SonarQube
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%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.33%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.33%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.33%) Storybook
General
1 44 (14.57%) Social Skills
2 35 (11.59%) Public Sector
3 21 (6.95%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (6.29%) Military
5 18 (5.96%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (2.98%) Finance
7 6 (1.99%) Manufacturing
7 6 (1.99%) Retail
8 5 (1.66%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (1.32%) Financial Institution
10 3 (0.99%) Law
10 3 (0.99%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.33%) Advertising
12 1 (0.33%) Back Office
12 1 (0.33%) Electronics
12 1 (0.33%) Front Office
12 1 (0.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.33%) Legal
12 1 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 41 (13.58%) Senior
2 40 (13.25%) Linux Engineer
3 31 (10.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 20 (6.62%) Architect
5 18 (5.96%) Analyst
5 18 (5.96%) Technical Support
6 17 (5.63%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 16 (5.30%) Software Engineer
8 15 (4.97%) Network Engineer
8 15 (4.97%) Support Engineer
9 13 (4.30%) Developer
9 13 (4.30%) DevOps Engineer
9 13 (4.30%) Technical Architect
10 12 (3.97%) Lead
10 12 (3.97%) Technical Engineer
10 12 (3.97%) Technical Support Engineer
11 11 (3.64%) Citrix Engineer
11 11 (3.64%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.64%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.31%) DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.64%) YAML
2 10 (3.31%) Middleware
3 9 (2.98%) XML
4 8 (2.65%) Kafka
4 8 (2.65%) Loki
5 7 (2.32%) .NET
5 7 (2.32%) Yocto
6 6 (1.99%) GraphQL
6 6 (1.99%) JSON
6 6 (1.99%) Keycloak
7 5 (1.66%) CSS
7 5 (1.66%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (1.66%) OpenTelemetry
7 5 (1.66%) React
8 4 (1.32%) 802.1X
8 4 (1.32%) Ajax
8 4 (1.32%) AngularJS
8 4 (1.32%) LAMP
8 4 (1.32%) Web Services
9 3 (0.99%) LEMP Stack
Miscellaneous
1 33 (10.93%) Onboarding
2 20 (6.62%) PKI
3 18 (5.96%) Data Centre
4 16 (5.30%) Public Cloud
5 14 (4.64%) Management Information System
6 12 (3.97%) Hybrid Cloud
6 12 (3.97%) Product Ownership
7 10 (3.31%) Security Operations Centre
8 9 (2.98%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (2.98%) Security Posture
9 8 (2.65%) Cyberattack
9 8 (2.65%) Operational Technology
10 7 (2.32%) Device Driver
10 7 (2.32%) Embedded Systems
10 7 (2.32%) SCADA
11 6 (1.99%) Cloud Native
11 6 (1.99%) Cyber Defence
11 6 (1.99%) MicroBlaze
11 6 (1.99%) Replication
11 6 (1.99%) RISC-V
Operating Systems
1 150 (49.67%) Windows
2 67 (22.19%) Unix
3 40 (13.25%) Windows Server
4 36 (11.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 14 (4.64%) Ubuntu
6 11 (3.64%) Embedded Linux
7 8 (2.65%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (2.32%) CentOS
8 7 (2.32%) Debian
9 6 (1.99%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.32%) Android
10 4 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.66%) Kali Linux
11 2 (0.66%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.66%) Oracle Linux
11 2 (0.66%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.66%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.33%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.33%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (18.54%) SIEM
2 54 (17.88%) CI/CD
3 40 (13.25%) DevOps
4 39 (12.91%) Problem-Solving
5 37 (12.25%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 36 (11.92%) ITIL
7 35 (11.59%) Cybersecurity
8 34 (11.26%) Agile
8 34 (11.26%) Computer Science
9 30 (9.93%) Runbook
10 28 (9.27%) High Availability
11 27 (8.94%) Infrastructure as Code
12 25 (8.28%) ITSM
12 25 (8.28%) Migration
13 24 (7.95%) Change Control
13 24 (7.95%) Containerisation
14 23 (7.62%) Root Cause Analysis
15 21 (6.95%) Privileged Access Management
15 21 (6.95%) Security Operations
15 21 (6.95%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 96 (31.79%) Python
2 65 (21.52%) PowerShell
3 36 (11.92%) Bash
4 25 (8.28%) SQL
5 23 (7.62%) Java
6 21 (6.95%) JavaScript
7 18 (5.96%) Perl
8 15 (4.97%) C
9 14 (4.64%) C++
10 10 (3.31%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.99%) Rust
12 5 (1.66%) Go
13 4 (1.32%) Embedded C++
14 3 (0.99%) Ada
14 3 (0.99%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.99%) Korn
14 3 (0.99%) PL/SQL
14 3 (0.99%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.66%) C#
15 2 (0.66%) Scala
Qualifications
1 194 (64.24%) Security Cleared
2 137 (45.36%) SC Cleared
3 70 (23.18%) DV Cleared
4 52 (17.22%) Degree
5 21 (6.95%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (5.30%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (4.30%) RHCE
8 10 (3.31%) CCNP
9 9 (2.98%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (2.32%) AWS Certification
10 7 (2.32%) CISSP
10 7 (2.32%) GIAC
10 7 (2.32%) RHCSA
11 6 (1.99%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 6 (1.99%) CESG Certified Professional
11 6 (1.99%) CISM
11 6 (1.99%) CRISC
11 6 (1.99%) LFCS
11 6 (1.99%) SANS
12 5 (1.66%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (13.91%) NIST
2 30 (9.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.64%) Cyber Essentials
4 12 (3.97%) SLA
5 9 (2.98%) NCSC
6 6 (1.99%) ISO 31000
7 5 (1.66%) GDPR
7 5 (1.66%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.32%) GRC
9 3 (0.99%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.99%) NIST 800
9 3 (0.99%) QA
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 65 (21.52%) Active Directory
2 45 (14.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (7.95%) VMware NSX
4 10 (3.31%) Docker
4 10 (3.31%) Firmware
4 10 (3.31%) Hyper-V
5 9 (2.98%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (2.32%) vSphere
7 6 (1.99%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (1.66%) Oracle RAC
9 3 (0.99%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.99%) Postfix
9 3 (0.99%) UAG
10 2 (0.66%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.33%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 42 (13.91%) Ansible
2 33 (10.93%) Terraform
3 31 (10.26%) Kubernetes
4 18 (5.96%) Grafana
4 18 (5.96%) Prometheus
5 11 (3.64%) Puppet
6 9 (2.98%) Oracle RMAN
6 9 (2.98%) Red Hat Satellite
7 8 (2.65%) vCenter Server
8 6 (1.99%) Rancher
9 5 (1.66%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (1.66%) Argo
10 4 (1.32%) Data Guard
10 4 (1.32%) Istio
10 4 (1.32%) Nessus
10 4 (1.32%) Progress Chef
10 4 (1.32%) WSUS
11 3 (0.99%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.99%) Podman
11 3 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 76 (25.17%) VMware
2 57 (18.87%) Microsoft
3 48 (15.89%) Red Hat
4 44 (14.57%) Oracle
5 24 (7.95%) BeyondTrust
6 23 (7.62%) Cisco
7 22 (7.28%) Splunk
8 21 (6.95%) CyberArk
9 18 (5.96%) Citrix
10 14 (4.64%) Palo Alto
11 13 (4.30%) ServiceNow
12 10 (3.31%) NVIDIA
13 6 (1.99%) BT
13 6 (1.99%) CheckPoint
13 6 (1.99%) Ericsson
13 6 (1.99%) Fortinet
13 6 (1.99%) Huawei
13 6 (1.99%) IBM
13 6 (1.99%) Nokia
13 6 (1.99%) SolarWinds