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

6 months to
15 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 24 24
Rank change year-on-year -1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Linux 318 217 384
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.78% 6.91% 6.98%
As % of the Operating Systems category 43.68% 39.38% 37.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 223 136 245
10th Percentile £204 £397 £305
25th Percentile £378 £457 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £524 £525
Median % change year-on-year -9.31% -0.24% -4.55%
75th Percentile £550 £613 £580
90th Percentile £638 £675 £638
England median daily rate £510 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -7.36% - -6.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 12 40
10th Percentile - £55.79 £30.56
25th Percentile £12.50 £60.81 £53.31
Median hourly rate £18.51 £62.50 £64.00
Median % change year-on-year -70.38% -2.34% +6.67%
75th Percentile £48.75 £64.06 £71.90
90th Percentile £70.13 £70.63 £76.53
England median hourly rate £63.14 £66.50 £61.84
% change year-on-year -5.06% +7.54% -4.86%

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 728 551 1,025
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 15.52% 17.55% 18.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 508 366 670
10th Percentile £197 £200 £175
25th Percentile £263 £277 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year - +5.88% -15.00%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £638 £644 £638
England median daily rate £445 £475 £457
% change year-on-year -6.32% +3.94% -12.12%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 24 87
10th Percentile £12.50 £21.40 £16.25
25th Percentile £15.50 £30.44 £23.81
Median hourly rate £20.79 £59.13 £54.56
Median % change year-on-year -64.84% +8.37% +128.33%
75th Percentile £48.75 £62.81 £69.32
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.88 £76.53
England median hourly rate £22.50 £34.50 £25.22
% change year-on-year -34.78% +36.82% -3.02%

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 15 February 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 15 February 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 15 February 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 +10 162 £431 -10.16% 59
Berkshire +13 129 £420 -12.50% 22
Hampshire -5 95 £509 -11.52% 47
Surrey 0 39 £208 -58.50% 21
Buckinghamshire +3 22 £595 +40.00% 19
Oxfordshire -10 11 £388 -27.91% 18
Sussex - 10 - -
West Sussex -13 5 £500 -31.03% 4
East Sussex - 5 - - 1
Middlesex - 3 - - 2
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 11 (3.46%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (2.20%) Mattermost
2 7 (2.20%) Skype for Business
3 3 (0.94%) Apache
4 2 (0.63%) Appian
4 2 (0.63%) Confluence
4 2 (0.63%) JBoss
5 1 (0.31%) SharePoint
Applications
1 22 (6.92%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.31%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (2.20%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.63%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS R12
3 1 (0.31%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 85 (26.73%) AWS
2 64 (20.13%) Azure
3 35 (11.01%) OpenShift
4 27 (8.49%) GitHub
5 20 (6.29%) GCP
6 19 (5.97%) SaaS
7 15 (4.72%) Sauce Labs
8 14 (4.40%) AWS CloudFormation
8 14 (4.40%) GitHub Actions
8 14 (4.40%) Google Workspace
8 14 (4.40%) IaaS
9 13 (4.09%) Cloud Computing
10 9 (2.83%) Microsoft 365
11 8 (2.52%) Amazon ECR
11 8 (2.52%) OCI
11 8 (2.52%) Serverless
12 7 (2.20%) Amazon EC2
12 7 (2.20%) Amazon EKS
12 7 (2.20%) AWS Lambda
12 7 (2.20%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 42 (13.21%) DNS
2 31 (9.75%) TCP/IP
3 24 (7.55%) Firewall
4 19 (5.97%) DHCP
5 16 (5.03%) Wireless
6 13 (4.09%) VLAN
7 9 (2.83%) SAN
7 9 (2.83%) WAN
7 9 (2.83%) Wireshark
8 7 (2.20%) LAN
8 7 (2.20%) Network Security
8 7 (2.20%) Skype
9 5 (1.57%) BGP
9 5 (1.57%) Ethernet VPN
9 5 (1.57%) OSPF
9 5 (1.57%) SSH
9 5 (1.57%) VPN
10 4 (1.26%) NAS
11 3 (0.94%) NFC
11 3 (0.94%) PPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (9.43%) Relational Database
2 29 (9.12%) MySQL
3 18 (5.66%) PostgreSQL
4 14 (4.40%) SQL Server
5 13 (4.09%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (3.14%) NoSQL
7 7 (2.20%) Oracle Database
8 6 (1.89%) Amazon Redshift
8 6 (1.89%) Couchbase
9 3 (0.94%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.94%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.94%) Redis
9 3 (0.94%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.63%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.63%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.31%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.31%) GIS
11 1 (0.31%) Oracle Exadata
11 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 40 (12.58%) Jenkins
2 20 (6.29%) Eclipse
2 20 (6.29%) Git
3 16 (5.03%) Browser DevTools
4 15 (4.72%) Android Studio
4 15 (4.72%) Xcode
5 11 (3.46%) Burp Suite
5 11 (3.46%) GitLab
5 11 (3.46%) JIRA
5 11 (3.46%) JUnit
6 10 (3.14%) JMeter
6 10 (3.14%) Sonatype Nexus
7 9 (2.83%) Cucumber
8 8 (2.52%) Metasploit
9 7 (2.20%) Artifactory
10 3 (0.94%) Maven
10 3 (0.94%) Subversion
10 3 (0.94%) Valgrind
11 2 (0.63%) Visual Studio
12 1 (0.31%) LoadRunner
General
1 94 (29.56%) Social Skills
2 34 (10.69%) Analytical Skills
3 27 (8.49%) Public Sector
4 20 (6.29%) Military
5 17 (5.35%) Finance
6 13 (4.09%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (1.57%) Legal
9 4 (1.26%) Law
10 2 (0.63%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.63%) Banking
10 2 (0.63%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.31%) Advertising
11 1 (0.31%) Back Office
11 1 (0.31%) Electronics
11 1 (0.31%) Front Office
11 1 (0.31%) Retail
Job Titles
1 40 (12.58%) Support Engineer
2 33 (10.38%) Architect
3 31 (9.75%) Analyst
4 29 (9.12%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 29 (9.12%) Senior
5 27 (8.49%) Technical Support
6 20 (6.29%) DevOps Engineer
6 20 (6.29%) Software Engineer
7 19 (5.97%) Infrastructure Support
7 19 (5.97%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
7 19 (5.97%) Tester
8 17 (5.35%) Developer
8 17 (5.35%) Technical Engineer
8 17 (5.35%) Technical Support Engineer
9 16 (5.03%) UX Engineer
10 14 (4.40%) SOC Analyst
11 13 (4.09%) Infrastructure Architect
12 12 (3.77%) IT Support
12 12 (3.77%) Linux Engineer
12 12 (3.77%) Support Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (6.60%) Kafka
2 17 (5.35%) CSS
2 17 (5.35%) React
3 16 (5.03%) Ajax
3 16 (5.03%) AngularJS
3 16 (5.03%) Elastic Stack
3 16 (5.03%) GraphQL
4 12 (3.77%) XML
5 11 (3.46%) Spring
6 10 (3.14%) Loki
7 9 (2.83%) Hibernate
7 9 (2.83%) JSON
8 8 (2.52%) YAML
9 7 (2.20%) REST
10 5 (1.57%) Middleware
10 5 (1.57%) Web Services
11 3 (0.94%) .NET
11 3 (0.94%) Keycloak
11 3 (0.94%) Spring Boot
12 2 (0.63%) Jinja
Miscellaneous
1 20 (6.29%) Cloud Native
2 16 (5.03%) Mobile App
3 14 (4.40%) Analytical Mindset
3 14 (4.40%) Security Operations Centre
4 13 (4.09%) Enterprise Software
4 13 (4.09%) Onboarding
5 12 (3.77%) Replication
6 11 (3.46%) Management Information System
6 11 (3.46%) PKI
7 9 (2.83%) Data Centre
8 8 (2.52%) Virtual Team
9 7 (2.20%) Cyberattack
10 6 (1.89%) Linux Command Line
10 6 (1.89%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.57%) CAN bus
11 5 (1.57%) Cyber Threat
11 5 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
12 4 (1.26%) Product Ownership
12 4 (1.26%) Public Cloud
13 3 (0.94%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 162 (50.94%) Windows
2 53 (16.67%) Unix
3 45 (14.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 26 (8.18%) Windows Server
5 15 (4.72%) Android
6 13 (4.09%) Ubuntu
7 11 (3.46%) Kali Linux
8 5 (1.57%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (1.26%) CentOS
10 3 (0.94%) Debian
10 3 (0.94%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.63%) SUSE
11 2 (0.63%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.63%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.63%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.31%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.31%) Solaris
12 1 (0.31%) VMS
12 1 (0.31%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (27.99%) CI/CD
2 63 (19.81%) DevOps
3 53 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
4 48 (15.09%) Agile
5 42 (13.21%) ITIL
6 36 (11.32%) Containerisation
7 35 (11.01%) Infrastructure as Code
7 35 (11.01%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 34 (10.69%) SIEM
9 31 (9.75%) Cybersecurity
10 28 (8.81%) Incident Response
10 28 (8.81%) OO
11 26 (8.18%) Computer Science
12 25 (7.86%) Continuous Improvement
12 25 (7.86%) Security Operations
12 25 (7.86%) Software Engineering
13 24 (7.55%) DevSecOps
13 24 (7.55%) High Availability
14 22 (6.92%) Platform Engineering
15 20 (6.29%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 113 (35.53%) Python
2 53 (16.67%) PowerShell
3 48 (15.09%) Java
4 47 (14.78%) Bash
5 34 (10.69%) SQL
6 33 (10.38%) Perl
7 31 (9.75%) JavaScript
8 16 (5.03%) Shell Script
9 13 (4.09%) C#
10 12 (3.77%) C++
11 7 (2.20%) C
12 5 (1.57%) Ada
12 5 (1.57%) Embedded C++
13 4 (1.26%) Rust
14 3 (0.94%) MATLAB
14 3 (0.94%) Search Processing Language
15 2 (0.63%) Assembly Language
15 2 (0.63%) PHP
15 2 (0.63%) PL/SQL
16 1 (0.31%) Delphi
Qualifications
1 178 (55.97%) Security Cleared
2 105 (33.02%) SC Cleared
3 65 (20.44%) DV Cleared
4 30 (9.43%) Degree
5 20 (6.29%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (4.72%) Azure Certification
7 13 (4.09%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (3.46%) CISSP
8 11 (3.46%) Network+ Certification
8 11 (3.46%) Server+ Certification
9 10 (3.14%) CEH
10 9 (2.83%) AWS Certification
10 9 (2.83%) OSCP
11 8 (2.52%) Cisco Certification
11 8 (2.52%) GCFA
11 8 (2.52%) GCIH
11 8 (2.52%) GPEN
12 7 (2.20%) ITIL Certification
12 7 (2.20%) RHCE
13 6 (1.89%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (4.09%) NIST
2 12 (3.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (2.83%) GDPR
4 7 (2.20%) QA
5 6 (1.89%) HIPAA
6 3 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.94%) SOC 2
7 2 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.31%) Def Stans
8 1 (0.31%) NCSC
8 1 (0.31%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.31%) SLA
System Software
1 65 (20.44%) VMware Infrastructure
2 36 (11.32%) Active Directory
3 32 (10.06%) Docker
4 23 (7.23%) Hyper-V
5 21 (6.60%) vSphere
6 11 (3.46%) Virtual Machines
7 8 (2.52%) VMware NSX
8 5 (1.57%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.94%) Firmware
10 2 (0.63%) KVM
11 1 (0.31%) GPFS
11 1 (0.31%) NDS
11 1 (0.31%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 1 (0.31%) NFS
11 1 (0.31%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.31%) UAG
Systems Management
1 73 (22.96%) Ansible
2 58 (18.24%) Kubernetes
3 53 (16.67%) Terraform
4 27 (8.49%) Grafana
5 25 (7.86%) Prometheus
6 17 (5.35%) Argo
6 17 (5.35%) Red Hat Satellite
7 13 (4.09%) Progress Chef
8 12 (3.77%) vCenter Server
9 11 (3.46%) Nmap
10 9 (2.83%) Puppet
11 8 (2.52%) Kustomize
11 8 (2.52%) SCOM
12 7 (2.20%) HP SiteScope
12 7 (2.20%) Sysdig
13 6 (1.89%) Podman
14 5 (1.57%) Nessus
15 4 (1.26%) Data Guard
15 4 (1.26%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
15 4 (1.26%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 96 (30.19%) VMware
2 85 (26.73%) Microsoft
3 63 (19.81%) Red Hat
4 48 (15.09%) Splunk
5 40 (12.58%) Oracle
6 16 (5.03%) ServiceNow
7 12 (3.77%) Cisco
8 7 (2.20%) CyberArk
8 7 (2.20%) IBM
8 7 (2.20%) Remedy
9 6 (1.89%) BeyondTrust
9 6 (1.89%) Confluent
9 6 (1.89%) CrowdStrike
9 6 (1.89%) NetApp
9 6 (1.89%) Pure Storage
10 5 (1.57%) ArcSight
10 5 (1.57%) Google
10 5 (1.57%) HP
10 5 (1.57%) Mellanox
10 5 (1.57%) Zscaler