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

6 months to
29 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 28 19
Rank change year-on-year -4 -9 0
Contract jobs citing Linux 321 182 429
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.36% 6.23% 7.68%
As % of the Operating Systems category 42.18% 34.93% 42.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 135 293
10th Percentile £282 £402 £355
25th Percentile £401 £456 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +1.90%
75th Percentile £596 £600 £608
90th Percentile £649 £651 £648
England median daily rate £513 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -6.82% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 10 25
10th Percentile £23.02 £42.59 £26.25
25th Percentile £43.81 £51.42 £46.25
Median hourly rate £47.54 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.32% -8.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £53.75 £62.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £60.00 £63.88 £74.50
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 761 521 1,009
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.70% 17.84% 18.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 517 374 670
10th Percentile £202 £200 £203
25th Percentile £350 £325 £301
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £485 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% +2.00% +2.70%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £661 £663
England median daily rate £455 £467 £475
% change year-on-year -2.62% -1.63% -6.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 35 60
10th Percentile £15.78 £14.20 £15.99
25th Percentile £20.46 £16.95 £17.92
Median hourly rate £47.50 £25.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +90.00% -47.37% -13.64%
75th Percentile £52.87 £58.09 £62.81
90th Percentile £59.80 £62.50 £73.75
England median hourly rate £37.50 £20.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year +87.50% -11.11% -47.06%

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 29 May 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 29 May 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 29 May 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 +4 199 £465 -7.00% 49
Berkshire -7 95 £403 -19.50% 22
Hampshire -16 82 £550 -4.35% 55
Buckinghamshire +16 72 £550 +30.80% 11
Oxfordshire +2 32 £450 -18.18% 16
Surrey -2 31 £208 -58.50% 21
East Sussex - 3 £459 - 2
Sussex - 2 - -
West Sussex -21 1 £700 +30.23% 5
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Middlesex - 1 £198 - 3
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 17 (5.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.87%) Apache
2 6 (1.87%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.25%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.25%) WebSphere Application Server
4 3 (0.93%) Confluence
4 3 (0.93%) IIS
4 3 (0.93%) nginx
4 3 (0.93%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.93%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.62%) Appian
5 2 (0.62%) IBM HTTP Server
5 2 (0.62%) JBoss
5 2 (0.62%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.62%) WebSphere Portal
6 1 (0.31%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (1.25%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS R12
1 1 (0.31%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 68 (21.18%) Azure
2 58 (18.07%) AWS
3 23 (7.17%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (6.85%) Entra ID
5 16 (4.98%) SaaS
6 15 (4.67%) OpenShift
7 12 (3.74%) GitHub
8 11 (3.43%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (3.12%) GCP
9 10 (3.12%) IaaS
10 9 (2.80%) PaaS
11 8 (2.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 8 (2.49%) Amazon EKS
12 7 (2.18%) Azure Sentinel
13 6 (1.87%) Cloud Computing
13 6 (1.87%) Sauce Labs
14 5 (1.56%) Amazon EC2
14 5 (1.56%) Amazon ECS
14 5 (1.56%) Amazon S3
14 5 (1.56%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.35%) DNS
2 25 (7.79%) Firewall
3 17 (5.30%) WAN
4 15 (4.67%) LAN
4 15 (4.67%) TCP/IP
5 13 (4.05%) VSAN
6 11 (3.43%) Network Security
7 9 (2.80%) Cisco ASA
7 9 (2.80%) Cisco Firepower
7 9 (2.80%) SAN
7 9 (2.80%) VPN
8 8 (2.49%) Wireless
8 8 (2.49%) Wireshark
9 7 (2.18%) DHCP
9 7 (2.18%) Software-Defined Radio
9 7 (2.18%) SSH
10 6 (1.87%) Cisco Nexus
10 6 (1.87%) Diameter Protocol
10 6 (1.87%) SSL
10 6 (1.87%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (8.72%) SQL Server
2 25 (7.79%) MySQL
3 19 (5.92%) Relational Database
4 14 (4.36%) Oracle Database
5 8 (2.49%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (1.87%) Amazon RDS
7 5 (1.56%) Oracle Database 12c
8 4 (1.25%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.93%) Oracle Database 11g
9 3 (0.93%) Redis
10 2 (0.62%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.62%) Electronic Patient Records
10 2 (0.62%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.62%) RDBMS
10 2 (0.62%) Vitess
11 1 (0.31%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.31%) Oracle Exadata
11 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.05%) JIRA
2 12 (3.74%) Jenkins
3 10 (3.12%) Eclipse
4 9 (2.80%) GitLab
5 8 (2.49%) Git
6 6 (1.87%) Android Studio
6 6 (1.87%) Browser DevTools
6 6 (1.87%) Xcode
7 5 (1.56%) Maven
8 4 (1.25%) Jaeger
8 4 (1.25%) Subversion
9 2 (0.62%) Burp Suite
9 2 (0.62%) Introscope
9 2 (0.62%) JUnit
9 2 (0.62%) Robot Framework
9 2 (0.62%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.31%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.31%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.31%) Mockito
10 1 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 45 (14.02%) Social Skills
2 32 (9.97%) Public Sector
3 21 (6.54%) Military
4 17 (5.30%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (4.98%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (2.80%) Finance
7 6 (1.87%) Manufacturing
7 6 (1.87%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (1.87%) Retail
8 4 (1.25%) Financial Institution
9 3 (0.93%) Law
9 3 (0.93%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.62%) Aerospace
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%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.31%) Legal
11 1 (0.31%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 42 (13.08%) Linux Engineer
2 40 (12.46%) Senior
3 31 (9.66%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 25 (7.79%) Analyst
5 23 (7.17%) Architect
6 21 (6.54%) Technical Support
7 18 (5.61%) Software Engineer
7 18 (5.61%) Support Engineer
8 16 (4.98%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 15 (4.67%) DBA
9 15 (4.67%) DevOps Engineer
9 15 (4.67%) Network Engineer
10 14 (4.36%) Technical Architect
10 14 (4.36%) Technical Engineer
10 14 (4.36%) Technical Support Engineer
11 13 (4.05%) Developer
12 12 (3.74%) Lead
12 12 (3.74%) Tester
13 11 (3.43%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
13 11 (3.43%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (4.05%) YAML
2 11 (3.43%) Middleware
2 11 (3.43%) XML
3 8 (2.49%) GraphQL
3 8 (2.49%) JSON
3 8 (2.49%) Loki
4 7 (2.18%) .NET
4 7 (2.18%) CSS
4 7 (2.18%) Kafka
4 7 (2.18%) React
4 7 (2.18%) Yocto
5 6 (1.87%) Ajax
5 6 (1.87%) AngularJS
6 5 (1.56%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (1.56%) Keycloak
6 5 (1.56%) OpenTelemetry
7 4 (1.25%) 802.1X
7 4 (1.25%) LAMP
7 4 (1.25%) Web Services
8 3 (0.93%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 29 (9.03%) Onboarding
2 20 (6.23%) PKI
3 18 (5.61%) Data Centre
4 17 (5.30%) Public Cloud
5 12 (3.74%) Hybrid Cloud
5 12 (3.74%) Management Information System
6 11 (3.43%) Security Operations Centre
7 9 (2.80%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (2.80%) Product Ownership
7 9 (2.80%) Security Posture
8 8 (2.49%) Cloud Native
8 8 (2.49%) Cyberattack
8 8 (2.49%) Operational Technology
9 7 (2.18%) Device Driver
9 7 (2.18%) Embedded Systems
9 7 (2.18%) SCADA
10 6 (1.87%) Cyber Defence
10 6 (1.87%) MicroBlaze
10 6 (1.87%) Mobile App
10 6 (1.87%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 159 (49.53%) Windows
2 65 (20.25%) Unix
3 41 (12.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 38 (11.84%) Windows Server
5 18 (5.61%) Ubuntu
6 11 (3.43%) Embedded Linux
7 10 (3.12%) Debian
8 8 (2.49%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (2.18%) CentOS
10 6 (1.87%) Android
10 6 (1.87%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (1.25%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.62%) Kali Linux
12 2 (0.62%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.62%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.62%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.62%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.31%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.31%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (19.63%) CI/CD
2 54 (16.82%) SIEM
3 50 (15.58%) DevOps
4 43 (13.40%) Agile
5 41 (12.77%) Problem-Solving
6 39 (12.15%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 39 (12.15%) ITIL
7 32 (9.97%) Computer Science
7 32 (9.97%) Cybersecurity
8 30 (9.35%) High Availability
9 28 (8.72%) Runbook
10 26 (8.10%) Containerisation
11 24 (7.48%) Migration
12 23 (7.17%) Software Engineering
13 22 (6.85%) Infrastructure as Code
14 21 (6.54%) ITSM
14 21 (6.54%) Root Cause Analysis
14 21 (6.54%) Security Operations
15 20 (6.23%) Change Control
15 20 (6.23%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 94 (29.28%) Python
2 57 (17.76%) PowerShell
3 32 (9.97%) Bash
4 27 (8.41%) SQL
5 26 (8.10%) Java
6 24 (7.48%) JavaScript
7 21 (6.54%) Perl
8 15 (4.67%) Shell Script
9 14 (4.36%) C
9 14 (4.36%) C++
10 5 (1.56%) Go
10 5 (1.56%) Rust
11 4 (1.25%) Embedded C++
11 4 (1.25%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.93%) Ada
12 3 (0.93%) Embedded C
12 3 (0.93%) Korn
12 3 (0.93%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.62%) C#
13 2 (0.62%) Scala
Qualifications
1 207 (64.49%) Security Cleared
2 139 (43.30%) SC Cleared
3 84 (26.17%) DV Cleared
4 49 (15.26%) Degree
5 23 (7.17%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (4.98%) Cisco Certification
7 14 (4.36%) RHCE
8 10 (3.12%) CCNP
9 8 (2.49%) CISSP
9 8 (2.49%) GIAC
9 8 (2.49%) ISTQB
9 8 (2.49%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 7 (2.18%) RHCSA
11 6 (1.87%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 6 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (1.87%) CESG Certified Professional
11 6 (1.87%) CISM
11 6 (1.87%) CRISC
11 6 (1.87%) LFCS
11 6 (1.87%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (11.84%) NIST
2 26 (8.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.36%) Cyber Essentials
4 12 (3.74%) SLA
5 9 (2.80%) NCSC
6 8 (2.49%) GDPR
7 6 (1.87%) ISO 31000
8 5 (1.56%) PCI DSS
9 4 (1.25%) GRC
10 3 (0.93%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.93%) NIST 800
10 3 (0.93%) QA
11 1 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.31%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.31%) DICOM
11 1 (0.31%) HL7
11 1 (0.31%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 61 (19.00%) Active Directory
2 48 (14.95%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (7.17%) VMware NSX
4 10 (3.12%) Docker
4 10 (3.12%) Firmware
5 9 (2.80%) Hyper-V
5 9 (2.80%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (2.49%) vSphere
7 6 (1.87%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (1.87%) Oracle RAC
8 4 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.93%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.93%) Postfix
9 3 (0.93%) UAG
10 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 40 (12.46%) Ansible
2 31 (9.66%) Kubernetes
3 30 (9.35%) Terraform
4 18 (5.61%) Grafana
5 17 (5.30%) Prometheus
6 13 (4.05%) Oracle RMAN
7 9 (2.80%) Red Hat Satellite
8 8 (2.49%) Data Guard
8 8 (2.49%) vCenter Server
9 7 (2.18%) Puppet
10 6 (1.87%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 6 (1.87%) Rancher
11 5 (1.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (1.56%) Argo
11 5 (1.56%) WSUS
12 4 (1.25%) Istio
12 4 (1.25%) Nessus
13 3 (0.93%) HAProxy
13 3 (0.93%) Podman
13 3 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 83 (25.86%) VMware
2 61 (19.00%) Microsoft
3 60 (18.69%) Red Hat
4 47 (14.64%) Oracle
5 24 (7.48%) Splunk
6 23 (7.17%) Cisco
7 20 (6.23%) BeyondTrust
8 18 (5.61%) Citrix
9 17 (5.30%) CyberArk
10 14 (4.36%) Palo Alto
11 12 (3.74%) ServiceNow
12 9 (2.80%) NVIDIA
13 6 (1.87%) BT
13 6 (1.87%) CheckPoint
13 6 (1.87%) Ericsson
13 6 (1.87%) Fortinet
13 6 (1.87%) Huawei
13 6 (1.87%) MuleSoft
13 6 (1.87%) Nokia
13 6 (1.87%) SolarWinds