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

6 months to
16 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 36 30 20
Rank change year-on-year -6 -10 -1
Contract jobs citing Linux 291 183 440
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 4.78% 6.06% 7.68%
As % of the Operating Systems category 39.54% 33.09% 43.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 137 294
10th Percentile £290 £408 £350
25th Percentile £404 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -1.50% +2.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £655 £626 £638
England median daily rate £510 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -7.27% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 7 27
10th Percentile £27.88 £38.98 £26.25
25th Percentile £43.81 £51.78 £48.13
Median hourly rate £50.00 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% -8.00% -5.08%
75th Percentile £55.00 £59.44 £70.00
90th Percentile £66.00 £61.08 £75.00
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

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 736 553 1,010
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.09% 18.32% 17.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 487 388 648
10th Percentile £204 £200 £205
25th Percentile £313 £324 £329
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £475
Median % change year-on-year -3.06% +3.16% +5.56%
75th Percentile £575 £589 £588
90th Percentile £650 £660 £663
England median daily rate £455 £465 £475
% change year-on-year -2.15% -2.11% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 39 61
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.20 £16.00
25th Percentile £20.41 £16.23 £18.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £18.82 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +72.69% -62.36% -13.04%
75th Percentile £53.17 £28.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £60.00 £58.75 £73.75
England median hourly rate £32.50 £19.14 £23.00
% change year-on-year +69.85% -16.80% -51.58%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 +6 183 £500 - 72
Berkshire -15 79 £405 -19.00% 35
Hampshire -18 75 £575 +4.55% 63
Buckinghamshire +11 68 £560 +6.67% 12
Oxfordshire 0 36 £450 -18.18% 25
Surrey -9 25 £208 -56.32% 24
West Sussex -21 3 £459 -14.60% 4
East Sussex - 3 £459 - 5
Middlesex - 1 £198 - 2
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 15 (5.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (2.06%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.37%) Apache
3 4 (1.37%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.37%) WebSphere Application Server
4 3 (1.03%) Confluence
4 3 (1.03%) IIS
4 3 (1.03%) nginx
4 3 (1.03%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.69%) Appian
5 2 (0.69%) IBM HTTP Server
5 2 (0.69%) JBoss
5 2 (0.69%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.69%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.69%) WebSphere Portal
6 1 (0.34%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (1.37%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 67 (23.02%) Azure
2 55 (18.90%) AWS
3 25 (8.59%) Entra ID
4 21 (7.22%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (4.47%) OpenShift
5 13 (4.47%) SaaS
6 11 (3.78%) GitHub
7 10 (3.44%) GCP
7 10 (3.44%) GitHub Actions
8 7 (2.41%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 7 (2.41%) Azure Sentinel
8 7 (2.41%) IaaS
8 7 (2.41%) PaaS
9 6 (2.06%) Amazon EKS
10 5 (1.72%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.37%) Sauce Labs
11 4 (1.37%) Serverless
12 3 (1.03%) Amazon ECS
12 3 (1.03%) Cloudflare
13 2 (0.69%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 29 (9.97%) DNS
2 22 (7.56%) Firewall
3 15 (5.15%) WAN
4 13 (4.47%) LAN
4 13 (4.47%) VSAN
5 12 (4.12%) TCP/IP
6 11 (3.78%) Network Security
7 9 (3.09%) Cisco ASA
7 9 (3.09%) Cisco Firepower
8 8 (2.75%) SSH
8 8 (2.75%) VPN
8 8 (2.75%) Wireless
8 8 (2.75%) Wireshark
9 7 (2.41%) SAN
9 7 (2.41%) Software-Defined Radio
10 6 (2.06%) Cisco Nexus
10 6 (2.06%) Diameter Protocol
10 6 (2.06%) LTE
10 6 (2.06%) Radio Access Network
10 6 (2.06%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (10.31%) SQL Server
2 22 (7.56%) MySQL
3 15 (5.15%) Relational Database
4 9 (3.09%) Oracle Database
5 7 (2.41%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.72%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (1.37%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (1.03%) Oracle Database 11g
8 3 (1.03%) Redis
9 2 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.69%) DataStage
9 2 (0.69%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.69%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.69%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.69%) Vitess
10 1 (0.34%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.34%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
10 1 (0.34%) Pentaho
10 1 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 12 (4.12%) GitLab
1 12 (4.12%) JIRA
2 11 (3.78%) Jenkins
3 8 (2.75%) Eclipse
3 8 (2.75%) Git
4 5 (1.72%) Maven
5 4 (1.37%) Android Studio
5 4 (1.37%) Browser DevTools
5 4 (1.37%) Jaeger
5 4 (1.37%) SonarQube
5 4 (1.37%) Subversion
5 4 (1.37%) Xcode
6 2 (0.69%) Burp Suite
6 2 (0.69%) Introscope
6 2 (0.69%) JUnit
6 2 (0.69%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.34%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.34%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.34%) Mockito
7 1 (0.34%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 44 (15.12%) Social Skills
2 35 (12.03%) Public Sector
3 21 (7.22%) Analytical Skills
4 18 (6.19%) Documentation Skills
4 18 (6.19%) Military
5 9 (3.09%) Finance
6 6 (2.06%) Manufacturing
6 6 (2.06%) Retail
7 4 (1.37%) Financial Institution
7 4 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (1.03%) Law
8 3 (1.03%) Telecoms
9 2 (0.69%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.34%) Advertising
10 1 (0.34%) Electronics
10 1 (0.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.34%) Legal
10 1 (0.34%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 43 (14.78%) Senior
2 40 (13.75%) Linux Engineer
3 31 (10.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 20 (6.87%) Analyst
5 18 (6.19%) Architect
6 17 (5.84%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
6 17 (5.84%) Technical Support
7 15 (5.15%) Support Engineer
8 14 (4.81%) Developer
8 14 (4.81%) Network Engineer
8 14 (4.81%) Software Engineer
9 13 (4.47%) Technical Architect
10 12 (4.12%) Lead
10 12 (4.12%) Technical Engineer
10 12 (4.12%) Technical Support Engineer
11 11 (3.78%) Citrix Engineer
11 11 (3.78%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.78%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.44%) DBA
12 10 (3.44%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.09%) Kafka
1 9 (3.09%) Middleware
1 9 (3.09%) YAML
2 7 (2.41%) .NET
2 7 (2.41%) Keycloak
2 7 (2.41%) Loki
2 7 (2.41%) Yocto
3 6 (2.06%) GraphQL
3 6 (2.06%) XML
4 5 (1.72%) CSS
4 5 (1.72%) Elastic Stack
4 5 (1.72%) OpenTelemetry
4 5 (1.72%) React
5 4 (1.37%) 802.1X
5 4 (1.37%) AngularJS
5 4 (1.37%) gRPC
5 4 (1.37%) JSON
5 4 (1.37%) Protocol Buffers
5 4 (1.37%) RESTful
5 4 (1.37%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 33 (11.34%) Onboarding
2 20 (6.87%) PKI
3 16 (5.50%) Data Centre
3 16 (5.50%) Public Cloud
4 14 (4.81%) Management Information System
5 12 (4.12%) Product Ownership
6 11 (3.78%) Hybrid Cloud
6 11 (3.78%) Security Operations Centre
7 10 (3.44%) Security Posture
8 9 (3.09%) Legacy Systems
9 8 (2.75%) Cyberattack
9 8 (2.75%) Operational Technology
10 7 (2.41%) Cyber Defence
10 7 (2.41%) Device Driver
10 7 (2.41%) Embedded Systems
10 7 (2.41%) SCADA
11 6 (2.06%) Cloud Native
11 6 (2.06%) MicroBlaze
11 6 (2.06%) Replication
11 6 (2.06%) RISC-V
Operating Systems
1 145 (49.83%) Windows
2 66 (22.68%) Unix
3 38 (13.06%) Windows Server
4 32 (11.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 13 (4.47%) Ubuntu
6 11 (3.78%) Embedded Linux
7 7 (2.41%) Debian
8 6 (2.06%) CentOS
8 6 (2.06%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (1.72%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (1.37%) Android
10 4 (1.37%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.69%) Kali Linux
11 2 (0.69%) Oracle Linux
11 2 (0.69%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.34%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.34%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.34%) VMS
12 1 (0.34%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (19.24%) SIEM
2 54 (18.56%) CI/CD
3 36 (12.37%) Cybersecurity
3 36 (12.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 35 (12.03%) DevOps
4 35 (12.03%) Problem-Solving
5 32 (11.00%) Agile
5 32 (11.00%) Computer Science
5 32 (11.00%) ITIL
6 30 (10.31%) Runbook
7 27 (9.28%) High Availability
7 27 (9.28%) Infrastructure as Code
8 26 (8.93%) ITSM
9 24 (8.25%) Change Control
9 24 (8.25%) Containerisation
9 24 (8.25%) Migration
10 22 (7.56%) Root Cause Analysis
10 22 (7.56%) Security Operations
11 21 (7.22%) Privileged Access Management
12 20 (6.87%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 92 (31.62%) Python
2 63 (21.65%) PowerShell
3 36 (12.37%) Bash
4 23 (7.90%) SQL
5 21 (7.22%) Java
6 20 (6.87%) JavaScript
7 18 (6.19%) Perl
8 16 (5.50%) C
9 14 (4.81%) C++
10 11 (3.78%) Shell Script
11 7 (2.41%) Rust
12 5 (1.72%) Go
13 4 (1.37%) Embedded C++
14 3 (1.03%) Ada
14 3 (1.03%) Embedded C
14 3 (1.03%) Korn
14 3 (1.03%) PL/SQL
14 3 (1.03%) TypeScript
15 2 (0.69%) Jython
15 2 (0.69%) Scala
Qualifications
1 185 (63.57%) Security Cleared
2 129 (44.33%) SC Cleared
3 71 (24.40%) DV Cleared
4 51 (17.53%) Degree
5 19 (6.53%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (5.15%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (4.47%) RHCE
8 10 (3.44%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (3.09%) CCNP
10 7 (2.41%) AWS Certification
10 7 (2.41%) CISSP
10 7 (2.41%) GIAC
10 7 (2.41%) RHCSA
11 6 (2.06%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 6 (2.06%) CESG Certified Professional
11 6 (2.06%) CISM
11 6 (2.06%) CRISC
11 6 (2.06%) LFCS
11 6 (2.06%) SANS
12 5 (1.72%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (14.43%) NIST
2 31 (10.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.81%) Cyber Essentials
4 11 (3.78%) SLA
5 9 (3.09%) NCSC
6 6 (2.06%) ISO 31000
7 5 (1.72%) GDPR
7 5 (1.72%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.37%) GRC
9 3 (1.03%) JSP 440
9 3 (1.03%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.34%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.34%) DICOM
10 1 (0.34%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.34%) HL7
10 1 (0.34%) OpenSCAP
10 1 (0.34%) QA
System Software
1 65 (22.34%) Active Directory
2 43 (14.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (8.25%) VMware NSX
4 11 (3.78%) Docker
5 10 (3.44%) Firmware
5 10 (3.44%) Hyper-V
6 9 (3.09%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (2.06%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (2.06%) vSphere
8 5 (1.72%) Oracle RAC
9 3 (1.03%) Dovecot
9 3 (1.03%) Postfix
9 3 (1.03%) UAG
10 1 (0.34%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.34%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 37 (12.71%) Ansible
2 32 (11.00%) Terraform
3 31 (10.65%) Kubernetes
4 18 (6.19%) Grafana
4 18 (6.19%) Prometheus
5 11 (3.78%) Puppet
6 9 (3.09%) Oracle RMAN
7 7 (2.41%) vCenter Server
8 6 (2.06%) Rancher
9 5 (1.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (1.72%) Red Hat Satellite
10 4 (1.37%) Argo
10 4 (1.37%) Data Guard
10 4 (1.37%) Istio
10 4 (1.37%) Podman
10 4 (1.37%) Progress Chef
10 4 (1.37%) WSUS
11 3 (1.03%) HAProxy
11 3 (1.03%) Nessus
11 3 (1.03%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 70 (24.05%) VMware
2 53 (18.21%) Microsoft
3 42 (14.43%) Oracle
3 42 (14.43%) Red Hat
4 24 (8.25%) BeyondTrust
5 23 (7.90%) Cisco
6 22 (7.56%) Splunk
7 21 (7.22%) CyberArk
8 17 (5.84%) Citrix
9 14 (4.81%) Palo Alto
10 13 (4.47%) ServiceNow
11 10 (3.44%) NVIDIA
12 7 (2.41%) SolarWinds
13 6 (2.06%) BT
13 6 (2.06%) CheckPoint
13 6 (2.06%) Ericsson
13 6 (2.06%) Fortinet
13 6 (2.06%) Huawei
13 6 (2.06%) IBM
13 6 (2.06%) Nokia