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

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 30 19
Rank change year-on-year -3 -11 0
Contract jobs citing Linux 304 178 429
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.08% 6.06% 7.62%
As % of the Operating Systems category 40.21% 33.78% 43.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 215 133 290
10th Percentile £288 £413 £355
25th Percentile £402 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £550 £535
Median % change year-on-year -8.18% +2.80% +1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £653 £635 £650
England median daily rate £510 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -7.27% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 8 23
10th Percentile £23.02 £42.00 £26.25
25th Percentile £43.81 £52.14 £41.50
Median hourly rate £47.54 £57.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.32% -8.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £53.75 £60.72 £70.00
90th Percentile £63.00 £62.50 £74.75
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 756 527 997
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.64% 17.94% 17.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 507 378 653
10th Percentile £204 £200 £205
25th Percentile £322 £325 £310
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £489 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% +2.95% +2.15%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £661 £663
England median daily rate £455 £467 £475
% change year-on-year -2.47% -1.79% -6.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 36 57
10th Percentile £15.80 £14.20 £15.95
25th Percentile £20.50 £16.95 £18.00
Median hourly rate £42.71 £20.95 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +103.84% -55.89% -13.64%
75th Percentile £53.75 £30.94 £62.50
90th Percentile £60.00 £59.44 £73.75
England median hourly rate £34.68 £20.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year +73.38% -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 5 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 5 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 5 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 +9 188 £473 -5.50% 84
Berkshire -5 87 £410 -18.10% 42
Hampshire -14 77 £550 -2.22% 79
Buckinghamshire +13 68 £560 +33.17% 14
Oxfordshire +5 33 £450 -18.18% 28
Surrey -5 28 £208 -58.50% 32
West Sussex -16 4 £580 +7.81% 5
East Sussex - 3 £459 - 3
Sussex - 2 - - 1
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Middlesex - 1 £198 - 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 17 (5.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (1.97%) 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
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 67 (22.04%) Azure
2 55 (18.09%) AWS
3 24 (7.89%) Entra ID
4 23 (7.57%) Microsoft 365
5 15 (4.93%) SaaS
6 14 (4.61%) OpenShift
7 12 (3.95%) GitHub
8 11 (3.62%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (3.29%) GCP
10 9 (2.96%) IaaS
10 9 (2.96%) PaaS
11 8 (2.63%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 7 (2.30%) Amazon EKS
12 7 (2.30%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (1.64%) Amazon EC2
13 5 (1.64%) Amazon S3
13 5 (1.64%) Azure DevOps
13 5 (1.64%) Cloud Computing
13 5 (1.64%) Sauce Labs
14 4 (1.32%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.87%) DNS
2 24 (7.89%) Firewall
3 16 (5.26%) WAN
4 14 (4.61%) LAN
5 13 (4.28%) VSAN
6 12 (3.95%) Network Security
6 12 (3.95%) TCP/IP
7 9 (2.96%) Cisco ASA
7 9 (2.96%) Cisco Firepower
7 9 (2.96%) VPN
8 8 (2.63%) SSH
8 8 (2.63%) Wireless
8 8 (2.63%) Wireshark
9 7 (2.30%) DHCP
9 7 (2.30%) SAN
9 7 (2.30%) Software-Defined Radio
10 6 (1.97%) Cisco Nexus
10 6 (1.97%) Diameter Protocol
10 6 (1.97%) SSL
10 6 (1.97%) VoLTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (9.21%) SQL Server
2 24 (7.89%) MySQL
3 17 (5.59%) Relational Database
4 12 (3.95%) Oracle Database
5 7 (2.30%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.64%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (1.64%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (1.32%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.99%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.99%) Oracle Database 11g
8 3 (0.99%) Redis
9 2 (0.66%) DataStage
9 2 (0.66%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.66%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.66%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.66%) Vitess
10 1 (0.33%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.33%) Pentaho
10 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.28%) JIRA
2 11 (3.62%) GitLab
2 11 (3.62%) Jenkins
3 9 (2.96%) Eclipse
4 8 (2.63%) Git
5 5 (1.64%) Android Studio
5 5 (1.64%) Browser DevTools
5 5 (1.64%) Maven
5 5 (1.64%) Xcode
6 4 (1.32%) Jaeger
6 4 (1.32%) Subversion
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 43 (14.14%) Social Skills
2 33 (10.86%) Public Sector
3 20 (6.58%) Military
4 17 (5.59%) Documentation Skills
5 16 (5.26%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (2.96%) Finance
7 6 (1.97%) Manufacturing
7 6 (1.97%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (1.97%) Retail
8 4 (1.32%) Financial Institution
9 3 (0.99%) Law
9 3 (0.99%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.33%) Advertising
11 1 (0.33%) Back Office
11 1 (0.33%) Electronics
11 1 (0.33%) Front Office
11 1 (0.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.33%) Legal
11 1 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 41 (13.49%) Senior
2 40 (13.16%) Linux Engineer
3 32 (10.53%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 21 (6.91%) Architect
5 19 (6.25%) Technical Support
6 18 (5.92%) Analyst
7 17 (5.59%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 17 (5.59%) Software Engineer
8 16 (5.26%) Support Engineer
9 15 (4.93%) Network Engineer
10 14 (4.61%) DevOps Engineer
11 13 (4.28%) DBA
11 13 (4.28%) Developer
11 13 (4.28%) Technical Architect
11 13 (4.28%) Technical Engineer
11 13 (4.28%) Technical Support Engineer
12 12 (3.95%) Lead
13 11 (3.62%) Citrix Engineer
13 11 (3.62%) Citrix Infrastructure Engineer
13 11 (3.62%) Linux Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (3.95%) YAML
2 10 (3.29%) Middleware
2 10 (3.29%) XML
3 8 (2.63%) Kafka
3 8 (2.63%) Loki
4 7 (2.30%) .NET
4 7 (2.30%) GraphQL
4 7 (2.30%) JSON
4 7 (2.30%) Yocto
5 6 (1.97%) CSS
5 6 (1.97%) Keycloak
5 6 (1.97%) React
6 5 (1.64%) Ajax
6 5 (1.64%) AngularJS
6 5 (1.64%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (1.64%) OpenTelemetry
7 4 (1.32%) 802.1X
7 4 (1.32%) LAMP
7 4 (1.32%) Web Services
8 3 (0.99%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 30 (9.87%) Onboarding
2 20 (6.58%) PKI
3 18 (5.92%) Data Centre
4 16 (5.26%) Public Cloud
5 13 (4.28%) Management Information System
6 12 (3.95%) Hybrid Cloud
7 10 (3.29%) Product Ownership
7 10 (3.29%) Security Operations Centre
8 9 (2.96%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (2.96%) Security Posture
9 8 (2.63%) Cyberattack
9 8 (2.63%) Operational Technology
10 7 (2.30%) Device Driver
10 7 (2.30%) Embedded Systems
10 7 (2.30%) SCADA
11 6 (1.97%) Cloud Native
11 6 (1.97%) Cyber Defence
11 6 (1.97%) MicroBlaze
11 6 (1.97%) Replication
11 6 (1.97%) RISC-V
Operating Systems
1 147 (48.36%) Windows
2 65 (21.38%) Unix
3 39 (12.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 39 (12.83%) Windows Server
4 14 (4.61%) Ubuntu
5 11 (3.62%) Embedded Linux
6 8 (2.63%) Windows Server 2016
7 7 (2.30%) CentOS
7 7 (2.30%) Debian
8 6 (1.97%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (1.64%) 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 57 (18.75%) CI/CD
2 54 (17.76%) SIEM
3 44 (14.47%) DevOps
4 38 (12.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 38 (12.50%) Problem-Solving
5 36 (11.84%) ITIL
6 34 (11.18%) Agile
6 34 (11.18%) Cybersecurity
7 31 (10.20%) Computer Science
8 30 (9.87%) High Availability
9 29 (9.54%) Runbook
10 25 (8.22%) Containerisation
11 23 (7.57%) Infrastructure as Code
11 23 (7.57%) Migration
11 23 (7.57%) Root Cause Analysis
12 22 (7.24%) ITSM
12 22 (7.24%) Software Engineering
13 21 (6.91%) Change Control
13 21 (6.91%) Security Operations
14 20 (6.58%) Privileged Access Management
Programming Languages
1 91 (29.93%) Python
2 58 (19.08%) PowerShell
3 31 (10.20%) Bash
4 28 (9.21%) SQL
5 24 (7.89%) Java
6 22 (7.24%) JavaScript
7 19 (6.25%) Perl
8 15 (4.93%) C
9 14 (4.61%) C++
10 13 (4.28%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.97%) Rust
12 5 (1.64%) 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
1 196 (64.47%) Security Cleared
2 136 (44.74%) SC Cleared
3 73 (24.01%) DV Cleared
4 49 (16.12%) Degree
5 21 (6.91%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (5.26%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (4.28%) RHCE
8 10 (3.29%) CCNP
9 8 (2.63%) CISSP
9 8 (2.63%) GIAC
10 7 (2.30%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (2.30%) RHCSA
11 6 (1.97%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 6 (1.97%) CESG Certified Professional
11 6 (1.97%) CISM
11 6 (1.97%) CRISC
11 6 (1.97%) LFCS
11 6 (1.97%) SANS
12 5 (1.64%) CCSE
12 5 (1.64%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (12.83%) NIST
2 27 (8.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.61%) Cyber Essentials
4 12 (3.95%) SLA
5 9 (2.96%) NCSC
6 8 (2.63%) GDPR
7 6 (1.97%) ISO 31000
8 5 (1.64%) PCI DSS
9 4 (1.32%) GRC
10 3 (0.99%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.99%) NIST 800
10 3 (0.99%) QA
11 1 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.33%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.33%) DICOM
11 1 (0.33%) HL7
11 1 (0.33%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 63 (20.72%) Active Directory
2 47 (15.46%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (7.89%) VMware NSX
4 10 (3.29%) Docker
4 10 (3.29%) Firmware
4 10 (3.29%) Hyper-V
5 9 (2.96%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (2.30%) vSphere
7 6 (1.97%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (1.64%) Oracle RAC
8 5 (1.64%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.99%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.99%) Postfix
9 3 (0.99%) UAG
10 1 (0.33%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 39 (12.83%) Ansible
2 30 (9.87%) Kubernetes
2 30 (9.87%) Terraform
3 18 (5.92%) Grafana
3 18 (5.92%) Prometheus
4 12 (3.95%) Oracle RMAN
5 9 (2.96%) Red Hat Satellite
6 8 (2.63%) vCenter Server
7 7 (2.30%) Data Guard
7 7 (2.30%) Puppet
8 6 (1.97%) Rancher
9 5 (1.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (1.64%) Argo
9 5 (1.64%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 4 (1.32%) Istio
10 4 (1.32%) Nessus
10 4 (1.32%) WSUS
11 3 (0.99%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.99%) Podman
11 3 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 78 (25.66%) VMware
2 58 (19.08%) Microsoft
3 53 (17.43%) Red Hat
4 45 (14.80%) Oracle
5 23 (7.57%) Cisco
5 23 (7.57%) Splunk
6 21 (6.91%) BeyondTrust
7 18 (5.92%) Citrix
7 18 (5.92%) CyberArk
8 14 (4.61%) Palo Alto
9 13 (4.28%) ServiceNow
10 10 (3.29%) NVIDIA
11 6 (1.97%) BT
11 6 (1.97%) CheckPoint
11 6 (1.97%) Ericsson
11 6 (1.97%) Fortinet
11 6 (1.97%) Huawei
11 6 (1.97%) IBM
11 6 (1.97%) Nokia
11 6 (1.97%) SolarWinds