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

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 25 21
Rank change year-on-year -8 -4 -1
Contract jobs citing Linux 304 200 392
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 5.31% 6.68% 7.04%
As % of the Operating Systems category 41.03% 38.61% 39.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 224 147 268
10th Percentile £306 £401 £350
25th Percentile £401 £463 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £598 £600 £600
90th Percentile £648 £675 £641
England median daily rate £515 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -6.36% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 13 23
10th Percentile £12.50 £46.21 £22.65
25th Percentile £17.97 £52.50 £41.50
Median hourly rate £47.50 £57.75 £62.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.75% -6.85% -4.62%
75th Percentile £51.93 £62.50 £68.13
90th Percentile £65.00 £64.75 £74.00
England median hourly rate £63.14 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -2.87% +8.33% -7.69%

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 741 518 982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.95% 17.30% 17.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 507 370 650
10th Percentile £204 £205 £200
25th Percentile £350 £338 £253
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £570 £600 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £650
England median daily rate £450 £475 £455
% change year-on-year -5.26% +4.40% -12.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 36 62
10th Percentile £13.89 £14.20 £16.00
25th Percentile £20.13 £16.95 £17.69
Median hourly rate £45.10 £28.00 £36.75
Median % change year-on-year +61.08% -23.81% -27.94%
75th Percentile £52.87 £60.47 £62.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £64.38 £70.00
England median hourly rate £34.57 £24.83 £22.00
% change year-on-year +39.21% +12.86% -35.29%

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 21 April 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 21 April 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 21 April 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 -1 170 £450 -6.64% 80
Berkshire -3 104 £403 -17.44% 34
Hampshire -15 93 £530 -7.83% 63
Buckinghamshire +15 45 £550 +30.80% 17
Surrey -2 26 £213 -57.50% 20
Oxfordshire -3 21 £450 -18.18% 29
Sussex - 5 - -
East Sussex - 5 £459 - 1
West Sussex -15 2 £613 +11.36% 6
Isle of Wight - 1 - -
Middlesex - 1 £198 - 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 (5.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (1.32%) WebSphere
2 4 (1.32%) WebSphere Application Server
3 3 (0.99%) Apache
3 3 (0.99%) Confluence
4 2 (0.66%) Appian
4 2 (0.66%) IBM HTTP Server
4 2 (0.66%) JBoss
4 2 (0.66%) OpenStack
4 2 (0.66%) Oracle HTTP Server
4 2 (0.66%) WebSphere Portal
5 1 (0.33%) SAS
5 1 (0.33%) SharePoint
Applications
1 6 (1.97%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.99%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.33%) Oracle EBS
1 1 (0.33%) Oracle EBS R12
1 1 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 66 (21.71%) AWS
2 58 (19.08%) Azure
3 28 (9.21%) OpenShift
4 21 (6.91%) GitHub
5 15 (4.93%) GitHub Actions
5 15 (4.93%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (4.61%) SaaS
7 11 (3.62%) GCP
8 10 (3.29%) Cloud Computing
9 9 (2.96%) Amazon EKS
10 8 (2.63%) AWS CloudFormation
10 8 (2.63%) Entra ID
11 7 (2.30%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (1.97%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 6 (1.97%) Amazon S3
12 6 (1.97%) Google Workspace
12 6 (1.97%) IaaS
13 5 (1.64%) Azure DevOps
13 5 (1.64%) Sauce Labs
14 4 (1.32%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 30 (9.87%) DNS
2 26 (8.55%) Firewall
3 21 (6.91%) TCP/IP
4 15 (4.93%) WAN
5 13 (4.28%) LAN
6 11 (3.62%) SAN
7 9 (2.96%) VSAN
8 8 (2.63%) DHCP
8 8 (2.63%) Wireless
9 7 (2.30%) NAS
9 7 (2.30%) SSH
10 5 (1.64%) BGP
10 5 (1.64%) Ethernet VPN
10 5 (1.64%) Network Security
10 5 (1.64%) OSPF
10 5 (1.64%) VPN
11 4 (1.32%) Software-Defined Radio
11 4 (1.32%) Wireshark
12 3 (0.99%) Cisco Nexus
12 3 (0.99%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (8.55%) SQL Server
2 21 (6.91%) MySQL
3 18 (5.92%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (5.92%) Relational Database
4 10 (3.29%) Oracle Database
5 8 (2.63%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (1.64%) Redis
7 4 (1.32%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (1.32%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.99%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.66%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.66%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.66%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.66%) RDBMS
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon Aurora
10 1 (0.33%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.33%) Oracle Exadata
10 1 (0.33%) SAP HANA
10 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 23 (7.57%) Jenkins
2 14 (4.61%) GitLab
3 12 (3.95%) Git
3 12 (3.95%) JIRA
4 9 (2.96%) Eclipse
5 8 (2.63%) JUnit
6 7 (2.30%) JMeter
6 7 (2.30%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (1.97%) Cucumber
8 5 (1.64%) Android Studio
8 5 (1.64%) Browser DevTools
8 5 (1.64%) Maven
8 5 (1.64%) Subversion
8 5 (1.64%) Xcode
9 4 (1.32%) Artifactory
10 3 (0.99%) Burp Suite
10 3 (0.99%) Jaeger
11 2 (0.66%) Introscope
11 2 (0.66%) Robot Framework
12 1 (0.33%) LoadRunner
General
1 59 (19.41%) Social Skills
2 30 (9.87%) Public Sector
3 20 (6.58%) Military
4 19 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (4.61%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (4.28%) Finance
7 10 (3.29%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.32%) Financial Institution
9 3 (0.99%) Law
9 3 (0.99%) Manufacturing
9 3 (0.99%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.66%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.66%) Legal
10 2 (0.66%) Retail
11 1 (0.33%) Advertising
11 1 (0.33%) Back Office
11 1 (0.33%) Banking
11 1 (0.33%) Electronics
11 1 (0.33%) Front Office
11 1 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 36 (11.84%) Linux Engineer
2 33 (10.86%) Senior
3 31 (10.20%) Architect
4 24 (7.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 23 (7.57%) Analyst
6 18 (5.92%) Developer
7 17 (5.59%) Technical Support
8 16 (5.26%) DevOps Engineer
8 16 (5.26%) Software Engineer
9 15 (4.93%) Technical Architect
10 13 (4.28%) Support Engineer
11 12 (3.95%) Lead
11 12 (3.95%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 12 (3.95%) Tester
12 11 (3.62%) Administrator
12 11 (3.62%) DBA
12 11 (3.62%) SOC Analyst
13 8 (2.63%) Network Engineer
13 8 (2.63%) Technical Engineer
13 8 (2.63%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.61%) Kafka
2 13 (4.28%) Middleware
3 12 (3.95%) Elastic Stack
4 11 (3.62%) XML
4 11 (3.62%) YAML
5 8 (2.63%) JSON
5 8 (2.63%) Loki
5 8 (2.63%) Spring
6 7 (2.30%) .NET
7 6 (1.97%) CSS
7 6 (1.97%) Hibernate
7 6 (1.97%) React
8 5 (1.64%) Ajax
8 5 (1.64%) AngularJS
8 5 (1.64%) GraphQL
8 5 (1.64%) Keycloak
9 4 (1.32%) OpenTelemetry
9 4 (1.32%) Yocto
10 3 (0.99%) REST
10 3 (0.99%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 23 (7.57%) Onboarding
2 16 (5.26%) Cloud Native
2 16 (5.26%) PKI
3 15 (4.93%) Data Centre
4 14 (4.61%) Public Cloud
5 12 (3.95%) Management Information System
5 12 (3.95%) Security Operations Centre
6 10 (3.29%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (2.96%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (2.96%) Replication
8 8 (2.63%) Cyberattack
8 8 (2.63%) Enterprise Software
8 8 (2.63%) Security Posture
9 7 (2.30%) Product Ownership
10 5 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
10 5 (1.64%) Mobile App
11 4 (1.32%) Clustering
11 4 (1.32%) Device Driver
11 4 (1.32%) Embedded Systems
11 4 (1.32%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 148 (48.68%) Windows
2 46 (15.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 45 (14.80%) Unix
4 38 (12.50%) Windows Server
5 14 (4.61%) Ubuntu
6 8 (2.63%) Embedded Linux
6 8 (2.63%) Windows Server 2016
7 5 (1.64%) Android
7 5 (1.64%) Debian
8 4 (1.32%) CentOS
8 4 (1.32%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.99%) Kali Linux
9 3 (0.99%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 2 (0.66%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.66%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.33%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.33%) Solaris
11 1 (0.33%) SUSE
11 1 (0.33%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (24.67%) CI/CD
2 55 (18.09%) DevOps
3 47 (15.46%) Agile
4 43 (14.14%) SIEM
5 39 (12.83%) Problem-Solving
6 34 (11.18%) Containerisation
7 31 (10.20%) Computer Science
8 30 (9.87%) Infrastructure as Code
8 30 (9.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 29 (9.54%) Cybersecurity
10 28 (9.21%) ITIL
11 25 (8.22%) Incident Response
11 25 (8.22%) Platform Engineering
12 24 (7.89%) High Availability
12 24 (7.89%) Migration
13 23 (7.57%) Runbook
14 22 (7.24%) Security Operations
15 21 (6.91%) DevSecOps
16 20 (6.58%) Observability
16 20 (6.58%) Site Reliability Engineering
Programming Languages
1 91 (29.93%) Python
2 53 (17.43%) PowerShell
3 40 (13.16%) Bash
4 28 (9.21%) Java
5 24 (7.89%) SQL
6 22 (7.24%) Perl
7 17 (5.59%) JavaScript
8 11 (3.62%) C
9 10 (3.29%) C++
9 10 (3.29%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.32%) Go
10 4 (1.32%) Rust
11 3 (0.99%) Ada
11 3 (0.99%) C#
11 3 (0.99%) Embedded C
11 3 (0.99%) Embedded C++
11 3 (0.99%) Korn
12 2 (0.66%) Jython
12 2 (0.66%) PHP
13 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 193 (63.49%) Security Cleared
2 125 (41.12%) SC Cleared
3 74 (24.34%) DV Cleared
4 38 (12.50%) Degree
5 22 (7.24%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (4.28%) RHCE
7 8 (2.63%) AWS Certification
7 8 (2.63%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (2.30%) CCNP
9 6 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (1.97%) CompTIA CySA+
9 6 (1.97%) ISTQB
9 6 (1.97%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 5 (1.64%) CISSP
10 5 (1.64%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (1.64%) RHCSA
11 4 (1.32%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 4 (1.32%) Azure Certification
11 4 (1.32%) OCP
11 4 (1.32%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (8.22%) NIST
2 18 (5.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (3.29%) GDPR
4 7 (2.30%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (1.97%) NCSC
5 6 (1.97%) QA
6 5 (1.64%) SLA
7 4 (1.32%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.99%) GRC
8 3 (0.99%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.99%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.33%) DICOM
9 1 (0.33%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.33%) HL7
9 1 (0.33%) OpenSCAP
System Software
1 55 (18.09%) VMware Infrastructure
2 49 (16.12%) Active Directory
3 18 (5.92%) Docker
4 13 (4.28%) Hyper-V
4 13 (4.28%) VMware NSX
4 13 (4.28%) vSphere
5 7 (2.30%) Firmware
5 7 (2.30%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.99%) Embedded Firmware
7 3 (0.99%) Oracle RAC
7 3 (0.99%) UAG
8 1 (0.33%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.33%) GPFS
8 1 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 56 (18.42%) Ansible
2 47 (15.46%) Kubernetes
3 40 (13.16%) Terraform
4 27 (8.88%) Grafana
5 25 (8.22%) Prometheus
6 11 (3.62%) Red Hat Satellite
7 9 (2.96%) Argo
7 9 (2.96%) Oracle RMAN
7 9 (2.96%) vCenter Server
8 8 (2.63%) Progress Chef
9 7 (2.30%) Puppet
10 6 (1.97%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 6 (1.97%) Rancher
11 5 (1.64%) Data Guard
11 5 (1.64%) Nessus
11 5 (1.64%) WSUS
12 4 (1.32%) Sysdig
13 3 (0.99%) Istio
13 3 (0.99%) Kustomize
13 3 (0.99%) Packer
Vendors
1 82 (26.97%) VMware
2 67 (22.04%) Red Hat
3 61 (20.07%) Microsoft
4 42 (13.82%) Oracle
5 31 (10.20%) Splunk
6 16 (5.26%) BeyondTrust
7 14 (4.61%) CyberArk
8 13 (4.28%) Cisco
9 8 (2.63%) MuleSoft
10 7 (2.30%) NVIDIA
10 7 (2.30%) Palo Alto
11 6 (1.97%) HP
11 6 (1.97%) ServiceNow
12 5 (1.64%) Atlassian
12 5 (1.64%) Citrix
12 5 (1.64%) Dell
12 5 (1.64%) IBM
12 5 (1.64%) Mellanox
12 5 (1.64%) NetApp
12 5 (1.64%) SAP