DevOps Contract Job Trends in the South West

DevOps
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring DevOps skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 22 14
Rank change year-on-year +9 -8 +2
Contract jobs citing DevOps 316 130 254
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 8.50% 6.62% 9.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.86% 7.33% 11.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 102 153
10th Percentile £400 £344 £451
25th Percentile £449 £447 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £523 £580
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -9.91% -3.33%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £664
90th Percentile £700 £700 £701
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -5.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 3 40
10th Percentile £62.18 £83.37 -
25th Percentile £71.06 £83.98 -
Median hourly rate £84.75 £90.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.83% +28.57% -10.26%
75th Percentile £95.94 £95.00 £74.00
90th Percentile £99.88 - £85.00
England median hourly rate £67.25 £67.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +0.37% -4.29% +7.69%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South West

DevOps falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,909 1,774 2,221
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 78.28% 90.37% 83.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,645 1,026 1,339
10th Percentile £325 £220 £281
25th Percentile £428 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £619 £634
90th Percentile £725 £700 £703
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.95% -2.87% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 461 229 222
10th Percentile £14.85 £14.77 £15.62
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.51 £44.38
Median hourly rate £62.00 £25.15 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year +146.52% -62.74% +6.18%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £72.50
90th Percentile £79.00 £70.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%

DevOps
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing DevOps relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

DevOps job vacancy trend in the South West

DevOps
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing DevOps.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing DevOps

DevOps
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DevOps in the South West over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DevOps in the South West

DevOps
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing DevOps.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing DevOps

DevOps
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DevOps in the South West over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DevOps in the South West

DevOps
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DevOps within the South West region over the 6 months to 10 September 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
Bristol +10 115 £550 +10.00% 52
Somerset +15 65 £475 +1.33% 12
Wiltshire +12 54 £563 -5.26% 13
Gloucestershire +10 51 £575 -10.68% 53
Devon -12 17 £560 +7.69% 17
Dorset -16 3 £430 +14.67% 9
Cornwall - 1 £505 -
DevOps
England

DevOps
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 26 (8.23%) Confluence
2 10 (3.16%) SharePoint
3 7 (2.22%) Apache Spark
3 7 (2.22%) IIS
4 5 (1.58%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.95%) Apache
6 1 (0.32%) JBoss
6 1 (0.32%) Mattermost
6 1 (0.32%) nginx
6 1 (0.32%) Oracle Coherence
6 1 (0.32%) Tomcat
Applications
1 7 (2.22%) Spreadsheet
2 5 (1.58%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.95%) Trello
4 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.32%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 4 (1.27%) Payment Gateway
2 2 (0.63%) Oracle Payroll
3 1 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.32%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.32%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.32%) SAP Hybris
3 1 (0.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 1 (0.32%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 148 (46.84%) Azure
2 104 (32.91%) AWS
3 75 (23.73%) Azure DevOps
4 54 (17.09%) GCP
5 23 (7.28%) GitHub
6 14 (4.43%) Serverless
7 13 (4.11%) AWS CloudFormation
8 11 (3.48%) dbt
8 11 (3.48%) GitHub Actions
9 9 (2.85%) Azure AKS
9 9 (2.85%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 8 (2.53%) Power Platform
10 8 (2.53%) SaaS
11 7 (2.22%) AWS Lambda
11 7 (2.22%) Azure Data Factory
11 7 (2.22%) Azure Key Vault
11 7 (2.22%) Entra ID
11 7 (2.22%) OCI
11 7 (2.22%) OpenShift
12 6 (1.90%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 14 (4.43%) DNS
2 12 (3.80%) Firewall
3 6 (1.90%) VPN
4 4 (1.27%) VSAN
5 2 (0.63%) CTI
6 1 (0.32%) 3GPP
6 1 (0.32%) AMQP
6 1 (0.32%) Network Security
6 1 (0.32%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.32%) tcpdump
6 1 (0.32%) TETRA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (4.43%) SQL Server
2 11 (3.48%) Geospatial Data
3 8 (2.53%) MongoDB
3 8 (2.53%) Power BI
4 7 (2.22%) Data Warehouse
4 7 (2.22%) SAP HANA
5 6 (1.90%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.58%) Big Data
6 5 (1.58%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 4 (1.27%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (1.27%) Hadoop
7 4 (1.27%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.27%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.95%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.95%) BigQuery
8 3 (0.95%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.95%) DynamoDB
8 3 (0.95%) EDRMS
8 3 (0.95%) Metadata
8 3 (0.95%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 47 (14.87%) Git
2 38 (12.03%) JIRA
3 36 (11.39%) GitLab
4 35 (11.08%) Jenkins
5 11 (3.48%) MSI
6 9 (2.85%) Gatling
6 9 (2.85%) LoadRunner
7 8 (2.53%) JMeter
8 7 (2.22%) Cucumber
8 7 (2.22%) REST Assured
9 6 (1.90%) Postman
10 3 (0.95%) Claude Code
10 3 (0.95%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 2 (0.63%) AdminStudio
11 2 (0.63%) InstallShield
11 2 (0.63%) IntelliJ
11 2 (0.63%) JUnit
11 2 (0.63%) Selenium
11 2 (0.63%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.63%) Visual Studio Team System
General
1 66 (20.89%) Social Skills
2 38 (12.03%) Public Sector
3 21 (6.65%) Finance
4 17 (5.38%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (1.90%) Banking
5 6 (1.90%) Legal
5 6 (1.90%) Military
6 5 (1.58%) Aerospace
6 5 (1.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 5 (1.58%) Retail
7 4 (1.27%) Local Government
7 4 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.27%) Police
8 3 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.32%) Aviation
9 1 (0.32%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 82 (25.95%) DevOps Engineer
2 47 (14.87%) Developer
3 29 (9.18%) Architect
3 29 (9.18%) Senior
4 23 (7.28%) Data Engineer
5 19 (6.01%) Lead
6 18 (5.70%) GCP Engineer
6 18 (5.70%) Site Reliability Engineer
6 18 (5.70%) Software Developer
7 17 (5.38%) Site Engineer
8 16 (5.06%) Azure Engineer
9 15 (4.75%) Analyst
9 15 (4.75%) Platform Engineer
9 15 (4.75%) Senior DevOps
9 15 (4.75%) Senior DevOps Engineer
10 12 (3.80%) Azure DevOps Engineer
10 12 (3.80%) GCP DevOps
10 12 (3.80%) GCP DevOps Engineer
11 10 (3.16%) AWS Engineer
12 9 (2.85%) Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 110 (34.81%) Terraform
2 36 (11.39%) .NET
3 25 (7.91%) REST
4 22 (6.96%) .NET Framework
5 19 (6.01%) RESTful
6 15 (4.75%) .NET Core
6 15 (4.75%) React
7 14 (4.43%) Kafka
7 14 (4.43%) Playwright
8 12 (3.80%) CSS
8 12 (3.80%) HTML
8 12 (3.80%) Spring Boot
9 11 (3.48%) ATL
9 11 (3.48%) COM
9 11 (3.48%) CSS3
9 11 (3.48%) GeoJSON
9 11 (3.48%) HTML5
9 11 (3.48%) MFC
9 11 (3.48%) WPF
10 10 (3.16%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 56 (17.72%) Cloud Native
2 22 (6.96%) Legacy Systems
3 20 (6.33%) Enterprise Software
4 19 (6.01%) Onboarding
5 17 (5.38%) Product Ownership
6 15 (4.75%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (2.85%) Wiki
8 6 (1.90%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.58%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.58%) Legacy Code
9 5 (1.58%) Linux Command Line
9 5 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.95%) Enterprise Cloud
10 3 (0.95%) EPoS
10 3 (0.95%) Legacy Applications
10 3 (0.95%) Replication
11 2 (0.63%) Clustering
11 2 (0.63%) Data Centre
11 2 (0.63%) IVR
11 2 (0.63%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 48 (15.19%) Linux
2 37 (11.71%) Windows
3 16 (5.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 11 (3.48%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.27%) CentOS
5 4 (1.27%) Unix
6 2 (0.63%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.32%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (51.58%) CI/CD
2 109 (34.49%) Infrastructure as Code
3 105 (33.23%) Agile
4 72 (22.78%) Containerisation
5 71 (22.47%) Continuous Improvement
6 49 (15.51%) Site Reliability Engineering
7 47 (14.87%) Test Automation
8 44 (13.92%) Platform Engineering
9 43 (13.61%) Stakeholder Management
10 38 (12.03%) Problem-Solving
11 35 (11.08%) Deployment Automation
11 35 (11.08%) DevSecOps
11 35 (11.08%) Microservices
12 33 (10.44%) Software Engineering
13 29 (9.18%) Observability
14 26 (8.23%) Migration
14 26 (8.23%) Technical Leadership
15 25 (7.91%) AI
16 24 (7.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 24 (7.59%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 87 (27.53%) Python
2 43 (13.61%) Bash
3 41 (12.97%) SQL
4 37 (11.71%) Java
5 34 (10.76%) JavaScript
6 32 (10.13%) C#
7 20 (6.33%) Bicep
7 20 (6.33%) PowerShell
8 17 (5.38%) TypeScript
9 12 (3.80%) PL/SQL
10 8 (2.53%) Go
11 4 (1.27%) Apex Code
11 4 (1.27%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.95%) Groovy
12 3 (0.95%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.32%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 159 (50.32%) Security Cleared
2 112 (35.44%) SC Cleared
3 53 (16.77%) DV Cleared
4 11 (3.48%) Degree
5 8 (2.53%) AWS Certification
6 6 (1.90%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 5 (1.58%) ISTQB
8 4 (1.27%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 4 (1.27%) TOGAF Certification
9 3 (0.95%) AWS Certified Developer
9 3 (0.95%) Azure Certification
9 3 (0.95%) Master's Degree
9 3 (0.95%) VCAP
9 3 (0.95%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 2 (0.63%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
11 1 (0.32%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (0.32%) Computer Science Degree
11 1 (0.32%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 1 (0.32%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (5.38%) Accessibility
1 17 (5.38%) QA
2 16 (5.06%) WCAG
3 15 (4.75%) NCSC
4 11 (3.48%) Data Quality
5 7 (2.22%) SLA
6 6 (1.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.95%) GDPR
7 3 (0.95%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.63%) GRC
8 2 (0.63%) NIST
8 2 (0.63%) PMO
9 1 (0.32%) JSP 440
System Software
1 68 (21.52%) Docker
2 6 (1.90%) Corosync
2 6 (1.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.58%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.58%) VMware NSX
4 4 (1.27%) VMware ESXi
4 4 (1.27%) vSphere
5 2 (0.63%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.32%) zsh
Systems Management
1 113 (35.76%) Kubernetes
2 55 (17.41%) Ansible
3 14 (4.43%) Grafana
4 12 (3.80%) Prometheus
5 10 (3.16%) Argo
6 7 (2.22%) Failover Clustering
6 7 (2.22%) Pacemaker
7 4 (1.27%) PowerCLI
7 4 (1.27%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.95%) Istio
8 3 (0.95%) Puppet
9 2 (0.63%) Docker Swarm
9 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.63%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.63%) SCCM
9 2 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.32%) HAProxy
10 1 (0.32%) Nagios
10 1 (0.32%) OPNET
10 1 (0.32%) VxRail
Vendors
1 50 (15.82%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.86%) Google
3 14 (4.43%) Red Hat
4 13 (4.11%) Dynatrace
5 12 (3.80%) Oracle
5 12 (3.80%) VMware
6 11 (3.48%) Splunk
7 9 (2.85%) SAP
8 8 (2.53%) AppDynamics
8 8 (2.53%) New Relic
8 8 (2.53%) Salesforce
9 6 (1.90%) Databricks
10 5 (1.58%) InterSystems
11 4 (1.27%) Atlassian
11 4 (1.27%) Conga
11 4 (1.27%) GoCardless
11 4 (1.27%) MuleSoft
11 4 (1.27%) SaltStack
12 3 (0.95%) Dell
12 3 (0.95%) Informatica