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

6 months to
9 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 28 21
Rank change year-on-year +16 -7 -12
Contract jobs citing DevOps 285 107 229
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 8.57% 6.29% 7.22%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.94% 6.94% 8.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 175 84 154
10th Percentile £372 £378 £400
25th Percentile £415 £458 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £611 £638 £638
90th Percentile £663 £700 £704
England median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 3 22
10th Percentile £70.08 - -
25th Percentile £81.25 £66.25 £70.00
Median hourly rate £90.75 £67.50 £72.22
Median % change year-on-year +34.44% -6.54% +10.26%
75th Percentile £99.69 £75.86 £85.00
90th Percentile £102.73 £80.12 -
England median hourly rate £67.50 £67.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year - +3.85% -0.76%

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 2,605 1,541 2,638
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 78.37% 90.65% 83.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,435 967 1,681
10th Percentile £320 £233 £220
25th Percentile £413 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £623 £625
90th Percentile £715 £688 £700
England median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 452 154 336
10th Percentile £16.62 £18.51 £13.86
25th Percentile £25.62 £18.87 £29.19
Median hourly rate £58.75 £62.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.00% +13.64% -8.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £46.65 £29.07 £36.50
% change year-on-year +60.47% -20.36% -2.25%

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 9 May 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 9 May 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 9 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
Bristol +3 86 £550 +0.92% 41
Wiltshire +22 72 £500 -16.67% 12
Gloucestershire +11 60 £550 -10.39% 37
Somerset +8 38 £475 -24.00% 10
Dorset +9 14 £350 +6.87% 7
Devon -15 9 £650 +23.81% 4
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 13 (4.56%) Confluence
2 10 (3.51%) Apache Spark
3 8 (2.81%) IIS
3 8 (2.81%) SharePoint
4 6 (2.11%) Apache
4 6 (2.11%) Mattermost
5 4 (1.40%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.35%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.35%) Tomcat
Applications
1 3 (1.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.35%) InDesign
2 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.35%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.35%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (2.46%) Maximo
2 6 (2.11%) NEC Housing
2 6 (2.11%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.35%) Primavera
3 1 (0.35%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 130 (45.61%) Azure
2 83 (29.12%) AWS
3 76 (26.67%) Azure DevOps
4 41 (14.39%) GCP
5 30 (10.53%) GitHub
6 19 (6.67%) Serverless
7 14 (4.91%) AWS CloudFormation
7 14 (4.91%) Entra ID
7 14 (4.91%) GitHub Actions
8 13 (4.56%) Azure Monitor
9 12 (4.21%) Azure AKS
10 11 (3.86%) Amazon EKS
10 11 (3.86%) SaaS
11 10 (3.51%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (3.51%) Azure Key Vault
12 9 (3.16%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 9 (3.16%) IaaS
12 9 (3.16%) OpenShift
13 8 (2.81%) Amazon S3
13 8 (2.81%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 11 (3.86%) DNS
2 10 (3.51%) VPN
3 8 (2.81%) Firewall
4 3 (1.05%) 3GPP
4 3 (1.05%) HTTP
4 3 (1.05%) TETRA
5 2 (0.70%) DHCP
5 2 (0.70%) LAN
5 2 (0.70%) Network Security
5 2 (0.70%) WAN
6 1 (0.35%) AMQP
6 1 (0.35%) NAS
6 1 (0.35%) SAN
6 1 (0.35%) SMTP
6 1 (0.35%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.51%) PostgreSQL
2 9 (3.16%) NoSQL
3 8 (2.81%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (2.81%) Relational Database
3 8 (2.81%) SQL Server
4 7 (2.46%) SAP HANA
5 6 (2.11%) Flink
5 6 (2.11%) MongoDB
6 5 (1.75%) Power BI
7 4 (1.40%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.40%) Data Warehouse
7 4 (1.40%) Redis
8 3 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (1.05%) Power Query
9 2 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.70%) Big Data
9 2 (0.70%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.70%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.35%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.35%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 29 (10.18%) JIRA
2 26 (9.12%) Git
2 26 (9.12%) GitLab
3 22 (7.72%) Jenkins
4 11 (3.86%) Gatling
4 11 (3.86%) JMeter
4 11 (3.86%) LoadRunner
5 5 (1.75%) Oracle APEX
6 4 (1.40%) Artifactory
6 4 (1.40%) IntelliJ
7 2 (0.70%) AdminStudio
7 2 (0.70%) InstallShield
7 2 (0.70%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.70%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.70%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.35%) JUnit
8 1 (0.35%) MSI
8 1 (0.35%) Postman
8 1 (0.35%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.35%) webpack
General
1 57 (20.00%) Social Skills
2 19 (6.67%) Finance
2 19 (6.67%) Public Sector
3 17 (5.96%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (3.51%) Legal
5 6 (2.11%) Military
6 5 (1.75%) Aerospace
6 5 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.40%) Back Office
7 4 (1.40%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (1.05%) Banking
9 2 (0.70%) Local Government
10 1 (0.35%) Marketing
10 1 (0.35%) Publishing
10 1 (0.35%) Retail
10 1 (0.35%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 92 (32.28%) DevOps Engineer
2 32 (11.23%) Senior
3 31 (10.88%) Developer
4 21 (7.37%) GCP Engineer
5 18 (6.32%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 18 (6.32%) Site Reliability Engineer
6 17 (5.96%) Analyst
6 17 (5.96%) Architect
6 17 (5.96%) Site Engineer
7 15 (5.26%) Azure Engineer
7 15 (5.26%) Data Engineer
8 13 (4.56%) Lead
9 12 (4.21%) Cloud Engineer
9 12 (4.21%) Performance Engineer
10 11 (3.86%) Azure DevOps Engineer
10 11 (3.86%) GCP DevOps
10 11 (3.86%) GCP DevOps Engineer
10 11 (3.86%) Java Developer
11 9 (3.16%) Backend Developer
11 9 (3.16%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (7.72%) Kafka
2 19 (6.67%) .NET
3 14 (4.91%) REST
4 13 (4.56%) Spring Boot
5 12 (4.21%) Spring
6 11 (3.86%) .NET Framework
6 11 (3.86%) RESTful
7 9 (3.16%) ARM Templates
8 8 (2.81%) Playwright
8 8 (2.81%) RabbitMQ
9 7 (2.46%) Apache NiFi
9 7 (2.46%) React
10 6 (2.11%) Keycloak
10 6 (2.11%) Node.js
11 5 (1.75%) Elastic Stack
11 5 (1.75%) Flask
11 5 (1.75%) Java Concurrency
12 4 (1.40%) gRPC
12 4 (1.40%) PySpark
12 4 (1.40%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 39 (13.68%) Cloud Native
2 15 (5.26%) Enterprise Software
2 15 (5.26%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (4.91%) Product Ownership
4 13 (4.56%) Hybrid Cloud
5 7 (2.46%) Distributed Systems
5 7 (2.46%) Public Cloud
6 5 (1.75%) Legacy Code
6 5 (1.75%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.40%) Mobile App
7 4 (1.40%) Wiki
8 3 (1.05%) EPoS
8 3 (1.05%) Legacy Applications
8 3 (1.05%) Replication
8 3 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.70%) Clustering
9 2 (0.70%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (0.70%) Distributed Computing
9 2 (0.70%) Private Cloud
10 1 (0.35%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 41 (14.39%) Linux
2 30 (10.53%) Windows
3 12 (4.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 10 (3.51%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.40%) Ubuntu
6 3 (1.05%) Unix
7 2 (0.70%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 122 (42.81%) CI/CD
2 88 (30.88%) Agile
3 58 (20.35%) Infrastructure as Code
4 55 (19.30%) Containerisation
5 45 (15.79%) Continuous Improvement
6 36 (12.63%) Problem-Solving
7 32 (11.23%) Microservices
8 31 (10.88%) Site Reliability Engineering
9 29 (10.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 28 (9.82%) Analytics
10 28 (9.82%) ITIL
11 24 (8.42%) Data Engineering
12 23 (8.07%) High Availability
12 23 (8.07%) Service Management
12 23 (8.07%) Test Automation
13 21 (7.37%) Cloud Security
13 21 (7.37%) Decision-Making
13 21 (7.37%) Migration
13 21 (7.37%) Observability
14 20 (7.02%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 71 (24.91%) Python
2 56 (19.65%) SQL
3 26 (9.12%) Java
4 24 (8.42%) Bash
4 24 (8.42%) PowerShell
5 19 (6.67%) Go
6 18 (6.32%) JavaScript
7 13 (4.56%) C#
8 12 (4.21%) Bicep
8 12 (4.21%) PL/SQL
9 7 (2.46%) TypeScript
10 4 (1.40%) T-SQL
11 3 (1.05%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.70%) Groovy
13 1 (0.35%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.35%) C++
13 1 (0.35%) PHP
13 1 (0.35%) Scala
13 1 (0.35%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.35%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 138 (48.42%) Security Cleared
2 107 (37.54%) SC Cleared
3 39 (13.68%) DV Cleared
4 17 (5.96%) Azure Certification
5 13 (4.56%) Degree
6 8 (2.81%) Microsoft Certification
7 7 (2.46%) AWS Certification
7 7 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (2.11%) TOGAF Certification
9 5 (1.75%) CISM
9 5 (1.75%) CISSP
9 5 (1.75%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 3 (1.05%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 3 (1.05%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 3 (1.05%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (1.05%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.70%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.70%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.70%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 1 (0.35%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (8.42%) QA
2 11 (3.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (2.81%) Data Quality
4 7 (2.46%) NIST
5 6 (2.11%) GDPR
6 5 (1.75%) NIST 800
7 4 (1.40%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.40%) NCSC
7 4 (1.40%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.40%) SLA
8 2 (0.70%) PMO
8 2 (0.70%) WCAG
9 1 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.35%) JSP 440
System Software
1 59 (20.70%) Docker
2 16 (5.61%) Active Directory
3 6 (2.11%) Corosync
4 4 (1.40%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.70%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 104 (36.49%) Kubernetes
2 80 (28.07%) Terraform
3 37 (12.98%) Ansible
4 20 (7.02%) Prometheus
5 16 (5.61%) Grafana
6 10 (3.51%) Argo
7 7 (2.46%) Failover Clustering
7 7 (2.46%) Pacemaker
8 4 (1.40%) Nessus
8 4 (1.40%) Packer
9 3 (1.05%) Nagios
9 3 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 2 (0.70%) Istio
10 2 (0.70%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.70%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.70%) SCCM
11 1 (0.35%) Kibana
11 1 (0.35%) logstash
11 1 (0.35%) Puppet
Vendors
1 40 (14.04%) Microsoft
2 24 (8.42%) Google
3 22 (7.72%) Red Hat
4 14 (4.91%) Databricks
4 14 (4.91%) Dynatrace
4 14 (4.91%) Oracle
5 13 (4.56%) Splunk
6 11 (3.86%) AppDynamics
6 11 (3.86%) New Relic
7 10 (3.51%) VMware
8 8 (2.81%) SAP
9 7 (2.46%) IBM
10 6 (2.11%) Atlassian
10 6 (2.11%) NEC
10 6 (2.11%) Remedy
11 4 (1.40%) InterSystems
12 3 (1.05%) Cisco
12 3 (1.05%) Salesforce
13 2 (0.70%) Dell
13 2 (0.70%) MuleSoft