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 14 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 26 19
Rank change year-on-year +15 -7 -9
Contract jobs citing DevOps 272 125 218
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 9.31% 7.52% 6.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.60% 8.34% 8.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 190 93 161
10th Percentile £399 £400 £400
25th Percentile £450 £513 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £609 £675 £688
90th Percentile £726 £700 £725
England median daily rate £525 £551 £553
% change year-on-year -4.72% -0.32% -7.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 3 5
10th Percentile £84.95 - £62.60
25th Percentile £87.00 £66.25 £72.50
Median hourly rate £92.50 £67.50 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year +37.04% -10.00% +14.50%
75th Percentile £100.63 £75.86 £81.25
90th Percentile £102.80 £80.12 -
England median hourly rate £65.00 £72.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -10.34% +11.54% -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 2,344 1,499 2,716
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 80.25% 90.19% 84.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,260 983 1,762
10th Percentile £305 £240 £263
25th Percentile £410 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.14% - -4.37%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £700 £713
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 426 104 341
10th Percentile £16.62 £20.64 £14.00
25th Percentile £23.50 £55.00 £27.26
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% +33.42% -20.78%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £67.38
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £30.32 £34.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year -12.12% +6.15% -9.72%

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 14 March 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 14 March 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 14 March 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
Gloucestershire +18 94 £488 -20.41% 36
Wiltshire +11 66 £525 -12.50% 11
Bristol 0 66 £550 -1.35% 54
Somerset -1 21 £478 -23.60% 13
Dorset +19 19 £444 +18.33% 5
Devon -14 5 £775 +14.81% 8
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 (9.56%) Confluence
2 10 (3.68%) Apache
3 9 (3.31%) Apache Spark
4 6 (2.21%) SharePoint
5 5 (1.84%) IIS
5 5 (1.84%) Mattermost
6 2 (0.74%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.37%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.37%) InDesign
2 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.37%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.37%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (2.57%) Maximo
2 6 (2.21%) NEC Housing
3 5 (1.84%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.74%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 139 (51.10%) Azure
2 85 (31.25%) Azure DevOps
3 65 (23.90%) AWS
4 49 (18.01%) GitHub
5 28 (10.29%) GCP
6 20 (7.35%) Serverless
7 17 (6.25%) GitHub Actions
8 15 (5.51%) Entra ID
9 14 (5.15%) Azure Data Factory
10 13 (4.78%) Azure Key Vault
11 12 (4.41%) Azure Monitor
12 11 (4.04%) Amazon EKS
12 11 (4.04%) OpenShift
13 10 (3.68%) AWS CloudFormation
14 9 (3.31%) IaaS
15 8 (2.94%) Amazon ECS
15 8 (2.94%) Azure AKS
15 8 (2.94%) Dynamics 365
16 7 (2.57%) Amazon S3
16 7 (2.57%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.57%) VPN
2 6 (2.21%) DNS
3 5 (1.84%) Firewall
4 3 (1.10%) 3GPP
4 3 (1.10%) DHCP
4 3 (1.10%) HTTP
4 3 (1.10%) Network Security
4 3 (1.10%) TETRA
4 3 (1.10%) WAN
5 2 (0.74%) LAN
5 2 (0.74%) NAS
5 2 (0.74%) SAN
5 2 (0.74%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.37%) NGFW
6 1 (0.37%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.37%) SMTP
6 1 (0.37%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (9.19%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (5.15%) Elasticsearch
3 9 (3.31%) Redis
4 8 (2.94%) NoSQL
5 7 (2.57%) Relational Database
5 7 (2.57%) SQL Server
6 6 (2.21%) Flink
7 5 (1.84%) Power BI
8 4 (1.47%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (1.47%) Metadata
9 3 (1.10%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (1.10%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (1.10%) Oracle Database
9 3 (1.10%) Power Query
10 2 (0.74%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.74%) Big Data
10 2 (0.74%) DynamoDB
10 2 (0.74%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.74%) MongoDB
11 1 (0.37%) Apache Hive
Development Applications
1 38 (13.97%) JIRA
2 30 (11.03%) GitLab
3 28 (10.29%) Git
3 28 (10.29%) Oracle APEX
4 25 (9.19%) Jenkins
5 9 (3.31%) Artifactory
5 9 (3.31%) SonarQube
6 5 (1.84%) Gatling
6 5 (1.84%) JMeter
6 5 (1.84%) LoadRunner
7 3 (1.10%) IntelliJ
7 3 (1.10%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.74%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.74%) Maven
8 2 (0.74%) MSI
9 1 (0.37%) eggPlant
9 1 (0.37%) JUnit
9 1 (0.37%) Mocha
9 1 (0.37%) TestNG
9 1 (0.37%) Visual Studio
General
1 76 (27.94%) Social Skills
2 23 (8.46%) Public Sector
3 19 (6.99%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (5.15%) Finance
5 5 (1.84%) Legal
5 5 (1.84%) Military
6 4 (1.47%) Back Office
7 3 (1.10%) Aerospace
7 3 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.10%) Telecoms
8 2 (0.74%) Banking
8 2 (0.74%) Local Government
9 1 (0.37%) Marketing
9 1 (0.37%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 66 (24.26%) Senior
2 64 (23.53%) Developer
2 64 (23.53%) DevOps Engineer
3 33 (12.13%) Senior Developer
4 16 (5.88%) Data Engineer
5 15 (5.51%) Analyst
6 14 (5.15%) Backend Developer
7 13 (4.78%) Architect
7 13 (4.78%) GCP Engineer
7 13 (4.78%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 12 (4.41%) Cloud Engineer
8 12 (4.41%) Senior Data Engineer
9 11 (4.04%) Azure Engineer
9 11 (4.04%) Java Developer
10 10 (3.68%) Lead
11 9 (3.31%) Platform Engineer
11 9 (3.31%) Python Developer
12 8 (2.94%) Consultant
13 7 (2.57%) Azure DevOps Engineer
14 6 (2.21%) DevSecOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (13.24%) REST
2 22 (8.09%) Kafka
3 13 (4.78%) Keycloak
4 12 (4.41%) Node.js
4 12 (4.41%) Spring
5 11 (4.04%) ARM Templates
5 11 (4.04%) React
6 10 (3.68%) Apache NiFi
6 10 (3.68%) Spring Boot
7 9 (3.31%) FastAPI
7 9 (3.31%) Flask
7 9 (3.31%) GraphQL
7 9 (3.31%) gRPC
7 9 (3.31%) RESTful
7 9 (3.31%) WebSockets
7 9 (3.31%) YAML
8 8 (2.94%) .NET
9 6 (2.21%) CSS
9 6 (2.21%) HTML
10 5 (1.84%) Java Concurrency
Miscellaneous
1 33 (12.13%) Cloud Native
2 19 (6.99%) Hybrid Cloud
3 14 (5.15%) Product Ownership
4 10 (3.68%) Public Cloud
5 9 (3.31%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (2.21%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (1.84%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.10%) CMDB
8 3 (1.10%) Management Information System
9 2 (0.74%) Distributed Computing
9 2 (0.74%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (0.74%) Legacy Code
9 2 (0.74%) Onboarding
9 2 (0.74%) Private Cloud
9 2 (0.74%) Security Posture
9 2 (0.74%) Wiki
10 1 (0.37%) Data Fabric
10 1 (0.37%) Linux Command Line
10 1 (0.37%) Operational Technology
10 1 (0.37%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 32 (11.76%) Windows
2 28 (10.29%) Linux
3 8 (2.94%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.47%) Ubuntu
5 3 (1.10%) Unix
6 2 (0.74%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.37%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (41.18%) Agile
2 110 (40.44%) CI/CD
3 65 (23.90%) Containerisation
4 53 (19.49%) Infrastructure as Code
5 44 (16.18%) Problem-Solving
6 43 (15.81%) Scrum
7 37 (13.60%) ITIL
8 36 (13.24%) Collaborative Working
9 35 (12.87%) Microservices
10 33 (12.13%) Validation
11 30 (11.03%) Continuous Improvement
12 29 (10.66%) Service Management
13 28 (10.29%) Requirements Analysis
13 28 (10.29%) Software Delivery
14 27 (9.93%) Web Application Development
15 24 (8.82%) Analytics
15 24 (8.82%) Data Engineering
16 23 (8.46%) Data Pipeline
16 23 (8.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 22 (8.09%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 91 (33.46%) Python
2 73 (26.84%) SQL
3 47 (17.28%) JavaScript
4 44 (16.18%) PowerShell
5 35 (12.87%) PL/SQL
6 26 (9.56%) Go
6 26 (9.56%) Java
7 17 (6.25%) Bash
8 12 (4.41%) Bicep
8 12 (4.41%) TypeScript
9 7 (2.57%) C#
10 4 (1.47%) T-SQL
11 3 (1.10%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (1.10%) Ruby
12 1 (0.37%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.37%) C
12 1 (0.37%) C++
12 1 (0.37%) Scala
12 1 (0.37%) SOQL
12 1 (0.37%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 178 (65.44%) Security Cleared
2 150 (55.15%) SC Cleared
3 51 (18.75%) DV Cleared
4 25 (9.19%) Azure Certification
5 17 (6.25%) Degree
6 10 (3.68%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (3.68%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (3.31%) AWS Certification
8 5 (1.84%) CISM
8 5 (1.84%) CISSP
8 5 (1.84%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 4 (1.47%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (1.10%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 3 (1.10%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 3 (1.10%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (1.10%) Master's Degree
10 3 (1.10%) TOGAF Certification
11 2 (0.74%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.74%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 1 (0.37%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (7.72%) QA
2 14 (5.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (4.41%) NCSC
4 11 (4.04%) NIST
5 5 (1.84%) NIST 800
6 4 (1.47%) GDPR
7 3 (1.10%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.74%) Accessibility
8 2 (0.74%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.74%) Government Security Classifications
9 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.37%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.37%) PMO
9 1 (0.37%) SLA
9 1 (0.37%) WCAG
System Software
1 68 (25.00%) Docker
2 19 (6.99%) Active Directory
3 7 (2.57%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.10%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.74%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.74%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.37%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.37%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.37%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 97 (35.66%) Kubernetes
2 75 (27.57%) Terraform
3 41 (15.07%) Ansible
4 24 (8.82%) Prometheus
5 20 (7.35%) Grafana
6 8 (2.94%) Packer
7 7 (2.57%) Argo
8 6 (2.21%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (1.47%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (1.47%) Nessus
10 3 (1.10%) Istio
10 3 (1.10%) Nagios
10 3 (1.10%) Podman
10 3 (1.10%) Proxmox
11 2 (0.74%) CA Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.37%) Icinga
12 1 (0.37%) Kibana
12 1 (0.37%) logstash
12 1 (0.37%) Rancher
12 1 (0.37%) SCCM
Vendors
1 38 (13.97%) Oracle
2 37 (13.60%) Microsoft
3 22 (8.09%) Google
4 20 (7.35%) Red Hat
5 18 (6.62%) Atlassian
6 14 (5.15%) VMware
7 11 (4.04%) Databricks
8 7 (2.57%) IBM
9 6 (2.21%) Dynatrace
9 6 (2.21%) NEC
9 6 (2.21%) Splunk
10 5 (1.84%) AppDynamics
10 5 (1.84%) New Relic
10 5 (1.84%) Remedy
11 4 (1.47%) Cisco
12 3 (1.10%) Salesforce
12 3 (1.10%) ServiceNow
13 2 (0.74%) NetApp
14 1 (0.37%) Informatica
14 1 (0.37%) TOWER Software