Kubernetes Contract Job Trends in the South West

Kubernetes (k8s)
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Kubernetes skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 33 78
Rank change year-on-year +1 +45 -38
Contract jobs citing Kubernetes 153 93 82
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 5.17% 5.46% 2.56%
As % of the Systems Management category 36.52% 29.34% 19.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 99 74 57
10th Percentile £400 £497 £463
25th Percentile £450 £516 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £600 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +11.63% -6.52%
75th Percentile £694 £631 £588
90th Percentile £750 £736 £675
England median daily rate £525 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -8.70% +4.55% -12.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 2 5
10th Percentile £81.00 £79.13 £59.10
25th Percentile £84.50 £79.77 £63.75
Median hourly rate £104.00 £80.83 £74.44
Median % change year-on-year +28.67% +8.58% +24.48%
75th Percentile £119.00 £81.90 £77.50
90th Percentile - £82.53 £77.80
England median hourly rate £61.00 £60.00 £62.00
% change year-on-year +1.67% -3.23% -7.46%

All Systems Management Skills
South West

Kubernetes falls under the Systems Management category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring systems management skills in the South West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for systems management skills 419 317 417
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 14.16% 18.61% 13.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 313 241 314
10th Percentile £339 £340 £215
25th Percentile £450 £456 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £675 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 3 16
10th Percentile £46.40 £71.74 -
25th Percentile £50.75 £74.35 £40.00
Median hourly rate £71.00 £78.70 £51.00
Median % change year-on-year -9.78% +54.31% -21.54%
75th Percentile £96.50 £80.83 £72.05
90th Percentile £119.00 £82.11 £76.88
England median hourly rate £55.00 £26.50 £30.00
% change year-on-year +107.55% -11.67% -45.45%

Kubernetes
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

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

Kubernetes job vacancy trend in the South West

Kubernetes
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

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

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

Kubernetes
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Kubernetes in the South West over the 6 months to 22 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Kubernetes in the South West

Kubernetes
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

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

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

Kubernetes
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Kubernetes in the South West over the 6 months to 22 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Kubernetes in the South West

Kubernetes
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 Kubernetes within the South West region over the 6 months to 22 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
Bristol +4 50 £538 -2.27% 23
Gloucestershire -5 47 £650 +5.69% 29
Wiltshire -3 33 £575 -4.17% 4
Dorset +17 19 £388 -1.15% 1
Somerset - 1 £600 - 5
Kubernetes
England

Kubernetes
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 12 (7.84%) Apache
2 8 (5.23%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 3 (1.96%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (1.96%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 7 (4.58%) Maximo
Cloud Services
1 59 (38.56%) Azure
2 58 (37.91%) AWS
3 42 (27.45%) GitHub
4 23 (15.03%) OpenShift
5 22 (14.38%) Azure DevOps
6 19 (12.42%) GCP
6 19 (12.42%) Serverless
7 17 (11.11%) GitHub Actions
8 14 (9.15%) Amazon S3
9 11 (7.19%) Amazon EKS
10 10 (6.54%) Amazon ECS
10 10 (6.54%) Azure AKS
10 10 (6.54%) Azure Data Factory
11 9 (5.88%) AWS Lambda
11 9 (5.88%) Azure Monitor
12 8 (5.23%) Amazon EC2
12 8 (5.23%) Azure Key Vault
13 7 (4.58%) AWS CloudFormation
13 7 (4.58%) Azure Sentinel
13 7 (4.58%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 7 (4.58%) VPN
2 4 (2.61%) Reverse Proxy
3 3 (1.96%) TCP/IP
4 2 (1.31%) DNS
4 2 (1.31%) Network Security
5 1 (0.65%) Firewall
5 1 (0.65%) HTTP
5 1 (0.65%) LAN
5 1 (0.65%) NAS
5 1 (0.65%) SAN
5 1 (0.65%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (14.38%) PostgreSQL
2 13 (8.50%) Elasticsearch
2 13 (8.50%) NoSQL
3 10 (6.54%) MongoDB
4 9 (5.88%) Relational Database
5 8 (5.23%) Redis
6 6 (3.92%) Flink
7 3 (1.96%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (1.96%) ObjectStore
8 2 (1.31%) CockroachDB
8 2 (1.31%) Hadoop
8 2 (1.31%) Oracle Database
9 1 (0.65%) Big Data
9 1 (0.65%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 31 (20.26%) GitLab
2 21 (13.73%) Jenkins
3 17 (11.11%) Git
4 8 (5.23%) Artifactory
4 8 (5.23%) Gatling
5 7 (4.58%) SonarQube
6 6 (3.92%) JMeter
6 6 (3.92%) LoadRunner
6 6 (3.92%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (1.31%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.65%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.65%) Mocha
8 1 (0.65%) Mockito
8 1 (0.65%) Snyk
General
1 18 (11.76%) Social Skills
2 12 (7.84%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (6.54%) Public Sector
4 4 (2.61%) Finance
4 4 (2.61%) Influencing Skills
4 4 (2.61%) Presentation Skills
5 3 (1.96%) Aerospace
5 3 (1.96%) Banking
5 3 (1.96%) Legal
6 1 (0.65%) Military
6 1 (0.65%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 38 (24.84%) DevOps Engineer
2 30 (19.61%) Developer
3 24 (15.69%) Senior
4 13 (8.50%) Backend Developer
4 13 (8.50%) Java Developer
5 11 (7.19%) Data Engineer
5 11 (7.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 11 (7.19%) Senior Data Engineer
6 8 (5.23%) Python Developer
7 7 (4.58%) Architect
7 7 (4.58%) Azure Engineer
7 7 (4.58%) DevSecOps Engineer
7 7 (4.58%) GCP Engineer
7 7 (4.58%) Platform Engineer
7 7 (4.58%) Software Engineer
8 6 (3.92%) Linux Engineer
8 6 (3.92%) Performance Engineer
9 5 (3.27%) Administrator
9 5 (3.27%) Senior DevOps
9 5 (3.27%) Senior DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (13.73%) Kafka
2 18 (11.76%) REST
3 17 (11.11%) Spring
4 14 (9.15%) Spring Boot
5 12 (7.84%) RESTful
6 11 (7.19%) Apache NiFi
6 11 (7.19%) Keycloak
7 10 (6.54%) gRPC
8 9 (5.88%) ARM Templates
9 8 (5.23%) FastAPI
9 8 (5.23%) Flask
9 8 (5.23%) GraphQL
9 8 (5.23%) WebSockets
10 7 (4.58%) Elastic Stack
11 6 (3.92%) Node.js
11 6 (3.92%) React
11 6 (3.92%) YAML
12 5 (3.27%) Java Concurrency
13 4 (2.61%) OAuth
13 4 (2.61%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 23 (15.03%) Cloud Native
2 17 (11.11%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (5.88%) Onboarding
4 7 (4.58%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (3.27%) Product Ownership
5 5 (3.27%) Public Cloud
6 3 (1.96%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (1.31%) Data Centre
7 2 (1.31%) Private Cloud
8 1 (0.65%) Algorithms
8 1 (0.65%) Client/Server
8 1 (0.65%) Cloud Security Posture
8 1 (0.65%) Data Fabric
8 1 (0.65%) DataPower
8 1 (0.65%) Legacy Systems
8 1 (0.65%) Mobile App
8 1 (0.65%) Replication
8 1 (0.65%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 36 (23.53%) Linux
2 17 (11.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 14 (9.15%) Windows
4 13 (8.50%) Ubuntu
5 5 (3.27%) Unix
6 4 (2.61%) VMS
7 3 (1.96%) Debian
7 3 (1.96%) Rocky
8 2 (1.31%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (64.05%) DevOps
2 92 (60.13%) CI/CD
3 81 (52.94%) Containerisation
4 40 (26.14%) Infrastructure as Code
5 34 (22.22%) Microservices
6 28 (18.30%) Agile
7 26 (16.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 25 (16.34%) DevSecOps
8 25 (16.34%) Problem-Solving
9 22 (14.38%) Continuous Improvement
10 20 (13.07%) Cloud Security
11 19 (12.42%) Data Engineering
12 18 (11.76%) Analytics
13 17 (11.11%) Data Pipeline
14 14 (9.15%) Code Quality
14 14 (9.15%) Observability
14 14 (9.15%) Platform Engineering
14 14 (9.15%) Software Engineering
14 14 (9.15%) Test Automation
15 12 (7.84%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 74 (48.37%) Python
2 32 (20.92%) SQL
3 30 (19.61%) Java
4 25 (16.34%) Go
5 17 (11.11%) Bash
6 13 (8.50%) JavaScript
6 13 (8.50%) PowerShell
7 11 (7.19%) Bicep
8 7 (4.58%) Shell Script
8 7 (4.58%) TypeScript
9 5 (3.27%) Ruby
10 3 (1.96%) C#
11 2 (1.31%) Rust
12 1 (0.65%) C
12 1 (0.65%) PHP
Qualifications
1 93 (60.78%) Security Cleared
2 71 (46.41%) SC Cleared
3 46 (30.07%) DV Cleared
4 21 (13.73%) Azure Certification
5 13 (8.50%) Degree
6 10 (6.54%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (6.54%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (5.23%) CISM
7 8 (5.23%) CISSP
8 7 (4.58%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 5 (3.27%) AWS Certification
10 3 (1.96%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 2 (1.31%) BPSS Clearance
12 1 (0.65%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 1 (0.65%) CSPO
12 1 (0.65%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (8.50%) QA
2 8 (5.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (4.58%) NIST
3 7 (4.58%) NIST 800
4 6 (3.92%) NCSC
5 1 (0.65%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.65%) GDPR
5 1 (0.65%) JSP 440
5 1 (0.65%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 84 (54.90%) Docker
2 5 (3.27%) Active Directory
3 3 (1.96%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (1.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.65%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.65%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 70 (45.75%) Terraform
2 36 (23.53%) Ansible
3 30 (19.61%) Prometheus
4 25 (16.34%) Grafana
5 8 (5.23%) Argo
6 6 (3.92%) SCOM
7 5 (3.27%) Dell DRAC
7 5 (3.27%) Red Hat Satellite
8 4 (2.61%) Nessus
8 4 (2.61%) Packer
9 3 (1.96%) Istio
9 3 (1.96%) Nagios
9 3 (1.96%) Podman
9 3 (1.96%) Progress Chef
9 3 (1.96%) Puppet
10 2 (1.31%) Kibana
10 2 (1.31%) logstash
10 2 (1.31%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.65%) Rancher
11 1 (0.65%) VxRail
Vendors
1 34 (22.22%) Red Hat
2 23 (15.03%) Microsoft
3 12 (7.84%) Google
4 11 (7.19%) Splunk
5 8 (5.23%) IBM
5 8 (5.23%) VMware
6 6 (3.92%) AppDynamics
6 6 (3.92%) Databricks
6 6 (3.92%) Dell
6 6 (3.92%) Dynatrace
6 6 (3.92%) New Relic
7 3 (1.96%) Oracle
8 2 (1.31%) Broadcom
8 2 (1.31%) NVIDIA
9 1 (0.65%) BeyondTrust
9 1 (0.65%) Checkmarx
9 1 (0.65%) Cisco
9 1 (0.65%) EMC
9 1 (0.65%) Thales
9 1 (0.65%) Veracode