DevOps Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

DevOps
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring DevOps skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 8 12
Rank change year-on-year -12 +4 0
Contract jobs citing DevOps 254 223 251
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.42% 13.12% 11.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.27% 14.51% 13.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 167 135 187
10th Percentile £359 £383 £453
25th Percentile £462 £413 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £600
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -16.67% -
75th Percentile £625 £575 £650
90th Percentile £700 £638 £670
South East median daily rate £545 £500 £590
% change year-on-year +9.00% -15.25% +2.61%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 0 1
10th Percentile £65.70 - -
25th Percentile £71.00 - -
Median hourly rate £80.55 - £87.46
75th Percentile £88.00 - -
90th Percentile £104.00 - -
South East median hourly rate £71.00 £58.50 £87.46
% change year-on-year +21.37% -33.11% +15.58%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,474 1,537 1,864
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 82.00% 90.41% 85.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,477 947 1,051
10th Percentile £331 £265 £300
25th Percentile £430 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +6.00% -1.96% -1.92%
75th Percentile £610 £588 £625
90th Percentile £713 £650 £675
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £510
% change year-on-year +5.00% -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 294 107 75
10th Percentile £13.34 £14.75 £18.72
25th Percentile £16.38 £15.91 £28.88
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -56.86% +7.20%
75th Percentile £85.00 £49.86 £63.42
90th Percentile £100.59 £74.20 £75.34
South East median hourly rate £45.65 £21.25 £59.25
% change year-on-year +114.82% -64.13% +8.97%

DevOps
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

DevOps job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

DevOps
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing DevOps.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing DevOps

DevOps
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DevOps in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 11 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DevOps in the Thames Valley

DevOps
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing DevOps.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing DevOps

DevOps
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DevOps in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 11 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DevOps in the Thames Valley

DevOps
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DevOps within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 11 October 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
Berkshire -8 204 £545 +9.00% 114
Buckinghamshire -13 46 £525 +23.53% 61
Oxfordshire -28 4 £800 +45.45% 57
DevOps
South East

DevOps
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 8 (3.15%) Confluence
2 5 (1.97%) Apache Spark
2 5 (1.97%) OpenStack
3 3 (1.18%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.79%) Apache
4 2 (0.79%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.79%) Apache Superset
4 2 (0.79%) JBoss
4 2 (0.79%) Smallworld
4 2 (0.79%) WebSphere
4 2 (0.79%) WebSphere Application Server
5 1 (0.39%) CICS
5 1 (0.39%) CIMPLICITY
5 1 (0.39%) IIS
5 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 1 (0.39%) Predix
Applications
1 6 (2.36%) CPLEX
2 3 (1.18%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.79%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (1.57%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.18%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.79%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.39%) Oracle EBS R12
4 1 (0.39%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.39%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 197 (77.56%) Azure
2 109 (42.91%) Azure DevOps
3 67 (26.38%) AWS
4 36 (14.17%) GCP
5 27 (10.63%) Entra ID
6 25 (9.84%) OpenShift
7 24 (9.45%) Azure Monitor
8 22 (8.66%) GitHub
9 21 (8.27%) Azure Sentinel
10 17 (6.69%) GitHub Actions
10 17 (6.69%) Power Platform
11 12 (4.72%) Azure AKS
11 12 (4.72%) Azure Logic Apps
12 11 (4.33%) Azure Key Vault
13 10 (3.94%) Azure App Service
14 8 (3.15%) Azure API Management
14 8 (3.15%) SaaS
15 7 (2.76%) Microsoft 365
16 6 (2.36%) AWS CloudFormation
16 6 (2.36%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 20 (7.87%) Firewall
2 19 (7.48%) DNS
3 17 (6.69%) VPN
4 16 (6.30%) TCP/IP
5 14 (5.51%) DHCP
6 12 (4.72%) Network Security
7 9 (3.54%) SSH
8 8 (3.15%) LAN
8 8 (3.15%) WAN
9 7 (2.76%) BGP
9 7 (2.76%) MPLS
10 3 (1.18%) Software-Defined Networking
11 2 (0.79%) OSPF
11 2 (0.79%) SD-WAN
11 2 (0.79%) VXLAN
12 1 (0.39%) HTTP
12 1 (0.39%) NGFW
12 1 (0.39%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (7.87%) NoSQL
2 9 (3.54%) Azure SQL Database
2 9 (3.54%) Power BI
3 7 (2.76%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (2.76%) Metadata
4 6 (2.36%) MongoDB
4 6 (2.36%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (1.97%) Big Data
5 5 (1.97%) Relational Database
5 5 (1.97%) SQL Server
6 4 (1.57%) Parquet
7 3 (1.18%) DocumentDB
8 2 (0.79%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.79%) Hadoop
8 2 (0.79%) Spark SQL
9 1 (0.39%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.39%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.39%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 37 (14.57%) Git
2 30 (11.81%) Jenkins
3 18 (7.09%) GitLab
4 13 (5.12%) JIRA
5 4 (1.57%) Bitbucket
6 3 (1.18%) HP UFT
6 3 (1.18%) JMeter
6 3 (1.18%) NUnit
6 3 (1.18%) Selenium
7 2 (0.79%) LoadRunner
7 2 (0.79%) MSTest
7 2 (0.79%) NeoLoad
7 2 (0.79%) SpecFlow
7 2 (0.79%) TeamCity
7 2 (0.79%) tSQLt
7 2 (0.79%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.39%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.39%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.39%) Jaeger
8 1 (0.39%) SonarQube
General
1 83 (32.68%) Social Skills
2 35 (13.78%) Aerospace
3 32 (12.60%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (10.24%) Finance
5 10 (3.94%) Billing
5 10 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (3.54%) Public Sector
7 8 (3.15%) Influencing Skills
8 6 (2.36%) Military
9 5 (1.97%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.57%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.18%) Automotive
11 3 (1.18%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.18%) Publishing
12 2 (0.79%) Banking
12 2 (0.79%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.79%) Legal
13 1 (0.39%) Local Government
13 1 (0.39%) Retail
13 1 (0.39%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 43 (16.93%) Senior
2 28 (11.02%) Developer
3 27 (10.63%) Architect
3 27 (10.63%) DevOps Engineer
3 27 (10.63%) Lead
4 24 (9.45%) Azure Engineer
5 16 (6.30%) Data Engineer
6 15 (5.91%) Platform Engineer
7 14 (5.51%) Azure DevOps Engineer
7 14 (5.51%) Cloud Engineer
8 12 (4.72%) Consultant
8 12 (4.72%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 12 (4.72%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 10 (3.94%) Analyst
10 9 (3.54%) Business Analyst
10 9 (3.54%) Project Manager
10 9 (3.54%) SIEM Engineer
11 8 (3.15%) Full-Stack Developer
11 8 (3.15%) Systems Engineer
11 8 (3.15%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (25.59%) Terraform
2 30 (11.81%) REST
3 22 (8.66%) ARM Templates
4 21 (8.27%) .NET
5 15 (5.91%) OAuth
5 15 (5.91%) RESTful
6 13 (5.12%) SAML
7 12 (4.72%) React
8 11 (4.33%) .NET Core
8 11 (4.33%) .NET Framework
8 11 (4.33%) Entity Framework
9 9 (3.54%) LDAP
9 9 (3.54%) OpenAPI
9 9 (3.54%) OpenID
9 9 (3.54%) Swagger
10 8 (3.15%) PySpark
11 7 (2.76%) FastAPI
11 7 (2.76%) Flask
12 6 (2.36%) ASP.NET Web API
12 6 (2.36%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 35 (13.78%) Hybrid Cloud
2 30 (11.81%) Cloud Native
3 24 (9.45%) Onboarding
4 13 (5.12%) Management Information System
5 9 (3.54%) Enterprise Software
5 9 (3.54%) Product Ownership
6 8 (3.15%) Data Structures
6 8 (3.15%) Distributed Systems
7 7 (2.76%) ARM Cortex
8 6 (2.36%) Algorithms
8 6 (2.36%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.97%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.18%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (1.18%) Data Centre
10 3 (1.18%) Distributed Architecture
10 3 (1.18%) Distributed Computing
10 3 (1.18%) IoT
10 3 (1.18%) PKI
10 3 (1.18%) Wiki
11 2 (0.79%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 35 (13.78%) Linux
2 25 (9.84%) Windows
3 19 (7.48%) Windows Server
4 12 (4.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.79%) Unix
6 1 (0.39%) CentOS
6 1 (0.39%) Rocky
6 1 (0.39%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.39%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.39%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (55.51%) CI/CD
2 79 (31.10%) Agile
3 63 (24.80%) Infrastructure as Code
4 54 (21.26%) Problem-Solving
4 54 (21.26%) Stakeholder Management
5 53 (20.87%) Analytics
6 46 (18.11%) Continuous Improvement
7 41 (16.14%) Platform Engineering
8 39 (15.35%) Cybersecurity
9 38 (14.96%) Containerisation
10 37 (14.57%) Test Automation
11 34 (13.39%) Roadmaps
12 33 (12.99%) Technical Leadership
13 31 (12.20%) Software Engineering
14 30 (11.81%) Deployment Automation
14 30 (11.81%) DevSecOps
14 30 (11.81%) SIEM
14 30 (11.81%) Validation
15 27 (10.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 25 (9.84%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 82 (32.28%) Python
2 56 (22.05%) PowerShell
3 43 (16.93%) SQL
4 37 (14.57%) Bash
5 25 (9.84%) Bicep
6 17 (6.69%) C#
7 12 (4.72%) Java
7 12 (4.72%) JavaScript
8 9 (3.54%) Kusto Query Language
9 6 (2.36%) TypeScript
10 4 (1.57%) X++
11 3 (1.18%) VBScript
12 2 (0.79%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.79%) BeanShell
12 2 (0.79%) Go
12 2 (0.79%) Magik
12 2 (0.79%) Perl
12 2 (0.79%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.79%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.39%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 130 (51.18%) Security Cleared
2 102 (40.16%) SC Cleared
3 27 (10.63%) Degree
4 24 (9.45%) Azure Certification
5 21 (8.27%) DV Cleared
6 17 (6.69%) CISSP
7 15 (5.91%) Cisco Certification
8 13 (5.12%) AWS Certification
9 12 (4.72%) Computer Science Degree
10 8 (3.15%) CISM
11 7 (2.76%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 7 (2.76%) CCIE
12 6 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (2.36%) RHCE
13 5 (1.97%) JNCIE
14 4 (1.57%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
14 4 (1.57%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 4 (1.57%) CEH
14 4 (1.57%) CompTIA Security+
14 4 (1.57%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (8.27%) QA
2 16 (6.30%) Data Quality
2 16 (6.30%) NIST
3 15 (5.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (3.54%) GDPR
5 8 (3.15%) NCSC
6 4 (1.57%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (1.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (1.57%) GRC
6 4 (1.57%) SLA
7 2 (0.79%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.79%) Software Quality Assurance
8 1 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.39%) OpenSCAP
8 1 (0.39%) PMO
System Software
1 37 (14.57%) Docker
2 28 (11.02%) Active Directory
3 10 (3.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (3.15%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (2.76%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.39%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.39%) RACF
7 1 (0.39%) Time Sharing Option
7 1 (0.39%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.39%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 63 (24.80%) Kubernetes
2 46 (18.11%) Ansible
3 10 (3.94%) Grafana
3 10 (3.94%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (2.76%) SCCM
5 5 (1.97%) Prometheus
6 4 (1.57%) Istio
7 2 (0.79%) CASB
7 2 (0.79%) Red Hat Satellite
7 2 (0.79%) SCOM
7 2 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.39%) Check_MK
8 1 (0.39%) Packer
8 1 (0.39%) Podman
8 1 (0.39%) QRadar
8 1 (0.39%) Rancher
Vendors
1 89 (35.04%) Microsoft
2 15 (5.91%) Red Hat
3 13 (5.12%) Google
4 12 (4.72%) VMware
5 11 (4.33%) Databricks
5 11 (4.33%) ServiceNow
6 9 (3.54%) CyberArk
6 9 (3.54%) Oracle
7 7 (2.76%) CrowdStrike
8 6 (2.36%) Salesforce
8 6 (2.36%) SAP
9 5 (1.97%) BeyondTrust
9 5 (1.97%) Dynatrace
10 4 (1.57%) AppDynamics
10 4 (1.57%) Cisco
10 4 (1.57%) Splunk
11 3 (1.18%) IBM
11 3 (1.18%) MuleSoft
12 1 (0.39%) Conga
12 1 (0.39%) Palo Alto