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 20 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 9 11
Rank change year-on-year -10 +2 +1
Contract jobs citing DevOps 253 220 247
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.23% 13.44% 11.04%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.26% 14.78% 12.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 129 184
10th Percentile £362 £362 £458
25th Percentile £462 £413 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £500 £600
Median % change year-on-year +7.00% -16.67% -
75th Percentile £619 £575 £650
90th Percentile £700 £628 £675
South East median daily rate £537 £500 £585
% change year-on-year +7.40% -14.53% -0.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 0 7
10th Percentile £65.98 - £81.83
25th Percentile £71.00 - £84.67
Median hourly rate £81.50 - £87.46
75th Percentile £87.31 - -
90th Percentile £104.00 - -
South East median hourly rate £68.11 - £87.46
% change year-on-year - - +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 2,467 1,489 1,915
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 80.25% 90.96% 85.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,531 908 1,078
10th Percentile £331 £270 £280
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -1.96% -2.58%
75th Percentile £610 £588 £619
90th Percentile £713 £650 £686
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -1.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 253 95 86
10th Percentile £12.84 £14.20 £17.25
25th Percentile £16.38 £15.13 £30.10
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £58.49
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -57.00% +16.98%
75th Percentile £83.75 £44.68 £69.14
90th Percentile £103.70 £79.00 £86.77
South East median hourly rate £51.50 £20.73 £57.35
% change year-on-year +148.43% -63.85% +8.21%

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 20 September 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 20 September 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 20 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
Berkshire -8 189 £548 +9.50% 114
Buckinghamshire -5 59 £492 +18.20% 42
Oxfordshire -33 5 £800 +45.45% 49
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 (3.16%) Confluence
2 5 (1.98%) Apache Spark
2 5 (1.98%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.58%) SharePoint
4 3 (1.19%) WebSphere
4 3 (1.19%) WebSphere Application Server
5 2 (0.79%) Apache
5 2 (0.79%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.79%) Apache Superset
5 2 (0.79%) JBoss
5 2 (0.79%) Smallworld
6 1 (0.40%) CICS
6 1 (0.40%) CIMPLICITY
6 1 (0.40%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 1 (0.40%) Predix
6 1 (0.40%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 6 (2.37%) CPLEX
2 3 (1.19%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (1.58%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.19%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.40%) Oracle EBS R12
3 1 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.40%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.40%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 1 (0.40%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 197 (77.87%) Azure
2 106 (41.90%) Azure DevOps
3 71 (28.06%) AWS
4 36 (14.23%) GCP
5 25 (9.88%) Power Platform
6 23 (9.09%) OpenShift
7 22 (8.70%) GitHub
8 21 (8.30%) Azure Monitor
9 20 (7.91%) Entra ID
9 20 (7.91%) GitHub Actions
10 15 (5.93%) Azure Sentinel
11 11 (4.35%) Azure AKS
11 11 (4.35%) Azure Logic Apps
12 10 (3.95%) SaaS
13 9 (3.56%) Azure Key Vault
14 7 (2.77%) Azure App Service
14 7 (2.77%) IaaS
15 6 (2.37%) AWS CloudFormation
15 6 (2.37%) Azure API Management
15 6 (2.37%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 20 (7.91%) Firewall
2 19 (7.51%) DNS
3 14 (5.53%) TCP/IP
3 14 (5.53%) VPN
4 11 (4.35%) DHCP
5 10 (3.95%) Network Security
6 8 (3.16%) LAN
6 8 (3.16%) WAN
7 7 (2.77%) BGP
7 7 (2.77%) MPLS
8 5 (1.98%) SSH
9 3 (1.19%) Software-Defined Networking
10 2 (0.79%) HTTP
10 2 (0.79%) OSPF
10 2 (0.79%) SD-WAN
10 2 (0.79%) VXLAN
11 1 (0.40%) NGFW
11 1 (0.40%) SNMP
11 1 (0.40%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (6.72%) NoSQL
2 16 (6.32%) Power BI
3 9 (3.56%) Data Warehouse
3 9 (3.56%) SQL Server
4 7 (2.77%) Metadata
5 6 (2.37%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (2.37%) MongoDB
5 6 (2.37%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.98%) Big Data
7 4 (1.58%) Relational Database
8 3 (1.19%) DocumentDB
8 3 (1.19%) Tableau
9 2 (0.79%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.79%) Hadoop
9 2 (0.79%) Parquet
9 2 (0.79%) Spark SQL
10 1 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.40%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 32 (12.65%) Git
2 28 (11.07%) Jenkins
3 17 (6.72%) GitLab
4 14 (5.53%) JIRA
5 4 (1.58%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.58%) Selenium
6 3 (1.19%) JMeter
6 3 (1.19%) NUnit
6 3 (1.19%) SpecFlow
6 3 (1.19%) TeamCity
6 3 (1.19%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.79%) LoadRunner
7 2 (0.79%) MSTest
7 2 (0.79%) NeoLoad
7 2 (0.79%) tSQLt
8 1 (0.40%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.40%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.40%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.40%) IBM UrbanCode
8 1 (0.40%) Introscope
General
1 73 (28.85%) Social Skills
2 33 (13.04%) Aerospace
3 31 (12.25%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (9.88%) Finance
5 11 (4.35%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (4.35%) Public Sector
6 9 (3.56%) Billing
7 8 (3.16%) Influencing Skills
8 6 (2.37%) Telecoms
9 5 (1.98%) Military
10 3 (1.19%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.19%) Publishing
11 2 (0.79%) Automotive
11 2 (0.79%) Legal
12 1 (0.40%) Banking
12 1 (0.40%) Local Government
12 1 (0.40%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.40%) Retail
12 1 (0.40%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 44 (17.39%) Senior
2 37 (14.62%) DevOps Engineer
3 33 (13.04%) Azure Engineer
4 30 (11.86%) Developer
5 29 (11.46%) Architect
6 23 (9.09%) Azure DevOps Engineer
6 23 (9.09%) Lead
7 21 (8.30%) Cloud Engineer
8 16 (6.32%) Data Engineer
9 15 (5.93%) Platform Engineer
10 14 (5.53%) Analyst
11 12 (4.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.95%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 9 (3.56%) Business Analyst
14 8 (3.16%) .NET Developer
14 8 (3.16%) Consultant
14 8 (3.16%) Project Manager
14 8 (3.16%) SIEM Engineer
14 8 (3.16%) Systems Engineer
15 7 (2.77%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 67 (26.48%) Terraform
2 25 (9.88%) REST
3 23 (9.09%) .NET
4 17 (6.72%) ARM Templates
5 14 (5.53%) RESTful
6 13 (5.14%) OAuth
7 11 (4.35%) SAML
8 10 (3.95%) React
9 9 (3.56%) .NET Core
9 9 (3.56%) .NET Framework
9 9 (3.56%) Entity Framework
9 9 (3.56%) OpenAPI
9 9 (3.56%) Swagger
10 8 (3.16%) PySpark
11 7 (2.77%) FastAPI
11 7 (2.77%) Flask
11 7 (2.77%) Kafka
11 7 (2.77%) LDAP
11 7 (2.77%) OpenID
11 7 (2.77%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 33 (13.04%) Cloud Native
2 32 (12.65%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (6.72%) Onboarding
4 10 (3.95%) Enterprise Software
4 10 (3.95%) Management Information System
5 8 (3.16%) Data Structures
5 8 (3.16%) Distributed Systems
5 8 (3.16%) Product Ownership
6 6 (2.37%) Algorithms
6 6 (2.37%) Public Cloud
7 5 (1.98%) Security Posture
8 4 (1.58%) ARM Cortex
8 4 (1.58%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.58%) Virtual Team
9 3 (1.19%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (1.19%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.19%) Distributed Architecture
9 3 (1.19%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (1.19%) IoT
9 3 (1.19%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 30 (11.86%) Linux
2 19 (7.51%) Windows
3 15 (5.93%) Windows Server
4 11 (4.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.40%) Oracle Linux
5 1 (0.40%) Rocky
5 1 (0.40%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
5 1 (0.40%) Unix
5 1 (0.40%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (55.73%) CI/CD
2 90 (35.57%) Agile
3 70 (27.67%) Infrastructure as Code
4 52 (20.55%) Analytics
5 49 (19.37%) Problem-Solving
6 48 (18.97%) Stakeholder Management
7 41 (16.21%) Cybersecurity
8 39 (15.42%) Continuous Improvement
9 38 (15.02%) Platform Engineering
10 37 (14.62%) Containerisation
11 34 (13.44%) Test Automation
12 31 (12.25%) DevSecOps
13 30 (11.86%) Roadmaps
13 30 (11.86%) Technical Leadership
13 30 (11.86%) Validation
14 29 (11.46%) Software Engineering
15 27 (10.67%) SIEM
16 26 (10.28%) ITIL
17 25 (9.88%) Cloud Security
17 25 (9.88%) Deployment Automation
Programming Languages
1 77 (30.43%) Python
2 51 (20.16%) PowerShell
3 44 (17.39%) SQL
4 33 (13.04%) Bash
5 24 (9.49%) Bicep
6 19 (7.51%) C#
7 15 (5.93%) JavaScript
8 13 (5.14%) Java
9 8 (3.16%) Kusto Query Language
10 7 (2.77%) TypeScript
11 5 (1.98%) X++
12 3 (1.19%) Perl
13 2 (0.79%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.79%) BeanShell
13 2 (0.79%) Go
13 2 (0.79%) Magik
13 2 (0.79%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.79%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.40%) JCL
14 1 (0.40%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 132 (52.17%) Security Cleared
2 113 (44.66%) SC Cleared
3 23 (9.09%) Degree
4 20 (7.91%) Azure Certification
5 19 (7.51%) DV Cleared
6 17 (6.72%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (6.72%) CISSP
7 13 (5.14%) AWS Certification
8 10 (3.95%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (3.16%) CISM
10 7 (2.77%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 7 (2.77%) CCIE
10 7 (2.77%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (2.37%) RHCE
12 5 (1.98%) CCNP
12 5 (1.98%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (1.98%) JNCIE
13 4 (1.58%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
13 4 (1.58%) CEH
13 4 (1.58%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.11%) NIST
2 17 (6.72%) Data Quality
3 16 (6.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (6.32%) QA
4 12 (4.74%) NCSC
5 9 (3.56%) GDPR
6 5 (1.98%) GRC
7 4 (1.58%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.58%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (1.19%) SLA
9 2 (0.79%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.40%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.40%) OpenSCAP
10 1 (0.40%) PMO
10 1 (0.40%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 32 (12.65%) Docker
2 20 (7.91%) Active Directory
3 10 (3.95%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (2.77%) Hyper-V
4 7 (2.77%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.19%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.79%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.40%) RACF
7 1 (0.40%) Time Sharing Option
7 1 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.40%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 58 (22.92%) Kubernetes
2 42 (16.60%) Ansible
3 10 (3.95%) Grafana
4 6 (2.37%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (1.98%) Prometheus
6 4 (1.58%) Istio
6 4 (1.58%) SCCM
7 2 (0.79%) CASB
7 2 (0.79%) Red Hat Satellite
7 2 (0.79%) SCOM
8 1 (0.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.40%) CA Wily
8 1 (0.40%) Check_MK
8 1 (0.40%) Packer
8 1 (0.40%) Podman
8 1 (0.40%) QRadar
8 1 (0.40%) Rancher
8 1 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.40%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 88 (34.78%) Microsoft
2 15 (5.93%) Red Hat
2 15 (5.93%) VMware
3 13 (5.14%) Databricks
3 13 (5.14%) Google
4 9 (3.56%) Oracle
4 9 (3.56%) ServiceNow
5 7 (2.77%) CyberArk
6 6 (2.37%) Salesforce
6 6 (2.37%) Splunk
7 5 (1.98%) AppDynamics
7 5 (1.98%) BeyondTrust
7 5 (1.98%) Dynatrace
8 4 (1.58%) Cisco
8 4 (1.58%) CrowdStrike
8 4 (1.58%) IBM
8 4 (1.58%) SAP
9 3 (1.19%) MuleSoft
10 1 (0.40%) Conga
10 1 (0.40%) Palo Alto