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 6 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 13 10
Rank change year-on-year -2 -3 +3
Contract jobs citing DevOps 266 160 302
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.86% 10.97% 11.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.94% 11.78% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 203 102 195
10th Percentile £355 £351 £450
25th Percentile £415 £413 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £588
Median % change year-on-year - -14.97% +0.09%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £650
90th Percentile £653 £673 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £555
% change year-on-year +5.00% -9.91% -5.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 2 28
10th Percentile £80.25 £35.98 £56.65
25th Percentile £80.75 £44.56 £61.60
Median hourly rate £82.50 £60.75 £83.77
Median % change year-on-year +35.80% -27.48% +8.18%
75th Percentile £102.88 £77.56 £87.46
90th Percentile £104.00 £86.53 £87.53
South East median hourly rate £63.73 £60.75 £83.77
% change year-on-year +4.91% -27.48% +8.18%

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 2,431 1,358 2,258
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 81.01% 93.08% 85.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,578 844 1,232
10th Percentile £306 £300 £213
25th Percentile £406 £406 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% - -1.96%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £600
90th Percentile £688 £675 £675
South East median daily rate £520 £500 £509
% change year-on-year +3.90% -1.67% +0.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 212 68 168
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £14.25
25th Percentile £30.56 £14.92 £19.25
Median hourly rate £81.50 £25.23 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +223.09% -43.94% -13.63%
75th Percentile £88.00 £62.50 £63.27
90th Percentile £105.40 £78.25 £85.65
South East median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +108.75% -47.05% -9.52%

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 6 June 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 6 June 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 6 June 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 -2 186 £500 - 54
Buckinghamshire +3 70 £492 +40.57% 22
Oxfordshire -21 10 £650 +57.58% 29
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 11 (4.14%) Confluence
2 10 (3.76%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.88%) OpenStack
4 4 (1.50%) Apache Spark
4 4 (1.50%) IIS
4 4 (1.50%) WebSphere
4 4 (1.50%) WebSphere Application Server
5 3 (1.13%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.75%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 2 (0.75%) GeoServer
6 2 (0.75%) IBM HTTP Server
6 2 (0.75%) JBoss
6 2 (0.75%) Oracle HTTP Server
6 2 (0.75%) Smallworld
6 2 (0.75%) WebSphere Portal
7 1 (0.38%) Apache
7 1 (0.38%) CMS
7 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 7 (2.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.88%) CPLEX
3 4 (1.50%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.75%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.50%) Oracle EBS
1 4 (1.50%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.38%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 209 (78.57%) Azure
2 127 (47.74%) Azure DevOps
3 72 (27.07%) AWS
4 38 (14.29%) GCP
5 35 (13.16%) Power Platform
6 25 (9.40%) Entra ID
7 24 (9.02%) GitHub
8 19 (7.14%) Azure Monitor
9 17 (6.39%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (4.89%) OCI
10 13 (4.89%) SaaS
11 12 (4.51%) Azure Key Vault
12 11 (4.14%) Microsoft 365
13 10 (3.76%) Azure AKS
13 10 (3.76%) IaaS
13 10 (3.76%) OpenShift
13 10 (3.76%) PaaS
14 9 (3.38%) Serverless
15 6 (2.26%) Azure Functions
15 6 (2.26%) Google App Engine
Communications & Networking
1 19 (7.14%) Firewall
2 11 (4.14%) LAN
2 11 (4.14%) WAN
3 10 (3.76%) SD-WAN
4 9 (3.38%) BGP
5 8 (3.01%) MPLS
6 7 (2.63%) DNS
7 6 (2.26%) Network Security
8 5 (1.88%) TCP/IP
8 5 (1.88%) VPN
9 4 (1.50%) IPsec
9 4 (1.50%) MQTT
9 4 (1.50%) OSPF
10 3 (1.13%) DHCP
10 3 (1.13%) SSL
11 2 (0.75%) HTTP
11 2 (0.75%) Internet
11 2 (0.75%) VXLAN
12 1 (0.38%) 5G
12 1 (0.38%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (10.15%) Power BI
2 12 (4.51%) NoSQL
3 10 (3.76%) SQL Server
4 8 (3.01%) Data Warehouse
4 8 (3.01%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (2.26%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (2.26%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (2.26%) Tableau
6 5 (1.88%) Metadata
6 5 (1.88%) MongoDB
6 5 (1.88%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 4 (1.50%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (1.13%) Big Data
8 3 (1.13%) Data Lake
8 3 (1.13%) DocumentDB
8 3 (1.13%) GIS
8 3 (1.13%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.13%) Parquet
8 3 (1.13%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.75%) Geospatial Data
Development Applications
1 31 (11.65%) Git
2 24 (9.02%) JIRA
3 23 (8.65%) Jenkins
4 14 (5.26%) GitLab
5 7 (2.63%) Bitbucket
6 5 (1.88%) HP UFT
7 4 (1.50%) Jaeger
7 4 (1.50%) NUnit
7 4 (1.50%) Visual Studio
8 3 (1.13%) JUnit
8 3 (1.13%) Postman
8 3 (1.13%) Selenium
8 3 (1.13%) SpecFlow
8 3 (1.13%) TeamCity
8 3 (1.13%) WebDriver
9 2 (0.75%) Balsamiq
9 2 (0.75%) Introscope
9 2 (0.75%) Mockito
9 2 (0.75%) MSTest
9 2 (0.75%) ScriptRunner
General
1 73 (27.44%) Social Skills
2 31 (11.65%) Analytical Skills
3 22 (8.27%) Public Sector
4 20 (7.52%) Documentation Skills
5 19 (7.14%) Finance
6 13 (4.89%) Aerospace
7 9 (3.38%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (3.01%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (1.88%) Billing
10 3 (1.13%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.75%) Legal
11 2 (0.75%) Marketing
11 2 (0.75%) Military
11 2 (0.75%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.38%) Advertising
12 1 (0.38%) Health Technology
12 1 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.38%) Law
12 1 (0.38%) Retail
Job Titles
1 46 (17.29%) DevOps Engineer
2 39 (14.66%) Azure Engineer
3 36 (13.53%) Developer
4 35 (13.16%) Architect
5 29 (10.90%) Senior
6 27 (10.15%) Analyst
7 25 (9.40%) Azure DevOps Engineer
8 22 (8.27%) Cloud Engineer
9 17 (6.39%) Lead
10 14 (5.26%) Platform Engineer
11 11 (4.14%) Test Engineer
12 10 (3.76%) Business Analyst
12 10 (3.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 10 (3.76%) Project Manager
12 10 (3.76%) Test Analyst
13 9 (3.38%) Data Engineer
13 9 (3.38%) Oracle Analyst
13 9 (3.38%) Technical Architect
14 8 (3.01%) .NET Developer
15 7 (2.63%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (8.65%) .NET
2 22 (8.27%) REST
3 15 (5.64%) ADO
3 15 (5.64%) React
4 13 (4.89%) LDAP
5 10 (3.76%) OAuth
5 10 (3.76%) RESTful
6 9 (3.38%) Middleware
7 8 (3.01%) .NET Framework
7 8 (3.01%) ARM Templates
7 8 (3.01%) Kafka
7 8 (3.01%) SOAP
8 7 (2.63%) CSS
8 7 (2.63%) Entity Framework
8 7 (2.63%) RabbitMQ
8 7 (2.63%) Swagger
9 6 (2.26%) Flask
9 6 (2.26%) JSON
9 6 (2.26%) Pandas
9 6 (2.26%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 34 (12.78%) Cloud Native
2 13 (4.89%) Enterprise Software
3 11 (4.14%) Distributed Systems
3 11 (4.14%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (2.63%) Product Ownership
4 7 (2.63%) Public Cloud
5 6 (2.26%) Data Centre
5 6 (2.26%) Operational Technology
5 6 (2.26%) Security Posture
6 5 (1.88%) Algorithms
6 5 (1.88%) Analytical Mindset
6 5 (1.88%) Data Protection Act
6 5 (1.88%) Data Structures
6 5 (1.88%) Virtual Team
7 4 (1.50%) Onboarding
8 3 (1.13%) Greenfield Project
8 3 (1.13%) PKI
8 3 (1.13%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.75%) Clustering
9 2 (0.75%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 25 (9.40%) Linux
2 18 (6.77%) Windows
3 13 (4.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.75%) Oracle Linux
4 2 (0.75%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 2 (0.75%) Unix
4 2 (0.75%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.38%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (46.99%) CI/CD
2 86 (32.33%) Agile
3 54 (20.30%) Infrastructure as Code
4 53 (19.92%) Problem-Solving
5 42 (15.79%) Cybersecurity
6 33 (12.41%) Analytics
7 29 (10.90%) Root Cause Analysis
8 28 (10.53%) Stakeholder Management
9 27 (10.15%) Business Intelligence
9 27 (10.15%) Microservices
10 26 (9.77%) Containerisation
10 26 (9.77%) ITIL
11 25 (9.40%) Data Modelling
11 25 (9.40%) Test Automation
12 24 (9.02%) DevSecOps
12 24 (9.02%) Scrum
13 23 (8.65%) Platform Engineering
14 21 (7.89%) Migration
14 21 (7.89%) Observability
14 21 (7.89%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 67 (25.19%) Python
2 44 (16.54%) PowerShell
3 43 (16.17%) SQL
4 24 (9.02%) JavaScript
5 23 (8.65%) Bash
6 20 (7.52%) C#
7 16 (6.02%) Bicep
8 15 (5.64%) Java
9 13 (4.89%) TypeScript
10 7 (2.63%) Go
11 5 (1.88%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.88%) VBScript
12 4 (1.50%) Perl
12 4 (1.50%) X++
13 2 (0.75%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.75%) BeanShell
13 2 (0.75%) C++
13 2 (0.75%) Jython
13 2 (0.75%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.38%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 118 (44.36%) Security Cleared
2 101 (37.97%) SC Cleared
3 17 (6.39%) CISSP
4 16 (6.02%) CISM
5 14 (5.26%) DV Cleared
6 13 (4.89%) Azure Certification
7 12 (4.51%) Cisco Certification
8 10 (3.76%) Degree
9 8 (3.01%) RHCE
10 7 (2.63%) CCIE
10 7 (2.63%) CCNP
11 5 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (1.88%) JNCIE
11 5 (1.88%) MCSE
11 5 (1.88%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (1.88%) PMP
12 4 (1.50%) OCP
12 4 (1.50%) Oracle Certification
12 4 (1.50%) PMI Certification
13 3 (1.13%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (9.77%) NIST
2 22 (8.27%) GDPR
3 19 (7.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (6.39%) QA
5 16 (6.02%) NCSC
6 9 (3.38%) Data Quality
7 5 (1.88%) GRC
7 5 (1.88%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.50%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.50%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.75%) PMO
10 1 (0.38%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.38%) OpenSCAP
10 1 (0.38%) SLA
System Software
1 29 (10.90%) Active Directory
2 27 (10.15%) Docker
3 10 (3.76%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.75%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.75%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.75%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.38%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 47 (17.67%) Terraform
2 41 (15.41%) Kubernetes
3 18 (6.77%) Ansible
4 13 (4.89%) Grafana
4 13 (4.89%) Prometheus
5 5 (1.88%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.50%) Istio
6 4 (1.50%) Rancher
7 3 (1.13%) Data Guard
7 3 (1.13%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 3 (1.13%) Oracle RMAN
8 2 (0.75%) CA Wily
8 2 (0.75%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.75%) systemd
8 2 (0.75%) Tivoli
9 1 (0.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.38%) Fluentd
9 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Intune
9 1 (0.38%) Packer
9 1 (0.38%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 48 (18.05%) Microsoft
2 28 (10.53%) Oracle
3 17 (6.39%) Red Hat
3 17 (6.39%) ServiceNow
4 13 (4.89%) BeyondTrust
4 13 (4.89%) CyberArk
5 10 (3.76%) VMware
6 8 (3.01%) Databricks
7 6 (2.26%) AppDynamics
7 6 (2.26%) Splunk
8 5 (1.88%) BiZZdesign
9 4 (1.50%) Cisco
9 4 (1.50%) Dynatrace
9 4 (1.50%) IBM
9 4 (1.50%) SAP
10 3 (1.13%) ESRI
10 3 (1.13%) Fortinet
10 3 (1.13%) Google
10 3 (1.13%) HP
10 3 (1.13%) OpenAI