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 30 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 12 16
Rank change year-on-year -1 +4 +2
Contract jobs citing DevOps 236 197 260
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 10.71% 11.59% 9.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.60% 12.69% 10.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 160 145 197
10th Percentile £398 £408 £425
25th Percentile £425 £500 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £600 £600
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% - +9.09%
75th Percentile £588 £650 £663
90th Percentile £653 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -8.70% +4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 17
10th Percentile £77.10 - -
25th Percentile £80.25 - £56.65
Median hourly rate £86.00 - £75.67
75th Percentile £97.63 - £85.65
90th Percentile £102.35 - £87.53
South East median hourly rate £48.75 - £75.67
% change year-on-year - - +36.34%

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 1,873 1,553 2,387
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 85.02% 91.35% 90.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,252 903 1,471
10th Percentile £268 £250 £213
25th Percentile £385 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £504 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% +0.80% -
75th Percentile £588 £625 £600
90th Percentile £650 £663 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 111 43 140
10th Percentile £15.62 £24.93 £16.69
25th Percentile £18.87 £42.50 £23.37
Median hourly rate £25.15 £59.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -57.37% +24.21% +78.40%
75th Percentile £60.88 £65.17 £63.07
90th Percentile £95.00 £75.48 £76.47
South East median hourly rate £23.58 £45.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -47.61% -5.26% +7.34%

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 30 January 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 30 January 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 30 January 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 -1 202 £500 -16.67% 61
Buckinghamshire -4 22 £575 +2.22% 27
Oxfordshire -3 12 £550 - 18
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 14 (5.93%) SharePoint
2 8 (3.39%) GeoServer
2 8 (3.39%) OpenStack
2 8 (3.39%) Smallworld
3 6 (2.54%) Confluence
4 4 (1.69%) Palantir Foundry
5 3 (1.27%) Anypoint
6 2 (0.85%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.85%) CMS
6 2 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.85%) nginx
7 1 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.42%) Apache
7 1 (0.42%) Camunda
7 1 (0.42%) Drupal
7 1 (0.42%) Gunicorn
7 1 (0.42%) IIS
7 1 (0.42%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (2.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.42%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.69%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.42%) Maximo
2 1 (0.42%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 182 (77.12%) Azure
2 94 (39.83%) Azure DevOps
3 87 (36.86%) AWS
4 48 (20.34%) GCP
5 28 (11.86%) GitHub
6 25 (10.59%) SaaS
7 24 (10.17%) Power Platform
8 22 (9.32%) Entra ID
9 19 (8.05%) IaaS
10 17 (7.20%) Azure AKS
11 16 (6.78%) Azure Monitor
11 16 (6.78%) Microsoft 365
12 14 (5.93%) Serverless
13 13 (5.51%) GitHub Actions
13 13 (5.51%) OpenShift
13 13 (5.51%) PaaS
14 10 (4.24%) Azure Key Vault
14 10 (4.24%) OCI
15 8 (3.39%) Azure Functions
16 7 (2.97%) Azure Storage
Communications & Networking
1 9 (3.81%) DNS
2 8 (3.39%) BGP
2 8 (3.39%) LAN
2 8 (3.39%) MPLS
2 8 (3.39%) WAN
3 7 (2.97%) Firewall
4 5 (2.12%) SD-WAN
5 4 (1.69%) Network Security
6 3 (1.27%) IPsec
6 3 (1.27%) MQTT
7 2 (0.85%) 2G
7 2 (0.85%) 5G
7 2 (0.85%) LTE
7 2 (0.85%) Mobile Backhaul
7 2 (0.85%) SSL
7 2 (0.85%) VoIP
7 2 (0.85%) VPN
8 1 (0.42%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (8.90%) Power BI
2 9 (3.81%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (3.39%) Geospatial Data
3 8 (3.39%) GIS
3 8 (3.39%) Oracle BI Publisher
3 8 (3.39%) QGIS
4 5 (2.12%) Azure SQL Database
4 5 (2.12%) Metadata
4 5 (2.12%) NoSQL
4 5 (2.12%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.69%) SQL Server
6 3 (1.27%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (1.27%) MySQL
6 3 (1.27%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.85%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.85%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.85%) Relational Database
7 2 (0.85%) Spatial Data
7 2 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.85%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 27 (11.44%) Jenkins
2 26 (11.02%) JIRA
3 19 (8.05%) Git
4 5 (2.12%) HP UFT
5 4 (1.69%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.69%) JUnit
5 4 (1.69%) Selenium
5 4 (1.69%) Storybook
6 3 (1.27%) Cucumber
6 3 (1.27%) GitLab
7 2 (0.85%) ScriptRunner
7 2 (0.85%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.42%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.42%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.42%) JMeter
8 1 (0.42%) NUnit
8 1 (0.42%) Postman
8 1 (0.42%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.42%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 94 (39.83%) Social Skills
2 38 (16.10%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (11.02%) Documentation Skills
4 17 (7.20%) Public Sector
5 10 (4.24%) Finance
6 9 (3.81%) Billing
7 8 (3.39%) Influencing Skills
7 8 (3.39%) Retail
8 7 (2.97%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (2.97%) Telecoms
9 6 (2.54%) Marketing
10 4 (1.69%) Law
11 3 (1.27%) Electronics
11 3 (1.27%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 1 (0.42%) Digital Healthcare
13 1 (0.42%) Health Technology
13 1 (0.42%) Legal
Job Titles
1 41 (17.37%) Architect
2 28 (11.86%) DevOps Engineer
3 27 (11.44%) Analyst
4 25 (10.59%) Azure Engineer
5 22 (9.32%) Senior
6 16 (6.78%) Developer
7 14 (5.93%) Cloud Engineer
8 13 (5.51%) Solutions Architect
9 12 (5.08%) Test Analyst
10 11 (4.66%) Azure DevOps Engineer
11 10 (4.24%) Lead
12 9 (3.81%) Senior DevOps
12 9 (3.81%) Senior DevOps Engineer
13 8 (3.39%) Project Manager
14 7 (2.97%) Business Analyst
14 7 (2.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 7 (2.97%) IP Architect
14 7 (2.97%) IP Specialist
15 6 (2.54%) Delivery Manager
15 6 (2.54%) Integration Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (11.02%) ADO
2 23 (9.75%) LDAP
3 22 (9.32%) REST
4 14 (5.93%) .NET
5 10 (4.24%) ARM Templates
5 10 (4.24%) React
6 8 (3.39%) CSS
6 8 (3.39%) NETCONF
6 8 (3.39%) RESTful
6 8 (3.39%) YANG
7 7 (2.97%) HTML
7 7 (2.97%) Middleware
7 7 (2.97%) SOAP
8 6 (2.54%) SailPoint
9 5 (2.12%) .NET Core
9 5 (2.12%) GraphQL
9 5 (2.12%) JSON
9 5 (2.12%) Spring
9 5 (2.12%) Spring Boot
10 4 (1.69%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 29 (12.29%) Cloud Native
2 10 (4.24%) Hybrid Cloud
3 8 (3.39%) Product Ownership
4 7 (2.97%) Legacy Systems
4 7 (2.97%) Onboarding
5 6 (2.54%) Security Posture
5 6 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
6 5 (2.12%) Data Centre
6 5 (2.12%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (2.12%) Operational Technology
6 5 (2.12%) PKI
7 4 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.69%) Linux Command Line
7 4 (1.69%) Smart Meter
8 3 (1.27%) Replication
9 2 (0.85%) Algorithms
9 2 (0.85%) IoT
9 2 (0.85%) Management Information System
9 2 (0.85%) Public Cloud
10 1 (0.42%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 32 (13.56%) Linux
2 12 (5.08%) Windows
3 4 (1.69%) Unix
4 3 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 119 (50.42%) CI/CD
2 74 (31.36%) Agile
3 66 (27.97%) Problem-Solving
4 41 (17.37%) Cybersecurity
5 34 (14.41%) Analytics
5 34 (14.41%) DevSecOps
5 34 (14.41%) Infrastructure as Code
6 31 (13.14%) Microservices
7 30 (12.71%) Containerisation
7 30 (12.71%) SIEM
8 26 (11.02%) Test Automation
9 25 (10.59%) AI
9 25 (10.59%) Stakeholder Management
10 23 (9.75%) Business Intelligence
11 22 (9.32%) Roadmaps
12 19 (8.05%) Mentoring
12 19 (8.05%) Scrum
13 18 (7.63%) Migration
14 17 (7.20%) Machine Learning
14 17 (7.20%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 80 (33.90%) Python
2 57 (24.15%) PowerShell
3 34 (14.41%) SQL
4 26 (11.02%) Bash
5 25 (10.59%) JavaScript
6 20 (8.47%) Java
7 16 (6.78%) C#
8 12 (5.08%) TypeScript
9 11 (4.66%) Bicep
10 6 (2.54%) BeanShell
11 5 (2.12%) PHP
11 5 (2.12%) Shell Script
11 5 (2.12%) VBScript
12 4 (1.69%) Search Processing Language
13 3 (1.27%) DataWeave
13 3 (1.27%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.85%) Groovy
14 2 (0.85%) R
15 1 (0.42%) Jython
15 1 (0.42%) Rust
Qualifications
1 64 (27.12%) Security Cleared
2 49 (20.76%) SC Cleared
3 24 (10.17%) CISSP
4 22 (9.32%) CISM
5 12 (5.08%) Degree
6 11 (4.66%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (3.81%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (3.39%) CCIE
8 8 (3.39%) JNCIE
9 7 (2.97%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.54%) Azure Certification
11 5 (2.12%) AWS Certification
11 5 (2.12%) RHCE
12 4 (1.69%) Master's Degree
12 4 (1.69%) OCP
12 4 (1.69%) Oracle Certification
13 3 (1.27%) CCNP
13 3 (1.27%) ISTQB
13 3 (1.27%) PRINCE2 Certification
14 2 (0.85%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (13.56%) NIST
2 29 (12.29%) GDPR
3 26 (11.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (7.20%) QA
5 13 (5.51%) Data Quality
6 10 (4.24%) NCSC
7 5 (2.12%) HIPAA
8 4 (1.69%) PMO
8 4 (1.69%) SOC 2
9 3 (1.27%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.42%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 1 (0.42%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 41 (17.37%) Active Directory
2 30 (12.71%) Docker
3 6 (2.54%) VMware NSX
3 6 (2.54%) vSphere
4 5 (2.12%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (2.12%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 52 (22.03%) Terraform
2 42 (17.80%) Kubernetes
3 32 (13.56%) Ansible
4 7 (2.97%) Grafana
4 7 (2.97%) Prometheus
5 6 (2.54%) Argo
5 6 (2.54%) vCenter Server
6 3 (1.27%) CloudHub
6 3 (1.27%) Data Guard
6 3 (1.27%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 3 (1.27%) Oracle RMAN
6 3 (1.27%) Podman
6 3 (1.27%) Proxmox
6 3 (1.27%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.85%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.85%) logstash
7 2 (0.85%) systemd
8 1 (0.42%) Fluentd
Vendors
1 24 (10.17%) Oracle
2 23 (9.75%) BeyondTrust
2 23 (9.75%) CyberArk
3 21 (8.90%) Microsoft
4 15 (6.36%) Red Hat
5 11 (4.66%) Splunk
6 10 (4.24%) Databricks
6 10 (4.24%) VMware
7 9 (3.81%) Salesforce
8 8 (3.39%) ESRI
8 8 (3.39%) Intergraph
8 8 (3.39%) MuleSoft
9 6 (2.54%) Pure Storage
10 5 (2.12%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.69%) AppDynamics
11 4 (1.69%) Dynatrace
11 4 (1.69%) Foundry
11 4 (1.69%) Palantir
12 3 (1.27%) BiZZdesign
12 3 (1.27%) Zscaler