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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 11 18
Rank change year-on-year 0 +7 -3
Contract jobs citing DevOps 244 228 234
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 11.49% 12.01% 9.70%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.34% 13.38% 10.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 164 171 196
10th Percentile £388 £409 £425
25th Percentile £413 £508 £495
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £600 £600
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% - +9.09%
75th Percentile £575 £656 £663
90th Percentile £643 £688 £709
South East median daily rate £516 £600 £563
% change year-on-year -14.00% +6.67% -0.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 4
10th Percentile £77.10 - £71.31
25th Percentile £80.25 - £73.28
Median hourly rate £86.00 - £77.21
75th Percentile £97.63 - £83.74
90th Percentile £102.35 - £84.86
South East median hourly rate £47.50 - £76.10
% change year-on-year - - +37.12%

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 1,829 1,704 2,197
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 86.15% 89.73% 91.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,210 1,005 1,418
10th Percentile £268 £276 £213
25th Percentile £400 £409 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £638 £605
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £513 £518
% change year-on-year -2.44% -1.06% +1.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 122 47 98
10th Percentile £15.62 £23.31 £19.78
25th Percentile £17.84 £39.50 £26.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £55.28
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% +2.65% +141.19%
75th Percentile £58.00 £63.22 £65.71
90th Percentile £93.34 £67.20 £73.21
South East median hourly rate £22.50 £47.25 £55.00
% change year-on-year -52.38% -14.10% +37.50%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -1 204 £492 -18.68% 47
Buckinghamshire +11 27 £550 -6.38% 22
Oxfordshire -1 13 £538 - 22
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 15 (6.15%) SharePoint
2 8 (3.28%) Confluence
3 7 (2.87%) GeoServer
3 7 (2.87%) Smallworld
4 6 (2.46%) OpenStack
5 3 (1.23%) Anypoint
6 2 (0.82%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.82%) CMS
6 2 (0.82%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.82%) nginx
7 1 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.41%) Apache
7 1 (0.41%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.41%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.41%) Camunda
7 1 (0.41%) Drupal
7 1 (0.41%) Gunicorn
7 1 (0.41%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (2.46%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.64%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.41%) Maximo
2 1 (0.41%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 183 (75.00%) Azure
2 104 (42.62%) Azure DevOps
3 85 (34.84%) AWS
4 46 (18.85%) GCP
5 33 (13.52%) GitHub
6 26 (10.66%) SaaS
7 22 (9.02%) Power Platform
8 18 (7.38%) IaaS
9 17 (6.97%) Serverless
10 16 (6.56%) Azure AKS
11 15 (6.15%) Entra ID
11 15 (6.15%) GitHub Actions
11 15 (6.15%) Microsoft 365
12 12 (4.92%) Azure Monitor
12 12 (4.92%) OpenShift
12 12 (4.92%) PaaS
13 10 (4.10%) Amazon S3
13 10 (4.10%) OCI
14 7 (2.87%) AWS Lambda
14 7 (2.87%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 9 (3.69%) DNS
2 7 (2.87%) Network Security
3 6 (2.46%) BGP
3 6 (2.46%) LAN
3 6 (2.46%) MPLS
3 6 (2.46%) WAN
4 4 (1.64%) Firewall
5 3 (1.23%) 5G
5 3 (1.23%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.82%) 2G
6 2 (0.82%) LTE
6 2 (0.82%) Mobile Backhaul
6 2 (0.82%) SSL
6 2 (0.82%) VoIP
6 2 (0.82%) VPN
7 1 (0.41%) 3GPP
7 1 (0.41%) IPsec
7 1 (0.41%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (7.79%) Power BI
2 9 (3.69%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (3.28%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 7 (2.87%) Azure SQL Database
4 7 (2.87%) Geospatial Data
4 7 (2.87%) GIS
4 7 (2.87%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (2.87%) QGIS
5 6 (2.46%) Metadata
5 6 (2.46%) NoSQL
6 5 (2.05%) Amazon Athena
6 5 (2.05%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (2.05%) Big Data
6 5 (2.05%) MySQL
7 4 (1.64%) SQL Server
8 3 (1.23%) Data Lake
8 3 (1.23%) Delta Lake
8 3 (1.23%) Oracle Database
9 2 (0.82%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.82%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 35 (14.34%) JIRA
2 26 (10.66%) Jenkins
3 24 (9.84%) Git
4 6 (2.46%) Bitbucket
4 6 (2.46%) GitLab
4 6 (2.46%) Selenium
5 3 (1.23%) Cucumber
5 3 (1.23%) JUnit
5 3 (1.23%) Storybook
6 2 (0.82%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.82%) HP UFT
6 2 (0.82%) NUnit
6 2 (0.82%) ScriptRunner
7 1 (0.41%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.41%) JMeter
7 1 (0.41%) Mocha
7 1 (0.41%) MSTest
7 1 (0.41%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.41%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.41%) WebDriver
General
1 95 (38.93%) Social Skills
2 38 (15.57%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (8.61%) Documentation Skills
4 15 (6.15%) Public Sector
5 12 (4.92%) Finance
6 10 (4.10%) Billing
7 9 (3.69%) Retail
8 8 (3.28%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (3.28%) Telecoms
9 6 (2.46%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (2.05%) Marketing
11 4 (1.64%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.23%) Electronics
12 3 (1.23%) Law
13 2 (0.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.82%) Legal
14 1 (0.41%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.41%) Automotive
14 1 (0.41%) Digital Healthcare
14 1 (0.41%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 38 (15.57%) Architect
2 29 (11.89%) Analyst
3 27 (11.07%) DevOps Engineer
3 27 (11.07%) Senior
4 22 (9.02%) Azure Engineer
5 16 (6.56%) Developer
6 13 (5.33%) Test Analyst
7 12 (4.92%) Cloud Engineer
7 12 (4.92%) Lead
8 11 (4.51%) Azure DevOps Engineer
8 11 (4.51%) Solutions Architect
9 10 (4.10%) Project Manager
10 8 (3.28%) Senior DevOps
10 8 (3.28%) Senior DevOps Engineer
11 7 (2.87%) AWS Engineer
11 7 (2.87%) Business Analyst
11 7 (2.87%) Data Scientist
11 7 (2.87%) Delivery Manager
12 6 (2.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 6 (2.46%) Release Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (11.48%) ADO
2 21 (8.61%) REST
3 18 (7.38%) LDAP
4 14 (5.74%) .NET
5 10 (4.10%) RESTful
6 7 (2.87%) Middleware
6 7 (2.87%) SOAP
7 6 (2.46%) ARM Templates
7 6 (2.46%) GraphQL
7 6 (2.46%) HTML
7 6 (2.46%) NETCONF
7 6 (2.46%) PyTorch
7 6 (2.46%) React
7 6 (2.46%) SailPoint
7 6 (2.46%) scikit-learn
7 6 (2.46%) YANG
8 5 (2.05%) .NET Core
8 5 (2.05%) CSS
8 5 (2.05%) OAuth
8 5 (2.05%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 28 (11.48%) Cloud Native
2 10 (4.10%) Security Posture
3 9 (3.69%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (3.69%) Onboarding
4 8 (3.28%) Legacy Systems
5 7 (2.87%) Product Ownership
6 6 (2.46%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (2.46%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (2.05%) Algorithms
7 5 (2.05%) Data Centre
7 5 (2.05%) PKI
8 4 (1.64%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.64%) Linux Command Line
8 4 (1.64%) Smart Meter
9 3 (1.23%) Management Information System
9 3 (1.23%) Operational Technology
9 3 (1.23%) Replication
10 2 (0.82%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.82%) IoT
10 2 (0.82%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 32 (13.11%) Linux
2 10 (4.10%) Windows
3 4 (1.64%) Unix
4 3 (1.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.41%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (47.54%) CI/CD
2 86 (35.25%) Agile
3 67 (27.46%) Problem-Solving
4 37 (15.16%) Cybersecurity
5 31 (12.70%) Analytics
6 30 (12.30%) Containerisation
7 29 (11.89%) Infrastructure as Code
7 29 (11.89%) Microservices
8 28 (11.48%) DevSecOps
8 28 (11.48%) Scrum
9 26 (10.66%) AI
9 26 (10.66%) SIEM
10 24 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
10 24 (9.84%) Test Automation
11 22 (9.02%) Machine Learning
12 20 (8.20%) Business Intelligence
13 19 (7.79%) Migration
13 19 (7.79%) Validation
14 18 (7.38%) Continuous Improvement
14 18 (7.38%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 83 (34.02%) Python
2 49 (20.08%) PowerShell
3 42 (17.21%) SQL
4 25 (10.25%) Bash
5 23 (9.43%) Java
6 21 (8.61%) JavaScript
7 17 (6.97%) C#
8 8 (3.28%) Bicep
8 8 (3.28%) TypeScript
9 6 (2.46%) BeanShell
10 5 (2.05%) PHP
10 5 (2.05%) Shell Script
11 4 (1.64%) R
11 4 (1.64%) Search Processing Language
12 3 (1.23%) C++
12 3 (1.23%) DataWeave
13 2 (0.82%) C
13 2 (0.82%) Groovy
13 2 (0.82%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.82%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 53 (21.72%) Security Cleared
2 38 (15.57%) SC Cleared
3 20 (8.20%) CISSP
4 17 (6.97%) CISM
5 16 (6.56%) Degree
6 11 (4.51%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (2.87%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (2.46%) AWS Certification
8 6 (2.46%) CCIE
8 6 (2.46%) DV Cleared
8 6 (2.46%) JNCIE
9 5 (2.05%) Azure Certification
9 5 (2.05%) RHCE
10 4 (1.64%) Master's Degree
11 3 (1.23%) GCIA
11 3 (1.23%) GCIH
11 3 (1.23%) ISTQB
11 3 (1.23%) OCP
11 3 (1.23%) Oracle Certification
11 3 (1.23%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (14.34%) GDPR
2 26 (10.66%) NIST
3 24 (9.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (8.20%) QA
5 12 (4.92%) Data Quality
6 6 (2.46%) HIPAA
7 5 (2.05%) PMO
8 4 (1.64%) SOC 2
9 3 (1.23%) NCSC
10 2 (0.82%) EU AI Act
10 2 (0.82%) GRC
11 1 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 1 (0.41%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.41%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 33 (13.52%) Active Directory
2 32 (13.11%) Docker
3 6 (2.46%) VMware NSX
3 6 (2.46%) vSphere
4 5 (2.05%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (2.05%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 54 (22.13%) Terraform
2 45 (18.44%) Kubernetes
3 33 (13.52%) Ansible
4 7 (2.87%) Grafana
5 6 (2.46%) Argo
5 6 (2.46%) Prometheus
5 6 (2.46%) vCenter Server
6 3 (1.23%) CloudHub
6 3 (1.23%) Data Guard
6 3 (1.23%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 3 (1.23%) Oracle RMAN
6 3 (1.23%) Podman
6 3 (1.23%) Proxmox
7 2 (0.82%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.82%) logstash
7 2 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.82%) systemd
8 1 (0.41%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.41%) Puppet
Vendors
1 26 (10.66%) Oracle
2 18 (7.38%) BeyondTrust
2 18 (7.38%) CyberArk
3 16 (6.56%) Microsoft
4 14 (5.74%) Red Hat
5 13 (5.33%) Salesforce
5 13 (5.33%) Splunk
6 12 (4.92%) Databricks
7 8 (3.28%) MuleSoft
8 7 (2.87%) ESRI
8 7 (2.87%) Intergraph
8 7 (2.87%) ServiceNow
8 7 (2.87%) VMware
9 6 (2.46%) Pure Storage
10 4 (1.64%) AppDynamics
10 4 (1.64%) Dynatrace
10 4 (1.64%) Foundry
10 4 (1.64%) Google
10 4 (1.64%) Palantir
11 3 (1.23%) Sage