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 4 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 15 10
Rank change year-on-year -2 -5 +4
Contract jobs citing DevOps 264 147 294
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 9.03% 9.82% 11.07%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.92% 10.57% 12.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 96 190
10th Percentile £362 £368 £459
25th Percentile £413 £419 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £600
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% -16.67% +4.35%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £675
90th Percentile £653 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £508 £550 £560
% change year-on-year -7.73% -1.79% -3.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 2 29
10th Percentile - £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% +5.78%
75th Percentile £102.09 £77.56 £87.46
90th Percentile £105.05 £86.53 £87.53
South East median hourly rate £63.73 £60.75 £83.77
% change year-on-year +4.91% -27.48% +5.78%

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 2,417 1,391 2,313
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 82.66% 92.92% 87.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,593 844 1,303
10th Percentile £300 £300 £213
25th Percentile £400 £413 £370
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £601 £600
90th Percentile £672 £675 £675
South East median daily rate £513 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -1.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 201 58 168
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £14.25
25th Percentile £25.15 £14.54 £19.25
Median hourly rate £80.00 £32.05 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +149.61% -28.78% -14.29%
75th Percentile £86.00 £62.44 £65.00
90th Percentile £97.50 £78.03 £85.65
South East median hourly rate £52.50 £28.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year +87.50% -41.05% -5.00%

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 4 May 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 4 May 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 4 May 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 -1 190 £500 -0.05% 52
Buckinghamshire +8 67 £492 +17.42% 17
Oxfordshire -17 7 £513 - 26
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 (5.30%) SharePoint
2 11 (4.17%) Confluence
3 4 (1.52%) IIS
3 4 (1.52%) OpenStack
3 4 (1.52%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.52%) WebSphere Application Server
4 3 (1.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 3 (1.14%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.14%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.76%) CMS
5 2 (0.76%) GeoServer
5 2 (0.76%) IBM HTTP Server
5 2 (0.76%) JBoss
5 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.76%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.76%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.76%) WebSphere Portal
6 1 (0.38%) Apache
Applications
1 9 (3.41%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.52%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.14%) CPLEX
4 2 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.76%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.52%) Oracle EBS
2 3 (1.14%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 211 (79.92%) Azure
2 123 (46.59%) Azure DevOps
3 77 (29.17%) AWS
4 42 (15.91%) GCP
5 41 (15.53%) Power Platform
6 25 (9.47%) GitHub
7 24 (9.09%) Entra ID
8 20 (7.58%) Azure Monitor
9 18 (6.82%) GitHub Actions
10 17 (6.44%) SaaS
11 15 (5.68%) Microsoft 365
12 13 (4.92%) Azure Key Vault
12 13 (4.92%) OCI
13 12 (4.55%) Azure AKS
14 11 (4.17%) OpenShift
14 11 (4.17%) PaaS
14 11 (4.17%) Serverless
15 9 (3.41%) IaaS
16 8 (3.03%) Azure Functions
17 7 (2.65%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 18 (6.82%) Firewall
2 9 (3.41%) LAN
2 9 (3.41%) SD-WAN
2 9 (3.41%) WAN
3 7 (2.65%) BGP
3 7 (2.65%) DNS
3 7 (2.65%) Network Security
4 6 (2.27%) MPLS
4 6 (2.27%) VPN
5 4 (1.52%) IPsec
5 4 (1.52%) MQTT
5 4 (1.52%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.14%) DHCP
6 3 (1.14%) OSPF
6 3 (1.14%) SSL
7 2 (0.76%) 5G
7 2 (0.76%) HTTP
7 2 (0.76%) Internet
8 1 (0.38%) NGFW
8 1 (0.38%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (12.50%) Power BI
2 10 (3.79%) NoSQL
3 9 (3.41%) SQL Server
4 8 (3.03%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 8 (3.03%) Oracle Reports
5 7 (2.65%) Data Warehouse
5 7 (2.65%) Tableau
6 6 (2.27%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (2.27%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.52%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (1.14%) Delta Lake
8 3 (1.14%) GIS
8 3 (1.14%) MongoDB
8 3 (1.14%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.14%) Parquet
8 3 (1.14%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.76%) DocumentDB
9 2 (0.76%) Metadata
9 2 (0.76%) QGIS
9 2 (0.76%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 30 (11.36%) Git
1 30 (11.36%) JIRA
2 25 (9.47%) Jenkins
3 11 (4.17%) GitLab
4 6 (2.27%) Bitbucket
5 5 (1.89%) HP UFT
6 4 (1.52%) Jaeger
6 4 (1.52%) Selenium
6 4 (1.52%) Visual Studio
7 3 (1.14%) JUnit
7 3 (1.14%) NUnit
7 3 (1.14%) SpecFlow
7 3 (1.14%) TeamCity
7 3 (1.14%) WebDriver
8 2 (0.76%) Balsamiq
8 2 (0.76%) Introscope
8 2 (0.76%) Mockito
8 2 (0.76%) MSTest
8 2 (0.76%) Postman
8 2 (0.76%) ScriptRunner
General
1 80 (30.30%) Social Skills
2 34 (12.88%) Analytical Skills
3 29 (10.98%) Documentation Skills
4 24 (9.09%) Public Sector
5 15 (5.68%) Finance
6 11 (4.17%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (3.41%) Aerospace
8 8 (3.03%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (1.52%) Marketing
9 4 (1.52%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.76%) Billing
10 2 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.76%) Legal
11 1 (0.38%) Advertising
11 1 (0.38%) Health Technology
11 1 (0.38%) Law
11 1 (0.38%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.38%) Retail
Job Titles
1 46 (17.42%) DevOps Engineer
2 39 (14.77%) Azure Engineer
3 33 (12.50%) Architect
4 29 (10.98%) Analyst
5 27 (10.23%) Developer
6 26 (9.85%) Azure DevOps Engineer
6 26 (9.85%) Senior
7 22 (8.33%) Cloud Engineer
8 14 (5.30%) Lead
9 13 (4.92%) Test Analyst
10 12 (4.55%) Platform Engineer
11 10 (3.79%) Solutions Architect
11 10 (3.79%) Test Engineer
12 9 (3.41%) Data Engineer
12 9 (3.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (3.41%) Oracle Analyst
12 9 (3.41%) Project Manager
13 8 (3.03%) Senior DevOps
13 8 (3.03%) Senior DevOps Engineer
14 7 (2.65%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (8.33%) .NET
2 21 (7.95%) LDAP
3 18 (6.82%) REST
4 16 (6.06%) ADO
5 13 (4.92%) React
6 9 (3.41%) Middleware
6 9 (3.41%) RESTful
7 8 (3.03%) ARM Templates
7 8 (3.03%) CSS
7 8 (3.03%) OAuth
8 7 (2.65%) .NET Core
8 7 (2.65%) .NET Framework
9 6 (2.27%) Entity Framework
9 6 (2.27%) JSON
9 6 (2.27%) Kafka
10 5 (1.89%) HTML
10 5 (1.89%) RabbitMQ
10 5 (1.89%) SOAP
10 5 (1.89%) Swagger
10 5 (1.89%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 33 (12.50%) Cloud Native
2 11 (4.17%) Enterprise Software
3 10 (3.79%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (3.03%) Product Ownership
5 7 (2.65%) Distributed Systems
5 7 (2.65%) Onboarding
5 7 (2.65%) Public Cloud
6 6 (2.27%) Operational Technology
6 6 (2.27%) Security Posture
7 5 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
7 5 (1.89%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.52%) Algorithms
8 4 (1.52%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.52%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.14%) Data Structures
9 3 (1.14%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (0.76%) Clustering
10 2 (0.76%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (0.76%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 29 (10.98%) Linux
2 20 (7.58%) Windows
3 10 (3.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.76%) Oracle Linux
4 2 (0.76%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 2 (0.76%) Unix
5 1 (0.38%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.38%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (48.86%) CI/CD
2 84 (31.82%) Agile
3 65 (24.62%) Problem-Solving
4 51 (19.32%) Infrastructure as Code
5 46 (17.42%) Cybersecurity
6 33 (12.50%) Analytics
6 33 (12.50%) Business Intelligence
7 32 (12.12%) DevSecOps
8 29 (10.98%) Root Cause Analysis
8 29 (10.98%) Stakeholder Management
9 27 (10.23%) Containerisation
9 27 (10.23%) ITIL
9 27 (10.23%) Microservices
10 23 (8.71%) Observability
10 23 (8.71%) Platform Engineering
11 22 (8.33%) Migration
11 22 (8.33%) SIEM
11 22 (8.33%) Test Automation
12 21 (7.95%) Scrum
13 20 (7.58%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 73 (27.65%) Python
2 51 (19.32%) PowerShell
3 41 (15.53%) SQL
4 23 (8.71%) Bash
5 22 (8.33%) JavaScript
6 21 (7.95%) C#
7 16 (6.06%) Bicep
8 12 (4.55%) Java
8 12 (4.55%) TypeScript
9 7 (2.65%) Go
10 5 (1.89%) Shell Script
10 5 (1.89%) VBScript
11 4 (1.52%) Perl
12 2 (0.76%) BeanShell
12 2 (0.76%) C++
12 2 (0.76%) Jython
12 2 (0.76%) PHP
12 2 (0.76%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.76%) X++
13 1 (0.38%) R
Qualifications
1 116 (43.94%) Security Cleared
2 97 (36.74%) SC Cleared
3 21 (7.95%) CISSP
4 20 (7.58%) CISM
5 13 (4.92%) Azure Certification
5 13 (4.92%) DV Cleared
6 11 (4.17%) Degree
7 10 (3.79%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (3.41%) RHCE
9 6 (2.27%) CCNP
10 5 (1.89%) CCIE
10 5 (1.89%) MCSE
10 5 (1.89%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (1.89%) PMP
11 4 (1.52%) JNCIE
11 4 (1.52%) OCP
11 4 (1.52%) Oracle Certification
11 4 (1.52%) PMI Certification
12 3 (1.14%) ISTQB
12 3 (1.14%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (11.74%) NIST
2 30 (11.36%) GDPR
3 24 (9.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (6.44%) QA
5 16 (6.06%) NCSC
6 7 (2.65%) Data Quality
7 5 (1.89%) GRC
7 5 (1.89%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.52%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.52%) NIST 800
8 4 (1.52%) PMO
9 1 (0.38%) OpenSCAP
9 1 (0.38%) SLA
System Software
1 38 (14.39%) Active Directory
2 27 (10.23%) Docker
3 6 (2.27%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.76%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.76%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.38%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 50 (18.94%) Terraform
2 43 (16.29%) Kubernetes
3 21 (7.95%) Ansible
4 14 (5.30%) Grafana
4 14 (5.30%) Prometheus
5 4 (1.52%) Istio
5 4 (1.52%) Rancher
5 4 (1.52%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.14%) Data Guard
6 3 (1.14%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 3 (1.14%) Oracle RMAN
7 2 (0.76%) CA Wily
7 2 (0.76%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.76%) systemd
7 2 (0.76%) Tivoli
8 1 (0.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.38%) Fluentd
8 1 (0.38%) Packer
8 1 (0.38%) Red Hat Satellite
8 1 (0.38%) SCOM
Vendors
1 45 (17.05%) Microsoft
2 29 (10.98%) Oracle
3 21 (7.95%) BeyondTrust
3 21 (7.95%) CyberArk
4 18 (6.82%) Red Hat
5 17 (6.44%) ServiceNow
6 10 (3.79%) Databricks
6 10 (3.79%) VMware
7 6 (2.27%) AppDynamics
7 6 (2.27%) Splunk
8 5 (1.89%) BiZZdesign
9 4 (1.52%) Dynatrace
9 4 (1.52%) Google
9 4 (1.52%) IBM
10 3 (1.14%) Adobe
10 3 (1.14%) ESRI
10 3 (1.14%) Fortinet
10 3 (1.14%) HP
10 3 (1.14%) OpenAI
10 3 (1.14%) SAP