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 26 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 14 11
Rank change year-on-year -5 -3 +4
Contract jobs citing DevOps 256 152 291
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.76% 10.13% 10.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.53% 10.92% 12.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 195 103 186
10th Percentile £375 £363 £455
25th Percentile £413 £414 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £600
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% -16.67% +4.35%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £675
90th Percentile £653 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £505 £550 £575
% change year-on-year -8.18% -4.35% -1.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 2 29
10th Percentile £80.02 £35.98 £56.65
25th Percentile £80.75 £44.56 £61.60
Median hourly rate £81.75 £60.75 £83.77
Median % change year-on-year +34.57% -27.48% +5.78%
75th Percentile £83.75 £77.56 £87.46
90th Percentile £96.05 £86.53 £87.53
South East median hourly rate £63.73 £60.75 £83.77
% change year-on-year +4.91% -27.48% +50.93%

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 1,392 2,358
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 83.20% 92.74% 87.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,606 841 1,316
10th Percentile £300 £300 £213
25th Percentile £400 £413 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £601 £600
90th Percentile £670 £675 £675
South East median daily rate £513 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 201 59 172
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £15.52
25th Percentile £23.21 £14.78 £19.94
Median hourly rate £78.40 £32.05 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +144.60% -28.78% -12.20%
75th Percentile £85.50 £62.37 £65.00
90th Percentile £95.00 £77.75 £85.61
South East median hourly rate £50.00 £28.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year +78.57% -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 26 April 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 26 April 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 26 April 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 -2 182 £492 -1.60% 43
Buckinghamshire +6 67 £492 +17.42% 20
Oxfordshire -15 7 £513 - 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 14 (5.47%) SharePoint
2 11 (4.30%) Confluence
3 4 (1.56%) IIS
3 4 (1.56%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.56%) WebSphere Application Server
4 3 (1.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 3 (1.17%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.17%) ArcGIS
4 3 (1.17%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.78%) CMS
5 2 (0.78%) GeoServer
5 2 (0.78%) IBM HTTP Server
5 2 (0.78%) JBoss
5 2 (0.78%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.78%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.78%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.78%) WebSphere Portal
6 1 (0.39%) Apache
Applications
1 9 (3.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.56%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.17%) CPLEX
4 2 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.78%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.56%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 209 (81.64%) Azure
2 121 (47.27%) Azure DevOps
3 76 (29.69%) AWS
4 45 (17.58%) GCP
5 38 (14.84%) Power Platform
6 29 (11.33%) GitHub
7 26 (10.16%) Entra ID
8 24 (9.38%) GitHub Actions
9 23 (8.98%) Azure Monitor
10 19 (7.42%) SaaS
11 15 (5.86%) Microsoft 365
12 14 (5.47%) Serverless
13 13 (5.08%) Azure Key Vault
13 13 (5.08%) OCI
14 12 (4.69%) Azure AKS
14 12 (4.69%) PaaS
15 11 (4.30%) Azure Functions
15 11 (4.30%) OpenShift
16 10 (3.91%) IaaS
17 7 (2.73%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 18 (7.03%) Firewall
2 9 (3.52%) SD-WAN
3 8 (3.13%) LAN
3 8 (3.13%) WAN
4 7 (2.73%) DNS
4 7 (2.73%) Network Security
5 6 (2.34%) BGP
5 6 (2.34%) VPN
6 5 (1.95%) MPLS
6 5 (1.95%) SSL
7 4 (1.56%) IPsec
7 4 (1.56%) MQTT
7 4 (1.56%) TCP/IP
8 3 (1.17%) DHCP
8 3 (1.17%) OSPF
9 2 (0.78%) 5G
9 2 (0.78%) HTTP
9 2 (0.78%) Internet
10 1 (0.39%) NGFW
10 1 (0.39%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (12.50%) Power BI
2 10 (3.91%) NoSQL
3 9 (3.52%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (3.52%) SQL Server
4 8 (3.13%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 8 (3.13%) Oracle Reports
5 7 (2.73%) Data Warehouse
5 7 (2.73%) Tableau
6 6 (2.34%) Azure SQL Database
7 4 (1.56%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (1.17%) Delta Lake
8 3 (1.17%) GIS
8 3 (1.17%) MongoDB
8 3 (1.17%) MySQL
8 3 (1.17%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.17%) Parquet
8 3 (1.17%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.78%) Metadata
9 2 (0.78%) QGIS
9 2 (0.78%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 31 (12.11%) Jenkins
2 30 (11.72%) JIRA
3 29 (11.33%) Git
4 11 (4.30%) GitLab
5 6 (2.34%) Bitbucket
5 6 (2.34%) JUnit
6 5 (1.95%) HP UFT
7 4 (1.56%) Jaeger
7 4 (1.56%) Selenium
7 4 (1.56%) Storybook
7 4 (1.56%) Visual Studio
8 3 (1.17%) SpecFlow
8 3 (1.17%) TeamCity
8 3 (1.17%) WebDriver
9 2 (0.78%) Balsamiq
9 2 (0.78%) Introscope
9 2 (0.78%) Mockito
9 2 (0.78%) MSTest
9 2 (0.78%) NUnit
9 2 (0.78%) Postman
General
1 78 (30.47%) Social Skills
2 35 (13.67%) Analytical Skills
3 27 (10.55%) Documentation Skills
3 27 (10.55%) Public Sector
4 15 (5.86%) Finance
5 11 (4.30%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (2.73%) Marketing
6 7 (2.73%) Telecoms
7 5 (1.95%) Aerospace
7 5 (1.95%) Billing
7 5 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (1.56%) Retail
9 3 (1.17%) Electronics
9 3 (1.17%) Manufacturing
10 2 (0.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.39%) Advertising
11 1 (0.39%) Health Technology
11 1 (0.39%) Law
11 1 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 47 (18.36%) DevOps Engineer
2 41 (16.02%) Azure Engineer
3 32 (12.50%) Architect
4 29 (11.33%) Developer
5 28 (10.94%) Azure DevOps Engineer
5 28 (10.94%) Senior
6 26 (10.16%) Analyst
7 20 (7.81%) Cloud Engineer
8 13 (5.08%) Test Analyst
9 12 (4.69%) Platform Engineer
10 11 (4.30%) Senior DevOps
10 11 (4.30%) Senior DevOps Engineer
11 10 (3.91%) Lead
11 10 (3.91%) Solutions Architect
11 10 (3.91%) Test Engineer
12 9 (3.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (3.52%) Oracle Analyst
13 8 (3.13%) Data Engineer
13 8 (3.13%) Full-Stack Developer
13 8 (3.13%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (9.38%) .NET
2 20 (7.81%) LDAP
3 19 (7.42%) REST
4 15 (5.86%) ADO
4 15 (5.86%) React
5 12 (4.69%) RESTful
6 11 (4.30%) ARM Templates
6 11 (4.30%) CSS
6 11 (4.30%) OAuth
7 10 (3.91%) .NET Core
8 9 (3.52%) Middleware
9 8 (3.13%) .NET Framework
9 8 (3.13%) HTML
10 7 (2.73%) SAML
11 6 (2.34%) Kafka
12 5 (1.95%) Entity Framework
12 5 (1.95%) RabbitMQ
12 5 (1.95%) Spring Boot
12 5 (1.95%) Swagger
12 5 (1.95%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 32 (12.50%) Cloud Native
2 11 (4.30%) Enterprise Software
3 10 (3.91%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (3.13%) Product Ownership
5 7 (2.73%) Distributed Systems
5 7 (2.73%) Onboarding
5 7 (2.73%) Public Cloud
6 6 (2.34%) Operational Technology
7 5 (1.95%) Data Protection Act
7 5 (1.95%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.56%) Algorithms
8 4 (1.56%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.56%) Data Centre
8 4 (1.56%) Security Posture
9 3 (1.17%) Data Structures
9 3 (1.17%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (1.17%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (1.17%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (0.78%) Clustering
10 2 (0.78%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 29 (11.33%) Linux
2 20 (7.81%) Windows
3 10 (3.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.78%) Oracle Linux
4 2 (0.78%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 2 (0.78%) Unix
5 1 (0.39%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.39%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (50.78%) CI/CD
2 82 (32.03%) Agile
3 67 (26.17%) Problem-Solving
4 52 (20.31%) Infrastructure as Code
5 44 (17.19%) Cybersecurity
6 35 (13.67%) Analytics
6 35 (13.67%) Business Intelligence
7 34 (13.28%) DevSecOps
8 31 (12.11%) Root Cause Analysis
9 29 (11.33%) Microservices
10 27 (10.55%) Containerisation
10 27 (10.55%) ITIL
10 27 (10.55%) Stakeholder Management
11 26 (10.16%) Observability
12 24 (9.38%) Test Automation
13 23 (8.98%) Platform Engineering
14 22 (8.59%) Data Modelling
14 22 (8.59%) Migration
15 21 (8.20%) SIEM
16 20 (7.81%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 74 (28.91%) Python
2 51 (19.92%) PowerShell
3 42 (16.41%) SQL
4 27 (10.55%) JavaScript
5 26 (10.16%) Bash
6 23 (8.98%) C#
7 16 (6.25%) Bicep
8 15 (5.86%) Java
9 14 (5.47%) TypeScript
10 7 (2.73%) Go
11 5 (1.95%) PHP
11 5 (1.95%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.95%) VBScript
12 4 (1.56%) Perl
13 2 (0.78%) C++
13 2 (0.78%) Jython
13 2 (0.78%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.78%) X++
14 1 (0.39%) R
14 1 (0.39%) Rust
Qualifications
1 111 (43.36%) Security Cleared
2 93 (36.33%) SC Cleared
3 20 (7.81%) CISSP
4 19 (7.42%) CISM
5 13 (5.08%) Azure Certification
5 13 (5.08%) DV Cleared
6 11 (4.30%) Degree
7 9 (3.52%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (3.52%) RHCE
8 6 (2.34%) CCNP
9 5 (1.95%) MCSE
9 5 (1.95%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (1.95%) PMP
10 4 (1.56%) CCIE
10 4 (1.56%) OCP
10 4 (1.56%) Oracle Certification
10 4 (1.56%) PMI Certification
11 3 (1.17%) ISTQB
11 3 (1.17%) JNCIE
11 3 (1.17%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (11.72%) NIST
2 29 (11.33%) GDPR
3 23 (8.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (6.64%) QA
5 16 (6.25%) NCSC
6 9 (3.52%) Data Quality
7 5 (1.95%) GRC
7 5 (1.95%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.56%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.56%) NIST 800
8 4 (1.56%) PMO
9 1 (0.39%) OpenSCAP
9 1 (0.39%) SLA
System Software
1 37 (14.45%) Active Directory
2 26 (10.16%) Docker
3 5 (1.95%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.78%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.78%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.78%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.39%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 50 (19.53%) Terraform
2 42 (16.41%) Kubernetes
3 20 (7.81%) Ansible
4 14 (5.47%) Grafana
4 14 (5.47%) Prometheus
5 4 (1.56%) Istio
5 4 (1.56%) Rancher
5 4 (1.56%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.17%) Data Guard
6 3 (1.17%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 3 (1.17%) Oracle RMAN
7 2 (0.78%) CA Wily
7 2 (0.78%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.78%) systemd
7 2 (0.78%) Tivoli
8 1 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.39%) Fluentd
8 1 (0.39%) Packer
8 1 (0.39%) Red Hat Satellite
8 1 (0.39%) SCOM
Vendors
1 45 (17.58%) Microsoft
2 28 (10.94%) Oracle
3 20 (7.81%) BeyondTrust
3 20 (7.81%) CyberArk
4 18 (7.03%) Red Hat
5 16 (6.25%) ServiceNow
6 10 (3.91%) VMware
7 9 (3.52%) Databricks
8 6 (2.34%) AppDynamics
8 6 (2.34%) Splunk
9 5 (1.95%) BiZZdesign
10 4 (1.56%) Dynatrace
10 4 (1.56%) Google
10 4 (1.56%) IBM
11 3 (1.17%) Adobe
11 3 (1.17%) ESRI
11 3 (1.17%) Fortinet
11 3 (1.17%) HP
11 3 (1.17%) OpenAI
11 3 (1.17%) SAP