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 18 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 12 10
Rank change year-on-year -8 -2 +2
Contract jobs citing DevOps 267 204 286
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.21% 12.24% 11.01%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.10% 13.26% 12.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 194 127 181
10th Percentile £358 £325 £450
25th Percentile £423 £411 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £600
Median % change year-on-year - -16.67% -
75th Percentile £600 £575 £650
90th Percentile £674 £638 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £575
% change year-on-year +5.00% -13.04% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 2 25
10th Percentile £80.35 £35.98 £56.65
25th Percentile £80.75 £44.56 £61.60
Median hourly rate £85.00 £60.75 £83.77
Median % change year-on-year +39.92% -27.48% +10.70%
75th Percentile £102.50 £77.56 £87.46
90th Percentile £104.00 £86.53 £87.53
South East median hourly rate £67.50 £60.75 £83.77
% change year-on-year +11.11% -27.48% +10.70%

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 2,643 1,538 2,201
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 81.27% 92.26% 84.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,698 922 1,202
10th Percentile £310 £300 £251
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% - -2.44%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 104 152
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £13.76
25th Percentile £31.25 £14.75 £19.25
Median hourly rate £81.50 £24.91 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year +227.24% -49.69% -1.00%
75th Percentile £88.00 £55.00 £67.58
90th Percentile £104.00 £82.10 £86.86
South East median hourly rate £55.00 £23.25 £54.88
% change year-on-year +136.56% -57.63% +9.75%

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 18 July 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 18 July 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 18 July 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 -8 186 £500 - 31
Buckinghamshire -2 74 £492 +31.20% 14
Oxfordshire -20 7 £775 +65.33% 19
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 7 (2.62%) Confluence
1 7 (2.62%) OpenStack
2 6 (2.25%) Apache Spark
2 6 (2.25%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.50%) IIS
3 4 (1.50%) WebSphere
3 4 (1.50%) WebSphere Application Server
4 2 (0.75%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 2 (0.75%) IBM HTTP Server
4 2 (0.75%) JBoss
4 2 (0.75%) Oracle HTTP Server
4 2 (0.75%) WebSphere Portal
5 1 (0.37%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.37%) CIMPLICITY
5 1 (0.37%) CMS
5 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.37%) Predix
Applications
1 8 (3.00%) CPLEX
1 8 (3.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (2.25%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.75%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.50%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.12%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.37%) Oracle EBS R12
3 1 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.37%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.37%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 1 (0.37%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 203 (76.03%) Azure
2 118 (44.19%) Azure DevOps
3 74 (27.72%) AWS
4 38 (14.23%) GCP
5 31 (11.61%) Power Platform
6 21 (7.87%) Entra ID
7 20 (7.49%) GitHub
8 19 (7.12%) Azure Monitor
9 17 (6.37%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (4.12%) OCI
10 11 (4.12%) SaaS
11 10 (3.75%) Azure Key Vault
11 10 (3.75%) OpenShift
12 8 (3.00%) Azure AKS
12 8 (3.00%) Serverless
13 7 (2.62%) Microsoft 365
14 6 (2.25%) Azure Logic Apps
14 6 (2.25%) Azure Sentinel
14 6 (2.25%) Google App Engine
15 5 (1.87%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 20 (7.49%) Firewall
2 14 (5.24%) DNS
3 13 (4.87%) LAN
3 13 (4.87%) WAN
4 12 (4.49%) Network Security
5 11 (4.12%) BGP
6 10 (3.75%) MPLS
7 9 (3.37%) TCP/IP
7 9 (3.37%) VPN
8 8 (3.00%) SD-WAN
9 6 (2.25%) DHCP
10 4 (1.50%) OSPF
10 4 (1.50%) SSH
11 3 (1.12%) HTTP
11 3 (1.12%) SSL
12 2 (0.75%) Internet
12 2 (0.75%) IPsec
12 2 (0.75%) MQTT
12 2 (0.75%) SNMP
12 2 (0.75%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (7.49%) Power BI
2 16 (5.99%) NoSQL
3 11 (4.12%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (3.75%) Data Warehouse
5 9 (3.37%) SQL Server
6 8 (3.00%) MongoDB
7 6 (2.25%) Tableau
8 5 (1.87%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (1.87%) Big Data
8 5 (1.87%) Relational Database
9 3 (1.12%) DocumentDB
9 3 (1.12%) Metadata
9 3 (1.12%) Parquet
9 3 (1.12%) Spark SQL
10 2 (0.75%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.75%) Star Schema
11 1 (0.37%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.37%) GIS
11 1 (0.37%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 35 (13.11%) Git
2 22 (8.24%) JIRA
3 20 (7.49%) Jenkins
4 13 (4.87%) GitLab
5 5 (1.87%) Bitbucket
6 4 (1.50%) Jaeger
6 4 (1.50%) NUnit
7 3 (1.12%) JUnit
7 3 (1.12%) Postman
7 3 (1.12%) Selenium
7 3 (1.12%) SpecFlow
7 3 (1.12%) TeamCity
7 3 (1.12%) Visual Studio
7 3 (1.12%) WebDriver
8 2 (0.75%) Balsamiq
8 2 (0.75%) Introscope
8 2 (0.75%) LoadRunner
8 2 (0.75%) Mockito
8 2 (0.75%) MSTest
8 2 (0.75%) NeoLoad
General
1 74 (27.72%) Social Skills
2 27 (10.11%) Analytical Skills
3 25 (9.36%) Finance
4 23 (8.61%) Public Sector
5 17 (6.37%) Documentation Skills
6 14 (5.24%) Aerospace
7 9 (3.37%) Billing
8 8 (3.00%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (2.62%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.87%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.50%) Military
12 2 (0.75%) Legal
12 2 (0.75%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.75%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.75%) Publishing
13 1 (0.37%) Advertising
13 1 (0.37%) Health Technology
13 1 (0.37%) Law
13 1 (0.37%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 46 (17.23%) DevOps Engineer
2 40 (14.98%) Developer
3 36 (13.48%) Architect
3 36 (13.48%) Azure Engineer
4 30 (11.24%) Senior
5 28 (10.49%) Azure DevOps Engineer
6 26 (9.74%) Analyst
7 20 (7.49%) Lead
8 18 (6.74%) Cloud Engineer
9 14 (5.24%) Platform Engineer
10 13 (4.87%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (4.12%) Technical Architect
12 10 (3.75%) Business Analyst
12 10 (3.75%) Project Manager
12 10 (3.75%) Test Analyst
13 9 (3.37%) Data Engineer
13 9 (3.37%) Oracle Analyst
14 8 (3.00%) .NET Developer
14 8 (3.00%) Consultant
14 8 (3.00%) Python Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (10.86%) REST
2 25 (9.36%) .NET
3 16 (5.99%) RESTful
4 15 (5.62%) React
5 14 (5.24%) OAuth
6 12 (4.49%) LDAP
6 12 (4.49%) Swagger
7 11 (4.12%) Kafka
8 10 (3.75%) OpenAPI
8 10 (3.75%) RabbitMQ
8 10 (3.75%) SOAP
9 9 (3.37%) ADO
9 9 (3.37%) ARM Templates
9 9 (3.37%) FastAPI
9 9 (3.37%) Flask
9 9 (3.37%) Pandas
9 9 (3.37%) pytest
10 8 (3.00%) Django
10 8 (3.00%) NumPy
10 8 (3.00%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 34 (12.73%) Cloud Native
2 19 (7.12%) Hybrid Cloud
3 13 (4.87%) Distributed Systems
4 12 (4.49%) Enterprise Software
5 10 (3.75%) Onboarding
6 8 (3.00%) Algorithms
6 8 (3.00%) Data Structures
7 7 (2.62%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (2.62%) Public Cloud
7 7 (2.62%) Security Posture
8 6 (2.25%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.25%) Product Ownership
9 5 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (1.87%) Virtual Team
10 4 (1.50%) Data Centre
11 3 (1.12%) ARM Cortex
11 3 (1.12%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (1.12%) Greenfield Project
11 3 (1.12%) IoT
11 3 (1.12%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 25 (9.36%) Linux
2 18 (6.74%) Windows
3 11 (4.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (1.87%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.75%) Oracle Linux
5 2 (0.75%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
5 2 (0.75%) Unix
6 1 (0.37%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (47.19%) CI/CD
2 92 (34.46%) Agile
3 54 (20.22%) Infrastructure as Code
4 51 (19.10%) Problem-Solving
5 39 (14.61%) Analytics
6 38 (14.23%) Cybersecurity
7 35 (13.11%) Stakeholder Management
8 33 (12.36%) Containerisation
9 32 (11.99%) Microservices
10 28 (10.49%) Data Modelling
10 28 (10.49%) ITIL
11 27 (10.11%) Validation
12 26 (9.74%) Root Cause Analysis
13 24 (8.99%) Platform Engineering
14 23 (8.61%) DevSecOps
14 23 (8.61%) Migration
15 22 (8.24%) Roadmaps
15 22 (8.24%) Test Automation
16 21 (7.87%) Continuous Improvement
16 21 (7.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 72 (26.97%) Python
2 45 (16.85%) SQL
3 43 (16.10%) PowerShell
4 26 (9.74%) Bash
5 23 (8.61%) JavaScript
6 20 (7.49%) C#
7 16 (5.99%) Java
8 15 (5.62%) Bicep
9 12 (4.49%) TypeScript
10 7 (2.62%) Go
11 5 (1.87%) X++
12 4 (1.50%) Kusto Query Language
12 4 (1.50%) Perl
13 2 (0.75%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.75%) BeanShell
13 2 (0.75%) Jython
13 2 (0.75%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.75%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.37%) SOQL
14 1 (0.37%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 123 (46.07%) Security Cleared
2 101 (37.83%) SC Cleared
3 19 (7.12%) DV Cleared
4 17 (6.37%) Cisco Certification
5 16 (5.99%) CISSP
5 16 (5.99%) Degree
6 13 (4.87%) CISM
7 11 (4.12%) Azure Certification
8 9 (3.37%) CCIE
9 8 (3.00%) CCNP
9 8 (3.00%) RHCE
10 7 (2.62%) AWS Certification
10 7 (2.62%) JNCIE
11 6 (2.25%) Microsoft Certification
12 5 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
12 5 (1.87%) MCSE
12 5 (1.87%) PMP
13 4 (1.50%) PMI Certification
14 3 (1.12%) GIAC
15 2 (0.75%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (8.61%) NIST
2 17 (6.37%) GDPR
2 17 (6.37%) QA
3 16 (5.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 11 (4.12%) NCSC
5 8 (3.00%) Data Quality
6 6 (2.25%) GRC
7 5 (1.87%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.50%) Accessibility
9 2 (0.75%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.37%) OpenSCAP
10 1 (0.37%) PMO
10 1 (0.37%) SLA
System Software
1 29 (10.86%) Docker
2 26 (9.74%) Active Directory
3 7 (2.62%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.12%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.75%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.75%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.37%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 49 (18.35%) Terraform
2 42 (15.73%) Kubernetes
3 21 (7.87%) Ansible
4 8 (3.00%) Grafana
4 8 (3.00%) Prometheus
5 5 (1.87%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.50%) Istio
6 4 (1.50%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (1.50%) Rancher
7 3 (1.12%) SCCM
8 2 (0.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.75%) CA Wily
8 2 (0.75%) CASB
8 2 (0.75%) Tivoli
9 1 (0.37%) Fluentd
9 1 (0.37%) Packer
9 1 (0.37%) Red Hat Satellite
9 1 (0.37%) SCOM
Vendors
1 60 (22.47%) Microsoft
2 22 (8.24%) Oracle
3 17 (6.37%) ServiceNow
4 13 (4.87%) Red Hat
5 11 (4.12%) VMware
6 10 (3.75%) BeyondTrust
6 10 (3.75%) CyberArk
6 10 (3.75%) Databricks
7 7 (2.62%) Google
8 5 (1.87%) Cisco
9 4 (1.50%) AppDynamics
9 4 (1.50%) IBM
9 4 (1.50%) SAP
10 3 (1.12%) BiZZdesign
10 3 (1.12%) CrowdStrike
10 3 (1.12%) Fortinet
11 2 (0.75%) Adobe
11 2 (0.75%) CheckPoint
11 2 (0.75%) Citrix
11 2 (0.75%) Zscaler