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

6 months to
6 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 11 18
Rank change year-on-year -1 +7 -3
Contract jobs citing DevOps 238 223 229
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 11.32% 12.23% 9.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.16% 13.61% 10.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 161 166 192
10th Percentile £400 £409 £425
25th Percentile £420 £501 £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 £650 £688 £700
South East median daily rate £525 £600 £560
% change year-on-year -12.50% +7.14% -0.88%
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 - - +31.77%

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 1,808 1,638 2,161
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 85.97% 89.85% 91.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,195 959 1,390
10th Percentile £267 £263 £213
25th Percentile £400 £409 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £638 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £511 £517
% change year-on-year -2.12% -1.19% +1.87%
Number of hourly rates quoted 118 45 98
10th Percentile £15.62 £21.98 £19.18
25th Percentile £17.84 £38.00 £25.44
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £52.72
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% +7.63% +110.88%
75th Percentile £58.00 £63.00 £64.88
90th Percentile £94.13 £67.30 £73.21
South East median hourly rate £23.00 £43.94 £55.00
% change year-on-year -47.66% -20.11% +28.87%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -2 202 £492 -18.00% 87
Buckinghamshire +4 23 £550 -6.38% 31
Oxfordshire -1 13 £538 - 30
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 (6.30%) SharePoint
2 9 (3.78%) Confluence
3 8 (3.36%) GeoServer
3 8 (3.36%) Smallworld
4 6 (2.52%) OpenStack
5 3 (1.26%) Anypoint
6 2 (0.84%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.84%) CMS
6 2 (0.84%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.84%) nginx
7 1 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.42%) Apache
7 1 (0.42%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.42%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.42%) Camunda
7 1 (0.42%) Drupal
7 1 (0.42%) Gunicorn
7 1 (0.42%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (2.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.42%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.68%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.42%) Maximo
2 1 (0.42%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 180 (75.63%) Azure
2 100 (42.02%) Azure DevOps
3 81 (34.03%) AWS
4 46 (19.33%) GCP
5 34 (14.29%) GitHub
6 25 (10.50%) SaaS
7 22 (9.24%) Power Platform
8 19 (7.98%) IaaS
9 18 (7.56%) Entra ID
10 17 (7.14%) Azure AKS
11 16 (6.72%) GitHub Actions
12 15 (6.30%) Microsoft 365
13 13 (5.46%) Azure Monitor
13 13 (5.46%) PaaS
13 13 (5.46%) Serverless
14 12 (5.04%) OpenShift
15 10 (4.20%) OCI
16 8 (3.36%) Azure Key Vault
17 7 (2.94%) Azure Functions
17 7 (2.94%) Azure Storage
Communications & Networking
1 9 (3.78%) DNS
2 7 (2.94%) Network Security
3 6 (2.52%) BGP
3 6 (2.52%) LAN
3 6 (2.52%) MPLS
3 6 (2.52%) WAN
4 5 (2.10%) Firewall
5 3 (1.26%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.84%) 2G
6 2 (0.84%) 5G
6 2 (0.84%) LTE
6 2 (0.84%) Mobile Backhaul
6 2 (0.84%) SSL
6 2 (0.84%) VoIP
6 2 (0.84%) VPN
7 1 (0.42%) IPsec
7 1 (0.42%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (7.98%) Power BI
2 9 (3.78%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (3.36%) Geospatial Data
3 8 (3.36%) GIS
3 8 (3.36%) Oracle BI Publisher
3 8 (3.36%) QGIS
4 7 (2.94%) Metadata
5 6 (2.52%) Azure SQL Database
5 6 (2.52%) NoSQL
5 6 (2.52%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (2.10%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.68%) MySQL
8 3 (1.26%) Delta Lake
8 3 (1.26%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.26%) SQL Server
9 2 (0.84%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.84%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.84%) Redis
9 2 (0.84%) Spatial Data
9 2 (0.84%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (13.03%) JIRA
2 27 (11.34%) Jenkins
3 20 (8.40%) Git
4 6 (2.52%) Bitbucket
4 6 (2.52%) GitLab
5 5 (2.10%) Selenium
6 3 (1.26%) Cucumber
6 3 (1.26%) HP UFT
6 3 (1.26%) JUnit
6 3 (1.26%) Storybook
7 2 (0.84%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.84%) NUnit
7 2 (0.84%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.42%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.42%) JMeter
8 1 (0.42%) Mocha
8 1 (0.42%) MSTest
8 1 (0.42%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.42%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.42%) WebDriver
General
1 92 (38.66%) Social Skills
2 36 (15.13%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (8.82%) Documentation Skills
4 15 (6.30%) Public Sector
5 12 (5.04%) Finance
6 9 (3.78%) Billing
6 9 (3.78%) Retail
7 8 (3.36%) Influencing Skills
8 7 (2.94%) Telecoms
9 6 (2.52%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (2.10%) Marketing
11 4 (1.68%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.26%) Electronics
12 3 (1.26%) Law
13 2 (0.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.84%) Legal
14 1 (0.42%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.42%) Digital Healthcare
14 1 (0.42%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.42%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 38 (15.97%) Architect
2 29 (12.18%) Analyst
3 25 (10.50%) DevOps Engineer
3 25 (10.50%) Senior
4 23 (9.66%) Azure Engineer
5 15 (6.30%) Developer
6 14 (5.88%) Cloud Engineer
7 13 (5.46%) Test Analyst
8 11 (4.62%) Lead
8 11 (4.62%) Solutions Architect
9 10 (4.20%) Azure DevOps Engineer
9 10 (4.20%) Project Manager
10 8 (3.36%) Senior DevOps
10 8 (3.36%) Senior DevOps Engineer
11 7 (2.94%) AWS Engineer
11 7 (2.94%) Business Analyst
12 6 (2.52%) Delivery Manager
12 6 (2.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 6 (2.52%) Integration Manager
12 6 (2.52%) Release Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (11.76%) ADO
2 21 (8.82%) REST
3 18 (7.56%) LDAP
4 14 (5.88%) .NET
5 10 (4.20%) RESTful
6 7 (2.94%) ARM Templates
6 7 (2.94%) Middleware
6 7 (2.94%) SOAP
7 6 (2.52%) GraphQL
7 6 (2.52%) HTML
7 6 (2.52%) NETCONF
7 6 (2.52%) React
7 6 (2.52%) SailPoint
7 6 (2.52%) YANG
8 5 (2.10%) .NET Core
8 5 (2.10%) CSS
8 5 (2.10%) OAuth
8 5 (2.10%) OAuth2
9 4 (1.68%) .NET Framework
9 4 (1.68%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 28 (11.76%) Cloud Native
2 9 (3.78%) Hybrid Cloud
2 9 (3.78%) Onboarding
3 8 (3.36%) Legacy Systems
3 8 (3.36%) Product Ownership
3 8 (3.36%) Security Posture
4 6 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
4 6 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
5 5 (2.10%) Data Centre
5 5 (2.10%) PKI
6 4 (1.68%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (1.68%) Linux Command Line
6 4 (1.68%) Smart Meter
7 3 (1.26%) Algorithms
7 3 (1.26%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.26%) Operational Technology
7 3 (1.26%) Replication
8 2 (0.84%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (0.84%) IoT
8 2 (0.84%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 32 (13.45%) Linux
2 10 (4.20%) Windows
3 4 (1.68%) Unix
4 3 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.42%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 115 (48.32%) CI/CD
2 80 (33.61%) Agile
3 64 (26.89%) Problem-Solving
4 37 (15.55%) Cybersecurity
5 33 (13.87%) Analytics
6 31 (13.03%) Infrastructure as Code
7 30 (12.61%) Containerisation
8 29 (12.18%) DevSecOps
8 29 (12.18%) Microservices
9 26 (10.92%) SIEM
10 24 (10.08%) AI
10 24 (10.08%) Stakeholder Management
11 23 (9.66%) Scrum
12 22 (9.24%) Test Automation
13 21 (8.82%) Business Intelligence
14 20 (8.40%) Migration
15 19 (7.98%) Roadmaps
16 18 (7.56%) Validation
17 17 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
17 17 (7.14%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 77 (32.35%) Python
2 50 (21.01%) PowerShell
3 37 (15.55%) SQL
4 25 (10.50%) Bash
5 21 (8.82%) Java
5 21 (8.82%) JavaScript
6 17 (7.14%) C#
7 10 (4.20%) Bicep
8 8 (3.36%) TypeScript
9 6 (2.52%) BeanShell
10 5 (2.10%) PHP
10 5 (2.10%) Shell Script
11 4 (1.68%) Search Processing Language
12 3 (1.26%) DataWeave
12 3 (1.26%) VBScript
13 2 (0.84%) Groovy
13 2 (0.84%) R
13 2 (0.84%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.42%) Rust
14 1 (0.42%) Scala
Qualifications
1 55 (23.11%) Security Cleared
2 40 (16.81%) SC Cleared
3 20 (8.40%) CISSP
4 17 (7.14%) CISM
5 16 (6.72%) Degree
6 11 (4.62%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (2.94%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (2.52%) AWS Certification
8 6 (2.52%) Azure Certification
8 6 (2.52%) CCIE
8 6 (2.52%) DV Cleared
8 6 (2.52%) JNCIE
9 5 (2.10%) RHCE
10 4 (1.68%) Master's Degree
11 3 (1.26%) GCFA
11 3 (1.26%) GCIA
11 3 (1.26%) GCIH
11 3 (1.26%) OCP
11 3 (1.26%) Oracle Certification
11 3 (1.26%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (12.18%) GDPR
2 24 (10.08%) NIST
3 22 (9.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (8.40%) QA
5 13 (5.46%) Data Quality
6 6 (2.52%) HIPAA
7 5 (2.10%) NCSC
7 5 (2.10%) PMO
8 4 (1.68%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.84%) GRC
10 1 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 1 (0.42%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.42%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 34 (14.29%) Active Directory
2 32 (13.45%) Docker
3 6 (2.52%) VMware NSX
3 6 (2.52%) vSphere
4 5 (2.10%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (2.10%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 55 (23.11%) Terraform
2 44 (18.49%) Kubernetes
3 33 (13.87%) Ansible
4 7 (2.94%) Grafana
5 6 (2.52%) Argo
5 6 (2.52%) Prometheus
5 6 (2.52%) vCenter Server
6 3 (1.26%) CloudHub
6 3 (1.26%) Data Guard
6 3 (1.26%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 3 (1.26%) Oracle RMAN
6 3 (1.26%) Podman
6 3 (1.26%) Proxmox
7 2 (0.84%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.84%) logstash
7 2 (0.84%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.84%) systemd
8 1 (0.42%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.42%) Puppet
Vendors
1 25 (10.50%) Oracle
2 18 (7.56%) BeyondTrust
2 18 (7.56%) CyberArk
3 17 (7.14%) Microsoft
4 14 (5.88%) Red Hat
5 13 (5.46%) Salesforce
5 13 (5.46%) Splunk
6 11 (4.62%) Databricks
7 8 (3.36%) ESRI
7 8 (3.36%) Intergraph
7 8 (3.36%) MuleSoft
8 7 (2.94%) ServiceNow
8 7 (2.94%) VMware
9 6 (2.52%) Pure Storage
10 4 (1.68%) AppDynamics
10 4 (1.68%) Dynatrace
10 4 (1.68%) Foundry
10 4 (1.68%) Google
10 4 (1.68%) Palantir
11 3 (1.26%) SAP