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 27 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 16 13
Rank change year-on-year -7 -3 +5
Contract jobs citing DevOps 239 155 286
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.67% 10.25% 10.17%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.33% 11.01% 11.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 114 188
10th Percentile £376 £383 £425
25th Percentile £415 £415 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £600
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% -10.42% +9.09%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £675
90th Percentile £670 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £564 £555
% change year-on-year -6.96% +1.67% -3.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 26
10th Percentile £74.36 £35.98 £56.65
25th Percentile £77.88 £44.56 £61.60
Median hourly rate £82.00 £60.75 £83.63
Median % change year-on-year +34.98% -27.36% +5.61%
75th Percentile £89.38 £77.56 £87.35
90th Percentile £99.20 £86.53 £87.53
South East median hourly rate £65.62 £60.75 £78.90
% change year-on-year +8.01% -23.00% +42.80%

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 2,314 1,408 2,496
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 83.90% 93.12% 88.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,527 861 1,427
10th Percentile £285 £300 £213
25th Percentile £401 £409 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £508 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% +1.50% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
South East median daily rate £509 £510 £500
% change year-on-year -0.20% +2.00% -0.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 194 54 179
10th Percentile £15.94 £14.20 £15.12
25th Percentile £19.47 £20.15 £19.63
Median hourly rate £71.67 £46.30 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +54.78% +8.94% -12.19%
75th Percentile £85.47 £62.24 £62.77
90th Percentile £95.00 £73.10 £85.33
South East median hourly rate £37.00 £32.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year +13.85% -23.53% -5.56%

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 27 March 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 27 March 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 27 March 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 -3 194 £492 -8.47% 43
Buckinghamshire +1 38 £550 +10.00% 31
Oxfordshire -6 7 £513 - 25
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 13 (5.44%) SharePoint
2 10 (4.18%) Confluence
3 4 (1.67%) IIS
4 3 (1.26%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 3 (1.26%) Anypoint
4 3 (1.26%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.84%) CMS
5 2 (0.84%) GeoServer
5 2 (0.84%) IBM HTTP Server
5 2 (0.84%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.84%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.84%) Oracle HTTP Server
5 2 (0.84%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.84%) WebSphere
5 2 (0.84%) WebSphere Application Server
5 2 (0.84%) WebSphere Portal
6 1 (0.42%) Apache
6 1 (0.42%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 10 (4.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.67%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.84%) CPLEX
4 2 (0.84%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (1.67%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.42%) Maximo
2 1 (0.42%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 188 (78.66%) Azure
2 107 (44.77%) Azure DevOps
3 76 (31.80%) AWS
4 49 (20.50%) GCP
5 31 (12.97%) GitHub
6 28 (11.72%) Entra ID
7 26 (10.88%) Power Platform
8 22 (9.21%) Azure Monitor
9 20 (8.37%) GitHub Actions
10 19 (7.95%) SaaS
11 16 (6.69%) Microsoft 365
12 15 (6.28%) OCI
13 14 (5.86%) OpenShift
13 14 (5.86%) Serverless
14 13 (5.44%) Azure Key Vault
14 13 (5.44%) IaaS
15 11 (4.60%) Azure Functions
16 10 (4.18%) Azure AKS
17 9 (3.77%) PaaS
18 7 (2.93%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 15 (6.28%) Firewall
2 14 (5.86%) DNS
3 8 (3.35%) Network Security
3 8 (3.35%) SD-WAN
4 6 (2.51%) LAN
4 6 (2.51%) WAN
5 5 (2.09%) SSL
5 5 (2.09%) VPN
6 4 (1.67%) BGP
6 4 (1.67%) IPsec
6 4 (1.67%) MQTT
6 4 (1.67%) TCP/IP
7 3 (1.26%) 5G
7 3 (1.26%) DHCP
7 3 (1.26%) MPLS
8 2 (0.84%) HTTP
8 2 (0.84%) Internet
8 2 (0.84%) Mobile Backhaul
8 2 (0.84%) OSPF
8 2 (0.84%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (9.21%) Power BI
2 8 (3.35%) Oracle BI Publisher
2 8 (3.35%) Oracle Reports
2 8 (3.35%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (2.51%) Azure SQL Database
4 5 (2.09%) NoSQL
4 5 (2.09%) Tableau
5 4 (1.67%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (1.67%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (1.26%) Delta Lake
6 3 (1.26%) GIS
6 3 (1.26%) MySQL
6 3 (1.26%) Oracle Database
6 3 (1.26%) Parquet
6 3 (1.26%) Relational Database
6 3 (1.26%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.84%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.84%) Metadata
7 2 (0.84%) QGIS
7 2 (0.84%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 34 (14.23%) Jenkins
2 30 (12.55%) JIRA
3 27 (11.30%) Git
4 10 (4.18%) GitLab
5 6 (2.51%) JUnit
6 5 (2.09%) Bitbucket
6 5 (2.09%) HP UFT
7 4 (1.67%) Selenium
7 4 (1.67%) Storybook
7 4 (1.67%) Visual Studio
8 3 (1.26%) Cucumber
8 3 (1.26%) Jaeger
9 2 (0.84%) Balsamiq
9 2 (0.84%) Introscope
9 2 (0.84%) Mockito
9 2 (0.84%) Postman
9 2 (0.84%) ScriptRunner
10 1 (0.42%) Browser DevTools
10 1 (0.42%) JMeter
10 1 (0.42%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 88 (36.82%) Social Skills
2 36 (15.06%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (12.55%) Documentation Skills
4 27 (11.30%) Public Sector
5 13 (5.44%) Organisational Skills
6 12 (5.02%) Finance
7 8 (3.35%) Influencing Skills
8 7 (2.93%) Marketing
8 7 (2.93%) Telecoms
9 4 (1.67%) Billing
9 4 (1.67%) Retail
10 3 (1.26%) Electronics
10 3 (1.26%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.84%) Law
12 1 (0.42%) Advertising
12 1 (0.42%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.42%) Legal
12 1 (0.42%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 36 (15.06%) Architect
2 28 (11.72%) Analyst
3 26 (10.88%) DevOps Engineer
4 25 (10.46%) Azure Engineer
4 25 (10.46%) Senior
5 24 (10.04%) Developer
6 17 (7.11%) Test Analyst
7 15 (6.28%) Lead
8 12 (5.02%) Azure DevOps Engineer
9 11 (4.60%) Cloud Engineer
9 11 (4.60%) Senior DevOps
9 11 (4.60%) Senior DevOps Engineer
10 10 (4.18%) Oracle Analyst
10 10 (4.18%) Solutions Architect
11 9 (3.77%) Platform Engineer
12 8 (3.35%) Full-Stack Developer
12 8 (3.35%) Project Manager
12 8 (3.35%) Test Engineer
13 7 (2.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 6 (2.51%) Integration Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (10.46%) LDAP
2 23 (9.62%) REST
3 16 (6.69%) .NET
4 15 (6.28%) ADO
5 12 (5.02%) React
6 11 (4.60%) ARM Templates
6 11 (4.60%) OAuth
7 10 (4.18%) CSS
7 10 (4.18%) RESTful
7 10 (4.18%) SOAP
8 8 (3.35%) JSON
8 8 (3.35%) Middleware
9 7 (2.93%) .NET Core
9 7 (2.93%) .NET Framework
9 7 (2.93%) HTML
9 7 (2.93%) SAML
10 5 (2.09%) GraphQL
10 5 (2.09%) OpenID
10 5 (2.09%) Spring
10 5 (2.09%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 25 (10.46%) Cloud Native
2 11 (4.60%) Enterprise Software
3 10 (4.18%) Product Ownership
4 8 (3.35%) Hybrid Cloud
5 7 (2.93%) Security Posture
6 5 (2.09%) Analytical Mindset
6 5 (2.09%) Data Protection Act
6 5 (2.09%) Distributed Systems
6 5 (2.09%) Onboarding
6 5 (2.09%) Operational Technology
6 5 (2.09%) PKI
7 4 (1.67%) Algorithms
8 3 (1.26%) Data Centre
8 3 (1.26%) Linux Command Line
8 3 (1.26%) Public Cloud
8 3 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.84%) Clustering
9 2 (0.84%) Data Structures
9 2 (0.84%) IoT
9 2 (0.84%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 34 (14.23%) Linux
2 21 (8.79%) Windows
3 7 (2.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.84%) Oracle Linux
4 2 (0.84%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 2 (0.84%) Unix
5 1 (0.42%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (51.88%) CI/CD
2 75 (31.38%) Agile
2 75 (31.38%) Problem-Solving
3 43 (17.99%) Cybersecurity
4 42 (17.57%) Infrastructure as Code
5 38 (15.90%) DevSecOps
6 33 (13.81%) Containerisation
7 31 (12.97%) Analytics
7 31 (12.97%) Root Cause Analysis
8 28 (11.72%) Microservices
8 28 (11.72%) SIEM
9 27 (11.30%) Stakeholder Management
10 25 (10.46%) Business Intelligence
11 23 (9.62%) ITIL
12 22 (9.21%) Observability
13 21 (8.79%) Test Automation
14 20 (8.37%) Migration
14 20 (8.37%) RBAC
14 20 (8.37%) Scrum
15 18 (7.53%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 84 (35.15%) Python
2 60 (25.10%) PowerShell
3 34 (14.23%) SQL
4 29 (12.13%) Bash
4 29 (12.13%) JavaScript
5 18 (7.53%) C#
5 18 (7.53%) Java
6 12 (5.02%) Bicep
7 11 (4.60%) TypeScript
8 5 (2.09%) Go
8 5 (2.09%) PHP
8 5 (2.09%) VBScript
9 4 (1.67%) T-SQL
10 3 (1.26%) BeanShell
10 3 (1.26%) DataWeave
10 3 (1.26%) Jython
10 3 (1.26%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.84%) C++
11 2 (0.84%) Groovy
11 2 (0.84%) R
Qualifications
1 88 (36.82%) Security Cleared
2 67 (28.03%) SC Cleared
3 26 (10.88%) CISSP
4 24 (10.04%) CISM
5 12 (5.02%) Degree
6 11 (4.60%) Azure Certification
6 11 (4.60%) DV Cleared
7 7 (2.93%) RHCE
8 6 (2.51%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (2.09%) PMP
10 4 (1.67%) CCNP
10 4 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (1.67%) MCSE
10 4 (1.67%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (1.67%) OCP
10 4 (1.67%) Oracle Certification
10 4 (1.67%) PMI Certification
11 3 (1.26%) BPSS Clearance
11 3 (1.26%) ISTQB
11 3 (1.26%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (15.48%) NIST
2 35 (14.64%) GDPR
3 29 (12.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (7.11%) QA
5 13 (5.44%) NCSC
6 8 (3.35%) Data Quality
7 4 (1.67%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.67%) NIST 800
7 4 (1.67%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.67%) PMO
8 3 (1.26%) GRC
9 1 (0.42%) HIPAA
System Software
1 45 (18.83%) Active Directory
2 30 (12.55%) Docker
3 7 (2.93%) VMware NSX
4 6 (2.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (2.51%) vSphere
5 3 (1.26%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.42%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 46 (19.25%) Terraform
2 40 (16.74%) Kubernetes
3 22 (9.21%) Ansible
4 13 (5.44%) Grafana
4 13 (5.44%) Prometheus
5 6 (2.51%) Argo
5 6 (2.51%) vCenter Server
6 4 (1.67%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (1.26%) CloudHub
7 3 (1.26%) Data Guard
7 3 (1.26%) Istio
7 3 (1.26%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 3 (1.26%) Oracle RMAN
7 3 (1.26%) Podman
7 3 (1.26%) Proxmox
7 3 (1.26%) Rancher
8 2 (0.84%) CA Wily
8 2 (0.84%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.84%) systemd
8 2 (0.84%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 34 (14.23%) Microsoft
2 29 (12.13%) Oracle
3 25 (10.46%) BeyondTrust
3 25 (10.46%) CyberArk
4 19 (7.95%) Red Hat
5 14 (5.86%) ServiceNow
5 14 (5.86%) VMware
6 9 (3.77%) Databricks
6 9 (3.77%) Splunk
7 6 (2.51%) AppDynamics
7 6 (2.51%) Pure Storage
8 5 (2.09%) BiZZdesign
8 5 (2.09%) Zscaler
9 4 (1.67%) Dynatrace
9 4 (1.67%) Google
9 4 (1.67%) MuleSoft
10 3 (1.26%) Adobe
10 3 (1.26%) ESRI
10 3 (1.26%) IBM
10 3 (1.26%) Salesforce