Kafka Contract Job Trends

Apache Kafka
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Kafka skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 147 104 138
Rank change year-on-year -43 +34 +17
Contract jobs citing Kafka 1,023 825 670
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.51% 1.72%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 10.12% 11.21% 7.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 629 528 466
10th Percentile £369 £387 £400
25th Percentile £425 £452 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year -3.64% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £630 £675 £720
90th Percentile £765 £782 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £493
% change year-on-year +1.06% -4.67% -17.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 3 9
10th Percentile £56.40 £54.65 £24.87
25th Percentile £65.00 £57.13 £27.00
Median hourly rate £71.25 £62.50 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +14.00% +123.21% -64.10%
75th Percentile £88.75 £71.23 £38.75
90th Percentile £90.00 £75.71 £45.95
UK excluding London median hourly rate £77.00 £78.70 £28.00
% change year-on-year -2.16% +181.07% -64.10%

All Software Libraries and Frameworks
UK

Kafka falls under the Software Libraries and Frameworks category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring technical specification, industry standards, software libraries and framework skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for technical specification, industry standards, software libraries and framework skills 10,111 7,358 8,587
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 18.94% 22.35% 22.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,580 4,929 5,791
10th Percentile £363 £350 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £638 £630 £663
90th Percentile £738 £748 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £500
% change year-on-year +6.50% -6.10% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 263 176 243
10th Percentile £28.07 £29.63 £22.96
25th Percentile £41.30 £41.13 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £54.44 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.40% -1.02% -8.33%
75th Percentile £73.00 £67.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £81.25 £81.18 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £58.91
% change year-on-year +18.18% -6.63% +0.54%

Kafka
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Kafka relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Kafka job vacancy trend in the UK

Kafka
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Kafka.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Kafka

Kafka
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Kafka over the 6 months to 14 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Kafka in the UK

Kafka
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Kafka.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Kafka

Kafka
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Kafka over the 6 months to 14 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Kafka in the UK

Kafka
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Kafka within the UK over the 6 months to 14 August 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
England -41 865 £550 - 522
London -29 514 £575 -8.00% 393
UK excluding London -14 381 £475 +1.06% 186
Work from Home -65 256 £550 -4.35% 206
North of England -14 180 £470 - 47
Yorkshire +8 90 £475 -9.52% 20
North West -31 70 £430 -8.42% 19
South East -41 62 £513 +17.82% 53
Scotland -21 54 £430 -8.51% 31
Midlands -46 36 £500 +17.51% 15
North East -21 27 £426 -8.49% 8
South West -32 27 £500 -9.09% 28
East of England 0 26 £550 +7.32% 4
West Midlands -51 21 £514 +2.80% 11
East Midlands -19 15 £470 +22.40% 4
Northern Ireland +4 4 - - 7
Wales -15 1 £375 - 2

Kafka
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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
1 134 (13.10%) Apache Spark
2 73 (7.14%) Apache
3 63 (6.16%) Apache Airflow
4 18 (1.76%) Confluence
5 9 (0.88%) Camunda
6 6 (0.59%) CMS
6 6 (0.59%) OpenStack
6 6 (0.59%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 6 (0.59%) WebSphere
7 5 (0.49%) SharePoint
8 4 (0.39%) Apache Pulsar
8 4 (0.39%) PowerExchange
9 3 (0.29%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.29%) Mule
10 2 (0.20%) Apache Pig
10 2 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.20%) MQSeries
10 2 (0.20%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 7 (0.68%) CPLEX
2 2 (0.20%) PlantUML
3 1 (0.098%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.098%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.098%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.20%) Endur
2 2 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.098%) Actimize
3 1 (0.098%) Bloomberg AIM
3 1 (0.098%) Fidessa
3 1 (0.098%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.098%) SAP IS-U
3 1 (0.098%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 596 (58.26%) AWS
2 347 (33.92%) Azure
3 217 (21.21%) GCP
4 173 (16.91%) GitHub
5 124 (12.12%) GitHub Actions
6 108 (10.56%) Serverless
7 84 (8.21%) AWS Lambda
8 79 (7.72%) Amazon S3
9 72 (7.04%) Amazon EKS
10 70 (6.84%) Azure DevOps
11 65 (6.35%) OpenShift
11 65 (6.35%) Snowflake
12 53 (5.18%) Amazon SQS
12 53 (5.18%) dbt
13 47 (4.59%) Power Platform
14 43 (4.20%) Amazon ECS
15 42 (4.11%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 31 (3.03%) AWS CloudFormation
16 31 (3.03%) Azure Data Factory
16 31 (3.03%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 20 (1.96%) HTTP
2 14 (1.37%) DNS
3 11 (1.08%) Firewall
4 10 (0.98%) Network Security
5 7 (0.68%) MQTT
5 7 (0.68%) SSL
6 5 (0.49%) SAN
6 5 (0.49%) TCP/IP
7 4 (0.39%) NAS
7 4 (0.39%) SSH
8 3 (0.29%) 4G
8 3 (0.29%) 5G
8 3 (0.29%) Internet
9 2 (0.20%) NaaS
9 2 (0.20%) OpenVPN
9 2 (0.20%) Reverse Proxy
9 2 (0.20%) WAN
10 1 (0.098%) Broadband
10 1 (0.098%) FIX Connectivity
10 1 (0.098%) MIMO
Database & Business Intelligence
1 189 (18.48%) PostgreSQL
2 158 (15.44%) MongoDB
3 135 (13.20%) NoSQL
4 99 (9.68%) Relational Database
5 70 (6.84%) Data Warehouse
6 63 (6.16%) Big Data
7 60 (5.87%) SQL Server
8 53 (5.18%) Data Lake
9 47 (4.59%) Redis
10 45 (4.40%) Power BI
11 40 (3.91%) BigQuery
12 39 (3.81%) MySQL
13 37 (3.62%) Elasticsearch
13 37 (3.62%) Flink
14 36 (3.52%) Metadata
15 35 (3.42%) Apache Cassandra
16 31 (3.03%) DynamoDB
16 31 (3.03%) Hadoop
17 29 (2.83%) Amazon Redshift
18 27 (2.64%) Data Vault
Development Applications
1 205 (20.04%) Jenkins
2 169 (16.52%) Git
3 142 (13.88%) GitLab
4 75 (7.33%) JUnit
5 60 (5.87%) Mockito
6 56 (5.47%) Gradle
7 45 (4.40%) JIRA
7 45 (4.40%) Selenium
8 32 (3.13%) Cucumber
8 32 (3.13%) Maven
9 24 (2.35%) SonarQube
10 22 (2.15%) Postman
11 20 (1.96%) REST Assured
12 18 (1.76%) Gatling
12 18 (1.76%) Liquibase
13 17 (1.66%) JMeter
14 12 (1.17%) Bitbucket
14 12 (1.17%) Cypress.io
15 11 (1.08%) LoadRunner
15 11 (1.08%) SoapUI
General
1 253 (24.73%) Finance
2 186 (18.18%) Social Skills
3 141 (13.78%) Banking
4 108 (10.56%) Analytical Skills
5 100 (9.78%) Public Sector
6 35 (3.42%) Front Office
7 33 (3.23%) Retail
8 27 (2.64%) Investment Banking
9 18 (1.76%) Financial Institution
9 18 (1.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 18 (1.76%) Telecoms
10 15 (1.47%) Law
11 13 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
12 12 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
13 11 (1.08%) Billing
14 9 (0.88%) Publishing
15 8 (0.78%) Games
15 8 (0.78%) Influencing Skills
15 8 (0.78%) Military
16 7 (0.68%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 318 (31.09%) Developer
2 203 (19.84%) Senior
3 167 (16.32%) Java Developer
4 144 (14.08%) Data Engineer
5 140 (13.69%) Architect
6 108 (10.56%) Lead
7 80 (7.82%) Software Engineer
8 78 (7.62%) Java Engineer
9 70 (6.84%) Senior Developer
10 58 (5.67%) Solutions Architect
11 49 (4.79%) DevOps Engineer
12 40 (3.91%) Senior Java Developer
13 38 (3.71%) AWS Architect
13 38 (3.71%) Full-Stack Developer
13 38 (3.71%) Python Engineer
14 37 (3.62%) AWS Engineer
14 37 (3.62%) Senior Data Engineer
15 33 (3.23%) Data Architect
15 33 (3.23%) Kafka Engineer
15 33 (3.23%) Senior Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 249 (24.34%) Spring
2 238 (23.26%) Spring Boot
3 202 (19.75%) REST
4 146 (14.27%) RESTful
5 142 (13.88%) React
6 123 (12.02%) RabbitMQ
7 70 (6.84%) JSON
8 66 (6.45%) Node.js
9 58 (5.67%) GraphQL
10 54 (5.28%) OAuth
11 48 (4.69%) OpenTelemetry
11 48 (4.69%) PySpark
12 44 (4.30%) Redux
13 43 (4.20%) .NET
14 42 (4.11%) Swagger
15 41 (4.01%) Middleware
15 41 (4.01%) OpenAPI
16 40 (3.91%) OAuth2
17 39 (3.81%) XML
18 35 (3.42%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 198 (19.35%) Distributed Systems
2 197 (19.26%) Cloud Native
3 43 (4.20%) Product Ownership
4 42 (4.11%) Data Structures
5 35 (3.42%) Enterprise Software
6 30 (2.93%) Algorithms
7 29 (2.83%) Onboarding
8 26 (2.54%) Legacy Systems
8 26 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
9 23 (2.25%) Fixed Income
10 22 (2.15%) AI Agents
11 21 (2.05%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 21 (2.05%) Management Information System
12 19 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
13 18 (1.76%) Replication
14 17 (1.66%) Public Cloud
14 17 (1.66%) SWIFT Messaging Network
15 15 (1.47%) Greenfield Project
16 14 (1.37%) Equities
17 13 (1.27%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 119 (11.63%) Linux
2 64 (6.26%) Unix
3 26 (2.54%) Windows
4 9 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (0.68%) Mac OS X
6 5 (0.49%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.20%) Android
7 2 (0.20%) Debian
7 2 (0.20%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle Linux
7 2 (0.20%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 2 (0.20%) VMS
8 1 (0.098%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.098%) CentOS
8 1 (0.098%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.098%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 526 (51.42%) CI/CD
2 390 (38.12%) Microservices
3 369 (36.07%) Event-Driven
4 363 (35.48%) Agile
5 354 (34.60%) DevOps
6 259 (25.32%) Event-Driven Architecture
7 244 (23.85%) Observability
8 224 (21.90%) Containerisation
9 207 (20.23%) Test Automation
10 193 (18.87%) Infrastructure as Code
11 189 (18.48%) Data Pipeline
12 187 (18.28%) Software Engineering
13 161 (15.74%) AI
14 156 (15.25%) Data Modelling
15 147 (14.37%) Problem-Solving
16 139 (13.59%) ETL
17 138 (13.49%) Analytics
18 127 (12.41%) Data Engineering
19 119 (11.63%) TDD
20 115 (11.24%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 453 (44.28%) Java
2 355 (34.70%) Python
3 330 (32.26%) SQL
4 114 (11.14%) TypeScript
5 103 (10.07%) JavaScript
6 68 (6.65%) Bash
7 61 (5.96%) Go
8 60 (5.87%) C#
9 39 (3.81%) Scala
10 33 (3.23%) PowerShell
11 28 (2.74%) PL/SQL
12 20 (1.96%) Shell Script
13 16 (1.56%) Kotlin
14 11 (1.08%) Rust
15 10 (0.98%) C++
15 10 (0.98%) Groovy
15 10 (0.98%) Search Processing Language
16 9 (0.88%) Bicep
17 7 (0.68%) PHP
18 6 (0.59%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 235 (22.97%) Security Cleared
2 185 (18.08%) SC Cleared
3 54 (5.28%) Degree
4 28 (2.74%) BPSS Clearance
5 27 (2.64%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.76%) DV Cleared
7 11 (1.08%) AWS Certification
8 10 (0.98%) Master's Degree
9 8 (0.78%) ISTQB
10 7 (0.68%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.59%) SnowPro
12 5 (0.49%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 4 (0.39%) ISEB
13 4 (0.39%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.29%) DBS Check
14 3 (0.29%) PhD
14 3 (0.29%) TOGAF Certification
15 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Certification
15 2 (0.20%) Postgraduate
16 1 (0.098%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (9.58%) Data Quality
2 62 (6.06%) QA
3 43 (4.20%) Accessibility
4 30 (2.93%) GDPR
5 25 (2.44%) ISO 20022
6 10 (0.98%) SEPA
7 8 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (0.59%) Actionable Recommendations
8 6 (0.59%) WCAG
9 4 (0.39%) ISO 15022
9 4 (0.39%) NIST
9 4 (0.39%) SLA
10 2 (0.20%) EMIR
10 2 (0.20%) IFRS
10 2 (0.20%) IFRS 17
10 2 (0.20%) MiFID
10 2 (0.20%) NCSC
10 2 (0.20%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.098%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.098%) GRC
System Software
1 364 (35.58%) Docker
2 7 (0.68%) Apache ZooKeeper
3 6 (0.59%) etcd
4 5 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.20%) Active Directory
5 2 (0.20%) Apache Flume
5 2 (0.20%) HDFS
6 1 (0.098%) OpenSSH
Systems Management
1 447 (43.70%) Kubernetes
2 208 (20.33%) Terraform
3 123 (12.02%) Grafana
4 111 (10.85%) Prometheus
5 60 (5.87%) Ansible
6 28 (2.74%) Argo
7 24 (2.35%) Control-M
8 12 (1.17%) Istio
8 12 (1.17%) Kibana
9 11 (1.08%) Kustomize
9 11 (1.08%) Podman
9 11 (1.08%) Puppet
10 7 (0.68%) Fluentd
10 7 (0.68%) logstash
11 5 (0.49%) Check_MK
11 5 (0.49%) HP Fortify
11 5 (0.49%) Rancher
12 3 (0.29%) Bosun
12 3 (0.29%) NetBackup
12 3 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 105 (10.26%) Oracle
2 92 (8.99%) Databricks
3 55 (5.38%) Splunk
4 53 (5.18%) Google
5 52 (5.08%) Microsoft
6 39 (3.81%) IBM
7 32 (3.13%) Confluent
7 32 (3.13%) Informatica
8 30 (2.93%) Dynatrace
9 17 (1.66%) Salesforce
10 16 (1.56%) MuleSoft
10 16 (1.56%) SAP
11 15 (1.47%) Solace
12 14 (1.37%) OpenAI
13 10 (0.98%) New Relic
13 10 (0.98%) Red Hat
14 9 (0.88%) ServiceNow
14 9 (0.88%) VMware
15 8 (0.78%) Sybase
15 8 (0.78%) TIBCO