Linux Contract Job Trends
Linux
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Linux skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 59 | 36 | 29 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -23 | -7 | -4 |
| Contract jobs citing Linux | 2,109 | 1,899 | 2,057 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 3.83% | 5.68% | 5.55% |
| As % of the Operating Systems category | 39.21% | 41.05% | 39.39% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,330 | 1,147 | 1,214 |
| 10th Percentile | £358 | £332 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £438 | £415 | £445 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £513 | £538 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.44% | -4.65% | -2.27% |
| 75th Percentile | £625 | £625 | £648 |
| 90th Percentile | £719 | £718 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £520 | £485 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +7.22% | -7.62% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 98 | 72 | 109 |
| 10th Percentile | £43.18 | £32.25 | £48.50 |
| 25th Percentile | £56.80 | £52.88 | £62.50 |
| Median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £67.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -3.70% | +8.00% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £67.00 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £77.50 | £68.00 | - |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £67.50 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -3.70% | +3.85% |
All Operating Systems
UK
Linux falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring operating system skills.
| 6 months to 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills | 5,379 | 4,626 | 5,222 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 9.76% | 13.83% | 14.09% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,411 | 2,945 | 3,207 |
| 10th Percentile | £193 | £185 | £200 |
| 25th Percentile | £313 | £275 | £326 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £470 | £450 | £475 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.44% | -5.26% | -4.04% |
| 75th Percentile | £575 | £575 | £575 |
| 90th Percentile | £675 | £653 | £675 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £420 | £449 |
| % change year-on-year | +7.14% | -6.35% | -0.33% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 424 | 327 | 240 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.29 | £16.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £17.25 | £18.51 | £22.19 |
| Median hourly rate | £25.75 | £24.00 | £52.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +7.29% | -54.29% | +31.25% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.85 | £68.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £74.32 | £67.00 | £70.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £25.77 | £22.53 | £55.65 |
| % change year-on-year | +14.38% | -59.51% | +102.36% |
Linux Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Linux relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Linux Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Linux.
Linux Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Linux over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.
Linux Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Linux.
Linux Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Linux over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.
Linux 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 Linux within the UK over the 6 months to 21 October 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 | -22 | 1,780 | £525 | +1.55% | 517 |
| UK excluding London | -27 | 1,162 | £520 | +7.22% | 445 |
| London | -30 | 744 | £535 | -6.18% | 116 |
| Work from Home | -28 | 563 | £513 | - | 280 |
| South East | -19 | 327 | £545 | +14.74% | 123 |
| North of England | -35 | 273 | £500 | +5.15% | 78 |
| South West | -4 | 172 | £575 | +4.55% | 103 |
| North West | -19 | 136 | £488 | +21.04% | 36 |
| Scotland | -17 | 133 | £468 | -6.50% | 16 |
| Midlands | -50 | 123 | £477 | -4.60% | 52 |
| Yorkshire | -37 | 111 | £525 | +5.00% | 33 |
| East of England | -8 | 109 | £479 | - | 71 |
| West Midlands | -45 | 105 | £475 | -6.31% | 24 |
| North East | -13 | 34 | £475 | -11.63% | 10 |
| Wales | +16 | 32 | £465 | +3.33% | 6 |
| East Midlands | -11 | 16 | £491 | +16.79% | 28 |
| Northern Ireland | -3 | 3 | - | - | 5 |
Linux Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Operating Systems
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windows | 37.7% | 796 |
| 2 | Unix | 19.8% | 417 |
| 3 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux | 17.4% | 367 |
| 4 | Windows Server | 11.6% | 245 |
| 5 | Ubuntu | 5.3% | 111 |
| 6 | CentOS | 3.0% | 64 |
| 7 | Solaris | 2.4% | 51 |
| 8 | AIX | 2.3% | 48 |
| 9 | Embedded Linux | 1.5% | 32 |
| 10 | Windows 10 | 1.4% | 30 |
| 11 | VMS | 1.3% | 28 |
| 12 | macOS | 1.2% | 26 |
| 13 | Rocky | 1.1% | 24 |
| 13 | SUSE | 1.1% | 24 |
| 15 | Windows Server 2019 | 0.7% | 14 |
| 16 | Windows Server 2012 | 0.6% | 13 |
| 17 | Oracle Linux | 0.6% | 12 |
| 17 | Windows Server 2016 | 0.6% | 12 |
| 19 | Debian | 0.5% | 10 |
| 19 | FreeRTOS | 0.5% | 10 |