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 25 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 38 31 25
Rank change year-on-year -7 -6 +1
Contract jobs citing Linux 1,977 2,001 3,055
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 5.52% 5.51% 6.63%
As % of the Operating Systems category 41.13% 39.15% 43.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,225 1,161 2,040
10th Percentile £321 £350 £350
25th Percentile £406 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £543 £550
Median % change year-on-year -7.92% -1.27% -4.35%
75th Percentile £619 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -9.52% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 87 94 140
10th Percentile £12.50 £45.60 £24.16
25th Percentile £52.13 £62.50 £48.32
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.75 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -1.14% +5.20% -3.85%
75th Percentile £67.00 £70.00 £70.16
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.70 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £66.76 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.64% +2.71% -

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 4,807 5,111 7,011
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 13.43% 14.07% 15.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,106 3,115 4,752
10th Percentile £181 £200 £182
25th Percentile £273 £328 £304
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £480
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -1.04% -5.88%
75th Percentile £568 £584 £611
90th Percentile £660 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £408 £447 £440
% change year-on-year -8.84% +1.59% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 371 214 350
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.08 £15.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £22.50 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.00 £50.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -50.00% +53.85% +30.00%
75th Percentile £43.75 £67.88 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.00 £70.00 £75.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £50.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year -52.00% +81.82% +22.22%

Linux
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Linux job vacancy trend in the UK

Linux
Daily Rate Trend

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

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 25 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Linux in the UK

Linux
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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 25 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Linux in the UK

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 25 November 2025. 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 -8 1,679 £513 -6.82% 799
UK excluding London -1 1,113 £475 -9.52% 720
London -3 694 £565 -5.79% 217
Work from Home -3 576 £500 -4.76% 336
North of England +7 284 £475 -14.41% 87
South East +3 265 £475 -5.00% 302
Midlands -2 189 £500 -9.09% 85
West Midlands +4 175 £515 -6.36% 58
Scotland +5 163 £475 - 33
Yorkshire +11 160 £500 -19.16% 23
North West -2 120 £429 -18.33% 50
South West -27 120 £550 - 122
East of England -9 99 £452 +0.44% 97
East Midlands -23 14 £420 -5.51% 26
Northern Ireland +5 10 £363 -34.09% 7
North East -7 10 £550 +16.83% 14
Wales -8 6 £300 -42.86% 13

Linux
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 99 (5.01%) Confluence
2 72 (3.64%) Apache
3 54 (2.73%) nginx
4 36 (1.82%) JBoss
5 34 (1.72%) Microsoft Exchange
6 31 (1.57%) Apache Spark
7 26 (1.32%) OpenStack
7 26 (1.32%) WebSphere
8 23 (1.16%) Apache Airflow
9 20 (1.01%) Tomcat
10 18 (0.91%) WebLogic
11 16 (0.81%) SharePoint
12 15 (0.76%) WebSphere Application Server
13 14 (0.71%) Mattermost
13 14 (0.71%) Skype for Business
14 12 (0.61%) SAS
15 11 (0.56%) IIS
16 10 (0.51%) iPlanet
17 6 (0.30%) NetWeaver
17 6 (0.30%) TPMS
Applications
1 53 (2.68%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (0.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.61%) Mozilla Thunderbird
4 11 (0.56%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.30%) Weka
6 5 (0.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 3 (0.15%) Simulink
7 3 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.10%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.10%) Windchill
9 1 (0.051%) OmniGraffle
9 1 (0.051%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 8 (0.40%) Remedy ITSM
2 6 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.20%) SAP IBP
3 4 (0.20%) Temenos T24
4 3 (0.15%) Oracle 11i
4 3 (0.15%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.051%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.051%) Finacle
5 1 (0.051%) ION MarketView
5 1 (0.051%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.051%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.051%) RMDS
5 1 (0.051%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.051%) SAP MDG
5 1 (0.051%) SAP SCM
Cloud Services
1 617 (31.21%) AWS
2 384 (19.42%) Azure
3 193 (9.76%) GitHub
4 161 (8.14%) GCP
5 124 (6.27%) OpenShift
6 120 (6.07%) Amazon EC2
7 113 (5.72%) Serverless
8 107 (5.41%) Amazon S3
9 106 (5.36%) AWS CloudFormation
10 91 (4.60%) GitHub Actions
11 73 (3.69%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 72 (3.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 67 (3.39%) Azure DevOps
14 66 (3.34%) Amazon ECS
15 63 (3.19%) AWS Lambda
15 63 (3.19%) IaaS
15 63 (3.19%) SaaS
16 57 (2.88%) Amazon EKS
17 51 (2.58%) Microsoft 365
18 47 (2.38%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 227 (11.48%) Firewall
2 170 (8.60%) DNS
3 148 (7.49%) TCP/IP
4 69 (3.49%) Network Security
5 63 (3.19%) SSL
6 61 (3.09%) DHCP
6 61 (3.09%) HTTP
7 60 (3.03%) SSH
8 49 (2.48%) SAN
9 38 (1.92%) VPN
10 37 (1.87%) SMTP
11 33 (1.67%) VLAN
12 28 (1.42%) Wireless
13 27 (1.37%) Ethernet
14 25 (1.26%) Kerberos
14 25 (1.26%) WAN
15 24 (1.21%) Skype
15 24 (1.21%) VSAN
16 23 (1.16%) FTP
16 23 (1.16%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (7.38%) PostgreSQL
2 128 (6.47%) Relational Database
3 98 (4.96%) SQL Server
4 93 (4.70%) Amazon RDS
4 93 (4.70%) MongoDB
5 87 (4.40%) NoSQL
6 79 (4.00%) Oracle Database
7 70 (3.54%) MySQL
8 48 (2.43%) DB2
9 45 (2.28%) Elasticsearch
10 30 (1.52%) Big Data
10 30 (1.52%) Hadoop
11 24 (1.21%) Data Warehouse
12 21 (1.06%) Amazon Aurora
13 19 (0.96%) Redis
14 18 (0.91%) RDBMS
15 17 (0.86%) Apache Cassandra
16 16 (0.81%) KDB
17 15 (0.76%) Apache Hive
18 14 (0.71%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 332 (16.79%) Jenkins
2 297 (15.02%) Git
3 189 (9.56%) GitLab
4 173 (8.75%) JIRA
5 78 (3.95%) JUnit
6 69 (3.49%) Sonatype Nexus
7 58 (2.93%) Bitbucket
8 53 (2.68%) Eclipse
9 43 (2.18%) Visual Studio
10 42 (2.12%) Maven
11 29 (1.47%) Liquibase
12 27 (1.37%) Artifactory
12 27 (1.37%) Vagrant
13 25 (1.26%) Mockito
13 25 (1.26%) SonarQube
14 24 (1.21%) Cucumber
15 21 (1.06%) Gradle
16 19 (0.96%) Browser DevTools
16 19 (0.96%) Xcode
17 18 (0.91%) Bitbucket Server
General
1 631 (31.92%) Social Skills
2 428 (21.65%) Finance
3 238 (12.04%) Analytical Skills
4 199 (10.07%) Banking
5 183 (9.26%) Public Sector
6 79 (4.00%) Investment Banking
7 60 (3.03%) Front Office
8 57 (2.88%) Documentation Skills
8 57 (2.88%) Financial Institution
9 50 (2.53%) Presentation Skills
10 42 (2.12%) Military
11 26 (1.32%) Manufacturing
12 23 (1.16%) Telecoms
13 22 (1.11%) Legal
14 19 (0.96%) Organisational Skills
15 18 (0.91%) Aerospace
16 17 (0.86%) Law
17 13 (0.66%) Marketing
18 11 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 11 (0.56%) International Banking
Job Titles
1 354 (17.91%) Developer
2 222 (11.23%) Senior
3 186 (9.41%) DevOps Engineer
4 140 (7.08%) Java Developer
5 137 (6.93%) Software Engineer
6 102 (5.16%) Analyst
6 102 (5.16%) Linux Engineer
7 100 (5.06%) Platform Engineer
8 98 (4.96%) Support Engineer
9 96 (4.86%) Architect
10 94 (4.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 78 (3.95%) Administrator
12 77 (3.89%) AWS Engineer
13 63 (3.19%) C++ Software Engineer
14 62 (3.14%) Lead
14 62 (3.14%) Senior Developer
15 61 (3.09%) Security Engineer
16 58 (2.93%) Python Developer
17 57 (2.88%) AWS DevOps
17 57 (2.88%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 161 (8.14%) Kafka
2 148 (7.49%) REST
3 131 (6.63%) Elastic Stack
4 97 (4.91%) Spring
5 85 (4.30%) Middleware
6 79 (4.00%) Node.js
6 79 (4.00%) RESTful
7 66 (3.34%) AngularJS
8 62 (3.14%) React
9 54 (2.73%) JSON
10 53 (2.68%) LDAP
11 50 (2.53%) SOAP
12 45 (2.28%) Web Services
13 42 (2.12%) JMS
13 42 (2.12%) XML
14 41 (2.07%) FIX Protocol
15 36 (1.82%) CSS
16 35 (1.77%) OAuth
17 34 (1.72%) FastAPI
18 30 (1.52%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 103 (5.21%) Cloud Native
2 93 (4.70%) Linux Command Line
3 81 (4.10%) Replication
4 76 (3.84%) Distributed Systems
5 71 (3.59%) Data Centre
6 67 (3.39%) Management Information System
7 66 (3.34%) Data Structures
8 62 (3.14%) Equities
8 62 (3.14%) Public Cloud
9 59 (2.98%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 51 (2.58%) Onboarding
10 51 (2.58%) PKI
11 43 (2.18%) Data Protection Act
12 35 (1.77%) Algorithms
13 34 (1.72%) Security Posture
14 33 (1.67%) Fixed Income
15 32 (1.62%) Private Cloud
16 30 (1.52%) Hedge funds
17 27 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
17 27 (1.37%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 717 (36.27%) Windows
2 430 (21.75%) Unix
3 259 (13.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 145 (7.33%) Windows Server
5 86 (4.35%) Ubuntu
6 62 (3.14%) CentOS
7 45 (2.28%) VMS
8 39 (1.97%) Android
9 34 (1.72%) Mac OS
9 34 (1.72%) Solaris
10 29 (1.47%) Amazon Linux
11 27 (1.37%) Mac OS X
12 24 (1.21%) Windows 10
13 23 (1.16%) Windows Server 2016
14 22 (1.11%) AIX
14 22 (1.11%) Windows Server 2019
15 13 (0.66%) Kali Linux
16 12 (0.61%) Debian
17 11 (0.56%) Apple iOS
18 9 (0.46%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 584 (29.54%) CI/CD
2 516 (26.10%) DevOps
3 510 (25.80%) Agile
4 393 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
5 315 (15.93%) Infrastructure as Code
6 314 (15.88%) Containerisation
7 269 (13.61%) Software Engineering
8 176 (8.90%) Test Automation
9 170 (8.60%) Observability
10 158 (7.99%) Cybersecurity
11 155 (7.84%) Microservices
12 151 (7.64%) Computer Science
13 148 (7.49%) Configuration Management
14 144 (7.28%) Performance Tuning
15 143 (7.23%) High Availability
16 139 (7.03%) Platform Engineering
17 135 (6.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 133 (6.73%) Migration
19 128 (6.47%) ITIL
20 124 (6.27%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 863 (43.65%) Python
2 423 (21.40%) Java
3 395 (19.98%) SQL
4 352 (17.80%) Bash
5 303 (15.33%) PowerShell
6 232 (11.73%) C++
7 224 (11.33%) Shell Script
8 154 (7.79%) JavaScript
9 145 (7.33%) Perl
10 129 (6.53%) C#
11 88 (4.45%) Go
12 65 (3.29%) C
13 46 (2.33%) Groovy
14 35 (1.77%) TypeScript
15 33 (1.67%) PHP
16 28 (1.42%) Ruby
17 27 (1.37%) Rust
18 23 (1.16%) PL/SQL
19 22 (1.11%) Kusto Query Language
20 14 (0.71%) Ada
Qualifications
1 558 (28.22%) Security Cleared
2 426 (21.55%) SC Cleared
3 196 (9.91%) Degree
4 114 (5.77%) DV Cleared
5 98 (4.96%) Computer Science Degree
6 70 (3.54%) AWS Certification
7 62 (3.14%) BPSS Clearance
8 42 (2.12%) Master's Degree
9 40 (2.02%) CISSP
10 36 (1.82%) Azure Certification
11 35 (1.77%) Microsoft Certification
12 31 (1.57%) Cisco Certification
13 24 (1.21%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 20 (1.01%) CCNP
14 20 (1.01%) OSCP
15 19 (0.96%) GCIH
16 17 (0.86%) CCNA
17 16 (0.81%) GCIA
17 16 (0.81%) GPEN
18 14 (0.71%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 52 (2.63%) NIST
2 45 (2.28%) QA
3 36 (1.82%) GDPR
3 36 (1.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (1.01%) Data Quality
5 15 (0.76%) HIPAA
5 15 (0.76%) NCSC
5 15 (0.76%) PCI DSS
6 13 (0.66%) SLA
7 9 (0.46%) SOC 2
8 8 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (0.40%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 6 (0.30%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.30%) GLBA
10 4 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.15%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.15%) HL7
11 3 (0.15%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.10%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.10%) SEPA
System Software
1 423 (21.40%) Docker
2 204 (10.32%) Active Directory
3 199 (10.07%) VMware Infrastructure
4 63 (3.19%) vSphere
5 51 (2.58%) Virtual Machines
6 35 (1.77%) Hyper-V
7 34 (1.72%) VMware ESXi
8 25 (1.26%) Oracle RAC
8 25 (1.26%) Postfix
9 22 (1.11%) DFS Replication
10 20 (1.01%) GPFS
10 20 (1.01%) NFS
10 20 (1.01%) VMware NSX
11 18 (0.91%) Dovecot
11 18 (0.91%) KVM
12 17 (0.86%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 13 (0.66%) Squid
14 12 (0.61%) HDFS
14 12 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
15 10 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 468 (23.67%) Kubernetes
2 418 (21.14%) Terraform
3 374 (18.92%) Ansible
4 217 (10.98%) Grafana
5 193 (9.76%) Prometheus
6 77 (3.89%) Progress Chef
7 75 (3.79%) Puppet
8 55 (2.78%) Packer
9 39 (1.97%) Argo
10 37 (1.87%) Kibana
11 34 (1.72%) vCenter Server
12 30 (1.52%) Nessus
12 30 (1.52%) Red Hat Satellite
12 30 (1.52%) SCOM
13 28 (1.42%) Consul
13 28 (1.42%) SCCM
14 27 (1.37%) ITRS Geneos
14 27 (1.37%) vRealize
15 24 (1.21%) NetBackup
15 24 (1.21%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 307 (15.53%) Microsoft
2 283 (14.31%) VMware
3 281 (14.21%) Oracle
4 228 (11.53%) Splunk
5 221 (11.18%) Red Hat
6 108 (5.46%) Cisco
7 82 (4.15%) ServiceNow
8 74 (3.74%) IBM
9 65 (3.29%) Google
10 56 (2.83%) AppDynamics
11 47 (2.38%) CyberArk
12 39 (1.97%) Dell
13 38 (1.92%) Sybase
14 36 (1.82%) CrowdStrike
15 35 (1.77%) Solace
16 33 (1.67%) Citrix
17 32 (1.62%) SAP
18 30 (1.52%) F5
19 28 (1.42%) HP
19 28 (1.42%) NetApp