Red Hat Enterprise Linux Contract Job Trends

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Red Hat Enterprise Linux skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 363 233 258
Rank change year-on-year -130 +25 -54
Contract jobs citing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 258 339 407
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.65% 1.10% 0.91%
As % of the Operating Systems category 5.40% 7.71% 6.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 175 214 287
10th Percentile £396 £403 £382
25th Percentile £455 £477 £467
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +4.55% -3.76%
75th Percentile £600 £656 £638
90th Percentile £675 £738 £720
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £567 £542
% change year-on-year -11.74% +4.47% -1.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 2 3
10th Percentile £74.26 - £21.69
25th Percentile £74.68 - £23.00
Median hourly rate £90.00 £112.00 £25.18
Median % change year-on-year -19.64% +344.80% -65.51%
75th Percentile £113.50 - £39.47
90th Percentile £119.00 - £48.04
UK excluding London median hourly rate £82.50 - £25.18
% change year-on-year - - -65.51%

All Operating Systems
UK

Red Hat Enterprise 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 4,780 4,396 6,256
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.98% 14.33% 13.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,169 2,754 4,193
10th Percentile £177 £200 £181
25th Percentile £263 £313 £280
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% +2.70% -10.63%
75th Percentile £560 £588 £594
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £404 £425 £425
% change year-on-year -4.97% - -10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 336 149 385
10th Percentile £15.00 £16.22 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.91 £20.94 £16.92
Median hourly rate £23.25 £29.00 £25.25
Median % change year-on-year -19.83% +14.85% -1.94%
75th Percentile £53.75 £63.75 £62.50
90th Percentile £69.37 £69.00 £72.26
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £27.50 £25.25
% change year-on-year -18.18% +8.91% -2.42%

Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Red Hat Enterprise Linux job vacancy trend in the UK

Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Red Hat Enterprise Linux over the 6 months to 16 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the UK

Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Red Hat Enterprise Linux over the 6 months to 16 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the UK

Red Hat Enterprise 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 Red Hat Enterprise Linux within the UK over the 6 months to 16 February 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 -127 206 £525 -9.95% 45
UK excluding London -74 164 £500 -11.74% 32
Work from Home -38 81 £530 -3.72% 11
London -113 49 £525 -12.50% 18
South East -28 45 £483 -12.27% 16
North of England -73 40 £537 -12.68% 5
South West -23 23 £563 -8.54% 7
Midlands -58 20 £493 -10.57% 1
North West -30 18 £550 - 4
East of England -9 17 £478 -20.33% 1
Yorkshire -70 17 £525 -26.32% 1
West Midlands -52 16 £539 -2.27%
Scotland -3 11 £450 -10.00% 3
North East -10 8 £550 -
Northern Ireland - 6 £375 -
East Midlands -22 4 £420 -23.39% 1
Wales - 2 - -

Red Hat Enterprise 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 11 (4.26%) nginx
2 10 (3.88%) Confluence
3 8 (3.10%) Apache
3 8 (3.10%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (3.10%) WebLogic
4 7 (2.71%) SharePoint
4 7 (2.71%) Tomcat
5 6 (2.33%) SAS
6 3 (1.16%) JBoss
7 2 (0.78%) NetWeaver
7 2 (0.78%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.78%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 1 (0.39%) CMS
8 1 (0.39%) Documentum
8 1 (0.39%) FileNet
8 1 (0.39%) Red Hat Fuse
8 1 (0.39%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 4 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (1.55%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.78%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.78%) SAP S/4HANA
1 2 (0.78%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 46 (17.83%) AWS
2 42 (16.28%) Azure
3 39 (15.12%) OpenShift
4 16 (6.20%) GitHub
5 13 (5.04%) Amazon EC2
6 12 (4.65%) Amazon S3
6 12 (4.65%) GCP
7 10 (3.88%) Entra ID
8 7 (2.71%) Azure Sentinel
8 7 (2.71%) OCI
8 7 (2.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 5 (1.94%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 5 (1.94%) IaaS
9 5 (1.94%) Nutanix
10 4 (1.55%) Amazon ECS
10 4 (1.55%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (1.55%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.55%) AWS Fargate
10 4 (1.55%) Microsoft 365
10 4 (1.55%) npm
Communications & Networking
1 28 (10.85%) Firewall
2 18 (6.98%) DNS
3 17 (6.59%) SAN
4 11 (4.26%) VLAN
5 7 (2.71%) BGP
6 6 (2.33%) HTTP
6 6 (2.33%) Kerberos
6 6 (2.33%) SMTP
6 6 (2.33%) Software-Defined Networking
6 6 (2.33%) WebEx
7 5 (1.94%) Fibre Channel
7 5 (1.94%) Network Security
7 5 (1.94%) SSL
7 5 (1.94%) TCP/IP
8 4 (1.55%) AMQP
8 4 (1.55%) DKIM
8 4 (1.55%) DMARC
8 4 (1.55%) VSAN
9 3 (1.16%) DHCP
9 3 (1.16%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (7.36%) Oracle Database
2 18 (6.98%) MongoDB
3 8 (3.10%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (2.71%) Amazon RDS
4 7 (2.71%) MySQL
5 6 (2.33%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (1.55%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (1.55%) GIS
6 4 (1.55%) MariaDB
6 4 (1.55%) RDBMS
6 4 (1.55%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.55%) SQL Server
7 3 (1.16%) Apache Cassandra
7 3 (1.16%) DB2
7 3 (1.16%) Oracle Exadata
7 3 (1.16%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.78%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.78%) SAP HANA
9 1 (0.39%) IBM InfoSphere
9 1 (0.39%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 29 (11.24%) GitLab
1 29 (11.24%) Jenkins
2 26 (10.08%) Git
3 14 (5.43%) JIRA
4 7 (2.71%) Maven
5 6 (2.33%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (1.94%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (1.55%) Terragrunt
8 3 (1.16%) Artifactory
8 3 (1.16%) Mockito
8 3 (1.16%) Subversion
9 2 (0.78%) Gradle
9 2 (0.78%) TeamCity
10 1 (0.39%) GoCD
General
1 77 (29.84%) Social Skills
2 29 (11.24%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (10.08%) Public Sector
4 22 (8.53%) Documentation Skills
5 18 (6.98%) Finance
6 8 (3.10%) Banking
6 8 (3.10%) Legal
7 6 (2.33%) Aerospace
8 5 (1.94%) Financial Institution
9 4 (1.55%) Manufacturing
9 4 (1.55%) Telecoms
10 2 (0.78%) Back Office
10 2 (0.78%) Front Office
11 1 (0.39%) Automotive
11 1 (0.39%) Billing
11 1 (0.39%) Electronics
11 1 (0.39%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.39%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.39%) Military
11 1 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 36 (13.95%) Administrator
2 34 (13.18%) Architect
3 22 (8.53%) Linux Engineer
4 21 (8.14%) Platform Engineer
5 19 (7.36%) Lead
5 19 (7.36%) Linux Administrator
6 16 (6.20%) DevOps Engineer
7 12 (4.65%) Senior
7 12 (4.65%) Systems Administrator
8 11 (4.26%) Consultant
8 11 (4.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (4.26%) Support Engineer
9 9 (3.49%) Developer
9 9 (3.49%) Software Engineer
10 8 (3.10%) Solutions Architect
10 8 (3.10%) Systems Engineer
11 7 (2.71%) Applications Engineer
11 7 (2.71%) Infrastructure Support
12 6 (2.33%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
13 5 (1.94%) Linux Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (6.59%) LDAP
2 16 (6.20%) Middleware
3 10 (3.88%) Loki
4 9 (3.49%) Spring
5 8 (3.10%) Spring Boot
5 8 (3.10%) YAML
6 7 (2.71%) Kafka
7 6 (2.33%) XMPP
8 5 (1.94%) Keycloak
8 5 (1.94%) REST
9 4 (1.55%) AWS CDK
9 4 (1.55%) cloud-init
9 4 (1.55%) EJB
9 4 (1.55%) OpenLayers
9 4 (1.55%) Regular Expression
10 3 (1.16%) ActiveMQ
10 3 (1.16%) Java SE
10 3 (1.16%) JAX-RS
10 3 (1.16%) SAP Basis
10 3 (1.16%) Spring Batch
Miscellaneous
1 32 (12.40%) Data Centre
2 19 (7.36%) Cloud Native
3 17 (6.59%) Product Ownership
4 12 (4.65%) Clustering
4 12 (4.65%) Onboarding
5 9 (3.49%) Enterprise Software
5 9 (3.49%) Legacy Systems
5 9 (3.49%) Management Information System
6 8 (3.10%) Legacy Applications
6 8 (3.10%) Virtual Team
7 7 (2.71%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (2.71%) Public Cloud
8 6 (2.33%) PKI
9 5 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.55%) Hedge funds
10 4 (1.55%) NVMe
11 3 (1.16%) Acoustics
11 3 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (1.16%) Cyber Defence
11 3 (1.16%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 258 (100.00%) Linux
2 78 (30.23%) Windows
3 42 (16.28%) Windows Server
4 38 (14.73%) CentOS
5 37 (14.34%) Ubuntu
6 25 (9.69%) Unix
7 17 (6.59%) Solaris
8 10 (3.88%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (3.49%) Windows Server 2016
10 7 (2.71%) VMS
11 6 (2.33%) Windows Server 2008
12 4 (1.55%) Debian
12 4 (1.55%) OpenVMS
13 3 (1.16%) CoreOS
13 3 (1.16%) Data ONTAP
13 3 (1.16%) Oracle Linux
13 3 (1.16%) Rocky
13 3 (1.16%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 2 (0.78%) AIX
14 2 (0.78%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (31.01%) CI/CD
2 67 (25.97%) Problem-Solving
3 56 (21.71%) DevOps
4 43 (16.67%) Containerisation
5 40 (15.50%) Infrastructure as Code
6 34 (13.18%) Continuous Improvement
7 33 (12.79%) High Availability
8 32 (12.40%) Agile
9 30 (11.63%) Migration
10 27 (10.47%) DevSecOps
10 27 (10.47%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 27 (10.47%) Platform Engineering
11 26 (10.08%) Disaster Recovery
12 23 (8.91%) ITSM
12 23 (8.91%) SIEM
13 22 (8.53%) ITIL
14 21 (8.14%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 20 (7.75%) Patch Management
16 19 (7.36%) Cybersecurity
17 18 (6.98%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 93 (36.05%) Python
2 76 (29.46%) Bash
3 48 (18.60%) PowerShell
4 39 (15.12%) Shell Script
5 30 (11.63%) Perl
6 26 (10.08%) SQL
7 24 (9.30%) Java
8 10 (3.88%) Go
9 8 (3.10%) PL/SQL
9 8 (3.10%) Ruby
10 7 (2.71%) JavaScript
10 7 (2.71%) MATLAB
11 3 (1.16%) Korn
12 2 (0.78%) Rust
13 1 (0.39%) C#
13 1 (0.39%) C++
13 1 (0.39%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 123 (47.67%) Security Cleared
2 91 (35.27%) SC Cleared
3 26 (10.08%) DV Cleared
4 19 (7.36%) RHCE
5 17 (6.59%) Degree
6 11 (4.26%) CCNP
6 11 (4.26%) Cisco Certification
7 10 (3.88%) CCDP
7 10 (3.88%) CCNA
7 10 (3.88%) OCP
7 10 (3.88%) Oracle Certification
8 8 (3.10%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (1.94%) CISSP
9 5 (1.94%) RHCSA
10 4 (1.55%) CISM
11 3 (1.16%) Azure Certification
11 3 (1.16%) CESG Certified Professional
11 3 (1.16%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (1.16%) SAP Certification
11 3 (1.16%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (2.71%) GDPR
1 7 (2.71%) SLA
2 6 (2.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (2.33%) NCSC
2 6 (2.33%) NIST
3 4 (1.55%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (1.16%) NIST 800
5 2 (0.78%) Disclosure Scotland
5 2 (0.78%) QA
5 2 (0.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.39%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.39%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.39%) HL7
6 1 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 47 (18.22%) VMware Infrastructure
2 32 (12.40%) Docker
3 31 (12.02%) Active Directory
4 16 (6.20%) vSphere
5 13 (5.04%) VMware ESXi
6 10 (3.88%) Oracle RAC
7 9 (3.49%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (1.94%) NFS
8 5 (1.94%) Postfix
8 5 (1.94%) VMware NSX
9 4 (1.55%) KVM
9 4 (1.55%) QEMU
9 4 (1.55%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 3 (1.16%) GPFS
11 2 (0.78%) Ceph
11 2 (0.78%) Firmware
11 2 (0.78%) Lustre
11 2 (0.78%) Veritas File System
11 2 (0.78%) Veritas Volume Manager
12 1 (0.39%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 107 (41.47%) Ansible
2 67 (25.97%) Kubernetes
3 41 (15.89%) Terraform
4 38 (14.73%) Red Hat Satellite
5 22 (8.53%) Grafana
6 16 (6.20%) Podman
6 16 (6.20%) Prometheus
7 13 (5.04%) Argo
7 13 (5.04%) Puppet
8 11 (4.26%) SCOM
9 9 (3.49%) Check_MK
9 9 (3.49%) Oracle RMAN
10 8 (3.10%) Data Guard
10 8 (3.10%) Kustomize
11 7 (2.71%) EMC NetWorker
11 7 (2.71%) EMC VPLEX
12 6 (2.33%) SCCM
12 6 (2.33%) Single Sign-On
13 5 (1.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (1.94%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
Vendors
1 166 (64.34%) Red Hat
2 92 (35.66%) VMware
3 40 (15.50%) Oracle
4 33 (12.79%) Microsoft
5 32 (12.40%) Splunk
6 23 (8.91%) Cisco
7 19 (7.36%) Dell
8 14 (5.43%) Citrix
9 11 (4.26%) Brocade
9 11 (4.26%) NVIDIA
10 10 (3.88%) IBM
11 9 (3.49%) CyberArk
11 9 (3.49%) Tenable
12 8 (3.10%) NetApp
13 7 (2.71%) EMC
13 7 (2.71%) Isilon
13 7 (2.71%) Symantec
14 6 (2.33%) Fortinet
14 6 (2.33%) Qualys
14 6 (2.33%) SAP