Shell Script Contract Job Trends

Shell Scripting (Shell Programming)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Shell Script skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 417 260 271
Rank change year-on-year -157 +11 +14
Contract jobs citing Shell Script 294 345 329
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.53% 1.04% 0.87%
As % of the Programming Languages category 2.02% 3.18% 2.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 197 204
10th Percentile £325 £307 £338
25th Percentile £413 £375 £379
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.63% - -10.38%
75th Percentile £609 £575 £556
90th Percentile £708 £625 £708
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £475 £420
% change year-on-year -1.05% +13.10% -16.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 15 6
10th Percentile £35.13 £64.40 £63.50
25th Percentile £49.21 - £64.63
Median hourly rate £72.66 £68.00 £81.50
Median % change year-on-year +6.85% -16.56% +16.43%
75th Percentile £79.46 - £97.50
90th Percentile £83.53 £104.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.66 £68.00 £68.00
% change year-on-year +6.85% - -2.86%

All Programming Languages
UK

Shell Script falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 14,548 10,843 12,068
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 26.31% 32.65% 32.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,448 7,116 7,897
10th Percentile £363 £345 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.93% -3.79% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £649
90th Percentile £725 £733 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 566 297 323
10th Percentile £21.25 £29.00 £25.99
25th Percentile £44.50 £41.25 £42.87
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% +4.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £78.88 £78.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

Shell Script
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Shell Script job vacancy trend in the UK

Shell Script
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Shell Script

Shell Script
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Shell Script over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Shell Script in the UK

Shell Script
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Shell Script

Shell Script
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Shell Script over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Shell Script in the UK

Shell Script
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 Shell Script within the UK over the 6 months to 15 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 -142 244 £523 +10.00% 50
UK excluding London -149 149 £470 -1.05% 50
London -71 122 £550 +7.32% 11
Work from Home -106 81 £470 +1.24% 26
North of England -101 37 £425 -10.53% 12
Midlands -38 30 £525 +7.69% 13
Scotland -47 30 £440 -9.09% 4
West Midlands -32 28 £525 +5.00% 11
South East -78 24 £525 +25.00% 8
Yorkshire -62 20 £463 -7.50% 6
South West -43 15 £540 +694.12% 8
North West -61 13 £313 -30.13% 4
East of England -35 11 £350 -13.58% 1
North East - 5 £463 - 2
Northern Ireland +4 2 £190 - 1
Wales -12 2 £265 -6.19% 4
East Midlands -13 2 £466 +29.31% 2

Shell Script
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 12 (4.08%) Apache
1 12 (4.08%) SAS
2 11 (3.74%) WebLogic
3 10 (3.40%) Apache Airflow
4 7 (2.38%) Apache Spark
5 5 (1.70%) Confluence
5 5 (1.70%) WebSphere
6 4 (1.36%) OpenStack
6 4 (1.36%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (1.02%) CICS
7 3 (1.02%) JBoss
8 2 (0.68%) nginx
8 2 (0.68%) SharePoint
8 2 (0.68%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.34%) IIS
9 1 (0.34%) Tomcat
Applications
1 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 6 (2.04%) Front Arena
1 6 (2.04%) Summit
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle Assets
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle EBS
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle E-Business Tax
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle FAH
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle General Ledger
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle Internet Expenses
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle iProcurement
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle Payables
2 4 (1.36%) Oracle Receivables
3 3 (1.02%) Oracle Financials
4 2 (0.68%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.34%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.34%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.34%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 116 (39.46%) AWS
2 69 (23.47%) GCP
3 63 (21.43%) Azure
4 54 (18.37%) GitHub
5 33 (11.22%) Serverless
6 28 (9.52%) AWS Lambda
7 22 (7.48%) Amazon S3
8 19 (6.46%) GitHub Actions
9 16 (5.44%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 14 (4.76%) Amazon EC2
11 12 (4.08%) dbt
11 12 (4.08%) GitHub Copilot
12 10 (3.40%) OpenShift
13 9 (3.06%) Amazon SQS
13 9 (3.06%) AWS CloudFormation
13 9 (3.06%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 9 (3.06%) Power Platform
13 9 (3.06%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 8 (2.72%) Datadog
15 7 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 20 (6.80%) DNS
2 18 (6.12%) TCP/IP
3 14 (4.76%) HTTP
4 12 (4.08%) SSL
5 11 (3.74%) Firewall
6 8 (2.72%) Network Security
7 7 (2.38%) VPN
8 5 (1.70%) 5G
8 5 (1.70%) SAN
8 5 (1.70%) SSH
9 4 (1.36%) 4G
9 4 (1.36%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 4 (1.36%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 4 (1.36%) MQTT
10 3 (1.02%) BGP
10 3 (1.02%) Multicast
11 2 (0.68%) BIG-IP
11 2 (0.68%) HTTPS
11 2 (0.68%) tcpdump
12 1 (0.34%) AMQP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (8.84%) Data Warehouse
1 26 (8.84%) Oracle Database
2 22 (7.48%) MySQL
3 21 (7.14%) MongoDB
4 19 (6.46%) Relational Database
5 18 (6.12%) Db2
6 17 (5.78%) PostgreSQL
7 16 (5.44%) NoSQL
8 15 (5.10%) SQL Server
9 12 (4.08%) PowerCenter
10 10 (3.40%) BigQuery
10 10 (3.40%) DynamoDB
10 10 (3.40%) Redis
11 9 (3.06%) Oracle Reports
11 9 (3.06%) Star Schema
12 8 (2.72%) Amazon RDS
12 8 (2.72%) Data Lake
12 8 (2.72%) Elasticsearch
12 8 (2.72%) Power BI
13 7 (2.38%) Amazon Athena
Development Applications
1 91 (30.95%) Git
2 58 (19.73%) Jenkins
3 49 (16.67%) GitLab
4 36 (12.24%) Maven
5 24 (8.16%) JUnit
6 16 (5.44%) JIRA
6 16 (5.44%) Mockito
7 11 (3.74%) Claude Code
8 10 (3.40%) SonarQube
8 10 (3.40%) Sonatype Nexus
9 7 (2.38%) Gradle
10 6 (2.04%) Bitbucket
10 6 (2.04%) Selenium
11 5 (1.70%) Cucumber
11 5 (1.70%) Oracle Forms
12 4 (1.36%) JDeveloper
12 4 (1.36%) Visual Studio Code
13 3 (1.02%) Subversion
13 3 (1.02%) Team Foundation Server
13 3 (1.02%) Xcode
General
1 97 (32.99%) Finance
2 59 (20.07%) Banking
3 47 (15.99%) Social Skills
4 45 (15.31%) Analytical Skills
5 21 (7.14%) Public Sector
6 18 (6.12%) Investment Banking
7 8 (2.72%) Telecoms
8 5 (1.70%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (1.70%) Retail
9 4 (1.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.02%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.02%) General Ledger
11 2 (0.68%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.68%) Prime Brokerage
11 2 (0.68%) Publishing
12 1 (0.34%) Avionics
12 1 (0.34%) Electronics
12 1 (0.34%) Front Office
12 1 (0.34%) International Banking
12 1 (0.34%) Police
Job Titles
1 80 (27.21%) Developer
2 43 (14.63%) Senior
3 35 (11.90%) Python Developer
4 22 (7.48%) Data Engineer
5 21 (7.14%) Senior Developer
6 20 (6.80%) DevOps Engineer
6 20 (6.80%) Java Developer
6 20 (6.80%) Java Engineer
7 17 (5.78%) Cloud Engineer
8 15 (5.10%) GCP Engineer
9 14 (4.76%) Architect
10 13 (4.42%) Analyst
11 11 (3.74%) AWS Engineer
11 11 (3.74%) Lead
12 10 (3.40%) Support Engineer
13 9 (3.06%) Software Engineer
14 8 (2.72%) Administrator
14 8 (2.72%) Consultant
14 8 (2.72%) Senior Java Developer
14 8 (2.72%) Senior Python Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (26.53%) Terraform
2 38 (12.93%) REST
2 38 (12.93%) RESTful
3 30 (10.20%) Spring
3 30 (10.20%) Spring Boot
4 28 (9.52%) Flask
4 28 (9.52%) Kafka
5 23 (7.82%) FastAPI
6 22 (7.48%) JSON
7 19 (6.46%) CSS
7 19 (6.46%) HTML
8 18 (6.12%) Pandas
9 17 (5.78%) Django
10 15 (5.10%) JPA
11 14 (4.76%) Web Services
11 14 (4.76%) XML
12 13 (4.42%) Middleware
12 13 (4.42%) OpenAPI
13 12 (4.08%) PySpark
13 12 (4.08%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 28 (9.52%) Linux Command Line
2 22 (7.48%) Cloud Native
3 17 (5.78%) Enterprise Software
4 14 (4.76%) Management Information System
5 11 (3.74%) Derivative
6 10 (3.40%) Fixed Income
7 9 (3.06%) Market Risk
8 8 (2.72%) Enterprise Cloud
9 7 (2.38%) Data Centre
9 7 (2.38%) Hybrid Cloud
9 7 (2.38%) Onboarding
9 7 (2.38%) Product Ownership
9 7 (2.38%) Replication
10 6 (2.04%) AI Agents
10 6 (2.04%) Algorithms
10 6 (2.04%) Distributed Systems
10 6 (2.04%) Legacy Systems
10 6 (2.04%) Mainframe
10 6 (2.04%) Public Cloud
11 5 (1.70%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 163 (55.44%) Linux
2 117 (39.80%) Unix
3 23 (7.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 19 (6.46%) Windows
5 12 (4.08%) Solaris
6 6 (2.04%) AIX
7 4 (1.36%) SUSE
7 4 (1.36%) VMS
7 4 (1.36%) Windows Server
7 4 (1.36%) zOS
8 3 (1.02%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.02%) CentOS
9 2 (0.68%) HPUX
9 2 (0.68%) Rocky
9 2 (0.68%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 2 (0.68%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.34%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.34%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (47.28%) CI/CD
2 87 (29.59%) DevOps
3 76 (25.85%) Infrastructure as Code
4 73 (24.83%) Containerisation
5 62 (21.09%) Agile
6 55 (18.71%) AI
7 52 (17.69%) Problem-Solving
8 48 (16.33%) Data Pipeline
9 42 (14.29%) Migration
9 42 (14.29%) Performance Tuning
10 40 (13.61%) Code Quality
10 40 (13.61%) Observability
10 40 (13.61%) Root Cause Analysis
11 36 (12.24%) Test Automation
12 35 (11.90%) Continuous Improvement
13 34 (11.56%) ETL
13 34 (11.56%) Microservices
13 34 (11.56%) Validation
14 33 (11.22%) Performance Optimisation
14 33 (11.22%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 165 (56.12%) Python
2 151 (51.36%) SQL
3 89 (30.27%) Java
4 71 (24.15%) Bash
5 34 (11.56%) PL/SQL
6 27 (9.18%) PowerShell
7 25 (8.50%) JavaScript
8 18 (6.12%) Groovy
9 14 (4.76%) Perl
10 9 (3.06%) Go
10 9 (3.06%) Korn
10 9 (3.06%) TypeScript
11 7 (2.38%) T-SQL
12 6 (2.04%) C#
12 6 (2.04%) Scala
13 4 (1.36%) JCL
13 4 (1.36%) Ruby
13 4 (1.36%) Rust
14 3 (1.02%) C
14 3 (1.02%) Swift
Qualifications
1 83 (28.23%) Security Cleared
2 57 (19.39%) SC Cleared
3 30 (10.20%) Degree
4 26 (8.84%) BPSS Clearance
5 14 (4.76%) DV Cleared
6 12 (4.08%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (3.40%) Master's Degree
8 7 (2.38%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.68%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
9 2 (0.68%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (0.68%) CISSP
10 1 (0.34%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 1 (0.34%) CCNA
10 1 (0.34%) CISM
10 1 (0.34%) GIAC
10 1 (0.34%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 1 (0.34%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.34%) Oracle Certification
10 1 (0.34%) RHCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (12.93%) Data Quality
2 20 (6.80%) QA
3 6 (2.04%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.70%) Basel III
4 5 (1.70%) SLA
5 3 (1.02%) Disclosure Scotland
5 3 (1.02%) ISO 20022
6 2 (0.68%) GDPR
6 2 (0.68%) ISO 15022
7 1 (0.34%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.34%) DO-254
7 1 (0.34%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.34%) NIST
7 1 (0.34%) SEPA
System Software
1 76 (25.85%) Docker
2 7 (2.38%) Active Directory
2 7 (2.38%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (2.04%) zsh
4 4 (1.36%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (1.02%) Oracle RAC
5 3 (1.02%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.68%) KVM
6 2 (0.68%) NFS
6 2 (0.68%) vSphere
7 1 (0.34%) HDFS
7 1 (0.34%) Postfix
7 1 (0.34%) Sendmail
7 1 (0.34%) Varnish
7 1 (0.34%) Veritas Cluster Server
7 1 (0.34%) Veritas Volume Manager
Systems Management
1 96 (32.65%) Kubernetes
2 59 (20.07%) Ansible
3 34 (11.56%) Grafana
4 26 (8.84%) Prometheus
5 14 (4.76%) Kibana
6 10 (3.40%) Control-M
7 8 (2.72%) Podman
8 7 (2.38%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (2.04%) Puppet
10 4 (1.36%) Data Guard
10 4 (1.36%) HP ALM
10 4 (1.36%) NetBackup
10 4 (1.36%) Oracle RMAN
10 4 (1.36%) Packer
11 3 (1.02%) Check_MK
11 3 (1.02%) Consul
11 3 (1.02%) ITRS Geneos
11 3 (1.02%) logstash
11 3 (1.02%) Netcool
11 3 (1.02%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 75 (25.51%) Oracle
2 41 (13.95%) Google
3 26 (8.84%) Splunk
4 20 (6.80%) IBM
5 17 (5.78%) Red Hat
6 16 (5.44%) Microsoft
7 14 (4.76%) Informatica
8 10 (3.40%) Sybase
9 9 (3.06%) New Relic
9 9 (3.06%) ServiceNow
9 9 (3.06%) VMware
10 8 (2.72%) Dynatrace
10 8 (2.72%) HP
11 7 (2.38%) Checkmarx
11 7 (2.38%) Murex
12 6 (2.04%) AppDynamics
12 6 (2.04%) Calypso
12 6 (2.04%) F5
12 6 (2.04%) FIS
12 6 (2.04%) Teradata