Unix Contract Job Trends
Unix
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Unix skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 241 | 166 | 119 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -75 | -47 | -16 |
| Contract jobs citing Unix | 620 | 589 | 761 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 1.12% | 1.77% | 2.02% |
| As % of the Operating Systems category | 11.58% | 12.85% | 14.38% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 418 | 389 | 473 |
| 10th Percentile | £339 | £275 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £419 | £393 | £404 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £492 | £510 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +1.63% | -3.53% | -7.27% |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £621 | £625 |
| 90th Percentile | £725 | £738 | £775 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £481 | £454 | £450 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.95% | +0.89% | -10.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 9 | 3 | 6 |
| 10th Percentile | £43.04 | £31.85 | - |
| 25th Percentile | £43.81 | £40.25 | £23.80 |
| Median hourly rate | £52.50 | £54.50 | £25.65 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -3.67% | +112.48% | -65.34% |
| 75th Percentile | £72.66 | £62.38 | £28.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £77.50 | £66.95 | £33.38 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £52.50 | £62.25 | £27.50 |
| % change year-on-year | -15.66% | +126.36% | -63.33% |
All Operating Systems
UK
Unix 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 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills | 5,352 | 4,585 | 5,292 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 9.68% | 13.78% | 14.07% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,380 | 2,923 | 3,267 |
| 10th Percentile | £193 | £185 | £200 |
| 25th Percentile | £313 | £275 | £325 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £469 | £450 | £475 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.22% | -5.26% | -4.04% |
| 75th Percentile | £575 | £575 | £575 |
| 90th Percentile | £675 | £650 | £675 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £420 | £449 |
| % change year-on-year | +7.14% | -6.46% | -0.22% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 418 | 321 | 244 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.50 | £16.27 |
| 25th Percentile | £17.22 | £18.87 | £22.95 |
| Median hourly rate | £25.75 | £25.00 | £54.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.00% | -53.70% | +18.84% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £43.75 | £68.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £74.10 | £67.00 | £70.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £25.77 | £23.50 | £56.75 |
| % change year-on-year | +9.66% | -58.59% | +33.52% |
Unix Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Unix relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Unix Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Unix.
Unix Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Unix over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.
Unix Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Unix.
Unix Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Unix over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.
Unix 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 Unix within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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 | -76 | 507 | £500 | +1.32% | 321 |
| UK excluding London | -77 | 312 | £481 | +5.95% | 141 |
| London | -87 | 225 | £550 | +3.77% | 196 |
| Work from Home | -44 | 183 | £525 | +10.53% | 115 |
| North of England | -34 | 120 | £483 | +1.68% | 33 |
| North West | -8 | 87 | £485 | +7.83% | 19 |
| South East | -61 | 75 | £459 | +26.62% | 26 |
| Midlands | -36 | 61 | £481 | -2.83% | 15 |
| West Midlands | -31 | 56 | £484 | -6.07% | 9 |
| Scotland | -55 | 39 | £440 | -7.37% | 14 |
| Yorkshire | -45 | 25 | £500 | -19.35% | 9 |
| South West | -29 | 19 | £650 | -13.33% | 19 |
| North East | -31 | 11 | £475 | -5.00% | 5 |
| East of England | -26 | 7 | £700 | +40.00% | 16 |
| East Midlands | -8 | 4 | £456 | +16.24% | 6 |
| Wales | -11 | 3 | £383 | +35.40% | 7 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 1 | - | - | 13 |
Unix 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 | Linux | 67.3% | 417 |
| 2 | Windows | 23.5% | 146 |
| 3 | Solaris | 11.3% | 70 |
| 4 | Windows Server | 6.8% | 42 |
| 5 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux | 6.6% | 41 |
| 6 | AIX | 4.8% | 30 |
| 7 | macOS | 1.1% | 7 |
| 7 | SUSE | 1.1% | 7 |
| 7 | VMS | 1.1% | 7 |
| 10 | CentOS | 1.0% | 6 |
| 11 | HPUX | 0.8% | 5 |
| 11 | zOS | 0.8% | 5 |
| 13 | Oracle Linux | 0.6% | 4 |
| 14 | Android | 0.5% | 3 |
| 14 | Check Point GAiA | 0.5% | 3 |
| 16 | OpenVMS | 0.3% | 2 |
| 17 | Data ONTAP | 0.2% | 1 |
| 17 | SUSE Linux Enterprise Server | 0.2% | 1 |
| 17 | Ubuntu | 0.2% | 1 |
| 17 | Windows Server 2008 | 0.2% | 1 |