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 15 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 212 178 130
Rank change year-on-year -34 -48 -40
Contract jobs citing Unix 629 515 772
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.20% 1.59% 1.81%
As % of the Operating Systems category 12.42% 11.73% 13.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 368 329 506
10th Percentile £312 £357 £325
25th Percentile £410 £404 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £481 £509
Median % change year-on-year -0.73% -5.45% -7.50%
75th Percentile £572 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £661 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £459 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -3.37% +5.56% -16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 6 20
10th Percentile £21.50 £43.87 £22.28
25th Percentile £31.86 £52.00 £23.80
Median hourly rate £52.50 £54.75 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.11% +36.88% -37.68%
75th Percentile £53.75 £55.00 -
90th Percentile £55.00 £62.50 £55.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.54 £54.75 £40.00
% change year-on-year -13.17% +36.88% -32.85%

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 5,065 4,391 5,867
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.63% 13.53% 13.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,231 2,833 3,828
10th Percentile £190 £200 £190
25th Percentile £319 £313 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £465 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -2.11% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £577 £588
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £463
% change year-on-year - -2.70% +2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 342 239 437
10th Percentile £15.53 £15.50 £12.75
25th Percentile £18.31 £18.10 £16.25
Median hourly rate £26.00 £23.00 £24.86
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% -7.46% -41.52%
75th Percentile £63.75 £54.25 £63.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £67.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.00 £21.59 £31.13
% change year-on-year +20.43% -30.63% +6.23%

Unix
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Unix job vacancy trend in the UK

Unix
Daily Rate Trend

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

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 15 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Unix in the UK

Unix
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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 15 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Unix in the UK

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 15 July 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 -38 527 £478 +0.53% 124
UK excluding London -55 362 £459 -3.37% 130
London -64 194 £550 +12.13% 32
Work from Home -31 182 £481 +6.89% 100
North of England -28 119 £478 +6.11% 40
South East -12 116 £425 -20.93% 24
North West +1 91 £475 +8.94% 24
Midlands 0 82 £459 +0.88% 21
West Midlands -7 76 £459 -0.22% 14
Scotland -53 37 £425 -10.53% 17
Yorkshire -57 23 £500 -4.76% 11
East of England -26 10 £700 +55.56% 11
North East -33 7 £480 +28.00% 5
Wales -7 6 £383 +35.40% 8
East Midlands -14 5 £463 +18.29% 7
South West -40 5 £600 - 9
Northern Ireland -6 1 - - 4

Unix
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 36 (5.72%) Confluence
2 28 (4.45%) SAS
3 15 (2.38%) Apache
3 15 (2.38%) Apache Airflow
3 15 (2.38%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.59%) CICS
5 9 (1.43%) WebLogic
6 7 (1.11%) NetWeaver
6 7 (1.11%) SharePoint
6 7 (1.11%) Tuxedo
7 6 (0.95%) OpenStack
8 5 (0.79%) Oracle Workflow
9 4 (0.64%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 4 (0.64%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 3 (0.48%) IBM HTTP Server
10 3 (0.48%) WebSphere
10 3 (0.48%) WebSphere Application Server
11 2 (0.32%) IIS
11 2 (0.32%) nginx
11 2 (0.32%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 13 (2.07%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.11%) Notepad++
4 2 (0.32%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (1.27%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.95%) Oracle EBS
2 6 (0.95%) SAP PSCD
2 6 (0.95%) Summit
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle Assets
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle E-Business Tax
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle FAH
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle General Ledger
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle Internet Expenses
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle iProcurement
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle Payables
3 4 (0.64%) Oracle Receivables
4 3 (0.48%) FLEXCUBE
4 3 (0.48%) Oracle Financials
5 2 (0.32%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.32%) Oracle Retail
6 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS R12
6 1 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.16%) Payment Gateway
6 1 (0.16%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 115 (18.28%) AWS
2 74 (11.76%) Azure
3 30 (4.77%) GitHub
4 25 (3.97%) GCP
5 24 (3.82%) Entra ID
6 22 (3.50%) AWS Lambda
7 21 (3.34%) GitHub Actions
7 21 (3.34%) Serverless
8 19 (3.02%) Amazon S3
9 18 (2.86%) IaaS
9 18 (2.86%) PaaS
10 16 (2.54%) OpenShift
11 14 (2.23%) Power Platform
11 14 (2.23%) SaaS
12 11 (1.75%) Azure DevOps
13 9 (1.43%) Amazon EC2
13 9 (1.43%) Snowflake
14 8 (1.27%) Azure Data Factory
14 8 (1.27%) Azure Key Vault
15 7 (1.11%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 33 (5.25%) Firewall
2 26 (4.13%) DNS
3 21 (3.34%) SAN
4 18 (2.86%) TCP/IP
5 14 (2.23%) NAS
6 13 (2.07%) HTTP
6 13 (2.07%) SSH
7 9 (1.43%) SSL
8 8 (1.27%) Network Security
8 8 (1.27%) Wireshark
9 7 (1.11%) 5G
9 7 (1.11%) DHCP
9 7 (1.11%) FTP
9 7 (1.11%) PuTTY
9 7 (1.11%) WinSCP
9 7 (1.11%) Wireless
10 6 (0.95%) Diameter Protocol
10 6 (0.95%) LAN
10 6 (0.95%) VPN
10 6 (0.95%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 74 (11.76%) SQL Server
2 52 (8.27%) Oracle Database
3 45 (7.15%) Relational Database
4 34 (5.41%) MySQL
5 33 (5.25%) PostgreSQL
6 31 (4.93%) MongoDB
7 26 (4.13%) Data Warehouse
8 22 (3.50%) DataStage
8 22 (3.50%) Db2
9 19 (3.02%) Metadata
10 17 (2.70%) KDB
11 16 (2.54%) BusinessObjects
11 16 (2.54%) Oracle Database 11g
12 15 (2.38%) Big Data
12 15 (2.38%) Oracle Database 12c
13 14 (2.23%) Amazon Aurora
13 14 (2.23%) Kdb+
13 14 (2.23%) Power BI
13 14 (2.23%) Sybase ASE
14 13 (2.07%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 57 (9.06%) JIRA
2 55 (8.74%) Jenkins
3 48 (7.63%) GitLab
4 44 (7.00%) Git
5 23 (3.66%) Artifactory
6 15 (2.38%) Mockito
7 11 (1.75%) Bitbucket
8 9 (1.43%) Maven
8 9 (1.43%) Oracle Forms
9 7 (1.11%) Sonatype Nexus
10 4 (0.64%) CA Gen
10 4 (0.64%) JDeveloper
10 4 (0.64%) JUnit
10 4 (0.64%) Selenium
10 4 (0.64%) SonarQube
11 3 (0.48%) Android Studio
11 3 (0.48%) Eclipse
11 3 (0.48%) Introscope
11 3 (0.48%) MSI
11 3 (0.48%) Xcode
General
1 160 (25.44%) Finance
2 136 (21.62%) Social Skills
3 95 (15.10%) Banking
4 82 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
5 65 (10.33%) Public Sector
6 28 (4.45%) Investment Banking
7 24 (3.82%) Documentation Skills
8 20 (3.18%) Front Office
9 12 (1.91%) Influencing Skills
9 12 (1.91%) Retail
9 12 (1.91%) Telecoms
10 9 (1.43%) Financial Institution
10 9 (1.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 6 (0.95%) Advertising
11 6 (0.95%) Military
12 3 (0.48%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.32%) Billing
13 2 (0.32%) Law
13 2 (0.32%) Local Government
13 2 (0.32%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 130 (20.67%) Developer
2 80 (12.72%) Senior
3 65 (10.33%) Data Engineer
4 54 (8.59%) Unix Engineer
5 47 (7.47%) Java Developer
6 43 (6.84%) Support Engineer
7 41 (6.52%) DBA
8 39 (6.20%) Analyst
9 38 (6.04%) Senior Developer
10 29 (4.61%) Oracle DBA
11 26 (4.13%) Python Developer
12 25 (3.97%) Consultant
13 22 (3.50%) Architect
14 20 (3.18%) Administrator
15 19 (3.02%) Linux Engineer
16 18 (2.86%) Senior Java Developer
17 17 (2.70%) Applications Support
17 17 (2.70%) Technical Support
18 14 (2.23%) Site Reliability Engineer
18 14 (2.23%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (8.27%) Kafka
2 42 (6.68%) REST
3 37 (5.88%) Middleware
4 28 (4.45%) RESTful
5 25 (3.97%) XML
6 23 (3.66%) Spring
7 21 (3.34%) Spring Boot
8 17 (2.70%) CSS
9 16 (2.54%) Web Services
10 15 (2.38%) ActiveMQ
10 15 (2.38%) JAX-RS
10 15 (2.38%) Oracle GoldenGate
11 14 (2.23%) LDAP
11 14 (2.23%) SOAP
12 13 (2.07%) HTML
13 12 (1.91%) Pandas
14 11 (1.75%) .NET
14 11 (1.75%) RabbitMQ
15 10 (1.59%) JDBC
15 10 (1.59%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 42 (6.68%) Onboarding
2 38 (6.04%) Linux Command Line
3 36 (5.72%) Legacy Systems
4 32 (5.09%) Data Centre
5 25 (3.97%) Management Information System
6 22 (3.50%) Cloud Native
7 21 (3.34%) Mainframe
8 20 (3.18%) Replication
9 19 (3.02%) Derivative
10 18 (2.86%) Fixed Income
11 13 (2.07%) Distributed Systems
12 11 (1.75%) Clustering
12 11 (1.75%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 10 (1.59%) BYOD
13 10 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
13 10 (1.59%) Equities
13 10 (1.59%) Market Risk
13 10 (1.59%) PKI
13 10 (1.59%) Virtual Team
13 10 (1.59%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 414 (65.82%) Linux
2 157 (24.96%) Windows
3 65 (10.33%) Solaris
4 43 (6.84%) Windows Server
5 34 (5.41%) AIX
6 31 (4.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 14 (2.23%) Mac OS X
8 10 (1.59%) Oracle Linux
9 8 (1.27%) HPUX
10 7 (1.11%) SUSE
11 6 (0.95%) CentOS
12 5 (0.79%) VMS
13 3 (0.48%) Android
13 3 (0.48%) Check Point GAiA
13 3 (0.48%) Mac OS
13 3 (0.48%) OpenVMS
14 2 (0.32%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 2 (0.32%) Ubuntu
14 2 (0.32%) zOS
15 1 (0.16%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (20.03%) Agile
2 120 (19.08%) CI/CD
3 115 (18.28%) Problem-Solving
4 95 (15.10%) Migration
5 82 (13.04%) ITIL
6 79 (12.56%) DevOps
6 79 (12.56%) High Availability
7 70 (11.13%) Test Automation
8 69 (10.97%) Root Cause Analysis
9 62 (9.86%) Performance Tuning
10 53 (8.43%) Data Modelling
11 52 (8.27%) Microservices
11 52 (8.27%) Runbook
12 51 (8.11%) Disaster Recovery
13 48 (7.63%) ETL
14 47 (7.47%) Analytics
15 46 (7.31%) Change Management
16 45 (7.15%) Incident Management
17 43 (6.84%) Observability
17 43 (6.84%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 238 (37.84%) SQL
2 219 (34.82%) Python
3 122 (19.40%) Java
4 120 (19.08%) Shell Script
5 87 (13.83%) PL/SQL
6 53 (8.43%) PowerShell
7 52 (8.27%) Bash
8 36 (5.72%) JavaScript
8 36 (5.72%) Perl
9 25 (3.97%) C#
10 18 (2.86%) C++
11 17 (2.70%) Korn
12 12 (1.91%) COBOL
13 8 (1.27%) Scala
14 7 (1.11%) C
15 6 (0.95%) ABAP
15 6 (0.95%) Kotlin
16 5 (0.79%) Go
16 5 (0.79%) ProC
16 5 (0.79%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 217 (34.50%) Security Cleared
2 184 (29.25%) SC Cleared
3 69 (10.97%) Degree
4 34 (5.41%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (3.02%) CISSP
6 17 (2.70%) Computer Science Degree
7 13 (2.07%) DV Cleared
8 11 (1.75%) CompTIA Security+
9 9 (1.43%) CISM
10 7 (1.11%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (1.11%) CRISC
11 6 (0.95%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 6 (0.95%) CESG Certified Professional
11 6 (0.95%) GIAC
11 6 (0.95%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.95%) RHCE
12 5 (0.79%) MCSA
12 5 (0.79%) MCSE
12 5 (0.79%) SANS
13 4 (0.64%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (6.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 38 (6.04%) NIST
2 22 (3.50%) QA
3 17 (2.70%) Data Quality
4 15 (2.38%) SLA
5 7 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (0.95%) GDPR
6 6 (0.95%) ISO 31000
7 5 (0.79%) GRC
7 5 (0.79%) ISO 20022
8 4 (0.64%) NIST 800
8 4 (0.64%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.64%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 3 (0.48%) Disclosure Scotland
9 3 (0.48%) FATCA
10 2 (0.32%) GMP
10 2 (0.32%) ISO 15022
10 2 (0.32%) NCSC
11 1 (0.16%) ISO 8583
11 1 (0.16%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 50 (7.95%) Docker
2 46 (7.31%) Active Directory
3 27 (4.29%) Oracle RAC
4 19 (3.02%) VMware Infrastructure
5 17 (2.70%) NFS
6 11 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
7 6 (0.95%) GPFS
7 6 (0.95%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.95%) KVM
7 6 (0.95%) Postfix
7 6 (0.95%) Varnish
7 6 (0.95%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.79%) vSphere
9 4 (0.64%) HDFS
9 4 (0.64%) Sendmail
10 3 (0.48%) Firmware
10 3 (0.48%) GridGain
10 3 (0.48%) PowerHA
10 3 (0.48%) Veritas Volume Manager
11 2 (0.32%) SRDF
Systems Management
1 60 (9.54%) Kubernetes
2 57 (9.06%) Ansible
3 37 (5.88%) Oracle RMAN
4 34 (5.41%) Grafana
4 34 (5.41%) Terraform
5 23 (3.66%) Prometheus
6 20 (3.18%) Data Guard
7 16 (2.54%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 9 (1.43%) Control-M
8 9 (1.43%) Progress Chef
8 9 (1.43%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (1.27%) Kibana
10 7 (1.11%) NetBackup
10 7 (1.11%) Puppet
11 6 (0.95%) HAProxy
11 6 (0.95%) IBM BigFix
11 6 (0.95%) Nessus
11 6 (0.95%) Tivoli
11 6 (0.95%) vCenter Server
12 5 (0.79%) CASB
Vendors
1 247 (39.27%) Oracle
2 54 (8.59%) IBM
3 45 (7.15%) Microsoft
4 43 (6.84%) Splunk
5 41 (6.52%) BeyondTrust
6 38 (6.04%) CyberArk
7 32 (5.09%) Talend
8 28 (4.45%) Informatica
8 28 (4.45%) VMware
9 27 (4.29%) Sybase
10 26 (4.13%) ServiceNow
11 21 (3.34%) Denodo
12 19 (3.02%) Red Hat
12 19 (3.02%) SAP
13 16 (2.54%) Cisco
14 12 (1.91%) Dynatrace
15 11 (1.75%) BT
16 10 (1.59%) CheckPoint
16 10 (1.59%) HP
17 9 (1.43%) Veritas