Linux Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Linux
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the West Midlands requiring Linux skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 59 38 23
Rank change year-on-year -21 -15 +6
Contract jobs citing Linux 122 84 115
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 3.53% 5.12% 5.99%
As % of the Operating Systems category 38.49% 36.84% 41.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 78 60 63
10th Percentile £325 £396 £316
25th Percentile £413 £454 £477
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £498 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.53% -9.55% +1.85%
75th Percentile £581 £540 £629
90th Percentile £671 £626 £745
England median daily rate £525 £537 £550
% change year-on-year -2.23% -2.36% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £58.43 - £67.50
Median hourly rate £64.07 - £70.00
75th Percentile £70.32 - £72.50
90th Percentile £72.66 - -
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year - -3.70% +3.85%

All Operating Systems
West Midlands

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 in the West Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 317 228 280
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 9.17% 13.89% 14.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 171 177
10th Percentile £210 £150 £176
25th Percentile £383 £223 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £429 £450
Median % change year-on-year +7.11% -4.67% +12.50%
75th Percentile £525 £535 £570
90th Percentile £588 £581 £675
England median daily rate £465 £460 £475
% change year-on-year +1.09% -3.16% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 6 12
10th Percentile £47.73 £15.90 £14.17
25th Percentile £58.43 £16.67 £15.91
Median hourly rate £63.14 £17.83 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +254.04% -6.14% -5.00%
75th Percentile £70.17 £23.12 £23.75
90th Percentile £71.28 £24.83 £67.63
England median hourly rate £32.50 £23.00 £27.00
% change year-on-year +41.30% -14.81% -36.47%

Linux
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

Linux job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Linux
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Linux

Linux
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Linux in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 28 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Linux in the West Midlands

Linux
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Linux

Linux
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Linux in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 28 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Linux in the West Midlands

Linux
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Linux within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 28 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
Warwickshire -3 30 £477 -2.15% 5
Shropshire -50 24 £469 -10.67% 5
Birmingham -23 19 £463 -2.63% 14
Solihull -15 13 £500 +11.11% 1
Herefordshire +3 9 £625 +4.17% 5
Worcestershire +5 8 £575 -6.12% 2
Coventry -23 5 £294 -52.92% 3
Staffordshire -3 4 £200 -59.60% 3
Linux
England

Linux
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 17 (13.93%) Confluence
2 10 (8.20%) WebLogic
3 4 (3.28%) Apache
3 4 (3.28%) SAS
4 2 (1.64%) CloudStack
5 1 (0.82%) OpenStack
Applications
1 2 (1.64%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (1.64%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 51 (41.80%) AWS
2 27 (22.13%) Azure
3 21 (17.21%) Amazon EC2
3 21 (17.21%) Amazon S3
4 15 (12.30%) Amazon SQS
5 14 (11.48%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 14 (11.48%) GitHub
5 14 (11.48%) Route 53
6 13 (10.66%) AWS KMS
7 10 (8.20%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (7.38%) GitHub Actions
8 9 (7.38%) OpenShift
9 7 (5.74%) Datadog
10 6 (4.92%) Amazon OpenSearch
10 6 (4.92%) AWS CloudFormation
10 6 (4.92%) Microsoft 365
11 5 (4.10%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 3 (2.46%) GCP
13 2 (1.64%) Amazon EKS
13 2 (1.64%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 10 (8.20%) Firewall
2 7 (5.74%) SNMP
3 5 (4.10%) Intrusion Detection
4 4 (3.28%) NAS
4 4 (3.28%) NetScaler
4 4 (3.28%) SAN
5 3 (2.46%) LAN
5 3 (2.46%) SSL
5 3 (2.46%) VSAN
6 2 (1.64%) Structured Cabling
6 2 (1.64%) VPN
7 1 (0.82%) AMQP
7 1 (0.82%) DNS
7 1 (0.82%) IPsec
7 1 (0.82%) Modbus
7 1 (0.82%) MQTT
7 1 (0.82%) Network Security
7 1 (0.82%) OpenVPN
7 1 (0.82%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.82%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (14.75%) Amazon RDS
2 15 (12.30%) PostgreSQL
3 13 (10.66%) Amazon Aurora
3 13 (10.66%) DynamoDB
4 6 (4.92%) Oracle Database
5 5 (4.10%) MongoDB
6 4 (3.28%) MySQL
7 3 (2.46%) Amazon Redshift
7 3 (2.46%) Pentaho
7 3 (2.46%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.82%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.82%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.82%) Db2
8 1 (0.82%) IDMS
8 1 (0.82%) Metadata
8 1 (0.82%) Oracle Database 11g
8 1 (0.82%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.82%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.82%) SQL Server
8 1 (0.82%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 33 (27.05%) Git
2 25 (20.49%) Jenkins
3 20 (16.39%) Maven
4 19 (15.57%) GitLab
5 15 (12.30%) SonarQube
6 14 (11.48%) JUnit
6 14 (11.48%) Mockito
7 13 (10.66%) DbUnit
7 13 (10.66%) jMock
8 11 (9.02%) Bitbucket Server
8 11 (9.02%) JIRA
9 5 (4.10%) Artifactory
9 5 (4.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 2 (1.64%) Sonatype Nexus
11 1 (0.82%) CircleCI
11 1 (0.82%) Liquibase
11 1 (0.82%) PetaLinux
11 1 (0.82%) Postman
11 1 (0.82%) Snyk
11 1 (0.82%) webpack
General
1 35 (28.69%) Social Skills
2 18 (14.75%) Public Sector
3 15 (12.30%) Analytical Skills
4 8 (6.56%) Finance
5 6 (4.92%) Legal
6 5 (4.10%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (2.46%) Banking
7 3 (2.46%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (1.64%) Automotive
8 2 (1.64%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.82%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.82%) Billing
9 1 (0.82%) Electronics
9 1 (0.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.82%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.82%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 22 (18.03%) Analyst
2 19 (15.57%) Developer
2 19 (15.57%) Java Developer
3 10 (8.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 9 (7.38%) Data Engineer
5 7 (5.74%) Senior
6 6 (4.92%) Architect
6 6 (4.92%) DevOps Engineer
6 6 (4.92%) Site Engineer
6 6 (4.92%) Site Reliability Engineer
6 6 (4.92%) Software Engineer
7 5 (4.10%) Asset Management Analyst
7 5 (4.10%) Java Engineer
7 5 (4.10%) Lead
7 5 (4.10%) Storage Analyst
8 4 (3.28%) DevSecOps Engineer
8 4 (3.28%) Infrastructure Architect
8 4 (3.28%) Senior Developer
8 4 (3.28%) Senior Java Developer
8 4 (3.28%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (16.39%) Spring
1 20 (16.39%) Spring Boot
2 17 (13.93%) REST
3 14 (11.48%) ActiveMQ
4 13 (10.66%) AngularJS
4 13 (10.66%) Hibernate
4 13 (10.66%) JPA
4 13 (10.66%) PowerMock
4 13 (10.66%) SOAP
4 13 (10.66%) Spring Batch
4 13 (10.66%) Spring Integration
4 13 (10.66%) Web Services
5 12 (9.84%) RESTful
5 12 (9.84%) Spring Cloud
6 11 (9.02%) Bootstrap
6 11 (9.02%) Elastic Stack
7 8 (6.56%) Flash
7 8 (6.56%) Node.js
8 3 (2.46%) SAP Basis
9 2 (1.64%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 19 (15.57%) Distributed Systems
2 15 (12.30%) Linux Command Line
3 11 (9.02%) Replication
4 10 (8.20%) Cloud Native
5 9 (7.38%) Data Centre
6 7 (5.74%) Private Cloud
7 6 (4.92%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (4.10%) SCADA
9 4 (3.28%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (3.28%) CSOC
9 4 (3.28%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (3.28%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (2.46%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (2.46%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 3 (2.46%) Embedded Systems
10 3 (2.46%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (2.46%) Operational Technology
10 3 (2.46%) Public Cloud
11 2 (1.64%) IoT
11 2 (1.64%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 45 (36.89%) Windows
2 19 (15.57%) Unix
3 11 (9.02%) Windows Server
4 8 (6.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (5.74%) AIX
6 5 (4.10%) SUSE
6 5 (4.10%) Ubuntu
7 4 (3.28%) Embedded Linux
8 3 (2.46%) Solaris
9 2 (1.64%) Android
9 2 (1.64%) FreeRTOS
9 2 (1.64%) Mac OS
9 2 (1.64%) Windows 10
9 2 (1.64%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.82%) CentOS
10 1 (0.82%) HPUX
10 1 (0.82%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 42 (34.43%) Containerisation
2 39 (31.97%) CI/CD
3 36 (29.51%) Agile
4 31 (25.41%) DevOps
5 26 (21.31%) Continuous Improvement
6 25 (20.49%) Infrastructure as Code
6 25 (20.49%) Scrum
7 22 (18.03%) Microservices
8 19 (15.57%) Performance Tuning
9 18 (14.75%) Kanban
9 18 (14.75%) Problem-Solving
9 18 (14.75%) TDD
10 16 (13.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 12 (9.84%) BDD
11 12 (9.84%) Business Continuity
11 12 (9.84%) Software Engineering
11 12 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
12 11 (9.02%) Continuous Integration
12 11 (9.02%) Open Source
12 11 (9.02%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 47 (38.52%) SQL
2 31 (25.41%) Java
3 16 (13.11%) Python
4 14 (11.48%) PowerShell
5 12 (9.84%) Shell Script
6 11 (9.02%) Bash
7 9 (7.38%) PL/SQL
8 7 (5.74%) Go
9 4 (3.28%) C
9 4 (3.28%) C++
9 4 (3.28%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (3.28%) Perl
10 3 (2.46%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.82%) Bicep
11 1 (0.82%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.82%) SystemVerilog
11 1 (0.82%) Tcl
11 1 (0.82%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 70 (57.38%) Security Cleared
2 54 (44.26%) SC Cleared
3 20 (16.39%) DV Cleared
4 12 (9.84%) AWS Certification
5 10 (8.20%) Cisco Certification
6 8 (6.56%) Azure Certification
6 8 (6.56%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (6.56%) CCNA
7 6 (4.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 4 (3.28%) MCSE
8 4 (3.28%) Microsoft Certification
8 4 (3.28%) RHCA
9 3 (2.46%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 3 (2.46%) Degree
10 2 (1.64%) CAPM
10 2 (1.64%) CBAP
10 2 (1.64%) CCNP
10 2 (1.64%) ITIL Certification
10 2 (1.64%) PMI Certification
10 2 (1.64%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (8.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (4.10%) NIST
3 4 (3.28%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (1.64%) ISO 26262
4 2 (1.64%) MISRA
4 2 (1.64%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.82%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.82%) FATCA
5 1 (0.82%) NCSC
5 1 (0.82%) QA
5 1 (0.82%) SLA
System Software
1 34 (27.87%) Docker
2 16 (13.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (9.02%) Postfix
4 8 (6.56%) GPFS
4 8 (6.56%) NFS
4 8 (6.56%) vSphere
5 6 (4.92%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (3.28%) Active Directory
6 4 (3.28%) Hyper-V
6 4 (3.28%) Snort
7 3 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (1.64%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.82%) Embedded Firmware
9 1 (0.82%) Firmware
9 1 (0.82%) KVM
9 1 (0.82%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 35 (28.69%) Kubernetes
2 25 (20.49%) Terraform
3 23 (18.85%) Grafana
4 17 (13.93%) Ansible
5 15 (12.30%) Prometheus
6 8 (6.56%) Progress Chef
6 8 (6.56%) Puppet
7 7 (5.74%) Podman
7 7 (5.74%) WMI
8 6 (4.92%) vRealize
9 4 (3.28%) CSIRT
10 3 (2.46%) QRadar
10 3 (2.46%) VxRail
11 2 (1.64%) Check_MK
11 2 (1.64%) Data Guard
11 2 (1.64%) Microsoft Intune
11 2 (1.64%) Oracle RMAN
11 2 (1.64%) SCCM
12 1 (0.82%) Istio
12 1 (0.82%) Packer
Vendors
1 37 (30.33%) Oracle
2 27 (22.13%) Microsoft
3 23 (18.85%) Cisco
3 23 (18.85%) Splunk
3 23 (18.85%) VMware
4 18 (14.75%) ServiceNow
5 17 (13.93%) Atlassian
6 14 (11.48%) IBM
7 13 (10.66%) Jaspersoft
8 12 (9.84%) Red Hat
9 9 (7.38%) Fortinet
10 8 (6.56%) SAP
11 7 (5.74%) F5
11 7 (5.74%) Palo Alto
11 7 (5.74%) SolarWinds
12 5 (4.10%) MathWorks
12 5 (4.10%) Siemens
12 5 (4.10%) Talend
13 2 (1.64%) Commvault
13 2 (1.64%) NetApp