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

6 months to
4 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 41 26
Rank change year-on-year -14 -15 +5
Contract jobs citing Linux 127 68 114
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 3.77% 4.45% 5.53%
As % of the Operating Systems category 39.69% 32.85% 39.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 82 49 63
10th Percentile £256 £424 £336
25th Percentile £400 £455 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.25% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £581 £551 £654
90th Percentile £638 £658 £750
England median daily rate £513 £538 £548
% change year-on-year -4.65% -1.83% -8.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 0 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £58.43 - £67.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 - £70.00
75th Percentile £70.41 - £72.50
90th Percentile £73.35 - -
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

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 320 207 291
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 9.49% 13.54% 14.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 236 150 188
10th Percentile £200 £150 £183
25th Percentile £380 £208 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £406 £444
Median % change year-on-year +13.11% -8.50% -0.62%
75th Percentile £538 £500 £575
90th Percentile £600 £579 £675
England median daily rate £459 £463 £475
% change year-on-year -0.81% -2.58% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 6 17
10th Percentile £44.22 £15.90 £14.99
25th Percentile £58.43 £16.67 £18.50
Median hourly rate £63.14 £17.83 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +254.04% -20.74% +12.50%
75th Percentile £70.23 £23.12 £23.75
90th Percentile £71.97 £24.83 £72.50
England median hourly rate £29.48 £20.00 £24.86
% change year-on-year +47.40% -19.53% -41.52%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 -4 27 £477 +0.42% 2
Birmingham -27 21 £463 -7.50% 11
Shropshire -37 19 £468 +1.79% 8
Solihull -12 13 £500 +11.11% 1
Herefordshire +2 12 £538 -4.44% 2
Worcestershire - 11 £175 - 5
Coventry -18 9 £394 -37.00% 1
Staffordshire +1 4 £200 -59.60% 2
Bilston - 1 £550 -
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 19 (14.96%) Confluence
2 7 (5.51%) Apache
2 7 (5.51%) WebLogic
3 4 (3.15%) SAS
4 2 (1.57%) CloudStack
5 1 (0.79%) CMS
5 1 (0.79%) nginx
Applications
1 2 (1.57%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (1.57%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.79%) Adobe Illustrator
2 1 (0.79%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 1 (0.79%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 61 (48.03%) AWS
2 30 (23.62%) Azure
3 22 (17.32%) Amazon EC2
3 22 (17.32%) Amazon S3
4 15 (11.81%) Route 53
5 14 (11.02%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 14 (11.02%) Amazon SQS
6 13 (10.24%) AWS KMS
7 12 (9.45%) GitHub
7 12 (9.45%) OpenShift
8 9 (7.09%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (6.30%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (4.72%) Amazon OpenSearch
10 6 (4.72%) Datadog
10 6 (4.72%) Microsoft 365
11 4 (3.15%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 3 (2.36%) AWS CloudFormation
12 3 (2.36%) GCP
12 3 (2.36%) SaaS
12 3 (2.36%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (10.24%) Firewall
2 7 (5.51%) SNMP
3 6 (4.72%) VPN
4 5 (3.94%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (3.15%) NAS
5 4 (3.15%) SAN
5 4 (3.15%) VSAN
6 3 (2.36%) LAN
6 3 (2.36%) SSL
6 3 (2.36%) WAN
7 2 (1.57%) AMQP
7 2 (1.57%) IPsec
7 2 (1.57%) NetScaler
7 2 (1.57%) Structured Cabling
8 1 (0.79%) Anycast
8 1 (0.79%) DNSSEC
8 1 (0.79%) LoRaWAN
8 1 (0.79%) Modbus
8 1 (0.79%) Network Security
8 1 (0.79%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (14.96%) Amazon RDS
2 15 (11.81%) PostgreSQL
3 13 (10.24%) Amazon Aurora
3 13 (10.24%) DynamoDB
4 6 (4.72%) MongoDB
5 5 (3.94%) MySQL
5 5 (3.94%) Oracle Database
6 3 (2.36%) Amazon Redshift
6 3 (2.36%) Pentaho
6 3 (2.36%) SAP HANA
7 2 (1.57%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (1.57%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.79%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.79%) Db2
8 1 (0.79%) IDMS
8 1 (0.79%) InfluxDB
8 1 (0.79%) Oracle Database 11g
8 1 (0.79%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.79%) SQL Server
8 1 (0.79%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (22.05%) Jenkins
2 26 (20.47%) Git
3 18 (14.17%) GitLab
4 16 (12.60%) JIRA
5 14 (11.02%) Mockito
5 14 (11.02%) SonarQube
6 13 (10.24%) DbUnit
6 13 (10.24%) jMock
6 13 (10.24%) JUnit
6 13 (10.24%) Maven
7 11 (8.66%) Bitbucket Server
8 6 (4.72%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 4 (3.15%) Artifactory
10 3 (2.36%) Chocolatey
11 1 (0.79%) Burp Suite
11 1 (0.79%) Liquibase
11 1 (0.79%) Metasploit
11 1 (0.79%) PetaLinux
11 1 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
11 1 (0.79%) Vite
General
1 40 (31.50%) Social Skills
2 17 (13.39%) Public Sector
3 15 (11.81%) Analytical Skills
4 8 (6.30%) Finance
5 6 (4.72%) Legal
6 5 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (2.36%) Banking
7 3 (2.36%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (1.57%) Automotive
8 2 (1.57%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.79%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.79%) Billing
9 1 (0.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.79%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.79%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 24 (18.90%) Analyst
2 16 (12.60%) Developer
2 16 (12.60%) Java Developer
3 12 (9.45%) Site Engineer
3 12 (9.45%) Site Reliability Engineer
4 9 (7.09%) Data Engineer
4 9 (7.09%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 8 (6.30%) Architect
5 8 (6.30%) Storage Analyst
6 7 (5.51%) Senior
7 6 (4.72%) Software Engineer
8 5 (3.94%) Asset Management Analyst
8 5 (3.94%) DevOps Engineer
8 5 (3.94%) DevSecOps Engineer
8 5 (3.94%) Lead
9 4 (3.15%) Infrastructure Analyst
9 4 (3.15%) Senior Developer
9 4 (3.15%) Senior Java Developer
9 4 (3.15%) Support Engineer
10 3 (2.36%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (14.96%) Spring
1 19 (14.96%) Spring Boot
2 16 (12.60%) REST
3 14 (11.02%) ActiveMQ
4 13 (10.24%) AngularJS
4 13 (10.24%) Hibernate
4 13 (10.24%) JPA
4 13 (10.24%) PowerMock
4 13 (10.24%) SOAP
4 13 (10.24%) Spring Batch
4 13 (10.24%) Spring Integration
4 13 (10.24%) Web Services
5 12 (9.45%) Elastic Stack
5 12 (9.45%) RESTful
5 12 (9.45%) Spring Cloud
6 11 (8.66%) Bootstrap
6 11 (8.66%) Flash
7 8 (6.30%) Node.js
8 3 (2.36%) SAP Basis
9 2 (1.57%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 19 (14.96%) Distributed Systems
2 14 (11.02%) Replication
3 12 (9.45%) Linux Command Line
4 9 (7.09%) Data Centre
5 8 (6.30%) Cloud Native
6 7 (5.51%) Hybrid Cloud
7 6 (4.72%) Private Cloud
8 5 (3.94%) SCADA
9 4 (3.15%) CSOC
9 4 (3.15%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (3.15%) Operational Technology
9 4 (3.15%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (2.36%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (2.36%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (2.36%) Embedded Systems
10 3 (2.36%) Public Cloud
11 2 (1.57%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 2 (1.57%) Management Information System
11 2 (1.57%) PMI
11 2 (1.57%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 50 (39.37%) Windows
2 21 (16.54%) Unix
3 10 (7.87%) Windows Server
4 8 (6.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (3.94%) AIX
5 5 (3.94%) SUSE
5 5 (3.94%) Ubuntu
6 3 (2.36%) Embedded Linux
6 3 (2.36%) Solaris
7 2 (1.57%) Android
7 2 (1.57%) FreeRTOS
7 2 (1.57%) Mac OS
7 2 (1.57%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.57%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.79%) CentOS
8 1 (0.79%) HPUX
8 1 (0.79%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.79%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (34.65%) CI/CD
2 40 (31.50%) Agile
3 37 (29.13%) Containerisation
4 30 (23.62%) DevOps
5 27 (21.26%) Scrum
6 23 (18.11%) Continuous Improvement
7 22 (17.32%) Infrastructure as Code
8 21 (16.54%) Microservices
9 19 (14.96%) Kanban
9 19 (14.96%) Performance Tuning
9 19 (14.96%) TDD
10 18 (14.17%) Problem-Solving
11 16 (12.60%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 15 (11.81%) Observability
13 12 (9.45%) BDD
13 12 (9.45%) Business Continuity
13 12 (9.45%) Site Reliability Engineering
13 12 (9.45%) Software Engineering
13 12 (9.45%) Stakeholder Management
14 11 (8.66%) Open Source
Programming Languages
1 47 (37.01%) SQL
2 24 (18.90%) Java
3 17 (13.39%) Python
4 13 (10.24%) Bash
4 13 (10.24%) PowerShell
5 11 (8.66%) Shell Script
6 7 (5.51%) Go
6 7 (5.51%) PL/SQL
7 5 (3.94%) Perl
8 4 (3.15%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (2.36%) C
9 3 (2.36%) C++
9 3 (2.36%) Kotlin
10 2 (1.57%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.79%) Bicep
11 1 (0.79%) Lisp
11 1 (0.79%) PHP
11 1 (0.79%) SystemVerilog
11 1 (0.79%) Tcl
11 1 (0.79%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 69 (54.33%) Security Cleared
2 55 (43.31%) SC Cleared
3 20 (15.75%) DV Cleared
4 13 (10.24%) AWS Certification
4 13 (10.24%) Cisco Certification
5 11 (8.66%) CCNA
6 8 (6.30%) Azure Certification
7 5 (3.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 4 (3.15%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (3.15%) Degree
9 3 (2.36%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 3 (2.36%) MCSE
9 3 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
9 3 (2.36%) RHCA
10 2 (1.57%) CAPM
10 2 (1.57%) CBAP
10 2 (1.57%) CCNP
10 2 (1.57%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (1.57%) PMI Certification
10 2 (1.57%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (7.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (4.72%) NIST
3 3 (2.36%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (1.57%) ISO 26262
4 2 (1.57%) MISRA
4 2 (1.57%) QA
4 2 (1.57%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.79%) COBIT
5 1 (0.79%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.79%) FATCA
5 1 (0.79%) GDPR
5 1 (0.79%) NCSC
5 1 (0.79%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.79%) SLA
System Software
1 40 (31.50%) Docker
2 18 (14.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (8.66%) GPFS
3 11 (8.66%) NFS
3 11 (8.66%) Postfix
3 11 (8.66%) vSphere
4 9 (7.09%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (3.94%) Active Directory
6 4 (3.15%) Snort
7 3 (2.36%) Hyper-V
7 3 (2.36%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (1.57%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.79%) KVM
9 1 (0.79%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 39 (30.71%) Kubernetes
2 26 (20.47%) Grafana
2 26 (20.47%) Terraform
3 22 (17.32%) Ansible
4 18 (14.17%) Prometheus
5 12 (9.45%) Progress Chef
6 9 (7.09%) Puppet
6 9 (7.09%) vRealize
7 7 (5.51%) WMI
8 5 (3.94%) Podman
9 4 (3.15%) CSIRT
9 4 (3.15%) VxRail
10 3 (2.36%) Microsoft Intune
10 3 (2.36%) QRadar
11 2 (1.57%) Check_MK
11 2 (1.57%) Data Guard
11 2 (1.57%) Kibana
11 2 (1.57%) Oracle RMAN
11 2 (1.57%) SCCM
12 1 (0.79%) Packer
Vendors
1 38 (29.92%) Oracle
2 28 (22.05%) Microsoft
3 25 (19.69%) Splunk
4 23 (18.11%) Cisco
4 23 (18.11%) VMware
5 21 (16.54%) ServiceNow
6 17 (13.39%) IBM
7 16 (12.60%) Atlassian
8 13 (10.24%) Jaspersoft
8 13 (10.24%) Red Hat
9 9 (7.09%) Fortinet
10 8 (6.30%) SAP
11 7 (5.51%) F5
11 7 (5.51%) Palo Alto
11 7 (5.51%) SolarWinds
12 5 (3.94%) MathWorks
12 5 (3.94%) Siemens
12 5 (3.94%) Talend
13 3 (2.36%) Dynatrace
14 2 (1.57%) Denodo