Linux Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Linux
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Linux skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 40 69 33
Rank change year-on-year +29 -36 -15
Permanent jobs citing Linux 214 145 340
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 3.41% 4.03% 5.68%
As % of the Operating Systems category 45.44% 32.73% 42.34%
Number of salaries quoted 172 85 261
10th Percentile £37,500 £38,200 £35,000
25th Percentile £50,000 £45,000 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £50,000 £53,818
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -7.09% +0.11%
75th Percentile £68,750 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £77,750
South East median annual salary £65,000 £52,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +23.81% -4.55% +5.37%

All Operating Systems
Thames Valley

Linux falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring operating system skills in the Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 471 443 803
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 7.50% 12.33% 13.42%
Number of salaries quoted 392 338 658
10th Percentile £28,500 £25,750 £28,850
25th Percentile £33,250 £32,500 £35,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £41,500 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.43% -2.35% -8.60%
75th Percentile £65,313 £47,500 £56,500
90th Percentile £72,500 £65,000 £70,000
South East median annual salary £45,000 £40,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year +12.50% -11.11% -

Linux
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Linux relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Linux job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Linux
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Linux.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Linux

Linux
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Linux in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 22 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Linux in the Thames Valley

Linux
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Linux within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 22 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Berkshire +55 120 £65,000 +30.00% 17
Buckinghamshire +3 59 £65,000 -7.14% 12
Oxfordshire -23 35 £38,125 -27.38% 23
Linux
South East

Linux
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 10 (4.67%) Apache
1 10 (4.67%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (3.74%) nginx
3 5 (2.34%) Confluence
4 2 (0.93%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.93%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.47%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.47%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (2.80%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (2.80%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.40%) Lightworks
2 3 (1.40%) Simulink
3 1 (0.47%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 6 (2.80%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 95 (44.39%) AWS
2 81 (37.85%) Azure
3 35 (16.36%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (11.68%) GCP
5 23 (10.75%) SaaS
6 22 (10.28%) Azure Sentinel
7 13 (6.07%) Cloudflare
8 12 (5.61%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (5.14%) Entra ID
10 10 (4.67%) GitHub
11 6 (2.80%) Amazon EC2
11 6 (2.80%) Amazon EKS
11 6 (2.80%) Amazon S3
11 6 (2.80%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (2.80%) Datadog
11 6 (2.80%) Nutanix
11 6 (2.80%) Power Platform
11 6 (2.80%) Serverless
12 5 (2.34%) Figma
12 5 (2.34%) Kong
Communications & Networking
1 83 (38.79%) Firewall
2 63 (29.44%) DNS
3 25 (11.68%) VPN
4 20 (9.35%) TCP/IP
5 16 (7.48%) SAN
6 11 (5.14%) Remote Desktop
7 9 (4.21%) HTTP
8 8 (3.74%) iSCSI
8 8 (3.74%) NAS
8 8 (3.74%) NetScaler
8 8 (3.74%) SSL
8 8 (3.74%) Wireshark
9 6 (2.80%) Cisco ASA
9 6 (2.80%) LAN
9 6 (2.80%) WAN
10 5 (2.34%) Network Security
10 5 (2.34%) VoIP
11 3 (1.40%) Ethernet
11 3 (1.40%) MQTT
11 3 (1.40%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (8.41%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (5.61%) SQL Server
3 10 (4.67%) MySQL
4 6 (2.80%) Power BI
5 1 (0.47%) DynamoDB
5 1 (0.47%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.47%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.47%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.47%) TimescaleDB
5 1 (0.47%) Vitess
Development Applications
1 19 (8.88%) JIRA
2 17 (7.94%) Git
3 13 (6.07%) GitLab
4 8 (3.74%) Jenkins
5 6 (2.80%) SonarQube
6 5 (2.34%) Cucumber
7 4 (1.87%) Artifactory
8 3 (1.40%) JUnit
8 3 (1.40%) PetaLinux
9 1 (0.47%) JMeter
9 1 (0.47%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.47%) Storybook
General
1 66 (30.84%) Social Skills
2 28 (13.08%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (12.15%) Manufacturing
4 25 (11.68%) Finance
5 18 (8.41%) Organisational Skills
6 16 (7.48%) Telecoms
7 11 (5.14%) Retail
8 5 (2.34%) Aerospace
8 5 (2.34%) Public Sector
9 4 (1.87%) Automotive
9 4 (1.87%) Banking
10 3 (1.40%) Games
10 3 (1.40%) Health Technology
11 2 (0.93%) Documentation Skills
11 2 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.93%) Legal
12 1 (0.47%) Aviation
12 1 (0.47%) Electronics
12 1 (0.47%) Tech for Good
Job Titles
1 29 (13.55%) DevOps Engineer
1 29 (13.55%) Software Engineer
2 27 (12.62%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 26 (12.15%) Analyst
4 24 (11.21%) Linux Engineer
5 23 (10.75%) Architect
6 21 (9.81%) Senior
7 20 (9.35%) Applications Architect
8 17 (7.94%) IT Support
8 17 (7.94%) Systems Engineer
9 16 (7.48%) Linux Systems Engineer
10 15 (7.01%) IT Engineer
11 14 (6.54%) Network Engineer
11 14 (6.54%) Security Architect
11 14 (6.54%) Security Engineer
12 12 (5.61%) DevOps Systems Engineer
12 12 (5.61%) IT Support Engineer
12 12 (5.61%) Linux/Unix DevOps
12 12 (5.61%) SOC Analyst
12 12 (5.61%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (10.75%) Regular Expression
2 19 (8.88%) LDAP
2 19 (8.88%) XMPP
3 17 (7.94%) JSON
4 15 (7.01%) REST
5 12 (5.61%) XML
6 9 (4.21%) Django
6 9 (4.21%) React
6 9 (4.21%) Web Services
6 9 (4.21%) YAML
7 7 (3.27%) JSON Schema
8 5 (2.34%) Jinja
8 5 (2.34%) Twisted
8 5 (2.34%) WebSockets
8 5 (2.34%) YANG
9 4 (1.87%) Elastic Stack
9 4 (1.87%) RabbitMQ
9 4 (1.87%) Vue
10 3 (1.40%) Yocto
11 2 (0.93%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 19 (8.88%) PKI
2 18 (8.41%) Distributed Systems
3 16 (7.48%) Self-Motivation
4 15 (7.01%) Cyber Defence
5 12 (5.61%) Security Operations Centre
6 11 (5.14%) Driving Licence
7 10 (4.67%) Client/Server
7 10 (4.67%) Cyber Threat
7 10 (4.67%) Management Information System
8 9 (4.21%) Cloud Native
9 8 (3.74%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (2.80%) CSOC
10 6 (2.80%) Data Centre
10 6 (2.80%) Product Ownership
11 5 (2.34%) Distributed Computing
11 5 (2.34%) Embedded Systems
11 5 (2.34%) IoT
11 5 (2.34%) Video Conferencing
12 4 (1.87%) Clustering
12 4 (1.87%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 111 (51.87%) Windows
2 47 (21.96%) Windows Server
3 35 (16.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 18 (8.41%) Ubuntu
5 12 (5.61%) Mac OS
6 6 (2.80%) Unix
7 5 (2.34%) Windows 10
8 4 (1.87%) Debian
9 3 (1.40%) FreeRTOS
9 3 (1.40%) Gentoo
10 2 (0.93%) CentOS
11 1 (0.47%) FreeBSD
11 1 (0.47%) OpenBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (26.17%) SIEM
2 51 (23.83%) Continuous Improvement
2 51 (23.83%) Problem-Solving
3 40 (18.69%) ITIL
4 38 (17.76%) DevOps
5 36 (16.82%) Software Engineering
6 34 (15.89%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 32 (14.95%) Cybersecurity
8 30 (14.02%) Validation
9 29 (13.55%) Test Automation
10 26 (12.15%) Containerisation
11 24 (11.21%) High Availability
12 22 (10.28%) CI/CD
13 20 (9.35%) Infrastructure as Code
13 20 (9.35%) Platform Engineering
14 19 (8.88%) Computer Science
15 17 (7.94%) Process Improvement
16 16 (7.48%) Antivirus Management
16 16 (7.48%) Pattern Matching
16 16 (7.48%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 75 (35.05%) Python
2 51 (23.83%) PowerShell
3 47 (21.96%) Bash
4 22 (10.28%) C
5 21 (9.81%) C++
6 17 (7.94%) Rust
7 15 (7.01%) JavaScript
7 15 (7.01%) SQL
8 11 (5.14%) Shell Script
8 11 (5.14%) TypeScript
9 7 (3.27%) Java
9 7 (3.27%) Search Processing Language
10 6 (2.80%) C#
10 6 (2.80%) Groovy
10 6 (2.80%) Korn
10 6 (2.80%) Kusto Query Language
11 4 (1.87%) Perl
11 4 (1.87%) Ruby
12 3 (1.40%) MATLAB
12 3 (1.40%) Pascal
Qualifications
1 72 (33.64%) Security Cleared
2 38 (17.76%) SC Cleared
3 37 (17.29%) DV Cleared
4 36 (16.82%) Degree
5 18 (8.41%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (6.54%) CompTIA Security+
7 13 (6.07%) GIAC
8 12 (5.61%) GCIA
9 8 (3.74%) CREST Certified
9 8 (3.74%) GCIH
9 8 (3.74%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 8 (3.74%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (3.74%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 7 (3.27%) CompTIA CySA+
10 7 (3.27%) GCED
10 7 (3.27%) SANS
11 6 (2.80%) OSCP
12 4 (1.87%) CISSP
12 4 (1.87%) Master's Degree
12 4 (1.87%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (8.41%) QA
2 5 (2.34%) GDPR
2 5 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (2.34%) SLA
3 3 (1.40%) ECSS
3 3 (1.40%) MISRA
4 2 (0.93%) ISO 22301
4 2 (0.93%) ISO 9001
4 2 (0.93%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 51 (23.83%) Active Directory
2 34 (15.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 32 (14.95%) Docker
4 27 (12.62%) vSphere
5 22 (10.28%) Hyper-V
6 20 (9.35%) KVM
7 9 (4.21%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (3.74%) Citrix Hypervisor
9 7 (3.27%) Virtual Machines
10 4 (1.87%) Firmware
10 4 (1.87%) Squid
11 2 (0.93%) Samba
12 1 (0.47%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 29 (13.55%) Ansible
1 29 (13.55%) Terraform
2 25 (11.68%) Kubernetes
3 15 (7.01%) Graylog
4 9 (4.21%) Proxmox
5 8 (3.74%) Kibana
5 8 (3.74%) ZABBIX
6 6 (2.80%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.87%) Grafana
7 4 (1.87%) HAProxy
7 4 (1.87%) Packer
7 4 (1.87%) Podman
7 4 (1.87%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.47%) Argo
8 1 (0.47%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.47%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.47%) QRadar
8 1 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 93 (43.46%) Microsoft
2 61 (28.50%) VMware
3 50 (23.36%) Red Hat
4 16 (7.48%) Veeam
5 15 (7.01%) McAfee
6 12 (5.61%) Cisco
7 11 (5.14%) Splunk
8 10 (4.67%) CrowdStrike
9 8 (3.74%) Citrix
9 8 (3.74%) Dell
9 8 (3.74%) IBM
9 8 (3.74%) NetApp
10 7 (3.27%) Carbon Black
11 6 (2.80%) Fortinet
11 6 (2.80%) Juniper
11 6 (2.80%) Okta
11 6 (2.80%) Palo Alto
11 6 (2.80%) Sage
12 5 (2.34%) AppDynamics
12 5 (2.34%) F5