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 3 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 68 36
Rank change year-on-year +31 -32 -20
Permanent jobs citing Linux 226 143 297
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 3.47% 3.99% 5.69%
As % of the Operating Systems category 46.22% 32.43% 45.07%
Number of salaries quoted 181 84 220
10th Percentile £37,500 £37,500 £37,500
25th Percentile £50,750 £43,318 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -9.09% +2.31%
75th Percentile £68,750 £67,926 £70,000
90th Percentile £77,500 £73,750 £82,500
South East median annual salary £65,000 £52,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +23.81% -4.55% +5.77%

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 489 441 659
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 7.50% 12.30% 12.63%
Number of salaries quoted 406 337 525
10th Percentile £28,500 £25,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £32,500 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £41,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.43% -12.63% -
75th Percentile £67,500 £47,180 £58,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £63,500 £70,000
South East median annual salary £45,000 £40,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +12.50% -15.79% +5.56%

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 3 August 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 3 August 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 +56 127 £65,000 +30.00% 31
Buckinghamshire -1 61 £65,000 -7.14% 18
Oxfordshire -17 38 £40,000 -20.00% 34
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 12 (5.31%) Apache
2 10 (4.42%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (4.42%) nginx
3 5 (2.21%) Confluence
4 2 (0.88%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.88%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.44%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.44%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
1 6 (2.65%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.33%) Lightworks
2 3 (1.33%) Simulink
3 1 (0.44%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 6 (2.65%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 95 (42.04%) AWS
2 79 (34.96%) Azure
3 33 (14.60%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (11.06%) GCP
5 23 (10.18%) SaaS
6 22 (9.73%) Azure Sentinel
7 13 (5.75%) Cloudflare
8 12 (5.31%) GitHub
9 10 (4.42%) Azure DevOps
10 9 (3.98%) Entra ID
11 8 (3.54%) Datadog
12 7 (3.10%) Amazon EKS
13 6 (2.65%) Amazon EC2
13 6 (2.65%) Amazon S3
13 6 (2.65%) AWS Lambda
13 6 (2.65%) Nutanix
13 6 (2.65%) Power Platform
13 6 (2.65%) Serverless
14 5 (2.21%) Apigee
14 5 (2.21%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 84 (37.17%) Firewall
2 63 (27.88%) DNS
3 24 (10.62%) VPN
4 18 (7.96%) TCP/IP
5 16 (7.08%) SAN
6 11 (4.87%) Remote Desktop
7 9 (3.98%) HTTP
8 8 (3.54%) iSCSI
8 8 (3.54%) NAS
8 8 (3.54%) NetScaler
8 8 (3.54%) SSL
8 8 (3.54%) Wireshark
9 6 (2.65%) Cisco ASA
10 5 (2.21%) Network Security
10 5 (2.21%) VoIP
11 4 (1.77%) LAN
11 4 (1.77%) WAN
12 3 (1.33%) Ethernet
12 3 (1.33%) MQTT
12 3 (1.33%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (8.41%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (5.31%) SQL Server
3 10 (4.42%) MySQL
4 6 (2.65%) Power BI
5 1 (0.44%) DynamoDB
5 1 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.44%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.44%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.44%) TimescaleDB
5 1 (0.44%) Vitess
Development Applications
1 19 (8.41%) JIRA
2 18 (7.96%) Git
3 13 (5.75%) GitLab
4 8 (3.54%) Jenkins
5 6 (2.65%) SonarQube
6 5 (2.21%) Cucumber
7 4 (1.77%) Artifactory
8 3 (1.33%) JUnit
8 3 (1.33%) PetaLinux
9 1 (0.44%) JMeter
9 1 (0.44%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.44%) Storybook
General
1 66 (29.20%) Social Skills
2 34 (15.04%) Manufacturing
3 31 (13.72%) Finance
4 28 (12.39%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (7.08%) Organisational Skills
5 16 (7.08%) Telecoms
6 13 (5.75%) Retail
7 5 (2.21%) Aerospace
7 5 (2.21%) Automotive
7 5 (2.21%) Public Sector
8 4 (1.77%) Banking
8 4 (1.77%) Legal
9 3 (1.33%) Games
9 3 (1.33%) Health Technology
10 2 (0.88%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (0.88%) Electronics
10 2 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.44%) Aviation
11 1 (0.44%) Tech for Good
Job Titles
1 31 (13.72%) Software Engineer
2 27 (11.95%) DevOps Engineer
2 27 (11.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 26 (11.50%) Analyst
4 25 (11.06%) Architect
5 24 (10.62%) Senior
6 22 (9.73%) Linux Engineer
7 20 (8.85%) Applications Architect
8 16 (7.08%) IT Support
9 15 (6.64%) Network Engineer
9 15 (6.64%) Security Engineer
9 15 (6.64%) Systems Engineer
10 14 (6.19%) IT Engineer
10 14 (6.19%) Linux Systems Engineer
10 14 (6.19%) Security Architect
11 12 (5.31%) NOC Manager
11 12 (5.31%) Operations Manager
11 12 (5.31%) SOC Analyst
12 11 (4.87%) Applications Support
12 11 (4.87%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (10.18%) Regular Expression
2 19 (8.41%) LDAP
2 19 (8.41%) XMPP
3 17 (7.52%) JSON
4 15 (6.64%) REST
5 12 (5.31%) XML
6 10 (4.42%) React
6 10 (4.42%) Web Services
7 9 (3.98%) Django
7 9 (3.98%) YAML
8 7 (3.10%) JSON Schema
9 5 (2.21%) Jinja
9 5 (2.21%) Twisted
9 5 (2.21%) WebSockets
9 5 (2.21%) YANG
10 4 (1.77%) Elastic Stack
10 4 (1.77%) RabbitMQ
10 4 (1.77%) Vue
11 3 (1.33%) Yocto
12 2 (0.88%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 19 (8.41%) PKI
2 18 (7.96%) Distributed Systems
3 16 (7.08%) Self-Motivation
4 15 (6.64%) Cyber Defence
5 12 (5.31%) Driving Licence
5 12 (5.31%) Security Operations Centre
6 10 (4.42%) Client/Server
6 10 (4.42%) Cyber Threat
6 10 (4.42%) Management Information System
7 9 (3.98%) Cloud Native
7 9 (3.98%) Embedded Systems
8 8 (3.54%) Analytical Mindset
9 7 (3.10%) IoT
10 6 (2.65%) CSOC
10 6 (2.65%) Data Centre
10 6 (2.65%) Product Ownership
11 5 (2.21%) Distributed Computing
11 5 (2.21%) Linux Command Line
11 5 (2.21%) Security Posture
11 5 (2.21%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 116 (51.33%) Windows
2 49 (21.68%) Windows Server
3 35 (15.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 16 (7.08%) Ubuntu
5 10 (4.42%) Mac OS
6 9 (3.98%) Windows 10
7 6 (2.65%) Unix
8 4 (1.77%) Debian
9 3 (1.33%) FreeRTOS
9 3 (1.33%) Gentoo
10 2 (0.88%) CentOS
11 1 (0.44%) Embedded Linux
11 1 (0.44%) FreeBSD
11 1 (0.44%) OpenBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (25.22%) SIEM
2 56 (24.78%) Continuous Improvement
3 52 (23.01%) Problem-Solving
4 41 (18.14%) Software Engineering
5 40 (17.70%) ITIL
6 39 (17.26%) DevOps
7 35 (15.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 34 (15.04%) Validation
9 32 (14.16%) Cybersecurity
10 31 (13.72%) Test Automation
11 26 (11.50%) CI/CD
11 26 (11.50%) Containerisation
11 26 (11.50%) High Availability
12 22 (9.73%) Platform Engineering
13 21 (9.29%) Infrastructure as Code
14 19 (8.41%) Computer Science
14 19 (8.41%) Process Improvement
15 17 (7.52%) Security Operations
16 16 (7.08%) Antivirus Management
16 16 (7.08%) Pattern Matching
Programming Languages
1 79 (34.96%) Python
2 51 (22.57%) PowerShell
3 46 (20.35%) Bash
4 26 (11.50%) C
4 26 (11.50%) C++
5 19 (8.41%) Rust
6 16 (7.08%) JavaScript
7 15 (6.64%) SQL
8 12 (5.31%) TypeScript
9 11 (4.87%) Shell Script
10 8 (3.54%) Java
11 7 (3.10%) Search Processing Language
12 6 (2.65%) C#
12 6 (2.65%) Go
12 6 (2.65%) Groovy
12 6 (2.65%) Korn
12 6 (2.65%) Kusto Query Language
13 4 (1.77%) Perl
13 4 (1.77%) Ruby
14 3 (1.33%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 76 (33.63%) Security Cleared
2 39 (17.26%) DV Cleared
2 39 (17.26%) SC Cleared
3 36 (15.93%) Degree
4 18 (7.96%) Computer Science Degree
5 14 (6.19%) CompTIA Security+
6 13 (5.75%) GIAC
7 12 (5.31%) GCIA
8 10 (4.42%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (4.42%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 8 (3.54%) CREST Certified
9 8 (3.54%) GCIH
9 8 (3.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (3.10%) CompTIA CySA+
10 7 (3.10%) GCED
10 7 (3.10%) SANS
11 6 (2.65%) OSCP
12 5 (2.21%) Azure Certification
13 4 (1.77%) CCNA CyberOps
13 4 (1.77%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.96%) QA
2 5 (2.21%) GDPR
2 5 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (2.21%) MISRA
2 5 (2.21%) SLA
3 3 (1.33%) ECSS
4 2 (0.88%) ISO 22301
4 2 (0.88%) ISO 9001
4 2 (0.88%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 49 (21.68%) Active Directory
2 38 (16.81%) VMware Infrastructure
3 35 (15.49%) Docker
4 27 (11.95%) vSphere
5 22 (9.73%) Hyper-V
6 20 (8.85%) KVM
7 13 (5.75%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (3.54%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 8 (3.54%) Firmware
8 8 (3.54%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (2.21%) Squid
10 2 (0.88%) Samba
11 1 (0.44%) iptables
11 1 (0.44%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 30 (13.27%) Terraform
2 28 (12.39%) Kubernetes
3 27 (11.95%) Ansible
4 15 (6.64%) Graylog
5 9 (3.98%) Proxmox
6 8 (3.54%) Kibana
6 8 (3.54%) ZABBIX
7 7 (3.10%) Microsoft Intune
8 6 (2.65%) Grafana
8 6 (2.65%) Prometheus
9 5 (2.21%) HAProxy
10 4 (1.77%) Packer
10 4 (1.77%) Podman
11 1 (0.44%) Argo
11 1 (0.44%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.44%) Jamf Pro
11 1 (0.44%) QRadar
11 1 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 93 (41.15%) Microsoft
2 65 (28.76%) VMware
3 48 (21.24%) Red Hat
4 18 (7.96%) Veeam
5 15 (6.64%) McAfee
6 12 (5.31%) Cisco
7 11 (4.87%) Splunk
8 10 (4.42%) CrowdStrike
9 8 (3.54%) Citrix
9 8 (3.54%) Dell
9 8 (3.54%) IBM
9 8 (3.54%) NetApp
10 7 (3.10%) Carbon Black
11 6 (2.65%) Fortinet
11 6 (2.65%) Juniper
11 6 (2.65%) Okta
11 6 (2.65%) Palo Alto
11 6 (2.65%) Sage
12 5 (2.21%) AppDynamics
12 5 (2.21%) F5