Platform Engineering Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Platform Engineering
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Platform Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 150 255 295
Rank change year-on-year +105 +40 -46
Contract jobs citing Platform Engineering 348 79 110
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 1.60% 0.62% 0.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.93% 0.69% 0.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 54 80
10th Percentile £363 £413 £418
25th Percentile £424 £463 £465
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.71% -2.33% -6.52%
75th Percentile £572 £602 £650
90th Percentile £638 £661 £700
UK median daily rate £525 £566 £550
% change year-on-year -7.28% +2.95% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 2 0
10th Percentile £59.75 £60.33 -
25th Percentile £66.50 £61.73 -
Median hourly rate £74.26 £68.14 -
Median % change year-on-year +8.98% - -
75th Percentile - £74.23 -
90th Percentile £82.40 £75.44 -
UK median hourly rate £74.26 £68.14 £60.00
% change year-on-year +8.98% +13.57% -29.41%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Platform Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 18,033 11,490 18,014
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 82.92% 90.52% 85.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,974 7,247 11,028
10th Percentile £263 £240 £244
25th Percentile £400 £375 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,889 715 1,922
10th Percentile £14.45 £15.00 £12.49
25th Percentile £17.87 £19.99 £15.29
Median hourly rate £27.50 £31.76 £30.91
Median % change year-on-year -13.41% +2.74% -11.68%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.25 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.12
% change year-on-year -7.69% +1.20% -8.24%

Platform Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Platform Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Platform Engineering job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Platform Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Platform Engineering.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Platform Engineering

Platform Engineering
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Platform Engineering in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 19 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Platform Engineering in the UK excluding London

Platform Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Platform Engineering.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Platform Engineering

Platform Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Platform Engineering in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 19 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Platform Engineering in the UK excluding London

Platform Engineering
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Platform Engineering within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 19 March 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
North of England +22 140 £500 -9.05% 91
North West +25 76 £550 -0.45% 51
South East +5 73 £525 +5.00% 78
Yorkshire -14 62 £475 -13.64% 33
Scotland +34 41 £425 -19.05% 11
Midlands -33 41 £530 +11.58% 23
West Midlands -22 38 £540 +32.35% 17
South West +4 30 £550 -8.52% 27
East of England +1 25 £450 -35.71% 8
North East -4 5 £550 - 7
East Midlands -37 3 £525 +10.53% 6
Wales -8 2 £424 - 4
Platform Engineering
UK

Platform Engineering
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 16 (4.60%) Microsoft Exchange
2 15 (4.31%) Confluence
3 10 (2.87%) Apache Spark
3 10 (2.87%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.72%) Apache
5 4 (1.15%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.86%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.57%) Apache Pulsar
7 2 (0.57%) nginx
7 2 (0.57%) SharePoint Server
7 2 (0.57%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.29%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.29%) CICS
8 1 (0.29%) IBM HTTP Server
8 1 (0.29%) IIS
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 1 (0.29%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.29%) WebSphere Application Server
8 1 (0.29%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 3 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.29%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.29%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 128 (36.78%) Azure
2 110 (31.61%) AWS
3 61 (17.53%) GitHub
4 47 (13.51%) GCP
5 40 (11.49%) GitHub Actions
6 34 (9.77%) Entra ID
7 33 (9.48%) Azure DevOps
8 27 (7.76%) Serverless
9 25 (7.18%) OpenShift
10 21 (6.03%) Amazon EKS
10 21 (6.03%) AWS CloudFormation
10 21 (6.03%) Azure AKS
11 17 (4.89%) AWS Lambda
12 16 (4.60%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 14 (4.02%) Amazon S3
14 13 (3.74%) Amazon EC2
15 12 (3.45%) PaaS
15 12 (3.45%) SaaS
16 11 (3.16%) Google Kubernetes Engine
16 11 (3.16%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 36 (10.34%) Firewall
2 26 (7.47%) DNS
3 11 (3.16%) Network Security
3 11 (3.16%) TCP/IP
4 10 (2.87%) WebEx
5 9 (2.59%) DHCP
6 7 (2.01%) BGP
6 7 (2.01%) VLAN
7 6 (1.72%) Software-Defined Networking
8 5 (1.44%) SAN
9 4 (1.15%) Fibre Channel
9 4 (1.15%) IPsec
9 4 (1.15%) MQTT
9 4 (1.15%) SD-WAN
9 4 (1.15%) VPN
10 3 (0.86%) Internet
10 3 (0.86%) SSL
10 3 (0.86%) VSAN
11 2 (0.57%) NAS
11 2 (0.57%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.75%) PostgreSQL
2 10 (2.87%) NoSQL
3 9 (2.59%) Data Warehouse
3 9 (2.59%) DynamoDB
3 9 (2.59%) Metadata
3 9 (2.59%) Redis
4 8 (2.30%) Big Data
4 8 (2.30%) Hadoop
5 6 (1.72%) Power BI
5 6 (1.72%) Relational Database
5 6 (1.72%) SQL Server
6 5 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.15%) Amazon Redshift
7 4 (1.15%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.15%) Neo4j
8 3 (0.86%) Amazon Athena
8 3 (0.86%) Tableau
9 2 (0.57%) Apache Hive
9 2 (0.57%) Impala
9 2 (0.57%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 45 (12.93%) Jenkins
2 44 (12.64%) GitLab
3 31 (8.91%) Git
4 30 (8.62%) JIRA
5 6 (1.72%) SonarQube
6 5 (1.44%) Bitbucket
7 4 (1.15%) Gatling
7 4 (1.15%) JMeter
7 4 (1.15%) LoadRunner
7 4 (1.15%) MSI
7 4 (1.15%) NeoLoad
7 4 (1.15%) Postman
8 3 (0.86%) Sonatype Nexus
9 2 (0.57%) Jaeger
9 2 (0.57%) JUnit
9 2 (0.57%) Maven
9 2 (0.57%) Mockito
9 2 (0.57%) Selenium
9 2 (0.57%) Spinnaker
9 2 (0.57%) Visual Studio
General
1 73 (20.98%) Social Skills
2 31 (8.91%) Public Sector
3 30 (8.62%) Finance
4 22 (6.32%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (5.17%) Banking
6 14 (4.02%) Legal
7 4 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (0.86%) Telecoms
9 2 (0.57%) Games
9 2 (0.57%) Law
10 1 (0.29%) Advertising
10 1 (0.29%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.29%) Electronics
10 1 (0.29%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.29%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.29%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.29%) Military
10 1 (0.29%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.29%) Retail
10 1 (0.29%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 176 (50.57%) Platform Engineer
2 61 (17.53%) Cloud Platform Engineer
3 42 (12.07%) Senior
4 32 (9.20%) DevOps Engineer
5 31 (8.91%) Azure Engineer
6 30 (8.62%) Cloud Engineer
7 27 (7.76%) Azure Platform Engineer
8 24 (6.90%) Data Engineer
9 23 (6.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 22 (6.32%) Lead
11 21 (6.03%) AWS Engineer
12 19 (5.46%) Architect
13 14 (4.02%) AWS Platform Engineer
14 13 (3.74%) DevSecOps Engineer
15 10 (2.87%) Software Engineer
15 10 (2.87%) VMware Engineer
16 9 (2.59%) GCP Engineer
16 9 (2.59%) Project Manager
17 8 (2.30%) DevOps Platform Engineer
18 6 (1.72%) Senior Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.60%) Kafka
2 12 (3.45%) REST
2 12 (3.45%) YAML
3 10 (2.87%) XMPP
4 9 (2.59%) Keycloak
4 9 (2.59%) OpenID
5 8 (2.30%) Elastic Stack
5 8 (2.30%) OAuth
5 8 (2.30%) OAuth2
6 7 (2.01%) Middleware
6 7 (2.01%) Node.js
6 7 (2.01%) Oracle Fusion
6 7 (2.01%) React
7 6 (1.72%) .NET
7 6 (1.72%) ADO
7 6 (1.72%) AWS CDK
7 6 (1.72%) OpenTelemetry
7 6 (1.72%) Playwright
8 5 (1.44%) ARM Templates
8 5 (1.44%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 32 (9.20%) Cloud Native
2 29 (8.33%) Product Ownership
3 17 (4.89%) PKI
4 15 (4.31%) Onboarding
4 15 (4.31%) Private Cloud
5 13 (3.74%) Data Centre
6 12 (3.45%) Distributed Systems
6 12 (3.45%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (2.59%) Public Cloud
8 8 (2.30%) NHS
8 8 (2.30%) Security Posture
9 7 (2.01%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.44%) Fat Client
10 5 (1.44%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.44%) Replication
10 5 (1.44%) Thin Client
10 5 (1.44%) Virtual Team
11 4 (1.15%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.15%) NVMe
12 3 (0.86%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 81 (23.28%) Linux
2 61 (17.53%) Windows
3 25 (7.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 24 (6.90%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.59%) Unix
6 6 (1.72%) VMS
7 4 (1.15%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.86%) Amazon Linux
8 3 (0.86%) Windows Server 2016
8 3 (0.86%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.57%) Solaris
9 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.29%) CentOS
10 1 (0.29%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.29%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.29%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 155 (44.54%) CI/CD
2 134 (38.51%) DevOps
3 125 (35.92%) Infrastructure as Code
4 68 (19.54%) Observability
5 65 (18.68%) Containerisation
6 61 (17.53%) Agile
7 59 (16.95%) Problem-Solving
8 55 (15.80%) Continuous Improvement
9 50 (14.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 47 (13.51%) Migration
11 38 (10.92%) Infrastructure Automation
12 37 (10.63%) DevSecOps
12 37 (10.63%) Software Engineering
13 34 (9.77%) Site Reliability Engineering
14 29 (8.33%) Cloud Security
14 29 (8.33%) Test Automation
15 28 (8.05%) Analytics
15 28 (8.05%) Roadmaps
16 26 (7.47%) Identity Access Management
17 25 (7.18%) GitOps
Programming Languages
1 123 (35.34%) Python
2 66 (18.97%) Bash
3 58 (16.67%) PowerShell
4 25 (7.18%) SQL
5 22 (6.32%) Java
6 19 (5.46%) Bicep
7 14 (4.02%) Perl
8 8 (2.30%) TypeScript
9 7 (2.01%) C#
10 6 (1.72%) Go
10 6 (1.72%) JavaScript
11 4 (1.15%) Cypher
11 4 (1.15%) Scala
12 3 (0.86%) Groovy
12 3 (0.86%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.57%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.57%) C++
13 2 (0.57%) PHP
13 2 (0.57%) SOQL
14 1 (0.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 141 (40.52%) Security Cleared
2 111 (31.90%) SC Cleared
3 22 (6.32%) DV Cleared
4 13 (3.74%) Degree
5 10 (2.87%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (2.87%) CCNA
5 10 (2.87%) Cisco Certification
6 9 (2.59%) CCDP
6 9 (2.59%) CCNP
7 6 (1.72%) AWS Certification
8 5 (1.44%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.44%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 4 (1.15%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (0.86%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 3 (0.86%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (0.86%) CSPO
10 3 (0.86%) RHCE
10 3 (0.86%) SAFe Agilist
11 2 (0.57%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.57%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (5.17%) NCSC
2 13 (3.74%) Data Quality
3 11 (3.16%) GDPR
4 6 (1.72%) QA
5 5 (1.44%) NIST
5 5 (1.44%) PCI DSS
6 4 (1.15%) NIST 800
7 3 (0.86%) GRC
8 2 (0.57%) WCAG
9 1 (0.29%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.29%) COBIT
9 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.29%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.29%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.29%) ISO 8583
9 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 53 (15.23%) Docker
2 48 (13.79%) VMware Infrastructure
3 40 (11.49%) Active Directory
4 14 (4.02%) Virtual Machines
5 13 (3.74%) vSphere
6 9 (2.59%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.15%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
7 4 (1.15%) Hyper-V
7 4 (1.15%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.86%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.29%) Firmware
9 1 (0.29%) GPFS
9 1 (0.29%) KVM
9 1 (0.29%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 119 (34.20%) Terraform
2 107 (30.75%) Kubernetes
3 59 (16.95%) Ansible
4 42 (12.07%) Grafana
5 33 (9.48%) Prometheus
6 21 (6.03%) Istio
7 14 (4.02%) Argo
8 11 (3.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 9 (2.59%) Packer
10 8 (2.30%) Microsoft Intune
11 7 (2.01%) linkerd
11 7 (2.01%) vCenter Server
12 5 (1.44%) SCCM
12 5 (1.44%) Single Sign-On
13 4 (1.15%) PowerCLI
13 4 (1.15%) Puppet
13 4 (1.15%) Rancher
13 4 (1.15%) vMotion
13 4 (1.15%) vRealize
14 3 (0.86%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 60 (17.24%) VMware
2 49 (14.08%) Microsoft
3 32 (9.20%) Red Hat
4 31 (8.91%) Splunk
5 24 (6.90%) Cisco
6 20 (5.75%) Dynatrace
7 18 (5.17%) Citrix
7 18 (5.17%) Google
8 17 (4.89%) Oracle
9 9 (2.59%) F5
9 9 (2.59%) ServiceNow
10 8 (2.30%) AppDynamics
10 8 (2.30%) Databricks
11 7 (2.01%) Veeam
12 5 (1.44%) PeopleSoft
13 4 (1.15%) BiZZdesign
13 4 (1.15%) Greenplum
13 4 (1.15%) IBM
13 4 (1.15%) Palo Alto
14 3 (0.86%) SolarWinds