DevOps Engineer salaries and job demand
Last updated
DevOps Engineer roles typically advertise around £80,000 a year. Here's the current salary range, hiring demand, and the skills employers ask for most.
What do DevOps Engineer roles pay in 2026?
As of September 2026, the typical advertised salary is £80,000 (≈ $102k) a year, with most postings between £66,875 and £100,000.
| 25th percentile | £66,875 |
|---|---|
| Median (50th percentile) | £80,000 |
| 75th percentile | £100,000 |
Advertised base salary, from 252 job postings with pay data, as of September 2026.
Disclosed base wage (H-1B/LCA)
Employers disclose a median base wage of US$121,222 on H-1B/LCA visa filings for this role, between US$98,587 and US$152,828.
| 25th percentile | US$98,587 |
|---|---|
| Median (50th percentile) | US$121,222 |
| 75th percentile | US$152,828 |
Disclosed base wage, from 15,625 H-1B/LCA filings, U.S. DOL OFLC, as of Q4 2025.
| Period | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | US$100,000 | US$122,491 | US$152,500 |
| Q4 2024 | US$102,564 | US$126,893 | US$155,412 |
| Q1 2025 | US$106,000 | US$131,374 | US$159,573 |
| Q2 2025 | US$88,000 | US$108,207 | US$140,000 |
| Q3 2025 | US$100,000 | US$123,066 | US$156,040 |
| Q4 2025 | US$107,000 | US$131,638 | US$160,000 |
How strong is hiring demand for DevOps Engineer roles in 2026?
Tarmac tracked 1,244 postings in August 2026, the most recent month we tracked from start to finish.
We need 3 complete months of tracking before we publish a month-by-month series. Months we only partly covered are left out rather than shown as low demand.
Skills employers ask for
- docker2321
- ci-cd-pipelines2302
- devops2272
- kubernetes2217
- aws2107
- terraform2065
- python796
- azure435
- system-design257
- git251
- gcp241
- databases-sql220
Postings for this role that named each skill, out of the postings we could parse. Bars run to 2321, the most-asked skill here.
Which skills to study first
These skills matter most for this role, scored together on how often employers ask for them, what they pay, and how often people pass them when they practise.
| Skill | Market demand | Median pay | Pass rate | Leverage | Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 60% of postings | US$170,000+28% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Databases & SQL | 55% of postings | US$167,031+26% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| AWS | 51% of postings | US$171,000+28% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| System Design | 32% of postings | US$183,021+38% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Docker | 23% of postings | £80,000+10% | Not enough data yet | — | — |
| CI-CD Pipelines | 23% of postings | £78,625+8% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Kubernetes | 19% of postings | US$175,500+32% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| DevOps | 15% of postings | £82,500+14% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Terraform | 12% of postings | US$175,000+31% | Not enough data yet | — | — |
| Google Cloud Platform | 4% of postings | £95,000+31% | Not enough data yet | — | — |
| Microsoft Azure | 4% of postings | £75,000+3% | Not enough data yet | — | — |
| Git | 2% of postings | £70,000−3% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
Pass rate is the share of correct answers among people who practised that skill on Tarmac, a self-selected group rather than every developer, so read it as relative difficulty, not a universal stat. It comes from how people actually scored, not what anyone claimed, and a dash in that column means not enough people have practised the skill here yet. Leverage scores demand, pay, and difficulty together (out of 100); a higher score means a skill is both worth learning and worth your study time.
What it takes
The entry bar and required skills employers ask for, among extracted postings. This excludes postings we couldn't confidently parse, so the figures below skew toward roles with clearer, fuller job descriptions. Every bar below runs 0 to 60% of postings: solid is required, outlined is preferred, dashed is the posting's own words.
Australia
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- AWS now required in 40% of postings, was 25% 5 weeks ago.
- DevOps now required in 40% of postings, was 25% 5 weeks ago.
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- DevOps now required in 39% of postings, was 20% 5 weeks ago.
- Kubernetes now required in 39% of postings, was 20% 5 weeks ago.
- AWS now required in 52% of postings, was 40% 5 weeks ago.
- Google Cloud Platform required in only 12% of postings, was 20% 5 weeks ago.
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- Kubernetes now required in 39% of postings, was 14% 4 weeks ago.
- Docker now required in 31% of postings, was 14% 4 weeks ago.
- Terraform now required in 39% of postings, was 29% 4 weeks ago.
- CI-CD Pipelines required in only 15% of postings, was 29% 4 weeks ago.
United States
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
Required
In the postings’ own words
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- Python now required in 71% of postings, was 11% 6 weeks ago.
- Terraform now required in 71% of postings, was 22% 6 weeks ago.
- Docker now required in 71% of postings, was 33% 6 weeks ago.
- DevOps required in only 13% of postings, was 33% 6 weeks ago.
Required
Not enough postings state a years-of-experience figure for Staff / lead yet.
United Kingdom
Required
In the postings’ own words
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
Required
In the postings’ own words
Required
Preferred
Practice interview questions
Jobs data powered by Adzuna.
Disclosed wage data from the U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC.
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