Windows Contract Job Trends in Central London

Microsoft Windows
London > Central London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Central London requiring Windows skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 29 23
Rank change year-on-year -8 -6 -9
Contract jobs citing Windows 143 125 188
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 5.81% 6.52% 8.14%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.85% 56.31% 62.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 87 123
10th Percentile £173 £200 £153
25th Percentile £223 £266 £323
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £380 £408 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.75% -9.44% -
75th Percentile £609 £563 £582
90th Percentile £668 £679 £675
London median daily rate £418 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -1.71% +6.25% -15.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 3 5
10th Percentile £19.30 £19.85 £24.68
25th Percentile £19.38 £21.31 -
Median hourly rate £21.00 £24.50 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -9.26% +20.00%
75th Percentile £23.25 £27.75 £112.00
90th Percentile £23.70 £29.25 -
London median hourly rate £21.00 £23.00 £24.59
% change year-on-year -8.70% -6.47% -4.36%

All Operating Systems
Central London

Windows 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 Central London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 235 222 300
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London 9.55% 11.58% 12.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 163 158 195
10th Percentile £177 £250 £216
25th Percentile £285 £325 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £498 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.57% -0.45% -
75th Percentile £634 £663 £638
90th Percentile £698 £696 £725
London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -5.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 4 5
10th Percentile £19.30 £20.33 £24.68
25th Percentile £19.38 £22.53 -
Median hourly rate £21.00 £26.00 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.23% -3.70% -25.52%
75th Percentile £23.25 £29.13 £112.00
90th Percentile £23.70 £29.80 -
London median hourly rate £21.50 £25.15 £27.00
% change year-on-year -14.51% -6.85% -32.50%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in Central London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Windows relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London.

Windows job vacancy trend in Central London

Windows
Daily Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Windows.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Windows

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in Central London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in Central London over the 6 months to 22 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in Central London

Windows
Hourly Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Windows.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Central London citing Windows

Windows
Contract Job Locations in Central London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Windows within the Central London region over the 6 months to 22 September 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
City of London -12 112 £438 +7.36% 93
City of Westminster -11 8 £175 -63.16% 10
Kensington and Chelsea - 3 £150 -
West End of London -13 2 £453 +110.47% 2
Windows
London

Windows
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Central 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 30 (20.98%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (9.09%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.80%) Confluence
4 2 (1.40%) Exchange Server 2013
4 2 (1.40%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (9.09%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (4.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (2.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (4.20%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.70%) Monis
Cloud Services
1 51 (35.66%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (28.67%) Azure
3 29 (20.28%) Entra ID
4 14 (9.79%) AWS
5 12 (8.39%) OneDrive
5 12 (8.39%) SaaS
6 9 (6.29%) GitHub
7 8 (5.59%) GitHub Actions
8 7 (4.90%) Azure Monitor
9 6 (4.20%) Azure AKS
9 6 (4.20%) GCP
10 5 (3.50%) IaaS
10 5 (3.50%) OpenShift
10 5 (3.50%) PaaS
10 5 (3.50%) Power Platform
11 4 (2.80%) Azure DevOps
12 2 (1.40%) Slack
13 1 (0.70%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 1 (0.70%) BlazeMeter
13 1 (0.70%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 40 (27.97%) DNS
2 30 (20.98%) DHCP
3 23 (16.08%) VPN
4 22 (15.38%) Firewall
5 18 (12.59%) TCP/IP
6 8 (5.59%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (4.20%) LAN
8 5 (3.50%) WAN
9 4 (2.80%) Unified Communications
9 4 (2.80%) VLAN
10 3 (2.10%) BGP
10 3 (2.10%) SMTP
10 3 (2.10%) Wireshark
11 2 (1.40%) DMZ
11 2 (1.40%) Multicast
11 2 (1.40%) Network Security
11 2 (1.40%) SAN
11 2 (1.40%) SSL
11 2 (1.40%) Value-Added Service
11 2 (1.40%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (18.18%) SQL Server
2 6 (4.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 5 (3.50%) Oracle Database
3 5 (3.50%) Power BI
4 4 (2.80%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 4 (2.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 3 (2.10%) Amazon RDS
5 3 (2.10%) Big Data
5 3 (2.10%) Elasticsearch
6 2 (1.40%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.70%) Db2
7 1 (0.70%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.70%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.70%) Oracle BI EE
Development Applications
1 16 (11.19%) JIRA
2 7 (4.90%) Jenkins
3 4 (2.80%) Artifactory
3 4 (2.80%) GitLab
4 3 (2.10%) Git
4 3 (2.10%) MSI
5 2 (1.40%) Bitbucket
5 2 (1.40%) Fiddler
5 2 (1.40%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.70%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.70%) Gradle
6 1 (0.70%) JMeter
6 1 (0.70%) Locust
6 1 (0.70%) Newman
6 1 (0.70%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.70%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.70%) Subversion
6 1 (0.70%) TestCafe
General
1 48 (33.57%) Social Skills
2 32 (22.38%) Finance
3 17 (11.89%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (6.29%) Banking
5 5 (3.50%) Front Office
6 4 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (2.10%) Financial Institution
7 3 (2.10%) Public Sector
7 3 (2.10%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.40%) Law
8 2 (1.40%) Military
8 2 (1.40%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.70%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.70%) Mandarin Language
Job Titles
1 39 (27.27%) Support Engineer
2 22 (15.38%) IT Support
3 19 (13.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 17 (11.89%) Analyst
4 17 (11.89%) IT Engineer
5 14 (9.79%) IT Support Engineer
6 13 (9.09%) Support Analyst
7 12 (8.39%) Desktop Support
8 9 (6.29%) Desktop Engineer
9 8 (5.59%) IT Analyst
10 7 (4.90%) Cloud Engineer
10 7 (4.90%) Senior
10 7 (4.90%) Windows Engineer
11 6 (4.20%) Active Directory Engineer
11 6 (4.20%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
11 6 (4.20%) Desktop Support Engineer
11 6 (4.20%) Developer
11 6 (4.20%) Infrastructure Support
11 6 (4.20%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
11 6 (4.20%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (9.79%) Terraform
2 13 (9.09%) .NET
3 7 (4.90%) .NET Framework
4 3 (2.10%) REST
5 2 (1.40%) .NET Core
5 2 (1.40%) 802.1X
5 2 (1.40%) ASP.NET
5 2 (1.40%) Kafka
5 2 (1.40%) LDAP
5 2 (1.40%) Middleware
5 2 (1.40%) OpenTelemetry
5 2 (1.40%) PCRE
5 2 (1.40%) Regular Expression
6 1 (0.70%) ASP.NET Core
6 1 (0.70%) Blazor
6 1 (0.70%) OAuth
6 1 (0.70%) Oracle Fusion
6 1 (0.70%) Spring
6 1 (0.70%) Spring Boot
6 1 (0.70%) Taurus
Miscellaneous
1 23 (16.08%) Onboarding
2 15 (10.49%) Video Conferencing
3 11 (7.69%) Data Centre
4 8 (5.59%) Clustering
5 7 (4.90%) PKI
6 5 (3.50%) Enterprise Software
7 4 (2.80%) Hybrid Cloud
7 4 (2.80%) iPhone
7 4 (2.80%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (2.10%) Management Information System
9 2 (1.40%) AI Agents
9 2 (1.40%) BYOD
9 2 (1.40%) Cloud Native
9 2 (1.40%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (1.40%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (1.40%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.70%) iPad
10 1 (0.70%) Legacy Systems
10 1 (0.70%) Replication
10 1 (0.70%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 44 (30.77%) Windows Server
2 26 (18.18%) Linux
3 25 (17.48%) Mac OS
4 22 (15.38%) Windows 10
5 8 (5.59%) Android
6 6 (4.20%) Apple iOS
6 6 (4.20%) Unix
6 6 (4.20%) VMS
7 5 (3.50%) Windows 7
7 5 (3.50%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (2.80%) Windows Server 2008
9 3 (2.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (2.10%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (1.40%) CentOS
10 2 (1.40%) OpenVMS
10 2 (1.40%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.70%) SUSE
11 1 (0.70%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.70%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 39 (27.27%) Problem-Solving
2 30 (20.98%) ITIL
3 26 (18.18%) Migration
4 24 (16.78%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 21 (14.69%) ITSM
6 19 (13.29%) Customer Service
7 16 (11.19%) CI/CD
8 14 (9.79%) DevOps
8 14 (9.79%) High Availability
8 14 (9.79%) Stakeholder Management
9 13 (9.09%) Asset Management
9 13 (9.09%) Service Management
10 12 (8.39%) Infrastructure as Code
10 12 (8.39%) Root Cause Analysis
11 11 (7.69%) Change Control
11 11 (7.69%) Continuous Improvement
11 11 (7.69%) Incident Management
11 11 (7.69%) Service Delivery
12 10 (6.99%) User Experience
13 9 (6.29%) AI
Programming Languages
1 40 (27.97%) PowerShell
2 20 (13.99%) SQL
3 14 (9.79%) Python
4 13 (9.09%) C#
5 7 (4.90%) Bash
6 5 (3.50%) Java
7 4 (2.80%) PL/SQL
7 4 (2.80%) T-SQL
8 3 (2.10%) C++
9 2 (1.40%) Korn
9 2 (1.40%) Perl
10 1 (0.70%) R
10 1 (0.70%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.70%) VB
Qualifications
1 30 (20.98%) Security Cleared
2 18 (12.59%) SC Cleared
3 9 (6.29%) Degree
4 8 (5.59%) DV Cleared
5 7 (4.90%) A+ Certification
6 3 (2.10%) ITIL Certification
7 2 (1.40%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.40%) CCNA
7 2 (1.40%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.40%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.70%) BC Cleared
8 1 (0.70%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.70%) CESG Certified Professional
8 1 (0.70%) CISA
8 1 (0.70%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.70%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.70%) MOS
8 1 (0.70%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (0.70%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.70%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (12.59%) SLA
2 9 (6.29%) QA
3 2 (1.40%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (1.40%) Data Quality
3 2 (1.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.70%) GDPR
4 1 (0.70%) Government Security Classifications
4 1 (0.70%) GRC
4 1 (0.70%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 69 (48.25%) Active Directory
2 22 (15.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (8.39%) VMware ESXi
4 9 (6.29%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (5.59%) Hyper-V
6 7 (4.90%) Virtual Desktop
7 5 (3.50%) Docker
7 5 (3.50%) vSphere
8 4 (2.80%) BitLocker
8 4 (2.80%) Microsoft App-V
9 3 (2.10%) Terminal Services
10 2 (1.40%) Firmware
11 1 (0.70%) UAG
11 1 (0.70%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.70%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.70%) zsh
Systems Management
1 34 (23.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (14.69%) SCCM
3 15 (10.49%) Kubernetes
4 13 (9.09%) Ansible
5 10 (6.99%) vCenter Server
6 5 (3.50%) WSUS
7 4 (2.80%) ITRS Geneos
7 4 (2.80%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (2.80%) Microsoft Clustering
7 4 (2.80%) Puppet
7 4 (2.80%) SCOM
8 3 (2.10%) Nagios
8 3 (2.10%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (2.10%) vMotion
9 2 (1.40%) FortiGate
9 2 (1.40%) Grafana
9 2 (1.40%) Nessus
9 2 (1.40%) NetBackup
9 2 (1.40%) PowerCLI
10 1 (0.70%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 83 (58.04%) Microsoft
2 30 (20.98%) VMware
3 28 (19.58%) ServiceNow
4 17 (11.89%) Citrix
5 14 (9.79%) Cisco
6 11 (7.69%) Apple
6 11 (7.69%) Oracle
7 9 (6.29%) Bloomberg
8 6 (4.20%) Google
8 6 (4.20%) Remedy
9 5 (3.50%) Dynatrace
9 5 (3.50%) HP
9 5 (3.50%) Splunk
9 5 (3.50%) Symantec
10 4 (2.80%) ION Trading
11 3 (2.10%) Altiris
11 3 (2.10%) BMC
11 3 (2.10%) Dell
11 3 (2.10%) EMC
11 3 (2.10%) F5