Data Centre Contract Job Trends in England

Data Center
UK > England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Data Centre in contract job vacancies in England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Data Centre over the 6 months leading up to 28 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 130 133 106
Rank change year-on-year +3 -27 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 805 495 810
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.12% 2.04% 2.15%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.33% 5.99% 6.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 512 331 570
10th Percentile £310 £336 £295
25th Percentile £402 £413 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.71% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £613 £638
90th Percentile £700 £675 £700
UK median daily rate £485 £514 £525
% change year-on-year -5.60% -2.14% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 14 37
10th Percentile £16.01 - £21.25
25th Percentile £18.39 £24.18 £22.08
Median hourly rate £23.71 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -3.86% -0.84% +12.61%
75th Percentile £71.49 £40.13 £40.00
90th Percentile £75.83 £58.63 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £24.66 £24.87
% change year-on-year +1.99% -0.84% +14.77%

All Generic Skills
England

Data Centre falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 12,712 8,266 11,605
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.48% 34.08% 30.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,069 5,420 7,571
10th Percentile £300 £300 £259
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £545 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.96% -0.91% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £670 £670
90th Percentile £748 £775 £780
UK median daily rate £503 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.29% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 636 312 798
10th Percentile £15.77 £16.77 £12.50
25th Percentile £19.75 £22.66 £15.19
Median hourly rate £43.60 £34.75 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +25.47% +26.36% +20.88%
75th Percentile £69.99 £68.56 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.75 £84.90 £67.50
UK median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £27.50
% change year-on-year +29.05% +18.18% +22.22%

Data Centre
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Centre relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Data Centre job vacancy trend in England

Data Centre
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Centre.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Centre in England over the 6 months to 28 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Centre in England

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Centre.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Centre in England over the 6 months to 28 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in England

Data Centre
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Centre within the England region over the 6 months to 28 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
London +5 303 £550 +4.76% 184
North of England +29 185 £460 +8.12% 53
South East -1 159 £475 -5.00% 115
North West +17 95 £500 - 28
Yorkshire -6 75 £365 -5.93% 17
Midlands -41 66 £474 -24.16% 32
West Midlands -30 54 £475 -24.08% 14
South West -41 34 £550 -0.90% 31
East of England -21 33 £478 +13.14% 45
North East +5 17 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -26 11 £200 -55.56% 18
Data Centre
UK

Data Centre
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 21 (2.61%) SharePoint
2 16 (1.99%) Confluence
3 15 (1.86%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (0.99%) CICS
5 4 (0.50%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.50%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.37%) nginx
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.25%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.25%) Tomcat
Applications
1 35 (4.35%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.73%) Microsoft Excel
3 21 (2.61%) MS Visio
4 17 (2.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (1.61%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.37%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.75%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.25%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.25%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.25%) Primavera
4 1 (0.12%) Epicor iScala
4 1 (0.12%) Maximo
4 1 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 140 (17.39%) Azure
2 119 (14.78%) AWS
3 50 (6.21%) Microsoft 365
4 45 (5.59%) GCP
5 22 (2.73%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 17 (2.11%) SaaS
7 14 (1.74%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 14 (1.74%) Entra ID
7 14 (1.74%) IaaS
8 13 (1.61%) Power Platform
9 11 (1.37%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 11 (1.37%) PaaS
10 9 (1.12%) Azure DevOps
10 9 (1.12%) GitHub
10 9 (1.12%) OpenShift
11 8 (0.99%) Amazon S3
11 8 (0.99%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (0.99%) AWS Direct Connect
12 7 (0.87%) AWS CloudTrail
12 7 (0.87%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 233 (28.94%) Firewall
2 153 (19.01%) WAN
3 132 (16.40%) BGP
4 95 (11.80%) LAN
4 95 (11.80%) OSPF
5 86 (10.68%) VPN
6 85 (10.56%) Network Security
7 70 (8.70%) Structured Cabling
8 63 (7.83%) DNS
8 63 (7.83%) VXLAN
9 58 (7.20%) VLAN
10 55 (6.83%) SAN
11 54 (6.71%) Wireless
12 49 (6.09%) DHCP
13 41 (5.09%) Ethernet VPN
14 37 (4.60%) Cisco ISE
15 33 (4.10%) SD-WAN
16 32 (3.98%) Wi-Fi
17 31 (3.85%) TCP/IP
18 29 (3.60%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (0.99%) DataStage
1 8 (0.99%) Power BI
2 5 (0.62%) PostgreSQL
2 5 (0.62%) SQL Server
3 4 (0.50%) MongoDB
3 4 (0.50%) Power Query
3 4 (0.50%) PowerPivot
3 4 (0.50%) SAP Data Services
4 3 (0.37%) Big Data
4 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
5 2 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.25%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.25%) GIS
5 2 (0.25%) RDBMS
5 2 (0.25%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.12%) DB2
6 1 (0.12%) Redis
6 1 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (3.85%) Git
2 29 (3.60%) JIRA
3 16 (1.99%) Jenkins
4 15 (1.86%) GitLab
5 9 (1.12%) Maven
6 4 (0.50%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.50%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.50%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.50%) Subversion
7 2 (0.25%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.25%) Rational DOORS
7 2 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.12%) AppScan
8 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.12%) Metasploit
General
1 218 (27.08%) Social Skills
2 129 (16.02%) Finance
3 94 (11.68%) Analytical Skills
4 81 (10.06%) Public Sector
5 53 (6.58%) Documentation Skills
6 42 (5.22%) Telecoms
7 40 (4.97%) Banking
8 32 (3.98%) Manufacturing
9 23 (2.86%) Marketing
10 22 (2.73%) Legal
11 19 (2.36%) Retail
12 17 (2.11%) Influencing Skills
13 16 (1.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 15 (1.86%) Electronics
14 15 (1.86%) Presentation Skills
15 12 (1.49%) Organisational Skills
16 10 (1.24%) Investment Banking
17 8 (0.99%) Law
17 8 (0.99%) Military
18 6 (0.75%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 137 (17.02%) Network Engineer
2 117 (14.53%) Architect
3 76 (9.44%) Project Manager
4 71 (8.82%) Senior
5 60 (7.45%) Data Centre Engineer
6 43 (5.34%) Data Centre Manager
7 42 (5.22%) Analyst
8 41 (5.09%) Network Architect
9 34 (4.22%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 33 (4.10%) Infrastructure Manager
11 30 (3.73%) Solutions Architect
12 29 (3.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 29 (3.60%) Lead
13 28 (3.48%) Cisco Engineer
14 27 (3.35%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 27 (3.35%) Infrastructure Project Manager
14 27 (3.35%) IT Support
15 26 (3.23%) IT Engineer
16 24 (2.98%) Support Engineer
17 22 (2.73%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.98%) 802.1X
2 23 (2.86%) Middleware
3 7 (0.87%) LDAP
4 6 (0.75%) Spring
5 5 (0.62%) Redfish
6 4 (0.50%) ADO
6 4 (0.50%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.50%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.50%) Jinja
6 4 (0.50%) NETCONF
6 4 (0.50%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.50%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.50%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.50%) VML
6 4 (0.50%) XML
6 4 (0.50%) YANG
7 3 (0.37%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.25%) Kafka
8 2 (0.25%) OpenLayers
8 2 (0.25%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 42 (5.22%) Hybrid Cloud
2 27 (3.35%) Analytical Mindset
3 26 (3.23%) Clustering
3 26 (3.23%) PKI
4 20 (2.48%) Driving Licence
5 19 (2.36%) Fibre Optics
6 18 (2.24%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.11%) Replication
8 16 (1.99%) Self-Motivation
9 14 (1.74%) Public Cloud
10 13 (1.61%) Cloud Native
10 13 (1.61%) Management Information System
11 11 (1.37%) Mainframe
12 10 (1.24%) CMDB
12 10 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
12 10 (1.24%) Private Cloud
13 8 (0.99%) BYOD
13 8 (0.99%) Enterprise Storage
13 8 (0.99%) VSAM
14 7 (0.87%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 104 (12.92%) Windows
2 86 (10.68%) Linux
3 39 (4.84%) Windows Server
4 25 (3.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 21 (2.61%) Android
5 21 (2.61%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.99%) Unix
7 13 (1.61%) AIX
8 10 (1.24%) Solaris
9 9 (1.12%) CentOS
10 6 (0.75%) VMS
11 5 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.37%) Windows 10
13 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
14 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (16.52%) Problem-Solving
2 132 (16.40%) Migration
3 98 (12.17%) Stakeholder Management
4 75 (9.32%) ITIL
5 67 (8.32%) Project Management
6 65 (8.07%) High Availability
6 65 (8.07%) Roadmaps
7 62 (7.70%) Continuous Improvement
8 60 (7.45%) Load Balancing
8 60 (7.45%) Project Delivery
9 58 (7.20%) Change Management
10 50 (6.21%) Agile
10 50 (6.21%) CI/CD
11 46 (5.71%) Infrastructure as Code
12 45 (5.59%) Data Centre Operations
13 44 (5.47%) Network Design
14 43 (5.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 42 (5.22%) Technical Leadership
16 41 (5.09%) Cybersecurity
16 41 (5.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 81 (10.06%) Python
2 46 (5.71%) PowerShell
3 24 (2.98%) Bash
4 22 (2.73%) Java
5 21 (2.61%) SQL
6 16 (1.99%) Perl
7 11 (1.37%) Shell Script
8 10 (1.24%) COBOL
9 7 (0.87%) MATLAB
10 6 (0.75%) Lisp
11 5 (0.62%) Bicep
11 5 (0.62%) VBA
12 4 (0.50%) JavaScript
13 2 (0.25%) C++
13 2 (0.25%) Korn
13 2 (0.25%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.12%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 272 (33.79%) Security Cleared
2 201 (24.97%) SC Cleared
3 154 (19.13%) Cisco Certification
4 109 (13.54%) CCNP
5 66 (8.20%) Degree
6 63 (7.83%) CCNA
7 60 (7.45%) DV Cleared
8 23 (2.86%) CCIE
8 23 (2.86%) Network+ Certification
8 23 (2.86%) PMP
9 20 (2.48%) AWS Certification
9 20 (2.48%) Microsoft Certification
10 19 (2.36%) A+ Certification
10 19 (2.36%) MCSE
10 19 (2.36%) PMI Certification
11 16 (1.99%) Azure Certification
11 16 (1.99%) JNCIS
12 14 (1.74%) JNCIP
13 12 (1.49%) JNCIA
13 12 (1.49%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (3.11%) SLA
3 24 (2.98%) PMO
4 23 (2.86%) NIST
5 21 (2.61%) GDPR
6 17 (2.11%) PCI DSS
7 14 (1.74%) QA
8 9 (1.12%) NCSC
9 5 (0.62%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.50%) GRC
11 3 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.37%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.25%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.12%) COBIT
13 1 (0.12%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.12%) RMADS
13 1 (0.12%) SOC 1
System Software
1 69 (8.57%) VMware Infrastructure
2 52 (6.46%) Active Directory
3 33 (4.10%) VMware NSX
4 21 (2.61%) Firmware
4 21 (2.61%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.86%) Docker
5 15 (1.86%) Hyper-V
5 15 (1.86%) vSphere
6 14 (1.74%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (1.24%) KVM
8 3 (0.37%) PowerHA
9 2 (0.25%) Ceph
9 2 (0.25%) Lustre
9 2 (0.25%) NFS
9 2 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.25%) SRDF
9 2 (0.25%) vCloud
9 2 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.12%) Microsoft App-V
10 1 (0.12%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 80 (9.94%) Ansible
2 70 (8.70%) Terraform
3 44 (5.47%) FortiGate
4 38 (4.72%) Kubernetes
5 27 (3.35%) Grafana
6 20 (2.48%) Prometheus
7 17 (2.11%) SCCM
8 14 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (0.87%) Check_MK
9 7 (0.87%) Podman
9 7 (0.87%) Red Hat Satellite
9 7 (0.87%) SCOM
10 6 (0.75%) vCenter Server
11 5 (0.62%) Dell DRAC
11 5 (0.62%) Endace
12 4 (0.50%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 4 (0.50%) CASB
12 4 (0.50%) Nagios
12 4 (0.50%) PowerCLI
12 4 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 245 (30.43%) Cisco
2 103 (12.80%) Palo Alto
3 101 (12.55%) VMware
4 79 (9.81%) Microsoft
5 73 (9.07%) Juniper
6 70 (8.70%) Dell
7 60 (7.45%) F5
8 40 (4.97%) CheckPoint
9 36 (4.47%) Aruba
10 34 (4.22%) Arista
10 34 (4.22%) ServiceNow
11 33 (4.10%) Fortinet
11 33 (4.10%) Meraki
11 33 (4.10%) SolarWinds
12 32 (3.98%) HP
13 28 (3.48%) IBM
14 27 (3.35%) Splunk
15 23 (2.86%) Citrix
16 22 (2.73%) Google
17 21 (2.61%) Red Hat