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 9 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 136 101
Rank change year-on-year +9 -35 -2
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 828 499 823
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.12% 2.05% 2.20%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.42% 6.01% 7.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 529 334 591
10th Percentile £317 £350 £300
25th Percentile £406 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.29% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £638
90th Percentile £725 £675 £703
UK median daily rate £488 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -4.88% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 15 35
10th Percentile £16.01 - £21.25
25th Percentile £18.21 £24.18 £22.04
Median hourly rate £21.46 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -12.98% -0.84% +14.77%
75th Percentile £63.94 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.78 £56.50 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £21.46 £24.66 £24.87
% change year-on-year -12.98% -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 12,894 8,296 11,574
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.97% 34.06% 30.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,192 5,451 7,567
10th Percentile £300 £300 £263
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £548 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.48% -0.36% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £675 £673
90th Percentile £749 £788 £788
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £536
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.05% -2.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 656 312 812
10th Percentile £16.01 £16.68 £12.29
25th Percentile £20.79 £22.66 £15.16
Median hourly rate £45.46 £34.50 £28.13
Median % change year-on-year +31.77% +22.67% +25.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £66.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.40 £85.00 £66.98
UK median hourly rate £45.00 £32.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +38.46% +16.07% +24.53%

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 9 April 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 9 April 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 9 April 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 +8 302 £530 +0.95% 184
North of England +25 189 £464 +9.12% 53
South East +8 172 £475 -4.28% 115
North West +22 97 £500 - 28
Yorkshire -6 78 £365 -5.93% 17
Midlands -36 60 £474 -22.61% 32
West Midlands -37 50 £474 -24.16% 14
South West -34 40 £525 -4.20% 31
East of England -24 34 £485 +14.79% 45
North East -1 16 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -29 9 £179 -67.50% 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 18 (2.17%) SharePoint
2 16 (1.93%) Confluence
3 15 (1.81%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (1.09%) CICS
5 4 (0.48%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.48%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.36%) nginx
7 2 (0.24%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.24%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.24%) Tomcat
Applications
1 30 (3.62%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.66%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (2.17%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (1.45%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.36%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.72%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.24%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.24%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.24%) Primavera
4 1 (0.12%) Maximo
4 1 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 143 (17.27%) Azure
2 124 (14.98%) AWS
3 45 (5.43%) GCP
3 45 (5.43%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (2.66%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 17 (2.05%) SaaS
6 15 (1.81%) Entra ID
6 15 (1.81%) IaaS
7 14 (1.69%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 13 (1.57%) Power Platform
9 11 (1.33%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 11 (1.33%) GitHub
9 11 (1.33%) PaaS
10 10 (1.21%) OpenShift
11 9 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
12 8 (0.97%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (0.97%) AWS Direct Connect
13 7 (0.85%) AWS KMS
13 7 (0.85%) Azure Sentinel
13 7 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 243 (29.35%) Firewall
2 159 (19.20%) WAN
3 136 (16.43%) BGP
4 100 (12.08%) OSPF
5 97 (11.71%) LAN
6 90 (10.87%) VPN
7 87 (10.51%) Network Security
8 71 (8.57%) Structured Cabling
9 68 (8.21%) DNS
10 67 (8.09%) SAN
11 66 (7.97%) VXLAN
12 62 (7.49%) VLAN
13 54 (6.52%) DHCP
14 51 (6.16%) Wireless
15 43 (5.19%) Ethernet VPN
16 37 (4.47%) Cisco ISE
17 34 (4.11%) SD-WAN
18 33 (3.99%) Wi-Fi
19 30 (3.62%) TCP/IP
20 29 (3.50%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.09%) DataStage
2 8 (0.97%) Power BI
3 5 (0.60%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.48%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.48%) Power Query
4 4 (0.48%) PowerPivot
4 4 (0.48%) SAP Data Services
4 4 (0.48%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.36%) Big Data
5 3 (0.36%) InfluxDB
6 2 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.24%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.24%) GIS
6 2 (0.24%) RDBMS
6 2 (0.24%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.12%) DB2
7 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.12%) MS Access
7 1 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 34 (4.11%) Git
2 32 (3.86%) JIRA
3 19 (2.29%) Jenkins
4 17 (2.05%) GitLab
5 9 (1.09%) Maven
6 4 (0.48%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.48%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.48%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.48%) Subversion
7 2 (0.24%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.24%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.12%) AppScan
8 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.12%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.12%) Rational DOORS
General
1 222 (26.81%) Social Skills
2 126 (15.22%) Finance
3 101 (12.20%) Analytical Skills
4 78 (9.42%) Public Sector
5 53 (6.40%) Documentation Skills
6 42 (5.07%) Banking
7 37 (4.47%) Telecoms
8 28 (3.38%) Manufacturing
9 23 (2.78%) Legal
10 21 (2.54%) Retail
11 19 (2.29%) Marketing
12 18 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
13 14 (1.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 14 (1.69%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (1.33%) Electronics
15 9 (1.09%) Investment Banking
15 9 (1.09%) Organisational Skills
16 8 (0.97%) Military
17 7 (0.85%) Aerospace
17 7 (0.85%) Law
Job Titles
1 148 (17.87%) Network Engineer
2 126 (15.22%) Architect
3 73 (8.82%) Senior
4 70 (8.45%) Project Manager
5 64 (7.73%) Data Centre Engineer
6 44 (5.31%) Data Centre Manager
7 43 (5.19%) Network Architect
8 39 (4.71%) Analyst
9 36 (4.35%) Lead
10 34 (4.11%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 33 (3.99%) IT Engineer
12 32 (3.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 29 (3.50%) Field Engineer
13 29 (3.50%) Infrastructure Manager
13 29 (3.50%) Solutions Architect
14 28 (3.38%) Field Service Engineer
15 27 (3.26%) Cisco Engineer
16 26 (3.14%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 26 (3.14%) IT Support
17 25 (3.02%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (4.11%) 802.1X
2 27 (3.26%) Middleware
3 9 (1.09%) LDAP
4 6 (0.72%) Redfish
4 6 (0.72%) Spring
5 5 (0.60%) Jinja
5 5 (0.60%) NETCONF
6 4 (0.48%) ADO
6 4 (0.48%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.48%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.48%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.48%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.48%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.48%) VML
6 4 (0.48%) XML
6 4 (0.48%) YANG
7 3 (0.36%) Kafka
7 3 (0.36%) REST
7 3 (0.36%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.24%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 44 (5.31%) Hybrid Cloud
2 35 (4.23%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (3.26%) Clustering
4 26 (3.14%) PKI
5 20 (2.42%) Fibre Optics
6 19 (2.29%) Driving Licence
6 19 (2.29%) Onboarding
7 18 (2.17%) Replication
8 16 (1.93%) Public Cloud
8 16 (1.93%) Self-Motivation
9 15 (1.81%) Cloud Native
9 15 (1.81%) Management Information System
9 15 (1.81%) Private Cloud
10 12 (1.45%) CMDB
10 12 (1.45%) Mainframe
11 11 (1.33%) Enterprise Storage
12 10 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
13 9 (1.09%) BYOD
13 9 (1.09%) VSAM
14 7 (0.85%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 106 (12.80%) Windows
2 92 (11.11%) Linux
3 38 (4.59%) Windows Server
4 28 (3.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (2.05%) Unix
6 16 (1.93%) AIX
6 16 (1.93%) Android
6 16 (1.93%) Mac OS
7 13 (1.57%) Solaris
8 11 (1.33%) CentOS
9 7 (0.85%) VMS
10 5 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.36%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.24%) Data ONTAP
12 2 (0.24%) HPUX
12 2 (0.24%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.24%) SUSE
12 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.12%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (17.27%) Problem-Solving
2 138 (16.67%) Migration
3 90 (10.87%) Stakeholder Management
4 77 (9.30%) ITIL
5 68 (8.21%) Roadmaps
6 67 (8.09%) Continuous Improvement
7 64 (7.73%) High Availability
8 63 (7.61%) Project Management
9 61 (7.37%) Load Balancing
10 60 (7.25%) Change Management
11 56 (6.76%) Project Delivery
12 50 (6.04%) CI/CD
12 50 (6.04%) Infrastructure as Code
13 47 (5.68%) Agile
14 46 (5.56%) Customer Service
14 46 (5.56%) Network Design
14 46 (5.56%) Technical Leadership
15 45 (5.43%) Data Centre Operations
15 45 (5.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 43 (5.19%) Break/Fix
Programming Languages
1 83 (10.02%) Python
2 45 (5.43%) PowerShell
3 25 (3.02%) Bash
4 22 (2.66%) Java
5 21 (2.54%) SQL
6 16 (1.93%) Perl
7 13 (1.57%) Shell Script
8 11 (1.33%) COBOL
9 9 (1.09%) MATLAB
10 6 (0.72%) VBA
11 5 (0.60%) Bicep
11 5 (0.60%) Lisp
12 4 (0.48%) JavaScript
13 2 (0.24%) C++
13 2 (0.24%) Korn
13 2 (0.24%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.12%) C
14 1 (0.12%) Ruby
14 1 (0.12%) Scala
14 1 (0.12%) VB
Qualifications
1 282 (34.06%) Security Cleared
2 207 (25.00%) SC Cleared
3 171 (20.65%) Cisco Certification
4 115 (13.89%) CCNP
5 74 (8.94%) CCNA
6 67 (8.09%) Degree
7 61 (7.37%) DV Cleared
8 32 (3.86%) Network+ Certification
9 27 (3.26%) Microsoft Certification
10 26 (3.14%) A+ Certification
10 26 (3.14%) MCSE
11 23 (2.78%) CCIE
12 22 (2.66%) PMP
13 20 (2.42%) AWS Certification
14 18 (2.17%) PMI Certification
15 17 (2.05%) Azure Certification
16 16 (1.93%) JNCIS
17 14 (1.69%) JNCIP
18 13 (1.57%) CISSP
18 13 (1.57%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 27 (3.26%) SLA
3 24 (2.90%) NIST
4 23 (2.78%) GDPR
5 22 (2.66%) PMO
6 17 (2.05%) PCI DSS
7 14 (1.69%) QA
8 8 (0.97%) NCSC
9 6 (0.72%) GRC
10 5 (0.60%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.24%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.24%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.24%) 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 75 (9.06%) VMware Infrastructure
2 56 (6.76%) Active Directory
3 35 (4.23%) VMware NSX
4 22 (2.66%) Firmware
4 22 (2.66%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (2.05%) VMware ESXi
6 16 (1.93%) Hyper-V
6 16 (1.93%) vSphere
7 14 (1.69%) Docker
8 10 (1.21%) KVM
9 3 (0.36%) NFS
9 3 (0.36%) PowerHA
9 3 (0.36%) SRDF
10 2 (0.24%) Ceph
10 2 (0.24%) Lustre
10 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.24%) UAG
10 2 (0.24%) vCloud
10 2 (0.24%) Veritas Cluster Server
10 2 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 83 (10.02%) Ansible
2 69 (8.33%) Terraform
3 46 (5.56%) FortiGate
4 38 (4.59%) Kubernetes
5 28 (3.38%) Grafana
6 21 (2.54%) Prometheus
7 17 (2.05%) SCCM
8 15 (1.81%) Microsoft Intune
9 9 (1.09%) Check_MK
9 9 (1.09%) Podman
9 9 (1.09%) Red Hat Satellite
10 8 (0.97%) vCenter Server
11 7 (0.85%) NetBackup
11 7 (0.85%) SCOM
12 6 (0.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 6 (0.72%) Dell DRAC
13 5 (0.60%) Endace
13 5 (0.60%) Nagios
13 5 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
14 4 (0.48%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 248 (29.95%) Cisco
2 110 (13.29%) VMware
3 105 (12.68%) Palo Alto
4 85 (10.27%) Microsoft
5 75 (9.06%) Juniper
6 74 (8.94%) Dell
7 62 (7.49%) F5
8 42 (5.07%) CheckPoint
9 37 (4.47%) Arista
10 36 (4.35%) Aruba
10 36 (4.35%) Fortinet
10 36 (4.35%) ServiceNow
10 36 (4.35%) SolarWinds
11 34 (4.11%) Meraki
12 29 (3.50%) HP
13 28 (3.38%) IBM
14 27 (3.26%) Splunk
15 25 (3.02%) Red Hat
16 22 (2.66%) Citrix
16 22 (2.66%) Google