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 3 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 103 136 106
Rank change year-on-year +33 -30 -13
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 967 507 771
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.32% 2.12% 2.09%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.16% 6.17% 6.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 618 338 563
10th Percentile £318 £321 £300
25th Percentile £405 £413 £414
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year -5.71% -1.41% -3.18%
75th Percentile £600 £610 £625
90th Percentile £725 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £492 £505 £528
% change year-on-year -2.57% -4.27% -4.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 11 32
10th Percentile £16.01 - £21.33
25th Percentile £18.07 £24.66 £23.80
Median hourly rate £22.81 £40.00 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -42.98% +60.84% +14.77%
75th Percentile £36.10 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.21 £100.00 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £19.85 £37.50 £24.00
% change year-on-year -47.07% +56.25% +12.89%

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 13,499 8,211 11,275
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.37% 34.30% 30.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,479 5,331 7,332
10th Percentile £313 £300 £270
25th Percentile £413 £411 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £521 £533 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.16% -3.18% -3.42%
75th Percentile £636 £663 £675
90th Percentile £750 £788 £800
UK median daily rate £514 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -2.10% -2.42% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 714 345 838
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.95 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £20.64 £15.28
Median hourly rate £43.96 £34.50 £35.83
Median % change year-on-year +27.42% -3.70% +59.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £62.38
90th Percentile £87.05 £83.76 £71.88
UK median hourly rate £41.94 £33.03 £35.00
% change year-on-year +26.99% -5.64% +59.09%

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 3 June 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 3 June 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 3 June 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 +10 335 £550 +2.61% 269
North of England +22 238 £474 +6.46% 68
South East +15 212 £463 +2.78% 120
Yorkshire +1 118 £365 -14.12% 28
North West +19 97 £494 -1.94% 28
Midlands -41 58 £467 -15.12% 29
West Midlands -44 52 £468 -14.83% 25
South West -21 50 £495 -13.91% 39
East of England -13 37 £492 +64.00% 42
North East -2 29 £625 +468.18% 12
East Midlands -27 5 £400 -27.27% 4
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 20 (2.07%) Confluence
2 15 (1.55%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.03%) CICS
4 9 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (0.41%) Apache
5 4 (0.41%) CloudStack
5 4 (0.41%) nginx
5 4 (0.41%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.31%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.31%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.10%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.10%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (1.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (1.14%) MS Visio
3 10 (1.03%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.03%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.41%) AutoCAD
5 3 (0.31%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.21%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.31%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.21%) DELMIA
2 2 (0.21%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.21%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.10%) Primavera
3 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 197 (20.37%) Azure
2 167 (17.27%) AWS
3 48 (4.96%) GCP
4 33 (3.41%) Microsoft 365
5 31 (3.21%) SaaS
6 30 (3.10%) IaaS
7 29 (3.00%) OCI
8 26 (2.69%) GitHub
9 18 (1.86%) Entra ID
10 17 (1.76%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 15 (1.55%) PaaS
12 12 (1.24%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 10 (1.03%) Azure DevOps
13 10 (1.03%) OneDrive
13 10 (1.03%) OpenShift
13 10 (1.03%) Power Platform
14 9 (0.93%) Azure Sentinel
14 9 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (0.83%) Amazon EKS
15 8 (0.83%) Amazon GuardDuty
Communications & Networking
1 271 (28.02%) Firewall
2 182 (18.82%) WAN
3 166 (17.17%) BGP
4 132 (13.65%) OSPF
5 107 (11.07%) LAN
6 104 (10.75%) VXLAN
7 100 (10.34%) Network Security
8 95 (9.82%) SAN
9 91 (9.41%) DNS
10 90 (9.31%) VLAN
11 88 (9.10%) VPN
12 87 (9.00%) Structured Cabling
13 70 (7.24%) DHCP
14 69 (7.14%) Ethernet VPN
15 60 (6.20%) SD-WAN
16 51 (5.27%) BIG-IP
17 41 (4.24%) NX-OS
18 39 (4.03%) NAS
18 39 (4.03%) Wireless
19 38 (3.93%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (0.93%) DataStage
2 8 (0.83%) SQL Server
3 6 (0.62%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (0.52%) Power BI
5 4 (0.41%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.41%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.41%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.31%) Big Data
6 3 (0.31%) GIS
7 2 (0.21%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database 12c
7 2 (0.21%) Power Query
7 2 (0.21%) PowerPivot
8 1 (0.10%) DB2
8 1 (0.10%) MS Access
8 1 (0.10%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.10%) Star Schema
8 1 (0.10%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 51 (5.27%) JIRA
2 37 (3.83%) GitLab
3 32 (3.31%) Git
4 29 (3.00%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.62%) Maven
6 5 (0.52%) ScriptRunner
7 4 (0.41%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.41%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.41%) Subversion
8 3 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.31%) Zephyr
9 2 (0.21%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.10%) AppScan
10 1 (0.10%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.10%) Metasploit
General
1 247 (25.54%) Social Skills
2 137 (14.17%) Finance
3 103 (10.65%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (7.34%) Public Sector
5 57 (5.89%) Documentation Skills
6 44 (4.55%) Banking
7 28 (2.90%) Telecoms
8 26 (2.69%) Legal
9 22 (2.28%) Manufacturing
10 21 (2.17%) Retail
11 20 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
12 13 (1.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.03%) Law
14 9 (0.93%) Military
15 8 (0.83%) Aerospace
15 8 (0.83%) Marketing
15 8 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
16 6 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
17 5 (0.52%) Financial Institution
17 5 (0.52%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 162 (16.75%) Network Engineer
2 130 (13.44%) Architect
3 111 (11.48%) Senior
4 79 (8.17%) Data Centre Engineer
5 78 (8.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 69 (7.14%) Project Manager
7 49 (5.07%) Lead
8 46 (4.76%) Network Architect
9 43 (4.45%) IT Engineer
10 41 (4.24%) Field Engineer
11 38 (3.93%) Field Service Engineer
12 36 (3.72%) Data Centre Manager
13 34 (3.52%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 31 (3.21%) Infrastructure Manager
15 29 (3.00%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
16 28 (2.90%) Analyst
17 25 (2.59%) Administrator
17 25 (2.59%) Cisco Engineer
17 25 (2.59%) Support Engineer
18 24 (2.48%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (3.41%) Middleware
2 31 (3.21%) 802.1X
3 11 (1.14%) LDAP
4 9 (0.93%) Redfish
5 7 (0.72%) Spring
6 6 (0.62%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.52%) Jinja
7 5 (0.52%) Kafka
7 5 (0.52%) REST
7 5 (0.52%) XML
8 4 (0.41%) ADO
8 4 (0.41%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.41%) YAML
9 3 (0.31%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.31%) EJB
9 3 (0.31%) Java EE
9 3 (0.31%) JSON
9 3 (0.31%) NETCONF
9 3 (0.31%) OpenLayers
9 3 (0.31%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 61 (6.31%) Hybrid Cloud
2 44 (4.55%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (2.79%) Clustering
3 27 (2.79%) PKI
4 26 (2.69%) Cloud Native
5 25 (2.59%) Fibre Optics
6 22 (2.28%) Enterprise Storage
6 22 (2.28%) Onboarding
7 20 (2.07%) Driving Licence
7 20 (2.07%) Management Information System
7 20 (2.07%) Private Cloud
7 20 (2.07%) Replication
8 17 (1.76%) Public Cloud
9 15 (1.55%) CMDB
9 15 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
10 12 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
11 11 (1.14%) Mainframe
12 9 (0.93%) BYOD
12 9 (0.93%) SCADA
12 9 (0.93%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 117 (12.10%) Windows
2 108 (11.17%) Linux
3 32 (3.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 30 (3.10%) Windows Server
5 22 (2.28%) Unix
6 21 (2.17%) AIX
7 16 (1.65%) Solaris
8 12 (1.24%) CentOS
9 8 (0.83%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.72%) Apple iOS
10 7 (0.72%) Mac OS
11 6 (0.62%) VMS
12 5 (0.52%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.41%) Data ONTAP
13 4 (0.41%) HPUX
13 4 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
13 4 (0.41%) SUSE
14 3 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
14 3 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
15 2 (0.21%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (17.17%) Problem-Solving
2 159 (16.44%) Migration
3 99 (10.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 98 (10.13%) Stakeholder Management
5 92 (9.51%) High Availability
6 91 (9.41%) ITIL
7 87 (9.00%) Infrastructure as Code
8 84 (8.69%) Continuous Improvement
9 82 (8.48%) CI/CD
10 79 (8.17%) Roadmaps
11 71 (7.34%) Load Balancing
11 71 (7.34%) Project Delivery
11 71 (7.34%) Project Management
12 68 (7.03%) Change Management
13 65 (6.72%) Agile
14 61 (6.31%) Validation
15 60 (6.20%) DevOps
16 57 (5.89%) Network Design
17 56 (5.79%) Zero Trust
18 54 (5.58%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 118 (12.20%) Python
2 36 (3.72%) PowerShell
3 25 (2.59%) SQL
4 22 (2.28%) Bash
5 21 (2.17%) Java
6 16 (1.65%) Shell Script
7 11 (1.14%) COBOL
7 11 (1.14%) MATLAB
8 9 (0.93%) Bicep
9 8 (0.83%) Perl
10 7 (0.72%) PL/SQL
11 6 (0.62%) ActionScript
12 5 (0.52%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.41%) Lisp
14 3 (0.31%) VBA
15 2 (0.21%) C++
15 2 (0.21%) JCL
15 2 (0.21%) Korn
15 2 (0.21%) REXX
16 1 (0.10%) VB
Qualifications
1 289 (29.89%) Security Cleared
2 208 (21.51%) SC Cleared
3 198 (20.48%) Cisco Certification
4 129 (13.34%) CCNP
5 88 (9.10%) CCNA
6 67 (6.93%) DV Cleared
7 65 (6.72%) Degree
8 51 (5.27%) Network+ Certification
9 41 (4.24%) Microsoft Certification
10 36 (3.72%) A+ Certification
10 36 (3.72%) MCSE
11 25 (2.59%) Azure Certification
12 23 (2.38%) PMP
13 21 (2.17%) AWS Certification
13 21 (2.17%) CCIE
13 21 (2.17%) City & Guilds
14 20 (2.07%) PMI Certification
15 17 (1.76%) BICSI Certification
15 17 (1.76%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 16 (1.65%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.41%) SLA
2 22 (2.28%) NIST
3 19 (1.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 19 (1.96%) PMO
4 15 (1.55%) GDPR
4 15 (1.55%) QA
5 9 (0.93%) PCI DSS
6 8 (0.83%) GRC
6 8 (0.83%) NCSC
7 6 (0.62%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.41%) RMADS
9 3 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.31%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.31%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.21%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.10%) COBIT
11 1 (0.10%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.10%) SOC 1
System Software
1 88 (9.10%) VMware Infrastructure
2 48 (4.96%) Active Directory
3 29 (3.00%) Firmware
4 28 (2.90%) VMware ESXi
5 27 (2.79%) vSphere
6 24 (2.48%) Virtual Machines
6 24 (2.48%) VMware NSX
7 21 (2.17%) Hyper-V
8 12 (1.24%) KVM
9 10 (1.03%) Docker
10 7 (0.72%) NFS
11 6 (0.62%) SRDF
12 4 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
12 4 (0.41%) VMware Workstation
13 3 (0.31%) Ceph
13 3 (0.31%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.31%) Microsoft App-V
13 3 (0.31%) PowerHA
13 3 (0.31%) UAG
13 3 (0.31%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 117 (12.10%) Ansible
2 91 (9.41%) Terraform
3 48 (4.96%) FortiGate
4 41 (4.24%) Kubernetes
5 29 (3.00%) Grafana
6 25 (2.59%) Prometheus
7 21 (2.17%) Microsoft Intune
8 13 (1.34%) Check_MK
9 12 (1.24%) vCenter Server
10 11 (1.14%) NetBackup
10 11 (1.14%) Podman
10 11 (1.14%) Red Hat Satellite
11 10 (1.03%) SCCM
12 9 (0.93%) Dell DRAC
12 9 (0.93%) PowerCLI
13 7 (0.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.72%) Jamf Pro
13 7 (0.72%) Tivoli Storage Manager
14 5 (0.52%) Endace
14 5 (0.52%) vMotion
Vendors
1 262 (27.09%) Cisco
2 134 (13.86%) VMware
3 128 (13.24%) Palo Alto
4 96 (9.93%) F5
5 86 (8.89%) Microsoft
6 75 (7.76%) Juniper
7 69 (7.14%) Dell
8 60 (6.20%) Arista
9 54 (5.58%) Fortinet
10 53 (5.48%) Aruba
11 47 (4.86%) ServiceNow
12 46 (4.76%) CheckPoint
13 41 (4.24%) SolarWinds
14 34 (3.52%) IBM
15 30 (3.10%) Red Hat
16 27 (2.79%) Splunk
17 26 (2.69%) Oracle
18 24 (2.48%) Google
19 22 (2.28%) Atlassian
19 22 (2.28%) Extreme Networks