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

6 months to
16 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 109 133 99
Rank change year-on-year +24 -34 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 973 526 787
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.27% 2.13% 2.10%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.97% 6.17% 6.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 607 349 563
10th Percentile £318 £300 £310
25th Percentile £405 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £538
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -3.26% -2.27%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £678 £699
UK median daily rate £494 £500 £538
% change year-on-year -1.20% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 15 40
10th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £12.08
25th Percentile £18.16 £24.85 £22.08
Median hourly rate £21.00 £25.15 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -16.50% +1.13% +14.77%
75th Percentile £34.49 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £73.60 £77.50 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £19.85 £26.57 £23.90
% change year-on-year -25.29% +11.17% +12.42%

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 13,957 8,527 11,351
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.57% 34.53% 30.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,710 5,491 7,300
10th Percentile £316 £300 £275
25th Percentile £415 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £663 £675
90th Percentile £750 £788 £800
UK median daily rate £519 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.24% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 755 381 852
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.84 £12.24
25th Percentile £21.15 £20.64 £15.35
Median hourly rate £43.96 £33.91 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.64% -7.10% +62.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £85.46 £82.50 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £33.00 £35.50
% change year-on-year +28.79% -7.04% +57.88%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 +12 343 £550 +4.76% 230
North of England +21 242 £474 +11.53% 57
South East +8 207 £463 +2.78% 110
Yorkshire +3 122 £365 -9.32% 22
North West +11 96 £481 -4.47% 27
Midlands -51 58 £465 -13.49% 30
West Midlands -46 53 £467 -13.15% 25
South West -20 50 £495 -13.91% 38
East of England -14 38 £492 +31.20% 45
North East -4 30 £625 +468.18% 8
East Midlands -29 4 £325 -36.97% 5
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 23 (2.36%) Confluence
2 18 (1.85%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (1.03%) CICS
5 4 (0.41%) Apache
5 4 (0.41%) CloudStack
5 4 (0.41%) nginx
5 4 (0.41%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.41%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.31%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.10%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (1.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (1.13%) Microsoft Project
3 9 (0.92%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (0.92%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.51%) 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%) Primavera
2 2 (0.21%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 205 (21.07%) Azure
2 179 (18.40%) AWS
3 53 (5.45%) GCP
4 36 (3.70%) IaaS
5 35 (3.60%) Microsoft 365
6 33 (3.39%) GitHub
6 33 (3.39%) SaaS
7 30 (3.08%) OCI
8 21 (2.16%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.95%) PaaS
10 18 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 13 (1.34%) OneDrive
12 12 (1.23%) Azure DevOps
12 12 (1.23%) OpenShift
12 12 (1.23%) Power Platform
13 10 (1.03%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 9 (0.92%) Amazon EKS
14 9 (0.92%) Azure Sentinel
14 9 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (0.82%) Amazon GuardDuty
Communications & Networking
1 268 (27.54%) Firewall
2 173 (17.78%) WAN
3 164 (16.86%) BGP
4 126 (12.95%) OSPF
5 105 (10.79%) VXLAN
6 101 (10.38%) DNS
7 99 (10.17%) LAN
8 97 (9.97%) SAN
9 94 (9.66%) Network Security
10 92 (9.46%) VLAN
11 90 (9.25%) VPN
12 86 (8.84%) Structured Cabling
13 77 (7.91%) DHCP
14 69 (7.09%) Ethernet VPN
15 66 (6.78%) SD-WAN
16 54 (5.55%) BIG-IP
17 46 (4.73%) TCP/IP
18 42 (4.32%) NX-OS
18 42 (4.32%) Wireless
19 39 (4.01%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (0.92%) DataStage
1 9 (0.92%) SQL Server
2 7 (0.72%) Power BI
3 6 (0.62%) Big Data
3 6 (0.62%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.41%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.41%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.41%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.41%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (0.41%) SAP Data Services
5 3 (0.31%) GIS
6 2 (0.21%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.21%) Geospatial Data
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle Database 12c
6 2 (0.21%) Power Query
6 2 (0.21%) PowerPivot
7 1 (0.10%) InfluxDB
7 1 (0.10%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 59 (6.06%) JIRA
2 39 (4.01%) GitLab
3 32 (3.29%) Git
4 31 (3.19%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.51%) Maven
5 5 (0.51%) ScriptRunner
6 4 (0.41%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.41%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.41%) Subversion
7 3 (0.31%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.21%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.10%) AppScan
9 1 (0.10%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.10%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.10%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.10%) MSI
General
1 253 (26.00%) Social Skills
2 135 (13.87%) Finance
3 104 (10.69%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (6.99%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.76%) Documentation Skills
6 42 (4.32%) Banking
7 31 (3.19%) Telecoms
8 28 (2.88%) Legal
9 20 (2.06%) Manufacturing
9 20 (2.06%) Retail
10 19 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 10 (1.03%) Military
13 9 (0.92%) Law
14 8 (0.82%) Aerospace
14 8 (0.82%) Marketing
15 7 (0.72%) Presentation Skills
16 6 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
17 5 (0.51%) Investment Banking
17 5 (0.51%) Police
Job Titles
1 157 (16.14%) Network Engineer
2 126 (12.95%) Architect
3 110 (11.31%) Senior
4 86 (8.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 84 (8.63%) Data Centre Engineer
6 62 (6.37%) Project Manager
7 50 (5.14%) Lead
8 44 (4.52%) IT Engineer
9 41 (4.21%) Field Engineer
9 41 (4.21%) Network Architect
10 38 (3.91%) Field Service Engineer
11 33 (3.39%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 31 (3.19%) Data Centre Manager
13 30 (3.08%) Analyst
13 30 (3.08%) Infrastructure Manager
13 30 (3.08%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 29 (2.98%) Support Engineer
15 27 (2.77%) Solutions Architect
16 25 (2.57%) Administrator
16 25 (2.57%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.29%) Middleware
2 31 (3.19%) 802.1X
3 11 (1.13%) LDAP
4 10 (1.03%) Redfish
5 7 (0.72%) REST
5 7 (0.72%) Spring
6 6 (0.62%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.51%) Jinja
7 5 (0.51%) Kafka
7 5 (0.51%) 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%) OpenLayers
9 3 (0.31%) RFC 2544
9 3 (0.31%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 60 (6.17%) Hybrid Cloud
2 44 (4.52%) Analytical Mindset
3 31 (3.19%) Clustering
4 30 (3.08%) Cloud Native
5 29 (2.98%) PKI
6 25 (2.57%) Enterprise Storage
6 25 (2.57%) Fibre Optics
6 25 (2.57%) Onboarding
7 21 (2.16%) Private Cloud
8 20 (2.06%) Management Information System
9 19 (1.95%) Driving Licence
10 18 (1.85%) Replication
11 15 (1.54%) CMDB
11 15 (1.54%) Public Cloud
12 13 (1.34%) Self-Motivation
13 11 (1.13%) Data Protection Act
13 11 (1.13%) Mainframe
14 10 (1.03%) SCADA
15 9 (0.92%) BYOD
15 9 (0.92%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 128 (13.16%) Windows
2 109 (11.20%) Linux
3 33 (3.39%) Windows Server
4 31 (3.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (2.36%) Unix
6 22 (2.26%) AIX
7 17 (1.75%) Solaris
8 11 (1.13%) CentOS
9 10 (1.03%) Apple iOS
9 10 (1.03%) Mac OS
10 7 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
11 6 (0.62%) VMS
12 5 (0.51%) HPUX
12 5 (0.51%) Oracle Linux
12 5 (0.51%) SUSE
12 5 (0.51%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.41%) Data ONTAP
14 3 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
15 2 (0.21%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 169 (17.37%) Migration
2 168 (17.27%) Problem-Solving
3 111 (11.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 101 (10.38%) Stakeholder Management
5 94 (9.66%) High Availability
6 93 (9.56%) ITIL
7 92 (9.46%) Infrastructure as Code
8 90 (9.25%) CI/CD
9 83 (8.53%) Continuous Improvement
10 76 (7.81%) Roadmaps
11 70 (7.19%) Agile
11 70 (7.19%) Change Management
11 70 (7.19%) Load Balancing
12 68 (6.99%) Project Delivery
13 67 (6.89%) DevOps
14 66 (6.78%) Project Management
15 64 (6.58%) Validation
16 60 (6.17%) ITSM
17 59 (6.06%) Zero Trust
18 58 (5.96%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 125 (12.85%) Python
2 41 (4.21%) PowerShell
3 27 (2.77%) SQL
4 23 (2.36%) Bash
5 19 (1.95%) Java
6 16 (1.64%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.23%) Bicep
8 11 (1.13%) COBOL
8 11 (1.13%) MATLAB
9 8 (0.82%) ActionScript
9 8 (0.82%) Perl
10 7 (0.72%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.51%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.41%) Lisp
13 3 (0.31%) VBA
14 2 (0.21%) C#
14 2 (0.21%) C++
14 2 (0.21%) JCL
14 2 (0.21%) Korn
14 2 (0.21%) REXX
Qualifications
1 280 (28.78%) Security Cleared
2 200 (20.55%) SC Cleared
3 190 (19.53%) Cisco Certification
4 117 (12.02%) CCNP
5 87 (8.94%) CCNA
6 71 (7.30%) DV Cleared
7 68 (6.99%) Degree
8 51 (5.24%) Network+ Certification
9 42 (4.32%) Microsoft Certification
10 36 (3.70%) A+ Certification
10 36 (3.70%) MCSE
11 28 (2.88%) Azure Certification
12 26 (2.67%) AWS Certification
13 24 (2.47%) PMP
14 21 (2.16%) City & Guilds
14 21 (2.16%) PMI Certification
15 19 (1.95%) CCIE
16 17 (1.75%) BICSI Certification
17 16 (1.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
18 15 (1.54%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.29%) SLA
2 23 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 23 (2.36%) NIST
3 20 (2.06%) PMO
4 16 (1.64%) GDPR
5 15 (1.54%) QA
6 10 (1.03%) GRC
7 9 (0.92%) NCSC
7 9 (0.92%) PCI DSS
8 6 (0.62%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.51%) RMADS
10 4 (0.41%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.31%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.21%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.10%) COBIT
13 1 (0.10%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.10%) SOC 1
13 1 (0.10%) WCAG
System Software
1 90 (9.25%) VMware Infrastructure
2 53 (5.45%) Active Directory
3 32 (3.29%) VMware ESXi
4 29 (2.98%) Firmware
5 25 (2.57%) Hyper-V
5 25 (2.57%) vSphere
6 23 (2.36%) Virtual Machines
7 20 (2.06%) VMware NSX
8 13 (1.34%) Docker
9 11 (1.13%) KVM
10 7 (0.72%) NFS
11 6 (0.62%) Microsoft App-V
12 5 (0.51%) SRDF
13 4 (0.41%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.41%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
13 4 (0.41%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.31%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.31%) UAG
14 3 (0.31%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 121 (12.44%) Ansible
2 96 (9.87%) Terraform
3 48 (4.93%) FortiGate
4 46 (4.73%) Kubernetes
5 30 (3.08%) Grafana
6 27 (2.77%) Prometheus
7 26 (2.67%) Microsoft Intune
8 15 (1.54%) vCenter Server
9 13 (1.34%) Check_MK
10 11 (1.13%) NetBackup
10 11 (1.13%) Podman
10 11 (1.13%) Red Hat Satellite
11 10 (1.03%) Dell DRAC
11 10 (1.03%) Jamf Pro
12 9 (0.92%) PowerCLI
12 9 (0.92%) SCCM
13 8 (0.82%) vMotion
14 7 (0.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 7 (0.72%) Tivoli Storage Manager
15 6 (0.62%) Nagios
Vendors
1 255 (26.21%) Cisco
2 136 (13.98%) VMware
3 125 (12.85%) Palo Alto
4 96 (9.87%) F5
5 94 (9.66%) Microsoft
6 78 (8.02%) Juniper
7 67 (6.89%) Dell
8 62 (6.37%) Arista
9 56 (5.76%) Fortinet
10 49 (5.04%) ServiceNow
11 46 (4.73%) Aruba
12 40 (4.11%) SolarWinds
13 36 (3.70%) CheckPoint
14 34 (3.49%) IBM
15 33 (3.39%) Red Hat
16 28 (2.88%) Google
17 27 (2.77%) Splunk
18 25 (2.57%) Oracle
19 22 (2.26%) Atlassian
19 22 (2.26%) HP