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 1 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 107 128 105
Rank change year-on-year +21 -23 -12
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,006 570 800
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.30% 2.22% 2.15%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.99% 6.40% 7.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 611 381 568
10th Percentile £318 £303 £320
25th Percentile £406 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £613 £610 £625
90th Percentile £738 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 17 43
10th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £12.08
25th Percentile £18.07 £25.04 £21.66
Median hourly rate £20.43 £25.15 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -18.79% +1.13% +14.77%
75th Percentile £33.75 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £72.22 £66.25 £41.00
UK median hourly rate £19.85 £25.15 £23.80
% change year-on-year -21.07% +5.67% +14.95%

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 14,397 8,905 11,368
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.85% 34.74% 30.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,957 5,698 7,319
10th Percentile £313 £303 £280
25th Percentile £415 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £638 £660 £675
90th Percentile £750 £788 £825
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £539
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.64% -1.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 782 426 840
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.70 £12.23
25th Percentile £21.14 £19.00 £15.39
Median hourly rate £43.96 £33.00 £37.00
Median % change year-on-year +33.21% -10.81% +56.48%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £87.07 £81.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £42.30 £31.29 £35.65
% change year-on-year +35.21% -12.24% +58.44%

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 1 July 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 1 July 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 1 July 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 +7 367 £550 +3.29% 277
North of England +13 245 £475 +5.56% 56
South East +4 215 £475 +5.56% 109
Yorkshire -2 130 £365 -16.57% 24
North West +7 91 £500 -4.76% 30
Midlands -54 58 £466 -13.72% 32
West Midlands -40 53 £474 -11.81% 22
South West -27 49 £495 -10.00% 24
East of England -6 37 £496 +65.33% 35
North East -3 30 £625 +468.18% 2
East Midlands -21 4 £363 -32.87% 10
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 22 (2.19%) Confluence
2 17 (1.69%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (0.99%) CICS
5 5 (0.50%) Apache
5 5 (0.50%) CloudStack
5 5 (0.50%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.40%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.30%) nginx
7 3 (0.30%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.099%) IIS
Applications
1 13 (1.29%) Microsoft Excel
1 13 (1.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 10 (0.99%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.99%) MS Visio
3 9 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (0.50%) AutoCAD
5 3 (0.30%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.20%) Primavera
2 2 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.099%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 215 (21.37%) Azure
2 184 (18.29%) AWS
3 54 (5.37%) GCP
4 40 (3.98%) IaaS
5 35 (3.48%) Microsoft 365
5 35 (3.48%) SaaS
6 33 (3.28%) GitHub
7 30 (2.98%) OCI
8 21 (2.09%) Entra ID
8 21 (2.09%) PaaS
8 21 (2.09%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 13 (1.29%) OneDrive
9 13 (1.29%) OpenShift
10 12 (1.19%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 12 (1.19%) Power Platform
11 11 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
12 9 (0.89%) Amazon EKS
12 9 (0.89%) Azure Sentinel
13 8 (0.80%) Amazon GuardDuty
13 8 (0.80%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 271 (26.94%) Firewall
2 182 (18.09%) WAN
3 171 (17.00%) BGP
4 129 (12.82%) OSPF
5 112 (11.13%) DNS
6 106 (10.54%) VXLAN
7 104 (10.34%) LAN
8 100 (9.94%) SAN
9 94 (9.34%) VPN
10 92 (9.15%) Network Security
11 91 (9.05%) VLAN
12 85 (8.45%) Structured Cabling
13 79 (7.85%) DHCP
14 74 (7.36%) SD-WAN
15 70 (6.96%) Ethernet VPN
16 58 (5.77%) BIG-IP
17 55 (5.47%) TCP/IP
18 45 (4.47%) Wireless
19 43 (4.27%) NX-OS
20 42 (4.17%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (0.89%) DataStage
1 9 (0.89%) SQL Server
2 7 (0.70%) Power BI
3 6 (0.60%) Big Data
3 6 (0.60%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
4 4 (0.40%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (0.40%) SAP Data Services
5 3 (0.30%) Db2
5 3 (0.30%) GIS
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.20%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.20%) Oracle Database 12c
7 1 (0.099%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.099%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 63 (6.26%) JIRA
2 35 (3.48%) GitLab
3 28 (2.78%) Git
3 28 (2.78%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.40%) Atlassian Bamboo
4 4 (0.40%) Eclipse
4 4 (0.40%) Maven
4 4 (0.40%) Sonatype Nexus
4 4 (0.40%) Subversion
5 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
5 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
6 2 (0.20%) MSI
7 1 (0.099%) AppScan
7 1 (0.099%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.099%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.099%) Metasploit
General
1 256 (25.45%) Social Skills
2 141 (14.02%) Finance
3 107 (10.64%) Analytical Skills
4 69 (6.86%) Public Sector
5 54 (5.37%) Documentation Skills
6 45 (4.47%) Banking
7 40 (3.98%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.88%) Legal
9 24 (2.39%) Influencing Skills
10 23 (2.29%) Retail
11 18 (1.79%) Manufacturing
12 17 (1.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (0.99%) Military
13 10 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (0.80%) Law
14 8 (0.80%) Marketing
15 6 (0.60%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.60%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.60%) Police
15 6 (0.60%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 152 (15.11%) Network Engineer
2 142 (14.12%) Architect
3 117 (11.63%) Senior
4 98 (9.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 88 (8.75%) Data Centre Engineer
6 68 (6.76%) Project Manager
7 53 (5.27%) Lead
7 53 (5.27%) Network Architect
8 42 (4.17%) IT Engineer
9 40 (3.98%) Field Engineer
10 36 (3.58%) Field Service Engineer
11 35 (3.48%) Infrastructure Manager
12 33 (3.28%) Data Centre Manager
13 30 (2.98%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 29 (2.88%) Analyst
15 28 (2.78%) Solutions Architect
15 28 (2.78%) Support Engineer
16 25 (2.49%) IT Support
16 25 (2.49%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
17 23 (2.29%) Infrastructure Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (3.28%) Middleware
2 31 (3.08%) 802.1X
3 10 (0.99%) LDAP
3 10 (0.99%) Redfish
4 8 (0.80%) REST
5 7 (0.70%) Elastic Stack
5 7 (0.70%) Spring
6 5 (0.50%) Jinja
6 5 (0.50%) Kafka
6 5 (0.50%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.50%) XML
7 4 (0.40%) GeoJSON
7 4 (0.40%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.40%) RESTCONF
7 4 (0.40%) RESTful
7 4 (0.40%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.40%) YAML
7 4 (0.40%) YANG
8 3 (0.30%) OpenLayers
8 3 (0.30%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 69 (6.86%) Hybrid Cloud
2 43 (4.27%) Analytical Mindset
3 36 (3.58%) Cloud Native
4 32 (3.18%) PKI
5 31 (3.08%) Clustering
6 28 (2.78%) Enterprise Storage
6 28 (2.78%) Fibre Optics
6 28 (2.78%) Private Cloud
7 27 (2.68%) Onboarding
8 19 (1.89%) Driving Licence
8 19 (1.89%) Replication
9 18 (1.79%) Management Information System
10 16 (1.59%) Public Cloud
11 15 (1.49%) CMDB
12 13 (1.29%) Data Protection Act
12 13 (1.29%) Mainframe
13 10 (0.99%) SCADA
13 10 (0.99%) Self-Motivation
14 9 (0.89%) Legacy Systems
14 9 (0.89%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 132 (13.12%) Windows
2 104 (10.34%) Linux
3 36 (3.58%) Windows Server
4 28 (2.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 28 (2.78%) Unix
5 22 (2.19%) AIX
6 17 (1.69%) Solaris
7 10 (0.99%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.99%) Mac OS
8 8 (0.80%) CentOS
9 6 (0.60%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.50%) HPUX
10 5 (0.50%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.50%) SUSE
10 5 (0.50%) VMS
11 4 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.20%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 182 (18.09%) Migration
2 169 (16.80%) Problem-Solving
3 125 (12.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 114 (11.33%) Stakeholder Management
5 105 (10.44%) ITIL
6 93 (9.24%) Infrastructure as Code
7 92 (9.15%) High Availability
8 91 (9.05%) CI/CD
9 82 (8.15%) Continuous Improvement
10 80 (7.95%) Roadmaps
11 75 (7.46%) Agile
12 74 (7.36%) Change Management
13 72 (7.16%) Load Balancing
14 71 (7.06%) Project Delivery
15 69 (6.86%) Validation
16 67 (6.66%) Zero Trust
17 65 (6.46%) DevOps
17 65 (6.46%) Project Management
18 61 (6.06%) ITSM
18 61 (6.06%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 131 (13.02%) Python
2 37 (3.68%) PowerShell
3 27 (2.68%) SQL
4 21 (2.09%) Bash
5 17 (1.69%) Java
6 14 (1.39%) Bicep
6 14 (1.39%) Shell Script
7 11 (1.09%) COBOL
8 9 (0.89%) ActionScript
9 8 (0.80%) MATLAB
9 8 (0.80%) Perl
10 7 (0.70%) PL/SQL
11 6 (0.60%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.40%) Lisp
13 3 (0.30%) C#
14 2 (0.20%) C++
14 2 (0.20%) JCL
14 2 (0.20%) Korn
14 2 (0.20%) REXX
14 2 (0.20%) VBA
Qualifications
1 279 (27.73%) Security Cleared
2 187 (18.59%) SC Cleared
3 184 (18.29%) Cisco Certification
4 112 (11.13%) CCNP
5 83 (8.25%) DV Cleared
6 77 (7.65%) CCNA
7 67 (6.66%) Degree
8 49 (4.87%) Network+ Certification
9 40 (3.98%) Microsoft Certification
10 34 (3.38%) A+ Certification
10 34 (3.38%) MCSE
11 27 (2.68%) Azure Certification
12 24 (2.39%) AWS Certification
13 23 (2.29%) CCIE
14 22 (2.19%) City & Guilds
14 22 (2.19%) PMP
15 20 (1.99%) PMI Certification
15 20 (1.99%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 17 (1.69%) BICSI Certification
17 15 (1.49%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.18%) SLA
2 23 (2.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (2.19%) NIST
4 20 (1.99%) PMO
5 18 (1.79%) QA
6 16 (1.59%) GDPR
7 15 (1.49%) NCSC
8 10 (0.99%) GRC
9 9 (0.89%) PCI DSS
10 6 (0.60%) Actionable Recommendations
11 5 (0.50%) RMADS
12 4 (0.40%) JSP 440
13 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
14 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
14 2 (0.20%) Data Quality
14 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 2 (0.20%) WCAG
15 1 (0.099%) COBIT
15 1 (0.099%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 97 (9.64%) VMware Infrastructure
2 52 (5.17%) Active Directory
3 35 (3.48%) VMware ESXi
4 28 (2.78%) Firmware
5 27 (2.68%) vSphere
6 26 (2.58%) VMware NSX
7 22 (2.19%) Hyper-V
8 21 (2.09%) Virtual Machines
9 14 (1.39%) Docker
10 9 (0.89%) KVM
10 9 (0.89%) NFS
11 6 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
12 5 (0.50%) SRDF
12 5 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
13 4 (0.40%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.40%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.40%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.30%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.30%) UAG
14 3 (0.30%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 119 (11.83%) Ansible
2 97 (9.64%) Terraform
3 48 (4.77%) FortiGate
4 47 (4.67%) Kubernetes
5 30 (2.98%) Grafana
6 28 (2.78%) Prometheus
7 26 (2.58%) Microsoft Intune
8 15 (1.49%) vCenter Server
9 11 (1.09%) Check_MK
9 11 (1.09%) NetBackup
10 10 (0.99%) Dell DRAC
10 10 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
11 9 (0.89%) PowerCLI
11 9 (0.89%) SCCM
12 8 (0.80%) Podman
12 8 (0.80%) Red Hat Satellite
12 8 (0.80%) vMotion
13 7 (0.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.70%) Tivoli Storage Manager
14 5 (0.50%) Nagios
Vendors
1 253 (25.15%) Cisco
2 144 (14.31%) VMware
3 118 (11.73%) Palo Alto
4 103 (10.24%) Microsoft
5 100 (9.94%) F5
6 83 (8.25%) Juniper
7 65 (6.46%) Dell
8 63 (6.26%) Arista
8 63 (6.26%) Fortinet
9 50 (4.97%) ServiceNow
10 42 (4.17%) SolarWinds
11 41 (4.08%) Aruba
12 35 (3.48%) IBM
13 34 (3.38%) CheckPoint
14 30 (2.98%) Google
14 30 (2.98%) Red Hat
15 29 (2.88%) Splunk
16 24 (2.39%) Oracle
17 22 (2.19%) Extreme Networks
17 22 (2.19%) HP