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

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 129 113
Rank change year-on-year +3 -16 -18
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,013 617 687
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.18% 2.20% 2.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.34% 6.06% 6.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 645 401 429
10th Percentile £350 £290 £358
25th Percentile £423 £388 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £519 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.66% -1.24% -2.78%
75th Percentile £656 £613 £613
90th Percentile £750 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £525 £506 £525
% change year-on-year +3.75% -3.62% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 34 25
10th Percentile £16.98 - £11.75
25th Percentile £19.33 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% +5.67% +1.28%
75th Percentile £52.50 £35.00 £27.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £42.63 £28.75
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £22.50
% change year-on-year +29.22% +11.78% -2.17%

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 15,979 10,178 10,066
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.35% 36.32% 31.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,607 6,378 6,094
10th Percentile £325 £300 £294
25th Percentile £425 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £645 £649 £675
90th Percentile £750 £771 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £531
% change year-on-year +0.96% -1.98% -3.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,157 523 375
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.15 £15.62
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.87 £24.18
Median hourly rate £35.00 £30.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% -47.69% +24.19%
75th Percentile £67.84 £56.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £73.75 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £28.00 £49.75
% change year-on-year +33.93% -43.72% +10.56%

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 October 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 October 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 October 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 +18 408 £550 +1.38% 1,343
North of England +3 226 £500 +5.26% 270
South East -3 174 £525 +25.37% 333
Yorkshire +9 135 £500 +11.11% 68
North West -26 72 £525 -2.33% 124
Midlands -63 63 £488 +0.18% 144
South West -21 61 £645 +17.27% 112
West Midlands -49 53 £500 +0.81% 102
East of England -3 46 £500 -16.67% 155
North East -22 25 £625 +257.14% 79
East Midlands -25 10 £413 -11.41% 42
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 27 (2.67%) Confluence
2 17 (1.68%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.89%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.69%) IIS
6 5 (0.49%) Apache
6 5 (0.49%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.20%) CICS
8 1 (0.099%) nginx
8 1 (0.099%) SAS
8 1 (0.099%) Tomcat
Applications
1 19 (1.88%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (1.78%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.99%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.49%) AutoCAD
6 5 (0.49%) Navisworks
6 5 (0.49%) Revit
7 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (1.09%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.099%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.099%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.099%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.099%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 228 (22.51%) Azure
2 180 (17.77%) AWS
3 56 (5.53%) GCP
4 49 (4.84%) GitHub
5 44 (4.34%) IaaS
6 37 (3.65%) SaaS
7 34 (3.36%) Entra ID
8 33 (3.26%) Microsoft 365
9 29 (2.86%) OCI
10 20 (1.97%) PaaS
11 17 (1.68%) OpenShift
12 16 (1.58%) Azure DevOps
12 16 (1.58%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 15 (1.48%) Power Platform
14 14 (1.38%) OneDrive
15 13 (1.28%) AWS Direct Connect
16 11 (1.09%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 7 (0.69%) Azure Monitor
18 5 (0.49%) Azure Sentinel
18 5 (0.49%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 240 (23.69%) Firewall
2 155 (15.30%) WAN
3 146 (14.41%) BGP
4 122 (12.04%) DNS
5 101 (9.97%) Network Security
6 93 (9.18%) VLAN
7 92 (9.08%) VXLAN
8 89 (8.79%) LAN
8 89 (8.79%) VPN
9 86 (8.49%) OSPF
10 85 (8.39%) SAN
11 83 (8.19%) DHCP
12 75 (7.40%) TCP/IP
13 72 (7.11%) SD-WAN
14 65 (6.42%) Ethernet VPN
15 56 (5.53%) Wireless
16 52 (5.13%) Wi-Fi
17 49 (4.84%) BIG-IP
18 48 (4.74%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 46 (4.54%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (3.75%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.48%) Power BI
3 11 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.99%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.49%) Elasticsearch
8 4 (0.39%) Db2
8 4 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
8 4 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.30%) Big Data
9 3 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.20%) Flink
10 2 (0.20%) Metadata
10 2 (0.20%) Sybase ASE
10 2 (0.20%) Sybase IQ
Development Applications
1 67 (6.61%) JIRA
2 36 (3.55%) GitLab
3 27 (2.67%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.17%) Git
5 6 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.20%) MSI
7 2 (0.20%) Toad
8 1 (0.099%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.099%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.099%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.099%) Cucumber
General
1 253 (24.98%) Social Skills
2 162 (15.99%) Finance
3 83 (8.19%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (5.82%) Banking
5 45 (4.44%) Public Sector
6 44 (4.34%) Telecoms
7 39 (3.85%) Documentation Skills
8 25 (2.47%) Retail
9 22 (2.17%) Legal
10 17 (1.68%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.58%) Manufacturing
12 15 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
13 12 (1.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.69%) Police
15 6 (0.59%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.59%) Investment Banking
16 5 (0.49%) Cyber-Physical System
16 5 (0.49%) Law
16 5 (0.49%) Presentation Skills
17 4 (0.39%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 164 (16.19%) Network Engineer
2 159 (15.70%) Architect
3 121 (11.94%) Senior
4 110 (10.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 73 (7.21%) Lead
5 73 (7.21%) Project Manager
6 67 (6.61%) Data Centre Engineer
7 65 (6.42%) Network Architect
8 40 (3.95%) Consultant
9 37 (3.65%) Data Centre Manager
10 33 (3.26%) Senior Network Engineer
11 30 (2.96%) Infrastructure Manager
11 30 (2.96%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 29 (2.86%) IT Engineer
13 27 (2.67%) Analyst
13 27 (2.67%) Technical Manager
14 25 (2.47%) Solutions Architect
15 24 (2.37%) Technical Architect
16 23 (2.27%) Data Manager
16 23 (2.27%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 106 (10.46%) Terraform
2 27 (2.67%) REST
3 18 (1.78%) YAML
4 16 (1.58%) Middleware
5 14 (1.38%) .NET
5 14 (1.38%) 802.1X
5 14 (1.38%) JSON
6 6 (0.59%) LDAP
6 6 (0.59%) NETCONF
6 6 (0.59%) SAML
7 5 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.49%) OpenConfig
7 5 (0.49%) Redfish
7 5 (0.49%) RESTCONF
7 5 (0.49%) YANG
8 4 (0.39%) GeoJSON
8 4 (0.39%) Kafka
8 4 (0.39%) RESTful
9 3 (0.30%) .NET Framework
9 3 (0.30%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 79 (7.80%) Hybrid Cloud
2 44 (4.34%) Public Cloud
3 33 (3.26%) Cloud Native
3 33 (3.26%) Private Cloud
4 32 (3.16%) Enterprise Storage
5 30 (2.96%) PKI
6 27 (2.67%) Replication
7 23 (2.27%) Clustering
8 22 (2.17%) Analytical Mindset
9 21 (2.07%) Onboarding
10 20 (1.97%) Data Protection Act
11 19 (1.88%) Operational Technology
12 18 (1.78%) Self-Motivation
13 17 (1.68%) Fibre Optics
14 16 (1.58%) Management Information System
15 15 (1.48%) CMDB
16 14 (1.38%) Legacy Systems
17 11 (1.09%) Driving Licence
17 11 (1.09%) Virtual Team
18 10 (0.99%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 167 (16.49%) Windows
2 105 (10.37%) Linux
3 68 (6.71%) Windows Server
4 30 (2.96%) Unix
5 16 (1.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.38%) AIX
7 11 (1.09%) Mac OS
8 10 (0.99%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.79%) Solaris
10 7 (0.69%) VMS
11 6 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
12 5 (0.49%) HPUX
12 5 (0.49%) Oracle Linux
12 5 (0.49%) SUSE
12 5 (0.49%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
13 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
13 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
14 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
14 3 (0.30%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (22.70%) Migration
2 155 (15.30%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 151 (14.91%) Problem-Solving
4 142 (14.02%) Stakeholder Management
5 117 (11.55%) Infrastructure as Code
6 99 (9.77%) Agile
7 98 (9.67%) ITIL
8 93 (9.18%) CI/CD
9 85 (8.39%) Continuous Improvement
9 85 (8.39%) Validation
10 83 (8.19%) High Availability
11 82 (8.09%) Project Delivery
12 80 (7.90%) Disaster Recovery
13 75 (7.40%) Change Management
14 74 (7.31%) Zero Trust
15 73 (7.21%) Roadmaps
16 68 (6.71%) Cybersecurity
17 63 (6.22%) Technical Leadership
18 62 (6.12%) DevOps
19 58 (5.73%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 144 (14.22%) Python
2 65 (6.42%) PowerShell
3 49 (4.84%) SQL
4 31 (3.06%) Bash
5 16 (1.58%) ActionScript
6 14 (1.38%) C#
7 11 (1.09%) Bicep
7 11 (1.09%) T-SQL
8 7 (0.69%) PL/SQL
9 6 (0.59%) Perl
9 6 (0.59%) Shell Script
10 4 (0.39%) Go
11 3 (0.30%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.30%) Lisp
12 2 (0.20%) Java
12 2 (0.20%) JCL
12 2 (0.20%) MATLAB
12 2 (0.20%) REXX
12 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.099%) R
Qualifications
1 262 (25.86%) Security Cleared
2 170 (16.78%) SC Cleared
3 125 (12.34%) Cisco Certification
4 97 (9.58%) DV Cleared
5 79 (7.80%) CCNP
6 56 (5.53%) Degree
7 41 (4.05%) CCNA
8 30 (2.96%) AWS Certification
9 28 (2.76%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 26 (2.57%) Network+ Certification
11 24 (2.37%) CCIE
11 24 (2.37%) CISSP
12 23 (2.27%) Azure Certification
13 22 (2.17%) Microsoft Certification
13 22 (2.17%) PMI Certification
14 21 (2.07%) PMP
15 19 (1.88%) VCAP
16 17 (1.68%) A+ Certification
16 17 (1.68%) MCSE
17 14 (1.38%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (2.57%) QA
2 25 (2.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (2.37%) SLA
4 23 (2.27%) NIST
5 14 (1.38%) GRC
6 13 (1.28%) PMO
7 11 (1.09%) GDPR
8 9 (0.89%) JSP 440
8 9 (0.89%) NCSC
9 8 (0.79%) PCI DSS
10 6 (0.59%) ISO 31000
10 6 (0.59%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
11 4 (0.39%) RMADS
12 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
13 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 2 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 140 (13.82%) VMware Infrastructure
2 78 (7.70%) Active Directory
3 51 (5.03%) vSphere
4 47 (4.64%) VMware NSX
5 35 (3.46%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (3.06%) Hyper-V
7 30 (2.96%) Docker
8 25 (2.47%) Firmware
9 13 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (1.09%) NFS
11 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
12 6 (0.59%) Virtual Servers
13 5 (0.49%) ISA Server
13 5 (0.49%) Microsoft App-V
14 4 (0.39%) Oracle RAC
14 4 (0.39%) PowerHA
14 4 (0.39%) SRDF
15 3 (0.30%) BitLocker
15 3 (0.30%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.30%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 133 (13.13%) Ansible
2 53 (5.23%) Kubernetes
3 31 (3.06%) FortiGate
4 19 (1.88%) vCenter Server
5 18 (1.78%) Microsoft Intune
5 18 (1.78%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.48%) Grafana
6 15 (1.48%) VxRail
7 12 (1.18%) Microsoft Clustering
7 12 (1.18%) SCCM
8 11 (1.09%) vMotion
9 10 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
9 10 (0.99%) PowerCLI
10 9 (0.89%) NetBackup
10 9 (0.89%) SCOM
10 9 (0.89%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 8 (0.79%) Dell DRAC
11 8 (0.79%) Nagios
12 6 (0.59%) CASB
13 5 (0.49%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 247 (24.38%) Cisco
2 181 (17.87%) VMware
3 128 (12.64%) Microsoft
4 114 (11.25%) Palo Alto
5 98 (9.67%) F5
6 61 (6.02%) Fortinet
7 56 (5.53%) Arista
7 56 (5.53%) ServiceNow
8 54 (5.33%) Juniper
9 45 (4.44%) Dell
10 40 (3.95%) Aruba
11 33 (3.26%) CheckPoint
12 32 (3.16%) Oracle
13 31 (3.06%) Red Hat
14 30 (2.96%) Veeam
15 28 (2.76%) Google
16 26 (2.57%) Commvault
17 24 (2.37%) Zscaler
18 23 (2.27%) SolarWinds
19 22 (2.17%) NetApp