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

6 months to
25 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 125 109
Rank change year-on-year +6 -16 -9
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,017 620 703
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.23% 2.25% 2.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.64% 6.31% 6.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 647 408 494
10th Percentile £325 £312 £350
25th Percentile £413 £411 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -0.46%
75th Percentile £656 £613 £625
90th Percentile £775 £713 £688
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 30 29
10th Percentile £16.01 £25.14 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.46 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £23.00 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -8.55% +5.67% +2.37%
75th Percentile £38.75 £39.69 £25.83
90th Percentile £90.53 £67.25 £28.55
UK median hourly rate £20.43 £25.15 £20.00
% change year-on-year -18.79% +25.75% -

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 15,323 9,821 10,205
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.54% 35.65% 30.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,362 6,198 6,538
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £425 £408 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £638 £650 £688
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £550
% change year-on-year +0.96% -5.45% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 955 500 506
10th Percentile £14.85 £15.48 £12.50
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.87 £19.53
Median hourly rate £41.00 £32.72 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.30% -34.56% +8.98%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £78.71 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £42.00 £30.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year +40.00% -33.33% +2.66%

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 25 August 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 25 August 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 25 August 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 +17 415 £563 +2.27% 206
North of England +1 227 £489 +8.56% 67
South East -9 183 £525 +6.60% 83
Yorkshire +3 138 £465 +14.81% 20
North West -1 74 £516 -0.87% 25
South West -22 69 £588 +6.82% 59
Midlands -76 53 £465 -9.27% 43
West Midlands -54 46 £475 -5.00% 33
East of England -15 34 £479 -20.21% 35
North East -20 21 £625 +468.18% 22
East Midlands -26 6 £400 -26.61% 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 26 (2.56%) Confluence
2 18 (1.77%) SharePoint
3 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.69%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.49%) Apache
5 5 (0.49%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.39%) CICS
7 1 (0.098%) IIS
7 1 (0.098%) nginx
7 1 (0.098%) SAS
7 1 (0.098%) Tomcat
Applications
1 21 (2.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (1.87%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.98%) MS Visio
4 9 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.49%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 13 (1.28%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
2 2 (0.20%) Primavera
3 1 (0.098%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 224 (22.03%) Azure
2 181 (17.80%) AWS
3 47 (4.62%) GCP
4 41 (4.03%) GitHub
5 35 (3.44%) SaaS
6 33 (3.24%) IaaS
7 31 (3.05%) Microsoft 365
8 30 (2.95%) OCI
9 23 (2.26%) Entra ID
10 18 (1.77%) Power Platform
11 14 (1.38%) OneDrive
11 14 (1.38%) PaaS
12 13 (1.28%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 13 (1.28%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 11 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
13 11 (1.08%) OpenShift
14 7 (0.69%) GitHub Actions
15 6 (0.59%) AWS Direct Connect
15 6 (0.59%) Azure Sentinel
16 5 (0.49%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 254 (24.98%) Firewall
2 165 (16.22%) BGP
2 165 (16.22%) WAN
3 122 (12.00%) DNS
4 109 (10.72%) VXLAN
5 108 (10.62%) OSPF
6 100 (9.83%) SAN
7 99 (9.73%) VLAN
8 93 (9.14%) VPN
9 92 (9.05%) DHCP
10 87 (8.55%) LAN
11 84 (8.26%) Network Security
12 76 (7.47%) TCP/IP
13 74 (7.28%) SD-WAN
14 73 (7.18%) Ethernet VPN
15 68 (6.69%) Structured Cabling
16 53 (5.21%) Wireless
17 50 (4.92%) NX-OS
17 50 (4.92%) Wi-Fi
18 46 (4.52%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.26%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.47%) Power BI
3 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.59%) Big Data
6 5 (0.49%) Db2
6 5 (0.49%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
8 3 (0.29%) DataStage
9 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.20%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.098%) Flink
Development Applications
1 68 (6.69%) JIRA
2 35 (3.44%) GitLab
3 25 (2.46%) Git
4 20 (1.97%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.29%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.20%) MSI
7 2 (0.20%) Toad
8 1 (0.098%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.098%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.098%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.098%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.098%) Maven
8 1 (0.098%) Subversion
General
1 244 (23.99%) Social Skills
2 156 (15.34%) Finance
3 105 (10.32%) Analytical Skills
4 52 (5.11%) Public Sector
5 49 (4.82%) Banking
6 42 (4.13%) Telecoms
7 36 (3.54%) Documentation Skills
8 31 (3.05%) Retail
9 21 (2.06%) Legal
10 19 (1.87%) Influencing Skills
11 18 (1.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 16 (1.57%) Manufacturing
13 9 (0.88%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.88%) Police
14 7 (0.69%) Financial Institution
14 7 (0.69%) Law
15 6 (0.59%) Marketing
16 5 (0.49%) Investment Banking
17 3 (0.29%) Aerospace
17 3 (0.29%) Billing
Job Titles
1 159 (15.63%) Network Engineer
2 155 (15.24%) Architect
3 133 (13.08%) Senior
4 113 (11.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 76 (7.47%) Data Centre Engineer
6 72 (7.08%) Project Manager
7 60 (5.90%) Lead
8 56 (5.51%) Network Architect
9 40 (3.93%) Data Centre Manager
10 37 (3.64%) Infrastructure Manager
10 37 (3.64%) IT Engineer
10 37 (3.64%) Senior Network Engineer
11 35 (3.44%) Consultant
12 33 (3.24%) Field Engineer
13 30 (2.95%) Field Service Engineer
13 30 (2.95%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 27 (2.65%) Data Manager
14 27 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
15 24 (2.36%) IT Support
15 24 (2.36%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 98 (9.64%) Terraform
2 26 (2.56%) Middleware
3 19 (1.87%) REST
4 17 (1.67%) 802.1X
5 12 (1.18%) YAML
6 11 (1.08%) JSON
7 9 (0.88%) Redfish
8 8 (0.79%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (0.79%) LDAP
8 8 (0.79%) NETCONF
9 7 (0.69%) OpenConfig
9 7 (0.69%) YANG
10 6 (0.59%) RESTCONF
10 6 (0.59%) SAML
11 5 (0.49%) .NET
11 5 (0.49%) Jinja
12 4 (0.39%) GeoJSON
12 4 (0.39%) Kafka
12 4 (0.39%) RESTful
13 3 (0.29%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 72 (7.08%) Hybrid Cloud
2 41 (4.03%) PKI
3 38 (3.74%) Analytical Mindset
4 34 (3.34%) Clustering
4 34 (3.34%) Private Cloud
5 32 (3.15%) Cloud Native
6 31 (3.05%) Enterprise Storage
7 27 (2.65%) Fibre Optics
8 25 (2.46%) Onboarding
9 24 (2.36%) Public Cloud
9 24 (2.36%) Replication
10 20 (1.97%) Data Protection Act
11 15 (1.47%) CMDB
11 15 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
12 14 (1.38%) Driving Licence
12 14 (1.38%) Management Information System
12 14 (1.38%) Operational Technology
13 11 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
14 10 (0.98%) Virtual Team
15 9 (0.88%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 147 (14.45%) Windows
2 95 (9.34%) Linux
3 43 (4.23%) Windows Server
4 31 (3.05%) Unix
5 19 (1.87%) AIX
6 16 (1.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (0.98%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.98%) Mac OS
8 9 (0.88%) Solaris
9 7 (0.69%) VMS
10 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
11 5 (0.49%) HPUX
11 5 (0.49%) Oracle Linux
11 5 (0.49%) SUSE
12 4 (0.39%) CentOS
12 4 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
12 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2012
12 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
13 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 222 (21.83%) Migration
2 165 (16.22%) Problem-Solving
3 137 (13.47%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 126 (12.39%) Stakeholder Management
5 104 (10.23%) Infrastructure as Code
6 98 (9.64%) ITIL
7 94 (9.24%) Agile
8 86 (8.46%) High Availability
9 85 (8.36%) CI/CD
10 80 (7.87%) Roadmaps
11 78 (7.67%) Project Delivery
12 77 (7.57%) Validation
13 75 (7.37%) Continuous Improvement
14 72 (7.08%) Change Management
15 68 (6.69%) Zero Trust
16 65 (6.39%) Disaster Recovery
17 61 (6.00%) Load Balancing
17 61 (6.00%) Technical Leadership
18 60 (5.90%) Mentoring
18 60 (5.90%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 148 (14.55%) Python
2 53 (5.21%) PowerShell
3 33 (3.24%) SQL
4 30 (2.95%) Bash
5 10 (0.98%) Bicep
6 9 (0.88%) ActionScript
7 7 (0.69%) Perl
7 7 (0.69%) PL/SQL
7 7 (0.69%) Shell Script
8 5 (0.49%) C#
8 5 (0.49%) COBOL
8 5 (0.49%) Java
9 4 (0.39%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.29%) Go
10 3 (0.29%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.29%) Lisp
11 2 (0.20%) C++
11 2 (0.20%) JCL
11 2 (0.20%) REXX
11 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 259 (25.47%) Security Cleared
2 167 (16.42%) SC Cleared
3 158 (15.54%) Cisco Certification
4 97 (9.54%) CCNP
5 87 (8.55%) DV Cleared
6 60 (5.90%) CCNA
7 57 (5.60%) Degree
8 42 (4.13%) Network+ Certification
9 33 (3.24%) Microsoft Certification
10 28 (2.75%) A+ Certification
10 28 (2.75%) MCSE
11 27 (2.65%) AWS Certification
11 27 (2.65%) CCIE
12 24 (2.36%) Azure Certification
13 22 (2.16%) City & Guilds
14 21 (2.06%) PMP
14 21 (2.06%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 19 (1.87%) PMI Certification
16 17 (1.67%) BICSI Certification
16 17 (1.67%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (2.75%) QA
2 24 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 24 (2.36%) SLA
3 18 (1.77%) NIST
4 15 (1.47%) PMO
5 12 (1.18%) GDPR
6 10 (0.98%) NCSC
7 9 (0.88%) JSP 440
8 6 (0.59%) GRC
9 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
9 4 (0.39%) RMADS
10 3 (0.29%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.29%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.20%) WCAG
12 1 (0.098%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.098%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.098%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.098%) SOC 1
System Software
1 120 (11.80%) VMware Infrastructure
2 67 (6.59%) Active Directory
3 40 (3.93%) VMware NSX
3 40 (3.93%) vSphere
4 35 (3.44%) VMware ESXi
5 30 (2.95%) Firmware
6 28 (2.75%) Docker
7 25 (2.46%) Hyper-V
8 13 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
9 11 (1.08%) NFS
10 7 (0.69%) PowerHA
11 6 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
11 6 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
12 4 (0.39%) BitLocker
12 4 (0.39%) SRDF
12 4 (0.39%) Terminal Services
13 3 (0.29%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.29%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 3 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
13 3 (0.29%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 136 (13.37%) Ansible
2 55 (5.41%) Kubernetes
3 35 (3.44%) FortiGate
4 25 (2.46%) Prometheus
5 24 (2.36%) Grafana
6 22 (2.16%) Microsoft Intune
7 16 (1.57%) vCenter Server
7 16 (1.57%) VxRail
8 12 (1.18%) Microsoft Clustering
9 11 (1.08%) NetBackup
9 11 (1.08%) SCCM
9 11 (1.08%) vMotion
10 10 (0.98%) Dell DRAC
10 10 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (0.98%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
11 7 (0.69%) Nagios
11 7 (0.69%) PowerCLI
12 6 (0.59%) SCOM
13 5 (0.49%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 251 (24.68%) Cisco
2 167 (16.42%) VMware
3 116 (11.41%) Microsoft
4 107 (10.52%) Palo Alto
5 92 (9.05%) F5
6 70 (6.88%) Juniper
7 67 (6.59%) Arista
8 64 (6.29%) Fortinet
9 57 (5.60%) Dell
10 52 (5.11%) ServiceNow
11 37 (3.64%) Aruba
12 33 (3.24%) CheckPoint
13 29 (2.85%) IBM
14 27 (2.65%) Red Hat
14 27 (2.65%) SolarWinds
15 23 (2.26%) Google
16 21 (2.06%) Oracle
17 20 (1.97%) Veeam
18 19 (1.87%) NetApp
18 19 (1.87%) Zscaler