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

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 130 98
Rank change year-on-year +1 -32 +6
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 775 518 859
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.13% 2.10% 2.26%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.32% 6.23% 7.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 495 337 596
10th Percentile £280 £342 £295
25th Percentile £400 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £482 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -8.19% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £583 £638 £638
90th Percentile £688 £709 £700
UK median daily rate £480 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -6.34% -2.38% -4.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 13 39
10th Percentile £19.32 - £21.25
25th Percentile £24.23 £24.18 £22.19
Median hourly rate £25.77 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year +4.50% -0.84% -55.27%
75th Percentile £72.34 £29.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £64.00 £46.50
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £24.66 £24.87
% change year-on-year +4.50% -0.84% +12.61%

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 12,258 8,321 11,746
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.65% 33.77% 30.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,772 5,334 7,668
10th Percentile £290 £285 £256
25th Percentile £411 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £547 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.31% -0.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £673 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £775
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 609 286 798
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.85 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.00 £22.72 £15.75
Median hourly rate £36.32 £34.25 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year +6.04% +20.18% +26.67%
75th Percentile £67.25 £68.19 £57.50
90th Percentile £84.00 £83.71 £68.75
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £32.50 £28.50
% change year-on-year +7.69% +14.04% +26.75%

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 12 March 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 12 March 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 12 March 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 -10 280 £528 +0.48% 191
North of England +24 191 £470 +4.44% 62
South East +6 147 £453 +2.84% 125
North West +21 102 £500 - 31
Yorkshire -14 74 £365 -5.93% 25
Midlands -28 70 £472 -22.24% 38
West Midlands -35 58 £474 -21.91% 20
East of England -18 31 £478 +13.14% 44
South West -41 31 £550 -1.79% 38
North East -1 17 £175 +59.09% 6
East Midlands -25 12 £158 -65.00% 17
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 (3.35%) SharePoint
2 18 (2.32%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.94%) Confluence
4 8 (1.03%) CICS
5 4 (0.52%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.52%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.39%) GeoServer
6 3 (0.39%) nginx
6 3 (0.39%) Smallworld
7 2 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.26%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.26%) Tomcat
Applications
1 49 (6.32%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (3.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (3.10%) MS Visio
4 20 (2.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.81%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.39%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.39%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.26%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.26%) Oracle Financials
3 2 (0.26%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.26%) Primavera
4 1 (0.13%) Epicor iScala
4 1 (0.13%) Maximo
4 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 134 (17.29%) Azure
2 107 (13.81%) AWS
3 63 (8.13%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (5.55%) GCP
5 22 (2.84%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 16 (2.06%) Power Platform
6 16 (2.06%) SaaS
7 14 (1.81%) Entra ID
8 13 (1.68%) IaaS
9 12 (1.55%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 11 (1.42%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 11 (1.42%) PaaS
11 10 (1.29%) OpenShift
12 9 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
13 8 (1.03%) Amazon S3
13 8 (1.03%) AWS CloudFormation
13 8 (1.03%) AWS Direct Connect
13 8 (1.03%) GitHub
13 8 (1.03%) OCI
14 7 (0.90%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 228 (29.42%) Firewall
2 146 (18.84%) WAN
3 117 (15.10%) BGP
4 91 (11.74%) LAN
5 82 (10.58%) OSPF
6 80 (10.32%) Network Security
7 79 (10.19%) VPN
8 69 (8.90%) Wireless
9 62 (8.00%) DNS
10 59 (7.61%) VXLAN
11 56 (7.23%) Structured Cabling
12 51 (6.58%) VLAN
13 49 (6.32%) DHCP
14 46 (5.94%) SAN
15 40 (5.16%) Cisco ISE
16 39 (5.03%) Ethernet VPN
17 37 (4.77%) Wi-Fi
18 31 (4.00%) MPLS
19 30 (3.87%) SD-WAN
20 29 (3.74%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.55%) Power BI
2 8 (1.03%) DataStage
3 5 (0.65%) GIS
3 5 (0.65%) Relational Database
3 5 (0.65%) SQL Server
4 4 (0.52%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.52%) Power Query
4 4 (0.52%) PowerPivot
5 3 (0.39%) Big Data
5 3 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
5 3 (0.39%) InfluxDB
5 3 (0.39%) QGIS
5 3 (0.39%) RDBMS
5 3 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
6 1 (0.13%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.13%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.13%) Redis
6 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (4.00%) Git
2 25 (3.23%) JIRA
3 16 (2.06%) Jenkins
4 15 (1.94%) GitLab
5 10 (1.29%) Maven
6 4 (0.52%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.52%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.52%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.52%) Subversion
7 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
7 2 (0.26%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.13%) AppScan
8 1 (0.13%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Metasploit
General
1 204 (26.32%) Social Skills
2 138 (17.81%) Finance
3 93 (12.00%) Analytical Skills
4 88 (11.35%) Public Sector
5 55 (7.10%) Documentation Skills
6 53 (6.84%) Telecoms
7 42 (5.42%) Banking
8 41 (5.29%) Manufacturing
9 30 (3.87%) Marketing
10 24 (3.10%) Electronics
11 19 (2.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 19 (2.45%) Legal
12 18 (2.32%) Presentation Skills
13 17 (2.19%) Influencing Skills
13 17 (2.19%) Retail
14 12 (1.55%) Investment Banking
14 12 (1.55%) Organisational Skills
15 8 (1.03%) Military
16 7 (0.90%) Law
17 6 (0.77%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 135 (17.42%) Network Engineer
2 108 (13.94%) Architect
3 76 (9.81%) Project Manager
4 60 (7.74%) Senior
5 54 (6.97%) Data Centre Engineer
6 52 (6.71%) Analyst
7 42 (5.42%) Data Centre Manager
8 38 (4.90%) Network Architect
9 34 (4.39%) IT Support
9 34 (4.39%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 33 (4.26%) Infrastructure Manager
10 33 (4.26%) Lead
11 29 (3.74%) Cisco Engineer
12 28 (3.61%) Solutions Architect
13 27 (3.48%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 27 (3.48%) Infrastructure Project Manager
14 26 (3.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 26 (3.35%) Support Engineer
15 25 (3.23%) Desktop Support
16 24 (3.10%) Data Centre Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.13%) 802.1X
2 23 (2.97%) Middleware
3 7 (0.90%) LDAP
4 6 (0.77%) Spring
5 5 (0.65%) RFC 2544
6 4 (0.52%) ADO
6 4 (0.52%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.52%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.52%) Jinja
6 4 (0.52%) NETCONF
6 4 (0.52%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.52%) Redfish
6 4 (0.52%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.52%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.52%) VML
6 4 (0.52%) XML
6 4 (0.52%) YANG
7 2 (0.26%) CSS
7 2 (0.26%) EJB
7 2 (0.26%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 40 (5.16%) Hybrid Cloud
2 24 (3.10%) PKI
3 23 (2.97%) Analytical Mindset
3 23 (2.97%) Clustering
4 19 (2.45%) Onboarding
5 18 (2.32%) Driving Licence
5 18 (2.32%) Public Cloud
5 18 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
6 16 (2.06%) Replication
7 14 (1.81%) Cloud Native
8 12 (1.55%) Mainframe
8 12 (1.55%) Management Information System
9 10 (1.29%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (1.29%) Fibre Optics
9 10 (1.29%) Private Cloud
10 8 (1.03%) BYOD
10 8 (1.03%) Enterprise Storage
10 8 (1.03%) VSAM
11 7 (0.90%) CMDB
11 7 (0.90%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 104 (13.42%) Windows
2 87 (11.23%) Linux
3 42 (5.42%) Windows Server
4 32 (4.13%) Android
4 32 (4.13%) Mac OS
5 26 (3.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.81%) Unix
7 12 (1.55%) AIX
8 10 (1.29%) CentOS
8 10 (1.29%) Solaris
9 6 (0.77%) VMS
10 5 (0.65%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.39%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
13 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (16.52%) Problem-Solving
2 125 (16.13%) Migration
3 95 (12.26%) Stakeholder Management
4 71 (9.16%) ITIL
5 66 (8.52%) Project Management
6 61 (7.87%) Continuous Improvement
7 59 (7.61%) Roadmaps
8 57 (7.35%) Project Delivery
9 56 (7.23%) Change Management
9 56 (7.23%) Load Balancing
10 55 (7.10%) High Availability
11 53 (6.84%) Agile
12 51 (6.58%) CI/CD
13 43 (5.55%) Data Centre Operations
13 43 (5.55%) Infrastructure as Code
14 42 (5.42%) Network Design
14 42 (5.42%) Service Management
14 42 (5.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 41 (5.29%) Cybersecurity
16 40 (5.16%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 71 (9.16%) Python
2 46 (5.94%) PowerShell
3 26 (3.35%) SQL
4 23 (2.97%) Bash
5 22 (2.84%) Java
6 15 (1.94%) Perl
7 11 (1.42%) Shell Script
8 9 (1.16%) COBOL
8 9 (1.16%) Lisp
9 7 (0.90%) MATLAB
10 5 (0.65%) Bicep
10 5 (0.65%) VBA
11 4 (0.52%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.26%) Korn
12 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.13%) C#
13 1 (0.13%) C++
13 1 (0.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.13%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 278 (35.87%) Security Cleared
2 213 (27.48%) SC Cleared
3 144 (18.58%) Cisco Certification
4 105 (13.55%) CCNP
5 67 (8.65%) Degree
6 57 (7.35%) CCNA
7 55 (7.10%) DV Cleared
8 23 (2.97%) CCIE
9 20 (2.58%) Network+ Certification
9 20 (2.58%) PMP
10 19 (2.45%) AWS Certification
11 18 (2.32%) PMI Certification
12 17 (2.19%) Microsoft Certification
13 16 (2.06%) A+ Certification
13 16 (2.06%) MCSE
14 15 (1.94%) JNCIS
15 14 (1.81%) Azure Certification
15 14 (1.81%) JNCIP
16 12 (1.55%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 11 (1.42%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (3.35%) PMO
2 24 (3.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (2.84%) NIST
3 22 (2.84%) SLA
4 20 (2.58%) GDPR
5 18 (2.32%) PCI DSS
6 14 (1.81%) QA
7 9 (1.16%) NCSC
8 7 (0.90%) Data Quality
9 5 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.52%) GRC
11 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.39%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.13%) COBIT
12 1 (0.13%) ISO 22301
12 1 (0.13%) RMADS
12 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.13%) SOC 2
System Software
1 62 (8.00%) VMware Infrastructure
2 55 (7.10%) Active Directory
3 34 (4.39%) VMware NSX
4 23 (2.97%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (2.45%) Firmware
6 15 (1.94%) Docker
7 14 (1.81%) Hyper-V
7 14 (1.81%) vSphere
8 10 (1.29%) KVM
8 10 (1.29%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.26%) Ceph
9 2 (0.26%) Lustre
9 2 (0.26%) PowerHA
9 2 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.26%) SRDF
9 2 (0.26%) vCloud
9 2 (0.26%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.13%) Microsoft App-V
10 1 (0.13%) UAG
10 1 (0.13%) Xen
Systems Management
1 74 (9.55%) Ansible
2 66 (8.52%) Terraform
3 46 (5.94%) FortiGate
4 34 (4.39%) Kubernetes
5 24 (3.10%) Grafana
6 20 (2.58%) SCCM
7 16 (2.06%) Microsoft Intune
7 16 (2.06%) Prometheus
8 7 (0.90%) CASB
8 7 (0.90%) Check_MK
8 7 (0.90%) Podman
8 7 (0.90%) Red Hat Satellite
8 7 (0.90%) SCOM
9 6 (0.77%) SCOrch
9 6 (0.77%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 4 (0.52%) Dell DRAC
10 4 (0.52%) Nagios
10 4 (0.52%) PowerCLI
10 4 (0.52%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 250 (32.26%) Cisco
2 98 (12.65%) Palo Alto
3 95 (12.26%) VMware
4 80 (10.32%) Microsoft
5 77 (9.94%) Dell
6 69 (8.90%) Juniper
7 59 (7.61%) F5
8 42 (5.42%) CheckPoint
8 42 (5.42%) HP
9 39 (5.03%) ServiceNow
10 37 (4.77%) Aruba
11 34 (4.39%) Meraki
12 33 (4.26%) SolarWinds
13 32 (4.13%) Apple
14 30 (3.87%) SAP
15 27 (3.48%) Fortinet
16 26 (3.35%) Splunk
17 25 (3.23%) IBM
18 24 (3.10%) Arista
18 24 (3.10%) Citrix