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

6 months to
22 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 130 105
Rank change year-on-year +11 -25 -3
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,021 622 716
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.23% 2.25% 2.16%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.62% 6.33% 7.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 645 408 505
10th Percentile £325 £312 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £529 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year +0.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £656 £611 £625
90th Percentile £775 £711 £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% +3.48%
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 15,428 9,829 10,218
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.63% 35.62% 30.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,456 6,204 6,582
10th Percentile £325 £305 £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 £681
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 943 495 511
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.48 £12.50
25th Percentile £19.34 £18.87 £19.06
Median hourly rate £42.50 £32.71 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +29.93% -34.58% +14.06%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £78.73 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £30.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year +41.67% -33.33% +10.31%

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 22 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 22 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 22 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 +12 414 £568 +3.18% 561
North of England +5 230 £492 +9.33% 99
South East -8 185 £525 +6.60% 130
Yorkshire -1 141 £413 +1.85% 34
North West -8 74 £525 +0.48% 40
South West -19 69 £588 +6.82% 49
Midlands -65 53 £465 -9.27% 59
West Midlands -58 46 £475 -5.00% 44
East of England -16 34 £479 -20.21% 74
North East -24 21 £625 +468.18% 26
East Midlands -25 6 £400 -26.61% 15
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 (2.55%) Confluence
2 18 (1.76%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.98%) 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 (1.86%) 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 (1.27%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.20%) Primavera
3 1 (0.098%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 225 (22.04%) Azure
2 182 (17.83%) AWS
3 48 (4.70%) GCP
4 41 (4.02%) GitHub
5 34 (3.33%) IaaS
5 34 (3.33%) SaaS
6 32 (3.13%) Microsoft 365
7 30 (2.94%) OCI
8 23 (2.25%) Entra ID
9 18 (1.76%) Power Platform
10 14 (1.37%) OneDrive
10 14 (1.37%) PaaS
10 14 (1.37%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 13 (1.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 11 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
12 11 (1.08%) OpenShift
13 7 (0.69%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (0.59%) AWS Direct Connect
14 6 (0.59%) Azure Sentinel
15 5 (0.49%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 257 (25.17%) Firewall
2 166 (16.26%) BGP
2 166 (16.26%) WAN
3 124 (12.14%) DNS
4 110 (10.77%) OSPF
4 110 (10.77%) VXLAN
5 100 (9.79%) SAN
6 99 (9.70%) VLAN
7 94 (9.21%) VPN
8 93 (9.11%) DHCP
9 88 (8.62%) LAN
10 85 (8.33%) Network Security
11 77 (7.54%) TCP/IP
12 74 (7.25%) Ethernet VPN
12 74 (7.25%) SD-WAN
13 69 (6.76%) Structured Cabling
14 53 (5.19%) Wireless
15 50 (4.90%) NX-OS
15 50 (4.90%) Wi-Fi
16 47 (4.60%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.25%) 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 (6.66%) JIRA
2 35 (3.43%) GitLab
3 25 (2.45%) Git
4 20 (1.96%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.29%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.20%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.20%) Maven
7 2 (0.20%) MSI
7 2 (0.20%) Subversion
7 2 (0.20%) Toad
8 1 (0.098%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.098%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.098%) Claude Code
General
1 248 (24.29%) Social Skills
2 156 (15.28%) Finance
3 105 (10.28%) Analytical Skills
4 52 (5.09%) Public Sector
5 49 (4.80%) Banking
6 43 (4.21%) Telecoms
7 35 (3.43%) Documentation Skills
8 31 (3.04%) Retail
9 20 (1.96%) Legal
10 19 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
11 18 (1.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (1.47%) Manufacturing
13 9 (0.88%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.88%) Police
14 7 (0.69%) Financial Institution
14 7 (0.69%) Law
15 5 (0.49%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.49%) Marketing
16 4 (0.39%) Billing
17 3 (0.29%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 160 (15.67%) Network Engineer
2 155 (15.18%) Architect
3 133 (13.03%) Senior
4 113 (11.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 77 (7.54%) Data Centre Engineer
6 73 (7.15%) Project Manager
7 59 (5.78%) Lead
8 56 (5.48%) Network Architect
9 40 (3.92%) Data Centre Manager
10 38 (3.72%) Infrastructure Manager
10 38 (3.72%) Senior Network Engineer
11 37 (3.62%) IT Engineer
12 33 (3.23%) Consultant
12 33 (3.23%) Field Engineer
13 30 (2.94%) Field Service Engineer
13 30 (2.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 28 (2.74%) Solutions Architect
15 27 (2.64%) Data Manager
16 24 (2.35%) Infrastructure Project Manager
16 24 (2.35%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 98 (9.60%) Terraform
2 26 (2.55%) Middleware
3 19 (1.86%) REST
4 18 (1.76%) 802.1X
5 12 (1.18%) YAML
6 11 (1.08%) JSON
7 10 (0.98%) Redfish
8 8 (0.78%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (0.78%) LDAP
8 8 (0.78%) 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%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 72 (7.05%) Hybrid Cloud
2 42 (4.11%) PKI
3 38 (3.72%) Analytical Mindset
4 35 (3.43%) Clustering
5 34 (3.33%) Private Cloud
6 32 (3.13%) Cloud Native
7 31 (3.04%) Enterprise Storage
8 27 (2.64%) Fibre Optics
9 25 (2.45%) Onboarding
10 24 (2.35%) Public Cloud
10 24 (2.35%) Replication
11 20 (1.96%) Data Protection Act
12 15 (1.47%) CMDB
12 15 (1.47%) Driving Licence
12 15 (1.47%) Management Information System
12 15 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
13 13 (1.27%) Operational Technology
14 11 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
15 10 (0.98%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.88%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 150 (14.69%) Windows
2 96 (9.40%) Linux
3 44 (4.31%) Windows Server
4 31 (3.04%) Unix
5 20 (1.96%) 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 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.59%) VMS
10 5 (0.49%) HPUX
10 5 (0.49%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.49%) SUSE
11 4 (0.39%) CentOS
11 4 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
11 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
12 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 220 (21.55%) Migration
2 167 (16.36%) Problem-Solving
3 137 (13.42%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 128 (12.54%) Stakeholder Management
5 104 (10.19%) Infrastructure as Code
6 99 (9.70%) ITIL
7 93 (9.11%) Agile
8 87 (8.52%) High Availability
9 85 (8.33%) CI/CD
10 78 (7.64%) Project Delivery
10 78 (7.64%) Validation
11 77 (7.54%) Roadmaps
12 74 (7.25%) Continuous Improvement
13 72 (7.05%) Change Management
14 67 (6.56%) Zero Trust
15 64 (6.27%) Disaster Recovery
16 62 (6.07%) Load Balancing
17 61 (5.97%) Technical Leadership
18 60 (5.88%) ITSM
18 60 (5.88%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 149 (14.59%) Python
2 54 (5.29%) PowerShell
3 34 (3.33%) SQL
4 31 (3.04%) 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 6 (0.59%) Java
9 5 (0.49%) C#
9 5 (0.49%) COBOL
10 4 (0.39%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.29%) Go
11 3 (0.29%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.29%) Lisp
12 2 (0.20%) C++
12 2 (0.20%) JCL
12 2 (0.20%) REXX
12 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 263 (25.76%) Security Cleared
2 168 (16.45%) SC Cleared
3 160 (15.67%) Cisco Certification
4 98 (9.60%) CCNP
5 90 (8.81%) DV Cleared
6 60 (5.88%) CCNA
7 57 (5.58%) Degree
8 42 (4.11%) Network+ Certification
9 33 (3.23%) Microsoft Certification
10 28 (2.74%) A+ Certification
10 28 (2.74%) MCSE
11 27 (2.64%) AWS Certification
11 27 (2.64%) CCIE
12 24 (2.35%) Azure Certification
13 22 (2.15%) City & Guilds
14 21 (2.06%) PMP
14 21 (2.06%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 19 (1.86%) PMI Certification
16 17 (1.67%) BICSI Certification
16 17 (1.67%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (2.74%) QA
2 24 (2.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 24 (2.35%) SLA
3 18 (1.76%) 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 (11.75%) VMware Infrastructure
2 68 (6.66%) Active Directory
3 40 (3.92%) VMware NSX
3 40 (3.92%) vSphere
4 35 (3.43%) VMware ESXi
5 32 (3.13%) Firmware
6 28 (2.74%) Docker
7 25 (2.45%) Hyper-V
8 13 (1.27%) 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
12 4 (0.39%) VMware Workstation
13 3 (0.29%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.29%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 3 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 136 (13.32%) Ansible
2 54 (5.29%) Kubernetes
3 36 (3.53%) FortiGate
4 25 (2.45%) Prometheus
5 24 (2.35%) Grafana
6 23 (2.25%) Microsoft Intune
7 16 (1.57%) vCenter Server
7 16 (1.57%) VxRail
8 12 (1.18%) Microsoft Clustering
9 11 (1.08%) Dell DRAC
9 11 (1.08%) NetBackup
9 11 (1.08%) SCCM
9 11 (1.08%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 11 (1.08%) vMotion
10 10 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
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
1 252 (24.68%) Cisco
2 168 (16.45%) VMware
3 116 (11.36%) Microsoft
4 107 (10.48%) Palo Alto
5 93 (9.11%) F5
6 72 (7.05%) Juniper
7 67 (6.56%) Arista
8 64 (6.27%) Fortinet
9 56 (5.48%) Dell
10 52 (5.09%) ServiceNow
11 37 (3.62%) Aruba
12 33 (3.23%) CheckPoint
13 30 (2.94%) IBM
14 28 (2.74%) SolarWinds
15 27 (2.64%) Red Hat
16 24 (2.35%) Google
17 22 (2.15%) Oracle
18 19 (1.86%) NetApp
18 19 (1.86%) Splunk
18 19 (1.86%) Veeam