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

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 114 125 110
Rank change year-on-year +11 -15 -12
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,011 624 719
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.24% 2.26% 2.15%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.71% 6.44% 6.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 618 409 511
10th Percentile £325 £313 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £606 £625
90th Percentile £775 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £513 £510 £538
% change year-on-year +0.49% -5.12% -0.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 22 28
10th Percentile £16.01 £25.05 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.12 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £25.39 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +0.93% +5.67% +1.28%
75th Percentile £42.73 £39.69 £25.83
90th Percentile £84.63 £43.75 £28.58
UK median hourly rate £23.00 £25.15 £20.00
% change year-on-year -8.55% +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 15,060 9,689 10,356
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.37% 35.09% 30.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,274 6,121 6,736
10th Percentile £322 £306 £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 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 869 481 552
10th Percentile £15.90 £15.48 £12.50
25th Percentile £20.60 £18.87 £18.35
Median hourly rate £43.96 £31.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +39.56% -33.68% +11.76%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £29.50 £44.74
% change year-on-year +49.02% -34.06% +11.85%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 +15 392 £550 +2.61% 416
North of England +3 225 £486 +8.06% 117
South East -1 208 £525 +6.87% 119
Yorkshire -5 128 £365 -9.88% 30
North West -12 82 £525 - 38
South West -33 62 £498 -9.55% 37
Midlands -55 59 £456 -13.14% 30
West Midlands -53 54 £466 -6.82% 18
East of England -14 30 £483 -7.21% 51
North East -21 21 £625 +468.18% 49
East Midlands -18 4 £363 -33.49% 12
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 (2.57%) Confluence
2 15 (1.48%) SharePoint
3 9 (0.89%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.69%) CICS
5 6 (0.59%) OpenStack
6 5 (0.49%) Apache
6 5 (0.49%) CloudStack
7 4 (0.40%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.30%) nginx
8 3 (0.30%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.099%) IIS
9 1 (0.099%) SAS
Applications
1 18 (1.78%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (1.58%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.99%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.69%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.49%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
9 1 (0.099%) Adobe Illustrator
Business Applications
1 10 (0.99%) 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 (0.099%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 220 (21.76%) Azure
2 186 (18.40%) AWS
3 48 (4.75%) GCP
4 37 (3.66%) IaaS
5 35 (3.46%) GitHub
6 34 (3.36%) SaaS
7 32 (3.17%) Microsoft 365
8 29 (2.87%) OCI
9 22 (2.18%) Entra ID
10 17 (1.68%) PaaS
11 16 (1.58%) Power Platform
12 15 (1.48%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 13 (1.29%) OpenShift
14 12 (1.19%) OneDrive
15 11 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
15 11 (1.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 8 (0.79%) Azure Sentinel
16 8 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
17 5 (0.49%) Amazon EKS
17 5 (0.49%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 270 (26.71%) Firewall
2 174 (17.21%) WAN
3 166 (16.42%) BGP
4 128 (12.66%) DNS
5 122 (12.07%) OSPF
6 109 (10.78%) VXLAN
7 101 (9.99%) SAN
8 98 (9.69%) LAN
9 97 (9.59%) DHCP
10 93 (9.20%) VLAN
11 91 (9.00%) VPN
12 84 (8.31%) Network Security
13 74 (7.32%) TCP/IP
14 72 (7.12%) SD-WAN
14 72 (7.12%) Structured Cabling
15 71 (7.02%) Ethernet VPN
16 57 (5.64%) BIG-IP
17 51 (5.04%) Wireless
18 44 (4.35%) Wi-Fi
19 43 (4.25%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.08%) SQL Server
2 12 (1.19%) Power BI
3 8 (0.79%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 8 (0.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 8 (0.79%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.59%) Big Data
5 6 (0.59%) DataStage
5 6 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.49%) Db2
7 4 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.40%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.40%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.40%) SAP Data Services
8 3 (0.30%) GIS
9 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 71 (7.02%) JIRA
2 29 (2.87%) GitLab
3 24 (2.37%) Git
4 21 (2.08%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.40%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.40%) Maven
7 4 (0.40%) Subversion
8 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
8 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
9 2 (0.20%) MSI
9 2 (0.20%) Toad
10 1 (0.099%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.099%) Claude Code
General
1 253 (25.02%) Social Skills
2 141 (13.95%) Finance
3 103 (10.19%) Analytical Skills
4 64 (6.33%) Public Sector
5 45 (4.45%) Banking
6 41 (4.06%) Telecoms
7 37 (3.66%) Documentation Skills
8 29 (2.87%) Retail
9 23 (2.27%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (2.08%) Legal
11 16 (1.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 14 (1.38%) Manufacturing
13 11 (1.09%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (0.79%) Law
14 8 (0.79%) Police
15 7 (0.69%) Financial Institution
15 7 (0.69%) Military
16 5 (0.49%) Investment Banking
16 5 (0.49%) Marketing
17 3 (0.30%) Billing
Job Titles
1 148 (14.64%) Network Engineer
2 139 (13.75%) Architect
3 128 (12.66%) Senior
4 110 (10.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 84 (8.31%) Data Centre Engineer
6 75 (7.42%) Project Manager
7 55 (5.44%) Network Architect
8 52 (5.14%) Lead
9 38 (3.76%) Data Centre Manager
9 38 (3.76%) Infrastructure Manager
9 38 (3.76%) IT Engineer
10 35 (3.46%) Field Engineer
11 32 (3.17%) Field Service Engineer
12 30 (2.97%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 30 (2.97%) Senior Network Engineer
13 28 (2.77%) Support Engineer
14 27 (2.67%) Consultant
14 27 (2.67%) Infrastructure Project Manager
15 26 (2.57%) IT Support
15 26 (2.57%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.07%) 802.1X
2 28 (2.77%) Middleware
3 10 (0.99%) Redfish
4 9 (0.89%) REST
5 8 (0.79%) LDAP
6 7 (0.69%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.69%) NETCONF
6 7 (0.69%) Spring
7 6 (0.59%) OpenConfig
7 6 (0.59%) RESTCONF
7 6 (0.59%) SAML
7 6 (0.59%) YANG
8 5 (0.49%) .NET
8 5 (0.49%) Jinja
8 5 (0.49%) XML
8 5 (0.49%) YAML
9 4 (0.40%) GeoJSON
9 4 (0.40%) RESTful
9 4 (0.40%) Spring Boot
10 3 (0.30%) OpenLayers
Miscellaneous
1 68 (6.73%) Hybrid Cloud
2 49 (4.85%) PKI
3 44 (4.35%) Clustering
4 40 (3.96%) Analytical Mindset
5 34 (3.36%) Cloud Native
6 28 (2.77%) Enterprise Storage
6 28 (2.77%) Fibre Optics
7 27 (2.67%) Private Cloud
8 24 (2.37%) Onboarding
9 22 (2.18%) Replication
10 17 (1.68%) Public Cloud
11 16 (1.58%) Driving Licence
12 15 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
12 15 (1.48%) Management Information System
13 13 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
14 12 (1.19%) CMDB
14 12 (1.19%) Mainframe
15 11 (1.09%) Operational Technology
15 11 (1.09%) Virtual Team
16 10 (0.99%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 148 (14.64%) Windows
2 101 (9.99%) Linux
3 41 (4.06%) Windows Server
4 35 (3.46%) Unix
5 25 (2.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 23 (2.27%) AIX
7 14 (1.38%) Solaris
8 10 (0.99%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.99%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
10 5 (0.49%) HPUX
10 5 (0.49%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.49%) SUSE
10 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.40%) CentOS
11 4 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
11 4 (0.40%) VMS
12 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.20%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (20.77%) Migration
2 177 (17.51%) Problem-Solving
3 135 (13.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 122 (12.07%) Stakeholder Management
5 104 (10.29%) ITIL
6 93 (9.20%) High Availability
6 93 (9.20%) Infrastructure as Code
7 92 (9.10%) Agile
8 91 (9.00%) CI/CD
9 81 (8.01%) Change Management
10 80 (7.91%) Continuous Improvement
11 78 (7.72%) Roadmaps
12 73 (7.22%) Project Delivery
13 71 (7.02%) Load Balancing
14 67 (6.63%) Zero Trust
15 66 (6.53%) Project Management
16 64 (6.33%) ITSM
16 64 (6.33%) Validation
17 61 (6.03%) Technical Leadership
18 60 (5.93%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 143 (14.14%) Python
2 52 (5.14%) PowerShell
3 39 (3.86%) SQL
4 30 (2.97%) Bash
5 17 (1.68%) Java
6 12 (1.19%) Bicep
6 12 (1.19%) Perl
7 11 (1.09%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.89%) ActionScript
8 9 (0.89%) PL/SQL
9 8 (0.79%) COBOL
10 5 (0.49%) C#
10 5 (0.49%) JavaScript
11 4 (0.40%) MATLAB
12 3 (0.30%) Lisp
13 2 (0.20%) C++
13 2 (0.20%) JCL
13 2 (0.20%) Korn
13 2 (0.20%) REXX
13 2 (0.20%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 282 (27.89%) Security Cleared
2 174 (17.21%) SC Cleared
3 167 (16.52%) Cisco Certification
4 100 (9.89%) DV Cleared
5 96 (9.50%) CCNP
6 65 (6.43%) CCNA
7 60 (5.93%) Degree
8 45 (4.45%) Network+ Certification
9 36 (3.56%) Microsoft Certification
10 30 (2.97%) A+ Certification
10 30 (2.97%) MCSE
11 26 (2.57%) AWS Certification
12 25 (2.47%) Azure Certification
13 24 (2.37%) CCIE
14 22 (2.18%) City & Guilds
14 22 (2.18%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 21 (2.08%) PMP
16 19 (1.88%) PMI Certification
17 17 (1.68%) BICSI Certification
18 16 (1.58%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (2.97%) SLA
2 26 (2.57%) QA
3 24 (2.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (1.78%) NIST
5 17 (1.68%) PMO
6 14 (1.38%) NCSC
7 11 (1.09%) GDPR
8 8 (0.79%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.59%) GRC
10 4 (0.40%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.40%) RMADS
11 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.20%) WCAG
13 1 (0.099%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.099%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.099%) SOC 1
System Software
1 109 (10.78%) VMware Infrastructure
2 64 (6.33%) Active Directory
3 38 (3.76%) VMware NSX
4 36 (3.56%) vSphere
5 33 (3.26%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (3.07%) Firmware
7 28 (2.77%) Hyper-V
8 24 (2.37%) Docker
9 16 (1.58%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (1.09%) NFS
11 7 (0.69%) PowerHA
12 6 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
13 5 (0.49%) SRDF
13 5 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
14 4 (0.40%) BitLocker
14 4 (0.40%) KVM
14 4 (0.40%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.40%) VMware Workstation
15 3 (0.30%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 125 (12.36%) Ansible
2 100 (9.89%) Terraform
3 54 (5.34%) Kubernetes
4 47 (4.65%) FortiGate
5 26 (2.57%) Grafana
6 24 (2.37%) Microsoft Intune
6 24 (2.37%) Prometheus
7 15 (1.48%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.38%) VxRail
9 11 (1.09%) Dell DRAC
9 11 (1.09%) NetBackup
9 11 (1.09%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 10 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (0.99%) Microsoft Clustering
11 9 (0.89%) vMotion
12 8 (0.79%) PowerCLI
13 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
13 7 (0.69%) SCCM
14 6 (0.59%) Nagios
15 5 (0.49%) SCOM
Vendors
1 242 (23.94%) Cisco
2 155 (15.33%) VMware
3 109 (10.78%) Palo Alto
4 106 (10.48%) F5
5 105 (10.39%) Microsoft
6 83 (8.21%) Juniper
7 64 (6.33%) Arista
7 64 (6.33%) Fortinet
8 56 (5.54%) Dell
9 48 (4.75%) ServiceNow
10 40 (3.96%) SolarWinds
11 39 (3.86%) IBM
12 33 (3.26%) Aruba
13 32 (3.17%) CheckPoint
14 30 (2.97%) Splunk
15 28 (2.77%) Red Hat
16 26 (2.57%) Oracle
17 24 (2.37%) Google
18 22 (2.18%) Extreme Networks
19 21 (2.08%) HP