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

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 123 128 115
Rank change year-on-year +5 -13 -23
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,020 615 679
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.19% 2.22% 2.11%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.40% 6.13% 6.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 648 400 426
10th Percentile £346 £290 £363
25th Percentile £423 £388 £451
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £534 £517 £530
Median % change year-on-year +3.24% -2.50% -1.85%
75th Percentile £652 £608 £614
90th Percentile £750 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 33 25
10th Percentile £17.50 - £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 £43.00 £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 15,933 10,040 9,926
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.23% 36.18% 30.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,602 6,300 6,006
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 £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £535
% change year-on-year +0.96% -2.80% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,124 510 375
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £15.55
25th Percentile £17.85 £18.87 £24.18
Median hourly rate £35.00 £30.05 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +16.46% -47.60% +25.00%
75th Percentile £68.11 £56.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.81 £73.88 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £29.27 £50.00
% change year-on-year +22.99% -41.46% +11.73%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 30 September 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 +14 409 £550 +3.77% 1,103
North of England -4 227 £500 +5.26% 214
South East -2 176 £525 +25.37% 266
Yorkshire +8 135 £496 +10.22% 45
North West -23 74 £538 - 97
South West -20 65 £623 +13.18% 83
Midlands -58 64 £475 -4.23% 108
West Midlands -56 53 £500 - 82
East of England -9 42 £479 -20.21% 125
North East -17 24 £625 +257.14% 73
East Midlands -25 11 £413 -14.29% 26
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 (2.65%) Confluence
2 17 (1.67%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.08%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.88%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.69%) IIS
6 5 (0.49%) Apache
6 5 (0.49%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.20%) CICS
8 1 (0.098%) nginx
8 1 (0.098%) SAS
8 1 (0.098%) Tomcat
Applications
1 20 (1.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.76%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.98%) MS Visio
4 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.49%) AutoCAD
7 4 (0.39%) Navisworks
7 4 (0.39%) Revit
8 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.098%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.098%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 229 (22.45%) Azure
2 180 (17.65%) AWS
3 55 (5.39%) GCP
4 50 (4.90%) GitHub
5 45 (4.41%) IaaS
6 37 (3.63%) SaaS
7 34 (3.33%) Entra ID
8 33 (3.24%) Microsoft 365
9 29 (2.84%) OCI
10 20 (1.96%) PaaS
11 16 (1.57%) Azure DevOps
11 16 (1.57%) OpenShift
12 15 (1.47%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 15 (1.47%) Power Platform
13 14 (1.37%) OneDrive
14 11 (1.08%) AWS Direct Connect
15 10 (0.98%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 7 (0.69%) Azure Monitor
17 6 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
18 5 (0.49%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 247 (24.22%) Firewall
2 158 (15.49%) WAN
3 149 (14.61%) BGP
4 125 (12.25%) DNS
5 101 (9.90%) Network Security
6 98 (9.61%) VLAN
7 95 (9.31%) VXLAN
8 90 (8.82%) VPN
9 89 (8.73%) LAN
9 89 (8.73%) OSPF
10 87 (8.53%) DHCP
11 84 (8.24%) SAN
12 75 (7.35%) TCP/IP
13 71 (6.96%) SD-WAN
14 67 (6.57%) Ethernet VPN
15 58 (5.69%) Wireless
16 52 (5.10%) Wi-Fi
17 50 (4.90%) BIG-IP
18 48 (4.71%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 48 (4.71%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (3.63%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.47%) Power BI
3 11 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.39%) Db2
7 4 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.29%) Big Data
8 3 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.20%) Flink
9 2 (0.20%) Metadata
9 2 (0.20%) Sybase ASE
9 2 (0.20%) Sybase IQ
Development Applications
1 69 (6.76%) JIRA
2 39 (3.82%) GitLab
3 28 (2.75%) Jenkins
4 25 (2.45%) Git
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
General
1 250 (24.51%) Social Skills
2 163 (15.98%) Finance
3 87 (8.53%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (5.98%) Banking
5 45 (4.41%) Public Sector
5 45 (4.41%) Telecoms
6 40 (3.92%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (2.55%) Retail
8 23 (2.25%) Legal
9 17 (1.67%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (1.57%) Manufacturing
11 15 (1.47%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (0.69%) Police
14 6 (0.59%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.59%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.49%) Cyber-Physical System
15 5 (0.49%) Law
16 4 (0.39%) Marketing
16 4 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 169 (16.57%) Network Engineer
2 161 (15.78%) Architect
3 124 (12.16%) Senior
4 111 (10.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 75 (7.35%) Project Manager
6 73 (7.16%) Lead
7 65 (6.37%) Network Architect
8 62 (6.08%) Data Centre Engineer
9 39 (3.82%) Consultant
10 38 (3.73%) Data Centre Manager
11 35 (3.43%) Senior Network Engineer
12 31 (3.04%) Infrastructure Manager
12 31 (3.04%) IT Engineer
13 30 (2.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 28 (2.75%) Analyst
15 27 (2.65%) Technical Manager
16 26 (2.55%) Technical Architect
17 25 (2.45%) Solutions Architect
18 24 (2.35%) Administrator
19 23 (2.25%) Data Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 106 (10.39%) Terraform
2 28 (2.75%) REST
3 20 (1.96%) Middleware
4 18 (1.76%) YAML
5 15 (1.47%) 802.1X
6 14 (1.37%) JSON
7 13 (1.27%) .NET
8 8 (0.78%) LDAP
9 7 (0.69%) NETCONF
10 6 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
10 6 (0.59%) SAML
11 5 (0.49%) Kafka
11 5 (0.49%) OpenConfig
11 5 (0.49%) Redfish
11 5 (0.49%) RESTCONF
11 5 (0.49%) YANG
12 4 (0.39%) GeoJSON
12 4 (0.39%) RESTful
13 3 (0.29%) .NET Framework
13 3 (0.29%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 79 (7.75%) Hybrid Cloud
2 43 (4.22%) Public Cloud
3 35 (3.43%) Private Cloud
4 33 (3.24%) Cloud Native
5 31 (3.04%) PKI
6 28 (2.75%) Enterprise Storage
7 27 (2.65%) Replication
8 25 (2.45%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (2.35%) Clustering
10 22 (2.16%) Onboarding
11 20 (1.96%) Data Protection Act
12 19 (1.86%) Operational Technology
13 18 (1.76%) Management Information System
13 18 (1.76%) Self-Motivation
14 17 (1.67%) Fibre Optics
15 14 (1.37%) Legacy Systems
16 12 (1.18%) CMDB
17 11 (1.08%) Driving Licence
17 11 (1.08%) Virtual Team
18 10 (0.98%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 169 (16.57%) Windows
2 108 (10.59%) Linux
3 68 (6.67%) Windows Server
4 30 (2.94%) Unix
5 18 (1.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.37%) AIX
7 11 (1.08%) Mac OS
8 10 (0.98%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.78%) Solaris
9 8 (0.78%) VMS
10 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
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 2016
12 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 234 (22.94%) Migration
2 156 (15.29%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 154 (15.10%) Problem-Solving
4 142 (13.92%) Stakeholder Management
5 118 (11.57%) Infrastructure as Code
6 100 (9.80%) Agile
7 99 (9.71%) ITIL
8 93 (9.12%) CI/CD
9 85 (8.33%) Validation
10 84 (8.24%) Continuous Improvement
10 84 (8.24%) Project Delivery
11 83 (8.14%) High Availability
12 80 (7.84%) Disaster Recovery
13 74 (7.25%) Roadmaps
14 73 (7.16%) Change Management
14 73 (7.16%) Zero Trust
15 69 (6.76%) Cybersecurity
16 63 (6.18%) Technical Leadership
17 61 (5.98%) DevOps
18 60 (5.88%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 145 (14.22%) Python
2 64 (6.27%) PowerShell
3 48 (4.71%) SQL
4 30 (2.94%) Bash
5 16 (1.57%) ActionScript
6 13 (1.27%) C#
7 11 (1.08%) Bicep
8 10 (0.98%) T-SQL
9 8 (0.78%) Shell Script
10 7 (0.69%) PL/SQL
11 6 (0.59%) Perl
12 4 (0.39%) Go
12 4 (0.39%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.29%) JavaScript
13 3 (0.29%) Lisp
14 2 (0.20%) Java
14 2 (0.20%) JCL
14 2 (0.20%) REXX
14 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.098%) R
Qualifications
1 266 (26.08%) Security Cleared
2 173 (16.96%) SC Cleared
3 134 (13.14%) Cisco Certification
4 97 (9.51%) DV Cleared
5 84 (8.24%) CCNP
6 57 (5.59%) Degree
7 46 (4.51%) CCNA
8 30 (2.94%) AWS Certification
8 30 (2.94%) Network+ Certification
9 28 (2.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 24 (2.35%) CCIE
10 24 (2.35%) CISSP
10 24 (2.35%) Microsoft Certification
11 23 (2.25%) Azure Certification
11 23 (2.25%) PMI Certification
12 22 (2.16%) PMP
13 19 (1.86%) A+ Certification
13 19 (1.86%) MCSE
13 19 (1.86%) VCAP
14 14 (1.37%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (2.65%) QA
2 26 (2.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (2.45%) SLA
4 23 (2.25%) NIST
5 14 (1.37%) GRC
5 14 (1.37%) PMO
6 12 (1.18%) GDPR
7 9 (0.88%) JSP 440
7 9 (0.88%) NCSC
8 8 (0.78%) PCI DSS
9 6 (0.59%) ISO 31000
9 6 (0.59%) ISO 9001
9 6 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.39%) RMADS
11 3 (0.29%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 142 (13.92%) VMware Infrastructure
2 81 (7.94%) Active Directory
3 50 (4.90%) vSphere
4 48 (4.71%) VMware NSX
5 35 (3.43%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (3.04%) Hyper-V
7 30 (2.94%) Docker
8 25 (2.45%) Firmware
9 14 (1.37%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (1.08%) 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 (0.29%) BitLocker
15 3 (0.29%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.29%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 137 (13.43%) Ansible
2 52 (5.10%) Kubernetes
3 34 (3.33%) FortiGate
4 19 (1.86%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (1.86%) Prometheus
4 19 (1.86%) vCenter Server
5 16 (1.57%) Grafana
6 15 (1.47%) VxRail
7 12 (1.18%) Microsoft Clustering
7 12 (1.18%) SCCM
8 11 (1.08%) vMotion
9 10 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
9 10 (0.98%) PowerCLI
10 9 (0.88%) NetBackup
10 9 (0.88%) SCOM
10 9 (0.88%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 8 (0.78%) Dell DRAC
11 8 (0.78%) Nagios
12 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
13 6 (0.59%) CASB
Vendors
1 256 (25.10%) Cisco
2 184 (18.04%) VMware
3 128 (12.55%) Microsoft
4 115 (11.27%) Palo Alto
5 100 (9.80%) F5
6 63 (6.18%) Fortinet
7 60 (5.88%) Arista
7 60 (5.88%) ServiceNow
8 57 (5.59%) Juniper
9 48 (4.71%) Dell
10 40 (3.92%) Aruba
11 34 (3.33%) CheckPoint
12 32 (3.14%) Red Hat
13 31 (3.04%) Oracle
14 30 (2.94%) Veeam
15 27 (2.65%) Google
16 26 (2.55%) Commvault
17 24 (2.35%) SolarWinds
17 24 (2.35%) Zscaler
18 22 (2.16%) NetApp