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

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 123 108
Rank change year-on-year +8 -15 -8
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,010 638 702
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.22% 2.29% 2.11%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.64% 6.50% 6.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 620 420 504
10th Percentile £325 £312 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £650 £611 £625
90th Percentile £775 £700 £688
UK median daily rate £519 £515 £538
% change year-on-year +0.78% -4.19% -0.34%
Number of hourly rates quoted 65 24 29
10th Percentile £16.01 £25.07 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.25 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +2.47% +5.67% +1.28%
75th Percentile £38.75 £39.06 £25.83
90th Percentile £85.65 £43.75 £28.55
UK median hourly rate £25.00 £25.15 £20.00
% change year-on-year -0.60% +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 15,219 9,815 10,215
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.41% 35.27% 30.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,335 6,198 6,651
10th Percentile £325 £307 £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 £676
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 901 487 541
10th Percentile £15.20 £15.48 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.50 £18.87 £18.50
Median hourly rate £43.50 £31.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.10% -33.68% +17.02%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.50 £29.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year +47.46% -34.44% +18.42%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 +7 395 £561 +4.71% 474
North of England -1 220 £492 +9.33% 123
South East -12 208 £525 +6.60% 103
Yorkshire -1 128 £365 -9.88% 32
North West -10 77 £550 +5.92% 47
South West -26 66 £525 -4.55% 44
Midlands -59 57 £456 -13.14% 39
West Midlands -52 52 £466 -6.82% 25
East of England -17 29 £479 -20.21% 62
North East -23 21 £625 +468.18% 44
East Midlands -18 4 £363 -33.49% 14
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 28 (2.77%) Confluence
2 16 (1.58%) SharePoint
3 10 (0.99%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.69%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.50%) Apache
5 5 (0.50%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.40%) CICS
7 3 (0.30%) nginx
7 3 (0.30%) Tomcat
7 3 (0.30%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.099%) IIS
8 1 (0.099%) SAS
Applications
1 18 (1.78%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (0.99%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.50%) AutoCAD
6 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (1.09%) 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
Cloud Services
1 219 (21.68%) Azure
2 183 (18.12%) AWS
3 47 (4.65%) GCP
4 37 (3.66%) GitHub
4 37 (3.66%) IaaS
5 34 (3.37%) SaaS
6 32 (3.17%) Microsoft 365
7 29 (2.87%) OCI
8 23 (2.28%) Entra ID
9 17 (1.68%) Power Platform
10 16 (1.58%) PaaS
11 14 (1.39%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 13 (1.29%) OneDrive
12 13 (1.29%) OpenShift
13 10 (0.99%) Azure DevOps
13 10 (0.99%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 8 (0.79%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
15 5 (0.50%) Datadog
15 5 (0.50%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 263 (26.04%) Firewall
2 169 (16.73%) WAN
3 164 (16.24%) BGP
4 129 (12.77%) DNS
5 119 (11.78%) OSPF
6 110 (10.89%) VXLAN
7 102 (10.10%) SAN
8 98 (9.70%) DHCP
9 94 (9.31%) LAN
10 91 (9.01%) VLAN
11 89 (8.81%) VPN
12 82 (8.12%) Network Security
13 75 (7.43%) TCP/IP
14 73 (7.23%) Ethernet VPN
15 72 (7.13%) SD-WAN
16 68 (6.73%) Structured Cabling
17 57 (5.64%) BIG-IP
18 51 (5.05%) Wireless
19 43 (4.26%) NX-OS
19 43 (4.26%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (2.18%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.29%) Power BI
3 9 (0.89%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 9 (0.89%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 9 (0.89%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.59%) Big Data
5 6 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.50%) Db2
7 4 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.40%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.40%) SAP Data Services
8 3 (0.30%) DataStage
8 3 (0.30%) GIS
8 3 (0.30%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 73 (7.23%) JIRA
2 30 (2.97%) GitLab
3 24 (2.38%) Git
4 20 (1.98%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.40%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.40%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.40%) Maven
6 4 (0.40%) Subversion
7 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
7 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.20%) MSI
8 2 (0.20%) Toad
9 1 (0.099%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.099%) Claude Code
General
1 252 (24.95%) Social Skills
2 142 (14.06%) Finance
3 103 (10.20%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (6.04%) Public Sector
5 47 (4.65%) Banking
6 42 (4.16%) Telecoms
7 35 (3.47%) Documentation Skills
8 29 (2.87%) Retail
9 21 (2.08%) Influencing Skills
9 21 (2.08%) Legal
10 17 (1.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 15 (1.49%) Manufacturing
12 11 (1.09%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (0.79%) Law
13 8 (0.79%) Police
14 7 (0.69%) Financial Institution
14 7 (0.69%) Military
15 5 (0.50%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.50%) Marketing
16 3 (0.30%) Billing
Job Titles
1 146 (14.46%) Architect
2 145 (14.36%) Network Engineer
3 126 (12.48%) Senior
4 111 (10.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 81 (8.02%) Data Centre Engineer
6 75 (7.43%) Project Manager
7 57 (5.64%) Network Architect
8 52 (5.15%) Lead
9 39 (3.86%) Infrastructure Manager
10 38 (3.76%) IT Engineer
11 37 (3.66%) Data Centre Manager
12 35 (3.47%) Field Engineer
13 32 (3.17%) Field Service Engineer
14 30 (2.97%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 30 (2.97%) Senior Network Engineer
15 28 (2.77%) Solutions Architect
15 28 (2.77%) Support Engineer
16 27 (2.67%) Consultant
16 27 (2.67%) Infrastructure Project Manager
17 26 (2.57%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.07%) 802.1X
2 25 (2.48%) Middleware
3 12 (1.19%) REST
4 10 (0.99%) Redfish
5 8 (0.79%) LDAP
5 8 (0.79%) NETCONF
6 7 (0.69%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.69%) OpenConfig
6 7 (0.69%) YAML
6 7 (0.69%) YANG
7 6 (0.59%) JSON
7 6 (0.59%) RESTCONF
7 6 (0.59%) SAML
7 6 (0.59%) Spring
8 5 (0.50%) .NET
8 5 (0.50%) Jinja
8 5 (0.50%) XML
9 4 (0.40%) GeoJSON
9 4 (0.40%) RESTful
10 3 (0.30%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 67 (6.63%) Hybrid Cloud
2 50 (4.95%) PKI
3 45 (4.46%) Clustering
4 40 (3.96%) Analytical Mindset
5 33 (3.27%) Cloud Native
6 29 (2.87%) Enterprise Storage
7 28 (2.77%) Private Cloud
8 26 (2.57%) Fibre Optics
9 24 (2.38%) Onboarding
10 22 (2.18%) Replication
11 18 (1.78%) Data Protection Act
11 18 (1.78%) Public Cloud
12 15 (1.49%) Driving Licence
12 15 (1.49%) Management Information System
13 13 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
14 12 (1.19%) CMDB
14 12 (1.19%) Operational Technology
15 11 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
15 11 (1.09%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.89%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 152 (15.05%) Windows
2 95 (9.41%) Linux
3 42 (4.16%) Windows Server
4 33 (3.27%) Unix
5 22 (2.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 20 (1.98%) AIX
7 11 (1.09%) Solaris
8 10 (0.99%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.99%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.59%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.50%) HPUX
10 5 (0.50%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.50%) SUSE
10 5 (0.50%) VMS
10 5 (0.50%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.40%) CentOS
11 4 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.20%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 218 (21.58%) Migration
2 176 (17.43%) Problem-Solving
3 136 (13.47%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 126 (12.48%) Stakeholder Management
5 104 (10.30%) ITIL
6 94 (9.31%) Agile
6 94 (9.31%) High Availability
6 94 (9.31%) Infrastructure as Code
7 88 (8.71%) CI/CD
8 79 (7.82%) Change Management
8 79 (7.82%) Continuous Improvement
9 76 (7.52%) Project Delivery
9 76 (7.52%) Roadmaps
10 71 (7.03%) Load Balancing
11 68 (6.73%) Validation
12 67 (6.63%) Zero Trust
13 66 (6.53%) Project Management
14 63 (6.24%) ITSM
15 62 (6.14%) Technical Leadership
16 59 (5.84%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 144 (14.26%) Python
2 52 (5.15%) PowerShell
3 39 (3.86%) SQL
4 28 (2.77%) Bash
5 16 (1.58%) Java
6 10 (0.99%) Bicep
6 10 (0.99%) Perl
6 10 (0.99%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.89%) ActionScript
7 9 (0.89%) PL/SQL
8 5 (0.50%) C#
8 5 (0.50%) COBOL
8 5 (0.50%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.40%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.30%) Lisp
11 2 (0.20%) C++
11 2 (0.20%) JCL
11 2 (0.20%) Korn
11 2 (0.20%) REXX
11 2 (0.20%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 278 (27.52%) Security Cleared
2 171 (16.93%) SC Cleared
3 162 (16.04%) Cisco Certification
4 100 (9.90%) DV Cleared
5 90 (8.91%) CCNP
6 62 (6.14%) CCNA
7 58 (5.74%) Degree
8 45 (4.46%) 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 (2.48%) Azure Certification
12 25 (2.48%) CCIE
13 22 (2.18%) City & Guilds
13 22 (2.18%) PMP
13 22 (2.18%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 20 (1.98%) PMI Certification
15 17 (1.68%) BICSI Certification
15 17 (1.68%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (2.97%) SLA
2 27 (2.67%) QA
3 26 (2.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 19 (1.88%) NIST
5 16 (1.58%) PMO
6 13 (1.29%) NCSC
7 11 (1.09%) GDPR
8 9 (0.89%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.59%) GRC
10 4 (0.40%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.40%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.40%) RMADS
11 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.20%) WCAG
12 1 (0.099%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.099%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.099%) SOC 1
System Software
1 112 (11.09%) VMware Infrastructure
2 66 (6.53%) Active Directory
3 39 (3.86%) VMware NSX
4 37 (3.66%) vSphere
5 33 (3.27%) VMware ESXi
6 30 (2.97%) Firmware
7 27 (2.67%) Hyper-V
8 25 (2.48%) Docker
9 14 (1.39%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (1.09%) NFS
11 7 (0.69%) PowerHA
12 6 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
13 5 (0.50%) SRDF
13 5 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
14 4 (0.40%) BitLocker
14 4 (0.40%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.40%) VMware Workstation
15 3 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
15 3 (0.30%) Veritas Cluster Server
15 3 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 128 (12.67%) Ansible
2 98 (9.70%) Terraform
3 54 (5.35%) Kubernetes
4 47 (4.65%) FortiGate
5 25 (2.48%) Grafana
6 24 (2.38%) Microsoft Intune
7 23 (2.28%) Prometheus
8 15 (1.49%) vCenter Server
8 15 (1.49%) VxRail
9 11 (1.09%) Dell DRAC
9 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Clustering
9 11 (1.09%) NetBackup
9 11 (1.09%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 10 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
11 9 (0.89%) vMotion
12 8 (0.79%) PowerCLI
12 8 (0.79%) SCCM
13 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
14 6 (0.59%) Nagios
14 6 (0.59%) SCOM
Vendors
1 240 (23.76%) Cisco
2 157 (15.54%) VMware
3 107 (10.59%) Palo Alto
4 106 (10.50%) F5
5 105 (10.40%) Microsoft
6 82 (8.12%) Juniper
7 63 (6.24%) Arista
7 63 (6.24%) Fortinet
8 57 (5.64%) Dell
9 50 (4.95%) ServiceNow
10 40 (3.96%) SolarWinds
11 36 (3.56%) IBM
12 31 (3.07%) Aruba
13 30 (2.97%) CheckPoint
13 30 (2.97%) Splunk
14 28 (2.77%) Red Hat
15 25 (2.48%) Oracle
16 23 (2.28%) Google
17 22 (2.18%) Extreme Networks
18 21 (2.08%) HP