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

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 124 135 100
Rank change year-on-year +11 -35 -1
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 813 502 827
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.11% 2.06% 2.20%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.37% 6.04% 7.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 516 334 591
10th Percentile £315 £337 £300
25th Percentile £406 £416 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -7.38% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £612 £638
90th Percentile £713 £675 £700
UK median daily rate £482 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -5.95% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 15 35
10th Percentile £16.01 - £21.25
25th Percentile £18.07 £24.18 £22.04
Median hourly rate £22.27 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -9.71% -0.84% +14.77%
75th Percentile £72.00 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £76.36 £56.50 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £23.71 £24.66 £24.87
% change year-on-year -3.86% -0.84% +14.77%

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 12,771 8,317 11,597
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.08% 34.13% 30.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,125 5,454 7,584
10th Percentile £300 £300 £263
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £545 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.96% -0.91% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £670 £674
90th Percentile £749 £788 £788
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £536
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.05% -2.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 634 312 804
10th Percentile £15.86 £16.67 £12.31
25th Percentile £20.08 £22.27 £15.16
Median hourly rate £45.46 £34.25 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.73% +22.32% +24.44%
75th Percentile £70.00 £66.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.47 £84.90 £67.26
UK median hourly rate £45.00 £32.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +38.46% +16.07% +24.53%

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 April 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 April 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 April 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 +3 300 £530 +0.95% 184
North of England +20 185 £460 +8.24% 53
South East +3 163 £475 -5.00% 115
North West +12 96 £500 - 28
Yorkshire -9 75 £365 -5.93% 17
Midlands -39 64 £474 -24.16% 32
West Midlands -32 52 £474 -24.16% 14
South West -36 38 £525 -4.20% 31
East of England -22 34 £478 +13.14% 45
North East +1 16 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -24 11 £201 -59.75% 18
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 18 (2.21%) SharePoint
2 16 (1.97%) Confluence
3 15 (1.85%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (1.11%) CICS
5 4 (0.49%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.49%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.37%) nginx
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.25%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.25%) Tomcat
Applications
1 30 (3.69%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (2.21%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (1.48%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.37%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.74%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.25%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.25%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.25%) Primavera
4 1 (0.12%) Maximo
4 1 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 142 (17.47%) Azure
2 121 (14.88%) AWS
3 45 (5.54%) GCP
3 45 (5.54%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (2.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 17 (2.09%) SaaS
6 15 (1.85%) IaaS
7 14 (1.72%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 14 (1.72%) Entra ID
8 13 (1.60%) Power Platform
9 11 (1.35%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 11 (1.35%) PaaS
10 10 (1.23%) GitHub
11 9 (1.11%) Azure DevOps
11 9 (1.11%) OpenShift
12 8 (0.98%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (0.98%) AWS Direct Connect
13 7 (0.86%) Amazon S3
13 7 (0.86%) AWS CloudTrail
13 7 (0.86%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 239 (29.40%) Firewall
2 155 (19.07%) WAN
3 135 (16.61%) BGP
4 99 (12.18%) OSPF
5 93 (11.44%) LAN
6 87 (10.70%) VPN
7 86 (10.58%) Network Security
8 70 (8.61%) Structured Cabling
9 65 (8.00%) DNS
9 65 (8.00%) VXLAN
10 61 (7.50%) VLAN
11 60 (7.38%) SAN
12 51 (6.27%) DHCP
13 50 (6.15%) Wireless
14 42 (5.17%) Ethernet VPN
15 37 (4.55%) Cisco ISE
16 33 (4.06%) SD-WAN
17 31 (3.81%) TCP/IP
17 31 (3.81%) Wi-Fi
18 29 (3.57%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.11%) DataStage
2 8 (0.98%) Power BI
3 5 (0.62%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.49%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.49%) Power Query
4 4 (0.49%) PowerPivot
4 4 (0.49%) SAP Data Services
4 4 (0.49%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.37%) Big Data
5 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
6 2 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.25%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.25%) GIS
6 2 (0.25%) RDBMS
6 2 (0.25%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.12%) DB2
7 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.12%) MS Access
7 1 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 34 (4.18%) Git
2 31 (3.81%) JIRA
3 18 (2.21%) Jenkins
4 17 (2.09%) GitLab
5 9 (1.11%) Maven
6 4 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.49%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.49%) Subversion
7 2 (0.25%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.12%) AppScan
8 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.12%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.12%) Rational DOORS
General
1 217 (26.69%) Social Skills
2 125 (15.38%) Finance
3 96 (11.81%) Analytical Skills
4 76 (9.35%) Public Sector
5 53 (6.52%) Documentation Skills
6 40 (4.92%) Banking
7 37 (4.55%) Telecoms
8 28 (3.44%) Manufacturing
9 23 (2.83%) Legal
10 20 (2.46%) Retail
11 19 (2.34%) Marketing
12 18 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
13 15 (1.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (1.85%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (1.35%) Electronics
14 11 (1.35%) Organisational Skills
15 9 (1.11%) Investment Banking
16 8 (0.98%) Law
16 8 (0.98%) Military
17 7 (0.86%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 145 (17.84%) Network Engineer
2 119 (14.64%) Architect
3 73 (8.98%) Senior
4 72 (8.86%) Project Manager
5 61 (7.50%) Data Centre Engineer
6 44 (5.41%) Data Centre Manager
7 42 (5.17%) Network Architect
8 41 (5.04%) Analyst
9 34 (4.18%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 31 (3.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 31 (3.81%) Lead
11 30 (3.69%) Infrastructure Manager
12 29 (3.57%) IT Engineer
12 29 (3.57%) Solutions Architect
13 27 (3.32%) Cisco Engineer
14 26 (3.20%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 25 (3.08%) Field Engineer
16 24 (2.95%) Field Service Engineer
16 24 (2.95%) Infrastructure Project Manager
16 24 (2.95%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (4.06%) 802.1X
2 28 (3.44%) Middleware
3 9 (1.11%) LDAP
4 6 (0.74%) Spring
5 5 (0.62%) Jinja
5 5 (0.62%) NETCONF
5 5 (0.62%) Redfish
6 4 (0.49%) ADO
6 4 (0.49%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.49%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.49%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.49%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.49%) VML
6 4 (0.49%) XML
6 4 (0.49%) YANG
7 3 (0.37%) Kafka
7 3 (0.37%) REST
7 3 (0.37%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.25%) OpenLayers
Miscellaneous
1 42 (5.17%) Hybrid Cloud
2 30 (3.69%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (3.32%) Clustering
4 26 (3.20%) PKI
5 21 (2.58%) Driving Licence
6 19 (2.34%) Fibre Optics
6 19 (2.34%) Onboarding
7 16 (1.97%) Replication
7 16 (1.97%) Self-Motivation
8 14 (1.72%) Management Information System
8 14 (1.72%) Public Cloud
9 13 (1.60%) Cloud Native
10 12 (1.48%) CMDB
10 12 (1.48%) Mainframe
10 12 (1.48%) Private Cloud
11 11 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
12 9 (1.11%) BYOD
12 9 (1.11%) Enterprise Storage
12 9 (1.11%) VSAM
13 7 (0.86%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 104 (12.79%) Windows
2 87 (10.70%) Linux
3 39 (4.80%) Windows Server
4 26 (3.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (1.97%) Android
5 16 (1.97%) Mac OS
6 15 (1.85%) Unix
7 14 (1.72%) AIX
8 11 (1.35%) CentOS
8 11 (1.35%) Solaris
9 7 (0.86%) VMS
10 5 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.37%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.12%) Debian
13 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
13 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
2 131 (16.11%) Migration
3 93 (11.44%) Stakeholder Management
4 75 (9.23%) ITIL
5 65 (8.00%) Roadmaps
6 64 (7.87%) High Availability
7 63 (7.75%) Project Management
8 62 (7.63%) Continuous Improvement
9 61 (7.50%) Load Balancing
10 59 (7.26%) Change Management
11 57 (7.01%) Project Delivery
12 49 (6.03%) Agile
12 49 (6.03%) CI/CD
12 49 (6.03%) Infrastructure as Code
13 46 (5.66%) Data Centre Operations
14 44 (5.41%) Network Design
14 44 (5.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 42 (5.17%) Customer Service
15 42 (5.17%) ITSM
15 42 (5.17%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 82 (10.09%) Python
2 44 (5.41%) PowerShell
3 24 (2.95%) Bash
4 22 (2.71%) Java
5 21 (2.58%) SQL
6 16 (1.97%) Perl
7 13 (1.60%) Shell Script
8 11 (1.35%) COBOL
9 9 (1.11%) MATLAB
10 6 (0.74%) VBA
11 5 (0.62%) Bicep
11 5 (0.62%) Lisp
12 4 (0.49%) JavaScript
13 2 (0.25%) C++
13 2 (0.25%) Korn
13 2 (0.25%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.12%) Go
14 1 (0.12%) Ruby
14 1 (0.12%) Scala
14 1 (0.12%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 272 (33.46%) Security Cleared
2 200 (24.60%) SC Cleared
3 163 (20.05%) Cisco Certification
4 113 (13.90%) CCNP
5 69 (8.49%) CCNA
6 65 (8.00%) Degree
7 59 (7.26%) DV Cleared
8 28 (3.44%) Network+ Certification
9 23 (2.83%) CCIE
9 23 (2.83%) Microsoft Certification
10 22 (2.71%) A+ Certification
10 22 (2.71%) MCSE
10 22 (2.71%) PMP
11 20 (2.46%) AWS Certification
12 18 (2.21%) PMI Certification
13 16 (1.97%) JNCIS
14 15 (1.85%) Azure Certification
15 14 (1.72%) JNCIP
16 12 (1.48%) JNCIA
16 12 (1.48%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 27 (3.32%) SLA
2 23 (2.83%) PMO
3 22 (2.71%) GDPR
3 22 (2.71%) NIST
4 17 (2.09%) PCI DSS
5 15 (1.85%) QA
6 8 (0.98%) NCSC
7 5 (0.62%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.49%) GRC
9 3 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.25%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.25%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.12%) COBIT
11 1 (0.12%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.12%) RMADS
11 1 (0.12%) SOC 1
System Software
1 70 (8.61%) VMware Infrastructure
2 55 (6.77%) Active Directory
3 33 (4.06%) VMware NSX
4 21 (2.58%) Firmware
4 21 (2.58%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.85%) Hyper-V
6 14 (1.72%) Docker
6 14 (1.72%) VMware ESXi
7 13 (1.60%) vSphere
8 10 (1.23%) KVM
9 3 (0.37%) PowerHA
10 2 (0.25%) Ceph
10 2 (0.25%) Lustre
10 2 (0.25%) NFS
10 2 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.25%) SRDF
10 2 (0.25%) vCloud
10 2 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.12%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 82 (10.09%) Ansible
2 68 (8.36%) Terraform
3 46 (5.66%) FortiGate
4 37 (4.55%) Kubernetes
5 27 (3.32%) Grafana
6 20 (2.46%) Prometheus
7 17 (2.09%) SCCM
8 15 (1.85%) Microsoft Intune
9 9 (1.11%) Check_MK
9 9 (1.11%) Podman
9 9 (1.11%) Red Hat Satellite
10 7 (0.86%) SCOM
11 5 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.62%) Dell DRAC
11 5 (0.62%) Endace
11 5 (0.62%) vCenter Server
12 4 (0.49%) CASB
12 4 (0.49%) Nagios
12 4 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
13 3 (0.37%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 242 (29.77%) Cisco
2 103 (12.67%) Palo Alto
2 103 (12.67%) VMware
3 80 (9.84%) Microsoft
4 75 (9.23%) Juniper
5 68 (8.36%) Dell
6 61 (7.50%) F5
7 41 (5.04%) CheckPoint
8 37 (4.55%) Arista
9 36 (4.43%) Aruba
9 36 (4.43%) Fortinet
10 35 (4.31%) ServiceNow
11 34 (4.18%) SolarWinds
12 32 (3.94%) Meraki
13 28 (3.44%) IBM
14 27 (3.32%) HP
14 27 (3.32%) Splunk
15 22 (2.71%) Citrix
15 22 (2.71%) Google
15 22 (2.71%) Red Hat