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

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 113 124 110
Rank change year-on-year +11 -14 -13
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,017 634 710
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.23% 2.30% 2.13%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.68% 6.52% 6.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 625 419 504
10th Percentile £325 £312 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.37% -2.23%
75th Percentile £638 £612 £625
90th Percentile £775 £700 £688
UK median daily rate £514 £510 £538
% change year-on-year +0.78% -5.12% -0.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 64 23 28
10th Percentile £16.01 £25.06 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.21 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £25.39 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +0.93% +5.67% +1.28%
75th Percentile £38.75 £39.38 £25.83
90th Percentile £86.68 £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 15,225 9,723 10,280
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.36% 35.24% 30.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,360 6,153 6,671
10th Percentile £325 £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 £679
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 885 483 550
10th Percentile £15.24 £15.48 £12.50
25th Percentile £19.50 £18.87 £18.50
Median hourly rate £43.56 £32.05 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +35.91% -32.53% +14.46%
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% +12.50%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 +12 397 £550 +2.80% 460
North of England -5 224 £486 +14.41% 120
South East -5 210 £525 +6.60% 110
Yorkshire -3 130 £365 -9.88% 30
North West -8 79 £525 +1.69% 46
South West -25 64 £513 -6.82% 44
Midlands -63 57 £456 -13.14% 31
West Midlands -60 52 £466 -6.82% 20
East of England -20 30 £483 -19.58% 63
North East -23 21 £625 +468.18% 44
East Midlands -23 4 £363 -33.49% 11
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 (2.75%) Confluence
2 15 (1.47%) SharePoint
3 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.69%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.59%) CICS
6 5 (0.49%) Apache
6 5 (0.49%) CloudStack
7 3 (0.29%) nginx
7 3 (0.29%) Tomcat
7 3 (0.29%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.098%) IIS
8 1 (0.098%) SAS
Applications
1 18 (1.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (1.57%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.98%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.49%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
9 1 (0.098%) Adobe Illustrator
Business Applications
1 11 (1.08%) 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%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 220 (21.63%) Azure
2 185 (18.19%) AWS
3 47 (4.62%) GCP
4 37 (3.64%) IaaS
5 35 (3.44%) GitHub
6 34 (3.34%) SaaS
7 32 (3.15%) Microsoft 365
8 29 (2.85%) OCI
9 22 (2.16%) Entra ID
10 17 (1.67%) PaaS
10 17 (1.67%) Power Platform
11 14 (1.38%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 13 (1.28%) OpenShift
13 12 (1.18%) OneDrive
14 11 (1.08%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 10 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
16 8 (0.79%) Azure Sentinel
16 8 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
17 5 (0.49%) Datadog
17 5 (0.49%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 267 (26.25%) Firewall
2 172 (16.91%) WAN
3 164 (16.13%) BGP
4 129 (12.68%) DNS
5 120 (11.80%) OSPF
6 110 (10.82%) VXLAN
7 101 (9.93%) SAN
8 98 (9.64%) DHCP
9 96 (9.44%) LAN
10 91 (8.95%) VLAN
11 89 (8.75%) VPN
12 82 (8.06%) Network Security
13 75 (7.37%) TCP/IP
14 72 (7.08%) SD-WAN
14 72 (7.08%) Structured Cabling
15 71 (6.98%) Ethernet VPN
16 57 (5.60%) BIG-IP
17 51 (5.01%) Wireless
18 44 (4.33%) Wi-Fi
19 43 (4.23%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (2.16%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.28%) Power BI
3 9 (0.88%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 9 (0.88%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 9 (0.88%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.59%) Big Data
5 6 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.49%) DataStage
6 5 (0.49%) Db2
7 4 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.39%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
8 3 (0.29%) GIS
8 3 (0.29%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 73 (7.18%) JIRA
2 28 (2.75%) GitLab
3 23 (2.26%) Git
4 20 (1.97%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.39%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.39%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.39%) Maven
6 4 (0.39%) Subversion
7 3 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
7 3 (0.29%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.20%) MSI
8 2 (0.20%) Toad
9 1 (0.098%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.098%) Claude Code
General
1 251 (24.68%) Social Skills
2 144 (14.16%) Finance
3 104 (10.23%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (6.10%) Public Sector
5 47 (4.62%) Banking
6 42 (4.13%) Telecoms
7 36 (3.54%) Documentation Skills
8 29 (2.85%) Retail
9 23 (2.26%) Influencing Skills
10 19 (1.87%) Legal
11 17 (1.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (1.47%) Manufacturing
13 11 (1.08%) 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 (0.29%) Billing
Job Titles
1 146 (14.36%) Network Engineer
2 144 (14.16%) Architect
3 127 (12.49%) Senior
4 111 (10.91%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 84 (8.26%) Data Centre Engineer
6 76 (7.47%) Project Manager
7 56 (5.51%) Network Architect
8 53 (5.21%) Lead
9 38 (3.74%) Data Centre Manager
9 38 (3.74%) Infrastructure Manager
9 38 (3.74%) IT Engineer
10 35 (3.44%) Field Engineer
11 32 (3.15%) Field Service Engineer
12 30 (2.95%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 30 (2.95%) Senior Network Engineer
13 28 (2.75%) Support Engineer
14 27 (2.65%) Consultant
14 27 (2.65%) Infrastructure Project Manager
14 27 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
15 26 (2.56%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.05%) 802.1X
2 27 (2.65%) Middleware
3 10 (0.98%) Redfish
3 10 (0.98%) REST
4 8 (0.79%) LDAP
4 8 (0.79%) NETCONF
5 7 (0.69%) Elastic Stack
5 7 (0.69%) OpenConfig
5 7 (0.69%) YANG
6 6 (0.59%) RESTCONF
6 6 (0.59%) SAML
6 6 (0.59%) Spring
7 5 (0.49%) .NET
7 5 (0.49%) Jinja
7 5 (0.49%) XML
7 5 (0.49%) YAML
8 4 (0.39%) GeoJSON
8 4 (0.39%) RESTful
9 3 (0.29%) OpenLayers
9 3 (0.29%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 69 (6.78%) Hybrid Cloud
2 50 (4.92%) PKI
3 45 (4.42%) Clustering
4 40 (3.93%) Analytical Mindset
5 34 (3.34%) Cloud Native
6 29 (2.85%) Enterprise Storage
7 28 (2.75%) Private Cloud
8 26 (2.56%) Fibre Optics
9 24 (2.36%) Onboarding
10 22 (2.16%) Replication
11 18 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
11 18 (1.77%) Public Cloud
12 16 (1.57%) Driving Licence
13 15 (1.47%) Management Information System
14 13 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
15 12 (1.18%) CMDB
15 12 (1.18%) Operational Technology
16 11 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
16 11 (1.08%) Mainframe
16 11 (1.08%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 150 (14.75%) Windows
2 97 (9.54%) Linux
3 41 (4.03%) Windows Server
4 34 (3.34%) Unix
5 22 (2.16%) AIX
5 22 (2.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 13 (1.28%) Solaris
7 10 (0.98%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.98%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.49%) HPUX
9 5 (0.49%) Oracle Linux
9 5 (0.49%) SUSE
9 5 (0.49%) VMS
9 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2008
9 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.39%) CentOS
10 4 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
11 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.20%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 217 (21.34%) Migration
2 174 (17.11%) Problem-Solving
3 136 (13.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 127 (12.49%) Stakeholder Management
5 104 (10.23%) ITIL
6 94 (9.24%) Agile
6 94 (9.24%) High Availability
7 93 (9.14%) Infrastructure as Code
8 88 (8.65%) CI/CD
9 80 (7.87%) Change Management
10 78 (7.67%) Continuous Improvement
10 78 (7.67%) Roadmaps
11 76 (7.47%) Project Delivery
12 71 (6.98%) Load Balancing
13 67 (6.59%) Project Management
13 67 (6.59%) Zero Trust
14 65 (6.39%) Validation
15 63 (6.19%) ITSM
16 62 (6.10%) Technical Leadership
17 60 (5.90%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 143 (14.06%) Python
2 53 (5.21%) PowerShell
3 39 (3.83%) SQL
4 29 (2.85%) Bash
5 16 (1.57%) Java
6 11 (1.08%) Bicep
7 10 (0.98%) Perl
7 10 (0.98%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.88%) ActionScript
8 9 (0.88%) PL/SQL
9 7 (0.69%) COBOL
10 5 (0.49%) C#
10 5 (0.49%) JavaScript
11 4 (0.39%) MATLAB
12 3 (0.29%) 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
1 280 (27.53%) Security Cleared
2 173 (17.01%) SC Cleared
3 165 (16.22%) Cisco Certification
4 101 (9.93%) DV Cleared
5 93 (9.14%) CCNP
6 63 (6.19%) CCNA
7 60 (5.90%) Degree
8 45 (4.42%) Network+ Certification
9 36 (3.54%) Microsoft Certification
10 30 (2.95%) A+ Certification
10 30 (2.95%) MCSE
11 27 (2.65%) AWS Certification
12 26 (2.56%) Azure Certification
13 25 (2.46%) CCIE
14 22 (2.16%) City & Guilds
14 22 (2.16%) PMP
14 22 (2.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 20 (1.97%) PMI Certification
16 17 (1.67%) BICSI Certification
16 17 (1.67%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (2.95%) SLA
2 27 (2.65%) QA
3 26 (2.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 19 (1.87%) NIST
5 17 (1.67%) PMO
6 13 (1.28%) NCSC
7 11 (1.08%) GDPR
8 9 (0.88%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.59%) GRC
10 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.39%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.39%) 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 (0.098%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.098%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.098%) SOC 1
System Software
1 111 (10.91%) VMware Infrastructure
2 65 (6.39%) Active Directory
3 38 (3.74%) VMware NSX
4 37 (3.64%) vSphere
5 33 (3.24%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (3.05%) Firmware
7 28 (2.75%) Hyper-V
8 24 (2.36%) Docker
9 15 (1.47%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (1.08%) 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 (0.39%) BitLocker
14 4 (0.39%) KVM
14 4 (0.39%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.39%) VMware Workstation
15 3 (0.29%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 126 (12.39%) Ansible
2 99 (9.73%) Terraform
3 54 (5.31%) Kubernetes
4 47 (4.62%) FortiGate
5 26 (2.56%) Grafana
6 24 (2.36%) Microsoft Intune
6 24 (2.36%) Prometheus
7 15 (1.47%) vCenter Server
7 15 (1.47%) VxRail
8 11 (1.08%) Dell DRAC
8 11 (1.08%) Microsoft Clustering
8 11 (1.08%) NetBackup
8 11 (1.08%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 10 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
10 9 (0.88%) vMotion
11 8 (0.79%) PowerCLI
12 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
12 7 (0.69%) SCCM
13 6 (0.59%) Nagios
13 6 (0.59%) SCOM
Vendors
1 241 (23.70%) Cisco
2 157 (15.44%) VMware
3 109 (10.72%) Palo Alto
4 106 (10.42%) F5
5 105 (10.32%) Microsoft
6 83 (8.16%) Juniper
7 64 (6.29%) Arista
7 64 (6.29%) Fortinet
8 58 (5.70%) Dell
9 48 (4.72%) ServiceNow
10 40 (3.93%) SolarWinds
11 38 (3.74%) IBM
12 33 (3.24%) Aruba
13 32 (3.15%) CheckPoint
14 30 (2.95%) Splunk
15 26 (2.56%) Red Hat
16 25 (2.46%) Oracle
17 23 (2.26%) Google
18 22 (2.16%) Extreme Networks
19 21 (2.06%) HP