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

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 106 128 105
Rank change year-on-year +22 -23 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,031 601 763
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.30% 2.20% 2.16%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.92% 6.33% 6.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 633 394 537
10th Percentile £325 £313 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £638 £606 £625
90th Percentile £750 £688 £693
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £538
% change year-on-year -1.96% -5.12% -1.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 20 38
10th Percentile £16.01 £25.04 £12.04
25th Percentile £18.07 - £18.91
Median hourly rate £19.85 £25.15 £23.90
Median % change year-on-year -21.07% +5.23% +8.22%
75th Percentile £35.22 £40.94 £28.69
90th Percentile £78.75 £49.38 £40.00
UK median hourly rate £19.85 £25.15 £23.80
% change year-on-year -21.07% +5.67% +14.95%

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 14,893 9,501 10,973
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.20% 34.80% 31.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,247 6,011 7,112
10th Percentile £316 £306 £300
25th Percentile £421 £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 £540
% change year-on-year - -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 796 472 686
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £12.28
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.87 £16.00
Median hourly rate £43.96 £33.00 £41.13
Median % change year-on-year +33.21% -19.76% +4.34%
75th Percentile £72.50 £60.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £87.50 £80.00 £73.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £38.00
% change year-on-year +46.53% -21.05% +8.57%

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 22 July 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 22 July 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 22 July 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 +13 393 £550 +3.77% 374
North of England +4 243 £480 +3.01% 53
South East 0 213 £505 +1.76% 110
Yorkshire +3 136 £365 -18.89% 16
North West -8 87 £516 -1.81% 23
Midlands -54 58 £465 -13.89% 20
South West -34 54 £495 -10.00% 31
West Midlands -47 53 £470 -8.21% 14
East of England -12 32 £500 +11.11% 36
North East -12 26 £625 +468.18% 14
East Midlands -21 4 £363 -34.09% 6
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 23 (2.23%) Confluence
2 16 (1.55%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.07%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (0.97%) CICS
5 7 (0.68%) OpenStack
6 5 (0.48%) Apache
6 5 (0.48%) CloudStack
7 4 (0.39%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.29%) nginx
8 3 (0.29%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.097%) IIS
9 1 (0.097%) SAS
Applications
1 16 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
1 16 (1.55%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (0.97%) MS Visio
4 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.48%) AutoCAD
6 3 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.19%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 4 (0.39%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.19%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.19%) Primavera
4 1 (0.097%) OpenText MBPM
4 1 (0.097%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 228 (22.11%) Azure
2 184 (17.85%) AWS
3 55 (5.33%) GCP
4 39 (3.78%) IaaS
4 39 (3.78%) Microsoft 365
5 36 (3.49%) GitHub
6 33 (3.20%) SaaS
7 30 (2.91%) OCI
8 24 (2.33%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.84%) PaaS
10 17 (1.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 15 (1.45%) OpenShift
12 13 (1.26%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 13 (1.26%) OneDrive
13 11 (1.07%) Azure DevOps
13 11 (1.07%) Power Platform
14 9 (0.87%) Azure Sentinel
15 8 (0.78%) GitHub Actions
16 5 (0.48%) Amazon EKS
16 5 (0.48%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 276 (26.77%) Firewall
2 180 (17.46%) WAN
3 174 (16.88%) BGP
4 129 (12.51%) OSPF
5 124 (12.03%) DNS
6 108 (10.48%) VXLAN
7 104 (10.09%) LAN
8 102 (9.89%) SAN
9 100 (9.70%) VPN
10 95 (9.21%) VLAN
11 93 (9.02%) DHCP
12 91 (8.83%) Network Security
13 77 (7.47%) Structured Cabling
14 73 (7.08%) Ethernet VPN
15 72 (6.98%) SD-WAN
16 68 (6.60%) TCP/IP
17 57 (5.53%) BIG-IP
18 52 (5.04%) Wireless
19 44 (4.27%) NAS
19 44 (4.27%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (1.36%) SQL Server
2 9 (0.87%) DataStage
3 7 (0.68%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (0.58%) Big Data
4 6 (0.58%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.58%) Power BI
5 5 (0.48%) Db2
6 4 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.39%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
6 4 (0.39%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
6 4 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
6 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
7 3 (0.29%) GIS
8 2 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.19%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 68 (6.60%) JIRA
2 29 (2.81%) GitLab
3 24 (2.33%) Git
4 22 (2.13%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.48%) 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 (0.19%) MSI
8 2 (0.19%) Toad
9 1 (0.097%) AppScan
9 1 (0.097%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.097%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.097%) Metasploit
General
1 262 (25.41%) Social Skills
2 149 (14.45%) Finance
3 104 (10.09%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (6.60%) Public Sector
5 44 (4.27%) Banking
5 44 (4.27%) Documentation Skills
6 43 (4.17%) Telecoms
7 27 (2.62%) Retail
8 26 (2.52%) Influencing Skills
9 25 (2.42%) Legal
10 17 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 16 (1.55%) Manufacturing
12 11 (1.07%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.87%) Military
14 8 (0.78%) Law
14 8 (0.78%) Police
15 6 (0.58%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.58%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.58%) Marketing
16 4 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 155 (15.03%) Network Engineer
2 144 (13.97%) Architect
3 130 (12.61%) Senior
4 109 (10.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 91 (8.83%) Data Centre Engineer
6 76 (7.37%) Project Manager
7 57 (5.53%) Network Architect
8 52 (5.04%) Lead
9 39 (3.78%) Infrastructure Manager
9 39 (3.78%) IT Engineer
10 37 (3.59%) Data Centre Manager
10 37 (3.59%) Field Engineer
11 34 (3.30%) Field Service Engineer
12 30 (2.91%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 29 (2.81%) Senior Network Engineer
14 28 (2.72%) Support Engineer
15 27 (2.62%) Consultant
15 27 (2.62%) Infrastructure Project Manager
15 27 (2.62%) IT Support
16 25 (2.42%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.01%) 802.1X
2 30 (2.91%) Middleware
3 10 (0.97%) Redfish
4 8 (0.78%) LDAP
4 8 (0.78%) REST
5 7 (0.68%) Elastic Stack
5 7 (0.68%) NETCONF
5 7 (0.68%) Spring
6 6 (0.58%) OpenConfig
6 6 (0.58%) RESTCONF
6 6 (0.58%) SAML
6 6 (0.58%) YANG
7 5 (0.48%) Jinja
7 5 (0.48%) Kafka
7 5 (0.48%) XML
8 4 (0.39%) .NET
8 4 (0.39%) GeoJSON
8 4 (0.39%) RESTful
8 4 (0.39%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.39%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 70 (6.79%) Hybrid Cloud
2 43 (4.17%) PKI
3 42 (4.07%) Analytical Mindset
4 37 (3.59%) Clustering
5 34 (3.30%) Cloud Native
6 30 (2.91%) Private Cloud
7 28 (2.72%) Fibre Optics
8 27 (2.62%) Enterprise Storage
9 24 (2.33%) Onboarding
10 23 (2.23%) Replication
11 18 (1.75%) Driving Licence
11 18 (1.75%) Public Cloud
12 15 (1.45%) Mainframe
12 15 (1.45%) Management Information System
13 14 (1.36%) Data Protection Act
14 13 (1.26%) CMDB
14 13 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
15 11 (1.07%) Operational Technology
16 9 (0.87%) Legacy Systems
16 9 (0.87%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 139 (13.48%) Windows
2 104 (10.09%) Linux
3 37 (3.59%) Windows Server
4 35 (3.39%) Unix
5 25 (2.42%) AIX
6 24 (2.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 17 (1.65%) Solaris
8 10 (0.97%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.97%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.58%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.48%) HPUX
10 5 (0.48%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.48%) SUSE
10 5 (0.48%) VMS
11 4 (0.39%) CentOS
11 4 (0.39%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.19%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 205 (19.88%) Migration
2 175 (16.97%) Problem-Solving
3 135 (13.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 118 (11.45%) Stakeholder Management
5 105 (10.18%) ITIL
6 92 (8.92%) High Availability
7 90 (8.73%) CI/CD
7 90 (8.73%) Infrastructure as Code
8 85 (8.24%) Agile
9 82 (7.95%) Roadmaps
10 80 (7.76%) Continuous Improvement
11 78 (7.57%) Change Management
12 73 (7.08%) Load Balancing
12 73 (7.08%) Project Delivery
13 69 (6.69%) Zero Trust
14 67 (6.50%) Project Management
15 65 (6.30%) Validation
16 62 (6.01%) DevOps
17 60 (5.82%) ITSM
17 60 (5.82%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 142 (13.77%) Python
2 43 (4.17%) PowerShell
3 31 (3.01%) SQL
4 26 (2.52%) Bash
5 17 (1.65%) Java
6 12 (1.16%) Bicep
7 11 (1.07%) COBOL
7 11 (1.07%) Perl
7 11 (1.07%) Shell Script
8 9 (0.87%) ActionScript
9 8 (0.78%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.48%) JavaScript
11 4 (0.39%) C#
11 4 (0.39%) Lisp
11 4 (0.39%) MATLAB
12 2 (0.19%) C++
12 2 (0.19%) JCL
12 2 (0.19%) REXX
12 2 (0.19%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.097%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 273 (26.48%) Security Cleared
2 175 (16.97%) Cisco Certification
3 169 (16.39%) SC Cleared
4 103 (9.99%) CCNP
5 96 (9.31%) DV Cleared
6 68 (6.60%) CCNA
7 60 (5.82%) Degree
8 47 (4.56%) Network+ Certification
9 38 (3.69%) Microsoft Certification
10 32 (3.10%) A+ Certification
10 32 (3.10%) MCSE
11 26 (2.52%) Azure Certification
12 25 (2.42%) CCIE
13 23 (2.23%) AWS Certification
13 23 (2.23%) PMP
14 22 (2.13%) City & Guilds
14 22 (2.13%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 20 (1.94%) PMI Certification
16 17 (1.65%) BICSI Certification
16 17 (1.65%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (2.72%) SLA
2 24 (2.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 21 (2.04%) NIST
4 20 (1.94%) QA
5 19 (1.84%) PMO
6 15 (1.45%) GDPR
6 15 (1.45%) NCSC
7 9 (0.87%) GRC
8 8 (0.78%) PCI DSS
9 6 (0.58%) JSP 440
10 5 (0.48%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.48%) RMADS
11 3 (0.29%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.19%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.19%) WCAG
13 1 (0.097%) COBIT
13 1 (0.097%) NEBOSH
13 1 (0.097%) SOC 1
System Software
1 102 (9.89%) VMware Infrastructure
2 57 (5.53%) Active Directory
3 36 (3.49%) VMware ESXi
4 34 (3.30%) vSphere
5 32 (3.10%) Firmware
5 32 (3.10%) VMware NSX
6 28 (2.72%) Hyper-V
7 20 (1.94%) Docker
7 20 (1.94%) Virtual Machines
8 11 (1.07%) NFS
9 8 (0.78%) KVM
10 6 (0.58%) Microsoft App-V
10 6 (0.58%) PowerHA
11 5 (0.48%) SRDF
11 5 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
12 4 (0.39%) BitLocker
12 4 (0.39%) Terminal Services
12 4 (0.39%) VMware Workstation
13 3 (0.29%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 122 (11.83%) Ansible
2 96 (9.31%) Terraform
3 51 (4.95%) Kubernetes
4 47 (4.56%) FortiGate
5 28 (2.72%) Grafana
6 26 (2.52%) Microsoft Intune
6 26 (2.52%) Prometheus
7 17 (1.65%) vCenter Server
8 11 (1.07%) NetBackup
9 10 (0.97%) Dell DRAC
9 10 (0.97%) Jamf Pro
9 10 (0.97%) PowerCLI
9 10 (0.97%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 8 (0.78%) vMotion
10 8 (0.78%) VxRail
11 7 (0.68%) Check_MK
11 7 (0.68%) SCCM
12 6 (0.58%) Nagios
13 5 (0.48%) EMC NetWorker
13 5 (0.48%) EMC VPLEX
Vendors
1 252 (24.44%) Cisco
2 148 (14.35%) VMware
3 113 (10.96%) Palo Alto
4 107 (10.38%) Microsoft
5 106 (10.28%) F5
6 85 (8.24%) Juniper
7 66 (6.40%) Fortinet
8 65 (6.30%) Arista
9 61 (5.92%) Dell
10 49 (4.75%) ServiceNow
11 41 (3.98%) SolarWinds
12 40 (3.88%) IBM
13 34 (3.30%) Aruba
14 33 (3.20%) CheckPoint
15 29 (2.81%) Splunk
16 28 (2.72%) Google
16 28 (2.72%) Red Hat
17 25 (2.42%) Oracle
18 22 (2.13%) Extreme Networks
19 20 (1.94%) HP