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

6 months to
24 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 132 109
Rank change year-on-year +5 -23 -13
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,008 621 698
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.16% 2.23% 2.14%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.36% 6.18% 6.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 639 406 445
10th Percentile £349 £300 £371
25th Percentile £423 £405 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year +2.29% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £653 £611 £613
90th Percentile £750 £725 £700
UK median daily rate £525 £515 £535
% change year-on-year +1.94% -3.74% -0.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 34 26
10th Percentile £17.50 - £11.75
25th Percentile £19.33 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £21.90
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% +14.84% -6.81%
75th Percentile £54.25 £35.00 £26.50
90th Percentile £78.75 £43.75 £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 15,839 10,043 10,068
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.00% 36.09% 30.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,567 6,300 6,153
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £425 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £638 £649 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £515 £538
% change year-on-year +1.92% -4.26% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,092 509 395
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.43 £15.27
25th Percentile £17.97 £18.87 £24.17
Median hourly rate £37.50 £31.36 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +19.58% -45.32% +25.08%
75th Percentile £69.75 £56.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £74.00 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £29.17 £50.00
% change year-on-year +28.56% -41.66% +12.36%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 +14 414 £550 - 1,142
North of England +2 224 £500 +4.38% 191
South East -14 168 £550 +22.22% 262
Yorkshire +10 136 £485 +7.78% 44
North West -26 72 £538 -0.92% 96
South West -19 65 £621 +12.82% 67
Midlands -64 59 £475 -5.10% 105
West Midlands -56 48 £488 -2.50% 83
East of England -15 40 £483 -19.58% 118
North East -23 22 £625 - 52
East Midlands -24 11 £413 -21.43% 22
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 26 (2.58%) Confluence
2 17 (1.69%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.89%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.60%) IIS
6 5 (0.50%) Apache
6 5 (0.50%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.20%) CICS
8 1 (0.099%) nginx
8 1 (0.099%) SAS
8 1 (0.099%) Tomcat
Applications
1 19 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.69%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.99%) MS Visio
4 9 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.50%) AutoCAD
7 4 (0.40%) Navisworks
7 4 (0.40%) Revit
8 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (1.09%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.099%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.099%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.099%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.099%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 228 (22.62%) Azure
2 180 (17.86%) AWS
3 54 (5.36%) GCP
4 50 (4.96%) GitHub
5 43 (4.27%) IaaS
6 38 (3.77%) SaaS
7 33 (3.27%) Microsoft 365
8 32 (3.17%) Entra ID
9 29 (2.88%) OCI
10 19 (1.88%) PaaS
11 16 (1.59%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 15 (1.49%) Azure DevOps
12 15 (1.49%) Power Platform
13 14 (1.39%) OneDrive
13 14 (1.39%) OpenShift
14 10 (0.99%) AWS Direct Connect
14 10 (0.99%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 6 (0.60%) GitHub Actions
16 5 (0.50%) Azure Monitor
16 5 (0.50%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 244 (24.21%) Firewall
2 157 (15.58%) WAN
3 153 (15.18%) BGP
4 120 (11.90%) DNS
5 100 (9.92%) VLAN
6 97 (9.62%) Network Security
6 97 (9.62%) VXLAN
7 93 (9.23%) OSPF
8 91 (9.03%) VPN
9 88 (8.73%) SAN
10 85 (8.43%) LAN
11 83 (8.23%) DHCP
12 75 (7.44%) TCP/IP
13 69 (6.85%) SD-WAN
14 68 (6.75%) Ethernet VPN
15 58 (5.75%) Wireless
16 50 (4.96%) Wi-Fi
17 49 (4.86%) BIG-IP
18 48 (4.76%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 48 (4.76%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (3.27%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.49%) Power BI
3 11 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.99%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.60%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (0.50%) Db2
8 4 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
8 4 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (0.40%) Oracle Database 12c
8 4 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.30%) Big Data
9 3 (0.30%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.20%) Flink
10 2 (0.20%) Metadata
10 2 (0.20%) Sybase ASE
10 2 (0.20%) Sybase IQ
Development Applications
1 70 (6.94%) JIRA
2 39 (3.87%) GitLab
3 27 (2.68%) Jenkins
4 25 (2.48%) Git
5 6 (0.60%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.20%) MSI
7 2 (0.20%) Toad
8 1 (0.099%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.099%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.099%) Claude Code
General
1 244 (24.21%) Social Skills
2 162 (16.07%) Finance
3 86 (8.53%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (6.05%) Banking
5 45 (4.46%) Public Sector
6 43 (4.27%) Telecoms
7 41 (4.07%) Documentation Skills
8 26 (2.58%) Retail
9 24 (2.38%) Legal
10 17 (1.69%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.59%) Manufacturing
12 13 (1.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 13 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (0.69%) Police
14 6 (0.60%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.60%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.50%) Cyber-Physical System
15 5 (0.50%) Law
16 4 (0.40%) Marketing
16 4 (0.40%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 168 (16.67%) Network Engineer
2 159 (15.77%) Architect
3 129 (12.80%) Senior
4 105 (10.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 71 (7.04%) Project Manager
6 69 (6.85%) Lead
7 67 (6.65%) Data Centre Engineer
8 62 (6.15%) Network Architect
9 40 (3.97%) Consultant
10 36 (3.57%) Senior Network Engineer
11 35 (3.47%) Data Centre Manager
11 35 (3.47%) IT Engineer
12 31 (3.08%) Infrastructure Manager
13 30 (2.98%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 27 (2.68%) Solutions Architect
14 27 (2.68%) Technical Manager
15 24 (2.38%) Administrator
15 24 (2.38%) Analyst
16 23 (2.28%) Field Engineer
16 23 (2.28%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 106 (10.52%) Terraform
2 27 (2.68%) REST
3 21 (2.08%) Middleware
4 18 (1.79%) YAML
5 14 (1.39%) 802.1X
5 14 (1.39%) JSON
6 11 (1.09%) .NET
7 8 (0.79%) LDAP
8 7 (0.69%) NETCONF
9 6 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
9 6 (0.60%) Redfish
9 6 (0.60%) SAML
10 5 (0.50%) Kafka
10 5 (0.50%) OpenConfig
10 5 (0.50%) RESTCONF
10 5 (0.50%) YANG
11 4 (0.40%) GeoJSON
11 4 (0.40%) RESTful
12 3 (0.30%) .NET Framework
13 2 (0.20%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 82 (8.13%) Hybrid Cloud
2 41 (4.07%) Public Cloud
3 35 (3.47%) Private Cloud
4 32 (3.17%) Cloud Native
5 31 (3.08%) PKI
6 28 (2.78%) Enterprise Storage
6 28 (2.78%) Replication
7 27 (2.68%) Analytical Mindset
8 24 (2.38%) Clustering
9 22 (2.18%) Onboarding
10 20 (1.98%) Data Protection Act
11 19 (1.88%) Operational Technology
12 17 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
13 16 (1.59%) Fibre Optics
13 16 (1.59%) Management Information System
14 14 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
15 13 (1.29%) CMDB
16 12 (1.19%) Driving Licence
17 11 (1.09%) Virtual Team
18 10 (0.99%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 163 (16.17%) Windows
2 104 (10.32%) Linux
3 63 (6.25%) Windows Server
4 31 (3.08%) Unix
5 18 (1.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.39%) AIX
7 11 (1.09%) Mac OS
8 10 (0.99%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.79%) Solaris
9 8 (0.79%) VMS
10 6 (0.60%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.50%) HPUX
11 5 (0.50%) Oracle Linux
11 5 (0.50%) SUSE
12 4 (0.40%) CentOS
12 4 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
12 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
12 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 228 (22.62%) Migration
2 152 (15.08%) Problem-Solving
3 147 (14.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 137 (13.59%) Stakeholder Management
5 114 (11.31%) Infrastructure as Code
6 99 (9.82%) ITIL
7 97 (9.62%) Agile
8 93 (9.23%) CI/CD
9 83 (8.23%) Validation
10 81 (8.04%) Continuous Improvement
10 81 (8.04%) Project Delivery
11 79 (7.84%) High Availability
12 77 (7.64%) Disaster Recovery
13 75 (7.44%) Roadmaps
14 73 (7.24%) Zero Trust
15 69 (6.85%) Change Management
16 67 (6.65%) Cybersecurity
17 63 (6.25%) Technical Leadership
18 61 (6.05%) ITSM
19 60 (5.95%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 149 (14.78%) Python
2 62 (6.15%) PowerShell
3 43 (4.27%) SQL
4 30 (2.98%) Bash
5 15 (1.49%) ActionScript
6 11 (1.09%) Bicep
6 11 (1.09%) C#
7 8 (0.79%) Shell Script
7 8 (0.79%) T-SQL
8 7 (0.69%) PL/SQL
9 6 (0.60%) Perl
10 4 (0.40%) Go
10 4 (0.40%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.30%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.30%) Lisp
12 2 (0.20%) Java
12 2 (0.20%) JCL
12 2 (0.20%) REXX
12 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.099%) R
Qualifications
1 260 (25.79%) Security Cleared
2 167 (16.57%) SC Cleared
3 134 (13.29%) Cisco Certification
4 94 (9.33%) DV Cleared
5 84 (8.33%) CCNP
6 56 (5.56%) Degree
7 48 (4.76%) CCNA
8 31 (3.08%) Network+ Certification
9 30 (2.98%) AWS Certification
10 27 (2.68%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 25 (2.48%) Microsoft Certification
12 23 (2.28%) Azure Certification
12 23 (2.28%) CCIE
12 23 (2.28%) CISSP
13 22 (2.18%) PMI Certification
13 22 (2.18%) PMP
14 20 (1.98%) A+ Certification
14 20 (1.98%) MCSE
15 18 (1.79%) VCAP
16 14 (1.39%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (2.68%) QA
2 25 (2.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (2.48%) SLA
3 21 (2.08%) NIST
4 15 (1.49%) PMO
5 13 (1.29%) GRC
6 11 (1.09%) GDPR
7 9 (0.89%) JSP 440
7 9 (0.89%) NCSC
8 7 (0.69%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.50%) ISO 31000
9 5 (0.50%) ISO 9001
9 5 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 4 (0.40%) RMADS
11 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
11 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
System Software
1 135 (13.39%) VMware Infrastructure
2 77 (7.64%) Active Directory
3 49 (4.86%) vSphere
4 46 (4.56%) VMware NSX
5 35 (3.47%) VMware ESXi
6 29 (2.88%) Docker
6 29 (2.88%) Hyper-V
7 25 (2.48%) Firmware
8 13 (1.29%) Virtual Machines
9 12 (1.19%) NFS
10 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
11 5 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
12 4 (0.40%) ISA Server
12 4 (0.40%) Oracle RAC
12 4 (0.40%) PowerHA
12 4 (0.40%) SRDF
12 4 (0.40%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 4 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
13 3 (0.30%) BitLocker
13 3 (0.30%) EMC RecoverPoint
Systems Management
1 140 (13.89%) Ansible
2 51 (5.06%) Kubernetes
3 34 (3.37%) FortiGate
4 19 (1.88%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (1.88%) Prometheus
5 18 (1.79%) vCenter Server
6 16 (1.59%) Grafana
7 14 (1.39%) VxRail
8 12 (1.19%) Microsoft Clustering
8 12 (1.19%) SCCM
9 11 (1.09%) vMotion
10 10 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (0.99%) NetBackup
10 10 (0.99%) PowerCLI
11 9 (0.89%) Dell DRAC
11 9 (0.89%) SCOM
11 9 (0.89%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 8 (0.79%) Nagios
13 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
14 5 (0.50%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 255 (25.30%) Cisco
2 177 (17.56%) VMware
3 123 (12.20%) Microsoft
4 111 (11.01%) Palo Alto
5 100 (9.92%) F5
6 65 (6.45%) Fortinet
7 62 (6.15%) Arista
8 61 (6.05%) ServiceNow
9 58 (5.75%) Juniper
10 48 (4.76%) Dell
11 40 (3.97%) Aruba
12 33 (3.27%) CheckPoint
13 31 (3.08%) Red Hat
14 29 (2.88%) Oracle
15 26 (2.58%) Google
15 26 (2.58%) Veeam
16 24 (2.38%) Zscaler
17 22 (2.18%) Commvault
18 21 (2.08%) IBM
18 21 (2.08%) NetApp