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

6 months to
27 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 131 117
Rank change year-on-year +6 -14 -22
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,009 623 700
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.18% 2.23% 2.14%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.39% 6.18% 6.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 639 405 445
10th Percentile £349 £293 £363
25th Percentile £424 £400 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £520 £535
Median % change year-on-year +3.27% -2.80% -2.73%
75th Percentile £650 £613 £613
90th Percentile £750 £725 £715
UK median daily rate £525 £503 £535
% change year-on-year +4.37% -5.98% -0.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 62 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% -5.81%
75th Percentile £53.81 £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 15,799 10,079 10,135
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.08% 36.09% 30.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,532 6,319 6,164
10th Percentile £325 £300 £294
25th Percentile £425 £413 £418
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 £519 £538
% change year-on-year +1.25% -3.53% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,103 514 393
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.32 £15.50
25th Percentile £17.85 £18.87 £24.15
Median hourly rate £35.22 £30.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +15.48% -46.82% +27.15%
75th Percentile £68.32 £56.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £73.75 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £29.33 £50.00
% change year-on-year +27.86% -41.34% +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 27 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 27 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 27 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 +15 406 £550 +2.09% 983
North of England -3 223 £500 +4.60% 190
South East -8 174 £531 +24.94% 235
Yorkshire +5 135 £489 +8.56% 37
North West -27 72 £538 -0.46% 88
South West -13 66 £621 +12.82% 66
Midlands -56 62 £475 -4.23% 93
West Midlands -55 51 £500 - 72
East of England -4 41 £483 -19.58% 102
North East -16 22 £625 - 65
East Midlands -23 11 £413 -14.29% 21
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 27 (2.68%) Confluence
2 17 (1.68%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.89%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.59%) 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 20 (1.98%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.78%) 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
1 225 (22.30%) Azure
2 178 (17.64%) AWS
3 53 (5.25%) GCP
4 49 (4.86%) GitHub
5 42 (4.16%) IaaS
6 37 (3.67%) SaaS
7 33 (3.27%) Microsoft 365
8 32 (3.17%) Entra ID
9 29 (2.87%) OCI
10 18 (1.78%) PaaS
11 16 (1.59%) Azure DevOps
12 15 (1.49%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 15 (1.49%) OpenShift
13 14 (1.39%) OneDrive
13 14 (1.39%) Power Platform
14 10 (0.99%) AWS Direct Connect
14 10 (0.99%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 6 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
16 5 (0.50%) Azure Monitor
16 5 (0.50%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 246 (24.38%) Firewall
2 158 (15.66%) WAN
3 150 (14.87%) BGP
4 123 (12.19%) DNS
5 98 (9.71%) VLAN
6 96 (9.51%) Network Security
7 95 (9.42%) VXLAN
8 90 (8.92%) OSPF
9 88 (8.72%) LAN
9 88 (8.72%) VPN
10 86 (8.52%) DHCP
11 84 (8.33%) SAN
12 75 (7.43%) TCP/IP
13 70 (6.94%) SD-WAN
14 67 (6.64%) Ethernet VPN
15 58 (5.75%) Wireless
16 52 (5.15%) Wi-Fi
17 49 (4.86%) BIG-IP
18 48 (4.76%) NX-OS
19 47 (4.66%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (3.27%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.39%) 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 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 4 (0.40%) Db2
7 4 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.40%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.30%) Big Data
8 3 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.20%) Flink
9 2 (0.20%) Metadata
9 2 (0.20%) Sybase ASE
9 2 (0.20%) Sybase IQ
Development Applications
1 69 (6.84%) JIRA
2 39 (3.87%) GitLab
3 27 (2.68%) Jenkins
4 25 (2.48%) Git
5 6 (0.59%) 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
1 245 (24.28%) Social Skills
2 159 (15.76%) Finance
3 85 (8.42%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (5.95%) Banking
5 44 (4.36%) Public Sector
5 44 (4.36%) Telecoms
6 40 (3.96%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (2.48%) Retail
8 22 (2.18%) Legal
9 17 (1.68%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (1.59%) Manufacturing
11 14 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (0.69%) Police
14 6 (0.59%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.59%) 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 (16.65%) Network Engineer
2 158 (15.66%) Architect
3 126 (12.49%) Senior
4 108 (10.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 73 (7.23%) Project Manager
6 72 (7.14%) Lead
7 63 (6.24%) Network Architect
8 62 (6.14%) Data Centre Engineer
9 39 (3.87%) Consultant
10 36 (3.57%) Data Centre Manager
10 36 (3.57%) Senior Network Engineer
11 32 (3.17%) IT Engineer
12 31 (3.07%) Infrastructure Manager
13 30 (2.97%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 27 (2.68%) Technical Manager
15 25 (2.48%) Analyst
15 25 (2.48%) Solutions Architect
15 25 (2.48%) Technical Architect
16 24 (2.38%) Administrator
17 22 (2.18%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 104 (10.31%) Terraform
2 28 (2.78%) REST
3 21 (2.08%) Middleware
4 18 (1.78%) 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 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
9 6 (0.59%) SAML
10 5 (0.50%) Kafka
10 5 (0.50%) OpenConfig
10 5 (0.50%) Redfish
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
12 3 (0.30%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 79 (7.83%) Hybrid Cloud
2 41 (4.06%) Public Cloud
3 35 (3.47%) Private Cloud
4 32 (3.17%) Cloud Native
5 31 (3.07%) PKI
6 28 (2.78%) Enterprise Storage
7 27 (2.68%) Replication
8 25 (2.48%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (2.38%) Clustering
10 21 (2.08%) Onboarding
11 20 (1.98%) Data Protection Act
12 19 (1.88%) Operational Technology
13 17 (1.68%) Management Information System
13 17 (1.68%) Self-Motivation
14 16 (1.59%) Fibre Optics
15 14 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
16 13 (1.29%) CMDB
17 11 (1.09%) Driving Licence
17 11 (1.09%) Virtual Team
18 10 (0.99%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 164 (16.25%) Windows
2 106 (10.51%) Linux
3 63 (6.24%) Windows Server
4 30 (2.97%) Unix
5 18 (1.78%) 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 (0.59%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.59%) 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
1 229 (22.70%) Migration
2 152 (15.06%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 150 (14.87%) Problem-Solving
4 137 (13.58%) Stakeholder Management
5 117 (11.60%) Infrastructure as Code
6 98 (9.71%) Agile
6 98 (9.71%) ITIL
7 92 (9.12%) CI/CD
8 83 (8.23%) Project Delivery
9 82 (8.13%) Continuous Improvement
9 82 (8.13%) High Availability
9 82 (8.13%) Validation
10 78 (7.73%) Disaster Recovery
11 74 (7.33%) Roadmaps
12 72 (7.14%) Change Management
13 71 (7.04%) Zero Trust
14 68 (6.74%) Cybersecurity
15 63 (6.24%) Technical Leadership
16 61 (6.05%) DevOps
16 61 (6.05%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 146 (14.47%) Python
2 62 (6.14%) PowerShell
3 43 (4.26%) SQL
4 30 (2.97%) 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 (0.59%) 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
1 267 (26.46%) Security Cleared
2 172 (17.05%) SC Cleared
3 133 (13.18%) Cisco Certification
4 98 (9.71%) DV Cleared
5 84 (8.33%) CCNP
6 55 (5.45%) Degree
7 46 (4.56%) CCNA
8 30 (2.97%) AWS Certification
8 30 (2.97%) Network+ Certification
9 28 (2.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 24 (2.38%) Microsoft Certification
11 23 (2.28%) Azure Certification
11 23 (2.28%) CCIE
11 23 (2.28%) CISSP
12 22 (2.18%) PMI Certification
12 22 (2.18%) PMP
13 19 (1.88%) A+ Certification
13 19 (1.88%) MCSE
13 19 (1.88%) VCAP
14 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 22 (2.18%) 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%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.40%) RMADS
11 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 141 (13.97%) VMware Infrastructure
2 79 (7.83%) Active Directory
3 50 (4.96%) vSphere
4 48 (4.76%) VMware NSX
5 35 (3.47%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (3.07%) Hyper-V
7 30 (2.97%) Docker
8 24 (2.38%) Firmware
9 14 (1.39%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (1.09%) NFS
11 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
12 6 (0.59%) Virtual Servers
13 5 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
14 4 (0.40%) ISA Server
14 4 (0.40%) Oracle RAC
14 4 (0.40%) PowerHA
14 4 (0.40%) SRDF
14 4 (0.40%) Veritas Cluster Server
15 3 (0.30%) BitLocker
15 3 (0.30%) EMC RecoverPoint
Systems Management
1 138 (13.68%) Ansible
2 51 (5.05%) Kubernetes
3 32 (3.17%) FortiGate
4 19 (1.88%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (1.88%) vCenter Server
5 18 (1.78%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.49%) Grafana
6 15 (1.49%) VxRail
7 12 (1.19%) Microsoft Clustering
7 12 (1.19%) SCCM
8 11 (1.09%) vMotion
9 10 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
9 10 (0.99%) NetBackup
9 10 (0.99%) PowerCLI
10 9 (0.89%) SCOM
10 9 (0.89%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 8 (0.79%) Dell DRAC
11 8 (0.79%) Nagios
12 7 (0.69%) Check_MK
13 5 (0.50%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 253 (25.07%) Cisco
2 183 (18.14%) VMware
3 127 (12.59%) Microsoft
4 112 (11.10%) Palo Alto
5 98 (9.71%) F5
6 63 (6.24%) Fortinet
7 61 (6.05%) ServiceNow
8 60 (5.95%) Arista
9 56 (5.55%) Juniper
10 48 (4.76%) Dell
11 40 (3.96%) Aruba
12 34 (3.37%) CheckPoint
13 32 (3.17%) Red Hat
14 29 (2.87%) Oracle
15 28 (2.78%) Veeam
16 26 (2.58%) Google
17 24 (2.38%) Commvault
18 23 (2.28%) Zscaler
19 22 (2.18%) NetApp
19 22 (2.18%) SolarWinds