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

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 122 130 117
Rank change year-on-year +8 -13 -22
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,016 623 673
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.20% 2.22% 2.08%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.39% 6.09% 6.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 643 406 415
10th Percentile £350 £278 £357
25th Percentile £425 £380 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £514 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.53% -2.14% -2.78%
75th Percentile £650 £609 £612
90th Percentile £750 £725 £715
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 65 34 25
10th Percentile £17.11 - £11.75
25th Percentile £19.33 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £35.22 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +40.04% +5.67% +2.37%
75th Percentile £54.25 £35.00 £27.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £59.08 £28.75
UK median hourly rate £33.86 £25.15 £22.50
% change year-on-year +34.63% +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 15,907 10,228 10,055
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.42% 36.40% 31.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,560 6,400 6,068
10th Percentile £325 £300 £294
25th Percentile £425 £411 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £541
Median % change year-on-year - -3.00% -1.59%
75th Percentile £645 £644 £675
90th Percentile £750 £763 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +1.94% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,168 533 364
10th Percentile £13.81 £15.13 £15.94
25th Percentile £17.45 £18.82 £24.18
Median hourly rate £33.99 £30.00 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.30% -44.44% +17.31%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.62 £73.75 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £27.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year +30.91% -42.11% +6.15%

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 9 October 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 9 October 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 9 October 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 +10 413 £550 - 1,311
North of England +3 225 £500 +5.26% 210
South East -6 166 £525 +27.27% 266
Yorkshire +15 132 £500 +11.11% 51
North West -25 73 £550 +2.80% 105
Midlands -55 72 £475 -1.30% 116
West Midlands -52 59 £500 - 88
South West -20 57 £650 +18.18% 65
East of England -4 50 £500 -16.67% 126
North East -17 26 £625 +257.14% 54
East Midlands -25 13 £425 -4.17% 28
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 (2.76%) Confluence
2 17 (1.67%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.08%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.89%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.69%) IIS
6 5 (0.49%) Apache
6 5 (0.49%) CloudStack
7 1 (0.098%) CICS
7 1 (0.098%) nginx
7 1 (0.098%) SAS
7 1 (0.098%) Tomcat
Applications
1 20 (1.97%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (1.77%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.98%) MS Visio
4 9 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.49%) AutoCAD
6 5 (0.49%) Navisworks
6 5 (0.49%) Revit
7 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.098%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.098%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.098%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 233 (22.93%) Azure
2 179 (17.62%) AWS
3 59 (5.81%) GCP
4 50 (4.92%) GitHub
5 45 (4.43%) IaaS
6 39 (3.84%) SaaS
7 35 (3.44%) Microsoft 365
8 34 (3.35%) Entra ID
9 31 (3.05%) OCI
10 21 (2.07%) PaaS
11 18 (1.77%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 17 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
12 17 (1.67%) OpenShift
13 15 (1.48%) AWS Direct Connect
13 15 (1.48%) Power Platform
14 14 (1.38%) OneDrive
15 12 (1.18%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 7 (0.69%) Azure Monitor
17 5 (0.49%) GitHub Actions
18 4 (0.39%) Cohesity
Communications & Networking
1 239 (23.52%) Firewall
2 156 (15.35%) WAN
3 149 (14.67%) BGP
4 124 (12.20%) DNS
5 104 (10.24%) Network Security
6 97 (9.55%) VLAN
7 90 (8.86%) VXLAN
8 89 (8.76%) OSPF
8 89 (8.76%) VPN
9 87 (8.56%) LAN
10 82 (8.07%) DHCP
11 80 (7.87%) SAN
12 77 (7.58%) TCP/IP
13 75 (7.38%) SD-WAN
14 64 (6.30%) Ethernet VPN
15 57 (5.61%) Wireless
16 51 (5.02%) Wi-Fi
17 50 (4.92%) BIG-IP
18 49 (4.82%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 46 (4.53%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (3.84%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.48%) Power BI
3 11 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.98%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.69%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.49%) Elasticsearch
8 4 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.39%) Db2
8 4 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
8 4 (0.39%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (0.30%) Big Data
9 3 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
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 69 (6.79%) JIRA
2 37 (3.64%) GitLab
3 28 (2.76%) Jenkins
4 24 (2.36%) Git
5 7 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.20%) MSI
7 2 (0.20%) Toad
8 1 (0.098%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.098%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.098%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.098%) Cucumber
General
1 249 (24.51%) Social Skills
2 167 (16.44%) Finance
3 80 (7.87%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (5.81%) Banking
5 45 (4.43%) Telecoms
6 44 (4.33%) Public Sector
7 41 (4.04%) Documentation Skills
8 24 (2.36%) Retail
9 23 (2.26%) Legal
10 18 (1.77%) Manufacturing
11 16 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.57%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 8 (0.79%) Police
14 6 (0.59%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.59%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.49%) Cyber-Physical System
15 5 (0.49%) Law
15 5 (0.49%) Presentation Skills
16 4 (0.39%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 163 (16.04%) Network Engineer
2 153 (15.06%) Architect
3 123 (12.11%) Senior
4 112 (11.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 77 (7.58%) Project Manager
6 71 (6.99%) Lead
7 68 (6.69%) Data Centre Engineer
8 65 (6.40%) Network Architect
9 41 (4.04%) Consultant
10 38 (3.74%) Data Centre Manager
11 33 (3.25%) Senior Network Engineer
12 30 (2.95%) Infrastructure Manager
12 30 (2.95%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 29 (2.85%) Analyst
14 27 (2.66%) Technical Manager
15 26 (2.56%) IT Engineer
16 25 (2.46%) Solutions Architect
17 24 (2.36%) Data Manager
18 23 (2.26%) Cloud Engineer
18 23 (2.26%) Data Centre Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 107 (10.53%) Terraform
2 28 (2.76%) REST
3 18 (1.77%) YAML
4 15 (1.48%) .NET
4 15 (1.48%) JSON
4 15 (1.48%) Middleware
5 13 (1.28%) 802.1X
6 6 (0.59%) LDAP
6 6 (0.59%) NETCONF
6 6 (0.59%) SAML
7 5 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.49%) OpenConfig
7 5 (0.49%) RESTCONF
7 5 (0.49%) YANG
8 4 (0.39%) GeoJSON
8 4 (0.39%) Kafka
8 4 (0.39%) OpenAPI
8 4 (0.39%) Redfish
8 4 (0.39%) RESTful
8 4 (0.39%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 77 (7.58%) Hybrid Cloud
2 42 (4.13%) Public Cloud
3 32 (3.15%) Cloud Native
4 31 (3.05%) Enterprise Storage
5 30 (2.95%) PKI
6 29 (2.85%) Private Cloud
7 26 (2.56%) Replication
8 23 (2.26%) Clustering
8 23 (2.26%) Onboarding
9 20 (1.97%) Operational Technology
9 20 (1.97%) Self-Motivation
10 19 (1.87%) Data Protection Act
11 17 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
11 17 (1.67%) CMDB
12 16 (1.57%) Management Information System
13 14 (1.38%) Fibre Optics
14 11 (1.08%) Driving Licence
14 11 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
14 11 (1.08%) SCADA
15 10 (0.98%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 168 (16.54%) Windows
2 99 (9.74%) Linux
3 71 (6.99%) Windows Server
4 27 (2.66%) Unix
5 14 (1.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.08%) AIX
6 11 (1.08%) Mac OS
7 10 (0.98%) Apple iOS
8 7 (0.69%) VMS
8 7 (0.69%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (0.49%) Solaris
9 5 (0.49%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.30%) HPUX
11 3 (0.30%) Oracle Linux
11 3 (0.30%) SUSE
11 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
11 3 (0.30%) zOS
12 2 (0.20%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (22.64%) Migration
2 160 (15.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 151 (14.86%) Stakeholder Management
4 148 (14.57%) Problem-Solving
5 119 (11.71%) Infrastructure as Code
6 102 (10.04%) Agile
7 96 (9.45%) ITIL
8 95 (9.35%) CI/CD
9 88 (8.66%) Validation
10 85 (8.37%) Continuous Improvement
10 85 (8.37%) High Availability
10 85 (8.37%) Project Delivery
11 80 (7.87%) Disaster Recovery
12 76 (7.48%) Change Management
13 73 (7.19%) Zero Trust
14 69 (6.79%) Roadmaps
15 68 (6.69%) Cybersecurity
16 62 (6.10%) DevOps
17 61 (6.00%) Technical Leadership
18 60 (5.91%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 149 (14.67%) Python
2 67 (6.59%) PowerShell
3 49 (4.82%) SQL
4 31 (3.05%) Bash
5 17 (1.67%) ActionScript
6 15 (1.48%) C#
7 12 (1.18%) T-SQL
8 11 (1.08%) Bicep
9 7 (0.69%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.59%) Perl
10 6 (0.59%) Shell Script
11 4 (0.39%) Go
12 3 (0.30%) JavaScript
12 3 (0.30%) Lisp
13 2 (0.20%) Java
13 2 (0.20%) JCL
13 2 (0.20%) MATLAB
13 2 (0.20%) REXX
13 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.098%) R
Qualifications
1 260 (25.59%) Security Cleared
2 171 (16.83%) SC Cleared
3 118 (11.61%) Cisco Certification
4 95 (9.35%) DV Cleared
5 77 (7.58%) CCNP
6 53 (5.22%) Degree
7 37 (3.64%) CCNA
8 31 (3.05%) AWS Certification
9 25 (2.46%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 24 (2.36%) CCIE
11 22 (2.17%) CISSP
11 22 (2.17%) Network+ Certification
11 22 (2.17%) PMI Certification
12 21 (2.07%) Azure Certification
12 21 (2.07%) PMP
13 19 (1.87%) VCAP
14 18 (1.77%) Microsoft Certification
15 13 (1.28%) A+ Certification
15 13 (1.28%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 13 (1.28%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (2.56%) QA
2 25 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (2.36%) SLA
4 21 (2.07%) NIST
5 14 (1.38%) PMO
6 12 (1.18%) GRC
7 11 (1.08%) GDPR
8 9 (0.89%) JSP 440
8 9 (0.89%) NCSC
9 8 (0.79%) PCI DSS
10 6 (0.59%) ISO 31000
10 6 (0.59%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
11 4 (0.39%) RMADS
12 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
13 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 2 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 138 (13.58%) VMware Infrastructure
2 78 (7.68%) Active Directory
3 51 (5.02%) vSphere
4 44 (4.33%) VMware NSX
5 32 (3.15%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (3.05%) Docker
6 31 (3.05%) Hyper-V
7 25 (2.46%) Firmware
8 13 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
9 11 (1.08%) NFS
10 6 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
10 6 (0.59%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.49%) ISA Server
11 5 (0.49%) Microsoft App-V
12 4 (0.39%) Oracle RAC
12 4 (0.39%) PowerHA
13 3 (0.30%) BitLocker
13 3 (0.30%) SRDF
13 3 (0.30%) Terminal Services
14 2 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 136 (13.39%) Ansible
2 54 (5.31%) Kubernetes
3 32 (3.15%) FortiGate
4 18 (1.77%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.67%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.57%) vCenter Server
7 15 (1.48%) VxRail
8 14 (1.38%) Grafana
8 14 (1.38%) SCCM
9 12 (1.18%) Microsoft Clustering
10 11 (1.08%) vMotion
11 10 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
11 10 (0.98%) PowerCLI
12 9 (0.89%) SCOM
12 9 (0.89%) Tivoli Storage Manager
13 8 (0.79%) Dell DRAC
14 7 (0.69%) Nagios
15 6 (0.59%) CASB
15 6 (0.59%) Cisco Prime
16 5 (0.49%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 247 (24.31%) Cisco
2 178 (17.52%) VMware
3 129 (12.70%) Microsoft
4 117 (11.52%) Palo Alto
5 99 (9.74%) F5
6 63 (6.20%) Fortinet
7 57 (5.61%) ServiceNow
8 56 (5.51%) Arista
9 55 (5.41%) Juniper
10 41 (4.04%) Aruba
11 40 (3.94%) Dell
12 33 (3.25%) CheckPoint
13 32 (3.15%) Oracle
14 29 (2.85%) Google
15 28 (2.76%) Red Hat
15 28 (2.76%) Veeam
16 26 (2.56%) Commvault
17 24 (2.36%) Zscaler
18 22 (2.17%) SolarWinds
19 21 (2.07%) IBM