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

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 132 115
Rank change year-on-year +6 -17 -19
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 999 599 673
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.16% 2.19% 2.06%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.40% 6.10% 6.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 623 394 437
10th Percentile £333 £300 £363
25th Percentile £413 £405 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £650 £612 £619
90th Percentile £750 £725 £710
UK median daily rate £514 £515 £538
% change year-on-year -0.19% -4.19% -0.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 70 31 26
10th Percentile £16.01 - £11.75
25th Percentile £18.59 - £12.08
Median hourly rate £30.00 £25.15 £21.90
Median % change year-on-year +19.28% +14.84% -6.81%
75th Percentile £49.75 £38.38 £26.50
90th Percentile £79.85 £43.75 £28.75
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £25.15 £20.80
% change year-on-year +19.28% +20.94% -9.59%

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 15,603 9,822 10,019
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.75% 35.90% 30.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,452 6,161 6,215
10th Percentile £325 £300 £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 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £515 £543
% change year-on-year +1.95% -5.07% -1.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,026 493 422
10th Percentile £14.04 £15.48 £15.10
25th Percentile £17.98 £18.87 £23.80
Median hourly rate £37.50 £33.05 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +13.46% -42.37% +25.00%
75th Percentile £69.69 £58.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £75.00 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £30.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +25.00% -40.00% +11.73%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 +24 415 £550 +2.80% 1,384
North of England +4 222 £500 +5.26% 171
South East -17 169 £550 +22.22% 232
Yorkshire +7 132 £480 +6.67% 57
North West -11 73 £516 -4.09% 78
South West -32 64 £600 +9.09% 82
Midlands -67 52 £438 -12.50% 109
West Midlands -68 41 £474 -4.44% 81
East of England -16 38 £474 -21.08% 137
North East -16 23 £625 - 37
East Midlands -18 10 £413 -21.43% 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 26 (2.60%) Confluence
2 17 (1.70%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.10%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.70%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.50%) Apache
5 5 (0.50%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.40%) IIS
7 2 (0.20%) CICS
8 1 (0.10%) nginx
8 1 (0.10%) SAS
8 1 (0.10%) Tomcat
Applications
1 20 (2.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.70%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (0.90%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (0.70%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.50%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
6 2 (0.20%) Navisworks
6 2 (0.20%) Revit
Business Applications
1 13 (1.30%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.10%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.10%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 218 (21.82%) Azure
2 175 (17.52%) AWS
3 46 (4.60%) GitHub
4 44 (4.40%) GCP
5 41 (4.10%) IaaS
6 37 (3.70%) SaaS
7 31 (3.10%) Microsoft 365
8 29 (2.90%) OCI
9 26 (2.60%) Entra ID
10 18 (1.80%) PaaS
11 16 (1.60%) Power Platform
12 14 (1.40%) Azure DevOps
12 14 (1.40%) OneDrive
13 13 (1.30%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 11 (1.10%) OpenShift
15 10 (1.00%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 6 (0.60%) AWS Direct Connect
16 6 (0.60%) GitHub Actions
17 5 (0.50%) Azure Monitor
17 5 (0.50%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 243 (24.32%) Firewall
2 155 (15.52%) WAN
3 153 (15.32%) BGP
4 120 (12.01%) DNS
5 101 (10.11%) VLAN
6 96 (9.61%) OSPF
7 95 (9.51%) Network Security
7 95 (9.51%) VXLAN
8 89 (8.91%) SAN
9 87 (8.71%) VPN
10 84 (8.41%) LAN
11 82 (8.21%) DHCP
12 73 (7.31%) TCP/IP
13 66 (6.61%) SD-WAN
14 64 (6.41%) Ethernet VPN
15 59 (5.91%) Structured Cabling
16 58 (5.81%) Wireless
17 50 (5.01%) Wi-Fi
18 48 (4.80%) BIG-IP
19 47 (4.70%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (3.00%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.50%) Power BI
3 11 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (1.00%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (1.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.70%) 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 71 (7.11%) JIRA
2 36 (3.60%) GitLab
3 26 (2.60%) Jenkins
4 21 (2.10%) 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 (0.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.10%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.10%) Claude Code
General
1 249 (24.92%) Social Skills
2 152 (15.22%) Finance
3 88 (8.81%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (5.71%) Banking
5 47 (4.70%) Public Sector
6 40 (4.00%) Documentation Skills
7 39 (3.90%) Telecoms
8 26 (2.60%) Retail
9 23 (2.30%) Legal
10 17 (1.70%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.60%) Manufacturing
12 13 (1.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 13 (1.30%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.90%) Police
14 7 (0.70%) Financial Institution
15 5 (0.50%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.50%) Law
15 5 (0.50%) Marketing
16 4 (0.40%) Cyber-Physical System
17 3 (0.30%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 168 (16.82%) Network Engineer
2 146 (14.61%) Architect
3 131 (13.11%) Senior
4 104 (10.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 70 (7.01%) Project Manager
6 68 (6.81%) Data Centre Engineer
7 63 (6.31%) Lead
8 57 (5.71%) Network Architect
9 40 (4.00%) Consultant
10 35 (3.50%) Senior Network Engineer
11 34 (3.40%) Data Centre Manager
11 34 (3.40%) IT Engineer
12 30 (3.00%) Infrastructure Manager
13 29 (2.90%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 26 (2.60%) Field Engineer
15 25 (2.50%) Technical Manager
16 23 (2.30%) Administrator
16 23 (2.30%) Analyst
16 23 (2.30%) Field Service Engineer
16 23 (2.30%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 100 (10.01%) Terraform
2 24 (2.40%) REST
3 21 (2.10%) Middleware
4 14 (1.40%) 802.1X
4 14 (1.40%) YAML
5 11 (1.10%) JSON
6 8 (0.80%) .NET
6 8 (0.80%) LDAP
7 7 (0.70%) NETCONF
8 6 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
8 6 (0.60%) Redfish
8 6 (0.60%) SAML
9 5 (0.50%) Kafka
9 5 (0.50%) OpenConfig
9 5 (0.50%) RESTCONF
9 5 (0.50%) YANG
10 4 (0.40%) GeoJSON
10 4 (0.40%) RESTful
11 3 (0.30%) .NET Framework
12 2 (0.20%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 74 (7.41%) Hybrid Cloud
2 33 (3.30%) Private Cloud
2 33 (3.30%) Public Cloud
3 32 (3.20%) PKI
4 31 (3.10%) Cloud Native
5 29 (2.90%) Analytical Mindset
6 28 (2.80%) Replication
7 27 (2.70%) Enterprise Storage
7 27 (2.70%) Fibre Optics
8 25 (2.50%) Clustering
9 22 (2.20%) Onboarding
10 20 (2.00%) Data Protection Act
11 18 (1.80%) Operational Technology
12 16 (1.60%) Self-Motivation
13 15 (1.50%) CMDB
13 15 (1.50%) Management Information System
14 12 (1.20%) Driving Licence
15 11 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
15 11 (1.10%) Virtual Team
16 10 (1.00%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 152 (15.22%) Windows
2 100 (10.01%) Linux
3 55 (5.51%) Windows Server
4 30 (3.00%) Unix
5 18 (1.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.40%) AIX
7 11 (1.10%) Mac OS
8 10 (1.00%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.80%) Solaris
9 8 (0.80%) 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
1 219 (21.92%) Migration
2 150 (15.02%) Problem-Solving
3 137 (13.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 133 (13.31%) Stakeholder Management
5 103 (10.31%) Infrastructure as Code
6 97 (9.71%) ITIL
7 93 (9.31%) Agile
8 86 (8.61%) CI/CD
8 86 (8.61%) High Availability
9 75 (7.51%) Project Delivery
9 75 (7.51%) Validation
10 70 (7.01%) Disaster Recovery
11 69 (6.91%) Continuous Improvement
12 67 (6.71%) Change Management
12 67 (6.71%) Zero Trust
13 66 (6.61%) Roadmaps
14 62 (6.21%) ITSM
15 58 (5.81%) Technical Leadership
16 57 (5.71%) DevOps
16 57 (5.71%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 143 (14.31%) Python
2 60 (6.01%) PowerShell
3 40 (4.00%) SQL
4 30 (3.00%) Bash
5 14 (1.40%) ActionScript
6 10 (1.00%) Bicep
7 8 (0.80%) C#
7 8 (0.80%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.70%) PL/SQL
9 6 (0.60%) Perl
10 5 (0.50%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.40%) Go
11 4 (0.40%) MATLAB
12 3 (0.30%) Java
12 3 (0.30%) JavaScript
12 3 (0.30%) Lisp
13 2 (0.20%) COBOL
13 2 (0.20%) JCL
13 2 (0.20%) REXX
13 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 263 (26.33%) Security Cleared
2 171 (17.12%) SC Cleared
3 141 (14.11%) Cisco Certification
4 92 (9.21%) DV Cleared
5 89 (8.91%) CCNP
6 52 (5.21%) CCNA
6 52 (5.21%) Degree
7 33 (3.30%) Network+ Certification
8 27 (2.70%) AWS Certification
8 27 (2.70%) Microsoft Certification
9 23 (2.30%) CCIE
9 23 (2.30%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 22 (2.20%) A+ Certification
10 22 (2.20%) MCSE
11 21 (2.10%) Azure Certification
11 21 (2.10%) CISSP
11 21 (2.10%) PMP
12 20 (2.00%) City & Guilds
12 20 (2.00%) PMI Certification
13 17 (1.70%) BICSI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (2.60%) QA
2 24 (2.40%) SLA
3 21 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 16 (1.60%) NIST
5 15 (1.50%) PMO
6 9 (0.90%) GDPR
6 9 (0.90%) GRC
6 9 (0.90%) JSP 440
6 9 (0.90%) NCSC
7 5 (0.50%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.40%) RMADS
9 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
9 3 (0.30%) ISO 31000
9 3 (0.30%) ISO 9001
9 3 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
9 3 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 127 (12.71%) VMware Infrastructure
2 72 (7.21%) Active Directory
3 46 (4.60%) vSphere
4 40 (4.00%) VMware NSX
5 36 (3.60%) VMware ESXi
6 26 (2.60%) Docker
6 26 (2.60%) Hyper-V
7 24 (2.40%) Firmware
8 13 (1.30%) Virtual Machines
9 12 (1.20%) NFS
10 6 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
11 5 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
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
13 3 (0.30%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 131 (13.11%) Ansible
2 47 (4.70%) Kubernetes
3 30 (3.00%) FortiGate
4 19 (1.90%) Prometheus
5 17 (1.70%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.70%) vCenter Server
6 16 (1.60%) Grafana
7 14 (1.40%) VxRail
8 13 (1.30%) SCCM
9 12 (1.20%) Microsoft Clustering
10 11 (1.10%) vMotion
11 10 (1.00%) Jamf Pro
11 10 (1.00%) NetBackup
11 10 (1.00%) PowerCLI
12 9 (0.90%) Dell DRAC
12 9 (0.90%) SCOM
12 9 (0.90%) Tivoli Storage Manager
13 8 (0.80%) Nagios
14 7 (0.70%) Check_MK
15 5 (0.50%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 253 (25.33%) Cisco
2 170 (17.02%) VMware
3 117 (11.71%) Microsoft
4 110 (11.01%) Palo Alto
5 98 (9.81%) F5
6 65 (6.51%) Fortinet
7 64 (6.41%) Arista
8 62 (6.21%) Juniper
9 56 (5.61%) ServiceNow
10 51 (5.11%) Dell
11 39 (3.90%) Aruba
12 34 (3.40%) CheckPoint
13 27 (2.70%) Red Hat
14 25 (2.50%) Oracle
14 25 (2.50%) Veeam
15 22 (2.20%) IBM
15 22 (2.20%) SolarWinds
15 22 (2.20%) Zscaler
16 21 (2.10%) Commvault
17 20 (2.00%) Google