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 12 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 110 131 102
Rank change year-on-year +21 -29 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 893 527 793
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.20% 2.17% 2.16%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.84% 6.36% 7.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 575 349 576
10th Percentile £318 £350 £300
25th Percentile £400 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -7.45% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £675 £700
UK median daily rate £481 £508 £525
% change year-on-year -5.17% -3.33% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 15 34
10th Percentile - £24.18 £21.25
25th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £22.13
Median hourly rate £19.34 £27.50 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -29.67% +10.57% +14.77%
75th Percentile £29.75 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.16 £56.50 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £19.34 £27.50 £24.00
% change year-on-year -29.67% +14.58% +10.75%

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 13,059 8,291 11,290
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.17% 34.10% 30.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,269 5,424 7,407
10th Percentile £309 £300 £268
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £545 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.96% -0.91% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £788 £800
UK median daily rate £505 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -3.81% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 663 334 822
10th Percentile £16.01 £16.81 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £21.29 £15.17
Median hourly rate £47.00 £35.45 £32.31
Median % change year-on-year +32.60% +9.71% +43.68%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.69 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £84.85 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £43.60 £32.50 £31.25
% change year-on-year +34.16% +4.00% +38.98%

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 12 May 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 +14 316 £550 +4.76% 207
North of England +18 204 £459 +8.00% 71
South East +6 189 £463 +2.78% 103
Yorkshire -7 97 £365 -10.43% 22
North West +10 87 £481 -3.75% 33
Midlands -42 54 £465 -15.45% 33
South West -33 49 £498 -9.22% 36
West Midlands -51 48 £466 -15.29% 25
East of England -11 41 £492 +36.19% 37
North East +3 22 £400 +263.64% 16
East Midlands -33 5 £400 -27.27% 8
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 20 (2.24%) Confluence
2 11 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.12%) SharePoint
4 9 (1.01%) CICS
5 4 (0.45%) nginx
5 4 (0.45%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.45%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.34%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.22%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.11%) Apache
8 1 (0.11%) CloudStack
Applications
1 18 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (1.68%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.34%) MS Visio
5 10 (1.12%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.34%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.22%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.22%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 4 (0.45%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.22%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.22%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.11%) Maximo
4 1 (0.11%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.11%) Primavera
4 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 164 (18.37%) Azure
2 140 (15.68%) AWS
3 43 (4.82%) GCP
4 27 (3.02%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (2.46%) OCI
5 22 (2.46%) SaaS
6 18 (2.02%) IaaS
7 17 (1.90%) Entra ID
7 17 (1.90%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 15 (1.68%) GitHub
9 13 (1.46%) PaaS
10 12 (1.34%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 12 (1.34%) Power Platform
11 11 (1.23%) Amazon GuardDuty
12 9 (1.01%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (1.01%) OpenShift
13 8 (0.90%) Amazon EKS
13 8 (0.90%) Azure DevOps
14 7 (0.78%) AWS KMS
14 7 (0.78%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 244 (27.32%) Firewall
2 167 (18.70%) WAN
3 152 (17.02%) BGP
4 121 (13.55%) OSPF
5 97 (10.86%) LAN
6 95 (10.64%) Network Security
7 85 (9.52%) VXLAN
8 84 (9.41%) VPN
9 80 (8.96%) Structured Cabling
10 79 (8.85%) SAN
11 67 (7.50%) DNS
11 67 (7.50%) VLAN
12 59 (6.61%) Ethernet VPN
13 50 (5.60%) DHCP
14 46 (5.15%) SD-WAN
15 39 (4.37%) BIG-IP
16 36 (4.03%) Wi-Fi
17 35 (3.92%) Cisco Nexus
18 32 (3.58%) NX-OS
19 28 (3.14%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.01%) DataStage
2 7 (0.78%) Power BI
3 6 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (0.56%) SQL Server
5 4 (0.45%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.45%) Power Query
5 4 (0.45%) PowerPivot
5 4 (0.45%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.34%) Big Data
6 3 (0.34%) GIS
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.22%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.22%) InfluxDB
8 1 (0.11%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.11%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.11%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.11%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 42 (4.70%) JIRA
2 35 (3.92%) Git
3 30 (3.36%) GitLab
4 20 (2.24%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.78%) Maven
6 5 (0.56%) ScriptRunner
7 4 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.45%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.45%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (0.45%) Subversion
8 3 (0.34%) Zephyr
9 2 (0.22%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.11%) AppScan
10 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.11%) Metasploit
General
1 232 (25.98%) Social Skills
2 126 (14.11%) Finance
3 109 (12.21%) Analytical Skills
4 72 (8.06%) Public Sector
5 53 (5.94%) Documentation Skills
6 41 (4.59%) Banking
7 27 (3.02%) Telecoms
8 24 (2.69%) Retail
9 23 (2.58%) Legal
10 20 (2.24%) Manufacturing
11 18 (2.02%) Influencing Skills
12 12 (1.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 11 (1.23%) Presentation Skills
14 9 (1.01%) Military
15 8 (0.90%) Aerospace
15 8 (0.90%) Marketing
16 7 (0.78%) Law
17 6 (0.67%) Organisational Skills
18 5 (0.56%) Investment Banking
18 5 (0.56%) Portuguese Language
Job Titles
1 153 (17.13%) Network Engineer
2 124 (13.89%) Architect
3 97 (10.86%) Senior
4 70 (7.84%) Data Centre Engineer
5 64 (7.17%) Project Manager
6 56 (6.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 46 (5.15%) Lead
8 43 (4.82%) IT Engineer
9 42 (4.70%) Field Engineer
10 41 (4.59%) Data Centre Manager
11 39 (4.37%) Field Service Engineer
11 39 (4.37%) Network Architect
12 33 (3.70%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 31 (3.47%) Analyst
14 26 (2.91%) Infrastructure Manager
15 25 (2.80%) Cisco Engineer
15 25 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
15 25 (2.80%) Support Engineer
16 24 (2.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
17 23 (2.58%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.47%) 802.1X
2 30 (3.36%) Middleware
3 10 (1.12%) LDAP
4 8 (0.90%) Redfish
5 7 (0.78%) Spring
6 5 (0.56%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (0.56%) Jinja
6 5 (0.56%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.56%) XML
7 4 (0.45%) ADO
7 4 (0.45%) Kafka
7 4 (0.45%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.45%) REST
7 4 (0.45%) RESTCONF
7 4 (0.45%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.45%) VML
7 4 (0.45%) YANG
8 3 (0.34%) EJB
8 3 (0.34%) Java EE
8 3 (0.34%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 59 (6.61%) Hybrid Cloud
2 47 (5.26%) Analytical Mindset
3 29 (3.25%) Clustering
4 27 (3.02%) PKI
5 25 (2.80%) Fibre Optics
6 23 (2.58%) Cloud Native
7 18 (2.02%) Driving Licence
7 18 (2.02%) Management Information System
7 18 (2.02%) Replication
8 17 (1.90%) Onboarding
8 17 (1.90%) Public Cloud
9 16 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
10 15 (1.68%) CMDB
10 15 (1.68%) Private Cloud
11 14 (1.57%) Enterprise Storage
12 12 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
12 12 (1.34%) SCADA
13 11 (1.23%) Mainframe
14 9 (1.01%) BYOD
14 9 (1.01%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 104 (11.65%) Windows
2 97 (10.86%) Linux
3 34 (3.81%) Windows Server
4 28 (3.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 21 (2.35%) Unix
6 19 (2.13%) AIX
7 16 (1.79%) Solaris
8 11 (1.23%) CentOS
9 7 (0.78%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.67%) VMS
11 4 (0.45%) HPUX
11 4 (0.45%) Oracle Linux
11 4 (0.45%) SUSE
12 3 (0.34%) Windows Server 2008
12 3 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.22%) Data ONTAP
13 2 (0.22%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.11%) Android
14 1 (0.11%) Debian
14 1 (0.11%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (18.59%) Problem-Solving
2 158 (17.69%) Migration
3 88 (9.85%) Stakeholder Management
4 80 (8.96%) High Availability
4 80 (8.96%) ITIL
5 78 (8.73%) Continuous Improvement
6 72 (8.06%) Roadmaps
7 71 (7.95%) Infrastructure as Code
8 68 (7.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 67 (7.50%) Change Management
9 67 (7.50%) CI/CD
10 66 (7.39%) Load Balancing
10 66 (7.39%) Project Management
11 63 (7.05%) Project Delivery
12 60 (6.72%) Validation
13 51 (5.71%) Break/Fix
13 51 (5.71%) Network Design
14 49 (5.49%) Customer Service
14 49 (5.49%) Data Centre Operations
15 48 (5.38%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 98 (10.97%) Python
2 34 (3.81%) PowerShell
3 26 (2.91%) SQL
4 22 (2.46%) Java
5 19 (2.13%) Bash
6 15 (1.68%) Shell Script
7 11 (1.23%) COBOL
8 10 (1.12%) MATLAB
9 8 (0.90%) Perl
10 7 (0.78%) Bicep
11 6 (0.67%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.56%) JavaScript
12 5 (0.56%) VBA
13 2 (0.22%) C++
13 2 (0.22%) Korn
13 2 (0.22%) Lisp
14 1 (0.11%) Groovy
14 1 (0.11%) JCL
14 1 (0.11%) REXX
14 1 (0.11%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 271 (30.35%) Security Cleared
2 195 (21.84%) SC Cleared
3 185 (20.72%) Cisco Certification
4 114 (12.77%) CCNP
5 82 (9.18%) CCNA
6 59 (6.61%) Degree
7 56 (6.27%) DV Cleared
8 44 (4.93%) Network+ Certification
9 40 (4.48%) Microsoft Certification
10 37 (4.14%) A+ Certification
10 37 (4.14%) MCSE
11 22 (2.46%) PMP
12 20 (2.24%) AWS Certification
12 20 (2.24%) Azure Certification
12 20 (2.24%) CCIE
12 20 (2.24%) City & Guilds
13 19 (2.13%) PMI Certification
14 17 (1.90%) BICSI Certification
15 16 (1.79%) JNCIS
16 14 (1.57%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (3.36%) SLA
2 22 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 22 (2.46%) PMO
3 19 (2.13%) NIST
4 18 (2.02%) QA
5 17 (1.90%) GDPR
6 11 (1.23%) PCI DSS
7 9 (1.01%) NCSC
8 8 (0.90%) GRC
9 6 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.34%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.22%) Data Quality
11 2 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.11%) COBIT
12 1 (0.11%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.11%) RMADS
12 1 (0.11%) SOC 1
System Software
1 76 (8.51%) VMware Infrastructure
2 46 (5.15%) Active Directory
3 31 (3.47%) VMware NSX
4 29 (3.25%) Firmware
5 23 (2.58%) VMware ESXi
6 22 (2.46%) vSphere
7 21 (2.35%) Virtual Machines
8 18 (2.02%) Hyper-V
9 11 (1.23%) Docker
10 10 (1.12%) KVM
11 4 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
11 4 (0.45%) VMware Workstation
12 3 (0.34%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.34%) NFS
12 3 (0.34%) PowerHA
12 3 (0.34%) SRDF
12 3 (0.34%) UAG
12 3 (0.34%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 2 (0.22%) Ceph
13 2 (0.22%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 100 (11.20%) Ansible
2 78 (8.73%) Terraform
3 48 (5.38%) FortiGate
4 38 (4.26%) Kubernetes
5 28 (3.14%) Grafana
6 23 (2.58%) Prometheus
7 13 (1.46%) Microsoft Intune
7 13 (1.46%) SCCM
8 11 (1.23%) Check_MK
9 10 (1.12%) NetBackup
9 10 (1.12%) Podman
9 10 (1.12%) Red Hat Satellite
9 10 (1.12%) vCenter Server
10 8 (0.90%) Dell DRAC
11 7 (0.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 7 (0.78%) PowerCLI
12 5 (0.56%) Endace
12 5 (0.56%) Nagios
12 5 (0.56%) SCOM
12 5 (0.56%) vMotion
Vendors
1 241 (26.99%) Cisco
2 119 (13.33%) Palo Alto
3 118 (13.21%) VMware
4 83 (9.29%) F5
5 81 (9.07%) Microsoft
6 75 (8.40%) Juniper
7 69 (7.73%) Dell
8 50 (5.60%) Arista
9 47 (5.26%) Aruba
10 44 (4.93%) CheckPoint
11 42 (4.70%) Fortinet
12 35 (3.92%) SolarWinds
13 31 (3.47%) ServiceNow
14 30 (3.36%) IBM
15 29 (3.25%) Splunk
16 26 (2.91%) Red Hat
17 25 (2.80%) Oracle
18 24 (2.69%) Meraki
19 22 (2.46%) Extreme Networks
19 22 (2.46%) Google