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 7 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 133 103
Rank change year-on-year +8 -30 -5
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 823 502 821
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.11% 2.06% 2.20%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.40% 6.03% 7.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 521 334 588
10th Percentile £313 £337 £300
25th Percentile £406 £416 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -7.62% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £612 £638
90th Percentile £725 £675 £701
UK median daily rate £482 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -5.95% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 15 35
10th Percentile £16.01 - £21.25
25th Percentile £18.71 £24.18 £22.04
Median hourly rate £21.46 £24.66 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -12.98% -0.84% +14.77%
75th Percentile £66.62 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £75.31 £56.50 £41.25
UK median hourly rate £21.86 £24.66 £24.87
% change year-on-year -11.34% -0.84% +14.77%

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 12,852 8,328 11,549
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.98% 34.14% 30.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,168 5,460 7,553
10th Percentile £300 £300 £263
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 £670 £672
90th Percentile £750 £788 £788
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £536
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.05% -2.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 648 312 806
10th Percentile £15.94 £16.67 £12.33
25th Percentile £20.23 £22.27 £15.17
Median hourly rate £45.23 £34.25 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.06% +22.32% +24.44%
75th Percentile £70.00 £66.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.43 £84.90 £67.19
UK median hourly rate £45.00 £32.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +38.46% +16.07% +24.44%

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 7 April 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 7 April 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 7 April 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 +3 301 £530 +0.95% 184
North of England +20 186 £460 +8.24% 53
South East +5 170 £475 -5.00% 115
North West +24 96 £500 - 28
Yorkshire -6 76 £365 -5.93% 17
Midlands -37 64 £474 -24.16% 32
West Midlands -36 52 £474 -24.16% 14
South West -38 39 £525 -4.20% 31
East of England -25 34 £478 +13.14% 45
North East -1 16 £175 +59.09% 8
East Midlands -25 11 £201 -59.75% 18
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 18 (2.19%) SharePoint
2 16 (1.94%) Confluence
3 15 (1.82%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (1.09%) CICS
5 4 (0.49%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.49%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.36%) nginx
7 2 (0.24%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.24%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.24%) Tomcat
Applications
1 30 (3.65%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (2.19%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (1.46%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.36%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.73%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.24%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.24%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.24%) Primavera
4 1 (0.12%) Maximo
4 1 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 143 (17.38%) Azure
2 122 (14.82%) AWS
3 45 (5.47%) GCP
3 45 (5.47%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (2.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 17 (2.07%) SaaS
6 15 (1.82%) IaaS
7 14 (1.70%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 14 (1.70%) Entra ID
8 13 (1.58%) Power Platform
9 11 (1.34%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 11 (1.34%) PaaS
10 10 (1.22%) GitHub
11 9 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
11 9 (1.09%) OpenShift
12 8 (0.97%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (0.97%) AWS Direct Connect
13 7 (0.85%) Amazon S3
13 7 (0.85%) AWS CloudTrail
13 7 (0.85%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 242 (29.40%) Firewall
2 158 (19.20%) WAN
3 135 (16.40%) BGP
4 99 (12.03%) OSPF
5 96 (11.66%) LAN
6 90 (10.94%) VPN
7 86 (10.45%) Network Security
8 72 (8.75%) Structured Cabling
9 68 (8.26%) DNS
10 65 (7.90%) VXLAN
11 63 (7.65%) SAN
12 62 (7.53%) VLAN
13 54 (6.56%) DHCP
14 51 (6.20%) Wireless
15 42 (5.10%) Ethernet VPN
16 37 (4.50%) Cisco ISE
17 34 (4.13%) SD-WAN
18 32 (3.89%) Wi-Fi
19 31 (3.77%) TCP/IP
20 29 (3.52%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.09%) DataStage
2 8 (0.97%) Power BI
3 5 (0.61%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.49%) MongoDB
4 4 (0.49%) Power Query
4 4 (0.49%) PowerPivot
4 4 (0.49%) SAP Data Services
4 4 (0.49%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.36%) Big Data
5 3 (0.36%) InfluxDB
6 2 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.24%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.24%) GIS
6 2 (0.24%) RDBMS
6 2 (0.24%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.12%) DB2
7 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.12%) MS Access
7 1 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 34 (4.13%) Git
2 31 (3.77%) JIRA
3 18 (2.19%) Jenkins
4 17 (2.07%) GitLab
5 9 (1.09%) Maven
6 4 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.49%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.49%) Subversion
7 2 (0.24%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.24%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.12%) AppScan
8 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.12%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.12%) Rational DOORS
General
1 218 (26.49%) Social Skills
2 125 (15.19%) Finance
3 97 (11.79%) Analytical Skills
4 76 (9.23%) Public Sector
5 53 (6.44%) Documentation Skills
6 41 (4.98%) Banking
7 37 (4.50%) Telecoms
8 28 (3.40%) Manufacturing
9 23 (2.79%) Legal
10 21 (2.55%) Retail
11 19 (2.31%) Marketing
12 18 (2.19%) Influencing Skills
13 15 (1.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (1.82%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (1.34%) Electronics
15 10 (1.22%) Organisational Skills
16 9 (1.09%) Investment Banking
17 8 (0.97%) Law
17 8 (0.97%) Military
18 7 (0.85%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 147 (17.86%) Network Engineer
2 121 (14.70%) Architect
3 72 (8.75%) Senior
4 71 (8.63%) Project Manager
5 62 (7.53%) Data Centre Engineer
6 44 (5.35%) Data Centre Manager
7 43 (5.22%) Network Architect
8 40 (4.86%) Analyst
9 34 (4.13%) Lead
9 34 (4.13%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 32 (3.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 31 (3.77%) IT Engineer
12 30 (3.65%) Infrastructure Manager
13 29 (3.52%) Solutions Architect
14 27 (3.28%) Cisco Engineer
14 27 (3.28%) Field Engineer
15 26 (3.16%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 26 (3.16%) Field Service Engineer
16 25 (3.04%) IT Support
16 25 (3.04%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (4.01%) 802.1X
2 28 (3.40%) Middleware
3 9 (1.09%) LDAP
4 6 (0.73%) Spring
5 5 (0.61%) Jinja
5 5 (0.61%) NETCONF
5 5 (0.61%) Redfish
6 4 (0.49%) ADO
6 4 (0.49%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.49%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.49%) RESTCONF
6 4 (0.49%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.49%) VML
6 4 (0.49%) XML
6 4 (0.49%) YANG
7 3 (0.36%) Kafka
7 3 (0.36%) REST
7 3 (0.36%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.24%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 44 (5.35%) Hybrid Cloud
2 32 (3.89%) Analytical Mindset
3 27 (3.28%) Clustering
4 26 (3.16%) PKI
5 21 (2.55%) Driving Licence
5 21 (2.55%) Fibre Optics
6 19 (2.31%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.07%) Replication
8 16 (1.94%) Self-Motivation
9 15 (1.82%) Public Cloud
10 14 (1.70%) Management Information System
11 13 (1.58%) Cloud Native
11 13 (1.58%) Private Cloud
12 12 (1.46%) CMDB
12 12 (1.46%) Mainframe
13 11 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
14 10 (1.22%) Enterprise Storage
15 9 (1.09%) BYOD
15 9 (1.09%) VSAM
16 7 (0.85%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 106 (12.88%) Windows
2 89 (10.81%) Linux
3 39 (4.74%) Windows Server
4 26 (3.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (1.94%) Android
5 16 (1.94%) Mac OS
6 15 (1.82%) Unix
7 14 (1.70%) AIX
8 11 (1.34%) CentOS
8 11 (1.34%) Solaris
9 7 (0.85%) VMS
10 5 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.36%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.12%) Debian
13 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
13 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (16.89%) Problem-Solving
2 133 (16.16%) Migration
3 92 (11.18%) Stakeholder Management
4 75 (9.11%) ITIL
5 66 (8.02%) Roadmaps
6 64 (7.78%) High Availability
7 63 (7.65%) Continuous Improvement
7 63 (7.65%) Project Management
8 61 (7.41%) Load Balancing
9 59 (7.17%) Change Management
10 57 (6.93%) Project Delivery
11 49 (5.95%) CI/CD
11 49 (5.95%) Infrastructure as Code
12 48 (5.83%) Agile
13 45 (5.47%) Data Centre Operations
13 45 (5.47%) Network Design
14 44 (5.35%) Customer Service
14 44 (5.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 43 (5.22%) ITSM
16 42 (5.10%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 82 (9.96%) Python
2 44 (5.35%) PowerShell
3 24 (2.92%) Bash
4 22 (2.67%) Java
5 21 (2.55%) SQL
6 16 (1.94%) Perl
7 13 (1.58%) Shell Script
8 11 (1.34%) COBOL
9 9 (1.09%) MATLAB
10 6 (0.73%) VBA
11 5 (0.61%) Bicep
11 5 (0.61%) Lisp
12 4 (0.49%) JavaScript
13 2 (0.24%) C++
13 2 (0.24%) Korn
13 2 (0.24%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.12%) C
14 1 (0.12%) Ruby
14 1 (0.12%) Scala
14 1 (0.12%) VB
Qualifications
1 275 (33.41%) Security Cleared
2 202 (24.54%) SC Cleared
3 167 (20.29%) Cisco Certification
4 114 (13.85%) CCNP
5 72 (8.75%) CCNA
6 66 (8.02%) Degree
7 61 (7.41%) DV Cleared
8 30 (3.65%) Network+ Certification
9 25 (3.04%) Microsoft Certification
10 24 (2.92%) A+ Certification
10 24 (2.92%) MCSE
11 23 (2.79%) CCIE
12 22 (2.67%) PMP
13 20 (2.43%) AWS Certification
14 18 (2.19%) PMI Certification
15 16 (1.94%) JNCIS
16 15 (1.82%) Azure Certification
17 14 (1.70%) JNCIP
18 12 (1.46%) JNCIA
18 12 (1.46%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 27 (3.28%) SLA
2 23 (2.79%) NIST
2 23 (2.79%) PMO
3 22 (2.67%) GDPR
4 17 (2.07%) PCI DSS
5 15 (1.82%) QA
6 8 (0.97%) NCSC
7 5 (0.61%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.49%) GRC
9 3 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.24%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.24%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.12%) COBIT
11 1 (0.12%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.12%) RMADS
11 1 (0.12%) SOC 1
System Software
1 73 (8.87%) VMware Infrastructure
2 56 (6.80%) Active Directory
3 34 (4.13%) VMware NSX
4 22 (2.67%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (2.55%) Firmware
6 16 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
7 15 (1.82%) Hyper-V
7 15 (1.82%) vSphere
8 14 (1.70%) Docker
9 10 (1.22%) KVM
10 3 (0.36%) PowerHA
11 2 (0.24%) Ceph
11 2 (0.24%) Lustre
11 2 (0.24%) NFS
11 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.24%) SRDF
11 2 (0.24%) UAG
11 2 (0.24%) vCloud
11 2 (0.24%) Veritas Cluster Server
11 2 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 82 (9.96%) Ansible
2 68 (8.26%) Terraform
3 46 (5.59%) FortiGate
4 37 (4.50%) Kubernetes
5 27 (3.28%) Grafana
6 20 (2.43%) Prometheus
7 17 (2.07%) SCCM
8 15 (1.82%) Microsoft Intune
9 9 (1.09%) Check_MK
9 9 (1.09%) Podman
9 9 (1.09%) Red Hat Satellite
10 7 (0.85%) SCOM
10 7 (0.85%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.73%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.61%) Dell DRAC
12 5 (0.61%) Endace
12 5 (0.61%) Nagios
12 5 (0.61%) NetBackup
12 5 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
13 4 (0.49%) CASB
Vendors
1 246 (29.89%) Cisco
2 108 (13.12%) VMware
3 104 (12.64%) Palo Alto
4 84 (10.21%) Microsoft
5 75 (9.11%) Juniper
6 70 (8.51%) Dell
7 61 (7.41%) F5
8 42 (5.10%) CheckPoint
9 37 (4.50%) Arista
10 36 (4.37%) Aruba
10 36 (4.37%) Fortinet
11 35 (4.25%) ServiceNow
11 35 (4.25%) SolarWinds
12 33 (4.01%) Meraki
13 28 (3.40%) IBM
14 27 (3.28%) HP
14 27 (3.28%) Splunk
15 22 (2.67%) Citrix
15 22 (2.67%) Google
15 22 (2.67%) Red Hat