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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 132 115
Rank change year-on-year +5 -17 -20
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 990 609 696
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.14% 2.19% 2.11%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.33% 6.08% 6.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 628 402 449
10th Percentile £336 £300 £363
25th Percentile £420 £405 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £650 £615 £613
90th Percentile £750 £725 £700
UK median daily rate £519 £519 £525
% change year-on-year +0.10% -1.24% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 31 26
10th Percentile £17.31 - £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% -6.81%
75th Percentile £55.56 £38.38 £26.50
90th Percentile £82.05 £43.75 £28.75
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £20.80
% change year-on-year +29.22% +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 15,646 10,012 10,183
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.89% 36.00% 30.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,463 6,294 6,274
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 £540
% change year-on-year +1.94% -4.63% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,063 498 415
10th Percentile £14.01 £15.48 £15.11
25th Percentile £17.99 £18.87 £23.80
Median hourly rate £37.50 £33.03 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +13.55% -42.41% +25.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £58.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £75.00 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £38.25 £30.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +27.50% -40.00% +11.11%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 +21 413 £550 - 1,124
North of England +2 219 £500 +4.60% 154
South East -19 165 £550 +22.22% 221
Yorkshire +8 132 £485 +7.78% 38
North West -22 70 £525 -3.23% 73
South West -15 65 £600 +9.09% 65
Midlands -68 54 £453 -9.40% 93
West Midlands -61 43 £475 -4.33% 67
East of England -18 36 £474 -21.08% 111
North East -24 23 £625 - 44
East Midlands -21 11 £413 -21.43% 26
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 (2.63%) Confluence
2 17 (1.72%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.11%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.71%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.51%) Apache
5 5 (0.51%) 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 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.72%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.01%) MS Visio
4 9 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.51%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.30%) Navisworks
7 3 (0.30%) Revit
8 2 (0.20%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 13 (1.31%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.20%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.10%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.10%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.10%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.10%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 220 (22.22%) Azure
2 174 (17.58%) AWS
3 49 (4.95%) GCP
4 48 (4.85%) GitHub
5 42 (4.24%) IaaS
6 38 (3.84%) SaaS
7 31 (3.13%) Microsoft 365
8 30 (3.03%) Entra ID
9 29 (2.93%) OCI
10 18 (1.82%) PaaS
11 16 (1.62%) Power Platform
12 14 (1.41%) Azure DevOps
12 14 (1.41%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 14 (1.41%) OneDrive
12 14 (1.41%) OpenShift
13 10 (1.01%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 8 (0.81%) AWS Direct Connect
15 6 (0.61%) GitHub Actions
16 5 (0.51%) Azure Monitor
16 5 (0.51%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 244 (24.65%) Firewall
2 155 (15.66%) WAN
3 153 (15.45%) BGP
4 121 (12.22%) DNS
5 100 (10.10%) VLAN
6 97 (9.80%) VXLAN
7 93 (9.39%) Network Security
7 93 (9.39%) OSPF
8 88 (8.89%) SAN
8 88 (8.89%) VPN
9 83 (8.38%) DHCP
9 83 (8.38%) LAN
10 72 (7.27%) TCP/IP
11 67 (6.77%) Ethernet VPN
12 64 (6.46%) SD-WAN
13 57 (5.76%) Wireless
14 50 (5.05%) Wi-Fi
15 49 (4.95%) BIG-IP
16 48 (4.85%) NX-OS
17 47 (4.75%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (3.03%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.52%) Power BI
3 11 (1.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (1.01%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (1.01%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.71%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.61%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (0.51%) 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 70 (7.07%) JIRA
2 38 (3.84%) GitLab
3 26 (2.63%) Jenkins
4 24 (2.42%) Git
5 6 (0.61%) 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
1 238 (24.04%) Social Skills
2 155 (15.66%) Finance
3 89 (8.99%) Analytical Skills
4 58 (5.86%) Banking
5 45 (4.55%) Public Sector
6 42 (4.24%) Telecoms
7 40 (4.04%) Documentation Skills
8 26 (2.63%) Retail
9 23 (2.32%) Legal
10 18 (1.82%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.62%) Manufacturing
12 13 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 13 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (0.71%) Police
14 6 (0.61%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.61%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.51%) Cyber-Physical System
15 5 (0.51%) Marketing
16 4 (0.40%) Law
17 3 (0.30%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 170 (17.17%) Network Engineer
2 153 (15.45%) Architect
3 130 (13.13%) Senior
4 101 (10.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 69 (6.97%) Project Manager
6 68 (6.87%) Data Centre Engineer
7 65 (6.57%) Lead
8 60 (6.06%) Network Architect
9 39 (3.94%) Consultant
10 36 (3.64%) Senior Network Engineer
11 35 (3.54%) Data Centre Manager
11 35 (3.54%) IT Engineer
12 31 (3.13%) Infrastructure Manager
13 29 (2.93%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 26 (2.63%) Technical Manager
15 25 (2.53%) Field Engineer
16 24 (2.42%) Solutions Architect
17 23 (2.32%) Administrator
17 23 (2.32%) Analyst
17 23 (2.32%) Data Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 102 (10.30%) Terraform
2 26 (2.63%) REST
3 21 (2.12%) Middleware
4 16 (1.62%) YAML
5 15 (1.52%) 802.1X
6 13 (1.31%) JSON
7 8 (0.81%) .NET
7 8 (0.81%) LDAP
8 7 (0.71%) NETCONF
9 6 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
9 6 (0.61%) Redfish
9 6 (0.61%) SAML
10 5 (0.51%) Kafka
10 5 (0.51%) OpenConfig
10 5 (0.51%) RESTCONF
10 5 (0.51%) YANG
11 4 (0.40%) GeoJSON
11 4 (0.40%) RESTful
12 3 (0.30%) .NET Framework
13 2 (0.20%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 77 (7.78%) Hybrid Cloud
2 35 (3.54%) Public Cloud
3 33 (3.33%) Private Cloud
4 32 (3.23%) Cloud Native
4 32 (3.23%) PKI
5 29 (2.93%) Analytical Mindset
6 28 (2.83%) Replication
7 27 (2.73%) Enterprise Storage
8 25 (2.53%) Clustering
9 22 (2.22%) Onboarding
10 20 (2.02%) Data Protection Act
11 19 (1.92%) Operational Technology
12 16 (1.62%) Fibre Optics
12 16 (1.62%) Self-Motivation
13 15 (1.52%) CMDB
14 14 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
14 14 (1.41%) Management Information System
15 12 (1.21%) Driving Licence
16 11 (1.11%) Virtual Team
17 10 (1.01%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 156 (15.76%) Windows
2 101 (10.20%) Linux
3 56 (5.66%) Windows Server
4 30 (3.03%) Unix
5 18 (1.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.41%) AIX
7 11 (1.11%) Mac OS
8 10 (1.01%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.81%) Solaris
9 8 (0.81%) VMS
10 6 (0.61%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.51%) HPUX
11 5 (0.51%) Oracle Linux
11 5 (0.51%) 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
1 221 (22.32%) Migration
2 153 (15.45%) Problem-Solving
3 140 (14.14%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 134 (13.54%) Stakeholder Management
5 109 (11.01%) Infrastructure as Code
6 95 (9.60%) Agile
7 94 (9.49%) ITIL
8 89 (8.99%) CI/CD
9 82 (8.28%) High Availability
10 80 (8.08%) Validation
11 74 (7.47%) Project Delivery
12 73 (7.37%) Continuous Improvement
13 71 (7.17%) Roadmaps
14 70 (7.07%) Disaster Recovery
15 69 (6.97%) Zero Trust
16 65 (6.57%) Change Management
17 62 (6.26%) ITSM
18 59 (5.96%) Technical Leadership
19 58 (5.86%) DevOps
20 57 (5.76%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 148 (14.95%) Python
2 60 (6.06%) PowerShell
3 40 (4.04%) SQL
4 30 (3.03%) Bash
5 14 (1.41%) ActionScript
6 10 (1.01%) Bicep
7 8 (0.81%) C#
7 8 (0.81%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.71%) PL/SQL
9 6 (0.61%) Perl
10 5 (0.51%) 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
1 261 (26.36%) Security Cleared
2 168 (16.97%) SC Cleared
3 140 (14.14%) Cisco Certification
4 93 (9.39%) DV Cleared
5 87 (8.79%) CCNP
6 54 (5.45%) Degree
7 51 (5.15%) CCNA
8 33 (3.33%) Network+ Certification
9 30 (3.03%) AWS Certification
10 27 (2.73%) Microsoft Certification
11 25 (2.53%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 23 (2.32%) Azure Certification
12 23 (2.32%) CCIE
13 22 (2.22%) A+ Certification
13 22 (2.22%) MCSE
14 21 (2.12%) CISSP
14 21 (2.12%) PMI Certification
14 21 (2.12%) PMP
15 17 (1.72%) VCAP
16 14 (1.41%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (2.63%) QA
2 24 (2.42%) SLA
3 23 (2.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (1.72%) NIST
5 15 (1.52%) PMO
6 10 (1.01%) GRC
7 9 (0.91%) GDPR
7 9 (0.91%) JSP 440
7 9 (0.91%) NCSC
8 5 (0.51%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.40%) RMADS
10 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.30%) ISO 31000
10 3 (0.30%) ISO 9001
10 3 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 3 (0.30%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.20%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 128 (12.93%) VMware Infrastructure
2 75 (7.58%) Active Directory
3 47 (4.75%) vSphere
4 43 (4.34%) VMware NSX
5 34 (3.43%) VMware ESXi
6 28 (2.83%) Docker
6 28 (2.83%) Hyper-V
7 24 (2.42%) Firmware
8 13 (1.31%) Virtual Machines
9 12 (1.21%) NFS
10 6 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
11 5 (0.51%) 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
1 138 (13.94%) Ansible
2 49 (4.95%) Kubernetes
3 32 (3.23%) FortiGate
4 20 (2.02%) Prometheus
5 18 (1.82%) Microsoft Intune
6 17 (1.72%) Grafana
6 17 (1.72%) vCenter Server
7 14 (1.41%) VxRail
8 12 (1.21%) Microsoft Clustering
8 12 (1.21%) SCCM
9 11 (1.11%) vMotion
10 10 (1.01%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (1.01%) NetBackup
10 10 (1.01%) PowerCLI
11 9 (0.91%) Dell DRAC
11 9 (0.91%) SCOM
11 9 (0.91%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 8 (0.81%) Nagios
13 7 (0.71%) Check_MK
14 5 (0.51%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 257 (25.96%) Cisco
2 170 (17.17%) VMware
3 117 (11.82%) Microsoft
4 111 (11.21%) Palo Alto
5 99 (10.00%) F5
6 66 (6.67%) Arista
7 64 (6.46%) Fortinet
8 60 (6.06%) Juniper
9 59 (5.96%) ServiceNow
10 50 (5.05%) Dell
11 39 (3.94%) Aruba
12 33 (3.33%) CheckPoint
13 29 (2.93%) Red Hat
14 26 (2.63%) Oracle
14 26 (2.63%) Veeam
15 23 (2.32%) Google
15 23 (2.32%) Zscaler
16 22 (2.22%) Commvault
16 22 (2.22%) IBM
16 22 (2.22%) SolarWinds