Virtual Machines Contract Job Trends in England

Virtual Machine (VM)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Virtual Machines skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 385 306 311
Rank change year-on-year -79 +5 +37
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 160 208 273
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.51% 0.72% 0.73%
As % of the System Software category 4.08% 5.97% 5.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 111 134 183
10th Percentile £364 £347 £280
25th Percentile £439 £400 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £594 £607 £615
90th Percentile £655 £663 £698
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 9 12
10th Percentile £62.05 £29.73 -
25th Percentile - £53.00 £73.09
Median hourly rate £70.00 £63.00 £78.73
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -19.97% +12.46%
75th Percentile - £66.00 £89.06
90th Percentile - - £90.00
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £63.00 £78.73
% change year-on-year +11.11% -19.97% +12.46%

All System Software Skills
England

Virtual Machines falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring system software skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 3,925 3,484 4,776
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 12.53% 12.00% 12.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,618 2,254 3,307
10th Percentile £213 £205 £195
25th Percentile £400 £373 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £516 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.15% +3.25% -5.66%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £614
90th Percentile £688 £725 £713
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 140 78 218
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £15.65
25th Percentile £21.00 £21.46 £18.26
Median hourly rate £48.11 £31.75 £42.04
Median % change year-on-year +51.53% -24.47% +68.15%
75th Percentile £74.26 £64.88 £66.93
90th Percentile £91.50 £75.00 £76.82
UK median hourly rate £47.50 £28.71 £45.94
% change year-on-year +65.48% -37.52% +83.76%

Virtual Machines
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Virtual Machines relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Virtual Machines job vacancy trend in England

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Virtual Machines.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Virtual Machines

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Virtual Machines in England over the 6 months to 16 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Virtual Machines.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Virtual Machines

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Virtual Machines in England over the 6 months to 16 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
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 Virtual Machines within the England region over the 6 months to 16 December 2025. 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 74 £525 - 12
North of England -42 23 £493 +20.10% 9
South East -33 22 £569 +55.82% 19
South West -3 21 £563 +4.65% 10
Yorkshire -37 20 £489 +11.14% 1
East of England -36 9 £475 -7.32% 7
Midlands -51 4 £508 +6.84% 5
North West -37 3 £500 +32.28% 8
West Midlands -43 3 £508 +6.84% 4
East Midlands -16 1 - - 1
Virtual Machines
UK

Virtual Machines
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 16 (10.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (3.75%) IIS
3 5 (3.13%) Confluence
3 5 (3.13%) SharePoint
4 4 (2.50%) Apache
5 3 (1.88%) OpenStack
5 3 (1.88%) SharePoint Server
6 2 (1.25%) Ethereum
6 2 (1.25%) Hyperledger
7 1 (0.63%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.63%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.63%) nginx
7 1 (0.63%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 1 (0.63%) MS Visio
1 1 (0.63%) OmniGraffle
Cloud Services
1 64 (40.00%) Azure
2 28 (17.50%) AWS
3 25 (15.63%) GitHub
4 17 (10.63%) Azure DevOps
5 16 (10.00%) GitHub Actions
6 12 (7.50%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (7.50%) OpenShift
7 8 (5.00%) Azure AKS
7 8 (5.00%) GCP
7 8 (5.00%) Serverless
8 7 (4.38%) Cloud Computing
8 7 (4.38%) IaaS
9 6 (3.75%) AWS CodePipeline
9 6 (3.75%) AWS Lambda
9 6 (3.75%) Azure Monitor
9 6 (3.75%) Entra ID
10 5 (3.13%) Amazon ECS
10 5 (3.13%) AWS CloudFormation
10 5 (3.13%) Azure Storage
10 5 (3.13%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 33 (20.63%) Firewall
2 32 (20.00%) DNS
3 14 (8.75%) DHCP
4 11 (6.88%) VPN
5 10 (6.25%) WAN
6 9 (5.63%) TCP/IP
7 7 (4.38%) Network Security
7 7 (4.38%) Skype
7 7 (4.38%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (3.75%) VLAN
9 5 (3.13%) Reverse Proxy
10 4 (2.50%) Intrusion Detection
10 4 (2.50%) NAS
10 4 (2.50%) SAN
11 2 (1.25%) LAN
11 2 (1.25%) Modbus
11 2 (1.25%) VSAN
11 2 (1.25%) Wireless
12 1 (0.63%) Cisco Wireless
12 1 (0.63%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (5.63%) PostgreSQL
1 9 (5.63%) SQL Server
2 5 (3.13%) Data Lake
3 4 (2.50%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (2.50%) OLTP
3 4 (2.50%) Oracle Database
3 4 (2.50%) Oracle Reports
4 3 (1.88%) Azure SQL Database
4 3 (1.88%) Data Mining
5 2 (1.25%) Data Hub
5 2 (1.25%) Data Vault
5 2 (1.25%) ImageNet
6 1 (0.63%) Big Data
6 1 (0.63%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.63%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 22 (13.75%) Git
2 20 (12.50%) JIRA
3 13 (8.13%) Jenkins
4 9 (5.63%) GitLab
5 5 (3.13%) PVCS
5 5 (3.13%) Rational DOORS
6 3 (1.88%) RStudio
7 2 (1.25%) Hardhat
7 2 (1.25%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.63%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.63%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.63%) Snyk
8 1 (0.63%) SonarQube
General
1 35 (21.88%) Social Skills
2 11 (6.88%) Analytical Skills
2 11 (6.88%) Public Sector
3 9 (5.63%) Finance
4 6 (3.75%) Documentation Skills
4 6 (3.75%) Electronics
4 6 (3.75%) Spanish Language
4 6 (3.75%) Telecoms
5 5 (3.13%) Banking
6 3 (1.88%) Law
6 3 (1.88%) Social Science
7 2 (1.25%) Back Office
7 2 (1.25%) Front Office
7 2 (1.25%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.63%) Aerospace
8 1 (0.63%) Italian Language
8 1 (0.63%) Legal
8 1 (0.63%) Police
8 1 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (0.63%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 19 (11.88%) DevOps Engineer
2 18 (11.25%) Security Engineer
3 15 (9.38%) Senior
4 14 (8.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 13 (8.13%) Architect
5 13 (8.13%) Platform Engineer
6 11 (6.88%) Software Engineer
7 9 (5.63%) C++ Software Engineer
7 9 (5.63%) Data Engineer
7 9 (5.63%) Embedded C++ Engineer
7 9 (5.63%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
7 9 (5.63%) Embedded Engineer
7 9 (5.63%) Embedded Software Engineer
8 8 (5.00%) Azure Engineer
8 8 (5.00%) Developer
9 7 (4.38%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
10 6 (3.75%) Site Engineer
10 6 (3.75%) Site Reliability Engineer
11 5 (3.13%) IT Engineer
11 5 (3.13%) Kubernetes Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (5.63%) Middleware
2 8 (5.00%) ARM Templates
3 7 (4.38%) TensorFlow
4 6 (3.75%) Hugging Face
4 6 (3.75%) OpenCV
4 6 (3.75%) OpenTelemetry
4 6 (3.75%) PyTorch
4 6 (3.75%) Regular Expression
4 6 (3.75%) SpaCy
5 3 (1.88%) Elastic Stack
5 3 (1.88%) Kafka
5 3 (1.88%) YAML
6 2 (1.25%) .NET
6 2 (1.25%) Loki
6 2 (1.25%) RESTful
6 2 (1.25%) Smart Contracts
6 2 (1.25%) Truffle
6 2 (1.25%) Web Services
6 2 (1.25%) web3js
7 1 (0.63%) UIKit
Miscellaneous
1 15 (9.38%) Data Centre
2 12 (7.50%) Private Cloud
3 9 (5.63%) Cloud Native
4 7 (4.38%) Management Information System
4 7 (4.38%) Onboarding
4 7 (4.38%) Replication
5 6 (3.75%) CAN bus
5 6 (3.75%) PKI
6 5 (3.13%) Hybrid Cloud
6 5 (3.13%) Linux Command Line
7 4 (2.50%) Public Cloud
7 4 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.88%) Algorithms
8 3 (1.88%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (1.88%) NHS
8 3 (1.88%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.88%) Security Posture
9 2 (1.25%) Insider Threat
9 2 (1.25%) PACS
9 2 (1.25%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 53 (33.13%) Linux
2 48 (30.00%) Windows
3 24 (15.00%) Windows Server
4 21 (13.13%) VMS
5 10 (6.25%) Windows 10
6 9 (5.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (5.63%) Windows Server 2016
7 3 (1.88%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (1.88%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.63%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.63%) SUSE
8 1 (0.63%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.63%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.63%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (36.25%) DevOps
2 50 (31.25%) CI/CD
3 38 (23.75%) Infrastructure as Code
4 36 (22.50%) Agile
5 24 (15.00%) Migration
6 22 (13.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 22 (13.75%) Problem-Solving
7 20 (12.50%) Cybersecurity
8 18 (11.25%) High Availability
9 17 (10.63%) Continuous Improvement
10 15 (9.38%) Analytics
10 15 (9.38%) Containerisation
10 15 (9.38%) Information Security
11 14 (8.75%) Infrastructure Automation
11 14 (8.75%) Platform Engineering
11 14 (8.75%) Security Operations
11 14 (8.75%) Technical Leadership
12 13 (8.13%) Root Cause Analysis
13 12 (7.50%) AI
14 11 (6.88%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 37 (23.13%) Python
2 25 (15.63%) PowerShell
3 18 (11.25%) SQL
4 13 (8.13%) C++
4 13 (8.13%) Java
5 11 (6.88%) Bash
6 10 (6.25%) Embedded C++
6 10 (6.25%) Shell Script
7 9 (5.63%) C#
8 5 (3.13%) Bicep
8 5 (3.13%) C
8 5 (3.13%) Ruby
9 4 (2.50%) Embedded C
9 4 (2.50%) Scala
10 2 (1.25%) Go
10 2 (1.25%) PHP
10 2 (1.25%) Solidity
11 1 (0.63%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.63%) Swift
11 1 (0.63%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 49 (30.63%) Security Cleared
2 38 (23.75%) SC Cleared
3 11 (6.88%) DV Cleared
4 9 (5.63%) Degree
5 8 (5.00%) OCP
5 8 (5.00%) Oracle Certification
6 7 (4.38%) Azure Certification
7 4 (2.50%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (2.50%) Computer Science Degree
7 4 (2.50%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 3 (1.88%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (1.88%) VCAP
9 2 (1.25%) AWS Certification
9 2 (1.25%) CCNA
9 2 (1.25%) CCNP
9 2 (1.25%) CISM
9 2 (1.25%) CISSP
9 2 (1.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (1.25%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.63%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (5.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 5 (3.13%) GDPR
2 5 (3.13%) QA
3 4 (2.50%) Accessibility
3 4 (2.50%) NIST
4 3 (1.88%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (1.88%) SLA
5 2 (1.25%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 1 (0.63%) GRC
6 1 (0.63%) RMADS
System Software
1 39 (24.38%) VMware Infrastructure
2 36 (22.50%) Active Directory
3 14 (8.75%) Docker
4 12 (7.50%) vSphere
5 11 (6.88%) VMware NSX
6 9 (5.63%) VMware ESXi
7 7 (4.38%) Hyper-V
8 6 (3.75%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (1.88%) Firmware
9 3 (1.88%) KVM
10 2 (1.25%) Xen
11 1 (0.63%) Ceph
11 1 (0.63%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 44 (27.50%) Terraform
2 31 (19.38%) Kubernetes
3 22 (13.75%) Ansible
3 22 (13.75%) vCenter Server
4 15 (9.38%) SCCM
5 11 (6.88%) WSUS
6 10 (6.25%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (4.38%) CASB
7 7 (4.38%) SCOrch
8 6 (3.75%) vRealize
9 4 (2.50%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (2.50%) Rancher
9 4 (2.50%) vMotion
10 3 (1.88%) Data Guard
10 3 (1.88%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 3 (1.88%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (1.88%) PowerCLI
11 2 (1.25%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (1.25%) Prometheus
11 2 (1.25%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 52 (32.50%) Microsoft
2 46 (28.75%) VMware
3 11 (6.88%) Cisco
3 11 (6.88%) Oracle
4 7 (4.38%) Veeam
5 6 (3.75%) IBM
5 6 (3.75%) Sophos
6 5 (3.13%) ANSYS
6 5 (3.13%) Databricks
6 5 (3.13%) Dell
6 5 (3.13%) NetApp
6 5 (3.13%) Red Hat
6 5 (3.13%) SolarWinds
7 4 (2.50%) Pure Storage
7 4 (2.50%) Remedy
8 3 (1.88%) Citrix
8 3 (1.88%) F5
8 3 (1.88%) Tenable
9 2 (1.25%) Rockwell
9 2 (1.25%) ServiceNow