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 26 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 372 387 296
Rank change year-on-year +15 -91 +32
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 275 131 233
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.60% 0.48% 0.70%
As % of the System Software category 5.98% 3.96% 6.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 172 90 159
10th Percentile £391 £325 £337
25th Percentile £425 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £535
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -11.21% +1.90%
75th Percentile £588 £584 £608
90th Percentile £702 £653 £670
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £535
% change year-on-year +5.26% -11.21% +1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 4 14
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £26.00 £33.25 £14.06
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.50 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +1.45% +135.90% -79.11%
75th Percentile £68.75 £35.75 £15.19
90th Percentile £69.50 - £63.04
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £34.50 £14.63
% change year-on-year +1.45% +135.90% -78.25%

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 4,595 3,310 3,866
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.06% 12.01% 11.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,020 2,132 2,645
10th Percentile £213 £225 £225
25th Percentile £392 £379 £384
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £515
Median % change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £687 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 95 127
10th Percentile £16.40 £15.03 £14.06
25th Percentile £31.35 £22.75 £15.88
Median hourly rate £61.50 £37.50 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +64.00% +57.56% -45.60%
75th Percentile £74.63 £80.50 £61.81
90th Percentile £89.90 £91.50 £72.05
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £31.39 £24.18
% change year-on-year +75.24% +29.80% -51.64%

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 26 August 2026.

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 26 August 2026.

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 26 August 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 -36 112 £532 +6.40% 51
North of England -18 73 £491 +17.93% 10
South East -30 52 £475 -20.83% 18
Yorkshire -14 39 £519 +17.35% 1
North West -20 33 £480 +42.22% 7
South West -33 17 £540 +27.06% 10
Midlands -51 17 £487 -1.62% 8
West Midlands -61 11 £406 -19.00% 7
East of England -19 6 £425 +41.67% 7
East Midlands -13 4 £500 +5.26% 1
North East - 1 £400 - 2
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 6 (2.18%) Confluence
2 5 (1.82%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.45%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.73%) Apache
4 2 (0.73%) CMS
4 2 (0.73%) IIS
4 2 (0.73%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.36%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.36%) nginx
5 1 (0.36%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.36%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.45%) Adobe Illustrator
1 4 (1.45%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.73%) InDesign
3 1 (0.36%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.36%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.73%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.36%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 132 (48.00%) Azure
2 50 (18.18%) Entra ID
3 39 (14.18%) AWS
4 35 (12.73%) Azure Monitor
5 31 (11.27%) Azure DevOps
6 26 (9.45%) Azure AKS
7 24 (8.73%) GitHub
8 23 (8.36%) IaaS
8 23 (8.36%) OpenShift
9 20 (7.27%) GitHub Actions
10 14 (5.09%) Microsoft 365
11 12 (4.36%) Azure Key Vault
12 11 (4.00%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 10 (3.64%) PaaS
13 10 (3.64%) SaaS
14 9 (3.27%) GCP
14 9 (3.27%) Power Platform
14 9 (3.27%) Serverless
15 8 (2.91%) Azure Storage
16 7 (2.55%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 42 (15.27%) DNS
2 40 (14.55%) Firewall
3 23 (8.36%) VPN
4 20 (7.27%) Network Security
4 20 (7.27%) VSAN
5 19 (6.91%) VLAN
6 18 (6.55%) DHCP
7 17 (6.18%) SSL
8 16 (5.82%) WAN
9 10 (3.64%) SD-WAN
10 7 (2.55%) FTP
10 7 (2.55%) LAN
10 7 (2.55%) SAN
11 5 (1.82%) HTTPS
11 5 (1.82%) SSH
11 5 (1.82%) Wi-Fi
12 4 (1.45%) TCP/IP
13 3 (1.09%) Cisco Nexus
13 3 (1.09%) NAS
14 2 (0.73%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (10.91%) SQL Server
2 10 (3.64%) Azure SQL Database
3 9 (3.27%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (3.27%) Power BI
4 7 (2.55%) Data Lake
4 7 (2.55%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 6 (2.18%) MySQL
6 3 (1.09%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (1.09%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.36%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.36%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.36%) Neo4j
7 1 (0.36%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.36%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.36%) Power Query
7 1 (0.36%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 15 (5.45%) Git
2 13 (4.73%) Jenkins
3 7 (2.55%) JIRA
4 6 (2.18%) GitLab
5 2 (0.73%) CppUnit
5 2 (0.73%) PVCS
5 2 (0.73%) Rational DOORS
5 2 (0.73%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.73%) Team Foundation Server
5 2 (0.73%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.36%) Selenium
6 1 (0.36%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.36%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.36%) Vagrant
6 1 (0.36%) Visual Studio
General
1 44 (16.00%) Social Skills
2 27 (9.82%) Finance
3 11 (4.00%) Legal
4 10 (3.64%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (3.27%) Banking
6 8 (2.91%) Public Sector
7 6 (2.18%) Front Office
7 6 (2.18%) Retail
8 5 (1.82%) Manufacturing
9 4 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (1.45%) Marketing
10 2 (0.73%) Law
10 2 (0.73%) Local Government
10 2 (0.73%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (0.73%) Publishing
11 1 (0.36%) Advertising
11 1 (0.36%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.36%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.36%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 42 (15.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 34 (12.36%) Azure Engineer
3 31 (11.27%) Cloud Engineer
4 28 (10.18%) DevOps Engineer
5 26 (9.45%) Senior
6 21 (7.64%) Lead
7 17 (6.18%) Architect
7 17 (6.18%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
8 15 (5.45%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
9 14 (5.09%) Analyst
10 11 (4.00%) Platform Engineer
11 9 (3.27%) Administrator
11 9 (3.27%) DBA
11 9 (3.27%) Linux Engineer
11 9 (3.27%) Solutions Architect
11 9 (3.27%) VMware Engineer
11 9 (3.27%) Wintel Engineer
12 8 (2.91%) Project Manager
12 8 (2.91%) Storage Engineer
13 7 (2.55%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (22.55%) Terraform
2 10 (3.64%) ARM Templates
3 8 (2.91%) REST
3 8 (2.91%) YAML
4 5 (1.82%) Middleware
5 3 (1.09%) Elastic Stack
5 3 (1.09%) JSON
6 2 (0.73%) SOAP
7 1 (0.36%) ADO
7 1 (0.36%) Java SE
7 1 (0.36%) Lambda Expressions
7 1 (0.36%) LDAP
7 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.36%) Node.js
7 1 (0.36%) NumPy
7 1 (0.36%) OpenID
7 1 (0.36%) Oracle GoldenGate
7 1 (0.36%) Pandas
7 1 (0.36%) SciPy
7 1 (0.36%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 32 (11.64%) Replication
2 25 (9.09%) Clustering
3 17 (6.18%) Hybrid Cloud
4 14 (5.09%) Data Centre
5 11 (4.00%) Linux Command Line
6 9 (3.27%) Enterprise Storage
7 8 (2.91%) Cloud Native
7 8 (2.91%) Mainframe
7 8 (2.91%) Product Ownership
8 7 (2.55%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (2.18%) Fixed Income
9 6 (2.18%) Market Risk
9 6 (2.18%) Operational Technology
9 6 (2.18%) Public Cloud
10 5 (1.82%) Onboarding
10 5 (1.82%) PKI
10 5 (1.82%) Security Posture
11 3 (1.09%) EMC Centera
11 3 (1.09%) SCADA
11 3 (1.09%) Symmetrix
Operating Systems
1 90 (32.73%) Windows
2 68 (24.73%) Linux
3 51 (18.55%) Windows Server
4 30 (10.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (8.36%) VMS
6 8 (2.91%) Ubuntu
7 6 (2.18%) Unix
8 4 (1.45%) SUSE
8 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (1.09%) AIX
9 3 (1.09%) CoreOS
9 3 (1.09%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.73%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.73%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.36%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.36%) Android
11 1 (0.36%) Solaris
11 1 (0.36%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.36%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (25.45%) CI/CD
1 70 (25.45%) DevOps
2 60 (21.82%) Migration
3 58 (21.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 55 (20.00%) Infrastructure as Code
5 42 (15.27%) Performance Tuning
6 38 (13.82%) Disaster Recovery
6 38 (13.82%) High Availability
7 36 (13.09%) Continuous Improvement
8 33 (12.00%) RBAC
9 31 (11.27%) Validation
10 28 (10.18%) Problem-Solving
11 27 (9.82%) Stakeholder Management
12 26 (9.45%) Platform Engineering
13 25 (9.09%) Capacity Planning
13 25 (9.09%) Network Virtualisation
14 23 (8.36%) Runbook
15 22 (8.00%) Vulnerability Management
16 21 (7.64%) ITIL
16 21 (7.64%) Storage Management
Programming Languages
1 83 (30.18%) PowerShell
2 53 (19.27%) Python
3 39 (14.18%) SQL
4 30 (10.91%) Bash
5 12 (4.36%) Bicep
6 9 (3.27%) C#
7 6 (2.18%) C
7 6 (2.18%) T-SQL
8 4 (1.45%) Korn
8 4 (1.45%) PL/SQL
8 4 (1.45%) Shell Script
9 3 (1.09%) Java
10 2 (0.73%) C++
10 2 (0.73%) Embedded C
10 2 (0.73%) Groovy
11 1 (0.36%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.36%) Go
11 1 (0.36%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.36%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.36%) RPG
Qualifications
1 76 (27.64%) Security Cleared
2 61 (22.18%) SC Cleared
3 20 (7.27%) Azure Certification
4 17 (6.18%) Degree
4 17 (6.18%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (5.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 11 (4.00%) VCAP
7 10 (3.64%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (3.64%) MCSA
7 10 (3.64%) MCSE
8 7 (2.55%) DV Cleared
9 6 (2.18%) ISTQB
9 6 (2.18%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 5 (1.82%) CCNA
10 5 (1.82%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.82%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 3 (1.09%) CISM
11 3 (1.09%) CISSP
11 3 (1.09%) PMI Certification
11 3 (1.09%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (3.64%) QA
2 3 (1.09%) PCI DSS
2 3 (1.09%) SLA
3 2 (0.73%) Actionable Recommendations
3 2 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (0.73%) GMP
3 2 (0.73%) GxP
3 2 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (0.73%) NIST
4 1 (0.36%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.36%) GDPR
4 1 (0.36%) HIPAA
4 1 (0.36%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.36%) WCAG
System Software
1 83 (30.18%) VMware Infrastructure
2 42 (15.27%) vSphere
3 41 (14.91%) Active Directory
4 34 (12.36%) VMware ESXi
5 24 (8.73%) Docker
6 18 (6.55%) Hyper-V
7 14 (5.09%) VMware NSX
8 7 (2.55%) Ceph
8 7 (2.55%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (1.82%) Firmware
9 5 (1.82%) KVM
9 5 (1.82%) NFS
10 3 (1.09%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 3 (1.09%) VMware Workstation
11 2 (0.73%) Veritas Volume Manager
12 1 (0.36%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.36%) DFS Replication
12 1 (0.36%) Dovecot
12 1 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.36%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 43 (15.64%) Ansible
1 43 (15.64%) Kubernetes
2 26 (9.45%) vCenter Server
3 14 (5.09%) Grafana
4 12 (4.36%) PowerCLI
5 11 (4.00%) Prometheus
6 10 (3.64%) SCOM
7 9 (3.27%) Failover Clustering
8 8 (2.91%) SCCM
8 8 (2.91%) VxRail
9 6 (2.18%) Microsoft Clustering
9 6 (2.18%) Microsoft Intune
9 6 (2.18%) Packer
9 6 (2.18%) Podman
9 6 (2.18%) vMotion
10 5 (1.82%) Proxmox
11 4 (1.45%) Argo
11 4 (1.45%) Avamar
11 4 (1.45%) OPNET
12 3 (1.09%) WSUS
Vendors
1 91 (33.09%) Microsoft
2 88 (32.00%) VMware
3 29 (10.55%) Cisco
4 21 (7.64%) Oracle
5 20 (7.27%) ServiceNow
6 15 (5.45%) Dell
7 14 (5.09%) NetApp
8 12 (4.36%) Veeam
9 11 (4.00%) IBM
9 11 (4.00%) Red Hat
10 9 (3.27%) CyberArk
10 9 (3.27%) Qualys
11 7 (2.55%) SolarWinds
12 6 (2.18%) Databricks
12 6 (2.18%) Google
12 6 (2.18%) Splunk
13 5 (1.82%) Commvault
13 5 (1.82%) EMC
13 5 (1.82%) Meraki
13 5 (1.82%) Palo Alto