Virtual Machines Contracts in England

Virtual Machine (VM)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring Virtual Machines skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Virtual Machines over the 6 months leading up to 6 July 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 340 301 329
Rank change year-on-year -39 +28 +54
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 159 273 339
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.60% 0.73% 0.70%
As % of the System Software category 4.86% 6.46% 5.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 109 194 224
10th Percentile £350 £332 £308
25th Percentile £413 £425 £452
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -8.91% +4.76% -
75th Percentile £608 £608 £625
90th Percentile £750 £674 £725
UK median daily rate £500 £535 £525
% change year-on-year -6.54% +1.90% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 24 15
10th Percentile - - £22.63
25th Percentile £33.25 £14.06 £24.94
Median hourly rate £34.50 £14.63 £66.00
Median % change year-on-year +135.90% -77.84% -20.00%
75th Percentile £57.31 £15.19 £70.88
90th Percentile £65.25 - £90.00
UK median hourly rate £34.50 £14.63 £66.00
% change year-on-year +135.90% -77.84% -11.11%

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 3,271 4,227 6,187
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 12.32% 11.36% 12.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,154 2,931 4,404
10th Percentile £222 £213 £200
25th Percentile £375 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £608 £650
90th Percentile £700 £688 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 194 219
10th Percentile £15.06 £14.06 £14.25
25th Percentile £22.50 £14.74 £17.50
Median hourly rate £31.39 £22.15 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +41.69% -55.70% +150.00%
75th Percentile £70.88 £58.64 £66.00
90th Percentile £88.23 £70.00 £76.80
UK median hourly rate £28.00 £23.80 £54.00
% change year-on-year +17.65% -55.93% +170.00%

Virtual Machines
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Virtual Machines as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Virtual Machines in England.

Daily rate trend for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Histogram in England

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

Daily rate histogram for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Virtual Machines in England.

Hourly rate trend for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Virtual Machines in England over the 6 months to 6 July 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 6 July 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 +18 90 £550 +2.80% 73
North of England -15 20 £381 -40.05% 36
Midlands +3 19 £485 -15.28% 14
South East -11 17 £575 -1.71% 32
West Midlands -5 16 £460 -19.30% 6
North West +3 10 £376 -41.58% 17
Yorkshire -10 8 £465 +36.84% 14
East of England +22 5 £526 -5.14% 18
East Midlands +3 3 £525 -8.70% 8
South West +17 2 £475 -16.67% 16
North East - 2 £363 - 5
Virtual Machines
UK

Virtual Machines
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 13 (8.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (3.77%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.52%) Confluence
4 3 (1.89%) WebSphere
5 2 (1.26%) BizTalk Server
5 2 (1.26%) IIS
5 2 (1.26%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.63%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.63%) Apache
6 1 (0.63%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.63%) JBoss
6 1 (0.63%) MTS
Applications
1 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
1 1 (0.63%) MS Visio
1 1 (0.63%) SketchUp
Cloud Services
1 80 (50.31%) Azure
2 32 (20.13%) Entra ID
3 28 (17.61%) Azure DevOps
4 25 (15.72%) AWS
5 19 (11.95%) Azure Monitor
5 19 (11.95%) Microsoft 365
6 18 (11.32%) Serverless
7 16 (10.06%) Azure Logic Apps
8 15 (9.43%) GCP
9 14 (8.81%) Azure AKS
10 13 (8.18%) Azure API Management
11 12 (7.55%) PaaS
11 12 (7.55%) SaaS
12 11 (6.92%) Azure Service Bus
12 11 (6.92%) IaaS
13 10 (6.29%) Azure Functions
13 10 (6.29%) Azure Storage
14 9 (5.66%) Azure Event Grid
14 9 (5.66%) Azure Key Vault
15 8 (5.03%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 24 (15.09%) Firewall
2 16 (10.06%) DNS
3 12 (7.55%) Network Security
3 12 (7.55%) VPN
4 10 (6.29%) DHCP
5 7 (4.40%) SAN
5 7 (4.40%) WAN
6 6 (3.77%) VSAN
7 5 (3.14%) TCP/IP
8 4 (2.52%) VLAN
9 3 (1.89%) NAS
9 3 (1.89%) NGFW
9 3 (1.89%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (1.26%) Broadband
10 2 (1.26%) IPsec
10 2 (1.26%) LAN
10 2 (1.26%) Skype
10 2 (1.26%) VoIP
11 1 (0.63%) HTTPS
11 1 (0.63%) SNA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (8.18%) SQL Server
2 11 (6.92%) Azure SQL Database
3 6 (3.77%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (2.52%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.89%) DB2
5 3 (1.89%) Relational Database
5 3 (1.89%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (1.26%) MySQL
6 2 (1.26%) Oracle Database
6 2 (1.26%) Oracle Reports
6 2 (1.26%) Power BI
7 1 (0.63%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.63%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.63%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.63%) Redis
7 1 (0.63%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (5.03%) Jenkins
2 6 (3.77%) Git
2 6 (3.77%) JIRA
3 4 (2.52%) GitLab
4 1 (0.63%) Cucumber
4 1 (0.63%) EasyMock
4 1 (0.63%) JBehave
4 1 (0.63%) JUnit
4 1 (0.63%) Mockito
4 1 (0.63%) Robot Framework
4 1 (0.63%) Snyk
4 1 (0.63%) VisualVM
4 1 (0.63%) YourKit
General
1 22 (13.84%) Finance
2 21 (13.21%) Social Skills
3 15 (9.43%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (8.81%) Public Sector
5 7 (4.40%) Law
6 6 (3.77%) Banking
7 5 (3.14%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (2.52%) Financial Institution
8 4 (2.52%) Legal
8 4 (2.52%) Marketing
9 3 (1.89%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.63%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.63%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.63%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.63%) Private Banking
11 1 (0.63%) Retail
11 1 (0.63%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 32 (20.13%) Architect
2 24 (15.09%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 15 (9.43%) Cloud Architect
4 14 (8.81%) Azure Engineer
5 13 (8.18%) Senior
6 12 (7.55%) Azure Architect
7 11 (6.92%) Security Engineer
7 11 (6.92%) Technical Architect
8 9 (5.66%) Consultant
9 8 (5.03%) Cloud Infrastructure Architect
9 8 (5.03%) Developer
10 7 (4.40%) Automation Engineer
10 7 (4.40%) DevOps Engineer
10 7 (4.40%) Lead
10 7 (4.40%) Solutions Architect
11 6 (3.77%) Azure DevOps Engineer
11 6 (3.77%) Cloud Engineer
11 6 (3.77%) Operations Engineer
11 6 (3.77%) Oracle Architect
12 5 (3.14%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (9.43%) ARM Templates
2 8 (5.03%) Middleware
3 6 (3.77%) ADO
3 6 (3.77%) YAML
4 5 (3.14%) RESTful
4 5 (3.14%) Web Services
5 4 (2.52%) Azure Blueprints
5 4 (2.52%) CSS
5 4 (2.52%) HTML
5 4 (2.52%) XHTML
6 3 (1.89%) .NET
6 3 (1.89%) Hugging Face
6 3 (1.89%) OAuth
6 3 (1.89%) OpenCV
6 3 (1.89%) PyTorch
6 3 (1.89%) Regular Expression
6 3 (1.89%) SpaCy
6 3 (1.89%) TensorFlow
7 2 (1.26%) JSON
7 2 (1.26%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 9 (5.66%) Hybrid Cloud
1 9 (5.66%) Management Information System
2 8 (5.03%) Product Ownership
3 7 (4.40%) Onboarding
3 7 (4.40%) PKI
4 6 (3.77%) Data Centre
5 5 (3.14%) Cloud Native
5 5 (3.14%) Linux Command Line
5 5 (3.14%) Replication
6 4 (2.52%) Mainframe
7 3 (1.89%) Legacy Code
7 3 (1.89%) Reinsurance
7 3 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.26%) Clustering
8 2 (1.26%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (1.26%) Private Cloud
9 1 (0.63%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.63%) Graphic Design
9 1 (0.63%) Life Science
9 1 (0.63%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 50 (31.45%) Windows
2 33 (20.75%) Windows Server
3 30 (18.87%) Linux
4 9 (5.66%) Windows Server 2019
5 8 (5.03%) VMS
5 8 (5.03%) Windows Server 2016
6 7 (4.40%) Unix
6 7 (4.40%) Windows Server 2012
7 6 (3.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (3.77%) Ubuntu
7 6 (3.77%) Windows 7
8 5 (3.14%) Windows 10
9 3 (1.89%) Windows XP
10 1 (0.63%) AIX
10 1 (0.63%) CentOS
10 1 (0.63%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.63%) SUSE
10 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.63%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (27.04%) DevOps
2 39 (24.53%) Problem-Solving
3 32 (20.13%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 30 (18.87%) CI/CD
5 29 (18.24%) Migration
6 25 (15.72%) Cloud Security
7 23 (14.47%) Agile
7 23 (14.47%) Infrastructure as Code
8 22 (13.84%) High Availability
9 17 (10.69%) Analytics
10 16 (10.06%) Identity Access Management
10 16 (10.06%) RBAC
11 15 (9.43%) API Management
11 15 (9.43%) Disaster Recovery
12 13 (8.18%) Infrastructure Automation
13 11 (6.92%) Cybersecurity
13 11 (6.92%) Incident Response
13 11 (6.92%) Project Management
14 10 (6.29%) Identity Management
14 10 (6.29%) Security Operations
Programming Languages
1 41 (25.79%) PowerShell
2 32 (20.13%) Python
3 24 (15.09%) SQL
4 15 (9.43%) Bicep
5 12 (7.55%) Bash
6 7 (4.40%) C#
6 7 (4.40%) JavaScript
7 4 (2.52%) PHP
7 4 (2.52%) Shell Script
8 3 (1.89%) Java
9 1 (0.63%) ActionScript
9 1 (0.63%) ActionScript 2.0
9 1 (0.63%) Go
9 1 (0.63%) JCL
9 1 (0.63%) REXX
9 1 (0.63%) VB
9 1 (0.63%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 34 (21.38%) Security Cleared
2 30 (18.87%) SC Cleared
3 10 (6.29%) Degree
4 9 (5.66%) Azure Certification
5 5 (3.14%) Computer Science Degree
5 5 (3.14%) DV Cleared
5 5 (3.14%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (3.14%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 4 (2.52%) AWS Certification
6 4 (2.52%) MCSE
7 2 (1.26%) PMI Certification
7 2 (1.26%) PMP
8 1 (0.63%) CCIE
8 1 (0.63%) CCNP
8 1 (0.63%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.63%) CISM
8 1 (0.63%) CISSP
8 1 (0.63%) IBM Certification
8 1 (0.63%) OCP
8 1 (0.63%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (5.66%) GDPR
2 7 (4.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (3.77%) NIST
4 5 (3.14%) Accessibility
4 5 (3.14%) SLA
5 4 (2.52%) NCSC
5 4 (2.52%) SOC 2
6 3 (1.89%) GRC
6 3 (1.89%) HIPAA
6 3 (1.89%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.63%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 1 (0.63%) Basel III
7 1 (0.63%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.63%) GxP
7 1 (0.63%) QA
7 1 (0.63%) RMADS
System Software
1 46 (28.93%) Active Directory
2 39 (24.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (12.58%) VMware ESXi
4 10 (6.29%) vSphere
5 6 (3.77%) Hyper-V
5 6 (3.77%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (2.52%) Docker
6 4 (2.52%) VMware NSX
7 3 (1.89%) KVM
8 1 (0.63%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 22 (13.84%) Terraform
2 18 (11.32%) vCenter Server
3 16 (10.06%) Kubernetes
4 12 (7.55%) Ansible
5 11 (6.92%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (5.03%) WSUS
7 5 (3.14%) Data Guard
7 5 (3.14%) SCCM
8 4 (2.52%) vRealize
9 3 (1.89%) CASB
9 3 (1.89%) SCOM
9 3 (1.89%) SCOrch
10 2 (1.26%) Microsoft Clustering
10 2 (1.26%) NetApp OnCommand
10 2 (1.26%) Proxmox
10 2 (1.26%) vMotion
10 2 (1.26%) VxRail
11 1 (0.63%) Grafana
11 1 (0.63%) PowerCLI
11 1 (0.63%) Puppet
Vendors
1 59 (37.11%) Microsoft
2 42 (26.42%) VMware
3 13 (8.18%) Google
4 12 (7.55%) Oracle
5 9 (5.66%) Palo Alto
6 8 (5.03%) Citrix
7 7 (4.40%) Cisco
7 7 (4.40%) IBM
8 6 (3.77%) ServiceNow
9 4 (2.52%) Broadcom
9 4 (2.52%) Red Hat
10 3 (1.89%) Qualys
10 3 (1.89%) Tenable
10 3 (1.89%) Veeam
11 2 (1.26%) QAD
11 2 (1.26%) SAP
11 2 (1.26%) Splunk
12 1 (0.63%) Adobe
12 1 (0.63%) Calypso
12 1 (0.63%) Dell