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 10 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 375 367 307
Rank change year-on-year -8 -60 +25
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 275 144 221
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.59% 0.51% 0.68%
As % of the System Software category 5.95% 4.10% 5.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 162 98 155
10th Percentile £390 £348 £345
25th Percentile £425 £414 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £738 £644 £663
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 5 3
10th Percentile £26.90 - £27.96
25th Percentile £58.44 £33.25 £48.81
Median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £83.55
Median % change year-on-year +124.64% -58.71% +6.13%
75th Percentile £92.11 £35.75 £84.67
90th Percentile - £50.45 £85.33
UK median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £83.55
% change year-on-year +124.64% -58.71% +6.13%

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 4,618 3,508 3,748
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.98% 12.51% 11.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,017 2,262 2,441
10th Percentile £218 £208 £220
25th Percentile £398 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £613
90th Percentile £700 £675 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 233 110 85
10th Percentile £17.75 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £26.00 £22.00 £20.50
Median hourly rate £63.14 £34.50 £36.17
Median % change year-on-year +83.00% -4.60% -22.79%
75th Percentile £74.32 £76.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £89.67 £85.00
UK median hourly rate £62.50 £32.77 £33.58
% change year-on-year +90.72% -2.42% -29.88%

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 10 October 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 10 October 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 10 October 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 -60 95 £532 +5.35% 112
North of England -17 75 £500 +15.34% 33
South East -28 59 £475 -9.52% 38
Yorkshire -1 43 £519 +9.26% 16
North West -23 30 £485 +49.23% 16
East of England -22 16 £377 -20.74% 24
South West -31 15 £575 +4.55% 12
Midlands -38 13 £487 -4.04% 14
West Midlands -42 10 £487 -4.51% 10
East Midlands -12 3 £500 +5.26% 4
North East - 2 £413 - 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 9 (3.27%) IIS
2 7 (2.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (2.18%) Confluence
3 6 (2.18%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.73%) CMS
4 2 (0.73%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.36%) Apache
5 1 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.36%) nginx
5 1 (0.36%) OpenStack
Applications
1 3 (1.09%) Adobe Illustrator
1 3 (1.09%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.73%) InDesign
2 2 (0.73%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
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 64 (23.27%) Entra ID
3 34 (12.36%) Azure Monitor
3 34 (12.36%) IaaS
4 33 (12.00%) AWS
5 30 (10.91%) Azure DevOps
6 25 (9.09%) Microsoft 365
7 23 (8.36%) Azure AKS
8 20 (7.27%) GitHub
9 19 (6.91%) OpenShift
10 15 (5.45%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (4.73%) PaaS
12 12 (4.36%) GCP
13 11 (4.00%) Power Platform
14 10 (3.64%) Azure Key Vault
14 10 (3.64%) SaaS
15 9 (3.27%) Cohesity
15 9 (3.27%) Datadog
16 8 (2.91%) Amazon EC2
16 8 (2.91%) Azure Storage
Communications & Networking
1 41 (14.91%) DNS
2 36 (13.09%) Firewall
3 25 (9.09%) VPN
4 19 (6.91%) DHCP
5 18 (6.55%) WAN
6 16 (5.82%) Network Security
6 16 (5.82%) VLAN
7 15 (5.45%) SSL
8 10 (3.64%) LAN
8 10 (3.64%) SD-WAN
9 9 (3.27%) HTTP
10 7 (2.55%) TCP/IP
10 7 (2.55%) Wi-Fi
11 5 (1.82%) HTTPS
11 5 (1.82%) SAN
11 5 (1.82%) VSAN
12 4 (1.45%) FTP
12 4 (1.45%) SSH
13 3 (1.09%) NetScaler
14 2 (0.73%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (12.00%) SQL Server
2 11 (4.00%) MySQL
2 11 (4.00%) Power BI
3 10 (3.64%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 9 (3.27%) Azure SQL Database
5 8 (2.91%) PostgreSQL
6 7 (2.55%) Data Lake
7 3 (1.09%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.73%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.36%) Amazon Aurora
9 1 (0.36%) Amazon QuickSight
9 1 (0.36%) Neo4j
9 1 (0.36%) Oracle Exadata
9 1 (0.36%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.36%) Relational Database
9 1 (0.36%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 17 (6.18%) Jenkins
2 13 (4.73%) Git
3 8 (2.91%) GitLab
3 8 (2.91%) JIRA
4 4 (1.45%) CppUnit
4 4 (1.45%) PVCS
4 4 (1.45%) Rational DOORS
4 4 (1.45%) SonarQube
5 3 (1.09%) Maven
5 3 (1.09%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.73%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.73%) Team Foundation Server
6 2 (0.73%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.36%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.36%) Selenium
7 1 (0.36%) Vagrant
7 1 (0.36%) Visual Studio
General
1 46 (16.73%) Social Skills
2 25 (9.09%) Finance
3 13 (4.73%) Analytical Skills
4 8 (2.91%) Banking
4 8 (2.91%) Legal
5 7 (2.55%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (2.18%) Back Office
6 6 (2.18%) Front Office
6 6 (2.18%) Manufacturing
7 4 (1.45%) Law
7 4 (1.45%) Public Sector
7 4 (1.45%) Retail
8 3 (1.09%) Marketing
9 2 (0.73%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.73%) Automotive
9 2 (0.73%) Local Government
9 2 (0.73%) Pharmaceutical
9 2 (0.73%) Publishing
10 1 (0.36%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.36%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 49 (17.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 44 (16.00%) Azure Engineer
3 42 (15.27%) Cloud Engineer
4 29 (10.55%) DevOps Engineer
5 25 (9.09%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
6 22 (8.00%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
6 22 (8.00%) Lead
7 19 (6.91%) Senior
8 15 (5.45%) Architect
9 13 (4.73%) Analyst
9 13 (4.73%) DBA
10 12 (4.36%) Security Engineer
11 11 (4.00%) SQL DBA
12 10 (3.64%) Administrator
12 10 (3.64%) Platform Engineer
12 10 (3.64%) Wintel Engineer
13 9 (3.27%) Storage Engineer
14 8 (2.91%) Project Manager
14 8 (2.91%) Solutions Architect
15 7 (2.55%) Linux Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 63 (22.91%) Terraform
2 14 (5.09%) ARM Templates
3 7 (2.55%) JSON
3 7 (2.55%) LDAP
3 7 (2.55%) Regular Expression
4 5 (1.82%) Middleware
5 3 (1.09%) Elastic Stack
5 3 (1.09%) Web Services
6 2 (0.73%) REST
6 2 (0.73%) YAML
7 1 (0.36%) ADO
7 1 (0.36%) Lambda Expressions
7 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.36%) Oracle GoldenGate
7 1 (0.36%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 35 (12.73%) Replication
2 29 (10.55%) Clustering
3 17 (6.18%) Hybrid Cloud
4 13 (4.73%) Cloud Native
4 13 (4.73%) Data Centre
4 13 (4.73%) Onboarding
5 11 (4.00%) Enterprise Storage
5 11 (4.00%) Mainframe
6 9 (3.27%) Data Protection Act
6 9 (3.27%) Linux Command Line
6 9 (3.27%) Public Cloud
7 8 (2.91%) Cyber Threat
8 7 (2.55%) Operational Technology
9 6 (2.18%) Fixed Income
9 6 (2.18%) Market Risk
9 6 (2.18%) Security Posture
9 6 (2.18%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.45%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.45%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 96 (34.91%) Windows
2 63 (22.91%) Linux
3 54 (19.64%) Windows Server
4 25 (9.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 20 (7.27%) VMS
6 10 (3.64%) Unix
7 6 (2.18%) Ubuntu
8 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (1.09%) Data ONTAP
9 3 (1.09%) Windows 10
9 3 (1.09%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (1.09%) zOS
10 2 (0.73%) AIX
10 2 (0.73%) Android
10 2 (0.73%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.73%) CoreOS
11 1 (0.36%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.36%) Solaris
11 1 (0.36%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (25.82%) DevOps
2 68 (24.73%) CI/CD
3 66 (24.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 59 (21.45%) Infrastructure as Code
5 56 (20.36%) Migration
6 43 (15.64%) Disaster Recovery
7 34 (12.36%) Continuous Improvement
8 32 (11.64%) Runbook
9 31 (11.27%) Performance Tuning
9 31 (11.27%) RBAC
10 30 (10.91%) High Availability
11 27 (9.82%) Cybersecurity
11 27 (9.82%) Validation
12 26 (9.45%) ITIL
13 25 (9.09%) Problem-Solving
14 24 (8.73%) Stakeholder Management
15 23 (8.36%) AI
15 23 (8.36%) Platform Engineering
16 21 (7.64%) Containerisation
16 21 (7.64%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 102 (37.09%) PowerShell
2 60 (21.82%) Python
3 34 (12.36%) SQL
4 27 (9.82%) Bash
5 14 (5.09%) Bicep
6 11 (4.00%) T-SQL
7 8 (2.91%) C
7 8 (2.91%) C#
8 7 (2.55%) Shell Script
9 5 (1.82%) Groovy
9 5 (1.82%) Java
10 4 (1.45%) C++
11 3 (1.09%) Embedded C
12 2 (0.73%) Korn
13 1 (0.36%) Cypher
13 1 (0.36%) Go
13 1 (0.36%) Kusto Query Language
13 1 (0.36%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.36%) RPG
Qualifications
1 82 (29.82%) Security Cleared
2 68 (24.73%) SC Cleared
3 23 (8.36%) Microsoft Certification
4 20 (7.27%) Azure Certification
4 20 (7.27%) Degree
5 12 (4.36%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (4.00%) DV Cleared
7 10 (3.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 10 (3.64%) MCSA
7 10 (3.64%) MCSE
7 10 (3.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 8 (2.91%) VCAP
9 6 (2.18%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (2.18%) ISTQB
10 5 (1.82%) CCNA
10 5 (1.82%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 4 (1.45%) CISSP
12 3 (1.09%) CISM
12 3 (1.09%) Computer Science Degree
13 2 (0.73%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (4.00%) QA
2 3 (1.09%) PCI DSS
2 3 (1.09%) SLA
3 2 (0.73%) Accessibility
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
4 1 (0.36%) HIPAA
4 1 (0.36%) NIST
4 1 (0.36%) SOC 2
System Software
1 80 (29.09%) VMware Infrastructure
2 54 (19.64%) Active Directory
3 33 (12.00%) vSphere
4 25 (9.09%) Docker
5 24 (8.73%) VMware ESXi
6 23 (8.36%) Hyper-V
7 12 (4.36%) NFS
8 8 (2.91%) KVM
8 8 (2.91%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (1.82%) VMware NSX
10 3 (1.09%) BitLocker
10 3 (1.09%) Ceph
10 3 (1.09%) Firmware
10 3 (1.09%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.36%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 1 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.36%) Postfix
11 1 (0.36%) Squid
11 1 (0.36%) Veritas Volume Manager
11 1 (0.36%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 40 (14.55%) Ansible
1 40 (14.55%) Kubernetes
2 20 (7.27%) vCenter Server
3 16 (5.82%) SCOM
4 14 (5.09%) Grafana
5 12 (4.36%) Microsoft Intune
6 9 (3.27%) Prometheus
7 7 (2.55%) Failover Clustering
7 7 (2.55%) Podman
7 7 (2.55%) SCCM
8 6 (2.18%) Packer
9 5 (1.82%) Proxmox
10 4 (1.45%) OPNET
10 4 (1.45%) vMotion
11 3 (1.09%) Microsoft Clustering
11 3 (1.09%) PowerCLI
11 3 (1.09%) SnapMirror
12 2 (0.73%) Avamar
12 2 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.73%) VxRail
Vendors
1 107 (38.91%) Microsoft
2 83 (30.18%) VMware
3 28 (10.18%) Cisco
4 22 (8.00%) ServiceNow
5 17 (6.18%) Oracle
6 14 (5.09%) CyberArk
6 14 (5.09%) NetApp
7 13 (4.73%) Dell
8 12 (4.36%) IBM
9 10 (3.64%) Google
10 9 (3.27%) SolarWinds
10 9 (3.27%) Veeam
11 8 (2.91%) Red Hat
12 7 (2.55%) Qualys
12 7 (2.55%) Splunk
13 6 (2.18%) Commvault
13 6 (2.18%) Meraki
14 5 (1.82%) BT
14 5 (1.82%) CheckPoint
14 5 (1.82%) Palo Alto