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 7 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
7 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 363 390 318
Rank change year-on-year +27 -72 +12
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 283 135 223
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.61% 0.49% 0.68%
As % of the System Software category 6.11% 4.11% 5.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 93 153
10th Percentile £391 £329 £345
25th Percentile £425 £400 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £493 £535
Median % change year-on-year +1.42% -7.85% +1.90%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £609
90th Percentile £714 £650 £674
UK median daily rate £500 £494 £535
% change year-on-year +1.21% -7.66% +1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 4 10
10th Percentile £26.00 - -
25th Percentile £42.81 £33.25 £14.06
Median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £14.63
Median % change year-on-year +124.64% +135.90% -81.42%
75th Percentile £92.11 £35.75 £15.19
90th Percentile - - £83.77
UK median hourly rate £77.50 £34.50 £14.63
% change year-on-year +124.64% +135.90% -81.42%

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 4,635 3,288 3,846
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.07% 11.93% 11.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,041 2,110 2,619
10th Percentile £213 £225 £223
25th Percentile £393 £375 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £680 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 214 94 114
10th Percentile £17.50 £16.05 £14.09
25th Percentile £33.80 £23.00 £16.36
Median hourly rate £64.24 £38.75 £24.19
Median % change year-on-year +65.78% +60.19% -47.62%
75th Percentile £75.00 £80.75 £63.44
90th Percentile £92.11 £91.05 £72.65
UK median hourly rate £61.50 £33.39 £24.19
% change year-on-year +84.21% +38.01% -51.62%

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 7 September 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 7 September 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 7 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 -38 108 £532 +5.45%
North of England -9 80 £500 +20.12%
South East -31 53 £483 -19.58%
Yorkshire -15 41 £519 +17.35%
North West -19 38 £483 +43.11%
Midlands -53 17 £487 -1.62%
South West -37 16 £558 +11.50%
East of England -9 11 £425 +9.68%
West Midlands -48 11 £406 -19.00%
East Midlands -14 4 £500 +5.26%
North East - 1 £400 -
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 8 (2.83%) IIS
2 6 (2.12%) Confluence
3 4 (1.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.41%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.71%) Apache
4 2 (0.71%) CMS
4 2 (0.71%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.35%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.35%) nginx
5 1 (0.35%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.35%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.41%) Adobe Illustrator
1 4 (1.41%) Photoshop
2 2 (0.71%) InDesign
3 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.35%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.71%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.35%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 131 (46.29%) Azure
2 49 (17.31%) Entra ID
3 38 (13.43%) AWS
4 37 (13.07%) Azure Monitor
5 33 (11.66%) Azure DevOps
6 24 (8.48%) Azure AKS
7 23 (8.13%) IaaS
7 23 (8.13%) OpenShift
8 21 (7.42%) GitHub
9 17 (6.01%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (4.59%) Microsoft 365
11 12 (4.24%) Azure Key Vault
11 12 (4.24%) Power Platform
12 11 (3.89%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 10 (3.53%) GCP
13 10 (3.53%) PaaS
13 10 (3.53%) SaaS
14 8 (2.83%) Serverless
15 7 (2.47%) Azure Storage
16 6 (2.12%) Azure Stack
Communications & Networking
1 42 (14.84%) Firewall
2 41 (14.49%) DNS
3 22 (7.77%) VPN
4 20 (7.07%) Network Security
4 20 (7.07%) SSL
4 20 (7.07%) VSAN
5 19 (6.71%) VLAN
6 18 (6.36%) DHCP
7 17 (6.01%) WAN
8 10 (3.53%) SD-WAN
9 8 (2.83%) HTTP
9 8 (2.83%) LAN
10 7 (2.47%) FTP
11 6 (2.12%) SAN
12 5 (1.77%) HTTPS
12 5 (1.77%) SSH
12 5 (1.77%) TCP/IP
12 5 (1.77%) Wi-Fi
13 3 (1.06%) Cisco Nexus
13 3 (1.06%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (11.66%) SQL Server
2 12 (4.24%) Power BI
3 11 (3.89%) MySQL
3 11 (3.89%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (3.53%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (3.53%) PostgreSQL
5 7 (2.47%) Data Lake
6 3 (1.06%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (1.06%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.35%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.35%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.35%) Neo4j
7 1 (0.35%) Oracle Exadata
7 1 (0.35%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.35%) Power Query
7 1 (0.35%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 15 (5.30%) Jenkins
2 14 (4.95%) Git
3 7 (2.47%) JIRA
4 6 (2.12%) GitLab
5 4 (1.41%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (1.06%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.71%) CppUnit
7 2 (0.71%) Maven
7 2 (0.71%) PVCS
7 2 (0.71%) Rational DOORS
7 2 (0.71%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.71%) Team Foundation Server
7 2 (0.71%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.35%) Selenium
8 1 (0.35%) Vagrant
8 1 (0.35%) Visual Studio
General
1 44 (15.55%) Social Skills
2 26 (9.19%) Finance
3 10 (3.53%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (3.53%) Legal
4 8 (2.83%) Banking
5 6 (2.12%) Front Office
5 6 (2.12%) Public Sector
6 5 (1.77%) Back Office
6 5 (1.77%) Manufacturing
6 5 (1.77%) Retail
7 4 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.41%) Marketing
8 3 (1.06%) Law
9 2 (0.71%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.71%) Local Government
9 2 (0.71%) Pharmaceutical
9 2 (0.71%) Publishing
10 1 (0.35%) Advertising
10 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.35%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 42 (14.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 33 (11.66%) Azure Engineer
3 31 (10.95%) Cloud Engineer
4 29 (10.25%) DevOps Engineer
5 26 (9.19%) Senior
6 24 (8.48%) Lead
7 17 (6.01%) Architect
7 17 (6.01%) Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (4.95%) Azure Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (4.59%) Analyst
9 13 (4.59%) DBA
10 11 (3.89%) Platform Engineer
10 11 (3.89%) SQL DBA
11 10 (3.53%) Administrator
11 10 (3.53%) Security Engineer
12 9 (3.18%) Linux Engineer
12 9 (3.18%) Solutions Architect
12 9 (3.18%) VMware Engineer
12 9 (3.18%) Wintel Engineer
13 8 (2.83%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (21.20%) Terraform
2 9 (3.18%) ARM Templates
3 8 (2.83%) JSON
3 8 (2.83%) REST
4 7 (2.47%) YAML
5 6 (2.12%) LDAP
5 6 (2.12%) Regular Expression
6 5 (1.77%) Middleware
7 3 (1.06%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.71%) SOAP
8 2 (0.71%) Web Services
9 1 (0.35%) ADO
9 1 (0.35%) Java SE
9 1 (0.35%) Lambda Expressions
9 1 (0.35%) Node.js
9 1 (0.35%) NumPy
9 1 (0.35%) Oracle GoldenGate
9 1 (0.35%) Pandas
9 1 (0.35%) SciPy
9 1 (0.35%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 38 (13.43%) Replication
2 30 (10.60%) Clustering
3 18 (6.36%) Hybrid Cloud
4 14 (4.95%) Data Centre
5 11 (3.89%) Linux Command Line
6 10 (3.53%) Cloud Native
7 9 (3.18%) Mainframe
8 8 (2.83%) Enterprise Storage
8 8 (2.83%) Product Ownership
8 8 (2.83%) Public Cloud
9 6 (2.12%) Cyber Threat
9 6 (2.12%) Fixed Income
9 6 (2.12%) Market Risk
9 6 (2.12%) Onboarding
9 6 (2.12%) Operational Technology
9 6 (2.12%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.77%) Security Posture
11 3 (1.06%) Celerra
11 3 (1.06%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 100 (35.34%) Windows
2 71 (25.09%) Linux
3 57 (20.14%) Windows Server
4 31 (10.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 24 (8.48%) VMS
6 9 (3.18%) Unix
7 8 (2.83%) Ubuntu
8 4 (1.41%) SUSE
8 4 (1.41%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.41%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (1.06%) AIX
9 3 (1.06%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.71%) CoreOS
10 2 (0.71%) zOS
11 1 (0.35%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.35%) Android
11 1 (0.35%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.35%) Rocky
11 1 (0.35%) Solaris
11 1 (0.35%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (26.15%) DevOps
2 70 (24.73%) CI/CD
3 62 (21.91%) Migration
4 58 (20.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 55 (19.43%) Infrastructure as Code
6 44 (15.55%) Performance Tuning
7 38 (13.43%) Disaster Recovery
8 36 (12.72%) Continuous Improvement
8 36 (12.72%) High Availability
9 34 (12.01%) RBAC
10 29 (10.25%) Validation
11 28 (9.89%) Problem-Solving
12 27 (9.54%) Platform Engineering
12 27 (9.54%) Runbook
13 26 (9.19%) ITIL
14 25 (8.83%) Stakeholder Management
15 24 (8.48%) Capacity Planning
15 24 (8.48%) Network Virtualisation
15 24 (8.48%) Root Cause Analysis
16 23 (8.13%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 91 (32.16%) PowerShell
2 58 (20.49%) Python
3 42 (14.84%) SQL
4 32 (11.31%) Bash
5 11 (3.89%) Bicep
5 11 (3.89%) T-SQL
6 8 (2.83%) C#
7 6 (2.12%) C
7 6 (2.12%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.77%) Java
9 4 (1.41%) Groovy
9 4 (1.41%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.71%) C++
10 2 (0.71%) Embedded C
10 2 (0.71%) Korn
11 1 (0.35%) Go
11 1 (0.35%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.35%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.35%) RPG
11 1 (0.35%) VBA
Qualifications
1 83 (29.33%) Security Cleared
2 66 (23.32%) SC Cleared
3 21 (7.42%) Azure Certification
3 21 (7.42%) Degree
4 20 (7.07%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (4.95%) BPSS Clearance
5 14 (4.95%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 12 (4.24%) DV Cleared
7 11 (3.89%) VCAP
8 10 (3.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 10 (3.53%) MCSA
8 10 (3.53%) MCSE
9 6 (2.12%) ISTQB
10 5 (1.77%) CCNA
10 5 (1.77%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.77%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 3 (1.06%) CISM
11 3 (1.06%) CISSP
11 3 (1.06%) PMI Certification
11 3 (1.06%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (3.53%) QA
2 3 (1.06%) Accessibility
2 3 (1.06%) PCI DSS
2 3 (1.06%) SLA
3 2 (0.71%) Actionable Recommendations
3 2 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (0.71%) GMP
3 2 (0.71%) GxP
3 2 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (0.71%) NIST
4 1 (0.35%) GDPR
4 1 (0.35%) HIPAA
4 1 (0.35%) SOC 2
4 1 (0.35%) WCAG
System Software
1 90 (31.80%) VMware Infrastructure
2 45 (15.90%) Active Directory
3 44 (15.55%) vSphere
4 37 (13.07%) VMware ESXi
5 26 (9.19%) Docker
5 26 (9.19%) Hyper-V
6 14 (4.95%) VMware NSX
7 9 (3.18%) NFS
8 7 (2.47%) Ceph
8 7 (2.47%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (1.77%) KVM
10 4 (1.41%) Firmware
11 3 (1.06%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 3 (1.06%) VMware Workstation
12 2 (0.71%) Veritas Volume Manager
13 1 (0.35%) BitLocker
13 1 (0.35%) DFS Replication
13 1 (0.35%) Dovecot
13 1 (0.35%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.35%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 46 (16.25%) Ansible
2 42 (14.84%) Kubernetes
3 28 (9.89%) vCenter Server
4 16 (5.65%) Grafana
5 15 (5.30%) SCOM
6 12 (4.24%) PowerCLI
7 11 (3.89%) Failover Clustering
7 11 (3.89%) Prometheus
8 8 (2.83%) SCCM
8 8 (2.83%) VxRail
9 7 (2.47%) Podman
10 6 (2.12%) Microsoft Clustering
10 6 (2.12%) Microsoft Intune
10 6 (2.12%) Packer
10 6 (2.12%) vMotion
11 5 (1.77%) Proxmox
12 4 (1.41%) Avamar
12 4 (1.41%) OPNET
13 3 (1.06%) EMC VPLEX
13 3 (1.06%) WSUS
Vendors
1 95 (33.57%) VMware
2 92 (32.51%) Microsoft
3 29 (10.25%) Cisco
4 23 (8.13%) ServiceNow
5 22 (7.77%) Oracle
6 16 (5.65%) Dell
7 12 (4.24%) IBM
7 12 (4.24%) NetApp
7 12 (4.24%) Veeam
8 10 (3.53%) Red Hat
9 9 (3.18%) CyberArk
10 8 (2.83%) Qualys
10 8 (2.83%) SolarWinds
11 7 (2.47%) Google
12 6 (2.12%) Splunk
13 5 (1.77%) Commvault
13 5 (1.77%) Databricks
13 5 (1.77%) EMC
13 5 (1.77%) Meraki
13 5 (1.77%) Palo Alto