Windows Server Contract Job Trends in England

Microsoft Windows Server
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Windows Server skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
17 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 164 173 107
Rank change year-on-year +9 -66 -32
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 796 442 722
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.71% 1.59% 2.21%
As % of the Operating Systems category 17.44% 11.55% 15.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 511 323 518
10th Percentile £261 £267 £248
25th Percentile £375 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.34% +2.50% +3.52%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £675 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £508 £475
% change year-on-year -3.94% +6.84% -1.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 6 7
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £27.65
25th Percentile £26.00 £13.14 £36.17
Median hourly rate £63.14 £22.03 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +186.65% -55.95% +3.31%
75th Percentile £72.63 £32.08 £63.59
90th Percentile £74.00 £55.14 £81.81
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £17.63 £44.25
% change year-on-year +258.21% -60.17% -8.57%

All Operating Systems
England

Windows Server falls under the Operating Systems category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring operating system skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 4,565 3,826 4,686
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.83% 13.78% 14.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,915 2,525 2,996
10th Percentile £190 £190 £200
25th Percentile £313 £300 £330
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +3.33% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 346 246 235
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £15.22
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.59 £20.15
Median hourly rate £38.61 £25.15 £57.25
Median % change year-on-year +53.52% -56.07% +22.62%
75th Percentile £68.00 £59.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.75 £67.00 -
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £25.15 £49.25
% change year-on-year +9.34% -48.93% +5.48%

Windows Server
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Windows Server job vacancy trend in England

Windows Server
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows Server.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows Server

Windows Server
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows Server in England over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Windows Server in England

Windows Server
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows Server.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows Server

Windows Server
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows Server in England over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Windows Server in England

Windows Server
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 Windows Server within the England region over the 6 months to 17 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 -15 230 £475 -5.00% 251
South East -9 193 £515 -1.90% 157
North of England -16 133 £450 +8.11% 106
Midlands 0 87 £425 -5.56% 117
East of England -1 83 £475 -13.64% 70
North West -10 72 £448 +2.40% 58
South West -33 60 £550 +3.29% 56
West Midlands -30 54 £425 -5.56% 79
Yorkshire -20 45 £525 +50.00% 31
East Midlands +20 32 £438 -2.78% 38
North East -28 16 £350 -30.00% 19
Windows Server
UK

Windows Server
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 88 (11.06%) Microsoft Exchange
2 53 (6.66%) SharePoint
3 24 (3.02%) IIS
4 8 (1.01%) nginx
5 7 (0.88%) Tomcat
6 6 (0.75%) Apache
6 6 (0.75%) Confluence
7 4 (0.50%) FactoryTalk
8 3 (0.38%) CloudStack
8 3 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.25%) SAS
9 2 (0.25%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
10 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 17 (2.14%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 14 (1.76%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.25%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.25%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 335 (42.09%) Azure
2 166 (20.85%) Microsoft 365
3 162 (20.35%) Entra ID
4 101 (12.69%) AWS
5 46 (5.78%) Azure Monitor
6 33 (4.15%) Azure DevOps
7 29 (3.64%) GCP
8 25 (3.14%) IaaS
9 24 (3.02%) Power Platform
10 20 (2.51%) GitHub
11 19 (2.39%) Azure Sentinel
11 19 (2.39%) OpenShift
12 12 (1.51%) OneDrive
13 11 (1.38%) Amazon EC2
14 10 (1.26%) Nutanix
14 10 (1.26%) PaaS
15 9 (1.13%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 8 (1.01%) Datadog
16 8 (1.01%) SaaS
17 7 (0.88%) Azure Stack
Communications & Networking
1 252 (31.66%) DNS
2 166 (20.85%) DHCP
3 138 (17.34%) Firewall
4 74 (9.30%) TCP/IP
5 69 (8.67%) VPN
6 56 (7.04%) SAN
7 45 (5.65%) VLAN
7 45 (5.65%) WAN
8 42 (5.28%) LAN
9 39 (4.90%) Network Security
10 30 (3.77%) SSL
11 22 (2.76%) NAS
12 20 (2.51%) Wi-Fi
13 19 (2.39%) Wireless
14 17 (2.14%) NetScaler
15 13 (1.63%) SSH
15 13 (1.63%) VoIP
16 9 (1.13%) HTTP
16 9 (1.13%) SMTP
17 8 (1.01%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (18.34%) SQL Server
2 24 (3.02%) Power BI
3 16 (2.01%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 14 (1.76%) MySQL
5 12 (1.51%) Amazon RDS
5 12 (1.51%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (1.38%) Oracle Database
7 8 (1.01%) Elasticsearch
8 7 (0.88%) NoSQL
9 6 (0.75%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.38%) Big Data
10 3 (0.38%) GIS
10 3 (0.38%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.38%) Oracle BI EE
10 3 (0.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (0.25%) Data Mining
11 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
12 1 (0.13%) Amazon Aurora
12 1 (0.13%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 16 (2.01%) Jenkins
2 15 (1.88%) Git
2 15 (1.88%) JIRA
3 10 (1.26%) GitLab
4 5 (0.63%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
4 5 (0.63%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.38%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.38%) MSI
5 3 (0.38%) Octopus Deploy
6 2 (0.25%) AdminStudio
6 2 (0.25%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.25%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.25%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.25%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.13%) Locust
7 1 (0.13%) MSBuild
7 1 (0.13%) Newman
7 1 (0.13%) Postman
7 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.13%) TestCafe
General
1 201 (25.25%) Social Skills
2 102 (12.81%) Analytical Skills
3 78 (9.80%) Finance
4 46 (5.78%) Documentation Skills
5 42 (5.28%) Public Sector
6 40 (5.03%) Banking
7 18 (2.26%) Law
8 13 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (1.63%) Military
9 12 (1.51%) Aerospace
9 12 (1.51%) Telecoms
10 10 (1.26%) Legal
10 10 (1.26%) Manufacturing
10 10 (1.26%) Pharmaceutical
11 6 (0.75%) Games
11 6 (0.75%) Local Government
12 5 (0.63%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (0.50%) Financial Institution
13 4 (0.50%) Marketing
13 4 (0.50%) Police
Job Titles
1 204 (25.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 94 (11.81%) Senior
3 73 (9.17%) Support Engineer
4 59 (7.41%) Cloud Engineer
5 51 (6.41%) Lead
6 50 (6.28%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 43 (5.40%) Windows Engineer
8 42 (5.28%) IT Engineer
9 40 (5.03%) Architect
10 39 (4.90%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 32 (4.02%) Administrator
12 31 (3.89%) IT Support
13 30 (3.77%) Azure Engineer
14 28 (3.52%) Storage Engineer
14 28 (3.52%) Systems Engineer
15 27 (3.39%) Server Engineer
15 27 (3.39%) VMware Engineer
16 26 (3.27%) Wintel Engineer
17 24 (3.02%) Infrastructure Support
18 23 (2.89%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (10.93%) Terraform
2 29 (3.64%) .NET
3 23 (2.89%) REST
4 17 (2.14%) .NET Framework
4 17 (2.14%) ARM Templates
5 12 (1.51%) LDAP
6 10 (1.26%) JSON
7 8 (1.01%) Elastic Stack
7 8 (1.01%) OAuth
8 7 (0.88%) RabbitMQ
9 6 (0.75%) YAML
10 5 (0.63%) Middleware
10 5 (0.63%) SailPoint
10 5 (0.63%) SAML
10 5 (0.63%) Software Packaging
11 4 (0.50%) ASP.NET
11 4 (0.50%) OAuth2
11 4 (0.50%) OpenID
11 4 (0.50%) React
11 4 (0.50%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 75 (9.42%) PKI
2 66 (8.29%) Hybrid Cloud
3 56 (7.04%) Data Centre
4 54 (6.78%) Clustering
4 54 (6.78%) Onboarding
5 45 (5.65%) Replication
6 44 (5.53%) Management Information System
7 21 (2.64%) Security Posture
8 20 (2.51%) Enterprise Storage
9 15 (1.88%) Driving Licence
9 15 (1.88%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.76%) Virtual Team
11 12 (1.51%) Smartcard
12 11 (1.38%) Cloud Native
12 11 (1.38%) Linux Command Line
13 9 (1.13%) Enterprise Software
14 8 (1.01%) ARM Cortex
14 8 (1.01%) Operational Technology
14 8 (1.01%) Public Cloud
14 8 (1.01%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 796 (100.00%) Windows
2 229 (28.77%) Linux
3 67 (8.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 56 (7.04%) Windows 10
5 51 (6.41%) Windows Server 2019
6 32 (4.02%) Ubuntu
6 32 (4.02%) Windows Server 2016
7 29 (3.64%) Unix
7 29 (3.64%) Windows Server 2012
8 28 (3.52%) CentOS
9 14 (1.76%) Rocky
10 13 (1.63%) Mac OS
11 11 (1.38%) VMS
12 10 (1.26%) Windows Server 2008
13 8 (1.01%) Windows 7
14 6 (0.75%) Windows Server 2003
15 5 (0.63%) Solaris
16 4 (0.50%) Alpine Linux
17 3 (0.38%) Data ONTAP
17 3 (0.38%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 256 (32.16%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 198 (24.87%) Problem-Solving
3 167 (20.98%) ITIL
4 128 (16.08%) Disaster Recovery
5 106 (13.32%) Root Cause Analysis
6 103 (12.94%) Migration
7 92 (11.56%) Change Management
8 91 (11.43%) Infrastructure as Code
9 88 (11.06%) Continuous Improvement
10 87 (10.93%) ITSM
11 84 (10.55%) Service Management
12 82 (10.30%) DevOps
13 78 (9.80%) High Availability
14 74 (9.30%) Technical Leadership
15 66 (8.29%) Project Delivery
15 66 (8.29%) Stakeholder Management
15 66 (8.29%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 59 (7.41%) CI/CD
17 58 (7.29%) Agile
18 57 (7.16%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 311 (39.07%) PowerShell
2 109 (13.69%) SQL
3 81 (10.18%) Python
4 66 (8.29%) Bash
5 33 (4.15%) T-SQL
6 28 (3.52%) Bicep
7 24 (3.02%) C#
8 20 (2.51%) PL/SQL
9 13 (1.63%) Java
10 11 (1.38%) JavaScript
11 4 (0.50%) Go
12 3 (0.38%) Korn
12 3 (0.38%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.25%) Groovy
13 2 (0.25%) JCL
13 2 (0.25%) REXX
13 2 (0.25%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.13%) F#
14 1 (0.13%) Ladder Logic
14 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 351 (44.10%) Security Cleared
2 187 (23.49%) SC Cleared
3 178 (22.36%) DV Cleared
4 79 (9.92%) Degree
5 53 (6.66%) Microsoft Certification
6 40 (5.03%) Azure Certification
7 28 (3.52%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 23 (2.89%) Cisco Certification
9 20 (2.51%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 20 (2.51%) MCSE
10 14 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
10 14 (1.76%) MCSA
11 12 (1.51%) AWS Certification
11 12 (1.51%) CCNA
11 12 (1.51%) CISSP
12 10 (1.26%) CCNP
12 10 (1.26%) CISM
12 10 (1.26%) ITIL Certification
12 10 (1.26%) VCAP
13 8 (1.01%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (5.65%) SLA
2 35 (4.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 26 (3.27%) NIST
4 23 (2.89%) QA
5 16 (2.01%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.01%) NCSC
7 7 (0.88%) GDPR
8 6 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 6 (0.75%) GxP
8 6 (0.75%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.63%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 5 (0.63%) SOC 2
10 4 (0.50%) GRC
10 4 (0.50%) ISO 9001
11 3 (0.38%) ISO 31000
11 3 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.25%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.25%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.25%) JSP 440
13 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 462 (58.04%) Active Directory
2 298 (37.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 149 (18.72%) Hyper-V
4 115 (14.45%) VMware ESXi
5 102 (12.81%) vSphere
6 60 (7.54%) Virtual Machines
7 44 (5.53%) Docker
8 39 (4.90%) VMware NSX
9 34 (4.27%) Virtual Desktop
10 24 (3.02%) vCloud
11 15 (1.88%) Virtual Servers
12 12 (1.51%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 12 (1.51%) XenApp
13 10 (1.26%) Firmware
13 10 (1.26%) XenDesktop
14 7 (0.88%) Microsoft App-V
15 6 (0.75%) KVM
15 6 (0.75%) VMware Server
16 5 (0.63%) BitLocker
16 5 (0.63%) Microsoft Virtual Server
Systems Management
1 99 (12.44%) Ansible
2 96 (12.06%) vCenter Server
3 89 (11.18%) Microsoft Intune
4 85 (10.68%) SCCM
5 75 (9.42%) SCOM
6 49 (6.16%) Kubernetes
7 32 (4.02%) WSUS
8 18 (2.26%) Grafana
9 17 (2.14%) NetBackup
9 17 (2.14%) Prometheus
10 14 (1.76%) Avamar
11 13 (1.63%) Failover Clustering
11 13 (1.63%) vMotion
12 10 (1.26%) Nagios
12 10 (1.26%) Nessus
13 8 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 7 (0.88%) Jamf Pro
14 7 (0.88%) Microsoft Clustering
14 7 (0.88%) SysTrack
14 7 (0.88%) WMI
Vendors
1 415 (52.14%) Microsoft
2 380 (47.74%) VMware
3 90 (11.31%) Cisco
4 71 (8.92%) Citrix
5 60 (7.54%) Oracle
6 54 (6.78%) ServiceNow
7 34 (4.27%) Red Hat
8 31 (3.89%) CyberArk
9 28 (3.52%) BeyondTrust
9 28 (3.52%) Dell
9 28 (3.52%) Splunk
9 28 (3.52%) Veeam
10 27 (3.39%) NetApp
11 19 (2.39%) CrowdStrike
11 19 (2.39%) Google
12 18 (2.26%) Tenable
12 18 (2.26%) Zscaler
13 17 (2.14%) Qualys
14 16 (2.01%) Fortinet
14 16 (2.01%) SolarWinds
756 Windows Server jobs in England