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 20 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
20 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 190 146 96
Rank change year-on-year -44 -50 -15
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 650 521 847
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.45% 1.90% 2.37%
As % of the Operating Systems category 14.98% 13.91% 16.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 430 370 621
10th Percentile £263 £325 £231
25th Percentile £400 £425 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £529 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.25% +5.85% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £668 £664 £675
UK median daily rate £483 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -8.00% +10.53% -4.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 5 15
10th Percentile £16.25 £14.32 £14.02
25th Percentile £20.54 £15.33 £16.13
Median hourly rate £26.00 £30.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% -45.45% +87.71%
75th Percentile £64.08 £32.77 £61.60
90th Percentile £74.00 £59.61 £70.63
UK median hourly rate £24.00 £17.75 £55.00
% change year-on-year +35.21% -67.73% +87.71%

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 4,338 3,745 5,049
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.66% 13.65% 14.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,792 2,497 3,334
10th Percentile £190 £200 £195
25th Percentile £313 £313 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -2.63% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £465 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +0.54% -2.63% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 294 222 368
10th Percentile £16.03 £15.50 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.25 £18.01 £16.25
Median hourly rate £32.50 £23.00 £25.13
Median % change year-on-year +41.30% -8.46% -40.88%
75th Percentile £65.00 £56.88 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.70 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £23.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year +13.04% -8.00% -41.18%

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 20 July 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 20 July 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 20 July 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 -48 192 £475 -9.52% 58
South East -29 167 £538 -0.28% 120
North of England -62 98 £483 -1.93% 71
Midlands -9 71 £444 -1.39% 44
East of England -1 62 £450 -18.18% 31
South West -35 56 £485 -15.65% 26
North West -48 53 £449 -4.47% 40
Yorkshire -43 41 £510 -0.49% 19
West Midlands -47 41 £438 -2.78% 26
East Midlands +6 28 £450 -10.00% 18
North East -35 4 £350 -30.00% 14
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 76 (11.69%) Microsoft Exchange
2 37 (5.69%) SharePoint
3 26 (4.00%) IIS
4 10 (1.54%) nginx
4 10 (1.54%) Tomcat
5 5 (0.77%) Apache
6 3 (0.46%) CloudStack
6 3 (0.46%) FactoryTalk
6 3 (0.46%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.31%) SAS
7 2 (0.31%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.15%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.15%) Confluence
8 1 (0.15%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 10 (1.54%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 16 (2.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.15%) OpenText MBPM
2 1 (0.15%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 257 (39.54%) Azure
2 114 (17.54%) Entra ID
3 110 (16.92%) Microsoft 365
4 82 (12.62%) AWS
5 33 (5.08%) Azure Monitor
6 23 (3.54%) IaaS
7 22 (3.38%) Power Platform
8 19 (2.92%) GCP
9 16 (2.46%) Azure DevOps
10 13 (2.00%) Azure Sentinel
10 13 (2.00%) GitHub
11 12 (1.85%) PaaS
12 9 (1.38%) Amazon EC2
12 9 (1.38%) Nutanix
13 7 (1.08%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 7 (1.08%) Datadog
13 7 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
13 7 (1.08%) SaaS
14 6 (0.92%) Cohesity
14 6 (0.92%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 208 (32.00%) DNS
2 126 (19.38%) DHCP
3 100 (15.38%) Firewall
4 53 (8.15%) VPN
5 52 (8.00%) TCP/IP
6 41 (6.31%) WAN
7 40 (6.15%) SAN
8 38 (5.85%) LAN
9 30 (4.62%) VLAN
10 22 (3.38%) SSL
11 17 (2.62%) Network Security
12 15 (2.31%) NAS
12 15 (2.31%) SSH
13 14 (2.15%) VoIP
13 14 (2.15%) Wi-Fi
14 13 (2.00%) SMTP
15 10 (1.54%) FTP
16 8 (1.23%) NetScaler
16 8 (1.23%) Skype
16 8 (1.23%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 140 (21.54%) SQL Server
2 22 (3.38%) Power BI
3 14 (2.15%) Oracle Database
4 13 (2.00%) Amazon RDS
5 12 (1.85%) Elasticsearch
5 12 (1.85%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (1.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 8 (1.23%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.08%) MySQL
9 6 (0.92%) Db2
10 5 (0.77%) Big Data
11 4 (0.62%) GIS
11 4 (0.62%) Oracle BI EE
11 4 (0.62%) Relational Database
12 3 (0.46%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.46%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 2 (0.31%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 1 (0.15%) Oracle Database 11g
14 1 (0.15%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 9 (1.38%) Git
1 9 (1.38%) Jenkins
2 8 (1.23%) JIRA
3 6 (0.92%) Visual Studio
4 4 (0.62%) GitLab
5 3 (0.46%) MSI
5 3 (0.46%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.31%) AdminStudio
6 2 (0.31%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.31%) InstallShield
7 1 (0.15%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.15%) eggPlant
7 1 (0.15%) Octopus Deploy
7 1 (0.15%) Postman
7 1 (0.15%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 148 (22.77%) Social Skills
2 68 (10.46%) Finance
3 64 (9.85%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (9.38%) Public Sector
5 33 (5.08%) Banking
6 31 (4.77%) Documentation Skills
7 17 (2.62%) Military
8 16 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 12 (1.85%) Law
10 10 (1.54%) Legal
11 9 (1.38%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (0.92%) Manufacturing
12 6 (0.92%) Telecoms
13 5 (0.77%) Local Government
13 5 (0.77%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (0.77%) Retail
14 4 (0.62%) Marketing
14 4 (0.62%) Police
15 2 (0.31%) Financial Institution
15 2 (0.31%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 168 (25.85%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 59 (9.08%) Senior
3 52 (8.00%) Support Engineer
4 48 (7.38%) Cloud Engineer
5 39 (6.00%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 37 (5.69%) Lead
7 31 (4.77%) Architect
8 28 (4.31%) Administrator
8 28 (4.31%) IT Engineer
9 25 (3.85%) Analyst
10 24 (3.69%) IT Support
10 24 (3.69%) Server Engineer
11 23 (3.54%) Azure Engineer
11 23 (3.54%) Infrastructure Support
11 23 (3.54%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 22 (3.38%) Windows Engineer
12 22 (3.38%) Wintel Engineer
13 20 (3.08%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
14 19 (2.92%) Storage Engineer
15 18 (2.77%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.92%) .NET
2 26 (4.00%) .NET Framework
3 20 (3.08%) REST
4 9 (1.38%) ARM Templates
4 9 (1.38%) Elastic Stack
4 9 (1.38%) OAuth
5 8 (1.23%) JSON
5 8 (1.23%) LDAP
6 7 (1.08%) RabbitMQ
7 6 (0.92%) Software Packaging
8 5 (0.77%) SailPoint
8 5 (0.77%) SAML
8 5 (0.77%) YAML
9 4 (0.62%) ADO
9 4 (0.62%) Azure Blueprints
9 4 (0.62%) EJB
9 4 (0.62%) Spring
10 3 (0.46%) ASP.NET
10 3 (0.46%) OpenID
10 3 (0.46%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 67 (10.31%) PKI
2 47 (7.23%) Clustering
3 43 (6.62%) Onboarding
4 38 (5.85%) Hybrid Cloud
5 36 (5.54%) Data Centre
6 34 (5.23%) Replication
7 31 (4.77%) Management Information System
8 20 (3.08%) Legacy Systems
9 13 (2.00%) Linux Command Line
10 12 (1.85%) Security Posture
10 12 (1.85%) Self-Motivation
10 12 (1.85%) Virtual Team
11 11 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (1.54%) Driving Licence
13 9 (1.38%) Cloud Native
13 9 (1.38%) Enterprise Storage
13 9 (1.38%) Smartcard
14 8 (1.23%) Product Ownership
15 7 (1.08%) Fat Client
15 7 (1.08%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 650 (100.00%) Windows
2 175 (26.92%) Linux
3 56 (8.62%) Windows Server 2019
4 51 (7.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 41 (6.31%) Windows 10
6 37 (5.69%) Windows Server 2016
7 34 (5.23%) Unix
8 27 (4.15%) Windows Server 2012
9 26 (4.00%) Ubuntu
10 15 (2.31%) CentOS
11 9 (1.38%) VMS
11 9 (1.38%) Windows Server 2008
12 8 (1.23%) AIX
12 8 (1.23%) Mac OS
12 8 (1.23%) Solaris
13 7 (1.08%) Rocky
13 7 (1.08%) Windows Server 2003
14 4 (0.62%) Alpine Linux
15 2 (0.31%) Android
15 2 (0.31%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 203 (31.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 120 (18.46%) Problem-Solving
3 94 (14.46%) ITIL
4 89 (13.69%) Disaster Recovery
4 89 (13.69%) High Availability
5 72 (11.08%) Migration
6 66 (10.15%) Change Management
7 65 (10.00%) ITSM
8 61 (9.38%) DevOps
9 56 (8.62%) Infrastructure as Code
10 53 (8.15%) Continuous Improvement
11 50 (7.69%) Agile
11 50 (7.69%) Project Delivery
11 50 (7.69%) Runbook
12 47 (7.23%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 46 (7.08%) CI/CD
13 46 (7.08%) Root Cause Analysis
14 44 (6.77%) Cybersecurity
15 43 (6.62%) Service Management
16 40 (6.15%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 245 (37.69%) PowerShell
2 102 (15.69%) SQL
3 62 (9.54%) Python
4 44 (6.77%) Bash
5 27 (4.15%) C#
6 25 (3.85%) PL/SQL
7 24 (3.69%) T-SQL
8 17 (2.62%) Bicep
8 17 (2.62%) JavaScript
9 11 (1.69%) Java
10 3 (0.46%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.31%) JCL
11 2 (0.31%) Korn
11 2 (0.31%) REXX
12 1 (0.15%) Groovy
12 1 (0.15%) Ladder Logic
12 1 (0.15%) Perl
12 1 (0.15%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.15%) VB
Qualifications
1 266 (40.92%) Security Cleared
2 137 (21.08%) SC Cleared
3 131 (20.15%) DV Cleared
4 71 (10.92%) Degree
5 46 (7.08%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (3.85%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 22 (3.38%) MCSE
8 17 (2.62%) MCSA
9 15 (2.31%) Azure Certification
10 14 (2.15%) VCAP
11 13 (2.00%) Cisco Certification
12 11 (1.69%) BPSS Clearance
13 10 (1.54%) CISSP
14 8 (1.23%) AWS Certification
14 8 (1.23%) CCNA
15 7 (1.08%) CCNP
15 7 (1.08%) CISM
16 5 (0.77%) ITIL Certification
16 5 (0.77%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 4 (0.62%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (5.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 28 (4.31%) QA
3 26 (4.00%) NIST
4 18 (2.77%) SLA
5 11 (1.69%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (1.69%) GDPR
6 5 (0.77%) SOC 2
7 4 (0.62%) GxP
8 3 (0.46%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 3 (0.46%) NCSC
8 3 (0.46%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.31%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.31%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.31%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.31%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.15%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.15%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.15%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 364 (56.00%) Active Directory
2 227 (34.92%) VMware Infrastructure
3 100 (15.38%) Hyper-V
4 91 (14.00%) VMware ESXi
5 78 (12.00%) vSphere
6 56 (8.62%) Virtual Machines
7 37 (5.69%) VMware NSX
8 36 (5.54%) Docker
9 27 (4.15%) Virtual Desktop
10 15 (2.31%) vCloud
11 11 (1.69%) KVM
12 10 (1.54%) Microsoft App-V
13 9 (1.38%) BitLocker
14 7 (1.08%) Virtual Servers
15 6 (0.92%) VMware Workstation
15 6 (0.92%) XenApp
16 5 (0.77%) Terminal Services
16 5 (0.77%) XenDesktop
17 4 (0.62%) Firmware
17 4 (0.62%) UAG
Systems Management
1 88 (13.54%) Ansible
2 87 (13.38%) vCenter Server
3 72 (11.08%) Microsoft Intune
4 62 (9.54%) SCCM
5 60 (9.23%) Terraform
6 49 (7.54%) SCOM
7 40 (6.15%) Kubernetes
8 28 (4.31%) WSUS
9 14 (2.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 13 (2.00%) vMotion
11 12 (1.85%) Avamar
11 12 (1.85%) Nessus
12 11 (1.69%) Grafana
12 11 (1.69%) Single Sign-On
13 10 (1.54%) Puppet
14 9 (1.38%) Prometheus
15 7 (1.08%) Jamf Pro
15 7 (1.08%) NetBackup
15 7 (1.08%) WMI
16 6 (0.92%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 294 (45.23%) Microsoft
2 278 (42.77%) VMware
3 65 (10.00%) Citrix
4 63 (9.69%) Cisco
5 58 (8.92%) Oracle
6 45 (6.92%) ServiceNow
7 29 (4.46%) Red Hat
8 27 (4.15%) BeyondTrust
8 27 (4.15%) Dell
9 26 (4.00%) CyberArk
10 21 (3.23%) Tenable
11 20 (3.08%) Veeam
12 18 (2.77%) NetApp
13 17 (2.62%) Remedy
13 17 (2.62%) Splunk
14 15 (2.31%) BMC
14 15 (2.31%) HP
14 15 (2.31%) IBM
15 14 (2.15%) CrowdStrike
15 14 (2.15%) Thales
320 Windows Server jobs in England