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

 6 months to
28 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 188 157 98
Rank change year-on-year -31 -59 -20
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 664 490 806
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.47% 1.79% 2.35%
As % of the Operating Systems category 15.22% 13.20% 16.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 435 346 595
10th Percentile £263 £325 £244
25th Percentile £383 £425 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £532 £500
Median % change year-on-year -9.07% +6.35% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £668 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -7.14% +10.53% -3.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 5 12
10th Percentile £16.25 £14.32 £17.96
25th Percentile £20.64 £15.33 £36.46
Median hourly rate £28.68 £30.00 £59.80
Median % change year-on-year -4.40% -49.83% +104.10%
75th Percentile £67.84 £32.77 £70.08
90th Percentile £74.00 £59.61 £77.33
UK median hourly rate £26.22 £17.75 £59.80
% change year-on-year +47.72% -70.32% +104.10%

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 4,362 3,712 4,879
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.68% 13.53% 14.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,810 2,480 3,246
10th Percentile £190 £200 £200
25th Percentile £313 £313 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £460 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.09% -3.16% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £656 £681 £688
UK median daily rate £469 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +1.41% -2.63% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 296 225 333
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £12.55
25th Percentile £19.25 £18.10 £16.32
Median hourly rate £32.50 £23.00 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year +41.30% -14.81% -36.47%
75th Percentile £65.00 £57.50 £66.25
90th Percentile £74.00 £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 28 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 28 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 28 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 -32 197 £475 -8.21% 77
South East -22 177 £525 -4.55% 126
North of England -58 98 £489 +2.84% 79
Midlands -20 68 £450 -5.26% 48
East of England -6 62 £450 -18.18% 38
South West -31 58 £485 -13.78% 34
North West -43 52 £450 -3.23% 46
Yorkshire -31 41 £568 +10.73% 21
West Midlands -41 40 £440 -9.74% 27
East Midlands +6 26 £450 -5.26% 21
North East -39 5 £225 -55.00% 15
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 78 (11.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 40 (6.02%) SharePoint
3 27 (4.07%) IIS
4 10 (1.51%) nginx
4 10 (1.51%) Tomcat
5 5 (0.75%) Apache
6 4 (0.60%) FactoryTalk
7 3 (0.45%) CloudStack
7 3 (0.45%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.30%) SAS
8 2 (0.30%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.15%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.15%) Confluence
9 1 (0.15%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 14 (2.11%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 17 (2.56%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.15%) OpenText MBPM
2 1 (0.15%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 271 (40.81%) Azure
2 127 (19.13%) Entra ID
3 123 (18.52%) Microsoft 365
4 83 (12.50%) AWS
5 36 (5.42%) Azure Monitor
6 24 (3.61%) Power Platform
7 23 (3.46%) IaaS
8 20 (3.01%) Azure DevOps
8 20 (3.01%) GCP
9 17 (2.56%) GitHub
10 15 (2.26%) Azure Sentinel
11 12 (1.81%) PaaS
12 10 (1.51%) OneDrive
13 9 (1.36%) Amazon EC2
14 8 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
15 7 (1.05%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 7 (1.05%) Datadog
15 7 (1.05%) Nutanix
15 7 (1.05%) SaaS
16 6 (0.90%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 212 (31.93%) DNS
2 129 (19.43%) DHCP
3 111 (16.72%) Firewall
4 59 (8.89%) VPN
5 55 (8.28%) TCP/IP
6 44 (6.63%) WAN
7 42 (6.33%) SAN
8 41 (6.17%) LAN
9 34 (5.12%) VLAN
10 23 (3.46%) Network Security
11 22 (3.31%) SSL
12 18 (2.71%) Wi-Fi
13 16 (2.41%) NAS
14 15 (2.26%) SSH
15 14 (2.11%) VoIP
16 11 (1.66%) SMTP
17 8 (1.20%) FTP
17 8 (1.20%) Skype
17 8 (1.20%) VSAN
17 8 (1.20%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (22.44%) SQL Server
2 24 (3.61%) Power BI
3 14 (2.11%) Oracle Database
4 13 (1.96%) Amazon RDS
5 12 (1.81%) Elasticsearch
5 12 (1.81%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (1.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 8 (1.20%) MySQL
6 8 (1.20%) NoSQL
7 5 (0.75%) Big Data
7 5 (0.75%) Db2
8 4 (0.60%) GIS
8 4 (0.60%) Oracle BI EE
9 3 (0.45%) Data Mining
9 3 (0.45%) MongoDB
9 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 2 (0.30%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 1 (0.15%) Oracle Database 11g
11 1 (0.15%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 12 (1.81%) Git
2 10 (1.51%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.20%) JIRA
4 5 (0.75%) GitLab
5 4 (0.60%) Visual Studio
6 3 (0.45%) MSI
6 3 (0.45%) Robot Framework
7 2 (0.30%) AdminStudio
7 2 (0.30%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.30%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.30%) InstallShield
7 2 (0.30%) Octopus Deploy
7 2 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.15%) eggPlant
8 1 (0.15%) MSBuild
8 1 (0.15%) Postman
8 1 (0.15%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.15%) Subversion
8 1 (0.15%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.15%) VSS/SourceSafe
General
1 157 (23.64%) Social Skills
2 72 (10.84%) Analytical Skills
3 70 (10.54%) Finance
4 61 (9.19%) Public Sector
5 33 (4.97%) Banking
5 33 (4.97%) Documentation Skills
6 19 (2.86%) Military
7 14 (2.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (1.96%) Law
9 10 (1.51%) Legal
9 10 (1.51%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (1.51%) Telecoms
10 7 (1.05%) Manufacturing
11 6 (0.90%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (0.75%) Games
12 5 (0.75%) Local Government
12 5 (0.75%) Retail
13 4 (0.60%) Financial Institution
13 4 (0.60%) Marketing
13 4 (0.60%) Police
Job Titles
1 173 (26.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 67 (10.09%) Senior
3 53 (7.98%) Support Engineer
4 49 (7.38%) Cloud Engineer
5 40 (6.02%) 3rd Line Engineer
5 40 (6.02%) Lead
6 32 (4.82%) Architect
7 30 (4.52%) Administrator
7 30 (4.52%) IT Engineer
8 27 (4.07%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 25 (3.77%) IT Support
10 24 (3.61%) Azure Engineer
11 23 (3.46%) Analyst
11 23 (3.46%) Infrastructure Support
11 23 (3.46%) Server Engineer
12 21 (3.16%) Storage Engineer
12 21 (3.16%) Windows Engineer
13 20 (3.01%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
13 20 (3.01%) Systems Administrator
14 18 (2.71%) DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (4.52%) .NET
2 24 (3.61%) .NET Framework
3 23 (3.46%) REST
4 11 (1.66%) ARM Templates
5 9 (1.36%) Elastic Stack
5 9 (1.36%) JSON
6 7 (1.05%) RabbitMQ
7 6 (0.90%) Software Packaging
7 6 (0.90%) YAML
8 5 (0.75%) LDAP
8 5 (0.75%) OAuth
8 5 (0.75%) SailPoint
9 4 (0.60%) ADO
9 4 (0.60%) Azure Blueprints
9 4 (0.60%) EJB
9 4 (0.60%) Spring
10 3 (0.45%) ASP.NET
10 3 (0.45%) Jakarta EE
10 3 (0.45%) Middleware
10 3 (0.45%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 70 (10.54%) PKI
2 50 (7.53%) Onboarding
3 45 (6.78%) Clustering
4 42 (6.33%) Hybrid Cloud
5 38 (5.72%) Data Centre
6 36 (5.42%) Management Information System
7 30 (4.52%) Replication
8 19 (2.86%) Legacy Systems
9 14 (2.11%) Virtual Team
10 13 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
10 13 (1.96%) Self-Motivation
11 12 (1.81%) Enterprise Storage
11 12 (1.81%) Linux Command Line
11 12 (1.81%) Security Posture
12 11 (1.66%) Driving Licence
13 9 (1.36%) Cloud Native
13 9 (1.36%) Smartcard
14 8 (1.20%) Operational Technology
15 7 (1.05%) Product Ownership
15 7 (1.05%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 664 (100.00%) Windows
2 189 (28.46%) Linux
3 53 (7.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 52 (7.83%) Windows Server 2019
5 42 (6.33%) Windows 10
6 36 (5.42%) Unix
7 34 (5.12%) Windows Server 2016
8 28 (4.22%) Ubuntu
9 25 (3.77%) Windows Server 2012
10 18 (2.71%) CentOS
11 9 (1.36%) Mac OS
11 9 (1.36%) Rocky
11 9 (1.36%) VMS
11 9 (1.36%) Windows Server 2008
12 8 (1.20%) Solaris
13 7 (1.05%) AIX
13 7 (1.05%) Windows Server 2003
14 4 (0.60%) Alpine Linux
15 2 (0.30%) Android
15 2 (0.30%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 214 (32.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 132 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
3 103 (15.51%) ITIL
4 87 (13.10%) Disaster Recovery
5 83 (12.50%) High Availability
6 79 (11.90%) Migration
7 69 (10.39%) Change Management
8 68 (10.24%) ITSM
9 64 (9.64%) DevOps
10 63 (9.49%) Infrastructure as Code
11 60 (9.04%) Continuous Improvement
12 54 (8.13%) Root Cause Analysis
12 54 (8.13%) Service Management
13 52 (7.83%) Agile
14 51 (7.68%) Project Delivery
14 51 (7.68%) Runbook
14 51 (7.68%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 49 (7.38%) CI/CD
16 47 (7.08%) Cybersecurity
17 45 (6.78%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 252 (37.95%) PowerShell
2 103 (15.51%) SQL
3 65 (9.79%) Python
4 49 (7.38%) Bash
5 25 (3.77%) C#
6 24 (3.61%) PL/SQL
6 24 (3.61%) T-SQL
7 20 (3.01%) Bicep
8 17 (2.56%) JavaScript
9 12 (1.81%) Java
10 3 (0.45%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.30%) JCL
11 2 (0.30%) Korn
11 2 (0.30%) REXX
12 1 (0.15%) CodeQL
12 1 (0.15%) Groovy
12 1 (0.15%) Ladder Logic
12 1 (0.15%) Perl
12 1 (0.15%) VB
Qualifications
1 276 (41.57%) Security Cleared
2 143 (21.54%) SC Cleared
3 135 (20.33%) DV Cleared
4 71 (10.69%) Degree
5 43 (6.48%) Microsoft Certification
6 22 (3.31%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 19 (2.86%) MCSE
8 17 (2.56%) Azure Certification
9 16 (2.41%) Cisco Certification
10 13 (1.96%) MCSA
11 12 (1.81%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (1.51%) CCNA
12 10 (1.51%) VCAP
13 9 (1.36%) CISSP
14 8 (1.20%) CCNP
15 7 (1.05%) AWS Certification
15 7 (1.05%) CISM
16 6 (0.90%) ITIL Certification
16 6 (0.90%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 4 (0.60%) MCTS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (5.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 28 (4.22%) NIST
3 26 (3.92%) QA
4 24 (3.61%) SLA
5 12 (1.81%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.20%) GDPR
7 5 (0.75%) GxP
7 5 (0.75%) SOC 2
8 4 (0.60%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 3 (0.45%) NCSC
10 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.30%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.30%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.30%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.30%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.15%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.15%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.15%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 377 (56.78%) Active Directory
2 223 (33.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 107 (16.11%) Hyper-V
4 89 (13.40%) VMware ESXi
5 71 (10.69%) vSphere
6 50 (7.53%) Virtual Machines
7 40 (6.02%) VMware NSX
8 37 (5.57%) Docker
9 29 (4.37%) Virtual Desktop
10 16 (2.41%) vCloud
11 10 (1.51%) KVM
11 10 (1.51%) Microsoft App-V
12 9 (1.36%) BitLocker
13 7 (1.05%) Virtual Servers
14 6 (0.90%) VMware Workstation
14 6 (0.90%) XenApp
15 5 (0.75%) Terminal Services
15 5 (0.75%) XenDesktop
16 4 (0.60%) Oracle RAC
16 4 (0.60%) UAG
Systems Management
1 91 (13.70%) Ansible
2 83 (12.50%) vCenter Server
3 78 (11.75%) Microsoft Intune
4 68 (10.24%) Terraform
5 62 (9.34%) SCCM
6 50 (7.53%) SCOM
7 41 (6.17%) Kubernetes
8 28 (4.22%) WSUS
9 13 (1.96%) vMotion
10 12 (1.81%) Avamar
10 12 (1.81%) Nessus
11 11 (1.66%) Grafana
11 11 (1.66%) Puppet
12 9 (1.36%) NetBackup
12 9 (1.36%) Prometheus
13 7 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (1.05%) Failover Clustering
13 7 (1.05%) Jamf Pro
13 7 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
13 7 (1.05%) WMI
Vendors
1 305 (45.93%) Microsoft
2 285 (42.92%) VMware
3 66 (9.94%) Cisco
4 64 (9.64%) Citrix
5 58 (8.73%) Oracle
6 47 (7.08%) ServiceNow
7 30 (4.52%) BeyondTrust
7 30 (4.52%) CyberArk
7 30 (4.52%) Red Hat
8 25 (3.77%) Dell
9 22 (3.31%) NetApp
9 22 (3.31%) Veeam
10 21 (3.16%) Tenable
11 18 (2.71%) HP
11 18 (2.71%) Remedy
12 17 (2.56%) Splunk
13 16 (2.41%) BMC
13 16 (2.41%) CrowdStrike
14 15 (2.26%) Zscaler
15 14 (2.11%) Thales
370 Windows Server jobs in England