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

 6 months to
3 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 162 174 101
Rank change year-on-year +12 -73 -28
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 778 448 753
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.71% 1.64% 2.30%
As % of the Operating Systems category 17.45% 11.93% 16.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 513 318 551
10th Percentile £263 £303 £240
25th Percentile £375 £407 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +5.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £675 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £525 £485
% change year-on-year -7.14% +8.36% -0.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 6 8
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £29.64
25th Percentile £26.00 £13.14 £36.46
Median hourly rate £63.14 £22.03 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +186.65% -58.05% +23.53%
75th Percentile £73.66 £32.08 £70.08
90th Percentile £74.16 £55.14 £79.88
UK median hourly rate £57.67 £17.63 £52.50
% change year-on-year +227.18% -66.43% +27.27%

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 4,459 3,756 4,659
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.77% 13.72% 14.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,868 2,478 3,038
10th Percentile £190 £191 £200
25th Percentile £310 £308 £332
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £466 £451 £475
Median % change year-on-year +3.39% -5.16% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £469 £460 £475
% change year-on-year +1.96% -3.16% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 314 242 263
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.51 £12.50
25th Percentile £19.05 £18.51 £17.69
Median hourly rate £32.50 £24.25 £39.50
Median % change year-on-year +34.02% -38.61% -7.06%
75th Percentile £67.47 £59.00 £68.75
90th Percentile £74.90 £67.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £36.17
% change year-on-year +2.47% -30.46% -14.91%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -2 229 £475 -5.00% 198
South East -9 196 £515 -3.29% 143
North of England +5 129 £450 +6.51% 97
Midlands -6 79 £425 -19.05% 85
East of England +1 73 £450 -18.18% 67
North West -14 71 £448 +6.67% 48
South West -27 65 £506 -6.25% 44
West Midlands -30 47 £425 -19.05% 50
Yorkshire -18 45 £525 +27.27% 28
East Midlands +6 30 £450 - 35
North East -31 13 £350 -30.00% 24
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 (11.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 51 (6.56%) SharePoint
3 30 (3.86%) IIS
4 8 (1.03%) nginx
5 7 (0.90%) Tomcat
6 6 (0.77%) Apache
6 6 (0.77%) Confluence
7 4 (0.51%) FactoryTalk
8 3 (0.39%) CloudStack
8 3 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.26%) SAS
9 2 (0.26%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
10 1 (0.13%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.13%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (2.19%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 15 (1.93%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.26%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.26%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 328 (42.16%) Azure
2 160 (20.57%) Microsoft 365
3 157 (20.18%) Entra ID
4 101 (12.98%) AWS
5 51 (6.56%) Azure Monitor
6 35 (4.50%) Azure DevOps
7 28 (3.60%) GCP
8 26 (3.34%) Power Platform
9 25 (3.21%) IaaS
10 21 (2.70%) GitHub
11 19 (2.44%) Azure Sentinel
12 17 (2.19%) OpenShift
13 13 (1.67%) OneDrive
14 11 (1.41%) Amazon EC2
15 10 (1.29%) Nutanix
15 10 (1.29%) PaaS
16 9 (1.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 8 (1.03%) Datadog
17 8 (1.03%) GitHub Actions
17 8 (1.03%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 253 (32.52%) DNS
2 165 (21.21%) DHCP
3 133 (17.10%) Firewall
4 69 (8.87%) VPN
5 66 (8.48%) TCP/IP
6 54 (6.94%) SAN
7 43 (5.53%) VLAN
7 43 (5.53%) WAN
8 39 (5.01%) LAN
9 32 (4.11%) Network Security
10 26 (3.34%) SSL
11 22 (2.83%) NAS
12 19 (2.44%) Wi-Fi
13 16 (2.06%) Wireless
14 15 (1.93%) NetScaler
15 14 (1.80%) VoIP
16 13 (1.67%) SSH
17 10 (1.29%) SMTP
18 9 (1.16%) VSAN
19 7 (0.90%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (19.02%) SQL Server
2 26 (3.34%) Power BI
3 16 (2.06%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 14 (1.80%) MySQL
5 13 (1.67%) Amazon RDS
6 12 (1.54%) PostgreSQL
7 11 (1.41%) Oracle Database
8 9 (1.16%) Elasticsearch
9 7 (0.90%) NoSQL
10 5 (0.64%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.39%) Big Data
11 3 (0.39%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.39%) GIS
11 3 (0.39%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.39%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.13%) Amazon Aurora
13 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
13 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 16 (2.06%) Jenkins
2 15 (1.93%) Git
2 15 (1.93%) JIRA
3 10 (1.29%) GitLab
4 5 (0.64%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
4 5 (0.64%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.39%) MSI
5 3 (0.39%) Octopus Deploy
6 2 (0.26%) AdminStudio
6 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.26%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.26%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.13%) JMeter
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.13%) Subversion
7 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.13%) Vagrant
7 1 (0.13%) VSS/SourceSafe
General
1 199 (25.58%) Social Skills
2 104 (13.37%) Analytical Skills
3 74 (9.51%) Finance
4 46 (5.91%) Documentation Skills
5 43 (5.53%) Public Sector
6 41 (5.27%) Banking
7 17 (2.19%) Law
8 14 (1.80%) Military
9 13 (1.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (1.54%) Legal
10 12 (1.54%) Telecoms
11 10 (1.29%) Pharmaceutical
12 9 (1.16%) Aerospace
12 9 (1.16%) Manufacturing
13 7 (0.90%) Local Government
14 6 (0.77%) Games
14 6 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.51%) Financial Institution
15 4 (0.51%) Marketing
15 4 (0.51%) Police
Job Titles
1 200 (25.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 92 (11.83%) Senior
3 71 (9.13%) Support Engineer
4 56 (7.20%) Cloud Engineer
5 53 (6.81%) Lead
6 51 (6.56%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 39 (5.01%) IT Engineer
8 38 (4.88%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 38 (4.88%) Windows Engineer
9 37 (4.76%) Architect
10 32 (4.11%) Administrator
10 32 (4.11%) Server Engineer
11 31 (3.98%) Azure Engineer
12 29 (3.73%) IT Support
13 28 (3.60%) Storage Engineer
14 27 (3.47%) Systems Engineer
15 25 (3.21%) Infrastructure Support
16 24 (3.08%) VMware Engineer
16 24 (3.08%) Wintel Engineer
17 22 (2.83%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 89 (11.44%) Terraform
2 33 (4.24%) .NET
3 23 (2.96%) REST
4 22 (2.83%) .NET Framework
5 18 (2.31%) ARM Templates
6 12 (1.54%) LDAP
7 11 (1.41%) JSON
8 9 (1.16%) Elastic Stack
9 8 (1.03%) OAuth
10 7 (0.90%) RabbitMQ
10 7 (0.90%) YAML
11 6 (0.77%) Software Packaging
12 5 (0.64%) Middleware
12 5 (0.64%) SailPoint
12 5 (0.64%) SAML
13 4 (0.51%) ADO
13 4 (0.51%) ASP.NET
13 4 (0.51%) OAuth2
13 4 (0.51%) OpenID
13 4 (0.51%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 77 (9.90%) PKI
2 66 (8.48%) Hybrid Cloud
3 56 (7.20%) Clustering
4 55 (7.07%) Onboarding
5 48 (6.17%) Data Centre
6 45 (5.78%) Replication
7 42 (5.40%) Management Information System
8 20 (2.57%) Enterprise Storage
9 16 (2.06%) Driving Licence
9 16 (2.06%) Security Posture
10 14 (1.80%) Virtual Team
11 12 (1.54%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (1.41%) Cloud Native
13 10 (1.29%) Enterprise Software
13 10 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
14 9 (1.16%) Linux Command Line
14 9 (1.16%) Smartcard
15 8 (1.03%) ARM Cortex
15 8 (1.03%) Data Protection Act
16 7 (0.90%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 778 (100.00%) Windows
2 221 (28.41%) Linux
3 61 (7.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 55 (7.07%) Windows Server 2019
5 54 (6.94%) Windows 10
6 34 (4.37%) Ubuntu
6 34 (4.37%) Windows Server 2016
7 29 (3.73%) Windows Server 2012
8 27 (3.47%) CentOS
8 27 (3.47%) Unix
9 14 (1.80%) Rocky
10 13 (1.67%) Mac OS
10 13 (1.67%) VMS
11 10 (1.29%) Windows Server 2008
12 7 (0.90%) Windows 7
13 5 (0.64%) Solaris
13 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2003
14 4 (0.51%) Alpine Linux
15 3 (0.39%) Android
15 3 (0.39%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 252 (32.39%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 192 (24.68%) Problem-Solving
3 159 (20.44%) ITIL
4 120 (15.42%) Disaster Recovery
5 100 (12.85%) Migration
6 98 (12.60%) Root Cause Analysis
7 92 (11.83%) Infrastructure as Code
8 86 (11.05%) Change Management
8 86 (11.05%) DevOps
9 85 (10.93%) ITSM
10 83 (10.67%) High Availability
11 82 (10.54%) Continuous Improvement
11 82 (10.54%) Service Management
12 74 (9.51%) Technical Leadership
13 65 (8.35%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 63 (8.10%) Project Delivery
15 61 (7.84%) CI/CD
16 60 (7.71%) Runbook
16 60 (7.71%) Stakeholder Management
17 59 (7.58%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 312 (40.10%) PowerShell
2 107 (13.75%) SQL
3 82 (10.54%) Python
4 67 (8.61%) Bash
5 32 (4.11%) T-SQL
6 28 (3.60%) Bicep
7 24 (3.08%) C#
8 20 (2.57%) PL/SQL
9 12 (1.54%) JavaScript
10 11 (1.41%) Java
11 4 (0.51%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.39%) Go
12 3 (0.39%) Korn
13 2 (0.26%) Groovy
13 2 (0.26%) JCL
13 2 (0.26%) REXX
14 1 (0.13%) F#
14 1 (0.13%) Ladder Logic
14 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.13%) VB
Qualifications
1 344 (44.22%) Security Cleared
2 190 (24.42%) SC Cleared
3 168 (21.59%) DV Cleared
4 76 (9.77%) Degree
5 54 (6.94%) Microsoft Certification
6 38 (4.88%) Azure Certification
7 27 (3.47%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 20 (2.57%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 20 (2.57%) MCSE
9 19 (2.44%) Cisco Certification
10 15 (1.93%) BPSS Clearance
11 14 (1.80%) MCSA
12 11 (1.41%) AWS Certification
12 11 (1.41%) CCNA
12 11 (1.41%) CISSP
12 11 (1.41%) ITIL Certification
13 10 (1.29%) VCAP
14 8 (1.03%) CCNP
14 8 (1.03%) CISM
14 8 (1.03%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (5.01%) SLA
2 35 (4.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 26 (3.34%) QA
4 24 (3.08%) NIST
5 15 (1.93%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.03%) NCSC
7 6 (0.77%) GDPR
7 6 (0.77%) GxP
8 5 (0.64%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 5 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (0.64%) SOC 2
9 4 (0.51%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.26%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.26%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.13%) ISO 31000
11 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
System Software
1 442 (56.81%) Active Directory
2 285 (36.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 147 (18.89%) Hyper-V
4 112 (14.40%) VMware ESXi
5 94 (12.08%) vSphere
6 58 (7.46%) Virtual Machines
7 44 (5.66%) Docker
8 41 (5.27%) VMware NSX
9 34 (4.37%) Virtual Desktop
10 24 (3.08%) vCloud
11 14 (1.80%) Virtual Servers
12 11 (1.41%) Firmware
12 11 (1.41%) XenApp
13 10 (1.29%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 10 (1.29%) XenDesktop
14 9 (1.16%) Microsoft App-V
15 7 (0.90%) BitLocker
16 6 (0.77%) KVM
16 6 (0.77%) VMware Server
17 5 (0.64%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 104 (13.37%) Ansible
2 95 (12.21%) vCenter Server
3 85 (10.93%) Microsoft Intune
4 82 (10.54%) SCCM
5 73 (9.38%) SCOM
6 49 (6.30%) Kubernetes
7 36 (4.63%) WSUS
8 19 (2.44%) Grafana
9 18 (2.31%) Prometheus
10 16 (2.06%) NetBackup
11 15 (1.93%) vMotion
12 13 (1.67%) Avamar
12 13 (1.67%) Failover Clustering
13 10 (1.29%) Nessus
14 9 (1.16%) Puppet
15 8 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
16 7 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
16 7 (0.90%) Microsoft Clustering
16 7 (0.90%) WMI
17 6 (0.77%) Nagios
Vendors
1 399 (51.29%) Microsoft
2 366 (47.04%) VMware
3 86 (11.05%) Cisco
4 71 (9.13%) Citrix
5 60 (7.71%) Oracle
6 54 (6.94%) ServiceNow
7 32 (4.11%) Red Hat
8 31 (3.98%) CyberArk
9 28 (3.60%) Dell
9 28 (3.60%) NetApp
10 27 (3.47%) BeyondTrust
10 27 (3.47%) Veeam
11 25 (3.21%) Splunk
12 19 (2.44%) Google
12 19 (2.44%) Tenable
13 18 (2.31%) HP
14 17 (2.19%) CrowdStrike
14 17 (2.19%) Juniper
14 17 (2.19%) Remedy
15 16 (2.06%) Fortinet
599 Windows Server jobs in England