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 14 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
14 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 178 177 97
Rank change year-on-year -1 -80 -20
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 717 448 775
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.57% 1.62% 2.33%
As % of the Operating Systems category 16.18% 12.15% 16.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 478 308 572
10th Percentile £261 £305 £250
25th Percentile £376 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.95% +5.00% +1.27%
75th Percentile £570 £600 £590
90th Percentile £668 £653 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -7.14% +5.00% +2.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 6 11
10th Percentile £16.25 £13.31 £35.58
25th Percentile £19.63 £14.07 £43.38
Median hourly rate £45.61 £22.67 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +101.24% -63.21% +54.00%
75th Percentile £69.83 £32.08 £70.47
90th Percentile £74.00 £55.14 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £38.72 £17.63 £61.60
% change year-on-year +119.69% -71.39% +54.00%

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 4,432 3,687 4,751
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.72% 13.34% 14.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,848 2,439 3,155
10th Percentile £192 £191 £200
25th Percentile £313 £308 £335
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £488
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -7.69% -2.50%
75th Percentile £575 £587 £588
90th Percentile £669 £685 £688
UK median daily rate £475 £460 £475
% change year-on-year +3.26% -3.16% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 306 234 293
10th Percentile £16.05 £15.50 £12.43
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.13 £17.00
Median hourly rate £35.22 £23.00 £36.17
Median % change year-on-year +53.13% -36.40% -9.59%
75th Percentile £67.25 £58.94 £68.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £24.58 £30.50
% change year-on-year +5.78% -19.41% -24.36%

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 14 August 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 14 August 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 14 August 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 -6 218 £475 -6.63% 183
South East -13 196 £515 -6.36% 136
North of England -29 110 £483 +8.30% 97
Midlands -15 68 £430 -18.10% 61
East of England -4 61 £450 -18.18% 40
South West -30 60 £490 -10.91% 46
North West -24 59 £472 +20.25% 57
Yorkshire -24 43 £510 +14.09% 26
West Midlands -40 41 £425 -19.05% 36
East Midlands -2 25 £450 - 25
North East -38 8 £200 -60.00% 17
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 84 (11.72%) Microsoft Exchange
2 46 (6.42%) SharePoint
3 29 (4.04%) IIS
4 8 (1.12%) nginx
4 8 (1.12%) Tomcat
5 5 (0.70%) Apache
6 4 (0.56%) Confluence
6 4 (0.56%) FactoryTalk
7 3 (0.42%) CloudStack
7 3 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2013
8 2 (0.28%) SAS
8 2 (0.28%) Skype for Business
8 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.14%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.14%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 18 (2.51%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 17 (2.37%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.28%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.28%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 308 (42.96%) Azure
2 149 (20.78%) Microsoft 365
3 145 (20.22%) Entra ID
4 90 (12.55%) AWS
5 44 (6.14%) Azure Monitor
6 28 (3.91%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.91%) IaaS
7 25 (3.49%) GCP
7 25 (3.49%) Power Platform
8 19 (2.65%) GitHub
9 18 (2.51%) Azure Sentinel
10 14 (1.95%) OpenShift
11 12 (1.67%) OneDrive
11 12 (1.67%) PaaS
12 9 (1.26%) Amazon EC2
13 8 (1.12%) Datadog
13 8 (1.12%) Nutanix
13 8 (1.12%) SaaS
14 7 (0.98%) GitHub Actions
14 7 (0.98%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 239 (33.33%) DNS
2 150 (20.92%) DHCP
3 125 (17.43%) Firewall
4 68 (9.48%) VPN
5 60 (8.37%) TCP/IP
6 46 (6.42%) SAN
7 44 (6.14%) WAN
8 42 (5.86%) LAN
9 40 (5.58%) VLAN
10 23 (3.21%) SSL
11 21 (2.93%) Network Security
12 19 (2.65%) Wi-Fi
13 18 (2.51%) NAS
14 14 (1.95%) VoIP
15 11 (1.53%) SMTP
15 11 (1.53%) SSH
16 10 (1.39%) VSAN
16 10 (1.39%) Wireless
17 8 (1.12%) Skype
18 7 (0.98%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (20.78%) SQL Server
2 25 (3.49%) Power BI
3 14 (1.95%) Oracle Database
4 13 (1.81%) Amazon RDS
4 13 (1.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 11 (1.53%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (1.39%) Elasticsearch
7 9 (1.26%) MySQL
8 7 (0.98%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.70%) Big Data
10 4 (0.56%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.42%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.42%) Db2
11 3 (0.42%) GIS
11 3 (0.42%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.42%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database 11g
13 1 (0.14%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 14 (1.95%) Git
2 13 (1.81%) Jenkins
3 12 (1.67%) JIRA
4 7 (0.98%) GitLab
5 4 (0.56%) Visual Studio
6 3 (0.42%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.42%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.42%) MSI
6 3 (0.42%) Octopus Deploy
6 3 (0.42%) Robot Framework
7 2 (0.28%) AdminStudio
7 2 (0.28%) InstallShield
7 2 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.14%) eggPlant
8 1 (0.14%) MSBuild
8 1 (0.14%) Postman
8 1 (0.14%) Subversion
8 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.14%) VSS/SourceSafe
General
1 181 (25.24%) Social Skills
2 88 (12.27%) Analytical Skills
3 76 (10.60%) Finance
4 49 (6.83%) Public Sector
5 38 (5.30%) Banking
6 37 (5.16%) Documentation Skills
7 15 (2.09%) Law
8 14 (1.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (1.95%) Military
9 13 (1.81%) Legal
10 11 (1.53%) Telecoms
11 10 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
11 10 (1.39%) Pharmaceutical
12 9 (1.26%) Manufacturing
13 6 (0.84%) Games
13 6 (0.84%) Local Government
14 5 (0.70%) Retail
15 4 (0.56%) Aerospace
15 4 (0.56%) Marketing
15 4 (0.56%) Police
Job Titles
1 187 (26.08%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 80 (11.16%) Senior
3 66 (9.21%) Support Engineer
4 53 (7.39%) Cloud Engineer
5 47 (6.56%) 3rd Line Engineer
5 47 (6.56%) Lead
6 39 (5.44%) IT Engineer
7 34 (4.74%) Architect
8 32 (4.46%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 31 (4.32%) Azure Engineer
9 31 (4.32%) IT Support
10 28 (3.91%) Server Engineer
10 28 (3.91%) Windows Engineer
11 27 (3.77%) Administrator
12 26 (3.63%) Infrastructure Support
13 24 (3.35%) Storage Engineer
14 23 (3.21%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
14 23 (3.21%) Systems Engineer
15 21 (2.93%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
15 21 (2.93%) Wintel Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.46%) .NET
2 24 (3.35%) .NET Framework
3 23 (3.21%) REST
4 16 (2.23%) ARM Templates
5 11 (1.53%) JSON
6 9 (1.26%) Elastic Stack
7 7 (0.98%) RabbitMQ
7 7 (0.98%) YAML
8 6 (0.84%) LDAP
8 6 (0.84%) OAuth
8 6 (0.84%) Software Packaging
9 5 (0.70%) SailPoint
10 4 (0.56%) ADO
10 4 (0.56%) ASP.NET
10 4 (0.56%) Azure Blueprints
10 4 (0.56%) Middleware
11 3 (0.42%) 802.1X
11 3 (0.42%) EJB
11 3 (0.42%) OAuth2
11 3 (0.42%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 73 (10.18%) PKI
2 58 (8.09%) Hybrid Cloud
3 52 (7.25%) Clustering
4 51 (7.11%) Onboarding
5 42 (5.86%) Data Centre
6 35 (4.88%) Management Information System
7 32 (4.46%) Replication
8 15 (2.09%) Driving Licence
8 15 (2.09%) Self-Motivation
9 14 (1.95%) Enterprise Storage
9 14 (1.95%) Virtual Team
10 13 (1.81%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (1.67%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (1.53%) Security Posture
13 10 (1.39%) Cloud Native
13 10 (1.39%) Linux Command Line
14 9 (1.26%) Smartcard
15 8 (1.12%) ARM Cortex
16 7 (0.98%) Operational Technology
16 7 (0.98%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 717 (100.00%) Windows
2 203 (28.31%) Linux
3 56 (7.81%) Windows Server 2019
4 54 (7.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 50 (6.97%) Windows 10
6 35 (4.88%) Windows Server 2016
7 29 (4.04%) Ubuntu
7 29 (4.04%) Unix
8 28 (3.91%) Windows Server 2012
9 22 (3.07%) CentOS
10 13 (1.81%) VMS
11 12 (1.67%) Mac OS
12 11 (1.53%) Windows Server 2008
13 10 (1.39%) Rocky
14 8 (1.12%) Windows 7
15 6 (0.84%) Solaris
15 6 (0.84%) Windows Server 2003
16 5 (0.70%) AIX
17 4 (0.56%) Alpine Linux
18 3 (0.42%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (32.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 170 (23.71%) Problem-Solving
3 131 (18.27%) ITIL
4 104 (14.50%) Disaster Recovery
5 87 (12.13%) Migration
6 86 (11.99%) High Availability
7 82 (11.44%) ITSM
8 81 (11.30%) Change Management
9 77 (10.74%) Infrastructure as Code
10 75 (10.46%) DevOps
11 71 (9.90%) Service Management
12 69 (9.62%) Root Cause Analysis
13 64 (8.93%) Continuous Improvement
14 59 (8.23%) Technical Leadership
14 59 (8.23%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 58 (8.09%) Project Delivery
16 57 (7.95%) Agile
17 53 (7.39%) CI/CD
18 49 (6.83%) Runbook
19 48 (6.69%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 286 (39.89%) PowerShell
2 104 (14.50%) SQL
3 72 (10.04%) Python
4 60 (8.37%) Bash
5 26 (3.63%) Bicep
5 26 (3.63%) T-SQL
6 25 (3.49%) C#
7 23 (3.21%) PL/SQL
8 15 (2.09%) JavaScript
9 11 (1.53%) Java
10 4 (0.56%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.42%) Korn
12 2 (0.28%) JCL
12 2 (0.28%) REXX
13 1 (0.14%) CodeQL
13 1 (0.14%) Groovy
13 1 (0.14%) Ladder Logic
13 1 (0.14%) VB
Qualifications
1 301 (41.98%) Security Cleared
2 160 (22.32%) SC Cleared
3 150 (20.92%) DV Cleared
4 67 (9.34%) Degree
5 51 (7.11%) Microsoft Certification
6 30 (4.18%) Azure Certification
7 26 (3.63%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 20 (2.79%) MCSE
9 17 (2.37%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.95%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 14 (1.95%) MCSA
11 11 (1.53%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (1.39%) CCNA
12 10 (1.39%) VCAP
13 9 (1.26%) CISSP
14 8 (1.12%) AWS Certification
14 8 (1.12%) ITIL Certification
15 7 (0.98%) CCNP
16 6 (0.84%) CISM
16 6 (0.84%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (5.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.46%) SLA
3 27 (3.77%) QA
4 23 (3.21%) NIST
5 11 (1.53%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.12%) GDPR
7 7 (0.98%) NCSC
8 5 (0.70%) GxP
8 5 (0.70%) SOC 2
9 4 (0.56%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 3 (0.42%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.28%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.28%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.28%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.14%) Accessibility
12 1 (0.14%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.14%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 407 (56.76%) Active Directory
2 253 (35.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 127 (17.71%) Hyper-V
4 99 (13.81%) VMware ESXi
5 80 (11.16%) vSphere
6 53 (7.39%) Virtual Machines
7 42 (5.86%) VMware NSX
8 39 (5.44%) Docker
9 32 (4.46%) Virtual Desktop
10 20 (2.79%) vCloud
11 13 (1.81%) Virtual Servers
12 10 (1.39%) Microsoft App-V
13 8 (1.12%) BitLocker
13 8 (1.12%) KVM
14 7 (0.98%) Firmware
15 6 (0.84%) VMware Workstation
15 6 (0.84%) XenApp
16 5 (0.70%) Terminal Services
16 5 (0.70%) XenDesktop
17 4 (0.56%) UAG
Systems Management
1 100 (13.95%) Ansible
2 90 (12.55%) vCenter Server
3 82 (11.44%) Microsoft Intune
3 82 (11.44%) Terraform
4 71 (9.90%) SCCM
5 61 (8.51%) SCOM
6 47 (6.56%) Kubernetes
7 34 (4.74%) WSUS
8 14 (1.95%) Grafana
8 14 (1.95%) vMotion
9 13 (1.81%) Avamar
9 13 (1.81%) NetBackup
10 11 (1.53%) Prometheus
11 10 (1.39%) Failover Clustering
11 10 (1.39%) Nessus
11 10 (1.39%) Puppet
12 7 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
12 7 (0.98%) Single Sign-On
12 7 (0.98%) WMI
13 6 (0.84%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 361 (50.35%) Microsoft
2 325 (45.33%) VMware
3 72 (10.04%) Cisco
4 69 (9.62%) Citrix
5 60 (8.37%) Oracle
6 51 (7.11%) ServiceNow
7 30 (4.18%) CyberArk
8 28 (3.91%) Red Hat
9 27 (3.77%) Dell
10 26 (3.63%) BeyondTrust
11 25 (3.49%) Veeam
12 22 (3.07%) NetApp
12 22 (3.07%) Splunk
13 19 (2.65%) HP
13 19 (2.65%) Remedy
13 19 (2.65%) Tenable
14 18 (2.51%) Zscaler
15 16 (2.23%) CrowdStrike
15 16 (2.23%) Google
15 16 (2.23%) Juniper
538 Windows Server jobs in England