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 24 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 185 115 85
Rank change year-on-year -70 -30 +5
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 555 575 936
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.48% 2.36% 2.48%
As % of the Operating Systems category 13.42% 16.64% 17.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 427 402 648
10th Percentile £254 £304 £189
25th Percentile £404 £401 £287
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +16.67% -10.00%
75th Percentile £597 £606 £575
90th Percentile £712 £686 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £512 £450
% change year-on-year -2.34% +13.78% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 5 26
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.45 £15.63
25th Percentile £20.63 £18.13 £16.25
Median hourly rate £22.50 £45.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -50.00% +5.88% +45.05%
75th Percentile £36.09 £53.00 £64.15
90th Percentile £74.00 £65.45 £69.94
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £43.75 £42.50
% change year-on-year -48.57% +2.94% +45.05%

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 4,137 3,455 5,233
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.05% 14.21% 13.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,748 2,365 3,548
10th Percentile £181 £200 £177
25th Percentile £287 £313 £274
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -13.46%
75th Percentile £565 £600 £588
90th Percentile £663 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £457
% change year-on-year -5.26% +3.94% -11.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 290 130 379
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.25 £13.28
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.20 £15.50
Median hourly rate £22.80 £29.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.39% +31.82% -23.88%
75th Percentile £61.25 £65.94 £57.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £71.03 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £22.81 £28.00 £22.00
% change year-on-year -18.54% +27.27% -24.14%

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 24 March 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 24 March 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 24 March 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 -73 174 £500 -1.19% 77
South East -32 120 £505 -8.18% 116
North of England -87 81 £388 -18.42% 90
South West -40 67 £575 - 46
North West -41 61 £379 -16.76% 58
Midlands -44 58 £428 +15.54% 46
East of England -1 52 £438 -2.78% 44
West Midlands -42 40 £438 +45.83% 26
Yorkshire -74 17 £394 -25.00% 26
East Midlands -30 16 £415 +0.58% 20
North East -21 6 £550 +2.33% 8
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 73 (13.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 27 (4.86%) IIS
3 26 (4.68%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.08%) Apache
4 6 (1.08%) Confluence
5 4 (0.72%) nginx
5 4 (0.72%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.54%) SAS
7 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.36%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.36%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.36%) WordPress
8 1 (0.18%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.18%) SharePoint 2010
8 1 (0.18%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
Applications
1 18 (3.24%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.18%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 6 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.54%) Veritas eDiscovery
3 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle FAH
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 1 (0.18%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 199 (35.86%) Azure
2 109 (19.64%) Microsoft 365
3 100 (18.02%) Entra ID
4 47 (8.47%) AWS
5 20 (3.60%) IaaS
6 15 (2.70%) PaaS
7 14 (2.52%) Azure Monitor
8 12 (2.16%) SaaS
9 11 (1.98%) Nutanix
10 10 (1.80%) Power Platform
11 9 (1.62%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.08%) GCP
13 5 (0.90%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (0.90%) GitHub
13 5 (0.90%) Mimecast
13 5 (0.90%) OCI
14 3 (0.54%) Amazon EKS
14 3 (0.54%) GitHub Actions
14 3 (0.54%) Google Workspace
14 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 180 (32.43%) DNS
2 124 (22.34%) DHCP
3 122 (21.98%) Firewall
4 50 (9.01%) VPN
5 49 (8.83%) TCP/IP
6 46 (8.29%) WAN
7 42 (7.57%) LAN
8 26 (4.68%) Network Security
9 20 (3.60%) VLAN
10 15 (2.70%) Kerberos
11 14 (2.52%) FTP
11 14 (2.52%) VoIP
12 13 (2.34%) Wi-Fi
12 13 (2.34%) Wireless
13 12 (2.16%) SMTP
13 12 (2.16%) SSL
14 11 (1.98%) Cisco IOS
15 10 (1.80%) BGP
16 9 (1.62%) NetScaler
16 9 (1.62%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 84 (15.14%) SQL Server
2 14 (2.52%) Oracle Database
3 9 (1.62%) Power BI
4 8 (1.44%) Elasticsearch
5 6 (1.08%) DB2
6 4 (0.72%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.72%) Relational Database
7 3 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.54%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 2 (0.36%) Big Data
8 2 (0.36%) GIS
8 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.18%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.18%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database 12c
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.18%) Redis
Development Applications
1 13 (2.34%) JIRA
2 11 (1.98%) Visual Studio
3 10 (1.80%) GitLab
3 10 (1.80%) Jenkins
4 9 (1.62%) Git
5 6 (1.08%) Robot Framework
6 5 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (0.72%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.54%) Octopus Deploy
9 1 (0.18%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.18%) eggPlant
9 1 (0.18%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.18%) GoCD
9 1 (0.18%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.18%) TeamCity
General
1 133 (23.96%) Social Skills
2 59 (10.63%) Finance
3 57 (10.27%) Public Sector
4 56 (10.09%) Analytical Skills
5 34 (6.13%) Documentation Skills
6 25 (4.50%) Legal
7 21 (3.78%) Banking
8 12 (2.16%) Military
9 11 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (1.08%) Local Government
12 5 (0.90%) Front Office
12 5 (0.90%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.72%) Aerospace
13 4 (0.72%) Spanish Language
14 3 (0.54%) Financial Institution
14 3 (0.54%) Law
14 3 (0.54%) Retail
15 2 (0.36%) Back Office
15 2 (0.36%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 90 (16.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 58 (10.45%) Analyst
3 38 (6.85%) Support Engineer
4 37 (6.67%) Senior
5 36 (6.49%) Architect
6 34 (6.13%) Platform Engineer
7 32 (5.77%) IT Support
8 27 (4.86%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 27 (4.86%) Wintel Engineer
9 26 (4.68%) Developer
9 26 (4.68%) Windows Engineer
10 25 (4.50%) Support Analyst
11 23 (4.14%) 3rd Line Support
12 22 (3.96%) Server Engineer
13 21 (3.78%) Lead
14 20 (3.60%) Technical Analyst
15 19 (3.42%) 2nd Line Support
15 19 (3.42%) Network Engineer
16 18 (3.24%) C# Developer
17 17 (3.06%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (5.77%) .NET
1 32 (5.77%) OAuth
2 30 (5.41%) SAML
3 25 (4.50%) .NET Framework
4 21 (3.78%) LDAP
5 19 (3.42%) REST
6 17 (3.06%) OAuth2
6 17 (3.06%) OpenID
7 8 (1.44%) XMPP
8 7 (1.26%) Middleware
8 7 (1.26%) React
9 5 (0.90%) AngularJS
10 4 (0.72%) Keycloak
11 3 (0.54%) ASP.NET Web API
11 3 (0.54%) Elastic Stack
11 3 (0.54%) Vue
11 3 (0.54%) WCF
11 3 (0.54%) Web Services
11 3 (0.54%) WinForms
12 2 (0.36%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 45 (8.11%) PKI
2 40 (7.21%) Data Centre
2 40 (7.21%) Replication
3 27 (4.86%) Clustering
4 24 (4.32%) Onboarding
5 21 (3.78%) Product Ownership
6 20 (3.60%) Legacy Systems
7 19 (3.42%) Hybrid Cloud
8 16 (2.88%) NHS
9 15 (2.70%) Enterprise Software
9 15 (2.70%) Private Cloud
10 12 (2.16%) Self-Motivation
11 11 (1.98%) Management Information System
12 10 (1.80%) Enterprise Storage
13 9 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
13 9 (1.62%) Driving Licence
14 8 (1.44%) Legacy Code
15 7 (1.26%) iPhone
15 7 (1.26%) Linux Command Line
16 6 (1.08%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 553 (99.64%) Windows
2 136 (24.50%) Linux
3 39 (7.03%) Windows Server 2019
4 36 (6.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 36 (6.49%) Windows 10
5 35 (6.31%) Windows Server 2016
6 33 (5.95%) Windows Server 2012
7 19 (3.42%) Unix
8 12 (2.16%) Windows Server 2003
9 11 (1.98%) Ubuntu
10 10 (1.80%) AIX
11 9 (1.62%) Android
12 8 (1.44%) CentOS
12 8 (1.44%) Windows Server 2008
13 7 (1.26%) VMS
14 6 (1.08%) Solaris
15 2 (0.36%) Apple iOS
15 2 (0.36%) Mac OS
15 2 (0.36%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.36%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (23.78%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 88 (15.86%) Disaster Recovery
3 80 (14.41%) Problem-Solving
4 79 (14.23%) High Availability
5 78 (14.05%) ITIL
6 67 (12.07%) Agile
7 61 (10.99%) Migration
8 56 (10.09%) Service Management
9 52 (9.37%) Change Management
10 49 (8.83%) ITSM
11 47 (8.47%) Continuous Improvement
12 46 (8.29%) Identity Access Management
13 44 (7.93%) Project Delivery
14 41 (7.39%) Cybersecurity
15 39 (7.03%) DevOps
15 39 (7.03%) RBAC
16 34 (6.13%) Change Control
17 33 (5.95%) Platform Engineering
18 30 (5.41%) CI/CD
18 30 (5.41%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 228 (41.08%) PowerShell
2 75 (13.51%) SQL
3 51 (9.19%) Python
4 34 (6.13%) Bash
5 31 (5.59%) C#
6 24 (4.32%) PL/SQL
7 22 (3.96%) T-SQL
8 13 (2.34%) JavaScript
9 11 (1.98%) Perl
10 10 (1.80%) Java
11 5 (0.90%) Bicep
12 2 (0.36%) Delphi
12 2 (0.36%) JCL
12 2 (0.36%) PHP
12 2 (0.36%) REXX
12 2 (0.36%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.18%) VBA
Qualifications
1 227 (40.90%) Security Cleared
2 148 (26.67%) SC Cleared
3 76 (13.69%) DV Cleared
4 64 (11.53%) Degree
5 60 (10.81%) Microsoft Certification
6 21 (3.78%) MCSE
7 18 (3.24%) Azure Certification
8 16 (2.88%) Cisco Certification
9 15 (2.70%) CCNP
9 15 (2.70%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 14 (2.52%) MCSA
11 13 (2.34%) CCNA
12 9 (1.62%) CCDP
12 9 (1.62%) VCAP
13 8 (1.44%) AWS Certification
13 8 (1.44%) CISSP
14 6 (1.08%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 6 (1.08%) BPSS Clearance
15 5 (0.90%) CISM
15 5 (0.90%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (5.23%) QA
2 24 (4.32%) GDPR
3 23 (4.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (2.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 14 (2.52%) NIST
6 10 (1.80%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.90%) SLA
8 4 (0.72%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.36%) ISO/IEC 42001
9 2 (0.36%) NCSC
10 1 (0.18%) Basel III
10 1 (0.18%) DICOM
10 1 (0.18%) GAAP
10 1 (0.18%) HL7
10 1 (0.18%) IFRS
10 1 (0.18%) IFRS 17
10 1 (0.18%) IFRS 9
10 1 (0.18%) JSP 440
System Software
1 345 (62.16%) Active Directory
2 161 (29.01%) VMware Infrastructure
3 68 (12.25%) Hyper-V
4 47 (8.47%) vSphere
5 36 (6.49%) VMware ESXi
6 31 (5.59%) Docker
7 30 (5.41%) Virtual Machines
8 25 (4.50%) VMware NSX
9 10 (1.80%) Virtual Desktop
10 7 (1.26%) BitLocker
10 7 (1.26%) KVM
10 7 (1.26%) Microsoft App-V
11 6 (1.08%) Terminal Services
12 3 (0.54%) Firmware
12 3 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
12 3 (0.54%) XenApp
13 2 (0.36%) Job Entry Subsystem
13 2 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
13 2 (0.36%) Sendmail
13 2 (0.36%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 80 (14.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 65 (11.71%) SCCM
3 63 (11.35%) Ansible
4 52 (9.37%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 48 (8.65%) Single Sign-On
6 46 (8.29%) vCenter Server
7 44 (7.93%) Terraform
8 27 (4.86%) Kubernetes
9 21 (3.78%) SCOM
10 13 (2.34%) WSUS
11 10 (1.80%) Puppet
12 7 (1.26%) vMotion
13 6 (1.08%) FortiGate
13 6 (1.08%) IBM BigFix
13 6 (1.08%) VxRail
14 5 (0.90%) SCOrch
15 4 (0.72%) Backup Exec
15 4 (0.72%) CASB
15 4 (0.72%) Nessus
15 4 (0.72%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 254 (45.77%) Microsoft
2 209 (37.66%) VMware
3 67 (12.07%) Citrix
4 58 (10.45%) Cisco
5 44 (7.93%) Oracle
6 31 (5.59%) Red Hat
7 30 (5.41%) ServiceNow
8 25 (4.50%) Dell
9 23 (4.14%) SolarWinds
9 23 (4.14%) Veeam
10 15 (2.70%) Okta
11 13 (2.34%) HP
11 13 (2.34%) Palo Alto
12 11 (1.98%) IBM
12 11 (1.98%) NetApp
13 10 (1.80%) BeyondTrust
13 10 (1.80%) CyberArk
13 10 (1.80%) Juniper
14 8 (1.44%) F5
14 8 (1.44%) Tenable