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 1 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
1 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 122 78
Rank change year-on-year -43 -44 +19
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 532 574 1,034
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.62% 2.17% 2.71%
As % of the Operating Systems category 12.73% 15.19% 18.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 419 387 692
10th Percentile £220 £250 £190
25th Percentile £375 £383 £285
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £439
Median % change year-on-year - +13.96% -7.63%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £575
90th Percentile £700 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £450
% change year-on-year - +11.11% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 7 34
10th Percentile £14.74 £34.25 £16.08
25th Percentile £15.50 £47.50 £26.13
Median hourly rate £21.80 £53.00 £53.53
Median % change year-on-year -58.87% -0.99% +78.43%
75th Percentile £28.67 £92.88 £71.08
90th Percentile £45.13 £112.00 £77.56
UK median hourly rate £21.80 £50.00 £53.53
% change year-on-year -56.40% -6.59% +86.52%

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 4,179 3,780 5,558
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 12.70% 14.27% 14.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,803 2,378 3,796
10th Percentile £175 £200 £178
25th Percentile £263 £313 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £445 £475 £466
Median % change year-on-year -6.32% +1.93% -9.07%
75th Percentile £565 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £438 £475 £470
% change year-on-year -7.89% +1.06% -8.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 305 122 359
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.28 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.07 £17.48
Median hourly rate £22.58 £49.50 £25.25
Median % change year-on-year -54.39% +96.04% -1.87%
75th Percentile £55.85 £67.25 £62.50
90th Percentile £68.00 £71.23 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £24.00 £32.50 £25.25
% change year-on-year -26.15% +28.71% -1.79%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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 1 February 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 -54 173 £500 - 69
South East -32 93 £500 - 134
North of England -50 84 £373 -15.34% 72
South West -25 74 £560 -2.61% 48
North West -9 65 £360 -15.29% 31
Midlands -45 54 £438 +35.14% 42
East of England +4 50 £450 +4.65% 31
West Midlands -34 39 £450 +73.08% 21
Yorkshire -52 16 £375 -15.73% 35
East Midlands -21 15 £415 +3.75% 21
North East -18 6 £550 -8.33% 7
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 (13.72%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (6.02%) SharePoint
3 29 (5.45%) IIS
4 15 (2.82%) Apache
5 10 (1.88%) WebSphere
6 9 (1.69%) Confluence
6 9 (1.69%) JBoss
7 8 (1.50%) iPlanet
7 8 (1.50%) WebSphere Application Server
8 5 (0.94%) SAS
8 5 (0.94%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2010
9 2 (0.38%) WordPress
10 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2013
10 1 (0.19%) nginx
10 1 (0.19%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 1 (0.19%) SharePoint 2010
10 1 (0.19%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 26 (4.89%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.38%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.38%) Windchill
4 1 (0.19%) InfoPath
4 1 (0.19%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 3 (0.56%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 2 (0.38%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle FAH
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 1 (0.19%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.19%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 188 (35.34%) Azure
2 110 (20.68%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (16.92%) Entra ID
4 52 (9.77%) AWS
5 21 (3.95%) IaaS
6 13 (2.44%) SaaS
7 11 (2.07%) Nutanix
7 11 (2.07%) PaaS
8 8 (1.50%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (1.32%) Azure Monitor
9 7 (1.32%) OpenShift
10 6 (1.13%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (0.94%) Amazon S3
11 5 (0.94%) GCP
11 5 (0.94%) GitHub
11 5 (0.94%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 4 (0.75%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 4 (0.75%) OCI
12 4 (0.75%) Power Platform
12 4 (0.75%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 169 (31.77%) DNS
2 126 (23.68%) DHCP
3 108 (20.30%) Firewall
4 48 (9.02%) TCP/IP
5 45 (8.46%) VPN
5 45 (8.46%) WAN
6 38 (7.14%) LAN
7 28 (5.26%) Network Security
8 25 (4.70%) Kerberos
9 21 (3.95%) Cisco IOS
10 19 (3.57%) VLAN
11 17 (3.20%) Cisco Firepower
11 17 (3.20%) Cisco ISE
11 17 (3.20%) Junos
11 17 (3.20%) Wireless
12 13 (2.44%) FTP
13 11 (2.07%) SMTP
13 11 (2.07%) VoIP
13 11 (2.07%) Wi-Fi
14 9 (1.69%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (10.90%) SQL Server
2 17 (3.20%) Oracle Database
3 5 (0.94%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.75%) Relational Database
5 3 (0.56%) DB2
5 3 (0.56%) NoSQL
5 3 (0.56%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (0.56%) Power BI
6 2 (0.38%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.38%) Apache Hive
6 2 (0.38%) Hadoop
6 2 (0.38%) Impala
6 2 (0.38%) MySQL
6 2 (0.38%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.19%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.19%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.19%) Electronic Patient Records
7 1 (0.19%) Redis
7 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 20 (3.76%) Jenkins
2 18 (3.38%) Git
3 13 (2.44%) JIRA
4 12 (2.26%) GitLab
4 12 (2.26%) Sonatype Nexus
5 11 (2.07%) Visual Studio
6 9 (1.69%) Bitbucket Server
6 9 (1.69%) CA Release Automation
7 5 (0.94%) Bitbucket
8 4 (0.75%) Robot Framework
9 3 (0.56%) Octopus Deploy
9 3 (0.56%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.56%) TeamCity
10 2 (0.38%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.38%) Fiddler
10 2 (0.38%) REST Assured
11 1 (0.19%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.19%) GoCD
11 1 (0.19%) Maven
11 1 (0.19%) Selenium
General
1 127 (23.87%) Social Skills
2 61 (11.47%) Finance
3 56 (10.53%) Analytical Skills
4 46 (8.65%) Public Sector
5 31 (5.83%) Documentation Skills
6 20 (3.76%) Banking
7 18 (3.38%) Legal
8 14 (2.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.32%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.13%) Spanish Language
11 5 (0.94%) Front Office
12 4 (0.75%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.75%) Financial Institution
12 4 (0.75%) Marketing
12 4 (0.75%) Military
13 3 (0.56%) Back Office
13 3 (0.56%) Local Government
13 3 (0.56%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (0.56%) Retail
14 2 (0.38%) Aeronautics
Job Titles
1 87 (16.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 59 (11.09%) Analyst
3 48 (9.02%) Support Engineer
4 40 (7.52%) Architect
5 37 (6.95%) Platform Engineer
6 35 (6.58%) Senior
7 31 (5.83%) Network Engineer
7 31 (5.83%) Wintel Engineer
8 30 (5.64%) 3rd Line Engineer
9 29 (5.45%) 3rd Line Support
9 29 (5.45%) Support Analyst
10 27 (5.08%) IT Support
11 25 (4.70%) Technical Analyst
12 24 (4.51%) Developer
13 23 (4.32%) 2nd Line Support
13 23 (4.32%) Windows Engineer
14 19 (3.57%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
14 19 (3.57%) Cloud Engineer
14 19 (3.57%) Technical Support
15 17 (3.20%) Network Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (7.89%) OAuth
2 40 (7.52%) SAML
3 30 (5.64%) LDAP
4 26 (4.89%) OpenID
5 24 (4.51%) .NET
6 17 (3.20%) OAuth2
7 15 (2.82%) .NET Framework
7 15 (2.82%) REST
8 9 (1.69%) React
9 8 (1.50%) Middleware
9 8 (1.50%) XMPP
10 6 (1.13%) AngularJS
11 4 (0.75%) ASP.NET Web API
11 4 (0.75%) Keycloak
11 4 (0.75%) SOAP
11 4 (0.75%) WCF
11 4 (0.75%) YAML
12 3 (0.56%) RESTful
12 3 (0.56%) Web Services
12 3 (0.56%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 42 (7.89%) PKI
2 40 (7.52%) Data Centre
2 40 (7.52%) Replication
3 20 (3.76%) Hybrid Cloud
4 18 (3.38%) Clustering
5 17 (3.20%) NHS
5 17 (3.20%) Private Cloud
6 15 (2.82%) Product Ownership
7 14 (2.63%) Onboarding
8 13 (2.44%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (2.26%) Driving Licence
10 10 (1.88%) Self-Motivation
11 9 (1.69%) CMDB
11 9 (1.69%) Management Information System
12 8 (1.50%) Analytical Mindset
12 8 (1.50%) Enterprise Storage
12 8 (1.50%) iPhone
13 7 (1.32%) Cloud Native
13 7 (1.32%) Public Cloud
14 6 (1.13%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 530 (99.62%) Windows
2 127 (23.87%) Linux
3 38 (7.14%) Windows Server 2019
4 36 (6.77%) Windows 10
5 33 (6.20%) Windows Server 2012
6 32 (6.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 29 (5.45%) Windows Server 2016
8 15 (2.82%) Unix
9 10 (1.88%) Windows Server 2003
10 7 (1.32%) Android
10 7 (1.32%) CentOS
10 7 (1.32%) Windows Server 2008
11 6 (1.13%) AIX
11 6 (1.13%) Ubuntu
12 4 (0.75%) VMS
13 3 (0.56%) Apple iOS
14 2 (0.38%) Mac OS
14 2 (0.38%) Solaris
14 2 (0.38%) zOS
15 1 (0.19%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (23.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 87 (16.35%) Problem-Solving
3 80 (15.04%) ITIL
4 70 (13.16%) Disaster Recovery
5 69 (12.97%) High Availability
6 68 (12.78%) Agile
7 62 (11.65%) Service Management
8 58 (10.90%) Migration
9 52 (9.77%) Identity Access Management
10 50 (9.40%) DevOps
11 47 (8.83%) ITSM
12 45 (8.46%) Change Management
13 43 (8.08%) Continuous Improvement
14 40 (7.52%) CI/CD
14 40 (7.52%) Project Delivery
15 39 (7.33%) RBAC
16 36 (6.77%) Platform Engineering
17 33 (6.20%) Change Control
18 31 (5.83%) Cybersecurity
18 31 (5.83%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 197 (37.03%) PowerShell
2 62 (11.65%) SQL
3 49 (9.21%) Python
4 27 (5.08%) Bash
5 26 (4.89%) C#
6 19 (3.57%) T-SQL
7 15 (2.82%) PL/SQL
8 10 (1.88%) Java
8 10 (1.88%) Perl
9 9 (1.69%) Groovy
10 7 (1.32%) Bicep
10 7 (1.32%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.13%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.38%) Delphi
12 2 (0.38%) JCL
12 2 (0.38%) PHP
12 2 (0.38%) REXX
12 2 (0.38%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.38%) VBA
Qualifications
1 205 (38.53%) Security Cleared
2 130 (24.44%) SC Cleared
3 76 (14.29%) DV Cleared
4 66 (12.41%) Microsoft Certification
5 63 (11.84%) Degree
6 27 (5.08%) MCSE
7 20 (3.76%) Azure Certification
7 20 (3.76%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (3.38%) CCNP
9 17 (3.20%) CCNA
10 15 (2.82%) AWS Certification
10 15 (2.82%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 14 (2.63%) MCSA
12 11 (2.07%) ITIL Certification
13 9 (1.69%) CCDP
13 9 (1.69%) VCAP
14 7 (1.32%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 7 (1.32%) BPSS Clearance
14 7 (1.32%) CISSP
14 7 (1.32%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (3.95%) QA
2 20 (3.76%) GDPR
3 15 (2.82%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 11 (2.07%) SLA
5 10 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
6 7 (1.32%) NIST
7 3 (0.56%) NIST 800
8 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 42001
8 2 (0.38%) NCSC
9 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.19%) Basel III
9 1 (0.19%) DICOM
9 1 (0.19%) GAAP
9 1 (0.19%) HL7
9 1 (0.19%) IFRS
9 1 (0.19%) IFRS 17
9 1 (0.19%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.19%) JSP 440
System Software
1 336 (63.16%) Active Directory
2 144 (27.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 54 (10.15%) Hyper-V
4 43 (8.08%) vSphere
5 36 (6.77%) Docker
6 30 (5.64%) Virtual Machines
6 30 (5.64%) VMware ESXi
7 27 (5.08%) VMware NSX
8 11 (2.07%) Virtual Desktop
8 11 (2.07%) Virtual Servers
9 6 (1.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 6 (1.13%) Terminal Services
9 6 (1.13%) Tivoli Directory Server
10 4 (0.75%) Firmware
10 4 (0.75%) KVM
10 4 (0.75%) NFS
11 3 (0.56%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.56%) Microsoft App-V
12 2 (0.38%) Job Entry Subsystem
12 2 (0.38%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 72 (13.53%) SCCM
2 71 (13.35%) Microsoft Intune
3 52 (9.77%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 52 (9.77%) Single Sign-On
4 50 (9.40%) Ansible
5 49 (9.21%) vCenter Server
6 43 (8.08%) Terraform
7 25 (4.70%) Kubernetes
7 25 (4.70%) SCOM
8 15 (2.82%) WSUS
9 10 (1.88%) Progress Chef
10 9 (1.69%) CA Single Sign-On
11 8 (1.50%) CA Wily
12 7 (1.32%) Puppet
12 7 (1.32%) SCOrch
13 6 (1.13%) CASB
13 6 (1.13%) Tivoli
14 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Clustering
14 5 (0.94%) vMotion
14 5 (0.94%) VxRail
Vendors
1 265 (49.81%) Microsoft
2 196 (36.84%) VMware
3 73 (13.72%) Cisco
4 54 (10.15%) Citrix
5 42 (7.89%) Oracle
6 36 (6.77%) SolarWinds
7 28 (5.26%) Dell
8 27 (5.08%) Veeam
9 26 (4.89%) Red Hat
10 21 (3.95%) ServiceNow
11 19 (3.57%) Juniper
11 19 (3.57%) Splunk
12 15 (2.82%) Okta
13 13 (2.44%) Palo Alto
14 12 (2.26%) IBM
15 11 (2.07%) Broadcom
16 9 (1.69%) CyberArk
16 9 (1.69%) NetApp
17 8 (1.50%) AppDynamics
17 8 (1.50%) Atlassian
353 Windows Server jobs in England