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

 6 months to
11 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 179 104
Rank change year-on-year +16 -75 -32
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 790 444 744
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.70% 1.60% 2.26%
As % of the Operating Systems category 17.44% 11.61% 15.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 514 319 539
10th Percentile £261 £300 £248
25th Percentile £375 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% +5.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £675 £650 £680
UK median daily rate £488 £513 £480
% change year-on-year -4.88% +6.77% -1.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 6 7
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £27.65
25th Percentile £26.00 £13.14 £36.17
Median hourly rate £63.14 £22.03 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +186.65% -55.95% +3.92%
75th Percentile £72.63 £32.08 £63.59
90th Percentile £74.00 £55.14 £81.81
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £17.63 £44.25
% change year-on-year +212.06% -60.17% -8.03%

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 4,531 3,825 4,703
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.77% 13.75% 14.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,901 2,523 3,040
10th Percentile £190 £190 £200
25th Percentile £310 £304 £332
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +3.33% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £583 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 333 242 241
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £15.17
25th Percentile £19.00 £18.51 £20.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% -52.10% +14.43%
75th Percentile £67.84 £59.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.20 £67.00 -
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +2.47% -47.05% +5.57%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -2 232 £475 -5.00% 151
South East -6 191 £515 -2.23% 141
North of England -3 131 £450 +8.11% 63
Midlands +2 86 £425 -5.56% 77
East of England -8 75 £463 -15.91% 62
North West -8 74 £448 +5.41% 32
South West -32 66 £513 -5.09% 37
West Midlands -23 54 £425 -12.82% 53
Yorkshire -14 43 £525 +50.00% 18
East Midlands +14 31 £444 -1.39% 24
North East -34 14 £350 -30.00% 14
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 90 (11.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 53 (6.71%) SharePoint
3 29 (3.67%) IIS
4 8 (1.01%) nginx
5 7 (0.89%) Tomcat
6 6 (0.76%) Apache
6 6 (0.76%) Confluence
7 4 (0.51%) FactoryTalk
8 3 (0.38%) CloudStack
8 3 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.25%) SAS
9 2 (0.25%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
10 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 16 (2.03%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 15 (1.90%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.25%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.25%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 335 (42.41%) Azure
2 165 (20.89%) Microsoft 365
3 162 (20.51%) Entra ID
4 101 (12.78%) AWS
5 49 (6.20%) Azure Monitor
6 33 (4.18%) Azure DevOps
7 28 (3.54%) GCP
8 26 (3.29%) IaaS
8 26 (3.29%) Power Platform
9 20 (2.53%) GitHub
10 19 (2.41%) Azure Sentinel
11 18 (2.28%) OpenShift
12 13 (1.65%) OneDrive
13 11 (1.39%) Amazon EC2
13 11 (1.39%) PaaS
14 10 (1.27%) Nutanix
15 9 (1.14%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 8 (1.01%) Datadog
16 8 (1.01%) SaaS
17 7 (0.89%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 253 (32.03%) DNS
2 165 (20.89%) DHCP
3 136 (17.22%) Firewall
4 68 (8.61%) VPN
5 67 (8.48%) TCP/IP
6 55 (6.96%) SAN
7 45 (5.70%) VLAN
8 43 (5.44%) WAN
9 38 (4.81%) LAN
10 34 (4.30%) Network Security
11 25 (3.16%) SSL
12 22 (2.78%) NAS
13 19 (2.41%) Wi-Fi
13 19 (2.41%) Wireless
14 16 (2.03%) NetScaler
15 14 (1.77%) VoIP
16 13 (1.65%) SSH
17 11 (1.39%) SMTP
18 8 (1.01%) Skype
18 8 (1.01%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 151 (19.11%) SQL Server
2 26 (3.29%) Power BI
3 16 (2.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 14 (1.77%) MySQL
5 13 (1.65%) Amazon RDS
6 12 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
7 11 (1.39%) Oracle Database
8 9 (1.14%) Elasticsearch
9 7 (0.89%) NoSQL
10 6 (0.76%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.38%) Big Data
11 3 (0.38%) GIS
11 3 (0.38%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.38%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.25%) Azure SQL Database
12 2 (0.25%) Data Mining
12 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.13%) Amazon Aurora
13 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 15 (1.90%) Jenkins
1 15 (1.90%) JIRA
2 14 (1.77%) Git
3 10 (1.27%) GitLab
4 5 (0.63%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
4 5 (0.63%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.38%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.38%) MSI
5 3 (0.38%) Octopus Deploy
6 2 (0.25%) AdminStudio
6 2 (0.25%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.25%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.25%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.25%) 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
1 198 (25.06%) Social Skills
2 103 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
3 77 (9.75%) Finance
4 46 (5.82%) Documentation Skills
5 42 (5.32%) Public Sector
6 40 (5.06%) Banking
7 17 (2.15%) Law
8 14 (1.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 13 (1.65%) Military
10 12 (1.52%) Telecoms
11 10 (1.27%) Aerospace
11 10 (1.27%) Legal
11 10 (1.27%) Pharmaceutical
12 9 (1.14%) Manufacturing
13 6 (0.76%) Games
13 6 (0.76%) Local Government
13 6 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.51%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.51%) Marketing
14 4 (0.51%) Police
Job Titles
1 207 (26.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 94 (11.90%) Senior
3 71 (8.99%) Support Engineer
4 59 (7.47%) Cloud Engineer
5 51 (6.46%) Lead
6 50 (6.33%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 42 (5.32%) IT Engineer
8 40 (5.06%) Windows Engineer
9 39 (4.94%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 37 (4.68%) Architect
11 32 (4.05%) Administrator
11 32 (4.05%) Azure Engineer
12 30 (3.80%) IT Support
13 29 (3.67%) Server Engineer
14 28 (3.54%) Storage Engineer
14 28 (3.54%) Systems Engineer
15 26 (3.29%) VMware Engineer
16 24 (3.04%) Infrastructure Support
16 24 (3.04%) Wintel Engineer
17 23 (2.91%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 89 (11.27%) Terraform
2 33 (4.18%) .NET
3 24 (3.04%) REST
4 21 (2.66%) .NET Framework
5 17 (2.15%) ARM Templates
6 12 (1.52%) LDAP
7 10 (1.27%) JSON
8 8 (1.01%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (1.01%) OAuth
9 7 (0.89%) RabbitMQ
10 6 (0.76%) YAML
11 5 (0.63%) Middleware
11 5 (0.63%) SailPoint
11 5 (0.63%) SAML
11 5 (0.63%) Software Packaging
12 4 (0.51%) ASP.NET
12 4 (0.51%) OAuth2
12 4 (0.51%) OpenID
12 4 (0.51%) React
12 4 (0.51%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 76 (9.62%) PKI
2 67 (8.48%) Hybrid Cloud
3 56 (7.09%) Clustering
4 54 (6.84%) Data Centre
4 54 (6.84%) Onboarding
5 45 (5.70%) Replication
6 43 (5.44%) Management Information System
7 21 (2.66%) Enterprise Storage
8 18 (2.28%) Security Posture
9 15 (1.90%) Driving Licence
10 14 (1.77%) Virtual Team
11 12 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (1.39%) Cloud Native
12 11 (1.39%) Linux Command Line
13 10 (1.27%) Smartcard
14 9 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
15 8 (1.01%) ARM Cortex
15 8 (1.01%) Legacy Systems
16 7 (0.89%) Data Protection Act
16 7 (0.89%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 790 (100.00%) Windows
2 228 (28.86%) Linux
3 64 (8.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 55 (6.96%) Windows 10
5 52 (6.58%) Windows Server 2019
6 33 (4.18%) Ubuntu
6 33 (4.18%) Windows Server 2016
7 29 (3.67%) Unix
7 29 (3.67%) Windows Server 2012
8 28 (3.54%) CentOS
9 14 (1.77%) Rocky
10 13 (1.65%) Mac OS
11 12 (1.52%) VMS
12 10 (1.27%) Windows Server 2008
13 8 (1.01%) Windows 7
14 7 (0.89%) Windows Server 2003
15 5 (0.63%) Solaris
16 4 (0.51%) Alpine Linux
17 3 (0.38%) Android
17 3 (0.38%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 258 (32.66%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 196 (24.81%) Problem-Solving
3 164 (20.76%) ITIL
4 127 (16.08%) Disaster Recovery
5 103 (13.04%) Root Cause Analysis
6 102 (12.91%) Migration
7 93 (11.77%) Infrastructure as Code
8 87 (11.01%) Change Management
9 86 (10.89%) ITSM
10 84 (10.63%) Continuous Improvement
11 83 (10.51%) DevOps
11 83 (10.51%) Service Management
12 80 (10.13%) High Availability
13 73 (9.24%) Technical Leadership
14 67 (8.48%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 65 (8.23%) Project Delivery
16 61 (7.72%) CI/CD
16 61 (7.72%) Stakeholder Management
17 60 (7.59%) Agile
17 60 (7.59%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 315 (39.87%) PowerShell
2 110 (13.92%) SQL
3 81 (10.25%) Python
4 67 (8.48%) Bash
5 33 (4.18%) T-SQL
6 28 (3.54%) Bicep
7 25 (3.16%) C#
8 20 (2.53%) PL/SQL
9 12 (1.52%) Java
9 12 (1.52%) JavaScript
10 4 (0.51%) Go
10 4 (0.51%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.38%) Korn
12 2 (0.25%) Groovy
12 2 (0.25%) JCL
12 2 (0.25%) REXX
12 2 (0.25%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.13%) F#
13 1 (0.13%) VB
13 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 351 (44.43%) Security Cleared
2 193 (24.43%) SC Cleared
3 174 (22.03%) DV Cleared
4 78 (9.87%) Degree
5 53 (6.71%) Microsoft Certification
6 38 (4.81%) Azure Certification
7 27 (3.42%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 20 (2.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 20 (2.53%) MCSE
9 19 (2.41%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
10 14 (1.77%) MCSA
11 11 (1.39%) AWS Certification
11 11 (1.39%) CISSP
12 10 (1.27%) ITIL Certification
12 10 (1.27%) VCAP
13 9 (1.14%) CCNA
13 9 (1.14%) CISM
14 8 (1.01%) Computer Science Degree
15 7 (0.89%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (5.32%) SLA
2 35 (4.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 26 (3.29%) NIST
4 25 (3.16%) QA
5 16 (2.03%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.01%) NCSC
7 6 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 6 (0.76%) GDPR
7 6 (0.76%) GxP
8 5 (0.63%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 5 (0.63%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.63%) SOC 2
9 3 (0.38%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.25%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.25%) GRC
10 2 (0.25%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.25%) ISO 31000
10 2 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (0.25%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.13%) Accessibility
System Software
1 453 (57.34%) Active Directory
2 290 (36.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 151 (19.11%) Hyper-V
4 115 (14.56%) VMware ESXi
5 95 (12.03%) vSphere
6 58 (7.34%) Virtual Machines
7 45 (5.70%) Docker
8 40 (5.06%) VMware NSX
9 34 (4.30%) Virtual Desktop
10 24 (3.04%) vCloud
11 14 (1.77%) Virtual Servers
12 12 (1.52%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 11 (1.39%) Firmware
13 11 (1.39%) XenApp
14 10 (1.27%) XenDesktop
15 9 (1.14%) Microsoft App-V
16 7 (0.89%) BitLocker
17 6 (0.76%) KVM
17 6 (0.76%) VMware Server
18 5 (0.63%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 102 (12.91%) Ansible
2 96 (12.15%) vCenter Server
3 89 (11.27%) Microsoft Intune
4 84 (10.63%) SCCM
5 73 (9.24%) SCOM
6 50 (6.33%) Kubernetes
7 33 (4.18%) WSUS
8 18 (2.28%) Grafana
9 17 (2.15%) NetBackup
9 17 (2.15%) Prometheus
10 15 (1.90%) vMotion
11 13 (1.65%) Avamar
11 13 (1.65%) Failover Clustering
12 10 (1.27%) Nessus
13 8 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 8 (1.01%) Puppet
14 7 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
14 7 (0.89%) Microsoft Clustering
14 7 (0.89%) SysTrack
14 7 (0.89%) WMI
Vendors
1 409 (51.77%) Microsoft
2 371 (46.96%) VMware
3 84 (10.63%) Cisco
4 72 (9.11%) Citrix
5 61 (7.72%) Oracle
6 55 (6.96%) ServiceNow
7 36 (4.56%) Red Hat
8 31 (3.92%) CyberArk
9 29 (3.67%) NetApp
10 28 (3.54%) BeyondTrust
10 28 (3.54%) Dell
11 27 (3.42%) Splunk
11 27 (3.42%) Veeam
12 20 (2.53%) Google
13 19 (2.41%) Tenable
14 18 (2.28%) CrowdStrike
14 18 (2.28%) Zscaler
15 17 (2.15%) Qualys
15 17 (2.15%) Remedy
16 16 (2.03%) Juniper
493 Windows Server jobs in England