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

 6 months to
1 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 166 175 102
Rank change year-on-year +9 -73 -29
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 764 454 754
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.67% 1.65% 2.28%
As % of the Operating Systems category 17.18% 12.03% 16.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 502 319 551
10th Percentile £261 £303 £240
25th Percentile £375 £408 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £570 £588 £588
90th Percentile £668 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £525 £486
% change year-on-year -7.14% +7.97% -0.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 6 9
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £31.62
25th Percentile £23.00 £13.14 £36.75
Median hourly rate £53.75 £22.03 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +144.04% -59.95% +33.33%
75th Percentile £70.73 £32.08 £69.69
90th Percentile £74.25 £55.14 £77.00
UK median hourly rate £52.25 £17.63 £55.00
% change year-on-year +196.45% -67.95% +37.50%

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 4,448 3,774 4,709
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.74% 13.69% 14.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,858 2,483 3,071
10th Percentile £190 £190 £200
25th Percentile £310 £308 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +3.33% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £586 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £468 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +3.94% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 312 242 266
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.51 £12.50
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.51 £17.69
Median hourly rate £32.50 £24.00 £39.00
Median % change year-on-year +35.42% -38.46% -8.24%
75th Percentile £67.47 £58.94 £68.75
90th Percentile £74.97 £67.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £35.58
% change year-on-year +2.47% -29.32% -16.28%

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 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 1 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 1 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 -13 227 £475 -5.00% 190
South East -7 196 £515 -3.92% 135
North of England -14 126 £450 +0.33% 96
Midlands -9 79 £425 -19.05% 76
North West -26 69 £449 +6.90% 47
East of England -7 65 £450 -18.18% 66
South West -27 64 £500 -7.41% 46
West Midlands -30 47 £425 -19.05% 43
Yorkshire -18 46 £518 +9.29% 29
East Midlands +11 30 £450 - 33
North East -37 11 £225 -55.00% 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 85 (11.13%) Microsoft Exchange
2 50 (6.54%) SharePoint
3 28 (3.66%) IIS
4 8 (1.05%) nginx
5 7 (0.92%) Tomcat
6 5 (0.65%) Apache
6 5 (0.65%) Confluence
7 4 (0.52%) 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%) 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 (2.23%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 15 (1.96%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.26%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.26%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 326 (42.67%) Azure
2 155 (20.29%) Entra ID
3 154 (20.16%) Microsoft 365
4 97 (12.70%) AWS
5 50 (6.54%) Azure Monitor
6 34 (4.45%) Azure DevOps
7 26 (3.40%) GCP
8 25 (3.27%) Power Platform
9 24 (3.14%) IaaS
10 20 (2.62%) GitHub
11 19 (2.49%) Azure Sentinel
12 17 (2.23%) OpenShift
13 13 (1.70%) OneDrive
14 10 (1.31%) Amazon EC2
14 10 (1.31%) Nutanix
15 9 (1.18%) PaaS
16 8 (1.05%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 8 (1.05%) Datadog
17 7 (0.92%) Azure Stack
17 7 (0.92%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 251 (32.85%) DNS
2 163 (21.34%) DHCP
3 134 (17.54%) Firewall
4 71 (9.29%) VPN
5 66 (8.64%) TCP/IP
6 54 (7.07%) SAN
7 44 (5.76%) VLAN
8 42 (5.50%) WAN
9 38 (4.97%) LAN
10 30 (3.93%) Network Security
11 24 (3.14%) SSL
12 22 (2.88%) NAS
13 19 (2.49%) Wi-Fi
14 14 (1.83%) NetScaler
15 13 (1.70%) SSH
15 13 (1.70%) VoIP
15 13 (1.70%) Wireless
16 10 (1.31%) SMTP
17 9 (1.18%) VSAN
18 6 (0.79%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (19.37%) SQL Server
2 25 (3.27%) Power BI
3 15 (1.96%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 13 (1.70%) Amazon RDS
4 13 (1.70%) MySQL
5 12 (1.57%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (1.44%) Oracle Database
7 9 (1.18%) Elasticsearch
8 7 (0.92%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.65%) Big Data
9 5 (0.65%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.39%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.39%) GIS
10 3 (0.39%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.39%) Oracle BI EE
10 3 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Analysis Services
12 1 (0.13%) Amazon Aurora
12 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
12 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 15 (1.96%) Git
1 15 (1.96%) Jenkins
2 12 (1.57%) JIRA
3 9 (1.18%) GitLab
4 5 (0.65%) Visual Studio
5 4 (0.52%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 3 (0.39%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.39%) MSI
6 3 (0.39%) Octopus Deploy
7 2 (0.26%) AdminStudio
7 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.26%) InstallShield
7 2 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.13%) eggPlant
8 1 (0.13%) MSBuild
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.13%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.13%) Subversion
8 1 (0.13%) Vagrant
8 1 (0.13%) VSS/SourceSafe
General
1 194 (25.39%) Social Skills
2 101 (13.22%) Analytical Skills
3 79 (10.34%) Finance
4 44 (5.76%) Documentation Skills
4 44 (5.76%) Public Sector
5 41 (5.37%) Banking
6 16 (2.09%) Law
7 14 (1.83%) Military
8 13 (1.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 11 (1.44%) Legal
9 11 (1.44%) Telecoms
10 10 (1.31%) Pharmaceutical
11 9 (1.18%) Manufacturing
12 8 (1.05%) Aerospace
12 8 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (0.79%) Games
13 6 (0.79%) Local Government
14 5 (0.65%) Retail
15 4 (0.52%) Financial Institution
15 4 (0.52%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 196 (25.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 90 (11.78%) Senior
3 72 (9.42%) Support Engineer
4 55 (7.20%) Cloud Engineer
5 51 (6.68%) Lead
6 50 (6.54%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 40 (5.24%) IT Engineer
8 38 (4.97%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 34 (4.45%) Architect
10 32 (4.19%) Administrator
10 32 (4.19%) Server Engineer
11 31 (4.06%) Windows Engineer
12 30 (3.93%) Azure Engineer
12 30 (3.93%) IT Support
13 27 (3.53%) Systems Engineer
14 26 (3.40%) Infrastructure Support
14 26 (3.40%) Storage Engineer
15 24 (3.14%) Wintel Engineer
16 23 (3.01%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
16 23 (3.01%) VMware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 88 (11.52%) Terraform
2 33 (4.32%) .NET
3 23 (3.01%) REST
4 22 (2.88%) .NET Framework
5 18 (2.36%) ARM Templates
6 11 (1.44%) JSON
6 11 (1.44%) LDAP
7 9 (1.18%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (1.05%) OAuth
9 7 (0.92%) RabbitMQ
9 7 (0.92%) YAML
10 6 (0.79%) Software Packaging
11 5 (0.65%) Middleware
11 5 (0.65%) SailPoint
11 5 (0.65%) SAML
12 4 (0.52%) ADO
12 4 (0.52%) ASP.NET
12 4 (0.52%) OAuth2
12 4 (0.52%) OpenID
12 4 (0.52%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 76 (9.95%) PKI
2 66 (8.64%) Hybrid Cloud
3 58 (7.59%) Clustering
4 54 (7.07%) Onboarding
5 48 (6.28%) Data Centre
6 43 (5.63%) Replication
7 41 (5.37%) Management Information System
8 20 (2.62%) Enterprise Storage
9 16 (2.09%) Driving Licence
10 14 (1.83%) Virtual Team
11 12 (1.57%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (1.44%) Security Posture
13 10 (1.31%) Cloud Native
13 10 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
13 10 (1.31%) Legacy Systems
14 9 (1.18%) Linux Command Line
15 8 (1.05%) ARM Cortex
15 8 (1.05%) Smartcard
16 7 (0.92%) Operational Technology
16 7 (0.92%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 764 (100.00%) Windows
2 218 (28.53%) Linux
3 59 (7.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 55 (7.20%) Windows Server 2019
5 53 (6.94%) Windows 10
6 36 (4.71%) Windows Server 2016
7 35 (4.58%) Ubuntu
8 29 (3.80%) Windows Server 2012
9 26 (3.40%) Unix
10 25 (3.27%) CentOS
11 13 (1.70%) Mac OS
11 13 (1.70%) Rocky
11 13 (1.70%) VMS
12 10 (1.31%) Windows Server 2008
13 7 (0.92%) Windows 7
14 5 (0.65%) Solaris
14 5 (0.65%) Windows Server 2003
15 4 (0.52%) Alpine Linux
16 3 (0.39%) Android
16 3 (0.39%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (32.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 190 (24.87%) Problem-Solving
3 152 (19.90%) ITIL
4 124 (16.23%) Disaster Recovery
5 98 (12.83%) Migration
6 92 (12.04%) Root Cause Analysis
7 89 (11.65%) Infrastructure as Code
8 88 (11.52%) Change Management
9 87 (11.39%) High Availability
10 84 (10.99%) DevOps
10 84 (10.99%) ITSM
11 79 (10.34%) Service Management
12 74 (9.69%) Continuous Improvement
13 73 (9.55%) Technical Leadership
14 66 (8.64%) Project Delivery
15 62 (8.12%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 60 (7.85%) Runbook
17 59 (7.72%) CI/CD
18 57 (7.46%) Stakeholder Management
19 56 (7.33%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 309 (40.45%) PowerShell
2 107 (14.01%) SQL
3 80 (10.47%) Python
4 67 (8.77%) Bash
5 30 (3.93%) T-SQL
6 28 (3.66%) Bicep
7 22 (2.88%) C#
8 20 (2.62%) PL/SQL
9 12 (1.57%) JavaScript
10 11 (1.44%) Java
11 5 (0.65%) 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%) Kusto Query Language
14 1 (0.13%) Ladder Logic
14 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.13%) VB
Qualifications
1 334 (43.72%) Security Cleared
2 186 (24.35%) SC Cleared
3 160 (20.94%) DV Cleared
4 73 (9.55%) Degree
5 55 (7.20%) Microsoft Certification
6 37 (4.84%) Azure Certification
7 27 (3.53%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 19 (2.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 19 (2.49%) MCSE
9 18 (2.36%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.83%) BPSS Clearance
10 14 (1.83%) MCSA
11 11 (1.44%) AWS Certification
11 11 (1.44%) CCNA
12 10 (1.31%) CISSP
12 10 (1.31%) ITIL Certification
12 10 (1.31%) VCAP
13 8 (1.05%) CCNP
13 8 (1.05%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (0.92%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (4.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.19%) SLA
3 25 (3.27%) QA
4 23 (3.01%) NIST
5 15 (1.96%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.05%) GDPR
6 8 (1.05%) NCSC
7 6 (0.79%) GxP
8 5 (0.65%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 5 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (0.65%) SOC 2
9 3 (0.39%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.26%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.13%) GMP
11 1 (0.13%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
System Software
1 434 (56.81%) Active Directory
2 279 (36.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 144 (18.85%) Hyper-V
4 111 (14.53%) VMware ESXi
5 95 (12.43%) vSphere
6 56 (7.33%) Virtual Machines
7 44 (5.76%) Docker
8 42 (5.50%) VMware NSX
9 33 (4.32%) Virtual Desktop
10 24 (3.14%) vCloud
11 14 (1.83%) Virtual Servers
12 11 (1.44%) Firmware
13 10 (1.31%) XenApp
14 9 (1.18%) Citrix Hypervisor
14 9 (1.18%) Microsoft App-V
14 9 (1.18%) XenDesktop
15 7 (0.92%) BitLocker
16 6 (0.79%) KVM
17 5 (0.65%) Terminal Services
17 5 (0.65%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 104 (13.61%) Ansible
2 94 (12.30%) vCenter Server
3 87 (11.39%) Microsoft Intune
4 78 (10.21%) SCCM
5 71 (9.29%) SCOM
6 48 (6.28%) Kubernetes
7 36 (4.71%) WSUS
8 19 (2.49%) Grafana
9 18 (2.36%) Prometheus
10 15 (1.96%) NetBackup
10 15 (1.96%) vMotion
11 13 (1.70%) Avamar
11 13 (1.70%) Failover Clustering
12 10 (1.31%) Nessus
13 9 (1.18%) Puppet
14 8 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 7 (0.92%) Jamf Pro
15 7 (0.92%) Microsoft Clustering
15 7 (0.92%) WMI
16 6 (0.79%) Nagios
Vendors
1 392 (51.31%) Microsoft
2 361 (47.25%) VMware
3 83 (10.86%) Cisco
4 69 (9.03%) Citrix
5 59 (7.72%) Oracle
6 52 (6.81%) ServiceNow
7 32 (4.19%) Red Hat
8 31 (4.06%) CyberArk
9 28 (3.66%) Dell
10 27 (3.53%) BeyondTrust
10 27 (3.53%) NetApp
10 27 (3.53%) Veeam
11 24 (3.14%) Splunk
12 19 (2.49%) HP
13 18 (2.36%) Tenable
14 17 (2.23%) Fortinet
14 17 (2.23%) Google
14 17 (2.23%) Remedy
15 16 (2.09%) Juniper
15 16 (2.09%) Zscaler
573 Windows Server jobs in England