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

 6 months to
12 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 184 118 85
Rank change year-on-year -66 -33 +8
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 555 580 934
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.52% 2.35% 2.46%
As % of the Operating Systems category 13.29% 16.48% 17.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 421 403 639
10th Percentile £220 £313 £190
25th Percentile £400 £400 £278
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +16.67% -10.00%
75th Percentile £594 £603 £575
90th Percentile £713 £675 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £450
% change year-on-year - +11.11% -8.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 7 32
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.01 £16.00
25th Percentile £19.79 £31.56 £23.38
Median hourly rate £22.50 £53.00 £56.28
Median % change year-on-year -57.55% -5.83% +92.08%
75th Percentile £29.06 £92.88 £68.63
90th Percentile £48.32 £112.00 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £49.00 £56.28
% change year-on-year -54.08% -12.94% +92.08%

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 4,177 3,519 5,322
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.47% 14.28% 14.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,762 2,353 3,598
10th Percentile £180 £200 £175
25th Percentile £273 £313 £263
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 £668 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £447 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -5.95% +5.56% -12.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 312 124 385
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.33 £13.30
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.47 £15.50
Median hourly rate £22.50 £34.50 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -34.78% +53.33% -15.09%
75th Percentile £60.00 £67.25 £60.00
90th Percentile £68.68 £71.18 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £22.68 £29.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -21.79% +28.89% -15.09%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -64 178 £500 - 67
South East -24 116 £500 -8.26% 121
North of England -73 84 £375 -21.05% 84
South West -35 67 £575 - 31
North West -36 62 £364 -20.00% 51
East of England 0 53 £438 -2.78% 38
Midlands -48 53 £438 +24.11% 45
West Midlands -50 37 £450 +55.17% 24
Yorkshire -74 18 £375 -28.57% 27
East Midlands -32 15 £415 +3.75% 21
North East -16 7 £550 +2.33% 9
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 78 (14.05%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (5.41%) SharePoint
3 23 (4.14%) IIS
4 7 (1.26%) Apache
5 6 (1.08%) Confluence
6 4 (0.72%) nginx
6 4 (0.72%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.72%) Tomcat
7 3 (0.54%) SAS
8 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.36%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.36%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.36%) WordPress
9 1 (0.18%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.18%) iPlanet
9 1 (0.18%) JBoss
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.18%) SharePoint 2010
9 1 (0.18%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.18%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 25 (4.50%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.18%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 3 (0.54%) Remedy ITSM
1 3 (0.54%) Veritas eDiscovery
2 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle FAH
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle General Ledger
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 1 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.18%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 191 (34.41%) Azure
2 113 (20.36%) Microsoft 365
3 96 (17.30%) Entra ID
4 47 (8.47%) AWS
5 18 (3.24%) IaaS
6 13 (2.34%) PaaS
6 13 (2.34%) SaaS
7 11 (1.98%) Azure Monitor
7 11 (1.98%) Nutanix
8 9 (1.62%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (1.26%) Power Platform
10 5 (0.90%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (0.90%) GCP
10 5 (0.90%) Mimecast
10 5 (0.90%) OCI
11 4 (0.72%) GitHub
12 3 (0.54%) Amazon EKS
12 3 (0.54%) Amazon S3
12 3 (0.54%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 176 (31.71%) DNS
2 122 (21.98%) DHCP
2 122 (21.98%) Firewall
3 53 (9.55%) TCP/IP
4 51 (9.19%) WAN
5 48 (8.65%) VPN
6 45 (8.11%) LAN
7 26 (4.68%) Network Security
8 19 (3.42%) VLAN
9 16 (2.88%) Kerberos
10 15 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
11 14 (2.52%) FTP
11 14 (2.52%) Wireless
12 13 (2.34%) VoIP
13 11 (1.98%) Cisco IOS
14 10 (1.80%) BGP
14 10 (1.80%) SMTP
14 10 (1.80%) SSL
15 9 (1.62%) SAN
16 8 (1.44%) Junos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 78 (14.05%) SQL Server
2 15 (2.70%) Oracle Database
3 7 (1.26%) Elasticsearch
4 6 (1.08%) DB2
4 6 (1.08%) Power BI
5 4 (0.72%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.72%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.36%) Big Data
6 2 (0.36%) GIS
6 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.18%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.18%) Electronic Patient Records
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle BI EE
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database 11g
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database 12c
7 1 (0.18%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (2.34%) JIRA
2 12 (2.16%) GitLab
3 11 (1.98%) Git
3 11 (1.98%) Jenkins
3 11 (1.98%) Visual Studio
4 7 (1.26%) Sonatype Nexus
5 6 (1.08%) Robot Framework
6 4 (0.72%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.54%) Octopus Deploy
8 2 (0.36%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.18%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket Server
9 1 (0.18%) CA Release Automation
9 1 (0.18%) eggPlant
9 1 (0.18%) GoCD
9 1 (0.18%) Maven
9 1 (0.18%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.18%) TeamCity
General
1 140 (25.23%) Social Skills
2 58 (10.45%) Analytical Skills
2 58 (10.45%) Finance
3 56 (10.09%) Public Sector
4 36 (6.49%) Documentation Skills
5 26 (4.68%) Legal
6 20 (3.60%) Banking
7 12 (2.16%) Military
8 11 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.08%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (1.08%) Spanish Language
10 5 (0.90%) Front Office
10 5 (0.90%) Local Government
10 5 (0.90%) Telecoms
11 4 (0.72%) Aerospace
11 4 (0.72%) Retail
12 3 (0.54%) Financial Institution
12 3 (0.54%) Law
13 2 (0.36%) Back Office
13 2 (0.36%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 91 (16.40%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 62 (11.17%) Analyst
3 39 (7.03%) Support Engineer
4 37 (6.67%) Senior
5 34 (6.13%) Architect
5 34 (6.13%) Platform Engineer
6 32 (5.77%) IT Support
7 30 (5.41%) Wintel Engineer
8 28 (5.05%) Support Analyst
9 27 (4.86%) Developer
10 24 (4.32%) Technical Analyst
10 24 (4.32%) Windows Engineer
11 23 (4.14%) 2nd Line Support
11 23 (4.14%) 3rd Line Engineer
12 22 (3.96%) Network Engineer
13 21 (3.78%) 3rd Line Support
13 21 (3.78%) Lead
14 20 (3.60%) Server Engineer
15 19 (3.42%) Technical Support
16 18 (3.24%) C# Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (6.13%) OAuth
2 31 (5.59%) SAML
3 29 (5.23%) .NET
4 22 (3.96%) .NET Framework
4 22 (3.96%) LDAP
5 18 (3.24%) OpenID
6 17 (3.06%) OAuth2
6 17 (3.06%) REST
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%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 43 (7.75%) PKI
2 42 (7.57%) Data Centre
3 39 (7.03%) Replication
4 23 (4.14%) Clustering
4 23 (4.14%) Onboarding
5 22 (3.96%) Product Ownership
6 18 (3.24%) Legacy Systems
6 18 (3.24%) NHS
7 17 (3.06%) Hybrid Cloud
8 15 (2.70%) Enterprise Software
8 15 (2.70%) Private Cloud
9 13 (2.34%) Driving Licence
9 13 (2.34%) Management Information System
10 11 (1.98%) Self-Motivation
11 8 (1.44%) Analytical Mindset
11 8 (1.44%) Enterprise Storage
12 7 (1.26%) CMDB
12 7 (1.26%) iPhone
12 7 (1.26%) Linux Command Line
13 6 (1.08%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 553 (99.64%) Windows
2 136 (24.50%) Linux
3 38 (6.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 38 (6.85%) Windows Server 2019
4 35 (6.31%) Windows 10
5 34 (6.13%) Windows Server 2016
6 32 (5.77%) Windows Server 2012
7 19 (3.42%) Unix
8 12 (2.16%) Windows Server 2003
9 10 (1.80%) AIX
9 10 (1.80%) Ubuntu
10 9 (1.62%) Android
10 9 (1.62%) Windows Server 2008
11 8 (1.44%) CentOS
12 7 (1.26%) VMS
13 6 (1.08%) Solaris
14 3 (0.54%) Apple iOS
15 2 (0.36%) Mac OS
15 2 (0.36%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.36%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (23.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 84 (15.14%) Problem-Solving
3 83 (14.95%) Disaster Recovery
4 77 (13.87%) High Availability
4 77 (13.87%) ITIL
5 64 (11.53%) Agile
6 59 (10.63%) Migration
7 53 (9.55%) Service Management
8 51 (9.19%) Change Management
9 48 (8.65%) Continuous Improvement
10 46 (8.29%) Identity Access Management
10 46 (8.29%) ITSM
11 45 (8.11%) Project Delivery
12 44 (7.93%) Cybersecurity
13 39 (7.03%) RBAC
14 38 (6.85%) DevOps
15 36 (6.49%) Change Control
16 34 (6.13%) Platform Engineering
17 31 (5.59%) CI/CD
18 29 (5.23%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 218 (39.28%) PowerShell
2 73 (13.15%) SQL
3 54 (9.73%) Python
4 36 (6.49%) Bash
5 30 (5.41%) C#
6 22 (3.96%) PL/SQL
7 21 (3.78%) T-SQL
8 11 (1.98%) JavaScript
8 11 (1.98%) Perl
9 10 (1.80%) Java
10 5 (0.90%) Bicep
11 3 (0.54%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.36%) Delphi
12 2 (0.36%) JCL
12 2 (0.36%) PHP
12 2 (0.36%) REXX
13 1 (0.18%) Groovy
13 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.18%) VBA
Qualifications
1 216 (38.92%) Security Cleared
2 142 (25.59%) SC Cleared
3 72 (12.97%) DV Cleared
4 66 (11.89%) Degree
5 63 (11.35%) Microsoft Certification
6 23 (4.14%) MCSE
7 19 (3.42%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (3.24%) Azure Certification
8 18 (3.24%) CCNP
9 16 (2.88%) CCNA
10 15 (2.70%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 14 (2.52%) MCSA
12 10 (1.80%) CCDP
13 9 (1.62%) AWS Certification
13 9 (1.62%) CISSP
13 9 (1.62%) VCAP
14 7 (1.26%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 7 (1.26%) BPSS Clearance
15 6 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
15 6 (1.08%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.86%) QA
2 24 (4.32%) GDPR
3 20 (3.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (2.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 11 (1.98%) 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
2 159 (28.65%) VMware Infrastructure
3 64 (11.53%) Hyper-V
4 45 (8.11%) vSphere
5 33 (5.95%) VMware ESXi
6 32 (5.77%) Docker
7 31 (5.59%) Virtual Machines
8 23 (4.14%) VMware NSX
9 10 (1.80%) Virtual Desktop
10 7 (1.26%) KVM
11 6 (1.08%) Terminal Services
12 5 (0.90%) BitLocker
12 5 (0.90%) Microsoft App-V
12 5 (0.90%) Virtual Servers
13 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 2 (0.36%) Job Entry Subsystem
14 2 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
14 2 (0.36%) Sendmail
14 2 (0.36%) VMware Workstation
14 2 (0.36%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 80 (14.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 69 (12.43%) SCCM
3 57 (10.27%) Ansible
4 53 (9.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 48 (8.65%) Single Sign-On
6 43 (7.75%) vCenter Server
7 40 (7.21%) Terraform
8 27 (4.86%) Kubernetes
9 22 (3.96%) SCOM
10 13 (2.34%) WSUS
11 9 (1.62%) Puppet
12 7 (1.26%) SCOrch
13 6 (1.08%) CASB
13 6 (1.08%) FortiGate
13 6 (1.08%) IBM BigFix
13 6 (1.08%) VxRail
14 5 (0.90%) Progress Chef
14 5 (0.90%) vMotion
15 4 (0.72%) Nessus
16 3 (0.54%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 257 (46.31%) Microsoft
2 209 (37.66%) VMware
3 65 (11.71%) Citrix
4 59 (10.63%) Cisco
5 43 (7.75%) Oracle
6 31 (5.59%) Red Hat
7 27 (4.86%) ServiceNow
8 25 (4.50%) Dell
8 25 (4.50%) SolarWinds
8 25 (4.50%) Veeam
9 15 (2.70%) Okta
10 13 (2.34%) Palo Alto
11 12 (2.16%) IBM
12 11 (1.98%) Juniper
13 10 (1.80%) BeyondTrust
13 10 (1.80%) CyberArk
14 9 (1.62%) HP
15 8 (1.44%) F5
15 8 (1.44%) NetApp
15 8 (1.44%) Qualys
351 Windows Server jobs in England