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

 6 months to
28 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 172 170 105
Rank change year-on-year -2 -65 -32
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 752 452 758
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.64% 1.64% 2.28%
As % of the Operating Systems category 16.90% 12.01% 16.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 495 317 555
10th Percentile £262 £302 £250
25th Percentile £375 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% +1.27%
75th Percentile £568 £588 £590
90th Percentile £661 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £485 £525 £498
% change year-on-year -7.62% +5.37% +1.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 6 9
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £31.62
25th Percentile £23.00 £13.14 £36.75
Median hourly rate £52.50 £22.03 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +138.37% -59.95% +37.50%
75th Percentile £70.00 £32.08 £69.69
90th Percentile £74.00 £55.14 £77.00
UK median hourly rate £52.00 £17.63 £55.00
% change year-on-year +195.04% -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 4,450 3,762 4,709
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.72% 13.66% 14.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,854 2,471 3,070
10th Percentile £190 £190 £200
25th Percentile £310 £307 £330
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 £469 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.22% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 308 242 282
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.51 £12.00
25th Percentile £19.16 £18.51 £16.63
Median hourly rate £32.50 £24.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +35.42% -26.15% -21.52%
75th Percentile £67.47 £58.75 £67.50
90th Percentile £74.78 £67.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £27.50
% change year-on-year +2.47% -8.55% -35.29%

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 28 August 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 28 August 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 28 August 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 -13 228 £475 -5.00% 197
South East -5 193 £515 -3.92% 150
North of England -21 121 £450 +3.21% 99
Midlands -6 76 £428 -18.57% 80
North West -19 66 £448 +6.67% 53
East of England -3 64 £450 -18.18% 65
South West -15 64 £500 -7.41% 43
Yorkshire -27 45 £510 +18.67% 26
West Midlands -38 44 £425 -19.05% 49
East Midlands +7 30 £450 - 31
North East -32 10 £213 -57.50% 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 (11.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 49 (6.52%) SharePoint
3 28 (3.72%) IIS
4 8 (1.06%) nginx
5 7 (0.93%) Tomcat
6 5 (0.66%) Apache
6 5 (0.66%) Confluence
7 4 (0.53%) FactoryTalk
8 3 (0.40%) CloudStack
8 3 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.27%) SAS
9 2 (0.27%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.27%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.13%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 17 (2.26%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 15 (1.99%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.27%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.27%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 321 (42.69%) Azure
2 154 (20.48%) Microsoft 365
3 151 (20.08%) Entra ID
4 96 (12.77%) AWS
5 48 (6.38%) Azure Monitor
6 31 (4.12%) Azure DevOps
7 26 (3.46%) GCP
8 24 (3.19%) IaaS
9 22 (2.93%) Power Platform
10 20 (2.66%) GitHub
11 19 (2.53%) Azure Sentinel
12 17 (2.26%) OpenShift
13 13 (1.73%) OneDrive
14 11 (1.46%) PaaS
15 10 (1.33%) Amazon EC2
15 10 (1.33%) Nutanix
16 8 (1.06%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 8 (1.06%) Datadog
16 8 (1.06%) SaaS
17 7 (0.93%) Azure Stack
Communications & Networking
1 248 (32.98%) DNS
2 161 (21.41%) DHCP
3 134 (17.82%) Firewall
4 72 (9.57%) VPN
5 67 (8.91%) TCP/IP
6 52 (6.91%) SAN
7 44 (5.85%) WAN
8 43 (5.72%) VLAN
9 39 (5.19%) LAN
10 30 (3.99%) Network Security
11 21 (2.79%) NAS
11 21 (2.79%) SSL
12 18 (2.39%) Wi-Fi
13 14 (1.86%) NetScaler
13 14 (1.86%) VoIP
14 13 (1.73%) SSH
15 12 (1.60%) Wireless
16 11 (1.46%) SMTP
17 9 (1.20%) VSAN
18 7 (0.93%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (19.41%) SQL Server
2 22 (2.93%) Power BI
3 13 (1.73%) Amazon RDS
4 12 (1.60%) Oracle Database
4 12 (1.60%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 11 (1.46%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (1.33%) Elasticsearch
7 9 (1.20%) MySQL
8 7 (0.93%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.66%) Big Data
10 4 (0.53%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.40%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.40%) GIS
11 3 (0.40%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.40%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.13%) Amazon Aurora
13 1 (0.13%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 15 (1.99%) Git
1 15 (1.99%) Jenkins
2 12 (1.60%) JIRA
3 9 (1.20%) GitLab
4 5 (0.66%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.40%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.40%) MSI
5 3 (0.40%) Octopus Deploy
5 3 (0.40%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.27%) AdminStudio
6 2 (0.27%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.27%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.27%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.27%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.13%) eggPlant
7 1 (0.13%) Postman
7 1 (0.13%) Subversion
7 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.13%) Vagrant
7 1 (0.13%) VSS/SourceSafe
General
1 194 (25.80%) Social Skills
2 96 (12.77%) Analytical Skills
3 79 (10.51%) Finance
4 44 (5.85%) Public Sector
5 43 (5.72%) Documentation Skills
6 41 (5.45%) Banking
7 15 (1.99%) Law
8 13 (1.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (1.73%) Military
9 12 (1.60%) Legal
10 11 (1.46%) Telecoms
11 10 (1.33%) Pharmaceutical
12 9 (1.20%) Manufacturing
13 8 (1.06%) Aerospace
13 8 (1.06%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (0.80%) Games
14 6 (0.80%) Local Government
15 5 (0.66%) Retail
16 4 (0.53%) Financial Institution
16 4 (0.53%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 197 (26.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 86 (11.44%) Senior
3 70 (9.31%) Support Engineer
4 54 (7.18%) Cloud Engineer
5 51 (6.78%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 47 (6.25%) Lead
7 38 (5.05%) IT Engineer
8 37 (4.92%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 33 (4.39%) Architect
10 31 (4.12%) Server Engineer
10 31 (4.12%) Windows Engineer
11 30 (3.99%) Administrator
11 30 (3.99%) Azure Engineer
12 29 (3.86%) IT Support
13 26 (3.46%) Infrastructure Support
13 26 (3.46%) Storage Engineer
14 25 (3.32%) Systems Engineer
15 22 (2.93%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
15 22 (2.93%) Wintel Engineer
16 21 (2.79%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (11.57%) Terraform
2 32 (4.26%) .NET
3 23 (3.06%) .NET Framework
4 22 (2.93%) REST
5 18 (2.39%) ARM Templates
6 11 (1.46%) JSON
7 10 (1.33%) LDAP
8 9 (1.20%) Elastic Stack
9 8 (1.06%) OAuth
10 7 (0.93%) RabbitMQ
10 7 (0.93%) YAML
11 6 (0.80%) Software Packaging
12 5 (0.66%) SailPoint
12 5 (0.66%) SAML
13 4 (0.53%) ADO
13 4 (0.53%) ASP.NET
13 4 (0.53%) Azure Blueprints
13 4 (0.53%) Middleware
13 4 (0.53%) OAuth2
13 4 (0.53%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 75 (9.97%) PKI
2 65 (8.64%) Hybrid Cloud
3 54 (7.18%) Clustering
3 54 (7.18%) Onboarding
4 46 (6.12%) Data Centre
5 39 (5.19%) Management Information System
5 39 (5.19%) Replication
6 21 (2.79%) Enterprise Storage
7 16 (2.13%) Driving Licence
8 14 (1.86%) Self-Motivation
8 14 (1.86%) Virtual Team
9 11 (1.46%) Security Posture
10 10 (1.33%) Cloud Native
10 10 (1.33%) Enterprise Software
10 10 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
11 9 (1.20%) Linux Command Line
12 8 (1.06%) ARM Cortex
12 8 (1.06%) Smartcard
13 7 (0.93%) Operational Technology
13 7 (0.93%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 752 (100.00%) Windows
2 216 (28.72%) Linux
3 58 (7.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 55 (7.31%) Windows Server 2019
5 54 (7.18%) Windows 10
6 37 (4.92%) Windows Server 2016
7 35 (4.65%) Ubuntu
8 29 (3.86%) Windows Server 2012
9 26 (3.46%) CentOS
9 26 (3.46%) Unix
10 13 (1.73%) Mac OS
10 13 (1.73%) VMS
11 11 (1.46%) Rocky
12 10 (1.33%) Windows Server 2008
13 7 (0.93%) Windows 7
14 6 (0.80%) Windows Server 2003
15 5 (0.66%) Solaris
16 4 (0.53%) Alpine Linux
17 3 (0.40%) Android
17 3 (0.40%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (32.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 185 (24.60%) Problem-Solving
3 146 (19.41%) ITIL
4 118 (15.69%) Disaster Recovery
5 94 (12.50%) Migration
6 87 (11.57%) Change Management
6 87 (11.57%) Root Cause Analysis
7 86 (11.44%) High Availability
8 85 (11.30%) Infrastructure as Code
9 83 (11.04%) ITSM
10 80 (10.64%) DevOps
11 75 (9.97%) Service Management
12 71 (9.44%) Continuous Improvement
13 70 (9.31%) Technical Leadership
14 65 (8.64%) Project Delivery
15 61 (8.11%) Vulnerability Remediation
16 58 (7.71%) Runbook
17 56 (7.45%) Agile
17 56 (7.45%) CI/CD
18 55 (7.31%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 302 (40.16%) PowerShell
2 102 (13.56%) SQL
3 81 (10.77%) Python
4 65 (8.64%) Bash
5 28 (3.72%) Bicep
6 26 (3.46%) T-SQL
7 22 (2.93%) C#
8 21 (2.79%) PL/SQL
9 12 (1.60%) JavaScript
10 11 (1.46%) Java
11 4 (0.53%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.40%) Go
12 3 (0.40%) Korn
13 2 (0.27%) Groovy
13 2 (0.27%) JCL
13 2 (0.27%) REXX
14 1 (0.13%) CodeQL
14 1 (0.13%) Ladder Logic
14 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
14 1 (0.13%) VB
Qualifications
1 329 (43.75%) Security Cleared
2 182 (24.20%) SC Cleared
3 160 (21.28%) DV Cleared
4 69 (9.18%) Degree
5 52 (6.91%) Microsoft Certification
6 33 (4.39%) Azure Certification
7 27 (3.59%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 19 (2.53%) MCSE
9 17 (2.26%) Cisco Certification
10 15 (1.99%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 14 (1.86%) MCSA
12 11 (1.46%) AWS Certification
12 11 (1.46%) BPSS Clearance
13 10 (1.33%) CCNA
13 10 (1.33%) CISSP
13 10 (1.33%) VCAP
14 9 (1.20%) ITIL Certification
15 7 (0.93%) CCNP
15 7 (0.93%) CISM
15 7 (0.93%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (4.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.26%) SLA
3 26 (3.46%) QA
4 22 (2.93%) NIST
5 14 (1.86%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.06%) GDPR
7 7 (0.93%) NCSC
8 5 (0.66%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (0.66%) GxP
8 5 (0.66%) SOC 2
9 4 (0.53%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 3 (0.40%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.27%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.27%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.27%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.13%) Accessibility
12 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.13%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
System Software
1 431 (57.31%) Active Directory
2 278 (36.97%) VMware Infrastructure
3 142 (18.88%) Hyper-V
4 105 (13.96%) VMware ESXi
5 90 (11.97%) vSphere
6 51 (6.78%) Virtual Machines
7 43 (5.72%) Docker
8 41 (5.45%) VMware NSX
9 33 (4.39%) Virtual Desktop
10 22 (2.93%) vCloud
11 14 (1.86%) Virtual Servers
12 10 (1.33%) Firmware
12 10 (1.33%) Microsoft App-V
12 10 (1.33%) XenApp
13 9 (1.20%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 9 (1.20%) XenDesktop
14 8 (1.06%) BitLocker
15 6 (0.80%) KVM
16 5 (0.66%) Terminal Services
17 4 (0.53%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 103 (13.70%) Ansible
2 92 (12.23%) vCenter Server
3 85 (11.30%) Microsoft Intune
4 77 (10.24%) SCCM
5 65 (8.64%) SCOM
6 50 (6.65%) Kubernetes
7 35 (4.65%) WSUS
8 17 (2.26%) Grafana
9 16 (2.13%) Prometheus
10 15 (1.99%) NetBackup
10 15 (1.99%) vMotion
11 13 (1.73%) Avamar
12 12 (1.60%) Failover Clustering
13 10 (1.33%) Nessus
13 10 (1.33%) Puppet
14 8 (1.06%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 7 (0.93%) Jamf Pro
15 7 (0.93%) Microsoft Clustering
15 7 (0.93%) WMI
16 6 (0.80%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 385 (51.20%) Microsoft
2 355 (47.21%) VMware
3 81 (10.77%) Cisco
4 72 (9.57%) Citrix
5 57 (7.58%) Oracle
6 51 (6.78%) ServiceNow
7 31 (4.12%) CyberArk
7 31 (4.12%) Red Hat
8 28 (3.72%) NetApp
9 27 (3.59%) BeyondTrust
9 27 (3.59%) Dell
9 27 (3.59%) Veeam
10 24 (3.19%) Splunk
11 19 (2.53%) HP
12 18 (2.39%) Fortinet
12 18 (2.39%) Tenable
13 17 (2.26%) Google
13 17 (2.26%) Remedy
14 16 (2.13%) Juniper
14 16 (2.13%) Zscaler
595 Windows Server jobs in England