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

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 183 117 85
Rank change year-on-year -66 -32 +5
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 553 580 935
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.50% 2.34% 2.47%
As % of the Operating Systems category 13.29% 16.43% 17.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 418 409 645
10th Percentile £239 £313 £190
25th Percentile £401 £400 £283
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +16.67% -10.00%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £575
90th Percentile £713 £678 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £450
% change year-on-year -1.96% +13.33% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 7 28
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.01 £15.85
25th Percentile £19.79 £31.56 £19.44
Median hourly rate £22.50 £53.00 £53.53
Median % change year-on-year -57.55% -0.99% +82.70%
75th Percentile £29.06 £92.88 £65.56
90th Percentile £48.32 £112.00 £72.83
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £49.00 £53.53
% change year-on-year -54.08% -8.46% +82.70%

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 4,160 3,530 5,274
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.31% 14.27% 13.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,748 2,381 3,577
10th Percentile £180 £200 £179
25th Percentile £275 £313 £270
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 £669 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £447 £475 £453
% change year-on-year -5.89% +4.86% -12.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 311 129 374
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.45 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.38 £15.50
Median hourly rate £22.58 £29.00 £22.21
Median % change year-on-year -22.16% +30.56% -16.18%
75th Percentile £60.00 £66.00 £59.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £71.05 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £22.80 £28.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -18.58% +24.44% -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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -68 180 £500 - 67
South East -27 117 £500 -9.09% 114
North of England -75 81 £375 -21.05% 81
South West -37 68 £570 -0.87% 30
North West -41 62 £364 -20.00% 51
East of England -2 53 £438 -2.78% 35
Midlands -43 50 £450 +30.43% 44
West Midlands -48 34 £500 +138.10% 24
Yorkshire -71 16 £375 -28.57% 23
East Midlands -29 15 £415 +3.75% 20
North East -15 6 £550 +2.33% 10
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 80 (14.47%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (5.42%) SharePoint
3 24 (4.34%) IIS
4 6 (1.08%) Apache
4 6 (1.08%) Confluence
5 4 (0.72%) nginx
5 4 (0.72%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.54%) SAS
6 3 (0.54%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.36%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.36%) WordPress
8 1 (0.18%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.18%) SharePoint 2010
8 1 (0.18%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
Applications
1 21 (3.80%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.18%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 4 (0.72%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.54%) Veritas eDiscovery
3 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle FAH
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 1 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.18%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 196 (35.44%) Azure
2 113 (20.43%) Microsoft 365
3 98 (17.72%) Entra ID
4 45 (8.14%) AWS
5 20 (3.62%) IaaS
6 15 (2.71%) PaaS
7 13 (2.35%) SaaS
8 11 (1.99%) Azure Monitor
8 11 (1.99%) Nutanix
9 9 (1.63%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (1.63%) Power Platform
10 6 (1.08%) GCP
11 5 (0.90%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (0.90%) Mimecast
11 5 (0.90%) OCI
12 4 (0.72%) GitHub
13 3 (0.54%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.54%) Google Workspace
13 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Copilot
13 3 (0.54%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 179 (32.37%) DNS
2 125 (22.60%) Firewall
3 123 (22.24%) DHCP
4 53 (9.58%) TCP/IP
5 51 (9.22%) WAN
6 50 (9.04%) VPN
7 45 (8.14%) LAN
8 26 (4.70%) Network Security
9 20 (3.62%) VLAN
10 15 (2.71%) Kerberos
10 15 (2.71%) Wi-Fi
10 15 (2.71%) Wireless
11 14 (2.53%) FTP
11 14 (2.53%) VoIP
12 12 (2.17%) SMTP
13 11 (1.99%) Cisco IOS
14 10 (1.81%) BGP
14 10 (1.81%) SSL
15 9 (1.63%) SAN
16 8 (1.45%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (14.29%) SQL Server
2 14 (2.53%) Oracle Database
3 8 (1.45%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (1.45%) Power BI
4 6 (1.08%) DB2
5 4 (0.72%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.72%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.36%) Big Data
7 2 (0.36%) GIS
7 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.18%) Data Mining
8 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle BI EE
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database 11g
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.18%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (2.35%) JIRA
2 12 (2.17%) GitLab
3 11 (1.99%) Visual Studio
4 10 (1.81%) Git
4 10 (1.81%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.08%) Robot Framework
5 6 (1.08%) Sonatype Nexus
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%) eggPlant
9 1 (0.18%) GoCD
9 1 (0.18%) Maven
9 1 (0.18%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.18%) TeamCity
General
1 135 (24.41%) Social Skills
2 58 (10.49%) Analytical Skills
2 58 (10.49%) Finance
3 55 (9.95%) Public Sector
4 35 (6.33%) Documentation Skills
5 26 (4.70%) Legal
6 20 (3.62%) Banking
7 12 (2.17%) Military
8 11 (1.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.08%) Spanish Language
11 5 (0.90%) Front Office
11 5 (0.90%) Local Government
11 5 (0.90%) Telecoms
12 4 (0.72%) Aerospace
13 3 (0.54%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.54%) Law
13 3 (0.54%) Retail
14 2 (0.36%) Back Office
14 2 (0.36%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 94 (17.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 62 (11.21%) Analyst
3 37 (6.69%) Senior
3 37 (6.69%) Support Engineer
4 35 (6.33%) Architect
5 34 (6.15%) Platform Engineer
6 32 (5.79%) IT Support
7 28 (5.06%) Support Analyst
7 28 (5.06%) Wintel Engineer
8 27 (4.88%) Developer
9 25 (4.52%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 24 (4.34%) Technical Analyst
11 23 (4.16%) Windows Engineer
12 22 (3.98%) 2nd Line Support
12 22 (3.98%) Network Engineer
13 21 (3.80%) 3rd Line Support
13 21 (3.80%) Lead
14 19 (3.44%) Technical Support
15 18 (3.25%) C# Developer
15 18 (3.25%) Server Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (5.97%) OAuth
2 30 (5.42%) SAML
3 29 (5.24%) .NET
4 22 (3.98%) .NET Framework
5 21 (3.80%) LDAP
6 18 (3.25%) REST
7 17 (3.07%) OAuth2
7 17 (3.07%) OpenID
8 8 (1.45%) XMPP
9 7 (1.27%) Middleware
9 7 (1.27%) React
10 5 (0.90%) AngularJS
11 4 (0.72%) Keycloak
12 3 (0.54%) ASP.NET Web API
12 3 (0.54%) Elastic Stack
12 3 (0.54%) Vue
12 3 (0.54%) WCF
12 3 (0.54%) Web Services
12 3 (0.54%) WinForms
13 2 (0.36%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 45 (8.14%) PKI
2 42 (7.59%) Data Centre
3 39 (7.05%) Replication
4 25 (4.52%) Clustering
5 22 (3.98%) Onboarding
5 22 (3.98%) Product Ownership
6 18 (3.25%) Legacy Systems
6 18 (3.25%) NHS
7 17 (3.07%) Hybrid Cloud
8 15 (2.71%) Enterprise Software
8 15 (2.71%) Private Cloud
9 14 (2.53%) Driving Licence
10 13 (2.35%) Management Information System
11 11 (1.99%) Self-Motivation
12 9 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.63%) Enterprise Storage
13 7 (1.27%) CMDB
13 7 (1.27%) iPhone
13 7 (1.27%) Linux Command Line
14 6 (1.08%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 551 (99.64%) Windows
2 138 (24.95%) Linux
3 38 (6.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 38 (6.87%) Windows Server 2019
4 35 (6.33%) Windows 10
5 34 (6.15%) Windows Server 2016
6 32 (5.79%) Windows Server 2012
7 18 (3.25%) Unix
8 13 (2.35%) Windows Server 2003
9 10 (1.81%) AIX
9 10 (1.81%) Ubuntu
10 9 (1.63%) Android
10 9 (1.63%) Windows Server 2008
11 8 (1.45%) CentOS
12 7 (1.27%) 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
1 136 (24.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 83 (15.01%) Disaster Recovery
3 82 (14.83%) Problem-Solving
4 77 (13.92%) High Availability
4 77 (13.92%) ITIL
5 68 (12.30%) Agile
6 60 (10.85%) Migration
7 53 (9.58%) Service Management
8 51 (9.22%) Change Management
9 47 (8.50%) Continuous Improvement
9 47 (8.50%) ITSM
10 45 (8.14%) Identity Access Management
11 44 (7.96%) Cybersecurity
11 44 (7.96%) Project Delivery
12 39 (7.05%) DevOps
12 39 (7.05%) RBAC
13 35 (6.33%) Change Control
14 34 (6.15%) Platform Engineering
15 31 (5.61%) CI/CD
16 29 (5.24%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 221 (39.96%) PowerShell
2 73 (13.20%) SQL
3 54 (9.76%) Python
4 36 (6.51%) Bash
5 31 (5.61%) C#
6 22 (3.98%) PL/SQL
7 21 (3.80%) T-SQL
8 12 (2.17%) JavaScript
9 11 (1.99%) Perl
10 10 (1.81%) Java
11 5 (0.90%) Bicep
12 2 (0.36%) Delphi
12 2 (0.36%) JCL
12 2 (0.36%) PHP
12 2 (0.36%) REXX
12 2 (0.36%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.18%) VBA
Qualifications
1 220 (39.78%) Security Cleared
2 143 (25.86%) SC Cleared
3 75 (13.56%) DV Cleared
4 65 (11.75%) Degree
5 62 (11.21%) Microsoft Certification
6 22 (3.98%) MCSE
7 18 (3.25%) Azure Certification
7 18 (3.25%) Cisco Certification
8 17 (3.07%) CCNP
9 15 (2.71%) CCNA
9 15 (2.71%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 14 (2.53%) MCSA
11 10 (1.81%) CCDP
12 9 (1.63%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.63%) CISSP
12 9 (1.63%) VCAP
13 7 (1.27%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 6 (1.08%) BPSS Clearance
14 6 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
14 6 (1.08%) ECDL
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.70%) QA
2 24 (4.34%) GDPR
3 21 (3.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (2.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 12 (2.17%) NIST
6 10 (1.81%) 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
1 347 (62.75%) Active Directory
2 160 (28.93%) VMware Infrastructure
3 68 (12.30%) Hyper-V
4 45 (8.14%) vSphere
5 36 (6.51%) VMware ESXi
6 32 (5.79%) Docker
7 30 (5.42%) Virtual Machines
8 23 (4.16%) VMware NSX
9 10 (1.81%) Virtual Desktop
10 7 (1.27%) BitLocker
10 7 (1.27%) KVM
10 7 (1.27%) Microsoft App-V
10 7 (1.27%) Terminal Services
11 4 (0.72%) Virtual Servers
12 3 (0.54%) Firmware
13 2 (0.36%) NFS
13 2 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
13 2 (0.36%) Sendmail
13 2 (0.36%) VMware Workstation
13 2 (0.36%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 81 (14.65%) Microsoft Intune
2 66 (11.93%) SCCM
3 61 (11.03%) Ansible
4 53 (9.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 48 (8.68%) Single Sign-On
6 45 (8.14%) vCenter Server
7 42 (7.59%) Terraform
8 28 (5.06%) Kubernetes
9 22 (3.98%) SCOM
10 12 (2.17%) WSUS
11 10 (1.81%) Puppet
12 7 (1.27%) SCOrch
12 7 (1.27%) vMotion
13 6 (1.08%) CASB
13 6 (1.08%) FortiGate
13 6 (1.08%) IBM BigFix
13 6 (1.08%) VxRail
14 4 (0.72%) Nessus
14 4 (0.72%) Progress Chef
15 3 (0.54%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 257 (46.47%) Microsoft
2 209 (37.79%) VMware
3 67 (12.12%) Citrix
4 58 (10.49%) Cisco
5 42 (7.59%) Oracle
6 32 (5.79%) Red Hat
7 28 (5.06%) ServiceNow
8 27 (4.88%) Dell
9 24 (4.34%) SolarWinds
9 24 (4.34%) Veeam
10 15 (2.71%) Okta
11 13 (2.35%) Palo Alto
12 11 (1.99%) IBM
12 11 (1.99%) Juniper
13 10 (1.81%) BeyondTrust
13 10 (1.81%) CyberArk
13 10 (1.81%) HP
13 10 (1.81%) NetApp
14 8 (1.45%) F5
14 8 (1.45%) Tenable