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

 6 months to
18 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 181 133 91
Rank change year-on-year -48 -42 -12
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 611 534 900
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.42% 2.15% 2.39%
As % of the Operating Systems category 14.90% 15.08% 17.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 414 381 662
10th Percentile £259 £350 £213
25th Percentile £402 £425 £335
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £497
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +10.61% -0.55%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £594
90th Percentile £673 £688 £678
UK median daily rate £475 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -9.57% +10.58% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 5 17
10th Percentile £19.25 £14.32 £14.60
25th Percentile £20.79 £15.33 £16.00
Median hourly rate £26.00 £18.75 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.67% -51.30% +14.07%
75th Percentile £67.84 £73.75 £61.60
90th Percentile £74.00 £76.00 £65.46
UK median hourly rate £24.00 £17.75 £38.50
% change year-on-year +35.21% -53.90% +29.85%

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 4,102 3,540 5,153
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.54% 14.27% 13.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,675 2,388 3,427
10th Percentile £189 £200 £188
25th Percentile £313 £313 £312
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.76% -2.63% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £656 £689 £700
UK median daily rate £463 £463 £475
% change year-on-year - -2.63% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 278 186 388
10th Percentile £15.98 £15.12 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.33 £15.59
Median hourly rate £32.50 £18.94 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +71.64% -17.67% -50.80%
75th Percentile £65.00 £41.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £71.65 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £30.24 £21.28 £23.80
% change year-on-year +42.11% -10.59% -49.89%

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 18 June 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 18 June 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 18 June 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 -30 187 £488 -7.14% 51
South East -34 144 £515 -4.28% 93
North of England -82 86 £456 -8.80% 65
Midlands -13 73 £450 - 45
South West -39 60 £504 -12.39% 45
East of England -13 59 £450 -18.18% 30
North West -43 53 £447 -3.98% 37
West Midlands -30 44 £438 +9.38% 21
Yorkshire -63 31 £625 +16.28% 18
East Midlands -3 27 £450 -10.00% 24
North East -40 2 £330 -34.00% 11
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 71 (11.62%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (4.75%) SharePoint
3 28 (4.58%) IIS
4 10 (1.64%) nginx
4 10 (1.64%) Tomcat
5 7 (1.15%) Apache
6 3 (0.49%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.33%) CloudStack
7 2 (0.33%) SAS
7 2 (0.33%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.16%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.16%) Confluence
8 1 (0.16%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.16%) WebSphere
Applications
1 10 (1.64%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 14 (2.29%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.49%) Veritas eDiscovery
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle FAH
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
Cloud Services
1 243 (39.77%) Azure
2 107 (17.51%) Microsoft 365
3 104 (17.02%) Entra ID
4 75 (12.27%) AWS
5 26 (4.26%) IaaS
6 19 (3.11%) Azure Monitor
7 18 (2.95%) GCP
8 17 (2.78%) Power Platform
9 15 (2.45%) PaaS
10 12 (1.96%) GitHub
11 11 (1.80%) Nutanix
12 9 (1.47%) SaaS
13 8 (1.31%) Azure DevOps
13 8 (1.31%) Azure Sentinel
14 7 (1.15%) Amazon EC2
14 7 (1.15%) GitHub Actions
15 6 (0.98%) Cohesity
15 6 (0.98%) OpenShift
16 5 (0.82%) Azure Logic Apps
16 5 (0.82%) Azure Stack
Communications & Networking
1 204 (33.39%) DNS
2 142 (23.24%) DHCP
3 96 (15.71%) Firewall
4 53 (8.67%) VPN
5 45 (7.36%) WAN
6 39 (6.38%) TCP/IP
7 37 (6.06%) LAN
8 27 (4.42%) SAN
9 24 (3.93%) Network Security
10 19 (3.11%) VLAN
11 16 (2.62%) SMTP
11 16 (2.62%) SSL
12 14 (2.29%) Kerberos
13 13 (2.13%) FTP
13 13 (2.13%) VoIP
14 12 (1.96%) NAS
15 11 (1.80%) SSH
15 11 (1.80%) Wi-Fi
16 9 (1.47%) NetScaler
17 8 (1.31%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 119 (19.48%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.78%) Power BI
3 14 (2.29%) Elasticsearch
4 12 (1.96%) Amazon RDS
5 11 (1.80%) Oracle Database
5 11 (1.80%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (1.47%) NoSQL
7 7 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (0.98%) Db2
9 5 (0.82%) Big Data
10 4 (0.65%) GIS
10 4 (0.65%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.49%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.49%) MySQL
11 3 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.33%) MongoDB
12 2 (0.33%) Relational Database
12 2 (0.33%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.16%) Oracle Database 11g
13 1 (0.16%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 10 (1.64%) JIRA
2 9 (1.47%) Visual Studio
3 6 (0.98%) Git
3 6 (0.98%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.82%) Robot Framework
5 4 (0.65%) GitLab
5 4 (0.65%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.49%) MSI
7 2 (0.33%) AdminStudio
7 2 (0.33%) InstallShield
8 1 (0.16%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.16%) eggPlant
8 1 (0.16%) GoCD
8 1 (0.16%) Octopus Deploy
8 1 (0.16%) Postman
General
1 122 (19.97%) Social Skills
2 63 (10.31%) Finance
3 61 (9.98%) Public Sector
4 48 (7.86%) Analytical Skills
5 25 (4.09%) Banking
5 25 (4.09%) Documentation Skills
6 17 (2.78%) Legal
7 15 (2.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.13%) Military
9 11 (1.80%) Law
10 8 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (0.82%) Local Government
11 5 (0.82%) Marketing
11 5 (0.82%) Retail
12 4 (0.65%) Manufacturing
12 4 (0.65%) Police
13 3 (0.49%) Telecoms
14 2 (0.33%) Front Office
14 2 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.16%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 153 (25.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 49 (8.02%) Support Engineer
3 39 (6.38%) Cloud Engineer
3 39 (6.38%) Senior
4 35 (5.73%) Analyst
5 33 (5.40%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 32 (5.24%) Architect
7 31 (5.07%) Lead
8 29 (4.75%) IT Support
9 26 (4.26%) Wintel Engineer
10 24 (3.93%) Administrator
10 24 (3.93%) IT Engineer
11 21 (3.44%) Infrastructure Support
11 21 (3.44%) Server Engineer
12 20 (3.27%) Developer
13 19 (3.11%) Windows Engineer
14 18 (2.95%) 3rd Line Support
15 17 (2.78%) Azure Engineer
15 17 (2.78%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
15 17 (2.78%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (4.91%) .NET
2 26 (4.26%) .NET Framework
3 19 (3.11%) LDAP
3 19 (3.11%) OAuth
4 17 (2.78%) SAML
5 16 (2.62%) REST
6 6 (0.98%) Elastic Stack
6 6 (0.98%) JSON
6 6 (0.98%) RabbitMQ
7 5 (0.82%) Keycloak
7 5 (0.82%) OAuth2
7 5 (0.82%) OpenID
7 5 (0.82%) Software Packaging
8 4 (0.65%) ADO
8 4 (0.65%) Azure Blueprints
8 4 (0.65%) EJB
8 4 (0.65%) YAML
9 3 (0.49%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.49%) Middleware
9 3 (0.49%) OpenLayers
Miscellaneous
1 58 (9.49%) PKI
2 39 (6.38%) Clustering
3 34 (5.56%) Onboarding
3 34 (5.56%) Replication
4 32 (5.24%) Data Centre
4 32 (5.24%) Hybrid Cloud
5 21 (3.44%) Management Information System
6 20 (3.27%) Legacy Systems
7 14 (2.29%) Self-Motivation
8 13 (2.13%) Linux Command Line
9 12 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
10 11 (1.80%) Enterprise Storage
10 11 (1.80%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.47%) Cloud Native
11 9 (1.47%) Product Ownership
11 9 (1.47%) Security Posture
12 8 (1.31%) Driving Licence
12 8 (1.31%) NHS
13 7 (1.15%) Private Cloud
13 7 (1.15%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 611 (100.00%) Windows
2 163 (26.68%) Linux
3 56 (9.17%) Windows Server 2019
4 41 (6.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 41 (6.71%) Windows 10
4 41 (6.71%) Windows Server 2016
5 33 (5.40%) Unix
6 32 (5.24%) Windows Server 2012
7 21 (3.44%) Ubuntu
8 10 (1.64%) Windows Server 2003
9 9 (1.47%) AIX
9 9 (1.47%) VMS
9 9 (1.47%) Windows Server 2008
10 8 (1.31%) CentOS
10 8 (1.31%) Solaris
11 5 (0.82%) Mac OS
12 4 (0.65%) Alpine Linux
13 3 (0.49%) Android
13 3 (0.49%) Windows 7
14 2 (0.33%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 183 (29.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 102 (16.69%) Problem-Solving
3 101 (16.53%) High Availability
4 99 (16.20%) Disaster Recovery
5 83 (13.58%) ITIL
6 73 (11.95%) Migration
7 58 (9.49%) ITSM
8 57 (9.33%) Change Management
9 49 (8.02%) DevOps
10 48 (7.86%) Infrastructure as Code
10 48 (7.86%) Project Delivery
11 43 (7.04%) Agile
11 43 (7.04%) Root Cause Analysis
12 40 (6.55%) Runbook
12 40 (6.55%) Technical Leadership
12 40 (6.55%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 38 (6.22%) Cybersecurity
13 38 (6.22%) Patch Management
14 36 (5.89%) Identity Access Management
14 36 (5.89%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 222 (36.33%) PowerShell
2 89 (14.57%) SQL
3 62 (10.15%) Python
4 29 (4.75%) Bash
5 27 (4.42%) C#
6 25 (4.09%) PL/SQL
7 19 (3.11%) T-SQL
8 16 (2.62%) JavaScript
9 10 (1.64%) Java
10 8 (1.31%) Bicep
11 3 (0.49%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.33%) JCL
12 2 (0.33%) REXX
13 1 (0.16%) Groovy
13 1 (0.16%) Ladder Logic
13 1 (0.16%) Perl
13 1 (0.16%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.16%) VB
Qualifications
1 241 (39.44%) Security Cleared
2 136 (22.26%) SC Cleared
3 103 (16.86%) DV Cleared
4 71 (11.62%) Degree
5 47 (7.69%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (4.09%) MCSE
7 24 (3.93%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 17 (2.78%) MCSA
9 14 (2.29%) Cisco Certification
9 14 (2.29%) VCAP
10 11 (1.80%) BPSS Clearance
10 11 (1.80%) CISSP
11 10 (1.64%) Azure Certification
12 9 (1.47%) CCNA
12 9 (1.47%) CISM
13 7 (1.15%) CCNP
14 6 (0.98%) AWS Certification
15 5 (0.82%) ITIL Certification
16 4 (0.65%) MCITP
16 4 (0.65%) MCTS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (6.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 28 (4.58%) QA
3 25 (4.09%) NIST
4 21 (3.44%) GDPR
5 14 (2.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 14 (2.29%) SLA
6 13 (2.13%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.82%) SOC 2
8 3 (0.49%) NCSC
9 2 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.33%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.33%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.33%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.16%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.16%) Basel III
10 1 (0.16%) GAAP
10 1 (0.16%) IFRS
10 1 (0.16%) IFRS 9
10 1 (0.16%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.16%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 358 (58.59%) Active Directory
2 215 (35.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 100 (16.37%) Hyper-V
4 76 (12.44%) VMware ESXi
5 73 (11.95%) vSphere
6 49 (8.02%) Virtual Machines
7 36 (5.89%) Docker
8 34 (5.56%) VMware NSX
9 14 (2.29%) Virtual Desktop
10 12 (1.96%) Microsoft App-V
11 11 (1.80%) BitLocker
11 11 (1.80%) KVM
11 11 (1.80%) vCloud
12 6 (0.98%) Terminal Services
12 6 (0.98%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.98%) VMware Workstation
12 6 (0.98%) XenApp
13 5 (0.82%) XenDesktop
14 4 (0.65%) Firmware
14 4 (0.65%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 82 (13.42%) Ansible
2 69 (11.29%) vCenter Server
3 67 (10.97%) Microsoft Intune
4 58 (9.49%) SCCM
5 50 (8.18%) Terraform
6 39 (6.38%) Kubernetes
7 37 (6.06%) SCOM
8 31 (5.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 28 (4.58%) Single Sign-On
10 25 (4.09%) WSUS
11 15 (2.45%) vMotion
12 12 (1.96%) Puppet
13 10 (1.64%) Nessus
14 8 (1.31%) Avamar
15 7 (1.15%) VxRail
16 6 (0.98%) Grafana
16 6 (0.98%) IBM BigFix
16 6 (0.98%) Oracle RMAN
16 6 (0.98%) Prometheus
17 5 (0.82%) WMI
Vendors
1 269 (44.03%) Microsoft
2 260 (42.55%) VMware
3 64 (10.47%) Cisco
3 64 (10.47%) Citrix
4 54 (8.84%) Oracle
5 42 (6.87%) ServiceNow
6 27 (4.42%) Dell
7 24 (3.93%) Red Hat
8 21 (3.44%) Okta
9 19 (3.11%) Tenable
10 18 (2.95%) BeyondTrust
11 16 (2.62%) IBM
12 14 (2.29%) CyberArk
12 14 (2.29%) HP
12 14 (2.29%) Remedy
12 14 (2.29%) SolarWinds
12 14 (2.29%) Veeam
13 13 (2.13%) BMC
13 13 (2.13%) Qualys
13 13 (2.13%) Thales
300 Windows Server jobs in England