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

 6 months to
14 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 183 116
Rank change year-on-year +18 -67 -39
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 814 439 667
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.74% 1.56% 2.09%
As % of the Operating Systems category 17.80% 11.08% 14.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 530 327 453
10th Percentile £261 £250 £250
25th Percentile £375 £400 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £500 £470
Median % change year-on-year -3.30% +6.38% -1.05%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £575
90th Percentile £675 £650 £638
UK median daily rate £488 £500 £470
% change year-on-year -2.50% +6.38% -1.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 14 7
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £41.23
25th Percentile £26.00 £14.11 £47.50
Median hourly rate £63.14 £16.00 £69.38
Median % change year-on-year +294.59% -76.94% +27.15%
75th Percentile £72.25 £28.25 £106.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £39.19 £112.00
UK median hourly rate £60.33 £16.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +277.06% -68.00% -8.36%

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 4,573 3,962 4,551
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.77% 14.09% 14.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,917 2,597 2,810
10th Percentile £193 £185 £200
25th Percentile £313 £275 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +3.33% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £584
90th Percentile £676 £668 £688
UK median daily rate £470 £450 £470
% change year-on-year +4.44% -4.26% -5.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 353 282 212
10th Percentile £16.25 £15.13 £16.26
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.59 £23.80
Median hourly rate £32.29 £24.00 £61.97
Median % change year-on-year +34.54% -61.27% +28.03%
75th Percentile £67.25 £48.06 £70.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £67.00 -
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £25.00 £55.33
% change year-on-year +3.08% -54.81% +21.75%

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 14 October 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 14 October 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 14 October 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 +1 260 £481 -3.75% 194
South East 0 197 £515 -1.90% 133
North of England +14 139 £450 +8.11% 112
East of England -9 79 £500 -9.09% 58
North West -7 76 £425 -2.86% 66
Midlands -14 72 £425 -19.05% 71
South West -32 56 £575 +9.52% 58
West Midlands -28 45 £425 -19.05% 36
Yorkshire -5 43 £525 +40.00% 34
East Midlands +3 27 £438 -12.50% 35
North East -23 21 £350 -30.00% 13
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 86 (10.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 58 (7.13%) SharePoint
3 25 (3.07%) IIS
4 7 (0.86%) Confluence
4 7 (0.86%) nginx
5 6 (0.74%) Apache
5 6 (0.74%) Tomcat
6 5 (0.61%) FactoryTalk
7 4 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2013
8 3 (0.37%) CloudStack
9 2 (0.25%) Skype for Business
10 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
10 1 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.12%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.12%) SharePoint 2010
10 1 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
Applications
1 12 (1.47%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 12 (1.47%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.25%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.25%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 351 (43.12%) Azure
2 179 (21.99%) Entra ID
3 174 (21.38%) Microsoft 365
4 101 (12.41%) AWS
5 51 (6.27%) Azure Monitor
6 36 (4.42%) GCP
7 35 (4.30%) Azure DevOps
8 25 (3.07%) IaaS
9 24 (2.95%) Azure Sentinel
10 22 (2.70%) Power Platform
11 20 (2.46%) GitHub
11 20 (2.46%) OpenShift
12 12 (1.47%) OneDrive
13 11 (1.35%) PaaS
14 9 (1.11%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 9 (1.11%) Nutanix
14 9 (1.11%) SaaS
15 8 (0.98%) Datadog
15 8 (0.98%) GitHub Actions
16 7 (0.86%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 253 (31.08%) DNS
2 166 (20.39%) DHCP
3 145 (17.81%) Firewall
4 82 (10.07%) TCP/IP
5 71 (8.72%) VPN
6 55 (6.76%) SAN
7 46 (5.65%) LAN
7 46 (5.65%) WAN
8 44 (5.41%) Network Security
8 44 (5.41%) VLAN
9 30 (3.69%) SSL
10 23 (2.83%) NetScaler
11 21 (2.58%) Wireless
12 18 (2.21%) Wi-Fi
13 17 (2.09%) NAS
14 16 (1.97%) SSH
15 12 (1.47%) BGP
15 12 (1.47%) HTTP
15 12 (1.47%) VoIP
16 10 (1.23%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 145 (17.81%) SQL Server
2 22 (2.70%) Power BI
3 16 (1.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 13 (1.60%) MySQL
5 12 (1.47%) Amazon RDS
6 11 (1.35%) Oracle Database
6 11 (1.35%) PostgreSQL
7 6 (0.74%) Elasticsearch
7 6 (0.74%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (0.61%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.37%) Big Data
9 3 (0.37%) GIS
9 3 (0.37%) Metadata
9 3 (0.37%) Oracle BI EE
9 3 (0.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 2 (0.25%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 1 (0.12%) Db2
11 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 17 (2.09%) Git
1 17 (2.09%) Jenkins
2 16 (1.97%) JIRA
3 10 (1.23%) GitLab
4 6 (0.74%) Visual Studio
5 5 (0.61%) Artifactory
5 5 (0.61%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.49%) Octopus Deploy
7 3 (0.37%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.37%) MSI
8 2 (0.25%) AdminStudio
8 2 (0.25%) InstallShield
8 2 (0.25%) MSBuild
8 2 (0.25%) Robot Framework
8 2 (0.25%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.25%) TeamCity
9 1 (0.12%) Locust
9 1 (0.12%) Newman
9 1 (0.12%) Postman
9 1 (0.12%) TestCafe
General
1 200 (24.57%) Social Skills
2 103 (12.65%) Analytical Skills
3 89 (10.93%) Finance
4 44 (5.41%) Banking
4 44 (5.41%) Documentation Skills
5 33 (4.05%) Public Sector
6 21 (2.58%) Law
7 16 (1.97%) Legal
8 14 (1.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 13 (1.60%) Aerospace
9 13 (1.60%) Telecoms
10 12 (1.47%) Manufacturing
10 12 (1.47%) Military
11 9 (1.11%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (0.86%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (0.74%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.74%) Games
14 5 (0.61%) Local Government
14 5 (0.61%) Police
15 4 (0.49%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 198 (24.32%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 102 (12.53%) Senior
3 81 (9.95%) Support Engineer
4 58 (7.13%) Cloud Engineer
5 50 (6.14%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 47 (5.77%) Lead
7 46 (5.65%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 44 (5.41%) Windows Engineer
9 43 (5.28%) IT Engineer
10 42 (5.16%) Architect
11 33 (4.05%) IT Support
12 32 (3.93%) Administrator
13 29 (3.56%) Azure Engineer
14 28 (3.44%) Server Engineer
14 28 (3.44%) Wintel Engineer
15 27 (3.32%) IT Support Engineer
15 27 (3.32%) Storage Engineer
15 27 (3.32%) Systems Engineer
15 27 (3.32%) VMware Engineer
16 26 (3.19%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 97 (11.92%) Terraform
2 35 (4.30%) .NET
3 25 (3.07%) REST
4 22 (2.70%) ARM Templates
5 16 (1.97%) LDAP
6 15 (1.84%) .NET Framework
7 10 (1.23%) JSON
8 8 (0.98%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (0.98%) OAuth
9 7 (0.86%) RabbitMQ
9 7 (0.86%) YAML
10 6 (0.74%) Middleware
10 6 (0.74%) SailPoint
11 5 (0.61%) ASP.NET
11 5 (0.61%) Azure Blueprints
11 5 (0.61%) SAML
12 4 (0.49%) 802.1X
12 4 (0.49%) OAuth2
12 4 (0.49%) OpenID
12 4 (0.49%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 76 (9.34%) PKI
2 71 (8.72%) Data Centre
3 66 (8.11%) Hybrid Cloud
4 54 (6.63%) Clustering
4 54 (6.63%) Onboarding
5 47 (5.77%) Management Information System
6 44 (5.41%) Replication
7 27 (3.32%) Security Posture
8 17 (2.09%) Enterprise Storage
9 16 (1.97%) Driving Licence
10 15 (1.84%) Cloud Native
10 15 (1.84%) Smartcard
11 14 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
11 14 (1.72%) Self-Motivation
12 12 (1.47%) ARM Cortex
12 12 (1.47%) Public Cloud
13 11 (1.35%) Linux Command Line
13 11 (1.35%) Operational Technology
14 10 (1.23%) Virtual Team
15 9 (1.11%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 814 (100.00%) Windows
2 229 (28.13%) Linux
3 72 (8.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 56 (6.88%) Windows 10
5 53 (6.51%) Windows Server 2019
6 31 (3.81%) Windows Server 2012
7 30 (3.69%) Ubuntu
8 29 (3.56%) CentOS
8 29 (3.56%) Windows Server 2016
9 26 (3.19%) Unix
10 14 (1.72%) Rocky
11 13 (1.60%) macOS
12 10 (1.23%) Windows Server 2008
13 8 (0.98%) VMS
13 8 (0.98%) Windows 7
14 5 (0.61%) Alpine Linux
14 5 (0.61%) Solaris
14 5 (0.61%) Windows Server 2003
15 4 (0.49%) OpenVMS
16 3 (0.37%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 253 (31.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 197 (24.20%) Problem-Solving
3 175 (21.50%) ITIL
4 144 (17.69%) Disaster Recovery
5 119 (14.62%) Migration
5 119 (14.62%) Root Cause Analysis
6 103 (12.65%) Continuous Improvement
6 103 (12.65%) Infrastructure as Code
7 98 (12.04%) Change Management
8 92 (11.30%) DevOps
9 86 (10.57%) Service Management
10 81 (9.95%) ITSM
10 81 (9.95%) Stakeholder Management
11 77 (9.46%) Technical Leadership
11 77 (9.46%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 76 (9.34%) High Availability
13 70 (8.60%) Cybersecurity
13 70 (8.60%) Project Delivery
14 68 (8.35%) Validation
15 64 (7.86%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 324 (39.80%) PowerShell
2 112 (13.76%) SQL
3 79 (9.71%) Python
4 74 (9.09%) Bash
5 40 (4.91%) T-SQL
6 35 (4.30%) Bicep
7 31 (3.81%) C#
8 16 (1.97%) PL/SQL
9 13 (1.60%) Java
10 9 (1.11%) JavaScript
11 5 (0.61%) Go
12 4 (0.49%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.37%) Korn
14 2 (0.25%) CodeQL
14 2 (0.25%) Groovy
14 2 (0.25%) TypeScript
15 1 (0.12%) F#
15 1 (0.12%) Kusto Query Language
15 1 (0.12%) Ladder Logic
15 1 (0.12%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 350 (43.00%) Security Cleared
2 182 (22.36%) DV Cleared
3 177 (21.74%) SC Cleared
4 80 (9.83%) Degree
5 49 (6.02%) Microsoft Certification
6 41 (5.04%) Azure Certification
7 24 (2.95%) Cisco Certification
8 22 (2.70%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 20 (2.46%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 17 (2.09%) MCSE
11 16 (1.97%) CISSP
12 14 (1.72%) AWS Certification
12 14 (1.72%) CISM
12 14 (1.72%) MCSA
13 13 (1.60%) BPSS Clearance
13 13 (1.60%) CCNP
14 12 (1.47%) CCNA
15 9 (1.11%) Computer Science Degree
15 9 (1.11%) ITIL Certification
16 8 (0.98%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (5.65%) SLA
2 28 (3.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (2.83%) NIST
4 21 (2.58%) QA
5 14 (1.72%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (0.98%) NCSC
6 8 (0.98%) PCI DSS
7 7 (0.86%) GRC
7 7 (0.86%) GxP
8 6 (0.74%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 6 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 6 (0.74%) ISO 9001
8 6 (0.74%) SOC 2
9 5 (0.61%) GDPR
9 5 (0.61%) ISO 31000
9 5 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 3 (0.37%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.25%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.25%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.12%) GMP
System Software
1 483 (59.34%) Active Directory
2 298 (36.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 150 (18.43%) Hyper-V
4 115 (14.13%) VMware ESXi
5 106 (13.02%) vSphere
6 54 (6.63%) Virtual Machines
7 41 (5.04%) Docker
8 38 (4.67%) Virtual Desktop
9 32 (3.93%) VMware NSX
10 24 (2.95%) vCloud
11 18 (2.21%) Virtual Servers
12 15 (1.84%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 12 (1.47%) XenApp
14 10 (1.23%) Firmware
14 10 (1.23%) XenDesktop
15 8 (0.98%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 6 (0.74%) Microsoft App-V
16 6 (0.74%) VMware Server
17 5 (0.61%) ISA Server
18 4 (0.49%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 101 (12.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 98 (12.04%) Ansible
3 95 (11.67%) SCCM
4 91 (11.18%) vCenter Server
5 73 (8.97%) SCOM
6 50 (6.14%) Kubernetes
7 28 (3.44%) WSUS
8 19 (2.33%) Grafana
9 18 (2.21%) NetBackup
10 17 (2.09%) Prometheus
11 15 (1.84%) Failover Clustering
12 14 (1.72%) Avamar
12 14 (1.72%) Nagios
13 10 (1.23%) Nessus
13 10 (1.23%) vMotion
14 8 (0.98%) SysTrack
15 7 (0.86%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 7 (0.86%) FortiGate
15 7 (0.86%) Puppet
15 7 (0.86%) WMI
Vendors
1 442 (54.30%) Microsoft
2 380 (46.68%) VMware
3 91 (11.18%) Cisco
4 71 (8.72%) Citrix
5 61 (7.49%) Oracle
6 53 (6.51%) ServiceNow
7 34 (4.18%) Red Hat
8 32 (3.93%) CyberArk
9 31 (3.81%) Dell
9 31 (3.81%) Splunk
10 30 (3.69%) Veeam
11 28 (3.44%) BeyondTrust
11 28 (3.44%) CrowdStrike
12 24 (2.95%) Google
13 23 (2.83%) NetApp
14 22 (2.70%) Qualys
14 22 (2.70%) Tenable
15 20 (2.46%) SolarWinds
16 19 (2.33%) Fortinet
16 19 (2.33%) Zscaler
652 Windows Server jobs in England