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

 6 months to
9 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 178 169 94
Rank change year-on-year -9 -75 -17
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 715 455 780
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.56% 1.64% 2.35%
As % of the Operating Systems category 16.07% 12.23% 16.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 476 318 574
10th Percentile £261 £313 £254
25th Percentile £380 £425 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £536 £500
Median % change year-on-year -9.79% +7.20% -
75th Percentile £575 £597 £591
90th Percentile £671 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -7.14% +5.00% +1.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 5 10
10th Percentile £16.25 £14.32 £33.60
25th Percentile £20.43 £15.33 £40.69
Median hourly rate £38.72 £30.00 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +29.07% -51.30% +54.00%
75th Percentile £67.84 £32.77 £70.86
90th Percentile £74.00 £59.61 £80.20
UK median hourly rate £33.30 £17.75 £61.60
% change year-on-year +87.61% -71.19% +54.00%

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 4,448 3,719 4,717
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.72% 13.37% 14.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,852 2,464 3,150
10th Percentile £190 £198 £200
25th Percentile £313 £308 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £454 £488
Median % change year-on-year +3.45% -6.96% -2.35%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £669 £685 £688
UK median daily rate £473 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +2.16% -2.63% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 309 232 295
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £12.45
25th Percentile £19.25 £18.13 £17.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £23.00 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year +41.30% -32.35% -20.00%
75th Percentile £67.25 £58.75 £68.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £25.92 £24.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +8.00% -12.73% -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 9 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 9 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 9 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 -26 218 £475 -5.00% 84
South East -9 199 £515 -6.36% 114
North of England -38 103 £485 +3.74% 73
Midlands -18 69 £438 -10.26% 52
East of England -2 62 £450 -18.18% 35
South West -33 60 £495 -10.00% 36
North West -33 55 £476 +6.97% 48
Yorkshire -27 42 £510 -0.49% 15
West Midlands -35 42 £428 -18.57% 30
East Midlands +7 25 £450 - 22
North East -40 6 £200 -60.00% 12
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 (12.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 42 (5.87%) SharePoint
3 28 (3.92%) IIS
4 10 (1.40%) nginx
4 10 (1.40%) Tomcat
5 5 (0.70%) Apache
6 4 (0.56%) FactoryTalk
7 3 (0.42%) CloudStack
7 3 (0.42%) Confluence
7 3 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.42%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.28%) SAS
8 2 (0.28%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.14%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.14%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 18 (2.52%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 17 (2.38%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.28%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.28%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 300 (41.96%) Azure
2 142 (19.86%) Entra ID
2 142 (19.86%) Microsoft 365
3 87 (12.17%) AWS
4 43 (6.01%) Azure Monitor
5 27 (3.78%) IaaS
6 26 (3.64%) Azure DevOps
7 25 (3.50%) Power Platform
8 23 (3.22%) GCP
9 20 (2.80%) GitHub
10 16 (2.24%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (1.96%) OpenShift
12 12 (1.68%) PaaS
13 11 (1.54%) OneDrive
14 9 (1.26%) Amazon EC2
15 8 (1.12%) GitHub Actions
16 7 (0.98%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 7 (0.98%) Azure Stack
16 7 (0.98%) Datadog
16 7 (0.98%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 235 (32.87%) DNS
2 145 (20.28%) DHCP
3 125 (17.48%) Firewall
4 66 (9.23%) VPN
5 59 (8.25%) TCP/IP
6 45 (6.29%) SAN
7 43 (6.01%) WAN
8 41 (5.73%) LAN
9 38 (5.31%) VLAN
10 23 (3.22%) Network Security
10 23 (3.22%) SSL
11 19 (2.66%) Wi-Fi
12 17 (2.38%) NAS
13 15 (2.10%) VoIP
14 14 (1.96%) SSH
15 10 (1.40%) SMTP
15 10 (1.40%) VSAN
15 10 (1.40%) Wireless
16 8 (1.12%) Skype
17 7 (0.98%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 151 (21.12%) SQL Server
2 25 (3.50%) Power BI
3 15 (2.10%) Oracle Database
4 13 (1.82%) Amazon RDS
4 13 (1.82%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 12 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (1.54%) Elasticsearch
7 9 (1.26%) MySQL
8 8 (1.12%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.70%) Big Data
10 4 (0.56%) GIS
10 4 (0.56%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.42%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.42%) Db2
11 3 (0.42%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.42%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database 11g
13 1 (0.14%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 12 (1.68%) Git
1 12 (1.68%) Jenkins
2 10 (1.40%) JIRA
3 8 (1.12%) GitLab
4 4 (0.56%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.42%) MSI
5 3 (0.42%) Octopus Deploy
5 3 (0.42%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.28%) AdminStudio
6 2 (0.28%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.28%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.28%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.14%) eggPlant
7 1 (0.14%) MSBuild
7 1 (0.14%) Postman
7 1 (0.14%) Subversion
7 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.14%) VSS/SourceSafe
General
1 179 (25.03%) Social Skills
2 87 (12.17%) Analytical Skills
3 73 (10.21%) Finance
4 59 (8.25%) Public Sector
5 37 (5.17%) Documentation Skills
6 36 (5.03%) Banking
7 18 (2.52%) Military
8 15 (2.10%) Law
9 14 (1.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (1.68%) Legal
11 11 (1.54%) Organisational Skills
12 10 (1.40%) Telecoms
13 9 (1.26%) Manufacturing
14 8 (1.12%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.84%) Games
15 6 (0.84%) Local Government
16 5 (0.70%) Retail
17 4 (0.56%) Aerospace
17 4 (0.56%) Financial Institution
17 4 (0.56%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 184 (25.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 78 (10.91%) Senior
3 63 (8.81%) Support Engineer
4 51 (7.13%) Cloud Engineer
5 48 (6.71%) Lead
6 47 (6.57%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 38 (5.31%) IT Engineer
8 35 (4.90%) Architect
9 32 (4.48%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 29 (4.06%) IT Support
11 28 (3.92%) Azure Engineer
12 27 (3.78%) Administrator
12 27 (3.78%) Server Engineer
13 25 (3.50%) Infrastructure Support
13 25 (3.50%) Windows Engineer
14 23 (3.22%) Storage Engineer
15 22 (3.08%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
15 22 (3.08%) Systems Engineer
16 20 (2.80%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
16 20 (2.80%) Wintel Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (4.34%) .NET
2 24 (3.36%) .NET Framework
3 22 (3.08%) REST
4 14 (1.96%) ARM Templates
5 11 (1.54%) JSON
6 9 (1.26%) Elastic Stack
7 7 (0.98%) RabbitMQ
8 6 (0.84%) LDAP
8 6 (0.84%) OAuth
8 6 (0.84%) Software Packaging
8 6 (0.84%) YAML
9 5 (0.70%) Middleware
9 5 (0.70%) SailPoint
10 4 (0.56%) ADO
10 4 (0.56%) ASP.NET
10 4 (0.56%) Azure Blueprints
10 4 (0.56%) EJB
10 4 (0.56%) Spring
11 3 (0.42%) OpenID
11 3 (0.42%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 71 (9.93%) PKI
2 57 (7.97%) Hybrid Cloud
3 54 (7.55%) Onboarding
4 50 (6.99%) Clustering
5 42 (5.87%) Data Centre
6 36 (5.03%) Management Information System
7 32 (4.48%) Replication
8 18 (2.52%) Legacy Systems
9 14 (1.96%) Driving Licence
9 14 (1.96%) Self-Motivation
9 14 (1.96%) Virtual Team
10 13 (1.82%) Enterprise Software
10 13 (1.82%) Enterprise Storage
11 11 (1.54%) Cloud Native
11 11 (1.54%) Security Posture
12 10 (1.40%) Linux Command Line
13 9 (1.26%) Smartcard
14 8 (1.12%) Operational Technology
15 7 (0.98%) ARM Cortex
15 7 (0.98%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 715 (100.00%) Windows
2 209 (29.23%) Linux
3 58 (8.11%) Windows Server 2019
4 56 (7.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 51 (7.13%) Windows 10
6 37 (5.17%) Windows Server 2016
7 35 (4.90%) Unix
8 30 (4.20%) Windows Server 2012
9 29 (4.06%) Ubuntu
10 20 (2.80%) CentOS
11 13 (1.82%) VMS
11 13 (1.82%) Windows Server 2008
12 11 (1.54%) Mac OS
13 10 (1.40%) Rocky
14 8 (1.12%) Solaris
14 8 (1.12%) Windows 7
15 6 (0.84%) Windows Server 2003
16 5 (0.70%) AIX
17 4 (0.56%) Alpine Linux
18 3 (0.42%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (32.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 161 (22.52%) Problem-Solving
3 124 (17.34%) ITIL
4 99 (13.85%) Disaster Recovery
5 88 (12.31%) High Availability
6 87 (12.17%) Migration
7 79 (11.05%) ITSM
8 78 (10.91%) Change Management
9 76 (10.63%) Infrastructure as Code
10 74 (10.35%) DevOps
11 66 (9.23%) Service Management
12 65 (9.09%) Root Cause Analysis
13 64 (8.95%) Continuous Improvement
14 60 (8.39%) Vulnerability Remediation
15 59 (8.25%) Agile
16 56 (7.83%) Project Delivery
16 56 (7.83%) Technical Leadership
17 54 (7.55%) CI/CD
18 53 (7.41%) Runbook
19 50 (6.99%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 280 (39.16%) PowerShell
2 105 (14.69%) SQL
3 73 (10.21%) Python
4 57 (7.97%) Bash
5 26 (3.64%) T-SQL
6 25 (3.50%) C#
6 25 (3.50%) PL/SQL
7 24 (3.36%) Bicep
8 16 (2.24%) JavaScript
9 12 (1.68%) Java
10 3 (0.42%) Korn
10 3 (0.42%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.28%) JCL
11 2 (0.28%) REXX
12 1 (0.14%) CodeQL
12 1 (0.14%) Groovy
12 1 (0.14%) Ladder Logic
12 1 (0.14%) VB
Qualifications
1 303 (42.38%) Security Cleared
2 163 (22.80%) SC Cleared
3 147 (20.56%) DV Cleared
4 73 (10.21%) Degree
5 50 (6.99%) Microsoft Certification
6 26 (3.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 24 (3.36%) Azure Certification
8 20 (2.80%) MCSE
9 16 (2.24%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.96%) MCSA
11 13 (1.82%) BPSS Clearance
12 11 (1.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 10 (1.40%) CCNA
13 10 (1.40%) VCAP
14 7 (0.98%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.98%) CCNP
14 7 (0.98%) CISSP
14 7 (0.98%) ITIL Certification
15 6 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
15 6 (0.84%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (5.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (4.34%) SLA
3 27 (3.78%) NIST
3 27 (3.78%) QA
4 13 (1.82%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (1.12%) GDPR
6 7 (0.98%) NCSC
7 5 (0.70%) GxP
7 5 (0.70%) SOC 2
8 4 (0.56%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 3 (0.42%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.28%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.28%) JSP 440
10 2 (0.28%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.14%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.14%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.14%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 407 (56.92%) Active Directory
2 251 (35.10%) VMware Infrastructure
3 124 (17.34%) Hyper-V
4 96 (13.43%) VMware ESXi
5 77 (10.77%) vSphere
6 52 (7.27%) Virtual Machines
7 41 (5.73%) VMware NSX
8 40 (5.59%) Docker
9 30 (4.20%) Virtual Desktop
10 18 (2.52%) vCloud
11 12 (1.68%) Virtual Servers
12 9 (1.26%) Microsoft App-V
13 8 (1.12%) BitLocker
13 8 (1.12%) KVM
14 6 (0.84%) Firmware
14 6 (0.84%) VMware Workstation
14 6 (0.84%) XenApp
15 5 (0.70%) Terminal Services
15 5 (0.70%) XenDesktop
16 4 (0.56%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 100 (13.99%) Ansible
2 87 (12.17%) vCenter Server
3 81 (11.33%) Microsoft Intune
4 80 (11.19%) Terraform
5 67 (9.37%) SCCM
6 59 (8.25%) SCOM
7 47 (6.57%) Kubernetes
8 31 (4.34%) WSUS
9 13 (1.82%) Avamar
9 13 (1.82%) Grafana
9 13 (1.82%) NetBackup
9 13 (1.82%) vMotion
10 12 (1.68%) Nessus
11 11 (1.54%) Prometheus
12 10 (1.40%) Puppet
13 9 (1.26%) Failover Clustering
14 7 (0.98%) Jamf Pro
14 7 (0.98%) Single Sign-On
14 7 (0.98%) WMI
15 6 (0.84%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 354 (49.51%) Microsoft
2 320 (44.76%) VMware
3 70 (9.79%) Cisco
4 66 (9.23%) Citrix
5 64 (8.95%) Oracle
6 50 (6.99%) ServiceNow
7 32 (4.48%) CyberArk
8 30 (4.20%) BeyondTrust
8 30 (4.20%) Red Hat
9 27 (3.78%) Dell
10 25 (3.50%) Veeam
11 22 (3.08%) NetApp
11 22 (3.08%) Tenable
12 20 (2.80%) Splunk
13 19 (2.66%) HP
13 19 (2.66%) Remedy
14 16 (2.24%) BMC
14 16 (2.24%) Juniper
14 16 (2.24%) Zscaler
15 15 (2.10%) CrowdStrike
372 Windows Server jobs in England