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

 6 months to
17 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 177 176 103
Rank change year-on-year -1 -73 -29
Contract jobs citing Windows Server 722 453 763
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.58% 1.63% 2.30%
As % of the Operating Systems category 16.24% 12.18% 16.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 480 312 566
10th Percentile £261 £306 £250
25th Percentile £375 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% +5.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £568 £600 £591
90th Percentile £668 £659 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £525 £499
% change year-on-year -7.14% +5.21% +2.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 7 10
10th Percentile £16.25 £12.97 £33.60
25th Percentile £19.25 £13.31 £40.06
Median hourly rate £52.50 £15.33 £58.30
Median % change year-on-year +242.47% -73.70% +98.98%
75th Percentile £70.50 £31.39 £70.86
90th Percentile £74.00 £50.66 £80.20
UK median hourly rate £38.72 £17.50 £58.30
% change year-on-year +121.26% -69.98% +98.98%

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 4,447 3,720 4,710
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.73% 13.38% 14.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,861 2,459 3,135
10th Percentile £190 £190 £200
25th Percentile £313 £306 £339
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £472 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +4.89% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £575 £586 £588
90th Percentile £669 £681 £688
UK median daily rate £475 £460 £475
% change year-on-year +3.26% -3.16% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 305 236 289
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £12.41
25th Percentile £19.25 £18.13 £16.86
Median hourly rate £34.13 £23.00 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year +48.39% -32.35% -8.94%
75th Percentile £67.25 £59.00 £68.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £25.92 £24.58 £27.50
% change year-on-year +5.45% -10.62% -31.25%

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 17 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 17 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 17 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 -10 218 £475 -6.63% 94
South East -7 198 £515 -6.36% 113
North of England -37 109 £483 +8.30% 91
Midlands -12 69 £430 -18.10% 54
East of England -5 63 £450 -18.18% 39
South West -24 61 £490 -10.91% 38
North West -22 58 £472 +20.25% 50
Yorkshire -19 43 £510 +14.09% 24
West Midlands -38 41 £425 -19.05% 35
East Midlands +3 26 £450 - 19
North East -37 8 £200 -60.00% 20
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 (11.77%) Microsoft Exchange
2 46 (6.37%) SharePoint
3 29 (4.02%) IIS
4 8 (1.11%) nginx
4 8 (1.11%) Tomcat
5 5 (0.69%) Apache
5 5 (0.69%) Confluence
6 4 (0.55%) FactoryTalk
7 3 (0.42%) CloudStack
7 3 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2013
8 2 (0.28%) SAS
8 2 (0.28%) Skype for Business
8 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.14%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.14%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 18 (2.49%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 17 (2.35%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.28%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.28%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 310 (42.94%) Azure
2 151 (20.91%) Microsoft 365
3 147 (20.36%) Entra ID
4 90 (12.47%) AWS
5 45 (6.23%) Azure Monitor
6 28 (3.88%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.88%) IaaS
7 25 (3.46%) GCP
7 25 (3.46%) Power Platform
8 19 (2.63%) GitHub
9 18 (2.49%) Azure Sentinel
10 15 (2.08%) OpenShift
11 12 (1.66%) OneDrive
11 12 (1.66%) PaaS
12 9 (1.25%) Amazon EC2
13 8 (1.11%) Datadog
13 8 (1.11%) Nutanix
13 8 (1.11%) SaaS
14 7 (0.97%) Azure Stack
14 7 (0.97%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 241 (33.38%) DNS
2 152 (21.05%) DHCP
3 128 (17.73%) Firewall
4 69 (9.56%) VPN
5 60 (8.31%) TCP/IP
6 47 (6.51%) SAN
7 43 (5.96%) WAN
8 40 (5.54%) LAN
8 40 (5.54%) VLAN
9 23 (3.19%) SSL
10 22 (3.05%) Network Security
11 19 (2.63%) NAS
11 19 (2.63%) Wi-Fi
12 14 (1.94%) VoIP
13 11 (1.52%) SMTP
13 11 (1.52%) SSH
14 10 (1.39%) VSAN
14 10 (1.39%) Wireless
15 8 (1.11%) Skype
16 7 (0.97%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 147 (20.36%) SQL Server
2 25 (3.46%) Power BI
3 14 (1.94%) Oracle Database
4 13 (1.80%) Amazon RDS
4 13 (1.80%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 11 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (1.39%) Elasticsearch
7 9 (1.25%) MySQL
8 7 (0.97%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.69%) Big Data
10 4 (0.55%) Oracle BI EE
11 3 (0.42%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.42%) GIS
11 3 (0.42%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.42%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.28%) Db2
12 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database 11g
13 1 (0.14%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 14 (1.94%) Git
2 13 (1.80%) Jenkins
2 13 (1.80%) JIRA
3 7 (0.97%) GitLab
4 4 (0.55%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.42%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.42%) Bitbucket
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%) 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
1 184 (25.48%) Social Skills
2 89 (12.33%) Analytical Skills
3 77 (10.66%) Finance
4 49 (6.79%) Public Sector
5 39 (5.40%) Banking
5 39 (5.40%) Documentation Skills
6 15 (2.08%) Law
7 14 (1.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (1.94%) Military
8 12 (1.66%) Legal
9 11 (1.52%) Telecoms
10 10 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
10 10 (1.39%) Pharmaceutical
11 9 (1.25%) Manufacturing
12 6 (0.83%) Games
12 6 (0.83%) Local Government
13 5 (0.69%) Aerospace
13 5 (0.69%) Retail
14 4 (0.55%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.55%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 188 (26.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 81 (11.22%) Senior
3 68 (9.42%) Support Engineer
4 53 (7.34%) Cloud Engineer
5 48 (6.65%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 47 (6.51%) Lead
7 39 (5.40%) IT Engineer
8 35 (4.85%) Architect
9 32 (4.43%) IT Support
9 32 (4.43%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 31 (4.29%) Azure Engineer
11 28 (3.88%) Server Engineer
11 28 (3.88%) Windows Engineer
12 27 (3.74%) Administrator
13 26 (3.60%) Infrastructure Support
14 24 (3.32%) Storage Engineer
15 23 (3.19%) Systems Engineer
16 22 (3.05%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
16 22 (3.05%) Wintel Engineer
17 21 (2.91%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.43%) .NET
2 24 (3.32%) .NET Framework
3 23 (3.19%) REST
4 16 (2.22%) ARM Templates
5 11 (1.52%) JSON
6 9 (1.25%) Elastic Stack
7 8 (1.11%) LDAP
8 7 (0.97%) OAuth
8 7 (0.97%) RabbitMQ
8 7 (0.97%) YAML
9 6 (0.83%) Software Packaging
10 5 (0.69%) SailPoint
11 4 (0.55%) ADO
11 4 (0.55%) ASP.NET
11 4 (0.55%) Azure Blueprints
11 4 (0.55%) Middleware
11 4 (0.55%) SAML
12 3 (0.42%) EJB
12 3 (0.42%) OAuth2
12 3 (0.42%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 74 (10.25%) PKI
2 59 (8.17%) Hybrid Cloud
3 53 (7.34%) Clustering
4 52 (7.20%) Onboarding
5 42 (5.82%) Data Centre
6 35 (4.85%) Management Information System
7 33 (4.57%) Replication
8 16 (2.22%) Driving Licence
9 15 (2.08%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.94%) Enterprise Storage
10 14 (1.94%) Virtual Team
11 13 (1.80%) Legacy Systems
12 12 (1.66%) Enterprise Software
13 11 (1.52%) Security Posture
14 10 (1.39%) Cloud Native
15 9 (1.25%) Linux Command Line
15 9 (1.25%) Smartcard
16 8 (1.11%) ARM Cortex
17 7 (0.97%) Fat Client
17 7 (0.97%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 722 (100.00%) Windows
2 206 (28.53%) Linux
3 56 (7.76%) Windows Server 2019
4 54 (7.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 51 (7.06%) Windows 10
6 37 (5.12%) Windows Server 2016
7 30 (4.16%) Ubuntu
8 28 (3.88%) Unix
9 27 (3.74%) Windows Server 2012
10 23 (3.19%) CentOS
11 13 (1.80%) Mac OS
11 13 (1.80%) VMS
12 11 (1.52%) Windows Server 2008
13 10 (1.39%) Rocky
14 7 (0.97%) Windows 7
15 6 (0.83%) Solaris
16 5 (0.69%) Windows Server 2003
17 4 (0.55%) Alpine Linux
17 4 (0.55%) Android
18 3 (0.42%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 234 (32.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 174 (24.10%) Problem-Solving
3 132 (18.28%) ITIL
4 105 (14.54%) Disaster Recovery
5 88 (12.19%) Migration
6 87 (12.05%) High Availability
7 83 (11.50%) Change Management
7 83 (11.50%) ITSM
8 78 (10.80%) Infrastructure as Code
9 75 (10.39%) DevOps
10 74 (10.25%) Root Cause Analysis
11 71 (9.83%) Service Management
12 65 (9.00%) Continuous Improvement
13 60 (8.31%) Vulnerability Remediation
14 59 (8.17%) Technical Leadership
15 58 (8.03%) Agile
15 58 (8.03%) Project Delivery
16 53 (7.34%) CI/CD
16 53 (7.34%) Runbook
17 49 (6.79%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 287 (39.75%) PowerShell
2 104 (14.40%) SQL
3 73 (10.11%) Python
4 60 (8.31%) Bash
5 26 (3.60%) Bicep
5 26 (3.60%) T-SQL
6 25 (3.46%) C#
7 23 (3.19%) PL/SQL
8 15 (2.08%) JavaScript
9 11 (1.52%) Java
10 4 (0.55%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.42%) Korn
12 2 (0.28%) JCL
12 2 (0.28%) REXX
13 1 (0.14%) CodeQL
13 1 (0.14%) Groovy
13 1 (0.14%) Ladder Logic
13 1 (0.14%) VB
Qualifications
1 304 (42.11%) Security Cleared
2 162 (22.44%) SC Cleared
3 152 (21.05%) DV Cleared
4 66 (9.14%) Degree
5 52 (7.20%) Microsoft Certification
6 30 (4.16%) Azure Certification
7 26 (3.60%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 19 (2.63%) MCSE
9 17 (2.35%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.94%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 14 (1.94%) MCSA
11 11 (1.52%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (1.39%) CCNA
12 10 (1.39%) CISSP
12 10 (1.39%) VCAP
13 8 (1.11%) AWS Certification
13 8 (1.11%) ITIL Certification
14 7 (0.97%) CCNP
14 7 (0.97%) CISM
15 6 (0.83%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (4.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (4.43%) SLA
3 27 (3.74%) QA
4 23 (3.19%) NIST
5 10 (1.39%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.11%) GDPR
6 8 (1.11%) NCSC
7 5 (0.69%) GxP
7 5 (0.69%) SOC 2
8 4 (0.55%) 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
1 413 (57.20%) Active Directory
2 253 (35.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 129 (17.87%) Hyper-V
4 99 (13.71%) VMware ESXi
5 80 (11.08%) vSphere
6 53 (7.34%) Virtual Machines
7 42 (5.82%) VMware NSX
8 39 (5.40%) Docker
9 32 (4.43%) Virtual Desktop
10 20 (2.77%) vCloud
11 13 (1.80%) Virtual Servers
12 10 (1.39%) Microsoft App-V
13 8 (1.11%) BitLocker
14 7 (0.97%) Firmware
14 7 (0.97%) KVM
15 6 (0.83%) VMware Workstation
15 6 (0.83%) XenApp
16 5 (0.69%) Terminal Services
16 5 (0.69%) XenDesktop
17 4 (0.55%) UAG
Systems Management
1 101 (13.99%) Ansible
2 89 (12.33%) vCenter Server
3 83 (11.50%) Microsoft Intune
3 83 (11.50%) Terraform
4 71 (9.83%) SCCM
5 62 (8.59%) SCOM
6 47 (6.51%) Kubernetes
7 34 (4.71%) WSUS
8 15 (2.08%) Grafana
9 14 (1.94%) vMotion
10 13 (1.80%) Avamar
10 13 (1.80%) NetBackup
11 12 (1.66%) Prometheus
12 11 (1.52%) Failover Clustering
13 10 (1.39%) Nessus
13 10 (1.39%) Puppet
14 7 (0.97%) Jamf Pro
14 7 (0.97%) Single Sign-On
14 7 (0.97%) WMI
15 6 (0.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 366 (50.69%) Microsoft
2 325 (45.01%) VMware
3 72 (9.97%) Cisco
4 68 (9.42%) Citrix
5 59 (8.17%) Oracle
6 51 (7.06%) ServiceNow
7 30 (4.16%) CyberArk
8 28 (3.88%) Red Hat
9 26 (3.60%) BeyondTrust
9 26 (3.60%) Dell
9 26 (3.60%) Veeam
10 23 (3.19%) Splunk
11 22 (3.05%) NetApp
12 19 (2.63%) HP
12 19 (2.63%) Remedy
13 18 (2.49%) Tenable
14 17 (2.35%) Zscaler
15 16 (2.22%) CrowdStrike
15 16 (2.22%) Google
15 16 (2.22%) Juniper
397 Windows Server jobs in England