Windows Contract Job Trends in England

Microsoft Windows
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Windows skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 4 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 21 16
Rank change year-on-year -6 -5 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,647 2,247 3,208
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.02% 8.53% 8.59%
As % of the Operating Systems category 62.03% 61.33% 61.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,724 1,534 2,167
10th Percentile £163 £181 £173
25th Percentile £220 £244 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £421 £425
Median % change year-on-year +0.83% -0.94% -5.56%
75th Percentile £556 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £425 £425 £425
% change year-on-year - - -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 221 162 273
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.09 £11.84
25th Percentile £19.00 £16.95 £14.27
Median hourly rate £25.75 £18.87 £19.18
Median % change year-on-year +36.46% -1.62% -22.10%
75th Percentile £57.50 £25.15 £40.00
90th Percentile £70.23 £63.75 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £25.26 £18.87 £20.00
% change year-on-year +33.86% -5.65% -16.18%

All Operating Systems
England

Windows 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 4,267 3,664 5,202
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.70% 13.91% 13.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,778 2,452 3,431
10th Percentile £189 £200 £192
25th Percentile £313 £313 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.81% -2.58% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £654 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £465 £465 £475
% change year-on-year +0.11% -2.21% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 283 197 393
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.25 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.33 £16.00
Median hourly rate £29.48 £20.00 £24.86
Median % change year-on-year +47.40% -19.53% -41.52%
75th Percentile £65.00 £49.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.32 £66.70 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £22.53 £24.86
% change year-on-year +15.40% -9.35% -41.52%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Windows relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Windows job vacancy trend in England

Windows
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in England over the 6 months to 4 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in England

Windows
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Windows

Windows
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows in England over the 6 months to 4 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Windows in England

Windows
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 within the England region over the 6 months to 4 July 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 -17 868 £425 -3.41% 272
South East -8 533 £475 -3.06% 289
North of England -7 474 £364 +4.00% 193
Midlands -17 276 £339 +16.81% 136
South West -13 260 £488 +8.33% 153
North West -5 250 £363 -1.36% 108
East of England -1 219 £300 +18.90% 101
Yorkshire -15 203 £365 -8.75% 60
West Midlands -24 175 £450 +50.00% 64
East Midlands +8 96 £263 +31.25% 72
North East -36 25 £275 -4.35% 31
Windows
UK

Windows
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
1 222 (8.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 184 (6.95%) SharePoint
3 55 (2.08%) Confluence
4 54 (2.04%) IIS
5 14 (0.53%) Apache
5 14 (0.53%) nginx
5 14 (0.53%) Skype for Business
5 14 (0.53%) Tomcat
6 9 (0.34%) Oracle Workflow
6 9 (0.34%) WebLogic
7 7 (0.26%) Appian
8 6 (0.23%) Documentum
9 5 (0.19%) Camunda
10 4 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 3 (0.11%) CloudStack
11 3 (0.11%) NetWeaver
11 3 (0.11%) TPMS
11 3 (0.11%) Tuxedo
12 2 (0.076%) ArcGIS
12 2 (0.076%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 161 (6.08%) Microsoft Office
2 64 (2.42%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.23%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.19%) PTC Creo
7 4 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.038%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.038%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.038%) Houdini
8 1 (0.038%) InDesign
8 1 (0.038%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 40 (1.51%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (0.45%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.42%) Teamcenter
4 10 (0.38%) Finacle
5 6 (0.23%) OpenText MBPM
5 6 (0.23%) Oracle BPM
6 2 (0.076%) assyst
7 1 (0.038%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.038%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.038%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 808 (30.53%) Azure
2 766 (28.94%) Microsoft 365
3 365 (13.79%) Entra ID
4 275 (10.39%) AWS
5 104 (3.93%) OneDrive
6 82 (3.10%) Azure DevOps
6 82 (3.10%) GCP
7 72 (2.72%) SaaS
8 59 (2.23%) GitHub
8 59 (2.23%) IaaS
9 52 (1.96%) Power Platform
10 51 (1.93%) Azure Monitor
11 49 (1.85%) PaaS
12 34 (1.28%) Azure Sentinel
13 29 (1.10%) Google Workspace
14 27 (1.02%) GitHub Actions
15 26 (0.98%) AWS CloudFormation
16 25 (0.94%) OpenShift
17 22 (0.83%) Azure AKS
18 21 (0.79%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 371 (14.02%) DNS
2 272 (10.28%) Firewall
3 258 (9.75%) DHCP
4 181 (6.84%) VPN
5 157 (5.93%) LAN
6 152 (5.74%) TCP/IP
6 152 (5.74%) WAN
7 125 (4.72%) Wi-Fi
8 77 (2.91%) SAN
9 59 (2.23%) Network Security
10 54 (2.04%) VLAN
11 45 (1.70%) BGP
12 40 (1.51%) SSL
13 38 (1.44%) Internet
14 37 (1.40%) OSPF
15 34 (1.28%) NAS
16 32 (1.21%) Skype
17 30 (1.13%) SNMP
17 30 (1.13%) VoIP
18 29 (1.10%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 229 (8.65%) SQL Server
2 54 (2.04%) Oracle Database
3 36 (1.36%) Power BI
4 29 (1.10%) Relational Database
5 26 (0.98%) MySQL
5 26 (0.98%) PostgreSQL
6 18 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
7 17 (0.64%) Db2
8 14 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
8 14 (0.53%) NoSQL
9 13 (0.49%) RDBMS
9 13 (0.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 11 (0.42%) MongoDB
11 8 (0.30%) Geospatial Data
12 7 (0.26%) GIS
12 7 (0.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 6 (0.23%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 5 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
14 5 (0.19%) Big Data
14 5 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 169 (6.38%) JIRA
2 47 (1.78%) Git
3 45 (1.70%) MSI
4 42 (1.59%) Jenkins
5 38 (1.44%) GitLab
6 36 (1.36%) Visual Studio
7 17 (0.64%) Eclipse
8 9 (0.34%) Chocolatey
9 8 (0.30%) Bitbucket
10 7 (0.26%) Browser DevTools
10 7 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
11 6 (0.23%) Android Studio
11 6 (0.23%) InstallShield
11 6 (0.23%) Xcode
12 5 (0.19%) AdminStudio
12 5 (0.19%) Artifactory
12 5 (0.19%) Selenium
13 4 (0.15%) Maven
13 4 (0.15%) Rational DOORS
13 4 (0.15%) Robot Framework
General
1 938 (35.44%) Social Skills
2 294 (11.11%) Finance
3 286 (10.80%) Analytical Skills
4 174 (6.57%) Public Sector
5 149 (5.63%) Banking
6 99 (3.74%) Documentation Skills
7 82 (3.10%) Legal
8 81 (3.06%) Organisational Skills
9 52 (1.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 52 (1.96%) Retail
10 42 (1.59%) Military
11 37 (1.40%) Front Office
12 36 (1.36%) Manufacturing
13 34 (1.28%) Investment Banking
14 31 (1.17%) Telecoms
15 29 (1.10%) Law
16 25 (0.94%) Presentation Skills
17 24 (0.91%) Spanish Language
18 21 (0.79%) French Language
19 18 (0.68%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 372 (14.05%) Support Engineer
2 360 (13.60%) IT Support
3 268 (10.12%) Analyst
4 249 (9.41%) IT Engineer
5 236 (8.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 209 (7.90%) IT Support Engineer
7 176 (6.65%) Senior
8 129 (4.87%) Architect
9 112 (4.23%) 2nd Line Support
10 104 (3.93%) Desktop Support
11 101 (3.82%) Developer
12 100 (3.78%) Desktop Engineer
13 98 (3.70%) Support Analyst
14 93 (3.51%) Lead
15 87 (3.29%) IT Analyst
16 81 (3.06%) Cloud Engineer
17 78 (2.95%) Technical Support
18 73 (2.76%) Consultant
19 70 (2.64%) Service Analyst
20 69 (2.61%) Windows Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 98 (3.70%) .NET
2 85 (3.21%) REST
3 61 (2.30%) .NET Framework
4 37 (1.40%) LDAP
5 31 (1.17%) 802.1X
5 31 (1.17%) SAML
6 29 (1.10%) Microsoft Graph
6 29 (1.10%) WPF
7 26 (0.98%) Middleware
7 26 (0.98%) WinForms
8 25 (0.94%) Web Services
9 24 (0.91%) OAuth
10 23 (0.87%) Elastic Stack
11 22 (0.83%) CSS
12 21 (0.79%) Software Packaging
13 16 (0.60%) JSON
13 16 (0.60%) Kafka
13 16 (0.60%) Node.js
14 15 (0.57%) ADO
14 15 (0.57%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 263 (9.94%) Onboarding
2 131 (4.95%) Data Centre
3 123 (4.65%) PKI
4 77 (2.91%) Clustering
5 75 (2.83%) Enterprise Software
6 67 (2.53%) Management Information System
6 67 (2.53%) Self-Motivation
7 58 (2.19%) Replication
8 57 (2.15%) Cloud Native
9 47 (1.78%) Hybrid Cloud
10 46 (1.74%) Driving Licence
10 46 (1.74%) Legacy Systems
10 46 (1.74%) Security Posture
11 45 (1.70%) Virtual Team
12 42 (1.59%) Video Conferencing
13 33 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
14 31 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
15 29 (1.10%) Linux Command Line
16 28 (1.06%) CMDB
17 27 (1.02%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 637 (24.06%) Windows Server
2 628 (23.72%) Linux
3 462 (17.45%) Windows 10
4 178 (6.72%) Mac OS
5 128 (4.84%) Apple iOS
6 126 (4.76%) Unix
7 122 (4.61%) Android
8 95 (3.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 64 (2.42%) Windows Server 2019
10 46 (1.74%) Windows Server 2016
11 45 (1.70%) Windows 7
12 37 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
13 34 (1.28%) Ubuntu
14 31 (1.17%) AIX
15 18 (0.68%) Solaris
15 18 (0.68%) VMS
16 16 (0.60%) CentOS
16 16 (0.60%) Windows Server 2003
17 13 (0.49%) Windows Server 2008
18 9 (0.34%) Debian
Processes & Methodologies
1 593 (22.40%) Problem-Solving
2 433 (16.36%) ITIL
3 396 (14.96%) Customer Service
4 309 (11.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 288 (10.88%) Migration
6 274 (10.35%) ITSM
7 255 (9.63%) DevOps
8 242 (9.14%) Agile
9 235 (8.88%) Continuous Improvement
10 224 (8.46%) CI/CD
11 196 (7.40%) Service Management
12 184 (6.95%) High Availability
13 173 (6.54%) Change Management
14 165 (6.23%) Infrastructure as Code
15 153 (5.78%) Stakeholder Management
16 146 (5.52%) Disaster Recovery
17 136 (5.14%) Service Delivery
18 132 (4.99%) SIEM
19 131 (4.95%) Cybersecurity
19 131 (4.95%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 562 (21.23%) PowerShell
2 268 (10.12%) SQL
3 265 (10.01%) Python
4 133 (5.02%) C#
5 107 (4.04%) Bash
6 68 (2.57%) Java
7 65 (2.46%) JavaScript
8 50 (1.89%) PL/SQL
9 49 (1.85%) T-SQL
10 48 (1.81%) C++
11 25 (0.94%) VB
12 23 (0.87%) Bicep
13 22 (0.83%) Search Processing Language
14 20 (0.76%) Kusto Query Language
14 20 (0.76%) VBScript
15 17 (0.64%) Perl
15 17 (0.64%) Shell Script
16 16 (0.60%) TypeScript
17 14 (0.53%) C
18 13 (0.49%) VBA
Qualifications
1 794 (30.00%) Security Cleared
2 498 (18.81%) SC Cleared
3 295 (11.14%) Degree
4 263 (9.94%) DV Cleared
5 109 (4.12%) Microsoft Certification
6 81 (3.06%) Cisco Certification
7 72 (2.72%) Computer Science Degree
8 59 (2.23%) CISSP
9 57 (2.15%) Azure Certification
10 43 (1.62%) AWS Certification
11 42 (1.59%) BPSS Clearance
12 40 (1.51%) MCSE
13 31 (1.17%) CCNA
14 29 (1.10%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 28 (1.06%) CCNP
16 27 (1.02%) A+ Certification
16 27 (1.02%) ITIL Certification
17 25 (0.94%) MCSA
18 23 (0.87%) CISM
19 20 (0.76%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 115 (4.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 107 (4.04%) SLA
3 85 (3.21%) NIST
4 73 (2.76%) QA
5 53 (2.00%) GDPR
6 31 (1.17%) PCI DSS
6 31 (1.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 26 (0.98%) Cyber Essentials
8 18 (0.68%) NCSC
9 11 (0.42%) Data Quality
9 11 (0.42%) HIPAA
10 10 (0.38%) Accessibility
10 10 (0.38%) NIST 800
11 9 (0.34%) GRC
12 8 (0.30%) SOC 2
12 8 (0.30%) WCAG
13 6 (0.23%) ISO 31000
14 5 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 5 (0.19%) FINRA
14 5 (0.19%) PMO
System Software
1 1,018 (38.46%) Active Directory
2 335 (12.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 133 (5.02%) Hyper-V
4 113 (4.27%) VMware ESXi
5 99 (3.74%) Virtual Machines
6 98 (3.70%) vSphere
7 86 (3.25%) Docker
8 65 (2.46%) Virtual Desktop
9 55 (2.08%) VMware NSX
10 37 (1.40%) BitLocker
10 37 (1.40%) Firmware
11 28 (1.06%) Microsoft App-V
12 16 (0.60%) KVM
13 13 (0.49%) vCloud
14 9 (0.34%) XenDesktop
15 8 (0.30%) VMware Workstation
15 8 (0.30%) XenApp
16 6 (0.23%) NFS
16 6 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
16 6 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 385 (14.54%) Microsoft Intune
2 238 (8.99%) SCCM
3 190 (7.18%) Terraform
4 171 (6.46%) Ansible
5 131 (4.95%) Kubernetes
6 95 (3.59%) vCenter Server
7 50 (1.89%) Single Sign-On
8 49 (1.85%) SCOM
9 47 (1.78%) Jamf Pro
10 41 (1.55%) FortiGate
11 38 (1.44%) WSUS
12 34 (1.28%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 30 (1.13%) Progress Chef
14 29 (1.10%) Prometheus
15 28 (1.06%) Puppet
16 26 (0.98%) Grafana
17 23 (0.87%) Nagios
18 21 (0.79%) Nessus
19 20 (0.76%) Packer
19 20 (0.76%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,152 (43.52%) Microsoft
2 438 (16.55%) VMware
3 254 (9.60%) ServiceNow
4 188 (7.10%) Citrix
5 176 (6.65%) Cisco
6 151 (5.70%) Oracle
7 119 (4.50%) Splunk
8 73 (2.76%) Apple
8 73 (2.76%) SolarWinds
9 69 (2.61%) HP
10 63 (2.38%) Google
10 63 (2.38%) Red Hat
11 62 (2.34%) CyberArk
12 57 (2.15%) Dell
13 51 (1.93%) BeyondTrust
13 51 (1.93%) Remedy
14 49 (1.85%) Juniper
15 47 (1.78%) IBM
16 45 (1.70%) F5
17 37 (1.40%) Tenable