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 15 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 15
Rank change year-on-year -5 -7 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,503 2,073 3,307
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.39% 8.50% 8.92%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.24% 60.79% 64.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,692 1,482 2,272
10th Percentile £160 £181 £158
25th Percentile £209 £243 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £414 £425 £400
Median % change year-on-year -2.65% +6.25% -11.11%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £413 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -2.94% +6.25% -11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 208 99 275
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.22 £11.88
25th Percentile £16.70 £16.95 £14.00
Median hourly rate £22.64 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +20.31% +6.21% -16.83%
75th Percentile £63.75 £28.00 £23.75
90th Percentile £74.08 £65.00 £58.70
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £20.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year +12.50% +12.87% -19.45%

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 4,087 3,410 5,131
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.43% 13.98% 13.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,706 2,342 3,492
10th Percentile £181 £200 £180
25th Percentile £300 £313 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -12.62%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £669 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £465
% change year-on-year -5.26% +2.15% -9.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 290 145 375
10th Percentile £15.00 £16.35 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.54 £18.13 £14.72
Median hourly rate £27.94 £25.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.76% +19.05% -27.59%
75th Percentile £67.25 £65.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £74.71 £68.45 £68.45
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £24.66 £21.50
% change year-on-year +11.52% +14.70% -28.33%

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 15 April 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 15 April 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 15 April 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 -24 769 £425 -5.13% 181
South East -7 503 £470 -6.00% 268
North of England -10 472 £313 -3.69% 195
Midlands -12 288 £325 +8.33% 112
North West -3 263 £261 -25.36% 117
South West -9 240 £485 -9.77% 111
East of England +8 214 £300 +33.33% 95
Yorkshire -18 188 £365 +8.15% 57
West Midlands -25 168 £450 +44.00% 54
East Midlands +1 116 £210 -16.00% 58
North East -13 27 £225 +12.50% 27
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
1 214 (8.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 148 (5.91%) SharePoint
3 48 (1.92%) Confluence
4 46 (1.84%) IIS
5 21 (0.84%) WebLogic
6 17 (0.68%) Apache
7 12 (0.48%) Skype for Business
8 11 (0.44%) Tuxedo
9 8 (0.32%) TPMS
10 7 (0.28%) nginx
10 7 (0.28%) Tomcat
11 5 (0.20%) SAS
12 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 4 (0.16%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
12 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
13 2 (0.080%) Apache Pulsar
13 2 (0.080%) Appian
13 2 (0.080%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.080%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 185 (7.39%) Microsoft Office
2 67 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.44%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.20%) Acrobat
6 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.040%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.040%) InDesign
8 1 (0.040%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 37 (1.48%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (0.32%) Teamcenter
4 5 (0.20%) assyst
5 3 (0.12%) Oracle 11i
5 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
6 2 (0.080%) Finacle
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 2 (0.080%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.040%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.040%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.040%) Eikon
7 1 (0.040%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle FAH
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.040%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.040%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 711 (28.41%) Microsoft 365
2 673 (26.89%) Azure
3 289 (11.55%) Entra ID
4 201 (8.03%) AWS
5 73 (2.92%) GCP
6 69 (2.76%) SaaS
7 67 (2.68%) OneDrive
8 63 (2.52%) Azure DevOps
9 53 (2.12%) IaaS
10 46 (1.84%) Google Workspace
10 46 (1.84%) PaaS
11 43 (1.72%) GitHub
12 37 (1.48%) Power Platform
13 33 (1.32%) Azure Monitor
14 26 (1.04%) Azure Sentinel
15 20 (0.80%) GitHub Actions
16 19 (0.76%) OpenShift
17 18 (0.72%) AWS CloudFormation
18 17 (0.68%) Microsoft Purview
19 16 (0.64%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 336 (13.42%) DNS
2 303 (12.11%) Firewall
3 231 (9.23%) DHCP
4 174 (6.95%) VPN
5 154 (6.15%) TCP/IP
6 150 (5.99%) LAN
7 145 (5.79%) WAN
8 128 (5.11%) Wi-Fi
9 76 (3.04%) Network Security
10 66 (2.64%) VLAN
11 51 (2.04%) SAN
12 50 (2.00%) Wireless
13 40 (1.60%) BGP
14 31 (1.24%) OSPF
14 31 (1.24%) SSL
14 31 (1.24%) VoIP
15 29 (1.16%) Skype
16 28 (1.12%) BIG-IP
16 28 (1.12%) Internet
17 27 (1.08%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 167 (6.67%) SQL Server
2 43 (1.72%) Oracle Database
3 34 (1.36%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.20%) MySQL
5 23 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
6 19 (0.76%) Power BI
7 14 (0.56%) DB2
8 13 (0.52%) BigQuery
9 12 (0.48%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (0.48%) MongoDB
10 10 (0.40%) NoSQL
11 9 (0.36%) Oracle Reports
12 7 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 7 (0.28%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 6 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
13 6 (0.24%) GIS
14 5 (0.20%) Amazon RDS
14 5 (0.20%) RDBMS
15 4 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.16%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 159 (6.35%) JIRA
2 51 (2.04%) GitLab
3 47 (1.88%) Jenkins
4 42 (1.68%) Git
4 42 (1.68%) MSI
5 34 (1.36%) Visual Studio
6 21 (0.84%) Eclipse
7 18 (0.72%) Burp Suite
8 17 (0.68%) Metasploit
9 11 (0.44%) Android Studio
9 11 (0.44%) Artifactory
9 11 (0.44%) Chocolatey
10 9 (0.36%) Bitbucket
10 9 (0.36%) Browser DevTools
10 9 (0.36%) Xcode
11 8 (0.32%) InstallShield
11 8 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
12 7 (0.28%) JUnit
12 7 (0.28%) Robot Framework
12 7 (0.28%) Selenium
General
1 872 (34.84%) Social Skills
2 238 (9.51%) Finance
3 216 (8.63%) Analytical Skills
4 202 (8.07%) Public Sector
5 144 (5.75%) Banking
6 104 (4.16%) Documentation Skills
6 104 (4.16%) Legal
7 80 (3.20%) Organisational Skills
8 59 (2.36%) Military
9 39 (1.56%) Presentation Skills
10 36 (1.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 35 (1.40%) Manufacturing
12 34 (1.36%) Retail
13 30 (1.20%) Law
13 30 (1.20%) Telecoms
14 28 (1.12%) Investment Banking
15 26 (1.04%) Front Office
16 20 (0.80%) Local Government
17 15 (0.60%) Aerospace
18 14 (0.56%) Police
Job Titles
1 344 (13.74%) IT Support
2 324 (12.94%) Support Engineer
3 311 (12.43%) Analyst
4 211 (8.43%) IT Engineer
5 175 (6.99%) IT Support Engineer
6 173 (6.91%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 161 (6.43%) Senior
8 160 (6.39%) Architect
9 123 (4.91%) Support Analyst
10 106 (4.23%) Developer
11 104 (4.16%) Desktop Support
12 97 (3.88%) Technical Support
13 94 (3.76%) Desktop Engineer
14 88 (3.52%) IT Analyst
15 86 (3.44%) 2nd Line Support
16 85 (3.40%) Windows Engineer
17 77 (3.08%) Lead
18 69 (2.76%) IT Support Analyst
19 66 (2.64%) Desktop Support Engineer
20 65 (2.60%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 86 (3.44%) .NET
2 66 (2.64%) REST
3 52 (2.08%) .NET Framework
4 48 (1.92%) SAML
5 41 (1.64%) OAuth
6 39 (1.56%) LDAP
7 34 (1.36%) Middleware
8 31 (1.24%) WPF
9 29 (1.16%) WinForms
10 26 (1.04%) Web Services
11 25 (1.00%) 802.1X
11 25 (1.00%) Kafka
11 25 (1.00%) OpenID
12 24 (0.96%) Microsoft Graph
13 21 (0.84%) CSS
13 21 (0.84%) Node.js
13 21 (0.84%) React
14 19 (0.76%) AngularJS
14 19 (0.76%) OAuth2
15 17 (0.68%) Apache NiFi
Miscellaneous
1 190 (7.59%) Onboarding
2 108 (4.31%) Data Centre
3 94 (3.76%) PKI
4 80 (3.20%) Enterprise Software
5 65 (2.60%) Driving Licence
6 64 (2.56%) Clustering
7 63 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
8 58 (2.32%) Replication
9 41 (1.64%) Hybrid Cloud
9 41 (1.64%) Management Information System
10 40 (1.60%) Product Ownership
10 40 (1.60%) Smartphone
11 38 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
11 38 (1.52%) Security Posture
12 30 (1.20%) CMDB
12 30 (1.20%) Data Protection Act
13 28 (1.12%) Cloud Native
14 27 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
14 27 (1.08%) Virtual Team
15 25 (1.00%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 615 (24.57%) Linux
2 570 (22.77%) Windows Server
3 510 (20.38%) Windows 10
4 147 (5.87%) Mac OS
5 137 (5.47%) Android
6 119 (4.75%) Apple iOS
7 116 (4.63%) Unix
8 74 (2.96%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 58 (2.32%) Windows Server 2016
10 48 (1.92%) Windows 7
11 43 (1.72%) Windows Server 2019
12 37 (1.48%) AIX
13 36 (1.44%) Windows Server 2012
14 24 (0.96%) Windows Server 2003
15 18 (0.72%) Ubuntu
15 18 (0.72%) VMS
16 13 (0.52%) Solaris
17 10 (0.40%) CentOS
17 10 (0.40%) Mac OS X
17 10 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 523 (20.89%) Problem-Solving
2 429 (17.14%) Customer Service
3 360 (14.38%) ITIL
4 265 (10.59%) Agile
4 265 (10.59%) Migration
5 249 (9.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 223 (8.91%) DevOps
7 212 (8.47%) ITSM
8 199 (7.95%) CI/CD
9 174 (6.95%) Service Management
10 171 (6.83%) Continuous Improvement
11 162 (6.47%) Change Management
11 162 (6.47%) Cybersecurity
12 153 (6.11%) Disaster Recovery
13 134 (5.35%) High Availability
14 120 (4.79%) Stakeholder Management
15 109 (4.35%) SIEM
16 107 (4.27%) Identity Access Management
16 107 (4.27%) Infrastructure as Code
17 106 (4.23%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 543 (21.69%) PowerShell
2 246 (9.83%) Python
3 241 (9.63%) SQL
4 127 (5.07%) C#
5 107 (4.27%) Bash
6 75 (3.00%) Java
7 72 (2.88%) JavaScript
8 54 (2.16%) PL/SQL
9 48 (1.92%) C++
10 43 (1.72%) T-SQL
11 41 (1.64%) Perl
12 29 (1.16%) Kusto Query Language
13 25 (1.00%) VB
14 19 (0.76%) VBScript
15 17 (0.68%) Shell Script
16 16 (0.64%) VBA
17 15 (0.60%) Search Processing Language
18 13 (0.52%) TypeScript
19 11 (0.44%) Bicep
19 11 (0.44%) Go
Qualifications
1 793 (31.68%) Security Cleared
2 523 (20.89%) SC Cleared
3 252 (10.07%) Degree
4 234 (9.35%) DV Cleared
5 112 (4.47%) Microsoft Certification
6 70 (2.80%) Computer Science Degree
7 63 (2.52%) Cisco Certification
8 44 (1.76%) Azure Certification
9 39 (1.56%) MCSE
10 34 (1.36%) CISSP
11 31 (1.24%) CCNA
12 30 (1.20%) BPSS Clearance
13 29 (1.16%) AWS Certification
13 29 (1.16%) ITIL Certification
14 23 (0.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 22 (0.88%) CCNP
16 20 (0.80%) A+ Certification
16 20 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
16 20 (0.80%) MCSA
17 16 (0.64%) CHECK Team Member
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (3.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 85 (3.40%) GDPR
3 83 (3.32%) QA
4 76 (3.04%) SLA
5 63 (2.52%) NIST
6 41 (1.64%) PCI DSS
7 27 (1.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 18 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
9 12 (0.48%) MiFID
10 11 (0.44%) NCSC
10 11 (0.44%) NIST 800
10 11 (0.44%) PMO
11 10 (0.40%) FINRA
12 9 (0.36%) Data Quality
13 8 (0.32%) GLBA
14 6 (0.24%) DICOM
14 6 (0.24%) HIPAA
14 6 (0.24%) HL7
15 4 (0.16%) GMP
15 4 (0.16%) GxP
System Software
1 949 (37.91%) Active Directory
2 275 (10.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 119 (4.75%) Hyper-V
4 87 (3.48%) Docker
5 71 (2.84%) vSphere
6 64 (2.56%) VMware ESXi
7 54 (2.16%) Virtual Machines
8 46 (1.84%) Virtual Desktop
9 35 (1.40%) VMware NSX
10 33 (1.32%) BitLocker
10 33 (1.32%) Firmware
11 24 (0.96%) Microsoft App-V
12 18 (0.72%) KVM
13 10 (0.40%) XenDesktop
14 9 (0.36%) XenApp
15 5 (0.20%) etcd
15 5 (0.20%) NFS
15 5 (0.20%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.16%) Job Entry Subsystem
16 4 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 344 (13.74%) Microsoft Intune
2 274 (10.95%) SCCM
3 149 (5.95%) Ansible
4 147 (5.87%) Terraform
5 115 (4.59%) Kubernetes
6 66 (2.64%) Single Sign-On
7 60 (2.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 60 (2.40%) vCenter Server
8 39 (1.56%) Jamf Pro
9 33 (1.32%) FortiGate
10 30 (1.20%) WSUS
11 24 (0.96%) Grafana
11 24 (0.96%) SCOM
12 21 (0.84%) Prometheus
13 18 (0.72%) Nagios
13 18 (0.72%) Nessus
13 18 (0.72%) Progress Chef
14 16 (0.64%) Nmap
14 16 (0.64%) Puppet
15 14 (0.56%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,075 (42.95%) Microsoft
2 373 (14.90%) VMware
3 217 (8.67%) ServiceNow
4 202 (8.07%) Citrix
5 154 (6.15%) Oracle
6 151 (6.03%) Cisco
7 116 (4.63%) Splunk
8 69 (2.76%) HP
9 61 (2.44%) SolarWinds
10 59 (2.36%) Red Hat
11 56 (2.24%) Dell
12 53 (2.12%) Google
13 51 (2.04%) Remedy
14 47 (1.88%) CyberArk
15 45 (1.80%) Apple
15 45 (1.80%) IBM
16 41 (1.64%) Juniper
17 37 (1.48%) Veeam
18 35 (1.40%) F5
19 30 (1.20%) BeyondTrust