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

 6 months to
29 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 17
Rank change year-on-year -5 -5 -3
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,456 2,058 3,236
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.10% 8.47% 8.75%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.87% 60.28% 64.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,648 1,461 2,238
10th Percentile £162 £180 £160
25th Percentile £213 £238 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £415 £415 £400
Median % change year-on-year - +3.75% -11.11%
75th Percentile £544 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £688 £675
UK median daily rate £415 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -2.35% +6.25% -11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 103 265
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.12 £11.80
25th Percentile £17.81 £16.95 £14.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +33.63% +6.21% -21.24%
75th Percentile £65.00 £28.00 £25.00
90th Percentile £74.87 £64.75 £61.60
UK median hourly rate £23.16 £18.87 £18.00
% change year-on-year +22.71% +4.83% -20.00%

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 4,035 3,414 5,045
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.03% 14.05% 13.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,677 2,313 3,433
10th Percentile £185 £200 £181
25th Percentile £310 £313 £285
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +2.70% -9.76%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £665 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £470
% change year-on-year -5.26% +1.06% -6.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 277 149 367
10th Percentile £15.98 £16.07 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.10 £14.95
Median hourly rate £42.71 £24.66 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +73.18% +12.09% -41.33%
75th Percentile £67.84 £65.00 £59.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £41.94 £24.18 £22.00
% change year-on-year +73.45% +9.91% -43.59%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 -24 770 £439 -0.28% 164
South East -8 489 £475 -5.00% 267
North of England -13 461 £325 - 168
Midlands -15 280 £325 +18.18% 91
North West -3 258 £240 -31.43% 91
South West -12 228 £450 -14.29% 120
East of England +2 206 £350 +55.21% 105
Yorkshire -21 186 £365 +12.31% 58
West Midlands -24 162 £455 +59.65% 41
East Midlands +5 113 £215 +4.24% 50
North East -20 21 £188 -14.77% 24
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
1 212 (8.63%) Microsoft Exchange
2 138 (5.62%) SharePoint
3 51 (2.08%) IIS
4 48 (1.95%) Confluence
5 18 (0.73%) WebLogic
6 15 (0.61%) Apache
7 12 (0.49%) Skype for Business
8 11 (0.45%) Tuxedo
9 8 (0.33%) nginx
9 8 (0.33%) Tomcat
9 8 (0.33%) TPMS
10 5 (0.20%) SAS
11 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
11 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
12 3 (0.12%) OpenStack
13 2 (0.081%) Apache Pulsar
13 2 (0.081%) Appian
13 2 (0.081%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.081%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 175 (7.13%) Microsoft Office
2 64 (2.61%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.45%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.20%) Acrobat
6 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
7 4 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.041%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 39 (1.59%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.41%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (0.33%) Teamcenter
4 6 (0.24%) assyst
5 3 (0.12%) Finacle
5 3 (0.12%) Oracle 11i
5 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
6 2 (0.081%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.081%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.081%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.041%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.041%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.041%) Eikon
7 1 (0.041%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.041%) Oracle FAH
7 1 (0.041%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.041%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.041%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 697 (28.38%) Microsoft 365
2 681 (27.73%) Azure
3 280 (11.40%) Entra ID
4 205 (8.35%) AWS
5 67 (2.73%) GCP
5 67 (2.73%) SaaS
6 66 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
7 57 (2.32%) OneDrive
8 53 (2.16%) IaaS
9 51 (2.08%) GitHub
10 45 (1.83%) PaaS
11 43 (1.75%) Google Workspace
12 38 (1.55%) Azure Monitor
13 37 (1.51%) Power Platform
14 27 (1.10%) Azure Sentinel
15 24 (0.98%) GitHub Actions
16 21 (0.86%) OpenShift
17 18 (0.73%) AWS CloudFormation
17 18 (0.73%) Azure AKS
18 17 (0.69%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 334 (13.60%) DNS
2 281 (11.44%) Firewall
3 234 (9.53%) DHCP
4 173 (7.04%) VPN
5 152 (6.19%) LAN
6 148 (6.03%) WAN
7 141 (5.74%) TCP/IP
8 120 (4.89%) Wi-Fi
9 71 (2.89%) Network Security
10 60 (2.44%) VLAN
11 55 (2.24%) SAN
12 46 (1.87%) Wireless
13 37 (1.51%) BGP
14 34 (1.38%) OSPF
15 33 (1.34%) Skype
16 31 (1.26%) SSL
17 29 (1.18%) BIG-IP
17 29 (1.18%) Internet
17 29 (1.18%) VoIP
18 27 (1.10%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 177 (7.21%) SQL Server
2 45 (1.83%) Oracle Database
3 32 (1.30%) Relational Database
4 26 (1.06%) MySQL
5 23 (0.94%) PostgreSQL
6 20 (0.81%) Power BI
7 14 (0.57%) DB2
8 13 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
8 13 (0.53%) MongoDB
9 11 (0.45%) NoSQL
10 10 (0.41%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 7 (0.29%) BigQuery
11 7 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
12 6 (0.24%) RDBMS
12 6 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
13 5 (0.20%) GIS
14 4 (0.16%) Amazon RDS
14 4 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
14 4 (0.16%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 162 (6.60%) JIRA
2 48 (1.95%) GitLab
3 46 (1.87%) MSI
4 42 (1.71%) Jenkins
5 39 (1.59%) Git
6 34 (1.38%) Visual Studio
7 20 (0.81%) Eclipse
8 18 (0.73%) Burp Suite
9 17 (0.69%) Metasploit
10 11 (0.45%) Chocolatey
11 10 (0.41%) Android Studio
11 10 (0.41%) Bitbucket
12 9 (0.37%) Artifactory
12 9 (0.37%) InstallShield
13 8 (0.33%) Browser DevTools
13 8 (0.33%) Sonatype Nexus
13 8 (0.33%) Xcode
14 7 (0.29%) JUnit
14 7 (0.29%) Selenium
15 6 (0.24%) AdminStudio
General
1 857 (34.89%) Social Skills
2 243 (9.89%) Finance
3 209 (8.51%) Analytical Skills
4 193 (7.86%) Public Sector
5 144 (5.86%) Banking
6 100 (4.07%) Documentation Skills
7 95 (3.87%) Legal
8 71 (2.89%) Organisational Skills
9 60 (2.44%) Military
10 37 (1.51%) Retail
11 36 (1.47%) Presentation Skills
12 34 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 33 (1.34%) Manufacturing
14 32 (1.30%) Law
15 31 (1.26%) Telecoms
16 28 (1.14%) Investment Banking
17 27 (1.10%) Front Office
18 20 (0.81%) Local Government
19 17 (0.69%) Police
20 15 (0.61%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 326 (13.27%) IT Support
2 305 (12.42%) Support Engineer
3 278 (11.32%) Analyst
4 199 (8.10%) IT Engineer
5 193 (7.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 164 (6.68%) Senior
7 163 (6.64%) IT Support Engineer
8 153 (6.23%) Architect
9 115 (4.68%) Support Analyst
10 104 (4.23%) Desktop Support
11 101 (4.11%) Developer
12 90 (3.66%) Desktop Engineer
13 88 (3.58%) Technical Support
14 87 (3.54%) IT Analyst
15 83 (3.38%) Windows Engineer
16 81 (3.30%) 2nd Line Support
17 80 (3.26%) Lead
18 67 (2.73%) IT Support Analyst
19 66 (2.69%) 1st Line Support
20 62 (2.52%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (3.54%) .NET
2 64 (2.61%) REST
3 54 (2.20%) .NET Framework
4 34 (1.38%) LDAP
4 34 (1.38%) SAML
5 32 (1.30%) Middleware
6 29 (1.18%) WinForms
6 29 (1.18%) WPF
7 27 (1.10%) 802.1X
7 27 (1.10%) Kafka
7 27 (1.10%) OAuth
8 26 (1.06%) Microsoft Graph
9 25 (1.02%) Web Services
10 20 (0.81%) Node.js
11 18 (0.73%) CSS
11 18 (0.73%) React
12 17 (0.69%) Software Packaging
13 16 (0.65%) AngularJS
14 15 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
15 14 (0.57%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 191 (7.78%) Onboarding
2 103 (4.19%) Data Centre
3 97 (3.95%) PKI
4 82 (3.34%) Enterprise Software
5 74 (3.01%) Clustering
6 62 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
7 59 (2.40%) Driving Licence
8 58 (2.36%) Replication
9 44 (1.79%) Hybrid Cloud
10 40 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
11 38 (1.55%) Smartphone
12 37 (1.51%) Management Information System
12 37 (1.51%) Security Posture
13 32 (1.30%) Virtual Team
14 30 (1.22%) Analytical Mindset
15 28 (1.14%) Cloud Native
15 28 (1.14%) CMDB
15 28 (1.14%) Product Ownership
16 26 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
17 24 (0.98%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 593 (24.14%) Linux
2 579 (23.57%) Windows Server
3 483 (19.67%) Windows 10
4 145 (5.90%) Mac OS
5 133 (5.42%) Android
6 114 (4.64%) Unix
7 113 (4.60%) Apple iOS
8 67 (2.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 63 (2.57%) Windows Server 2016
10 52 (2.12%) Windows Server 2019
11 46 (1.87%) Windows 7
12 40 (1.63%) Windows Server 2012
13 32 (1.30%) AIX
14 21 (0.86%) Ubuntu
15 19 (0.77%) Windows Server 2003
16 17 (0.69%) VMS
17 12 (0.49%) Solaris
18 10 (0.41%) CentOS
18 10 (0.41%) Windows Server 2008
19 9 (0.37%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 509 (20.72%) Problem-Solving
2 408 (16.61%) Customer Service
3 361 (14.70%) ITIL
4 270 (10.99%) Migration
5 260 (10.59%) Agile
5 260 (10.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 221 (9.00%) DevOps
7 206 (8.39%) CI/CD
8 194 (7.90%) ITSM
9 164 (6.68%) Disaster Recovery
10 163 (6.64%) Continuous Improvement
11 157 (6.39%) Change Management
12 155 (6.31%) Service Management
13 147 (5.99%) Cybersecurity
14 141 (5.74%) High Availability
15 120 (4.89%) Stakeholder Management
16 115 (4.68%) Infrastructure as Code
17 111 (4.52%) SIEM
18 102 (4.15%) Computer Science
19 95 (3.87%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 519 (21.13%) PowerShell
2 240 (9.77%) SQL
3 223 (9.08%) Python
4 132 (5.37%) C#
5 85 (3.46%) Bash
6 70 (2.85%) Java
7 69 (2.81%) JavaScript
8 55 (2.24%) PL/SQL
9 47 (1.91%) C++
10 46 (1.87%) T-SQL
11 28 (1.14%) Kusto Query Language
12 25 (1.02%) VB
13 24 (0.98%) Perl
14 18 (0.73%) Shell Script
15 17 (0.69%) VBScript
16 16 (0.65%) Search Processing Language
17 15 (0.61%) VBA
18 12 (0.49%) Go
18 12 (0.49%) TypeScript
19 11 (0.45%) C
Qualifications
1 777 (31.64%) Security Cleared
2 514 (20.93%) SC Cleared
3 246 (10.02%) Degree
4 235 (9.57%) DV Cleared
5 108 (4.40%) Microsoft Certification
6 72 (2.93%) Computer Science Degree
7 58 (2.36%) Cisco Certification
8 45 (1.83%) MCSE
9 44 (1.79%) Azure Certification
10 31 (1.26%) BPSS Clearance
11 30 (1.22%) CISSP
11 30 (1.22%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 29 (1.18%) AWS Certification
13 28 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
13 28 (1.14%) MCSA
14 25 (1.02%) CCNA
15 19 (0.77%) A+ Certification
15 19 (0.77%) CompTIA Security+
16 16 (0.65%) CHECK Team Member
16 16 (0.65%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (3.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 82 (3.34%) QA
3 81 (3.30%) GDPR
4 76 (3.09%) SLA
5 61 (2.48%) NIST
6 39 (1.59%) PCI DSS
7 27 (1.10%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 18 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials
9 13 (0.53%) NCSC
9 13 (0.53%) PMO
10 12 (0.49%) NIST 800
11 11 (0.45%) MiFID
12 10 (0.41%) Data Quality
12 10 (0.41%) FINRA
13 8 (0.33%) GLBA
14 6 (0.24%) DICOM
14 6 (0.24%) HL7
15 4 (0.16%) GMP
15 4 (0.16%) GxP
15 4 (0.16%) HIPAA
System Software
1 921 (37.50%) Active Directory
2 289 (11.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 131 (5.33%) Hyper-V
4 80 (3.26%) vSphere
5 79 (3.22%) Docker
6 73 (2.97%) VMware ESXi
7 71 (2.89%) Virtual Machines
8 48 (1.95%) Virtual Desktop
9 35 (1.43%) Firmware
10 33 (1.34%) VMware NSX
11 31 (1.26%) BitLocker
12 25 (1.02%) Microsoft App-V
13 21 (0.86%) KVM
14 12 (0.49%) XenApp
14 12 (0.49%) XenDesktop
15 5 (0.20%) etcd
15 5 (0.20%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.16%) Job Entry Subsystem
16 4 (0.16%) NFS
16 4 (0.16%) UAG
Systems Management
1 336 (13.68%) Microsoft Intune
2 270 (10.99%) SCCM
3 159 (6.47%) Ansible
4 150 (6.11%) Terraform
5 118 (4.80%) Kubernetes
6 65 (2.65%) vCenter Server
7 50 (2.04%) Single Sign-On
8 42 (1.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 40 (1.63%) WSUS
10 34 (1.38%) FortiGate
11 33 (1.34%) Jamf Pro
12 26 (1.06%) SCOM
13 25 (1.02%) Grafana
14 22 (0.90%) Prometheus
15 21 (0.86%) Nessus
16 19 (0.77%) Nagios
17 18 (0.73%) Progress Chef
18 16 (0.65%) Nmap
18 16 (0.65%) Puppet
19 13 (0.53%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,059 (43.12%) Microsoft
2 381 (15.51%) VMware
3 201 (8.18%) ServiceNow
4 197 (8.02%) Citrix
5 155 (6.31%) Cisco
6 149 (6.07%) Oracle
7 113 (4.60%) Splunk
8 69 (2.81%) HP
9 60 (2.44%) SolarWinds
10 56 (2.28%) Dell
11 53 (2.16%) Remedy
12 50 (2.04%) Google
13 48 (1.95%) Red Hat
14 44 (1.79%) Apple
14 44 (1.79%) IBM
15 43 (1.75%) CyberArk
16 37 (1.51%) F5
16 37 (1.51%) Juniper
16 37 (1.51%) Veeam
17 29 (1.18%) Palo Alto
837 Windows jobs in England