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 19 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 19 17
Rank change year-on-year -8 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,558 2,195 3,186
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.93% 8.83% 8.44%
As % of the Operating Systems category 62.09% 61.90% 61.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,669 1,526 2,167
10th Percentile £163 £181 £165
25th Percentile £220 £250 £235
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £425 £425
Median % change year-on-year - - -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 214 154 269
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.47 £11.80
25th Percentile £18.63 £16.95 £14.16
Median hourly rate £25.75 £18.83 £18.13
Median % change year-on-year +36.77% +3.85% -27.48%
75th Percentile £57.50 £24.66 £28.75
90th Percentile £70.48 £62.28 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £25.51 £18.87 £18.27
% change year-on-year +35.16% +3.28% -25.79%

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 4,120 3,546 5,164
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.56% 14.26% 13.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,687 2,395 3,428
10th Percentile £189 £200 £188
25th Percentile £313 £313 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £465 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.18% -2.21% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £651 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £463 £465 £475
% change year-on-year -0.43% -2.21% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 278 186 389
10th Percentile £15.98 £15.12 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.33 £15.76
Median hourly rate £32.50 £18.87 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +72.23% -20.71% -49.09%
75th Percentile £65.00 £41.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.65 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £30.24 £20.64 £24.18
% change year-on-year +46.51% -14.64% -49.09%

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 19 June 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 19 June 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 19 June 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 -23 819 £425 -2.86% 182
South East -8 519 £475 -3.11% 263
North of England -9 465 £365 +3.11% 174
Midlands -12 277 £325 +17.12% 113
South West -12 246 £480 -1.54% 146
North West -6 245 £350 -4.89% 102
East of England -1 215 £338 -10.89% 81
Yorkshire -15 202 £365 -9.32% 51
West Midlands -23 170 £450 +50.00% 49
East Midlands +7 102 £225 +12.50% 64
North East -39 22 £326 +13.48% 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
1 218 (8.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 173 (6.76%) SharePoint
3 57 (2.23%) Confluence
4 54 (2.11%) IIS
5 15 (0.59%) Apache
6 14 (0.55%) Skype for Business
6 14 (0.55%) Tomcat
7 13 (0.51%) nginx
8 9 (0.35%) Oracle Workflow
8 9 (0.35%) WebLogic
9 6 (0.23%) Appian
10 5 (0.20%) TPMS
11 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) Camunda
11 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
12 3 (0.12%) Documentum
12 3 (0.12%) NetWeaver
12 3 (0.12%) Tuxedo
13 2 (0.078%) Oracle HTTP Server
13 2 (0.078%) SAS
Applications
1 161 (6.29%) Microsoft Office
2 65 (2.54%) Microsoft Excel
3 22 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.31%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
7 4 (0.16%) Acrobat
7 4 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.039%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 43 (1.68%) Remedy ITSM
2 11 (0.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.43%) Teamcenter
3 7 (0.27%) Finacle
4 4 (0.16%) OpenText MBPM
4 4 (0.16%) Oracle BPM
5 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
6 2 (0.078%) assyst
6 2 (0.078%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.078%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.078%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.039%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.039%) Oracle FAH
7 1 (0.039%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.039%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.039%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 782 (30.57%) Azure
2 735 (28.73%) Microsoft 365
3 342 (13.37%) Entra ID
4 260 (10.16%) AWS
5 98 (3.83%) OneDrive
6 78 (3.05%) GCP
7 73 (2.85%) Azure DevOps
8 69 (2.70%) SaaS
9 62 (2.42%) IaaS
10 61 (2.38%) GitHub
11 50 (1.95%) PaaS
12 48 (1.88%) Power Platform
13 42 (1.64%) Azure Monitor
14 34 (1.33%) Azure Sentinel
15 28 (1.09%) Google Workspace
16 26 (1.02%) GitHub Actions
17 24 (0.94%) OpenShift
18 19 (0.74%) Azure AKS
18 19 (0.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
19 18 (0.70%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 350 (13.68%) DNS
2 266 (10.40%) Firewall
3 253 (9.89%) DHCP
4 176 (6.88%) VPN
5 152 (5.94%) WAN
6 151 (5.90%) LAN
7 147 (5.75%) TCP/IP
8 120 (4.69%) Wi-Fi
9 70 (2.74%) SAN
10 57 (2.23%) Network Security
11 52 (2.03%) VLAN
12 42 (1.64%) BGP
13 35 (1.37%) SSL
14 34 (1.33%) OSPF
15 33 (1.29%) Internet
15 33 (1.29%) Skype
16 32 (1.25%) SNMP
17 31 (1.21%) Wireless
18 30 (1.17%) BIG-IP
19 29 (1.13%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 215 (8.41%) SQL Server
2 46 (1.80%) Oracle Database
3 32 (1.25%) Power BI
4 26 (1.02%) PostgreSQL
4 26 (1.02%) Relational Database
5 23 (0.90%) MySQL
6 15 (0.59%) Amazon RDS
6 15 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
7 14 (0.55%) Db2
8 13 (0.51%) NoSQL
9 11 (0.43%) MongoDB
10 10 (0.39%) RDBMS
10 10 (0.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 7 (0.27%) GIS
12 6 (0.23%) BigQuery
12 6 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
12 6 (0.23%) Geospatial Data
12 6 (0.23%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.20%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 171 (6.68%) JIRA
2 42 (1.64%) Jenkins
3 41 (1.60%) Git
3 41 (1.60%) MSI
4 39 (1.52%) GitLab
5 38 (1.49%) Visual Studio
6 17 (0.66%) Eclipse
7 10 (0.39%) Burp Suite
8 9 (0.35%) Chocolatey
8 9 (0.35%) Metasploit
9 8 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
10 7 (0.27%) Bitbucket
11 6 (0.23%) Android Studio
11 6 (0.23%) Browser DevTools
11 6 (0.23%) InstallShield
11 6 (0.23%) Xcode
12 5 (0.20%) AdminStudio
12 5 (0.20%) Artifactory
12 5 (0.20%) Robot Framework
12 5 (0.20%) Selenium
General
1 881 (34.44%) Social Skills
2 283 (11.06%) Finance
3 262 (10.24%) Analytical Skills
4 166 (6.49%) Public Sector
5 149 (5.82%) Banking
6 98 (3.83%) Documentation Skills
7 85 (3.32%) Legal
8 75 (2.93%) Organisational Skills
9 52 (2.03%) Retail
10 49 (1.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 47 (1.84%) Military
12 37 (1.45%) Investment Banking
12 37 (1.45%) Manufacturing
13 32 (1.25%) Front Office
14 31 (1.21%) Law
15 30 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
16 26 (1.02%) Telecoms
17 24 (0.94%) Spanish Language
18 22 (0.86%) French Language
19 18 (0.70%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 343 (13.41%) Support Engineer
2 337 (13.17%) IT Support
3 271 (10.59%) Analyst
4 230 (8.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 222 (8.68%) IT Engineer
6 185 (7.23%) IT Support Engineer
7 170 (6.65%) Senior
8 125 (4.89%) Architect
9 107 (4.18%) Desktop Support
10 104 (4.07%) Desktop Engineer
10 104 (4.07%) Support Analyst
11 100 (3.91%) 2nd Line Support
12 92 (3.60%) Developer
13 87 (3.40%) IT Analyst
14 84 (3.28%) Lead
15 83 (3.24%) Technical Support
16 70 (2.74%) Cloud Engineer
17 67 (2.62%) Consultant
18 65 (2.54%) Windows Engineer
19 63 (2.46%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 94 (3.67%) .NET
2 78 (3.05%) REST
3 57 (2.23%) .NET Framework
4 36 (1.41%) LDAP
5 33 (1.29%) Microsoft Graph
6 30 (1.17%) 802.1X
7 29 (1.13%) SAML
8 27 (1.06%) Web Services
9 26 (1.02%) Middleware
9 26 (1.02%) WPF
10 25 (0.98%) WinForms
11 24 (0.94%) OAuth
12 20 (0.78%) CSS
12 20 (0.78%) Elastic Stack
12 20 (0.78%) Software Packaging
13 17 (0.66%) Kafka
14 16 (0.63%) Node.js
15 15 (0.59%) JSON
15 15 (0.59%) SailPoint
16 13 (0.51%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 249 (9.73%) Onboarding
2 128 (5.00%) Data Centre
3 118 (4.61%) PKI
4 75 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
5 71 (2.78%) Clustering
6 64 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
7 60 (2.35%) Management Information System
8 54 (2.11%) Cloud Native
9 50 (1.95%) Replication
9 50 (1.95%) Security Posture
10 49 (1.92%) Hybrid Cloud
11 45 (1.76%) Virtual Team
12 44 (1.72%) Driving Licence
12 44 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
13 33 (1.29%) CMDB
14 32 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
15 30 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
15 30 (1.17%) Product Ownership
16 29 (1.13%) Smartphone
17 27 (1.06%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 622 (24.32%) Linux
2 611 (23.89%) Windows Server
3 447 (17.47%) Windows 10
4 163 (6.37%) Mac OS
5 128 (5.00%) Apple iOS
6 121 (4.73%) Unix
7 120 (4.69%) Android
8 87 (3.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 64 (2.50%) Windows Server 2019
10 52 (2.03%) Windows Server 2016
11 46 (1.80%) Windows 7
12 37 (1.45%) Windows Server 2012
13 29 (1.13%) AIX
14 28 (1.09%) Ubuntu
15 18 (0.70%) Solaris
16 17 (0.66%) VMS
16 17 (0.66%) Windows Server 2003
17 13 (0.51%) CentOS
17 13 (0.51%) Windows Server 2008
18 9 (0.35%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 556 (21.74%) Problem-Solving
2 395 (15.44%) ITIL
3 381 (14.89%) Customer Service
4 298 (11.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 281 (10.99%) Migration
6 262 (10.24%) ITSM
7 242 (9.46%) Agile
7 242 (9.46%) DevOps
8 227 (8.87%) CI/CD
9 201 (7.86%) Continuous Improvement
10 181 (7.08%) Change Management
11 178 (6.96%) Service Management
12 171 (6.68%) High Availability
13 149 (5.82%) Disaster Recovery
13 149 (5.82%) Infrastructure as Code
14 138 (5.39%) Stakeholder Management
15 135 (5.28%) Cybersecurity
16 130 (5.08%) SIEM
17 128 (5.00%) Runbook
18 120 (4.69%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 553 (21.62%) PowerShell
2 253 (9.89%) SQL
3 249 (9.73%) Python
4 127 (4.96%) C#
5 98 (3.83%) Bash
6 65 (2.54%) JavaScript
7 63 (2.46%) Java
8 48 (1.88%) PL/SQL
9 47 (1.84%) C++
10 42 (1.64%) T-SQL
11 24 (0.94%) Kusto Query Language
11 24 (0.94%) VB
12 22 (0.86%) Search Processing Language
13 20 (0.78%) Bicep
14 19 (0.74%) Shell Script
14 19 (0.74%) VBScript
15 17 (0.66%) Perl
16 13 (0.51%) C
16 13 (0.51%) TypeScript
17 12 (0.47%) VBA
Qualifications
1 755 (29.52%) Security Cleared
2 477 (18.65%) SC Cleared
3 299 (11.69%) Degree
4 245 (9.58%) DV Cleared
5 106 (4.14%) Microsoft Certification
6 75 (2.93%) Cisco Certification
7 73 (2.85%) Computer Science Degree
8 60 (2.35%) CISSP
9 54 (2.11%) Azure Certification
10 42 (1.64%) AWS Certification
10 42 (1.64%) MCSE
11 37 (1.45%) BPSS Clearance
12 28 (1.09%) CCNA
12 28 (1.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 27 (1.06%) MCSA
14 25 (0.98%) CISM
14 25 (0.98%) ITIL Certification
15 24 (0.94%) CCNP
16 22 (0.86%) CompTIA Security+
17 20 (0.78%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 119 (4.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 100 (3.91%) SLA
3 86 (3.36%) NIST
4 70 (2.74%) QA
5 65 (2.54%) GDPR
6 37 (1.45%) PCI DSS
7 32 (1.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 25 (0.98%) Cyber Essentials
9 16 (0.63%) NCSC
10 11 (0.43%) Data Quality
10 11 (0.43%) HIPAA
11 10 (0.39%) FINRA
11 10 (0.39%) MiFID
11 10 (0.39%) NIST 800
12 8 (0.31%) GRC
12 8 (0.31%) PMO
12 8 (0.31%) SOC 2
13 7 (0.27%) Accessibility
14 6 (0.23%) ISO 31000
14 6 (0.23%) WCAG
System Software
1 973 (38.04%) Active Directory
2 321 (12.55%) VMware Infrastructure
3 135 (5.28%) Hyper-V
4 103 (4.03%) VMware ESXi
5 92 (3.60%) vSphere
6 87 (3.40%) Virtual Machines
7 86 (3.36%) Docker
8 58 (2.27%) Virtual Desktop
9 50 (1.95%) VMware NSX
10 38 (1.49%) BitLocker
11 37 (1.45%) Firmware
12 28 (1.09%) Microsoft App-V
13 19 (0.74%) KVM
14 11 (0.43%) vCloud
14 11 (0.43%) XenDesktop
15 10 (0.39%) XenApp
16 8 (0.31%) VMware Workstation
17 6 (0.23%) Oracle RAC
17 6 (0.23%) Terminal Services
17 6 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 361 (14.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 226 (8.84%) SCCM
3 171 (6.68%) Terraform
4 169 (6.61%) Ansible
5 121 (4.73%) Kubernetes
6 84 (3.28%) vCenter Server
7 50 (1.95%) Single Sign-On
8 42 (1.64%) FortiGate
9 40 (1.56%) Jamf Pro
9 40 (1.56%) SCOM
10 35 (1.37%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 35 (1.37%) WSUS
11 30 (1.17%) Progress Chef
12 26 (1.02%) Puppet
13 25 (0.98%) Prometheus
14 24 (0.94%) Grafana
15 22 (0.86%) Nagios
16 20 (0.78%) Nessus
17 19 (0.74%) WMI
17 19 (0.74%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,106 (43.24%) Microsoft
2 416 (16.26%) VMware
3 232 (9.07%) ServiceNow
4 183 (7.15%) Citrix
5 176 (6.88%) Cisco
6 150 (5.86%) Oracle
7 122 (4.77%) Splunk
8 73 (2.85%) SolarWinds
9 67 (2.62%) HP
10 60 (2.35%) Red Hat
11 57 (2.23%) Apple
12 56 (2.19%) Google
13 55 (2.15%) Remedy
14 54 (2.11%) CyberArk
14 54 (2.11%) Dell
15 46 (1.80%) F5
15 46 (1.80%) IBM
15 46 (1.80%) Juniper
16 44 (1.72%) BeyondTrust
17 34 (1.33%) Palo Alto