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

6 months to
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 20 16
Rank change year-on-year -7 -4 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,521 2,077 3,115
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.03% 8.66% 8.48%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.77% 61.67% 61.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,653 1,465 2,158
10th Percentile £163 £181 £163
25th Percentile £218 £249 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £424 £421 £400
Median % change year-on-year +0.65% +5.25% -11.11%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £425 £425 £400
% change year-on-year - +6.25% -11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 217 133 259
10th Percentile £15.86 £14.20 £11.65
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.95 £14.00
Median hourly rate £25.75 £18.82 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year +36.82% +4.56% -23.40%
75th Percentile £60.00 £25.00 £25.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £58.20 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £25.21 £18.87 £18.13
% change year-on-year +33.57% +4.08% -22.85%

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 4,081 3,368 5,053
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.77% 14.04% 13.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,653 2,292 3,427
10th Percentile £188 £200 £185
25th Percentile £313 £313 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £467 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.47% -1.79% -5.94%
75th Percentile £569 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £689 £700
UK median daily rate £459 £465 £470
% change year-on-year -1.29% -1.06% -6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 290 165 369
10th Percentile £15.61 £15.10 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.25 £15.50
Median hourly rate £33.32 £20.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +66.58% -11.11% -47.06%
75th Percentile £65.00 £55.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £72.20 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £22.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year +47.73% -2.22% -47.06%

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 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 4 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 4 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 -22 784 £434 -1.42% 274
South East -7 519 £475 -1.86% 316
North of England -10 475 £365 +4.29% 194
Midlands -15 272 £325 +16.07% 125
North West +2 262 £344 -1.71% 110
South West -14 229 £475 -1.04% 161
East of England 0 222 £348 -9.15% 90
Yorkshire -20 195 £365 -8.75% 63
West Midlands -26 160 £450 +50.00% 73
East Midlands +8 107 £225 +5.88% 52
North East -31 22 £326 +8.75% 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 (8.65%) Microsoft Exchange
2 167 (6.62%) SharePoint
3 56 (2.22%) IIS
4 52 (2.06%) Confluence
5 19 (0.75%) Apache
6 14 (0.56%) nginx
6 14 (0.56%) Skype for Business
6 14 (0.56%) Tomcat
7 12 (0.48%) WebLogic
8 8 (0.32%) Oracle Workflow
9 6 (0.24%) Tuxedo
10 5 (0.20%) Appian
10 5 (0.20%) TPMS
11 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
12 3 (0.12%) Camunda
12 3 (0.12%) NetWeaver
13 2 (0.079%) Apache Pulsar
13 2 (0.079%) CloudStack
13 2 (0.079%) OpenStack
Applications
1 157 (6.23%) Microsoft Office
2 62 (2.46%) Microsoft Excel
3 22 (0.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.32%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
7 4 (0.16%) Acrobat
7 4 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.040%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 46 (1.82%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (0.48%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.44%) Teamcenter
4 5 (0.20%) Finacle
5 3 (0.12%) assyst
5 3 (0.12%) OpenText MBPM
5 3 (0.12%) Oracle BPM
5 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
6 2 (0.079%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.079%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.079%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.040%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle FAH
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.040%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 754 (29.91%) Azure
2 737 (29.23%) Microsoft 365
3 328 (13.01%) Entra ID
4 243 (9.64%) AWS
5 87 (3.45%) OneDrive
6 82 (3.25%) GCP
7 69 (2.74%) SaaS
8 68 (2.70%) Azure DevOps
9 62 (2.46%) IaaS
10 59 (2.34%) GitHub
11 52 (2.06%) PaaS
12 47 (1.86%) Power Platform
13 37 (1.47%) Azure Monitor
14 32 (1.27%) Azure Sentinel
15 31 (1.23%) Google Workspace
16 27 (1.07%) GitHub Actions
17 23 (0.91%) OpenShift
18 18 (0.71%) AWS CloudFormation
19 17 (0.67%) Azure AKS
19 17 (0.67%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 345 (13.69%) DNS
2 264 (10.47%) Firewall
3 244 (9.68%) DHCP
4 172 (6.82%) VPN
5 149 (5.91%) LAN
6 144 (5.71%) TCP/IP
7 143 (5.67%) WAN
8 114 (4.52%) Wi-Fi
9 65 (2.58%) SAN
10 63 (2.50%) Network Security
11 52 (2.06%) VLAN
12 37 (1.47%) BGP
13 36 (1.43%) Skype
13 36 (1.43%) Wireless
14 33 (1.31%) OSPF
15 32 (1.27%) VoIP
16 30 (1.19%) BIG-IP
16 30 (1.19%) SNMP
16 30 (1.19%) SSL
17 29 (1.15%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 206 (8.17%) SQL Server
2 43 (1.71%) Oracle Database
3 32 (1.27%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.19%) Power BI
5 28 (1.11%) MySQL
6 27 (1.07%) PostgreSQL
7 14 (0.56%) DB2
7 14 (0.56%) Elasticsearch
8 13 (0.52%) MongoDB
8 13 (0.52%) NoSQL
9 10 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 8 (0.32%) RDBMS
11 7 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
11 7 (0.28%) GIS
12 6 (0.24%) BigQuery
12 6 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
12 6 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
14 4 (0.16%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 170 (6.74%) JIRA
2 43 (1.71%) Jenkins
3 41 (1.63%) GitLab
4 36 (1.43%) MSI
5 35 (1.39%) Visual Studio
6 34 (1.35%) Git
7 19 (0.75%) Eclipse
8 11 (0.44%) Burp Suite
9 10 (0.40%) Metasploit
10 9 (0.36%) Chocolatey
10 9 (0.36%) Sonatype Nexus
11 8 (0.32%) Android Studio
11 8 (0.32%) Artifactory
11 8 (0.32%) Browser DevTools
11 8 (0.32%) Xcode
12 7 (0.28%) Bitbucket
12 7 (0.28%) Selenium
13 6 (0.24%) InstallShield
13 6 (0.24%) Robot Framework
14 5 (0.20%) AdminStudio
General
1 865 (34.31%) Social Skills
2 270 (10.71%) Finance
3 237 (9.40%) Analytical Skills
4 165 (6.55%) Public Sector
5 149 (5.91%) Banking
6 92 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
7 87 (3.45%) Legal
8 77 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
9 50 (1.98%) Military
10 47 (1.86%) Retail
11 41 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 37 (1.47%) Law
12 37 (1.47%) Manufacturing
13 34 (1.35%) Investment Banking
14 30 (1.19%) Presentation Skills
15 28 (1.11%) Front Office
16 26 (1.03%) Telecoms
17 21 (0.83%) Local Government
18 19 (0.75%) Spanish Language
19 18 (0.71%) French Language
Job Titles
1 334 (13.25%) IT Support
2 327 (12.97%) Support Engineer
3 273 (10.83%) Analyst
4 217 (8.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 209 (8.29%) IT Engineer
6 174 (6.90%) IT Support Engineer
7 168 (6.66%) Senior
8 132 (5.24%) Architect
9 113 (4.48%) Desktop Support
9 113 (4.48%) Support Analyst
10 104 (4.13%) Desktop Engineer
11 97 (3.85%) 2nd Line Support
12 90 (3.57%) Lead
13 89 (3.53%) IT Analyst
14 86 (3.41%) Technical Support
15 82 (3.25%) Developer
16 67 (2.66%) Desktop Support Engineer
17 65 (2.58%) 1st Line Support
17 65 (2.58%) IT Support Analyst
17 65 (2.58%) Windows Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 84 (3.33%) .NET
2 75 (2.98%) REST
3 48 (1.90%) .NET Framework
4 37 (1.47%) LDAP
5 32 (1.27%) Microsoft Graph
6 29 (1.15%) SAML
7 28 (1.11%) 802.1X
8 26 (1.03%) Middleware
8 26 (1.03%) WinForms
9 25 (0.99%) Web Services
10 22 (0.87%) OAuth
11 21 (0.83%) WPF
12 20 (0.79%) Kafka
13 19 (0.75%) Software Packaging
14 17 (0.67%) AngularJS
14 17 (0.67%) CSS
14 17 (0.67%) Elastic Stack
15 16 (0.63%) Node.js
15 16 (0.63%) React
16 14 (0.56%) ADO
Miscellaneous
1 235 (9.32%) Onboarding
2 118 (4.68%) Data Centre
3 112 (4.44%) PKI
4 80 (3.17%) Clustering
5 75 (2.98%) Enterprise Software
6 58 (2.30%) Self-Motivation
7 55 (2.18%) Replication
8 54 (2.14%) Management Information System
9 49 (1.94%) Hybrid Cloud
10 46 (1.82%) Driving Licence
11 45 (1.79%) Security Posture
12 43 (1.71%) Cloud Native
12 43 (1.71%) Virtual Team
13 38 (1.51%) Legacy Systems
14 36 (1.43%) Smartphone
15 33 (1.31%) CMDB
16 31 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
16 31 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
17 30 (1.19%) Enterprise Storage
18 29 (1.15%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 613 (24.32%) Linux
2 603 (23.92%) Windows Server
3 465 (18.45%) Windows 10
4 167 (6.62%) Mac OS
5 130 (5.16%) Apple iOS
6 122 (4.84%) Android
6 122 (4.84%) Unix
7 89 (3.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 65 (2.58%) Windows Server 2019
9 58 (2.30%) Windows Server 2016
10 48 (1.90%) Windows 7
11 37 (1.47%) Windows Server 2012
12 29 (1.15%) AIX
13 26 (1.03%) Ubuntu
14 18 (0.71%) Solaris
14 18 (0.71%) VMS
14 18 (0.71%) Windows Server 2003
15 14 (0.56%) Windows Server 2008
16 12 (0.48%) CentOS
17 8 (0.32%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 533 (21.14%) Problem-Solving
2 387 (15.35%) Customer Service
3 380 (15.07%) ITIL
4 283 (11.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 269 (10.67%) Migration
6 245 (9.72%) Agile
6 245 (9.72%) ITSM
7 235 (9.32%) DevOps
8 217 (8.61%) CI/CD
9 185 (7.34%) Continuous Improvement
10 176 (6.98%) Change Management
11 167 (6.62%) High Availability
11 167 (6.62%) Service Management
12 162 (6.43%) Disaster Recovery
13 138 (5.47%) Stakeholder Management
14 132 (5.24%) SIEM
15 130 (5.16%) Cybersecurity
16 128 (5.08%) Infrastructure as Code
17 116 (4.60%) Computer Science
18 113 (4.48%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 555 (22.02%) PowerShell
2 250 (9.92%) SQL
3 244 (9.68%) Python
4 121 (4.80%) C#
5 101 (4.01%) Bash
6 72 (2.86%) Java
7 68 (2.70%) JavaScript
8 47 (1.86%) PL/SQL
9 45 (1.79%) C++
10 42 (1.67%) T-SQL
11 26 (1.03%) Kusto Query Language
12 25 (0.99%) VB
13 22 (0.87%) Search Processing Language
14 20 (0.79%) Shell Script
15 18 (0.71%) Perl
15 18 (0.71%) VBScript
16 16 (0.63%) Bicep
17 13 (0.52%) C
17 13 (0.52%) VBA
18 8 (0.32%) Go
Qualifications
1 750 (29.75%) Security Cleared
2 473 (18.76%) SC Cleared
3 285 (11.31%) Degree
4 246 (9.76%) DV Cleared
5 100 (3.97%) Microsoft Certification
6 78 (3.09%) Computer Science Degree
7 75 (2.98%) Cisco Certification
8 58 (2.30%) CISSP
9 52 (2.06%) Azure Certification
10 43 (1.71%) MCSE
11 35 (1.39%) AWS Certification
11 35 (1.39%) BPSS Clearance
12 31 (1.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 29 (1.15%) MCSA
14 27 (1.07%) CCNA
14 27 (1.07%) ITIL Certification
15 24 (0.95%) CCNP
15 24 (0.95%) CISM
16 22 (0.87%) CompTIA Security+
17 20 (0.79%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 110 (4.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 96 (3.81%) SLA
3 79 (3.13%) NIST
4 72 (2.86%) GDPR
4 72 (2.86%) QA
5 34 (1.35%) PCI DSS
6 31 (1.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 24 (0.95%) Cyber Essentials
8 12 (0.48%) NCSC
8 12 (0.48%) NIST 800
9 11 (0.44%) Data Quality
9 11 (0.44%) MiFID
10 10 (0.40%) FINRA
10 10 (0.40%) HIPAA
11 9 (0.36%) PMO
12 7 (0.28%) GRC
12 7 (0.28%) SOC 2
13 6 (0.24%) ISO 31000
14 5 (0.20%) DICOM
14 5 (0.20%) GLBA
System Software
1 956 (37.92%) Active Directory
2 322 (12.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 139 (5.51%) Hyper-V
4 94 (3.73%) VMware ESXi
5 92 (3.65%) vSphere
6 86 (3.41%) Virtual Machines
7 83 (3.29%) Docker
8 52 (2.06%) Virtual Desktop
9 48 (1.90%) VMware NSX
10 36 (1.43%) Firmware
11 35 (1.39%) BitLocker
12 26 (1.03%) Microsoft App-V
13 20 (0.79%) KVM
14 11 (0.44%) XenDesktop
15 10 (0.40%) XenApp
16 9 (0.36%) vCloud
17 8 (0.32%) VMware Workstation
18 6 (0.24%) Oracle RAC
18 6 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
19 5 (0.20%) etcd
Systems Management
1 356 (14.12%) Microsoft Intune
2 224 (8.89%) SCCM
3 169 (6.70%) Ansible
4 159 (6.31%) Terraform
5 119 (4.72%) Kubernetes
6 80 (3.17%) vCenter Server
7 44 (1.75%) Single Sign-On
8 39 (1.55%) SCOM
9 38 (1.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 38 (1.51%) Jamf Pro
10 36 (1.43%) FortiGate
11 32 (1.27%) WSUS
12 28 (1.11%) Grafana
13 25 (0.99%) Nagios
13 25 (0.99%) Progress Chef
13 25 (0.99%) Prometheus
14 19 (0.75%) Nessus
15 18 (0.71%) Puppet
15 18 (0.71%) Tivoli
15 18 (0.71%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,094 (43.40%) Microsoft
2 415 (16.46%) VMware
3 231 (9.16%) ServiceNow
4 180 (7.14%) Citrix
5 175 (6.94%) Cisco
6 146 (5.79%) Oracle
7 129 (5.12%) Splunk
8 69 (2.74%) HP
8 69 (2.74%) SolarWinds
9 63 (2.50%) Red Hat
10 58 (2.30%) Dell
10 58 (2.30%) Remedy
11 56 (2.22%) Google
12 52 (2.06%) Apple
13 47 (1.86%) CyberArk
14 46 (1.82%) IBM
15 44 (1.75%) F5
15 44 (1.75%) Juniper
16 37 (1.47%) BeyondTrust
17 34 (1.35%) Palo Alto