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

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 16
Rank change year-on-year -5 -6 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,538 2,080 3,343
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.55% 8.54% 8.90%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.89% 60.75% 64.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,710 1,493 2,281
10th Percentile £160 £182 £156
25th Percentile £205 £243 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £410 £425 £395
Median % change year-on-year -3.65% +7.59% -11.24%
75th Percentile £544 £575 £575
90th Percentile £639 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £408 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -3.94% +6.25% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 215 94 273
10th Percentile £13.79 £15.22 £12.08
25th Percentile £16.62 £16.95 £14.16
Median hourly rate £22.00 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +16.90% +6.21% -19.45%
75th Percentile £60.00 £28.31 £23.88
90th Percentile £71.43 £65.00 £60.00
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £21.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year +4.76% +18.51% -20.20%

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 4,168 3,424 5,208
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.76% 14.05% 13.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,766 2,358 3,534
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 £565 £600 £588
90th Percentile £663 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £463
% change year-on-year -5.26% +2.70% -9.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 296 140 374
10th Percentile £14.50 £16.25 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.78 £18.13 £15.50
Median hourly rate £25.04 £28.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.58% +27.27% -24.91%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £56.56
90th Percentile £74.26 £69.00 £68.71
UK median hourly rate £25.08 £24.66 £22.00
% change year-on-year +1.68% +12.09% -32.31%

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 5 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 5 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 5 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 -21 778 £425 -5.56% 231
South East -4 515 £465 -2.11% 277
North of England -9 482 £300 -11.76% 201
Midlands -15 282 £320 +6.67% 130
North West -4 264 £260 -25.71% 130
South West -8 246 £450 -16.28% 129
East of England +6 217 £285 +26.67% 97
Yorkshire -12 193 £363 +7.41% 58
West Midlands -25 169 £438 +34.62% 76
East Midlands 0 109 £200 -5.88% 54
North East -11 28 £188 -14.77% 17
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 (8.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 166 (6.54%) SharePoint
3 51 (2.01%) Confluence
4 47 (1.85%) IIS
5 21 (0.83%) Apache
5 21 (0.83%) WebLogic
6 12 (0.47%) Skype for Business
7 11 (0.43%) Tuxedo
8 9 (0.35%) TPMS
9 8 (0.32%) Tomcat
10 7 (0.28%) nginx
11 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) OpenStack
11 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
11 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
12 3 (0.12%) SAS
13 2 (0.079%) ArcGIS
13 2 (0.079%) IBM HTTP Server
13 2 (0.079%) NetWeaver
13 2 (0.079%) Oracle HTTP Server
Applications
1 192 (7.57%) Microsoft Office
2 68 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.43%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.20%) Acrobat
6 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.039%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.039%) InDesign
8 1 (0.039%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 36 (1.42%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.39%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.28%) Teamcenter
4 5 (0.20%) assyst
5 4 (0.16%) Oracle 11i
6 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
7 2 (0.079%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.079%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 2 (0.079%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.079%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.079%) SystmOne
8 1 (0.039%) Aladdin
8 1 (0.039%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.039%) Eikon
8 1 (0.039%) Fidessa
8 1 (0.039%) Finacle
8 1 (0.039%) Oracle FAH
8 1 (0.039%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.039%) Oracle Receivables
8 1 (0.039%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 730 (28.76%) Microsoft 365
2 670 (26.40%) Azure
3 293 (11.54%) Entra ID
4 186 (7.33%) AWS
5 81 (3.19%) OneDrive
6 66 (2.60%) SaaS
7 64 (2.52%) GCP
8 61 (2.40%) Azure DevOps
9 50 (1.97%) Google Workspace
10 47 (1.85%) IaaS
11 41 (1.62%) GitHub
12 40 (1.58%) PaaS
13 39 (1.54%) Power Platform
14 34 (1.34%) Azure Monitor
15 25 (0.99%) Azure Sentinel
16 21 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
17 20 (0.79%) AWS CloudFormation
18 19 (0.75%) OpenShift
19 18 (0.71%) Nutanix
20 17 (0.67%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 337 (13.28%) DNS
2 307 (12.10%) Firewall
3 227 (8.94%) DHCP
4 178 (7.01%) VPN
5 157 (6.19%) TCP/IP
6 151 (5.95%) LAN
7 146 (5.75%) WAN
8 131 (5.16%) Wi-Fi
9 76 (2.99%) Network Security
10 64 (2.52%) VLAN
11 53 (2.09%) Wireless
12 48 (1.89%) SAN
13 39 (1.54%) BGP
14 31 (1.22%) SSL
15 30 (1.18%) OSPF
15 30 (1.18%) Skype
16 29 (1.14%) VoIP
17 28 (1.10%) SNMP
18 27 (1.06%) BIG-IP
18 27 (1.06%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 157 (6.19%) SQL Server
2 44 (1.73%) Oracle Database
3 37 (1.46%) Relational Database
4 34 (1.34%) MySQL
5 23 (0.91%) PostgreSQL
6 18 (0.71%) Power BI
7 14 (0.55%) DB2
8 13 (0.51%) BigQuery
9 12 (0.47%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (0.47%) MongoDB
10 11 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
11 9 (0.35%) NoSQL
12 7 (0.28%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 6 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
13 6 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
13 6 (0.24%) GIS
13 6 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 5 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.16%) Oracle Database 10g
15 4 (0.16%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 161 (6.34%) JIRA
2 53 (2.09%) GitLab
3 49 (1.93%) Jenkins
4 43 (1.69%) Git
5 41 (1.62%) MSI
6 34 (1.34%) Visual Studio
7 23 (0.91%) Eclipse
8 17 (0.67%) Burp Suite
8 17 (0.67%) Metasploit
9 13 (0.51%) Android Studio
9 13 (0.51%) Artifactory
10 11 (0.43%) Browser DevTools
10 11 (0.43%) Chocolatey
10 11 (0.43%) Xcode
11 9 (0.35%) Bitbucket
12 8 (0.32%) InstallShield
12 8 (0.32%) JUnit
12 8 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
13 7 (0.28%) Robot Framework
13 7 (0.28%) Selenium
General
1 898 (35.38%) Social Skills
2 237 (9.34%) Finance
3 212 (8.35%) Analytical Skills
4 198 (7.80%) Public Sector
5 142 (5.59%) Banking
6 103 (4.06%) Legal
7 99 (3.90%) Documentation Skills
8 83 (3.27%) Organisational Skills
9 56 (2.21%) Military
10 41 (1.62%) Presentation Skills
11 39 (1.54%) Manufacturing
12 37 (1.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 37 (1.46%) Retail
13 29 (1.14%) Law
13 29 (1.14%) Telecoms
14 26 (1.02%) Investment Banking
15 23 (0.91%) Front Office
16 20 (0.79%) Local Government
17 16 (0.63%) Aerospace
18 13 (0.51%) Police
Job Titles
1 360 (14.18%) IT Support
2 339 (13.36%) Support Engineer
3 324 (12.77%) Analyst
4 217 (8.55%) IT Engineer
5 182 (7.17%) IT Support Engineer
6 165 (6.50%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 163 (6.42%) Architect
8 159 (6.26%) Senior
9 136 (5.36%) Support Analyst
10 106 (4.18%) Desktop Support
10 106 (4.18%) Developer
10 106 (4.18%) Technical Support
11 97 (3.82%) 2nd Line Support
11 97 (3.82%) Desktop Engineer
12 93 (3.66%) IT Analyst
13 84 (3.31%) Windows Engineer
14 78 (3.07%) Lead
15 75 (2.96%) IT Support Analyst
16 69 (2.72%) 1st Line Support
16 69 (2.72%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 83 (3.27%) .NET
2 66 (2.60%) REST
3 51 (2.01%) .NET Framework
4 48 (1.89%) SAML
5 41 (1.62%) OAuth
6 40 (1.58%) LDAP
7 38 (1.50%) Middleware
8 30 (1.18%) WPF
9 28 (1.10%) WinForms
10 27 (1.06%) Web Services
11 26 (1.02%) Kafka
12 25 (0.99%) OpenID
13 24 (0.95%) 802.1X
13 24 (0.95%) Microsoft Graph
14 23 (0.91%) CSS
14 23 (0.91%) React
15 21 (0.83%) AngularJS
15 21 (0.83%) Node.js
16 19 (0.75%) Apache NiFi
16 19 (0.75%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 183 (7.21%) Onboarding
2 105 (4.14%) Data Centre
3 99 (3.90%) PKI
4 76 (2.99%) Enterprise Software
5 65 (2.56%) Driving Licence
6 64 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
7 62 (2.44%) Clustering
8 59 (2.32%) Replication
9 44 (1.73%) Hybrid Cloud
10 42 (1.65%) Management Information System
10 42 (1.65%) Smartphone
11 40 (1.58%) Product Ownership
12 38 (1.50%) Legacy Systems
13 37 (1.46%) Security Posture
14 32 (1.26%) CMDB
15 31 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
16 30 (1.18%) NHS
17 27 (1.06%) Cloud Native
18 25 (0.99%) Analytical Mindset
19 24 (0.95%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 610 (24.03%) Linux
2 564 (22.22%) Windows Server
3 528 (20.80%) Windows 10
4 139 (5.48%) Android
5 138 (5.44%) Mac OS
6 119 (4.69%) Unix
7 113 (4.45%) Apple iOS
8 73 (2.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 58 (2.29%) Windows Server 2016
10 46 (1.81%) Windows 7
11 45 (1.77%) Windows Server 2019
12 39 (1.54%) AIX
13 38 (1.50%) Windows Server 2012
14 28 (1.10%) Windows Server 2003
15 18 (0.71%) Ubuntu
15 18 (0.71%) VMS
16 14 (0.55%) Solaris
17 11 (0.43%) Windows Server 2008
18 9 (0.35%) CentOS
18 9 (0.35%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 519 (20.45%) Problem-Solving
2 444 (17.49%) Customer Service
3 372 (14.66%) ITIL
4 268 (10.56%) Agile
5 265 (10.44%) Migration
6 243 (9.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 226 (8.90%) DevOps
8 214 (8.43%) ITSM
9 201 (7.92%) CI/CD
10 183 (7.21%) Service Management
11 182 (7.17%) Continuous Improvement
12 168 (6.62%) Cybersecurity
13 165 (6.50%) Change Management
14 153 (6.03%) Disaster Recovery
15 134 (5.28%) High Availability
16 128 (5.04%) Stakeholder Management
17 117 (4.61%) User Experience
18 109 (4.29%) Identity Access Management
18 109 (4.29%) Infrastructure as Code
19 105 (4.14%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 543 (21.39%) PowerShell
2 247 (9.73%) Python
3 237 (9.34%) SQL
4 124 (4.89%) C#
5 109 (4.29%) Bash
6 81 (3.19%) Java
7 75 (2.96%) JavaScript
8 54 (2.13%) PL/SQL
9 49 (1.93%) C++
10 46 (1.81%) Perl
11 42 (1.65%) T-SQL
12 29 (1.14%) Kusto Query Language
13 24 (0.95%) VB
14 19 (0.75%) VBScript
15 17 (0.67%) Shell Script
16 15 (0.59%) Search Processing Language
16 15 (0.59%) VBA
17 13 (0.51%) Bicep
17 13 (0.51%) TypeScript
18 11 (0.43%) Go
Qualifications
1 801 (31.56%) Security Cleared
2 530 (20.88%) SC Cleared
3 254 (10.01%) Degree
4 237 (9.34%) DV Cleared
5 117 (4.61%) Microsoft Certification
6 72 (2.84%) Computer Science Degree
7 61 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
8 46 (1.81%) Azure Certification
9 41 (1.62%) MCSE
10 34 (1.34%) CISSP
11 32 (1.26%) ITIL Certification
12 30 (1.18%) CCNA
13 28 (1.10%) AWS Certification
13 28 (1.10%) BPSS Clearance
14 22 (0.87%) CCNP
14 22 (0.87%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 20 (0.79%) A+ Certification
15 20 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
15 20 (0.79%) MCSA
16 18 (0.71%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (3.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 87 (3.43%) GDPR
3 85 (3.35%) QA
4 81 (3.19%) SLA
5 56 (2.21%) NIST
6 42 (1.65%) PCI DSS
7 25 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 17 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
9 12 (0.47%) MiFID
10 11 (0.43%) NCSC
10 11 (0.43%) NIST 800
10 11 (0.43%) PMO
11 10 (0.39%) FINRA
12 9 (0.35%) Data Quality
12 9 (0.35%) GLBA
13 5 (0.20%) DICOM
13 5 (0.20%) HL7
14 4 (0.16%) GxP
14 4 (0.16%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.16%) SOC 2
System Software
1 954 (37.59%) Active Directory
2 274 (10.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 113 (4.45%) Hyper-V
4 91 (3.59%) Docker
5 75 (2.96%) vSphere
6 62 (2.44%) VMware ESXi
7 57 (2.25%) Virtual Machines
8 47 (1.85%) Virtual Desktop
9 34 (1.34%) VMware NSX
10 30 (1.18%) BitLocker
10 30 (1.18%) Firmware
11 24 (0.95%) Microsoft App-V
12 17 (0.67%) KVM
13 9 (0.35%) XenDesktop
14 8 (0.32%) XenApp
15 6 (0.24%) NFS
16 5 (0.20%) etcd
16 5 (0.20%) Terminal Services
16 5 (0.20%) Virtual Servers
17 4 (0.16%) Snort
Systems Management
1 356 (14.03%) Microsoft Intune
2 281 (11.07%) SCCM
3 151 (5.95%) Terraform
4 150 (5.91%) Ansible
5 118 (4.65%) Kubernetes
6 68 (2.68%) Single Sign-On
7 61 (2.40%) vCenter Server
8 59 (2.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 40 (1.58%) Jamf Pro
10 32 (1.26%) FortiGate
11 29 (1.14%) WSUS
12 25 (0.99%) SCOM
13 24 (0.95%) Grafana
14 21 (0.83%) Prometheus
15 19 (0.75%) Nagios
16 18 (0.71%) Nessus
16 18 (0.71%) Progress Chef
17 17 (0.67%) Puppet
18 16 (0.63%) Nmap
19 15 (0.59%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,098 (43.26%) Microsoft
2 373 (14.70%) VMware
3 225 (8.87%) ServiceNow
4 200 (7.88%) Citrix
5 153 (6.03%) Oracle
6 152 (5.99%) Cisco
7 115 (4.53%) Splunk
8 72 (2.84%) HP
9 61 (2.40%) SolarWinds
10 60 (2.36%) Red Hat
11 59 (2.32%) Dell
12 55 (2.17%) Google
13 50 (1.97%) IBM
13 50 (1.97%) Remedy
14 47 (1.85%) Apple
15 40 (1.58%) Juniper
16 38 (1.50%) CyberArk
16 38 (1.50%) Veeam
17 35 (1.38%) F5
18 28 (1.10%) Palo Alto