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

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 21 17
Rank change year-on-year -6 -4 -3
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,469 2,079 3,263
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.24% 8.48% 8.81%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.04% 60.65% 64.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,665 1,484 2,261
10th Percentile £160 £180 £158
25th Percentile £212 £240 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £415 £421 £400
Median % change year-on-year -1.31% +5.13% -11.11%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £415 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -2.35% +6.25% -11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 199 100 268
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.21 £11.80
25th Percentile £17.69 £16.95 £14.00
Median hourly rate £22.81 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +21.20% +6.21% -20.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £28.00 £24.16
90th Percentile £74.26 £65.00 £60.00
UK median hourly rate £22.81 £20.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year +14.05% +12.87% -21.24%

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 4,045 3,428 5,073
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.23% 13.98% 13.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,683 2,348 3,468
10th Percentile £185 £200 £180
25th Percentile £306 £313 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £455
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +4.40% -12.08%
75th Percentile £573 £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 280 146 370
10th Percentile £15.45 £16.25 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.46 £18.11 £14.72
Median hourly rate £34.57 £24.83 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.21% +12.86% -35.29%
75th Percentile £67.84 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.71 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £31.00 £24.66 £22.00
% change year-on-year +25.71% +12.09% -37.19%

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 21 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 21 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 21 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 -23 766 £425 -3.41% 187
South East -7 500 £467 -6.60% 266
North of England -10 468 £308 -5.15% 195
Midlands -13 279 £325 +19.82% 124
North West -2 255 £230 -34.29% 115
South West -13 227 £466 -13.35% 123
East of England +6 210 £350 +55.56% 101
Yorkshire -19 192 £365 +12.31% 59
West Midlands -22 163 £460 +65.77% 62
East Midlands +5 112 £210 +1.82% 62
North East -13 27 £225 +2.27% 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
1 217 (8.79%) Microsoft Exchange
2 144 (5.83%) SharePoint
3 47 (1.90%) IIS
4 46 (1.86%) Confluence
5 21 (0.85%) WebLogic
6 16 (0.65%) Apache
7 12 (0.49%) Skype for Business
8 11 (0.45%) Tuxedo
9 8 (0.32%) nginx
9 8 (0.32%) Tomcat
9 8 (0.32%) 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%) WordPress
Applications
1 181 (7.33%) Microsoft Office
2 65 (2.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.45%) 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 (0.041%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.041%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 38 (1.54%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.41%) 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 (0.081%) Finacle
6 2 (0.081%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.081%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.081%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 2 (0.081%) SAP FI
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
7 1 (0.041%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 698 (28.27%) Microsoft 365
2 676 (27.38%) Azure
3 291 (11.79%) Entra ID
4 203 (8.22%) AWS
5 69 (2.79%) GCP
6 67 (2.71%) SaaS
7 66 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
8 59 (2.39%) OneDrive
9 54 (2.19%) IaaS
10 48 (1.94%) Google Workspace
11 46 (1.86%) PaaS
12 45 (1.82%) GitHub
13 36 (1.46%) Power Platform
14 34 (1.38%) Azure Monitor
15 26 (1.05%) Azure Sentinel
16 21 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
16 21 (0.85%) OpenShift
17 18 (0.73%) AWS CloudFormation
18 17 (0.69%) Microsoft Purview
19 16 (0.65%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 340 (13.77%) DNS
2 295 (11.95%) Firewall
3 238 (9.64%) DHCP
4 173 (7.01%) VPN
5 151 (6.12%) LAN
6 150 (6.08%) TCP/IP
7 149 (6.03%) WAN
8 123 (4.98%) Wi-Fi
9 75 (3.04%) Network Security
10 69 (2.79%) VLAN
11 52 (2.11%) SAN
12 49 (1.98%) Wireless
13 42 (1.70%) BGP
14 33 (1.34%) OSPF
15 31 (1.26%) Skype
15 31 (1.26%) VoIP
16 30 (1.22%) SSL
17 29 (1.17%) Internet
18 28 (1.13%) BIG-IP
19 27 (1.09%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 168 (6.80%) SQL Server
2 41 (1.66%) Oracle Database
3 32 (1.30%) Relational Database
4 27 (1.09%) MySQL
5 23 (0.93%) PostgreSQL
6 19 (0.77%) Power BI
7 14 (0.57%) DB2
8 13 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (0.49%) MongoDB
10 10 (0.41%) NoSQL
11 8 (0.32%) BigQuery
11 8 (0.32%) Oracle Reports
12 7 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 5 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
13 5 (0.20%) GIS
13 5 (0.20%) RDBMS
13 5 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 4 (0.16%) Amazon RDS
14 4 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
15 3 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 162 (6.56%) JIRA
2 49 (1.98%) GitLab
3 43 (1.74%) Jenkins
3 43 (1.74%) MSI
4 40 (1.62%) Git
5 34 (1.38%) Visual Studio
6 20 (0.81%) Eclipse
7 18 (0.73%) Burp Suite
8 17 (0.69%) Metasploit
9 11 (0.45%) Chocolatey
10 10 (0.41%) Android Studio
10 10 (0.41%) Artifactory
10 10 (0.41%) Bitbucket
11 9 (0.36%) InstallShield
12 8 (0.32%) Browser DevTools
12 8 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
12 8 (0.32%) Xcode
13 7 (0.28%) JUnit
14 6 (0.24%) AdminStudio
14 6 (0.24%) Toad
General
1 861 (34.87%) Social Skills
2 245 (9.92%) Finance
3 213 (8.63%) Analytical Skills
4 199 (8.06%) Public Sector
5 145 (5.87%) Banking
6 101 (4.09%) Legal
7 98 (3.97%) Documentation Skills
8 78 (3.16%) Organisational Skills
9 60 (2.43%) Military
10 36 (1.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 35 (1.42%) Presentation Skills
11 35 (1.42%) Retail
12 33 (1.34%) Manufacturing
13 32 (1.30%) Law
14 29 (1.17%) Investment Banking
14 29 (1.17%) Telecoms
15 26 (1.05%) Front Office
16 20 (0.81%) Local Government
17 16 (0.65%) Police
18 14 (0.57%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 340 (13.77%) IT Support
2 315 (12.76%) Support Engineer
3 299 (12.11%) Analyst
4 211 (8.55%) IT Engineer
5 183 (7.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 172 (6.97%) IT Support Engineer
7 160 (6.48%) Senior
8 155 (6.28%) Architect
9 120 (4.86%) Support Analyst
10 102 (4.13%) Developer
11 99 (4.01%) Desktop Support
12 92 (3.73%) IT Analyst
12 92 (3.73%) Technical Support
13 90 (3.65%) Desktop Engineer
14 85 (3.44%) 2nd Line Support
15 84 (3.40%) Windows Engineer
16 79 (3.20%) Lead
17 72 (2.92%) IT Support Analyst
18 64 (2.59%) 1st Line Support
19 61 (2.47%) Service Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 84 (3.40%) .NET
2 67 (2.71%) REST
3 52 (2.11%) .NET Framework
4 38 (1.54%) SAML
5 34 (1.38%) LDAP
6 33 (1.34%) Middleware
7 31 (1.26%) OAuth
8 28 (1.13%) WinForms
8 28 (1.13%) WPF
9 26 (1.05%) Kafka
9 26 (1.05%) Microsoft Graph
10 25 (1.01%) 802.1X
10 25 (1.01%) Web Services
11 20 (0.81%) Node.js
12 18 (0.73%) CSS
12 18 (0.73%) OpenID
12 18 (0.73%) React
13 16 (0.65%) AngularJS
13 16 (0.65%) XML
14 15 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 189 (7.65%) Onboarding
2 105 (4.25%) Data Centre
3 93 (3.77%) PKI
4 82 (3.32%) Enterprise Software
5 65 (2.63%) Clustering
6 64 (2.59%) Self-Motivation
7 61 (2.47%) Driving Licence
8 54 (2.19%) Replication
9 43 (1.74%) Hybrid Cloud
10 40 (1.62%) Product Ownership
11 38 (1.54%) Legacy Systems
11 38 (1.54%) Management Information System
11 38 (1.54%) Smartphone
12 37 (1.50%) Security Posture
13 29 (1.17%) Virtual Team
14 28 (1.13%) Analytical Mindset
14 28 (1.13%) Cloud Native
14 28 (1.13%) CMDB
15 26 (1.05%) Data Protection Act
16 23 (0.93%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 605 (24.50%) Linux
2 577 (23.37%) Windows Server
3 499 (20.21%) Windows 10
4 149 (6.03%) Mac OS
5 139 (5.63%) Android
6 119 (4.82%) Apple iOS
7 115 (4.66%) Unix
8 75 (3.04%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 64 (2.59%) Windows Server 2016
10 51 (2.07%) Windows Server 2019
11 46 (1.86%) Windows 7
12 38 (1.54%) Windows Server 2012
13 33 (1.34%) AIX
14 22 (0.89%) Windows Server 2003
15 19 (0.77%) Ubuntu
15 19 (0.77%) VMS
16 11 (0.45%) Windows Server 2008
17 10 (0.41%) Mac OS X
17 10 (0.41%) Solaris
18 8 (0.32%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 514 (20.82%) Problem-Solving
2 420 (17.01%) Customer Service
3 363 (14.70%) ITIL
4 267 (10.81%) Migration
5 256 (10.37%) Agile
5 256 (10.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 220 (8.91%) DevOps
7 212 (8.59%) ITSM
8 202 (8.18%) CI/CD
9 175 (7.09%) Continuous Improvement
10 169 (6.84%) Service Management
11 160 (6.48%) Change Management
11 160 (6.48%) Cybersecurity
12 155 (6.28%) Disaster Recovery
13 134 (5.43%) High Availability
14 116 (4.70%) Stakeholder Management
15 111 (4.50%) Infrastructure as Code
16 110 (4.46%) SIEM
17 102 (4.13%) Identity Access Management
17 102 (4.13%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 532 (21.55%) PowerShell
2 239 (9.68%) SQL
3 237 (9.60%) Python
4 126 (5.10%) C#
5 99 (4.01%) Bash
6 74 (3.00%) Java
7 69 (2.79%) JavaScript
8 54 (2.19%) PL/SQL
9 46 (1.86%) C++
10 43 (1.74%) T-SQL
11 34 (1.38%) Perl
12 28 (1.13%) Kusto Query Language
13 24 (0.97%) VB
14 18 (0.73%) Shell Script
14 18 (0.73%) VBScript
15 16 (0.65%) Search Processing Language
16 15 (0.61%) VBA
17 12 (0.49%) Go
17 12 (0.49%) TypeScript
18 11 (0.45%) C
Qualifications
1 773 (31.31%) Security Cleared
2 511 (20.70%) SC Cleared
3 253 (10.25%) Degree
4 232 (9.40%) DV Cleared
5 107 (4.33%) Microsoft Certification
6 69 (2.79%) Computer Science Degree
7 64 (2.59%) Cisco Certification
8 44 (1.78%) Azure Certification
9 39 (1.58%) MCSE
10 33 (1.34%) CCNA
10 33 (1.34%) CISSP
11 32 (1.30%) BPSS Clearance
12 29 (1.17%) AWS Certification
12 29 (1.17%) ITIL Certification
13 23 (0.93%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 22 (0.89%) MCSA
15 21 (0.85%) CCNP
16 20 (0.81%) A+ Certification
16 20 (0.81%) CompTIA Security+
17 17 (0.69%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (3.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 82 (3.32%) GDPR
2 82 (3.32%) QA
3 73 (2.96%) SLA
4 61 (2.47%) NIST
5 39 (1.58%) PCI DSS
6 27 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 18 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials
8 13 (0.53%) NCSC
9 12 (0.49%) NIST 800
10 11 (0.45%) MiFID
10 11 (0.45%) PMO
11 10 (0.41%) FINRA
12 9 (0.36%) Data Quality
13 8 (0.32%) GLBA
14 6 (0.24%) DICOM
14 6 (0.24%) HL7
15 5 (0.20%) HIPAA
16 4 (0.16%) GMP
16 4 (0.16%) GxP
System Software
1 941 (38.11%) Active Directory
2 288 (11.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 128 (5.18%) Hyper-V
4 80 (3.24%) Docker
5 73 (2.96%) vSphere
6 66 (2.67%) VMware ESXi
7 56 (2.27%) Virtual Machines
8 49 (1.98%) Virtual Desktop
9 35 (1.42%) VMware NSX
10 34 (1.38%) Firmware
11 30 (1.22%) BitLocker
12 25 (1.01%) Microsoft App-V
13 20 (0.81%) KVM
14 12 (0.49%) XenApp
14 12 (0.49%) XenDesktop
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 (13.93%) Microsoft Intune
2 275 (11.14%) SCCM
3 154 (6.24%) Ansible
4 146 (5.91%) Terraform
5 116 (4.70%) Kubernetes
6 62 (2.51%) vCenter Server
7 57 (2.31%) Single Sign-On
8 52 (2.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 38 (1.54%) Jamf Pro
10 35 (1.42%) WSUS
11 33 (1.34%) FortiGate
12 26 (1.05%) Grafana
13 25 (1.01%) SCOM
14 23 (0.93%) Prometheus
15 20 (0.81%) Nessus
16 19 (0.77%) Nagios
17 18 (0.73%) Progress Chef
18 16 (0.65%) Nmap
18 16 (0.65%) Puppet
19 14 (0.57%) Packer
Vendors
1 1,065 (43.13%) Microsoft
2 381 (15.43%) VMware
3 211 (8.55%) ServiceNow
4 207 (8.38%) Citrix
5 152 (6.16%) Cisco
6 149 (6.03%) Oracle
7 114 (4.62%) Splunk
8 69 (2.79%) HP
9 61 (2.47%) SolarWinds
10 60 (2.43%) Red Hat
11 57 (2.31%) Dell
12 54 (2.19%) Google
13 53 (2.15%) Remedy
14 47 (1.90%) Apple
15 45 (1.82%) IBM
16 44 (1.78%) CyberArk
17 37 (1.50%) Juniper
17 37 (1.50%) Veeam
18 36 (1.46%) F5
19 28 (1.13%) Palo Alto