Windows Contracts in England

Microsoft Windows
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring Windows skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Windows over the 6 months leading up to 3 July 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 21 16 14
Rank change year-on-year -5 -2 +2
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,229 3,208 4,800
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 8.54% 8.58% 10.14%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.27% 61.63% 63.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,521 2,169 3,384
10th Percentile £181 £170 £170
25th Percentile £244 £250 £231
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £421 £425 £450
Median % change year-on-year -0.94% -5.56% +5.88%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £425 £425 £450
% change year-on-year - -5.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 162 274 259
10th Percentile £15.09 £11.86 £13.26
25th Percentile £16.95 £14.27 £16.50
Median hourly rate £18.87 £19.09 £24.62
Median % change year-on-year -1.15% -22.46% +23.10%
75th Percentile £25.15 £40.00 £52.32
90th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £18.87 £20.00 £23.86
% change year-on-year -5.65% -16.18% +19.30%

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 3,638 5,205 7,615
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 13.93% 13.93% 16.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,435 3,439 5,328
10th Percentile £200 £190 £193
25th Percentile £313 £313 £330
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.21% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £638
90th Percentile £688 £700 £725
UK median daily rate £465 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -2.11% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 197 394 368
10th Percentile £15.25 £12.75 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.33 £16.00 £18.47
Median hourly rate £20.00 £24.68 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.95% -41.94% +88.89%
75th Percentile £49.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £66.70 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £22.53 £24.68 £42.50
% change year-on-year -8.70% -41.94% +88.89%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Windows as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Windows in England

Windows
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Windows in England.

Daily rate trend for Windows in England

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in England over the 6 months to 3 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in England

Windows
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Windows in England.

Hourly rate trend for Windows in England

Windows
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows in England over the 6 months to 3 July 2025.

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 3 July 2025. 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 -1 829 £440 +10.00% 965
South East -1 444 £490 -2.00% 601
North of England -5 320 £350 -5.08% 509
South West +3 238 £450 -14.29% 252
Midlands -7 194 £278 -22.05% 259
East of England +7 171 £278 -25.98% 259
North West -2 167 £368 -5.77% 299
West Midlands -5 146 £300 -25.00% 145
Yorkshire -2 125 £400 +23.08% 169
East Midlands -21 47 £200 -41.82% 113
North East +6 29 £288 -36.11% 49
Windows
UK

Windows
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 216 (9.69%) Microsoft Exchange
2 153 (6.86%) SharePoint
3 58 (2.60%) Confluence
4 46 (2.06%) IIS
5 25 (1.12%) Apache
6 24 (1.08%) IBM Domino
7 22 (0.99%) JBoss
8 21 (0.94%) Skype for Business
9 16 (0.72%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 15 (0.67%) WebSphere
11 12 (0.54%) CMS
12 10 (0.45%) Tomcat
13 7 (0.31%) WebLogic
14 6 (0.27%) BizTalk Server
14 6 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2003
14 6 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2007
14 6 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2010
14 6 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2013
14 6 (0.27%) Office Communications Server
14 6 (0.27%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 211 (9.47%) Microsoft Office
2 75 (3.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (0.76%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.18%) InfoPath
7 2 (0.090%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 2 (0.090%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.090%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.090%) ProjectWise
7 2 (0.090%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.045%) Notion
8 1 (0.045%) Trello
Business Applications
1 10 (0.45%) Remedy ITSM
2 7 (0.31%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (0.31%) Maximo
3 3 (0.13%) Oracle 11i
3 3 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
4 2 (0.090%) Alphatax
4 2 (0.090%) ION MarketView
4 2 (0.090%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.090%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.090%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 2 (0.090%) Sage X3
5 1 (0.045%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 1 (0.045%) OpenText MBPM
5 1 (0.045%) Oracle BPM
5 1 (0.045%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.045%) Remedy AR System
5 1 (0.045%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.045%) SAP SCM
Cloud Services
1 591 (26.51%) Microsoft 365
2 544 (24.41%) Azure
3 245 (10.99%) Entra ID
4 205 (9.20%) AWS
5 67 (3.01%) OneDrive
6 66 (2.96%) IaaS
7 61 (2.74%) Google Workspace
8 59 (2.65%) GCP
9 55 (2.47%) SaaS
10 44 (1.97%) Azure DevOps
11 43 (1.93%) PaaS
12 36 (1.62%) OpenShift
13 33 (1.48%) GitHub
14 26 (1.17%) Azure Sentinel
15 24 (1.08%) Amazon S3
15 24 (1.08%) Cohesity
15 24 (1.08%) Power Platform
16 21 (0.94%) Amazon EC2
17 19 (0.85%) Microsoft Purview
18 18 (0.81%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 319 (14.31%) DNS
2 251 (11.26%) Firewall
3 200 (8.97%) DHCP
4 182 (8.17%) VPN
5 128 (5.74%) TCP/IP
6 97 (4.35%) SAN
7 94 (4.22%) LAN
8 87 (3.90%) WAN
9 57 (2.56%) Wi-Fi
10 55 (2.47%) VLAN
11 51 (2.29%) Network Security
12 35 (1.57%) SMTP
13 31 (1.39%) Remote Desktop
14 30 (1.35%) HTTP
14 30 (1.35%) Wireless
15 27 (1.21%) Cisco IOS
16 26 (1.17%) NAS
16 26 (1.17%) Skype
17 25 (1.12%) SSL
18 24 (1.08%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 136 (6.10%) SQL Server
2 72 (3.23%) Oracle Database
3 37 (1.66%) Relational Database
4 35 (1.57%) Amazon RDS
5 31 (1.39%) Elasticsearch
6 22 (0.99%) Big Data
7 20 (0.90%) MySQL
8 19 (0.85%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 18 (0.81%) MongoDB
10 17 (0.76%) RDBMS
11 16 (0.72%) DB2
12 14 (0.63%) PostgreSQL
13 10 (0.45%) Power BI
14 8 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
14 8 (0.36%) MS Access
15 7 (0.31%) NoSQL
15 7 (0.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 6 (0.27%) Data Warehouse
17 4 (0.18%) GIS
17 4 (0.18%) HPCC
Development Applications
1 132 (5.92%) JIRA
2 108 (4.85%) Git
3 79 (3.54%) Jenkins
4 37 (1.66%) GitLab
5 34 (1.53%) MSI
6 28 (1.26%) Bitbucket
7 24 (1.08%) SonarQube
8 23 (1.03%) TeamCity
9 22 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
9 22 (0.99%) Visual Studio
10 19 (0.85%) Selenium
11 15 (0.67%) Eclipse
12 12 (0.54%) Postman
13 11 (0.49%) Bitbucket Server
13 11 (0.49%) CA Release Automation
13 11 (0.49%) JMeter
14 10 (0.45%) QARun
14 10 (0.45%) WinRunner
15 9 (0.40%) LoadRunner
15 9 (0.40%) Vagrant
General
1 746 (33.47%) Social Skills
2 407 (18.26%) Finance
3 191 (8.57%) Analytical Skills
4 172 (7.72%) Banking
4 172 (7.72%) Public Sector
5 74 (3.32%) Manufacturing
6 70 (3.14%) Legal
7 68 (3.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 67 (3.01%) Documentation Skills
9 61 (2.74%) Organisational Skills
10 60 (2.69%) Telecoms
11 48 (2.15%) Marketing
12 41 (1.84%) Electronics
13 32 (1.44%) Military
14 30 (1.35%) Law
15 29 (1.30%) Presentation Skills
16 27 (1.21%) Investment Banking
17 26 (1.17%) Retail
18 25 (1.12%) Games
19 21 (0.94%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 304 (13.64%) Support Engineer
2 255 (11.44%) Analyst
3 206 (9.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 162 (7.27%) Architect
4 162 (7.27%) IT Support
5 159 (7.13%) Windows Engineer
6 139 (6.24%) Desktop Engineer
7 138 (6.19%) IT Engineer
8 118 (5.29%) Desktop Support
9 109 (4.89%) Senior
10 91 (4.08%) 2nd Line Support
11 90 (4.04%) Deployment Engineer
12 87 (3.90%) Developer
12 87 (3.90%) IT Support Engineer
12 87 (3.90%) Support Analyst
13 85 (3.81%) Desktop Support Engineer
14 73 (3.28%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 68 (3.05%) Service Analyst
16 67 (3.01%) Service Desk Analyst
17 60 (2.69%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 92 (4.13%) .NET
2 45 (2.02%) .NET Framework
3 44 (1.97%) Middleware
4 43 (1.93%) WPF
5 37 (1.66%) Web Services
6 30 (1.35%) XML
7 29 (1.30%) Node.js
8 28 (1.26%) REST
8 28 (1.26%) SOAP
9 26 (1.17%) Kafka
10 24 (1.08%) Software Packaging
11 18 (0.81%) HTML
12 17 (0.76%) ASP.NET
12 17 (0.76%) Elastic Stack
13 15 (0.67%) Spring Boot
14 14 (0.63%) LDAP
14 14 (0.63%) WCF
14 14 (0.63%) WinForms
15 13 (0.58%) CSS
16 11 (0.49%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 97 (4.35%) Data Centre
2 78 (3.50%) PKI
3 76 (3.41%) Onboarding
4 67 (3.01%) Self-Motivation
5 54 (2.42%) iPhone
6 49 (2.20%) iPad
7 43 (1.93%) Management Information System
8 42 (1.88%) Driving Licence
9 35 (1.57%) Clustering
10 34 (1.53%) Replication
11 33 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
12 32 (1.44%) Enterprise Software
13 28 (1.26%) Video Conferencing
14 27 (1.21%) Hybrid Cloud
15 25 (1.12%) Linux Command Line
16 22 (0.99%) SWIFT Messaging Network
17 19 (0.85%) Smartphone
18 18 (0.81%) Cyber Threat
18 18 (0.81%) Enterprise Storage
19 17 (0.76%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 519 (23.28%) Windows Server
2 500 (22.43%) Linux
3 478 (21.44%) Windows 10
4 106 (4.76%) Mac OS
5 96 (4.31%) Apple iOS
6 93 (4.17%) Unix
6 93 (4.17%) Windows Server 2019
7 90 (4.04%) Windows Server 2016
8 89 (3.99%) Android
9 85 (3.81%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 74 (3.32%) Windows 7
11 50 (2.24%) Windows Server 2012
12 35 (1.57%) Ubuntu
13 34 (1.53%) Windows Server 2003
14 27 (1.21%) CentOS
14 27 (1.21%) VMS
15 13 (0.58%) Solaris
15 13 (0.58%) Windows XP
16 12 (0.54%) Debian
17 11 (0.49%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 477 (21.40%) Problem-Solving
2 328 (14.72%) ITIL
3 259 (11.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 249 (11.17%) Agile
4 249 (11.17%) Migration
5 241 (10.81%) Customer Service
6 215 (9.65%) DevOps
7 155 (6.95%) ITSM
8 135 (6.06%) Service Management
9 134 (6.01%) Cybersecurity
10 118 (5.29%) CI/CD
11 104 (4.67%) Stakeholder Management
12 99 (4.44%) Disaster Recovery
13 87 (3.90%) Change Management
14 86 (3.86%) Identity Access Management
15 85 (3.81%) Test Automation
16 83 (3.72%) High Availability
16 83 (3.72%) Time Management
17 82 (3.68%) Asset Management
17 82 (3.68%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 513 (23.01%) PowerShell
2 243 (10.90%) SQL
3 242 (10.86%) Python
4 138 (6.19%) C#
5 122 (5.47%) Bash
6 93 (4.17%) Java
7 81 (3.63%) PL/SQL
8 65 (2.92%) VB
9 52 (2.33%) Perl
10 48 (2.15%) JavaScript
11 40 (1.79%) C++
11 40 (1.79%) VBA
12 31 (1.39%) Shell Script
13 20 (0.90%) C
13 20 (0.90%) VB.NET
14 19 (0.85%) VBScript
15 17 (0.76%) T-SQL
16 13 (0.58%) PHP
17 10 (0.45%) TypeScript
18 9 (0.40%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 582 (26.11%) Security Cleared
2 400 (17.95%) SC Cleared
3 184 (8.25%) DV Cleared
4 149 (6.68%) Degree
5 130 (5.83%) Microsoft Certification
6 48 (2.15%) Cisco Certification
7 38 (1.70%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 35 (1.57%) A+ Certification
9 34 (1.53%) DBS Check
9 34 (1.53%) MCSE
10 28 (1.26%) ITIL Certification
11 27 (1.21%) CISSP
12 26 (1.17%) Azure Certification
13 25 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
14 19 (0.85%) CCNA
15 17 (0.76%) CCNP
16 16 (0.72%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 16 (0.72%) MCP
17 13 (0.58%) AWS Certification
18 11 (0.49%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 99 (4.44%) QA
2 87 (3.90%) SLA
3 45 (2.02%) GDPR
4 33 (1.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 27 (1.21%) NIST
6 14 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (0.54%) HIPAA
8 10 (0.45%) PMO
9 9 (0.40%) NCSC
9 9 (0.40%) PCI DSS
10 8 (0.36%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.27%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 4 (0.18%) Data Quality
14 3 (0.13%) ECSS
14 3 (0.13%) SEPA
15 2 (0.090%) Government Security Classifications
15 2 (0.090%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 2 (0.090%) IEC 61131
15 2 (0.090%) ITGC
System Software
1 861 (38.63%) Active Directory
2 261 (11.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 95 (4.26%) Hyper-V
4 89 (3.99%) Docker
5 76 (3.41%) VMware ESXi
5 76 (3.41%) vSphere
6 52 (2.33%) Virtual Desktop
7 50 (2.24%) Virtual Machines
8 36 (1.62%) Microsoft App-V
9 35 (1.57%) Virtual Servers
10 27 (1.21%) BitLocker
10 27 (1.21%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 18 (0.81%) NFS
12 17 (0.76%) VMware NSX
13 16 (0.72%) XenDesktop
14 15 (0.67%) DFS Replication
15 14 (0.63%) XenApp
16 13 (0.58%) Terminal Services
17 6 (0.27%) ISA Server
17 6 (0.27%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 318 (14.27%) SCCM
2 289 (12.97%) Microsoft Intune
3 160 (7.18%) Ansible
4 113 (5.07%) Terraform
5 98 (4.40%) Kubernetes
6 78 (3.50%) WSUS
7 61 (2.74%) Puppet
8 50 (2.24%) vCenter Server
9 42 (1.88%) Progress Chef
10 27 (1.21%) Grafana
11 26 (1.17%) Jamf Pro
12 24 (1.08%) Microsoft Clustering
13 22 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
14 20 (0.90%) Kibana
14 20 (0.90%) Prometheus
15 19 (0.85%) SCOM
16 16 (0.72%) FortiGate
17 15 (0.67%) NetBackup
18 14 (0.63%) Nagios
19 13 (0.58%) Nessus
Vendors
1 968 (43.43%) Microsoft
2 378 (16.96%) VMware
3 174 (7.81%) ServiceNow
4 160 (7.18%) Citrix
4 160 (7.18%) Oracle
5 154 (6.91%) Cisco
6 118 (5.29%) Splunk
7 92 (4.13%) Google
8 77 (3.45%) HP
9 76 (3.41%) Red Hat
10 74 (3.32%) Dell
11 72 (3.23%) Apple
12 55 (2.47%) IBM
12 55 (2.47%) NetApp
13 50 (2.24%) SAP
14 41 (1.84%) SolarWinds
15 37 (1.66%) Veeam
16 34 (1.53%) Meraki
17 32 (1.44%) CyberArk
17 32 (1.44%) Zscaler