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

6 months to
10 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 21 15
Rank change year-on-year -6 -6 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,536 2,065 3,349
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.47% 8.48% 8.94%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.34% 60.57% 64.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,716 1,477 2,288
10th Percentile £160 £182 £156
25th Percentile £207 £243 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £414 £425 £398
Median % change year-on-year -2.65% +6.92% -11.67%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £413 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -2.94% +6.25% -10.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 211 96 278
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.24 £12.00
25th Percentile £16.68 £16.95 £14.04
Median hourly rate £22.50 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +19.55% +6.21% -18.17%
75th Percentile £60.00 £28.00 £23.84
90th Percentile £74.00 £65.00 £60.00
UK median hourly rate £22.32 £20.97 £17.72
% change year-on-year +6.41% +18.34% -19.45%

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 4,134 3,409 5,208
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.54% 14.00% 13.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,745 2,348 3,538
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 £570 £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 293 141 380
10th Percentile £15.10 £16.50 £12.85
25th Percentile £19.00 £18.13 £15.44
Median hourly rate £26.44 £25.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.76% +13.64% -24.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £68.75 £68.88
UK median hourly rate £25.89 £24.66 £22.00
% change year-on-year +4.97% +12.09% -25.80%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -22 781 £425 -5.56% 231
South East -7 508 £473 -1.46% 277
North of England -10 475 £313 -9.09% 201
Midlands -13 290 £325 +12.07% 130
North West -3 264 £260 -25.71% 130
South West -8 243 £475 -12.64% 129
East of England +6 221 £300 +33.33% 97
Yorkshire -16 189 £365 +6.10% 58
West Midlands -23 170 £449 +43.52% 76
East Midlands +1 116 £210 -1.18% 54
North East -10 28 £206 +3.13% 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 (8.60%) Microsoft Exchange
2 153 (6.03%) SharePoint
3 48 (1.89%) Confluence
4 45 (1.77%) IIS
5 21 (0.83%) WebLogic
6 18 (0.71%) Apache
7 12 (0.47%) Skype for Business
8 11 (0.43%) Tuxedo
9 8 (0.32%) TPMS
10 7 (0.28%) nginx
10 7 (0.28%) Tomcat
11 5 (0.20%) SAS
12 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 4 (0.16%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
12 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
13 2 (0.079%) Apache Pulsar
13 2 (0.079%) Appian
13 2 (0.079%) Exchange Server 2010
13 2 (0.079%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 187 (7.37%) Microsoft Office
2 68 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (0.95%) 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 37 (1.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.39%) 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 (0.079%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.079%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.079%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 2 (0.079%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.079%) SystmOne
7 1 (0.039%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.039%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.039%) Eikon
7 1 (0.039%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.039%) Finacle
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
1 719 (28.35%) Microsoft 365
2 676 (26.66%) Azure
3 294 (11.59%) Entra ID
4 203 (8.00%) AWS
5 73 (2.88%) OneDrive
6 72 (2.84%) GCP
6 72 (2.84%) SaaS
7 63 (2.48%) Azure DevOps
8 53 (2.09%) IaaS
9 47 (1.85%) Google Workspace
10 46 (1.81%) PaaS
11 43 (1.70%) GitHub
12 37 (1.46%) Power Platform
13 34 (1.34%) Azure Monitor
14 26 (1.03%) Azure Sentinel
15 20 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
16 19 (0.75%) AWS CloudFormation
16 19 (0.75%) OpenShift
17 17 (0.67%) Microsoft Purview
17 17 (0.67%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 340 (13.41%) DNS
2 306 (12.07%) Firewall
3 232 (9.15%) DHCP
4 176 (6.94%) VPN
5 157 (6.19%) TCP/IP
6 150 (5.91%) LAN
7 145 (5.72%) WAN
8 129 (5.09%) Wi-Fi
9 76 (3.00%) Network Security
10 66 (2.60%) VLAN
11 52 (2.05%) SAN
12 51 (2.01%) Wireless
13 39 (1.54%) BGP
14 33 (1.30%) SSL
15 30 (1.18%) OSPF
15 30 (1.18%) VoIP
16 29 (1.14%) Skype
17 27 (1.06%) BIG-IP
17 27 (1.06%) Internet
17 27 (1.06%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 164 (6.47%) SQL Server
2 43 (1.70%) Oracle Database
3 35 (1.38%) Relational Database
4 32 (1.26%) MySQL
5 23 (0.91%) PostgreSQL
6 19 (0.75%) 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 4 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
14 4 (0.16%) RDBMS
14 4 (0.16%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 159 (6.27%) JIRA
2 53 (2.09%) GitLab
3 48 (1.89%) Jenkins
4 43 (1.70%) Git
5 42 (1.66%) MSI
6 34 (1.34%) Visual Studio
7 22 (0.87%) Eclipse
8 18 (0.71%) Burp Suite
9 17 (0.67%) Metasploit
10 12 (0.47%) Android Studio
10 12 (0.47%) Artifactory
11 11 (0.43%) Chocolatey
12 10 (0.39%) Browser DevTools
12 10 (0.39%) Xcode
13 9 (0.35%) Bitbucket
14 8 (0.32%) InstallShield
14 8 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
15 7 (0.28%) JUnit
15 7 (0.28%) Robot Framework
15 7 (0.28%) Selenium
General
1 884 (34.86%) Social Skills
2 238 (9.38%) Finance
3 216 (8.52%) Analytical Skills
4 203 (8.00%) Public Sector
5 144 (5.68%) Banking
6 104 (4.10%) Documentation Skills
7 103 (4.06%) Legal
8 81 (3.19%) Organisational Skills
9 59 (2.33%) Military
10 40 (1.58%) Presentation Skills
11 37 (1.46%) Manufacturing
12 36 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 36 (1.42%) Retail
13 30 (1.18%) Law
13 30 (1.18%) Telecoms
14 28 (1.10%) Investment Banking
15 25 (0.99%) Front Office
16 20 (0.79%) Local Government
17 16 (0.63%) Aerospace
18 14 (0.55%) Police
Job Titles
1 346 (13.64%) IT Support
2 333 (13.13%) Support Engineer
3 318 (12.54%) Analyst
4 212 (8.36%) IT Engineer
5 177 (6.98%) IT Support Engineer
6 175 (6.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 163 (6.43%) Architect
7 163 (6.43%) Senior
8 130 (5.13%) Support Analyst
9 106 (4.18%) Desktop Support
9 106 (4.18%) Developer
10 103 (4.06%) Technical Support
11 95 (3.75%) Desktop Engineer
12 90 (3.55%) IT Analyst
13 89 (3.51%) 2nd Line Support
14 85 (3.35%) Windows Engineer
15 78 (3.08%) Lead
16 71 (2.80%) IT Support Analyst
17 68 (2.68%) Desktop Support Engineer
18 67 (2.64%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 85 (3.35%) .NET
2 67 (2.64%) REST
3 51 (2.01%) .NET Framework
4 48 (1.89%) SAML
5 42 (1.66%) LDAP
6 41 (1.62%) OAuth
7 36 (1.42%) Middleware
8 30 (1.18%) WPF
9 28 (1.10%) WinForms
10 26 (1.03%) Web Services
11 25 (0.99%) Kafka
11 25 (0.99%) Microsoft Graph
11 25 (0.99%) OpenID
12 24 (0.95%) 802.1X
13 22 (0.87%) CSS
13 22 (0.87%) React
14 21 (0.83%) Node.js
15 20 (0.79%) AngularJS
16 19 (0.75%) OAuth2
17 18 (0.71%) Apache NiFi
Miscellaneous
1 190 (7.49%) Onboarding
2 106 (4.18%) Data Centre
3 97 (3.82%) PKI
4 78 (3.08%) Enterprise Software
5 64 (2.52%) Driving Licence
5 64 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
6 62 (2.44%) Clustering
7 58 (2.29%) Replication
8 43 (1.70%) Smartphone
9 42 (1.66%) Hybrid Cloud
9 42 (1.66%) Management Information System
10 40 (1.58%) Product Ownership
11 38 (1.50%) Legacy Systems
11 38 (1.50%) Security Posture
12 31 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
13 30 (1.18%) CMDB
14 29 (1.14%) NHS
15 28 (1.10%) Cloud Native
16 26 (1.03%) Analytical Mindset
17 25 (0.99%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 621 (24.49%) Linux
2 573 (22.59%) Windows Server
3 519 (20.47%) Windows 10
4 147 (5.80%) Mac OS
5 142 (5.60%) Android
6 121 (4.77%) Apple iOS
7 120 (4.73%) Unix
8 75 (2.96%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 60 (2.37%) Windows Server 2016
10 50 (1.97%) Windows 7
11 43 (1.70%) Windows Server 2019
12 39 (1.54%) AIX
13 38 (1.50%) Windows Server 2012
14 28 (1.10%) Windows Server 2003
15 19 (0.75%) VMS
16 18 (0.71%) Ubuntu
17 14 (0.55%) Solaris
18 10 (0.39%) CentOS
18 10 (0.39%) Mac OS X
18 10 (0.39%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 526 (20.74%) Problem-Solving
2 436 (17.19%) Customer Service
3 365 (14.39%) ITIL
4 270 (10.65%) Agile
4 270 (10.65%) Migration
5 252 (9.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 228 (8.99%) DevOps
7 217 (8.56%) ITSM
8 202 (7.97%) CI/CD
9 176 (6.94%) Continuous Improvement
9 176 (6.94%) Service Management
10 166 (6.55%) Cybersecurity
11 164 (6.47%) Change Management
12 153 (6.03%) Disaster Recovery
13 135 (5.32%) High Availability
14 124 (4.89%) Stakeholder Management
15 111 (4.38%) User Experience
16 109 (4.30%) Identity Access Management
16 109 (4.30%) Infrastructure as Code
17 108 (4.26%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 550 (21.69%) PowerShell
2 253 (9.98%) Python
3 239 (9.42%) SQL
4 126 (4.97%) C#
5 111 (4.38%) Bash
6 77 (3.04%) Java
7 73 (2.88%) JavaScript
8 53 (2.09%) PL/SQL
9 48 (1.89%) C++
10 43 (1.70%) Perl
11 42 (1.66%) 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%) TypeScript
18 12 (0.47%) Bicep
19 11 (0.43%) Go
Qualifications
1 808 (31.86%) Security Cleared
2 535 (21.10%) SC Cleared
3 257 (10.13%) Degree
4 239 (9.42%) DV Cleared
5 115 (4.53%) Microsoft Certification
6 71 (2.80%) Computer Science Degree
7 62 (2.44%) Cisco Certification
8 45 (1.77%) Azure Certification
9 41 (1.62%) MCSE
10 34 (1.34%) CISSP
11 31 (1.22%) CCNA
12 30 (1.18%) AWS Certification
12 30 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
13 29 (1.14%) BPSS Clearance
14 23 (0.91%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 22 (0.87%) CCNP
16 20 (0.79%) A+ Certification
16 20 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
16 20 (0.79%) MCSA
17 17 (0.67%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (3.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 86 (3.39%) GDPR
3 83 (3.27%) QA
4 76 (3.00%) SLA
5 63 (2.48%) NIST
6 41 (1.62%) PCI DSS
7 27 (1.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 18 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials
9 12 (0.47%) MiFID
9 12 (0.47%) NCSC
10 11 (0.43%) NIST 800
10 11 (0.43%) PMO
11 10 (0.39%) FINRA
12 9 (0.35%) Data Quality
13 8 (0.32%) GLBA
14 6 (0.24%) DICOM
14 6 (0.24%) HIPAA
14 6 (0.24%) HL7
15 4 (0.16%) GxP
15 4 (0.16%) SOC 2
System Software
1 960 (37.85%) Active Directory
2 276 (10.88%) VMware Infrastructure
3 118 (4.65%) Hyper-V
4 89 (3.51%) Docker
5 73 (2.88%) vSphere
6 64 (2.52%) VMware ESXi
7 55 (2.17%) Virtual Machines
8 46 (1.81%) Virtual Desktop
9 36 (1.42%) VMware NSX
10 33 (1.30%) BitLocker
10 33 (1.30%) Firmware
11 24 (0.95%) Microsoft App-V
12 17 (0.67%) KVM
13 10 (0.39%) XenDesktop
14 9 (0.35%) 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%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 348 (13.72%) Microsoft Intune
2 277 (10.92%) SCCM
3 153 (6.03%) Ansible
4 151 (5.95%) Terraform
5 117 (4.61%) Kubernetes
6 67 (2.64%) Single Sign-On
7 62 (2.44%) vCenter Server
8 60 (2.37%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 39 (1.54%) 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
15 19 (0.75%) Progress Chef
16 18 (0.71%) Nessus
17 17 (0.67%) Puppet
18 16 (0.63%) Nmap
19 15 (0.59%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,086 (42.82%) Microsoft
2 378 (14.91%) VMware
3 221 (8.71%) ServiceNow
4 201 (7.93%) Citrix
5 155 (6.11%) Oracle
6 150 (5.91%) Cisco
7 116 (4.57%) Splunk
8 70 (2.76%) HP
9 61 (2.41%) SolarWinds
10 60 (2.37%) Red Hat
11 58 (2.29%) Dell
12 53 (2.09%) Google
13 51 (2.01%) Remedy
14 49 (1.93%) CyberArk
15 47 (1.85%) IBM
16 46 (1.81%) Apple
17 41 (1.62%) Juniper
18 37 (1.46%) Veeam
19 34 (1.34%) F5
20 29 (1.14%) BeyondTrust