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

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 15
Rank change year-on-year -5 -7 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,518 2,075 3,367
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.60% 8.56% 8.94%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.92% 60.28% 64.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,697 1,491 2,299
10th Percentile £160 £181 £157
25th Percentile £205 £243 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £409 £421 £395
Median % change year-on-year -2.85% +6.58% -12.22%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £639 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £410 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -3.53% +6.25% -10.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 217 90 276
10th Percentile £13.86 £15.22 £12.19
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% -18.17%
75th Percentile £55.00 £28.31 £24.00
90th Percentile £70.80 £65.00 £60.00
UK median hourly rate £21.80 £21.28 £18.00
% change year-on-year +2.44% +18.22% -18.18%

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 4,133 3,442 5,233
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.83% 14.20% 13.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,744 2,364 3,560
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% -13.38%
75th Percentile £569 £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 296 138 376
10th Percentile £14.50 £16.43 £13.06
25th Percentile £17.86 £18.13 £15.50
Median hourly rate £24.50 £28.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +27.27% -24.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £56.33
90th Percentile £74.00 £69.50 £68.32
UK median hourly rate £25.00 £24.83 £22.00
% change year-on-year +0.68% +12.86% -26.67%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -20 775 £430 -4.23% 231
South East -3 515 £466 -1.89% 277
North of England -9 476 £295 -15.71% 201
Midlands -14 276 £320 +1.19% 130
North West -3 263 £260 -25.71% 130
South West -7 246 £450 -16.28% 129
East of England +6 214 £275 +22.22% 97
Yorkshire -20 189 £360 +6.67% 58
West Midlands -25 165 £442 +36.08% 76
East Midlands 0 107 £200 -20.00% 54
North East -9 27 £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
1 213 (8.46%) Microsoft Exchange
2 163 (6.47%) SharePoint
3 51 (2.03%) Confluence
4 45 (1.79%) IIS
5 21 (0.83%) Apache
5 21 (0.83%) WebLogic
6 12 (0.48%) Skype for Business
7 11 (0.44%) Tuxedo
8 10 (0.40%) TPMS
9 8 (0.32%) Tomcat
10 7 (0.28%) nginx
11 5 (0.20%) WebSphere
12 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 4 (0.16%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
13 3 (0.12%) SAS
14 2 (0.079%) ArcGIS
14 2 (0.079%) NetWeaver
14 2 (0.079%) Oracle HTTP Server
14 2 (0.079%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 189 (7.51%) Microsoft Office
2 69 (2.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (0.48%) 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 (0.040%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.040%) InDesign
8 1 (0.040%) InfoPath
Business Applications
1 34 (1.35%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.40%) 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 (0.040%) Aladdin
8 1 (0.040%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.040%) Eikon
8 1 (0.040%) Fidessa
8 1 (0.040%) Oracle FAH
8 1 (0.040%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.040%) Oracle Receivables
8 1 (0.040%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 725 (28.79%) Microsoft 365
2 664 (26.37%) Azure
3 285 (11.32%) Entra ID
4 190 (7.55%) AWS
5 79 (3.14%) OneDrive
6 62 (2.46%) GCP
6 62 (2.46%) SaaS
7 60 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
8 49 (1.95%) Google Workspace
9 47 (1.87%) IaaS
10 43 (1.71%) GitHub
11 39 (1.55%) PaaS
12 38 (1.51%) Power Platform
13 33 (1.31%) Azure Monitor
14 24 (0.95%) Azure Sentinel
15 22 (0.87%) AWS CloudFormation
16 21 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
17 19 (0.75%) OpenShift
18 18 (0.71%) Nutanix
19 16 (0.64%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 332 (13.19%) DNS
2 302 (11.99%) Firewall
3 222 (8.82%) DHCP
4 173 (6.87%) VPN
5 155 (6.16%) TCP/IP
6 148 (5.88%) LAN
7 143 (5.68%) WAN
8 130 (5.16%) Wi-Fi
9 75 (2.98%) Network Security
10 64 (2.54%) VLAN
11 51 (2.03%) Wireless
12 49 (1.95%) SAN
13 39 (1.55%) BGP
14 30 (1.19%) OSPF
14 30 (1.19%) Skype
14 30 (1.19%) SSL
15 29 (1.15%) VoIP
16 28 (1.11%) Cisco ISE
16 28 (1.11%) Junos
17 27 (1.07%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 155 (6.16%) SQL Server
2 42 (1.67%) Oracle Database
3 36 (1.43%) Relational Database
4 34 (1.35%) MySQL
5 23 (0.91%) PostgreSQL
6 18 (0.71%) Power BI
7 14 (0.56%) DB2
8 13 (0.52%) BigQuery
9 12 (0.48%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (0.48%) MongoDB
10 11 (0.44%) Oracle Reports
11 8 (0.32%) NoSQL
12 6 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
12 6 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
12 6 (0.24%) GIS
12 6 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 5 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 4 (0.16%) SAP HANA
14 4 (0.16%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 159 (6.31%) JIRA
2 52 (2.07%) GitLab
3 49 (1.95%) Jenkins
4 42 (1.67%) Git
5 41 (1.63%) MSI
6 34 (1.35%) Visual Studio
7 23 (0.91%) Eclipse
8 17 (0.68%) Burp Suite
8 17 (0.68%) Metasploit
9 13 (0.52%) Android Studio
9 13 (0.52%) Artifactory
10 11 (0.44%) Chocolatey
10 11 (0.44%) Xcode
11 9 (0.36%) Bitbucket
11 9 (0.36%) Browser DevTools
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
1 892 (35.42%) Social Skills
2 237 (9.41%) Finance
3 205 (8.14%) Analytical Skills
4 202 (8.02%) Public Sector
5 140 (5.56%) Banking
6 103 (4.09%) Legal
7 100 (3.97%) Documentation Skills
8 83 (3.30%) Organisational Skills
9 56 (2.22%) Military
10 41 (1.63%) Presentation Skills
11 40 (1.59%) Manufacturing
12 36 (1.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 36 (1.43%) Retail
13 29 (1.15%) Law
14 28 (1.11%) Telecoms
15 25 (0.99%) Investment Banking
16 23 (0.91%) Front Office
17 20 (0.79%) Local Government
18 15 (0.60%) Aerospace
19 13 (0.52%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 358 (14.22%) IT Support
2 345 (13.70%) Support Engineer
3 326 (12.95%) Analyst
4 215 (8.54%) IT Engineer
5 181 (7.19%) IT Support Engineer
6 162 (6.43%) Architect
7 159 (6.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 155 (6.16%) Senior
9 138 (5.48%) Support Analyst
10 108 (4.29%) Desktop Support
11 106 (4.21%) Technical Support
12 105 (4.17%) Developer
13 100 (3.97%) 2nd Line Support
14 99 (3.93%) Desktop Engineer
15 94 (3.73%) IT Analyst
16 83 (3.30%) Windows Engineer
17 79 (3.14%) Lead
18 75 (2.98%) IT Support Analyst
19 71 (2.82%) Desktop Support Engineer
20 69 (2.74%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (3.18%) .NET
2 64 (2.54%) REST
3 49 (1.95%) .NET Framework
4 43 (1.71%) SAML
5 41 (1.63%) OAuth
6 39 (1.55%) LDAP
7 38 (1.51%) Middleware
8 28 (1.11%) WPF
9 27 (1.07%) Web Services
10 26 (1.03%) Kafka
10 26 (1.03%) WinForms
11 24 (0.95%) 802.1X
12 23 (0.91%) CSS
12 23 (0.91%) Microsoft Graph
12 23 (0.91%) React
13 22 (0.87%) OpenID
14 21 (0.83%) AngularJS
14 21 (0.83%) Node.js
15 19 (0.75%) Apache NiFi
15 19 (0.75%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 180 (7.15%) Onboarding
2 103 (4.09%) Data Centre
3 100 (3.97%) PKI
4 74 (2.94%) Enterprise Software
5 65 (2.58%) Driving Licence
6 63 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
7 61 (2.42%) Clustering
8 58 (2.30%) Replication
9 44 (1.75%) Hybrid Cloud
9 44 (1.75%) Management Information System
9 44 (1.75%) Smartphone
10 40 (1.59%) Product Ownership
10 40 (1.59%) Security Posture
11 36 (1.43%) Legacy Systems
12 32 (1.27%) CMDB
12 32 (1.27%) Data Protection Act
13 30 (1.19%) NHS
14 26 (1.03%) Cloud Native
14 26 (1.03%) Virtual Team
15 25 (0.99%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 599 (23.79%) Linux
2 559 (22.20%) Windows Server
3 528 (20.97%) Windows 10
4 138 (5.48%) Android
5 132 (5.24%) Mac OS
6 123 (4.88%) Unix
7 110 (4.37%) Apple iOS
8 73 (2.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 60 (2.38%) Windows Server 2016
10 46 (1.83%) Windows 7
11 45 (1.79%) Windows Server 2019
12 37 (1.47%) AIX
12 37 (1.47%) Windows Server 2012
13 28 (1.11%) Windows Server 2003
14 18 (0.71%) Ubuntu
14 18 (0.71%) VMS
15 14 (0.56%) Solaris
16 10 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
17 9 (0.36%) CentOS
17 9 (0.36%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 504 (20.02%) Problem-Solving
2 445 (17.67%) Customer Service
3 363 (14.42%) ITIL
4 272 (10.80%) Agile
5 261 (10.37%) Migration
6 238 (9.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 227 (9.02%) DevOps
8 212 (8.42%) ITSM
9 202 (8.02%) CI/CD
10 180 (7.15%) Service Management
11 179 (7.11%) Continuous Improvement
12 170 (6.75%) Cybersecurity
13 165 (6.55%) Change Management
14 153 (6.08%) Disaster Recovery
15 135 (5.36%) High Availability
16 128 (5.08%) Stakeholder Management
17 113 (4.49%) User Experience
18 110 (4.37%) Infrastructure as Code
19 108 (4.29%) Identity Access Management
20 104 (4.13%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 535 (21.25%) PowerShell
2 247 (9.81%) Python
3 229 (9.09%) SQL
4 118 (4.69%) C#
5 106 (4.21%) Bash
6 81 (3.22%) Java
7 74 (2.94%) JavaScript
8 53 (2.10%) PL/SQL
9 49 (1.95%) C++
10 46 (1.83%) Perl
11 40 (1.59%) T-SQL
12 30 (1.19%) Kusto Query Language
13 23 (0.91%) VB
14 19 (0.75%) VBScript
15 17 (0.68%) Shell Script
16 14 (0.56%) VBA
17 13 (0.52%) Bicep
17 13 (0.52%) Search Processing Language
17 13 (0.52%) TypeScript
18 11 (0.44%) Go
Qualifications
1 803 (31.89%) Security Cleared
2 525 (20.85%) SC Cleared
3 254 (10.09%) Degree
4 238 (9.45%) DV Cleared
5 116 (4.61%) Microsoft Certification
6 74 (2.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 62 (2.46%) Cisco Certification
8 43 (1.71%) Azure Certification
9 41 (1.63%) MCSE
10 35 (1.39%) CISSP
11 30 (1.19%) ITIL Certification
12 29 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
12 29 (1.15%) CCNA
13 28 (1.11%) AWS Certification
14 24 (0.95%) CCNP
15 21 (0.83%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 20 (0.79%) A+ Certification
16 20 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
16 20 (0.79%) MCSA
17 19 (0.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 89 (3.53%) GDPR
2 84 (3.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 83 (3.30%) QA
4 82 (3.26%) SLA
5 58 (2.30%) NIST
6 42 (1.67%) PCI DSS
7 24 (0.95%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 16 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials
9 12 (0.48%) MiFID
9 12 (0.48%) PMO
10 11 (0.44%) NCSC
10 11 (0.44%) NIST 800
11 10 (0.40%) FINRA
11 10 (0.40%) GLBA
12 9 (0.36%) Data Quality
13 5 (0.20%) DICOM
13 5 (0.20%) HL7
14 4 (0.16%) GMP
14 4 (0.16%) GxP
14 4 (0.16%) SOC 2
System Software
1 943 (37.45%) Active Directory
2 267 (10.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 111 (4.41%) Hyper-V
4 92 (3.65%) Docker
5 70 (2.78%) vSphere
6 61 (2.42%) VMware ESXi
7 58 (2.30%) Virtual Machines
8 50 (1.99%) Virtual Desktop
9 33 (1.31%) VMware NSX
10 28 (1.11%) BitLocker
10 28 (1.11%) Firmware
11 24 (0.95%) Microsoft App-V
12 16 (0.64%) KVM
13 9 (0.36%) 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%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 349 (13.86%) Microsoft Intune
2 278 (11.04%) SCCM
3 155 (6.16%) Terraform
4 150 (5.96%) Ansible
5 117 (4.65%) Kubernetes
6 65 (2.58%) Single Sign-On
7 61 (2.42%) vCenter Server
8 57 (2.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 37 (1.47%) Jamf Pro
10 32 (1.27%) FortiGate
11 29 (1.15%) WSUS
12 24 (0.95%) Grafana
13 23 (0.91%) SCOM
14 21 (0.83%) Prometheus
15 18 (0.71%) Progress Chef
16 17 (0.68%) Nessus
16 17 (0.68%) Puppet
17 16 (0.64%) Nagios
17 16 (0.64%) Nmap
17 16 (0.64%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,088 (43.21%) Microsoft
2 365 (14.50%) VMware
3 228 (9.05%) ServiceNow
4 199 (7.90%) Citrix
5 154 (6.12%) Cisco
6 152 (6.04%) Oracle
7 113 (4.49%) Splunk
8 69 (2.74%) HP
9 61 (2.42%) SolarWinds
10 60 (2.38%) Red Hat
11 58 (2.30%) Dell
12 54 (2.14%) Google
13 50 (1.99%) IBM
14 48 (1.91%) Remedy
15 46 (1.83%) Apple
16 42 (1.67%) Juniper
17 37 (1.47%) CyberArk
18 36 (1.43%) Veeam
19 35 (1.39%) F5
20 29 (1.15%) Palo Alto