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 11 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 21 15
Rank change year-on-year -6 -6 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,545 2,131 3,405
As % of all contract jobs in England 7.01% 8.63% 8.94%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.94% 60.49% 63.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,707 1,493 2,302
10th Percentile £160 £181 £155
25th Percentile £204 £225 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £405 £405 £380
Median % change year-on-year - +6.58% -15.56%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £570
90th Percentile £640 £675 £650
UK median daily rate £403 £421 £395
% change year-on-year -4.28% +6.46% -10.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 240 77 275
10th Percentile £13.51 £15.22 £12.10
25th Percentile £16.62 £16.95 £14.16
Median hourly rate £21.65 £21.00 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +3.10% +18.51% -19.45%
75th Percentile £41.94 £45.00 £25.84
90th Percentile £65.28 £70.75 £62.29
UK median hourly rate £21.50 £22.50 £18.00
% change year-on-year -4.44% +25.00% -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 4,176 3,523 5,346
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.50% 14.27% 14.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,763 2,352 3,611
10th Percentile £180 £200 £175
25th Percentile £273 £313 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -13.46%
75th Percentile £565 £600 £588
90th Percentile £669 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £447 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -5.89% +5.56% -12.24%
Number of hourly rates quoted 313 126 386
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.38 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.41 £15.54
Median hourly rate £22.58 £34.50 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -34.57% +53.33% -15.09%
75th Percentile £60.00 £67.25 £60.00
90th Percentile £68.60 £71.13 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £22.81 £29.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -21.34% +28.89% -15.09%

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 11 March 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 11 March 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 11 March 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 -17 767 £440 +4.02% 193
South East -2 523 £425 -5.56% 308
North of England -6 486 £263 -25.00% 199
Midlands -17 269 £288 -11.54% 116
South West -3 261 £450 -13.46% 110
North West -5 259 £230 -34.29% 117
East of England +6 219 £238 +5.09% 97
Yorkshire -11 198 £325 -14.47% 63
West Midlands -27 159 £438 +32.58% 58
East Midlands -2 107 £205 -11.35% 58
North East -8 32 £188 -37.50% 26
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
1 214 (8.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 164 (6.44%) SharePoint
3 56 (2.20%) Confluence
4 36 (1.41%) IIS
5 22 (0.86%) Apache
6 20 (0.79%) WebLogic
7 14 (0.55%) Skype for Business
8 11 (0.43%) Tuxedo
9 10 (0.39%) TPMS
10 5 (0.20%) nginx
10 5 (0.20%) Tomcat
10 5 (0.20%) WebSphere
11 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) OpenStack
11 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
12 3 (0.12%) SAS
12 3 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
13 2 (0.079%) Exchange Server 2010
13 2 (0.079%) Sitecore CMS
13 2 (0.079%) WordPress
Applications
1 219 (8.61%) Microsoft Office
2 73 (2.87%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (0.47%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.20%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
6 4 (0.16%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.079%) InDesign
8 1 (0.039%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.039%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.039%) InfoPath
8 1 (0.039%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 27 (1.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (0.51%) 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%) SAP MDG
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%) Oracle FAH
8 1 (0.039%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.039%) Oracle Receivables
8 1 (0.039%) RMDS
Cloud Services
1 742 (29.16%) Microsoft 365
2 631 (24.79%) Azure
3 274 (10.77%) Entra ID
4 182 (7.15%) AWS
5 88 (3.46%) OneDrive
6 66 (2.59%) GCP
6 66 (2.59%) SaaS
7 54 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
8 52 (2.04%) Google Workspace
9 44 (1.73%) GitHub
9 44 (1.73%) IaaS
10 38 (1.49%) Power Platform
11 36 (1.41%) PaaS
12 25 (0.98%) Azure Monitor
13 22 (0.86%) AWS CloudFormation
13 22 (0.86%) Azure Sentinel
14 21 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
15 18 (0.71%) OpenShift
16 17 (0.67%) Nutanix
17 15 (0.59%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 330 (12.97%) DNS
2 292 (11.47%) Firewall
3 219 (8.61%) DHCP
4 167 (6.56%) TCP/IP
5 166 (6.52%) VPN
6 142 (5.58%) LAN
7 140 (5.50%) WAN
8 134 (5.27%) Wi-Fi
9 72 (2.83%) Network Security
10 61 (2.40%) VLAN
11 58 (2.28%) Wireless
12 39 (1.53%) SAN
13 37 (1.45%) BGP
14 31 (1.22%) Skype
14 31 (1.22%) SSH
15 29 (1.14%) SSL
16 28 (1.10%) VoIP
17 27 (1.06%) Cisco ISE
17 27 (1.06%) Junos
17 27 (1.06%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 143 (5.62%) SQL Server
2 48 (1.89%) Oracle Database
3 42 (1.65%) Relational Database
4 36 (1.41%) MySQL
5 23 (0.90%) PostgreSQL
6 14 (0.55%) Power BI
7 13 (0.51%) BigQuery
7 13 (0.51%) DB2
8 11 (0.43%) MongoDB
8 11 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
9 9 (0.35%) NoSQL
10 8 (0.31%) Elasticsearch
11 7 (0.28%) GIS
11 7 (0.28%) SAP HANA
12 6 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
13 5 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 5 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 4 (0.16%) Amazon RDS
14 4 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
14 4 (0.16%) Oracle Database 10g
Development Applications
1 154 (6.05%) JIRA
2 55 (2.16%) Jenkins
3 54 (2.12%) GitLab
4 47 (1.85%) Git
5 42 (1.65%) MSI
6 33 (1.30%) Visual Studio
7 26 (1.02%) Eclipse
8 16 (0.63%) Android Studio
8 16 (0.63%) Burp Suite
8 16 (0.63%) Metasploit
9 14 (0.55%) Artifactory
9 14 (0.55%) Xcode
10 12 (0.47%) Browser DevTools
11 10 (0.39%) Chocolatey
12 9 (0.35%) Bitbucket
13 8 (0.31%) JUnit
13 8 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
14 7 (0.28%) Robot Framework
14 7 (0.28%) Selenium
15 6 (0.24%) Toad
General
1 942 (37.01%) Social Skills
2 244 (9.59%) Finance
3 216 (8.49%) Public Sector
4 210 (8.25%) Analytical Skills
5 133 (5.23%) Banking
6 107 (4.20%) Documentation Skills
7 97 (3.81%) Legal
8 83 (3.26%) Organisational Skills
9 59 (2.32%) Military
10 46 (1.81%) Presentation Skills
11 39 (1.53%) Manufacturing
12 36 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 34 (1.34%) Retail
14 25 (0.98%) Law
14 25 (0.98%) Telecoms
15 21 (0.83%) Investment Banking
16 20 (0.79%) Aerospace
17 19 (0.75%) Local Government
18 16 (0.63%) Front Office
19 15 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 362 (14.22%) Support Engineer
2 354 (13.91%) IT Support
3 328 (12.89%) Analyst
4 207 (8.13%) IT Engineer
5 175 (6.88%) IT Support Engineer
6 158 (6.21%) Architect
7 152 (5.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 150 (5.89%) Senior
9 142 (5.58%) Support Analyst
10 117 (4.60%) Desktop Support
11 113 (4.44%) 2nd Line Support
11 113 (4.44%) Technical Support
12 109 (4.28%) Desktop Engineer
13 106 (4.17%) Developer
14 98 (3.85%) Windows Engineer
15 88 (3.46%) Lead
16 83 (3.26%) IT Analyst
17 79 (3.10%) Desktop Support Engineer
18 75 (2.95%) Deployment Engineer
19 70 (2.75%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 77 (3.03%) .NET
2 59 (2.32%) REST
3 46 (1.81%) OAuth
4 45 (1.77%) .NET Framework
5 43 (1.69%) SAML
6 40 (1.57%) LDAP
7 32 (1.26%) Middleware
8 30 (1.18%) Web Services
9 29 (1.14%) WPF
10 25 (0.98%) AngularJS
10 25 (0.98%) CSS
10 25 (0.98%) React
11 24 (0.94%) Microsoft Graph
11 24 (0.94%) WinForms
12 23 (0.90%) Kafka
12 23 (0.90%) OpenID
13 21 (0.83%) 802.1X
13 21 (0.83%) OAuth2
14 20 (0.79%) Node.js
15 19 (0.75%) Apache NiFi
Miscellaneous
1 171 (6.72%) Onboarding
2 103 (4.05%) Data Centre
3 97 (3.81%) PKI
4 79 (3.10%) Enterprise Software
5 78 (3.06%) Driving Licence
6 66 (2.59%) Self-Motivation
7 56 (2.20%) Smartphone
8 50 (1.96%) Clustering
9 46 (1.81%) Management Information System
9 46 (1.81%) Replication
10 40 (1.57%) Hybrid Cloud
10 40 (1.57%) Security Posture
11 38 (1.49%) Product Ownership
12 35 (1.38%) NHS
13 31 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
13 31 (1.22%) Legacy Systems
14 30 (1.18%) CMDB
15 26 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
15 26 (1.02%) Virtual Team
16 23 (0.90%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 590 (23.18%) Linux
2 559 (21.96%) Windows 10
3 547 (21.49%) Windows Server
4 140 (5.50%) Android
5 133 (5.23%) Mac OS
6 132 (5.19%) Unix
7 114 (4.48%) Apple iOS
8 65 (2.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 60 (2.36%) Windows Server 2016
10 48 (1.89%) Windows 7
11 43 (1.69%) Windows Server 2019
12 36 (1.41%) Windows Server 2012
13 32 (1.26%) AIX
14 29 (1.14%) Windows Server 2003
15 14 (0.55%) Ubuntu
16 12 (0.47%) Solaris
16 12 (0.47%) VMS
16 12 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
17 11 (0.43%) Mac OS X
18 8 (0.31%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 499 (19.61%) Problem-Solving
2 462 (18.15%) Customer Service
3 362 (14.22%) ITIL
4 268 (10.53%) Agile
5 251 (9.86%) Migration
6 233 (9.16%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 212 (8.33%) DevOps
8 210 (8.25%) ITSM
9 201 (7.90%) CI/CD
10 185 (7.27%) Continuous Improvement
11 181 (7.11%) Service Management
12 179 (7.03%) Cybersecurity
13 158 (6.21%) Change Management
14 145 (5.70%) Disaster Recovery
15 133 (5.23%) Stakeholder Management
16 128 (5.03%) User Experience
17 122 (4.79%) High Availability
18 119 (4.68%) Service Delivery
19 101 (3.97%) Computer Science
19 101 (3.97%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 504 (19.80%) PowerShell
2 263 (10.33%) Python
3 226 (8.88%) SQL
4 121 (4.75%) C#
5 107 (4.20%) Bash
6 90 (3.54%) Java
7 74 (2.91%) JavaScript
8 56 (2.20%) C++
9 49 (1.93%) PL/SQL
10 48 (1.89%) Perl
11 39 (1.53%) T-SQL
12 31 (1.22%) Kusto Query Language
13 24 (0.94%) VB
14 22 (0.86%) VBScript
15 21 (0.83%) Shell Script
16 15 (0.59%) VBA
17 12 (0.47%) Bicep
18 11 (0.43%) C
18 11 (0.43%) Go
18 11 (0.43%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 804 (31.59%) Security Cleared
2 528 (20.75%) SC Cleared
3 257 (10.10%) Degree
4 224 (8.80%) DV Cleared
5 128 (5.03%) Microsoft Certification
6 75 (2.95%) Computer Science Degree
7 62 (2.44%) Cisco Certification
8 44 (1.73%) Azure Certification
8 44 (1.73%) MCSE
9 35 (1.38%) ITIL Certification
10 34 (1.34%) CISSP
11 32 (1.26%) CCNA
12 29 (1.14%) AWS Certification
12 29 (1.14%) BPSS Clearance
13 27 (1.06%) CCNP
14 22 (0.86%) MCSA
15 21 (0.83%) Microsoft Certified Professional
16 20 (0.79%) A+ Certification
16 20 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
17 19 (0.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (3.77%) GDPR
2 91 (3.58%) SLA
3 79 (3.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 79 (3.10%) QA
4 49 (1.93%) NIST
5 38 (1.49%) PCI DSS
6 22 (0.86%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 15 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
8 13 (0.51%) MiFID
8 13 (0.51%) PMO
9 12 (0.47%) NCSC
10 10 (0.39%) FINRA
10 10 (0.39%) GLBA
11 9 (0.35%) NIST 800
12 6 (0.24%) Data Quality
13 4 (0.16%) GxP
13 4 (0.16%) HIPAA
13 4 (0.16%) SOC 2
14 3 (0.12%) COBIT
14 3 (0.12%) GMP
System Software
1 950 (37.33%) Active Directory
2 256 (10.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 100 (3.93%) Hyper-V
4 96 (3.77%) Docker
5 59 (2.32%) vSphere
6 57 (2.24%) Virtual Machines
7 53 (2.08%) Virtual Desktop
8 46 (1.81%) VMware ESXi
9 27 (1.06%) VMware NSX
10 25 (0.98%) BitLocker
10 25 (0.98%) Firmware
11 24 (0.94%) Microsoft App-V
12 16 (0.63%) KVM
13 8 (0.31%) XenDesktop
14 7 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
14 7 (0.28%) XenApp
15 6 (0.24%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.16%) NFS
16 4 (0.16%) Snort
17 3 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
Systems Management
1 348 (13.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 316 (12.42%) SCCM
3 155 (6.09%) Terraform
4 137 (5.38%) Ansible
5 119 (4.68%) Kubernetes
6 63 (2.48%) Single Sign-On
7 61 (2.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 54 (2.12%) vCenter Server
9 36 (1.41%) Jamf Pro
10 31 (1.22%) FortiGate
11 27 (1.06%) Grafana
12 24 (0.94%) SCOM
13 23 (0.90%) WSUS
14 20 (0.79%) Prometheus
15 17 (0.67%) Progress Chef
15 17 (0.67%) WMI
16 15 (0.59%) Nessus
16 15 (0.59%) Nmap
16 15 (0.59%) Puppet
17 12 (0.47%) CASB
Vendors
1 1,099 (43.18%) Microsoft
2 356 (13.99%) VMware
3 231 (9.08%) ServiceNow
4 196 (7.70%) Citrix
5 156 (6.13%) Oracle
6 148 (5.82%) Cisco
7 112 (4.40%) Splunk
8 63 (2.48%) HP
9 60 (2.36%) Red Hat
10 59 (2.32%) SolarWinds
11 57 (2.24%) Dell
12 56 (2.20%) Google
13 46 (1.81%) Apple
13 46 (1.81%) IBM
14 44 (1.73%) Remedy
15 42 (1.65%) Juniper
16 40 (1.57%) Veeam
17 35 (1.38%) CyberArk
18 31 (1.22%) F5
19 30 (1.18%) Palo Alto