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

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 15
Rank change year-on-year -5 -7 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,515 2,084 3,366
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.61% 8.58% 8.93%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.82% 60.30% 64.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,693 1,496 2,299
10th Percentile £160 £181 £156
25th Percentile £205 £243 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £410 £421 £390
Median % change year-on-year -2.61% +7.95% -13.33%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £639 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £413 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -2.94% +6.25% -10.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 220 90 276
10th Percentile £13.65 £15.22 £12.19
25th Percentile £16.62 £16.95 £14.16
Median hourly rate £21.90 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +16.37% +6.21% -18.17%
75th Percentile £54.06 £28.31 £24.00
90th Percentile £70.20 £65.00 £60.00
UK median hourly rate £21.80 £21.14 £18.00
% change year-on-year +3.12% +17.44% -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 4,135 3,456 5,232
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.87% 14.24% 13.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,742 2,371 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% -13.46%
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 297 138 376
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.43 £13.06
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.13 £15.50
Median hourly rate £23.58 £28.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.80% +27.27% -24.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £56.33
90th Percentile £74.00 £69.50 £68.32
UK median hourly rate £24.00 £24.66 £22.00
% change year-on-year -2.68% +12.09% -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 31 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 31 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 31 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 -19 771 £439 -0.28% 231
South East -3 513 £465 -2.11% 277
North of England -8 480 £295 -15.71% 201
Midlands -15 276 £323 +1.98% 130
North West -4 264 £260 -25.71% 130
South West -7 247 £450 -16.28% 129
East of England +7 212 £280 +24.44% 97
Yorkshire -13 192 £360 +4.65% 58
West Midlands -26 164 £447 +37.54% 76
East Midlands -1 108 £200 -20.00% 54
North East -10 27 £188 -27.88% 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
1 214 (8.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 162 (6.44%) 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 (0.080%) ArcGIS
14 2 (0.080%) NetWeaver
14 2 (0.080%) Oracle HTTP Server
14 2 (0.080%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 190 (7.55%) Microsoft Office
2 67 (2.66%) 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 33 (1.31%) 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 (0.080%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.080%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 2 (0.080%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.080%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.080%) 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
1 728 (28.95%) Microsoft 365
2 668 (26.56%) Azure
3 285 (11.33%) Entra ID
4 194 (7.71%) AWS
5 79 (3.14%) OneDrive
6 63 (2.50%) GCP
7 61 (2.43%) SaaS
8 60 (2.39%) Azure DevOps
9 49 (1.95%) Google Workspace
10 47 (1.87%) IaaS
11 43 (1.71%) GitHub
12 39 (1.55%) PaaS
12 39 (1.55%) Power Platform
13 33 (1.31%) Azure Monitor
14 23 (0.91%) AWS CloudFormation
14 23 (0.91%) Azure Sentinel
15 21 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
16 19 (0.76%) OpenShift
17 18 (0.72%) Nutanix
18 16 (0.64%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 327 (13.00%) DNS
2 298 (11.85%) Firewall
3 218 (8.67%) DHCP
4 170 (6.76%) VPN
5 156 (6.20%) TCP/IP
6 147 (5.84%) LAN
7 142 (5.65%) WAN
8 133 (5.29%) Wi-Fi
9 75 (2.98%) Network Security
10 65 (2.58%) VLAN
11 51 (2.03%) Wireless
12 48 (1.91%) SAN
13 38 (1.51%) BGP
14 30 (1.19%) SSL
15 29 (1.15%) OSPF
15 29 (1.15%) Skype
15 29 (1.15%) VoIP
16 27 (1.07%) Cisco ISE
16 27 (1.07%) Junos
16 27 (1.07%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 153 (6.08%) SQL Server
2 42 (1.67%) Oracle Database
3 36 (1.43%) Relational Database
4 34 (1.35%) MySQL
5 22 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
6 17 (0.68%) Power BI
7 13 (0.52%) BigQuery
7 13 (0.52%) DB2
8 11 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
8 11 (0.44%) MongoDB
8 11 (0.44%) Oracle Reports
9 8 (0.32%) NoSQL
10 6 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
10 6 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
10 6 (0.24%) GIS
10 6 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 5 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
11 5 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 4 (0.16%) Oracle Database 10g
12 4 (0.16%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 160 (6.36%) JIRA
2 52 (2.07%) GitLab
3 51 (2.03%) Jenkins
4 43 (1.71%) 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
1 898 (35.71%) Social Skills
2 234 (9.30%) Finance
3 206 (8.19%) Analytical Skills
4 203 (8.07%) Public Sector
5 139 (5.53%) Banking
6 103 (4.10%) Legal
7 101 (4.02%) Documentation Skills
8 83 (3.30%) Organisational Skills
9 56 (2.23%) 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 22 (0.87%) Front Office
17 20 (0.80%) Local Government
18 15 (0.60%) Aerospace
18 15 (0.60%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 359 (14.27%) IT Support
2 344 (13.68%) Support Engineer
3 327 (13.00%) Analyst
4 214 (8.51%) IT Engineer
5 181 (7.20%) IT Support Engineer
6 161 (6.40%) Architect
7 156 (6.20%) Senior
8 155 (6.16%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 138 (5.49%) Support Analyst
10 108 (4.29%) Desktop Support
11 104 (4.14%) Developer
11 104 (4.14%) Technical Support
12 101 (4.02%) 2nd Line Support
13 99 (3.94%) Desktop Engineer
14 93 (3.70%) IT Analyst
15 83 (3.30%) Windows Engineer
16 80 (3.18%) Lead
17 74 (2.94%) IT Support Analyst
18 71 (2.82%) Desktop Support Engineer
19 70 (2.78%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 79 (3.14%) .NET
2 63 (2.50%) REST
3 48 (1.91%) .NET Framework
4 41 (1.63%) OAuth
4 41 (1.63%) SAML
5 39 (1.55%) LDAP
6 37 (1.47%) Middleware
7 28 (1.11%) WPF
8 27 (1.07%) Web Services
9 26 (1.03%) Kafka
9 26 (1.03%) WinForms
10 23 (0.91%) 802.1X
10 23 (0.91%) CSS
10 23 (0.91%) Microsoft Graph
10 23 (0.91%) React
11 21 (0.83%) AngularJS
11 21 (0.83%) Node.js
12 20 (0.80%) OpenID
13 19 (0.76%) Apache NiFi
13 19 (0.76%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 179 (7.12%) Onboarding
2 101 (4.02%) Data Centre
3 96 (3.82%) PKI
4 75 (2.98%) Enterprise Software
5 66 (2.62%) Driving Licence
6 62 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
7 58 (2.31%) Clustering
7 58 (2.31%) Replication
8 45 (1.79%) Hybrid Cloud
9 44 (1.75%) Management Information System
9 44 (1.75%) Smartphone
10 41 (1.63%) Security Posture
11 40 (1.59%) Product Ownership
12 35 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
13 33 (1.31%) Data Protection Act
14 31 (1.23%) CMDB
15 30 (1.19%) NHS
16 26 (1.03%) Cloud Native
16 26 (1.03%) Virtual Team
17 25 (0.99%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 598 (23.78%) Linux
2 553 (21.99%) Windows Server
3 528 (20.99%) Windows 10
4 138 (5.49%) Android
5 131 (5.21%) Mac OS
6 125 (4.97%) Unix
7 110 (4.37%) Apple iOS
8 73 (2.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 60 (2.39%) Windows Server 2016
10 45 (1.79%) Windows 7
10 45 (1.79%) Windows Server 2019
11 37 (1.47%) AIX
11 37 (1.47%) Windows Server 2012
12 27 (1.07%) Windows Server 2003
13 18 (0.72%) Ubuntu
13 18 (0.72%) VMS
14 14 (0.56%) Solaris
15 10 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
16 9 (0.36%) CentOS
16 9 (0.36%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 504 (20.04%) Problem-Solving
2 447 (17.77%) Customer Service
3 361 (14.35%) ITIL
4 271 (10.78%) Agile
5 257 (10.22%) Migration
6 233 (9.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 227 (9.03%) DevOps
8 210 (8.35%) ITSM
9 202 (8.03%) CI/CD
10 180 (7.16%) Continuous Improvement
10 180 (7.16%) Service Management
11 172 (6.84%) Cybersecurity
12 163 (6.48%) Change Management
13 152 (6.04%) Disaster Recovery
14 133 (5.29%) High Availability
15 128 (5.09%) Stakeholder Management
16 115 (4.57%) User Experience
17 111 (4.41%) Infrastructure as Code
18 106 (4.21%) Identity Access Management
18 106 (4.21%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 536 (21.31%) PowerShell
2 251 (9.98%) Python
3 225 (8.95%) SQL
4 118 (4.69%) C#
5 106 (4.21%) Bash
6 82 (3.26%) Java
7 73 (2.90%) JavaScript
8 52 (2.07%) PL/SQL
9 51 (2.03%) C++
10 46 (1.83%) Perl
11 39 (1.55%) T-SQL
12 31 (1.23%) Kusto Query Language
13 23 (0.91%) VB
14 20 (0.80%) 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
1 798 (31.73%) Security Cleared
2 525 (20.87%) SC Cleared
3 256 (10.18%) Degree
4 233 (9.26%) DV Cleared
5 116 (4.61%) Microsoft Certification
6 74 (2.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 61 (2.43%) Cisco Certification
8 42 (1.67%) Azure Certification
9 41 (1.63%) MCSE
10 34 (1.35%) CISSP
11 30 (1.19%) ITIL Certification
12 29 (1.15%) AWS Certification
12 29 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
12 29 (1.15%) CCNA
13 24 (0.95%) CCNP
14 20 (0.80%) A+ Certification
14 20 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
14 20 (0.80%) MCSA
14 20 (0.80%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 18 (0.72%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (3.50%) GDPR
2 83 (3.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 82 (3.26%) QA
3 82 (3.26%) SLA
4 59 (2.35%) NIST
5 42 (1.67%) PCI DSS
6 24 (0.95%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 16 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials
8 13 (0.52%) PMO
9 12 (0.48%) MiFID
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 4 (0.16%) DICOM
13 4 (0.16%) GMP
13 4 (0.16%) GxP
13 4 (0.16%) HL7
13 4 (0.16%) SOC 2
System Software
1 939 (37.34%) Active Directory
2 266 (10.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 109 (4.33%) Hyper-V
4 94 (3.74%) Docker
5 70 (2.78%) vSphere
6 59 (2.35%) Virtual Machines
6 59 (2.35%) VMware ESXi
7 50 (1.99%) Virtual Desktop
8 33 (1.31%) VMware NSX
9 29 (1.15%) Firmware
10 27 (1.07%) BitLocker
11 23 (0.91%) 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
1 350 (13.92%) Microsoft Intune
2 281 (11.17%) SCCM
3 159 (6.32%) Terraform
4 150 (5.96%) Ansible
5 118 (4.69%) Kubernetes
6 65 (2.58%) Single Sign-On
7 59 (2.35%) vCenter Server
8 57 (2.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 37 (1.47%) Jamf Pro
10 31 (1.23%) FortiGate
11 28 (1.11%) WSUS
12 24 (0.95%) Grafana
13 23 (0.91%) SCOM
14 21 (0.83%) Prometheus
15 18 (0.72%) Progress Chef
16 16 (0.64%) Nagios
16 16 (0.64%) Nessus
16 16 (0.64%) Nmap
16 16 (0.64%) Puppet
16 16 (0.64%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,088 (43.26%) Microsoft
2 365 (14.51%) VMware
3 227 (9.03%) ServiceNow
4 197 (7.83%) Citrix
5 152 (6.04%) Cisco
6 150 (5.96%) Oracle
7 112 (4.45%) Splunk
8 70 (2.78%) HP
9 61 (2.43%) SolarWinds
10 60 (2.39%) Red Hat
11 57 (2.27%) Dell
12 54 (2.15%) Google
13 50 (1.99%) IBM
14 47 (1.87%) Apple
14 47 (1.87%) Remedy
15 41 (1.63%) Juniper
16 38 (1.51%) Veeam
17 36 (1.43%) CyberArk
18 34 (1.35%) F5
19 29 (1.15%) Palo Alto