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 7 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 21 16
Rank change year-on-year -6 -5 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,678 2,264 3,208
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.04% 8.52% 8.63%
As % of the Operating Systems category 62.15% 61.32% 61.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,738 1,543 2,164
10th Percentile £163 £181 £175
25th Percentile £222 £244 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £415 £425
Median % change year-on-year +2.37% -2.32% -5.56%
75th Percentile £556 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £672
UK median daily rate £425 £425 £425
% change year-on-year - - -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 225 166 275
10th Percentile £16.04 £15.11 £11.88
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.95 £14.27
Median hourly rate £25.75 £18.87 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +36.46% -5.65% -17.73%
75th Percentile £55.50 £25.15 £40.00
90th Percentile £70.14 £64.38 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £25.13 £18.87 £20.00
% change year-on-year +33.17% -5.65% -15.42%

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 4,309 3,692 5,192
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.71% 13.89% 13.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,802 2,470 3,419
10th Percentile £189 £200 £193
25th Percentile £313 £313 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £464 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.81% -2.37% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £656 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £465 £465 £475
% change year-on-year - -2.11% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 287 202 394
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.35 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.23 £17.44 £16.06
Median hourly rate £29.48 £20.38 £25.13
Median % change year-on-year +44.69% -18.91% -40.88%
75th Percentile £65.00 £48.06 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.95 £66.45 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £22.78 £25.00
% change year-on-year +14.14% -8.88% -41.18%

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 7 July 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 7 July 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 7 July 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 -18 878 £425 -2.86% 270
South East -8 543 £475 -3.06% 309
North of England -6 477 £363 +3.57% 239
Midlands -15 280 £338 +12.50% 145
South West -12 261 £488 +8.33% 157
North West -5 254 £363 - 127
East of England -1 221 £300 +18.90% 115
Yorkshire -12 202 £365 -8.75% 82
West Midlands -24 177 £450 +50.00% 64
East Midlands +8 98 £270 +35.00% 81
North East -39 25 £275 -4.35% 38
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
1 224 (8.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 186 (6.95%) SharePoint
3 55 (2.05%) Confluence
4 54 (2.02%) IIS
5 14 (0.52%) Apache
5 14 (0.52%) nginx
5 14 (0.52%) Skype for Business
5 14 (0.52%) Tomcat
6 9 (0.34%) Oracle Workflow
6 9 (0.34%) WebLogic
7 7 (0.26%) Appian
8 6 (0.22%) Documentum
9 5 (0.19%) Camunda
10 4 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 3 (0.11%) CloudStack
11 3 (0.11%) NetWeaver
11 3 (0.11%) Tuxedo
12 2 (0.075%) Oracle HTTP Server
12 2 (0.075%) SAS
12 2 (0.075%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 161 (6.01%) Microsoft Office
2 64 (2.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.22%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.19%) PTC Creo
7 4 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.037%) Acrobat
8 1 (0.037%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.037%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.037%) Houdini
8 1 (0.037%) InDesign
8 1 (0.037%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 42 (1.57%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.41%) Teamcenter
4 10 (0.37%) Finacle
5 6 (0.22%) OpenText MBPM
5 6 (0.22%) Oracle BPM
6 2 (0.075%) assyst
6 2 (0.075%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.037%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.037%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.037%) SAP EWM
7 1 (0.037%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 816 (30.47%) Azure
2 780 (29.13%) Microsoft 365
3 369 (13.78%) Entra ID
4 278 (10.38%) AWS
5 105 (3.92%) OneDrive
6 83 (3.10%) Azure DevOps
6 83 (3.10%) GCP
7 73 (2.73%) SaaS
8 60 (2.24%) IaaS
9 59 (2.20%) GitHub
10 53 (1.98%) Power Platform
11 51 (1.90%) Azure Monitor
11 51 (1.90%) PaaS
12 34 (1.27%) Azure Sentinel
13 29 (1.08%) Google Workspace
14 27 (1.01%) GitHub Actions
15 26 (0.97%) AWS CloudFormation
16 25 (0.93%) OpenShift
17 22 (0.82%) Azure AKS
18 21 (0.78%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 380 (14.19%) DNS
2 275 (10.27%) Firewall
3 262 (9.78%) DHCP
4 186 (6.95%) VPN
5 159 (5.94%) LAN
6 156 (5.83%) TCP/IP
7 153 (5.71%) WAN
8 125 (4.67%) Wi-Fi
9 79 (2.95%) SAN
10 59 (2.20%) Network Security
11 56 (2.09%) VLAN
12 45 (1.68%) BGP
13 39 (1.46%) SSL
14 38 (1.42%) Internet
15 37 (1.38%) OSPF
16 35 (1.31%) NAS
17 32 (1.19%) Skype
18 31 (1.16%) VoIP
18 31 (1.16%) Wireless
19 29 (1.08%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 232 (8.66%) SQL Server
2 54 (2.02%) Oracle Database
3 37 (1.38%) Power BI
4 29 (1.08%) Relational Database
5 27 (1.01%) PostgreSQL
6 26 (0.97%) MySQL
7 18 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
7 18 (0.67%) Db2
8 14 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
8 14 (0.52%) NoSQL
9 13 (0.49%) RDBMS
9 13 (0.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 11 (0.41%) MongoDB
11 8 (0.30%) Geospatial Data
12 7 (0.26%) GIS
12 7 (0.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 6 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
13 6 (0.22%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 5 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
14 5 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 171 (6.39%) JIRA
2 47 (1.76%) Git
3 45 (1.68%) MSI
4 43 (1.61%) Jenkins
5 39 (1.46%) GitLab
6 36 (1.34%) Visual Studio
7 17 (0.63%) Eclipse
8 9 (0.34%) Chocolatey
9 8 (0.30%) Bitbucket
10 7 (0.26%) Browser DevTools
10 7 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
11 6 (0.22%) Android Studio
11 6 (0.22%) InstallShield
11 6 (0.22%) Xcode
12 5 (0.19%) AdminStudio
12 5 (0.19%) Artifactory
12 5 (0.19%) Selenium
13 4 (0.15%) Appium
13 4 (0.15%) Burp Suite
13 4 (0.15%) Robot Framework
General
1 951 (35.51%) Social Skills
2 296 (11.05%) Finance
3 289 (10.79%) Analytical Skills
4 175 (6.53%) Public Sector
5 151 (5.64%) Banking
6 99 (3.70%) Documentation Skills
7 85 (3.17%) Organisational Skills
8 83 (3.10%) Legal
9 54 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 52 (1.94%) Retail
11 42 (1.57%) Military
12 38 (1.42%) Manufacturing
13 37 (1.38%) Front Office
14 35 (1.31%) Investment Banking
15 32 (1.19%) Telecoms
16 30 (1.12%) Law
17 25 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
17 25 (0.93%) Spanish Language
18 21 (0.78%) French Language
19 19 (0.71%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 377 (14.08%) Support Engineer
2 365 (13.63%) IT Support
3 270 (10.08%) Analyst
4 251 (9.37%) IT Engineer
5 239 (8.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 211 (7.88%) IT Support Engineer
7 179 (6.68%) Senior
8 128 (4.78%) Architect
9 113 (4.22%) 2nd Line Support
10 106 (3.96%) Desktop Support
11 102 (3.81%) Developer
12 101 (3.77%) Desktop Engineer
13 99 (3.70%) Support Analyst
14 96 (3.58%) Lead
15 88 (3.29%) IT Analyst
16 83 (3.10%) Cloud Engineer
17 78 (2.91%) Technical Support
18 74 (2.76%) Consultant
19 71 (2.65%) Service Analyst
20 69 (2.58%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 99 (3.70%) .NET
2 87 (3.25%) REST
3 61 (2.28%) .NET Framework
4 38 (1.42%) LDAP
5 31 (1.16%) 802.1X
5 31 (1.16%) SAML
6 29 (1.08%) Microsoft Graph
6 29 (1.08%) WPF
7 27 (1.01%) Middleware
8 26 (0.97%) WinForms
9 25 (0.93%) Web Services
10 24 (0.90%) OAuth
11 23 (0.86%) Elastic Stack
12 22 (0.82%) CSS
12 22 (0.82%) Software Packaging
13 17 (0.63%) Kafka
14 16 (0.60%) JSON
14 16 (0.60%) Node.js
14 16 (0.60%) RESTful
15 15 (0.56%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 268 (10.01%) Onboarding
2 131 (4.89%) Data Centre
3 127 (4.74%) PKI
4 78 (2.91%) Clustering
5 75 (2.80%) Enterprise Software
6 68 (2.54%) Management Information System
7 67 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
8 60 (2.24%) Replication
9 58 (2.17%) Cloud Native
10 49 (1.83%) Driving Licence
11 47 (1.76%) Hybrid Cloud
11 47 (1.76%) Security Posture
12 46 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
13 45 (1.68%) Virtual Team
14 42 (1.57%) Video Conferencing
15 33 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
16 31 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
17 30 (1.12%) Linux Command Line
18 28 (1.05%) CMDB
19 27 (1.01%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 651 (24.31%) Windows Server
2 634 (23.67%) Linux
3 467 (17.44%) Windows 10
4 178 (6.65%) Mac OS
5 128 (4.78%) Apple iOS
6 127 (4.74%) Unix
7 123 (4.59%) Android
8 97 (3.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 66 (2.46%) Windows Server 2019
10 47 (1.76%) Windows Server 2016
11 45 (1.68%) Windows 7
12 37 (1.38%) Windows Server 2012
13 35 (1.31%) Ubuntu
14 31 (1.16%) AIX
15 18 (0.67%) Solaris
15 18 (0.67%) VMS
16 17 (0.63%) CentOS
17 16 (0.60%) Windows Server 2003
18 13 (0.49%) Windows Server 2008
19 9 (0.34%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 604 (22.55%) Problem-Solving
2 438 (16.36%) ITIL
3 401 (14.97%) Customer Service
4 312 (11.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 290 (10.83%) Migration
6 278 (10.38%) ITSM
7 257 (9.60%) DevOps
8 244 (9.11%) Agile
9 242 (9.04%) Continuous Improvement
10 227 (8.48%) CI/CD
11 198 (7.39%) Service Management
12 186 (6.95%) High Availability
13 175 (6.53%) Change Management
14 167 (6.24%) Infrastructure as Code
15 158 (5.90%) Stakeholder Management
16 147 (5.49%) Disaster Recovery
17 137 (5.12%) Service Delivery
18 133 (4.97%) Runbook
18 133 (4.97%) SIEM
19 132 (4.93%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 570 (21.28%) PowerShell
2 271 (10.12%) SQL
3 266 (9.93%) Python
4 134 (5.00%) C#
5 107 (4.00%) Bash
6 68 (2.54%) Java
7 66 (2.46%) JavaScript
8 51 (1.90%) PL/SQL
9 50 (1.87%) T-SQL
10 48 (1.79%) C++
11 25 (0.93%) VB
12 23 (0.86%) Bicep
12 23 (0.86%) Search Processing Language
13 20 (0.75%) Kusto Query Language
13 20 (0.75%) VBScript
14 17 (0.63%) Perl
14 17 (0.63%) Shell Script
15 16 (0.60%) TypeScript
16 14 (0.52%) C
17 13 (0.49%) VBA
Qualifications
1 806 (30.10%) Security Cleared
2 503 (18.78%) SC Cleared
3 299 (11.17%) Degree
4 269 (10.04%) DV Cleared
5 110 (4.11%) Microsoft Certification
6 81 (3.02%) Cisco Certification
7 74 (2.76%) Computer Science Degree
8 59 (2.20%) CISSP
9 57 (2.13%) Azure Certification
10 43 (1.61%) AWS Certification
10 43 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
11 40 (1.49%) MCSE
12 31 (1.16%) CCNA
13 29 (1.08%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 28 (1.05%) A+ Certification
14 28 (1.05%) CCNP
15 27 (1.01%) ITIL Certification
16 25 (0.93%) MCSA
17 23 (0.86%) CISM
18 20 (0.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 115 (4.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 108 (4.03%) SLA
3 84 (3.14%) NIST
4 74 (2.76%) QA
5 52 (1.94%) GDPR
6 31 (1.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 30 (1.12%) PCI DSS
8 26 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials
9 19 (0.71%) NCSC
10 12 (0.45%) Data Quality
11 11 (0.41%) HIPAA
12 10 (0.37%) Accessibility
12 10 (0.37%) NIST 800
13 9 (0.34%) GRC
14 8 (0.30%) SOC 2
14 8 (0.30%) WCAG
15 7 (0.26%) PMO
16 6 (0.22%) ISO 31000
17 5 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
17 5 (0.19%) FINRA
System Software
1 1,029 (38.42%) Active Directory
2 340 (12.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 134 (5.00%) Hyper-V
4 115 (4.29%) VMware ESXi
5 100 (3.73%) vSphere
6 99 (3.70%) Virtual Machines
7 86 (3.21%) Docker
8 67 (2.50%) Virtual Desktop
9 57 (2.13%) VMware NSX
10 37 (1.38%) BitLocker
10 37 (1.38%) Firmware
11 28 (1.05%) Microsoft App-V
12 16 (0.60%) KVM
13 14 (0.52%) vCloud
14 9 (0.34%) XenDesktop
15 8 (0.30%) VMware Workstation
15 8 (0.30%) XenApp
16 7 (0.26%) NFS
16 7 (0.26%) Virtual Servers
17 6 (0.22%) UAG
Systems Management
1 389 (14.53%) Microsoft Intune
2 241 (9.00%) SCCM
3 191 (7.13%) Terraform
4 172 (6.42%) Ansible
5 132 (4.93%) Kubernetes
6 98 (3.66%) vCenter Server
7 52 (1.94%) SCOM
8 50 (1.87%) Single Sign-On
9 47 (1.76%) Jamf Pro
10 40 (1.49%) FortiGate
11 38 (1.42%) WSUS
12 34 (1.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 30 (1.12%) Progress Chef
14 29 (1.08%) Prometheus
15 28 (1.05%) Puppet
16 26 (0.97%) Grafana
17 23 (0.86%) Nagios
18 21 (0.78%) Nessus
19 20 (0.75%) Packer
19 20 (0.75%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,163 (43.43%) Microsoft
2 446 (16.65%) VMware
3 259 (9.67%) ServiceNow
4 189 (7.06%) Citrix
5 176 (6.57%) Cisco
6 153 (5.71%) Oracle
7 119 (4.44%) Splunk
8 75 (2.80%) Apple
9 73 (2.73%) SolarWinds
10 69 (2.58%) HP
11 64 (2.39%) Google
12 63 (2.35%) Red Hat
13 62 (2.32%) CyberArk
14 58 (2.17%) Dell
15 53 (1.98%) Remedy
16 51 (1.90%) BeyondTrust
17 50 (1.87%) Juniper
18 47 (1.76%) IBM
19 45 (1.68%) F5
20 37 (1.38%) Tenable