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 27 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 20 16
Rank change year-on-year -6 -4 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,494 2,053 3,129
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.99% 8.64% 8.56%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.44% 61.50% 62.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,634 1,454 2,179
10th Percentile £163 £180 £163
25th Percentile £213 £234 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £415 £423 £400
Median % change year-on-year -1.83% +5.75% -11.11%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £425 £425 £400
% change year-on-year - +6.25% -11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 212 120 265
10th Percentile £15.77 £14.20 £11.80
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.95 £14.00
Median hourly rate £25.76 £18.82 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year +36.88% +4.56% -20.00%
75th Percentile £60.00 £25.00 £25.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £53.88 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £25.51 £18.82 £18.00
% change year-on-year +35.52% +4.56% -20.00%

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 4,059 3,338 5,038
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.74% 14.04% 13.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,642 2,280 3,444
10th Percentile £185 £200 £185
25th Percentile £313 £313 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £467 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.52% -1.74% -6.86%
75th Percentile £575 £594 £588
90th Percentile £655 £695 £700
UK median daily rate £459 £467 £470
% change year-on-year -1.61% -0.74% -6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 287 152 371
10th Percentile £15.97 £15.12 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.33 £17.31 £15.50
Median hourly rate £37.50 £20.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +87.50% -11.11% -44.57%
75th Percentile £65.50 £55.63 £61.80
90th Percentile £74.00 £68.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £35.22 £21.95 £22.50
% change year-on-year +60.46% -2.44% -47.06%

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 27 May 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 27 May 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 27 May 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 -24 761 £425 -5.56% 243
South East -5 531 £475 - 271
North of England -8 462 £355 +4.41% 179
Midlands -17 270 £313 +13.64% 107
North West 0 259 £330 -5.71% 104
South West -14 231 £466 -4.95% 128
East of England -1 219 £350 -8.50% 89
Yorkshire -17 187 £370 +0.34% 56
West Midlands -27 157 £447 +59.64% 61
East Midlands +9 108 £225 -2.70% 46
North East -29 20 £290 -3.33% 21
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 (8.58%) Microsoft Exchange
2 163 (6.54%) SharePoint
3 57 (2.29%) IIS
4 51 (2.04%) Confluence
5 19 (0.76%) Apache
6 17 (0.68%) WebLogic
7 14 (0.56%) Skype for Business
8 12 (0.48%) nginx
8 12 (0.48%) Tomcat
9 11 (0.44%) Tuxedo
10 7 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
11 5 (0.20%) TPMS
12 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 4 (0.16%) Appian
12 4 (0.16%) SAS
12 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
13 3 (0.12%) NetWeaver
14 2 (0.080%) IBM HTTP Server
14 2 (0.080%) Oracle HTTP Server
14 2 (0.080%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 162 (6.50%) Microsoft Office
2 62 (2.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 21 (0.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.36%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
7 4 (0.16%) Acrobat
7 4 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.040%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 42 (1.68%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (0.48%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.44%) Teamcenter
4 4 (0.16%) Finacle
5 3 (0.12%) assyst
5 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
6 2 (0.080%) OpenText MBPM
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle BPM
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.080%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.040%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle 11i
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle FAH
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.040%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 731 (29.31%) Azure
2 724 (29.03%) Microsoft 365
3 312 (12.51%) Entra ID
4 225 (9.02%) AWS
5 78 (3.13%) OneDrive
6 70 (2.81%) Azure DevOps
7 69 (2.77%) SaaS
8 67 (2.69%) GCP
9 63 (2.53%) IaaS
10 55 (2.21%) GitHub
11 51 (2.04%) PaaS
12 46 (1.84%) Power Platform
13 38 (1.52%) Azure Monitor
14 31 (1.24%) Google Workspace
15 29 (1.16%) Azure Sentinel
16 26 (1.04%) GitHub Actions
17 23 (0.92%) OpenShift
18 18 (0.72%) Azure AKS
19 17 (0.68%) AWS CloudFormation
20 16 (0.64%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 336 (13.47%) DNS
2 260 (10.43%) Firewall
3 235 (9.42%) DHCP
4 167 (6.70%) VPN
5 152 (6.09%) LAN
6 146 (5.85%) WAN
7 137 (5.49%) TCP/IP
8 111 (4.45%) Wi-Fi
9 64 (2.57%) Network Security
10 63 (2.53%) SAN
11 54 (2.17%) VLAN
12 39 (1.56%) Wireless
13 38 (1.52%) BGP
14 36 (1.44%) Skype
15 34 (1.36%) OSPF
16 31 (1.24%) BIG-IP
16 31 (1.24%) SNMP
17 30 (1.20%) SSL
17 30 (1.20%) VoIP
18 29 (1.16%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 196 (7.86%) SQL Server
2 41 (1.64%) Oracle Database
3 33 (1.32%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.20%) MySQL
5 29 (1.16%) Power BI
6 23 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
7 15 (0.60%) DB2
8 14 (0.56%) MongoDB
9 13 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
10 12 (0.48%) NoSQL
11 10 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 7 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
12 7 (0.28%) RDBMS
13 6 (0.24%) BigQuery
13 6 (0.24%) GIS
13 6 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
14 5 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
14 5 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
15 4 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.16%) Sybase ASE
Development Applications
1 167 (6.70%) JIRA
2 42 (1.68%) Jenkins
2 42 (1.68%) MSI
3 40 (1.60%) GitLab
4 35 (1.40%) Visual Studio
5 31 (1.24%) Git
6 19 (0.76%) Eclipse
7 14 (0.56%) Burp Suite
8 13 (0.52%) Metasploit
9 10 (0.40%) Sonatype Nexus
10 9 (0.36%) Android Studio
10 9 (0.36%) Browser DevTools
10 9 (0.36%) Chocolatey
10 9 (0.36%) Xcode
11 8 (0.32%) Artifactory
12 7 (0.28%) Bitbucket
12 7 (0.28%) Robot Framework
12 7 (0.28%) Selenium
13 6 (0.24%) InstallShield
14 5 (0.20%) AdminStudio
General
1 838 (33.60%) Social Skills
2 250 (10.02%) Finance
3 226 (9.06%) Analytical Skills
4 167 (6.70%) Public Sector
5 143 (5.73%) Banking
6 91 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
7 89 (3.57%) Legal
8 76 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
9 53 (2.13%) Military
10 47 (1.88%) Retail
11 38 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 37 (1.48%) Manufacturing
13 34 (1.36%) Law
14 31 (1.24%) Investment Banking
15 30 (1.20%) Presentation Skills
16 26 (1.04%) Front Office
16 26 (1.04%) Telecoms
17 21 (0.84%) Local Government
18 18 (0.72%) Police
19 17 (0.68%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 326 (13.07%) IT Support
2 317 (12.71%) Support Engineer
3 281 (11.27%) Analyst
4 212 (8.50%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 201 (8.06%) IT Engineer
6 165 (6.62%) IT Support Engineer
6 165 (6.62%) Senior
7 130 (5.21%) Architect
8 114 (4.57%) Support Analyst
9 111 (4.45%) Desktop Support
10 100 (4.01%) Desktop Engineer
11 96 (3.85%) 2nd Line Support
12 90 (3.61%) IT Analyst
13 89 (3.57%) Lead
13 89 (3.57%) Technical Support
14 82 (3.29%) Developer
15 66 (2.65%) IT Support Analyst
15 66 (2.65%) Windows Engineer
16 65 (2.61%) 1st Line Support
16 65 (2.61%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 81 (3.25%) .NET
2 71 (2.85%) REST
3 49 (1.96%) .NET Framework
4 37 (1.48%) LDAP
5 32 (1.28%) Microsoft Graph
6 31 (1.24%) SAML
7 28 (1.12%) 802.1X
7 28 (1.12%) Middleware
8 27 (1.08%) WinForms
9 24 (0.96%) OAuth
10 22 (0.88%) Web Services
10 22 (0.88%) WPF
11 21 (0.84%) Kafka
12 19 (0.76%) CSS
12 19 (0.76%) React
13 17 (0.68%) AngularJS
13 17 (0.68%) Node.js
13 17 (0.68%) Software Packaging
14 16 (0.64%) Elastic Stack
15 15 (0.60%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 225 (9.02%) Onboarding
2 113 (4.53%) Data Centre
3 108 (4.33%) PKI
4 80 (3.21%) Clustering
5 73 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
6 57 (2.29%) Self-Motivation
7 55 (2.21%) Replication
8 49 (1.96%) Driving Licence
9 48 (1.92%) Hybrid Cloud
9 48 (1.92%) Management Information System
10 43 (1.72%) Virtual Team
11 41 (1.64%) Smartphone
12 37 (1.48%) Security Posture
13 36 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
14 33 (1.32%) Cloud Native
15 30 (1.20%) Analytical Mindset
16 29 (1.16%) Data Protection Act
16 29 (1.16%) Product Ownership
17 28 (1.12%) Enterprise Storage
18 27 (1.08%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 608 (24.38%) Linux
2 586 (23.50%) Windows Server
3 464 (18.60%) Windows 10
4 164 (6.58%) Mac OS
5 126 (5.05%) Apple iOS
5 126 (5.05%) Unix
6 122 (4.89%) Android
7 74 (2.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 66 (2.65%) Windows Server 2019
9 61 (2.45%) Windows Server 2016
10 48 (1.92%) Windows 7
11 35 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
12 30 (1.20%) AIX
13 24 (0.96%) Ubuntu
14 18 (0.72%) Windows Server 2003
15 15 (0.60%) VMS
16 14 (0.56%) Solaris
17 12 (0.48%) CentOS
17 12 (0.48%) Windows Server 2008
18 8 (0.32%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 518 (20.77%) Problem-Solving
2 389 (15.60%) Customer Service
3 375 (15.04%) ITIL
4 281 (11.27%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 264 (10.59%) Migration
6 249 (9.98%) Agile
7 231 (9.26%) ITSM
8 224 (8.98%) DevOps
9 213 (8.54%) CI/CD
10 180 (7.22%) Continuous Improvement
11 168 (6.74%) Change Management
12 167 (6.70%) Disaster Recovery
13 158 (6.34%) High Availability
14 156 (6.26%) Service Management
15 129 (5.17%) Cybersecurity
16 127 (5.09%) Stakeholder Management
17 121 (4.85%) Infrastructure as Code
17 121 (4.85%) SIEM
18 114 (4.57%) Computer Science
19 107 (4.29%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 543 (21.77%) PowerShell
2 250 (10.02%) SQL
3 240 (9.62%) Python
4 117 (4.69%) C#
5 92 (3.69%) Bash
6 68 (2.73%) JavaScript
7 64 (2.57%) Java
8 50 (2.00%) PL/SQL
9 44 (1.76%) C++
10 43 (1.72%) T-SQL
11 27 (1.08%) Kusto Query Language
12 25 (1.00%) VB
13 22 (0.88%) Search Processing Language
14 20 (0.80%) Perl
14 20 (0.80%) Shell Script
15 18 (0.72%) VBScript
16 14 (0.56%) VBA
17 13 (0.52%) C
18 12 (0.48%) Bicep
19 11 (0.44%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 759 (30.43%) Security Cleared
2 478 (19.17%) SC Cleared
3 276 (11.07%) Degree
4 254 (10.18%) DV Cleared
5 96 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
6 77 (3.09%) Computer Science Degree
7 76 (3.05%) Cisco Certification
8 48 (1.92%) CISSP
9 45 (1.80%) Azure Certification
10 41 (1.64%) MCSE
11 34 (1.36%) BPSS Clearance
12 29 (1.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 27 (1.08%) AWS Certification
13 27 (1.08%) CCNA
13 27 (1.08%) MCSA
14 26 (1.04%) ITIL Certification
15 25 (1.00%) CCNP
16 22 (0.88%) CompTIA Security+
17 21 (0.84%) CISM
18 19 (0.76%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (4.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 94 (3.77%) SLA
3 75 (3.01%) GDPR
3 75 (3.01%) QA
4 74 (2.97%) NIST
5 37 (1.48%) PCI DSS
6 30 (1.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 25 (1.00%) Cyber Essentials
8 12 (0.48%) NCSC
8 12 (0.48%) NIST 800
9 11 (0.44%) Data Quality
9 11 (0.44%) MiFID
9 11 (0.44%) PMO
10 10 (0.40%) FINRA
11 7 (0.28%) HIPAA
12 6 (0.24%) DICOM
12 6 (0.24%) GRC
12 6 (0.24%) HL7
12 6 (0.24%) ISO 31000
13 5 (0.20%) SOC 2
System Software
1 949 (38.05%) Active Directory
2 311 (12.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 137 (5.49%) Hyper-V
4 89 (3.57%) VMware ESXi
4 89 (3.57%) vSphere
5 82 (3.29%) Virtual Machines
6 75 (3.01%) Docker
7 50 (2.00%) Virtual Desktop
8 46 (1.84%) VMware NSX
9 34 (1.36%) Firmware
10 32 (1.28%) BitLocker
11 26 (1.04%) Microsoft App-V
12 20 (0.80%) KVM
13 11 (0.44%) XenDesktop
14 10 (0.40%) XenApp
15 8 (0.32%) vCloud
15 8 (0.32%) VMware Workstation
16 6 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
17 5 (0.20%) etcd
17 5 (0.20%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 340 (13.63%) Microsoft Intune
2 232 (9.30%) SCCM
3 164 (6.58%) Ansible
4 150 (6.01%) Terraform
5 114 (4.57%) Kubernetes
6 79 (3.17%) vCenter Server
7 44 (1.76%) Single Sign-On
8 40 (1.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 36 (1.44%) FortiGate
9 36 (1.44%) SCOM
10 35 (1.40%) Jamf Pro
11 34 (1.36%) WSUS
12 27 (1.08%) Grafana
13 25 (1.00%) Nagios
14 24 (0.96%) Prometheus
15 20 (0.80%) Nessus
16 19 (0.76%) Puppet
17 18 (0.72%) Progress Chef
17 18 (0.72%) Tivoli
17 18 (0.72%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,066 (42.74%) Microsoft
2 410 (16.44%) VMware
3 222 (8.90%) ServiceNow
4 180 (7.22%) Citrix
5 172 (6.90%) Cisco
6 144 (5.77%) Oracle
7 124 (4.97%) Splunk
8 70 (2.81%) HP
9 67 (2.69%) SolarWinds
10 57 (2.29%) Dell
11 55 (2.21%) Remedy
12 54 (2.17%) Red Hat
13 51 (2.04%) Apple
14 47 (1.88%) CyberArk
15 45 (1.80%) F5
16 44 (1.76%) Google
16 44 (1.76%) IBM
16 44 (1.76%) Juniper
17 37 (1.48%) BeyondTrust
18 34 (1.36%) Palo Alto