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

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 15
Rank change year-on-year -5 -7 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,548 2,127 3,398
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.99% 8.63% 8.94%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.00% 60.44% 63.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,707 1,492 2,298
10th Percentile £161 £181 £155
25th Percentile £204 £225 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £405 £408 £380
Median % change year-on-year -0.61% +7.24% -15.56%
75th Percentile £549 £575 £575
90th Percentile £639 £675 £650
UK median daily rate £403 £420 £400
% change year-on-year -4.17% +5.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 239 76 274
10th Percentile £13.25 £15.22 £12.08
25th Percentile £16.56 £16.95 £14.16
Median hourly rate £21.46 £21.30 £17.86
Median % change year-on-year +0.77% +19.23% -18.82%
75th Percentile £40.44 £47.00 £25.86
90th Percentile £65.57 £71.25 £62.35
UK median hourly rate £21.46 £22.50 £18.00
% change year-on-year -4.62% +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 4,177 3,519 5,322
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.47% 14.28% 14.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,762 2,353 3,598
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 £668 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £447 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -5.95% +5.56% -12.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 312 124 385
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.33 £13.30
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.47 £15.50
Median hourly rate £22.50 £34.50 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -34.78% +53.33% -15.09%
75th Percentile £60.00 £67.25 £60.00
90th Percentile £68.68 £71.18 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £22.68 £29.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -21.79% +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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -18 766 £440 +4.64% 220
South East -2 528 £425 -5.56% 308
North of England -7 487 £274 -21.71% 209
Midlands -16 268 £310 -4.62% 124
South West -4 264 £450 -14.29% 119
North West -8 261 £240 -31.43% 124
East of England +6 215 £235 +3.98% 95
Yorkshire -10 197 £325 -14.47% 68
West Midlands -29 157 £442 +34.02% 64
East Midlands 0 108 £205 -11.35% 60
North East -8 32 £188 -37.50% 25
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 (8.40%) Microsoft Exchange
2 164 (6.44%) SharePoint
3 55 (2.16%) Confluence
4 39 (1.53%) IIS
5 22 (0.86%) Apache
6 20 (0.78%) 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 (0.078%) NetWeaver
13 2 (0.078%) Sitecore CMS
13 2 (0.078%) WordPress
Applications
1 221 (8.67%) Microsoft Office
2 74 (2.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 25 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (0.47%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.20%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.20%) PTC Creo
6 4 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.078%) 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 (0.27%) Teamcenter
4 5 (0.20%) assyst
5 4 (0.16%) Oracle 11i
6 3 (0.12%) Veritas eDiscovery
7 2 (0.078%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.078%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 2 (0.078%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.078%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.078%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.078%) SystmOne
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%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.039%) RMDS
Cloud Services
1 743 (29.16%) Microsoft 365
2 635 (24.92%) Azure
3 275 (10.79%) Entra ID
4 183 (7.18%) AWS
5 88 (3.45%) OneDrive
6 66 (2.59%) SaaS
7 65 (2.55%) GCP
8 54 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
9 52 (2.04%) Google Workspace
10 44 (1.73%) IaaS
11 43 (1.69%) GitHub
12 39 (1.53%) Power Platform
13 36 (1.41%) PaaS
14 28 (1.10%) Azure Monitor
15 22 (0.86%) AWS CloudFormation
15 22 (0.86%) Azure Sentinel
16 21 (0.82%) GitHub Actions
17 19 (0.75%) OpenShift
18 17 (0.67%) Nutanix
19 15 (0.59%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 331 (12.99%) DNS
2 292 (11.46%) Firewall
3 220 (8.63%) DHCP
4 165 (6.48%) TCP/IP
4 165 (6.48%) VPN
5 142 (5.57%) LAN
6 141 (5.53%) WAN
7 136 (5.34%) Wi-Fi
8 72 (2.83%) Network Security
9 60 (2.35%) VLAN
10 59 (2.32%) Wireless
11 40 (1.57%) SAN
12 38 (1.49%) BGP
13 31 (1.22%) Skype
13 31 (1.22%) SSH
14 29 (1.14%) SSL
15 28 (1.10%) Cisco ISE
15 28 (1.10%) Junos
15 28 (1.10%) OSPF
15 28 (1.10%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (5.81%) SQL Server
2 47 (1.84%) Oracle Database
3 42 (1.65%) Relational Database
4 36 (1.41%) MySQL
5 23 (0.90%) PostgreSQL
6 15 (0.59%) 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 (0.27%) GIS
11 7 (0.27%) 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 (6.04%) JIRA
2 55 (2.16%) Jenkins
3 54 (2.12%) GitLab
4 47 (1.84%) Git
5 42 (1.65%) MSI
6 32 (1.26%) Visual Studio
7 25 (0.98%) Eclipse
8 17 (0.67%) Burp Suite
8 17 (0.67%) Metasploit
9 16 (0.63%) Android Studio
10 14 (0.55%) Artifactory
10 14 (0.55%) Xcode
11 12 (0.47%) Browser DevTools
12 10 (0.39%) Chocolatey
13 9 (0.35%) Bitbucket
14 8 (0.31%) JUnit
14 8 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
15 7 (0.27%) Robot Framework
15 7 (0.27%) Selenium
16 6 (0.24%) Toad
General
1 936 (36.73%) Social Skills
2 242 (9.50%) Finance
3 210 (8.24%) Public Sector
4 208 (8.16%) Analytical Skills
5 133 (5.22%) Banking
6 108 (4.24%) Documentation Skills
7 97 (3.81%) Legal
8 80 (3.14%) Organisational Skills
9 58 (2.28%) Military
10 44 (1.73%) Presentation Skills
11 39 (1.53%) Manufacturing
12 37 (1.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 34 (1.33%) Retail
14 25 (0.98%) Law
14 25 (0.98%) Telecoms
15 21 (0.82%) Investment Banking
16 20 (0.78%) Aerospace
17 19 (0.75%) Local Government
18 17 (0.67%) Front Office
19 14 (0.55%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 359 (14.09%) Support Engineer
2 356 (13.97%) IT Support
3 329 (12.91%) Analyst
4 207 (8.12%) IT Engineer
5 174 (6.83%) IT Support Engineer
6 157 (6.16%) Architect
7 153 (6.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 151 (5.93%) Senior
9 142 (5.57%) Support Analyst
10 117 (4.59%) Desktop Support
11 114 (4.47%) 2nd Line Support
12 112 (4.40%) Technical Support
13 108 (4.24%) Desktop Engineer
14 105 (4.12%) Developer
15 98 (3.85%) Windows Engineer
16 85 (3.34%) Lead
17 83 (3.26%) IT Analyst
18 79 (3.10%) Desktop Support Engineer
19 70 (2.75%) Deployment Engineer
19 70 (2.75%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (3.14%) .NET
2 57 (2.24%) REST
3 48 (1.88%) .NET Framework
4 46 (1.81%) OAuth
5 43 (1.69%) SAML
6 40 (1.57%) LDAP
7 32 (1.26%) Middleware
8 29 (1.14%) Web Services
8 29 (1.14%) WPF
9 25 (0.98%) AngularJS
9 25 (0.98%) CSS
9 25 (0.98%) React
10 24 (0.94%) Kafka
10 24 (0.94%) Microsoft Graph
10 24 (0.94%) WinForms
11 23 (0.90%) OpenID
12 22 (0.86%) 802.1X
13 21 (0.82%) OAuth2
14 19 (0.75%) Apache NiFi
14 19 (0.75%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 172 (6.75%) Onboarding
2 104 (4.08%) Data Centre
3 98 (3.85%) PKI
4 79 (3.10%) Enterprise Software
5 76 (2.98%) Driving Licence
6 66 (2.59%) Self-Motivation
7 56 (2.20%) Smartphone
8 51 (2.00%) Clustering
9 47 (1.84%) Replication
10 46 (1.81%) Management Information System
11 40 (1.57%) Hybrid Cloud
11 40 (1.57%) Security Posture
12 38 (1.49%) Product Ownership
13 33 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
13 33 (1.30%) NHS
14 31 (1.22%) CMDB
14 31 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
15 26 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
15 26 (1.02%) Virtual Team
16 23 (0.90%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 589 (23.12%) Linux
2 559 (21.94%) Windows 10
3 553 (21.70%) Windows Server
4 141 (5.53%) Android
5 132 (5.18%) Mac OS
6 131 (5.14%) Unix
7 114 (4.47%) Apple iOS
8 66 (2.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 60 (2.35%) Windows Server 2016
10 48 (1.88%) 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 13 (0.51%) VMS
17 12 (0.47%) Solaris
17 12 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
18 11 (0.43%) Mac OS X
19 8 (0.31%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 499 (19.58%) Problem-Solving
2 458 (17.97%) Customer Service
3 361 (14.17%) ITIL
4 266 (10.44%) Agile
5 250 (9.81%) Migration
6 236 (9.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 212 (8.32%) DevOps
7 212 (8.32%) ITSM
8 200 (7.85%) CI/CD
9 184 (7.22%) Continuous Improvement
10 181 (7.10%) Service Management
11 178 (6.99%) Cybersecurity
12 158 (6.20%) Change Management
13 147 (5.77%) Disaster Recovery
14 130 (5.10%) Stakeholder Management
15 125 (4.91%) High Availability
15 125 (4.91%) User Experience
16 117 (4.59%) Service Delivery
17 103 (4.04%) Computer Science
18 102 (4.00%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 507 (19.90%) PowerShell
2 263 (10.32%) Python
3 225 (8.83%) SQL
4 120 (4.71%) C#
5 107 (4.20%) Bash
6 88 (3.45%) Java
7 73 (2.86%) JavaScript
8 54 (2.12%) C++
9 49 (1.92%) PL/SQL
10 48 (1.88%) 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 20 (0.78%) Shell Script
16 15 (0.59%) VBA
17 12 (0.47%) Bicep
18 11 (0.43%) Go
18 11 (0.43%) TypeScript
19 10 (0.39%) C
Qualifications
1 807 (31.67%) Security Cleared
2 531 (20.84%) SC Cleared
3 259 (10.16%) Degree
4 226 (8.87%) DV Cleared
5 127 (4.98%) Microsoft Certification
6 76 (2.98%) Computer Science Degree
7 62 (2.43%) Cisco Certification
8 44 (1.73%) MCSE
9 43 (1.69%) Azure Certification
10 34 (1.33%) CISSP
10 34 (1.33%) ITIL Certification
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 (0.82%) CompTIA Security+
15 21 (0.82%) Microsoft Certified Professional
16 20 (0.78%) A+ Certification
17 19 (0.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (3.73%) GDPR
2 89 (3.49%) SLA
3 81 (3.18%) QA
4 78 (3.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 49 (1.92%) NIST
6 39 (1.53%) PCI DSS
7 22 (0.86%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 15 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
9 13 (0.51%) MiFID
9 13 (0.51%) PMO
10 12 (0.47%) NCSC
11 10 (0.39%) FINRA
11 10 (0.39%) GLBA
12 9 (0.35%) NIST 800
13 7 (0.27%) Data Quality
14 4 (0.16%) GxP
14 4 (0.16%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.16%) SOC 2
15 3 (0.12%) Accessibility
15 3 (0.12%) GRC
System Software
1 949 (37.24%) Active Directory
2 255 (10.01%) VMware Infrastructure
3 102 (4.00%) Hyper-V
4 96 (3.77%) Docker
5 60 (2.35%) vSphere
6 57 (2.24%) Virtual Machines
7 52 (2.04%) 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 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
14 7 (0.27%) XenApp
15 6 (0.24%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.16%) etcd
16 4 (0.16%) NFS
16 4 (0.16%) Snort
Systems Management
1 348 (13.66%) Microsoft Intune
2 313 (12.28%) SCCM
3 155 (6.08%) Terraform
4 137 (5.38%) Ansible
5 120 (4.71%) Kubernetes
6 63 (2.47%) Single Sign-On
7 61 (2.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 55 (2.16%) vCenter Server
9 36 (1.41%) Jamf Pro
10 32 (1.26%) FortiGate
11 27 (1.06%) Grafana
12 24 (0.94%) SCOM
12 24 (0.94%) WSUS
13 21 (0.82%) Prometheus
14 17 (0.67%) Progress Chef
14 17 (0.67%) WMI
15 16 (0.63%) Nmap
16 15 (0.59%) Nessus
16 15 (0.59%) Puppet
17 12 (0.47%) CASB
Vendors
1 1,103 (43.29%) Microsoft
2 356 (13.97%) VMware
3 232 (9.11%) ServiceNow
4 194 (7.61%) Citrix
5 156 (6.12%) Oracle
6 148 (5.81%) Cisco
7 115 (4.51%) Splunk
8 64 (2.51%) HP
9 61 (2.39%) Red Hat
10 60 (2.35%) SolarWinds
11 56 (2.20%) Dell
11 56 (2.20%) Google
12 47 (1.84%) Apple
13 46 (1.81%) IBM
14 44 (1.73%) Remedy
15 43 (1.69%) Juniper
16 40 (1.57%) Veeam
17 35 (1.37%) CyberArk
18 32 (1.26%) F5
19 29 (1.14%) Palo Alto