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 10 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 28 20 17
Rank change year-on-year -8 -3 -4
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,824 2,315 2,767
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.10% 8.33% 8.45%
As % of the Operating Systems category 62.49% 60.71% 59.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,818 1,573 1,839
10th Percentile £173 £170 £180
25th Percentile £225 £220 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £420 £408 £425
Median % change year-on-year +3.07% -4.12% -2.86%
75th Percentile £556 £561 £575
90th Percentile £650 £653 £656
UK median daily rate £425 £409 £425
% change year-on-year +3.91% -3.76% -3.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 267 196 155
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.50 £13.65
25th Percentile £17.38 £18.07 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.75 £21.28 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +21.01% -10.59% -4.80%
75th Percentile £65.00 £42.56 £62.25
90th Percentile £76.90 £65.00 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £25.75 £23.00 £24.18
% change year-on-year +11.96% -4.88% +5.13%

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 4,519 3,813 4,666
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.76% 13.72% 14.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,891 2,516 3,018
10th Percentile £190 £191 £200
25th Percentile £313 £305 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £468 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £584 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £470 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +4.42% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 332 239 241
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £15.17
25th Percentile £18.88 £18.51 £20.00
Median hourly rate £34.68 £25.00 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.70% -52.38% +14.43%
75th Percentile £67.84 £60.63 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.35 £67.00 -
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £48.03
% change year-on-year +2.47% -47.64% +6.75%

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 10 September 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 10 September 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 10 September 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 -14 943 £425 - 392
South East -8 559 £484 +1.79% 354
North of England -3 514 £325 - 214
North West +4 311 £344 -1.71% 115
South West -11 285 £488 +30.00% 136
Midlands -14 285 £400 - 175
East of England -3 216 £245 -30.00% 157
West Midlands -24 186 £402 -3.71% 116
Yorkshire -15 169 £275 - 65
East Midlands +1 96 £275 +37.50% 59
North East -32 38 £270 -1.82% 40
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
1 239 (8.46%) SharePoint
2 230 (8.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 65 (2.30%) IIS
4 53 (1.88%) Confluence
5 19 (0.67%) Skype for Business
6 18 (0.64%) nginx
7 17 (0.60%) Apache
8 11 (0.39%) Tomcat
9 7 (0.25%) Oracle Workflow
10 6 (0.21%) Documentum
11 5 (0.18%) Apache Solr
11 5 (0.18%) Appian
11 5 (0.18%) Camunda
11 5 (0.18%) WebLogic
12 4 (0.14%) FactoryTalk
13 3 (0.11%) CloudStack
13 3 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2013
13 3 (0.11%) OpenStack
14 2 (0.071%) SharePoint 2013
14 2 (0.071%) WebSphere
Applications
1 188 (6.66%) Microsoft Office
2 65 (2.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.32%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.18%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.14%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.11%) Houdini
7 3 (0.11%) NUKE
8 2 (0.071%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.035%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.035%) CINEMA 4D
9 1 (0.035%) Mozilla Thunderbird
Business Applications
1 56 (1.98%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (0.35%) Finacle
3 7 (0.25%) OpenText MBPM
3 7 (0.25%) Oracle BPM
4 5 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
5 4 (0.14%) Teamcenter
6 3 (0.11%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.11%) ResourceLink
7 2 (0.071%) assyst
8 1 (0.035%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.035%) Oracle BRM
8 1 (0.035%) SAP BRIM
8 1 (0.035%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.035%) SAP EWM
8 1 (0.035%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.035%) SAP FI-CA
8 1 (0.035%) SAP FS
8 1 (0.035%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 919 (32.54%) Microsoft 365
2 884 (31.30%) Azure
3 466 (16.50%) Entra ID
4 311 (11.01%) AWS
5 137 (4.85%) OneDrive
6 102 (3.61%) Azure DevOps
7 93 (3.29%) GCP
8 76 (2.69%) Azure Monitor
9 70 (2.48%) SaaS
10 63 (2.23%) Power Platform
11 61 (2.16%) IaaS
12 58 (2.05%) GitHub
13 46 (1.63%) PaaS
14 41 (1.45%) Azure Sentinel
15 29 (1.03%) OpenShift
16 27 (0.96%) AWS CloudFormation
17 26 (0.92%) Google Workspace
18 21 (0.74%) Amazon EC2
19 20 (0.71%) Datadog
19 20 (0.71%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 450 (15.93%) DNS
2 322 (11.40%) DHCP
3 313 (11.08%) Firewall
4 230 (8.14%) VPN
5 211 (7.47%) TCP/IP
6 118 (4.18%) WAN
6 118 (4.18%) Wi-Fi
7 111 (3.93%) LAN
8 85 (3.01%) SAN
9 82 (2.90%) VLAN
10 81 (2.87%) Network Security
11 45 (1.59%) Wireless
12 44 (1.56%) SSL
13 41 (1.45%) NAS
14 39 (1.38%) Internet
15 37 (1.31%) VSAN
16 35 (1.24%) Skype
17 28 (0.99%) VoIP
18 25 (0.89%) BGP
19 24 (0.85%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 260 (9.21%) SQL Server
2 53 (1.88%) Oracle Database
2 53 (1.88%) Power BI
3 29 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 26 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
5 24 (0.85%) Relational Database
6 22 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
6 22 (0.78%) MySQL
7 15 (0.53%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 15 (0.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 11 (0.39%) Geospatial Data
8 11 (0.39%) RDBMS
9 10 (0.35%) Db2
9 10 (0.35%) Elasticsearch
10 8 (0.28%) Data Warehouse
10 8 (0.28%) MongoDB
10 8 (0.28%) NoSQL
10 8 (0.28%) Oracle Reports
11 5 (0.18%) ObjectStore
12 4 (0.14%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 149 (5.28%) JIRA
2 63 (2.23%) Git
3 45 (1.59%) MSI
4 44 (1.56%) Jenkins
5 41 (1.45%) GitLab
6 19 (0.67%) Visual Studio
7 14 (0.50%) Bitbucket
8 9 (0.32%) Artifactory
8 9 (0.32%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 8 (0.28%) Eclipse
10 7 (0.25%) Selenium
10 7 (0.25%) Sonatype Nexus
11 6 (0.21%) Browser DevTools
12 5 (0.18%) AdminStudio
12 5 (0.18%) Chocolatey
12 5 (0.18%) InstallShield
12 5 (0.18%) Robot Framework
12 5 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 4 (0.14%) Claude Code
13 4 (0.14%) Octopus Deploy
General
1 1,034 (36.61%) Social Skills
2 344 (12.18%) Analytical Skills
3 343 (12.15%) Finance
4 149 (5.28%) Banking
5 133 (4.71%) Public Sector
6 109 (3.86%) Documentation Skills
7 80 (2.83%) Legal
8 70 (2.48%) Organisational Skills
9 64 (2.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 59 (2.09%) Manufacturing
11 50 (1.77%) Retail
12 46 (1.63%) Telecoms
13 42 (1.49%) Front Office
14 38 (1.35%) Law
15 35 (1.24%) Investment Banking
16 30 (1.06%) Military
17 28 (0.99%) Spanish Language
18 25 (0.89%) French Language
19 23 (0.81%) Pharmaceutical
20 22 (0.78%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 465 (16.47%) Support Engineer
2 388 (13.74%) IT Support
3 309 (10.94%) IT Engineer
4 297 (10.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 255 (9.03%) IT Support Engineer
6 245 (8.68%) Analyst
7 233 (8.25%) Senior
8 125 (4.43%) Desktop Support
9 120 (4.25%) 2nd Line Support
10 115 (4.07%) Desktop Engineer
11 108 (3.82%) Cloud Engineer
11 108 (3.82%) Lead
12 102 (3.61%) Architect
13 98 (3.47%) Windows Engineer
14 93 (3.29%) Support Analyst
15 82 (2.90%) Developer
16 79 (2.80%) 1st Line Support
17 77 (2.73%) Consultant
18 73 (2.58%) Azure Engineer
18 73 (2.58%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 246 (8.71%) Terraform
2 114 (4.04%) .NET
3 102 (3.61%) REST
4 61 (2.16%) .NET Framework
5 37 (1.31%) LDAP
6 34 (1.20%) JSON
7 30 (1.06%) Middleware
7 30 (1.06%) WPF
8 25 (0.89%) ARM Templates
9 23 (0.81%) Software Packaging
10 22 (0.78%) WinForms
11 20 (0.71%) HTML
11 20 (0.71%) Kafka
11 20 (0.71%) Microsoft Graph
12 19 (0.67%) .NET Core
12 19 (0.67%) CSS
13 18 (0.64%) Elastic Stack
14 17 (0.60%) XML
15 15 (0.53%) RESTful
15 15 (0.53%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 348 (12.32%) Onboarding
2 152 (5.38%) Data Centre
3 142 (5.03%) PKI
4 95 (3.36%) Management Information System
5 83 (2.94%) Hybrid Cloud
6 80 (2.83%) Clustering
7 72 (2.55%) Cloud Native
8 70 (2.48%) Enterprise Software
9 65 (2.30%) Video Conferencing
10 62 (2.20%) Replication
11 59 (2.09%) Driving Licence
12 54 (1.91%) Self-Motivation
13 51 (1.81%) Security Posture
14 43 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
15 40 (1.42%) Virtual Team
16 38 (1.35%) CMDB
17 36 (1.27%) Enterprise Storage
18 33 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
18 33 (1.17%) Linux Command Line
19 29 (1.03%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 789 (27.94%) Windows Server
2 671 (23.76%) Linux
3 503 (17.81%) Windows 10
4 183 (6.48%) Mac OS
5 127 (4.50%) Apple iOS
6 122 (4.32%) Android
7 119 (4.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 106 (3.75%) Unix
9 67 (2.37%) Windows Server 2019
10 50 (1.77%) Ubuntu
11 47 (1.66%) Windows 7
12 39 (1.38%) Windows Server 2012
13 37 (1.31%) CentOS
14 35 (1.24%) Windows Server 2016
15 20 (0.71%) AIX
15 20 (0.71%) VMS
16 17 (0.60%) Windows Server 2008
17 15 (0.53%) Solaris
18 14 (0.50%) Rocky
19 13 (0.46%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 680 (24.08%) Problem-Solving
2 534 (18.91%) ITIL
3 464 (16.43%) Customer Service
4 380 (13.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 379 (13.42%) ITSM
6 338 (11.97%) Migration
7 317 (11.23%) Continuous Improvement
8 276 (9.77%) Service Management
9 272 (9.63%) DevOps
10 240 (8.50%) Infrastructure as Code
11 236 (8.36%) Agile
12 234 (8.29%) CI/CD
13 210 (7.44%) Stakeholder Management
14 198 (7.01%) Change Management
15 196 (6.94%) Root Cause Analysis
16 184 (6.52%) Disaster Recovery
17 170 (6.02%) Cybersecurity
18 160 (5.67%) Incident Management
18 160 (5.67%) Technical Leadership
19 159 (5.63%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 721 (25.53%) PowerShell
2 308 (10.91%) Python
3 280 (9.92%) SQL
4 171 (6.06%) Bash
5 127 (4.50%) C#
6 60 (2.12%) Java
6 60 (2.12%) T-SQL
7 53 (1.88%) JavaScript
8 50 (1.77%) Bicep
8 50 (1.77%) PL/SQL
9 29 (1.03%) VB
10 25 (0.89%) VBScript
11 24 (0.85%) C++
12 19 (0.67%) Search Processing Language
13 17 (0.60%) Perl
13 17 (0.60%) TypeScript
14 15 (0.53%) Shell Script
15 12 (0.42%) VBA
16 8 (0.28%) Go
16 8 (0.28%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 906 (32.08%) Security Cleared
2 534 (18.91%) SC Cleared
3 367 (13.00%) DV Cleared
4 285 (10.09%) Degree
5 111 (3.93%) Microsoft Certification
6 90 (3.19%) Azure Certification
7 72 (2.55%) Computer Science Degree
8 68 (2.41%) Cisco Certification
9 61 (2.16%) CISSP
10 53 (1.88%) AWS Certification
11 50 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
12 48 (1.70%) A+ Certification
13 45 (1.59%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 32 (1.13%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 30 (1.06%) CCNP
16 29 (1.03%) CISM
16 29 (1.03%) DBS Check
17 28 (0.99%) CCNA
18 26 (0.92%) MCSE
18 26 (0.92%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 150 (5.31%) SLA
2 110 (3.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 81 (2.87%) NIST
3 81 (2.87%) QA
4 33 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials
5 27 (0.96%) NCSC
6 23 (0.81%) PCI DSS
7 22 (0.78%) GDPR
8 15 (0.53%) Accessibility
8 15 (0.53%) Data Quality
9 14 (0.50%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 13 (0.46%) GRC
11 12 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 12 (0.42%) WCAG
12 10 (0.35%) HIPAA
13 9 (0.32%) GxP
14 8 (0.28%) ISO 31000
14 8 (0.28%) PMO
15 6 (0.21%) NIST 800
15 6 (0.21%) SOC 2
System Software
1 1,181 (41.82%) Active Directory
2 434 (15.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 194 (6.87%) Hyper-V
4 151 (5.35%) VMware ESXi
5 125 (4.43%) vSphere
6 106 (3.75%) Docker
7 103 (3.65%) Virtual Machines
8 84 (2.97%) Virtual Desktop
9 80 (2.83%) VMware NSX
10 39 (1.38%) BitLocker
11 28 (0.99%) Firmware
12 24 (0.85%) vCloud
13 15 (0.53%) Microsoft App-V
14 14 (0.50%) NFS
14 14 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
15 11 (0.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
16 10 (0.35%) XenApp
17 9 (0.32%) KVM
17 9 (0.32%) XenDesktop
18 6 (0.21%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 416 (14.73%) Microsoft Intune
2 316 (11.19%) SCCM
3 214 (7.58%) Ansible
4 146 (5.17%) Kubernetes
5 122 (4.32%) vCenter Server
6 95 (3.36%) SCOM
7 45 (1.59%) Jamf Pro
7 45 (1.59%) WSUS
8 30 (1.06%) Prometheus
9 29 (1.03%) Grafana
9 29 (1.03%) Progress Chef
10 27 (0.96%) Single Sign-On
11 26 (0.92%) WMI
12 24 (0.85%) Puppet
12 24 (0.85%) VxRail
13 22 (0.78%) Packer
14 21 (0.74%) FortiGate
14 21 (0.74%) Nagios
14 21 (0.74%) NetBackup
15 20 (0.71%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 1,348 (47.73%) Microsoft
2 573 (20.29%) VMware
3 338 (11.97%) ServiceNow
4 187 (6.62%) Cisco
5 164 (5.81%) Oracle
6 155 (5.49%) Citrix
7 98 (3.47%) Splunk
8 97 (3.43%) Apple
9 89 (3.15%) CyberArk
10 76 (2.69%) Google
11 70 (2.48%) Red Hat
12 67 (2.37%) SolarWinds
13 64 (2.27%) BeyondTrust
14 60 (2.12%) Remedy
15 54 (1.91%) HP
16 53 (1.88%) Dell
17 43 (1.52%) BMC
17 43 (1.52%) NetApp
18 36 (1.27%) Fortinet
18 36 (1.27%) Meraki