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 6 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 22 15
Rank change year-on-year -5 -7 -1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,522 2,081 3,332
As % of all contract jobs in England 6.52% 8.54% 8.92%
As % of the Operating Systems category 60.87% 60.72% 64.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,700 1,493 2,272
10th Percentile £160 £182 £156
25th Percentile £206 £243 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £425 £393
Median % change year-on-year -2.94% +8.28% -12.78%
75th Percentile £546 £575 £575
90th Percentile £640 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £411 £425 £400
% change year-on-year -3.24% +6.25% -10.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 215 95 276
10th Percentile £13.79 £15.22 £12.00
25th Percentile £16.62 £16.95 £14.00
Median hourly rate £22.00 £18.82 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +16.90% +6.21% -19.45%
75th Percentile £60.00 £28.21 £23.78
90th Percentile £73.20 £65.00 £60.00
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £20.97 £17.72
% change year-on-year +4.91% +18.34% -20.20%

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 4,143 3,427 5,188
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.72% 14.06% 13.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,753 2,358 3,520
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 £566 £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 296 142 377
10th Percentile £14.50 £16.28 £12.82
25th Percentile £18.78 £18.13 £15.25
Median hourly rate £25.11 £28.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.31% +33.33% -28.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £53.75
90th Percentile £74.47 £68.75 £68.68
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £24.66 £22.00
% change year-on-year +1.99% +12.09% -32.31%

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 6 April 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 6 April 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 6 April 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 -19 777 £425 -5.56% 231
South East -5 510 £467 -1.68% 277
North of England -11 476 £300 -11.76% 201
Midlands -16 280 £323 +7.50% 130
North West -3 261 £260 -25.71% 130
South West -6 244 £463 -13.95% 129
East of England +7 216 £290 +28.89% 97
Yorkshire -14 192 £360 +6.67% 58
West Midlands -24 168 £438 +34.62% 76
East Midlands +1 108 £200 -5.88% 54
North East -14 26 £188 -14.77% 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
1 218 (8.64%) Microsoft Exchange
2 162 (6.42%) SharePoint
3 49 (1.94%) Confluence
4 46 (1.82%) IIS
5 21 (0.83%) WebLogic
6 19 (0.75%) Apache
7 12 (0.48%) Skype for Business
8 11 (0.44%) Tuxedo
9 9 (0.36%) TPMS
10 7 (0.28%) nginx
10 7 (0.28%) Tomcat
11 4 (0.16%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) OpenStack
11 4 (0.16%) Oracle Workflow
11 4 (0.16%) WebSphere
12 3 (0.12%) SAS
13 2 (0.079%) IBM HTTP Server
13 2 (0.079%) NetWeaver
13 2 (0.079%) Oracle HTTP Server
13 2 (0.079%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 191 (7.57%) Microsoft Office
2 68 (2.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.44%) 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 36 (1.43%) 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 (0.079%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.079%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 2 (0.079%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.079%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.079%) 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%) Finacle
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
1 727 (28.83%) Microsoft 365
2 669 (26.53%) Azure
3 292 (11.58%) Entra ID
4 186 (7.38%) AWS
5 79 (3.13%) OneDrive
6 65 (2.58%) SaaS
7 64 (2.54%) GCP
8 61 (2.42%) Azure DevOps
9 49 (1.94%) Google Workspace
10 47 (1.86%) IaaS
11 41 (1.63%) GitHub
12 40 (1.59%) PaaS
13 37 (1.47%) Power Platform
14 34 (1.35%) Azure Monitor
15 25 (0.99%) Azure Sentinel
16 21 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
17 20 (0.79%) AWS CloudFormation
18 19 (0.75%) OpenShift
19 18 (0.71%) Nutanix
20 17 (0.67%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 337 (13.36%) DNS
2 306 (12.13%) Firewall
3 227 (9.00%) DHCP
4 176 (6.98%) VPN
5 158 (6.26%) TCP/IP
6 151 (5.99%) LAN
7 146 (5.79%) WAN
8 130 (5.15%) Wi-Fi
9 76 (3.01%) Network Security
10 64 (2.54%) VLAN
11 52 (2.06%) Wireless
12 48 (1.90%) SAN
13 39 (1.55%) BGP
14 31 (1.23%) SSL
15 30 (1.19%) OSPF
15 30 (1.19%) Skype
16 29 (1.15%) VoIP
17 28 (1.11%) SNMP
18 27 (1.07%) BIG-IP
18 27 (1.07%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 157 (6.23%) SQL Server
2 44 (1.74%) Oracle Database
3 35 (1.39%) Relational Database
4 32 (1.27%) MySQL
5 23 (0.91%) PostgreSQL
6 18 (0.71%) Power BI
7 14 (0.56%) DB2
8 13 (0.52%) BigQuery
9 12 (0.48%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (0.48%) MongoDB
10 11 (0.44%) Oracle Reports
11 9 (0.36%) NoSQL
12 7 (0.28%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 6 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
13 6 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
13 6 (0.24%) GIS
13 6 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 5 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.16%) Oracle Database 10g
15 4 (0.16%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 159 (6.30%) JIRA
2 52 (2.06%) GitLab
3 49 (1.94%) Jenkins
4 43 (1.70%) Git
5 41 (1.63%) MSI
6 34 (1.35%) Visual Studio
7 22 (0.87%) Eclipse
8 17 (0.67%) Burp Suite
8 17 (0.67%) Metasploit
9 12 (0.48%) Android Studio
9 12 (0.48%) Artifactory
10 11 (0.44%) Chocolatey
11 10 (0.40%) Browser DevTools
11 10 (0.40%) Xcode
12 9 (0.36%) Bitbucket
13 8 (0.32%) InstallShield
13 8 (0.32%) JUnit
13 8 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
14 7 (0.28%) Robot Framework
14 7 (0.28%) Selenium
General
1 891 (35.33%) Social Skills
2 237 (9.40%) Finance
3 213 (8.45%) Analytical Skills
4 196 (7.77%) Public Sector
5 142 (5.63%) Banking
6 103 (4.08%) Legal
7 97 (3.85%) Documentation Skills
8 82 (3.25%) Organisational Skills
9 56 (2.22%) Military
10 40 (1.59%) Presentation Skills
11 39 (1.55%) Manufacturing
12 37 (1.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 37 (1.47%) Retail
13 30 (1.19%) Telecoms
14 29 (1.15%) Law
15 27 (1.07%) Investment Banking
16 24 (0.95%) Front Office
17 20 (0.79%) Local Government
18 16 (0.63%) Aerospace
19 13 (0.52%) Police
Job Titles
1 357 (14.16%) IT Support
2 337 (13.36%) Support Engineer
3 320 (12.69%) Analyst
4 216 (8.56%) IT Engineer
5 181 (7.18%) IT Support Engineer
6 165 (6.54%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 162 (6.42%) Architect
8 158 (6.26%) Senior
9 134 (5.31%) Support Analyst
10 107 (4.24%) Desktop Support
11 106 (4.20%) Developer
12 104 (4.12%) Technical Support
13 96 (3.81%) 2nd Line Support
13 96 (3.81%) Desktop Engineer
14 91 (3.61%) IT Analyst
15 82 (3.25%) Windows Engineer
16 78 (3.09%) Lead
17 73 (2.89%) IT Support Analyst
18 69 (2.74%) Desktop Support Engineer
19 67 (2.66%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 83 (3.29%) .NET
2 65 (2.58%) REST
3 51 (2.02%) .NET Framework
4 48 (1.90%) SAML
5 41 (1.63%) OAuth
6 40 (1.59%) LDAP
7 38 (1.51%) Middleware
8 30 (1.19%) WPF
9 28 (1.11%) WinForms
10 27 (1.07%) Web Services
11 26 (1.03%) Kafka
12 25 (0.99%) OpenID
13 24 (0.95%) 802.1X
13 24 (0.95%) Microsoft Graph
14 22 (0.87%) CSS
14 22 (0.87%) React
15 21 (0.83%) Node.js
16 20 (0.79%) AngularJS
17 19 (0.75%) OAuth2
18 18 (0.71%) Apache NiFi
Miscellaneous
1 183 (7.26%) Onboarding
2 105 (4.16%) Data Centre
3 98 (3.89%) PKI
4 75 (2.97%) Enterprise Software
5 65 (2.58%) Driving Licence
6 64 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
7 62 (2.46%) Clustering
8 59 (2.34%) Replication
9 44 (1.74%) Hybrid Cloud
10 42 (1.67%) Smartphone
11 41 (1.63%) Management Information System
12 40 (1.59%) Product Ownership
13 38 (1.51%) Legacy Systems
14 37 (1.47%) Security Posture
15 32 (1.27%) CMDB
16 31 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
17 30 (1.19%) NHS
18 27 (1.07%) Cloud Native
19 25 (0.99%) Analytical Mindset
20 24 (0.95%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 605 (23.99%) Linux
2 562 (22.28%) Windows Server
3 526 (20.86%) Windows 10
4 139 (5.51%) Mac OS
5 137 (5.43%) Android
6 115 (4.56%) Unix
7 114 (4.52%) Apple iOS
8 73 (2.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 58 (2.30%) Windows Server 2016
10 47 (1.86%) Windows 7
11 45 (1.78%) Windows Server 2019
12 39 (1.55%) AIX
13 38 (1.51%) Windows Server 2012
14 28 (1.11%) Windows Server 2003
15 18 (0.71%) Ubuntu
15 18 (0.71%) VMS
16 14 (0.56%) Solaris
17 11 (0.44%) Windows Server 2008
18 9 (0.36%) CentOS
18 9 (0.36%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 521 (20.66%) Problem-Solving
2 443 (17.57%) Customer Service
3 369 (14.63%) ITIL
4 268 (10.63%) Agile
5 262 (10.39%) Migration
6 241 (9.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 224 (8.88%) DevOps
8 213 (8.45%) ITSM
9 198 (7.85%) CI/CD
10 184 (7.30%) Service Management
11 178 (7.06%) Continuous Improvement
12 167 (6.62%) Cybersecurity
13 164 (6.50%) Change Management
14 153 (6.07%) Disaster Recovery
15 134 (5.31%) High Availability
16 126 (5.00%) Stakeholder Management
17 114 (4.52%) User Experience
18 109 (4.32%) Identity Access Management
19 108 (4.28%) Infrastructure as Code
20 104 (4.12%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 540 (21.41%) PowerShell
2 242 (9.60%) Python
3 236 (9.36%) SQL
4 124 (4.92%) C#
5 108 (4.28%) Bash
6 79 (3.13%) Java
7 73 (2.89%) JavaScript
8 54 (2.14%) PL/SQL
9 49 (1.94%) C++
10 44 (1.74%) Perl
11 42 (1.67%) T-SQL
12 29 (1.15%) Kusto Query Language
13 24 (0.95%) VB
14 19 (0.75%) VBScript
15 17 (0.67%) Shell Script
16 15 (0.59%) Search Processing Language
16 15 (0.59%) VBA
17 13 (0.52%) Bicep
17 13 (0.52%) TypeScript
18 11 (0.44%) Go
Qualifications
1 795 (31.52%) Security Cleared
2 527 (20.90%) SC Cleared
3 252 (9.99%) Degree
4 234 (9.28%) DV Cleared
5 116 (4.60%) Microsoft Certification
6 70 (2.78%) Computer Science Degree
7 61 (2.42%) Cisco Certification
8 47 (1.86%) Azure Certification
9 40 (1.59%) MCSE
10 33 (1.31%) CISSP
11 31 (1.23%) ITIL Certification
12 30 (1.19%) CCNA
13 28 (1.11%) AWS Certification
13 28 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
14 22 (0.87%) CCNP
14 22 (0.87%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 21 (0.83%) A+ Certification
16 20 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
16 20 (0.79%) MCSA
17 17 (0.67%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (3.45%) GDPR
1 87 (3.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 84 (3.33%) QA
3 79 (3.13%) SLA
4 56 (2.22%) NIST
5 42 (1.67%) PCI DSS
6 25 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 17 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
8 12 (0.48%) MiFID
9 11 (0.44%) NCSC
9 11 (0.44%) NIST 800
9 11 (0.44%) PMO
10 10 (0.40%) FINRA
11 9 (0.36%) Data Quality
11 9 (0.36%) GLBA
12 5 (0.20%) DICOM
12 5 (0.20%) HL7
13 4 (0.16%) GMP
13 4 (0.16%) GxP
13 4 (0.16%) HIPAA
System Software
1 953 (37.79%) Active Directory
2 272 (10.79%) VMware Infrastructure
3 113 (4.48%) Hyper-V
4 90 (3.57%) Docker
5 74 (2.93%) vSphere
6 62 (2.46%) VMware ESXi
7 56 (2.22%) Virtual Machines
8 46 (1.82%) Virtual Desktop
9 34 (1.35%) VMware NSX
10 30 (1.19%) BitLocker
10 30 (1.19%) Firmware
11 24 (0.95%) Microsoft App-V
12 17 (0.67%) 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%) Snort
Systems Management
1 355 (14.08%) Microsoft Intune
2 278 (11.02%) SCCM
3 149 (5.91%) Ansible
3 149 (5.91%) Terraform
4 116 (4.60%) Kubernetes
5 68 (2.70%) Single Sign-On
6 61 (2.42%) vCenter Server
7 59 (2.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 40 (1.59%) Jamf Pro
9 32 (1.27%) FortiGate
10 29 (1.15%) WSUS
11 25 (0.99%) SCOM
12 24 (0.95%) Grafana
13 21 (0.83%) Prometheus
14 19 (0.75%) Nagios
15 18 (0.71%) Nessus
15 18 (0.71%) Progress Chef
16 17 (0.67%) Puppet
17 16 (0.63%) Nmap
18 15 (0.59%) WMI
Vendors
1 1,092 (43.30%) Microsoft
2 370 (14.67%) VMware
3 222 (8.80%) ServiceNow
4 199 (7.89%) Citrix
5 150 (5.95%) Cisco
5 150 (5.95%) Oracle
6 114 (4.52%) Splunk
7 72 (2.85%) HP
8 61 (2.42%) SolarWinds
9 59 (2.34%) Dell
9 59 (2.34%) Red Hat
10 55 (2.18%) Google
11 50 (1.98%) Remedy
12 48 (1.90%) IBM
13 47 (1.86%) Apple
14 40 (1.59%) Juniper
15 38 (1.51%) CyberArk
15 38 (1.51%) Veeam
16 34 (1.35%) F5
17 28 (1.11%) Palo Alto