Windows Contracts in England

Microsoft Windows
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring Windows skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Windows over the 6 months leading up to 29 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 20 16 14
Rank change year-on-year -4 -2 +1
Contract jobs citing Windows 2,062 3,148 4,769
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 8.61% 8.58% 10.02%
As % of the Operating Systems category 61.57% 61.99% 62.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,460 2,185 3,405
10th Percentile £181 £163 £165
25th Percentile £250 £213 £231
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £400 £450
Median % change year-on-year +6.25% -11.11% +7.14%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £425 £400 £450
% change year-on-year +6.25% -11.11% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 123 264 248
10th Percentile £14.20 £11.80 £13.16
25th Percentile £16.95 £14.00 £16.13
Median hourly rate £18.82 £18.00 £23.07
Median % change year-on-year +4.56% -21.96% +15.33%
75th Percentile £25.00 £25.07 £50.42
90th Percentile £51.43 £65.00 £69.13
UK median hourly rate £18.82 £18.07 £23.07
% change year-on-year +4.18% -21.68% +15.33%

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 3,349 5,078 7,684
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 13.99% 13.83% 16.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,291 3,468 5,415
10th Percentile £200 £185 £194
25th Percentile £313 £300 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £468 £475 £510
Median % change year-on-year -1.58% -6.86% +2.00%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £638
90th Percentile £694 £700 £725
UK median daily rate £467 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -1.68% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 370 354
10th Percentile £15.11 £12.75 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.33 £15.50 £17.73
Median hourly rate £20.00 £22.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% -47.06% +97.67%
75th Percentile £55.63 £61.90 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £22.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -2.22% -47.06% +93.18%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Windows as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Windows in England

Windows
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Windows in England.

Daily rate trend for Windows in England

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in England over the 6 months to 29 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in England

Windows
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Windows in England.

Hourly rate trend for Windows in England

Windows
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows in England over the 6 months to 29 May 2025.

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 29 May 2025. 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 -3 773 £450 +12.50% 987
South East -2 384 £475 - 1,608
North of England -3 307 £350 +7.69% 1,285
South West +1 226 £469 -6.25% 759
Midlands -5 195 £275 -21.43% 999
North West -3 162 £350 +7.69% 622
West Midlands -3 152 £285 -28.75% 522
East of England +9 140 £383 +15.47% 837
Yorkshire +2 119 £400 +23.08% 499
East Midlands -18 42 £213 -22.02% 415
North East +1 27 £300 -31.90% 171
Windows
UK

Windows
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 192 (9.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 148 (7.18%) SharePoint
3 58 (2.81%) Confluence
4 49 (2.38%) IIS
5 21 (1.02%) Skype for Business
6 18 (0.87%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 17 (0.82%) Apache
8 16 (0.78%) JBoss
9 13 (0.63%) Tomcat
10 12 (0.58%) CMS
11 9 (0.44%) BizTalk Server
12 8 (0.39%) WebSphere
13 7 (0.34%) WebLogic
14 6 (0.29%) nginx
15 5 (0.24%) SharePoint Server
16 4 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2013
16 4 (0.19%) SharePoint 2010
17 3 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2003
17 3 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2007
17 3 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 234 (11.35%) Microsoft Office
2 64 (3.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (0.97%) MS Visio
4 14 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (0.44%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.19%) InfoPath
7 2 (0.097%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.097%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.097%) ProjectWise
8 1 (0.048%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.048%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.048%) Notion
8 1 (0.048%) Trello
Business Applications
1 8 (0.39%) Remedy ITSM
2 6 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.19%) Maximo
4 3 (0.15%) Oracle 11i
4 3 (0.15%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.097%) Alphatax
5 2 (0.097%) NEC Housing
5 2 (0.097%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.097%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.097%) Sage X3
6 1 (0.048%) Actimize
6 1 (0.048%) Fidessa
6 1 (0.048%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 1 (0.048%) Payment Gateway
6 1 (0.048%) Remedy AR System
6 1 (0.048%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 526 (25.51%) Microsoft 365
2 519 (25.17%) Azure
3 225 (10.91%) Entra ID
4 192 (9.31%) AWS
5 62 (3.01%) IaaS
5 62 (3.01%) OneDrive
6 55 (2.67%) GCP
7 53 (2.57%) Google Workspace
8 43 (2.09%) SaaS
9 37 (1.79%) Azure DevOps
10 35 (1.70%) OpenShift
11 33 (1.60%) PaaS
12 32 (1.55%) GitHub
13 25 (1.21%) Cohesity
14 24 (1.16%) Power Platform
15 21 (1.02%) Cloud Computing
16 18 (0.87%) Nutanix
17 17 (0.82%) Amazon S3
17 17 (0.82%) AWS CloudFormation
18 16 (0.78%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 311 (15.08%) DNS
2 207 (10.04%) Firewall
3 184 (8.92%) DHCP
4 174 (8.44%) VPN
5 110 (5.33%) TCP/IP
6 85 (4.12%) LAN
7 78 (3.78%) WAN
8 77 (3.73%) SAN
9 57 (2.76%) Wi-Fi
10 49 (2.38%) Network Security
11 40 (1.94%) VLAN
12 36 (1.75%) SMTP
13 32 (1.55%) HTTP
13 32 (1.55%) Remote Desktop
14 31 (1.50%) Skype
15 29 (1.41%) Wireless
16 24 (1.16%) Internet
17 23 (1.12%) NAS
18 21 (1.02%) SSL
18 21 (1.02%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 141 (6.84%) SQL Server
2 70 (3.39%) Oracle Database
3 32 (1.55%) Elasticsearch
4 27 (1.31%) Amazon RDS
5 23 (1.12%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 22 (1.07%) Relational Database
7 21 (1.02%) MongoDB
8 18 (0.87%) Big Data
8 18 (0.87%) MySQL
9 17 (0.82%) PostgreSQL
10 14 (0.68%) RDBMS
11 11 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
12 10 (0.48%) DB2
12 10 (0.48%) Power BI
12 10 (0.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 8 (0.39%) MS Access
14 6 (0.29%) NoSQL
15 5 (0.24%) GIS
16 4 (0.19%) Apache Cassandra
16 4 (0.19%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 126 (6.11%) JIRA
2 86 (4.17%) Git
3 70 (3.39%) Jenkins
4 35 (1.70%) GitLab
5 30 (1.45%) MSI
6 25 (1.21%) Bitbucket
7 23 (1.12%) Visual Studio
8 21 (1.02%) TeamCity
9 20 (0.97%) Selenium
9 20 (0.97%) SonarQube
10 16 (0.78%) Sonatype Nexus
11 11 (0.53%) JMeter
12 10 (0.48%) QARun
12 10 (0.48%) WinRunner
13 9 (0.44%) Bitbucket Server
13 9 (0.44%) CA Release Automation
13 9 (0.44%) LoadRunner
13 9 (0.44%) Postman
14 8 (0.39%) Subversion
15 7 (0.34%) Eclipse
General
1 717 (34.77%) Social Skills
2 387 (18.77%) Finance
3 175 (8.49%) Analytical Skills
4 164 (7.95%) Public Sector
5 151 (7.32%) Banking
6 80 (3.88%) Manufacturing
7 68 (3.30%) Legal
8 67 (3.25%) Telecoms
9 60 (2.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 57 (2.76%) Organisational Skills
11 50 (2.42%) Documentation Skills
12 48 (2.33%) Marketing
13 45 (2.18%) Electronics
14 31 (1.50%) Investment Banking
15 25 (1.21%) Military
16 24 (1.16%) Front Office
16 24 (1.16%) Law
17 22 (1.07%) Presentation Skills
18 21 (1.02%) Retail
19 13 (0.63%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 278 (13.48%) Support Engineer
2 228 (11.06%) Analyst
3 208 (10.09%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 163 (7.90%) Architect
5 154 (7.47%) Windows Engineer
6 148 (7.18%) IT Support
7 133 (6.45%) IT Engineer
8 131 (6.35%) Desktop Engineer
9 115 (5.58%) Desktop Support
10 105 (5.09%) Senior
11 91 (4.41%) Developer
12 88 (4.27%) IT Support Engineer
13 85 (4.12%) Deployment Engineer
14 84 (4.07%) Desktop Support Engineer
15 80 (3.88%) 2nd Line Support
16 75 (3.64%) Service Analyst
17 74 (3.59%) Service Desk Analyst
18 65 (3.15%) Support Analyst
19 61 (2.96%) 2nd Line Engineer
20 53 (2.57%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 95 (4.61%) .NET
2 44 (2.13%) .NET Framework
3 39 (1.89%) WPF
4 38 (1.84%) Middleware
5 29 (1.41%) REST
6 28 (1.36%) Web Services
7 27 (1.31%) Kafka
8 25 (1.21%) SOAP
9 21 (1.02%) XML
10 20 (0.97%) LDAP
11 18 (0.87%) ASP.NET
11 18 (0.87%) Software Packaging
12 17 (0.82%) HTML
12 17 (0.82%) Node.js
13 15 (0.73%) Elastic Stack
14 14 (0.68%) CSS
14 14 (0.68%) WCF
15 13 (0.63%) WinForms
16 12 (0.58%) Spring Boot
17 11 (0.53%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 95 (4.61%) Data Centre
2 70 (3.39%) PKI
3 69 (3.35%) Onboarding
4 61 (2.96%) Self-Motivation
5 46 (2.23%) Management Information System
6 43 (2.09%) Clustering
7 42 (2.04%) Driving Licence
8 37 (1.79%) iPhone
9 33 (1.60%) iPad
10 32 (1.55%) Hybrid Cloud
11 30 (1.45%) Data Protection Act
11 30 (1.45%) Video Conferencing
12 29 (1.41%) Replication
13 26 (1.26%) Enterprise Software
13 26 (1.26%) Linux Command Line
14 24 (1.16%) NHS
15 22 (1.07%) SWIFT Messaging Network
16 20 (0.97%) Smartphone
17 18 (0.87%) Public Cloud
18 17 (0.82%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 524 (25.41%) Windows Server
2 471 (22.84%) Linux
3 464 (22.50%) Windows 10
4 92 (4.46%) Windows Server 2016
5 89 (4.32%) Mac OS
6 86 (4.17%) Apple iOS
6 86 (4.17%) Windows Server 2019
7 84 (4.07%) Unix
8 77 (3.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 61 (2.96%) Android
10 54 (2.62%) Windows 7
11 50 (2.42%) Windows Server 2012
12 28 (1.36%) VMS
12 28 (1.36%) Windows Server 2003
13 24 (1.16%) Ubuntu
14 21 (1.02%) CentOS
15 15 (0.73%) Solaris
16 12 (0.58%) Windows XP
17 10 (0.48%) AIX
18 9 (0.44%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 470 (22.79%) Problem-Solving
2 314 (15.23%) ITIL
3 264 (12.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 235 (11.40%) Migration
5 230 (11.15%) Customer Service
6 225 (10.91%) Agile
7 196 (9.51%) DevOps
8 133 (6.45%) ITSM
9 129 (6.26%) Service Management
10 111 (5.38%) Cybersecurity
11 105 (5.09%) CI/CD
12 100 (4.85%) Disaster Recovery
13 89 (4.32%) Stakeholder Management
14 82 (3.98%) SIEM
15 81 (3.93%) High Availability
15 81 (3.93%) Test Automation
16 80 (3.88%) Time Management
17 78 (3.78%) Change Management
18 75 (3.64%) Service Delivery
19 74 (3.59%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 468 (22.70%) PowerShell
2 243 (11.78%) SQL
3 225 (10.91%) Python
4 130 (6.30%) C#
5 124 (6.01%) Bash
6 96 (4.66%) PL/SQL
7 90 (4.36%) Java
8 60 (2.91%) VB
9 46 (2.23%) Perl
10 38 (1.84%) VBA
11 37 (1.79%) JavaScript
12 30 (1.45%) C++
13 26 (1.26%) Shell Script
14 24 (1.16%) T-SQL
15 22 (1.07%) VBScript
16 19 (0.92%) VB.NET
17 14 (0.68%) C
17 14 (0.68%) Delphi
18 10 (0.48%) ActionScript
18 10 (0.48%) ActionScript 2.0
Qualifications
1 559 (27.11%) Security Cleared
2 392 (19.01%) SC Cleared
3 174 (8.44%) DV Cleared
4 149 (7.23%) Degree
5 119 (5.77%) Microsoft Certification
6 50 (2.42%) Cisco Certification
7 36 (1.75%) MCSE
8 35 (1.70%) A+ Certification
8 35 (1.70%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 32 (1.55%) DBS Check
10 31 (1.50%) ITIL Certification
11 26 (1.26%) Azure Certification
11 26 (1.26%) CISSP
12 22 (1.07%) Computer Science Degree
13 21 (1.02%) CCNA
14 18 (0.87%) MCP
15 16 (0.78%) CCNP
15 16 (0.78%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 15 (0.73%) MCSA
17 14 (0.68%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (4.75%) SLA
2 80 (3.88%) QA
3 31 (1.50%) GDPR
4 20 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (0.78%) NIST
6 10 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
6 10 (0.48%) NCSC
7 6 (0.29%) SOC 2
8 5 (0.24%) Accessibility
8 5 (0.24%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.24%) PMO
8 5 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (0.19%) Data Quality
9 4 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
9 4 (0.19%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.15%) SEPA
11 2 (0.097%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 2 (0.097%) ITGC
11 2 (0.097%) NIST 800
System Software
1 813 (39.43%) Active Directory
2 259 (12.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 102 (4.95%) Hyper-V
4 77 (3.73%) Docker
5 71 (3.44%) VMware ESXi
6 70 (3.39%) vSphere
7 48 (2.33%) Virtual Desktop
8 46 (2.23%) Virtual Machines
9 37 (1.79%) Virtual Servers
10 35 (1.70%) BitLocker
11 31 (1.50%) Microsoft App-V
12 29 (1.41%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 19 (0.92%) VMware NSX
14 14 (0.68%) XenApp
14 14 (0.68%) XenDesktop
15 12 (0.58%) NFS
16 11 (0.53%) Terminal Services
17 7 (0.34%) DFS Replication
18 6 (0.29%) Firmware
18 6 (0.29%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 272 (13.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 271 (13.14%) SCCM
3 151 (7.32%) Ansible
4 108 (5.24%) Terraform
5 96 (4.66%) Kubernetes
6 76 (3.69%) WSUS
7 64 (3.10%) Puppet
8 53 (2.57%) vCenter Server
9 36 (1.75%) Progress Chef
10 28 (1.36%) Jamf Pro
11 23 (1.12%) Microsoft Clustering
12 22 (1.07%) Single Sign-On
13 21 (1.02%) SCOM
14 19 (0.92%) Grafana
15 17 (0.82%) Kibana
15 17 (0.82%) Prometheus
16 16 (0.78%) FortiGate
17 15 (0.73%) vMotion
18 12 (0.58%) Nagios
18 12 (0.58%) Nessus
Vendors
1 875 (42.43%) Microsoft
2 371 (17.99%) VMware
3 162 (7.86%) ServiceNow
4 154 (7.47%) Oracle
5 140 (6.79%) Cisco
5 140 (6.79%) Citrix
6 90 (4.36%) Splunk
7 85 (4.12%) Google
8 77 (3.73%) Red Hat
9 75 (3.64%) Apple
10 73 (3.54%) Dell
11 70 (3.39%) HP
12 54 (2.62%) SAP
13 45 (2.18%) IBM
13 45 (2.18%) NetApp
14 41 (1.99%) SolarWinds
15 36 (1.75%) CyberArk
16 29 (1.41%) Veeam
17 28 (1.36%) Nexthink
18 27 (1.31%) Zscaler