Data Centre Contract Job Trends in the South East

Data Center
England > South East

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Data Centre in contract job vacancies in the South East. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Data Centre over the 6 months leading up to 17 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 86 70 67
Rank change year-on-year -16 -3 -6
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 169 101 129
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.54% 2.90% 2.81%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 8.56% 9.16% 9.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 106 72 82
10th Percentile £300 £290 £350
25th Percentile £400 £322 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £545 £450 £525
Median % change year-on-year +21.11% -14.29% +5.00%
75th Percentile £650 £588 £608
90th Percentile £759 £649 £649
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 0 9
10th Percentile £16.01 - £12.05
25th Percentile £18.75 - -
Median hourly rate £20.75 - £12.08
75th Percentile £33.75 - £18.75
90th Percentile - - £22.20
England median hourly rate £30.00 £25.15 £21.90
% change year-on-year +19.28% +14.84% -6.81%

All Generic Skills
South East

Data Centre falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 1,974 1,103 1,345
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 29.63% 31.68% 29.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,214 693 770
10th Percentile £300 £204 £236
25th Percentile £413 £350 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £492 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.71% -1.60% -
75th Percentile £619 £588 £613
90th Percentile £700 £664 £690
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 215 94 111
10th Percentile £12.84 £15.13 £13.25
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.95 £33.13
Median hourly rate £38.72 £33.05 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +17.16% -42.37% +4.87%
75th Percentile £71.75 £58.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £92.50 £70.16 £75.16
England median hourly rate £37.50 £33.05 £57.35
% change year-on-year +13.46% -42.37% +24.59%

Data Centre
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Centre relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Data Centre job vacancy trend in the South East

Data Centre
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Data Centre.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Centre in the South East over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Centre in the South East

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Data Centre.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Centre in the South East over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the South East

Data Centre
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Centre within the South East region over the 6 months to 17 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
Thames Valley -3 97 £435 +7.74% 123
Berkshire +2 77 £375 +15.38% 77
Hampshire -8 56 £613 +11.36% 39
Buckinghamshire -25 19 £605 +11.01% 20
Surrey -12 9 £500 +17.65% 29
West Sussex -27 4 £625 -13.79% 17
Middlesex - 4 - -
Oxfordshire -27 1 £500 -16.67% 26
Data Centre
England

Data Centre
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 12 (7.10%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.78%) IIS
2 3 (1.78%) OpenStack
3 1 (0.59%) Confluence
3 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (1.78%) MS Visio
2 2 (1.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.18%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 38 (22.49%) Azure
2 31 (18.34%) AWS
3 13 (7.69%) Microsoft 365
4 10 (5.92%) OneDrive
5 9 (5.33%) GCP
6 4 (2.37%) Azure Sentinel
6 4 (2.37%) IaaS
7 3 (1.78%) Entra ID
7 3 (1.78%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 2 (1.18%) AWS Direct Connect
8 2 (1.18%) OpenShift
8 2 (1.18%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.59%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.59%) dbt
9 1 (0.59%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 32 (18.93%) WAN
2 29 (17.16%) Firewall
2 29 (17.16%) LAN
3 26 (15.38%) DNS
4 25 (14.79%) BGP
5 22 (13.02%) DHCP
6 20 (11.83%) VPN
7 18 (10.65%) TCP/IP
8 16 (9.47%) SD-WAN
8 16 (9.47%) VLAN
9 15 (8.88%) OSPF
9 15 (8.88%) VXLAN
10 14 (8.28%) Cisco Nexus
10 14 (8.28%) Network Security
11 11 (6.51%) BIG-IP
11 11 (6.51%) Ethernet VPN
11 11 (6.51%) MPLS
12 10 (5.92%) Structured Cabling
12 10 (5.92%) Wi-Fi
13 9 (5.33%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.18%) Power BI
2 1 (0.59%) EDMS
Development Applications
1 2 (1.18%) Sonatype Nexus
2 1 (0.59%) Git
2 1 (0.59%) JIRA
General
1 57 (33.73%) Social Skills
2 17 (10.06%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (7.69%) Finance
3 13 (7.69%) Telecoms
4 8 (4.73%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (3.55%) Legal
5 6 (3.55%) Retail
6 5 (2.96%) Influencing Skills
6 5 (2.96%) Manufacturing
6 5 (2.96%) Marketing
7 3 (1.78%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.18%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 31 (18.34%) Architect
2 22 (13.02%) Network Architect
3 17 (10.06%) Network Engineer
4 16 (9.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 12 (7.10%) Analyst
6 10 (5.92%) IT Engineer
6 10 (5.92%) IT Support
7 9 (5.33%) Capacity Manager
7 9 (5.33%) Data Centre Engineer
8 8 (4.73%) Lead
8 8 (4.73%) Site Manager
9 7 (4.14%) Data Analyst
9 7 (4.14%) Data Centre Analyst
9 7 (4.14%) Field Engineer
9 7 (4.14%) Field Service Engineer
9 7 (4.14%) Senior
10 6 (3.55%) Cabling Engineer
11 5 (2.96%) Infrastructure Architect
11 5 (2.96%) Project Manager
11 5 (2.96%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.14%) 802.1X
2 6 (3.55%) Terraform
3 4 (2.37%) NETCONF
4 3 (1.78%) OpenConfig
4 3 (1.78%) RESTCONF
4 3 (1.78%) YANG
5 2 (1.18%) REST
6 1 (0.59%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 14 (8.28%) Hybrid Cloud
2 10 (5.92%) Fibre Optics
3 9 (5.33%) Analytical Mindset
4 8 (4.73%) Private Cloud
4 8 (4.73%) Public Cloud
5 5 (2.96%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.37%) Clustering
6 4 (2.37%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 4 (2.37%) Management Information System
6 4 (2.37%) Onboarding
6 4 (2.37%) PKI
6 4 (2.37%) Social Media
7 3 (1.78%) Driving Licence
7 3 (1.78%) Embedded Systems
7 3 (1.78%) Mobile Payment
7 3 (1.78%) Smartcard
8 2 (1.18%) Legacy Systems
8 2 (1.18%) Replication
8 2 (1.18%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.59%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 29 (17.16%) Windows
2 10 (5.92%) Apple iOS
2 10 (5.92%) Linux
2 10 (5.92%) Mac OS
3 9 (5.33%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (17.75%) ITIL
2 29 (17.16%) Problem-Solving
3 23 (13.61%) ITSM
4 19 (11.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 18 (10.65%) Migration
6 17 (10.06%) AI
6 17 (10.06%) Customer Service
6 17 (10.06%) Disaster Recovery
6 17 (10.06%) Roadmaps
6 17 (10.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 16 (9.47%) Capacity Management
8 15 (8.88%) Continuous Improvement
8 15 (8.88%) Data Protection
9 13 (7.69%) Agile
9 13 (7.69%) Load Balancing
9 13 (7.69%) Project Delivery
9 13 (7.69%) Stakeholder Management
9 13 (7.69%) Technical Leadership
9 13 (7.69%) Time Management
10 12 (7.10%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.33%) Python
2 3 (1.78%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 71 (42.01%) Security Cleared
2 44 (26.04%) DV Cleared
3 34 (20.12%) Cisco Certification
4 32 (18.93%) SC Cleared
5 22 (13.02%) Degree
6 15 (8.88%) CCNP
7 9 (5.33%) CCIE
7 9 (5.33%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 8 (4.73%) CCNA
9 7 (4.14%) A+ Certification
9 7 (4.14%) MCSE
9 7 (4.14%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (4.14%) Network+ Certification
10 5 (2.96%) AWS Certification
10 5 (2.96%) BICSI Certification
10 5 (2.96%) City & Guilds
10 5 (2.96%) JNCIE
11 4 (2.37%) CCSE
11 4 (2.37%) CCSM
11 4 (2.37%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (8.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 9 (5.33%) JSP 440
3 7 (4.14%) SLA
4 6 (3.55%) NIST
5 5 (2.96%) NCSC
5 5 (2.96%) QA
6 4 (2.37%) GDPR
6 4 (2.37%) GRC
6 4 (2.37%) RMADS
7 3 (1.78%) ISO 31000
7 3 (1.78%) ISO 9001
7 3 (1.78%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 3 (1.78%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.59%) NIST 800
System Software
1 22 (13.02%) VMware Infrastructure
2 12 (7.10%) VMware NSX
3 11 (6.51%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (4.73%) Active Directory
4 8 (4.73%) vSphere
5 6 (3.55%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (1.78%) Hyper-V
6 3 (1.78%) ISA Server
7 2 (1.18%) UAG
7 2 (1.18%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.59%) Firmware
8 1 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 14 (8.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (5.92%) Ansible
2 10 (5.92%) Jamf Pro
3 8 (4.73%) FortiGate
4 6 (3.55%) vCenter Server
5 4 (2.37%) CASB
6 3 (1.78%) Avamar
7 2 (1.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (1.18%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.18%) vRealize
7 2 (1.18%) vRealize Orchestrator
8 1 (0.59%) Endace
8 1 (0.59%) Grafana
8 1 (0.59%) Kubernetes
8 1 (0.59%) PowerCLI
8 1 (0.59%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.59%) SCCM
Vendors
1 43 (25.44%) Cisco
2 34 (20.12%) VMware
3 33 (19.53%) Microsoft
4 21 (12.43%) F5
5 13 (7.69%) Palo Alto
6 12 (7.10%) Juniper
6 12 (7.10%) ServiceNow
7 11 (6.51%) SolarWinds
8 10 (5.92%) Fortinet
9 9 (5.33%) CheckPoint
9 9 (5.33%) Dell
10 7 (4.14%) Splunk
11 6 (3.55%) Google
11 6 (3.55%) Veeam
12 5 (2.96%) Commvault
12 5 (2.96%) Meraki
13 4 (2.37%) BT
13 4 (2.37%) Extreme Networks
13 4 (2.37%) NetApp
13 4 (2.37%) Xerox