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 18 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 87 | 92 | 76 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +5 | -16 | -13 |
| Contract jobs citing Data Centre | 165 | 81 | 112 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the South East | 2.51% | 2.23% | 2.62% |
| As % of the Miscellaneous category | 8.09% | 7.15% | 8.69% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 104 | 57 | 68 |
| 10th Percentile | £300 | £263 | £313 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £293 | £395 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £413 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +27.27% | -17.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £625 | £588 | £588 |
| 90th Percentile | £688 | £648 | £612 |
| England median daily rate | £550 | £506 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +8.70% | -3.62% | -3.67% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 17 | 0 | 8 |
| 10th Percentile | £18.25 | - | £12.04 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.34 | - | - |
| Median hourly rate | £32.50 | - | £12.08 |
| 75th Percentile | £33.75 | - | £13.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £35.22 | - | £19.31 |
| England median hourly rate | £37.50 | £25.15 | £20.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +49.11% | +25.75% | -13.98% |
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.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills | 2,040 | 1,133 | 1,289 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East | 31.07% | 31.25% | 30.20% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,172 | 715 | 737 |
| 10th Percentile | £270 | £204 | £250 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £358 | £375 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £490 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +7.14% | -2.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £617 | £600 | £613 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £675 | £688 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £525 | £545 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -3.67% | -0.91% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 264 | 97 | 77 |
| 10th Percentile | £12.84 | £13.25 | £14.43 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.33 | £16.50 | £27.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £33.25 | £26.50 | £55.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +25.47% | -51.82% | +1.97% |
| 75th Percentile | £72.50 | £55.00 | £75.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.53 | £69.85 | £75.16 |
| England median hourly rate | £33.79 | £28.13 | £53.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +20.14% | -47.43% | +16.61% |
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 Daily Rate Trend in the South East
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 18 October 2026.
Data Centre Hourly Rate Trend in the South East
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 18 October 2026.
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 18 October 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 | -4 | 92 | £447 | +14.25% | 75 |
| Berkshire | 0 | 71 | £400 | +13.48% | 51 |
| Hampshire | -3 | 46 | £600 | +50.00% | 30 |
| Buckinghamshire | -12 | 18 | £600 | -5.88% | 9 |
| Surrey | -3 | 15 | £513 | +17.14% | 17 |
| West Sussex | -24 | 7 | £625 | -13.79% | 4 |
| Middlesex | - | 4 | - | - | |
| Oxfordshire | -25 | 3 | £500 | -16.67% | 15 |
| Data Centre England |
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Data Centre Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Miscellaneous
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hybrid Cloud | 5.5% | 9 |
| 2 | Public Cloud | 4.8% | 8 |
| 3 | Management Information System | 3.6% | 6 |
| 3 | Private Cloud | 3.6% | 6 |
| 5 | Cloud Native | 3.0% | 5 |
| 5 | Embedded Systems | 3.0% | 5 |
| 5 | Mobile Payment | 3.0% | 5 |
| 5 | Smartcard | 3.0% | 5 |
| 9 | Analytical Mindset | 2.4% | 4 |
| 9 | Fibre Optics | 2.4% | 4 |
| 9 | Onboarding | 2.4% | 4 |
| 9 | Self-Motivation | 2.4% | 4 |
| 9 | Social Media | 2.4% | 4 |
| 14 | Driving Licence | 1.8% | 3 |
| 15 | Distributed Denial-of-Service | 1.2% | 2 |
| 15 | Renewable Energy | 1.2% | 2 |
| 17 | CCTV | 0.6% | 1 |
| 17 | Clustering | 0.6% | 1 |
| 17 | Data Protection Act | 0.6% | 1 |
| 17 | Enterprise Cloud | 0.6% | 1 |