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 8 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 86 82 69
Rank change year-on-year -4 -13 -4
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 167 93 120
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.57% 2.61% 2.77%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 8.38% 8.28% 9.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 108 64 72
10th Percentile £300 £274 £350
25th Percentile £400 £300 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £413 £508
Median % change year-on-year +27.27% -18.72% +1.50%
75th Percentile £625 £588 £599
90th Percentile £691 £655 £625
England median daily rate £538 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +4.37% -1.90% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 0 9
10th Percentile £18.13 - £12.05
25th Percentile £19.34 - -
Median hourly rate £29.25 - £12.08
75th Percentile £33.75 - £18.75
90th Percentile £34.49 - £22.20
England median hourly rate £33.86 £25.15 £23.80
% change year-on-year +34.63% +5.67% +2.37%

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 1,994 1,123 1,295
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 30.64% 31.48% 29.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,175 705 743
10th Percentile £288 £204 £243
25th Percentile £413 £350 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £618 £588 £608
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
England median daily rate £525 £525 £543
% change year-on-year - -3.23% -1.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 233 96 79
10th Percentile £12.84 £15.13 £13.25
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.50 £26.63
Median hourly rate £35.22 £32.91 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.02% -42.77% +4.55%
75th Percentile £71.00 £58.00 £75.00
90th Percentile £91.75 £70.16 £75.16
England median hourly rate £33.99 £30.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year +13.30% -45.45% +19.49%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 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 -9 93 £435 +10.13% 136
Berkshire +3 72 £400 +9.59% 92
Hampshire -7 47 £625 +56.25% 48
Buckinghamshire -21 18 £600 -5.88% 23
Surrey -4 15 £513 +17.14% 34
West Sussex -21 7 £625 -13.79% 9
Middlesex - 4 - -
Oxfordshire -27 3 £500 -16.67% 22
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 (7.19%) SharePoint
2 5 (2.99%) IIS
3 3 (1.80%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.60%) Confluence
4 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
1 3 (1.80%) MS Visio
2 2 (1.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Oracle EBS
1 1 (0.60%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 36 (21.56%) Azure
2 31 (18.56%) AWS
3 13 (7.78%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (7.19%) GCP
5 10 (5.99%) OneDrive
6 4 (2.40%) AWS Direct Connect
6 4 (2.40%) Entra ID
7 3 (1.80%) Azure Sentinel
7 3 (1.80%) IaaS
7 3 (1.80%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 2 (1.20%) OpenShift
8 2 (1.20%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.60%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.60%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 1 (0.60%) dbt
9 1 (0.60%) Nutanix
9 1 (0.60%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 29 (17.37%) DNS
2 28 (16.77%) WAN
3 27 (16.17%) LAN
4 25 (14.97%) Firewall
5 24 (14.37%) BGP
5 24 (14.37%) DHCP
6 20 (11.98%) VPN
7 18 (10.78%) VLAN
8 17 (10.18%) SD-WAN
8 17 (10.18%) TCP/IP
9 16 (9.58%) Network Security
10 13 (7.78%) Cisco Nexus
10 13 (7.78%) VXLAN
11 12 (7.19%) OSPF
11 12 (7.19%) Wi-Fi
12 10 (5.99%) MPLS
13 9 (5.39%) BIG-IP
13 9 (5.39%) Ethernet VPN
14 8 (4.79%) Cisco Firepower
14 8 (4.79%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.20%) Power BI
2 1 (0.60%) EDMS
Development Applications
1 2 (1.20%) Sonatype Nexus
2 1 (0.60%) Git
2 1 (0.60%) JIRA
General
1 52 (31.14%) Social Skills
2 14 (8.38%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (7.78%) Finance
3 13 (7.78%) Telecoms
4 7 (4.19%) Documentation Skills
5 5 (2.99%) Influencing Skills
5 5 (2.99%) Legal
6 4 (2.40%) Manufacturing
6 4 (2.40%) Marketing
6 4 (2.40%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (2.40%) Retail
7 2 (1.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 1 (0.60%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (0.60%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 29 (17.37%) Architect
2 21 (12.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 19 (11.38%) Network Architect
3 19 (11.38%) Network Engineer
4 15 (8.98%) Analyst
5 10 (5.99%) IT Support
6 9 (5.39%) Capacity Manager
7 8 (4.79%) Data Analyst
7 8 (4.79%) Data Centre Analyst
7 8 (4.79%) Data Centre Engineer
7 8 (4.79%) Site Manager
8 7 (4.19%) IT Engineer
9 6 (3.59%) Infrastructure Architect
9 6 (3.59%) Security Architect
9 6 (3.59%) Security Engineer
9 6 (3.59%) Senior
10 5 (2.99%) Administrator
10 5 (2.99%) Project Manager
10 5 (2.99%) Security Analyst
10 5 (2.99%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (4.79%) Terraform
2 7 (4.19%) 802.1X
3 4 (2.40%) NETCONF
4 3 (1.80%) OpenConfig
4 3 (1.80%) RESTCONF
4 3 (1.80%) YANG
5 2 (1.20%) REST
6 1 (0.60%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.99%) Hybrid Cloud
2 8 (4.79%) Public Cloud
3 6 (3.59%) Analytical Mindset
3 6 (3.59%) Management Information System
3 6 (3.59%) Private Cloud
4 5 (2.99%) Cloud Native
4 5 (2.99%) Embedded Systems
4 5 (2.99%) Mobile Payment
4 5 (2.99%) Smartcard
5 4 (2.40%) Fibre Optics
5 4 (2.40%) Onboarding
5 4 (2.40%) Social Media
6 3 (1.80%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.20%) Clustering
7 2 (1.20%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 2 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
7 2 (1.20%) PKI
7 2 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.60%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.60%) iSeries
Operating Systems
1 29 (17.37%) Windows
2 13 (7.78%) Linux
3 10 (5.99%) Apple iOS
3 10 (5.99%) Mac OS
4 9 (5.39%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (17.96%) ITIL
2 26 (15.57%) Problem-Solving
3 24 (14.37%) ITSM
4 23 (13.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 19 (11.38%) Migration
6 17 (10.18%) AI
6 17 (10.18%) Data Protection
6 17 (10.18%) Project Delivery
6 17 (10.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 16 (9.58%) Capacity Management
7 16 (9.58%) Continuous Improvement
8 15 (8.98%) Disaster Recovery
9 14 (8.38%) Computer Science
9 14 (8.38%) Customer Service
10 13 (7.78%) Business Continuity
10 13 (7.78%) Change Management
10 13 (7.78%) Cybersecurity
10 13 (7.78%) Service Management
10 13 (7.78%) Stakeholder Management
10 13 (7.78%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.39%) Python
2 3 (1.80%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 69 (41.32%) Security Cleared
2 41 (24.55%) DV Cleared
3 35 (20.96%) SC Cleared
4 27 (16.17%) Cisco Certification
5 22 (13.17%) Degree
6 12 (7.19%) CCNP
7 9 (5.39%) CCIE
7 9 (5.39%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 6 (3.59%) CISSP
8 6 (3.59%) VCAP
9 5 (2.99%) AWS Certification
9 5 (2.99%) CCNA
9 5 (2.99%) CISA
9 5 (2.99%) CISM
9 5 (2.99%) IISP
9 5 (2.99%) JNCIE
10 4 (2.40%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.40%) CCSP
10 4 (2.40%) CLAS
10 4 (2.40%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (8.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 9 (5.39%) JSP 440
2 9 (5.39%) NIST
3 7 (4.19%) QA
4 6 (3.59%) GRC
4 6 (3.59%) SLA
5 5 (2.99%) GDPR
5 5 (2.99%) ISO 31000
5 5 (2.99%) ISO 9001
5 5 (2.99%) ISO/IEC 27005
5 5 (2.99%) NCSC
5 5 (2.99%) PCI DSS
6 4 (2.40%) RMADS
7 1 (0.60%) ISO 22301
7 1 (0.60%) NIST 800
System Software
1 25 (14.97%) VMware Infrastructure
2 13 (7.78%) VMware NSX
3 10 (5.99%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (4.79%) Active Directory
4 8 (4.79%) vSphere
5 6 (3.59%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (2.99%) Hyper-V
7 4 (2.40%) ISA Server
7 4 (2.40%) Virtual Servers
8 2 (1.20%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 1 (0.60%) Firmware
9 1 (0.60%) UAG
Systems Management
1 13 (7.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (7.19%) Ansible
3 10 (5.99%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (4.19%) vCenter Server
5 6 (3.59%) FortiGate
6 5 (2.99%) CASB
7 3 (1.80%) Avamar
7 3 (1.80%) Grafana
7 3 (1.80%) Prometheus
8 2 (1.20%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (1.20%) vRealize
8 2 (1.20%) vRealize Orchestrator
9 1 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.60%) Kubernetes
9 1 (0.60%) PowerCLI
9 1 (0.60%) SCCM
Vendors
1 40 (23.95%) Cisco
2 36 (21.56%) Microsoft
3 34 (20.36%) VMware
4 20 (11.98%) F5
5 13 (7.78%) Palo Alto
6 12 (7.19%) ServiceNow
7 10 (5.99%) SolarWinds
8 9 (5.39%) CheckPoint
8 9 (5.39%) Fortinet
8 9 (5.39%) Juniper
9 8 (4.79%) Veeam
10 7 (4.19%) Commvault
10 7 (4.19%) Dell
10 7 (4.19%) Google
10 7 (4.19%) Meraki
11 6 (3.59%) Splunk
12 5 (2.99%) BT
12 5 (2.99%) NetApp
12 5 (2.99%) Xerox
13 4 (2.40%) Centrify