Windows Contracts in the South East

Microsoft Windows
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East 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 8 June 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jun 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 9 7 7
Rank change year-on-year -2 0 0
Contract jobs citing Windows 393 691 800
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 13.21% 12.11% 14.15%
As % of the Operating Systems category 73.60% 68.42% 69.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 285 475 549
10th Percentile £200 £200 £180
25th Percentile £263 £263 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £480 £375
Median % change year-on-year +2.08% +28.00% -6.25%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £540
90th Percentile £675 £675 £638
England median daily rate £425 £412 £450
% change year-on-year +3.22% -8.50% +7.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 41 46
10th Percentile £14.20 £14.00 £15.87
25th Percentile £15.31 £17.69 £18.12
Median hourly rate £18.82 £27.50 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year -31.56% -44.44% +182.86%
75th Percentile £26.50 £59.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £28.00 £63.75 £75.00
England median hourly rate £18.82 £18.00 £23.90
% change year-on-year +4.56% -24.67% +19.48%

All Operating Systems
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 534 1,010 1,150
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 17.94% 17.70% 20.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 383 656 777
10th Percentile £200 £203 £195
25th Percentile £325 £319 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year +3.16% +2.70% +2.78%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £575
90th Percentile £661 £666 £638
England median daily rate £465 £475 £502
% change year-on-year -2.11% -5.30% +0.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 60 67
10th Percentile £14.20 £15.99 £17.25
25th Percentile £16.95 £18.00 £22.08
Median hourly rate £20.00 £47.50 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year -57.89% -17.39% +228.57%
75th Percentile £30.00 £69.06 £68.75
90th Percentile £59.30 £73.88 £75.00
England median hourly rate £19.64 £22.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -12.73% -47.06% +97.67%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Job postings citing Windows as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Job vacancy trend for Windows in the South East

Windows
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Windows in the South East.

Daily rate trend for Windows in the South East

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in the South East over the 6 months to 8 June 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in the South East

Windows
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Windows in the South East.

Hourly rate trend for Windows in the South East

Windows
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows in the South East over the 6 months to 8 June 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Windows in the South East

Windows
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 Windows within the South East region over the 6 months to 8 June 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
Thames Valley +2 166 £463 +8.82% 332
Hampshire -1 118 £550 - 135
Berkshire -3 106 £525 -4.55% 217
Surrey +9 52 £250 -50.00% 56
Buckinghamshire +7 39 £375 +1.35% 62
Kent -2 28 £375 +82.93% 30
West Sussex +3 23 £240 -45.14% 36
Oxfordshire -2 21 £250 +47.06% 55
East Sussex -2 4 £275 -42.11% 16
Windows
England

Windows
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East 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 34 (8.65%) Microsoft Exchange
2 17 (4.33%) Confluence
3 16 (4.07%) SharePoint
4 11 (2.80%) IIS
5 5 (1.27%) Apache
5 5 (1.27%) Tomcat
6 4 (1.02%) IBM Domino
7 3 (0.76%) BizTalk Server
7 3 (0.76%) Exchange Server 2003
7 3 (0.76%) Exchange Server 2007
7 3 (0.76%) Exchange Server 2010
7 3 (0.76%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.76%) Office Communications Server
7 3 (0.76%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.76%) Skype for Business
7 3 (0.76%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.51%) JBoss
9 1 (0.25%) SAS
9 1 (0.25%) WinCC
Applications
1 36 (9.16%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.04%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.25%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.25%) Maximo
1 1 (0.25%) Remedy AR System
1 1 (0.25%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 76 (19.34%) Azure
2 70 (17.81%) Microsoft 365
3 27 (6.87%) AWS
4 24 (6.11%) Entra ID
5 18 (4.58%) Google Workspace
5 18 (4.58%) IaaS
6 17 (4.33%) Azure DevOps
7 14 (3.56%) PaaS
8 10 (2.54%) OpenShift
9 9 (2.29%) GCP
10 6 (1.53%) GitHub
11 5 (1.27%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (1.27%) Nutanix
11 5 (1.27%) OneDrive
12 4 (1.02%) Cloud Computing
13 3 (0.76%) SaaS
14 2 (0.51%) Azure Monitor
14 2 (0.51%) Dynamics 365
14 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Copilot
14 2 (0.51%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 54 (13.74%) DNS
2 42 (10.69%) Firewall
3 40 (10.18%) DHCP
4 27 (6.87%) VPN
5 17 (4.33%) TCP/IP
6 16 (4.07%) SMTP
7 14 (3.56%) SAN
7 14 (3.56%) WAN
8 13 (3.31%) LAN
8 13 (3.31%) VLAN
9 12 (3.05%) Fibre Channel
10 10 (2.54%) Network Security
11 8 (2.04%) Wi-Fi
12 7 (1.78%) iSCSI
12 7 (1.78%) NetScaler
13 6 (1.53%) Remote Desktop
13 6 (1.53%) SSL
14 5 (1.27%) FTP
15 4 (1.02%) Cisco IOS
15 4 (1.02%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (5.85%) SQL Server
2 13 (3.31%) Big Data
2 13 (3.31%) Elasticsearch
3 8 (2.04%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (1.02%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 3 (0.76%) Apache Cassandra
5 3 (0.76%) MS Access
5 3 (0.76%) RDBMS
5 3 (0.76%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.51%) GIS
6 2 (0.51%) MySQL
6 2 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.51%) Power BI
6 2 (0.51%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 1 (0.25%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Analysis Services
7 1 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.25%) SQLite
7 1 (0.25%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 30 (7.63%) JIRA
2 15 (3.82%) Git
3 13 (3.31%) MSI
4 11 (2.80%) Visual Studio
5 10 (2.54%) Jenkins
6 6 (1.53%) Selenium
7 4 (1.02%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.76%) Toad
9 2 (0.51%) Bitbucket Server
9 2 (0.51%) CA Release Automation
9 2 (0.51%) QARun
9 2 (0.51%) Robot Framework
9 2 (0.51%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.51%) TeamCity
9 2 (0.51%) WinRunner
10 1 (0.25%) CMake
10 1 (0.25%) Subversion
10 1 (0.25%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 121 (30.79%) Social Skills
2 63 (16.03%) Finance
3 56 (14.25%) Public Sector
4 41 (10.43%) Manufacturing
5 36 (9.16%) Telecoms
6 32 (8.14%) Electronics
6 32 (8.14%) Marketing
7 23 (5.85%) Analytical Skills
8 11 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 8 (2.04%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.02%) Games
11 3 (0.76%) Legal
12 2 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
12 2 (0.51%) Korean Language
12 2 (0.51%) Law
12 2 (0.51%) Military
12 2 (0.51%) Organisational Skills
12 2 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.25%) French Language
13 1 (0.25%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 70 (17.81%) Support Engineer
2 56 (14.25%) Architect
3 49 (12.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 39 (9.92%) Analyst
5 29 (7.38%) Desktop Engineer
5 29 (7.38%) IT Support
6 28 (7.12%) Desktop Support
7 26 (6.62%) Active Directory Architect
8 23 (5.85%) 2nd Line Support
8 23 (5.85%) Windows Engineer
9 22 (5.60%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 21 (5.34%) Desktop Support Engineer
10 21 (5.34%) IT Engineer
11 17 (4.33%) Azure Engineer
11 17 (4.33%) IT Support Engineer
12 16 (4.07%) 3rd Line Support
12 16 (4.07%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
13 15 (3.82%) Developer
14 14 (3.56%) 2nd Line Engineer
14 14 (3.56%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.31%) Middleware
2 9 (2.29%) .NET
3 4 (1.02%) Web Services
3 4 (1.02%) XML
4 3 (0.76%) .NET Framework
4 3 (0.76%) Apache Axis
4 3 (0.76%) RabbitMQ
4 3 (0.76%) SOAP
5 2 (0.51%) Elastic Stack
5 2 (0.51%) JSON
5 2 (0.51%) LAMP
5 2 (0.51%) REST
5 2 (0.51%) SailPoint
5 2 (0.51%) Spring Boot
5 2 (0.51%) WebdriverIO
6 1 (0.25%) LDAP
6 1 (0.25%) MDX
6 1 (0.25%) MSMQ
6 1 (0.25%) Software Packaging
6 1 (0.25%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 25 (6.36%) PKI
2 22 (5.60%) Onboarding
3 19 (4.83%) Clustering
4 18 (4.58%) Data Centre
5 16 (4.07%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (2.80%) iPhone
7 10 (2.54%) iPad
8 9 (2.29%) Driving Licence
8 9 (2.29%) SCADA
8 9 (2.29%) Smartphone
9 7 (1.78%) NHS
9 7 (1.78%) Public Cloud
10 6 (1.53%) Product Ownership
10 6 (1.53%) Replication
11 5 (1.27%) Enterprise Software
12 4 (1.02%) Client/Server
12 4 (1.02%) Enterprise Storage
12 4 (1.02%) Management Information System
12 4 (1.02%) Operational Technology
13 3 (0.76%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 101 (25.70%) Windows Server
2 99 (25.19%) Windows 10
3 72 (18.32%) Linux
4 29 (7.38%) Windows Server 2019
5 18 (4.58%) Apple iOS
6 16 (4.07%) Windows Server 2003
7 14 (3.56%) Mac OS
7 14 (3.56%) Windows Server 2016
8 13 (3.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 11 (2.80%) Android
10 8 (2.04%) Ubuntu
11 7 (1.78%) Windows 7
12 6 (1.53%) Unix
13 5 (1.27%) CentOS
14 4 (1.02%) Windows Server 2012
15 2 (0.51%) Oracle Linux
15 2 (0.51%) Solaris
16 1 (0.25%) VMS
16 1 (0.25%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (27.23%) Problem-Solving
2 63 (16.03%) ITIL
3 57 (14.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 52 (13.23%) Agile
5 48 (12.21%) DevOps
6 45 (11.45%) Customer Service
6 45 (11.45%) Test Automation
7 37 (9.41%) Business Intelligence
8 36 (9.16%) Migration
9 32 (8.14%) Digital Marketing
9 32 (8.14%) Programme Management
10 30 (7.63%) Identity Access Management
11 24 (6.11%) Root Cause Analysis
12 21 (5.34%) ITSM
13 20 (5.09%) Security Patching
14 18 (4.58%) Change Management
14 18 (4.58%) Cybersecurity
14 18 (4.58%) Service Management
15 16 (4.07%) Service Delivery
16 15 (3.82%) Artificial Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 111 (28.24%) PowerShell
2 55 (13.99%) SQL
3 31 (7.89%) C#
4 30 (7.63%) Python
5 20 (5.09%) PL/SQL
6 12 (3.05%) VB
7 11 (2.80%) Bash
7 11 (2.80%) Delphi
8 10 (2.54%) Perl
9 7 (1.78%) Shell Script
10 6 (1.53%) Java
11 4 (1.02%) Kusto Query Language
11 4 (1.02%) PHP
11 4 (1.02%) VBScript
12 3 (0.76%) Ruby
13 2 (0.51%) Bicep
13 2 (0.51%) C++
14 1 (0.25%) ActionScript
14 1 (0.25%) C
14 1 (0.25%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 146 (37.15%) Security Cleared
2 86 (21.88%) DV Cleared
3 57 (14.50%) SC Cleared
4 31 (7.89%) Degree
5 14 (3.56%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (2.04%) A+ Certification
6 8 (2.04%) ITIL Certification
7 7 (1.78%) MCSE
7 7 (1.78%) VCP5
7 7 (1.78%) VCP6
7 7 (1.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 6 (1.53%) CISSP
9 5 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (1.27%) DBS Check
10 4 (1.02%) CompTIA Security+
10 4 (1.02%) MCP
11 3 (0.76%) GCIH
11 3 (0.76%) ISEB
11 3 (0.76%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 3 (0.76%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (6.62%) SLA
2 6 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 6 (1.53%) QA
3 4 (1.02%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.51%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.25%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.25%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.25%) GDPR
5 1 (0.25%) IEC 61131
5 1 (0.25%) NIST
5 1 (0.25%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 164 (41.73%) Active Directory
2 44 (11.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (8.65%) vSphere
4 31 (7.89%) VMware ESXi
5 25 (6.36%) Hyper-V
6 12 (3.05%) Docker
7 10 (2.54%) NFS
8 9 (2.29%) DFS Replication
8 9 (2.29%) Microsoft App-V
9 8 (2.04%) BitLocker
9 8 (2.04%) Terminal Services
9 8 (2.04%) XenApp
10 7 (1.78%) XenDesktop
11 6 (1.53%) Virtual Desktop
11 6 (1.53%) Virtual Machines
12 4 (1.02%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 3 (0.76%) Apache ZooKeeper
13 3 (0.76%) Brightmail
13 3 (0.76%) ISA Server
14 1 (0.25%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 43 (10.94%) SCCM
2 34 (8.65%) Microsoft Intune
3 21 (5.34%) Ansible
4 14 (3.56%) vCenter Server
5 13 (3.31%) Kubernetes
5 13 (3.31%) SCOM
5 13 (3.31%) Terraform
6 11 (2.80%) Puppet
7 10 (2.54%) WSUS
8 8 (2.04%) Microsoft Clustering
8 8 (2.04%) Nagios
8 8 (2.04%) vMotion
8 8 (2.04%) WMI
9 5 (1.27%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (1.27%) Tivoli
10 4 (1.02%) NetBackup
10 4 (1.02%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.76%) Failover Clustering
11 3 (0.76%) Norton AntiVirus
11 3 (0.76%) SCSM
Vendors
1 165 (41.98%) Microsoft
2 85 (21.63%) VMware
3 36 (9.16%) SAP
4 31 (7.89%) Citrix
5 28 (7.12%) ServiceNow
6 27 (6.87%) Google
7 26 (6.62%) Dell
8 20 (5.09%) HP
8 20 (5.09%) Oracle
9 16 (4.07%) Cisco
10 15 (3.82%) Splunk
11 14 (3.56%) SolarWinds
12 13 (3.31%) Veeam
13 12 (3.05%) Symantec
13 12 (3.05%) Wyse
14 11 (2.80%) Red Hat
15 10 (2.54%) MobileIron
15 10 (2.54%) Nexthink
16 9 (2.29%) MuleSoft
17 8 (2.04%) NetApp