Data Centre Contracts in the UK excluding London

Data Center
UK > UK excluding London

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Data Centre in contract job vacancies in the UK excluding London. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Data Centre over the 6 months leading up to 2 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 94 74 72
Rank change year-on-year -20 -2 +24
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 338 536 767
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 2.64% 2.58% 3.20%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.96% 8.76% 9.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 215 362 568
10th Percentile £300 £295 £302
25th Percentile £374 £401 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £538 £500
Median % change year-on-year -11.67% +7.55% +6.38%
75th Percentile £575 £638 £600
90th Percentile £654 £725 £710
UK median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +5.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 32 13
10th Percentile - £13.28 £16.79
25th Percentile £24.18 £17.56 £20.22
Median hourly rate £24.66 £23.25 £21.26
Median % change year-on-year +6.06% +9.36% -1.12%
75th Percentile £32.25 £40.00 £23.75
90th Percentile £41.25 - £57.60
UK median hourly rate £26.08 £24.00 £21.67
% change year-on-year +8.67% +10.75% -22.26%

All Generic Skills
UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 4,246 6,122 7,798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 33.19% 29.50% 32.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,608 3,666 5,259
10th Percentile £210 £210 £213
25th Percentile £363 £376 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.00% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £595 £618
90th Percentile £665 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 304 724 436
10th Percentile £16.81 £12.15 £9.80
25th Percentile £20.28 £14.06 £10.63
Median hourly rate £31.42 £28.13 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.72% +27.84% +9.64%
75th Percentile £64.64 £61.30 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.99 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £32.28 £30.00 £22.49
% change year-on-year +7.58% +33.42% -18.24%

Data Centre
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Job postings citing Data Centre as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Job vacancy trend for Data Centre in the UK excluding London

Data Centre
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Data Centre in the UK excluding London.

Daily rate trend for Data Centre in the UK excluding London

Data Centre
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Centre in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 2 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK excluding London

Data Centre
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Data Centre in the UK excluding London.

Hourly rate trend for Data Centre in the UK excluding London

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Centre in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 2 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK excluding London

Data Centre
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 2 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
South East +5 96 £470 -6.00% 354
North of England -4 68 £389 -10.06% 146
South West -9 51 £548 -0.36% 116
Scotland +6 49 £425 -24.78% 41
Midlands -14 40 £550 -8.33% 98
North West +13 36 £500 +15.61% 65
West Midlands -15 34 £583 -2.92% 54
Yorkshire -12 31 £375 -16.85% 65
East of England +31 21 £423 +40.83% 146
Wales +1 19 £400 +339.56% 27
East Midlands +10 6 £550 -4.35% 35
North East -8 1 £110 -75.42% 19
Data Centre
UK

Data Centre
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 20 (5.92%) Confluence
2 14 (4.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.48%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.59%) IBM Notes
5 1 (0.30%) Apache
5 1 (0.30%) BizTalk Server
5 1 (0.30%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
5 1 (0.30%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) ThingWorx
5 1 (0.30%) Tomcat
Applications
1 12 (3.55%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (1.48%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (1.18%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Maximo
1 1 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 44 (13.02%) Azure
2 31 (9.17%) AWS
3 13 (3.85%) Entra ID
3 13 (3.85%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (3.55%) IaaS
5 11 (3.25%) GCP
5 11 (3.25%) PaaS
6 8 (2.37%) OpenShift
7 7 (2.07%) SaaS
8 5 (1.48%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.18%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.59%) Nutanix
10 2 (0.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 1 (0.30%) Azure Data Factory
11 1 (0.30%) Azure Stack
11 1 (0.30%) GitHub Actions
11 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Purview
11 1 (0.30%) Snowflake
11 1 (0.30%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 89 (26.33%) Firewall
2 47 (13.91%) WAN
3 39 (11.54%) VPN
4 34 (10.06%) Network Security
5 31 (9.17%) LAN
6 29 (8.58%) DNS
7 20 (5.92%) BGP
8 18 (5.33%) DHCP
8 18 (5.33%) Wi-Fi
9 17 (5.03%) OSPF
10 16 (4.73%) Wireless
11 15 (4.44%) NetScaler
12 14 (4.14%) Cisco Nexus
13 13 (3.85%) Cisco ISE
13 13 (3.85%) Kerberos
14 11 (3.25%) SAN
14 11 (3.25%) SD-WAN
14 11 (3.25%) TCP/IP
15 9 (2.66%) Cisco ASA
16 8 (2.37%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.33%) Oracle Database
2 12 (3.55%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (2.37%) Amazon RDS
3 8 (2.37%) Big Data
3 8 (2.37%) Elasticsearch
4 5 (1.48%) SQL Server
5 4 (1.18%) Power BI
6 3 (0.89%) MySQL
7 2 (0.59%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.30%) GIS
8 1 (0.30%) MSDE
8 1 (0.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 15 (4.44%) JIRA
2 6 (1.78%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.18%) Git
4 3 (0.89%) Oracle Forms
5 2 (0.59%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.59%) GitLab
6 1 (0.30%) JMeter
6 1 (0.30%) Selenium
6 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.30%) TestDirector
6 1 (0.30%) WebDriver
General
1 91 (26.92%) Social Skills
2 73 (21.60%) Finance
3 61 (18.05%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (8.28%) Public Sector
5 25 (7.40%) Banking
6 10 (2.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 10 (2.96%) Telecoms
7 9 (2.66%) Aerospace
7 9 (2.66%) Legal
8 8 (2.37%) Retail
9 7 (2.07%) Investment Banking
9 7 (2.07%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.48%) Electronics
10 5 (1.48%) Law
11 3 (0.89%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.89%) Retail Banking
12 2 (0.59%) Aviation
12 2 (0.59%) Fire and Rescue
12 2 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
12 2 (0.59%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 63 (18.64%) Architect
2 49 (14.50%) Network Engineer
3 22 (6.51%) Solutions Architect
4 21 (6.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 21 (6.21%) Lead
4 21 (6.21%) Support Engineer
5 19 (5.62%) Data Centre Engineer
6 17 (5.03%) Analyst
6 17 (5.03%) Senior
7 14 (4.14%) Consultant
7 14 (4.14%) Project Manager
8 12 (3.55%) Infrastructure Architect
8 12 (3.55%) Network Architect
8 12 (3.55%) Server Engineer
9 11 (3.25%) Backup Engineer
9 11 (3.25%) Commvault Engineer
9 11 (3.25%) Data Centre Manager
10 10 (2.96%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 10 (2.96%) Data Manager
10 10 (2.96%) Infrastructure Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.44%) .NET
2 13 (3.85%) 802.1X
3 5 (1.48%) LDAP
4 4 (1.18%) RFC 2544
5 3 (0.89%) ADO
5 3 (0.89%) Middleware
6 1 (0.30%) ASP.NET
6 1 (0.30%) Elastic Stack
6 1 (0.30%) HTML
6 1 (0.30%) Java RMI
6 1 (0.30%) LAMP
6 1 (0.30%) PySpark
6 1 (0.30%) REST
6 1 (0.30%) SAML
6 1 (0.30%) XML
6 1 (0.30%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 23 (6.80%) Replication
2 21 (6.21%) PKI
3 13 (3.85%) CMDB
4 11 (3.25%) Clustering
4 11 (3.25%) Data Protection Act
5 10 (2.96%) Driving Licence
6 8 (2.37%) Fibre Optics
7 7 (2.07%) Mainframe
7 7 (2.07%) SCADA
8 6 (1.78%) Enterprise Storage
9 5 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (1.48%) Management Information System
9 5 (1.48%) Onboarding
9 5 (1.48%) Security Posture
9 5 (1.48%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (1.18%) Video Conferencing
11 3 (0.89%) Legacy Systems
11 3 (0.89%) NHS
12 2 (0.59%) Product Ownership
12 2 (0.59%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 62 (18.34%) Windows
2 55 (16.27%) Linux
3 29 (8.58%) Windows Server
4 14 (4.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (3.55%) Unix
6 9 (2.66%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (2.37%) HPUX
7 8 (2.37%) Solaris
8 4 (1.18%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (1.18%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.89%) Windows Server 2003
10 2 (0.59%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.30%) Android
11 1 (0.30%) CentOS
11 1 (0.30%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.30%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.30%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (20.71%) Migration
2 66 (19.53%) Problem-Solving
3 37 (10.95%) Agile
3 37 (10.95%) Disaster Recovery
4 31 (9.17%) Change Management
4 31 (9.17%) Customer Service
4 31 (9.17%) Project Management
5 29 (8.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 28 (8.28%) Network Architecture
7 26 (7.69%) Stakeholder Management
8 25 (7.40%) ITIL
9 24 (7.10%) DevOps
10 23 (6.80%) Network Management
11 22 (6.51%) Network Design
11 22 (6.51%) Risk Management
11 22 (6.51%) Technical Leadership
12 21 (6.21%) Break/Fix
12 21 (6.21%) High Availability
13 20 (5.92%) RBAC
13 20 (5.92%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 15 (4.44%) PowerShell
2 11 (3.25%) Python
3 8 (2.37%) SQL
4 3 (0.89%) Bash
5 2 (0.59%) Java
5 2 (0.59%) Perl
5 2 (0.59%) Shell Script
6 1 (0.30%) PHP
6 1 (0.30%) Ruby
6 1 (0.30%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 124 (36.69%) Security Cleared
2 88 (26.04%) SC Cleared
3 35 (10.36%) DV Cleared
4 30 (8.88%) Degree
5 23 (6.80%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (5.03%) CCNP
7 7 (2.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 6 (1.78%) Azure Certification
8 6 (1.78%) Microsoft Certification
8 6 (1.78%) TOGAF Certification
9 5 (1.48%) A+ Certification
9 5 (1.48%) ACCA
9 5 (1.48%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (1.48%) CCNA
9 5 (1.48%) CIMA
9 5 (1.48%) CISSP
9 5 (1.48%) MCSE
10 4 (1.18%) CCIE
10 4 (1.18%) Network+ Certification
11 3 (0.89%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (7.40%) QA
2 17 (5.03%) SLA
3 8 (2.37%) GDPR
4 7 (2.07%) JSP 440
4 7 (2.07%) RMADS
5 5 (1.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (1.48%) NIST
5 5 (1.48%) PCI DSS
6 4 (1.18%) COBIT
7 3 (0.89%) PMO
8 2 (0.59%) Accessibility
8 2 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.30%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.30%) GRC
9 1 (0.30%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.30%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.30%) NIST 800
System Software
1 44 (13.02%) VMware Infrastructure
2 30 (8.88%) Active Directory
3 16 (4.73%) VMware ESXi
4 13 (3.85%) Docker
4 13 (3.85%) VMware NSX
5 12 (3.55%) Hyper-V
6 8 (2.37%) BitLocker
6 8 (2.37%) Microsoft App-V
6 8 (2.37%) Terminal Services
7 5 (1.48%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (1.48%) Virtual Servers
7 5 (1.48%) vSphere
8 3 (0.89%) KVM
9 2 (0.59%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.30%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 20 (5.92%) Ansible
2 16 (4.73%) vCenter Server
3 14 (4.14%) Oracle RMAN
4 12 (3.55%) FortiGate
4 12 (3.55%) Kubernetes
5 9 (2.66%) Puppet
6 8 (2.37%) Nagios
6 8 (2.37%) Terraform
6 8 (2.37%) vMotion
7 5 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (1.48%) WSUS
8 4 (1.18%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (1.18%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.18%) NetBackup
9 2 (0.59%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.59%) Data Guard
9 2 (0.59%) Grafana
9 2 (0.59%) HP ALM
9 2 (0.59%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 2 (0.59%) SCOM
Vendors
1 63 (18.64%) Cisco
2 55 (16.27%) VMware
3 40 (11.83%) HP
4 34 (10.06%) Palo Alto
5 33 (9.76%) Dell
6 32 (9.47%) Microsoft
6 32 (9.47%) ServiceNow
7 30 (8.88%) IBM
8 24 (7.10%) Oracle
9 14 (4.14%) Citrix
9 14 (4.14%) Commvault
10 12 (3.55%) Meraki
11 9 (2.66%) Red Hat
12 8 (2.37%) Google
12 8 (2.37%) Sun
12 8 (2.37%) Symantec
13 7 (2.07%) Unisys
14 6 (1.78%) CyberArk
14 6 (1.78%) F5
14 6 (1.78%) Nokia