Windows Contracts in the UK excluding London

Microsoft Windows
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London 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 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 11 12 10
Rank change year-on-year +1 -2 -2
Contract jobs citing Windows 1,438 2,172 3,180
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.26% 10.46% 13.21%
As % of the Operating Systems category 65.51% 66.32% 68.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 988 1,496 2,235
10th Percentile £163 £151 £158
25th Percentile £205 £205 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £400 £400
Median % change year-on-year - - +23.08%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £550
90th Percentile £648 £665 £650
UK median daily rate £425 £400 £450
% change year-on-year +6.25% -11.11% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 114 223 249
10th Percentile £15.03 £11.07 £13.26
25th Percentile £16.95 £14.00 £16.23
Median hourly rate £18.82 £17.69 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.39% -11.55% +6.81%
75th Percentile £24.66 £24.44 £49.52
90th Percentile £50.27 £65.00 £67.50
UK median hourly rate £18.82 £18.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year +4.56% -20.00% +12.50%

All Operating Systems
UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for operating system skills 2,195 3,275 4,635
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 17.19% 15.77% 19.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,415 2,176 3,246
10th Percentile £178 £173 £163
25th Percentile £241 £256 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% +11.76%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £638 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £469 £505
% change year-on-year +1.28% -7.13% +1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 320 334
10th Percentile £15.72 £12.25 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.44 £14.16 £17.50
Median hourly rate £22.94 £22.00 £31.25
Median % change year-on-year +4.26% -29.60% +56.25%
75th Percentile £62.50 £60.75 £61.25
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £73.74
UK median hourly rate £24.18 £22.00 £39.30
% change year-on-year +9.91% -44.02% +74.67%

Windows
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Job vacancy trend for Windows in the UK excluding London

Windows
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Daily rate trend for Windows in the UK excluding London

Windows
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Windows in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Windows in the UK excluding London

Windows
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Hourly rate trend for Windows in the UK excluding London

Windows
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Windows in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Windows in the UK excluding London

Windows
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 Windows within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 1 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 -2 370 £500 +17.65% 536
North of England 0 336 £325 -7.14% 370
South West +6 218 £538 +8.59% 229
North West 0 186 £338 -3.57% 203
Midlands -3 186 £271 -22.50% 269
Scotland +6 169 £450 - 100
West Midlands -1 144 £278 -30.63% 143
Yorkshire +4 123 £325 - 125
East of England +7 113 £225 -23.73% 226
East Midlands -15 42 £206 +3.13% 115
Wales +2 32 £295 +2.61% 31
North East -2 27 £220 -48.96% 50
Northern Ireland +4 23 £200 -50.00% 34
Channel Islands - 2 £298 - 1
Windows
UK

Windows
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
1 151 (10.50%) Microsoft Exchange
2 118 (8.21%) SharePoint
3 40 (2.78%) Confluence
4 24 (1.67%) IIS
5 18 (1.25%) Skype for Business
6 16 (1.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 11 (0.76%) JBoss
8 9 (0.63%) Apache
8 9 (0.63%) WebLogic
9 7 (0.49%) Tomcat
10 6 (0.42%) CMS
10 6 (0.42%) Jupyter
11 5 (0.35%) SharePoint Server
12 4 (0.28%) BizTalk Server
12 4 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2003
12 4 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2007
12 4 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2010
12 4 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2013
13 3 (0.21%) Office Communications Server
13 3 (0.21%) WebSphere
Applications
1 195 (13.56%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (1.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (0.90%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.070%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.070%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.070%) Final Cut Pro
7 1 (0.070%) QuarkXPress
7 1 (0.070%) Simulink
7 1 (0.070%) Trello
Business Applications
1 9 (0.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 5 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
3 1 (0.070%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.070%) Maximo
3 1 (0.070%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.070%) Remedy AR System
Cloud Services
1 368 (25.59%) Microsoft 365
2 314 (21.84%) Azure
3 128 (8.90%) Entra ID
4 114 (7.93%) AWS
5 50 (3.48%) OpenShift
6 47 (3.27%) OneDrive
7 38 (2.64%) IaaS
8 29 (2.02%) Azure DevOps
8 29 (2.02%) Google Workspace
9 28 (1.95%) GCP
10 22 (1.53%) PaaS
11 20 (1.39%) Cloud Computing
11 20 (1.39%) GitHub
12 19 (1.32%) SaaS
13 16 (1.11%) Power Platform
14 14 (0.97%) Amazon S3
15 12 (0.83%) Nutanix
16 11 (0.76%) Cohesity
17 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Purview
18 6 (0.42%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 194 (13.49%) DNS
2 135 (9.39%) VPN
3 132 (9.18%) DHCP
4 119 (8.28%) Firewall
5 73 (5.08%) TCP/IP
6 65 (4.52%) LAN
7 57 (3.96%) SAN
8 54 (3.76%) WAN
9 46 (3.20%) Network Security
10 40 (2.78%) Remote Desktop
11 35 (2.43%) Wi-Fi
12 34 (2.36%) VLAN
13 32 (2.23%) SMTP
14 31 (2.16%) Skype
15 27 (1.88%) NAS
16 25 (1.74%) HTTP
17 21 (1.46%) VoIP
18 18 (1.25%) SSL
18 18 (1.25%) Wireless
19 17 (1.18%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (4.59%) SQL Server
2 25 (1.74%) Oracle Database
3 19 (1.32%) Elasticsearch
4 17 (1.18%) Big Data
5 15 (1.04%) KDB
5 15 (1.04%) Kdb+
5 15 (1.04%) Relational Database
6 10 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (0.70%) RDBMS
7 9 (0.63%) Power BI
8 7 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 6 (0.42%) MongoDB
10 5 (0.35%) GIS
10 5 (0.35%) MySQL
10 5 (0.35%) Oracle Reports
11 4 (0.28%) Apache Cassandra
11 4 (0.28%) Azure SQL Database
11 4 (0.28%) DB2
11 4 (0.28%) Oracle Exadata
Development Applications
1 71 (4.94%) JIRA
2 69 (4.80%) Git
3 60 (4.17%) Jenkins
4 27 (1.88%) Visual Studio
5 18 (1.25%) Bitbucket
5 18 (1.25%) GitLab
6 13 (0.90%) MSI
7 10 (0.70%) Sonatype Nexus
8 9 (0.63%) Selenium
8 9 (0.63%) SonarQube
9 8 (0.56%) Bitbucket Server
9 8 (0.56%) CA Release Automation
9 8 (0.56%) TeamCity
10 6 (0.42%) Eclipse
10 6 (0.42%) Maven
11 5 (0.35%) Subversion
12 4 (0.28%) Ant
12 4 (0.28%) Toad
13 3 (0.21%) Hudson
13 3 (0.21%) Oracle Forms
General
1 550 (38.25%) Social Skills
2 167 (11.61%) Public Sector
3 157 (10.92%) Analytical Skills
4 149 (10.36%) Finance
5 80 (5.56%) Manufacturing
6 70 (4.87%) Telecoms
7 69 (4.80%) Banking
8 49 (3.41%) Electronics
9 48 (3.34%) Legal
9 48 (3.34%) Marketing
10 37 (2.57%) Documentation Skills
11 33 (2.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 30 (2.09%) Organisational Skills
13 25 (1.74%) Investment Banking
14 19 (1.32%) Military
15 15 (1.04%) Law
15 15 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
16 8 (0.56%) Influencing Skills
17 6 (0.42%) Retail
18 5 (0.35%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 199 (13.84%) Support Engineer
2 153 (10.64%) Analyst
3 152 (10.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 106 (7.37%) Architect
5 105 (7.30%) IT Support
6 99 (6.88%) Desktop Engineer
6 99 (6.88%) IT Engineer
7 93 (6.47%) Desktop Support
8 83 (5.77%) Windows Engineer
9 71 (4.94%) 2nd Line Support
9 71 (4.94%) Deployment Engineer
10 70 (4.87%) Desktop Support Engineer
11 69 (4.80%) Senior
12 67 (4.66%) Service Analyst
13 66 (4.59%) Service Desk Analyst
14 61 (4.24%) Developer
15 53 (3.69%) 2nd Line Engineer
16 51 (3.55%) IT Support Engineer
17 44 (3.06%) 1st Line Support
17 44 (3.06%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (1.60%) .NET
2 21 (1.46%) REST
3 19 (1.32%) Middleware
4 17 (1.18%) LDAP
5 14 (0.97%) SOAP
6 10 (0.70%) Elastic Stack
6 10 (0.70%) Software Packaging
7 9 (0.63%) Web Services
8 8 (0.56%) Spring Boot
9 7 (0.49%) XML
10 5 (0.35%) Node.js
10 5 (0.35%) OpenTelemetry
11 4 (0.28%) Apache Axis
11 4 (0.28%) Kafka
12 3 (0.21%) Flash
12 3 (0.21%) IBM Integration Bus
12 3 (0.21%) pytest
12 3 (0.21%) RabbitMQ
12 3 (0.21%) SAML
12 3 (0.21%) X-Windows
Miscellaneous
1 62 (4.31%) Data Centre
2 58 (4.03%) PKI
3 51 (3.55%) Management Information System
4 43 (2.99%) Onboarding
4 43 (2.99%) Self-Motivation
5 37 (2.57%) Driving Licence
6 36 (2.50%) Clustering
7 35 (2.43%) Enterprise Software
8 32 (2.23%) Hybrid Cloud
9 28 (1.95%) iPhone
10 26 (1.81%) Linux Command Line
10 26 (1.81%) Replication
11 25 (1.74%) iPad
12 24 (1.67%) Data Protection Act
13 23 (1.60%) NHS
13 23 (1.60%) Product Ownership
14 18 (1.25%) Public Cloud
15 17 (1.18%) Video Conferencing
16 15 (1.04%) Security Posture
16 15 (1.04%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 388 (26.98%) Linux
2 378 (26.29%) Windows Server
3 355 (24.69%) Windows 10
4 81 (5.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 75 (5.22%) Windows Server 2016
6 72 (5.01%) Unix
7 63 (4.38%) Windows Server 2019
8 57 (3.96%) Windows Server 2012
9 54 (3.76%) Windows 7
10 46 (3.20%) Mac OS
11 42 (2.92%) Apple iOS
12 34 (2.36%) Android
13 26 (1.81%) Ubuntu
14 23 (1.60%) VMS
14 23 (1.60%) Windows Server 2003
15 17 (1.18%) Solaris
16 15 (1.04%) CentOS
17 12 (0.83%) Windows XP
18 9 (0.63%) AIX
18 9 (0.63%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 367 (25.52%) Problem-Solving
2 275 (19.12%) ITIL
3 214 (14.88%) Customer Service
4 196 (13.63%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 177 (12.31%) Agile
6 132 (9.18%) DevOps
7 113 (7.86%) Service Management
8 107 (7.44%) ITSM
9 101 (7.02%) Migration
10 80 (5.56%) CI/CD
11 72 (5.01%) Cybersecurity
12 62 (4.31%) Test Automation
13 61 (4.24%) Business Intelligence
13 61 (4.24%) Root Cause Analysis
13 61 (4.24%) Time Management
14 59 (4.10%) High Availability
15 58 (4.03%) Incident Management
16 57 (3.96%) Collaborative Working
17 54 (3.76%) Change Management
18 53 (3.69%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 301 (20.93%) PowerShell
2 169 (11.75%) Python
3 130 (9.04%) SQL
4 85 (5.91%) Bash
5 46 (3.20%) C#
6 45 (3.13%) Perl
6 45 (3.13%) PL/SQL
7 41 (2.85%) Java
8 28 (1.95%) C++
9 24 (1.67%) Shell Script
10 16 (1.11%) Delphi
11 14 (0.97%) VBScript
12 9 (0.63%) VB
13 7 (0.49%) Ruby
14 6 (0.42%) C
14 6 (0.42%) R
14 6 (0.42%) TypeScript
15 5 (0.35%) JavaScript
15 5 (0.35%) T-SQL
16 4 (0.28%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 436 (30.32%) Security Cleared
2 287 (19.96%) SC Cleared
3 150 (10.43%) DV Cleared
4 127 (8.83%) Degree
5 109 (7.58%) Microsoft Certification
6 50 (3.48%) A+ Certification
7 42 (2.92%) Cisco Certification
8 34 (2.36%) DBS Check
8 34 (2.36%) MCSE
9 30 (2.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 21 (1.46%) Azure Certification
10 21 (1.46%) ITIL Certification
11 17 (1.18%) MCP
12 16 (1.11%) CISSP
13 13 (0.90%) CCNP
14 12 (0.83%) MCSA
15 11 (0.76%) Oracle Certification
16 10 (0.70%) BPSS Clearance
16 10 (0.70%) CCNA
16 10 (0.70%) OCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 73 (5.08%) SLA
2 33 (2.29%) QA
3 13 (0.90%) Cyber Essentials
4 12 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (0.63%) Disclosure Scotland
5 9 (0.63%) GDPR
5 9 (0.63%) NIST
6 7 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 5 (0.35%) Accessibility
8 4 (0.28%) NCSC
8 4 (0.28%) NIST 800
9 3 (0.21%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.21%) PMO
9 3 (0.21%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.14%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.070%) IEC 61131
11 1 (0.070%) ISO 20022
11 1 (0.070%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 1 (0.070%) JSP 440
System Software
1 592 (41.17%) Active Directory
2 189 (13.14%) VMware Infrastructure
3 92 (6.40%) Hyper-V
4 88 (6.12%) Docker
5 52 (3.62%) vSphere
6 51 (3.55%) VMware ESXi
7 31 (2.16%) Virtual Machines
8 25 (1.74%) BitLocker
9 20 (1.39%) Virtual Desktop
10 19 (1.32%) Virtual Servers
11 18 (1.25%) VMware NSX
12 15 (1.04%) Microsoft App-V
13 11 (0.76%) NFS
13 11 (0.76%) Terminal Services
14 10 (0.70%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 9 (0.63%) XenApp
16 7 (0.49%) XenDesktop
17 6 (0.42%) DFS Replication
17 6 (0.42%) Oracle RAC
18 4 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
Systems Management
1 181 (12.59%) SCCM
2 149 (10.36%) Microsoft Intune
3 115 (8.00%) Ansible
4 109 (7.58%) Kubernetes
5 61 (4.24%) Terraform
6 54 (3.76%) vCenter Server
7 51 (3.55%) WSUS
8 50 (3.48%) Puppet
9 26 (1.81%) Progress Chef
10 19 (1.32%) Single Sign-On
11 18 (1.25%) Jamf Pro
11 18 (1.25%) Microsoft Clustering
12 17 (1.18%) SCOM
13 15 (1.04%) NetBackup
14 14 (0.97%) Nessus
15 12 (0.83%) Oracle RMAN
15 12 (0.83%) vMotion
16 11 (0.76%) AppManager
16 11 (0.76%) Failover Clustering
16 11 (0.76%) Nagios
Vendors
1 625 (43.46%) Microsoft
2 290 (20.17%) VMware
3 119 (8.28%) ServiceNow
4 104 (7.23%) Cisco
5 89 (6.19%) Oracle
6 72 (5.01%) Red Hat
7 71 (4.94%) Citrix
8 65 (4.52%) Dell
9 60 (4.17%) HP
10 53 (3.69%) Apple
10 53 (3.69%) SAP
11 48 (3.34%) Google
12 45 (3.13%) Splunk
13 26 (1.81%) Symantec
14 25 (1.74%) SolarWinds
15 23 (1.60%) IBM
15 23 (1.60%) Nexthink
16 21 (1.46%) Veritas
17 20 (1.39%) McAfee
18 19 (1.32%) Veeam