Data Centre Contract Job Trends

Data Center
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Data Centre in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Data Centre over the 6 months leading up to 5 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 100 128 105
Rank change year-on-year +28 -23 -20
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,183 622 909
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.41% 2.15% 2.12%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.45% 6.29% 7.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 717 403 618
10th Percentile £318 £311 £300
25th Percentile £406 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £500 £528
Median % change year-on-year -1.00% -5.21% -4.09%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £474 £475 £538
% change year-on-year -0.21% -11.63% +7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 19 45
10th Percentile £16.00 - £13.35
25th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £18.27
Median hourly rate £19.85 £37.50 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year -47.07% +56.25% +12.89%
75th Percentile £36.99 £42.50 £40.00
90th Percentile £73.85 £55.00 £41.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £27.75 £23.25
% change year-on-year -30.29% +19.33% +10.81%

All Generic Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 15,882 9,890 12,930
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.34% 34.18% 30.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,783 6,246 8,276
10th Percentile £313 £300 £270
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 786 413 924
10th Percentile £16.00 £15.84 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.39 £19.97 £15.21
Median hourly rate £42.12 £33.05 £35.25
Median % change year-on-year +27.44% -6.24% +60.23%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.75 £82.45 £71.69
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £32.05 £35.00
% change year-on-year +37.16% -8.43% +59.09%

Data Centre
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Centre relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Data Centre job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Centre
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Centre over the 6 months to 5 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Centre

Data Centre
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Centre over the 6 months to 5 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 18 Contract Job Locations

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 over the 6 months to 5 June 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
England +34 966 £500 -3.85% 551
UK excluding London +12 674 £474 -0.21% 318
London +21 338 £550 +4.76% 268
Work from Home +31 319 £480 -4.00% 182
North of England +27 238 £474 +1.83% 60
South East +7 210 £463 +3.93% 114
Yorkshire +6 120 £365 -10.43% 25
North West +17 95 £481 -6.78% 26
Scotland +9 57 £466 +6.46% 20
Midlands -42 56 £465 -15.45% 30
West Midlands -43 51 £467 -13.15% 27
South West -24 50 £495 -13.91% 39
East of England -13 35 £496 +65.33% 45
Wales -1 34 £468 +16.88% 8
North East 0 29 £625 +468.18% 9
East Midlands -27 4 £325 -40.91% 3
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 9
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

Data Centre
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 22 (1.86%) Confluence
2 14 (1.18%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.01%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.93%) CICS
5 5 (0.42%) nginx
6 4 (0.34%) Apache
6 4 (0.34%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.34%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.34%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.085%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.085%) IIS
8 1 (0.085%) Mendix
Applications
1 15 (1.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (0.93%) MS Visio
3 10 (0.85%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.85%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.34%) AutoCAD
5 3 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.17%) DELMIA
2 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.17%) Primavera
2 2 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.085%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 246 (20.79%) Azure
2 205 (17.33%) AWS
3 73 (6.17%) GCP
4 37 (3.13%) Microsoft 365
5 35 (2.96%) IaaS
6 34 (2.87%) GitHub
7 31 (2.62%) SaaS
8 29 (2.45%) OCI
9 22 (1.86%) Entra ID
10 17 (1.44%) PaaS
10 17 (1.44%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 15 (1.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 15 (1.27%) OpenShift
12 13 (1.10%) Azure DevOps
13 12 (1.01%) OneDrive
14 11 (0.93%) Azure Sentinel
14 11 (0.93%) Nutanix
14 11 (0.93%) Power Platform
15 9 (0.76%) AWS Direct Connect
15 9 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 342 (28.91%) Firewall
2 201 (16.99%) WAN
3 184 (15.55%) BGP
4 145 (12.26%) OSPF
5 127 (10.74%) Network Security
6 126 (10.65%) VPN
7 123 (10.40%) VXLAN
8 121 (10.23%) LAN
9 118 (9.97%) SAN
10 101 (8.54%) DNS
11 98 (8.28%) VLAN
12 90 (7.61%) Structured Cabling
13 85 (7.19%) Ethernet VPN
14 80 (6.76%) SD-WAN
15 77 (6.51%) DHCP
16 55 (4.65%) BIG-IP
17 52 (4.40%) Cisco Nexus
18 49 (4.14%) NX-OS
19 46 (3.89%) Wi-Fi
20 45 (3.80%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.27%) SQL Server
2 10 (0.85%) DataStage
3 6 (0.51%) Big Data
3 6 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (0.51%) Power BI
4 5 (0.42%) Relational Database
5 4 (0.34%) Elasticsearch
5 4 (0.34%) MongoDB
5 4 (0.34%) Oracle Database
5 4 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.34%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (0.25%) GIS
7 2 (0.17%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.17%) Oracle Database 12c
7 2 (0.17%) Power Query
7 2 (0.17%) PowerPivot
8 1 (0.085%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.085%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 57 (4.82%) JIRA
2 38 (3.21%) GitLab
3 36 (3.04%) Jenkins
4 32 (2.70%) Git
5 7 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.51%) Maven
6 6 (0.51%) ScriptRunner
7 5 (0.42%) JMeter
8 4 (0.34%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.34%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.34%) Subversion
9 3 (0.25%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
10 1 (0.085%) AppScan
10 1 (0.085%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.085%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.085%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.085%) Postman
General
1 289 (24.43%) Social Skills
2 157 (13.27%) Finance
3 130 (10.99%) Analytical Skills
4 80 (6.76%) Public Sector
5 61 (5.16%) Documentation Skills
6 45 (3.80%) Banking
7 34 (2.87%) Legal
8 31 (2.62%) Telecoms
9 25 (2.11%) Manufacturing
10 22 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
11 19 (1.61%) Retail
12 13 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 12 (1.01%) Law
14 10 (0.85%) Military
15 9 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
16 8 (0.68%) Aerospace
16 8 (0.68%) Financial Institution
16 8 (0.68%) Marketing
17 6 (0.51%) Organisational Skills
18 5 (0.42%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 207 (17.50%) Network Engineer
2 190 (16.06%) Architect
3 135 (11.41%) Senior
4 92 (7.78%) Data Centre Engineer
5 88 (7.44%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 70 (5.92%) Project Manager
7 59 (4.99%) Lead
8 58 (4.90%) IT Engineer
9 57 (4.82%) Network Architect
10 55 (4.65%) Field Engineer
11 52 (4.40%) Field Service Engineer
12 42 (3.55%) Solutions Architect
13 39 (3.30%) Analyst
13 39 (3.30%) Data Centre Manager
14 37 (3.13%) Technical Architect
15 35 (2.96%) Infrastructure Manager
16 34 (2.87%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
16 34 (2.87%) Senior Network Engineer
17 33 (2.79%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 33 (2.79%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (4.23%) Middleware
2 31 (2.62%) 802.1X
3 12 (1.01%) LDAP
4 10 (0.85%) Redfish
5 8 (0.68%) Elastic Stack
5 8 (0.68%) REST
6 7 (0.59%) Spring
7 5 (0.42%) Jinja
7 5 (0.42%) Kafka
7 5 (0.42%) XML
8 4 (0.34%) ADO
8 4 (0.34%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.34%) YAML
9 3 (0.25%) EJB
9 3 (0.25%) Java EE
9 3 (0.25%) JSON
9 3 (0.25%) NETCONF
9 3 (0.25%) OpenLayers
9 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
9 3 (0.25%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 65 (5.49%) Hybrid Cloud
2 58 (4.90%) Analytical Mindset
3 37 (3.13%) Management Information System
4 31 (2.62%) Cloud Native
5 30 (2.54%) PKI
6 29 (2.45%) Clustering
7 28 (2.37%) Enterprise Storage
8 26 (2.20%) Onboarding
9 25 (2.11%) Fibre Optics
10 22 (1.86%) Private Cloud
11 21 (1.78%) CMDB
11 21 (1.78%) Driving Licence
12 20 (1.69%) Public Cloud
12 20 (1.69%) Replication
13 18 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
14 17 (1.44%) SCADA
15 16 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
16 14 (1.18%) NHS
17 12 (1.01%) Mainframe
17 12 (1.01%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 154 (13.02%) Linux
1 154 (13.02%) Windows
2 40 (3.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 38 (3.21%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.94%) Unix
5 22 (1.86%) AIX
6 17 (1.44%) Solaris
7 12 (1.01%) CentOS
8 9 (0.76%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.76%) Windows Server 2019
9 7 (0.59%) Apple iOS
9 7 (0.59%) Mac OS
9 7 (0.59%) VMS
10 4 (0.34%) Data ONTAP
10 4 (0.34%) HPUX
10 4 (0.34%) Oracle Linux
10 4 (0.34%) SUSE
11 3 (0.25%) Embedded Linux
11 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
11 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 204 (17.24%) Problem-Solving
2 195 (16.48%) Migration
3 116 (9.81%) High Availability
4 112 (9.47%) Infrastructure as Code
4 112 (9.47%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 108 (9.13%) Stakeholder Management
6 105 (8.88%) ITIL
7 98 (8.28%) CI/CD
8 95 (8.03%) Roadmaps
9 94 (7.95%) Continuous Improvement
10 84 (7.10%) Load Balancing
11 81 (6.85%) DevOps
12 80 (6.76%) Agile
13 78 (6.59%) Validation
14 74 (6.26%) Project Delivery
15 72 (6.09%) Project Management
16 70 (5.92%) Change Management
17 69 (5.83%) Customer Service
18 64 (5.41%) Break/Fix
19 63 (5.33%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 142 (12.00%) Python
2 43 (3.63%) PowerShell
3 37 (3.13%) SQL
4 27 (2.28%) Bash
5 22 (1.86%) Java
6 16 (1.35%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.01%) COBOL
8 11 (0.93%) Bicep
8 11 (0.93%) MATLAB
9 10 (0.85%) Perl
10 8 (0.68%) ActionScript
10 8 (0.68%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.42%) C
11 5 (0.42%) C++
11 5 (0.42%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.34%) Lisp
13 3 (0.25%) VBA
14 2 (0.17%) JCL
14 2 (0.17%) Korn
14 2 (0.17%) REXX
Qualifications
1 324 (27.39%) Security Cleared
2 243 (20.54%) Cisco Certification
3 239 (20.20%) SC Cleared
4 150 (12.68%) CCNP
5 110 (9.30%) CCNA
6 74 (6.26%) DV Cleared
7 69 (5.83%) Degree
8 67 (5.66%) Network+ Certification
9 56 (4.73%) Microsoft Certification
10 50 (4.23%) A+ Certification
10 50 (4.23%) MCSE
11 28 (2.37%) Azure Certification
12 25 (2.11%) CCIE
12 25 (2.11%) City & Guilds
13 23 (1.94%) PMP
14 22 (1.86%) AWS Certification
14 22 (1.86%) PMI Certification
15 20 (1.69%) BICSI Certification
16 18 (1.52%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
17 17 (1.44%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (2.79%) SLA
2 27 (2.28%) NIST
3 25 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (1.94%) QA
5 21 (1.78%) PMO
6 18 (1.52%) GDPR
7 10 (0.85%) NCSC
7 10 (0.85%) PCI DSS
8 9 (0.76%) Disclosure Scotland
9 8 (0.68%) GRC
10 6 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
10 6 (0.51%) RMADS
11 3 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.25%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.17%) Data Quality
12 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.085%) COBIT
13 1 (0.085%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 108 (9.13%) VMware Infrastructure
2 64 (5.41%) Active Directory
3 35 (2.96%) VMware NSX
4 33 (2.79%) vSphere
5 31 (2.62%) Firmware
6 30 (2.54%) VMware ESXi
7 27 (2.28%) Hyper-V
8 25 (2.11%) Virtual Machines
9 14 (1.18%) Docker
10 12 (1.01%) KVM
11 7 (0.59%) NFS
12 6 (0.51%) SRDF
12 6 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
13 5 (0.42%) Microsoft App-V
14 4 (0.34%) VMware Workstation
15 3 (0.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
15 3 (0.25%) PowerHA
15 3 (0.25%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.25%) UAG
15 3 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 140 (11.83%) Ansible
2 105 (8.88%) Terraform
3 60 (5.07%) FortiGate
4 46 (3.89%) Kubernetes
5 35 (2.96%) Grafana
6 28 (2.37%) Prometheus
7 22 (1.86%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (1.18%) vCenter Server
9 13 (1.10%) Check_MK
9 13 (1.10%) NetBackup
10 11 (0.93%) Podman
10 11 (0.93%) PowerCLI
10 11 (0.93%) Red Hat Satellite
11 10 (0.85%) Dell DRAC
11 10 (0.85%) SCCM
11 10 (0.85%) vMotion
12 7 (0.59%) EMC NetWorker
12 7 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
12 7 (0.59%) Nagios
12 7 (0.59%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 315 (26.63%) Cisco
2 159 (13.44%) VMware
3 151 (12.76%) Palo Alto
4 113 (9.55%) F5
5 107 (9.04%) Microsoft
6 95 (8.03%) Dell
7 92 (7.78%) Juniper
8 71 (6.00%) Arista
9 64 (5.41%) Fortinet
10 56 (4.73%) Aruba
11 54 (4.56%) ServiceNow
12 44 (3.72%) CheckPoint
13 42 (3.55%) SolarWinds
14 41 (3.47%) Google
15 39 (3.30%) Red Hat
16 35 (2.96%) IBM
17 29 (2.45%) Oracle
18 28 (2.37%) Splunk
19 25 (2.11%) NVIDIA
20 23 (1.94%) Atlassian