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 15 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 104 120 102
Rank change year-on-year +16 -18 -13
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,242 738 935
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.36% 2.27% 2.19%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.12% 6.57% 7.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 724 473 619
10th Percentile £325 £304 £325
25th Percentile £410 £406 £432
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -5.12% -0.46%
75th Percentile £630 £600 £628
90th Percentile £738 £685 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £483 £538
% change year-on-year -1.68% -10.20% +7.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 27 54
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £12.08
25th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £16.69
Median hourly rate £19.85 £25.15 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.07% +4.79% +15.91%
75th Percentile £35.22 £33.37 £37.78
90th Percentile £78.90 £43.75 £40.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £24.00
% change year-on-year -21.57% +2.75% +15.91%

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 17,450 11,228 13,022
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.16% 34.60% 30.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,696 6,962 8,262
10th Percentile £318 £300 £281
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £627 £649 £663
90th Percentile £749 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 875 531 871
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.48 £12.25
25th Percentile £20.94 £18.87 £15.50
Median hourly rate £43.96 £31.50 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +39.56% -13.70% +21.67%
75th Percentile £70.79 £58.75 £62.50
90th Percentile £87.98 £77.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £32.05 £36.27
% change year-on-year +37.16% -11.64% +3.64%

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 15 July 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 15 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 17 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 15 July 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 +16 1,028 £510 -2.86% 538
UK excluding London -6 694 £475 -1.68% 297
London +14 382 £550 +3.77% 307
Work from Home +2 316 £500 -1.96% 211
North of England +8 245 £480 +3.01% 59
South East +3 214 £500 +0.76% 117
Yorkshire -3 135 £365 -18.89% 22
North West -1 89 £506 -3.62% 26
Scotland -2 56 £463 +4.23% 15
Midlands -59 56 £460 -14.81% 23
South West -24 55 £495 -10.00% 24
West Midlands -60 51 £467 -11.08% 15
Wales +6 44 £468 +24.67% 22
East of England -12 35 £513 +13.89% 36
North East -14 27 £625 +468.18% 11
East Midlands -22 4 £363 -33.49% 8
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 25 (2.01%) Confluence
2 16 (1.29%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.89%) CICS
3 11 (0.89%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.56%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.40%) Apache
5 5 (0.40%) CloudStack
6 4 (0.32%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.24%) nginx
7 3 (0.24%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.081%) IIS
8 1 (0.081%) Mendix
8 1 (0.081%) SAS
Applications
1 18 (1.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.81%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.64%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.40%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.24%) Adobe Illustrator
7 3 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.16%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.24%) Primavera
1 3 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.16%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.081%) OpenText MBPM
3 1 (0.081%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 266 (21.42%) Azure
2 230 (18.52%) AWS
3 77 (6.20%) GCP
4 42 (3.38%) GitHub
4 42 (3.38%) Microsoft 365
5 41 (3.30%) IaaS
6 34 (2.74%) SaaS
7 30 (2.42%) OCI
8 28 (2.25%) Entra ID
9 20 (1.61%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 18 (1.45%) OpenShift
10 18 (1.45%) PaaS
11 17 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
12 15 (1.21%) OneDrive
13 13 (1.05%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 12 (0.97%) Power Platform
15 11 (0.89%) Azure Sentinel
15 11 (0.89%) Nutanix
16 8 (0.64%) Amazon EKS
16 8 (0.64%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 344 (27.70%) Firewall
2 199 (16.02%) WAN
3 197 (15.86%) BGP
4 149 (12.00%) OSPF
5 134 (10.79%) VPN
6 127 (10.23%) VXLAN
7 125 (10.06%) DNS
8 120 (9.66%) SAN
9 118 (9.50%) Network Security
10 117 (9.42%) LAN
11 101 (8.13%) VLAN
12 93 (7.49%) Structured Cabling
13 91 (7.33%) DHCP
14 90 (7.25%) Ethernet VPN
15 87 (7.00%) SD-WAN
16 67 (5.39%) TCP/IP
17 60 (4.83%) BIG-IP
18 54 (4.35%) Cisco Nexus
18 54 (4.35%) Wi-Fi
19 53 (4.27%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (1.37%) SQL Server
2 10 (0.81%) DataStage
3 8 (0.64%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (0.56%) Big Data
4 7 (0.56%) Power BI
5 6 (0.48%) Oracle Database
6 4 (0.32%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.32%) Db2
6 4 (0.32%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
6 4 (0.32%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.32%) Oracle Database 12c
6 4 (0.32%) Oracle Reports
6 4 (0.32%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.32%) SAP Data Services
7 3 (0.24%) GIS
8 2 (0.16%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.16%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.16%) Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.081%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 70 (5.64%) JIRA
2 31 (2.50%) GitLab
3 30 (2.42%) Jenkins
4 25 (2.01%) Git
5 9 (0.72%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.40%) JMeter
7 4 (0.32%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.32%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.32%) Maven
7 4 (0.32%) Subversion
8 3 (0.24%) ScriptRunner
8 3 (0.24%) Zephyr
9 2 (0.16%) MSI
9 2 (0.16%) Toad
10 1 (0.081%) AppScan
10 1 (0.081%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.081%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.081%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.081%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.081%) Postman
General
1 306 (24.64%) Social Skills
2 166 (13.37%) Finance
3 131 (10.55%) Analytical Skills
4 83 (6.68%) Public Sector
5 54 (4.35%) Documentation Skills
6 48 (3.86%) Telecoms
7 46 (3.70%) Banking
8 32 (2.58%) Legal
9 27 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
10 26 (2.09%) Retail
11 18 (1.45%) Manufacturing
12 17 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 12 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
14 10 (0.81%) Military
15 9 (0.72%) Financial Institution
15 9 (0.72%) Law
16 7 (0.56%) Marketing
16 7 (0.56%) Police
17 6 (0.48%) Investment Banking
18 5 (0.40%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 207 (16.67%) Architect
2 200 (16.10%) Network Engineer
3 149 (12.00%) Senior
4 114 (9.18%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 110 (8.86%) Data Centre Engineer
6 78 (6.28%) Project Manager
7 66 (5.31%) Network Architect
8 61 (4.91%) Lead
9 53 (4.27%) IT Engineer
10 51 (4.11%) Field Engineer
11 47 (3.78%) Field Service Engineer
12 45 (3.62%) Infrastructure Manager
13 43 (3.46%) Technical Architect
14 41 (3.30%) Data Centre Manager
14 41 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
15 38 (3.06%) Senior Network Engineer
16 35 (2.82%) Analyst
16 35 (2.82%) Support Engineer
17 32 (2.58%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
18 30 (2.42%) Infrastructure Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (4.11%) Middleware
2 32 (2.58%) 802.1X
3 10 (0.81%) Redfish
3 10 (0.81%) REST
4 8 (0.64%) Elastic Stack
4 8 (0.64%) LDAP
5 7 (0.56%) NETCONF
5 7 (0.56%) Spring
6 6 (0.48%) OpenConfig
6 6 (0.48%) RESTCONF
6 6 (0.48%) SAML
6 6 (0.48%) YANG
7 5 (0.40%) Jinja
7 5 (0.40%) Kafka
7 5 (0.40%) XML
8 4 (0.32%) .NET
8 4 (0.32%) GeoJSON
8 4 (0.32%) RESTful
8 4 (0.32%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.32%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 78 (6.28%) Hybrid Cloud
2 55 (4.43%) Analytical Mindset
3 38 (3.06%) PKI
4 37 (2.98%) Cloud Native
5 35 (2.82%) Management Information System
6 31 (2.50%) Clustering
6 31 (2.50%) Enterprise Storage
6 31 (2.50%) Private Cloud
7 29 (2.33%) Fibre Optics
7 29 (2.33%) Onboarding
8 22 (1.77%) Replication
9 21 (1.69%) Public Cloud
10 20 (1.61%) Driving Licence
11 19 (1.53%) CMDB
11 19 (1.53%) Data Protection Act
12 16 (1.29%) Operational Technology
12 16 (1.29%) SCADA
13 15 (1.21%) Mainframe
14 14 (1.13%) Self-Motivation
15 13 (1.05%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 165 (13.29%) Windows
2 141 (11.35%) Linux
3 45 (3.62%) Windows Server
4 32 (2.58%) Unix
5 30 (2.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 23 (1.85%) AIX
7 18 (1.45%) Solaris
8 10 (0.81%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.81%) Mac OS
9 7 (0.56%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.48%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.48%) VMS
11 5 (0.40%) CentOS
11 5 (0.40%) HPUX
11 5 (0.40%) Oracle Linux
11 5 (0.40%) SUSE
12 4 (0.32%) Data ONTAP
13 3 (0.24%) Windows Server 2008
14 2 (0.16%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.16%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 236 (19.00%) Migration
2 208 (16.75%) Problem-Solving
3 142 (11.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 127 (10.23%) Stakeholder Management
5 119 (9.58%) Infrastructure as Code
6 113 (9.10%) High Availability
7 111 (8.94%) ITIL
8 109 (8.78%) CI/CD
9 101 (8.13%) Roadmaps
10 97 (7.81%) Agile
11 88 (7.09%) Continuous Improvement
12 85 (6.84%) Load Balancing
13 84 (6.76%) Validation
14 82 (6.60%) Change Management
15 81 (6.52%) DevOps
16 78 (6.28%) Project Delivery
16 78 (6.28%) Zero Trust
17 68 (5.48%) Network Design
18 67 (5.39%) ITSM
18 67 (5.39%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 158 (12.72%) Python
2 45 (3.62%) PowerShell
3 37 (2.98%) SQL
4 29 (2.33%) Bash
5 19 (1.53%) Java
6 15 (1.21%) Bicep
7 12 (0.97%) COBOL
7 12 (0.97%) Shell Script
8 10 (0.81%) ActionScript
8 10 (0.81%) Perl
9 8 (0.64%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.48%) JavaScript
11 5 (0.40%) MATLAB
12 4 (0.32%) C#
12 4 (0.32%) Lisp
13 3 (0.24%) JCL
13 3 (0.24%) Korn
13 3 (0.24%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.16%) C++
14 2 (0.16%) REXX
Qualifications
1 318 (25.60%) Security Cleared
2 225 (18.12%) Cisco Certification
3 209 (16.83%) SC Cleared
4 131 (10.55%) CCNP
5 102 (8.21%) DV Cleared
6 91 (7.33%) CCNA
7 65 (5.23%) Degree
8 62 (4.99%) Network+ Certification
9 52 (4.19%) Microsoft Certification
10 45 (3.62%) A+ Certification
10 45 (3.62%) MCSE
11 31 (2.50%) CCIE
12 29 (2.33%) Azure Certification
13 26 (2.09%) City & Guilds
14 25 (2.01%) AWS Certification
15 24 (1.93%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 22 (1.77%) PMI Certification
16 22 (1.77%) PMP
17 21 (1.69%) CISSP
18 20 (1.61%) BICSI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (2.42%) SLA
2 28 (2.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 27 (2.17%) QA
4 26 (2.09%) NIST
5 21 (1.69%) PMO
6 18 (1.45%) GDPR
7 17 (1.37%) NCSC
8 10 (0.81%) Disclosure Scotland
9 9 (0.72%) GRC
10 8 (0.64%) PCI DSS
11 7 (0.56%) RMADS
12 5 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
12 5 (0.40%) JSP 440
13 3 (0.24%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.16%) Accessibility
14 2 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials
14 2 (0.16%) Government Security Classifications
14 2 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 2 (0.16%) WCAG
15 1 (0.081%) COBIT
System Software
1 112 (9.02%) VMware Infrastructure
2 69 (5.56%) Active Directory
3 41 (3.30%) VMware NSX
4 40 (3.22%) vSphere
5 37 (2.98%) VMware ESXi
6 30 (2.42%) Firmware
7 29 (2.33%) Hyper-V
8 22 (1.77%) Docker
8 22 (1.77%) Virtual Machines
9 10 (0.81%) NFS
10 8 (0.64%) KVM
11 7 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
12 6 (0.48%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.48%) SRDF
13 4 (0.32%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.32%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.32%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.24%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.24%) Oracle RAC
14 3 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 141 (11.35%) Ansible
2 112 (9.02%) Terraform
3 55 (4.43%) Kubernetes
4 51 (4.11%) FortiGate
5 34 (2.74%) Grafana
6 29 (2.33%) Prometheus
7 28 (2.25%) Microsoft Intune
8 17 (1.37%) vCenter Server
9 13 (1.05%) NetBackup
10 12 (0.97%) PowerCLI
11 11 (0.89%) vMotion
12 10 (0.81%) Dell DRAC
12 10 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
13 8 (0.64%) Check_MK
13 8 (0.64%) SCCM
14 7 (0.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 7 (0.56%) EMC NetWorker
14 7 (0.56%) Tivoli Storage Manager
15 6 (0.48%) Avamar
15 6 (0.48%) VxRail
Vendors
1 300 (24.15%) Cisco
2 166 (13.37%) VMware
3 136 (10.95%) Palo Alto
4 127 (10.23%) Microsoft
5 122 (9.82%) F5
6 97 (7.81%) Juniper
7 83 (6.68%) Dell
8 76 (6.12%) Arista
8 76 (6.12%) Fortinet
9 59 (4.75%) ServiceNow
10 48 (3.86%) Google
11 41 (3.30%) Aruba
11 41 (3.30%) SolarWinds
12 35 (2.82%) CheckPoint
13 34 (2.74%) IBM
13 34 (2.74%) Red Hat
14 32 (2.58%) Splunk
15 28 (2.25%) Oracle
16 25 (2.01%) Citrix
17 23 (1.85%) HP