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 12 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 116 119 105
Rank change year-on-year +3 -14 -15
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,193 758 844
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.24% 2.30% 2.17%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.68% 6.56% 7.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 704 481 569
10th Percentile £325 £300 £350
25th Percentile £413 £400 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £538
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -4.19% -
75th Percentile £641 £600 £625
90th Percentile £773 £688 £701
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £481 £538
% change year-on-year +2.86% -10.55% +7.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 34 39
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £11.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £24.75 £12.08
Median hourly rate £25.00 £25.15 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.60% +25.75% -
75th Percentile £38.75 £31.00 £25.83
90th Percentile £79.90 £43.75 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.66 £16.50
% change year-on-year -21.57% +49.45% -6.88%

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 17,853 11,559 11,823
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.45% 35.06% 30.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,839 7,131 7,573
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £425 £406 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £750 £768 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 997 557 607
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.13 £12.45
25th Percentile £19.34 £18.87 £18.27
Median hourly rate £43.50 £29.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +47.46% -34.44% +12.98%
75th Percentile £70.00 £56.00 £67.01
90th Percentile £85.00 £77.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £29.30 £45.00
% change year-on-year +50.03% -34.89% +12.04%

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 12 August 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 12 August 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 12 August 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 +10 1,009 £525 - 1,321
UK excluding London -12 644 £495 +2.86% 572
London +12 401 £568 +5.58% 829
Work from Home -6 292 £540 +4.45% 387
North of England 0 219 £492 +12.46% 145
South East -6 204 £525 +5.79% 154
Yorkshire -3 126 £365 -9.88% 43
North West -11 78 £538 +3.51% 54
South West -24 66 £525 -4.55% 59
Midlands -58 57 £456 -13.14% 52
West Midlands -46 52 £466 -6.82% 38
Wales +5 40 £468 +24.67% 17
Scotland -10 40 £413 -8.33% 46
East of England -19 28 £479 -20.21% 100
North East -23 21 £625 +468.18% 49
East Midlands -17 4 £363 -33.49% 14
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 32 (2.68%) Confluence
2 17 (1.42%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.92%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.59%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.42%) Apache
5 5 (0.42%) CICS
5 5 (0.42%) CloudStack
6 3 (0.25%) nginx
6 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.25%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.084%) IIS
7 1 (0.084%) Mendix
7 1 (0.084%) SAS
Applications
1 21 (1.76%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (0.84%) MS Visio
4 9 (0.75%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.42%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 11 (0.92%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.25%) Primavera
3 2 (0.17%) OpenText MBPM
3 2 (0.17%) Oracle BPM
3 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 253 (21.21%) Azure
2 224 (18.78%) AWS
3 61 (5.11%) GCP
4 44 (3.69%) GitHub
5 39 (3.27%) IaaS
6 34 (2.85%) Microsoft 365
7 33 (2.77%) SaaS
8 29 (2.43%) OCI
9 26 (2.18%) Entra ID
10 18 (1.51%) Power Platform
11 16 (1.34%) OpenShift
12 15 (1.26%) PaaS
12 15 (1.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 14 (1.17%) OneDrive
14 13 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
15 10 (0.84%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 8 (0.67%) Azure Sentinel
16 8 (0.67%) GitHub Actions
16 8 (0.67%) Nutanix
17 6 (0.50%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 315 (26.40%) Firewall
2 184 (15.42%) WAN
3 180 (15.09%) BGP
4 135 (11.32%) DNS
5 132 (11.06%) OSPF
6 130 (10.90%) VPN
7 127 (10.65%) VXLAN
8 118 (9.89%) SAN
9 108 (9.05%) LAN
10 102 (8.55%) DHCP
11 100 (8.38%) Network Security
12 99 (8.30%) VLAN
13 88 (7.38%) Ethernet VPN
14 83 (6.96%) SD-WAN
15 82 (6.87%) Structured Cabling
16 78 (6.54%) TCP/IP
17 60 (5.03%) BIG-IP
18 56 (4.69%) Wireless
19 53 (4.44%) Wi-Fi
20 49 (4.11%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (2.35%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.17%) Power BI
3 9 (0.75%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 9 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 9 (0.75%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 7 (0.59%) Big Data
4 7 (0.59%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.50%) Db2
5 6 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.34%) DataStage
7 4 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.34%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.34%) SAP Data Services
8 3 (0.25%) GIS
8 3 (0.25%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 78 (6.54%) JIRA
2 31 (2.60%) GitLab
3 27 (2.26%) Git
3 27 (2.26%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
5 5 (0.42%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 3 (0.25%) JMeter
6 3 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.17%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.17%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.17%) Maven
7 2 (0.17%) MSI
7 2 (0.17%) Subversion
7 2 (0.17%) Toad
8 1 (0.084%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.084%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.084%) Postman
General
1 286 (23.97%) Social Skills
2 156 (13.08%) Finance
3 122 (10.23%) Analytical Skills
4 66 (5.53%) Public Sector
5 51 (4.27%) Banking
6 45 (3.77%) Telecoms
7 42 (3.52%) Documentation Skills
8 30 (2.51%) Retail
9 24 (2.01%) Legal
10 22 (1.84%) Influencing Skills
11 18 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (1.26%) Manufacturing
13 12 (1.01%) Organisational Skills
14 9 (0.75%) Law
15 8 (0.67%) Police
16 7 (0.59%) Financial Institution
16 7 (0.59%) Military
17 5 (0.42%) Investment Banking
17 5 (0.42%) Marketing
18 3 (0.25%) Billing
Job Titles
1 202 (16.93%) Architect
2 185 (15.51%) Network Engineer
3 146 (12.24%) Senior
4 119 (9.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 101 (8.47%) Data Centre Engineer
6 80 (6.71%) Project Manager
7 62 (5.20%) Network Architect
8 60 (5.03%) Lead
9 51 (4.27%) IT Engineer
10 46 (3.86%) Field Engineer
11 44 (3.69%) Technical Architect
12 43 (3.60%) Field Service Engineer
12 43 (3.60%) Infrastructure Manager
13 42 (3.52%) Data Centre Manager
14 41 (3.44%) Solutions Architect
15 39 (3.27%) Senior Network Engineer
16 34 (2.85%) Support Engineer
17 32 (2.68%) Consultant
17 32 (2.68%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
18 30 (2.51%) Infrastructure Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (4.02%) Middleware
2 31 (2.60%) 802.1X
3 16 (1.34%) REST
4 10 (0.84%) Redfish
5 9 (0.75%) Elastic Stack
6 8 (0.67%) LDAP
6 8 (0.67%) NETCONF
6 8 (0.67%) YAML
7 7 (0.59%) JSON
7 7 (0.59%) OpenConfig
7 7 (0.59%) YANG
8 6 (0.50%) RESTCONF
8 6 (0.50%) SAML
8 6 (0.50%) Spring
9 5 (0.42%) .NET
9 5 (0.42%) Jinja
10 4 (0.34%) GeoJSON
10 4 (0.34%) Kafka
10 4 (0.34%) RESTful
11 3 (0.25%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 72 (6.04%) Hybrid Cloud
2 51 (4.27%) Analytical Mindset
3 50 (4.19%) PKI
4 45 (3.77%) Clustering
5 36 (3.02%) Management Information System
6 33 (2.77%) Cloud Native
7 32 (2.68%) Enterprise Storage
8 30 (2.51%) Private Cloud
9 27 (2.26%) Onboarding
10 26 (2.18%) Fibre Optics
11 25 (2.10%) Data Protection Act
11 25 (2.10%) Replication
12 22 (1.84%) Public Cloud
13 17 (1.42%) Operational Technology
14 15 (1.26%) Driving Licence
14 15 (1.26%) SCADA
15 14 (1.17%) CMDB
15 14 (1.17%) Distributed Systems
15 14 (1.17%) Self-Motivation
16 13 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 174 (14.59%) Windows
2 127 (10.65%) Linux
3 49 (4.11%) Windows Server
4 35 (2.93%) Unix
5 24 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 21 (1.76%) AIX
7 12 (1.01%) Solaris
8 10 (0.84%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.84%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.50%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.50%) VMS
9 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.42%) HPUX
10 5 (0.42%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.42%) SUSE
10 5 (0.42%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.34%) CentOS
11 4 (0.34%) Data ONTAP
12 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 245 (20.54%) Migration
2 206 (17.27%) Problem-Solving
3 148 (12.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 135 (11.32%) Stakeholder Management
5 113 (9.47%) High Availability
6 111 (9.30%) ITIL
7 106 (8.89%) Infrastructure as Code
8 99 (8.30%) CI/CD
9 98 (8.21%) Agile
10 93 (7.80%) Roadmaps
11 87 (7.29%) Continuous Improvement
12 86 (7.21%) Project Delivery
13 83 (6.96%) Validation
14 82 (6.87%) Load Balancing
15 79 (6.62%) Change Management
16 72 (6.04%) Technical Leadership
16 72 (6.04%) Zero Trust
17 71 (5.95%) DevOps
18 68 (5.70%) Project Management
19 67 (5.62%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 156 (13.08%) Python
2 54 (4.53%) PowerShell
3 43 (3.60%) SQL
4 28 (2.35%) Bash
5 13 (1.09%) Java
6 12 (1.01%) Perl
7 11 (0.92%) Shell Script
8 10 (0.84%) ActionScript
8 10 (0.84%) Bicep
9 9 (0.75%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.50%) COBOL
10 6 (0.50%) JavaScript
11 5 (0.42%) C#
12 4 (0.34%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.25%) JCL
13 3 (0.25%) Korn
13 3 (0.25%) Lisp
13 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.17%) REXX
14 2 (0.17%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 314 (26.32%) Security Cleared
2 204 (17.10%) SC Cleared
3 203 (17.02%) Cisco Certification
4 110 (9.22%) CCNP
5 104 (8.72%) DV Cleared
6 83 (6.96%) CCNA
7 64 (5.36%) Degree
8 58 (4.86%) Network+ Certification
9 47 (3.94%) Microsoft Certification
10 41 (3.44%) A+ Certification
10 41 (3.44%) MCSE
11 28 (2.35%) Azure Certification
11 28 (2.35%) CCIE
12 26 (2.18%) AWS Certification
12 26 (2.18%) City & Guilds
13 22 (1.84%) PMI Certification
13 22 (1.84%) PMP
13 22 (1.84%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 21 (1.76%) CISSP
15 20 (1.68%) BICSI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (3.02%) QA
2 33 (2.77%) SLA
3 30 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 24 (2.01%) NIST
5 17 (1.42%) PMO
6 15 (1.26%) GDPR
7 14 (1.17%) NCSC
8 9 (0.75%) JSP 440
9 7 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
10 6 (0.50%) GRC
10 6 (0.50%) RMADS
11 4 (0.34%) NIST 800
11 4 (0.34%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.17%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.17%) WCAG
13 1 (0.084%) PSD2
System Software
1 124 (10.39%) VMware Infrastructure
2 77 (6.45%) Active Directory
3 44 (3.69%) vSphere
4 43 (3.60%) VMware NSX
5 35 (2.93%) VMware ESXi
6 33 (2.77%) Hyper-V
7 30 (2.51%) Docker
7 30 (2.51%) Firmware
8 14 (1.17%) Virtual Machines
9 11 (0.92%) NFS
10 7 (0.59%) PowerHA
11 6 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
11 6 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
12 5 (0.42%) SRDF
12 5 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
13 4 (0.34%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.34%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.34%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
14 3 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 138 (11.57%) Ansible
2 107 (8.97%) Terraform
3 58 (4.86%) Kubernetes
4 50 (4.19%) FortiGate
5 27 (2.26%) Grafana
6 26 (2.18%) Microsoft Intune
7 25 (2.10%) Prometheus
8 15 (1.26%) vCenter Server
8 15 (1.26%) VxRail
9 12 (1.01%) NetBackup
10 11 (0.92%) Dell DRAC
10 11 (0.92%) Microsoft Clustering
10 11 (0.92%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 10 (0.84%) Jamf Pro
11 10 (0.84%) SCCM
12 9 (0.75%) vMotion
13 8 (0.67%) PowerCLI
14 7 (0.59%) Check_MK
14 7 (0.59%) EMC NetWorker
15 6 (0.50%) Nagios
Vendors
1 279 (23.39%) Cisco
2 178 (14.92%) VMware
3 123 (10.31%) Microsoft
3 123 (10.31%) Palo Alto
4 120 (10.06%) F5
5 83 (6.96%) Juniper
6 78 (6.54%) Dell
7 70 (5.87%) Fortinet
8 68 (5.70%) Arista
9 57 (4.78%) ServiceNow
10 39 (3.27%) SolarWinds
11 38 (3.19%) IBM
12 34 (2.85%) Aruba
12 34 (2.85%) Google
12 34 (2.85%) Red Hat
13 32 (2.68%) CheckPoint
14 31 (2.60%) Splunk
15 27 (2.26%) Oracle
16 22 (1.84%) Extreme Networks
17 21 (1.76%) Zscaler