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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 120 127 108
Rank change year-on-year +7 -19 -19
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,193 738 814
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.22% 2.24% 2.11%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.60% 6.33% 6.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 723 466 531
10th Percentile £318 £300 £363
25th Percentile £413 £399 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -0.34%
75th Percentile £650 £606 £624
90th Percentile £750 £719 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £490 £538
% change year-on-year +1.02% -8.84% +6.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 39 38
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £11.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £25.04 £12.08
Median hourly rate £21.00 £25.15 £19.38
Median % change year-on-year -16.50% +29.81% -3.13%
75th Percentile £40.13 £31.00 £25.83
90th Percentile £80.00 £43.75 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.87 £15.00
% change year-on-year -22.23% +65.78% -15.35%

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 18,083 11,655 11,708
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.65% 35.37% 30.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,907 7,178 7,343
10th Percentile £324 £300 £300
25th Percentile £423 £405 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £519 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.20% -5.68% -
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £750 £763 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,081 574 545
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.13 £13.24
25th Percentile £19.03 £18.87 £19.38
Median hourly rate £38.72 £29.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +31.25% -34.44% +7.54%
75th Percentile £67.89 £56.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +46.53% -42.86% +16.67%

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 31 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 31 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 31 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 +1 1,004 £525 - 735
UK excluding London -20 626 £495 +1.02% 367
London +18 419 £550 - 445
Work from Home -3 278 £540 +2.86% 195
North of England -10 214 £492 +9.33% 78
South East -5 181 £545 +10.66% 111
Yorkshire -2 129 £465 +12.05% 30
North West -19 70 £503 -5.98% 26
South West -22 67 £588 +6.82% 60
Midlands -71 48 £453 -9.40% 34
Scotland -11 47 £388 -5.95% 22
Wales +4 40 £468 +55.83% 13
West Midlands -63 39 £475 -5.10% 28
East of England -7 37 £479 -20.21% 54
North East -17 21 £625 +468.18% 22
East Midlands -20 8 £400 -25.93% 6
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 30 (2.51%) Confluence
2 19 (1.59%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.59%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.42%) Apache
5 5 (0.42%) CloudStack
6 3 (0.25%) CICS
7 1 (0.084%) IIS
7 1 (0.084%) nginx
7 1 (0.084%) SAS
7 1 (0.084%) Tomcat
Applications
1 24 (2.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.84%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (0.67%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.42%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 13 (1.09%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.17%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.17%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.084%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.084%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.084%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 251 (21.04%) Azure
2 221 (18.52%) AWS
3 58 (4.86%) GCP
4 48 (4.02%) GitHub
5 39 (3.27%) Microsoft 365
6 36 (3.02%) SaaS
7 35 (2.93%) IaaS
8 29 (2.43%) Entra ID
8 29 (2.43%) OCI
9 17 (1.42%) Power Platform
10 15 (1.26%) OneDrive
11 14 (1.17%) Azure DevOps
11 14 (1.17%) OpenShift
11 14 (1.17%) PaaS
12 13 (1.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 11 (0.92%) Nutanix
13 11 (0.92%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 8 (0.67%) Azure Sentinel
15 7 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
16 6 (0.50%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 297 (24.90%) Firewall
2 188 (15.76%) WAN
3 182 (15.26%) BGP
4 134 (11.23%) VPN
5 124 (10.39%) VXLAN
6 123 (10.31%) DNS
7 119 (9.97%) OSPF
8 108 (9.05%) Network Security
8 108 (9.05%) VLAN
9 107 (8.97%) LAN
10 106 (8.89%) SAN
11 90 (7.54%) DHCP
12 85 (7.12%) Ethernet VPN
12 85 (7.12%) SD-WAN
13 84 (7.04%) TCP/IP
14 79 (6.62%) Structured Cabling
15 60 (5.03%) Wi-Fi
16 57 (4.78%) Wireless
17 52 (4.36%) Cisco Nexus
18 49 (4.11%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (2.60%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.17%) Power BI
3 11 (0.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.84%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.84%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.59%) Big Data
5 7 (0.59%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.50%) Db2
7 5 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
8 4 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (0.34%) Oracle Database 12c
8 4 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
8 4 (0.34%) PostgreSQL
9 2 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.17%) DataStage
10 1 (0.084%) Flink
10 1 (0.084%) Metadata
10 1 (0.084%) Oracle Exadata
10 1 (0.084%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 73 (6.12%) JIRA
2 36 (3.02%) GitLab
3 28 (2.35%) Jenkins
4 26 (2.18%) Git
5 7 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.17%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.17%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.17%) MSI
7 2 (0.17%) Toad
8 1 (0.084%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.084%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.084%) Maven
8 1 (0.084%) Subversion
General
1 285 (23.89%) Social Skills
2 161 (13.50%) Finance
3 117 (9.81%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (4.95%) Public Sector
5 54 (4.53%) Telecoms
6 51 (4.27%) Banking
7 47 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
8 31 (2.60%) Retail
9 23 (1.93%) Legal
10 18 (1.51%) Influencing Skills
10 18 (1.51%) Manufacturing
11 15 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 10 (0.84%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.75%) Police
14 8 (0.67%) Law
15 7 (0.59%) Financial Institution
16 6 (0.50%) Marketing
17 5 (0.42%) Investment Banking
18 4 (0.34%) Cyber-Physical System
19 3 (0.25%) Military
Job Titles
1 200 (16.76%) Architect
2 194 (16.26%) Network Engineer
3 160 (13.41%) Senior
4 121 (10.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 94 (7.88%) Data Centre Engineer
6 77 (6.45%) Project Manager
7 64 (5.36%) Lead
8 63 (5.28%) Network Architect
9 53 (4.44%) IT Engineer
10 45 (3.77%) Consultant
10 45 (3.77%) Senior Network Engineer
11 43 (3.60%) Field Engineer
12 41 (3.44%) Data Centre Manager
13 39 (3.27%) Technical Architect
14 37 (3.10%) Field Service Engineer
14 37 (3.10%) Infrastructure Manager
15 36 (3.02%) Solutions Architect
16 35 (2.93%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 31 (2.60%) Support Engineer
18 28 (2.35%) Cabling Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 109 (9.14%) Terraform
2 45 (3.77%) Middleware
3 25 (2.10%) REST
4 17 (1.42%) 802.1X
5 13 (1.09%) YAML
6 12 (1.01%) JSON
7 9 (0.75%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (0.67%) LDAP
8 8 (0.67%) NETCONF
8 8 (0.67%) Redfish
9 6 (0.50%) .NET
9 6 (0.50%) OpenConfig
9 6 (0.50%) RESTCONF
9 6 (0.50%) SAML
9 6 (0.50%) YANG
10 4 (0.34%) GeoJSON
10 4 (0.34%) Kafka
10 4 (0.34%) RESTful
11 3 (0.25%) Jinja
11 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 75 (6.29%) Hybrid Cloud
2 45 (3.77%) Analytical Mindset
3 36 (3.02%) PKI
3 36 (3.02%) Private Cloud
4 34 (2.85%) Cloud Native
5 31 (2.60%) Management Information System
6 30 (2.51%) Clustering
6 30 (2.51%) Fibre Optics
6 30 (2.51%) Public Cloud
7 28 (2.35%) Enterprise Storage
7 28 (2.35%) Onboarding
8 26 (2.18%) Data Protection Act
8 26 (2.18%) Replication
9 21 (1.76%) Operational Technology
10 18 (1.51%) Driving Licence
11 16 (1.34%) CMDB
11 16 (1.34%) SCADA
11 16 (1.34%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.26%) Distributed Systems
13 13 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 183 (15.34%) Windows
2 131 (10.98%) Linux
3 56 (4.69%) Windows Server
4 31 (2.60%) Unix
5 21 (1.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.42%) AIX
7 11 (0.92%) Mac OS
8 10 (0.84%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.84%) Solaris
8 10 (0.84%) VMS
9 6 (0.50%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.50%) Windows 10
9 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.42%) HPUX
10 5 (0.42%) Oracle Linux
10 5 (0.42%) SUSE
10 5 (0.42%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.42%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.34%) CentOS
11 4 (0.34%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (20.79%) Migration
2 189 (15.84%) Problem-Solving
3 150 (12.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 148 (12.41%) Stakeholder Management
5 115 (9.64%) Infrastructure as Code
6 108 (9.05%) ITIL
7 105 (8.80%) High Availability
8 97 (8.13%) CI/CD
9 96 (8.05%) Agile
9 96 (8.05%) Roadmaps
10 89 (7.46%) Validation
11 87 (7.29%) Project Delivery
12 80 (6.71%) Continuous Improvement
13 77 (6.45%) Change Management
14 76 (6.37%) Disaster Recovery
14 76 (6.37%) Zero Trust
15 75 (6.29%) Technical Leadership
16 69 (5.78%) DevOps
16 69 (5.78%) Load Balancing
17 67 (5.62%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 162 (13.58%) Python
2 62 (5.20%) PowerShell
3 40 (3.35%) SQL
4 31 (2.60%) Bash
5 10 (0.84%) ActionScript
5 10 (0.84%) Bicep
6 9 (0.75%) Shell Script
7 7 (0.59%) Perl
7 7 (0.59%) PL/SQL
8 6 (0.50%) C#
8 6 (0.50%) Java
9 4 (0.34%) COBOL
9 4 (0.34%) Go
9 4 (0.34%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.34%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.25%) JCL
10 3 (0.25%) Lisp
10 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.17%) REXX
11 2 (0.17%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 309 (25.90%) Security Cleared
2 210 (17.60%) SC Cleared
3 185 (15.51%) Cisco Certification
4 109 (9.14%) CCNP
5 97 (8.13%) DV Cleared
6 73 (6.12%) CCNA
7 63 (5.28%) Degree
8 46 (3.86%) Network+ Certification
9 44 (3.69%) Microsoft Certification
10 40 (3.35%) A+ Certification
11 36 (3.02%) MCSE
12 31 (2.60%) AWS Certification
12 31 (2.60%) CCIE
13 26 (2.18%) Azure Certification
13 26 (2.18%) City & Guilds
14 23 (1.93%) PMP
14 23 (1.93%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 22 (1.84%) CISSP
16 20 (1.68%) BICSI Certification
16 20 (1.68%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.10%) QA
2 30 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 28 (2.35%) SLA
4 23 (1.93%) NIST
5 15 (1.26%) GDPR
6 14 (1.17%) PMO
7 11 (0.92%) NCSC
8 9 (0.75%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.50%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.50%) GRC
9 6 (0.50%) RMADS
10 3 (0.25%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.17%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.17%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 141 (11.82%) VMware Infrastructure
2 89 (7.46%) Active Directory
3 49 (4.11%) vSphere
4 44 (3.69%) VMware NSX
5 39 (3.27%) VMware ESXi
6 37 (3.10%) Hyper-V
7 32 (2.68%) Docker
8 27 (2.26%) Firmware
9 15 (1.26%) Virtual Machines
10 12 (1.01%) NFS
11 6 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
11 6 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
12 5 (0.42%) PowerHA
12 5 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
13 4 (0.34%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.34%) Oracle RAC
13 4 (0.34%) SRDF
13 4 (0.34%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.34%) Veritas Cluster Server
14 3 (0.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
Systems Management
1 150 (12.57%) Ansible
2 60 (5.03%) Kubernetes
3 35 (2.93%) FortiGate
4 27 (2.26%) Prometheus
5 24 (2.01%) Grafana
6 22 (1.84%) Microsoft Intune
7 18 (1.51%) vCenter Server
8 15 (1.26%) SCCM
8 15 (1.26%) VxRail
9 12 (1.01%) Microsoft Clustering
9 12 (1.01%) vMotion
10 10 (0.84%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (0.84%) NetBackup
10 10 (0.84%) PowerCLI
10 10 (0.84%) SCOM
11 9 (0.75%) Dell DRAC
11 9 (0.75%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 8 (0.67%) Nagios
13 7 (0.59%) Check_MK
14 5 (0.42%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 290 (24.31%) Cisco
2 195 (16.35%) VMware
3 139 (11.65%) Microsoft
4 126 (10.56%) Palo Alto
5 105 (8.80%) F5
6 75 (6.29%) Dell
7 72 (6.04%) Arista
8 71 (5.95%) Fortinet
9 70 (5.87%) Juniper
10 61 (5.11%) ServiceNow
11 41 (3.44%) Aruba
12 38 (3.19%) CheckPoint
13 35 (2.93%) Red Hat
14 30 (2.51%) Google
15 26 (2.18%) Veeam
16 25 (2.10%) IBM
17 24 (2.01%) Oracle
18 23 (1.93%) SolarWinds
19 22 (1.84%) Zscaler
20 20 (1.68%) NetApp