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

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 117 123 105
Rank change year-on-year +6 -18 -13
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,202 737 845
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.24% 2.24% 2.18%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.69% 6.38% 7.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 722 466 567
10th Percentile £318 £300 £350
25th Percentile £413 £399 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -
75th Percentile £650 £600 £625
90th Percentile £775 £707 £701
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £490 £538
% change year-on-year +1.12% -9.01% +7.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 68 39 39
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £11.75
25th Percentile £17.13 £25.04 £12.08
Median hourly rate £19.85 £25.15 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.07% +25.75% +1.57%
75th Percentile £38.75 £34.50 £25.83
90th Percentile £82.93 £48.45 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.87 £16.50
% change year-on-year -22.23% +50.71% -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 17,968 11,552 11,777
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.55% 35.14% 30.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,887 7,087 7,547
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 £763 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,024 570 592
10th Percentile £14.90 £15.13 £12.31
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.87 £18.27
Median hourly rate £42.50 £29.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +44.07% -34.44% +11.23%
75th Percentile £69.87 £57.50 £67.50
90th Percentile £85.00 £77.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +46.53% -35.04% +13.77%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 +2 1,012 £530 +0.95% 434
UK excluding London -4 642 £495 +1.12% 285
London +13 413 £568 +4.61% 199
Work from Home -1 282 £545 +4.81% 144
North of England -4 221 £492 +9.33% 80
South East -12 189 £525 +6.60% 88
Yorkshire -5 132 £365 -9.88% 23
North West -8 74 £525 +0.48% 27
South West -25 68 £575 +4.55% 30
Midlands -63 53 £465 -11.43% 36
West Midlands -50 47 £475 -5.10% 26
Scotland -7 45 £400 +0.25% 19
Wales +3 43 £468 +38.52% 2
East of England -21 31 £475 -20.83% 32
North East -20 21 £625 +468.18% 30
East Midlands -27 5 £400 -26.61% 10
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 29 (2.41%) Confluence
2 19 (1.58%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.92%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.58%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.42%) Apache
5 5 (0.42%) CICS
5 5 (0.42%) CloudStack
6 2 (0.17%) nginx
6 2 (0.17%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.083%) IIS
7 1 (0.083%) SAS
Applications
1 25 (2.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (1.50%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
4 10 (0.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.83%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.42%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 12 (1.00%) 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
4 1 (0.083%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 252 (20.97%) Azure
2 221 (18.39%) AWS
3 63 (5.24%) GCP
4 48 (3.99%) GitHub
5 36 (3.00%) IaaS
5 36 (3.00%) Microsoft 365
6 33 (2.75%) SaaS
7 29 (2.41%) OCI
8 26 (2.16%) Entra ID
9 18 (1.50%) Power Platform
10 15 (1.25%) OneDrive
11 14 (1.16%) OpenShift
11 14 (1.16%) PaaS
11 14 (1.16%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 13 (1.08%) Azure DevOps
13 12 (1.00%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 8 (0.67%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (0.67%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (0.67%) Nutanix
15 6 (0.50%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 303 (25.21%) Firewall
2 183 (15.22%) WAN
3 177 (14.73%) BGP
4 130 (10.82%) VPN
5 126 (10.48%) DNS
5 126 (10.48%) VXLAN
6 122 (10.15%) OSPF
7 117 (9.73%) SAN
8 106 (8.82%) LAN
9 101 (8.40%) VLAN
10 97 (8.07%) Network Security
11 93 (7.74%) DHCP
12 89 (7.40%) Ethernet VPN
13 85 (7.07%) SD-WAN
13 85 (7.07%) Structured Cabling
14 84 (6.99%) TCP/IP
15 57 (4.74%) Wireless
16 56 (4.66%) Wi-Fi
17 52 (4.33%) NX-OS
18 50 (4.16%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (2.41%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.25%) Power BI
3 10 (0.83%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 10 (0.83%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 10 (0.83%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 7 (0.58%) Big Data
4 7 (0.58%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.50%) Db2
6 5 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
6 5 (0.42%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (0.33%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.33%) DataStage
7 4 (0.33%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.33%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.33%) SAP Data Services
8 2 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.17%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.17%) GIS
Development Applications
1 77 (6.41%) JIRA
2 34 (2.83%) GitLab
3 27 (2.25%) Git
4 26 (2.16%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.58%) 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%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.17%) JMeter
7 2 (0.17%) Maven
7 2 (0.17%) MSI
7 2 (0.17%) Subversion
7 2 (0.17%) Toad
8 1 (0.083%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.083%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.083%) Postman
General
1 285 (23.71%) Social Skills
2 161 (13.39%) Finance
3 125 (10.40%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (4.91%) Public Sector
5 53 (4.41%) Telecoms
6 47 (3.91%) Banking
7 42 (3.49%) Documentation Skills
8 30 (2.50%) Retail
9 23 (1.91%) Legal
10 20 (1.66%) Influencing Skills
11 18 (1.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (1.25%) Manufacturing
13 10 (0.83%) Organisational Skills
14 9 (0.75%) Law
14 9 (0.75%) Police
15 7 (0.58%) Financial Institution
16 5 (0.42%) Marketing
17 4 (0.33%) Billing
18 3 (0.25%) Aerospace
18 3 (0.25%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 205 (17.05%) Architect
2 189 (15.72%) Network Engineer
3 150 (12.48%) Senior
4 121 (10.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 98 (8.15%) Data Centre Engineer
6 79 (6.57%) Project Manager
7 61 (5.07%) Network Architect
8 59 (4.91%) Lead
9 55 (4.58%) IT Engineer
10 49 (4.08%) Field Engineer
11 45 (3.74%) Data Centre Manager
12 43 (3.58%) Field Service Engineer
12 43 (3.58%) Infrastructure Manager
12 43 (3.58%) Senior Network Engineer
12 43 (3.58%) Technical Architect
13 36 (3.00%) Consultant
13 36 (3.00%) Solutions Architect
13 36 (3.00%) Support Engineer
14 32 (2.66%) IT Support
14 32 (2.66%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (4.08%) Middleware
2 21 (1.75%) 802.1X
2 21 (1.75%) REST
3 12 (1.00%) JSON
3 12 (1.00%) YAML
4 10 (0.83%) Redfish
5 9 (0.75%) Elastic Stack
6 8 (0.67%) LDAP
6 8 (0.67%) NETCONF
7 7 (0.58%) OpenConfig
7 7 (0.58%) YANG
8 6 (0.50%) RESTCONF
8 6 (0.50%) SAML
9 5 (0.42%) .NET
9 5 (0.42%) Jinja
10 4 (0.33%) GeoJSON
10 4 (0.33%) Kafka
10 4 (0.33%) RESTful
11 3 (0.25%) .NET Framework
11 3 (0.25%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 74 (6.16%) Hybrid Cloud
2 52 (4.33%) Analytical Mindset
3 42 (3.49%) PKI
4 36 (3.00%) Clustering
5 35 (2.91%) Management Information System
6 34 (2.83%) Cloud Native
6 34 (2.83%) Private Cloud
7 33 (2.75%) Enterprise Storage
8 30 (2.50%) Fibre Optics
8 30 (2.50%) Onboarding
9 27 (2.25%) Data Protection Act
9 27 (2.25%) Public Cloud
10 26 (2.16%) Replication
11 18 (1.50%) Driving Licence
12 17 (1.41%) CMDB
12 17 (1.41%) Operational Technology
13 15 (1.25%) SCADA
13 15 (1.25%) Self-Motivation
14 14 (1.16%) Distributed Systems
15 13 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 179 (14.89%) Windows
2 130 (10.82%) Linux
3 50 (4.16%) Windows Server
4 34 (2.83%) Unix
5 22 (1.83%) AIX
6 20 (1.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (1.00%) Solaris
8 10 (0.83%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.83%) Mac OS
9 8 (0.67%) VMS
10 6 (0.50%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
11 5 (0.42%) HPUX
11 5 (0.42%) Oracle Linux
11 5 (0.42%) SUSE
12 4 (0.33%) CentOS
12 4 (0.33%) Data ONTAP
12 4 (0.33%) Windows 10
12 4 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
12 4 (0.33%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (20.63%) Migration
2 200 (16.64%) Problem-Solving
3 148 (12.31%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 141 (11.73%) Stakeholder Management
5 116 (9.65%) Infrastructure as Code
6 110 (9.15%) ITIL
7 103 (8.57%) High Availability
8 101 (8.40%) Agile
9 97 (8.07%) CI/CD
10 94 (7.82%) Roadmaps
11 88 (7.32%) Project Delivery
11 88 (7.32%) Validation
12 83 (6.91%) Continuous Improvement
13 79 (6.57%) Change Management
14 71 (5.91%) Technical Leadership
14 71 (5.91%) Zero Trust
15 70 (5.82%) Load Balancing
16 68 (5.66%) DevOps
16 68 (5.66%) Disaster Recovery
17 67 (5.57%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 160 (13.31%) Python
2 57 (4.74%) PowerShell
3 40 (3.33%) SQL
4 31 (2.58%) Bash
5 10 (0.83%) ActionScript
5 10 (0.83%) Bicep
6 9 (0.75%) Java
6 9 (0.75%) Perl
7 8 (0.67%) PL/SQL
7 8 (0.67%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.50%) COBOL
9 5 (0.42%) C#
9 5 (0.42%) JavaScript
10 4 (0.33%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.25%) JCL
11 3 (0.25%) Korn
11 3 (0.25%) Lisp
11 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.17%) Go
12 2 (0.17%) REXX
Qualifications
1 302 (25.12%) Security Cleared
2 202 (16.81%) SC Cleared
3 194 (16.14%) Cisco Certification
4 108 (8.99%) CCNP
5 96 (7.99%) DV Cleared
6 82 (6.82%) CCNA
7 65 (5.41%) Degree
8 56 (4.66%) Network+ Certification
9 48 (3.99%) Microsoft Certification
10 45 (3.74%) A+ Certification
11 42 (3.49%) MCSE
12 30 (2.50%) CCIE
13 27 (2.25%) AWS Certification
13 27 (2.25%) Azure Certification
14 26 (2.16%) City & Guilds
15 22 (1.83%) PMI Certification
15 22 (1.83%) PMP
15 22 (1.83%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 21 (1.75%) CISSP
17 20 (1.66%) BICSI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.08%) QA
2 28 (2.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 28 (2.33%) SLA
3 23 (1.91%) NIST
4 18 (1.50%) PMO
5 15 (1.25%) GDPR
6 13 (1.08%) NCSC
7 9 (0.75%) JSP 440
8 7 (0.58%) Disclosure Scotland
9 6 (0.50%) GRC
9 6 (0.50%) RMADS
10 4 (0.33%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.25%) Data Quality
11 3 (0.25%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.17%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.17%) WCAG
13 1 (0.083%) SOC 1
System Software
1 131 (10.90%) VMware Infrastructure
2 82 (6.82%) Active Directory
3 46 (3.83%) vSphere
4 44 (3.66%) VMware NSX
5 36 (3.00%) VMware ESXi
6 33 (2.75%) Hyper-V
7 31 (2.58%) Docker
7 31 (2.58%) Firmware
8 14 (1.16%) Virtual Machines
9 11 (0.92%) NFS
10 7 (0.58%) PowerHA
11 6 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
11 6 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
12 5 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
13 4 (0.33%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.33%) SRDF
13 4 (0.33%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.33%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 142 (11.81%) Ansible
2 108 (8.99%) Terraform
3 58 (4.83%) Kubernetes
4 40 (3.33%) FortiGate
5 25 (2.08%) Grafana
5 25 (2.08%) Microsoft Intune
5 25 (2.08%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.33%) VxRail
7 15 (1.25%) vCenter Server
8 12 (1.00%) Microsoft Clustering
8 12 (1.00%) NetBackup
9 11 (0.92%) Dell DRAC
9 11 (0.92%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 10 (0.83%) Jamf Pro
10 10 (0.83%) SCCM
10 10 (0.83%) vMotion
11 7 (0.58%) Check_MK
11 7 (0.58%) EMC NetWorker
11 7 (0.58%) PowerCLI
12 6 (0.50%) Avamar
Vendors
1 278 (23.13%) Cisco
2 187 (15.56%) VMware
3 135 (11.23%) Microsoft
4 120 (9.98%) Palo Alto
5 106 (8.82%) F5
6 77 (6.41%) Dell
7 74 (6.16%) Juniper
8 68 (5.66%) Arista
8 68 (5.66%) Fortinet
9 63 (5.24%) ServiceNow
10 38 (3.16%) Aruba
11 35 (2.91%) Google
12 34 (2.83%) IBM
12 34 (2.83%) Red Hat
13 33 (2.75%) CheckPoint
14 29 (2.41%) SolarWinds
15 24 (2.00%) Oracle
16 22 (1.83%) Veeam
17 21 (1.75%) Zscaler
18 20 (1.66%) Splunk