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 25 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 146 121 93
Rank change year-on-year -25 -28 +9
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 727 739 1,141
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.03% 2.03% 2.48%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.68% 6.53% 7.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 453 438 762
10th Percentile £244 £362 £321
25th Percentile £380 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £650
90th Percentile £705 £702 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -9.52% - +6.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 35 24
10th Percentile £20.25 £11.83 £17.72
25th Percentile - £12.08 £21.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £23.80 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.67% +3.48% -63.35%
75th Percentile £31.00 £26.00 £68.75
90th Percentile £68.62 £30.37 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £22.05 £23.00
% change year-on-year +14.08% -4.15% -49.56%

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 12,793 11,311 14,640
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.73% 31.15% 31.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,918 6,657 9,823
10th Percentile £275 £285 £270
25th Percentile £406 £413 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.12% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £638 £663 £668
90th Percentile £738 £788 £768
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 678 380 496
10th Percentile £13.50 £16.84 £16.89
25th Percentile £18.23 £22.50 £21.00
Median hourly rate £27.11 £35.13 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.83% -21.07% +27.14%
75th Percentile £55.00 £68.19 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.16 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year -22.26% -24.21% +59.79%

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 25 November 2025.

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 25 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 16 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 25 November 2025. 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 -22 637 £516 -1.67% 326
UK excluding London -16 393 £475 -9.52% 249
London -7 263 £525 -4.02% 123
Work from Home +7 190 £525 -4.55% 152
North of England -16 138 £484 -3.25% 35
Midlands 0 93 £437 -24.85% 27
North West +7 75 £550 +10.00% 25
West Midlands 0 70 £470 -19.17% 21
South East -33 70 £438 -15.05% 115
Yorkshire -18 58 £405 -3.57% 5
South West -35 35 £550 - 30
Scotland -3 30 £425 -5.56% 12
East of England -23 25 £600 +45.90% 29
East Midlands 0 23 £358 -32.48% 6
Wales +10 16 £276 -19.34% 11
North East -4 8 £175 - 5

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 (4.13%) SharePoint
2 21 (2.89%) Confluence
2 21 (2.89%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.38%) OpenStack
4 6 (0.83%) Apache
5 5 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
5 5 (0.69%) Apache Spark
6 4 (0.55%) HCL Notes
6 4 (0.55%) nginx
7 3 (0.41%) CICS
7 3 (0.41%) GeoServer
7 3 (0.41%) Smallworld
7 3 (0.41%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.28%) FileNet
8 2 (0.28%) Oracle Coherence
8 2 (0.28%) ThingWorx
8 2 (0.28%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.14%) IIS
9 1 (0.14%) OpenEdge
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 57 (7.84%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (4.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 26 (3.58%) MS Visio
4 18 (2.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.14%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.83%) Payment Gateway
2 5 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.55%) Oracle Financials
4 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.14%) Epicor iScala
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.14%) Primavera
5 1 (0.14%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 134 (18.43%) Azure
2 108 (14.86%) AWS
3 69 (9.49%) Microsoft 365
4 41 (5.64%) GCP
5 23 (3.16%) Power Platform
6 21 (2.89%) Entra ID
7 16 (2.20%) OpenShift
8 15 (2.06%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 15 (2.06%) SaaS
9 12 (1.65%) IaaS
9 12 (1.65%) PaaS
9 12 (1.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 10 (1.38%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 7 (0.96%) AWS Direct Connect
11 7 (0.96%) GitHub
11 7 (0.96%) npm
11 7 (0.96%) OCI
12 6 (0.83%) Akamai
12 6 (0.83%) Nutanix
13 5 (0.69%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 201 (27.65%) Firewall
2 118 (16.23%) WAN
3 104 (14.31%) Wireless
4 72 (9.90%) BGP
5 65 (8.94%) VPN
6 61 (8.39%) DNS
7 57 (7.84%) LAN
8 47 (6.46%) OSPF
9 46 (6.33%) SD-WAN
10 43 (5.91%) Network Security
11 42 (5.78%) Wi-Fi
12 41 (5.64%) Cisco Nexus
13 39 (5.36%) Cisco ISE
14 38 (5.23%) DHCP
15 37 (5.09%) SAN
16 35 (4.81%) VXLAN
17 34 (4.68%) MPLS
17 34 (4.68%) VLAN
18 31 (4.26%) TCP/IP
19 25 (3.44%) Cisco Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.75%) Power BI
2 19 (2.61%) Relational Database
3 12 (1.65%) RDBMS
4 9 (1.24%) GIS
4 9 (1.24%) SQL Server
5 6 (0.83%) NoSQL
5 6 (0.83%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.83%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.69%) Apache Hive
6 5 (0.69%) Hadoop
6 5 (0.69%) HBase
7 4 (0.55%) Data Mining
7 4 (0.55%) InfluxDB
8 3 (0.41%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.41%) Data Vault
8 3 (0.41%) Data Warehouse
8 3 (0.41%) DataStage
8 3 (0.41%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (0.41%) Metadata
8 3 (0.41%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 19 (2.61%) Git
2 17 (2.34%) JIRA
3 14 (1.93%) Sonatype Nexus
4 13 (1.79%) Jenkins
5 11 (1.51%) Maven
6 10 (1.38%) GitLab
7 9 (1.24%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.55%) Gradle
8 4 (0.55%) Selenium
9 3 (0.41%) ER Studio
9 3 (0.41%) ERwin
10 2 (0.28%) Bitbucket
10 2 (0.28%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.14%) Fiddler
11 1 (0.14%) Postman
11 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
General
1 174 (23.93%) Social Skills
2 135 (18.57%) Finance
3 77 (10.59%) Public Sector
4 72 (9.90%) Analytical Skills
5 71 (9.77%) Telecoms
6 68 (9.35%) Banking
7 34 (4.68%) Documentation Skills
8 32 (4.40%) Manufacturing
9 27 (3.71%) Marketing
10 25 (3.44%) Electronics
11 22 (3.03%) Presentation Skills
12 20 (2.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (2.06%) Organisational Skills
14 14 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
15 8 (1.10%) Retail
16 7 (0.96%) Investment Banking
16 7 (0.96%) Legal
16 7 (0.96%) Local Government
17 6 (0.83%) Front Office
17 6 (0.83%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 114 (15.68%) Network Engineer
2 108 (14.86%) Architect
3 75 (10.32%) Analyst
4 54 (7.43%) Project Manager
5 40 (5.50%) Senior
6 33 (4.54%) Consultant
6 33 (4.54%) IT Support
6 33 (4.54%) Network Architect
7 32 (4.40%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 31 (4.26%) Security Engineer
8 31 (4.26%) Support Engineer
9 29 (3.99%) Data Centre Manager
9 29 (3.99%) Infrastructure Manager
10 27 (3.71%) Business Analyst
10 27 (3.71%) Data Centre Engineer
11 25 (3.44%) Desktop Support
12 24 (3.30%) Cisco Engineer
12 24 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
13 23 (3.16%) 2nd Line Support
13 23 (3.16%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.03%) Middleware
2 21 (2.89%) RFC 2544
3 18 (2.48%) 802.1X
4 5 (0.69%) Spark Streaming
5 4 (0.55%) Jinja
6 3 (0.41%) LDAP
6 3 (0.41%) REST
7 2 (0.28%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.28%) eBPF
7 2 (0.28%) EJB
7 2 (0.28%) Java SE
7 2 (0.28%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.28%) OpenLayers
7 2 (0.28%) Spring
8 1 (0.14%) NETCONF
8 1 (0.14%) ONNX
8 1 (0.14%) OpenConfig
8 1 (0.14%) OpenTelemetry
8 1 (0.14%) RESTCONF
8 1 (0.14%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 40 (5.50%) Hybrid Cloud
2 29 (3.99%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.30%) Public Cloud
4 22 (3.03%) Driving Licence
5 21 (2.89%) Fibre Optics
5 21 (2.89%) Replication
6 19 (2.61%) Onboarding
7 18 (2.48%) Private Cloud
8 14 (1.93%) Mainframe
9 13 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
10 11 (1.51%) Data Protection Act
10 11 (1.51%) PKI
10 11 (1.51%) SCADA
11 10 (1.38%) Management Information System
12 9 (1.24%) Clustering
12 9 (1.24%) Product Ownership
13 8 (1.10%) CMDB
13 8 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
14 7 (0.96%) Renewable Energy
15 6 (0.83%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 100 (13.76%) Windows
2 71 (9.77%) Linux
3 47 (6.46%) Android
4 45 (6.19%) Mac OS
5 40 (5.50%) Windows Server
6 21 (2.89%) Unix
7 19 (2.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (1.38%) CentOS
9 6 (0.83%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.83%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.55%) Apple iOS
11 4 (0.55%) Solaris
11 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.28%) AIX
12 2 (0.28%) VMS
12 2 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.28%) zOS
13 1 (0.14%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (18.43%) Migration
2 91 (12.52%) Problem-Solving
3 81 (11.14%) Stakeholder Management
4 70 (9.63%) Agile
5 57 (7.84%) ITIL
6 54 (7.43%) Service Management
6 54 (7.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 49 (6.74%) Infrastructure as Code
8 47 (6.46%) Customer Service
8 47 (6.46%) Roadmaps
9 46 (6.33%) Change Management
9 46 (6.33%) CI/CD
10 45 (6.19%) Disaster Recovery
11 44 (6.05%) DevOps
12 43 (5.91%) Network Design
12 43 (5.91%) Project Delivery
13 42 (5.78%) Business Intelligence
13 42 (5.78%) High Availability
13 42 (5.78%) Project Management
14 41 (5.64%) Data Centre Operations
Programming Languages
1 76 (10.45%) Python
2 46 (6.33%) PowerShell
3 38 (5.23%) SQL
4 19 (2.61%) Bash
4 19 (2.61%) Java
5 10 (1.38%) Perl
6 9 (1.24%) Shell Script
7 8 (1.10%) Lisp
8 7 (0.96%) Go
9 4 (0.55%) C
10 3 (0.41%) Bicep
10 3 (0.41%) JCL
10 3 (0.41%) Korn
10 3 (0.41%) VBA
11 2 (0.28%) AWK
11 2 (0.28%) C#
11 2 (0.28%) JavaScript
11 2 (0.28%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.28%) Ruby
11 2 (0.28%) sed
Qualifications
1 214 (29.44%) Security Cleared
2 179 (24.62%) SC Cleared
3 84 (11.55%) Cisco Certification
4 56 (7.70%) CCNP
5 54 (7.43%) Degree
6 44 (6.05%) DV Cleared
7 26 (3.58%) CCIE
8 23 (3.16%) CCNA
9 19 (2.61%) AWS Certification
10 14 (1.93%) CISSP
11 12 (1.65%) JNCIE
12 11 (1.51%) PMP
13 10 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
13 10 (1.38%) PMI Certification
14 9 (1.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 8 (1.10%) BPSS Clearance
16 7 (0.96%) (ISC)2 CCSP
16 7 (0.96%) Azure Certification
16 7 (0.96%) CCSP
17 6 (0.83%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.89%) NIST
2 20 (2.75%) PCI DSS
2 20 (2.75%) SLA
3 19 (2.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (2.34%) PMO
5 14 (1.93%) GDPR
6 13 (1.79%) QA
7 11 (1.51%) Data Quality
8 4 (0.55%) NCSC
9 3 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.28%) GRC
10 2 (0.28%) ISO 22301
10 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (0.28%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.14%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.14%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.14%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 72 (9.90%) VMware Infrastructure
2 61 (8.39%) Active Directory
3 36 (4.95%) VMware NSX
4 25 (3.44%) Docker
5 18 (2.48%) vSphere
6 17 (2.34%) Hyper-V
7 14 (1.93%) Virtual Machines
8 8 (1.10%) VMware ESXi
9 7 (0.96%) Firmware
10 5 (0.69%) HDFS
11 4 (0.55%) KVM
11 4 (0.55%) NFS
12 3 (0.41%) GPFS
13 2 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
13 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
14 1 (0.14%) Samba
14 1 (0.14%) SRDF
14 1 (0.14%) Veritas Cluster Server
14 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
14 1 (0.14%) Xen
Systems Management
1 70 (9.63%) Ansible
2 62 (8.53%) Terraform
3 31 (4.26%) FortiGate
4 27 (3.71%) SCCM
5 22 (3.03%) Kubernetes
6 14 (1.93%) Microsoft Intune
7 12 (1.65%) Grafana
8 10 (1.38%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.24%) SCOM
10 8 (1.10%) Control-M
10 8 (1.10%) Puppet
10 8 (1.10%) Single Sign-On
11 7 (0.96%) CASB
12 6 (0.83%) SCOrch
13 5 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (0.69%) Hadoop YARN
13 5 (0.69%) Prometheus
14 4 (0.55%) Argo
15 3 (0.41%) Jamf Pro
15 3 (0.41%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 238 (32.74%) Cisco
2 104 (14.31%) Microsoft
3 95 (13.07%) VMware
4 63 (8.67%) Dell
4 63 (8.67%) F5
5 58 (7.98%) Palo Alto
6 54 (7.43%) HP
7 51 (7.02%) Juniper
8 44 (6.05%) Apple
9 37 (5.09%) SAP
9 37 (5.09%) ServiceNow
10 33 (4.54%) Fortinet
10 33 (4.54%) Oracle
11 28 (3.85%) Meraki
12 23 (3.16%) SolarWinds
13 22 (3.03%) Arista
14 18 (2.48%) CheckPoint
14 18 (2.48%) Citrix
15 16 (2.20%) Remedy
16 15 (2.06%) NetApp