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 1 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 134 96
Rank change year-on-year -9 -38 +4
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 748 660 1,015
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.02% 1.99% 2.36%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.82% 6.21% 7.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 483 395 685
10th Percentile £278 £358 £313
25th Percentile £408 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £595 £600 £650
90th Percentile £700 £675 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% +7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 29 23
10th Percentile £20.71 £11.75 £18.96
25th Percentile - £22.22 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% +5.13% -64.06%
75th Percentile £36.50 £29.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £73.85 £41.25 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £46.00 £24.18 £23.00
% change year-on-year +90.23% +5.13% -65.15%

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 12,849 10,629 13,458
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.63% 32.04% 31.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,063 6,328 8,934
10th Percentile £280 £265 £263
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £526 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.75% -4.36% -
75th Percentile £630 £656 £663
90th Percentile £738 £775 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 622 325 518
10th Percentile £13.94 £18.07 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.23 £23.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £27.36 £33.54 £42.40
Median % change year-on-year -18.44% -20.90% +34.61%
75th Percentile £61.23 £64.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £32.50 £45.21
% change year-on-year -16.28% -28.11% +77.96%

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 1 January 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 1 January 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 1 January 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 -12 648 £500 -4.76% 334
UK excluding London -3 419 £475 -5.00% 226
London -17 240 £525 - 155
Work from Home +30 207 £525 -1.87% 112
North of England -9 141 £480 -3.52% 53
South East -13 92 £453 -9.50% 88
North West +13 90 £525 +5.00% 22
Midlands +1 86 £431 -25.69% 13
West Midlands -1 69 £472 -18.62% 9
Yorkshire -44 46 £398 -5.36% 25
Scotland +16 37 £450 - 23
South West -27 36 £550 +0.18% 27
East of England -13 29 £496 +17.40% 24
East Midlands -8 17 £179 -71.40% 4
Wales -5 11 £265 -33.75%
North East -3 8 £175 - 7
Northern Ireland - 2 £425 - 4

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 (3.88%) SharePoint
2 22 (2.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.74%) Confluence
4 11 (1.47%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.94%) Apache Airflow
6 6 (0.80%) Apache
7 5 (0.67%) Apache Spark
8 4 (0.53%) HCL Notes
8 4 (0.53%) nginx
9 3 (0.40%) CICS
9 3 (0.40%) GeoServer
9 3 (0.40%) Smallworld
9 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.27%) FileNet
10 2 (0.27%) Oracle Coherence
10 2 (0.27%) ThingWorx
10 2 (0.27%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.13%) IIS
11 1 (0.13%) OpenEdge
11 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 54 (7.22%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (4.41%) Microsoft Excel
3 26 (3.48%) MS Visio
4 18 (2.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.87%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.13%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.80%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.53%) Oracle Financials
3 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
4 1 (0.13%) DELMIA
4 1 (0.13%) Epicor iScala
4 1 (0.13%) Maximo
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.13%) Primavera
4 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.13%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 138 (18.45%) Azure
2 108 (14.44%) AWS
3 68 (9.09%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (5.75%) GCP
5 24 (3.21%) Power Platform
6 17 (2.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 16 (2.14%) OpenShift
8 13 (1.74%) Entra ID
8 13 (1.74%) SaaS
8 13 (1.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 11 (1.47%) AWS Direct Connect
9 11 (1.47%) IaaS
9 11 (1.47%) PaaS
10 10 (1.34%) AWS CloudFormation
10 10 (1.34%) GitHub
11 9 (1.20%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 8 (1.07%) npm
13 7 (0.94%) OCI
14 5 (0.67%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (0.67%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 220 (29.41%) Firewall
2 138 (18.45%) WAN
3 88 (11.76%) Wireless
4 83 (11.10%) VPN
5 78 (10.43%) BGP
6 73 (9.76%) LAN
7 65 (8.69%) Network Security
8 56 (7.49%) OSPF
9 53 (7.09%) DNS
9 53 (7.09%) Wi-Fi
10 45 (6.02%) SD-WAN
10 45 (6.02%) VLAN
11 38 (5.08%) SAN
12 36 (4.81%) Cisco Nexus
13 34 (4.55%) Cisco ISE
14 33 (4.41%) VXLAN
15 32 (4.28%) DHCP
16 31 (4.14%) MPLS
17 30 (4.01%) IPsec
18 27 (3.61%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.81%) Power BI
2 17 (2.27%) Relational Database
3 10 (1.34%) RDBMS
3 10 (1.34%) SQL Server
4 8 (1.07%) GIS
5 6 (0.80%) NoSQL
6 5 (0.67%) Apache Hive
6 5 (0.67%) Hadoop
6 5 (0.67%) HBase
6 5 (0.67%) Oracle Database
7 4 (0.53%) Data Mining
7 4 (0.53%) InfluxDB
7 4 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.40%) Big Data
8 3 (0.40%) Data Warehouse
8 3 (0.40%) DataStage
8 3 (0.40%) PowerPivot
8 3 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 25 (3.34%) Git
2 18 (2.41%) Jenkins
3 15 (2.01%) Sonatype Nexus
4 13 (1.74%) JIRA
5 12 (1.60%) GitLab
6 11 (1.47%) Maven
7 8 (1.07%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.40%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.40%) ER Studio
8 3 (0.40%) ERwin
8 3 (0.40%) Gradle
8 3 (0.40%) ScriptRunner
8 3 (0.40%) Selenium
9 2 (0.27%) Rational DOORS
General
1 191 (25.53%) Social Skills
2 131 (17.51%) Finance
3 87 (11.63%) Public Sector
4 84 (11.23%) Analytical Skills
5 64 (8.56%) Telecoms
6 58 (7.75%) Banking
7 43 (5.75%) Documentation Skills
8 41 (5.48%) Manufacturing
9 27 (3.61%) Marketing
10 25 (3.34%) Electronics
11 23 (3.07%) Presentation Skills
12 18 (2.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (2.01%) Organisational Skills
14 11 (1.47%) Influencing Skills
14 11 (1.47%) Retail
15 8 (1.07%) Law
16 7 (0.94%) Front Office
16 7 (0.94%) Investment Banking
16 7 (0.94%) Legal
16 7 (0.94%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 122 (16.31%) Network Engineer
2 117 (15.64%) Architect
3 68 (9.09%) Project Manager
4 66 (8.82%) Analyst
5 51 (6.82%) Senior
6 45 (6.02%) Network Architect
7 35 (4.68%) Data Centre Manager
8 34 (4.55%) Consultant
9 32 (4.28%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 31 (4.14%) IT Support
10 31 (4.14%) Solutions Architect
11 28 (3.74%) Data Centre Engineer
12 27 (3.61%) Lead
12 27 (3.61%) Security Engineer
13 25 (3.34%) Cisco Engineer
13 25 (3.34%) Desktop Support
13 25 (3.34%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 24 (3.21%) Infrastructure Manager
14 24 (3.21%) Support Engineer
15 23 (3.07%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.07%) 802.1X
2 20 (2.67%) Middleware
3 11 (1.47%) RFC 2544
4 7 (0.94%) LDAP
5 5 (0.67%) Spark Streaming
6 4 (0.53%) Jinja
6 4 (0.53%) VML
7 3 (0.40%) REST
8 2 (0.27%) .NET
8 2 (0.27%) ADO
8 2 (0.27%) ARM Templates
8 2 (0.27%) eBPF
8 2 (0.27%) EJB
8 2 (0.27%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.27%) Java SE
8 2 (0.27%) ModSecurity
8 2 (0.27%) NETCONF
8 2 (0.27%) OpenLayers
8 2 (0.27%) Spring
8 2 (0.27%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 43 (5.75%) Hybrid Cloud
2 31 (4.14%) Cloud Native
3 25 (3.34%) Public Cloud
4 20 (2.67%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (2.41%) Replication
6 17 (2.27%) Driving Licence
7 16 (2.14%) Fibre Optics
8 15 (2.01%) Mainframe
8 15 (2.01%) Onboarding
9 13 (1.74%) Private Cloud
9 13 (1.74%) SCADA
10 12 (1.60%) Analytical Mindset
11 11 (1.47%) Data Protection Act
11 11 (1.47%) Management Information System
12 10 (1.34%) PKI
13 9 (1.20%) CMDB
14 8 (1.07%) Clustering
14 8 (1.07%) Legacy Systems
15 7 (0.94%) Operational Technology
15 7 (0.94%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 96 (12.83%) Windows
2 77 (10.29%) Linux
3 40 (5.35%) Windows Server
4 39 (5.21%) Android
4 39 (5.21%) Mac OS
5 23 (3.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 14 (1.87%) Unix
7 9 (1.20%) CentOS
8 7 (0.94%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.80%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.80%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.67%) VMS
11 4 (0.53%) Solaris
11 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.27%) AIX
12 2 (0.27%) Embedded Linux
12 2 (0.27%) zOS
13 1 (0.13%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (16.44%) Migration
2 109 (14.57%) Problem-Solving
3 88 (11.76%) Stakeholder Management
4 66 (8.82%) ITIL
5 62 (8.29%) Agile
6 58 (7.75%) Project Management
7 54 (7.22%) Project Delivery
8 53 (7.09%) Infrastructure as Code
9 48 (6.42%) DevOps
10 47 (6.28%) CI/CD
10 47 (6.28%) Network Design
10 47 (6.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 45 (6.02%) Change Management
12 44 (5.88%) Service Management
13 43 (5.75%) Business Intelligence
13 43 (5.75%) Customer Service
13 43 (5.75%) Load Balancing
14 40 (5.35%) Data Centre Operations
14 40 (5.35%) Roadmaps
15 39 (5.21%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 76 (10.16%) Python
2 47 (6.28%) PowerShell
3 38 (5.08%) SQL
4 20 (2.67%) Bash
4 20 (2.67%) Java
5 10 (1.34%) Perl
6 9 (1.20%) Shell Script
7 8 (1.07%) Lisp
8 5 (0.67%) C
9 4 (0.53%) Go
9 4 (0.53%) VBA
10 3 (0.40%) C++
10 3 (0.40%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.27%) Bicep
11 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
11 2 (0.27%) Ruby
12 1 (0.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.13%) Groovy
12 1 (0.13%) Korn
Qualifications
1 240 (32.09%) Security Cleared
2 200 (26.74%) SC Cleared
3 108 (14.44%) Cisco Certification
4 82 (10.96%) CCNP
5 59 (7.89%) Degree
6 43 (5.75%) DV Cleared
7 38 (5.08%) CCNA
8 28 (3.74%) CCIE
9 22 (2.94%) AWS Certification
10 15 (2.01%) PMP
11 14 (1.87%) CISSP
11 14 (1.87%) JNCIE
11 14 (1.87%) PMI Certification
12 8 (1.07%) BPSS Clearance
12 8 (1.07%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (1.07%) Network+ Certification
12 8 (1.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 7 (0.94%) A+ Certification
13 7 (0.94%) MCSE
13 7 (0.94%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.81%) NIST
2 20 (2.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.41%) PCI DSS
3 18 (2.41%) PMO
3 18 (2.41%) SLA
4 14 (1.87%) QA
5 12 (1.60%) GDPR
6 11 (1.47%) Data Quality
7 6 (0.80%) NCSC
8 4 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.27%) ISO 22301
9 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 2 (0.27%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.13%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.13%) GRC
10 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 78 (10.43%) VMware Infrastructure
2 52 (6.95%) Active Directory
3 43 (5.75%) VMware NSX
4 27 (3.61%) Docker
5 19 (2.54%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (2.14%) Hyper-V
7 14 (1.87%) vSphere
8 9 (1.20%) Firmware
9 7 (0.94%) KVM
9 7 (0.94%) VMware ESXi
10 5 (0.67%) HDFS
11 3 (0.40%) Lustre
12 2 (0.27%) Ceph
12 2 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
12 2 (0.27%) NFS
12 2 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 2 (0.27%) SRDF
12 2 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.27%) Xen
13 1 (0.13%) Samba
Systems Management
1 82 (10.96%) Ansible
2 72 (9.63%) Terraform
3 35 (4.68%) FortiGate
4 24 (3.21%) Kubernetes
5 23 (3.07%) SCCM
6 15 (2.01%) Grafana
7 11 (1.47%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (1.34%) SCOM
8 10 (1.34%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.20%) Puppet
10 8 (1.07%) Prometheus
11 7 (0.94%) CASB
12 6 (0.80%) SCOrch
12 6 (0.80%) Single Sign-On
13 5 (0.67%) Hadoop YARN
14 4 (0.53%) Check_MK
14 4 (0.53%) Control-M
15 3 (0.40%) Nagios
15 3 (0.40%) OPNET
15 3 (0.40%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 253 (33.82%) Cisco
2 98 (13.10%) VMware
3 92 (12.30%) Palo Alto
4 89 (11.90%) Microsoft
5 68 (9.09%) Dell
6 55 (7.35%) Juniper
7 54 (7.22%) F5
8 47 (6.28%) HP
9 39 (5.21%) Apple
10 38 (5.08%) CheckPoint
11 37 (4.95%) ServiceNow
12 36 (4.81%) SAP
13 34 (4.55%) Oracle
14 33 (4.41%) Fortinet
15 32 (4.28%) Meraki
16 30 (4.01%) Aruba
17 19 (2.54%) Arista
18 16 (2.14%) Citrix
18 16 (2.14%) Red Hat
19 14 (1.87%) Remedy