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 6 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 142 120 96
Rank change year-on-year -22 -24 +7
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 749 749 1,105
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.05% 2.08% 2.44%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.80% 6.60% 7.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 473 446 743
10th Percentile £259 £361 £326
25th Percentile £400 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £610 £650
90th Percentile £709 £703 £736
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -9.52% - +7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 36 24
10th Percentile £20.25 £11.85 £17.98
25th Percentile - £12.08 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.17 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.08% +5.07% -63.49%
75th Percentile £31.00 £25.50 £68.75
90th Percentile £68.62 £30.19 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £23.51 £23.00
% change year-on-year +6.96% +2.23% -55.51%

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 12,908 11,342 14,323
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.41% 31.52% 31.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,037 6,717 9,588
10th Percentile £275 £275 £270
25th Percentile £406 £411 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.75% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £630 £663 £669
90th Percentile £738 £780 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 655 369 496
10th Percentile £13.50 £16.83 £16.67
25th Percentile £17.99 £22.50 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.50 £34.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -23.19% -18.82% +21.43%
75th Percentile £56.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.16 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £45.21
% change year-on-year -18.46% -28.11% +53.25%

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 6 December 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 6 December 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 6 December 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 -13 658 £509 -3.00% 397
UK excluding London -19 408 £475 -9.52% 329
London -13 269 £525 -1.18% 120
Work from Home -1 190 £525 -4.20% 169
North of England -11 143 £490 -2.10% 71
Midlands -1 93 £437 -24.66% 41
North West +9 82 £543 +8.50% 36
South East -35 74 £450 -10.00% 121
West Midlands 0 71 £474 -18.28% 24
Yorkshire -23 56 £438 +4.29% 27
Scotland +2 33 £438 -2.78% 11
South West -32 33 £550 +0.36% 37
East of England -14 30 £600 +45.90% 45
East Midlands -3 22 £280 -47.15% 15
Wales +7 16 £276 -19.34% 9
North East 0 8 £175 - 8

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 31 (4.14%) SharePoint
2 22 (2.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (2.40%) Confluence
4 11 (1.47%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.80%) Apache
5 6 (0.80%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.67%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.53%) HCL Notes
8 3 (0.40%) CICS
8 3 (0.40%) GeoServer
8 3 (0.40%) Smallworld
8 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.27%) FileNet
9 2 (0.27%) nginx
9 2 (0.27%) Oracle Coherence
9 2 (0.27%) ThingWorx
9 2 (0.27%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.13%) IIS
10 1 (0.13%) OpenEdge
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 60 (8.01%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (4.41%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (3.20%) MS Visio
4 19 (2.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 16 (2.14%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.13%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.80%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.53%) Oracle Financials
2 4 (0.53%) Payment Gateway
3 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
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%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 129 (17.22%) Azure
2 104 (13.89%) AWS
3 71 (9.48%) Microsoft 365
4 41 (5.47%) GCP
5 23 (3.07%) Power Platform
6 20 (2.67%) Entra ID
7 17 (2.27%) OpenShift
8 15 (2.00%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 13 (1.74%) SaaS
10 12 (1.60%) IaaS
10 12 (1.60%) PaaS
10 12 (1.60%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 11 (1.47%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 7 (0.93%) AWS Direct Connect
12 7 (0.93%) npm
12 7 (0.93%) OCI
13 6 (0.80%) Akamai
13 6 (0.80%) GitHub
13 6 (0.80%) Nutanix
14 5 (0.67%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 205 (27.37%) Firewall
2 129 (17.22%) WAN
3 103 (13.75%) Wireless
4 77 (10.28%) BGP
5 68 (9.08%) VPN
6 61 (8.14%) DNS
6 61 (8.14%) LAN
7 53 (7.08%) OSPF
8 51 (6.81%) Wi-Fi
9 45 (6.01%) SD-WAN
10 43 (5.74%) Cisco ISE
10 43 (5.74%) Cisco Nexus
11 42 (5.61%) Network Security
12 38 (5.07%) SAN
13 36 (4.81%) DHCP
14 35 (4.67%) MPLS
15 34 (4.54%) VLAN
15 34 (4.54%) VXLAN
16 30 (4.01%) TCP/IP
17 27 (3.60%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.67%) Power BI
2 19 (2.54%) Relational Database
3 12 (1.60%) RDBMS
4 9 (1.20%) GIS
4 9 (1.20%) SQL Server
5 6 (0.80%) NoSQL
5 6 (0.80%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.80%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.67%) Apache Hive
6 5 (0.67%) Hadoop
6 5 (0.67%) HBase
7 4 (0.53%) Data Mining
7 4 (0.53%) InfluxDB
8 3 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.40%) Big Data
8 3 (0.40%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.40%) Data Vault
8 3 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (0.40%) Metadata
8 3 (0.40%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 20 (2.67%) Git
2 18 (2.40%) JIRA
3 15 (2.00%) Jenkins
3 15 (2.00%) Sonatype Nexus
4 11 (1.47%) Maven
5 9 (1.20%) GitLab
5 9 (1.20%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.53%) Gradle
6 4 (0.53%) Selenium
7 3 (0.40%) ER Studio
7 3 (0.40%) ERwin
8 2 (0.27%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.13%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
General
1 183 (24.43%) Social Skills
2 140 (18.69%) Finance
3 82 (10.95%) Public Sector
4 77 (10.28%) Analytical Skills
5 71 (9.48%) Banking
6 69 (9.21%) Telecoms
7 38 (5.07%) Documentation Skills
8 35 (4.67%) Manufacturing
9 27 (3.60%) Marketing
10 25 (3.34%) Electronics
11 22 (2.94%) Presentation Skills
12 20 (2.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 16 (2.14%) Organisational Skills
14 15 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
15 11 (1.47%) Retail
16 7 (0.93%) Investment Banking
16 7 (0.93%) Legal
16 7 (0.93%) Local Government
17 6 (0.80%) Front Office
17 6 (0.80%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 117 (15.62%) Network Engineer
2 109 (14.55%) Architect
3 72 (9.61%) Analyst
4 66 (8.81%) Project Manager
5 45 (6.01%) Senior
6 39 (5.21%) Data Centre Manager
7 34 (4.54%) Network Architect
8 33 (4.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 33 (4.41%) IT Support
9 32 (4.27%) Consultant
9 32 (4.27%) Security Engineer
10 31 (4.14%) Infrastructure Manager
11 30 (4.01%) Support Engineer
12 27 (3.60%) Data Centre Engineer
13 26 (3.47%) Solutions Architect
14 25 (3.34%) Desktop Support
15 24 (3.20%) Business Analyst
15 24 (3.20%) Cisco Engineer
16 23 (3.07%) 2nd Line Support
16 23 (3.07%) Infrastructure Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.07%) 802.1X
2 18 (2.40%) Middleware
3 15 (2.00%) RFC 2544
4 5 (0.67%) Spark Streaming
5 4 (0.53%) Jinja
6 3 (0.40%) LDAP
6 3 (0.40%) REST
6 3 (0.40%) VML
7 2 (0.27%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.27%) eBPF
7 2 (0.27%) EJB
7 2 (0.27%) Java SE
7 2 (0.27%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.27%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.27%) OpenConfig
7 2 (0.27%) OpenLayers
7 2 (0.27%) RESTCONF
7 2 (0.27%) Spring
7 2 (0.27%) YANG
8 1 (0.13%) ONNX
Miscellaneous
1 41 (5.47%) Hybrid Cloud
2 28 (3.74%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.20%) Public Cloud
4 22 (2.94%) Replication
5 21 (2.80%) Driving Licence
6 20 (2.67%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.27%) Private Cloud
8 16 (2.14%) Fibre Optics
9 15 (2.00%) Mainframe
10 14 (1.87%) Self-Motivation
11 12 (1.60%) SCADA
12 11 (1.47%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (1.47%) PKI
13 10 (1.34%) Clustering
13 10 (1.34%) CMDB
14 9 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
14 9 (1.20%) Management Information System
14 9 (1.20%) Product Ownership
15 8 (1.07%) Analytical Mindset
16 7 (0.93%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 96 (12.82%) Windows
2 70 (9.35%) Linux
3 47 (6.28%) Android
4 45 (6.01%) Mac OS
5 40 (5.34%) Windows Server
6 18 (2.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 17 (2.27%) Unix
8 7 (0.93%) CentOS
9 6 (0.80%) Windows 10
10 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.53%) Apple iOS
11 4 (0.53%) Solaris
11 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
12 3 (0.40%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.40%) VMS
13 2 (0.27%) AIX
13 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.27%) zOS
14 1 (0.13%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (18.83%) Migration
2 95 (12.68%) Problem-Solving
3 87 (11.62%) Stakeholder Management
4 69 (9.21%) Agile
5 59 (7.88%) ITIL
6 52 (6.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 51 (6.81%) Change Management
7 51 (6.81%) Infrastructure as Code
8 48 (6.41%) CI/CD
8 48 (6.41%) Customer Service
8 48 (6.41%) Project Delivery
8 48 (6.41%) Project Management
9 47 (6.28%) Roadmaps
9 47 (6.28%) Service Management
10 46 (6.14%) DevOps
11 45 (6.01%) Load Balancing
11 45 (6.01%) Network Design
12 42 (5.61%) Business Intelligence
13 40 (5.34%) Cybersecurity
14 39 (5.21%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 79 (10.55%) Python
2 49 (6.54%) PowerShell
3 38 (5.07%) SQL
4 21 (2.80%) Bash
5 19 (2.54%) Java
6 10 (1.34%) Perl
7 9 (1.20%) Shell Script
8 8 (1.07%) Lisp
9 7 (0.93%) Go
10 4 (0.53%) C
11 3 (0.40%) Bicep
11 3 (0.40%) JCL
11 3 (0.40%) Korn
11 3 (0.40%) VBA
12 2 (0.27%) AWK
12 2 (0.27%) C#
12 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
12 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.27%) Ruby
12 2 (0.27%) sed
Qualifications
1 224 (29.91%) Security Cleared
2 186 (24.83%) SC Cleared
3 92 (12.28%) Cisco Certification
4 63 (8.41%) CCNP
5 59 (7.88%) Degree
6 44 (5.87%) DV Cleared
7 28 (3.74%) CCIE
8 27 (3.60%) CCNA
9 19 (2.54%) AWS Certification
10 13 (1.74%) CISSP
10 13 (1.74%) JNCIE
11 11 (1.47%) PMP
12 10 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
12 10 (1.34%) PMI Certification
12 10 (1.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 8 (1.07%) BPSS Clearance
14 7 (0.93%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.93%) VCAP
15 6 (0.80%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 6 (0.80%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.80%) SLA
2 20 (2.67%) NIST
2 20 (2.67%) PCI DSS
2 20 (2.67%) PMO
3 18 (2.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 14 (1.87%) QA
5 13 (1.74%) GDPR
6 11 (1.47%) Data Quality
7 5 (0.67%) NCSC
8 3 (0.40%) 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 72 (9.61%) VMware Infrastructure
2 58 (7.74%) Active Directory
3 39 (5.21%) VMware NSX
4 27 (3.60%) Docker
5 17 (2.27%) Hyper-V
6 16 (2.14%) vSphere
7 15 (2.00%) Virtual Machines
8 9 (1.20%) VMware ESXi
9 7 (0.93%) Firmware
10 5 (0.67%) HDFS
11 4 (0.53%) KVM
11 4 (0.53%) NFS
12 3 (0.40%) GPFS
13 2 (0.27%) Lustre
13 2 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
13 2 (0.27%) SRDF
13 2 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
14 1 (0.13%) Samba
14 1 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
14 1 (0.13%) Xen
Systems Management
1 71 (9.48%) Ansible
2 66 (8.81%) Terraform
3 31 (4.14%) FortiGate
4 26 (3.47%) SCCM
5 25 (3.34%) Kubernetes
6 14 (1.87%) Grafana
7 13 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (1.34%) SCOM
8 10 (1.34%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.20%) Puppet
10 8 (1.07%) Control-M
10 8 (1.07%) Single Sign-On
11 7 (0.93%) CASB
11 7 (0.93%) Prometheus
12 6 (0.80%) SCOrch
13 5 (0.67%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (0.67%) Hadoop YARN
14 4 (0.53%) Argo
15 3 (0.40%) Jamf Pro
15 3 (0.40%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 242 (32.31%) Cisco
2 104 (13.89%) Microsoft
3 94 (12.55%) VMware
4 68 (9.08%) Dell
5 66 (8.81%) Palo Alto
6 62 (8.28%) F5
7 54 (7.21%) HP
8 50 (6.68%) Juniper
9 44 (5.87%) Apple
10 40 (5.34%) ServiceNow
11 38 (5.07%) SAP
12 34 (4.54%) Meraki
13 33 (4.41%) Fortinet
13 33 (4.41%) Oracle
14 27 (3.60%) CheckPoint
15 22 (2.94%) SolarWinds
16 21 (2.80%) Arista
17 18 (2.40%) Citrix
18 17 (2.27%) Remedy
19 16 (2.14%) IBM