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

6 months to
25 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 135 129 97
Rank change year-on-year -6 -32 +4
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 758 677 1,039
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.04% 2.00% 2.39%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 5.88% 6.24% 7.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 485 410 706
10th Percentile £276 £350 £318
25th Percentile £403 £425 £417
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £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 40 27 24
10th Percentile £20.25 £11.75 £17.98
25th Percentile - £21.74 £21.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% +5.13% -64.06%
75th Percentile £35.00 £29.00 £68.75
90th Percentile £70.42 £41.25 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.00 £24.18 £23.00
% change year-on-year +11.66% +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 12,897 10,852 13,640
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.75% 32.02% 31.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,073 6,485 9,064
10th Percentile £278 £267 £263
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £533 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.25% -3.09% -
75th Percentile £626 £656 £666
90th Percentile £738 £775 £768
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 640 333 502
10th Percentile £13.89 £17.30 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.00 £23.00 £20.06
Median hourly rate £27.00 £33.54 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -19.50% -21.08% +21.43%
75th Percentile £60.61 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.75 £76.73
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £32.50 £45.11
% change year-on-year -16.28% -27.95% +51.77%

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 25 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 25 December 2025.

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 25 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 -16 655 £500 -4.76% 728
UK excluding London -6 417 £475 -5.00% 568
London +1 254 £525 - 221
Work from Home +23 205 £525 -1.87% 232
North of England -14 136 £488 -2.01% 130
South East -27 92 £465 -7.00% 194
Midlands +1 88 £437 -24.66% 79
North West +6 87 £539 +7.70% 57
West Midlands -3 68 £468 -19.40% 43
Yorkshire -36 44 £390 -7.14% 63
Scotland +12 38 £450 - 22
South West -30 36 £550 +0.18% 61
East of England -22 27 £600 +42.01% 74
East Midlands -8 20 £203 -61.81% 31
Wales -3 13 £276 -30.94% 10
North East -3 8 £175 - 11
Northern Ireland - 1 £425 - 9

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 (4.09%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.98%) Confluence
4 11 (1.45%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.92%) Apache Airflow
6 6 (0.79%) Apache
7 5 (0.66%) 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 (0.26%) FileNet
10 2 (0.26%) Oracle Coherence
10 2 (0.26%) ThingWorx
10 2 (0.26%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.13%) IIS
11 1 (0.13%) OpenEdge
11 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 56 (7.39%) Microsoft Office
2 32 (4.22%) Microsoft Excel
3 26 (3.43%) MS Visio
4 18 (2.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (1.58%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.13%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.79%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.53%) Oracle Financials
3 3 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.26%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.13%) Epicor iScala
5 1 (0.13%) Maximo
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.13%) Primavera
5 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 1 (0.13%) StreamServe
Cloud Services
1 144 (19.00%) Azure
2 112 (14.78%) AWS
3 71 (9.37%) Microsoft 365
4 45 (5.94%) GCP
5 23 (3.03%) Power Platform
6 20 (2.64%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 18 (2.37%) Entra ID
8 17 (2.24%) OpenShift
9 13 (1.72%) SaaS
9 13 (1.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 12 (1.58%) AWS Direct Connect
10 12 (1.58%) IaaS
10 12 (1.58%) PaaS
11 10 (1.32%) AWS CloudFormation
11 10 (1.32%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 9 (1.19%) GitHub
13 8 (1.06%) npm
14 7 (0.92%) OCI
15 6 (0.79%) Nutanix
16 5 (0.66%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 220 (29.02%) Firewall
2 136 (17.94%) WAN
3 92 (12.14%) Wireless
4 86 (11.35%) VPN
5 77 (10.16%) BGP
6 70 (9.23%) LAN
7 64 (8.44%) Network Security
8 57 (7.52%) DNS
9 54 (7.12%) OSPF
10 53 (6.99%) Wi-Fi
11 45 (5.94%) SD-WAN
12 42 (5.54%) VLAN
13 37 (4.88%) Cisco Nexus
14 36 (4.75%) SAN
15 35 (4.62%) Cisco ISE
16 34 (4.49%) DHCP
16 34 (4.49%) MPLS
16 34 (4.49%) VXLAN
17 28 (3.69%) TCP/IP
18 27 (3.56%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.64%) Power BI
2 18 (2.37%) Relational Database
3 11 (1.45%) RDBMS
4 10 (1.32%) SQL Server
5 9 (1.19%) GIS
6 6 (0.79%) NoSQL
7 5 (0.66%) Apache Hive
7 5 (0.66%) Hadoop
7 5 (0.66%) HBase
7 5 (0.66%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.53%) Data Mining
8 4 (0.53%) InfluxDB
8 4 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
9 3 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (0.40%) Big Data
9 3 (0.40%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.40%) DataStage
9 3 (0.40%) QGIS
9 3 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 22 (2.90%) Git
2 16 (2.11%) Jenkins
3 15 (1.98%) JIRA
3 15 (1.98%) Sonatype Nexus
4 11 (1.45%) Maven
5 9 (1.19%) GitLab
6 8 (1.06%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.40%) ER Studio
7 3 (0.40%) ERwin
7 3 (0.40%) Gradle
7 3 (0.40%) Selenium
8 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
8 2 (0.26%) ScriptRunner
9 1 (0.13%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
General
1 187 (24.67%) Social Skills
2 129 (17.02%) Finance
3 86 (11.35%) Public Sector
4 82 (10.82%) Analytical Skills
5 68 (8.97%) Telecoms
6 63 (8.31%) Banking
7 36 (4.75%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (4.75%) Manufacturing
8 27 (3.56%) Marketing
9 25 (3.30%) Electronics
10 22 (2.90%) Presentation Skills
11 19 (2.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 16 (2.11%) Organisational Skills
13 13 (1.72%) Retail
14 11 (1.45%) Influencing Skills
15 7 (0.92%) Front Office
15 7 (0.92%) Investment Banking
15 7 (0.92%) Law
15 7 (0.92%) Local Government
16 6 (0.79%) Legal
Job Titles
1 123 (16.23%) Architect
2 118 (15.57%) Network Engineer
3 67 (8.84%) Analyst
4 65 (8.58%) Project Manager
5 52 (6.86%) Senior
6 46 (6.07%) Network Architect
7 38 (5.01%) Data Centre Manager
8 36 (4.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 32 (4.22%) Consultant
9 32 (4.22%) IT Support
9 32 (4.22%) Security Engineer
10 31 (4.09%) Solutions Architect
11 29 (3.83%) Data Centre Engineer
12 27 (3.56%) Infrastructure Manager
12 27 (3.56%) Support Engineer
13 25 (3.30%) Desktop Support
13 25 (3.30%) Lead
14 23 (3.03%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
14 23 (3.03%) 2nd Line Support
14 23 (3.03%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.03%) 802.1X
2 19 (2.51%) Middleware
3 12 (1.58%) RFC 2544
4 5 (0.66%) Spark Streaming
5 4 (0.53%) Jinja
5 4 (0.53%) LDAP
5 4 (0.53%) VML
6 3 (0.40%) REST
7 2 (0.26%) .NET
7 2 (0.26%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.26%) eBPF
7 2 (0.26%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.26%) Java SE
7 2 (0.26%) ModSecurity
7 2 (0.26%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.26%) OpenConfig
7 2 (0.26%) OpenLayers
7 2 (0.26%) RESTCONF
7 2 (0.26%) Spring
7 2 (0.26%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 45 (5.94%) Hybrid Cloud
2 32 (4.22%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.17%) Public Cloud
4 19 (2.51%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (2.37%) Driving Licence
5 18 (2.37%) Replication
6 17 (2.24%) Onboarding
7 16 (2.11%) Fibre Optics
8 15 (1.98%) Mainframe
8 15 (1.98%) Private Cloud
9 13 (1.72%) SCADA
10 12 (1.58%) PKI
11 11 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
11 11 (1.45%) Data Protection Act
12 9 (1.19%) CMDB
12 9 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
13 8 (1.06%) Clustering
13 8 (1.06%) Management Information System
13 8 (1.06%) Product Ownership
14 7 (0.92%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 95 (12.53%) Windows
2 71 (9.37%) Linux
3 42 (5.54%) Mac OS
4 41 (5.41%) Android
4 41 (5.41%) Windows Server
5 18 (2.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 15 (1.98%) Unix
7 7 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (0.79%) CentOS
8 6 (0.79%) Windows 10
9 5 (0.66%) VMS
10 4 (0.53%) Solaris
10 4 (0.53%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2008
10 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.26%) AIX
11 2 (0.26%) zOS
12 1 (0.13%) Apple iOS
12 1 (0.13%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.13%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (17.41%) Migration
2 111 (14.64%) Problem-Solving
3 86 (11.35%) Stakeholder Management
4 66 (8.71%) ITIL
5 63 (8.31%) Agile
6 56 (7.39%) Infrastructure as Code
7 53 (6.99%) Project Delivery
8 51 (6.73%) Project Management
9 49 (6.46%) CI/CD
10 48 (6.33%) Service Management
11 47 (6.20%) Change Management
11 47 (6.20%) DevOps
11 47 (6.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 46 (6.07%) Network Design
13 45 (5.94%) Customer Service
13 45 (5.94%) Load Balancing
14 44 (5.80%) Roadmaps
15 42 (5.54%) Business Intelligence
15 42 (5.54%) Data Centre Operations
16 41 (5.41%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 78 (10.29%) Python
2 48 (6.33%) PowerShell
3 37 (4.88%) SQL
4 21 (2.77%) Java
5 20 (2.64%) Bash
6 10 (1.32%) Perl
7 8 (1.06%) Lisp
8 6 (0.79%) Go
8 6 (0.79%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.53%) C
10 3 (0.40%) Bicep
10 3 (0.40%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.40%) VBA
11 2 (0.26%) C#
11 2 (0.26%) C++
11 2 (0.26%) Ruby
12 1 (0.13%) COBOL
12 1 (0.13%) JCL
12 1 (0.13%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 237 (31.27%) Security Cleared
2 197 (25.99%) SC Cleared
3 103 (13.59%) Cisco Certification
4 78 (10.29%) CCNP
5 58 (7.65%) Degree
6 45 (5.94%) DV Cleared
7 33 (4.35%) CCNA
8 28 (3.69%) CCIE
9 21 (2.77%) AWS Certification
10 14 (1.85%) CISSP
10 14 (1.85%) JNCIE
11 11 (1.45%) PMP
12 10 (1.32%) PMI Certification
12 10 (1.32%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 9 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
14 8 (1.06%) Azure Certification
14 8 (1.06%) BPSS Clearance
14 8 (1.06%) Network+ Certification
15 7 (0.92%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.77%) NIST
2 20 (2.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.37%) PCI DSS
4 17 (2.24%) PMO
4 17 (2.24%) SLA
5 14 (1.85%) QA
6 13 (1.72%) GDPR
7 11 (1.45%) Data Quality
8 6 (0.79%) NCSC
9 4 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.26%) ISO 22301
10 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (0.26%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.13%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.13%) GRC
11 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 78 (10.29%) VMware Infrastructure
2 54 (7.12%) Active Directory
3 45 (5.94%) VMware NSX
4 28 (3.69%) Docker
5 18 (2.37%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (2.11%) Hyper-V
6 16 (2.11%) vSphere
7 8 (1.06%) Firmware
8 7 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.66%) HDFS
9 5 (0.66%) KVM
10 3 (0.40%) Lustre
11 2 (0.26%) Ceph
11 2 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
11 2 (0.26%) NFS
11 2 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.26%) SRDF
11 2 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.26%) Xen
12 1 (0.13%) Samba
Systems Management
1 79 (10.42%) Ansible
2 74 (9.76%) Terraform
3 33 (4.35%) FortiGate
4 25 (3.30%) Kubernetes
5 24 (3.17%) SCCM
6 16 (2.11%) Grafana
7 12 (1.58%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (1.32%) SCOM
8 10 (1.32%) vCenter Server
9 9 (1.19%) Puppet
10 8 (1.06%) Prometheus
11 7 (0.92%) CASB
11 7 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
12 6 (0.79%) SCOrch
13 5 (0.66%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 5 (0.66%) Control-M
13 5 (0.66%) Hadoop YARN
14 3 (0.40%) Nagios
14 3 (0.40%) OPNET
14 3 (0.40%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 251 (33.11%) Cisco
2 97 (12.80%) VMware
3 92 (12.14%) Microsoft
4 83 (10.95%) Palo Alto
5 68 (8.97%) Dell
6 56 (7.39%) F5
6 56 (7.39%) Juniper
7 49 (6.46%) HP
8 41 (5.41%) Apple
9 38 (5.01%) SAP
10 37 (4.88%) CheckPoint
10 37 (4.88%) ServiceNow
11 33 (4.35%) Fortinet
11 33 (4.35%) Meraki
11 33 (4.35%) Oracle
12 26 (3.43%) Aruba
13 19 (2.51%) Arista
14 18 (2.37%) Citrix
15 14 (1.85%) NetApp
15 14 (1.85%) Remedy