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 9 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 120 129 110
Rank change year-on-year +9 -19 -21
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,208 713 797
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.22% 2.18% 2.09%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.54% 6.13% 6.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 729 442 503
10th Percentile £318 £300 £363
25th Percentile £410 £405 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -1.14% -1.87% -1.34%
75th Percentile £650 £613 £619
90th Percentile £750 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £492 £538
% change year-on-year +1.63% -8.47% +6.02%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 41 38
10th Percentile £16.01 £20.25 £11.75
25th Percentile £17.88 £25.04 £12.08
Median hourly rate £28.00 £25.15 £19.38
Median % change year-on-year +11.33% +29.81% -9.88%
75th Percentile £49.38 £31.00 £24.80
90th Percentile £79.50 £43.75 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £25.08 £15.00
% change year-on-year -22.87% +67.17% -20.47%

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 18,457 11,622 11,561
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.88% 35.50% 30.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,122 7,121 7,144
10th Percentile £320 £300 £300
25th Percentile £423 £406 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -6.36% -
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £749 £763 £820
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,127 575 499
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.13 £14.06
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.87 £21.25
Median hourly rate £38.25 £30.00 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year +27.50% -39.39% +12.70%
75th Percentile £67.89 £56.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.40 £30.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year +41.33% -47.69% +25.00%

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 9 September 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 9 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Centre in the UK

Data Centre
Top 18 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 9 September 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 +10 1,010 £525 - 1,481
UK excluding London -17 628 £500 +1.63% 613
London +18 427 £550 - 972
Work from Home -5 282 £525 +0.96% 430
North of England 0 215 £500 +6.33% 131
South East -12 176 £540 +9.64% 171
Yorkshire +4 127 £475 +5.56% 45
North West -17 72 £503 -6.42% 57
South West -26 66 £600 +4.35% 85
Midlands -68 53 £438 -12.50% 58
Scotland -18 51 £375 -11.24% 53
West Midlands -60 42 £474 -5.20% 39
Wales +5 39 £468 +55.83% 20
East of England -13 35 £479 -20.21% 94
North East -25 22 £625 - 30
East Midlands -20 10 £413 -23.61% 19
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 12
Channel Islands - 1 £575 - 2

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 (2.48%) Confluence
2 19 (1.57%) SharePoint
3 16 (1.32%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.58%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.41%) Apache
5 5 (0.41%) CloudStack
6 3 (0.25%) CICS
6 3 (0.25%) IIS
7 1 (0.083%) nginx
7 1 (0.083%) SAS
7 1 (0.083%) Tomcat
Applications
1 26 (2.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (1.57%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.58%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.41%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
8 1 (0.083%) Navisworks
8 1 (0.083%) Revit
Business Applications
1 13 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.17%) OpenText MBPM
2 2 (0.17%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.083%) Cloudability
3 1 (0.083%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 254 (21.03%) Azure
2 220 (18.21%) AWS
3 58 (4.80%) GCP
4 51 (4.22%) GitHub
5 44 (3.64%) Microsoft 365
6 40 (3.31%) IaaS
7 37 (3.06%) SaaS
8 31 (2.57%) Entra ID
9 29 (2.40%) OCI
10 18 (1.49%) Power Platform
11 16 (1.32%) PaaS
12 15 (1.24%) OneDrive
13 14 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
13 14 (1.16%) OpenShift
14 13 (1.08%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 11 (0.91%) Nutanix
16 10 (0.83%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 8 (0.66%) Azure Sentinel
18 7 (0.58%) GitHub Actions
19 6 (0.50%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 298 (24.67%) Firewall
2 191 (15.81%) WAN
3 178 (14.74%) BGP
4 127 (10.51%) DNS
4 127 (10.51%) VPN
5 120 (9.93%) VXLAN
6 115 (9.52%) OSPF
7 114 (9.44%) LAN
7 114 (9.44%) Network Security
8 110 (9.11%) VLAN
9 105 (8.69%) SAN
10 89 (7.37%) DHCP
11 84 (6.95%) SD-WAN
12 83 (6.87%) Ethernet VPN
12 83 (6.87%) TCP/IP
13 77 (6.37%) Structured Cabling
14 65 (5.38%) Wireless
15 60 (4.97%) Wi-Fi
16 55 (4.55%) Cisco Nexus
17 51 (4.22%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (2.90%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.24%) Power BI
3 11 (0.91%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 10 (0.83%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 10 (0.83%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.58%) Big Data
5 7 (0.58%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.50%) Db2
6 6 (0.50%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (0.33%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.33%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (0.33%) Oracle Database 12c
7 4 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.33%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.25%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.17%) DataStage
9 2 (0.17%) Flink
9 2 (0.17%) Metadata
10 1 (0.083%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 77 (6.37%) JIRA
2 36 (2.98%) GitLab
3 31 (2.57%) Jenkins
4 24 (1.99%) Git
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%) MSI
7 2 (0.17%) Toad
8 1 (0.083%) Claude Code
General
1 293 (24.25%) Social Skills
2 161 (13.33%) Finance
3 112 (9.27%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (4.72%) Banking
5 56 (4.64%) Public Sector
6 55 (4.55%) Telecoms
7 48 (3.97%) Documentation Skills
8 28 (2.32%) Retail
9 27 (2.24%) Legal
10 18 (1.49%) Influencing Skills
10 18 (1.49%) Manufacturing
11 14 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (0.75%) Police
14 7 (0.58%) Financial Institution
14 7 (0.58%) Law
15 6 (0.50%) Marketing
16 5 (0.41%) Investment Banking
17 4 (0.33%) Cyber-Physical System
18 3 (0.25%) Military
Job Titles
1 202 (16.72%) Architect
1 202 (16.72%) Network Engineer
2 160 (13.25%) Senior
3 120 (9.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 88 (7.28%) Data Centre Engineer
5 77 (6.37%) Project Manager
6 66 (5.46%) Network Architect
7 64 (5.30%) Lead
8 54 (4.47%) IT Engineer
9 47 (3.89%) Consultant
10 45 (3.73%) Senior Network Engineer
11 42 (3.48%) Data Centre Manager
12 41 (3.39%) Field Engineer
13 38 (3.15%) Technical Architect
14 36 (2.98%) Infrastructure Manager
15 35 (2.90%) Field Service Engineer
15 35 (2.90%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 35 (2.90%) Solutions Architect
16 32 (2.65%) Support Engineer
17 28 (2.32%) Cabling Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 111 (9.19%) Terraform
2 44 (3.64%) Middleware
3 27 (2.24%) REST
4 18 (1.49%) 802.1X
5 13 (1.08%) YAML
6 12 (0.99%) JSON
7 10 (0.83%) Elastic Stack
8 8 (0.66%) .NET
8 8 (0.66%) LDAP
9 7 (0.58%) NETCONF
10 6 (0.50%) Redfish
10 6 (0.50%) SAML
11 5 (0.41%) Kafka
11 5 (0.41%) OpenConfig
11 5 (0.41%) RESTCONF
11 5 (0.41%) YANG
12 4 (0.33%) GeoJSON
12 4 (0.33%) RESTful
13 3 (0.25%) .NET Framework
13 3 (0.25%) RFC 2544
Miscellaneous
1 77 (6.37%) Hybrid Cloud
2 42 (3.48%) Analytical Mindset
3 36 (2.98%) Private Cloud
4 35 (2.90%) PKI
4 35 (2.90%) Public Cloud
5 33 (2.73%) Cloud Native
6 32 (2.65%) Management Information System
7 30 (2.48%) Fibre Optics
8 29 (2.40%) Clustering
8 29 (2.40%) Replication
9 28 (2.32%) Data Protection Act
9 28 (2.32%) Enterprise Storage
9 28 (2.32%) Onboarding
10 23 (1.90%) Operational Technology
11 18 (1.49%) SCADA
12 17 (1.41%) Driving Licence
13 16 (1.32%) CMDB
13 16 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
14 15 (1.24%) Distributed Systems
15 13 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 189 (15.65%) Windows
2 134 (11.09%) Linux
3 61 (5.05%) Windows Server
4 32 (2.65%) Unix
5 21 (1.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.41%) AIX
7 13 (1.08%) Mac OS
8 10 (0.83%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.83%) Solaris
8 10 (0.83%) VMS
9 8 (0.66%) Windows 10
10 7 (0.58%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.50%) Ubuntu
12 5 (0.41%) HPUX
12 5 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
12 5 (0.41%) SUSE
12 5 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
12 5 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
13 4 (0.33%) CentOS
13 4 (0.33%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 249 (20.61%) Migration
2 189 (15.65%) Problem-Solving
3 152 (12.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 152 (12.58%) Stakeholder Management
4 115 (9.52%) Infrastructure as Code
4 115 (9.52%) ITIL
5 108 (8.94%) High Availability
6 98 (8.11%) CI/CD
7 96 (7.95%) Agile
8 90 (7.45%) Project Delivery
9 89 (7.37%) Roadmaps
10 88 (7.28%) Validation
11 80 (6.62%) Continuous Improvement
12 78 (6.46%) Disaster Recovery
13 76 (6.29%) Technical Leadership
13 76 (6.29%) Zero Trust
14 71 (5.88%) Change Management
15 69 (5.71%) ITSM
15 69 (5.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 68 (5.63%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 158 (13.08%) Python
2 64 (5.30%) PowerShell
3 44 (3.64%) SQL
4 31 (2.57%) Bash
5 13 (1.08%) ActionScript
6 10 (0.83%) Bicep
7 9 (0.75%) Shell Script
8 8 (0.66%) C#
8 8 (0.66%) Perl
9 7 (0.58%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.41%) Java
11 4 (0.33%) COBOL
11 4 (0.33%) Go
11 4 (0.33%) JavaScript
11 4 (0.33%) MATLAB
11 4 (0.33%) T-SQL
12 3 (0.25%) JCL
12 3 (0.25%) Lisp
12 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
13 2 (0.17%) REXX
Qualifications
1 313 (25.91%) Security Cleared
2 214 (17.72%) SC Cleared
3 183 (15.15%) Cisco Certification
4 108 (8.94%) CCNP
5 98 (8.11%) DV Cleared
6 72 (5.96%) CCNA
7 62 (5.13%) Degree
8 44 (3.64%) Network+ Certification
9 42 (3.48%) Microsoft Certification
10 40 (3.31%) A+ Certification
11 34 (2.81%) MCSE
12 31 (2.57%) AWS Certification
13 29 (2.40%) CCIE
14 26 (2.15%) Azure Certification
15 24 (1.99%) CISSP
15 24 (1.99%) City & Guilds
16 23 (1.90%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
17 22 (1.82%) PMP
18 20 (1.66%) BICSI Certification
18 20 (1.66%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (2.98%) QA
2 30 (2.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 29 (2.40%) SLA
4 25 (2.07%) NIST
5 16 (1.32%) PMO
6 15 (1.24%) GDPR
7 11 (0.91%) NCSC
8 9 (0.75%) JSP 440
9 8 (0.66%) GRC
10 6 (0.50%) Disclosure Scotland
10 6 (0.50%) RMADS
11 4 (0.33%) PCI DSS
12 3 (0.25%) Data Quality
12 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.17%) ISO 31000
13 2 (0.17%) ISO 9001
13 2 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 147 (12.17%) VMware Infrastructure
2 96 (7.95%) Active Directory
3 51 (4.22%) vSphere
4 44 (3.64%) VMware NSX
5 39 (3.23%) Hyper-V
5 39 (3.23%) VMware ESXi
6 33 (2.73%) Docker
7 25 (2.07%) Firmware
8 15 (1.24%) Virtual Machines
9 12 (0.99%) NFS
10 6 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
10 6 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
10 6 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.41%) PowerHA
12 4 (0.33%) BitLocker
12 4 (0.33%) Oracle RAC
12 4 (0.33%) SRDF
12 4 (0.33%) Terminal Services
12 4 (0.33%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 3 (0.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
Systems Management
1 144 (11.92%) Ansible
2 57 (4.72%) Kubernetes
3 34 (2.81%) FortiGate
4 26 (2.15%) Prometheus
5 23 (1.90%) Grafana
6 19 (1.57%) Microsoft Intune
7 18 (1.49%) vCenter Server
8 15 (1.24%) SCCM
8 15 (1.24%) VxRail
9 12 (0.99%) Microsoft Clustering
9 12 (0.99%) vMotion
10 11 (0.91%) PowerCLI
10 11 (0.91%) SCOM
11 10 (0.83%) Jamf Pro
11 10 (0.83%) NetBackup
12 9 (0.75%) Dell DRAC
12 9 (0.75%) Tivoli Storage Manager
13 8 (0.66%) Nagios
14 7 (0.58%) Check_MK
15 5 (0.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 299 (24.75%) Cisco
2 202 (16.72%) VMware
3 147 (12.17%) Microsoft
4 128 (10.60%) Palo Alto
5 111 (9.19%) F5
6 74 (6.13%) Dell
7 71 (5.88%) Fortinet
8 69 (5.71%) Arista
8 69 (5.71%) Juniper
9 66 (5.46%) ServiceNow
10 42 (3.48%) Aruba
11 40 (3.31%) CheckPoint
12 35 (2.90%) Red Hat
13 30 (2.48%) Google
14 28 (2.32%) Veeam
15 26 (2.15%) Oracle
16 25 (2.07%) IBM
17 23 (1.90%) SolarWinds
17 23 (1.90%) Zscaler
18 20 (1.66%) Commvault