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 26 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 135 101
Rank change year-on-year +8 -34 -1
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 881 631 974
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.13% 2.06% 2.22%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.34% 6.17% 7.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 556 384 639
10th Percentile £278 £350 £295
25th Percentile £400 £419 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £509 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.09% -3.10% -4.55%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £638
90th Percentile £675 £684 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -6.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 24 43
10th Percentile £20.89 £21.54 £17.10
25th Percentile £25.15 - £22.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £24.18 £25.12
Median % change year-on-year +8.09% -3.72% +11.62%
75th Percentile £72.34 £28.88 £41.25
90th Percentile £74.26 £41.25 £71.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £71.33 £24.18 £24.00
% change year-on-year +195.00% +0.75% +10.75%

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 13,900 10,219 13,319
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.54% 33.30% 30.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,774 6,217 8,569
10th Percentile £280 £275 £256
25th Percentile £406 £408 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £496 £500
% change year-on-year -4.26% -0.77% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 653 324 818
10th Percentile £15.50 £18.51 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £23.30 £16.25
Median hourly rate £31.65 £32.91 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% +9.10% +34.13%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £77.45 £82.43 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.50 £32.50 £32.12
% change year-on-year -6.15% +1.20% +45.98%

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 26 February 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 26 February 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 26 February 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 -13 725 £481 -7.57% 372
UK excluding London +2 505 £470 -6.00% 263
London -20 256 £515 -0.96% 150
Work from Home +29 248 £475 -11.21% 114
North of England +8 175 £474 -5.20% 58
South East +3 130 £445 -1.11% 110
North West +17 102 £515 +3.00% 33
Midlands -23 73 £465 -21.19% 34
Yorkshire -33 59 £438 +4.29% 23
West Midlands -26 58 £474 -19.66% 23
Scotland +29 55 £456 +1.39% 17
South West -38 34 £550 -1.79% 26
East of England -11 30 £478 +13.14% 24
Wales +2 22 £350 -12.50% 4
North East 0 17 £175 - 2
East Midlands -21 15 £158 -70.70% 11
Northern Ireland - 3 £425 - 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 28 (3.18%) SharePoint
2 18 (2.04%) Confluence
2 18 (2.04%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.79%) CICS
4 6 (0.68%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.45%) nginx
5 4 (0.45%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.34%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.34%) GeoServer
6 3 (0.34%) HCL Notes
6 3 (0.34%) Smallworld
7 2 (0.23%) Oracle Coherence
7 2 (0.23%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.11%) Apache
8 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.11%) Mendix
Applications
1 51 (5.79%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (2.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (2.95%) MS Visio
3 22 (2.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (1.59%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.34%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.45%) Oracle Financials
1 4 (0.45%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.23%) DELMIA
3 2 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
4 1 (0.11%) Epicor iScala
4 1 (0.11%) Maximo
4 1 (0.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.11%) Primavera
4 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 160 (18.16%) Azure
2 124 (14.07%) AWS
3 65 (7.38%) Microsoft 365
4 53 (6.02%) GCP
5 20 (2.27%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 19 (2.16%) SaaS
7 17 (1.93%) IaaS
7 17 (1.93%) Power Platform
8 15 (1.70%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 15 (1.70%) Entra ID
9 14 (1.59%) PaaS
10 13 (1.48%) OpenShift
11 12 (1.36%) GitHub
12 11 (1.25%) Amazon GuardDuty
12 11 (1.25%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (1.25%) AWS Direct Connect
12 11 (1.25%) Azure DevOps
13 10 (1.14%) Nutanix
14 9 (1.02%) Amazon S3
15 7 (0.79%) AWS CloudTrail
Communications & Networking
1 260 (29.51%) Firewall
2 157 (17.82%) WAN
3 118 (13.39%) BGP
4 98 (11.12%) LAN
5 90 (10.22%) Network Security
6 87 (9.88%) VPN
7 85 (9.65%) OSPF
8 82 (9.31%) Wireless
9 65 (7.38%) DNS
10 57 (6.47%) VLAN
11 56 (6.36%) Structured Cabling
12 52 (5.90%) SAN
13 50 (5.68%) VXLAN
14 49 (5.56%) DHCP
15 46 (5.22%) Wi-Fi
16 41 (4.65%) Cisco ISE
17 39 (4.43%) SD-WAN
18 35 (3.97%) Cisco Nexus
19 34 (3.86%) IPsec
20 33 (3.75%) Ethernet VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.70%) Power BI
2 11 (1.25%) Relational Database
3 8 (0.91%) SQL Server
4 7 (0.79%) DataStage
5 5 (0.57%) GIS
5 5 (0.57%) RDBMS
6 4 (0.45%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.45%) Power Query
6 4 (0.45%) PowerPivot
7 3 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
7 3 (0.34%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.34%) QGIS
8 2 (0.23%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.23%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.23%) Oracle Database
9 1 (0.11%) HBase
9 1 (0.11%) Redis
9 1 (0.11%) SAP Data Services
9 1 (0.11%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (3.18%) Git
2 24 (2.72%) JIRA
3 20 (2.27%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.82%) GitLab
5 10 (1.14%) Maven
6 6 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
7 4 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 3 (0.34%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.34%) Eclipse
8 3 (0.34%) JMeter
8 3 (0.34%) ScriptRunner
8 3 (0.34%) Subversion
9 2 (0.23%) Rational DOORS
10 1 (0.11%) AppScan
10 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.11%) Metasploit
General
1 227 (25.77%) Social Skills
2 147 (16.69%) Finance
3 99 (11.24%) Analytical Skills
4 98 (11.12%) Public Sector
5 59 (6.70%) Documentation Skills
6 53 (6.02%) Telecoms
7 45 (5.11%) Banking
8 43 (4.88%) Manufacturing
9 31 (3.52%) Marketing
10 24 (2.72%) Electronics
11 23 (2.61%) Legal
12 21 (2.38%) Presentation Skills
13 20 (2.27%) Influencing Skills
14 18 (2.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 13 (1.48%) Retail
16 12 (1.36%) Investment Banking
16 12 (1.36%) Organisational Skills
17 9 (1.02%) Military
18 8 (0.91%) Law
19 6 (0.68%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 156 (17.71%) Network Engineer
2 136 (15.44%) Architect
3 78 (8.85%) Project Manager
4 69 (7.83%) Senior
5 67 (7.60%) Analyst
6 47 (5.33%) Data Centre Engineer
7 46 (5.22%) Network Architect
8 44 (4.99%) Solutions Architect
9 41 (4.65%) Lead
10 38 (4.31%) Data Centre Manager
11 36 (4.09%) IT Support
11 36 (4.09%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 32 (3.63%) Infrastructure Manager
13 30 (3.41%) Consultant
14 27 (3.06%) Cisco Engineer
14 27 (3.06%) Support Engineer
15 26 (2.95%) Security Engineer
16 25 (2.84%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 25 (2.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 25 (2.84%) Infrastructure Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.29%) 802.1X
2 26 (2.95%) Middleware
3 9 (1.02%) LDAP
4 6 (0.68%) RFC 2544
4 6 (0.68%) Spring
5 4 (0.45%) ADO
5 4 (0.45%) ARM Templates
5 4 (0.45%) Spring Boot
5 4 (0.45%) VML
6 3 (0.34%) NETCONF
6 3 (0.34%) OpenConfig
6 3 (0.34%) REST
6 3 (0.34%) RESTCONF
6 3 (0.34%) XML
6 3 (0.34%) YANG
6 3 (0.34%) Yocto
7 2 (0.23%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.23%) Java EE
7 2 (0.23%) Kafka
7 2 (0.23%) OpenLayers
Miscellaneous
1 45 (5.11%) Hybrid Cloud
2 25 (2.84%) Analytical Mindset
3 23 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
4 20 (2.27%) Driving Licence
4 20 (2.27%) Public Cloud
5 19 (2.16%) Cloud Native
5 19 (2.16%) PKI
6 18 (2.04%) Onboarding
7 17 (1.93%) CMDB
8 16 (1.82%) Management Information System
9 15 (1.70%) Clustering
10 14 (1.59%) Replication
11 13 (1.48%) Fibre Optics
11 13 (1.48%) NHS
12 12 (1.36%) Data Protection Act
12 12 (1.36%) SCADA
13 11 (1.25%) Mainframe
14 10 (1.14%) Private Cloud
15 8 (0.91%) Virtual Team
16 7 (0.79%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 114 (12.94%) Windows
2 108 (12.26%) Linux
3 40 (4.54%) Windows Server
4 35 (3.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 32 (3.63%) Android
5 32 (3.63%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.93%) Unix
7 11 (1.25%) CentOS
8 9 (1.02%) Solaris
9 8 (0.91%) AIX
10 7 (0.79%) VMS
10 7 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
11 5 (0.57%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.34%) Embedded Linux
12 3 (0.34%) Windows 10
13 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.11%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 152 (17.25%) Migration
2 146 (16.57%) Problem-Solving
3 104 (11.80%) Stakeholder Management
4 73 (8.29%) ITIL
5 71 (8.06%) Project Management
6 67 (7.60%) Agile
7 62 (7.04%) Project Delivery
8 61 (6.92%) Infrastructure as Code
9 60 (6.81%) High Availability
10 59 (6.70%) CI/CD
10 59 (6.70%) Continuous Improvement
10 59 (6.70%) Roadmaps
11 53 (6.02%) Load Balancing
12 52 (5.90%) Change Management
13 49 (5.56%) DevOps
13 49 (5.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 45 (5.11%) Customer Service
15 44 (4.99%) Change Control
15 44 (4.99%) ITSM
16 43 (4.88%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 77 (8.74%) Python
2 55 (6.24%) PowerShell
3 35 (3.97%) SQL
4 28 (3.18%) Bash
5 21 (2.38%) Java
6 16 (1.82%) Perl
7 13 (1.48%) Shell Script
8 9 (1.02%) Lisp
9 7 (0.79%) Bicep
9 7 (0.79%) COBOL
9 7 (0.79%) MATLAB
10 5 (0.57%) VBA
11 4 (0.45%) C++
11 4 (0.45%) JavaScript
12 3 (0.34%) C
12 3 (0.34%) Korn
12 3 (0.34%) PL/SQL
13 2 (0.23%) Go
13 2 (0.23%) Ruby
14 1 (0.11%) JCL
Qualifications
1 296 (33.60%) Security Cleared
2 234 (26.56%) SC Cleared
3 162 (18.39%) Cisco Certification
4 122 (13.85%) CCNP
5 65 (7.38%) CCNA
6 64 (7.26%) Degree
7 57 (6.47%) DV Cleared
8 26 (2.95%) CCIE
9 24 (2.72%) Network+ Certification
10 23 (2.61%) PMP
11 22 (2.50%) PMI Certification
12 21 (2.38%) AWS Certification
13 19 (2.16%) Microsoft Certification
14 18 (2.04%) A+ Certification
14 18 (2.04%) MCSE
15 15 (1.70%) JNCIS
16 12 (1.36%) Azure Certification
16 12 (1.36%) CISSP
16 12 (1.36%) JNCIP
17 10 (1.14%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (3.29%) PMO
2 21 (2.38%) NIST
3 20 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 20 (2.27%) SLA
4 18 (2.04%) PCI DSS
5 15 (1.70%) GDPR
6 14 (1.59%) QA
7 9 (1.02%) NCSC
8 8 (0.91%) Data Quality
9 5 (0.57%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
10 4 (0.45%) Disclosure Scotland
10 4 (0.45%) GRC
11 3 (0.34%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.23%) ISO 22301
12 2 (0.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.23%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.11%) COBIT
13 1 (0.11%) RMADS
System Software
1 75 (8.51%) VMware Infrastructure
2 58 (6.58%) Active Directory
3 47 (5.33%) VMware NSX
4 24 (2.72%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (2.16%) vSphere
6 17 (1.93%) Hyper-V
7 16 (1.82%) Docker
8 13 (1.48%) Firmware
9 10 (1.14%) KVM
9 10 (1.14%) VMware ESXi
10 3 (0.34%) SRDF
11 2 (0.23%) Ceph
11 2 (0.23%) Lustre
11 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.23%) vCloud
11 2 (0.23%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.11%) HDFS
12 1 (0.11%) RHEV
12 1 (0.11%) UAG
12 1 (0.11%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 85 (9.65%) Ansible
2 76 (8.63%) Terraform
3 51 (5.79%) FortiGate
4 29 (3.29%) Kubernetes
5 24 (2.72%) Grafana
6 21 (2.38%) SCCM
7 13 (1.48%) Prometheus
8 11 (1.25%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (0.91%) Check_MK
10 7 (0.79%) CASB
10 7 (0.79%) Podman
10 7 (0.79%) Red Hat Satellite
10 7 (0.79%) SCOM
10 7 (0.79%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.68%) PowerCLI
11 6 (0.68%) SCOrch
12 5 (0.57%) Puppet
12 5 (0.57%) vMotion
13 4 (0.45%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 4 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 281 (31.90%) Cisco
2 118 (13.39%) Palo Alto
3 108 (12.26%) VMware
4 87 (9.88%) Microsoft
5 83 (9.42%) Dell
6 78 (8.85%) Juniper
7 64 (7.26%) F5
8 52 (5.90%) ServiceNow
9 46 (5.22%) CheckPoint
10 45 (5.11%) HP
11 43 (4.88%) Aruba
12 37 (4.20%) Meraki
13 36 (4.09%) Fortinet
14 32 (3.63%) Apple
15 31 (3.52%) Oracle
16 28 (3.18%) SAP
17 27 (3.06%) SolarWinds
18 26 (2.95%) Arista
19 25 (2.84%) Red Hat
20 23 (2.61%) Citrix