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

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 101 123 103
Rank change year-on-year +22 -20 -15
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 1,207 665 947
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.37% 2.21% 2.17%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 7.24% 6.39% 7.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 714 431 626
10th Percentile £318 £300 £303
25th Percentile £406 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -6.54% -2.73%
75th Percentile £608 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £688 £701
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £538
% change year-on-year - -11.63% +7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 22 55
10th Percentile £16.00 - £12.08
25th Percentile £16.01 £24.66 £16.25
Median hourly rate £21.00 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -16.50% +5.67% +13.43%
75th Percentile £35.22 £40.94 £40.00
90th Percentile £73.53 £43.75 £41.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.34 £24.87 £20.00
% change year-on-year -22.23% +24.34% -3.40%

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 16,681 10,414 13,091
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.78% 34.58% 30.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,228 6,516 8,302
10th Percentile £313 £300 £276
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £663
90th Percentile £750 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 861 464 940
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.84 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £19.97 £15.39
Median hourly rate £42.50 £32.05 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.61% -10.97% +60.11%
75th Percentile £70.00 £58.75 £62.00
90th Percentile £86.00 £80.70 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £31.63 £35.65
% change year-on-year +39.00% -11.29% +62.05%

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 June 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 25 June 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 25 June 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 +16 992 £500 -3.85% 267
UK excluding London +3 685 £475 - 212
London +13 357 £550 +2.37% 107
Work from Home +27 325 £486 -3.71% 82
North of England +11 242 £474 +5.33% 37
South East +3 210 £475 +5.56% 78
Yorkshire -4 128 £365 -16.57% 18
North West +7 90 £500 -3.15% 15
Midlands -50 59 £467 -13.15% 27
Scotland +3 57 £469 +7.20% 8
West Midlands -43 54 £474 -11.81% 19
South West -43 49 £495 -10.00% 27
East of England -10 40 £492 +64.00% 24
Wales +7 39 £468 +16.88% 15
North East -6 30 £625 +468.18% 4
East Midlands -23 4 £363 -29.70% 8
Northern Ireland - 2 £425 - 2
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

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 26 (2.15%) Confluence
2 18 (1.49%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.91%) CICS
3 11 (0.91%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.33%) Apache
4 4 (0.33%) CloudStack
4 4 (0.33%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.33%) WebLogic
5 3 (0.25%) nginx
5 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.083%) IIS
6 1 (0.083%) Mendix
Applications
1 15 (1.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 12 (0.99%) Microsoft Project
3 10 (0.83%) Microsoft Office
4 9 (0.75%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.41%) AutoCAD
6 3 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.17%) EPLAN
Business Applications
1 3 (0.25%) Primavera
1 3 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.17%) DELMIA
2 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 2 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 257 (21.29%) Azure
2 223 (18.48%) AWS
3 76 (6.30%) GCP
4 41 (3.40%) GitHub
5 40 (3.31%) IaaS
6 39 (3.23%) Microsoft 365
7 34 (2.82%) SaaS
8 30 (2.49%) OCI
9 25 (2.07%) Entra ID
10 21 (1.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 20 (1.66%) PaaS
12 17 (1.41%) Azure DevOps
13 15 (1.24%) OneDrive
13 15 (1.24%) OpenShift
14 13 (1.08%) Power Platform
15 11 (0.91%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 11 (0.91%) Azure Sentinel
15 11 (0.91%) Nutanix
16 9 (0.75%) Amazon EKS
17 8 (0.66%) Amazon GuardDuty
Communications & Networking
1 334 (27.67%) Firewall
2 202 (16.74%) WAN
3 191 (15.82%) BGP
4 148 (12.26%) OSPF
5 128 (10.60%) VPN
6 124 (10.27%) VXLAN
7 121 (10.02%) LAN
7 121 (10.02%) SAN
8 114 (9.44%) DNS
9 113 (9.36%) Network Security
10 99 (8.20%) VLAN
11 94 (7.79%) Structured Cabling
12 89 (7.37%) SD-WAN
13 86 (7.13%) Ethernet VPN
14 80 (6.63%) DHCP
15 61 (5.05%) BIG-IP
16 56 (4.64%) TCP/IP
17 54 (4.47%) Cisco Nexus
18 49 (4.06%) Wi-Fi
19 48 (3.98%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (1.16%) SQL Server
2 10 (0.83%) DataStage
3 8 (0.66%) Power BI
4 7 (0.58%) Big Data
5 6 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.33%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.33%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.33%) Geospatial Data
6 4 (0.33%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
6 4 (0.33%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.33%) SAP Data Services
7 3 (0.25%) GIS
7 3 (0.25%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.17%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.17%) Oracle Database 12c
8 2 (0.17%) Power Query
8 2 (0.17%) PowerPivot
Development Applications
1 67 (5.55%) JIRA
2 38 (3.15%) GitLab
2 38 (3.15%) Jenkins
3 31 (2.57%) Git
4 8 (0.66%) Sonatype Nexus
5 5 (0.41%) JMeter
6 4 (0.33%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.33%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.33%) Maven
6 4 (0.33%) ScriptRunner
6 4 (0.33%) Subversion
7 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.17%) MSI
9 1 (0.083%) AppScan
9 1 (0.083%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.083%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.083%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.083%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.083%) Metasploit
9 1 (0.083%) Postman
General
1 303 (25.10%) Social Skills
2 164 (13.59%) Finance
3 132 (10.94%) Analytical Skills
4 81 (6.71%) Public Sector
5 66 (5.47%) Documentation Skills
6 50 (4.14%) Banking
7 40 (3.31%) Telecoms
8 38 (3.15%) Legal
9 25 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
10 24 (1.99%) Manufacturing
11 21 (1.74%) Retail
12 17 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 11 (0.91%) Military
13 11 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
14 9 (0.75%) Financial Institution
14 9 (0.75%) Law
15 8 (0.66%) Aerospace
15 8 (0.66%) Marketing
15 8 (0.66%) Presentation Skills
16 5 (0.41%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 202 (16.74%) Network Engineer
2 196 (16.24%) Architect
3 137 (11.35%) Senior
4 98 (8.12%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 97 (8.04%) Data Centre Engineer
6 71 (5.88%) Project Manager
7 64 (5.30%) Lead
8 56 (4.64%) IT Engineer
8 56 (4.64%) Network Architect
9 53 (4.39%) Field Engineer
10 49 (4.06%) Field Service Engineer
11 45 (3.73%) Solutions Architect
12 41 (3.40%) Technical Architect
13 39 (3.23%) Infrastructure Manager
14 37 (3.07%) Analyst
14 37 (3.07%) Data Centre Manager
15 35 (2.90%) Support Engineer
16 34 (2.82%) Senior Network Engineer
17 32 (2.65%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
18 31 (2.57%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.47%) Middleware
2 32 (2.65%) 802.1X
3 12 (0.99%) LDAP
4 10 (0.83%) Redfish
4 10 (0.83%) REST
5 7 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
5 7 (0.58%) Spring
6 5 (0.41%) Jinja
6 5 (0.41%) Kafka
6 5 (0.41%) XML
7 4 (0.33%) ADO
7 4 (0.33%) GeoJSON
7 4 (0.33%) NETCONF
7 4 (0.33%) RESTful
7 4 (0.33%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.33%) YAML
8 3 (0.25%) .NET Framework
8 3 (0.25%) Java EE
8 3 (0.25%) JSON
8 3 (0.25%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 72 (5.97%) Hybrid Cloud
2 56 (4.64%) Analytical Mindset
3 40 (3.31%) Management Information System
4 37 (3.07%) Cloud Native
5 32 (2.65%) Enterprise Storage
6 31 (2.57%) Clustering
7 30 (2.49%) Onboarding
7 30 (2.49%) PKI
8 28 (2.32%) Private Cloud
9 26 (2.15%) Fibre Optics
10 21 (1.74%) CMDB
11 20 (1.66%) Driving Licence
12 19 (1.57%) Public Cloud
12 19 (1.57%) Replication
13 18 (1.49%) Data Protection Act
14 16 (1.33%) SCADA
15 14 (1.16%) NHS
15 14 (1.16%) Operational Technology
16 13 (1.08%) Mainframe
16 13 (1.08%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 163 (13.50%) Windows
2 148 (12.26%) Linux
3 41 (3.40%) Windows Server
4 37 (3.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 28 (2.32%) Unix
6 23 (1.91%) AIX
7 18 (1.49%) Solaris
8 11 (0.91%) CentOS
9 10 (0.83%) Apple iOS
9 10 (0.83%) Mac OS
10 7 (0.58%) Ubuntu
10 7 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
11 6 (0.50%) VMS
12 5 (0.41%) HPUX
12 5 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
12 5 (0.41%) SUSE
13 4 (0.33%) Data ONTAP
14 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.17%) Embedded Linux
15 2 (0.17%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (17.40%) Migration
2 204 (16.90%) Problem-Solving
3 128 (10.60%) Stakeholder Management
4 126 (10.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 115 (9.53%) High Availability
5 115 (9.53%) Infrastructure as Code
6 112 (9.28%) ITIL
7 106 (8.78%) CI/CD
8 98 (8.12%) Roadmaps
9 93 (7.71%) Continuous Improvement
10 90 (7.46%) Agile
11 86 (7.13%) Validation
12 85 (7.04%) Load Balancing
13 84 (6.96%) DevOps
14 79 (6.55%) Change Management
15 76 (6.30%) Project Delivery
16 71 (5.88%) Project Management
16 71 (5.88%) Zero Trust
17 68 (5.63%) Customer Service
17 68 (5.63%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 152 (12.59%) Python
2 42 (3.48%) PowerShell
3 37 (3.07%) SQL
4 26 (2.15%) Bash
5 19 (1.57%) Java
6 17 (1.41%) Shell Script
7 16 (1.33%) Bicep
8 12 (0.99%) COBOL
9 11 (0.91%) MATLAB
10 10 (0.83%) ActionScript
10 10 (0.83%) Perl
11 7 (0.58%) JavaScript
11 7 (0.58%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.33%) C
12 4 (0.33%) C++
12 4 (0.33%) Lisp
13 3 (0.25%) JCL
13 3 (0.25%) Korn
13 3 (0.25%) TypeScript
13 3 (0.25%) VBA
Qualifications
1 318 (26.35%) Security Cleared
2 233 (19.30%) Cisco Certification
3 229 (18.97%) SC Cleared
4 139 (11.52%) CCNP
5 102 (8.45%) CCNA
6 80 (6.63%) DV Cleared
7 74 (6.13%) Degree
8 64 (5.30%) Network+ Certification
9 54 (4.47%) Microsoft Certification
10 47 (3.89%) A+ Certification
10 47 (3.89%) MCSE
11 30 (2.49%) Azure Certification
12 27 (2.24%) CCIE
13 26 (2.15%) PMI Certification
13 26 (2.15%) PMP
14 25 (2.07%) AWS Certification
14 25 (2.07%) City & Guilds
15 21 (1.74%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 20 (1.66%) BICSI Certification
17 18 (1.49%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (2.82%) SLA
2 27 (2.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 26 (2.15%) NIST
3 26 (2.15%) QA
4 22 (1.82%) PMO
5 19 (1.57%) GDPR
6 17 (1.41%) NCSC
7 10 (0.83%) GRC
8 9 (0.75%) Disclosure Scotland
8 9 (0.75%) PCI DSS
9 7 (0.58%) RMADS
10 6 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.33%) JSP 440
12 3 (0.25%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.17%) Accessibility
13 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.17%) Data Quality
13 2 (0.17%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 2 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 107 (8.86%) VMware Infrastructure
2 67 (5.55%) Active Directory
3 36 (2.98%) VMware ESXi
4 35 (2.90%) VMware NSX
5 34 (2.82%) vSphere
6 30 (2.49%) Firmware
7 27 (2.24%) Hyper-V
8 23 (1.91%) Virtual Machines
9 16 (1.33%) Docker
10 11 (0.91%) KVM
11 8 (0.66%) NFS
12 6 (0.50%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.50%) SRDF
12 6 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
13 4 (0.33%) BitLocker
13 4 (0.33%) Terminal Services
13 4 (0.33%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.25%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 3 (0.25%) PowerHA
14 3 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 140 (11.60%) Ansible
2 111 (9.20%) Terraform
3 55 (4.56%) FortiGate
4 49 (4.06%) Kubernetes
5 34 (2.82%) Grafana
6 29 (2.40%) Prometheus
7 28 (2.32%) Microsoft Intune
8 15 (1.24%) vCenter Server
9 13 (1.08%) Check_MK
9 13 (1.08%) NetBackup
10 11 (0.91%) Podman
10 11 (0.91%) PowerCLI
10 11 (0.91%) Red Hat Satellite
10 11 (0.91%) vMotion
11 10 (0.83%) Dell DRAC
11 10 (0.83%) Jamf Pro
12 9 (0.75%) SCCM
13 7 (0.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 7 (0.58%) EMC NetWorker
13 7 (0.58%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 303 (25.10%) Cisco
2 165 (13.67%) VMware
3 145 (12.01%) Palo Alto
4 119 (9.86%) Microsoft
5 115 (9.53%) F5
6 92 (7.62%) Juniper
7 89 (7.37%) Dell
8 74 (6.13%) Arista
9 68 (5.63%) Fortinet
10 59 (4.89%) ServiceNow
11 49 (4.06%) Aruba
12 47 (3.89%) Google
13 43 (3.56%) SolarWinds
14 40 (3.31%) Red Hat
15 36 (2.98%) CheckPoint
15 36 (2.98%) IBM
16 30 (2.49%) Splunk
17 27 (2.24%) Oracle
18 25 (2.07%) Citrix
18 25 (2.07%) HP