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

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 136 94
Rank change year-on-year +3 -42 +8
Contract jobs citing Data Centre 821 601 1,024
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.06% 1.94% 2.31%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 6.10% 5.90% 7.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 530 356 675
10th Percentile £277 £350 £300
25th Percentile £400 £425 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £519 £525
Median % change year-on-year -8.19% -1.19% -4.55%
75th Percentile £575 £628 £638
90th Percentile £675 £703 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -6.20% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 23 45
10th Percentile £21.46 £21.44 £17.95
25th Percentile £25.15 - £22.00
Median hourly rate £25.77 £24.18 £25.12
Median % change year-on-year +6.58% -3.72% -56.74%
75th Percentile £68.62 £29.00 £41.25
90th Percentile £74.26 £41.25 £74.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £24.18 £23.50
% change year-on-year +175.02% +2.89% +8.44%

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 13,454 10,195 13,576
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.78% 32.91% 30.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,501 6,098 8,774
10th Percentile £270 £265 £256
25th Percentile £402 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £651 £650
90th Percentile £738 £773 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 652 308 814
10th Percentile £15.22 £19.99 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £24.18 £16.57
Median hourly rate £29.74 £35.13 £32.31
Median % change year-on-year -15.33% +8.72% +43.92%
75th Percentile £63.43 £65.25 £58.74
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.25 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £34.61
% change year-on-year -7.69% -6.08% +60.32%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -5 676 £479 -8.76% 380
UK excluding London +15 470 £469 -6.20% 254
London -27 240 £520 -0.95% 165
Work from Home +39 227 £475 -11.63% 121
North of England +7 164 £474 -2.52% 60
South East -3 109 £445 +1.14% 110
North West +23 95 £500 - 37
Midlands -25 72 £445 -25.83% 26
Scotland +37 57 £456 +2.82% 13
West Midlands -27 57 £474 -21.00% 15
Yorkshire -33 55 £438 +4.29% 13
South West -32 34 £550 -0.90% 22
East of England -19 29 £478 +13.14% 35
Wales +3 18 £325 -18.75% 5
North East -1 17 £175 - 10
East Midlands -16 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 26 (3.17%) SharePoint
2 21 (2.56%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (1.71%) Confluence
4 8 (0.97%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
6 6 (0.73%) CICS
7 5 (0.61%) Apache
7 5 (0.61%) Apache Spark
8 3 (0.37%) GeoServer
8 3 (0.37%) HCL Notes
8 3 (0.37%) Smallworld
9 2 (0.24%) nginx
9 2 (0.24%) Oracle Coherence
10 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
Applications
1 49 (5.97%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (3.17%) MS Visio
3 24 (2.92%) Microsoft Excel
4 18 (2.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 14 (1.71%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.37%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.12%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 6 (0.73%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (0.49%) Oracle Financials
3 3 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.24%) DELMIA
4 2 (0.24%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.12%) Epicor iScala
5 1 (0.12%) Maximo
5 1 (0.12%) Primavera
5 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 150 (18.27%) Azure
2 116 (14.13%) AWS
3 65 (7.92%) Microsoft 365
4 47 (5.72%) GCP
5 20 (2.44%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 17 (2.07%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 17 (2.07%) SaaS
7 15 (1.83%) Power Platform
8 14 (1.71%) IaaS
9 13 (1.58%) AWS Direct Connect
9 13 (1.58%) Entra ID
9 13 (1.58%) OpenShift
9 13 (1.58%) PaaS
10 11 (1.34%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 11 (1.34%) AWS CloudFormation
10 11 (1.34%) Azure DevOps
10 11 (1.34%) GitHub
11 9 (1.10%) Nutanix
12 8 (0.97%) Amazon S3
13 7 (0.85%) AWS CloudTrail
Communications & Networking
1 233 (28.38%) Firewall
2 148 (18.03%) WAN
3 104 (12.67%) BGP
4 90 (10.96%) VPN
5 89 (10.84%) LAN
6 88 (10.72%) Network Security
7 80 (9.74%) Wireless
8 74 (9.01%) OSPF
9 51 (6.21%) VLAN
10 50 (6.09%) DNS
11 47 (5.72%) Wi-Fi
12 46 (5.60%) Structured Cabling
13 41 (4.99%) SD-WAN
14 38 (4.63%) SAN
15 37 (4.51%) Cisco Nexus
16 36 (4.38%) VXLAN
17 34 (4.14%) IPsec
18 33 (4.02%) Cisco ISE
19 32 (3.90%) DHCP
20 28 (3.41%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (1.71%) Power BI
1 14 (1.71%) Relational Database
2 8 (0.97%) DataStage
2 8 (0.97%) SQL Server
3 7 (0.85%) RDBMS
4 5 (0.61%) Apache Hive
4 5 (0.61%) Hadoop
4 5 (0.61%) HBase
5 4 (0.49%) Power Query
5 4 (0.49%) PowerPivot
6 3 (0.37%) Geospatial Data
6 3 (0.37%) GIS
6 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
6 3 (0.37%) QGIS
7 2 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.24%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.24%) Big Data
7 2 (0.24%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.24%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 23 (2.80%) Git
2 20 (2.44%) Jenkins
3 16 (1.95%) JIRA
4 15 (1.83%) GitLab
5 9 (1.10%) Maven
5 9 (1.10%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (0.37%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.37%) ScriptRunner
7 2 (0.24%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.24%) ER Studio
7 2 (0.24%) ERwin
7 2 (0.24%) JMeter
7 2 (0.24%) Rational DOORS
7 2 (0.24%) Subversion
8 1 (0.12%) AppScan
8 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.12%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.12%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.12%) SonarQube
General
1 215 (26.19%) Social Skills
2 139 (16.93%) Finance
3 98 (11.94%) Public Sector
4 96 (11.69%) Analytical Skills
5 58 (7.06%) Documentation Skills
6 55 (6.70%) Telecoms
7 46 (5.60%) Manufacturing
8 44 (5.36%) Banking
9 32 (3.90%) Marketing
10 25 (3.05%) Electronics
11 21 (2.56%) Legal
12 18 (2.19%) Presentation Skills
13 17 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
14 16 (1.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 13 (1.58%) Retail
16 10 (1.22%) Organisational Skills
17 8 (0.97%) Investment Banking
18 7 (0.85%) Law
19 6 (0.73%) Aerospace
19 6 (0.73%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 145 (17.66%) Network Engineer
2 122 (14.86%) Architect
3 73 (8.89%) Project Manager
4 62 (7.55%) Analyst
5 59 (7.19%) Senior
6 45 (5.48%) Network Architect
7 41 (4.99%) Data Centre Engineer
8 38 (4.63%) Solutions Architect
9 37 (4.51%) Lead
10 34 (4.14%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 33 (4.02%) Consultant
12 32 (3.90%) Data Centre Manager
13 30 (3.65%) Cisco Engineer
13 30 (3.65%) IT Support
14 28 (3.41%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 27 (3.29%) Security Engineer
16 26 (3.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 25 (3.05%) Desktop Support
18 23 (2.80%) 2nd Line Support
18 23 (2.80%) Infrastructure Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (2.92%) Middleware
2 18 (2.19%) 802.1X
3 9 (1.10%) LDAP
4 7 (0.85%) RFC 2544
5 5 (0.61%) Spark Streaming
6 4 (0.49%) ADO
6 4 (0.49%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.49%) VML
7 3 (0.37%) REST
7 3 (0.37%) Yocto
8 2 (0.24%) .NET
8 2 (0.24%) AWS CDK
8 2 (0.24%) CSS
8 2 (0.24%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.24%) HTML
8 2 (0.24%) Kafka
8 2 (0.24%) NETCONF
8 2 (0.24%) OpenConfig
8 2 (0.24%) RESTCONF
8 2 (0.24%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 46 (5.60%) Hybrid Cloud
2 24 (2.92%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (2.68%) Public Cloud
4 20 (2.44%) Cloud Native
4 20 (2.44%) Driving Licence
5 18 (2.19%) Analytical Mindset
5 18 (2.19%) Onboarding
6 16 (1.95%) CMDB
7 15 (1.83%) Fibre Optics
8 14 (1.71%) SCADA
9 13 (1.58%) Management Information System
9 13 (1.58%) Replication
10 12 (1.46%) Private Cloud
11 11 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
11 11 (1.34%) NHS
12 10 (1.22%) Mainframe
13 9 (1.10%) Security Posture
14 7 (0.85%) Legacy Systems
14 7 (0.85%) PKI
14 7 (0.85%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 103 (12.55%) Linux
2 100 (12.18%) Windows
3 41 (4.99%) Windows Server
4 33 (4.02%) Android
4 33 (4.02%) Mac OS
5 29 (3.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 15 (1.83%) Unix
7 11 (1.34%) CentOS
8 7 (0.85%) VMS
9 6 (0.73%) AIX
9 6 (0.73%) Solaris
10 5 (0.61%) Ubuntu
10 5 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.49%) Windows 10
12 3 (0.37%) Embedded Linux
13 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.12%) Kali Linux
14 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (17.54%) Migration
2 129 (15.71%) Problem-Solving
3 97 (11.81%) Stakeholder Management
4 65 (7.92%) Agile
5 63 (7.67%) Project Management
6 61 (7.43%) Project Delivery
7 60 (7.31%) Infrastructure as Code
8 59 (7.19%) ITIL
9 55 (6.70%) CI/CD
10 50 (6.09%) Continuous Improvement
11 49 (5.97%) DevOps
11 49 (5.97%) Roadmaps
11 49 (5.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 47 (5.72%) Change Management
12 47 (5.72%) High Availability
13 43 (5.24%) Change Control
13 43 (5.24%) Network Design
14 42 (5.12%) Cybersecurity
15 40 (4.87%) Customer Service
15 40 (4.87%) Load Balancing
Programming Languages
1 83 (10.11%) Python
2 58 (7.06%) PowerShell
3 32 (3.90%) SQL
4 27 (3.29%) Bash
5 15 (1.83%) Java
6 14 (1.71%) Perl
6 14 (1.71%) Shell Script
7 9 (1.10%) Lisp
8 7 (0.85%) Bicep
8 7 (0.85%) MATLAB
9 6 (0.73%) COBOL
10 5 (0.61%) VBA
11 4 (0.49%) C++
12 3 (0.37%) C
13 2 (0.24%) Go
13 2 (0.24%) JavaScript
13 2 (0.24%) Korn
13 2 (0.24%) Ruby
14 1 (0.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 1 (0.12%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 272 (33.13%) Security Cleared
2 223 (27.16%) SC Cleared
3 139 (16.93%) Cisco Certification
4 113 (13.76%) CCNP
5 65 (7.92%) Degree
6 54 (6.58%) CCNA
7 49 (5.97%) DV Cleared
8 27 (3.29%) CCIE
9 23 (2.80%) AWS Certification
10 19 (2.31%) PMP
11 17 (2.07%) PMI Certification
12 13 (1.58%) Microsoft Certification
13 12 (1.46%) A+ Certification
13 12 (1.46%) CISSP
13 12 (1.46%) MCSE
13 12 (1.46%) Network+ Certification
14 11 (1.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 10 (1.22%) Azure Certification
15 10 (1.22%) BPSS Clearance
15 10 (1.22%) JNCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.05%) PMO
2 20 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.19%) NIST
3 18 (2.19%) SLA
4 17 (2.07%) PCI DSS
5 15 (1.83%) GDPR
6 14 (1.71%) QA
7 9 (1.10%) Data Quality
8 7 (0.85%) NCSC
9 5 (0.61%) GRC
10 4 (0.49%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
11 2 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.24%) ISO 22301
11 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (0.24%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.24%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.12%) COBIT
12 1 (0.12%) RMADS
System Software
1 85 (10.35%) VMware Infrastructure
2 57 (6.94%) Active Directory
3 50 (6.09%) VMware NSX
4 26 (3.17%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (2.31%) vSphere
6 18 (2.19%) Hyper-V
7 15 (1.83%) Docker
8 12 (1.46%) Firmware
9 11 (1.34%) KVM
10 9 (1.10%) VMware ESXi
11 5 (0.61%) HDFS
12 3 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
13 2 (0.24%) Ceph
13 2 (0.24%) Lustre
13 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 2 (0.24%) SRDF
13 2 (0.24%) vCloud
14 1 (0.12%) Microsoft App-V
14 1 (0.12%) NFS
14 1 (0.12%) UAG
Systems Management
1 87 (10.60%) Ansible
2 76 (9.26%) Terraform
3 38 (4.63%) FortiGate
4 23 (2.80%) Kubernetes
5 22 (2.68%) Grafana
6 21 (2.56%) SCCM
7 12 (1.46%) Prometheus
8 9 (1.10%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (1.10%) Puppet
8 9 (1.10%) SCOM
9 8 (0.97%) Check_MK
9 8 (0.97%) vCenter Server
10 7 (0.85%) CASB
10 7 (0.85%) Podman
10 7 (0.85%) Red Hat Satellite
11 6 (0.73%) SCOrch
12 5 (0.61%) Hadoop YARN
12 5 (0.61%) PowerCLI
12 5 (0.61%) vMotion
12 5 (0.61%) vRealize
Vendors
1 266 (32.40%) Cisco
2 115 (14.01%) Palo Alto
3 113 (13.76%) VMware
4 87 (10.60%) Microsoft
5 73 (8.89%) Dell
6 64 (7.80%) Juniper
7 49 (5.97%) F5
8 46 (5.60%) CheckPoint
9 44 (5.36%) HP
10 42 (5.12%) Aruba
11 41 (4.99%) ServiceNow
12 38 (4.63%) Meraki
13 35 (4.26%) Fortinet
14 33 (4.02%) Apple
15 31 (3.78%) SAP
16 26 (3.17%) Oracle
17 22 (2.68%) Citrix
18 21 (2.56%) Arista
19 19 (2.31%) NVIDIA
19 19 (2.31%) Red Hat